Tenkar's Tavern: Hindsight Is Best With a Time Machine

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hindsight Is Best With a Time Machine

Its funny. When I first started branching out beyond my core AD&D books, I didn't want to buy anything that looked old and cheap. So, in the early to mid 80's, TSR modules were in, Judges Guild and the like were out.

My God but I want to kick myself these days! I'm not saying most of the old non-TSR stuff was good, but I truly can't say most of the TSR stuff was all that good either.

I missed out on the Judges Guild stuff back then, although I did grab some Mayfair and Chaosium pieces that have stood the test of time.

Ygrs? Yggrsss? Some such nonsense with a yellow cover printed 4x6 laid out by typewriter is what killed me to the smaller publishers back then. I haven't stumbled across it during my renovations yet... I probably dumped it a while back.

If I only had a time machine. I'd be buying a ton of stuff that I passed on the first time around.

5 comments:

JamesSeptember 20, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Yea, verily! I've been on a JG buying spree, the past several weeks. It would have been a lot cheaper, 30 years ago. :)
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bombasticusSeptember 20, 2011 at 4:09 PM
http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=936 ring a bell?
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Sean CravenSeptember 20, 2011 at 5:00 PM
Ysgarth, David Nalle, I think he still has a web presence. I had a seven-volume set with xeroxed covers, saddle-stapled, packaged in a zip-lock.

He was a contributor to Alarums & Excursions magazine. I'm surprised nobody mentions that one -- my old school was Holmes blue book, The Arduin Grimoire, and Alarums & Excursions. I think back issues dating back to the eighties are still available at cover price...
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Sean CravenSeptember 20, 2011 at 5:45 PM
Here's back issues of Alarums & Excursions -- an APA dating back to the start of the hobby.

http://www.conchord.org/xeno/aande.html

And here's a surprisingly positive review of Ysgarth.

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_486.html
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TenkarSeptember 20, 2011 at 7:48 PM
Ysgarth is it. Wow. At the time it was a very painful experience, as my limited cash could have been spent elsewhere ;)
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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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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hindsight Is Best With a Time Machine

5 comments:

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