29 June 2009

Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net

ROGUE FEED magical properties, chiefly its ability to bring peace to opponents who
agree to drink of its waters. Unsurprisingly, Airar seeks out this well, in
Pulp Fantasy Library: The Well the process grappling with the question of free will and human action
and the conflict between freedom and societal stability.
of the Unicorn
JUN 29, 2009 04:08P.M. The Well of the Unicorn is an enjoyable novel, far more serious than one
might expect if all one had read were Pratt’s collaborations with L.
Sprague De Camp. It’s clear that De Camp was the wit and Pratt the
philosophical one. There’s certainly an earnestness to this book that
might not appeal to everyone, but, as I said, when one compares it to the
vapidity of a lot of the fantasies produced at the time, it’s a welcome
diversion and one worth reading if one has the opportunity to do so.

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A Good Post
JUN 29, 2009 10:28A.M.

I’m not usually one to point out good posts on other blogs, since we all
pretty much read the same ones anyway, but I’m going to make an
exception in the case of Delta’s latest entry on “games within games,”
because he articulates very well some thoughts I’ve been having lately.
It’s well worth your time to check it out.

Fletcher Pratt, the only author named twice in Appendix N of the AD&D
Dungeon Masters Guide, was also a military historian and a wargamer,
writing a set of naval miniatures rules in 1943. His 1948 novel, The Well
of the Unicorn, clearly shows his love of both history and military
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matters. Its setting is reminiscent of the early Middle Ages, with the
action taking place in an analog of northern Europe, where raiders
known as “Vulkings” have invaded the kingdom of Dalarna and imposed
Blackmoor Memories
JUN 29, 2009 08:48A.M.
taxes so oppressive that many people, including the novel’s protagonist,
Airar Alvarson, find themselves reduced to serfdom. Of course, Airar
Here’s a link to a nice article about Dave Arneson and the Blackmoor
isn’t content to remain a mere peasant under the rule of foreign invaders
campaign from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. What’s particularly
and so he sets off to find some means to overcome them and restore his
interesting about the article is that it includes information I’d never
land to its former state.
heard before, such as the fact that Dave Wesley of Braunstein fame
played a time-and-space-lost version of himself as his first character in
If all this sounds uninspired and hackneyed, that’s because it is. Now. In
the campaign. It’s well worth a read.
1948, though, fantasies of this sort weren’t an industry. Remember that
The Lord of the Rings was still six years in the future, never mind its
legions of imitators. And while The Well of the Unicorn is neither as
well-written nor as timeless as Tolkien’s novel, it’s still a cut above most
of its contemporaries. The titular well is a magical spring possessing

