Random Tables: Roll or Choose One

Random tables remain an integral part of roleplaying games, from serving as, one might argue, a cornerstone of the earliest games to more refined and diverse tools in contemporary games: in-game encounter generators, character background devices, even scenario design inspiration.

As a player I’ve enjoyed tables to help enhance character creation, whether it’s background, motivation, or even starting equipment. As a gamemaster I find random tables as good inspiration for keeping the action flowing during a game, creating conflicts for adventure hooks, generating encounters, and otherwise enhancing scenarios I design.

Notable Random Tables

Usually in these surveys I talk about the game form first then provide several iconic examples; yet in this case, it’s probably best to present some of my favorite sources for tables from my gaming experience with notes why they appeal to me, then discuss the form of random table using those to illustrate my points. So here are a number of my favorite sources for roleplaying game random tables that come to mind:

AD&D Dungeon Master Guide: This earliest game rulebook set the precedent for random tables remaining a cornerstone element of many aspects of roleplaying games. Among the many hordes of randomized tables several stand out: the random dungeon generator, treasure tables, the oft-overlooked “dungeon dressing” tables chock full of descriptive setting ideas, and the random monster tables categorized by terrain. It helped established that determining certain, if not many game elements on random tables was the normal paradigm for roleplaying games.

Thieves’ World: One of the earliest and most comprehensive fantasy roleplaying settings was the Thieves’ World boxed set based on the immensely popular fantasy anthologies. The sourcebooks included two sets of tables invaluable for running adventures in the city of Sanctuary and perhaps models for creating one’s own original urban setting: a set of tables to determine businesses according to the city’s different neighborhoods, and a set of tables for randomly generating encounters based on locale and time of day, all wonderfully tailored to reflect the Thieves’ World universe.

Cyberpunk 2020 Lifepath: An outgrowth of the infamous Traveller character generation system, Cyberpunk’s Lifepath system randomly generated genre-relevant pre-adventuring events that affected a character’s life. A series of flowchart-like tables helped determine a character’s origins and personal style, family background, motivations, and significant life events. Like Traveller’s tables, the Lifepath often granted benefits or penalties in game terms, and relied on players to embellish events with specifics and find ways to integrate them into their current character’s stats and personality.

The Dungeon Dozen Blog: A blog that, almost daily, provides a random table using the oft-neglected d12. The table themes and results tend toward the outrageous -- they don’t always work well as random tables to drop into an adventure or setting, but as lists of similarly themed ideas for locations, encounters, and characters. My favorites include the “Before First Level” series, with one table intended for each of the main character classes to help players create viable (if not sometimes unconventional) reasons why they took up adventuring as a particular class. Others provide interesting (sometimes bordering on “gonzo”) ideas for locations, scenario hooks, or encounters, like one of my favorites, “In the Blasted Lands of the Fallen Moon.”

Chronicles of Arax: This solo adventure game pioneers an innovative design for solitaire adventures. Rather than relying on a series of “programmed” entries with choices (“If you defeat the goblins, go to 27; if you run away, go to 12.”), it presents a series of numbered entries from 1 to 20 (much like a random table) without any “if/then” choices in the text. Each turn the player rolls 1D10 and goes to that numbered entry, confronting a challenge, evading a trap, or fighting the inhabitants. On subsequent rolls the player adds +1 to the die roll for each previous turn, increasingly escalating the numbered encounter; if the die roll indicates a encounter already visited, the player moves upward to the next new encounter. Each entry is essentially a random table result, with encounters escalating toward the higher numbers since one adds the number of previous encounters to the subsequent roll until reaching the climax as the final entry. I only have exposure to the scenario included in the free rules, but Crystal Star Games makes additional adventures available at reasonable prices; though I’ll confess an urge to try designing a solo adventure in this format myself, though possibly based on a simple D6 or 2D6 roll.

Certainly other games used random tables to determine game elements, but those above stand out from my own experiences.

Roll or Choose

The tables in sources noted above raise an interesting aspect about random tables: does one religiously stick with a randomized result, or does one “choose” a result best suited as inspiration for a particular character, setting, or situation?

Some tables lean toward randomizing results rather than offering inspiration: the AD&D tables for random encounters and dungeon generation stand out along with the Thieves’ World tables used in generating the city’s businesses and encounters. While these certainly offer some inspiration for gamemasters at a glance, they’re intended more to spontaneously create unexpected encounters. Their importance remains paramount in such activities as solitaire adventures and character creation.

Some tables intended to offer inspiration provide the instruction “roll or choose,” giving players the choice to pick something that works best for them or put their faith in the power of the dice (a stereotypical gamer behavior) and go the completely random route. Those of us stodgy old gamemasters who prefer to plan things out ahead (instead of spontaneously running adventures on the fly) find such tables sources of inspiration in game preparation but can become stymied by unexpected results if used during play.

