The Culture: Games Other Than AD&D 1st Edition That Are Fit For Purpose

(Following from yesterday's post.)

While I talk a lot about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition, I have mentioned other games that are fit for purpose. Below is a short, not-exclusive, list.

• Traveller: I prefer the original edition, but I have yet to see anything disqualifying about the subsequent ones.
• Gamma World: First Edition, as Jeffro showed, works fantastically and later editions less so. I offer no judgement on Mutant Future (the retroclone).
• Adventurer, Conqueror, King: I share the opinion of many Bros that ACKS is a fantastic option, and Macris did (and does) his homework to make it so. Respect.
• Call of Cthulhu: Jon Mollison showed that this is possible, and he's not the only Bro to do so.

As things progress, we are seeing patterns emerge that show what makes a game fit for purpose- and what disqualifies it so.

Can the game be run exactly as-written and deliver on what it promises? These four games, and AD&D1e, do just that. Others do not, with some (e.g. TORG) needing just a slight tweak and others (e.g. Exalted needing a wholesale redesign).

Is 1:1 Timekeeping easy to implement? Again, the above games are trivial to do this with and those that fail make it bothersome- usually by inserting Narrative logic into a wargame medium.

Faction and Patron Play easy to do? All of the above do so effortlessly. Those that fail impose roadblocks.

The last one, Always On, should be obvious but, because this ties into 1:1 Timekeeping, there are games structured to thwart it- mostly those that lean heavy on Narrative logic. That's grounds for failing a game.

I'll add to the list as more games get put through the grading, and I expect some particular commentary to come when I hit upon some particular examples.