1
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
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Great weekend
JUN 29, 2009 08:03A.M.
Went to game 3 of the Sox/Cubs yesterday and as always had a great
time. I was playing with the built in video camera on the new iPhone.
Here is a small video I shot: click here.
I am going to have to do a little more work on getting the camera steady,
but this is really cool.
Posted in Life Tagged: mobile
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[Lost Works] Star Wars: BESM
— Part 1
JUN 28, 2009 09:09A.M.
There are not many changes you need to make to BESM if you want to
use it with Star Wars. The rules stress a more cinematic approach to
gaming and they are flexible enough so they can be used with all genres.
The rules can easily capture the various races and technologies that
populate the Star Wars Universe.
Star Wars is about larger then life action that set against larger then life
backgrounds. It is a universe that has planets covered by forests, and
giant space slugs living deep within asteroids. It is a universe that has
seen one government representing all races, replaced with a government
headed by the Emperor who is a master of the Dark Side. Palpatine has
built a well-equipped and trained military machine. It is a government
that has built a space station the size of a small moon; that packs enough
firepower to destroy a planet. The military is supported by Star
Destroyers equipped with waves of TIE Fighters, and legions of storm
troopers.
Like any oppressive government, the Empire is faced with a group of
people who are dedicated to overthrowing it. The Rebel Alliance is a
collection of individuals who are opposed to the Emperor’s plans, and
want nothing more than to end the tyranny. It is a group who wants to
protect the rights of all races, and restore the laws that the Emperor
abolished. Though the Rebel Alliance is not as well equipped as the
Empire, they will never give their fight for justice.
Lurking in the background of this is the underworld criminal elements
such as the Huts. These groups see profit in the conflict and play both
ends against the middle. They are loyal to only one thing, money. It does
not matter to them who wins in this conflict, the smugglers and the
mobsters will still make a profit off the winners and losers.
Though the Jedi Knights were destroyed by one of their own, but there
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29 June 2009
are still those who follow the teachings of the Jedi and use the Force to
fight against the evil that has gripped the galaxy. They may not refer to
themselves as Jedi’s but they will soon be seen as New Hope to restore
the Jedi order to greatness.
The Dark Side has its master in the form of the Emperor, but it has its
champion in the form of Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith. Like those who
came before him, Vader has devoted his life to the ways of the Sith and
uses the Force as a weapon. It was by his hand that the Jedi Knights were
destroyed. Vader now leads the armies of the Emperor, and in the
Emperor’s name Vader protects the interests of the Empire. There are
other students of the Dark Side, and though they may not be as powerful
as Vader, they are still a threat.
Posted in Games, thoughts Tagged: BESM, Fourth Millennium, Games,
Lost Works, star wars, thoughts
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[Lost Works] Star Wars: BESM
— Introduction
JUN 28, 2009 09:04A.M.
Ok. I was not going to do this, but what the hell. For the next few weeks
— not every day — I am going to do a large Lost Works series. Star
Wars: BESM.
The history behind this work is simple. One of my favorite rule sets of all
time is the long out of print Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2E put out by the
now gone Guardians of Order.
I have always liked Star Wars (the Holy Trilogy of the original three I
refuse to acknowledge the new movies or the tweaked versions of the
original one). When I saw the movie for the first time in 1979
I was in third grade. Star Wars is one of the major influences that got
me into writing. I remember sitting in the theater in Alexandria, Virginia
with my mother and father. I remember being blown away when Leia’s
ship flew across the screen. I sat mesmerized in a new world and I did
not want to leave. When the movie was over I remember asking my
father who made the movie. He told me a writer wrote the story and that
if it was not for him there would have been no Star Wars. It was then
that I knew I wanted to tell stories.
Like most kids my age I caught the Star Wars bug. I would spend hours
playing with my action figures, reading the Star Wars comic books,
along with anything else I could find. As I grew older the toys have been
put away, but my love for the three movies, or as Kevin Smith refers to
them in his movie Chasing Amy “The Holy Trilogy,” is still strong with
me.
When West End Games released the Star Wars RPG I bought it in
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
hopes of finally being able to play in the world I loved. My previous
attempts at playing Star Wars inspired games had been failures. I tried
using Star Frontiers and even Dungeons & Dragons to duplicate
Lucas’ vision. It was my hope that each of these attempts rules would
capture what I wanted to play and run. Sadly it didn’t.
D6 did not capture the cinematic scope and feel of the three movies. I
found the rules too detailed and lacking that “wow” feel that the movies
had. Combat was not quick, and for me the scale and scope of the game
did not jive. Then I had a brainstorm, what if I used the rules of
Advanced Marvel Superheroes? This was a success, and soon I was
kit bashing my own Star Wars game using AMSH and WEG’s
sourcebooks. However, in the end, this did not satisfy me, since I still
failed to capture the feeling of the movies. So after two years of play, I
shelved the campaign.
I remained a fan of Star Wars, but I grew tired of the endless novels
and comic books that were being churned out in the 90’s. The stories all
seemed the same, and I could never enjoy them. For me Star Wars is
more interesting when the Rebels are fighting to overthrow the Empire.
Book after book, comic after comic, the world seemed more bloated and
soon I ignored it. I had the three movies and that was all I needed.
When Phantom Menace was released, I remember the excitement I
had waiting to see it. I had that nervous energy that I did when I was
younger, and all I could think about was how I was going to be blown
away by the new movie. I was blown away, blown away with how bad it
was. Wooden characters, the annoying Jar Jar, and kick ass CGI were
used to distract you from a badly written script.
All of this leads me to a conversation I had with my good friend Anthony
Ragan back in early 2001. As we usually do when we do not feel like
working, we chat nonstop on e-mail. One of our discussions dealt with
what game system is the best universal one. As always, Anthony was
talking about how Basic Role-Playing is the best system and that every
game should be based on it. It was then that my cinematic gaming came
out, and I stated that for me Big Eyes Small Mouth is the perfect
game and can be used for any setting. Then in an offhand comment,
Anthony stated that BESM would be perfect for Star Wars.
BAM! I was hit with inspiration.
BESM was perfect for Star Wars because the rules clearly capture the
cinematic approach that I like. The mechanics are simple, and they do
not clutter up the story. In addition BESM is very adaptable and open so
that you can add to it what you want. Star Wars is pure action, and the
problem with WEG’s D6 system was that the rules got in the way of this
action.
Finally with Star Wars I had a rule system that can do what I wanted
for Star Wars.
The following posts appeared first in A&E, were later reedited and then
posted on a long gone personal website. Here they are again. Enjoy.
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29 June 2009
Posted in Games, Technology Tagged: BESM, Games, Gaming, Lost
Works, star wars, thoughts
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Interview: Kevin Hendryx (Part
II)
JUN 27, 2009 09:29A.M.
4. Do you recall why this reorganization occurred? Was this
part of TSR’s phenomenal growth in the early 80s or was it the
result of other internal pressures within the company?
We were not privy to TSR’s executive management decisions, except
what we were told or what was rumored, so in a way I can’t answer this
except from my own perspective, and according to what we believed at
the time or might have learned later. Tensions and tempers ran hot
during that period. Product Development was full of a bunch of mainly
younger, intense guys bursting with energy and enthusiasm; above us
were more and more non-gamer business and marketing men, who
seemed to have the ear of the executives and whose priorities were not
our own.
The conflict between these attitudes and expectations led to unpleasant
situations at TSR beginning in mid-1981 and recurring at regular
intervals thereafter, as far as I am aware. The company would
periodically swell with new staff, then constrict when times grew lean.
People were summarily fired or laid off at the whim of management. The
problems in early 1981, however, were not financial, but philosophical. In
those days, cronyism was rampant at TSR, at every level — old friends,
in-laws, and whole families dominated entire divisions. Some factions
were more powerful or better connected than others.
By and large, the creative wing wasn’t involved in the ego games and
power struggles — Product Development was physically isolated at that
time, in our own building downtown along with the Dungeon Hobby Shop
and Dungeon Distributors and the RPGA, and the managers were on the
outskirts of town in the new building and warehouse. We didn’t marry or
get born into our jobs. We had no little hubris about being the “content
providers” as it were, while the rest were doing whatever it was they did.
We often felt that the Blumes and Gygaxes and their associates, like Will
Neibling, were arrogant and greedy, were in over their heads as
businessmen, and treated the company and its employees like NPCs in
a big game they were playing.
Tremendous growth and inflows of cash made it possible to grow both
responsibly and irresponsibly. We had a large design and art staff that
was the envy of smaller publishers. We weren’t dependent on the
vagaries of freelance submissions; we could generate quality products
completely in-house, but at the same time, we weren’t paid particularly
well and TSR insisted on owning all rights to everything we produced, as
opposed to honoring earlier agreements to pay royalties for in-house
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
productions. This led to many confrontations, as you’d expect, especially
when the serfs saw the executives buying big houses and fancy
automobiles or other “bling.”
The sales and marketing honchos at the company were interested in
pursuing licensing agreements and other aspects of mainstream game
publishing, like the big boys at Mattel or Parker Brothers or Hasbro might
do, which meant branching into children’s games à la Fantasy Forest
(Candyland with dragons) and movie tie-ins like Escape from New York.
Not all the design staff was interested in working on such things; we all
preferred to explore original concepts or work within the hobby game
arena. Some of the guys were more vocal about their disinclination to
toe the company line than others, and ultimately some of the big bosses
decided to crack down and force the issue. Maybe they’d been taking
management courses and wanted to do things the way other companies
did.
So we were all obliged to “reapply” for our jobs in a formal sense — this
was April 1981 — and the people in charge of the process used this as
an excuse to abruptly terminate some of the troublemakers for having
bad attitudes. This led to some others quitting in protest. And that was
the first of the infamous TSR purges. (I recall Jim Roslof returning from a
weekend out of town to discover he was alone in the art deptartment,
basically.) It put the rest of us on alert as to what we could expect in the
future, so those of us who had been spared but were extremely upset
and unhappy at the turn of events began to make plans to leave.
By the end of that summer, more of us were gone, including me. TSR
continued to make new hires, replaced those who left, and was a very
different place by the end of the year. We who were gone referred to
ourselves as the “Terminati” and that bygone era as the “Golden Age” in
our wishful way. It was a short period of time, but very intense. To this
day, I’ve never had such an engaging job or worked with more creative
and inspiring people. Some of the close bonds formed then have
continued, and to this day I feel great kinship with all those with whom I
worked in Lake Geneva, even our then-antagonists. And requiescant in
pace
5. After you left TSR, you went to work for Metagaming as a
product development manager. What projects did you oversee
during your time there?
I had arranged to return to Austin and join Metagaming full-time before
I decamped from Lake Geneva. Howard Thompson was pleased to pick
me up again after what he felt was TSR’s “training” me. Metagaming
didn’t pay as much, but in those days Austin was a cheaper place to live
and it was good to be back in familiar surroundings after the
disorientation of small-town Wisconsin and what had become the
oppressive, paranoid atmosphere of TSR Hobbies in those days (at least,
to us young snot-nosed punks in Product Development). It’s difficult to
recall precisely what games I worked on while at Metagaming in 1981-
82; there are websites that chronicle this stuff better than I remember it
now, and I sold off most of my games and documents and memorabilia
from this period to collectors. I continued to receive and review outside
submissions, coordinate playtesting, copyedited and did layout for a
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number of games, and proposed original projects that never got off the
ground due to Thompson closing down Metagaming’s in-house
production staff in the spring of 1982. I recall Dragons of Underearth by
Keith Gross and supervising some Fantasy Trip modules like Orb Quest
and some TFT things licensed to other publishers à la the Judges
Guild/TSR arrangement, as well as a few MicroGames like Helltank
Destroyer. Thompson was always tinkering on a sci-fi RPG system he
felt would be the equivalent of TFT but I don’t think he ever got his
design finished. It was going to come out in separate volumes, like TFT,
beginning with an individual combat system game and then spaceships
and then more sort of RPG supplemental material. I think a lot of games
in progress were stillborn when Metagaming was deep-sixed.