The Tailored Table

Perhaps the most useful tables remain those with some degree of customization to the game at hand, beyond simple customization for a genre. Those mentioned above for Thieves’ World and Cyberpunk come to mind. These tables include not simply randomized elements relevant to a game’s broad genre -- which might generate inappropriate results for a particular game -- but materials reflecting the specific setting: unique monsters, treasures, cultural references, and personalities.

For instance, in a short Pulp Egypt adventure I designed for a convention, I included a brief “wandering encounters” table to generate some action while the heroes wandered the labyrinthine passageways between subterranean chambers containing an evil cult’s secret temple:

Random Encounters: Roll 1d6 each time the heroes traverse a passageway; a “1” indicates a random encounter resulting in combat, injury, or incarceration (roll 1d6): 1. foot-long carved scarab hieroglyphs decorating the wall animate and attack; 2-3. a wandering “pet” crocodile sniffs out the heroes; 4. a pit trap sends some heroes down a chute to location 5. Cells; 5. a hieroglyphic ward on the walls “freezes” heroes passing through it; 6. two guards patrolling discover the heroes, attack, and raise the alarm.

These helped infuse gameplay with unexpected incidents between planned locations, offering some spontaneity to the game play without completely derailing the adventure with inappropriate results.

Customizing a generalized table to one’s specific campaign or character takes a bit of work, something more easily done in preparation than during play. The Chronicles of Arax solitaire scenario format probably represents the most refined end of this concept, a “random table” so fully customized as a dungeon crawl that the results both provide randomly determined locations and encounters while still leading toward an adventure climax.

In-Game Player Roles: Caller, Mapper…Chronicler?

Early incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons suggested some players in the group assume additional duties beyond running their characters, roles designated the “caller” and “mapper.” While these responsibilities seem appropriate in a more rules-centric game given their administrative, in-game nature, a third role, that of the adventure “chronicler,” might serve to record in one style or another the group’s encounters and accomplishments for future reference and retelling.

Caller & Mapper

The Moldvay edition of the Basic Dungeons & Dragons rules states:
     

“One player should be chosen to tell the DM about the plans and actions of the party. This player is the caller. The players may tell the DM what their characters are doing, but the game runs more smoothly when the caller relays the information.”

    
and
    

“One player should draw a map of the dungeon as it is explored. this player is called the mapper…. Maps are drawn to help players visualize the area their characters are exploring and provide a record of sections of a dungeon they have already explored.”

These player roles serve administrative purposes during the game, notably to act as a liaison between the group of players and the gamemaster and to record in map form where the characters explore and what they encounter there, primarily for in-game reference. I vaguely recall using these roles in my earliest D&D experiences; we didn’t always use them, and, beyond dungeon delving-style gameplay, these jobs don’t always have relevance. I have foggy impressions that, when we did use them in those early days exploring D&D, the caller was the role every player wanted, since it seemed like the boss-leader position in the party, and the mapper was the less desirable, bookkeeping job. I certainly didn’t use them in other roleplaying games, and not in later D&D games after my exposure to games less concerned with in-game administration than with running exciting adventures with varying rule sets in different settings.

Both duties embody concepts quite opposite to the styles of gaming I favor today. The caller seems obsolete for a gamemaster who prefers each player to describe his character’s actions (even after conferring with the group) and invites everyone at the table to contribute to rendering maps when the situation calls for them. Perhaps their primary goal was to provide structure to those unfamiliar with roleplaying games whose first experiences came from dungeon-delving adventures with large parties of characters.

Chronicler

My past gaming escapades have frequently spawned another unofficial player role more relevant to the overall roleplaying game experience, that of a “chronicler” of sorts. This player steps forward and records the adventure’s events in some form or another.

In its most basic role, a chronicler keeps a few basic notes on what occurs during a scenario: the set-up premise or introduction, key events and the characters’ role in them, the climactic resolution of the adventure, and any follow-up materials. Sometimes these take the form of simple notes, other times the chronicler artfully crafts it into an in-universe account to reflect the nature of the campaign. These more elaborate retellings sometimes evolve into a character journal, a natural development for those who enjoy crafting elaborate background stories for the characters.

I freely admit that, counter to my lifelong love of reading, writing, and game designing, and my other aspirations as a writer, I’ve never really possessed the urge to chronicle my infrequent experiences as a player, either for a group’s adventures or my own character’s exploits. Perhaps this stems from my more frequent role as gamemaster, responsible for creating and an adventure and, true to my nature as a game designer and writer, often transcribing my scenario materials into a form suitable for eventual publication.

In several campaigns -- most notably long-running Star Wars D6, Cyberpunk 2020, and Space 1889 games over the years -- one player usually kept a record of interesting quotations from characters, mostly humorous ones or those from key moments in the game. Few make any sense to those outside the game group; few have much relevance to me so many years later, even when I search my memory to put everything in context. But at the time, and for a while afterward, they were pleasant and humorous reminders of what the characters encountered and how they reacted throughout long campaigns.

