Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!news.quux.org!campaignwiki.org!.POSTED.staticline-31-183-170-123.toya.net.pl!not-for-mail From: Kyonshi Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: OSRIC 3.0 announced Date: Sat, 25 May 2024 10:25:39 +0200 Organization: Campaign Wiki Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Sat, 25 May 2024 14:55:34 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: sibirocobombus.campaignwiki; posting-host="staticline-31-183-170-123.toya.net.pl:31.183.170.123"; logging-data="969173"; mail-complaints-to="alex@alexschroeder.ch" User-Agent: Betterbird (Windows) Hamster/2.1.0.1548 Cancel-Lock: sha1:xeue5APuFJqo3PUwU6GE3WRbypM= sha256:Znx1i62aQGTerYf5vuf4E/z39A3UCTGhLuuc4DewaAU= sha1:BJm6M96FO/BPjyTIKch0XAgtfps= sha256:RCX7ADOCI3oXOWp59g3Jc1zsoJUUzdISwr3uw+a1YMw= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: Bytes: 4217 Lines: 73 On 5/24/2024 4:10 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote: > On Thu, 23 May 2024 09:22:44 -0700, Justisaur > wrote: > >> On 5/23/2024 1:03 AM, Ubiquitous wrote: >>> spallshurgenson@gmail.com wrote: >>>> On Thu, 16 May 2024 13:34:45 +0200, Kyonshi wrote: >>>> >>>>> Source: >>>>> https://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php >>>>> >>>>> Seems they are trying for an approach targeted at younger players that >>>>> have a 5e culture instead of going full old school this time. Which >>>>> might be a good approach, I think Old School Essentials had basically a >>>>> very similar approach. >>>> >>>> Meh. If I'm playing old-school* then I'm playing old-school with my >>>> original rules-books. My creaky, held-together-with-duct-tape rule >>>> books. >>> >>> Don't make me Troll-O-Meter you, bro! >>> >>> The original rules were nigh indestructable, although the Unearth Arcana >>> never seemed to last more than a couple years of use. >> >> Yet another reason not to use UA. > > Even as an uncouth and crass young(er) player at the time, I wasn't > fond of Unearthed Arcana. It wasn't that a lot of the ideas didn't > appeal to me, but they all felt poorly integrated with the greater > game. They were good ideas tossed into the pot without consideration > for how they affected the overall game balance and style. These days > I'd accuse the developers of 'kitchen-sinking'* the game; throwing in > new ideas without a real understanding of its effects, just to say > that they've added something new. > > Another 130 pages of Gygax's dense prose wasn't a welcome prospect > either. Especially since his style of play started to feel extremely > dated compared with newer games. > > Still, a good half of the manual was advice and clarifications of > existing rules; essentially, a compilation of answers people had been > asking TSR for ten years. This wasn't entirely unwelcome, even if I > didn't always agree with the answers (again, Gygax and I didn't really > seem to want to play the same type of game), and if figuring out what > was intended required dredging through acres of Gygaxian prose printed > in tiny print and way too many charts. > > It also didn't help that Unearthed Arcana's status was so uncertain. > Was it an official expansion to the rules, or was it optional bits the > DM could pick-and-chose from? And that it came out just a few years > before the 2nd Edition revision didn't help either. > > I never thought UA was /bad/... just not necessary and not > particularly well thought out. I had a lot less respect for "Fiend > Folio". ;-) > > > > > > > > > > > > > > * I'm gonna make this phrase happen, just you watch. > Oh come on, the Fiend Folio is amazing. I just regret they didn't put out anything with the later monsters from White Dwarf.