6. Like a lot of tabletop RPG designers, you eventually entered
the computer games industry, working first for Coleco (which
seems to have hired a lot of RPG talent). Did you find the
transition into video games difficult? Were there many
similarities between the two industries or were they
completely different?
I went to Coleco in spring 1982 and remained there as a game designer
in the home video game division until summer 1983. Coleco’s revolving
door saw a legion of designers from other companies pass through —
Lawrence [Schick — JDM] once remarked that Coleco had the largest
collection of RPG designers not designing RPGs of any game company in
the world. Many of them came after my time and our paths did not cross,
unfortunately. I enjoyed some aspects of Coleco, but not nearly as much
as TSR, and when I left Coleco I left the game business, as it turns out.
I’ve never been able to get back in since, on the occasions when I’ve tried
— I hoped to work for Origin Systems in the early 1990s, I even made
inquiries at TSR again in the mid-1990s, and WOTC/Hasbro and
Cranium since then — but I don’t have any background in computer
gaming, so I’m hopelessly behind the times anyway.
I did find the technical aspects of video gaming during my Coleco stint
more difficult to assimilate than conventional games, and computer
gaming would probably have been even more so. I’m not much of a
technophile, much more a technophobe. I also grew weary of the shoot-
em-ups that dominated home video gaming, and I realized long ago that
I have no interest in catering to teenage boys’ power fantasies anymore,
if I ever did. I realize there’s more to computer gaming than this, but this
is what seems to drive the industry, this pandering to adolescent male
wish-fulfillment. I’d rather be involved in something more challenging
and grown-up and more, well, whimsical. Or painting miniatures. I’m so
old school, I have one room, hard wooden benches, and hickory switches
in my brain.
7. Whimsy is something I strongly associate with the early days
of roleplaying. Is it a quality you tried to include in your own
game designs over the years?
Certainly! Although I’ve had little opportunity to indulge in this
professionally since the 1980s. My game designing since then has
remained private, ephemeral, in an almost sand mandala-like way
(elaborate miniatures games that can never be repeated; RPG campaigns
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
that have returned to the Immateria from whence they came; many game
designs or rules unpublished and unfinished through lack of time).
Putting a “Divine Wrath” rule in The Fury of the Norsemen was an early
attempt to inject a fantasy element into an historical topic, and one that
was not universally appreciated.
If I’d stayed at TSR I think I’d have worked on many more oddball
games. The first assignment I had there was a rewrite/cleanup of The
Awful Green Things from Outer Space. I’m a big fan of Tom Wham‘s
simple but always elegant games like AGTFOS, the original Icebergs, or
Gangsters! These are classics in my mind, and I’d like to see some Euro-
game publisher snap them up and make refined, jazzed-up editions
available to us. Just imagine Green Thing miniatures! Wham was sort of
on permanent retainer at TSR as an affiliate game wizard deluxe, not
bound to any time clock or protocols. He kept his own schedule and
counsel. But he always came out with amazing ideas.
I try to incorporate similar concepts in certain boardgames on my “In
Process” shelf. Most of what I’m interested in as a designer are still
boring ol’ miniatures rules and hex wargames and RPGs, but I’ve also got
some simmering concepts for multiplayer boardgames in the newer Euro
style, with varied game-play and nice components that allow for a lot of
variety and intricate, integral game mechanics. I hate to give away too
many ideas, but many of these involve a mix of history and whimsy. Now
my challenge is to find time to work on them, since I’m doing so purely
on spec or for my own enjoyment, I’ve not got any publishing deal in the
works for anything. Self-publishing via my CafePress shop is always an
option for simpler projects like miniatures rules. It makes them available
for those who are interested, without convincing a regular publisher to
go broke on them. Because there’s nothing like self-published game rules
on CafePress to get you that villa in Tuscany or that third yacht, you
know?
8. Do you still play RPGs today and, if so, which ones?
Alas! Playing RPGs with my brother Game Wizards in Lake Geneva, and
to a lesser extent in Connecticut (Coleco), surrounded by unparalleled
talent and creativity and bonhomie, so completely and hopelessly spoiled
me that I’ve never been able to replicate the enjoyment of the early 1980s
with any other groups. I’ve not been able to hold together a group as a
DM in Austin due to job pressures and time constraints and the
distractions of adult life, and my efforts to find a simpatico group to just
play with has also met with failure. The last time Mary and I tried, back
in 2000, the DM flaked out after only a few months and disbanded the
campaign, and I’ve not made the effort again since. But not for lack of
interest. Any mature but convivial, collegial, easy-going and non-
neurotic gaming groups in Austin who are looking for players, give me a
shout! I am active in the Lone Star Historical Miniatures group that
meets regularly at the Great Hall Games store in Austin for toy soldier
battles (also boardgames), and we play a lot of skirmish-level gaming
that has a high element of role-playing involved. And I’ve been talking to
some of the ex-TSR gang about a reunion at GaryCon this coming March,
in Lake Geneva, so we’ll see what comes of that.
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29 June 2009
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Very Interesting
JUN 26, 2009 01:19P.M.
A number of people have pointed out to me that, according to this page,
Paizo will be selling the PDF version of their upcoming Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game for $9.95. Now, I’m not ever likely to be playing
Pathfinder. From what I have seen — I have read the Beta Playtest in its
various iterations — it’s still too much like v.3.5 to hold any appeal for
me, no matter how much I like the Paizonians.
That said, $9.95 is a remarkably ... reasonable price for a PDF, especially
in an industry where far too many companies offer very little discount
over the cost of buying a hardcopy. I can’t help but applaud Paizo for
doing this and I hope — almost certainly in vain — that we might see
other companies follow their lead. In my experience, a low price on a
PDF means that I’m much more likely to plunk down some money on a
product whose merits I’m unsure about than if the PDF is a mere 10-20%
cheaper than the print version. Likewise, if I like the PDF, odds are good
I’ll also buy the print version. If there were a PDF version of
HackMaster Basic available at a reasonable discount, I’d probably buy a
copy, because, despite my skepticism, I’m still intrigued by it. But, alas,
no such thing exists and so Kenzer has lost not just one but possibly two
sales from me (and the possibility that I’ll drive some sales their way
with a review of the thing).
At $9.95, though, I’ll happily snag a copy of Pathfinder, even though I’m
highly unlikely to play it or to buy any of its supplementary material.
That’s a small enough amount of money that, even if I find nothing of
value in the PDF, I won’t feel as if I’d been cheated and the odds of that’s
happening are pretty slim indeed.
ROGUE FEED
Interview: Kevin Hendryx (Part
I)
JUN 26, 2009 12:01A.M.
The late 70s and early 80s were a time of massive growth at TSR, not just
in terms of the company’s output but also in terms of the staff it needed
in order to create all these new products. During that period, TSR hired a
number of talented young writers, editors, and designers, many of whom
were involved in the production of some of the most beloved gaming
products of the late Golden Age. One such designer was Kevin Hendryx,
whose lengthy answers to my questions about his time with TSR proved
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
both interesting and informative. Consequently, I have split up this
interview into two parts, with the second part appearing tomorrow.
1. How did you become involved in the hobby of roleplaying?
As an outgrowth of my wargaming pursuits (board and historical
miniatures). I was an avid player of Risk and other strategy games as a
kid and used to create my own pseudo-boardgames (the WWII Eastern
Front and the Peloponnesian War come to mind) based on hand-drawn
maps divided into squares and unit counters that moved like chess or
Stratego pieces. They were very crude and unsophisticated. Then I
discovered Avalon Hill’s classic wargames in a department store display
near the end of 1972, in Cincinnati, and my world was blown away.
My middle school cronies and I fell head over heels in love with this new
hobby; Strategy & Tactics magazine and SPI games soon followed. One
of my original gaming buddies was John Winkler, who later was a key
figure at Ral Partha (his high school D&D wizard became the company
namesake). Then my vagabond family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, in
1973 and I was cut off from the gaming mainstream for a long time. I had
a handful of boardgaming pals, and discovered military miniatures
during this time via H.G. Wells’s Little Wars book and the old
Wargamer’s Digest magazine (which published my first professional
writings), but there was no organized group I was aware of and I felt very
isolated.
When I went to college (UT-Austin) in 1976 I finally encountered active
gaming groups, played a lot of boardgames in particular, and was
introduced to the original white box Dungeons & Dragons through my
roommate Edward Sollers (later to also work for TSR Hobbies) and
mutual friends. RPGs were still primarily an avocation of university
nerds at that time. I found the entire concept breathtaking in its
potential, even though we rarely created or played in anything more than
a hack ‘n’ slash, Monty Haul sort of milieu. Despite having the Temple of
the Frog at our fingertips.
2. How did you come to be hired by TSR?
In early 1979 I answered an ad in the college newspaper from someone
who turned out to be Howard Thompson, president of Metagaming
Concepts, an Austin-based wargame publisher, who was looking for
experienced gamers to playtest and evaluate game designs being
submitted to his company for publication as MicroGames. He took me
on as a freelancer; I would pick up a couple of game prototypes every few
months, read the rules and try to play them (some were so raw this was
difficult), and submit a report detailing the good and bad points along
with recommendations for improvement.
I don’t remember any of the designs I evaluated ever being bought. Then
as now, 90% of what was received unsolicited was not publishable.
Occasionally I would be given a more polished design, something already
accepted for publication and only requiring development and rules
tweaking, like Ram Speed. In late 1979/early 1980, at Thompson’s
suggestion, I designed an original historical MicroGame called The Fury
of the Norsemen that Metagaming purchased.
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During this period, D&D and its AD&D offspring were growing ever
more popular. I continued to play the game and collect the new books
and I began to write some short articles for Dragon magazine. In early
1980, I desperately needed a real job and began to consider the prospects
of working full-time in the game industry; TSR and SPI were actively
looking for designers and I applied at each. I never heard back from SPI
after my initial inquiries and application (which included
revising/rewriting the rules of an Avalon Hill classic in SPI format; SPI
were undergoing a lot of business problems then anyway, I later learned)
but I received encouraging notes from Gary Gygax and Kim Mohan from
TSR and then a telephone conference call/interview from Lake Geneva
with Lawrence Schick, Mike Carr, and Al Hammack, if memory serves.
They liked that I had experience with boardgames/wargames, since TSR
was interested in getting more involved in these fields, and that I was
already evaluating outside submissions and working with unpolished
designs, since they were planning to establish a Development Section
within their Product Development division to fulfill these functions. So I
was in. I took the $500 Thompson paid me for Fury of the Norsemen — I
dunned him for it on acceptance rather than on publication — hired a U-
Haul trailer, and in April 1980 my wife, Mary, and I ponderously hit the
trail to southern Wisconsin (where coincidentally I had lived before, in
Waukesha from 1970-71).
3. The majority of your credits while working for TSR are for
editing and development. What were your specific
responsibilities at the company?
Lawrence Schick can probably correct any faulty memories or timelines,
but as I remember, the Development Section was formed in early 1980,
originally led by Al Hammack and then by Brian Pitzer, to serve as a
waystation between the Design and Production sections. For in-house
projects, the idea was to have an assembly line approach to game
products: the designers would craft the initial prototype or manuscript
and minimally playtest it to some degree. When the rough design was
satisfactory, it went to Development for intensive playtesting and
troubleshooting, revision or augmentation where necessary, and final
draft of the game rules or manuscript text. Then the final components
went to Production, for oversight of typesetting, layout, copyediting,
proofreading and blueline corrections, and supervision of the actual
printing stage of publication.
A lot of contributions were made at each stage and there was not always
a clear division of labor. The amount of work required might vary
depending on the nature of the project, the completeness (or lack
thereof) of the original design, and format requirements or other
marketing aspects. Development also helped to proofread bluelines when
Production was swamped; and Design or Production would help
Development playtest when required. Everybody pitched in with less
formal playtest sessions in the off-hours. Sometimes Development would
have to create extra material to flesh out an incomplete design; I
remember Evan Robinson and I compiling the clerical reference charts at
the back of Deities & Demigods one Saturday afternoon. I designed the
town sections of AD&D module A3 for commercial release and Paul
Reiche largely rewrote the Gamma World: Legion of Gold module from
a Gygax early draft, including designing from scratch all the three mini-
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 29 June 2009