One player was quite a gifted artist and created renderings of characters, villains, locations, and in-game scenes when she found the inspiration, time, and energy. I still have some copies of these sketches, and they remain a more vivid memento of our adventures than any list of humorous quotations or even a written account of our escapades. She illustrated a few climactic scenes from several adventures in montages, and gave visual life to the players’ heroes and non-player characters encountered. (I later hired her as a freelance artist when I edited The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal for West End Games and gave her motivation and a venue for her artistic talents.)

These various chronicler efforts serve not only to keep track, in an administrative way, of what the characters do and where they go, but act as mementos of the adventure for the players, reminding them how they spent their four hours gaming and serving as a springboard for the inevitable future retelling of what their characters accomplished.

Future Inspirations

My inspiration for a “chronicler” player role comes not only from my past gaming experiences but from my development of several future gaming projects.

In developing a solitaire wargame of sorts, I was faced with the solo gamer’s conundrum of investing an hour or two in solo gaming pursuits and have nothing really to show for it other than their own fleeting enjoyment and satisfaction. Solitaire gamers don’t even have a shared experience with others (though some quite nicely offer accounts of their solo exploits in online blogs). The nature of the game as a historical wargame presented me with a readymade solution in the form of a military patrol logbook, a chronicle of sorts of my activity throughout the game; each “day” in the game the player notes his activities as if recording it as part of his military duties, ending with an in-universe record of his exploits.

The roleplaying game project on my desk -- one of several, though my brain is inspired and thus motivated to develop this one -- hearkens back to a time when D&D was new in a somewhat old school renaissance way, yet one generally geared for a younger audience with a different game engine. Since it’s tapping into that Moldvay-edition D&D atmosphere, I thought I might offer some in-game incentive (such as bonus experience or some other character perk) for a player who, by their own actions or in the guise of their hero, takes on the role of the group’s chronicler, noting their accomplishments in whatever form seems viable. I’m still toying with this one, since it has implications within the game rules, but it’s something I’d like to explore.

Early D&D Layout “Graphically Desolate”

Nostalgia works in strange ways. I have fond memories of the Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks (the Moldvay editions) that fueled my entry into the adventure gaming hobby back in 1982, but obviously back then I had no idea how graphically desolate they were apart from the iconic artwork they contained. Obviously I’m looking at the layout from current graphic standards in the gaming industry; but despite what we might consider today to be a very minimalist graphic design style, the Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks still managed to impart by its content and artwork a sense of wonder in those who entered the hobby through those books.

I’m working on several projects incorporating elements of the old school renaissance, a hearkening back to the heyday of roleplaying games, specifically Dungeons & Dragons, during the “Golden Age of Roleplaying” (the early 1980s). These projects aren’t specifically what many would consider strict “old school renaissance,” but I’m trying to integrate that feeling into some elements of the games themselves, and wanted to see if early D&D layout could add some atmosphere to the graphic presentation.

A graphic design mentor -- West End Games’ indomitable production manager Rich Hawran -- once taught me to look at other publications to see how they integrate various graphic elements to create a style, picking and choosing what worked for my project, enhancing my own concepts, and getting ideas to make things fresh on the page. Since I want one of my projects to have the visual look of early D&D, specifically the Moldvay edition that introduced me to the hobby, I thought I’d pull my old Basic and Expert D&D rulebooks off the shelf and page through them to see how the overall layout and elements like headers and footers looked in the seminal roleplaying game of my youth.

Goodness gracious me, I was disappointed.

I was looking for layout ideas that evoked the graphic feel of B/X D&D; what I found was a plain, cramped, two-column layout with minimal margins, uninspiring section titles, incidental headers, and little rhyme or reason whether they were omitted for section titles. I found no practical font usage, no text wrapped around illustrations jutting into columns, sparse sidebars, and tables set within the column text. I paged through the two modules that came with the Basic and Expert sets, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands and X1 The Isle of Dread; the most innovative layout concepts consisted of occasionally indented dungeon entries or, in X1 The Isle of Dread, some boxed text for dungeon masters to read aloud.

Perhaps this underwhelming layout helped focus readers’ visual attention on the artwork, much of which remains iconic to those who entered the roleplaying game hobby through Basic/Expert D&D. Who could forget the remarkable Erol Otus illustrations within the Basic rulebook’s pages, or the other pieces that demonstrated unfamiliar fantasy roleplaying concepts like character classes and alignment?

Certainly the graphic design of the rulebook and module covers from this era remain iconic and well-done: both the Basic and Expert rules used what has become classic Erol Otus cover artwork, and the overall graphic design of the modules, with their corner banner reminding readers “For Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set” (or Expert set), large illustration, and descriptive text, define the look of both D&D and AD&D adventures of that time.

