Have you ever read Jack Williamson's horror novella Wolves of Darkness? One of the best pulp stories I've ever read, hands down. Published in Strange Tales, 1932 I think. I'd love to get your take on it.
This one is deeply, deeply underrated, even by aficionados who go back to review and appreciate it. They say its not Williamson's best, that it is an early indicator, that it is scientifically rigorous but too old for the science to appear anything but quaint.
I'm so glad you are just an unvarnished fan of it. It is such an unappreciated pillar of the genre. What I Am Legend is to vampires, Wolves of Darkness is to lycanthropy.
Yes, the science is quaint, but what a story! The twists, the pacing, and the surprising things that happen, I mean the main character "gets the girl" at the end, and that sounds nice until you remember she chewed a hole in his leg at one point in the story. It really is a wild ride.
The great irony of the New School retort -- that the modern game evolved upward and is now rooted in heroic scripting and storytelling -- is that this core ethic is a cheap and ineffective knockoff of the original "open secret world" of both 1e and 0e.
True storymaking was borne out of tables behind a screen, false rolls (and false roles!), and the smooth, Charisma-dependent "occasional" random betrayals or retreats.
The game trained you to naturally contribute to its neverending story, to grasp intuitively dusty old forgotten tales and forge their imagined future. I can tell you our "story" about facing off Against the Giants, or how the sleepy village of Brachlosbane became the first site in fantasy history of nuclear powered magic gauntlet meltdown, or how Ratzass the Thief got himself betrayed by a passive-aggressive introverted singing sword. These are stories I still vividly recall that were played 40 years ago or more. I can't recall a single detail (other than the other players were baffled by the rites performed by my cleric of St. Crispin. Apparently that's not what clerics are "for" these days!) from a recent session with some enthusiastic young players, even though the plot was scripted and proscriptive.
Rolls of the dice, both true and fugazi, were mechanically tied to the rich, interconnected/disparate lore of the pulps and everything they influenced in the media palimpsest of 1983.
It was this environment that bred at least one party of adventurers who intuitively exposed the DragonLance modules, breaking the railroad to go exploring the landscaped of their own imagination, naturally identified the deus ex machina fog of Ravenloft as a challenge - deciding to fight the plot conceit instead of the vampire - allying with Strahd and becoming vampires ourselves in his thrall (and ultimately, a party of nocturnal diplomats with an ambassadorial excuse to go dungeoncrawling in foreign countries!).
The "Narrative" era of D&D isn't in a sorry state because Narrative-based gameplay is a bad idea, but because - ironically - the era doesn't understand storymaking and it is entirely disconnected from the pulps. I think it is no coincidence that the Hickmans wanted to infuse the game with Tolkien-inspired epic story (and they did an absolutely tremendous job of it) and that the game ultimately took a rough turn away from the pulps.
Another thoughtful essay. Because it's on Substack, I assume it's a stab at a Foreword for the bound collection of PFL?
I love the pulps. They were omnipresent in paperback collections during my formative years. So naturally they influenced my gaming choices.
But I don't know if twentysomething gamers today need to follow in my footsteps (nor do I think James is suggesting that). If some Gen Z gamer wants to make a campaign inspired by Game of Thrones or Amazon's Lord of the Rings, because they love that stuff the way I love the pulps, then God speed.
My parents liked different music than I do. I like different music than my kids do. It's natural that different generations will gravitate toward different forms of entertainment, and therefore to different styles of games.
There's a loophole in your argument: George R. R. Martin is a late pulp writer! Moreover, even if he was not, the 5th edition is not rooted in movies or streaming, but in World of Warcraft. There isn't the whisper of literary lore behind it: it is an exercise in narrowly defined improvisational acting.
The fact that players can develop their roles at all within those confines and expectations is remarkable and a testament to the players, because the rules as written are clever diversions away from noticing the hidebound rails designed to anchor the imagination of the playing group to that of the designer.
There are people who drafted unique character sketches, complete with statted attributes, to read Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. I still recall my Sorcery! character (vaguely). But these were never encouraged by design. The character is now a trope designed to inspire improvisation within the assigned plot, and to see how well that goes.
I'd be all for people innovating their table game, inspired by atrocities like Amazon's Ring thing. But that's the hard truth: 5e isn't innovating anything. Its a box that tonally, is nearly indistinguishable from playing cards.
I know, but you were referring to twentysomething gamers, and if they are using Amazon's Ring thing as inspiration, they are almost certainly playing in 5e! ;-)
Have you ever read Jack Williamson's horror novella Wolves of Darkness? One of the best pulp stories I've ever read, hands down. Published in Strange Tales, 1932 I think. I'd love to get your take on it.
