The Culture: Hobby Restoration Requires Reframing

As I said previously, you have to change the frame to change the game.

The old and busted frame:

The new hotness:

"Cute, dank even, but for those who prefer Dialectic-"

Don't worry, gamer. I've got you.

The Fantastic Adventure Wargame Hobby Defined

• Players take up the roles of actors in a campaign scenario, each of which is separate and distinct from all others. Some actors are individuals. Some lead groups, great or small.
• Each actor has his own Objectives that define his Win and Loss Conditions. Each player pursues his actor's Objectives with the aim of achieving his Win Condition before anyone else hits theirs, or everyone hits their Loss Condition, either of which ends the campaign. Player Verses Player play is part of the game.
• Each actor has their own resources at their disposal to work with, some of which are inherent and unalienable and others are not.
• Each actor also suffers from constraints that they must overcome or work around. These include, but are not limited to, material scarcity, limited time, and Fog of War (i.e. the problem of incomplete, imperfect, and variably reliable information which which to inform decisions).
• There can be more than two actors in the campaign. There can be more than two players in the campaign. There can be more than one Referee in the campaign.
• Because there are multiple Referees, administering play for multiple actors at a time, strict adherance to the rules is required to guaranteed fair play across the board.
• Because there are multiple Referees, administering play for multiple actors at a time, strict timekeeping is required to guarantee that no paradoxes occur and action is tracked accurately and precisely.
• Because there are multiple Referees, administering play for multiple actors at a time, there is no one vision or one narrative. Players can join or leave at any time. Actors enter the campaign at any time or leave it (for whatever reason); all it means is that the campaign environment is changed.
• Play continues until someone wins or everyone loses.

The Hobby Scene Defined

This is the social environment that around which a club environment can form and sustain itself. This is an avocational pursuit that selects for mastery of the game, for those willing and able to develop the skill and acumen necessary to adapt, improvise, and overcome all opposition in order to win. This is a proper competitive play environment. Today you're playing at Bob's table. This weekend Bob's playing with you at Dave's table. If you're lucky, with the same character. It's exactly the same rules, to the letter.

You can play at different scales in the same campaign. Dave's doing a battle between the United Caveman Federation and the Poser King. Bob's running a dungeon delve, aiming to hit the War Room of the Top Gnome on Level 5. Harry's sorting through a series of downtime Spying/Assassination actions over a silver mine, and Jane's trying to get a crew ready to go sack a dragon's lair- all in the same week.

That's far more content than any publisher can hope to publish in a year, maybe in a decade, even Magic-User By The Water. That's because this is not a hobby that is friendly to consumerism. This is not a hobby that needs gurus, products, Muh Brand, or rewards mere participation or presence. It is a hobby that needs mentors for those willing to learn, and gatkeepers to shut out the wreckers.

To expect that this is hobby be a commercial niche that one can make a living pushing product to is laughable. We never needed that product. We needed hobbyists to teach the hobby to those coming after them- something that, due to Boomers being Boomers, did not happen. All we need are complete, concise, and competent games to campaign with, not a lifestyle brand defined by piles of product no one uses.

This is not how things are. If there is to be a future, then it needs to go back to the clubhouse, to the club, to the campaign and leaving this crippled and gimped concept of RPGs behind.