Tower of the Faceless Clock

Or Challenges Extracting Rules Text from Solo Adventures

My discussion of the difficulties extracting system from setting in roleplaying game supplements reminded me of an abandoned project. It was an experiment to design a programmed solitaire adventure (with numbered paragraphs, like the Choose Your Own Adventure books) to present a specific setting without reference to a specific rules system. Having written plenty of solitaire tutorial adventures intended to teach game mechanics along the way, designing one without considerations for typical rules – how to run combat, procedures for skill checks, how to make saving throws, etc. – proved challenging.

Extracting System & Setting

 “If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”

– Katharine Hepburn

For most roleplaying games the mechanics and setting remain bound together. Extracting one from the other often proves challenging from a game design standpoint and dubious from a marketing perspective. Few game systems exist entirely apart from any given setting, though they claim (with different levels of efficacy) to operate with any genre. Over the years various games have released as standalone rules sets – Steve Jackson Games’ GURPS, Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying (BRP), Hero Games’ Hero System, S. John Ross’ RISUS: The Anything RPG, even West End Games’ popular D6 System – with varying degrees of success. Some emerged from existing games, like D6 from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game and BRP from favorites like Call of Cthulhu. These find some success among pockets of gamers willing to do the legwork to adapt them to their original settings (though some, like RISUS, make this quite easy). Yet few products have made their mark as settings extracted from or produced without rules systems. Such oddities require a delicate touch, a very generic approach to anything smacking of rules, and finesse in inspiring gamers to undertake the work adapting them to a favorite game system.

RPGs’ Band-Aid (R) Issue

 “Band-Aid: A trademark for a type of adhesive bandage.”

– The Associated Press Stylebook

When I mention I’ve written for roleplaying games to average folks unfamiliar with the adventure gaming hobby (often called “mundanes” in fandom parlance) the inevitable reply almost always amounts to, “Oh, D&D.” Recent discussions about Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast drastically changing the Open Gaming License (with the advent of a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons) have noted we have many roleplaying games with various mechanics and settings, all of which have the potential to provide a satisfying game experience given the confluence of good gamemasters, players, and inspiration. It reminds me of the Band-Aid brand name falling into what some might consider a “generic trademark” usage in our society...yet many mundanes, and even some in the hobby community, use the specific brand name “D&D” when they mean roleplaying games. Words matter. I encourage people to get in the habit of using “roleplaying game,” “RPG,” and other equivalents when they don’t specifically mean D&D.

Remembering to Find Escape in Fantasy

 “What a pity. Love is, I think, wasted on the young.”

– Cardinal Richelieu, The Three Musketeers (1993)

Christmas train succumbs
to holiday chaos.

I am finding some solace immersing myself in my current work designing a fantasy roleplaying game setting...when I can. The demands of the holiday season often supersede other activities and priorities (as I’ve noted before). But between gift wrapping, decorating the tree, setting up the trains, wrestling with the outdoor string lights, and the everyday interruptions of “Dad can you do this?” and “Honey did you take care of that?” and everyone’s favorite, “What are we having for dinner?” I managed to savor the few moments I got to immerse myself in my roleplaying game writing.

Finally Discovering Tabletop Audio

 “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

– Marcel Proust

The internet seems so infinite, with so many voices and creators, even when I simply look at the spaces inhabited by those catering to the adventure gaming hobby and greater sci-fi/fantasy fandom. I’m in no way omnipotent; it shouldn’t surprise me when I stumble upon, or others point out to me, exciting developments I’ve missed, even for years, that can enhance my gaming. I’ve been “late to the game” before, discovering new game material well after it’s launched and found popularity, often as it’s waning in the public interest or on the verge of passing into the dreaded “out-of-print” status. (And I’m not even touching the gaming trends that don’t appeal to me.) So I’m delighted with my belated discovery of Tabletop Audio given my lifelong love of music and my use of soundtracks while running roleplaying games.

A Little More Light This Year

 “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”

– Carl Jung

For me the yuletide season means looking for the light in the darkness to sustain us. Different people see this in different symbols: a bright shining star, hope for a savior, flames on the menorah, oil lamps, a warm hearth fire, and numerous others. We gather with friends and family, raise our voices in song, and feast on foods sumptuous and sweet, all in an effort to lift our spirits during the darkest time of the year. Alas, the past few yuletide celebrations have seem muted, at least in our family, given events beyond our control: politics, pandemic, and the sometimes overwhelming difficulties we must surmount. But finally, this year, I’m feeling more optimistic. I seem to find a little more light as I look back on what we’ve experienced and look forward to a new year filled with fresh starts and promising opportunities, especially in gaming.

Praise for Noble Knight Games

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

– Vincent Van Gogh

I don’t pretend to report on “news” here at Hobby Games Recce and I’ve long ago stopped trying to get excited about every “new hotness” popping up in the adventure gaming hobby. But recent word about one of my favorite online game stores prompted me to draft a short piece about Noble Knight Games (NKG). Ordering from NKG helped distract me from America’s initial hellscape response to the pandemic and offered a diversion from covid precautions and privations. Games from NKG let me sample offerings from new companies, explore different game mechanics, and expand the scope of my hobby activities. And now the company has recognized its workers organizing a union for a better relationship and, ultimately, a better business I want to support.