RPGaDay 2015 #21 Favorite RPG Setting

One thing that irks me about the modern RPG publishing industry is how often they say "setting," but actually mean "campaign."

To clarify, a "setting" is a place for adventures to happen. A "campaign" is the answer to the question: "Who are the characters and what do they do?" The Discworld novels are a great example of this. The Discworld as a whole is a setting. But the series has not one, but several story threads running through it. Each with a unique set of characters who live in different places in the world and do different things. So even though all the stories take place in the same setting, Rincewind, Granny Weatherwax, and Moist von Lipwig are all effectively playing in separate campaigns.

I don't know how long this trend has been going on, but I started noticing it a few years ago. The first time I spotted it was the FantasyCraft Adventure Companion. It promised 3 settings, but all it really offered was campaigns. Sure each campaign took place in its own setting, but the opening paragraphs of each section were from some sort of in-setting mentor figure giving you the Big Speech about how you're going off into the big bad world to do X. While the X was usually pretty broad, and in one case was simply the wandering adventurer as respected social role, the rest of the material was presented in such a way as to support that specific campaign.

But what if I don't want to be a wandering adventurer? What if I want to be a merchant? Or establish a homestead out of the frontier of the world? If I want to use this so-called setting as an actual setting, I'm going to have to do at least half the work that buying a packaged setting was supposed to save.

Fate Worlds has this sort of problem as well. It promises settings, but delivers campaigns. And the majority of those campaigns are simply hacks. Rather than offering anything resembling a setting, we get mechanics to support a given campaign style. So rather than telling us a little story about Jack and Diane, we are instead given different rules to detail how Jack and Diane (for any given value of Jack or Diane), can interact or relate to one another.

Please note that I am not calling these products out as flawed designs or bad products. I simply feel that they are mistakenly marketed. If something calls itself a setting, I am presuming that it will be well-written enough to support multiple campaign types. If all you are offering is a campaign, please do not call it a setting.

I think it also sets a bad precedent. A while back on Facebook, I saw an established publisher of third-party Pathfinder material post in a Pathfinder group "Help! I'm writing a setting, but my playtesters have just figured out that it's really just a campaign!" I am paraphrasing, but that's pretty much what he said. Needless to say, that guy's not getting my money.

Maybe I'm just spoiled on the way GURPS does their setting books. They have a reputation for being bland, but thorough. And I think that a portion of this is that they do not assume a campaign. There are suggestions and ideas for different campaigns and adventures throughout the book, but it doesn't assume you'll follow any of them. (Considering my Discworld example above, it makes remarkable sense that GURPS Discworld is a thing.)

(I do have lots of cool settings on my shelf, as well as a few campaigns. But this rant has been brewing for some time and I thought I'd take the opportunity to get it out.)

Can't We All Just Get Along?

This one's a little ranty, but in a good way.

As I'm touring through the RPG scene, I see a lot of people looking for a game to try with their kids. And I'd love to recommend Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, but as they go into detail, I realize that AiO isn't the game for them. Because they explain that they've already taught their kid how to play a boardgame, and watched the youngster play video games. And so, they're now looking for some game to provide the "next step" towards roleplaying.

I find this incredibly irritating. Because there are two different parts to a roleplaying game: The roleplaying and the game. These parents are trying to start with a game and then add roleplaying. I can understand at least some of why they do it. By focusing on the game aspect, a new player can still have fun with the game elements even if the roleplaying doesn't really take off. And also, it's often how the parent learned to play. Remember that D&D spent some time as a revolutionary miniatures wargame before it was acknowledged as the father of RPGs.

And they're really selling their kids short. Because if there's one thing that kids can do even better than grownups, it's imagine. And that's the heart of roleplaying right there: Imagining that you are someone else, in some other place. So instead of starting with a game and treating roleplaying as optional, why not make it the core of the experience?

And one of the other downsides of this "game first, roleplaying second" view is that it tends to emphasize combat. Sample scenarios are often just a gridded battlemat with some terrain on it, some "bad guys" and just enough backstory to justify why we shouldn't feel bad when the bad guys fall down and don't get back up. And is that really what we want to be teaching our kids?

Why not teach our kids to be creative problem-solvers? Let's teach them more than how to choose the best weapon. Let's teach them that weapons aren't the only way to solve problems. If you're doing this in the games you run for your kids, whatever rule system you use, more power to you! I just happen to think that AiO supports imaginative play very well.

Gaming in Oz

Looking at the poll over to the side, I'm finding the answers so far to be a little disheartening. 4 responses so far, all people who have never played Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. Only one of them selected something other than the flat "No" response.

Some of you might be telling yourselves that it's a kids' game, so you're saving it for when your kids are old enough to play. Or maybe you think it would be a hard sell with your regular gaming group. Or you can't think of any adventures that would suit the game particularly well.

