I've been reading on various blogs lately some angst about the OSR should be doing this or the OSR should be doing that. Why don't we have a clone of this game or why don't we have a clone or that game? Things are "getting stale" kinds of comments.
Here's my 2cp.
For me, an orc with a spear is enough.
I'm not talking a space orc with a fricken lazer-beam attached to its head wearing an amazing technicolour dream-cloak.
I'm talking a painfully, painfully, mundane, run-of-the-mill, standard-definition, orc with a spear.
It may not be enough for some, and that's ok, but it's fine for me.
I find the idea of an orc with a spear fascinating.
What's he doing there? Is he guarding something? Can I sneak past him?
Like the idea of the dungeon-crawl, the orc with a spear is timeless and never gets old.
(I know the pic looks more goblin-y, but you get the idea :))
I could not agree with more. I have enough in my brain to keep things fresh. Plus, its a hobby and most of us struggle to find time to play let alone create a new campaign world for everyone else to use. I have my own, but writing it out so others can use is a whole different matter.
ReplyDeleteA lot of good things have come out and will come out in 2011. Twenty years from now, some of those things may be recognized as being in the same class as EPT or what-have-you. Regardless, an orc with a spear is indeed enough!
ReplyDeleteI prefer an orc with a scimitar! For some reason I don't care for gonzo style gaming. I like the standard fantasy setting anything interesting that will happen, will happen during the game session. It's the players and the DM coming together is what creates great games.
ReplyDeleteOrcs with spears never get stale. Or even goblins with spears for that matter. I'll never get tired of the classic dungeon crawl.
ReplyDeleteFor me, an orc with a spear is enough.
ReplyDeleteMe too, but then I'm neither a neophile nor a believer in the notion the classics ever get stale.
Love me some Orcs with Spears: my players(but never me; crap! :-) are usually the Orcs with the spears!(Oftentimes Spearing other Orcs.) 'Classics' never get old, but new 'classics' are bound to come along sooner or later. Laser Spear Orcs can party too, ala DMG Gamma World/D&D mash-up: Mutants and Magic! Good thing there's room for everybody in the Dungeon(sometimes the Dungeon is a pocket universe, though...)! I do believe there'll be good times ahead for the classic style play, i.e. where anything can happen. That's how the game settings ChicagoWiz and others are holding up(rightly) as good examples to follow got their start. There is of course, no pressing need for non-standard settings; it'll just be fun and interesting to see what develops.
ReplyDeleteAn orc with a spear is simultaneously primordial and apocalyptic. Personally I think orcs (not just half-orcs) can be player character races, and that race should be rolled randomly like the attributes, but then I'm more into dystopian nightmare fantasy than fairy-tale wish-fulfillment.
ReplyDelete