Tenkar's Tavern: Do I Keep Inviting the Knights to My Dinner Table?

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Do I Keep Inviting the Knights to My Dinner Table?

I've been reading Knights of the Dinner Table (KotDT) since Shadis magazine. I actually have the first issue of the magazine tucked away somewhere, and the few issues I've missed along the way I've filled in with the Bundles of Trouble compilations. Still, it just doesn't seem the same anymore.

The current issue is #172 - and I skimmed the strips more then read them. Maybe the jokes have changed, or I don't see the jokes with the same eyes, but even the stories seem less like anything I ever gamed. In the beginning I could relate - now, not so much.

72 bucks for 12 issues(first class shipping). For something I'm no longer getting a heck of a lot of value out of. 13 pages of the current issue deals with the ongoing story line, the rest is more or less filler. The other ongoing storyline (Gary Jackson back from the dead) is absent.

As for the gaming articles - inconsistent quality is the best description I can use. Nothing all that memorable.

I want to still like the Knights. Really. But I get much more enjoyment from OOTS, and it's free.

I might have to tap out at this point.

5 comments:

Greg GorgonmilkMarch 17, 2011 at 6:09 PM
Well that's a bummer. If you ever feel the itch, please do a "Best of KotD" post.
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Brutorz BillMarch 18, 2011 at 2:43 PM
I bought KotDT regularly for awhile but quit for some of the reasons you posted. I thought it was just me.
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Andreas DavourMarch 19, 2011 at 4:24 PM
Well, I don't think it's a rag you get for jokes. It's general gaming content and some decent comics-
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TenkarMarch 19, 2011 at 8:56 PM
the early issues were all jokes, at least an in joke that fellow rolelayers could appreciate... now...
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Andreas DavourMarch 20, 2011 at 5:01 AM
I haven't noticed that much of a change, but then again, I guess I never read the early issues.
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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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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Do I Keep Inviting the Knights to My Dinner Table?

5 comments:

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