Contents [] Old School Epoch Old school begin with, the first commercially successful role-playing game. With strong aspects of both gamming and hobbies driving appeal, RPGs of this era also benifited from technological advances such as Xerox and popular interest in fantasy and speculative works. An example RPG of that era is (1981), a role-playing game that uses the term instead of. This era effectively wraps up with the publication of and the purchase of. Old School Design While it is difficult to generalize about all the RPGs published in the early days of gaming, some observations can be made about the design elements that distinguish those games from more recent and distinctively current designs.

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Simulation Old school RPGs, owing to their roots in wargaming, were faithfully. Concerned itself with the strategic and tactical aspects of dungeon raiding and quests, with the adventures and researches of magicians, and with the antics of Looney Tunes style cartoon characters. Attention to genre reigned, although games varied in their complexity and zeal for detail. As with many RPGs today, these games commonly focused on combat, exploration, and puzzles.

Strong Moreso than in modern designs, old school games tended to assume a certain. For instance, assumed you were brave adventurers seeking glory, magic, and wealth. Portrayed the activities of a Ghostbusters franchise, hunting and trapping spooks. Assumed you were recruits of a secret organization opposed to a supernatural invasion.

Was an early game to dispense with this assumption, often suggesting myriad adventure possibilities besides the presumed default. For instance, PCs in might be knights of, but they could just as easily be wizards' apprentices in or a group of Boy Scouts hurled into the magical world by the. Garage production values Whether well-designed or true clunkers, old school games tended to be labors of love crafted by hobbyists. Art was often self-supplied or produced by friends.

Layout sometimes consisted of simply arranging typed pages in order. Gradually, pamphlets gave way to books, which gave way to the, the pinnacle of old school production values. A in the modern era may do without fancy graphics, but faces raised expectations in production values. Mid-tier and industry leading publishers operate much like any specialized book press. Lack of conventional wisdom Most old school RPGs tend to be either of successful designs, or truly unique creations. With few guideposts and an undefined target demographic, creators often verved away from supposedly common sense design philosophies.

The results ranged from sheer folly to pure genius. Examples: • was part, part, and had little in the way of besides combat statistics.

• suggested you play yourself as a • generally assumed you would play existing Marvel characters, but otherwise encouraged you to simply make up appropriate for your own unique heroes or roll randomly • also assumed you play published heroes, but included rules for that would eventually become a main selling point of the game. • had you play a clone with six lives. • In, you played a magician who spent as much time copying spells, researching, and politicking as going on adventures, were treated as lackeys and communal property, and downtime was an important play element. • In you simply could not die, and had to worry about succeeding too well at tasks. • cast players as vampires, traditionally a monster adversary, and emphasized narrative structure over rolls or game mechanics, making it practically the last old school game and the first.