(no subject)
A blog I read on old school D&D has become mired in the so-called 'old school renaissance,' which refers to the massive amount of unofficial releases of products designed to be used with, or that are heavily derived from, versions of Dungeons and Dragons that are no longer in print. This bugs me.
If Gary Gygax wanted to release stuff for D&D that was great. It was his baby. Same with the other old school creators. Len Lokafka wrote follow-ups to a module he wrote back in the day that was obviously meant to have follow-ups. This is fine.
But what's the sense in so many other people doing it? In the post-D20 years, the RPG industry is badly in need of creativity and new RPGs. I can understand the desire to write supplements or revised versions of the game that brought you into gaming, but that's not desireable as a final end. That's practice stuff you do before you get to the real stuff -- the stuff that's yours.
I myself have written many pages of revised D&D rules and whatnot. I'd never consider publishing them, however. They're not mine. I have created my own games. Let those be published, if anything is.
During the 80's, there were tons of RPGs with many different rules. Some worked and some didn't. It was this expirimentation that lead to the game industry improving and learning. D&D is my favorite RPG, but it already exists. It's time to bring in something new.
If Gary Gygax wanted to release stuff for D&D that was great. It was his baby. Same with the other old school creators. Len Lokafka wrote follow-ups to a module he wrote back in the day that was obviously meant to have follow-ups. This is fine.
But what's the sense in so many other people doing it? In the post-D20 years, the RPG industry is badly in need of creativity and new RPGs. I can understand the desire to write supplements or revised versions of the game that brought you into gaming, but that's not desireable as a final end. That's practice stuff you do before you get to the real stuff -- the stuff that's yours.
I myself have written many pages of revised D&D rules and whatnot. I'd never consider publishing them, however. They're not mine. I have created my own games. Let those be published, if anything is.
During the 80's, there were tons of RPGs with many different rules. Some worked and some didn't. It was this expirimentation that lead to the game industry improving and learning. D&D is my favorite RPG, but it already exists. It's time to bring in something new.