Tenkar's Tavern: The Tavern Chat Podcast - Episode #59 - Baldur's Gate Lead Designer Goes Greek with 5e

Saturday, July 14, 2018

The Tavern Chat Podcast - Episode #59 - Baldur's Gate Lead Designer Goes Greek with 5e

I'm a huge fan of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. In my eyes, they set the highwater marks for the computer RPGs that followed, and I'm not sure if any have ever hit the mark. To see talent moving from computer games to RPGs is exciting.

James Ohlen (lead designer Baldur's Gate 1&2 and Neverwinter Nights) has retired from Bioware and is publishing a Greek-themed setting for 5e called Odyssey.

Link to Episode #59 - https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/Episode-59---Baldurs-Gate-Lead-Designer-Goes-Greek-with-5e-e1q263

Link to ENWorld article - http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?5412-Baldur-s-Gate-Designer-Leaves-Bioware-To-Form-D-D-Publishing-Company

Link to Arcanum Worlds - http://www.arcanumworlds.com

1 comment:

John HigginsJuly 14, 2018 at 11:00 PM
BG was pretty quickly surpassed in my eyes when Arcanum came out, but that's probably just my bias for steampunk talking.
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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 ;)

Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

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Saturday, July 14, 2018

The Tavern Chat Podcast - Episode #59 - Baldur's Gate Lead Designer Goes Greek with 5e

1 comment:

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