One of the best things about the OSR, "Old-School Renaissance", is the pure creativity. No one really frets over balance. Balance being the death knell for 4e.
The old modules were about exploration, and discovery. Combat was fast and furious, I mean, when you look at the number of giants and ogres in the main dining hall in Against the Giants, it was a pretty intense encounter, but this was at a time when a dragon maxed out at something like 140hp, while a powerful wizard who had managed to survive to the upper levels was godly, but still vulnerable. Take that same number of monsters in the modern game with their massive number of hit points, and that battle would take hours!!!
A Gamemaster in Pathfinder of 3.x must spend so much time designing encounters for ever more powerful characters, picking and choosing magic items to create with their Magical Craft feats. They just magically know what the most powerful combination of items do. A character with his +3 keen flaming burst scimitar, know what it is. A lot of the magic & mystery of the game disappeared into tactical simulations.
Pathfinder is the most popular game in town now, but around the fringes, the other systems creep. Systems which have wonder on their side instead of optimization. I'm of the mind now that I would prefer to play in Pathfinder games rather than GameMaster them. Epic Sean will be GMing some soon for us, probably over the summer, even if we just get an hour a night in, it should be fun.
While I'm designing an alternate OGL system, I want the speed to be there, I want the wonder to be there. Less 'optimization' will be involved. I'm still not sure if I want feats. Maybe less feats. Definitely there will be no magic item creation feats. There will be the ability to create magic items, but research and skill checks will be involved. I liked harvesting in the old edition. That's what a bag of holding should be for right?
Enough rambling for now...lunch to be had!!
Edit: OSR=Old School Renaissance....I don't knwo where I pulled resurrection from...Oh well fixed now.
The old modules were about exploration, and discovery. Combat was fast and furious, I mean, when you look at the number of giants and ogres in the main dining hall in Against the Giants, it was a pretty intense encounter, but this was at a time when a dragon maxed out at something like 140hp, while a powerful wizard who had managed to survive to the upper levels was godly, but still vulnerable. Take that same number of monsters in the modern game with their massive number of hit points, and that battle would take hours!!!
A Gamemaster in Pathfinder of 3.x must spend so much time designing encounters for ever more powerful characters, picking and choosing magic items to create with their Magical Craft feats. They just magically know what the most powerful combination of items do. A character with his +3 keen flaming burst scimitar, know what it is. A lot of the magic & mystery of the game disappeared into tactical simulations.
Pathfinder is the most popular game in town now, but around the fringes, the other systems creep. Systems which have wonder on their side instead of optimization. I'm of the mind now that I would prefer to play in Pathfinder games rather than GameMaster them. Epic Sean will be GMing some soon for us, probably over the summer, even if we just get an hour a night in, it should be fun.
While I'm designing an alternate OGL system, I want the speed to be there, I want the wonder to be there. Less 'optimization' will be involved. I'm still not sure if I want feats. Maybe less feats. Definitely there will be no magic item creation feats. There will be the ability to create magic items, but research and skill checks will be involved. I liked harvesting in the old edition. That's what a bag of holding should be for right?
Enough rambling for now...lunch to be had!!
Edit: OSR=Old School Renaissance....I don't knwo where I pulled resurrection from...Oh well fixed now.
Your right about "Against the Giants," that was the adventure in which I experienced my only TPK. Those giants mopped up the hall with my players. Of course, it helps if you skip past the hall, free the orc slaves and enlist their aid before facing the giants but alas my players showed more bravery than brains that day.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I think that it isn't so important that a game is "balanced" so much as that "everyone feels useful to the party" and "the narrative flows well." What is tabletop gaming but an extension of age-old collective storytelling. Right?
ReplyDeleteI like simulationist gaming as well, but I think streamlined systems are more fun (and less time-consuming).
Totally...
ReplyDeleteI just pulled out my copy of G1-3,
Great Hall
Chief Nosra and wife (fight as frost giant and hill giant male)
Sub-chief
Cloud Giant
3 stone giants
TWENTY-TWO hill giants
8 ogres
1 cave bear!!!
So that's 29 giants, 8 ogres and a cave bear...Try to think about doing that encounter in 3.X or Pathfinder...