Swords & Wizardry Interview

Last week while researching Mythmere Games’ Swords & Wizardry game system, we had a unique opportunity to interview the system’s primary creator, Matt Finch, as well as the creator of the Swords & Wizardry Quick Start book, Michael Shorten. Give the interview a read and then if you like, you can make a Swords & Wizardry campaign right now! Let’s get right into it.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL: Is Swords & Wizardry your idea?

MATT: Yes.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book):  Yes, it was. It was inspired by some things I was reading on the Internet and hearing from people – that Game Refereeing an old school game was hard, and that it was difficult for someone to play, as well as a desire to have a book that could be used to demo how much fun old school gaming can be.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL: Who all has worked on it?

MATT:  A huge number of people too numerous to name individually. Rob Ragas and Verhaden worked on layout, Chad Thorson and Jeff Preston are the two artists with the most illustrations in the books. Pete Mullen’s cover art pretty much electrified the whole old-school community. As (Michael) mentioned, the credits are:

Contributors: Marv Breig, Jason Cone, Allen T.
Grohe, Jr., and Jerry Mapes
Cover Art: Pete Mullen
Editing: James Maliszewski, Rob Ragas, and Jesse Rothacher
Interior Art: Edward M. Kann, Pete Mullen, Jeff Preston, Michael
Shorten, and Chad Thorson
Layout: Rob Ragas (first printing) and Jesse Rothacher (second printing)
Additional proofreading and suggestions: Jim Bobb, Eric Norred, and
the Swords & Wizardry forum
With special thanks to: The Knights and Knaves Alehouse

Keep in mind, too, that there are two versions of S&W – the Core Rules (includes OD&D supplements like Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, etc), and the WhiteBox version which replicates the pre-supplement version of OD&D – there are some rules that were changed in the supplements. Lots of people assisted with the WhiteBox version as well.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book):  I was the primary author, although I had help from all of the crew in the Three Headed Monster gaming cooperative (http://thmgames.blogspot.com/). The cover was done by award-winning Mark Allen, the rear cover was by Paul (bliss_infinite) Fini of IndieOnlyComics and the interior art was donated by John Adams of Brave Halfling Publishing.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL:  Where did you get the notion to make it?

MATT:  I’d already done a similar project, OSRIC, for First Edition. Many players of the original edition wanted to see it covered, especially since the books for 0e now cost about $200 for a set, and the pdfs cannot be obtained legally. 

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book):  There were certain iconic modules back in the day, B1 In Search of the Unknown and B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, that had a great deal of guidance and gameplay assistance. Most of the retroclones were already rules-light, but I thought it would be very helpful to have a book to help people new to old school gaming and Swords & Wizardry. It would also be nice to have something that could be used to teach beginners how to play RPGs.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL: In what ways is S&W different from DnD?

MATT:  From 0e, very little is different – they are designed to be playable even when some players are using one book and some using the other. The major differences are for legal reasons; the largest of these are that S&W uses a single saving throw category (instead of having different categories of saving throws) and has a different way of assigning bonuses to xp based on attribute scores. Now, if you’re asking how it differs from 4e D&D … there’s virtually nothing in common other than the basic concepts.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book):  

Well, Swords & Wizardry is a “retroclone” of the original 1974 Dungeons & Dragons plus some of the mechanics and rules from the first supplement Greyhawk. A retroclone is meant to be as close to the original, but the designer may introduce differences.

S&W is very close to OD&D, with the big exception of a single Saving Throw value (versus multiple saving throw types from OD&D) and the concept of Ascending Armor Class (where higher is better, OD&D had Descending AC, where lower is better). The rules are laid out in a more logical fashion and better organized. S&W tends to focus on the “dungeoneering” aspect where OD&D had a bit more about wilderness adventuring and stronghold building.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL:  Is this your first venture into creating game systems?

MATT:  Other than OSRIC, yes.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book): It was my first published venture yes. I had never designed anything for a specific audience. I’ve tinkered with other game systems and made changes, but this was more “from scratch” in taking S&W and spinning it down to it’s bare essence and creating and adventure that could teach as well as be fun.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL:  What do you want players and DMs to get out of your system?

MATT:  Fun, of course! And a chance to play the oldest version of the game without shelling out $200+ for the books or using illegal pdfs.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book): I hope they get to have the same fun that I have when I play Swords & Wizardry. It’s a wide open, “imagine the hell out of it” game and in the chargen and dungeon, I try to foster that approach. I also hope that GMs get a sense of how they can manage the game, make rulings and still have fun without feeling like they are bound by rules or mechanics.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL:  Looking back on the creative process, what things would you have done differently?