So what makes a layout distinctly old school gaming? Is it this minimal use of fonts and font sizes, minimal headers and footers, and occasional outstanding artwork? Is it some balance between what we loved as kids exploring roleplaying games and what’s available to us now as creators and publishers? These are issues I’ll examine going forward on my projects incorporating elements of the old school renaissance and my own nostalgia for the days when roleplaying games were novel, innovative, and inspiring.

Perhaps the graphic “style” of these early, seminal rulebooks and modules is simple minimalism. Use the same font and distinguish section subheads with bold and all-caps. Avoid indentations starting each paragraph and include some extra leading between paragraphs. Indent entire paragraphs or other bits of relevant information. Keep tables in the text within the column. Keep sidebars to a minimum. Like the projects I have in mind -- which merge new game ideas with the flavor of old school renaissance -- I’ll consider which of these graphic elements work for my purpose and which don’t when designing layout styles.

Post Script: Having been involved in publishing professionally since 1990 (and in a student capacity before then) I realize graphic design practicalities were far different when D&D first appeared than they are now in this Electronic Age of desktop publishing. Still, other publications of its time show even a basic knowledge of fonts and layouts contributing to a clear organization and crisp graphic style.

Post Post Script: While poking through my rulebooks I was delighted to find a few relics from later in my roleplaying game days, when I’d returned to the B/X D&D rules in a proto-old school renaissance back-to-basics move. They included a few low-level magic items to give starting characters some inheritance to help them in their misadventures, a homemade “combat wheel” for calculating D&D thacos (based on one from Dragon Magazine for AD&D) and two hand-drawn maps of campaign locales that never really took off.

Table Top on Geek & Sundry

Wil Wheaton’s Table Top web television show on the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel recently caught my eye as an innovative integration of reality show-style production with board game video feature.

As the father of a toddler I don’t have much time to watch television or movies (let alone have much time to myself, period); even viewing online videos cuts into time for other tasks. So I rarely take much interest in television/web TV media unless it really seems noteworthy; however, when adorable geek and prolific web-TV producer Felicia Day announced Geek & Sundry, I took note (I’d previously enjoyed her Dragon Age: Redemption web mini-series, though I don’t have the time or patience to catch up with previous seasons of The Guild…yet).

The Geek & Sundry YouTube channel offers a number of interesting new programs -- check out the preview video for an overview -- as well as a home for Day’s The Guild; but what particularly caught my eye was Wheaton’s Table Top, which tapped into my interest in contemporary board games. The previews touted Table Top as a reality style show similar to celebrity poker featuring notable geeks playing a particular game each episode.

I’ll admit I had some trepidation given my general dislike of reality style television; but I was pleasantly surprised by the first episode, which featured Wheaton and three fellow geek personalities playing Days of Wonder’s Small World. The video’s 30-minute format works well, with Wheaton offering a brief but informative overview of the game followed by key portions of the game play (such as opening moves and major strategic action), colored by the participants’ personalities. Video graphics showing close-ups of pieces, highlighted sections of the board, and other information help summarize game concepts and follow developments throughout the course of the game; the slick production values enhance viewers’ understanding of the rules. In-game commentary, both at the table and during individual interviews, further demonstrates not only individual strategies but good sportsmanship in the face of victory and defeat.

In the past I’ve enjoyed Professor Scott Nicholson’s Board Games with Scott videos, which offer specific features on individual games as well as broad overviews of several games within a genre. While Table Top isn’t quite the next iteration of such features (a category in which I’d also include “unboxing” videos and in-play reviews), it’s another entertaining perspective on the growing board game phenomenon. Rather than a basic overview or review, Table Top’s  combination of reality show and game feature provides an enhanced look into the actual experience a game offers; granted, this varies with the players, but Table Top’s participants help make this look appealing and provide an entertaining video, too.

I’ve had Small World on my Amazon.com wish list for a while, but haven’t yet had the courage to shell out $49.95 to buy it. Wheaton’s Table Top episode featuring the game pushed me closer to the brink. These days the internet offers plenty of opportunities for researching game purchases, from rules downloads at publisher websites to online reviews of all sorts. Still, nothing makes an impression quite like trying the game out for oneself, or at least watching an engaging play experience like that shown on Table Top. The show isn’t really a review, but provides a concise overview of the game, highlights key game elements, features engaging demonstrations of in-game play and strategy, and offers an entertaining look at one group’s play experience; viewers can judge for themselves if the game seems right for them.

Despite constraints on my time and my general impatience in watching online TV or movies on my laptop, I’ll admit a mild fascination with Felicia Day’s web video endeavors. Her involvement as a producer of Table Top as well as one of the driving forces behind Geek & Sundry draw me to explore more offerings on that YouTube channel. I’ve already enjoyed her videos for The Flog, and the Geek & Sundry video preview just might entice me to investigate other geeky programs when time allows. And sometime I might just have to find the time to dive into The Guild from the series’ beginning….

