Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Mash-ups (aka, the Frankengame)

In this semi-well documented period of discontent I am suffering, a recurring theme has recurred. A common theme of a severe bout of ADD is that I fixate on something about a game or system I don't like. For example, I may start looking at Game X and be completely turned away by the fact that it calls for a d20 roll for initiative, when I am in a d6 mood. Stupid, I know, but this things are called irrational for a reason.

In a similar vein, I want the game to be self-contained, with everything I like (at least in principle) between its covers. For example, I have been re-examining Labyrinth Lord the last day or so. This, in turn, swept my attention to Dark Dungeons. One of my favorite parts of the RC, and thus DD, is the weapon mastery subsystem. So, I started thinking of bolting the system onto LL. Thus we approach the relevant conundrum.

In the best of times (meaning no ADD), I don't really like wholesale mash-ups. I read all the time about guys taking bits and pieces from here and there and combining them. I wish I was more of a mind to do that, but I'm not. For me, it seems like more trouble than it is worth, in the end. Especially as the referee. I have to remember that the system we're using at the table forks from the book. In the heat of a moment, I could miss the turn (depending on which bit and/or piece we're talking about).

Then, there's the issue with getting all the players up to speed on the changes. "We're playing LL, with the AEC, but I've added the weapon mastery from DD, so here's copies of the pertinent sections, along with the conversions necessary". Bleh.

By now, I'm sure you've realized this post is about as useless as tits on a boar hog. It's just a little gamer-therapy for yours truly. Thanks for listening.

1 comment:

  1. I actually agree. The only times I tend to do such things is when I'm actually playing, and it just made sense at the time. In which case I make a note of it to come back to later and see if it will work to make the change, and luckily, my players will usually remember the way I did it on the fly.

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