Trying to Spin Gold into Lead

Hey gang! Happy Nearly New Year to all!I want to thank everyone who commented (and those that didn't. My page hits are high recently. Don't be afraid to talk. I don't bite. What? Barkley's wants me to assure you that he most certainly does however) and showed an interest in Aliens and Astrobases. Rest assured it will be made. When and how remains to be seen.

Kobold commented, " So why wed yourself to OSR if it will give you hives and, as you say, your game has evolved in your head?"

An excellent question with a barely rational answer. For a pretty rational and logical fellow I do sometimes have patterns of thinking that show off the geek in me. And those aren't hives...its just a mild skin irritation.

Let me see if I can make clearer what I'm trying to do by way of this somewhat odd example:

Let's say, when you were little, your Aunt made these amazing Gingerbread Pumpkin Cookies.

Now people make Pumpkin Cookies and people make Gingerbread Cookies, yet nobody but nobody makes Gingerbread Pumpkin Cookies like Auntie did.

Well Auntie's passed on and she was never any good at writing down recipes. That stinks because this holiday season you are determined to remake her awesome cookies. You research and talk to family members, check out Cookie cookbooks and after a long time and a lot of work, you think you can make them. And you do. And everyone loves them.

They say they're lighter then Auntie's cookies. Yes, they melt in your mouth. They're more buttery! Not as sharp a ginger taste but sweeter. The whole family loves them!

But you don't. Why? Because they're better...but they're not your Aunt's Gingerbread Pumpkin Cookies. They just aren't the same.

See, I can make a good, no damn it, a GREAT Sci-Fi/Space Opera RPG. It would incorporate stuff from my favorite games and some nifty new ideas and focus on characters and story and relationships with the PCs, the NPCs and the vast galaxy they live in.

But that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm a modern aviation designer trying to restore a World War II airplane, not build the latest and greatest in aerospace technology.

I want to understand the old school and find a way to convey it in a Sci-Fi game that has classes, levels, an archaic experience point system, virtually no skills to speak of and the other things that people fond of those things are fond of.

Obviously you can see my handicap.

Kobold also said...

"I'm obviously a bit dense as I seriously don't get the whole OSR - good, everything else - bad. It would appear, from what I've seen and heard, that a number of these "retro-clones" are essentially various versions of D&D with all the rules the writer doesn't like thrown out and all his houserules stuck in. Am I missing something, here?"

No. At least not to me. As I've been researching this and reading my copies of Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardy and a few others, I'm struck with the notion that I have paid money for someone's campaign houserules for old editions of D&D.

Kudos! Seriously. As someone who views P.T. Barnum as an inspiration and personal hero I am all for getting the public to pay tickets to see the Bearded Lady, Lana the Hairy Woman and She-Wolf, Woman with a Beard and have them all be the same rather hirsute gal.One interesting thing I'd like to end with is that everything on my blog is my opinion. Its not yours. It might be but for the most part all I can guarantee is its mine. I also have a rather peculiar sense of humor. So if I have offended your sensitivities over my particular approach to describing the old school - get over it. Kick your shoes off while you're here. Relax. Laugh for a change. Seriously, I have 62 followers. No ones going to know if you can over, stayed a bit, looked at some old posts and actually enjoyed yourself. I'm not gonna tell anybody. Dude chill, its all good.

AD
Barking Alien

OSR - Outer Space Redux

First off, I've got to level with you. The last few days have been rough.

The Holiday largely stank, I'm just getting over a cold and I'm feeling those end of the year blues.

Of course, this is the time my mind decides is just picture perfect for a huge spurt of creativity. When I read over my last few posts I find them far to chaotic and unfocused. There are some cool ideas in there, but I'm not really selling them, or getting the point across.

The same thing can be said of some recent comments I made on other game blogs. I stand by what I said, but I wish I had explained myself more eloquently. One specific point I'd like to rectify was my mention of the RPG Stars Without Number.

Some may have gleaned from my post that I didn't think it was a good game. That couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, I think it's an extremely good Science Fiction RPG, and quite well done. It reminds me a bit of my favorite RPG (well, one of my top three), the ICON System version of Star Trek by Last Unicorn Games. And therein lies the problem.

The game is too modern to convince me it is an OSR compatible Science Fiction game inspired by D&D. Its (and I don't mean to be facetious) too well put together. It makes almost too much sense the way they went about it. It needs to feel more clunky, arbitrary and odd. It doesn't need to really be those things, but it needs to generate that kind of vibe.

What I think an OSR Sci-Fi/Space Opera RPG should be like may well be impossible to make. Maybe it shouldn't be done. Honestly, I'm almost looking forward to a game I wouldn't play. Not really of course...but sort of.

To that end I issue myself a challenge! I, Adam Dickstein, will create an Old School, D&D inspired, Science Fiction/Space Opera RPG and save it to PDF by the First of the Year! Yes, racing rocket fans you heard (-pst-read-) er, read correctly. I give my lazy, candy ass 1 week to put my money where my mouth is and make Aliens and Astrobases available to the online viewing public. It'll be a nice practice run before I complete my real RPG project sometime in March. Who knows? Might have a hit and have to do a sellable version. Damn, but that would be funny, no?

Anyway, a few disclaimers...First and foremost, it might be very, very bad. Second, it will be an unplaytested game so it may have numerous flaws I don't even know about. Play it and send my feed back. It will have art but not a lot and not the best. I'll likely be using assorted old sketches from my previous Sci-Fi campaigns. Lastly, it will beg, borrow and steal heavily from Swords & Wizardry, Jeff Rients, SRS Basic* and numerous other places. I said I was going to do it in a week. I didn't say it was going to be super original or mind-blowing. This is more of an excercise in "Can Adam make the Old School feel, Sci-Fi RPG he always imagined TSR should've created but didn't."

It will be free to download but if you decide to use it as a substitute life support system device for intelligent, plant based aliens, I will have to charge you.

Comment, questions, words of encouragement and even the shaking of your heads is welcome.

I better get cracking!

AD
Barking Alien

*SRS Basic is the Basic version of the 'Standard Roleplaying System', the house engine used by Japanese tabletop RPG company FarEast Amusement Research (F.E.A.R.) for all of their games.

P.S. - Zak S of the forever awesome 'Playing D&D with Pornstars' and I are having a difference of opinion. Nothing hostile. I appreciate where Zak is coming from as I too came from there some 20 something years ago. It is a cool place to be. It rocks. Now I am largely here and here.

P.S.S. And speaking of there, I mean here, I mean...screw it. Look at this. Apocalypse World will change the way so wake up in the morning, go to sleep at night and enjoy spending time with your significant other. And I am understating how *&#^ing cool it is.