The Post-D&D Era

Admittedly, giving up on the game is tough since I grew up with D&D. With every controversy and the repeated damage they are doing to the community with dumb statements that sound like fresh-out-of-college fools, I don't just choose to give up on them - I need to. I can't pick up the game, look at the Forgotten Realms, play a classic module, watch a D&D movie, read the novels, or do anything else in this hobby without being reminded of their reprehensible statements and behavior.

I check social media each day and expect the next dumb thing to come out of their mouths and see innocent people defend them because they care more about the community they built, and they want to close their eyes to keep it alive. It is understandable, but the company is putting people in a challenging position to defend the indefensible to maintain their social circles.

I don't know what this is. Perhaps "brand appearance" on social media is more important than the game itself. They anger people, deliver a lower-quality product, and think saying popular things on social media will get people to play. News flash, upsetting parts of your customer base, labeling certain characters (and people who choose them) as "inherently this or that," and forcing people to pick sides is toxic behavior.

So I avoid the hobby and fantasy genre, which is unacceptable.

Does that unfairly paint the original material as somehow related to the current owners? Yes, it does, and I throw no shade at anyone who still loves the classics - game on. This is like learning something terrible about a famous actor and going back and watching his earlier beloved work - I get that same feeling.

The hurt is there, and I need to divorce myself from it entirely to move forward.

Cypher With Friends

This week, I have had the rare chance to play Cypher with others, and it has been a blast.

The system was instantly learnable; we created live in-game characters during the first encounter, and I taught the rules as we played. I used my tried and true "tutorial character" system of having someone in-game explain things as the situation progressed. That character gradually became less of a tutorial character and more of an NPC when the group felt confident.

The best thing? The players did all the rolls, and I would ask them for a d6 or d100 roll when I needed one. I forbid myself from touching dice or having them on my table as GM. When they asked why I was doing a d100 roll, I told them why, and they followed along in the book with what I was trying to reference.

So they were all learning how to game master too.

I have no "GM screen" or "secret adventure notes" to reference, and I kept a pad of paper to make world notes. I used my tablet on a stand as my "book" and played music on it. I had nothing hidden from my players, nor did I need to.

Another great note is to make the XP flow like popcorn. Use a generous XP rate, and encourage rerolls, player intrusions, and spending XP to change the world. The world is just as much of my player's creation as mine. They wanted a base; they created a "desert castle" as a home base, spent 3 XP and created it, and then spent an XP creating character arcs to repair and fix the place up.

And just like that, they were invested.

They purchased NPC contacts, created player intrusions, changed the narrative creatively, and had much fun using the one-use cyphers to cause havoc and solve encounters in ways they never expected.

Cypher System is one of the best games I played in years, and it is even better when playing with others.

D&D is Dead

https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/04/04/dungeons-dragons-to-remove-half-species-from-players-handbook-claims-entire-the-entire-idea-is-inherently-racist/

They can say all the nice things they want and put as many rules under the Creative Commons as possible, but they still work in a trash fire.

I went to school with plenty of mixed-background kids, we played D&D together, and I loved them as my friends. They shared the best of both cultures and had this incredible worldview and mix of families from different perspectives. To see them come together during the holidays was mind-blowing.

To be invited to an experience like that changed my world for the better.

Incredibly, this group of designers can't see that. They eliminate mixed-background cultures from the game in a highly regressive way. Even if a new system is replacing the"heritage system," the way they said this and painted mixed-race people - is just wrong. Perhaps these designers never experienced people being able to coexist and share culture.

They are trying to keep themselves relevant by making the older editions the enemy.

Also, calling the concept "inherently racist" will label players who choose them the same. Do you think anyone in D&D Beyond will pick these - or use the "build a" options, with the possibility of being called that? The Wizards team is doing its best to destroy the game and its community. They are idiots.

It is sad, really.

D&D is dead.

The Backpack Game

A massive part of B/X punishes you for not correctly taking shopping seriously. I kid, but it is true. Whenever I get out of my Cypher System narrative haze and settle down to play B/X, most of my time is spent managing inventories.

What is not in that backpack could kill you.

You don't have a rope and spikes? A tinderbox? Bandages? Enough torches? Chalk? Waterskins? A mirror? A walking stick? Oil? A bedroll? Food? A sharpening stone? Soap? A washcloth? A knife?

I can think of a dozen ways not having one of those items could doom an adventurer.

