Tenkar's Tavern: Gygax Magazine Issue #2 in Hand

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Gygax Magazine Issue #2 in Hand - Deja Vu All Over Again!

Listen Cat! You are too young to remember Dragon Magazine. I don't care how old you are in cat years either...

I reviewed Gygax #2 last week based on the PDF version. Now that I have the print version in hand, I want to make some further observations:

- this sucker feels like a Dragon Magazine from the mid 80's. I fully expect the cover to pull away from the staples after a few more flips thru the mag.

- I used to read Dragon as much for the ads as I did the articles. While I have no problem skipping the ads in the PDF version, I want to read the ads in the print version. I found myself looking for an ad for the Dragon Bones Electronic Dice Roller and Cyborg Commando.

- City-State of the Sea Kings - It's just a small ad but I'm so in. See, those damn ads work.

Again, issue #2 of Gygax is a marked improvement over the first issue's "hey! I'm cool! Let me tell you why!" self congratulatory back slapping. There were parts of the first issue that were really good - I just got turned off by all the "look at me" bs.

1 comment:

Timothy S. BrannanSeptember 2, 2013 at 8:27 PM
I got mine too, but I have not read through it all yet. But yeah it's like having a Dragon subscription from the 80s again.
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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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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Gygax Magazine Issue #2 in Hand - Deja Vu All Over Again!

1 comment:

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