Cancelling AD&D? RPG Rumors Circa 1986 -- Different Worlds #44

I'm a big fan of Tadashi Ehara's now defunct gaming magazine DIFFERENT WORLDS. Over its tenure, the magazine was published by a couple of companies including Chaosium and Sleuth Publications. According to a pre-publication solicitation letter (available here), the magazine was originally slated to be entitled DM. The change was likely due to concerns over TSR's trademark of DM/Dungeon Master. Regardless of the reason for the change in title, I think that DIFFERENT WORLDS better suited the content of the magazine than DM ever would have. The magazine was a gem. Like Steve Jackson Games' magazine SPACE GAMER, Ehara's magazine covered the entire roleplaying game hobby. As I've written before, issue #23 of the magazine is maybe one of the most important magazines ever written about the origins of Superhero Roleplaying games. For those who want to understand the history of RPGs, DIFFERENT WORLDS, SPACE GAMER, and ALARUMS & EXCURSIONS are three of the most valuable resources that the aspiring historian can find. They really help to cut through a lot of the community gossip about a transitional era in the hobby.

Speaking of Gossip, DIFFERENT WORLDS featured an excellent gossip column written by the pseudonymous Gigi D'arn (clearly a Gary Gygax/David Arneson reference). I've written speculation about the identity of this columnist before, and I'm still pretty sure that she was a real person and that the Chaosium staff added to her actual letters. There are just too many little tidbits of SoCal culture, which was booming at the time as an RPG hub, for me to believe otherwise. The column was filled with a great deal of speculation, some true, some pure fiction, and all fun to read.

There are a couple of pieces of gossip/rumors in issue 44 that stand out and need attention. In fact, they are rumors that I'd like to hear more from the gaming community at large about, and I'll be asking around to see if there is any merit to them.

First and foremost - actually quite shocking - really is a claim about ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. According to Gigi, "Rumour thinks TSR is unhappy with the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game line and is considering dropping it. GARY GYGAX meanwhile is starting his own company, Infinity Games, in New Jersey. Will he take the license with him?"

I wonder if this is true. 1985 saw the publication of UNEARTHED ARCANA and ORIENTAL ADVENTURES for the AD&D game, but the mid-80s was also the era of the publication of the Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortals rules for D&D. It was a time when the D&D brand was divided among two sub-brands and a time when there was great potential that one brand was cannibalizing the other. From my experience, the D&D brand was putting out a lot of great material at this time. According to GROGNARDIA 1986 saw the release of a number of BECMI products and 1987 saw the production of the first Gazetteer products for the D&D brand - some of the best products ever released for D&D.

If I were to guess, I'd say the rumor was true and that core rule book sales for AD&D had dropped. I would argue that this is why we saw a 2nd edition of AD&D released in 1989. An edition that may not have happened at all if not for the success of the Forgotten Realms Setting. My thought is that the Forgotten Realms setting, written for AD&D, was so successful that management decided to do a new edition of the game for increased sales. I'd like to know if this is correct or not though.

The second interesting piece of gossip/rumors is that J.D. Webster, the creator of the Finieous Fingers cartoon strip, was a carrier fighter pilot. This is apparently true.

[Superhero RPGs] Changling of the Teen Titans: The Same Hero in Different Systems

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know that  I consider Different Worlds magazine to be one of the great publications of what James Maliszewski calls the Golden Age of D&D.  The magazine ran from 1979 to 1987.  It was initially published by Chaosium, then by Sleuth Publications, and finally by Different Worlds Publications.  Two of those companies are still around today, and one is going very strong.

I was particularly impressed with Different Worlds' famously reprinted issue 23.  That issue was a "Special Superhero Issue" that contained articles by the designers of CHAMPIONS, VILLAINS & VIGILANTES, SUPERGAME, SUPERWORLD, and SUPERHERO 2044.  That's right, the designers of all the major superhero rpgs of the time had an article in that issue.  Add to this a cover illustrated by Bill Willingham and stats for the X-men in three different game systems (V&V, Champions, and Superworld) by the game designers, and you have a truly special magazine issue.  I would argue that it is the single best issue of a gaming magazine published to date.

 

The success of this issue led Tadashi Ehara -- the magazine's editor -- do make the Special Superhero issue a somewhat regular feature, and a year later with issue 30 in September of 1983 the magazine had a special "New Teen Titans" issue.  This issue provides statistics for the New Teen Titans -- Nightwing and crew, though he's still Robin at the time -- for CHAMPIONS, VILLAINS & VIGILANTES, and SUPERWORLD.  Three systems that each handle super powers differently, but that are all workable systems.  The statistical representation of the characters, all done by the system designers, reveal interesting things about the rules themselves.  This is especially true for the character of Changeling.  As a shape shifter, his powers are a challenge to emulate.  How do you design a character who can become any animal?  It's a difficult design question, but one that comes up from time to time in the comics.  It is also a question that eventually led CHAMPIONS to adopt the "Multiform" power, a solution that I've never been fond of.

