Runester

GenCon2004

My friends and I just returned from four days in Indianapolis, Indiana … GenCon2004. The drive was great, the city was beautiful (more grand monuments and fun restaurants then you can shake a stick at), and the convention was fine.

My concern, was the “sameness” I felt at nearly all of the booths. Everyone seemed to be riding the D20 coattails of WotC or trying to compete by being an “ever so slightly” better D&D. I was looking for an RPG that was new, different, exciting, and unique … and found slim pickings.

Ironically, nearly all of the real innovation is taking place in the independent / self publishers booth, The Forge. Games like “My life with master” and “With great power” turn the standard RPG concepts on their head and push the limits of what kinds of stories you can tell, and how well you tell them. My friend Lxndr’s new game, Fastlane, was selling well, and also demonstrated the power of introducing a new concept (roulette wheel resource management & action resolution) to change the fundamental feel of the gaming experience.

In contrast to the brilliance displayed in abundance at The Forge booth, was a much slicker and better produced (more provocative art, fancy paper, $49 / book price!) game named Crimson Empire. This is a low magic fantasy game out of England, and I got to play a demo module. To be fair, it was highly playable, and the world concept was interesting and full of possibilities. On the other hand, it had that feeling of a homebrew D&D game, now in hardback. The author was a really nice guy, and he and his friends were really treating this like the labor of love that it is. But, their idea of “simplified” combat is not mine!

They repeatedly bragged about how they had reduced everything to a percentile roll (an old idea, used in Call of Cthulhu and before). In truth, combat went more like this: “you roll percentile to see if you hit, then the GM rolls percentile to see if the opponent can duck/dodge/parry, if not then you roll 1d20 to see where you hit (hit location), then you roll damage as 1d4 (or d6, d8, d10 etc.).” Further, skill tests were percentile, but characteristic checks (like a strength check to see if you can force a door open) was 1d20. Does this really sound like D&D simplified?

Maybe there is a little of bit of coevolution going on, because of the success of fantasy based games (D&D3E, M:TG) as well as the three blockbuster movies, “Lord of the Rings.” I saw only a little bit of sci-fi, and mostly as one possible game world for use in a universal game system (GURPS & EABA come to mind). And if this trend pulls more people into the hobby, then that’s A-OK with me. When they get tired of rolling fistfulls of dice, playing one of the same three characters, and questing after dragon hoards … The Forge will be there, offering something radically different, much more mature, and somehow deeply satisfying!