Visions of the Future: Grand Master Fritz Leiber

Recently I’ve been reading or re-reading a lot of fantasy and science fiction from the twentieth century. It’s been fun, but it’s also been thought-provoking. A Book About the Future, And Understanding the Past In 1953 famed author Fritz Leiber (who is credited as having invented the term “sword and sorcery,” and who you probably … Continue reading Visions of the Future: Grand Master Fritz Leiber →

Part Forty-One: 2006, Everything Old is New Again. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

OSR And we’re back! You’ll recall my mention of the Old School Revival movement, folks who wanted to play older editions and rejected the churn of “improvements” being foisted on us (3.5e D&D, I’m looking at you). You could play with old books, but you might want something more durable, or reorganized, or available for … Continue reading Part Forty-One: 2006, Everything Old is New Again. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches →

Part Forty: 2005, “Not the Real Thing but an Amazing Simulation!” A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Greyhawk of my Dreams Let’s start off 2005 with the exciting news that Gary Gygax began the release of the famed Castle Greyhawk dungeon through Troll Lord Games (TLG)! We’d been waiting decades for this! Now for the fine print. The products obviously couldn't be written under 1st edition AD&D. The serial numbers had to … Continue reading Part Forty: 2005, “Not the Real Thing but an Amazing Simulation!” A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches →

Music Hath Charms: As It Was Played, Old-School Gaming Atmosphere

Back in 1980 or so, when I was just starting to run my own 1st ed AD&D games for groups of friends, I was also active in fantasy and science fiction fandom as well as in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and other “ren fest” groups. Now all of these groups had get-togethers of … Continue reading Music Hath Charms: As It Was Played, Old-School Gaming Atmosphere →