Changing the Game: D&D and Mods
- Thread starter Robert Stoneback
- Start date
Hell, I didn't know anyone who actually played the game entirely by the book. If anything, it was like the card game in FF8, where somebody would pick up a regional rule in one state, travel across the country and spread it from there. Some people liked using a spell point system, others liked a nicer parry system, got rid of material components and the whole 'lose a point of CON when you are raised'. Myself, I was playing cleric like a third edition sorcerer years before third edition was even released. I also allowed for first edition content to be used in second edition games. Alot of the games I have done have come down to powergaming with uber characters doing heroic things. I've allowed for quite a bit of min-maxing in my day, and sometimes the campeign can get a bit monty-haul. All that really matters is that everyone has fun, and somebody chooses a cleric to play.
I find it interesting to hear about Gygax's initial reaction to people playing with his rules system. I suppose it could be a thump to the ego to think that your work isn't absolutely perfect. Still I imagine that attitude changed by the time a couple of decades rolled around.
The article is correct, but in the foreword for Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax advocates making the game your own, dropping what rules you don't like and going with your own. It was only later, when he found that people wanted to move characters from one campaign to another but couldn't because nobody was playing by the same rules, that he started to want to make an 'official' version (i.e. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons). If you have old dragon magazines, you see this play out.
Great article as always! I think Im more and more becoming a tabletop RPGer than a video gamer. Going back to my roots I guess. 
Me and my friends are currently adding Flintlock Weapons to our custom campaign world, along with feats and the possible creation of a class based around the use of these weapons. It can be rather fun to mod rules for D&D (though we technically play Pathfinder). The GLS is more than likely a response to thigns like Paizo's Pathfinder spawning from the OGL.
While I love DnD for getting the movement started I find the system incredibly restrictive. Half the time I want to play a certain type of character I have to cherry pick at least 3 different classes and end up with something so sub optimal I don't feel useful to the group whatsoever. I don't have that problem in other games. For example in Shadowrun I played a fast talking (high conning, negotiation, and etiquette skills) gunslinger Orc. In the DnD system it would take forever to make such a simple concept. I will always respect DnD and sometimes I have to play it because others want to but I think other systems are doing it better.