Basic Fantasy Podcast and Game Design

Check this one out:

http://saveordie.info/?p=1265

Save or Die has a great podcast with the creator of Basic Fantasy, Chris Gonnerman. It is fascinating podcast as Chris talks about his design choices, and what makes a 'perfect' game for him. Four races and four classes, with no alignment, a simple spell list, and rules which are surprisingly different than the basic edition of the 'world's most popular' roleplaying game.

He talks a lot about the evolution of the game from first to third edition, and how things were added along the way that people wanted, and also about the things that weren't included. It is a great look into how a designer pares a game down to the essential pieces, and throws out the edge-cases and lone-wolf gotta haves that creep in and add cruft to a game.

I see the game in a different light now, like a search for the truth in 'what's fun' for him as a designer. It is easy to parrot the rules and feeling of a source game and create a retro-clone, but Chris in the podcast says that the Basic Fantasy game today has fallen out of the current definition of retro clone. The game has evolved, streamlined itself, adopted new rules in places where they were needed, and became a different game. It shares the same inspiration and concepts as earlier games, but it is evolving into something different and unique.

It is a cool listen, and also one that fascinates me on a game design and 'product vision' level. His goal is to write 'the perfect roleplaying game' and he uses this 'golden rule' as a yardstick to measure a rule's effectiveness, simplicity, appropriateness, and if it should be included in the game. There is a vision there, and it is more than just 'to make a better retro clone.' Because with retro-clone, you don't typically add rules, and you also mimic imperfections in the original design.

Here, the imperfections are being fixed in unique ways, and rules are being added that fit the vision and not necessarily the original game's feeling and design spirit. The rules are being crafted to fit a unique design goal, and where the retro-clone parts don't fit to that model, they are being changed and improved upon.

This is fascinating stuff, and a worthy podcast to listen to. Excellent job to the guys and gals over at Save or Die, and please go check this out.