 

Starting with CHAMPIONS, the character of Changeling is represented as a relatively normal heroic character in his base statistics, but has all of his shapechanging powers in a single 200 point multipower with all of his abilities represented as variable "multi" slots.

133 pts.   200 pt Multipower (+1/4 only reasonable creatures, +1/4 x6 END Battery) 

27m        Growth (200 pts)

  7m        Density Increase (50)

            7m        Flight (50)

It goes on like that to include a number of possible power combinations.  It's a solution, but one that isn't much better than the "multiform" solution later implemented.  I have always liked the use of a multipower in order to simulate this kind of ability, but I prefer one of two options not presented by Steve Peterson here.  First would be the each "animal" is a different "ultra" slot in a multipower.  Thus Gorilla would be one slot and Monkey another.  The other way would be to have several multipowers.  One for offensive abilities, a second for defensive, a third for movement, and a fourth for "variable senses and options."  Any of these can work, but as you can see any version also requires a lot of work by the player to get what they want.

Steve Perrin's SUPERWORLD adaptation was to just give Changeling all of the powers -- heightened strength, shrinking, growth, armor, movement, etc. each with a conditional use modifier of "only in certain shapes."  This is followed by a list of shapes that Changeling can assume: man, bear, cat, bird, canine, snake, elephant, octopus, and so on.  Any animal that he has listed, he can become.  And the GM and player can discuss which powers are appropriate to the form.  This is a pretty good solution, but it also requires bookkeeping with regard to building and then maximizing each form.

Jack Herman in his VILLAINS & VIGILANTES adaptation highlights the "rulings over rules" nature of the V&V system.  In this game, there is not shapechange power that quite captures Changeling's ability.  So Herman gives Changeling the following power:

TRANSFORMATION (Shapeshifter/Creatures): PR for each change equals the square root of the number of Basic Hits possessed by the new form assumed.  Any shape having over 20 Basic Hits cannot be maintained for more than 11 turns.  Smaller shapes have no time limit.  Only creature/animal shapes may be assumed, including intelligent non-human species, but he must be familiar with the creature to copy its shape.

 That's it.  Leaving the player and GM to design each and every animal the player can turn in to.  Other than having to design a lot of animal stats, this is a pretty nice adaptation.  It is also one that Herman had to invent as the power isn't in the rulebook.  That's the nature of V&V though.  House rules rule the day.

When the DC Heroes RPG eventually came out, they represented Changeling in the following way.

                                                                                                                           

He's got stats that are at the high end of normal human ability, except for his Body stat which is quite good.  His shape change power is represented by... well... the shape change power which is as follows:

I am a big fan of the DC Heroes solution.  It is similar to Herman's, but balanced by being a very expensive power to have at high levels, though inexpensive enough for a starting character to purchase it.  It limits abilities to existing animals, and many can be found in the appendix.  Like all of the options though, it does require a player to have a number of character sheets at the ready to represent Changeling in multiple forms.

I think it is interesting how the different games each approached the design challenge that a shape changing character brings.  I don't know that any has a perfect solution.  I like DC Heroes' solution, but only because their underlying AP rules structure means that each numerical value has a very specific meaning.

[Gaming History] Gigi D'arn -- Who is/was she?

Way back in the days of role playing yore -- 1979 to be specific -- the gaming hobby was introduced to its first official gossip columnist.  That columnist was Gigi D'Arn, and she wrote her first gossip column "A Letter from Gigi" in the second issue of The Chaosium's Different Worlds gaming magazine.  Though her first article was published in 1979, her real identity has never been revealed.  I find this bit of gaming history to be one of the most interesting mysteries in the hobby.

Just who is/was Gigi D'arn?

From my initial searching of the internet, it appears that the consensus seems to fall in line with the description at RPG Geek.  That being that Gigi was a fabrication of Different Worlds editor Tadashi Ehara and was probably a compilation of comments by Chaosium staff.  Even Allen Varney -- a long time gamer and pretty informed participant in the "Western" gaming community of the 70s and 80s -- seems to agree with this hypothesis.  After taking some time to research the question, I don't agree with the consensus opinion.  I would like to offer the hypothesis that Gigi was a real gamer who was introduced to the gaming hobby in Southern California and who was a part of the "Alarums & Excursions" crowd.