Some games make you "play by the pound" and carefully craft your loads. I can get into it when I am into those and have the tools to streamline the process. Without a computer, it is painful. With GURPS Character Assistant, I can get my load down to 0.25 pounds, have a droppable backpack that will get me into the next-lowest encumbrance category, and I am all set.

This is one of the reasons why I like playing old-school dungeons in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy; the software makes inventory management more effortless. Not painless, but it is much easier than doing it by hand. The characters are 100 times more complex, but if you are going to go whole-hog, I prefer to do a complete simulation. Middle-grounds, where the stats are simple, but the gear management is old-school, feel a little off to me.

Some games, such as Castles & Crusades, standardize the "backpack" per class and give you loaded pre-set grab-and-go packs. ACKS even has equipment packages; a few OSR B/X style supplements do gear packages. C&C also does a simplified encumbrance system where you aren't tracking pounds, and ACKS does something like this. You can still die from a bad shopping trip, but it is a little more painless (to shop, not to die).

Some games only list encumbrance for treasure (like OSE) and assume the first 10 pounds carried is "adventuring stuff." It is a fair compromise and simplification. You can still die from a bad shopping trip.

Many sold-school games wander into this "gear trap" trope, where the novel solution to problems relies on MacGyvering backpack items to problems. There are times when I am not in the mood, so I will play a narrative game and ignore the gear game for the most part. In Cypher System, need a mirror to peek around a corner? Spend an XP, do a player intrusion, and make it a more significant part of the story.

Solo Play is Different

You need to ask yourself, why do I play? And this answer for solo players will differ from when you play with others. When I play the OSR solo, I manage equipment I never use. This takes time and feels like a waste since gear use and problem-solving rarely arise in my solo play. I will spend an hour crafting a perfect loadout for a character, and only 5% of the time is it necessary.

In a group, yes, there has to be something outside of "math and the rules" that players can have creative input on. Creative gear use is one of the ways players "break the game" or "solve problems outside of the box" and is a critical part of the play experience.

This is where Cypher System really shines for me, is solo play. The limits on carrying and using "cyphers" and the random nature of finding them and gaming their use changed the solo-play gear game for me dramatically. This system is a game where you could get away with buying "an adventure's backpack" or "a clockwork toolbox" as an expensive item and have it filled with all sorts of exciting goodies. I wouldn't even require a player to list them and handle it one of two ways:

As an asset to a roll, the item should be in the pack (iron spikes, rope, chalk, a flask of oil).

As something a player could use to trigger a player intrusion, such as, "I pull out a spare gear from my toolbox and see if it fits the machine."

It is fair since the player gives up an expensive item (or whatever level you want it to be, depending on contents) and gets the "backpack" as a "bag of tricks." I would limit this by type to prevent it from becoming too powerful, and an inexpensive bag would only have ubiquitous and cheap items inside, while an expensive one would have better stuff.

I would also limit this by "type of item" to prevent abuse, such as adventuring gear, clockwork toolbox, automotive toolbox, priest's bag, soldier's backpack, EVA tools, cowboy rucksack, vampire hunter's bag, etc. Be careful of the generic "backpack of stuff," and force players to be specific. The more specific and narrow the description, the more situations it will be helpful in related to the use, and the better benefits the bag will give. A "modern soldier's medical backpack" will have far better medicine and uses for treating wounds than a generic "modern soldier backpack."

It is like requiring a few "descriptors" to be chosen for one of these "universal backpacks" in the game, which helps balance and prevent abuse.

The Survival Game

Other times, I like building a complete loadout for a character. That survivalist game is going on, and it is fun to shop and anticipate gear needs while balancing the weight carried. This is where complete equipment lists can kill a game for me. I am happy if the game's gear list is simple and boils down to only the best and most useful stuff. If I have to sort through a Sears Catalog for every character and buy extra lute strings, I will end up cursing the completist and list-based "more is better" game design.

And yes, I know that is GURPS too, but I still like the game.

The backpack game reminds me of old-school survival games such as Aftermath! I have seven 0.45 bullets in my right pocket, a swiss army tool, two batteries, a spool of fishing line, and three disposable glow sticks. The storage containers and where you wore them mattered, and fetching things stored in different locations took differing amounts of actions. This is much like GURPS; you can get this detailed there too. It is also a big part of the play in Pathfinder 2 - putting something in a backpack when needed will cost you.

