tmh (10/28/82)
I have played several types of role playing games and
have found that the major drawback to all of them is the
weaknesses of the referee. When I was part of the
University of Illinois C-U club (one of the best gaming
clubs in the world due to GDWs participation and such
noted members as Greg Novak(Fire and Steel(System 7) and
Guilford Courthouse) and Dave Emigh (various published D&D
scenarios) ), we played several of a different type that
I will attempt to explain below. These games were based
on a given scenario and rules tailored or created for
that scenario. We played mainly miniatures in the part
of the club I was in and often used rpgs or near rpgs to
generate battles. Several of the games were purely
rpgs however. The difference between these games and
the standard published ones is that charecters are "key
figures" in the scenario, not a peon trying to work
their way up. So you as a player control the course of
"history". Every player is given a specific set of
victory conditions tailored to his position.
For example one of our games, run as most of them are
by Greg Novak, was a mythical kingdom based on the
H.Beam Piper book John Kalvin of Otherwhen with no J.
K.. Each player was a Baron and only loosely tied to
the other Barons. However, the chuch holding much
secular power (as it alone knew the formula for
gunpowder) was causing unrest among many of the people
of Wessex. Barons were forced to chose between the
church and the masses while watching their own borders.
The main drawback of the game was the fine tuning i.e.
in this case there was no reason for Barons to conduct
themselves properly and anarchy resulted. In the
meantime we found people do the strangest things...
One Baron burned the fleet so he could go off pirating
after plundering his own capital. The priest/general of
the church through a coup against the Archbishop because
the eccesiastical army was tired of fighting a guerilla
war and the Archbishop wouldn't listen to the general
until his Holiness was in jail. One Baron started the
game by turing himself into a pirate. The constable
kidnapped another Baron he was providing safe conduct
for....
In another game the scenario was a small expanding
colony on the West Coast of Africa was having problems
with the natives(1/3 highland Scot, 1/3 Zulu and 1/3
Pathan with a battle cry of "Hoot man swazi there is no
God but Allah and John Calvin was his prophet") throwing
a Jihaad led by the Madhi. Players were either a figure
in the home country military, the local colonial
government, or a native leader (a history professor at
Illinois State played the Madhi). The funniest thing
about this game was that (with no aid from the referee)
every pridiction the Madhi made came true. Also as
players were chosen sort of at random it turned out that
the most savage players ended up as Europeans and the
most civilized leaders as native cheiftans. We had a
blundering European general, sort of a Elphinstone in
Afganistan type, loose the entire army and leave the
colony defenceless as the natives swept out of the
hills. While the head of the Madhi army Bey Teotihuacan
came across as the Sandhurst type British officer "Oh
good show what too bad you lost, well you can go home if
you promise not to fight me again, will you have some
tea?". Another native cheif definately went to Oxford.
The hardest part of these games is forcing people to
play a role, but even with one or two bad apples it is
worth it in the long run. It requires the referee to do
a lot of prelimiary work and frequently the game
degenerates if the referee give people their heads.
One of the best ways we have found to score these games
is have each player write out his own victory conditions
given his situation (note that they need approval by the
referee) and let the game go from there. This allows
each player to give his charecter his own personal
flavor (power, greed, peace or whatever).
He either fears his fate too much or his
deserts are small that dares not put it
to the touch to win or lose it all,
Tom Harris
ihldt!tmh
BTL Naperville
P.S. I have played/refed a fair amount of Traveller and
agree that the basic game is dry, but with supplements
and a good referee (one who has imagination and will
tailor the charecter skills to fit the individual giving
bonuses for more diffucult portrails). It is unbeatable
for that type of game. The best Traveller game of all
time was called Narapoia (the felling that you are out
to get everyone else). I had the honor of playing in it
as a Fremen from New Dune and was given skills in self
discipline (which allowed mods on rolling for things
requiring patience and concentration) and desert
survival. This game won Don "the Major by God" Rapp the
dedication in the game "Snapshot".