Before I begin to present the little evidence I have in favor of my hypothesis, let me say that the Gigi D'arn articles -- along with the Larry DiTillio "Sword of Hollywood" articles -- are some of my favorite reading and are part of what made Different Worlds such a good gaming magazine.  Regardless of who Gigi was or wasn't, she was a very entertaining writer.  I would venture to say that she was the Shelly Mazzanoble of her day.  Shelly, with her "Confessions of" columns on the Wizards website are the closest thing I have found to Gigi's writing.  The column's not for everyone, it is a gossip column after all, but I enjoy it in a "Real Housewives meets D&D" kind of way.  I've also been a fan of the pseudonym itself.  Using a pseudonym that was a combination of both Gary Gygax and David Arneson's names seems to me the perfect identity for a gossip columnist.

Now for the evidence that Gigi was a real person -- though I do agree that some of the rumors might have been compiled from Chaosium staffers.

1) In the first column in Issue #2, Gigi mentioned that she lives in the Los Angeles area.  -- Chaosium is a Bay Area company, and while this bit of information might seem a bit of "misdirection" later statements and supporting evidence will highlight how this is more likely true than misdirection.

2) This information is repeated in issue #5 as "Another local news is that LEE GOLD is working on a feudal Japan supplement to C&S."  It should be noted that this piece of information follows discussion of Ken St. Andre and Flying Buffalo.  Given that the Arizona and SoCal gaming communities were fairly tied together back then, this isn't surprising. 

3) In issue 16, Tadashi addresses the issue face on.  In issue 14, Tadashi included a survey that contained the question "Who do you think is Gigi?"  They received several responses which were published in issue 16, including.  "A committee composed of the DW staff" and "Gary Gygax in drag."  Tadashi wrote the following in the editorial:

These are the ones Gigi laughed at when I showed them to her.  You see, she is a real person.  She lives in southern California and writes occasional feature articles (Rose Bowl Parade, Miss Culver City Contest, "Save the Fruit Fly Movement!", Rhubarb Festival, etc.) for a local newspaper/advertiser.  She is an ardent fan of the entire gaming hobby, not just role playing. And she jealously guards her real identity.

Seems to me that this hints pretty strongly that it's a real person.  Though I have to admit that Lexis/Nexis searches for "Save the Fruit Fly Movement!" yielded no information, nor did following up a Rose Chung/Greg Stafford/Scott Bizar reference in issue #2.

4) Issue #31 contains an interview with Gigi.  This interview is one of three "My Life and Role-Playing" interviews featured in the issue.  The others are Dave Hargrave and Gerald D. Seypura, both of whom are real people.  The "My Life" interviews were a semi-regular feature of DW, especially in the early issues.  In the interview, Gigi provides some very interesting information.  First, she claims to have attended CSLA, UCLA, and Michigan.  She mentions that her first husband was a member of the SCA and that she was introduced to D&D by SCA members Barry Detweiler and Connie James (she admits that these are pseudonyms).  My next point will return to Barry and Connie.  She also writs extensively about her work history, her marriage, and how she met Tadashi.  This interview in no way seems fictional.  It lacks all of the flair of an authors "exaggerated" biography.  It is quite mundane, but does include the statement "At cons you can recognize me by my glasses."  Which I found interesting as that issue included this picture:

Image from Different Worlds 31 copyright Tadashi Ehara 1983

Given Gigi's intimate knowledge of the workings of Flying Buffalo, implying friendship/familiarity with the staff, and the "Glasses" reference in the letter, I couldn't help but wonder if the woman on the right is the mysterious Gigi.  I still do wonder that very question.

5) Remember Barry and Connie above?  In his interview with Lee Gold, a southern California gaming community giant, James Maliszewski asked Lee how she became involved in the role playing game hobby.  Her answer?

Our friends, Owen & Hilda Hannifen, came down from San Francisco to visit us, with a copy of the Original D&D rules. My husband and I were fascinated, and they lent us a photocopy of the rules, on seeing us write a check to TSR to order our own copy, so we wouldn't have to wait till the rules arrived (in a brown box) from TSR.

There is no mention that Owen and Hilda were members of the SCA, but given how central Lee Gold was to the Southern California gaming community, and given that Lee and Barry Gold were members of the SCA, it doesn't take much of a leap to speculate that Barry and Connie are either Owen and Hilda, Lee and Barry, or a combination thereof.

6) In 2004, Gigi wrote a letter to Tadashi for his Different Worlds publications website. In that letter, she mentions moving to Colorado, she mentions her "latest beau," and she mentions that Mike Stackpole looks more fit than the last time she and Tadashi saw him.  Remember that photo above?
   
None of this proves that Gigi is/was a real person, or that Gigi is still around for that matter.  What it does do though, is make it reasonable to hypothesize that Gigi was in fact an actual individual who was friends with Tadashi and who wrote the column.  Finding out if Gigi is a real person is a bit like being a blind man examining an elephant.  The evidence is scarce and inconclusive, but it is the evidence we have.

