By now you are probably aware of G+'s recent announcement to shut down by August of 2019. As a response to that news, Zak Smith of Playing D&D With Pornstars Blog has written this questionnaire for those of us in the DIY D&D game scene to
"explain, talk about, extend and preserve the breadth of what the DIY game scene has achieved and means by just talking to each other about it—and helping out any newbies who may just be stumbling on the scene now (there are a surprising number)."
(Clicking on Zak's quote above will take you to the questionnaire if you would like to check it out.)
Let me preface that I've wanted to read others' responses to these questions, but have waited to do so until I wrote my own. So any unoriginal answers are authentically mine, lol.
1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:
It's a tie between James Raggi's I Hate Fun blog post and Matt Finch's A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming.
The I Hate Fun screed really resonated with me when I first read it back in 2013.
Finch's Primer was useful for me to read as I was transitioning my gaming from New World of Darkness (now known as Chronicles of Darkness) Changeling the Lost to Lamentations of the Flame Princess and other OSR games. I go back to it a couple times a year, usually as I'm starting up anew from a gaming/DMing hiatus or at the start of a new game, like when I ran Call of Cthulhu for the first time this year.
2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark:
Every once and awhile Zak Smith pops onto G+ with his "RPG Magic 8-Ball" and answers questions from followers about anything RPG for a limited amount of time. So like campaign, monster, rules/mechanics, this vs. that, etc. queries get answered in useful, sometimes cryptic, and sometimes snarky ways. Sometimes a combo of all three! I hope he keeps doing those on another platform when G+ closes.
3. Best OSR module/supplement:
Fuuuuuuuuck. This is like asking which is my favorite cat (out of the three I have.) I'll try to narrow it down to three. It pains me to leave out so many other gems, but here we go.
1. Vornheim - It inspired me to go back to D&D style games and has been invaluable in presenting cities in my Year of the Goat campaign.
2. Yoon-Suin - If you don't have this, you're missing out. I love the setting, love the utility/toolbox design, and love the art. It's on my campaign map, but the PCs haven't gotten over there, yet. Can't wait to actually be running this!
3. Red Tide - I came to the OSR from running WOD Changeling the Lost. I had run D&D back in my early teens, but I mostly played. What I'm getting at here is that I needed help getting my shit together to run a sandbox style hexcrawl campaign. Red Tide combined with Vornheim and Yoon-Suin and reading various blogs helped me run a game that has been the most fun of anything I've run to date! It has a campaign setting folded into some great campaign generation tools and tables.
4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):
I like the die-drop equipment tables from blog Dismaster's Den of Unfinished Thoughts. They are a great way to streamline character creation if players have analysis paralysis during the buying equipment phase.
5. How I found out about the OSR:
I'm not sure how I found out about Playing D&D With Pornstars, but it was my entry into the OSR in late 2012. Soon after I purchased Vornheim.
6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:
I have a couple of favorites. Abulafia. The D&D Web Apps by Ramanan S on his Save Vs. Total Party Kill blog.
7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:
G+ has been the best place for me to talk to OSR gamers.
8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:
Instagram and more recently I got a Discord account. I'm on Twitch as well, but I haven't made good use of that account, yet.
9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:
I am neither awesome nor pithy.
10. My favorite non-OSR RPG:
Changeling the Lost. I haven't run it in 4 years, not sure when I will again.
11. Why I like OSR stuff:
It all mixes and matches quite well. Lots of great imagination on display in the writing and art. Creators who are trying to innovate and succeeding. Usually a very high quality in the printed materials.
12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:
Again, I can't narrow it down to two! How about these eight:)
The Midderlands and The Midderlands Expanded
The Dark of Hot Springs Island
Petty Gods
The Dungeon Dozen
Slumbering Ursine Dunes, The Misty Isles of the Eld, and Fever Dreaming Marlinko
13. If I could read but one other RPG blog but my own it would be:
Playing D&D With Porn Stars
14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:
It's rough, but I love my campaign map.
15. I'm currently running/playing:
I'm currently playing in a 5e campaign. When it wraps up, I'll be running my LotFP Year of the Goat campaign again.
16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because:
I use ascending these days, but when I started playing in 1990 THAC0 was the way it was done. The LotFP Grindhouse Referee Book has a conversion chart, so if I'm running a module that uses descending, no big whoop.
17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:
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| Purple Worm En Scene by Luka Rejec |
