Counter Revolution - Part 1

The art of Erol Otus, blue and white dungeon maps, thin adventure modules with unattached covers, the writings of Gary Gygax, The Dragon; these images and writings and the feelings I wrapped around them, move within my psyche and form the basis for my perception of Dungeons & Dragons. 1st Edition AD&D was the first Role-Playing Game I ever played and for 16 years it was the only RPG I played with any regularity. Sure, I tried a few others, back in the day. The 6 month long Call of Cthulhu game I played in was a nice diversion and I had a blast playing, but I never strayed too far from my first love, and saw no reason to do so. 


When Wotc bought TSR and announced they were releasing 3e, I was excited. I never cared for 2nd edition. I hated the whole Blood War thing and the caving in to the paranoid sensibilities of the Satanic Panic nutjobs, didn't like the Monstrous Compendium Binder, disliked the style, artwork, and the whole 2e presentation; I was also really, really, pissed that they got rid of all the cool Conjuration/Summoning spells.  

There were some bright spots. Planescape, Darksun, a few other gems in the endless sea of mediocre accessories, but, by and large, aside from picking up the occasional Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk supplement, I didn't bother with 2e. But when Wotc took over, I felt confident that things would be different, that these people knew what they where doing and would make a worthy successor to the earlier editions of the game. 

All in all, I think they did a good job. 3e was a player's dream, a dm's headache, but an overall fun RPG. Way too rules heavy. A bit problematic in places, said problems being exacerbated on a monthly basis as more and more rules were vomited forth from deep within the lair of Wotc, et al. I loved making monsters like a Half-Dragon Fiendish Vampire Barbarian Minotaur, but dming 3e was such a time consuming task that it didn't always feel worth the hassle. 


When 3.5 came out I ponied up the bucks and upgraded. Then, after I ended my last campaign, I decided to take a hiatus from gaming for health reasons. During my vacation, Wotc announced 4e. "What the Hell?! 4e? Really?" With every press release, things just kept sounding worse, worser, and worst of all. "Oh, and by the way, while they're at it they plan on screwing up the Forgotten Realms too!"  


I've looked over some of the 4e material. I'd like to support the current version of the game, but aside from the awesome artwork, there's not much there I really care for. Meanwhile, there's this little voice in the back of my mind that keeps saying "Screw 4e and the Dragon he road in on. To hell with 3e to. You know what you really want to play."


Meanwhile, while I was mulling all this over, surfing the web and checking out the lay of the land, I discovered the Retro-Clones. While I slept, the Old School Gaming Renaissance was in full swing; it was like a sign from the gaming gods! If I wasn't such a cynical bastard I would take it as such, pick up a retro-clone and plan my game from there. 


Part II coming soon, but speaking of Old School, I've found the Link to AKS Hexmapper; it's in my link section, located on the right, near the bottom of the page.