REPOST: The Articles of Dragon: "Who Get the First Swing?"

There's that word again -- "realism." As I've noted before, it (and variations on it) were a commonplace of Dragon articles after 1983 or thereabouts. This instance of it appears as part of the subtitle to the article "Who Gets the First Swing?" which appeared in issue #71 (March 1983). The article, by Ronald Hall, is an attempt to produce a "simple yet realistic" alternative to the convoluted and much misunderstood initiative system presented in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. I think almost anyone who ever attempted to run combat in AD&D by the book would have been sympathetic to Hall's intention.

Initiative in AD&D, particularly when combined with the equally obscure rules regarding surprise, was one of those areas where, in my experience, most players back in the day simply ignored the official rules and adopted a variety of house rules. I know I did. My system was a variation on rolling 1d6 per side with modifiers and a dash of common sense. D&D's combat has always been pretty abstract, so it never made much sense to me to fixate on making one of its aspects more "realistic." Unfortunately, in this period of D&D's history, that opinion wasn't held by all, least of all those who wrote articles for Dragon. "Realism" was all the rage.

Hall introduces an attack priority system that makes good use of weapon speed factors -- another aspect of AD&D many gamers dropped -- in order to model advantage such "faster" weapons have in combat. His system is an individual initiative system rather than a group initiative one, which, right there, means it's going to be much more complex than the commonest house rules used at the time. Add to this that there many, many modifiers to a character's attack priority, such as weapon length, dexterity, size, hit dice, among others, and you have a recipe for a system that, despite its claims does require "more work." The other issue is that, like many such systems, Hall distinguishes between manufactured and natural weapons, which necessitates that there be seven pages of supplementary stats to cover the modifiers for all the creatures in the Monster Manual. What one is to do with the Fiend Folio monsters is never addressed.

Articles like this were no doubt extremely well-intentioned, but, even at my most obsessive, I never felt the desire to use them. I understood the logic that leads to creating an individualized initiative system with lots of modifiers and special cases, but, at the end of the day, the result always seems like more work than is necessary for a combat system as abstract as D&D's. I'll readily grant that AD&D is a mess when it comes to initiative and the other complexities it bolted on to OD&D's "alternative combat system." However, articles like this strike me as cures worse than the disease.

The Wiseman's Gap Subsector

As I've been delving into Traveller, I've also been working on a little bit of whimsy: a Riphaeus sector booklet on the model of GDW's The Spinward Marches and The Solomani Rim supplements. I say whimsy both because I'm not sure how useful this project will be and because I'm making an effort to reproduce, to the best of my limited abilities, the formatting and layout of the originals. For example, here's the draft page accompanying the map to the Wiseman's Gap subsector.

I'm not very skilled at most technical skills, so it's not been easy to copy the GDW house style as I had hoped. I'm still plugging away at it, in between other projects. My hope is get the thing done sometime this month and release it through Mongoose's Classic Travellers' Aid Society third party license. As I said, this is mostly for my own enjoyment (and perhaps the enjoyment of the players in my old Riphaeus sector campaign), but I also find it helpful to complete a simple, straightforward project as a way to jumpstart other, bigger projects (of which I have many).

Speechless (Again)

Once more, J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday is upon us and I am ill prepared to say anything to mark the occasion. Much like Dungeons & Dragons, I'm not certain I have anything left to say that I haven't already said on numerous occasions beforehand – or that others more eloquent than I haven't said better. Therefore, I will simply remind everyone of the date and bid you all to commemorate this auspicious date in whatever way seems appropriate to you. I'll be re-reading some of my favorite sections of The Hobbit, like riddles in the dark or the meeting with Elrond. Those scenes (and many others besides) remind of why Tolkien is still remembered and celebrated to this day.

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien!

In Case of Fire, Break Glass

Nearly everyone who's read the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide remembers Will McLean's delightful comics that poked gentle fun at many of the conventions of fantasy roleplaying. Traveller had a few examples of its own, my favorite being this one which appeared in The Traveller Book by Loren Wiseman and John M. Morrison. 