MATT:  I’m pretty happy with how it has all turned out. We have gotten fantastic artwork and lots of fan support. Lots of people have heard about the game, we’re in distribution to brick-and-mortar game stores … it’s all good.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book): I don’t think there’s anything I would have done differently – aside maybe try to make a buck or two more! The Quick Start was downloaded over 1,500 times from July through December of 2009.

OBSIDIAN PORTAL:  What aspect of your system are you the most proud of?

MATT:  I can’t take credit for the system. That’s Gary Gygax, not me.

MICHAEL (On the subject of the Quick Start book): I think the impact that it’s had. I know that a very popular 4e blogger (ChattyDM) had a great time running the Quick Start and getting the feel and joy of an original D&D style game. I’ve heard from people who have introduced their kids to RPGs using it and have heard from people who have used it as a springboard to learning Swords & Wizardry. That’s really cool and humbling. To me, sharing the love and knowing that people are having fun from something I wrote is just the best karma I could have hoped for.

Free System Friday, 1/22/2010

It’s Free System Friday! Are you tired of your current table-top rpg system? Try a new one for free! Today’s system is Forgotten Futures: The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game. Now with Revised and Updated rules!

New System Thursday, 1/21/2010

It’s that time of the week again, Adventurers! It’s Thursday and that means that we’re adding a new system to our list of over 100 supported table-top RPG game systems and settings. We slacked a bit last week due to the character changes we put in place, so this week we’re adding two! And here they are in no particular order:

Changeling: The Lost
From the twisted minds of White Wolf Publishing, the creators of hit games Exalted, Werewolf: The Forsaken, and the cult classic Vampire: THe Masquerade comes Changeling: The Lost.

The protagonists of this modern fairy tale are the changelings, or as they often call themselves, the Lost. Stolen away from their human lives as children or adults, they spent what seemed like years or even centuries in Faerie, chattel to beautiful but inhuman lords and ladies. Fed on faerie food and drink, they gradually became more fae themselves, their bodies shifting slightly to reflect their roles. Some, however, managed to escape. Holding on to their memories of home, they found their way through the winding thorns of the Hedge, the barrier between the mortal world and time-twisted Faerie.

Will you face the dangers of the Hedge and try to return to the mortal world? Or will you give yourself to the strange powers of Faerie in a bid for power? Make a Changeling: The Lost campaign right now!

Swords & Wizardry
In a throwback to oldschool gaming, Mythmere Games presents Swords & Wizardry.

The Swords & Wizardry project builds and supports free-form roleplaying games. That is to say, games where “light” rules create a framework instead of trying to cover every detail, every rule, and every situation. The Swords & Wizardry game “clones” the original rules of the fantasy roleplaying game that started it all back in 1974, when it was published by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. We also support two games we didn’t write: OSRIC and Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord. OSRIC is a clone of the game’s 1978 “First Edition,” and Labyrinth Lord is a clone of the game’s 1981 “Basic” Edition. All these game rules are rewritten and reorganized to be easier to learn and play.

We featured the Swords & Wizardry Quick Start book by Ye Olde Games in last week’s Free System Friday. Be sure to grab a copy of it, and then you can make a Swords & Wizardry campaign right now!

Guest Blogger Article for Jan 20th, 2010

Re-railing your Campaign

by Danny Rupp

Has your campaign become de-railed? Let’s get it back on track!

Whether as the DM you feel like you’ve lost control of the direction of the game or you are not sure where the players’ actions are heading it is a good idea to assess where your game is and where it really should go. One of the easiest ways to assess the current position of your game is to ask the players where they think they are in the game. Very quickly you will learn their perspective on what you have run so far and you should be able to ascertain some hints to where they expect the game to go.

I encourage you to take notes on what the players say, and keep a record of their expectations for the game so that you can incorporate them into your planning for getting the campaign back on track. If you find that the direction the game is currently going fits into these expectations, then perhaps no correction is necessary at all. Instead you’re laying new track and exploring new territory. This can be an incredibly rewarding method of planning a campaign as it adds a level of the unexpected, very similar to the feeling of being a player. In addition, the players can look back at the campaign as a whole and clearly see where their decisions changed the direction of the story. However there are still going to be times that, for one reason or another, your campaign has strayed from a path that it really should be following.

