#rpghistory — Public Fediverse posts

I have been listening on and off to https://thegamedesignroundtable.com as they discuss rpg design.

The episode I listened to today talked about how most games don't actually teach you how to run the game. It's taught by word of mouth, and tradition.

This reminded me of how we in the sphere of bloggers who talked about old games, referred to "the system" as just as important as the written rules.

Trying to understand gaming from 1970-ies when "the system" is lost is hard.

#GameDesign #RPGHistory

1. If you're not already familiar with Age of Ravens' RPG histories, I highly recommend them: https://www.ageofravensgames.com/rpg-histories. He provides an overview of every game in a given genre (e.g. cyberpunk).

2. Does anyone know of a similar effort for sci-fi RPGs? Are you planning on making one @openhearthrpg ?

#ageofravens #rpghistory #ttrpg #scifi

Amiga Future #172 Announced
#AmigaFuture #CommodoreAmiga #RetroComputing #AmigaOS #MorphOS #AROS #RetroGaming #AmigaGames #TaleofEvil #AmigaCommunity #AmigaFans #Space1889 #Dungeonette #NeonNoir #FastFoodDizzy #RPGHistory
https://theoasisbbs.com/amiga-future-172-announced/?feed_id=930&_unique_id=67740dc3e9863

"Roleplaying Methods in the Classroom" by Mark Chesler and Robert Fox (1966) has a great appendix on dealing with disruptive roleplayers.

It also addresses post-game and pre first game sessions

plus ça change

#rpghistory #oldschool #rpg

I've got a new blog post for you!

https://deigames.com/2023/11/a-brief-tour-of-1994-1995-audio-cd-box.html

In the mid-1990s TSR released a series of beginners modules and accessories designed to bring new folks into the game. These products came with a CD to inform the players and assist the DM.

#ttrpg #rpghistory #DnD

Not new at this point, but a relatively extensive reflection on the history of the Warhammer 40,000 gamelines with respect to "satire" and fascist depiction.

Linked here for future reference.

https://timcolwill.com/40K.html

#WH40K #Fascism #RPGHistory

I wrote a second article on the OGL crisis today, talking about the news of the last week and a half: leak confirmation, industry responses, new FRPGs, new licenses, and finally a totally inadequate response from Wizards of the Coast themselves.

https://www.rpg.net/columns/advanced-designers-and-dragons/advanced-designers-and-dragons75.phtml

#RPGHistory #OGL #WotC

Wow, first the D&D Beyond server crashed when word got out that unsubscribing was a good way to let WotC know of your extreme displeasure with their arrogant and grasping "OGL".

Now, Paizo's web site has collapsed following word that their working with third-party publishers on a new OGL called ORC.

If you need a metric that VAST numbers of people have been alienated by WotC's corpocratic turn, that's it.

#RPGHistory

A potentially shattering day for the RPG industry with alleged leaks suggesting that WotC is going to attempt what's been considered impossible: a revocation of the OGL.

I wrote a bit this morning on what it means, and why it's important to consider even if the leaks prove false.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/76837939

#RPGHistory #OGL #WotC

Every January 1st (or the Monday thereafter) I put together a report on what's been going on in the roleplaying industry in the last year. Here's 2022.

https://www.rpg.net/columns/advanced-designers-and-dragons/advanced-designers-and-dragons73.phtml

TL;DR: some regrettable passings; AI; COVID; increased megacorp vibes from WotC; a roleplaying legend is knighted; a kickstarter slowdown; more bad actors (and why it's important to talk about them); and the return of the 80s and revamp of the OSR. (Whew!)

#RPGHistory

Word is that Kim Mohan passed this morning. He was the editor in chief of Dragon from #49 to #114, an era that many considered the Golden Age of the magazine and also edited crucial Golden-Age TSR products such as Gary Gygax's Unearthed Arcana and Saga of Old City. He also authored his own Wilderness Survival Guide.

After a brief stay at New Infinities he returned to TSR and Wizards and kept working in an editorial role through his retirement in 2013. Truly one of the giants.

#RPGHistory #RIP

I released a partial index of GDW's Challenge magazine today.

https://www.erzo.org/shannon/gaming/indices/traveller/challenge.html

My goal was to work through all the #Traveller material for my #RPGHistory on the game, but along the way I also indexed all the other GDW games except Twilight: 2000 (which was just too extensive).

Hope to finish it some day, but for now #Traveller, #2300AD, #Space1889, and #DarkConspiracy fans should find it useful.

Today I published a history & index of GDW's Imperial Lines newsletter (1992-1993), including the long-lost fifth issue.

It turned out to be not particularly useful for me for the purpose of working on my #Traveller #RPGHistory but there's some nice gaming content to make up for it.