adventures; I then extensively edited the whole from the separate raw
drafts. (My original edited ms. was sold to a collector on the West Coast
in 1998.)

Most projects involved a lot of collaboration, which I very much enjoyed.

Some designers turned over better prepared manuscripts than others —
Lawrence Schick and Dave Cook, for example, were (and still are) very
thorough and precise; their work required little editing or “repairing.”
Other contributors were less careful or accomplished. Our section also
received, catalogued, and reviewed all the outside game submissions that
were sent to TSR by hopeful game designers. This work had a lower
priority than work on in-house projects but we did have to keep up with
it. We got all sorts of rubbish (hundreds of chess or checkers variants, for
example), lots of things in violation of copyright (e.g., games using
Tarzan, for which we held no license, or Monopoly spinoffs) and just lots
of poorly conceived or badly written RPG modules. But you never knew
when you might strike a vein of gold, so we made the attempt to sift
through everything that seemed to offer possibilities.

We actually played a few very intriguing games — an very nice abstract

strategy boardgame named Epaminondas comes to mind, it had been
self-published by the designer and looked very professional already, not
like the usual typescripts and cardstock boards — and were able to offer
encouragement to a number of young designers, some of whom I believe
went on to work in the business. There are probably modules published
after my time that had their genesis in that office. (Not to mention the
concepts or outlines that I submitted as designer that were retained by
TSR after I left and reworked by other people.) Following the
reorganization and staff “purges” of April 1981, the Development section
was abolished and its responsibilities folded into Design or Production. I
moved into the Design section, where I remained until I left the company
in September 1981. My general duties didn’t change very much in this
time; I continued to do a mix of editing/development and original
design, such as the Remember the Alamo! minigame (a dreadful game
constricted by format limitations; I’m sorry about this!)
ROGUE FEED
R.I.P.
JUN 25, 2009 08:29P.M.
The King of Pop is Dead.
Long live the King.
Micael Jackson
1958-2009
Posted in Life Tagged: thoughts
ROGUE FEED
The Dangers of Imitation
JUN 25, 2009 11:23A.M.
I’m in the midst of re-reading S.T. Joshi’s excellent The Rise and Fall of
the Cthulhu Mythos, a survey of the writings of both Lovecraft and his
successors, which advances a well-argued and (largely) convincing thesis
about which stories hold most true to Lovecraft’s esthetic and
philosophical visions. In his epilogue to the book, Joshi states the
following:
In the youthful writer, sedulous imitation can serve as a
valuable stepping-stone to the development of literary skills
that can be put to better use elsewhere; for the experienced
writer who seeks to mine Lovecraftian conceptions in a work
purporting to have independent aesthetic value, the exercise
can result in an augmentation of power and distinctiveness if
those conceptions are used within the framework of the
author’s own aesthetic vision. Samuel Johnson’s blunt axiom,
“No man ever became great by imitation,” remains true more
than two centuries after its utterance. But those writers who
do something more than mere imitation of Lovecraft have a
chance to produce work that will live, and deserve to live.

This quote struck a chord with me, because, in the old school movement,

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the shadow of Gygax (and, to a lesser extent, Arneson) looms every bit as
large as does that of Lovecraft in the realm of cosmic horror fiction. The
shadow of TSR itself is similarly impressive and rightly so. In all of these
cases, there’s good reason that we look to the past for inspiration.
Goodness knows I do it all the time and one of the pillars on which this
blog is built is that the hobby needs to know more about its own history.
in the tried, true, and familiar. By the same token, there’s much to be
gained by striking out on one’s own and I really do want to see more of
that. I can guarantee you’ll be seeing more of it from me in the days and
weeks to come. There’s a difference between knowing and honoring the
past and being forever cast in darkness by its shadow.

At the same time, as I’ve said before, I see a danger in the way many old
school products use past products as explicit models, right down to the
trade dress, typeface, and layout. I am nostalgic about the look of
products from 1979 too, but I worry that the fixation a lot of us have with ROGUE FEED
a very specific look only serves to lend ammunition to those who’d
dismiss the entire old school movement as nothing more than nostalgia First from the iPhone
run amok. I would hate to see that happen any more than it already does, JUN 25, 2009 10:47A.M.
which is why I’d much prefer to see less imitation and more inspiration.
So I got my iPhone last night. You know what this means? Yeah me
The same holds true not just for presentation but for content. Joshi either. Here is a picture of my co-worker. He does nothing but hang
quotes from an article by David E. Schulz called, “Who Needs the around.
‘Cthulhu Mythos’?” and there’s again some relevance for the old school
renaissance:

... the pseudomythological elements to which Lovecraft

referred were only part of the fictional background of his
stories. They were never the subject of his stories, but rather
part of the background against which the main action
occurred. That is to say, Lovecraft did not write about
Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Necronomicon, or any of the other
places or creatures or books in his stories. The subjects of his
stories was typically the small place that man occupies in the
uncaring cosmos, and his fictional creatures were only part of
the means by which he sought to demonstrate that.

That’s the other danger inherent in imitation: the conflation of elements

intended to support content with the content itself. That’s why I am
(generally) much happier with material that has its own integrity and
doesn’t depend too much on what came before to provide context. Again,
I find myself guilty on this score, so I don’t mean to single anyone out
here. I know all too well the desire to pay homage to one’s personal
gaming past by recreating it in some form.

Lately, though, I’m finding that unsatisfactory, or at least insufficiently

satisfactory, which is why I’ve been much more interested in blazing my
own trails through the wilderness rather than merely walking the same
well-trodden paths of my youth. Dwimmermount, for example, was
never intended to be a recreation of “the way things were” back in 1974,
even if I did begin the campaign by trying to start off in a similar place. Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: thoughts
But, having read a great deal about the way those early campaigns were
run, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have enjoyed them as much as I’ve
enjoyed Dwimmermount and that’s in large part because I’m doing
things my way and that way was formed not by a meticulous adherence
to what Gary or Dave did back in the day but by what I am doing right
now.