If you have a player who loves to take notes then ask to see their notes. This will give you some insight into which facts were important to the player and what makes up the campaign so far for them. Next, you should refer to your DM notes and get a sense of where the game strayed from its path, and also why it has strayed.

The most desirable outcome of realigning a campaign is when the players have little or no idea that anything was wrong to begin with. Almost all campaigns feature a handful of one-shot adventures or side quests that have little relation to the overall plot, so if the campaign has only recently gone out of control you can assess and rewrite with minimal disturbance to the continuity of the game.

If your campaign has been astray for more than one or two adventures, the best method of redirecting it is to find elements from the current direction that you can tie into the new direction you’re planning. If you’ve managed to identify a distinct moment the campaign gained its new direction, take a look at all that has happened since then and make a list of the important elements. Then compare that list with the important elements of your new direction and see if you can tie the elements together. If a new bad guy was introduced that seemingly has no relation to the big bad you are planning, there is always room add a common element between antagonists. My personal favorite is to make the new villain an opposing force to the big bad enemy so that the party is at first fighting two separate enemies but soon find themselves considering one or the other an ally against the common threat.

These elements can be anything such as influential characters, key locations, lynchpin events that change things after they occur, and important items that the characters have interacted with. Once you have a list for your game since it has gone off course and a list for your intended plot, you can join them together in logical and interesting ways. For example you can take an important item from your new direction and place it in a key location the party has gone off track and discovered. Don’t be afraid to change some important details you may have planned a long time ago if it fits in better with where the party has gone since you made the plans.

As the DM you may see a collection of important elements that have no relation to your overall campaign plot, but with some creative thinking you can usually find a way to link all or most of the ideas together. The party may think they’re progressing along a different plot line, but they will be thrilled to discover their efforts have all been working towards a common objective.

Every important element does not need to be positive in nature. Perhaps the party is largely responsible for the de-railing of the campaign, and so some of their actions have had a negative impact on the overall campaign. Don’t over-do it though; most players don’t enjoy feeling like they’ve completely screwed over the world. However, they will appreciate how all of their actions have consequences and the tied together plots make them feel like the world they’re adventuring in really is a unified whole.

Gamers Helping Haiti: The Givening

In the monthly newsletter we sent out yesterday we mentioned the Gamers Helping Haiti Product Bundle that’s now available for sale on DriveThruRPG. For those of you who don’t get the newsletter, here’s what we said on the subject:

“One Book Shelf (the company behind DriveThruRPG.com and RPGNow) and a huge number of RPG publishers, will have put to together an epic product bundle with a retail value of over $900.00. The bundle is yours for a $20 dollar donation through this link to Doctors without Borders. On top of that, One Book Shelf will match all of the donations!”

There have been a few changes since we sent the newsletter:

• At the time of sending the newsletter, the retail value of the bundle was roughly $900 US. Today it’s over $1400 US!
• Because of the huge demand, One Book Shelf is unable to match everyone’s $20 dollar donation, but will continue to match $5 and $10 dollar donations.
• The bundle will be available through January 31st, 2010! That gives you 10 full days to put together the $20 donation.
• It very well might be the RPG deal of the decade.

Help Haiti and Win a Prize!

We at Obsidian Portal want to spread the word about this worthwhile offer. So in addition to everyone in the office buying a bundle or two, we’re running a twitter contest to help get the word out! We’re giving away a $100 US gift certificate for DriveThruRPG to one random someone re-tweets the following message on twitter:

The $20 Gamers Helping Haiti Product Bundle! See http://bit.ly/5wSNEp for info & you could win a $100 gift certificate from @obsidianportal!

So spread the word about the Gamers Helping Haiti Product Bundle and you could win!

Interview with WoTC’s Greg Bilsland

It all started some time last week when Greg mentioned that he uses Obsidian Portal for his Everdusk 4e DnD campaign on his twitter account. One thing lead to another, and Greg was willing to let us interview him and ask all sorts of fanboyish questions about his work at Wizards of the Coast and his campaign. Let’s get right into it!

Obsidian Portal: So you work for Wizards of the Coast as an editor for Dungeons & Dragons. Can you tell us more about it?