Kickstarter & Game Project Patronage

Lately I’ve been watching a number of people -- both fellow game-designer friends and others with interesting ideas -- turn to Kickstarter to fund their projects. It’s inspired me to look at Kickstarter more closely as a means to publish my own game concepts currently under development…and while that’ll take me a bit of time to familiarize myself with how Kickstarter works, what people have done with it in the past, and how it might fit the vision for my own projects, it reminded me of a similar concept I contemplated about long ago, back when my online presence was focused through my old Griffon’s Aerie website (way back in 2004). Back then I posted a page called the “Patrons Club” listing some of my ideas for roleplaying game supplements I wanted to develop, with an eye to attracting the casual observer with influence in a roleplaying game publishing house.

The introduction to my “Patrons Club” listing of potential projects was a brief missive on the concept of patronage for game designers, much as in old times, when those with means (nobility, industrialists, clergy) funded the efforts of those with vision. I don’t mean to equate game designers -- especially average ones like me -- with the amazing artists who contributed to our civilization and culture, but the concept of patronage mirrors that system to some degree. This echoes some degree of what I understand of Kickstarter, though you can judge for yourself…here’s the original “Patrons Club” introduction I wrote in 2004:

"For centuries artists, pioneers, visionaries, and even just plain folks have pursued their careers with the generous funding and encouragement of patrons. Ramses the Great commissioned the artists of his ancient Egyptian empire to declare his glory in fine creations, from rings and scarabs to stone monuments still visible today. Pope Julius II funded Michelangelo’s artistic endeavors. Lord Carnarvon funded Howard Carter’s Egyptian excavations for years before they yielded anything of significant value. In our current age of corporate feudalism, these people seek their living by adjusting, molding, and constraining their dreams according to someone else’s dictates. The gaming hobby is no different -- game companies rarely pay outright for a freelance designer’s project. Instead they form an appealing and marketable concept and hire a writer to develop it according to their 'vision,' frequently a designer under their roof or from their own fold whom they can guide and control. If one doesn’t have the means to fund a company -- or to stay home all day and write for the fun of it -- one cannot create and sell games without severe financial risk.

"As a freelance writer I’m often torn between the projects I’d like to pursue and the assignments I must accept to make a living. Now and then I find some spare time to develop projects of my own which haven’t gone anywhere. Some are left over from my halcyon days of gaming just for the fun of it. Often there’s no market for them, they’re in rough stages, I haven’t had time to shop them around, or they were originally for games that have fallen from popularity. Usually they just don’t fit into anyone else’s corporate 'vision' according to marketing and their own whims for what a game should accomplish.

"In the 'Patrons Club' I want to list and briefly describe a few of these orphaned personal projects in the vain hope that someone, a generous patron, might see them, find something worthwhile in them, and perhaps hire me to develop them professionally."

I then went on to briefly outline several projects that ranged from one-shot scenarios and short articles to full-fledged roleplaying game supplements. I doubt anybody read the page much (and it has since disappeared along with the balance of my old Griffon’s Aerie website); certainly nobody of influence contacted me to develop these for professional publication, as I’d vainly hoped. At least two of the shorter projects reached PDF publication on their own and remain available through the Griffon Publishing Studio website “Free Downloads” page (Yugiri’s Gift, a samurai-themed adventure, and Trapped in the Museum, a solitaire adventure gamebook).

Granted, roleplaying game publishing has come a long way since then, with electronic publishing becoming more mainstream and outlets like DriveThruRPG acting as online stores for PDF books. And now I sit here suddenly captivated by the possibilities of Kickstarter, looking at the projects I’m developing, and wondering how best to offer these to a hopefully supporting gaming community and whether I as a game designer who’s probably faded from most people’s memory (if they knew me at all) have the influence to garner enough Kickstarter support for a project….

The Vast Internet Versus Edited Periodicals

The internet has brought about changes in the way we all share information, from professional publishers to enthusiastic fans. Once upon a time gamers got their news, supplemental articles, and other inspiration from print periodicals like the venerable Dragon Magazine; but today gamers of all kinds face an overwhelming flood of online information, relatively unedited into a digestible form, from sources offering various levels of quality (though some might argue trending toward the substandard end) all transiently scattered across the internet. The old curmudgeon inside me yearns for the days when this wealth of new game information could be culled, edited, and presented in a more easily read and referenced format.