Don’t misunderstand me: there’s certainly nothing wrong with covering

the same ground as others have already done and there’s genuine value

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ROGUE FEED
A little hero
JUN 25, 2009 10:37A.M.
A little hero.
This was Capt. Carnes, officer of the day, who communicated the fact of
Champe’s desertion to Major Lee.
ROGUE FEED
And listen to the story
JUN 25, 2009 10:36A.M.
And listen to the story.
The following is taken from Lee’s Memoirs:
General Washington, on his return to the army, immediately sent for
Major Lee. This officer, on repairing to head-quarters, found the general
alone in his marquee busily engaged in writing. As soon as he entered, a
bundle of papers was laid before him for perusal, in which he found
much information tending to prove that Arnold was not alone in the
conspiracy, but that among others, a major-general, whose name was not
concealed, was as guilty as Arnold himself. It was for the purpose of
forming a plan to ascertain the truth of these suggestions, as well as for
the capture of Arnold, that Washington had summoned Lee, and the
project was known to them alone. ” It is my desire,” said Washington, ”
to probe to the bottom the intelligence contained in the papers you have
just read ; to seize Arnold, and by securing him, to render it possible for
me to restore the amiable and unfortunate Andre to his friends. Have
you, in your legion, a person capable and willing to undertake a delicate
and dangerous project? Who ever comes forward, will lay me under great
personal obligations, and in behalf of the nation I will reward him.” Lee
suggested a sergeant of the cavalry as one in all respects qualified for the
adventurous scheme, ” being a man of tried courage and inflexible per
severance, and as likely to reject an overture coupled with ignominy as
any officer in the corps.” The general was delighted to find that a non-
commissioned officer was capable of carrying out*his views, and Lee
returned to camp with his instructions to confer with Champe, as it was
the design he should set off that night. After a long consultation, Champe
was prevailed upon to undertake the enterprise. The instructions were
read to him, and from them he prepared notes so disguised as to be
understood only by himself. Arnold was upon no account to be injured,
but to be allowed to escape rather than to be killed in preventing such an
event. It was the desire of Washington to make a public example of him.
No time was lost. Champe immediately prepared himself and his horse
for the journey, and a little before midnight, mounted to pursue his way
to Paulus Hook. Within half an hour Captain Carnes, officer of the day,
repaired to the quarters of Major Lee, and told him that the guard had
fallen in with a dragoon, who, upon being questioned, put spurs to his
9
29 June 2009
horse and escaped; at the same time requesting orders for the pursuit.
The major, who had assured Champe, that, in the event of his desertion
being discovered before morning, he would delay the pursuit as long as
possible, tried every device to accomplish it. He complained of the
disturbance of his sleep, and suggested the probability of its being a
countryman on his way home, or some soldier gone out on a tour of
personal plea sure. Captain Carnes then returned to his quarters,
paraded the troops and found one sergeant missing, of which he hastily
informed Major Lee. Some delay was occasioned by these movements.
Champe had been gone but an hour, when the troopers, under the
command of a cornet, set off on the chase. A shower of rain had fallen
soon after the sergeant s departure, which enabled the dragoons to take
his trail. On they spurred, stopping occasionally during the darkness of
the night, to examine the foot-prints of the fugitive’s horse.* When
morning broke, no longer forced to halt, they passed on rapidly.
Ascending the summit of a bill, a few miles north of the village of Bergen,
they descried Champe, not more than half a mile in front. He at the same
time discovering them, put spurs to his horse, determined they should
not overtake him The cornet now put his horses to the top of their speed,
arid recollecting a short route through the woods, sent a party off that
way, to intercept the road at a bridge below Bergen, while he with the
remainder followed Champe. Being so closely pursued, Champe
relinquished his intention of going to Paulus Hook, and sought refuge in
some British galleys, that had for a long time occupied a station a few
miles west of Bergen. On his entering the village he disguised his track by
taking the beaten streets, and after passing through it, took the road
leading to Elizabethtown. Meanwhile the cornet s party had readied the
bridge, and found, with sore disappointment, the sergeant had slipped
through their fingers. Returning up the road, they inquired whether a
dragoon had been seen in the village, but could get no intelligence as to
the road he had taken. The troops soon spread over the village, and in a
short time again struck the trail. The chase was renewed with greater
vigor, arid Champe was soon discovered. He, apprehending the event,
had prepared himself for it, as he now had come abreast the galleys.
Leaving his horse, and lashing his valise to his shoulders, he threw
himself into the river and called out to the galleys for aid. This was
quickly given. The British fired on the cornet s party, and sent a boat to
meet Champe, who was taken on board and conveyed to New York, with
a letter from the captain relating the facts of the case. The cornet
returned to camp in the afternoon, when the soldiers, seeing the
sergeant’s horse in his possession, exclaimed, ” The scoundrel is killed
and the honor of our corps vindicated.”
When Champe arrived at New York, he delivered the letter from the
captain of the gallay to the commandant, and was soon sent to Sir Henry
Clinton. He detained him more than an hour, questioning him in
reference to the state of the army since the desertion of Arnold, the
probable fate of Andre, and the popularity of Washington, all of which he
answered warily. Placing two guineas in his hand, he advised Champe to
visit Arnold. On seeing him, the traitor expressed great satisfaction, and
pressed him to join a new legion he was raising. After some delay,
Champe enlisted, for the purpose of securing the freedom of Arnold s
house, which would further the plans of taking him when the time should
arrive.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 29 June 2009

He now turned his attention to the delivery of letters he had brought, to
the agents of Washington. On the following night he delivered one, but it
was not until five days after he saw the person to whom the other was
addressed, and who was to aid him in the capture of Arnold. While these
things were transpiring, Andre was hung. Nothing now remained but to
seize and deliver Arnol ! safely to Major Lee, who at an appointed time,
was to be ready on the Jersey shore to receive him. Champe, from his
enlistment, had every opportunity to notice the habits of Arnold. He
discovered it was his custom to visit the garden on his return home every
night. During this visit he was to be seized, gagged and carried into an
adjoining alley, where Champe s friends were to receive and bear him to
a boat in the North river.
On the night appointed, Major Lee left camp, with a body of cavalry and
three led horses, one for Arnold, one for Champe, and a third for his
friend ; never doubting the success of the adventure. The party reached
Hoboken about midnight, and concealed them selves in an adjoining
wood. Lee, with three dragoons, went down to the bank of the river. The
night passed away, and no boat approached, when Lee returned to camp,
much chagrined and disappointed at the issue of the project.
Soon after, Lee received a letter from the friend of Champe, informing
him that on the very night appointed for the execution of the plot, Arnold
had removed his quarters to another part of the town, to superintend the
embarkation of troops, and the corps to which Champe belonged had
already gone oa board the transports. Thus it happened that Sergeant
Champe, instead of crossing the Hudson with his prisoner, was quietly
placed on board a British transport, which he never departed from until
the troops under Arnold landed in Virginia.
On the junction with Cornwallis, Champe deserted, passing into North
Carolina and keeping within the friendly districts of that State, safely
joined the American army, near the Congaree river. His old comrades
were surprised to see a deserter so affectionately received by Major Lee,
but after his story was told, cheer upon cheer went up for “the intrepid
and gallant sergeant.”
ROGUE FEED
SERGEANT CHAMPE
JUN 25, 2009 09:51A.M.
Sergeant John Champe
“(A) native of London county, in Virginia, rather above the ordinary size,
full of physical power, with a countenance grave and thoughtful.” He
enlisted in the Continental army at the age of nineteen, where he served
with honor to himself and the corps to which he belonged. He was
honorably discharged from service, by Gen. Washington, on the
conclusion of his hazardous adventure, lest he might be taken by the
enemy and hung ; and soon after retired to his home in London county.
In 1798 he removed to Kentucky, where he remained until the time of his
death.
ROGUE FEED
Sergeant Champe, 1780
JUN 25, 2009 09:50A.M.
The adventure of this gallant officer, commemorated in the subjoined
ballad, is connected with the conspiracy of Arnold. The authorship of the
song is unknown, as is the case of very many of the finest productions of
the Revolutionary period. It was adapted to the air of Barbara Allen, and
sung very generally, at home and in the camp, during the last years of the
Revolution.
SERGEANT CHAMPE
COME sheathe your swords ! my gallant boys,
And listen to the story,
How Sergeant Champe, one gloomy night,
Set off to catch the tory.