Modifications to Traveller (Part II)

Wiseman continues: 

The most common change will probably be in the available weapons. Any additions to the weapons should be especially well thought out and rationally based. Science fiction literature contains many more weapons than could be described in the basic rules. Many of these have only the flimsiest of scientific justifications, if they are justified at all. In television and movies, weapons are often created for the visual effect they have and are not usually very well thought.

A couple of points. First, we again see a reference to "science fiction literature" as the first source of inspiration for Traveller, which shouldn't be surprising. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of E.C. Tubb and H. Beam Piper – the two most influential authors on Traveller – can easily see where the game came from. That said, sci-fi TV and movies are mentioned, albeit unflatteringly. Second, it's very clear that Wiseman at least considered Traveller to be an attempt at a "serious" game grounded in real world science. He doesn't see it as a game of swashbuckling space opera. I'm OK with that, though I know plenty of people aren't.

In addition, all ramifications of the weapon must be considered. For example, any major change in lethality of hand-carried weapons is likely to have profound effects on military tactics, at least eventually (the military is sometimes a little slow to catch on).

This is a fair point. For the most part, Traveller's weapons – at least those readily available to player characters – are all on a fairly similar plane in terms of lethality. There are differences, obviously, but, aside from some of the stuff introduced in Mercenary, they're all of a piece. 

A few question to ask might be: is this weapon really required by my universe? What is the principle of its operation? (If the weapon is taken from literature, the principle of operation may be described or well-established.) Is the principle of operation a reasonable one? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this particular weapon, and why would it be used in place of more conventional weapon systems?

All reasonable questions, so I don't have much to add. I will note, however, that a common complaint about Traveller is that it includes too many "archaic" weapons among its firearms, like shotguns and submachine guns. This has never much bothered me, perhaps because of a comment in Book 1 of Traveller that seemingly addresses this point: "the surest way to injure or kill an adversary will be to subject him to a large dose of kinetic energy, and a simple way, easy way to administer that energy is by bullet impact."

Adaptations to the jump and maneuver drive systems and to our concept of jump space should be made only with care and consideration. The effects of modifications to these areas are wide-ranging and touch almost every rule in one form or another. In designing our interstellar drive system, we tried to come up with one which fitted in with the other aspects of our proposed mythos and which was reasonably close to the literature we drew it from. It was assumed, however, that some referees would not be satisfied, whatever system we devised. It was further assumed that any referee who felt strongly enough about the matter would change what displeased him.

This section might be one of the more controversial ones, because I know that many people both dislike Traveller's jump drive and believe that the game is perfectly playable without it. Wiseman acknowledges this above. For myself, I'm a big fan of the way jump drive works, because, when coupled with the lack of any form of FTL communications, it creates a setting that's somewhat akin to the Age of Sail, at least as far as the dissemination of information. That opens up a lot of possibilities for adventures both large and small. 

We do not recommend major revisions of the trade and commerce section without considerable thought. Minor deviations from the trade and speculation table, or reclassification of certain world types are acceptable; indeed, in most cases, some deviation from the letter of these rules is desirable, but the spirit (i.e. the general system) should be preserved.

As to how integral the speculative trade system is to Traveller, I'm not sure. I'll only say that I very much love the system, not because it's a good simulator of interstellar commerce – it's not – but because it provides a terrific campaign framework and a reason for characters to travel from world to world. I'll talk more about this in a future post.

Referees are cautioned against making psionic powers too common. Players will often urge that psionics become more widespread, but this is often only because they want to have every possible advantage without drawbacks. Powerful psionic abilities would soon dominate all aspects of play and most of the excitement of Traveller (the advanced technologies) will lapse into disuse, or at least be relegated to a secondary role. 

I can't really disagree with this section, but I've also never been a huge booster of psionics in Traveller (aside from when I've used the Zhodani), so my opinion is perspective is perhaps skewed.

The cautions which apply to major revisions apply to a lesser extent to expansions of existing rules. Many referees find certain rules do not go into enough detail to suit them. Examine the manner in which Book 4, Mercenary, expands upon the army and marines, or Book 5, High Guard, expands upon the navy for general guidelines on technique. You need not (and probably should not) duplicate the systems in these two books exactly, but they will prove a source of inspiration for your own efforts.

