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This past weekend Kiralee, Cindy and myself spent attending the Arisia 2003 convention
for SF, Fantasy & Horror fans. All three of us had been invited as panelists to speak and discuss various subjects with
enthusiasts and professionals on a variety of subjects. A reasonably good time was had by all, despite our sitting in the spotlight.
Of course, when sitting in the spotlight, you also have yourself and your ideas facing the microscope of public opinion, and this has led me to inevitable personal introspection from my experiences and observations. That's what this edition of the S&S column is mostly about.
All of the panels I was on, and most of the ones that I chose to sit in the audience for, were related to roleplaying games or games in general. Its always interesting to be rubbing shoulders with the freelancers and company representatives (and authors) and finding out what the low down is on current and upcoming events, and hearing various insider viewpoints.
I also found the audience interesting, as it gives one a wider perspective of gamers in general that being around local groups and lists and stores just don't reflect.
What I found is that there is a definite rift within gaming, one that is difficult to surmount. None of the folks I was on panels with were happy with the D20 barrage of material, and many saw as I have seen that it is a killer for much of the gaming industry. Granted I was on panels with folks who've worked with GURPS, Storyteller and Unisys, but the fact that many of the audiences were filled with large numbers of college age folks who were D20 enthusiasts showed that there is a disconnect between quality products and the masses.
D20, as far as the professionals are concerned, is a danger to gaming. Its contracts, terms and flood of poor quality products have hurt publishers, distributors and retail stores. Yet it has its fans, and its become a common denominator for a large chunk of 'new' gamers who have never experienced the other systems on the market. No author or designer I sat on a panel with had anything good to say about the system - all of them saw the truth I had seen in the marketing scheme and which Ryan Dancy had admitted to since the begining.
Now comes my other problem - D20 is, for me, a gigantic step backwards in game design. Gaming spent nearly 2 years trying to rise above the tyranny of D&D, its class structure, limited creativity, overblown cinematics and overly fast character growth mechanics and poorly thought out structure. Yes, the fixed the weird and choppy dice mechanic, no they didn't fix the other problems. It returns gaming to the "You have to buy everything to GM" model (since players are 'allowed' to pick up any special class or race book and more or less pressure a GM to apply it to their game world, even if it is unbalanced compared to the rest of the setting).
I don't want it to eat everything in sight. The College folks are in many cases diving in and have no interest in spending any time at reading or understanding settings or mechanics. They are off for instant gratification, the quick rush and the getting their character from 1st to 20th level in a year or two in a monty-haul extraviganza. Their attitudes in the panel sessions seem to be even more juvenial then they have in years past, less understanding concepts of consistency, compatibility, balance, or drama. Many of them seemed less interest in story or accomplishment and more interested in the competition and numeric rise. In other worse, they acted like a bunch of video game cube hack-n-slashers then real roleplayers. D20 has returned gaming from an intellectual, dramatic or explorative pursuit into possibilities and metaphysics, into something with about as much meaning as playing a session of Munchkin.
Now, I'm working on a design project, of the kind of games I like to play. This means its designed to be intense, dramatic, intellectual, offer a lot of possibilities, and allow a lot of creativity. And I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time. Whether anyone will exist outside of my household who will have enough attention span to play the game. How do you shape a game to fit both audiences? How do you convince them that there is both pleasure in "building" as much as there is in "Defeating"? Is this part of the effects of all the computer 'twichems' or a temporary reaction to the drums of war that our media and government has been beating since the Sept 11th terror attack?
Yes, I know, there were some folks in the audience at these panels that didn't fall into the d20 Merry Marching Band. I was also frustrated with some of the panelists I was with who instead of tackling the topics like 'Game Design' spent their time trying to hype their own company game systems. The problem I had is to me they were another bunch of folks pushing yet another "one system to rule them all" approach, just one that wasn't D20. I don't believe ANY one system can handle EVERY possible setting, genre, or style need in gaming. Trying to crush those who go in a different but valid direction is just as bad as the d20 parade.
Mr. Looney of Looney Labs was one of the folks at the convention I found most interesting and the least problematic. He gave a wonderful hour seminar on the process of game design, and his own experiences in gaming, and although he is not a roleplayer, his advice is probably that which is going to most influence my work. This may mean some re-writing on my part to make my current project work better for others while retaining my desires, but I think it may be worth the work. He wasn't out to make one game system rule the world, nor was he trying to force a specific structure on games. His main points were about the Ease of Use, Elegence, Flexibility and Durability that makes a game fun. Let's see if I can manage to follow these guidelines on my upcoming works.
Next weekend is Vericon at Harvard University. Maybe I'll discover some college age players there who don't fall for the d20 trap. Wish me luck :-)
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Synthesis & Synchronicity is the meanderings of the mind of Joseph Teller and may not reflect the reality of your own personal universe. Contents are Copyright 2003 by Joseph Teller and anyone who wants to reproduce it in any way or fashion must request permission (although linkage to these is granted to any and all websites, mailing lists and newsgroups, their operators, posters and users if so desired). Unless, of course, otherwise noted within the text of the articles involved. Synthesis & Sychronicity is distributed by Naughty Faerie Productions.