• The shoes of the horses were all made in the same form; which, You see the general had got mad,
with a private mark annexed to the fore shoe, and known to the To think his plans were thwarted,
troopers, pointed out the trail of the dragoons to each other, which And swore by all, both good- and bad,
was often very useful. That Arnold should be carted.

So unto Lee he sent a line,

And told him all his sorrow,
And said that he must start the hunt,
Before the coming morrow.

Lee found a sergeant in his camp,

Made up of bone and muscle,
Who ne’er knew fear, and many a year
With tories had a tussle.

Bold Champe, when mounted on old Kip,

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All button’d up from weather, To send his galleys cruising,

Sang out, “good bye!” crack d off his whip, And so it happened just then,
And soon was in the heather. That two were at Van Deusen’s.

He gallop’d on towards Paulus Hook, Strait unto these the sergeant went,
Improving every instant — And left old Rip, all standing,
Until a patrol, wide awake, A waiting for the blown cornet,
Descried him in the distance. At Squire Yan Deusen s landing.

On coming up, the guard call’d out The troopers didn’t gallop home,
And ask’d him where he’s going But rested from their labors ;
To which he answer’d with his spur, And some ‘tis said took gingerbread
And left him in the mowing. And cider from the neighbors.

The bushes pass’d him like the wind, Twas just at eve the troopers reach’d
And pebbles flew asunder. The camp they left that morning.
The guard was left far, far behind, Champe’s empty saddle, unto Lee,
All mix’d with mud and wonder. Gave an unwelcome warning.

Lee’s troops paraded, all alive, “If Champe has suffered, ‘tis my fault;”
Although ‘twas one the morning, So thought the generous major :
And counting o’er a dozen or more, “I would not have his garment touch’d,
One sergeant is found wanting. For millions on a wager!”

A little hero, full of spunk, “The cornet told him all he knew,
But not so full of judgment, Excepting of the cider.
Press’d Major Lee to let him go, The troopers, all, spurr’d very well
With the bravest of his reg’ment. But Champe was the best rider!”

Lee summon’d cornet Middleton, And so it happen’d that brave Champe

Expressed what was urgent, Unto Sir Hal deserted,
And gave him orders how to go Deceiving him, and you, and me,
To catch the rambling sergeant. And into York was flirted.

Then forty troopers, more or less, He saw base Arnold in his camp,
Set off across the meader ; Surrounded by the legion,
‘Bout thirty-nine went jogging on And told him of the recent prank
A-following their leader. That threw him in that region.

At early morn, adown a hill Then Arnold grinu’d, and rubb’d his hands,
They saw the sergeant sliding; And e’enmost chok’d with pleasure,
So fast he went, it was not ken’t. Not thinking Champe was all the while
Whether he s rode, or riding. A “taking of his measure.”

None looked back, but on they spurr’d, “Come now,” says he, “my bold soldier,
A-gaining every minute. As you’re within our borders,
To see them go, ‘twould done you good, Let’s drink our fill, old care to kill,
You’d thought old Satan in it. To-morrow you ll have orders.”

The sergeant miss’d ‘em, by good luck, Full soon the British fleet set sail !
And took another tracing, Say ! wasn’t that a pity?
He turn’d his horse from Paulus Hook, For thus it was brave Sergeant Champe
Elizabethtown facing. Was taken from the city.

It was the custom of Sir Hal To southern climes the shipping flew.

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And anchored in Virginia, For me this is one of those books that I am glad I own and have read, and
When Champe escaped and join’d his friends the reason is that it reminds me why I love his writing. I think the reason
Among the picininni. I love this collection is that other than one short story, none of the
Eternal Champions are here. What is here, is some truly great pieces.
Base Arnold’s head, by luck, was sav’d,
Poor Andre was gibbeted, Behold the Man is one of my favorite novellas. I have an edition which
Arnold s to blame for Andre s fame, was collected and revised back in the late 90’s, but in this collection the
And Andre s to be pitied. original version is reprinted. I never read the original version prior to
this collection, and I am glad I did. Tighter, crisp, the message and action
is direct and personally more powerful. London Bone, which was new to
me, is another one that hit me and is a story I have reread at least twice
already. The reason is the concept and the pacing, and I enjoyed the
ROGUE FEED twists this took. Also included in this collection is one of my favorite
stories, and one that has a lot of meaning to me A Winter General.
Two collections from two great
I have been through a lot over the past nine years. Loved ones have died,
writers friends who became brothers or sisters to me have died, and I have taken
JUN 25, 2009 06:45A.M. a lot of hits. A Winter General is a story that I have read a lot over the
years and it has given me hope. What stands out about this story is that it
Over the past few weeks I have been reading two books, which are short is not fantastical or genre. It is a mundane character portrait and for me
story collections. Both books could not be any more different, and one is powerful. It is this story, more than any of his others, which marks
author was new to me. What books were I reading? The Best of Michael Moorcock as a great writer. Fans of Moorcock should have this book,
Moorcock by the aforementioned Michael Moorcock, and The Midnight readers curios as to what Moorcock is like as a writer should read this
Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane, but Karl Edward Wagner. book. You will never see a better collection spanning the life of a writer
as good as this one.

Those who know me, know that Moorcock is perhaps my favorite writer.
He ranks higher than Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Ellison, and Flannery
O’Connor. The reason for this is due to the volume of styles and genres
I have never read any Wagner. I have copies of both of Night Shade
Moorcock touches and writes in. A lot of these stories found in this book
Books‘ collection of his writings, but they were buried on the shelves in
I have read and have in my library, but a few of them were new to me.
my library, and between the three moves Ariana and I had, just got

