The Rules-Lite Sickness & Gaining Momentum

A little vacation post to tide everyone over in anticipation of NAP III.

Noisms tackles the pernicious plague of Rules-lites with his usual combination of discernment and trepidation (the Yochai Gal hit squads are no doubt chomping at the bit for a piece of him). He argues from sound principles, rivalling my own, but as usual stops short of pointing the gun at the guilty party and pulling the trigger.

Into the Odd is arguably the genesis of the current pox of rules light games yet it is also utterly unlike them. I like Into the Odd, or at least respect the idea of it. As a thought-experiment, having a sort of minimum-viable DnD and marrying that to a unique setting (Roadside Picnic meets Mevielle’s Bas-Lag), with several sweeping simplifications like the reduction of character abilities to magic items only, is very bold. It is innovative in the truest sense of the word. As a vessel for long term campaign play it will run into all the problems of B/X, magnified exponentially, but as something that can sustain an adventure or two it probably works and sometimes that is all you need. It has a library of alien artifacts and gadgets that replace both magic items and spells, and a short but intriguing list of otherworldly horrors to populate the strange landscape with.

The problem is that once you have IttO, you do not need to fill in the space between it and B/X. The plethora of rules-lights that followed in the wake of it all more or less do away with many of the innovations of Into the Odd, and amount to minor customizations added to a framework of bog-standard, ‘generic’ OSR. The motivation is supposed efficiency, but what is the cost?

There are several major problems with these rules-lites.

1) To a large degree, they lack the extensive library of items, spells and creatures (ref. Gygaxian Building Blocks) that are an integral component of any roleplaying game. The more cunning of these slothful tinkerers will include a ‘conversion guide’ so monsters can be ported in from other systems so as to trick you into thinking this is a good game system, but of course, this conversion guide covers barebones mechanics only. What it does not cover is context.

If you move beyond the idea of monsters as simple blobs of hit points you see that the D&D bestiary, arguably the finest in all of TTRPG land, has a whole host of creatures that are inextricably linked to the abilities, spells and magic items of the player characters. Monster A causes disease, which can be countered with Cure Disease or class immunity, Monster B has poison, monster C uses illusions etc. The same for obstacles like traps, green slime, ravines etc. The 5th level magic-user has access to fireball so the GM introduces a fire-resistant monster. Then consider all the information gathering capabilities that might be imperfectly ported. This interplay between character and monster ability is to a large degree, not something that was designed all at once beforehand, but something that grew organically over time, in a continual arms race between players and GM. The point is that a Medusa will not have the same meaning in AD&D as in DarkDerp if DarkDerp does not also facilitate porting in the various counter-measures, cures and components that interact with it.

What you sacrifice is depth. The reality of DnD is that it is about a great deal more than lateral thinking, creativity and logistics. It is about strategy and tactics. The decision to use a potion of heroism at the right time, preparing the right spells, figuring out a timely use of an obscure spell to get around a problem. The lie of the ultra-lite is that you can capture the quintessential nature of DnD despite largely removing its progression and Gygaxian building blocks. Unless you are thinking about level 1-3, this is false.

This lack of complexity, coupled with a lack of understanding of the proper context (which I will get into below), might be an explanation for the almost universally poor quality of the adventures put out for ultralites. There simply is not enough to work with. You cannot make G3 for Knave without re-inventing the wheel several dozen times and so whenever an adventure is put out it is yet another stab at a dungeon for levels 1-3, something we already have a glut of.

2) This lack of context extends to many of the rules in the rules-lite aswell. The ruleslite is a parasite. Its use of ability scores, hit points and other vestigial combat mechanics, ripped piecemail from DnD have no explanation contained within the game. The justification for its operation is buried in its parent game, despite functional differences. Why does casting a spell in Cairn consume a point of encumbrance? The answer is buried behind blurry walls of abstraction and the question is not considered at all.

3) WTF even is an OSR principles?

‘Compatible with OSR principles’ is the mantra of the rules-lite but there is no canonical source of OSR principles, what few sources exist are contested and the definition of what even constitutes the OSR becomes broader every year. Go on Reddit. Ask the question. You will get a million answers that range from ‘Its oldschool DnD duh (correct)’ to ‘To me it means…’ and until the edict against gatekeeping on gaming preference as opposed to political viewpoints is lifted, this erosion will continue indefinitely. Mechanics are senselessly transposed and ported in in an unwholesome, seething cauldron of disposable gibberish, kept momentarily aloft by attractive art, gimmicks and personal magnetism, until it collapses back into the ultra-lite foam, to clutter up the catalogues of Itch.io.

4) Experience.

Doctor Prince adheres to a hierarchical view of publishing. While you can find exceptions, I do believe that when it comes to OSR games, this is very much true. Ready? The idea is that you can create exemplary work from a base of understanding and experience. If you want to create a good setting, it helps immensely if you have a firm vision of what a good session or increment of gameable material even looks like. This is what I liked very much about Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and what should serve as a warning for a game like Mork Borg. There is at least one strong sample adventure in the former, the latter has a very mediocre grab-bag of incoherent elements.

The point is, if you are going to make a game by modifying an existing chassis, a good predictor of whether that game will be any good will be your familiarity (and fondness for) that existing chassis. Creating one’s own retroclone with any hope of rivalling the original, where there are not only alterations and additions to the Gygaxian Building Blocks, but to the core rules themselves, is at the summit of the knowledge pyramid. Any alteration should be measured to create a precise effect that was not present in the original game. And these games do exist in the form of something like ACKs, which was created with a very specific philosophy, a specific area of improvement, and with a nuanced understanding of the original game.

In ultra-lites this hierarchy is largely absent. Most ultra-lites are produced in good faith by well-meaning but ignorant newcomers, in an attempt to alter what are perceived to be fundamental flaws of DnD by the curiously resentful members of the OSR or simply to follow existing trends. I made my own shitbrew! Obviously there is nothing wrong with an enthusiastic GM going out and making his own set of houserules, but putting this in a place where it is in some way a meaningful addition or innovation on the existing game of DnD is another matter entirely.

Fortunately, the solution, as is so often the case, is to simply play the game. When playing the game, repeatedly with different groups, in good faith, with some trust in the designer, the problems with an existing system will either be revealed, or the efficiency and robustness of the system in question will quickly marvel and amaze.

As a special treat, on the Discord we prompted ChatGPT to write a rules-lite retroclone, which I believe is a good illustration of the transient and often worthless nature of the whole movement.

So if this is comparable to your own efforts at ultra-lite brewing your work is essentially worthless (or whatever the cost of 15 minutes of ChatGPT is worth). I will note in passing ChairnGPT has both a larger library of Gygaxian Building Blocks and better Dungeon and Wilderness procedures then Cairn. Now if only ChatGPT could be taught how to cancel Jim Parkin, it could easily be put in charge of the NSR.

For further delectation, I present to you, a pair of Mork Borg Parodies.

The excellent James Vail delivers a much-needed haymaker to this Hot Topic fascimile of Grimdarkness.

DORK SÖRD

Following in its wake, the excellent Archives of Mu, NAP II 4th place finalist and Patrick Stuart prose doppleganger, climbs over the ropes of the ring to deliver a suprise kangeroo kick to the throat.

With a particularly deserved golf-clap for making one of the enemies their literal DAD.

Darkbad.


In other news, I forgot to bring any books on my vacation, but I did have a notebook.

I have 8 more maps and a tonne of encounters. I might damn well be able to get something out before NAP III even finishes at this rate. I might alter the entrances to L6 and L7 to be further apart. It is going to be an adventure for levels 15+.

Have a great day everyone.