OSR origin story : my turn !

 So back in november, Jenx over at Gorgon Bones posted about his coming into the OSR and invited others to do the same.

Since I was planning a post in this vein at some point, why not now ?

I've succinctly described my role-playing background in my opening post, so let's build on that.

I'm a 30-year-old French man, not raised in a particularly geek household (at least not in the tabletop RPGs and video games kind), so I haven't been exposed to the now-classic D&D kind of fantasy at an early age. That's why you won't see much fondness here on this blog for actually old-school modules and rulesets — they're just not part of my fantasy / RPG upbringing. I'm no TSR grognard and it shows.

My own exposure to fantasy, science-fiction and RPG concepts was made through several ways :

- in childhood, many contacts with the traditional European, Polish and French body of fairy tales, fables and bedtime stories, along with bits from other cultures of the world, and a healthy dose of Matter of Britain (and France, and Rome, and Greek myths) by way of tales and simple cultural osmosis ;

- inventing a parallel world in our garden where my younger brother and I would weave stories blending various toys and the garden's micro-landscapes ;

- from childhood to adulthood, extensive travels and holidays in Brittany, Germany, Poland, and various French mountains and countrysides ;

- a long-time habit of playing board games, including slightly fantasy-themed ones like Labyrinth ;

- discovering Game Boy games at school, so you can thank Zelda : Link's Awakening for introducing me to the whole "you adventure with a sword in a weird fantasy setting" thing, and Pokémon Blue for familiarising me with the concepts of HP and levels (and cool monsters) ;

- reading adventure comics and novels : looking back on it, it's mostly XIXth century anticipation (Jules Verne, Herbert George Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle...) and XXth century comics of the French-Belgian world. Among those you'll find fairy tale / fantasy (the Smurfs), series blending contemporary adventures with pulp and sci-fi stuff (Tintin, Blake & Mortimer, Yoko Tsuno, Les Petits Hommes, Le Scrameustache, Bob Morane...), and other things (Gaston Lagaffe and its yé-yé / hippie protagonist in an uncaring 70's Belgium, for example) ;

- several old or not-so-old movies illustrating various fantasy domains : Jason and the Argonauts, The Neverending Story, Jumanji, Sindbad, Ghibli's Castle in the Sky, etc. I spent a non-negligible number of Saturday afternoons binging and re-binging Jumanji and Neverending Story with my brother ;

- and then, around the ages of nine to twelve, that's the explosion : Harry Potter books, borrowing the whole Lord of the Rings from a friend's mom after being gifted Fellowship of the Ring by chance, owning my own Game Boy Color with Tintin and Harry Potter games on it, scouring the library where my dad worked (and still works) for all the SFFF I could find, discovering  « chose your own adventure » books, and reading the weird sci-fi / sci-fantasy comics hidden in my dad's bookshelves (hello, Enki Bilal, hello, Mézières & Christin...). Add to this the GameCube with Zelda : The Wind Waker, a passion for hacking the stories of my video games and the mechanisms of my CYOA books, and my background was pretty much set.

So, everything was in place for me to discover and appreciate pen-and-paper RPGs. All the basic concepts were there : fantastical stories and worlds, role-playing in groups, or solo, inventing my own stuff, hacking stuff I found of interest, dice procedures to resolve play, and even levels and HP by way of video games first. (Those core D&D mechanical elements really had the time to permeate pop culture a lot already, even though it's even more ubiquitous 20-25 years later, of course.)

But I cannot seem to pinpoint the exact moment I discovered the existence of the classic format of playing RPGs. All I know is that, upon arriving in university and discovering the local gaming club, it seemed natural for me to join and play.

I actually did not play in group sessions very much at the time, and haven't much since. A railroady Talislanta one-shot at the club in 2012 and a short-lived D&D 4e campaign by a dear friend in 2013 convinced me of two things : first, railroading sucks. Second, D&D 4e was not for me and, to be honest, most complex or crunchy rules systems were not.

Retrospectively, I think that I bounced off 4e for several reasons. First is that we picked up the game to play, without knowing much about it, this specific edition, and how it was played. So I had no idea the game was supposed to have that tactical side of squares, powers and resources, synergies, etc. Second is my legendary cursed luck with dice : my cleric managed to miss hitting immobile enemies and nearly die against low-level animated wood puppets. (To be fair, the first bit is also a problem of rules adjudication.) And third, my (then undiagnosed) ADHD made it very difficult for me to grasp the different powers and elements of the character sheet, to reference and use them easily. I had a lot of trouble and it made the game difficult, for me and for my friends.

