I played Pathfinder for a long time, and D&D 3.X for a while before that. But, I became tired of it. Here's a list of reasons why I moved away from 3.X as my primary game:
- I don't have 10 hours to make a character anymore. I can paint some minis, or work on a module, or hang out with the kids. Those hours are just too precious now.
- I want to get through more than one combat in a session. Tactics are fun, don't get me wrong. One combat, two at the most in a four hour session just doesn't move the game forward.
- There are too many options. Although this is the reason for #1 and #2, it must be stated separately. 3.5 died from it. Pathfinder is in the death throws from it. Starfinder will suffer the same fate - sooner or later.
- I was tired of buying books. There are at least 25 PF hardcover books. And probably double that in softcover. There are somewhere around 60 hardcover 3.5 books. Don't get me wrong, I probably have 20 S&W hardcovers. But only one of them is a rule book.
- Five minute character creation rules! I have made 15 characters at conventions in the past year or so. None of them took from playing time!
- Combats only take up as much time as character creation. It's quick and deadly. I don't have to count out squares, or worry about attacks of opportunity. I can just roll some dice and let luck happen. There is still strategy in the OSR; it is much more abstract.
- There are plenty of options without being overwhelming. A lot of the OSR rules sets are comparable (if not directly compatible.) In S&W there are 9 classes in the Core Rulebook. Doing a quick "OSR class" search on RPGNow brought up another 2200+ items. I'm sure that they aren't all actual player classes, but even if 10% of them are, there are way more classes than for PF and 3.5 combined.
- I can buy exactly 0 books and play. Seriously, Frog God Games is amazing at giving out their rules set. Core Rules; Complete Rule Book; Swords and Wizardry Light (all of those are links to the FREE downloads of the rules, directly from FGG.)
- I can easily convert 1e to S&W. They are essentially the same system. S&W doesn't have gnomes, and the XP chart is a bit different. There are a few other small changes, but nothing that stops me from using Keep on the Borderlands or Temple of Elemental Evil in S&W.
- Megadungeons are easier to run in OSR.
- I can play with 2 people or 20. The rules don't care at all. Can you image a 20 player Pathfinder combat?
- The OSR conventions are better. NTRPG and GaryCon are the best conventions in the country.
- I don't have to look up a rule or feat every 20 minutes.
- (Comment if you get the joke!) Everything! Everything, Everything!
My hero!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for mentioning NTRPG Con. You are so riught about OSR conventions being better.
It's all Power Creep when it comes to the Big Game Companies these days. Ever since the advent of CCGs it has been that way. Every new Set/Book came out with bigger and better things for less Cost to the Player but the Cost of it in terms of Gameplay is tragic. Every expansion devalues those that came before, every new mechanic that supplants a Players Imagination in favour of a Stat Block and Skill Bonus makes the Game as a whole lesser.
ReplyDeleteIt has turned Players into Gamers. Now you can see Groups of Players sitting at a Table saying "Well we definitely need this Skill and That Feat which are available to these two Classes so someone has to play one of each of these or we're screwed before we start. Then we have to get this Class to level 6 so they can use their Feat which Boosts this other CLasses Feat.." etc etc
Gaming has become less about using your Groups combined imagination to tell a fun and engaging story and more about Stats, Experience and Skills... just like most modern video games. It has turned Table Top Gaming in to 'Spam the A Button til the bad guy dies!"
You have summed up a lot of how I feel. I loved 3.x when it was the New Hotness, but as the years went on I realized I was gravitating back to my first love - BECMI. And here I sit, having just run an afternoon of Swords & Wizardry (Continual) Light for my game club, and having had a ridiculous blast doing it.
ReplyDeleteThis, right here, is why I wrote Basic Fantasy RPG back in 2006. Quick character generation, fast combat, and not a lot of looking up rules.
ReplyDeleteWell-said, Jayson! See you at GaryCon and NTX in 2018 :D
ReplyDeleteAllan.
Excellent points, all. Someone in Tenkar Chat last night said a GM running Pathfinder can strip away what he doesn't like without hurting anything. While I disagree with the blanket statement, why would a GM shell out large amounts of money on OF product only to have to devote time to stripping it down and forcing players to shell out money for their book(s) when the OSR games will do -- and for much less? My go-to games are nearly 100% free in PDF: Swords & Wizardry Complete, Swords & Wizardry Light, Chris Gonnerman's Basic Fantasy RPG (as Chris mentioned above), and Joe Bloch's Adventures Dark and Deep. I use Castles & Crusades as a Rosetta stone at the table, behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are less about making the DM an accountant, are less likely to spawn rules lawyers, and make combat and creation of PCs & adventures faster.