Wrong on all counts. AiO has been played by grownups for as long as it's been played. If you think playing this game is going to make you have to burst into song or anything silly like that, you have really got the wrong impression. Sure, it's a game about friendship. But that doesn't mean it's all My Little Pony. (Unless you really want it to be.)

And with all the indie games out there that let you take a punch in the girlfriend or drag your character around by the Aspects, I can't see AiO being such a hard sell. Just tell your friends the origin of the Tin Woodman (Don't know it? Shame on you!) and they'll be all like "Dude, that's so cyberpunk but fairytale at the same time. I'm in."

If you can come up with adventures, you can come up with Oz adventures. In the campaign I ran, I had floating spaghetti, flying ninjas, and tea with the Cowardly Lion. Should another Oz campaign arise in my future, I expect even more awesome.

For the record, if that poll hadn't been so disappointing, this blog would have been about taverns in Oz and how you can all meet there.

So what are you waiting for? GET PLAYING!

Probably just the sour grapes talking...

Before I set about whining, I'd just like to mention an Oz author who did not make it onto my big list. Ron Baxley Jr. He wrote the book "The Talking City of Oz" which was originally published by March Laumer's Vanitas Press back in 1999. He recently teamed up with an Oz author who is on the list, James Wallace III, to write Of Cabbages, Kings and Even (Odd) Queens, an Oz/Wonderland crossover novel. Both of those works are in the process of receiving second editions later this year, so hold on to your wallets until these guys have a chance to wow you.

If you want Ron to be noted as your favorite Oz author, just choose "other" in the poll on the side and then add a comment to any blog post declaring your love for Ron. And do it soon, as the poll closes in just two weeks.

Now on with the whining,

Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road has not made a huge splash in the gaming world. That's not surprising, as I don't have a large promotional budget, or a big budget at all, really. So when the Ennies rolled around for this year, I decided to go for it. It seemed like the process was deliberately designed to be accessible to the little guy, so I thought I had a chance. Especially with the good reviews that I've gotten over the past year.

But when the nominations rolled around, it quickly became clear that this playground had already been claimed by the big boys. No room for the little upstart with a small budget and a big dream.

While I was munching on sour grapes over in the corner, I stumbled upon this. Wundergeek mostly focuses on the pit of misogyny that is the video game industry, but she does take some time for us tabletop gamers every now and again. I feel slightly better now, knowing that AiO would likely pass her criteria for a successful female depiction on the cover of an RPG. (Note that I have not asked her to examine this at all, so she has not endorsed this in any way shape or form.)

While there is only one female figure in the image, that female figure is A) centered in the image and B) not sexualized at all.

So I feel slightly better. There is some standard by which I am clearly better than those pesky Ennie nominees.

Stuff and things

Another late post. I'm thinking that I should move my usual blog day to Thursday just because it is becoming more difficult to find the time on Wednesdays.

Just a few random items this week:

I just found out that a couple of Baum's books are still under copyright. Apparently, Dover Publications bought the rights to these books while they were still protected and they are now the copyright holders of "John Dough and the Cherub" and "Queen Zixi of Ix". It will take some time for me to figure out exactly what my ability to refer to those works will be.

The good news is that I have plenty of time. As I've mentioned before, the setting info in the rulebook will focus on Oz itself, with the other lands going to a supplement. So I have at least that long to sort things out and round up any money needed.

It can't be too difficult, since Hungry Tiger Press recently published a new edition of John Dough, since Dover let it fall out of print.

Second item: For those who have been paying attention, I am calling my publishing enterprise F. Douglas Wall Publishing. There are two reasons for this. For one thing, this saves me having to file Fictitious Name Statements and the expense of that.

Also, it helps remind people to get my name right. The fact that I use my middle name makes things awkward enough, but people just can't get over the first initial. My high school yearbook gives my name as Douglas F. Wall.

More recently, I entered a video contest at The Fump. When the winners were announced (finally!) at Con on the Cob, Tom Rockwell AKA Devo Spice of Sudden Death got my name wrong. He simply said "F. Douglas". An honest mistake, I'm sure, especially since my partner in crime (and many other things) attached the name K. Green to the project. It's just that it's one of many mistakes made by many different people that makes it so irritating.

I try and keep my personal life out of this blog, because this is intended to support my publishing enterprise. But it's also oddly relevant. Notice that the original author of the Oz stories is named L. Frank Baum. Although his first name was Lyman, everyone knew him as Frank. In an article promoting an educational event about Oz in the local library a couple of months ago, the creator of the Oz books was none other than "Frank L. Baum." I wonder how many times that has happened over the years and if I'm the only person out there irritated by this.

In other news, work is proceeding apace on the new setting material. If I can find the time and energy, I should be able to have an update for my playtesters today, but by next blog update at the latest. Then it's off to work on the next tantalizing preview of the land of Oz for my devoted readers.