Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 16, 2009
Death of Division
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Duty & Honour: The Holy Grail of Military RPGs?
Duty & Honour (http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/) might very well be the military RPG I've been waiting 25 years for. By this I mean the rules- the 'big idea' idea systemically speaking. The setting is well researched and well executed. Yet, while I enjoyed the Sharpe series as much the next (Chosen) man, I'm not sure I would devote the time to planning or running a campaign in the Peninsular War.
The gem of D&H is the system- a fundemental decoupling of military RPGs from the pedantic chains of movement rates, ROF, armour value et al, the Devil in the details. In short, I simply don't care how fast an MG42 can fire. But D&H seems to get the principle that characters matter, people matter and the story counts - especially in a military RPG. This genre has such potential but simultaneously and consistently disappoints me in RPG execution. Oh, I have tried - I find on my shelf Behind Enemy Lines, Weird War, Delta Force, Top Secret Commando, Morrow Project, Merc, Freedom Fighters (shudder) and Recon. I tried to like them, I tried to even play them. One- Twilight 2000, I still love. But for me, they just don't work. Maybe now- I can return to this genre and find what I'm looking for: Characters and stories.
The Plan: Twilight 2000 conversion of D&H.
PS: HBO's Deadwood is to TSR's Boot Hill gaming what Generation Kill is to Twilight 2000.
The gem of D&H is the system- a fundemental decoupling of military RPGs from the pedantic chains of movement rates, ROF, armour value et al, the Devil in the details. In short, I simply don't care how fast an MG42 can fire. But D&H seems to get the principle that characters matter, people matter and the story counts - especially in a military RPG. This genre has such potential but simultaneously and consistently disappoints me in RPG execution. Oh, I have tried - I find on my shelf Behind Enemy Lines, Weird War, Delta Force, Top Secret Commando, Morrow Project, Merc, Freedom Fighters (shudder) and Recon. I tried to like them, I tried to even play them. One- Twilight 2000, I still love. But for me, they just don't work. Maybe now- I can return to this genre and find what I'm looking for: Characters and stories.
The Plan: Twilight 2000 conversion of D&H.
PS: HBO's Deadwood is to TSR's Boot Hill gaming what Generation Kill is to Twilight 2000.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Day One
Today I suppose I've entered the new century. Far behind most of you and even farther behind my students.
This blog, I hope, will keep my projects from getting away from me- let me reflect on them before the get out of hand. I have too many on the go, half done and I come back to them from time to time, picking away and ever collecting.
There is a good FLGS here and endless supply of eager undergraduates exited to 'game' with a prof. So why does it take so long to get one project done? Why bounce around? Time? Interest? Endurance?
This blog, I hope, will keep my projects from getting away from me- let me reflect on them before the get out of hand. I have too many on the go, half done and I come back to them from time to time, picking away and ever collecting.
There is a good FLGS here and endless supply of eager undergraduates exited to 'game' with a prof. So why does it take so long to get one project done? Why bounce around? Time? Interest? Endurance?
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