Life and Gaming

First, this probably won't be of much interest to you. It's more in the classic vein of egocentric blog entries--this is my life kind of thing. Anyway, I haven't died. I have had some health concerns, which they seem to be finally getting on top of. We'll know for sure when I'm off steroids--hopefully before my man-boobs get too big.

But I can't even claim that my health is the main reason I haven't been writing. No, that honor goes to my job--blech. To make a rather long and boring story short, I finally decided to accept the School District's persistent offer to go into administration. I'm now in the classroom half the day and in the office playing Vice Principal half the day. I say half, but that half seems to be a full 72 hours a day. I have turned down these offers for years now. I simply knew I didn't want to to go into administration. I really prefer the classroom and teaching. Not to mention I can run the game club that way. Running the game club and administrating is nowhere near as easy. In fact having a life as an administrator is not easy. Not to mention that I've had to go back to school to finish my Masters and get certified as a principal. But the fact was we (our family) really needed the boost in earnings, so here I am.

My wife and I have homeschooled our children for the last six years. Seems kind of strange, me being in Public Education and all, but my wife and I are very involved in out of the box educational theory. I would love for the public education system to embrace more of these ideas, but that seems impossible in most cases. At any rate My wife and I grew very excited about the possibilities of what we could do with our children's education if we took over. We are both highly educated and capable, so we decided to give it a go. It went great--but I'll admit it is a ton of work, mainly for my wife by the way.

However, as the economy has squeezed us beyond our ability to deal, my wife decided to go to work. She got hired as a local private school teacher and my children enrolled there. And I went into administration in the Public system. We are both less happy with our situations, but the budget is no longer coming up short every month. So there's that.

Fact is I haven't been able to game at all. I barely have time to come home eat and collapse, let alone blog or game. It's been on my mind of course. I've bought some cool stuff recently. Finally got my copy of Lamentations of the Flame Princess along with some old school out of print stuff. But I still haven't read them! Then I got sick, and then there were house remodeling issues that came up in the middle of everything. Whew!

So, the point is--that's why I've been absent from the blog for oh, what? About 15 weeks now. Things have just been getting better lately though. I'm healing up, the kitchen is almost done, and I think I have a little better perspective on this VP thing. Not sure what the future is going to bring. I was given the option of going back to the classroom after this year if this didn't work out--so I'm brainstorming the possibilities there. And the kids at school are chomping at the bit for me to start the game club again. So who knows.

So, I'm more or less back. Maybe I can get an entry a week going again. Sundays seem to be a good day for that. Keep an eye out, I'll be around.

3d6 in Order: Advice on Creating AD&D Characters

Lest ye think AD&D is too hard ass about creating player characters, let's take a look at Gary's advice in the DMG about this very subject.

"As AD&D is an ongoing game of fantasy adventuring, it is important to allow participants to generate a viable character of the race and profession which he or she desires.While it is possible to generate some fairly playable characters by rolling 3d6, there is an often an extended period of attempts at finding a suitable one due to the quirks of the dice. Furthermore, these rather marginal characters tend to have short life expectancy--which tends to discourage new players, as does having to make do with some character of a race and/or class which he or she really can't or won't identify with. Character generation then, is a serious matter, and it is recommended that the following systems be used."

And thus was introduced to the gaming world four alternative methods of generating player ability scores. And note that the phrase is "it is recommended that the following systems be used." This was an expected change DMs were being asked to implement for the enjoyment of the player and the good of the game. It simply worked better to do it this way. This was a major change in the old 3d6 in order approach that had held sway for some time.

Oddly, an assumption of many old school players, or those coming to the old school way of doing things for the first time, is that 3d6 in order is the only way to do things truly old school. I suppose this was the only real presentation previous to AD&D for craeting attributes: 3d6 for each ability score recorded in order. But Gary had recognized the wisdom in allowing characters a chance to play the kind of PC they were interested in playing. True 0e and B/X play RAW was 3d6 in order.