It's from then on that, still hooked on the potential of pen-and-paper RPGs, I tried to look for and devise simpler game systems. Things that carried flavor and promises of great adventures, but designed with simplicity and accessibility in mind. I'm not proud of my first tries, but that's what first tries are for. And I slowly opened up to the English-speaking RPG internet spheres, around 2013-2014.

This led me to take up the mantle of the GM and game initiator : once for a very fun one-shot Lasers & Feelings hack, once for a would-be campaign set in post-apocalyptic southern France, and once with the indie game House of Reeds that I translated and played one-on-one with my girlfriend-now-wife. I also got involved in freeform role-playing on a French language Skyrim forum. 

Since these, a few years have passed. I discovered and binge-read many OSR blogs (too many to quote here, but I'll make a list one of these days). What got me into the whole OSR thing was the joy to discover that, like me, there existed people who just wanted to play : stuff that was fast to set up, quick to resolve and adjudicate, free from the "character build" mindset that was too heavy for me, and all of it DIY-friendly. It felt like a perfect fit. 

I lurked on many forums, participated and commented on reddit (r/osr) sometimes. I wrote many drafts, many genres, many random tables, many ideas. I formed opinions on some games, some topics, and many aspects of what has come to be known as "the OSR", and also discovered the FKR movement, and its delightful radicality. I got interested in procedures, theoretical reflexions, and came back to solo role-playing, which was one of my earliest ways of playing. I tried blogging once or twice, but didn't commit. The itch stayed, though, as I regularly found myself wanting to say and develop things and share them with others.

So here we are now : I try to actually write, and actually post. I'll try to participate more in the scene, to my humble level. And, most of all, I'll try to play with what I write and discover, because this is why we're here, after all.

Am I officially an "OSR guy" ? I have no idea, since I didn't really ever played an OSR game, solo role-playing excepted. But it matters little : I know it broadly fits what I want, and I know I really appreciate what it has given to the whole hobby. 

Here's to many blogs, exciting adventures, inventive ideas and hours of play !

Quickly tailoring NPCs : 1d20 distinctive features

It's a relatively common tip for game masters : if you want to make an NPC memorable,  give them one distinctive feature. Your players probably won't remember much more about the NPC, especially if it's not an important one, and you're always free to add more detail later if the need arises. Moreover, it allows for quick recalls that will better cement the NPC's presence in the game.

So here's a random table, useful for all settings, that will help you pick a category of features if you find yourself short of ideas. I'd like to tell you to not use it to caricature or make fun of anyone's physical features or disabilities, but let's be honest : if you are the type to do it, you would have done so with or without my table. For the others, I hope it will prove useful.

(Side comment : I quite like this format for random tables. They're not overly specific as to become quickly repetitive, but they provide enough guidance to help the improvisation or spark the inspiration.) 

What's remarkable about this NPC ? It's their... 

1, height, body shape, facial shape

2, skin (color, fantastical color, complexion, tattoos, scars, diseases, iron marks...)

3, hair (styling, cut, natural or artificial color, adornaments, lack of, headwear...) 

4, eyes (gaze, shape, color, damage and scars, adornaments, eyewear) 

5, smells (body odor, perfumes, environmental odors) 

6, nose or ears (shape, scars and damage, adornaments, cold...) 

7, speech (voice texture or timbre, tone, pitch, rapidity, accents, impediments, turns of phrase, old-fashioned words, specific slangs and registers, etc.)

8, gait, speed, general ease or clumsiness

9, limbs and joints (length, absence, really big hands or feet, missing or sixth fingers, visible strength or feebleness, visible handicaps or disabilities, cyborg parts...) 

10, facial and body hair

11, mood, emotional state (constant, frequent, just today ?) 

12, age, state of pregnancy, presence of a baby or child with them, or other age or family-relevant NPC

13, tone, consideration, general attitude, air

14, clothing, garments, general style and looks

15, accessories of all sorts

16, other rings, jewels, adornaments 

17, presence of an animal or other creature (pet, magical familiar, parasites, imps / fairies / elves / goblins / other folkloric spirits, working animal, wild animal, plants and fungus, small robots / golems / clockwork designs) 

18, tools, boxes, cases, books, documents, various items, weapons, armor, vehicles

19, habits, mannerisms, gestures

20, plastic surgery, magical or sci-fi additions, modifications, mutations, curses, etc. (reroll if not applicable)

As usual, tell me what you think ! 