Shopping Can Be Fun

The backpack and shopping game feels like a part of old-school gaming. I like it when not everything needed is available, the moment you assume every small town has a "fantasy Walmart" stock of goods, then shopping loses its fun.

Looking for candles in a small village? There may be some at a shop (if it is open), or you may have to trade with locals. Looking for rope? It may not be easy to find, and you may have to barter with a farm or other tradesperson who may have a stock of some. Good luck getting a suspicious small-town blacksmith to craft a few replacement lockpicks.

If shopping and finding gear is a bit of luck and a game, I like it much more.

Picking from lists and shopping at superstore-sized catalogs where everything is always available bores me and pushes me back into my narrative games. Part of the default "modern-world 5E/PF2" assumptions with "Amazon.com gear lists" of many campaigns turn me off.

Massive games with too much choice are not games since there is little thought into the design and how things work together. They feel list lists with rules holding them together.

Qedhup (Cypher Streamer) Needs Our Help

https://www.gofundme.com/f/i-qedhup-needs-your-help

One of the best Cypher streamers had his computer gear fried due to a power surge and needs the community's help. He has a limited income, so any amount is appreciated to help get him back online and create content for one of our favorite games.

I am always happy to share these calls for help, and his content is excellent.

Slower Games vs. Cypher System

I play the Cypher system; I can sit down at my table, play for 30 minutes, and get an entire day of adventure done for a character or two. It is a narrative-focused game with enough crunch and character build detail to create various character types.

Then I get on a high, feel good about myself, and try to play other games.

And they often fail me, have too many books to reference, or just sit there on a shelf while I tell myself I will play them but never do. And I end up not playing the hanger-on games or Cypher System, and I stall again. I get into this bad habit of switching games when I should stick with the one I love and ignore everything else.

And they ruin my focus. I like Castles & Crusades but don't want it out when I focus on another game. Same with ACKS, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and others. I love you, but not now. I am playing this.

So I box up the games I am not playing and put them into storage. This helps me; it takes away the choice paralysis and focuses me on the one set of rules I have out. I don't want to front a shelf of dozens of games; that is a worst-nightmare scenario. Good for streaming and showing cred but terrible for sitting down and playing.

The hanger-on games are the enemy of my focus and concentration. If I am playing them, they are my main game. If they are out and begging me to play them instead of what I am having fun with, I don't want to see them. If I focus on playing something like Pathfinder 2, I will box up Cypher, but I don't foresee that happening soon.

I can get a lot done in 30 minutes in Cypher System compared to other games, where it takes me 30 minutes to read the first few pages of an adventure, and I am still trying to reference the rules and monsters I will need. Having that "instant fun" and "turn off whenever" is why I love the Cypher system so much.

Cypher feels like a portable game system to me. It is always ready to play, fast to pick up, and quick to put down. The interface and design elements are focused on streamlining the play experience. You may not have the full-bore power of a gaming PC, but for my needs, a fast, light portable game system that does many different things quickly fits my time and expectations for a game.

I can walk up to my gaming table, come up with a scenario - with characters - in my head, and play it out in 5 minutes as I stand there and make the rolls. I don't need to open a book to look up a goblin's unique abilities or hunt down monster stats in a book. If a monster needs an ability, like troll regeneration, it gets made up on the spot. If it is too strong, award an extra XP for the trouble and adjust down for next time.

That is fun.

Is it "rules as written?" In Cypher, yes. In the other games, no.

Too many games ship these days with a book full of lists or random charts, and call that a game. More is not better.

There is a suggestion in the excellent Solo Game Master's Guide that says, "everything is playing." In many games, you never get to play because too much work is involved. Designing a GURPS character and sorting through build options for Pathfinder seem on the same level of complexity to me. With those games, there is a high cost of entry, and even playing the game requires a significant amount of effort in setup and combat management.

"Everything is playing" is a great rule that keeps me in the game.

But this is taken to another level in a game like Cypher, where the "instant fun" button is always ready to be pressed. In 30 minutes, I can play an entire adventuring day - with a party. In many systems, doing that would take me 8 hours minimum, and so many rules referencing that my wanting to repeat the process would be strained.

Creating a Cipher character takes me 10-15 minutes, an upfront campaign cost. I can do this by hand and on paper, which is nice. Past that point, there is zero cost in preparation, reference, or setup.

Everything is playing past character creation in Cypher - is playing.

April Fools

No jokes here, sort of tired of this holiday online, so I stay off the Internet.

Take the day off today and enjoy the outdoors.

There is a world outside.