Two Articles of Note

On this Labor Day weekend, we take a break from our hard-hitting, high octane analysis of TIMEMASTER™ in order to bring attention to a couple of articles regarding the early days of the hobby.

First, earlier this week, Kotaku posted a feature article about the beginnings of Dungeons & Dragons.  (TRIGGER WARNING:  Gary is described as having human flaws.  😧)  The article goes into Braunstein and Blackmoor and Arneson's “Creature Feature weekend inspiration.”  Eventually, it suggests that Gary may not have been as creative as legend indicates.  Of course, it was Gary who manufactured the legend.  Unfortunately, in bolstering his own role, he undermined that of Arneson.  The propagation of the Cult of Gary led to Dave's minimalization.  One of Gary's talents was promotion and absent that talent, there would not have been a D&D phenomenon.  Yet without the creative effort of others – most notably Dave Arneson – there would not have been a D&D for which to cultivate a phenomenon.

Another of Gary's talents was writing rules.  We should also be thankful for this.  Yet the Kotaku article provides this quote from Gary:  “Dave and I disagree on how to handle any number of things, and both of our campaigns differ from the ‘rules’ found in DandD.”  What's the point in devising rules if you're not going to abide by them?  On a previous occasion, I supplied a different quote from Gary:  “The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.”  If this is true, why do I consider Gary's codification of the rules to be important?  In my opinion, a person doesn't need rules in order to play, but rules are useful in learning the concepts of the game.  Rules from a basis of understanding among the game master and the players.  Once there is such an understanding, the rules can be modified or even abandoned.  Without rules, the phenomenon of D&D would have been greatly impeded.

Speaking of rules, the second article was written by the editor of the blue book.  While most media focused upon the burgeoning satanic panic, the November 1980 issue of Psychology Today offered an educated perspective.  (I didn't state that both articles were recent.)  Apparently, we owe the presence of this article on the Internet to the Escapist.  In “Confessions of a Dungeon Master,” John Eric Holmes relates his experiences and observations regarding D&D.  Holmes admits, “my friends know that they can often persuade me to twist the rules...”  Holmes also states, “The Dungeon Master's world is sort of a giant Rorschach test.”  By this, he seems to mean that, within the context of the fictional setting, “the personalities of the characters turn out to be combinations of [the players'] idealized alter egos and their less-than-ideal impulses.”  Yet the “world” itself is a psychological reflection of the Dungeon Master.  Holmes recognizes that his style of play is distinct from that of other Dungeon Masters.  More to the point,  Dungeon Masters necessarily improvise, both in terms of reacting to the behavior of player characters as well as implementing on-the-spot rulings.  Holmes recalls an occasion where he decided that a “saving throw” was the appropriate game mechanic to determine if a player character had preserved her virginity.  Ultimately, Holmes professes that, “The Dungeon Master's job is to provide an interesting game.”  Such a thing cannot be achieved by wrote adherence to a set of rules.

Engaging in a role-playing game is a form of art, the rules are merely a tool to facilitate this endeavor.

A Portion of Wonder

Art by Jody Lee

In 1982, Chaosium released Worlds of Wonder, a boxed set marketed as “3 Interchangeable Role-Playing Games in 1 Box!”  Included in the box were:

• a 16-page “Introductory Guide” to the Basic Role-Playing system
• a 16-page science fiction genre expansion – Future*World
• a 16-page fantasy genre expansion – Magic World
• a 16-page superhero genre expansion – Superworld
• all dice needed to play
• character sheets
• a cardboard sheet of stand-up “character silhouettes”
• a 4-page “Play-Aids” pamphlet
• a 4-page pamphlet titled “A Portion of Wonder”

With a price of $16, Worlds of Wonder was quite a deal, even in 1982 terms.  Also, three role-playing games in 64 pages seems incredible nowadays, a time when some RPG publishers – Chaosium included – eschew simplicity for 'comprehensive' rule books having hundreds of pages.

To further lower the barrier to entry, character generation in each of the three 'world' books was tailored for players familiar with popular systems of the day.  In Magic World, player characters were assigned to “professions” very similar to classes found in D&D (and other fantasy games).  In Future*World, player characters engaged in “career paths” very similar to careers and terms used in Traveller character generation.  In Superworld, players allocated “Hero Points” to selected skills and superpowers very much like Champions.  (Superworld characters could even gain Hero Points by acquiring “Disabilities.”)

Beyond the three 'world' settings, there is a meta-setting connecting them all:

THE CITY OF WONDER exists on an island somewhere on Earth, but no one is interested in telling just where.  Only someone who needs to go there can find it, and then most folks pass through into one of the Worlds of Wonder and never return.
     Wonder is built at the confluence of Earthly probabilities, where everything that could have happened did happen in a related dimension.  The portals of Wonder each open into a universe very different than the one we know.  This box provides three such universes:  to distinguish them, we call them Magic World, Superworld, and Future*World.  But in those places the Earth is still the Earth, the Sun is still the Sun, and the Milky Way looks just the same.
     For every ten adventurers who journey into one of these worlds and settle there, one will make his home in Wonder and roam the various worlds as he or she pleases.  One of ten of these latter will finally retire from adventuring and stay in Wonder.  Most of the present businesses were started by such people, and they have intriguing stories to tell.