Where once we relied on print magazines or fanzines for news, source material, scenarios, and other gamey tidbits, now we’re continuously seeking to adapt to new electronic information formats: websites, PDFs, forums, blogs, social media. The internet has lowered the threshold to allow people without access to professional publishing venues (traditionally editorial and art departments, printing presses, warehouses, relationships with distributors) a means to share their ideas, whether participating in forum debates, posting their latest game goodies (random tables, adventures, character concepts, creature stats, opinions) on their blog, or self-publishing their work in PDF or print-on-demand formats for free or for pay. I  mean “lower the threshold” to indicate making it easy for nearly anyone with a computer and internet connection to share/publish game material, not lowering the standard of quality; but, depending on the individual reader’s point of view, that can often be the case.

The sheer fact remains that when everyone from enthusiastic game fan to professional publisher floods the internet with game-related content, readers have a huge task to personally filter through the deluge to notice not only what appeals to their interests but to find quality material…and it’s rarely all in a few places, let alone one place.

Living in the Past

Back in the “Dawn of Roleplaying” (otherwise known as “The Early Eighties”) gamers turned to the pillars of professionally produced print periodicals for updates on their games; Dragon Magazine comes to mind, along with later Polyhedron and Dungeon publications, followed later by such luminaries as Pyramid and Shadis. A plethora of limited distribution print fanzines also catered to various games and genres.

I’ve had many jobs in office administration, and I’ve worked on various newsletters, many of which, at the time, were printed and mailed to interested organization members. This incurred considerable expense beyond writing and graphic design: printing and bulk mail postage isn’t cheap. In most cases the information in these print newsletters eventually transitioned to new electronic formats more easily distributed through the internet through websites, e-mails, PDF downloads, and message boards.

Gaming magazines -- like other print periodicals -- have not transitioned well in the Internet Age. Many simply disappeared beneath the pressures of decreased demand, increased print production and distribution costs, and the availability of free, online resources elsewhere. Paying for internet content -- particularly magazine-style features rather than everyday news -- still seems to work. In many cases it’s combined with access to other interactive tools like forums or online applications, offering more exclusive access to content and community. Some adopted the subscription model used by some newspapers; Steve Jackson Games’ Pyramid, formerly a print magazine, comes to mind as one of the earliest and most successful. After the demise of Dragon and Dungeon magazines, Wizards of the Coast consolidated its formerly free online content and archived magazine material, along with character tools and other applications, into the subscription-access Dungeons & Dragons Insider.

The few print magazines available offer novel articles that work best in print format (though they also function as online content). Wargames Illustrated, for example, presents full-color photo-spreads of magnificent miniatures and dioramas, often as part of detailed battle reports or historical features (though it often serves as the “house organ” for Battlefront Miniatures). While one finds many websites with photos of people’s wargaming activities, artfully painted figures, and well-crafted terrain, some readers like having a print “album” of premium content for reference and inspiration in their own hobby pursuits. Wargames Illustrated often releases past magazine articles in PDF format on its website; Battlefront Miniatures often offers similar PDF features, excerpts, or supplemental materials to support its Flames of War game line on its website.

Some periodicals gamers might consider “fanzines” have also successfully transitioned to PDF format. I’m aware of two on the wargaming front that still see infrequent publication: the Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society’s newsletter Warning Order (which I’ve featured before on Hobby Games Recce) and the Northern Virginia Gamers’ Gamers Closet (regrettably leaning more toward the “infrequent” end of the scale these days). They offer a smattering of articles ranging from after action reports, reviews, scenarios, and features on relevant historical issues, along with local club news. I know similar publications exist for various roleplaying endeavors, both in for-free and for-pay PDF formats. The Star Frontiersman fanzine keeps interest in the old TSR science fiction game fresh 30 years after its initial publication. For a while the OD&DITIES fanzine kept the flame burning for old-school D&D-style roleplaying, well before the Old School Renaissance movement exploded on the internet scene; unfortunately copies of OD&DITIES remain scattered across the internet, though a Google search reveals a few sources for the first 12 PDF issues (including Dragonsfoot.org, which serves as a source for early D&D material). I’m sure I’m missing even more PDF fanzines scattered across the vast, unfathomable internet.

But even PDF periodicals must compete with more transient but easily updated online formats like blogs that deliver new content weekly, daily, or even hourly as it becomes available. News and press release announcements are fine in this new, transient format, but source articles and ideas for use in games need some semblance of permanence, even if it’s a nicely laid-out PDF file that languishes on a hard drive or is printed out and mangled at the gaming table.

Readers have numerous ways to discover and track new content relevant to their interests -- social media sites, referrals from similarly themed blogs -- but they must act as their own editors, evaluating what material incorporates both the best game source material and the best quality of presentation and development.

“Editors! Bah!” you might say. All stodgy and grammatical, with an antiquarian insistence on consistent style and quality, sending out rejection letters to lesser writers, barring their way to publication and letting only qualified authors into the elite social club of “real” writers. But in the publication process editors play a vital role, examining and refining the massive flood of potentially relevant material (traditionally “submissions”) and collecting it into journals, magazines, or other publications (print or electronic) for easier access and reference.

