#13: The History of RPGs isn't as interesting as The Present
#13: The History of RPGs isn't as interesting as The Present
It’s Sunday! Huzzah! *weeps in relief*
I. The History of RPGs Is Nice But It’s Not Interesting As The Present
So via the Liber Ludorum blog, I stumbled on a short but neat video on the pre-history of the hobby on Youtube. But I was slightly - just slightly - annoyed at the comments. There’s multiple people rushing to ‘contribute’ their 2 cents. It seems like if you mention the history of tabletop RPGs, the most important thing to discuss is the lives of D&D’s creators - Gygax, Arneson, their friends, the people they stole from, etc. Nobody’s denying the influence of these people on the hobby but the levels of the interest in the minutia of their personal opinions and habits truly baffles me.
I’m a relatively recent participant, sure, but even with my limited exposure to RPGs, it’s clear that RIGHT NOW IS THE MOST EXCITING TIME in the history of the hobby. ** We have the most diverse, most interesting slate of players, designers and games that has ever been. Yes, in the current moment, we’re all dancing in the shadow cast by 5e’s monopoly. But we’re still dancing!
I could substantiate the claim by pointing at kickstarter funding numbers or sales figures but I don’t particularly enjoy talking about success like that. It’s important, sure. But even if games weren’t breaking the bank in that way, it would still be true!
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** By ‘right now’, I mean the period that starts with The Forge till the present day. If you want a thorough recent history of indie RPG design, Emily Care Boss wrote the definitive article of the last 20 years, I believe. It’s a great read!
II. Watch of the Week
Luke Crane, designer of Burning Wheel, is a really smart person. He’s Head of Games at Kickstarter and sees thousands of games every year. He teaches game design. It’s a lot. He’s also a bit of an elitist - I mean, he thinks that hacking isn’t real game design which I disagree with from the deepest parts of my soul. But if you’re an RPG nerd, this is a really cool talk with lots of RPG nerdery about what is cool about TTRPGs. It’s from a 2014 convention in Finland called Ropecon (Ro-puh-con, nothing to do with ropes).
III. Links of the Week
General Reads
The latest edition of the Tor series that matches RPGs with SFF books is out. Here is “Tabletop Games for Your Favorite Horror Book”.
“Caillois extrapolates from games to macro-level social organization and dynamics. His observations, although over half a century old, are more timely than ever for a community increasingly concerned with relationships amongst gamers, our responsibilities to one another, and the role and function of games in society.” Read more here.
Reviews / Interviews
Cartel, a Mexican Narcofiction RPG, from Magpie Games is out. Here’s an interview with the designer, Mark Diaz Truman.
A nice review of Lovecraftesque, a diceless, GM-less horror game.
News
Lot of people excited by the start of two new companies this week. Critical Role started a tabletop publishing company called Darrington Press. Chris Metzen of Warcraft fame, left Blizzard and started one called Warchief Gaming.
Discussions
Cool reddit thread: “What the best system for a modern-day, criminal underworld campaign?”
Resources
A huge list of Monsterhearts skins for those who love a game of teenagers and monstrousness!
If you’re running a Blades in the Dark campaign in Doskvol, this might be too much info, this might be useful. It’s a faction sheet.
And here’s a pretty cool page to send someone who’s just getting started with RPGs!
IV. Small Ads
This section contains sponsored links and advertisements.
Dread Nautical, a Lovecraftian roguelike RPG is coming to Steam for Halloween. Zen Studios is making their creepy enemies into free 5e resources. Download the first two from DriveThruRPG today!
Floating Chair Club brings you fresh and exciting RPGs and zines from indie creators, pencils, cameras, and more! Check us out! Use the code INDIERPG for 10% off your order!
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As usual, this newsletter was written by me: Thomas. I’m a real person - like, an actual one. With bones!
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