Tenkar's Tavern: NTRPG Con - What Light at Yonder Table Be? Swords & Wizardry I See

Friday, June 2, 2017

NTRPG Con - What Light at Yonder Table Be? Swords & Wizardry I See

Where the Swords & Wizardry Complete magic happened. Oh, and my knee...

Yesterday I ran a session of Swords & Wizardry Light. We played Beneath the Battered Dwarf Tavern and it was a blast.

We had the full seven that signed up and one standby that we added. Explaining the rules, generating characters, answering some rules questions and the like took about 15 minutes - then we were "in game".

They were a very focused group with good tactics and excellent "out of the box" thinking. All together the session lasted about 2 1/2 hours out of the 3 hours it was scheduled for.

It was also my first face to face session that I've run in a tad over 20 years (I run my games on Roll20 / Hangouts these days) and I learned one thing right away - I need to stand when I GM at a table. Don't ask me wy but it just seems to free my imagination and keep me focused.

Last night Rach and I were in a pick up game of Swords & Wizardry Complete run by Edwin Nagy. Holy shit but it was a blast being a part of a party of cannibal adventurers seeking the book How to Serve Man. Well done sir! Well done!

Today I run a second session of Beneath the Battered Dwarf Tavern then on to +Skeeter Green 's Rappan Athuk session. It will be a good day. A VERY good day.

Oh, there should be a very large Swords & Wizardry announcement this weekend. It will break here at The Tavern

2 comments:

Reese LaundryJune 2, 2017 at 11:47 AM
Big announcement! Is Continual Light FINALLY coming out? :)
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UnknownJune 5, 2017 at 11:41 PM
That pick up game was my favorite game of the weekend.
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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, June 2, 2017

NTRPG Con - What Light at Yonder Table Be? Swords & Wizardry I See

2 comments:

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