The internet is like a vast publishing house that enables anyone with a computer to produce and disseminate information, regardless of its veracity, quality, or relevance. Much of it remains as ephemera -- incidental, trivial bits -- but some are brilliant gems that further development and editing might polish to shine brighter. Some of this material might make it into a game book supplement; but most of it appears on the web and fades into a blog’s archives, retrieved only by dedicated archive delvers or those lucky enough to find it on a Google search.

The Annual

Here’s a suggestion that makes more work for creators but provides a slightly more permanent PDF “review” of past relevant posts on related subjects: compile an “annual” PDF publication of the best online articles. Each “annual” might focus on archiving all or the best material from a single blog, or on a particular gaming genre (old school renaissance, for instance). Many bloggers already include download links to materials they’ve created…why not simply add an annual review of the best of their blog in PDF format? They’d have a chance to revisit and revise material, include some graphics to spruce things up, and have a more lasting reference PDF for gamers to bring to the table. In these instances the blog writer can self-edit, revise, and compile material into a cohesive, themed annual, taking into account reader comments and further developments in other areas.

Obviously this works best for blogs producing prolific gaming resources, and one of my favorites provides an iconic example. The Dungeon Dozen offers a source of almost daily amusement with a random table suitable for inspiring nearly any dungeon-delving game. Although random tables aren’t always my personal gaming style, I find they’re a good source for ideas; and the d12-inspired ones at The Dungeon Dozen cover numerous settings with humorous if not unusual suggestions, from “Recent Edicts from the Usurper King” to “This Dungeon Has Weird Floors.” The blog archive format really isn’t great for compiling these in a PDF or print format (though the tags feature might help with reference…if the tables were tagged somehow by title and content). I’d love to see some kind of Dungeon Dozen Annual with all or the best of the tables (some revised at the author’s discretion) in a handy PDF format for reference at the gaming table or while developing scenarios. (In a parallel train of thought, Zak over at the D&D With Porn Stars blog recently noted he likes some of these random tables, too, printing and pasting some into his gamemaster notebook rather than fussing with cutting and pasting them within word processing files.)

(One might suggest compiling an annual review from the best blog articles sharing a common theme. To a would-be editor, however, this approach looks like a permissions nightmare; one would have to contact all the blog contributors for permission to compile their work, make some stylistic edits, and prepare it for free PDF distribution…far too much legwork for a “free” PDF project.)

Some creators already have a rationale in place for producing PDFs of previously released material on their blogs. Occasionally they further develop ideas floated in blog posts into PDF resources to download. For instance, Dyson Logos on his inspiring A Character for Every Game blog features wonderful, hand-drawn maps, some of which have found their way into his infrequently published PDF fanzine, Dyson’s Dodecahedron, or other PDF resources (though I often wish he’d simply collect his fine maps with any themed notes into a PDF of blank dungeon maps gamemasters can use on the fly).

Some people use their blogs as platforms to float new ideas or feature work in progress. Brent Wolke’s engine of thwaak blog offers insights, progress, and previews on his free Risus supplements as well as related commentary. Doug Anderson’s Blue Box Rebellion blog provides a look at his work on the second, illustrated iteration of his kid-friendly DungeonTeller game plus his observations about old-school D&D and related issues as a game designer and illustrator trying “to return his sense of wonder to its original packaging.”

Like much of the internet and the technology that shapes it, the electronic publishing landscape constantly changes. The unfettered voice it gives to fans, creators, and publishers has put more material than ever in the hands of gamers, yet has required those gamers to exercise their own critical skills in filtering relevant, quality information. Old fogeys like me value the discretion of a qualified editor in sifting through and revising material for our final consumption (even if it’s just a PDF we can print out and file according to our interests).

Thanks, Battlefront, for Free Flames of War Upgrade

Battlefront is rolling out its latest edition of the popular World War II miniatures game, Flames of War, and started with an interesting premise for making its current customers happy: a free, digest-sized copy of the new rulebook. Theoretically the free giveaway ended this past weekend, March 10, when the full third edition Flames of War pack (three, full-sized books covering the rules, forces, and hobby) officially released. I managed to pick up a copy of the mini-book for free at my Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS), Game Vault in Fredericksburg last month. Battlefront should serve as a model of customer service, fan support, and forward thinking.

“Trading Up” to New Edition

Those who already own the second edition hardcover rulebook of Flames of War (which retailed for $50 when it released six years ago) could bring their copy to their local approved Battlefront hobby store (listed on the website, and familiar to fans as place to purchase and play the game); there they could present their rulebook, put a “Flames of War Veteran” sticker somewhere on it, and receive a free mini-rulebook (while supplies last). The mini-book is a 296-page digest-sized, full-color tome containing the complete set of third edition rules. Battlefront also released a series of free PDF publications at its website with notes on revised third-edition rules and handy reference charts for the new version.