ReplyDeleteThis one is deeply, deeply underrated, even by aficionados who go back to review and appreciate it. They say its not Williamson's best, that it is an early indicator, that it is scientifically rigorous but too old for the science to appear anything but quaint.
DeleteI'm so glad you are just an unvarnished fan of it. It is such an unappreciated pillar of the genre. What I Am Legend is to vampires, Wolves of Darkness is to lycanthropy.
Yes, the science is quaint, but what a story! The twists, the pacing, and the surprising things that happen, I mean the main character "gets the girl" at the end, and that sounds nice until you remember she chewed a hole in his leg at one point in the story. It really is a wild ride.
DeleteThe great irony of the New School retort -- that the modern game evolved upward and is now rooted in heroic scripting and storytelling -- is that this core ethic is a cheap and ineffective knockoff of the original "open secret world" of both 1e and 0e.
ReplyDeleteTrue storymaking was borne out of tables behind a screen, false rolls (and false roles!), and the smooth, Charisma-dependent "occasional" random betrayals or retreats.
The game trained you to naturally contribute to its neverending story, to grasp intuitively dusty old forgotten tales and forge their imagined future. I can tell you our "story" about facing off Against the Giants, or how the sleepy village of Brachlosbane became the first site in fantasy history of nuclear powered magic gauntlet meltdown, or how Ratzass the Thief got himself betrayed by a passive-aggressive introverted singing sword. These are stories I still vividly recall that were played 40 years ago or more. I can't recall a single detail (other than the other players were baffled by the rites performed by my cleric of St. Crispin. Apparently that's not what clerics are "for" these days!) from a recent session with some enthusiastic young players, even though the plot was scripted and proscriptive.
Rolls of the dice, both true and fugazi, were mechanically tied to the rich, interconnected/disparate lore of the pulps and everything they influenced in the media palimpsest of 1983.
It was this environment that bred at least one party of adventurers who intuitively exposed the DragonLance modules, breaking the railroad to go exploring the landscaped of their own imagination, naturally identified the deus ex machina fog of Ravenloft as a challenge - deciding to fight the plot conceit instead of the vampire - allying with Strahd and becoming vampires ourselves in his thrall (and ultimately, a party of nocturnal diplomats with an ambassadorial excuse to go dungeoncrawling in foreign countries!).
The "Narrative" era of D&D isn't in a sorry state because Narrative-based gameplay is a bad idea, but because - ironically - the era doesn't understand storymaking and it is entirely disconnected from the pulps. I think it is no coincidence that the Hickmans wanted to infuse the game with Tolkien-inspired epic story (and they did an absolutely tremendous job of it) and that the game ultimately took a rough turn away from the pulps.
Another thoughtful essay. Because it's on Substack, I assume it's a stab at a Foreword for the bound collection of PFL?
ReplyDeleteI love the pulps. They were omnipresent in paperback collections during my formative years. So naturally they influenced my gaming choices.
But I don't know if twentysomething gamers today need to follow in my footsteps (nor do I think James is suggesting that). If some Gen Z gamer wants to make a campaign inspired by Game of Thrones or Amazon's Lord of the Rings, because they love that stuff the way I love the pulps, then God speed.
My parents liked different music than I do. I like different music than my kids do. It's natural that different generations will gravitate toward different forms of entertainment, and therefore to different styles of games.
There's a loophole in your argument: George R. R. Martin is a late pulp writer! Moreover, even if he was not, the 5th edition is not rooted in movies or streaming, but in World of Warcraft. There isn't the whisper of literary lore behind it: it is an exercise in narrowly defined improvisational acting.
DeleteThe fact that players can develop their roles at all within those confines and expectations is remarkable and a testament to the players, because the rules as written are clever diversions away from noticing the hidebound rails designed to anchor the imagination of the playing group to that of the designer.
There are people who drafted unique character sketches, complete with statted attributes, to read Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. I still recall my Sorcery! character (vaguely). But these were never encouraged by design. The character is now a trope designed to inspire improvisation within the assigned plot, and to see how well that goes.
I'd be all for people innovating their table game, inspired by atrocities like Amazon's Ring thing. But that's the hard truth: 5e isn't innovating anything. Its a box that tonally, is nearly indistinguishable from playing cards.
Hi Daniel. I wasn't referring to 5e. I've never played it. :)
DeleteI know, but you were referring to twentysomething gamers, and if they are using Amazon's Ring thing as inspiration, they are almost certainly playing in 5e! ;-)
DeleteRaggi interviews and substack links. I'm out. I unsubscribe, James
ReplyDeleteLOL
Delete