The Culture: Moving Forward On Mastering The Hobby

The rediscovery of the connection between Dungeons & Dragons and Kriegspiel by way of Braunstein means that there is an entire reconsideration of how to play and run these games to be had- and is now being had.

Some of us are now starting to move the conversation towards cleaner, clearer communication of core concepts.

Faction Play

The Curator posted this yesterday:

#BROsr Theres soooo many potiental factions that Patron Level Players could choose for YS, Im having fun just sorting them all out. I can totally see how this could take a campagin in a fun an unexpect direction. pic.twitter.com/TanxxVnPSi

— The_Curat0r (@RyanN0tBryan) June 18, 2023

Which led to Jon Mollison making this observation:

Dungeon maps answers the where, the who (monsters) and the what (dressings and traps) and maybe even the why (treasure).

A faction sheet could answer the five-W's as well.
Without the commonality of 'lines equal walls'?

I'd love to see it work, but danged if I can imagine it.

— Mr. Wargaming (@NotJonMollison) June 19, 2023

This is the sort of conversation that leads to improved rules manuals in due course, after testing and refinement in actual play.

The back-and-forth to be seen here is going to lead to ideas that get tested, results reports, feedback taken, and iterative improvements made until it hits Good Enough territory at which point it can be spread and incorporated into formal practice- including publication.

If you want more of this, get into the conversation.

Multi-Referee Campaigning

This, right now, is the big thing that Jeffro and the regulars deal in. Machodor, the Brogunate, Trolloupoulous, Bombrozilla, the Carribrolean Isles, Red Frontier, and others are all showing how Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in particular is meant to be played. This is, as I said recently, is one of the qualities that define the hobby; if you can't play it this way, you ain't got a fantastic adventure wargame.

What has gone on so far is the organic and emergent form that arises in a bottom-up manner from just one Referee in a region he runs collaborating with others that join on. It is worth the time to read the session reports on their blogs, or watch any video reports, to see how things are done- and how it is nowhere near as difficult or tedious as detractors make it out to be.

The next step is to make this a starting point. That's a degree of discourse that's going to be a bit scuffed as players figure out the kinks and hammer them into shape. Having seen the benefits in action, and taking from the aforementioned Faction Play discourse, the aim will be to implement Faction Play from the start with clear, concise procedures to drive the course of campaign play. As such it's where I see #EliteLevel play going in the near future.

The Hobby Scene

I forsee a shrinking of Brand Product talk and a growth in talk about facilitating play, making it easier to run and administer campaigns. I see more talk about teaching the game to new players, about helping players to find the things that fire them up, and about keeping out bad actors that make things suck.

Again, I see this becoming about teaching skill, mindset, and technique- about how to do it, how to get better at doing it, and how to master doing it. In other words, getting things done and getting results.

I want to see more talk about eschewing licensed product in particular, in favor of using available fan resources for when you want to do Uncle George Space Fantasy or Gene's Shitlib Utopia In Space or Fightstick 39K or Your Favorite Japanese Stuff Here (etc.). This is a hobby, not an industry; the sooner we burn that parasite out, the better.

What is also going to become clear sooner than later is that we really do not need so many products or rulesets. I doubt we'll reduce it to just one, but a lot of never-weres and also-rans are going to get tossed aside once more people comprehend Network Effects and make use of the leverage those provide; instead, those with good concepts will find them salvaged for use in the rulesets that matter.

I also think that talk of genre will also change as recognition that (a) it's a category error to apply them to this hobby at all and (b) the products that cater to the error get abandoned. Also, a lot of "genre" talk will wither away as discourse refocues back to Getting Shit Done as a lot of the talk is about that- talk. Not action, not doing. Talk. That is anathema to a hobby about Doing Things, much like you don't waste time blathering when you're hiking across trails or portaging a canoe. You don't need to worry about creating a sense of dread (etc.) when the situation calls for it.

We focus with laser-like intensity on what it takes to win a campaign and we cannot help but to filter out a lot of parasites, bad actors, and incompetents that can't keep up and won't bother trying. That's fine; there are other pursuits that are more suited to their interests, and we should encourage them to go where they belong instead.

I've pointed to history as well as mythology and popular entertainment in my posts on gaming heretofore; this I will continue to do, as it is useful, and especially in pursuit of restoring the frame of this hobby pursuit as being based around campaigning- something that, in reality, is actively done by those who want something to happen.

Something that, in a game, ought to be determined by players and not another party- and tomorrow, I return to the matter of ensuring that this is present early on.