But is that really "old school"? Old school has a bit of a reputation as being hard ass on any given rule decision. But this is an illusion and a myth. D&D is deadly period. A survey of online discussion on what is the deadliest RPG brings up many names, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu et al. But common consensus for sheer number of players dropped over the life of play: D&D takes the day without question. Let's face it D&D is a game of combat with PCs with not many hit points-even at higher levels. It is a deadly game. That, for one, contributes to the illusion that old school is hard ass.

This deadly aspect of play doesn't entirely go away in 3e either--it's still a pretty deadly game, just not as quite as pre 3e. But is the game really "unfair" or slighted against the player? Clearly not. Not if one heeds Gary's words. In this same section Gary explains that creating the PC's idea, history, personae and the like is in the hands of the creativity of the player. You get in mind the type of PC you want to play and you run with it. Don't let dice get in the way. In fact, the advice is NOT to have PCs use the NPC personae generation tables later in the book. Such things should not be randomly determined, but rather imagined by the player. Unless, he adds, the player really wants some aspect randomly determined for him. This is a divergence of some games that have endless random determination tables for player backgrounds, social class, history, quirks, flaws, familial ties etc etc. Gary had in mind that such PC depth would be determined by the player herself. This "lifepath" concept was actually introduced by other early games like Traveller and Harn--but was not designed to be an integral part of the D&D char gen concept.

Note also that in Gary's quote above, he says that when trying to generate a set of suitable ability scores for the type of player you want to play "there is often an extended period of attempts at finding a suitable one". What this implies to me is that Gary is not averse to throwing away a set of scores that aren't satisfactory and starting over. While this is seemingly not a problem in his eyes, he recommends better attribute generation systems. So how many times have we (I) told players "Nope sorry, that's what you rolled--you have to stick with it."? Well, not all the time for me, but a few. Thinking I was being the bastion of defense for true old school playing, I was in reality creating discouragement and disappointment among my players. Gary preferred we avoid this.

He did not however, drop random generation. Note that all methods elucidated in this section are still random methods. For some reason he felt this was important. He did not create a point allocation system, or a redistribution system where you sacrifice a point or two here to raise a score there. At least not in the DMG. The idea is to allow greater possibility in character creation while retaining a somewhat random approach. The implication for this being that players should be allowed to play the kind of PC they wanted while still randomly generating attribute scores.

The interesting thing is that we all know, due to race and class restrictions, some combinations were simply not possible. An Elvish Paladin simply didn't exist. And nowhere does Gary say ignoring those rules was acceptable. Though we all know many DMs did so with nary a thought. They also removed level restrictions. I'll admit I'm not an avid fan of race-class-level restrictions--but I haven't really formed a well reasoned opinion on that matter. Perhaps I'll address that in the future. Gary actually has much to say about it--always in defense of the concept of racial limitations.

The take away today is that AD&D is designed to allow players to play the type of character they want within what was allowed by the system. And attribute generation methods were not to stand in the way of fulfilling the desire of character concept. Something Gary hinted at time and time again is that the DM, not the dice, was the master of the game. Especially in his famous quote "DMs only roll the dice for the sound they make." And this, friends, is an enlightening reminder for me.

A Cornucopia of AD&D Goodness

It was my intent some weeks ago to go page by page through the AD&D books and comment on them as I go. Well, two things threw me off track. One was a real world matter--job promotion, lots of stuff going on there; the other was my growing commentary on almost each and every sentence of the DMG. I mean I hadn't gotten much past the table of contents and I was already stacking up my own pages of commentary. Exactly how was I ever to finish this if my thoughts ran on ad infinitum in response to each phrase Gary wrote down?

Well, the project deserves continuance, so I'm picking up the threads here. I'm not sure I'm gonna go about this like I have been or not. I don't know if brevity or expansiveness is best. So here I take a step back. I'll quote each area that struck me, and try and give a sentence or two of my thoughts in relation to these quotes from the original works. See, the real problem is that the words of the AD&D canon have so much to say, directly and implied to the current modern gaming world that we really should all go back and read the works for ourselves. I suppose I'm coming at it from the perspective of a lover of these works, and an avid aficionado of the AD&D game. Others, not so partial might not find the depth I inevitably uncover, but ah well--not everyone appreciates the Classics.

