One of the most neglected aspect of Fantasy rpg history is the lack of recognizing that in our minds Fantasy is something different, and sometimes radically different from what resides in the mind of our fellow players.
Everything depends on WHICH fantasy role-playing game you have elected as yours. I will never stop from saying that Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is only a fragment (albeit gigantic), of the concept of Fantasy taken as a whole.
Everything depends on WHICH fantasy role-playing game you fell in love with. Almost any of the fantasy rpg's published through history has a fragrance of its own, more- a Weltanschauung of its own, they embody their creator's unique vision.
It happens that someone fails to understand what entertains another player, we don't speak the same language.
Here it is evident the eternal problem that could be summarized saying that "in the end, everyone is supposing to be talking and thinking in D&D terms any time we are talking and thinking about a fantasy RPG".
I realized this one more time today when i bidded for another item to complete my collection pertaining to a fantasy rpg from the past, i couldn't but notice how different it was its taste if compared to AD&D manuals, starting from its graphics and appearance, not to mention its content.
I am not claiming that this approach is doomed to come to an end. Probably it will not, much to the detriment of THE FANTASY in general.
Despite this idea of mine, i'm not advocating that we start to re-consider other fantasy rpg's.
As i said earlier, i'm not interested in making people change their minds. I just want to meet others whom i could call comrades, and fortunately i already found many before opening this blog.
Nonetheless, i cannot but realize that the consequences of this approach are grotesque. Apparently these many other old-school traditions sank into oblivion- i say apparently because in fact many are not and several communities focused around other "minor" fantasy rpg's from the past are still alive and active.
What is grotesque is to associate "Fantasy" to Dungeons & Dragons, which is only a partial facet of it, with its limits and shortcomings.
But, -more importantly- Dungeons & Dragons will NEVER be able to replicate the feeling and the atmosphere of another fantasy rpg, be it Runequest, Dragon warriors of whatever, and vice-versa. This is the reason why FANTASY takes many shapes and tastes. And sometimes these tastes and these peculiar atmospheres are incredibly distant from one other, and the resulting inner experience of the player is a far different one.
1 comment:
I like this blog because every so often it provides links to old, obscure games that are not available anymore. But I think I will stop reading other entries. I grow tired of the author's constant butthurt rants at D&D, his obvious inferiority complex at the fact that his favorite games aren't more popular, his negative singling out of one game and holding it to impossible standards he does not demand of any other system and his general lack of objectivity.
Keep those PDFs links coming, but for f*ck's sake tone down the blowhard-mode.
We appreciate both the material and the gaming history lessons provided here, but if we wanted to read someone crapping all over D&D there are thousands of other sites we could go to.
At the end of the day these are just games. For all the posturing from the author one would think something of actual relevance to life, like economics, politics or religion, was being treated on this blog.
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