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pushed to the side. With James and I working on a new game, I have
been reading a lot of Howard, Lovecraft and others, and it was during a
phone conversation with James that I asked him a simple question:
“Should I read Wagner?” The response was an enthusiastic yes, quickly
followed by some envy that I had both Night Shade Books, which
according to James are rare and hard to come by.
Anyway, since I was in a short story frame of mind, I tackled the short
story collection (I have just started the collected novels) and quickly
learned why James was so enthusiastic about my reading Wagner. He is
good. Really good. I am not much of a genre fan. I read very little fantasy
and even few Sci-Fi. Partly because work in genres, but
mostly because after awhile it all reads the same. Though my bias is
known, I read as much Howard, Lovecraft, Leiber, Smith and whatever
else James recommends.
I dig Wagner and I dig Kane. These stories (Lacunae, Deep in the
Depths of the Acme Warehouse and At First Just Ghostly I just did not
like) really clicked with me. I love the tone, and the sense of decay.
Kane’s world is a bleak one, and though there might be periods of
pleasure, for the most part, life is a slog. Wagner is a good writer,
sometimes as in Undertow, he is a really great writer. it is rare as a
reader that you “discover” a writer for yourself, and in the case of
Wagner I am glad I did.
Two great reads, two great books, and two I plan on reading again and
again.
Posted in books, thoughts Tagged: review — books, thoughts, writing
ROGUE FEED
I am a gamer
JUN 24, 2009 06:43P.M.
I am a gamer. Games have been a major part of my life for as long as I
can remember.
I grew up playing such classics as Candy Land, Mousetrap, Monopoly,
and too many others to mention. I remember when I was in the third
grade I devised a game using my Star Wars figures. Gluing Lincoln Logs
on a large piece of cardboard, the goal was to rescue Princess Leia and
escape the Death Star. I played this game for hours with my friends,
laughing at the truly nasty death cards we made up.
It was not until I entered the 6th grade that I discovered Dungeons &
Dragons. I had no idea what this game was. There was no board. Instead
there were six funny shaped die. It was the summer of 1983 when my
best friend Clayton took the role of Dungeon Master and escorted our
little band into the terror known as Keep on the Borderlands.
The summer was spent either playing soccer of braving the horrors that
Clayton came up with. This was not art; this was a group of kids having a
13
29 June 2009
grand time using their imagination. It was also a group of kids who used
this new game to propel them to study.
I was always a good student, but it was not until I started playing that I
was charged with the task to learn everything and anything related to the
middle ages. I wanted to know as much as I could, and my friends and I
competed to see who could learn more.
As I grew up my taste in games changed. I still played D&D, but
branched into Top Secret, Star Frontiers, and Boot Hill. It was not until
a friend bought a copy of the Middle Earth Role Play that I broke out of
the TSR ghetto I was stuck in. This one game opened more doors to me
then I would ever know.
MERP, lead to Villains & Vigilantes, which lead to Bushido, which lead
to more games then you can possibly guess. My taste varied with age,
and I even remember the one summer when I played Rolemaster almost
religiously. I can safely say that the mind numbing charts would forever
sour me on overly complicated games. (Well that summer and the
Rolemaster game I played at Gen Con in 1989).
There were some games that I became hooked on and stuck with for
longer then I care to admit. Marvel Superheroes, is one example of this,
while Ars Magica is another. You can not get much further apart in style
and content than these two games. Yet at the time they were what I was
looking for.
With MSH, I got fast paced super hero action, and was able to tell the
stories that I wanted to. I changed rules to fit my vision, and ignored a
lot of what was going on in the comic book world. With Ars Magica, my
love for story telling was filled, and I bought into the concept of a shared
gaming experience. I loved the setting, and for me this is how magic
should be. Sadly I grew tired of the game and found myself researching
more about the Middle Ages and less time writing stories to entertain my
friends.
Then there was Warhammer Fantasy Role Play. To this day I still do not
know what it is about WFRP that first attracted me to it. The magic
system was not finished, Games Workshop released product of
various quality, and then simply killed the game to make room for the
lead figure juggernaut. The game languished for five-years until
Hogshead took the licenses and slowly began to release new product.
The one thing that stands out for me is the world Warhammer FRP is set
in. The world was deliciously dark and filled with hopelessness. Chaos
hides behind most things, and often times the only differences between
the “heroes” and villains is that the heroes are PCs. This is a world of
nightmares, a world without heroes. It is a world with a sick sense of
dark humor.
Regardless of what games were consuming my attention, two stayed with
me, and were played regularly.
One is D&D. Not AD&D, but D&D. Here is a game that was self
contained and allowed the DM to do what he wanted. From the old Basic
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
and Expert sets, to D&D Rules Cyclopedia, I ran a campaign that lasted
from 1985 to 1998. This game gave me the tools to make my own world,
and ignored the ever increasing volumes from AD&D.
The other game? Pacesetter’s Chill. Oh man, how I love this game. The
rules might not be the greatest, but the sheer wealth of cool bits and
ideas is something I still return to. Even today, even though I have my
own horror game of Colonial Gothic, I still run occasional one or two
session games of Chill. Hell, one of the earlier versions of the game that
became Colonial Gothic, used Chill. I love this game.
Game systems come and go and my taste in games seem to change every
day, but it is these two games that I keep finding myself returning to time
and time again.
Posted in Games, Life, thoughts Tagged: colonial gothic, Games,
Gaming, thoughts
ROGUE FEED
Dwimmermount, Session 14
JUN 24, 2009 10:42A.M.
The most recent session of Dwimmermount was one of those sessions.
Anyone who’s run a longstanding campaign knows what I’m talking
about. It’s not that the session wasn’t fun or that nothing transpired
during the time we played it, because neither of those things is true.
Indeed, the party ventured further into the current level and made a
number of possibly significant discoveries, chief among them being that
Dwimmermount was used at some point as a monastery devoted to the
Thulian god of magic, Turms Termax. Granted, they had suspected this
for some time, but the preponderance of religious artifacts, monastic
cells, and ritual chambers more or less confirmed it.
It’s also not that the session was devoid of “action.” The characters
continued to encounter vermin, such as giant spiders and centipedes, as
well as hobgoblins and an increasing number of undead, albeit of a
mindless variety. There were traps to be overcome and secret doors to be
found and all the usual obstacles one would expect of a megadungeon.
The characters have also finally begun to find some valuable treasure,
not the paltry copper and silver coins they have found in large numbers
to date. Brother Candor acquired a stash of clerical scrolls for future use,
as well as some potions, which will come in handy. And Dordagdonar
and Iriadessa inched ever closer to advancing a level.
But Session 14 was a classic “just a bunch of stuff that happened” session
and my players were fine with that. That’s the nature of RPG campaigns
in my experience: not every session is a roller coaster ride of excitement.
That level of intensity is neither sustainable week after week nor, in my
opinion, desirable. “Slow” sessions are valuable. They give everyone a
chance to catch their breath and they’re very low maintanence for the
referee. I didn’t have to come up with impromptu NPC personalities or
describe an entire quarter of the city-state because the PCs wandered off
14
29 June 2009
on some whim. I could simply use my notes to the dungeon and proceed
more or less as planned without much hassle, which I appreciated. I
should note too that my players seem to do so as well. It being Father’s
Day, our contingent was smaller than usual and the social aspect of the
evening loomed larger than usual. This was a “comfort” dungeon crawl —
something to pass the time without placing too much of a burden on
either my players or myself.
I am loath to compare long-term campaigning to anything in the real
world, since I know from hard experience that one or more people will
misread my intention. Therefore, I will be vague and simply say that, in
life, there are many long-term, emotionally-engaging commitments into
which one can enter. To expect that those commitments will each and
every time generate the same kind of passion and intensity is a recipe for
disappointment. Sometimes — often — one is simply content and
perhaps even grateful that the level of emotional engagement has
subsided to less thrilling levels. I doubt that human beings can be
ecstatic 24/7, 365 days a year and I rather suspect that, if they tried,
they’d make themselves an emotional wreck in fairly short order.
The absence of constant esctasy is not an indication that a campaign is
failing or that it’s grown stale. It could be, but, in my experience, it’s
mostly an indication that a campaign is growing comfortable and that
players and referee alike have settled in to a pleasant routine. Now,
routines must be broken from time to time and I certainly don’t advocate
allowing a campaign to fall into a rut. No one wants that. However, we
need to be sure to distinguish between comfortability and staleness. The
two are not the same and to confuse them has, I fear, brought a
premature end to many a campaign on the verge of having the staying
power that leads to long-term satisfaction.
I think a lot of gamers are too impatient to let a campaign find its feet
and they bolt at the first sign of things becoming “boring.” By many
measures, my last session was “boring,” because it consisted mostly of
mapping and some scattered combats, few of which had any greater
significance and none of which were all that dangerous to the PCs.
Nevertheless, I think last session was important and contributed to the
health of the campaign, even though nothing particularly exciting
transpired. But, months from now, as the campaign has unfolded
further, no one will remember Session 14’s dullness. If they remember it
at all, it’ll be for its significance in the ex post facto “story” of exploring
the megadungeon, a story they themselves helped to create through their
shared memories of time spent around my dining room table imagining
a world not their own.
Nothing of great import may have happened in the game, but I can
assure you something of great import happened in my home this past
weekend: my friends and I got together and gamed.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 29 June 2009

ROGUE FEED available as free electronic downloads at this site, thanks to the kindness
of their current copyright holder, Reaper Miniatures). So, when I saw
Retrospective: Swordbearer this odd little boxed game, which proclaimed its contents to be “realistic,
JUN 24, 2009 08:20A.M. fast-playing, complete, expandable,” I picked it up, hoping to find a game
to cure my D&D malaise.

I read Swordbearer with great relish. Consisting of three landscape-

format books of varying length (illustrated throughout with black and
white art by the then-unknown Denis Loubet), Swordbearer wasn’t quite
what I expected. The game has no classes, being a skill-based one in
which any character can conceivably learn any skill. The system isn’t
particularly complex by today’s standards, but it seemed a fair bit more
involved than D&D. That made it harder for me to get into it than I’d
hoped, but I soldiered through nonetheless. The magic system is
interesting and based on a node system that’s inspired by a modified
version of Asian elemental theory. There’s also spirit magic that’s based
on the four humors of classical Western medicine.