Issues #1-2 are available on Far Future's MegaTraveller CD-ROM. I'd hope the other issues will become available someday too, but that's of course up to Far Future.

https://www.erzo.org/shannon/gaming/indices/traveller/imperiallinesv1.html

@Covok @linnaeus I'd generally say SF broke open with Traveller in 1977, superheroes with Champions in 1981, horror with Call of Cthulhu in 1981. There were predecessors, but those were the big movers that inevitably led to imitators. So that's all within a decade of D&D's 1974 release.

Of course the biggest expansion beyond classic roleplaying tropes was when indies appeared in the '00s.

#RPGHistory

State of the Company addresses feed #RPGHistory

Here's a look at the first for 2022, on the State of Mongoose:
https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/state-of-the-mongoose-2022.123719/

For me the intriguing bit was hearing how Matthew is working to transition the company into what sounds like a workers' collective.

Of course, I loved seeing the preview of #Traveller as well, since I'm working on a history of the Traveller RPG at the moment (for publication by Mongoose, of course).

H/t to @SteveG

@fedithom For sources on my history writing:

The most common source is interviews.

Designer notes, introductions, and forewords are also strong sources, though somewhat less common.

Industry news and reviews are sometimes sources as well.

Generally, the older the source, the better. Newer sources fill in gaps left by older sources. Questions to principles fill in gaps left by all sources.

#RPGHistory

@fedithom I've talked about my writing process some in podcasts, but I don't think I've ever fully written it up. Basically:

1. I research.
2. I take notes (and for electronic sources copy text) and record the sources.
3. I outline and rearrange my notes and sources into the outline.
4. I ask questions of principles if there are info gaps.
5. I write.
6. I pass my history on to principles.
7. I rewrite.

#RPGHistory

Been stalling on my Traveller history work for a few months while I worked through 100+ periodicals. Thrilled to finally set pen to paper for chapter 7, on MegaTraveller, today.

Here's my preliminary outline:
,
- Shattering the Imperium: 1987
- The Early Days of the Rebellion: 1988-1989
- DGP Enters the Fray: 1987-1990
- More Software Makers: 1990-1991
- Chuck Gannon Brings the Hard Times: 1991-1992
- A Changing of the Guard: 1991-1992
- The End of DGP: 1991-1993

#TravellerRPG #RPGHistory

This morning I released a new mini-history and index for _Working Passage_, the third Traveller fanzine and the one that got the fandom community of the '80s going.

https://www.erzo.org/shannon/gaming/indices/traveller/wp.html

This is all in service to my work on _This is Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveller_. I'm coming up on chapter 7 on MegaTraveller and Chapter 8 on fandom and HIWG. (This work will serve the later.)

#TravellerRPG #RPGHistory

Oh, hey, I realized I hadn't published a link to my new monthly history article over on RPGnet.

It's a look at ten top medungeons in the industry:

https://www.rpg.net/columns/advanced-designers-and-dragons/advanced-designers-and-dragons71.phtml

This was actually a part of the article I wrote *last month* for Designers & Dragons: The '10s, on Frog God, but I thought it was enough fun that I wanted to share it now, not in a few years when the books are out.

(Some of my history columns are new; some are boxes from the upcoming books.)

#RPGHistory #OSR #megadungeon

This month I drafted a Designers & Dragons article on The Armory, best-known perhaps for their paint, but a general accessory manufacturer and distributor that formed the foundation of Alliance.

At about 5500 words, I'm pretty happy with my first draft, even though it's light on direct interviews. It'll be in Designers & Dragons: The Lost Histories I.

But, let me know if you have some direct knowledge of The Armory. I'd love to get any anecdotes or send you a draft for comment.

#RPGHistory

So I finished up revisions to Elf Pack for Chaosium at the start of the year and thought *whew*, because doing that on top of the Designers & Dragons work was a lot.

And then Mongoose contacted me and asked if I wanted to write a history of Traveller for them, from 1977 to the present.

So I ended up with a new (tertiary) project for 2022, and obviously going into 2023: This is Free Trader Beowulf. I'm really enjoying the research & writing so far!

#RPGHistory #Traveller

After I started half-time work on RPG histories in 2020, I had too many things I wanted to do!

So I also started a work on a second project: expanding and regularizing the TSR product histories I wrote for DnDClassics.

I quickly learned that I had many, many books worth of content and settled on initially producing a four-book series covering OD&D, AD&D 1e, BD&D, and Mystara.

I've been putting together one of those a year. So that'll be done next year.

#ADnD #Mystara #RPGHistory #BasicDnD

On 1/1/20, I moved to Hawaii. It took me 3 months to clear old work obligations, but then I was able to move over to half-time RPG history writing.

My first project: expanding Designers & Dragons with two volumes of "Lost Histories" and the much requested book on The '10s.

To date, I've written ~275k words covering 50+ companies, from Grenadier (1976) to Helmgast (2018). The plan is to land in the 360-420k word range, to match the previous volumes. So maybe a full draft in 2023!

#RPGHistory