#dungeon23 ideas

 I appreciate the #dungeon23 project a lot. It sounds just like the "great days" of the OSR, albeit in a less collaborative fashion, perhaps. But it's awesome to witness such a rush of creativity, sharing, resources, blogging and reblogging, etc. That's the DIY stuff the OSR is made of. (Other resources and relays : on Mazirian's Garden, on HereticWerks, on Reddit...)

As for myself ? I'm awfully bad at doing these kinds of self-imposed, regular challenges. As much as I love writing, I haven't ever been able to participate in NaNoWriMo, for example, much less complete it. And my current life and health would be enough to deter me anyway. 

But, of course, I still find myself bursting with ideas. So here's a random table of #dungeon23 projects and variations ! I know the year has started already, but hey, if there are other people like me out there, some will come late or will want to change the project once started. That's not the goal, but we do what we can...

1, #dungeon23 : the challenge as originally proposed. 1 level per month, 1 room per day.

2, # monster23 : a theme a month, one bestiary entry per day.

3, #treasure23 : same, but with sweet treasure.

4, #kid23 : make good use of the challenge by exploring, in any way you want, a setting that haunts you since your childhood or teenage years. Or do a #dream23 : if you have a dream journal, use bits and pieces from it to fuel your inspiration and flesh out your inner worlds.

5, #ocean23 : each month an island, its secrets, its surrounding islets, atolls, encounters, etc. Can double as #sky23 for floating islands, because of course sky islands are cool.

6, #space23 : each month a world or system in a space opera universe. Build a sector or subsector along the year for Classic Traveller or any space opera game !

7, #spelljammer23 : mixing the best of 5 and 6, it's worlds, islands and weird encounters for your favorite space fantasy setting / Spelljammer ersatz.

8, #pungeon23 : fill your dungeon / whatever with one pun or wordplay per day. Room number 5 is an NPC named Gael Ubo (or is it Ugo Elba, or Gabe Olu ?) dancing the mambo. 

9, #hexcrawl23 : a generalisation of the oceancrawl, each day is a square or hex or point on a wilderness exploration map.

10, #wiki23 : each day, your inspiration must come from a different random Wikipedia page. Or from the featured article of the day, that works too ! 

11, #book23 : each day, you guessed it, your inspiration must come from a different random line or word in a book of your choice. Might be always the same book, might not be. (Heck, I'm half-tempted to try a #bible23 just to see what comes out of it.) Might also come from movie, series, magazines, podcasts or video games lines. (Those kinds of creative constraints might bother some people, but they're also great guides and supports for those that, like me, welcome an external source of focus and discipline. Just like in improv acting or acting in general, or writing or any other artistic pursuit. Just like random tables help the OSR referee imagine and discover what happens next !)

12, #home23 : take your inspiration from around your home, hometown, surrounding region that you know well. Or use it as a pretext / motivation to discover cool things about your region if you don't know it well !

13, #group23 : gather the spirit of the early OSR : find a group and collaborate together ! Each can do a piece, or you can share the days, or one writes and the other draws or proofreads, etc.

14, #saints23 : many religions have saints, some official, some popular, and many have attributes, portfolios or biographies that are ripe with direct gameable material or inspiration. Pick the religion that tickles your interest and go look at its saints ! Better yet, some calendars associate a different saint du jour to each day, so your content is already in place. There are other calendars out there with daily attributions, such as the old French revolutionary calendar with its rural and agricultural focus. 

15, #magic23 : each day a new spell. Dividing the months in schools, themes or spell levels is optional.

16, #misc23 : be less constrained, follow your fancy. Each day, write just a small thing : a room, a hex or wilderness locale or encounter, an item, a magic item, a trap, a spell, a creature, a faction, an NPC, a bit of lore, a small finding, whatever.

17, #city23 : each month a district of your fantasy / sci-fi / cyberpunk / historical city or megalopolis. Or each month is a different city in the same world. Fill it with NPCs, rumors, shops, places to be and to see, scheming factions, hidden corners, looming threats.

18, #people23 : what people are and do. Each day is, to your preference, a fantasy species / ancestry, a faction, a class or subclass, a particular NPC... Here again there's room to theme per month as you wish ! 

19, #lore23 : flesh out your setting with a bit of lore a day, as consequential or trivial as you want. There are many worldbuilding questionnaires and generators out there to give you inspiration, thematics, etc. The more gameable or actionable, the better.

20, #no23 : don't participate, or not all of it, because, hey ! it's just for fun, don't stress about it. Don't be like me.