Each portal is at the end of an avenue dedicated to the world to which the portal leads.  Each avenue has businesses that player characters may patronize, like equipment stores and places of healing.  Characters can even acquire residences and rent office space.  The 'style' of each avenue is appropriate to its adjoining world.  For instance, Magic World Avenue has an alchemist and a heraldry expert; Future*World Avenue* has a Longevity Hall and a Travellers Aid Society.

Note 'Bronstein Hardware' in the upper left-hand corner.
Doubtless, it is an homage to Braunstein.

Next to every portal there are Purchase Agents.  Regardless of the portal, the description is the same:

Characters returning from [insert name of world here] can store goods here or sell them to these agents.  The agents change often, as do prices.  All storage is receipted; no one has ever lost items here.

Purchase Agents are necessary because...

No adventurer may purchase any artifact natural to only one world at any store other than a store on the street to that portal, and no one may bring a significant artifact out of the world past those same stores...

Although “Personal artifacts and spells are permitted,” characters may not introduce “technical or magical knowledge...[to] a world unsuited to it.”

The existence of the city of Wonder offers the premise that the player characters are not native to the settings of Magic World, Future*World, and Superworld.  Yet the character generation rules presume the player characters are natives.  One could suppose that the portals allow Wonder-dwellers to occupy the bodies of pre-existing natives of the settings except the transfer of physical objects through the portals is clearly intended.

In any event, if player characters use the city of Wonder as a base of operations from which they conduct forays into one or more worlds, suspense is compromised somewhat since – no matter how bad things get – the characters have a fallback 'reality' to which they can escape.

* Thus called in 'Short Guide to the Avenues', the map shows “Future*World Walkway.”

Happy Birthday Dave Wesely!

This is really weird — I'm going back to being the king of Holland.

                                                                                                   -- Dave Wesely

Many readers of this blog know that role-playing games have their origin in the wargaming hobby.  Specifically, Dave Wesely is responsible for the wargame ‘mutation’ (so to speak) which wbecame the progenitor of all RPGs.  As such, Dave Arneson considered Wesely to be the inventor of the role-playing game.  Today is Wesely’s birthday, so your humble host deems it fitting that we look at Wesely’s contributions to our hobby.

Back in the day, Arneson’s parents’ basement served as a weekly gathering place for grognards in and around St. Paul, Minnesota (although the term ‘grognard’ may not have been in vogue at the time).*  It was there that Wesely orchestrated a ‘Napoleonic’ scenario about the fictional Prussian town of Braunstein.  Wesely served as an impartial referee; while not innovative, this concept would become central to RPGs.  Of course, in wargames, players control military forces; however, in Braunstein (as the game came to be called), each player adopted an individual role, not necessarily that of a combatant.  Each role had its own goal, not necessarily a military goal.  With a multitude of goals came a plethora of ways players attempted to accomplish those goals and Wesely had not anticipated the variety of activity upon which players had their characters engage.  It was necessary for Wesely to improvise rules in order to accommodate the players’ intent.  Wesely saw the result as a mess and did not consider his effort to be successful.  However, the players wanted more, so Wesely crafted further Braunsteins.

With the new scenarios, he thought that restricting the activities of characters would make for a better, more controlled game.  Alas, the players preferred the freedom of action (along with the 1:1 player-character ratio).  The fourth Braunstein used a stereotypical banana republic as the setting.  In this game, Arneson focused on playing his role as opposed to playing merely the game.  As such, he helped develop the rich potential inherent in a role-playing game.  When Wesely went to serve in the military, Arneson continued the Braunstein tradition and established a setting based on fantasy literature, but that's another story.

Legend has it that Wesely introduced his Minnesota cohorts to the concept of using platonic solids as atypical dice.  The notion of polyhedral dice was certainly not new, but if not for Wesely such dice may not have not become associated with RPGs.

With regard to other accomplishments in gaming, Wesely designed 'Valley Forge' and is co-designer of the underrated 'Source of the Nile.'  He is also credited with the development of several video games from the early ’80s.

If your humble host produced documentaries, he would be all over this dude like white on rice.  If you know anyone who makes documentaries, please clue them in to Dave Wesely.  The man had a profound (if unintentional) effect on the hobby and his insight is invaluable.  Oh, and be sure to ask him about the time he nearly killed Arneson.

*  Speaking of Arneson’s parents’ basement, that place ought to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Seriously, just consider the pop culture and sociological impact of role-playing games, even if only computer RPGs.