GenCon 2017 Retrospective: Systems

I only got to play a few different RPGs at this years GenCon, but I need to take every change I get to view games from the players side of the table. Luckily, I got to cross of two new RPGs on my list: Swords & Wizardry (an OSR game) and Fantasy AGE (a 3d6 action-oriented RPG).

I'm a sucker for classics, so when OSR games promise the old-school dungeon crawl experience with none (or at lest much less) of the tedious rulesets, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. That feeling was almost fully realized during our S&W game. It's not a perfect ruleset by any means, but it had a few simple rules that aided in it's OSR feel.

First, the specifically itemized inventories meant that we had limited carrying capacity, but our packs were full with 10 foot poles, 50ft strands of rope, mirrors, torches, and all the other often forgotten but potentially interesting gear. These specific tools allow adventurers to poke and prod at a dungeon, exploring the finer details of traps and magical devices. This style of play is not for everyone; it's slow, and put pressure on the GM to be consistent in the physics of mystical nonsense. But, get the right group together (like those who sign up to play a S&W game at GenCon), and it can be a blast.

Second, S&W has a very unique initiative order for combat rounds. Instead of streamlining turns like most other games, with a simple back and forth between players and GM, S&W keeps the old-school feel of "rounds" by introducing a Magic Prep -> Ranged -> Melee -> Magic Cast order to combat. This allows spell casters to be interrupted and ranged attackers to shoot before being approached. This gives the game a OSR tactical feel without bogging things down in casting time and weapon "reach" rules. It was enjoyable, even with simple options like bow vs. sword.

Fantasy AGE, in comparison to OSR games, is a new and exciting beast. It totes sensible rules like the bell-curve 3d6, and exciting player agency in the form of "stunts". However, new beasts come with their own slew of new issues.

First, the bell curve I've found doesn't mean much to actual gameplay. It might make sense "in real life", but in short it made all rolls and numbers too familiar, and exiting highs and lows less probable. In addition, having to add up 3d6 each roll got tiresome. It's seconds difference, but I felt that I just wanted to use my brainpower elsewhere, on something more fun.

Second, stuns are something I really was excited for. Whenever the player rolls doubles, they get stunt points to spend on increasing the effects of their actions. They choose from a menu of options, and can pick multiple if they have enough points. Critical hits have always been a fun bonus, and special effects like extra status effects or movement have been normally part of special abilities in other games, so it seems like this is all well and good. However, each time doubles were rolled, it took time to decide what options to spend the points on, usually doubling the time a given turn would take. It was even worse when none of the options off the menu made sense for the given context, or simply weren't useful for the player. More often than not, players took the extra damage stunt, even if they could have done other things.

For Hostargo, it's good to play an OSR game and mentally note that its rules don't apply to the type of game I'm making. Fantasy AGE, on the other hand, I've borrowed ideas from, such as stunts. I need to keep in mind the speed of extra decisions, as well as making those decisions meaningful in most if not all situations. Fantasy AGE tried too hard - but it was a good try. I need to take the concept and work with it until I produce a more streamlined approach, just as S&W did with it's combat rounds.