Greg Bilsland: I’ve been working as an editor at Wizards for about two-and-a-half years, and I really enjoy it. Editing for RPG R&D is definitely a multifunctional job, though. As an editor, I’m responsible for making sure that the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed, but that’s only a small part of the job. A game editor isn’t the same as a copy editor. We help organize a book, fit it together, and re-write pieces of it. An editor at Wizards must be intimately familiar with the game so that he or she can recognize anomalies in the mechanics as well as in the writing. I spend a significant amount of time during each project querying the book’s lead developer to make sure that what is on the page is what we intend. The mechanics don’t stop changing in development. An editor is the last line of defense against problematic mechanics as well as problematic writing.

Obsidian Portal: What are your responsibilities as an editor?

Greg Bilsland: In addition to checking the mechanics and writing, I also wrangle any freelance editors on a project. Depending on the project and the people, this can be hard or easy. A variety of skills and editing styles exists among our freelancers, so it’s important to make sure that when the book goes from being in pieces to being a whole book, it is cohesive and uniform in style and presentation. As lead editor on a project, I also run editing workshops to help freelancers improve.

I’m also the rules update guy. I spend a portion of each week combing the forums and reviewing rules concerns from the fans and from Customer Service. It’s not always the most glorious job, but it’s really satisfying when I feel like I help make someone’s game better.

Lastly, I do a bit of design work when my schedule allows. I was a designer on the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide, Monster Manual 2, and Divine Power, and my upcoming credits include Monster Manual 3 and Vor Rukoth: An Ancient Ruins Adventure Site. I really enjoy having the opportunity to do design work; it’s a change of pace from my editorial responsibilities. Unfortunately, scheduling that extra time can be a bit of a challenge.

Obsidian Portal: What cool stuff are you working on now?

Greg Bilsland: I just finished as lead editor on Monster Manual 3, and I really enjoyed my role in that book, because I worked on it through design, development, and editing. You can look forward to some interesting changes in Monster Manual 3.

The other project is Dark Sun! I’ve sort of become the “monster guy” on my team, so I’m the lead editor on the Dark Sun Creature Catalog. I’m also editing the feats and powers appearing in the Dark Sun Player’s Guide. After that, I’m working on an unannounced project for late 2010.

Obsidian Portal: If you could change any aspect of the current edition of D&D, what would it be?

Greg Bilsland: Probably the magic item system. Now that the character builder supports inherent enhancement bonuses, my issues with the magic item system have become moot. I prefer to detach attack and defense bonuses from weapons and armor. I’m also not overly fond of the magic item daily use rules, but I still use them. Regardless of these reservations, I think the systems works.

Obsidian Portal: Where do you get your inspiration for your games?

Greg Bilsland: Often, I get inspiration from whatever D&D book I happen to be reading or editing at the time. Working on Monster Manual 2 and Monster Manual 3, as well as the Eberron Player’s Guide and Dark Sun Player’s Guide, has provided a wealth of ideas. I also get a lot of inspiration from watching other people’s games. One of the great benefits of working at Wizards is the abundance of D&D games. At one point, I was in four games, though I’ve had to cut back to two. I took a lot of inspiration from Chris Perkins’s Iomandra Campaign. I also draw ideas from video games and anime.

Obsidian Portal: How much time per week do you spend getting ready for a game session?

Greg Bilsland: Oh, good question. It depends on whether the source material is completely original or whether I’m piggybacking off an existing adventure. Generally, for each 8-hour Sunday game session, I dedicate about four hours to developing the plot and intrigue of my game. I figure out what the campaign’s antagonists are doing and how to link together characters, backgrounds, and the PCs’ past experiences with the events in an upcoming session. Then, I’ll try to find an existing adventure that works for the next game. If I can find one from Dragon, I’ll spend about 2 hours adapting it, in which I find appropriate magic items, adjust monsters, etc. Otherwise, I spend about 4-6 hours if the source material is original. My games are on Sunday, so you can guess how I spend a lot of my Saturday afternoons…

Obsidian Portal: So your campaign is called Everdusk. Can you tell us about its world, its inhabitants, the PCs, and the overall story?

Greg Bilsland: Everdusk is a fractured world still reeling from the Dawn War, which happened about 4500 years ago. When I first started working on 4th edition at Wizards, I wanted to integrate the 4E cosmology into an older campaign setting. Everdusk was the result. Everdusk has all the core 4E gods, but it also has entities, history, and locations that are not part of 4E cosmology. Early in the campaign, I had this idea for a vision the characters would receive. Borrowing from Final Fantasy VIII, I wanted to give the PCs a glimpse of heroic counterparts that lived 3,000 years ago, many of whom were exarchs or epic heroes—embodiments of what the PCs could become. The vision of these six heroes who died fighting a primordial has shaped the PCs’ experiences throughout the game, especially because some of the figures are still alive.