I believe that we should create theories from the evidence we have, and so I believe that Gigi is a real person who now lives in Colorado.

[DnDNext] What Makes a Rpg a "Role Playing Game"

Some of the early criticisms of 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons was that the game over-emphasized miniatures play, it felt too much like a board game, it plays like a MMORPG, and skill challenges don't work.  While these criticisms might seem distinct from one another, they all share one quality.  Each of these criticisms has as a component that the critics felt that 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons had focused almost solely on the combat aspects of the game, and had forsaken the improvisational, acting, and role assuming, parts of the game that are the reasons that games like D&D are called role playing games in the first place.

I won't go into the legitimacy of these complaints, as they are highly contested matters of opinion where there are persuasive arguments on both sides.  I will say that I think that 4th edition is possibly the best fantasy tactical game I have ever played.  I will also say that the indie game influence skill challenges system is difficult to implement, but can create some of the most rewarding actual "role playing" experiences one can have in a game.

That said, what I really want to ask in this post -- ask you that is -- is what makes a role playing game a "role playing game?"  The hope is that someone at Wizards will read this discussion and bring some of the ideas to their playtest tables in house.  I'll provide a little context, but I hope that you will provide some opinions.

Back in what James Maliszewski would call "The Golden Age" of role playing games, Steve Jackson wrote an essay for the second issue of gaming magazine Different Worlds.  The essay was for a semi-regular column in DW entitled "My Life and Roleplaying" in which DW covered the lives of many people in the hobby.  In that essay, Steve Jackson points out that "most people reading [his essay] probably cut their gaming teeth on a role-playing game, years and years ago."  Given that Jackson was writing these words in 1979, this might seem a shocking statement to most gamers, and I do believe it was meant to be provocative.  Jackson followed this disarming statement with an even more controversial one, "The most popular board game ever developed in the US is pure role playing.  Yes...Monopoly.  Consider:  Each player takes on the role of a cheerfully rapacious real-estate tycoon, wheeling and dealing until he alone commands the board."

Jackson goes on to say that his own OGRE game is a role-playing game as well, a fact that he didn't realize for quite some time but true never the less by what he had come to consider a useful definition of a role playing game.  His definitions was:  A role-playing game is one that invites its players to take on a personality different from their own.

The key term for Jackson was the word "invites."  Rpgs don't require players to take on a different personality, but they do offer the opportunity.  Jackson was taken aback by the number of players who told him how much they like "being" the OGRE, and that was when he realized he had made a role playing game.

What also amazed him was how many people playing role-playing games don't ever take the time to play a role.  As he described it:

It is a shame that so many of their fans don't really bother with role-playing at all.

That, I'm afraid, was the first thing that impressed me about D&D -- and it's still true today, with that and almost every similar game.  Role-playing goes right out the window.  Every player is being himself, often in the most obnoxious fashion.  Whether he's swinging a sword or a wand, every adventure is the same.  Zap, slash, kill, loot.  What did we find?  Whoops, a random monster.  A million hit points.  Zap, slash, kill.  A million experience point.  Babble, babble, 27th level Brouhaha with a Ring of Instant Permanent Total Monster Charming.  *yawn*

 Jackson is quick to point out that not all role playing sessions are played this way, but that every game has players who play this way.  It was his goal to write the rules of The Fantasy Trip to disincentivize that kind of play and to encourage actual role playing.

I think that 4th edition encourages role playing in some ways, but also discourages it in others.  There is no rich IP in the initial rules of 4e, so the players are left to imagine only a world of stats and powers.  Heck, even the way that powers are presented -- effectively as Magic: The Gathering cards -- fails to support role playing aspects of the game.  There is little advice, in the Player's Handbook, regarding creating a collaborative story and there are seemingly no rewards for them -- only rewards for hitting "plot points."  What about rewards for entertaining play?  Interestingly, the Organized Play rules -- for Encounters -- include benefits for a "moment of greatness" a feature that can encourage actual roleplaying in addition to tactical innovation.  With no rich backdrop, and detailed rules for combat, what is the player to think the game plays like?

Even when the DMG for 4e, and even more so the DMG 2, provide some great tools for fostering "role" playing -- the fact is that the Player's Handbook doesn't.  I think this is what led many players to think that 4e de-emphasized role playing in favor of tactical combat.  Was it true?  Not necessarily, but it seemed true.

But in order to write rule books that foster role playing, it is necessary to come to a useful definition -- or many useful examples -- of what role playing is.  This is where you come in.  If you were writing for DnDNext, how would you describe role playing?  What examples would you use?  If you were to bring in the very "Indie" skill challenge system -- it's straight out of Burning Wheel -- how would you describe it?