The Role of the Referee

Thinking about the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming again, the role of the referee has changed over the years. In old-school thinking, the referee acted as the creative interpreter of results. This was both good and bad. It was good, since someone needed to interpret the dice rolls, run monsters, apply effects, run the world, and make the magic happen. The bad side is an overly controlling 'referee as god' overkill. In newer games, especially the D&D wargame-style editions, the referee's creative role has been reduced to something like a wargame referee.

Now, good referees never let books or rule-sets tell tell them what to do - this is a given. Also, the de-facto statement in most every RPG is 'if it is not fun for you, ignore it!' However, there are trends, and in rule-heavy games the role of an active referee moves more towards the game-shop owner in a magic card tournament, someone who adjudicates rules, solves arguments, and acts as the final word. With a module where every encounter is basically a preplanned figure combat, referees can feel marginalized to just another player who just moves the monster figures and references rules.

That said, I loved D&D4, and play Pathfinder regularly, both are great games. I do feel something is missing from each of them that keeps them from capturing the 'true' feel of role-playing games when we started this hobby. D&D4 at times can feel too much like a figure game, like Warmachine (another fun one). Pathfinder's rules are complete, sometimes so complete they are too much, and the reference by both players and the referee feel like they weigh down the game. I enjoy them all, but I'm honest, there are parts I don't enjoy about their size and complexity.

Coming from someone who's own roleplaying game ended up being the size of a phone-book, I know, it is a bit hypocritical lol. It is something called perspective, at the time, when we were new RPG authors, writing the largest game ever seemed cool. We started with a simple game that could have fit into a pocket-box, and then just kept writing and creating like crazy. The end result was heavy, even though the core was simple, the weight of rules needed to support what we created made the game heavy and unwieldy.

I find myself reading old-school games like Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, and I want to get my hands on Swords and Wizardry. Small books, referees with creative freedom, simple rules, and complete packages in functional packages. I also dig the spiral bound books that Lulu sells that lay flat during play. In all these games, the referee's default role is free, the rules are guidelines for the referee, and all players need to worry about is what is on their character sheets. There is a zen to this design that I would love to capture with a future RPG, and I would love to take the creative narrative that was the sole province of the referee, and share it among the entire group of players around the table.

Creativity shared among a group is the magic I want to capture, and having the referee be the director of this orchestra is my dream.