Even as someone with a decidedly mixed opinion about Traveller Books after 3, I agree with Wiseman here. Most of the later books do provide good models for those who wish to add more detail to their adventures and campaigns, even if I've rarely felt the need to do so myself. I prefer a simpler, less baroque version of Traveller, but I understand not everyone feels this way, especially in a game that's much more laser focused on a particular style of play.

Wiseman offers up a lot of food for thought in this section of Book 0. In future posts, I'll be returning to a few of them. Stay tuned.

Looking Ahead

Judging from my past attempts to do so, I am a very poor prognosticator of the future. Therefore, I am going to refrain, on this first day of 2025, from making any predictions about the next twelve months. If the last few years are any guide, the only thing one can safely predict about the coming year is its unpredictability. With luck, that unpredictability will work in our favor from time to time.

I am likewise not a maker of resolutions. My ability to follow through with almost any project I undertake is spotty at best, as anyone who's paid any attention to my creative output over the years can tell you. The only project that I can (almost) guarantee you'll see this year is this blog, which, for better or worse, I've still managed to keep writing, though there are plenty of days when I wonder how long I'll be able to continue to do so. 

That said, there are a few things I feel reasonably safe to state about 2025 and Grognardia's place within it. First, there will be a rise in the number of posts dedicated to Traveller, at least for the foreseeable future. I started down this path toward the end of last month, so that should be no surprise. Traveller remains my favorite roleplaying game, so this shift in focus was perhaps inevitable. However, I cannot promise it'll be a permanent shift, as one can sometimes grow tired of even one's most cherished interests.

Relatedly, I will probably also post a bit more about Thousand Suns, the science fiction RPG I wrote as my love letter to Traveller. It's a game with which I'm very pleased and that I've enjoyed playing over the years. It's also a game I haven't put any further development into in many years, for multiple reasons. Despite this, I am regularly asked about the game and whether or not I have any future plans for it. Those are all fruitful topics for discussion, especially as an adjunct to the increase Traveller posts here.

Second, there will be more posts about Secrets of sha-Arthan, the science fantasy roleplaying game I've been creating, on and off, for the last three and a half years. I've made a lot of progress in that time, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to personal projects like this. I've written and rewritten, abandoned and returned to numerous drafts of the game rules multiple times now – so many, in fact, that I often despair of ever settling on one that I like enough to playtest widely. I'm hoping that will change this year. Even if it doesn't, I still plan to share more about the sha-Arthan setting, which I think is pretty cool.

Third, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Empire of the Petal Throne. And while my House of Worms campaign is very likely coming to its end within the next few weeks (just shy of its 10-year anniversary), my interest in Tékumel remains. Plus, I did such a poor job of commemorating the semicentennial year of Dungeons & Dragons last year that I feel an obligation to do better with EPT, a game that deserves to be better known and appreciated. 

Fourth, I will definitely post more about the other campaigns which I'm refereeing or playing. In particular, the Barrett's Raiders Twilight: 2000 campaign deserves greater coverage. That campaign has been going for the last three years and it's now entering a new phase, as the characters are in the midst of evacuating the war-torn Poland of September 2000 and returning home to the USA. I think this new phase will be quite interesting, both to play and to write about, so expect more T2K posts throughout the year. 

Fifth, expect some more interviews with notable figures from the history of the hobby. Interviews used to be one the major features of this blog in its early days. I've not done quite as many of these since I return to it in 2020. I intend to change that this year, if only because I think it's very important that we preserve the thoughts, memories, and experiences of the pioneers of this amazing hobby we all share. Being keenly aware of my own mortality these days, I don't want us to lose any more of our founders before they've had a chance to tell their stories. Interviews are one small way that might be able to happen, hence why Grognardia needs to post more of them this year.

Naturally, I have other hopes and intentions for 2025, but I've probably already tempted Fate by publicly mentioning the five I have, so I'll keep the others to myself for now. In the meantime, I want to wish all of my readers a Happy New Year and to thank you all for your continued interest and support. That means a lot to me.