I can’t remember where I picked up my Flames of War 2nd Edition hardcover, full-color rulebook. When the game caught my notice I had access to three “local” game stores: Game Parlor in Woodbridge (1.5 hours away, now closed, though its Chantilly store remains), a hobby store in Fredericksburg, VA, with about a third of the space devoted to geeky game pursuits (roleplaying games, minis, board games -- the store has since closed), and Game Vault in Fredericksburg, VA (about 45 minutes away, alive and healthy still). At the time second edition was new, and I recall debating whether to purchase second edition at full price ($50) or first edition at a solid discount. I chose second edition, surprising for me since I’m not heavily into complex miniature wargames and hesitate spending that much money on any single gaming product. I’ve since bought more minis than I can paint, painted a few, and tried out the game mechanics on my own on the basement wargames table. One of these days I’ll get out to the Game Vault for their Friday night Flames of War skirmishes. But I stopped by Game Vault recently to pick up some board games they’d special ordered for me and picked up my mini-book and sticker.

I’ve read several encouraging accounts on the internet of avid Flames of War players who lamented the absence of a nearby game shop where they might “trade up” to the new rules; and the friendly folks at Battlefront made sure these fans got copies of the mini-book, often by directly mailing them.

The most consistent complaint I’ve seen regarding the mini-book comes from its fragile binding; given its thickness and the quality of binding glue, the spine tends to crack and pages fall out. Avid fans have remedied this by fitting the book into a small three-ring binder or an office-supply-store applied comb binding for a small price. I can’t complain too much; considering the book is free, and saved me $60 to upgrade to the new, full-sized edition, a little work or money on my part to retrofit a new binding medium isn’t a problem.

Battlefront’s made a modest public relations push about the free third edition mini-book rules upgrade, more to inform loyal players than to tout the company’s own generosity. It’s part of an ongoing commitment to good customer service and support. The company website posts weekly updates, from previews and product information to small-unit guides and historical scenarios. It compiles links to convention tournament reports and relevant podcasts to highlight fan efforts across the globe. Third edition upgrade features include free PDF downloads of quick reference sheets and missions, plus various articles exploring the changes from the earlier version.

Can This Work for Others?

I’m still astounded at Battlefront’s generosity at giving away a 296-page, digest-sized, full-color rulebook. It’s something I can’t recall anyone else having done in the adventure gaming hobby in recent memory (and I’m searching the dusty halls of my memory, almost 30 years as a gamer). Give away the new edition of your core ruleset to existing customers for free? Insane. Think of the money Battlefront could have made selling the recently released, full-sized third edition, a slipcased, three-book set including books containing the rules, forces information, and hobby tips, all for $60. (Though I believe the third edition bundle at $60 remains relatively comparable in price to the second edition hardbound rulebook.) Are they nuts? Maybe. Are they good people? Most certainly. Of course, Battlefront probably makes most of its profits from sales of miniatures and other accessories, all of which are high quality and priced accordingly. Like the model of the Games Workshop Warhammer hobby Battlefront emulates, the Flames of War hobby isn’t cheap. It encompasses expensive rules and army books, well-sculpted miniatures, dice and marker packs, paints, and even pre-painted terrain pieces ready for the tabletop. Making a half-sized version of the third edition rulebook available free to existing players who’ve already invested in the full second edition rulebook -- and having the sales and marketing infrastructure of approved retailers to implement it -- just makes good sense.

Can others in the adventure gaming hobby use this “free upgrade” strategy to their advantage? To do so assumes a publisher has a distribution structure and relationship with retailers who loyally carry relevant product, like Battlefront’s approved retailers listed on its website. With sales and marketing to “approved stores” similar to the Games Workshop Warhammer hobby model, Battlefront has an immediate channel to its customers, supplemented by its website and loyal online fan community.

Unfortunately few other publishers of various game types (wargames, roleplaying games, and board games) have the sales and marketing infrastructure to effectively implement this kind of free upgrade; in fact, most publishers seek to profit from their existing players, many of whom don’t give much thought to purchasing the next iteration of their favorite game.

During my time in the mid-1990s at West End Games I cannot imagine management ever consenting to release any rules upgrade for free as a standalone product (the company did include first-edition Star Wars Roleplaying Game rules upgrades packaged with several early products, mostly scenarios, though that was before my time).

About the only system with which I’m somewhat familiar comes from DriveThruRPG and its OneBookShelf affiliates. The online sales nature of the sites provides a system whereby registered users who purchase particular products can receive free upgrades should publishers make those available. I’ve never tried this myself, or been on the receiving end of any free revisions, but it’s a concept worth exploring.

Please correct me if I’m overlooking someone’s similar efforts in the past; it’s a great leap of faith, and a testament to the loyalty of its fans, for Battlefront to try putting even a half-sized new edition of its most popular rules set into the hands of every fans for free.