What set Swordbearer apart, though, was its broader “social” focus than
D&D. There were many, many more playable intelligent races, including
the bunrabs, an obvious nod to designer Dennis Sustare‘s earlier Bunnies
& Burrows RPG. This made it possible to create a campaign that felt very
different than the implied pseudo-medieval setting of most of the fantasy
RPGs with which I was familiar at the time. There were also rules about
social status that tied into the game’s abstract wealth system, as well as
The early 80s were a funny time in gaming, both for me personally and
just what being a member of a particular social class meant in the
for the hobby generally. By “funny,” I mean a combination of
context of the game world.
“interesting” and “unusual.” Gaming, particularly fantasy gaming, was
now firmly ensconced as a popular pastime, with everyone trying to cash
All of this may seem like old hat nowadays, but, in 1982, it was a
in on the craze. And there was lots of experimentation with different
revelation to me and it gave Swordbearer a “serious” feel to it that both
rules, formats, styles of presentation, and so on.
impressed and frightened me at the same time. I very much wanted to
play Swordbearer, but didn’t think I was “good enough” a referee to do
The result was a kaleidoscope effect, making my visits to places like The
so, a feeling I’d also gotten from RuneQuest, another game I owned but
Compleat Strategist simultaneously exhilarating and confusing. What
never really managed to play. Looking back on it now, I feel bad I never
were all these different games and which ones would I like? There were
had the chance to try out Swordbearer with my friends. I think, even
reviews in Dragon and White Dwarf, of course, as well as the opinions of
though the gravitational pull of D&D ultimately proved irresistible, my
the guys in the game store, but, even then, I knew that reviews didn’t tell
gaming would have benefitted a lot from having had the chance to test
the whole story and that the opinions of reviewers didn’t always jibe with
out some of Swordbearer‘s innovations.
my own preferences.

After my recent interview with its designer, I dusted off my copy from
There was also the fact that, then as now, D&D exerted a strange effect
the garage and have begun re-reading it and it’s quite the trip down
over most gamers. By 1982, D&D was starting to feel a little “stale” to me
memory lane. It’s also sparking some ideas in my head that might see use
and I was keen for new gaming horizons. It’s not that I didn’t play other
in my Dwimmermount campaign. Copies of the game pop up on eBay
RPGs — I did, particularly Traveller and Call of Cthulhu — but D&D was
fairly regularly and the ghost of Fantasy Games Unlimited (which
my introduction into the hobby and had left its mark on my imagination
published the game’s second edition) sells both PDF and print copies
in a way no other game ever would. Consequently, even when I was
here. You might consider picking up a copy, if only to see firsthand some
looking to replace D&D with another game, D&D was still there in my
of the diversity the gaming of the early 80s had. It really was a magical
mind. It was the game against which I was judging other games and I
time, both for the hobby and the industry, and we shall not see its like
know now that that probably lessened my ability to give other RPGs the
again.
fair shake they deserved.

It was in this context that Swordbearer entered my life. I knew Heritage

Models quite well, having purchased many of their miniatures and
having enjoyed their Dwarfstar microgames like Barbarian Prince and
Outpost Gamma (both of which, along with the rest of the line are

15
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 29 June 2009

ROGUE FEED And to answer the question I know many of you have. The 13 Colonies
and Natives are covered in the next chapter, Chapter 8. There is a logic
[13 Chapter in 13 Weeks]
to the layout.
Chapter 7. The chapter you get a
In all Chapter 7 is a tight chapter filled with the bits and pieces that aid
lot of background. both the player and GM in running and playing the game. I really like
JUN 24, 2009 07:13A.M. this chapter, and I hope others do as well.

Two posts this week about Colonial Gothic Revised. Earlier this week I
talked about the short stories written by Jennifer Brozek that are found
in the book. Today I want to talk about the next chapter, Chapter 7. ROGUE FEED

Chapter 7 begins a major section of the game: background material.
Though background — be it historical and setting — is found throughout
earlier chapters, starting with Chapter 7, background takes center
stage. So what does this chapter cover? Well the title explains it all:
“Player’s Guide to the Colonies.”
One of the things I wanted to do with Colonial Gothic Revised was
address a lot of criticisms I received about the first edition. That criticism
was that there was not a lot in the first book talking about the world of
the colonists. Little things people wanted to see was discussions about
religions, education and the like. For me, I wrongly assumed that gamers
and GMs new as much as I did about the period. I also assumed that
those who wanted to know about the period would do research. I
assumed wrongly on this, and for that reason when I decided to tackle
Colonial Gothic Revised, the first thing I wanted to do was make the
period as accessible as I could. Chapter 7 is an example of how I did
this. The goal with Chapter 7 was to give all the information a player
and GM would need about the period. This is not indepth, and if you
want to know more about the period reading a few of the books found in
the Bibliography are good places to start. Still this chapters answers
questions like:
Colonial Gothic Revised — Proof
in hand
JUN 23, 2009 08:28P.M.
At exactly 5:00 PM CST today the doorbell at the Rogue Games
Compound was heard. When the elite crack security ninja team
returned they informed me that a Messenger in Brown had delivered a
package. Said package, once inspected, was the proof of Colonial Gothic:
Rulebook aka Colonial Gothic Revised.
So how does it look? Awesome.
Said book is thicker than the first version, hell it is thicker that Thousand
Suns, and looks so much better. Ariana, upon seeing the proof, had one
word to say: “Wow.”
Book will be printed sometime this week and then it wings it ways to the
warehouses.

• What was the education like? ROGUE FEED

• Can my hero go to a library? Colonial Gothic Revised: The

• What were the main religions? first review
JUN 23, 2009 05:46P.M.
• How do you get from Point A to Point B?
Robot Viking has the first review of Colonial Gothic Revised. You can
I answer these questions, as well as others, and give you enough to use to read it here. I am a happy person right now.
create your hero, or as a GM, to throw in details. One of the larger
sections in this chapter is the one dealing with Religion. I included this >
because it is an important topic and and important detail about the
period.

Also found here is a long discussion about magic and alchemy. Unlike
the sections found in the earlier parts of the chapter, this is where
Colonial Gothic’s background comes in. It is with the magic discussion
that you start to see what I mean about the secret history of the game.
There is a lot of historical truth in the section, but there are also touches
to things that happened in the background.

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 29 June 2009

ROGUE FEED

Gaming as a Social Occasion

JUN 23, 2009 01:36P.M.

It was suggested in the comments to another post of mine that I run a

“tight ship” when it comes to my gaming sessions given how much we
accomplish each week, but the reality is quite different. As I explained,
most of our gaming sessions run about six hours, of which no more than
half of that time is spent sitting at my dining room table and rolling dice.

There are many reasons for this, but chief among them is that our
gaming sessions are an adjunct to friendly get-togethers. Because we’re
all adults with other distractions and responsibilities, our Sunday
afternoon meetings are our only occasions to see one another face to
face. Consequently, a goodly portion of our time is spent simply talking,
whether it be about our mundane activities or our gaming-related ones.
Likewise, we generally start play after dinner, which I make while I
talking with my friends about this or that. It’s a long-standing ritual
going back many years and I can’t imagine a more “business-like”
arrangement where my friends arrive and we simply start gaming right
away. That would feel wrong to me.

But that’s because, especially as an adult, I see gaming a social occasion,

a time to indulge in some much-needed conviviality with dear friends.
Even once we’re playing, our sessions are broken up with digressions,
interruptions, and other “frame-breaking” events that we simply accept
as part of the way we game nowadays. Looking back on my experiences
as a younger person, this isn’t really much of a change from the way we
used to game in the early days. The main difference is that we usually got
together for much longer stretches of time and we generally didn’t make
our own food. We often did have lunch or dinner together before we
gamed. Such gatherings often involved my friend’s older brother and/or
father playing with us, so they were especially well liked and remain
powerful memories of the best that this hobby offers.

So, in truth, my sessions tend to be rather rambling and unfocused,

because we treat gaming as but one part, albeit an important one, of a
larger social occasion. I suspect the reason why it seems we accomplish
so much is that we’re all of a like mind when it comes to the campaign
and what we want out of it. Consequently, the exploration of the
dungeon is done fairly efficiently, with a designated leader and
cartographer both setting the pace for how things proceed. Likewise,
we’re all very experienced roleplayers, so we quite easily fall into
extended in-game conversations without the need for much prompting,
which helps move along most sessions as well. In short, we’ve all been
gaming for nearly three decades and that makes it possible to get a lot
done despite the distractions of its also being our only occasion to see
one another each week.

Of course, none of us would want to give up those distractions; they’re

half the reason why we get together at all.

17