Since hitting the first target of my Patreon, in which having reached 10 supporters I commit to writing at least one article per month on this blog, I have been pondering what to write about.
Following the demise of the party at Friday Night’s Castles & Crusades game on The Isle of Fire, I’ve been in a bit of a blue funk: I hate it when there’s a Total Party Kill and it’s clear that at least 2/3 of my players are unhappy with that outcome. It led me to get thinking on how best to run a classic style game within modern sensibilities.
The breakthrough in my mind came while recording a forthcoming episode of Roleplay Rescue and discussing the merits of David Hargrave’s Arduin Grimoire booklets (1977-1988, 2002). In short, ever since I first read the initial three Grimoire (as compiled in the Arduin Trilogy book published by Emperor’s Choice Games), I have admired several of Hargrave’s innovations. More than that, I have (on at least three occasions) sought to use some of those innovations in games of my own design. In other words, some long-ago suggested answers to the problems I face in my gaming today have been staring me in the face.
Today, then, I begin a grand experiment in my gaming. I have decided to bring together two tomes that have been kicking around my gaming pile for many years. The first, of course, is the Arduin Triology; to this, I wish to bring Delving Deeper (v4, 2016), the most faithful retroclone of the original 1974 fantasy adventure game. This seems justified given that Hargrave himself was modifying the original game, not a later development of said game. Along with these older sources, I have decided to also experiment with the campaign building and gamemastering advice found in the 2018 publication of Alexander Macris’ “Arbiter of Worlds“. This latter text, coming as it does from a champion of the Old-School Renaissance, seems appropriate to delve into. Thus, with a trinity of sources, I plan to embark on a new adventure into the roots of our hobby.
I’m not sure where the journey will take me. I don’t particularly want to travel to Hargrave’s own world of Arduin to run a campaign; rather, I feel as though I want to stage a series of raids into his territory and see what treasures I can plunder. At heart, I am a gamemaster who likes to create his own worlds. Macris’ work will encourage me to launch into another creative expedition towards discovering a new borderland for my own adventures. Perhaps by bringing the approaches of the past to a new land I can rediscover something of the excitement of this great hobby that I feel has been lost… at least at my table.
Game on!
I’ve always thought that the Arduin material was better raided than campaigned. Great stuff to be sure.
It appears you have a great foundation to build upon! Greatest of luck with it. I’m always here if you’d like to bounce off an idea.
Just a quick observation: Arduin’s hit point conventions will be a good buffer against truly chance TPKs – and allows diverse-level parties adventure together without anybody feeling like a loser. Do pump up the opposition’s HP, too, though!
That was one of the immediate Hargravian innovations I had in mind, Gabriel. It was the first rule I decided to implement when I read it, but I have never really tried it due to fear of negative player reaction. I have been afraid of my player’s opinions for far too long.
I hear you. Only one of my players complained that at higher levels, his PC would potentially have fewer HP than if he got to roll every level. Everybody else really dug not being so squishy at lower levels.