One of the requisites for my campaign setting is that rarely are characters or events as they initially appear. Heroes become villains, and villains become heroes. I keep many plot lines running, though there are two main threads right now—one involving a conspiracy between Vecna and a group of fey led by the Prince of Frost to slay the Raven Queen (the prince wants the Raven Queen’s winter domain, and Vecna wants her death domain). The other thread involves a Cult of the Chained God that is trying to unleash Tharizdun from his prison in the Far Realm. It’s crucial that the heroes stop both plots, but they’re forced to pick their priorities—I like for the players to feel like they have some choice in how they solve the problems the campaign presents. Ultimately, I hope to play at level 30 for many sessions until they face off with all the gods and primordials in questions, or die trying.

Obsidian Portal: Where does your game group typically play? Do you all get together in person, or over the internet?

Greg Bilsland: We play at my place. I used to play games at Wizards, but I prefer a game’s feel when it is at the home of the Dungeon Master. It feels more casual. Similarly, I actually sought out players who were not part of Wizards. We, R&D employees, tend to scrutinize the mechanics and encounters. Thus, for a story-driven campaign, I wanted to have the game feel more homebrew and less like play testing.

Obsidian Portal: How much of the campaign world is original content developed by you and your players?

Greg Bilsland: In developing the campaign, I relied heavily on the character backgrounds. I want the players to feel like their characters are central to the campaign and that the world revolves around them. The way I see it, that’s part of being a hero. Although I had a few core concepts, most of the events were determined by what the player’s said or wrote. I even made a point of developing the paragon paths into the campaign’s story arc.

Obsidian Portal: Where do you get your inspiration for your story?

Greg Bilsland: Almost anywhere. I pull a lot of the inspiration for the intrigue in my campaign from books and movies. As far as books go, I draw a lot of inspiration from the Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice. Not surprisingly, prophecy and the shackles of fate are pivotal to the world and story. Also, as I mentioned before, I draw a lot of inspiration from anime, video games, and other people’s D&D games.

Obsidian Portal: How well do you know your players?

Greg Bilsland: To varying degrees. One of them is my roommate, for example, so I know him pretty well. Many were acquaintances in the beginning—folks I knew but with whom I didn’t spend much time. I think gaming is a great way to get to know people better, and since I was already in a game with a lot of my close friends, I wanted to look for players beyond my usual circle of friends. Plus, I’m a big proponent of having a group balanced by play style, so I looked for people I thought were compatible. I also think it helps to have an equal balance of men and women in a game, so that was another requirement when picking players.

Obsidian Portal: What kinds of challenges are you faced with in your campaign?

Greg Bilsland: Keeping track of everything. To that effect, Obsidian Portal has been great. It gives my note-taker a great place to store records of each session. Time is really one of my biggest limitations—making sure I’m prepared with sufficient encounters and sufficient story.

As the characters have reached mid-paragon, I’ve found it has become harder to challenge the characters. To solve this problem, I often add an extra die of damage to a monster’s damage expression or else add an additional creature to an encounter. I frequently adjust numbers on the fly. I don’t run things too closely to the numbers; I rarely plan out encounter level, experience points, or treasure parcels. I like to just eyeball the numbers, and so far, it has worked out.

In terms of story, one of the biggest challenges has been adjusting to several players leaving the group. Because I spend a lot of time integrating a PC’s story into the campaign arc, when one leaves, it requires a lot of adjustments. Similarly, it can be difficult to incorporate a new player to make him or her feel equally involved in the story as those who were present at the start of the campaign.

Obsidian Portal: What aspects of your campaign are you really proud of?

Greg Bilsland: If it was already evident—the depth of the story. I like the characters to feel involved in the world and like they’re making a difference. They’re heroes, and I want them to feel heroic. When I can sit back for twenty minutes while the players role-play with each other or talk about the plot, then I feel like I’m achieving the effect I intended. I aim for my campaign to feel like a novel that the players are writing. Few things in the story are pre-determined, and if a player has a good idea, I do my best to integrate it.

Oh, and one final thing. Here is my shameless plug. If you want to follow me or my campaign, you can find me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gregbilsland or check out me obsidian portal site at http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/everdusk.

Our thanks go out to Greg for answering our questions, and to his awesome Communications Manager who helped us set up this interview!