Tenkar's Tavern: Pending Gathering of Fools

Friday, July 30, 2010

Pending Gathering of Fools

Today is my birthday. I have hit the grand old age of 43, an age I never would have imagined people actively roleplayed at when I was 13. Go figure.

More importantly tomorrow is the seasonal (more or less) Gathering of Fools. The core of my old High School / College / Life Before our own Families and Responsibilities Group gets together every few months to shoot the shit, have a few beers for old fiends we've lost, watch Army of Darkness for the 27th time, eat lots of beef jerky and basically act like we did 25 years ago.

I like to bear gifts when possible during these gatherings. Castles & Crusades books, OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry... I've given them all out.

Tomorrow I get to give out copies of Dark Dungeons, some Swords and Wizardry Quickstarts and a single copy of the Swords & Wizardry Whitebox Edition in the collectible box. Think I'll run a mock combat with the S&W rules, last man standing gets the boxed set. Should be a blast.

Posting may be light the rest of the weekend. Or not. One never knows what may spark a post ;)

5 comments:

ChristianJuly 30, 2010 at 4:59 PM
Congrats! Have a wonderful gathering!
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scottszJuly 30, 2010 at 8:48 PM
Army of Darkness?!?!

Ash rocks.

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.
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BobJuly 30, 2010 at 9:52 PM
Happy Birthday! Have a great time this weekend.
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Wall Street WizardJuly 30, 2010 at 11:26 PM
Happy birthday!

Cya Tomorrow.
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TenkarJuly 31, 2010 at 10:02 AM
chris and bob - much thanks :)

scottsz - when we used to play Anarchy Online way too regularly, one of my friends had all of Ash's best sound clips hotkeyed, and they would be played on everyone in the group's machine when he hit the keys in question . was awesome fun

Wizzie - I'll see u in a few hours ;)
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Friday, July 30, 2010

Pending Gathering of Fools

5 comments:

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