So without further ado, I present thoughts from the Table of Contents and the Preface to the Dungeon Masters Guide.

Table of Contents

• Note that the Table of Contents is laid out in exactly the same order as it is in the PHB. And that this order is intentional as a work of reference as mentioned before.
• Appendices and Tables are also clearly laid out and listed in the ToC as well
• The claim has been made that the organization of the material in these works could have been better, but actual use of the ToC shows how good this organization was for the first edition of a reference work.
• If you jump ahead to the preface he addresses this issue by saying he had done his best. He was breaking new ground with this work and extending it like it had never been done before.

Preface

• A rare view into the building of a game by the designer himself.
• Paragraph 2 makes the astounding claim that these works are the last and ultimate authority among a very creative and opinionated bunch ie gamers. 
• The need for uniformity in certain rules
• In class expression
• In abilities
• In problem solving approach
• That treasure and experience are held near a mean
• All in order to avoid Monty Haul or Killer Campaigns

• "With great risk comes great reward"
• "Intelligent play will give characters a fighting chance of survival"
• The DM is considered to come first, as he invests the time and retains mastery over the campaign
• Players, however, come in a close second and have a great responsibility for the success or failure of a campaign
•  The rules set down herein are "parameters" not strict rules
• What Gary is setting down and explaining in his preface is a rationale for the choices he's made for his rules. And that this is the most loosely stated structure he could make and still give just the level of complexity required to "conduct a campaign ... of the game 'world'".
• By the time he wrote this preface Gary and his fellow gamers had over 9 years of gaming experience. D&D had exploded onto the hobby scene and they had seen just about every manifestation of gaming problem occur and be resolved to one degree of success or another. In other words he had seen it all before, faced it and addressed it. It is folly and at the boldest hubris to think we are so much smarter than he and the early designers were. 
• He is essentially urging us to live with the level of unrealism and what some have called wonkiness because these are "essential to the system". Recall that he said AD&D "was a project which involved varying degrees of my thought, imagination, and actual working time over a period of more than a year and a half." And, I would add, much, much more play than that. Gary knows what needs to be in the system and doesn't make these choices arbitrarily.
• Two of the most common charges, attacks or complaints in fact are answered by Gary in this very Preface:
• Why class restrictions?
• "in order to give a varied and unique approach to each class when they play, as well as to play balance."

• Why race restrictions?
• "because the entire game would be drastically altered if it were otherwise."

• AD&D is carefully engineered to give a certain type of gaming experience. Screw with certain aspects of it and you change the whole game. The whole experience is different. And we wonder why so many old schoolers are dissatisfied with later iterations of the game.
• Everything "in the AD&D system has purpose."
• Either we believe him or we do not.
• Yet he also notes that a DM can bend just about everything in the game. And he urges us to "Read the work (or both works if you are a DM) through and assess for yourself what AD&D really is."
• The "true guidelines" as he calls them are the most minimal foundation for a "superior D&D campaign." Assuring us that all else has been left out as superfluous.
• Gary was always thanking the fans for their contact, support and questions. Gail his widow has also stated Gary loved it when fans would express thanks to him and D&D for inspiring them in their college studies, professions and life callings. His thanks at the close of his preface speak as much to that as anything.

Rest assured that Gary did not develop AD&D in isolation. It was his ultimate expression of the game. But as mentioned earlier he had faced all of the common problems known to gamers today. Alternate methods had been theorized, playtested, rule changes experimented with, different ways of doing things attempted. Gary knew what worked and what didn't work in order to achieve the Spirit of what AD&D is. Notice that Gary didn't say or imply that AD&D was different for whoever plays the game. Clearly there is AD&D and NOT AD&D. The rules he included by and large encompass that. This is something Gary returns to again and again in his work Roleplaying Mastery; that there is Spirit unique to AD&D and changes to the system must be undertaken carefully or else you will be playing something that is not AD&D.

It is within his preface, written once his trifecta was finally complete, that he urges us to read and play and discover the Spirit that is AD&D. My question for you is: Have you found it or have you lost it?