Friday, December 26, 2008

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who's given me advice and suggestions regarding Tunnels & Trolls. I've already been given a copy of the 7th edition rules to examine by a friend and have ordered a copy of the 5.5 rules from Flying Buffalo, as well as several solo scenarios. I'd like to try and get as full an experience of the game as possible, so I can dispel any misapprehensions I have about it. I suspect that, while it probably won't be quite up my alley, I will learn a great deal from giving the game a second look after all these years.

Everything I've seen suggests the T&T community is every bit as vibrant -- and old school -- as the OD&D community. There's a lot we have in common, not least of which being our reverence for the Old Ways in the face of brandification. Indeed, T&T holds a lot of fascination for me right now, because, by not being a huge mass market success, it was better able to hold on to its original spirit and approach than was D&D. In many ways, T&T represents a path not taken for D&D, at least in how it's been published and supported over the last 30+ years. I can't help but be a little jealous that D&D didn't enjoy a similar fate.

In any case, I'll be posting my thoughts and experiences with Tunnels & Trolls in the weeks and months ahead. D&D will probably always be "my" game, but I now have the feeling I'll appreciate T&T's unique virtues far better than I ever could have as a younger person. Thanks to everyone who set me on this path.

4 comments:

  1. I'll look forward to your reports of your experiences. T&T has always been on my "buy sometime" list, but I never get around to it.

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  2. D&D will probably always be "my" game, but I now have the feeling I'll appreciate T&T's unique virtues far better than I ever could have as a younger person.

    Exactly where I'm at with it.

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  3. Heya James: I have a decent size pile of T&T goods including several solo mods(solitaire, to be exact!), dice (death dice, elemental dice, monster dice), 2 full sets of rules (an old 5.5 version and the 30th anniversary set (tin with rulebook, CD, tokens, markers, dice, etc), some free simple rules/mods from, and even a book of short stories based in the T&T world written by some of the old T&T rules/modules creators and writers.

    I'll point ya to a blog entry I made a few weeks back about my (surprise) meeting with the publisher/writer Rick Loomis, just in case you're interested:

    http://backin81.blogspot.com/2008/12/meeting-rick-loomis-at-u-con-and.html

    Good luck with your experiment. Obviously you like what you like, but maybe a closer look might just reveal something that you missed the first time around. Either way it's gaming, and that's all that counts.

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  4. I think you're probably right about the effects of not being so big commercially, even in the context of Flying Buffalo's enterprises.

    Sorcerer's Apprentice was IMO an excellent magazine, with fiction from top writers in addition to game-related articles. The latter's utility is not necessarily confined to T&T, either. If you can get your hands on an issue, I suspect you'll find it worthwhile.

    My memory is not the best guide to the solos, but I think Sword for Hire and Blue Frog Tavern were especially good "introductory" ones. Corgi published them together in a pocket book. Another Corgi two-in-one was Naked Doom / Deathtrap Equalizer, a pair of "killer" scenarios. City of Terror is one of my all-time favorite RPG scenarios, and Sea of Mystery is another that takes one out of the "dungeon."

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