Comments on: I WAS A GOBLIN: On The Level

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:44:47 +0000

Yes this wd be where the RPG term “campaign” came from I guess!

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:33:39 +0000

well that i’m not so sure about — i seem to recall there was an OFFBOARD element with troop movements on maps and such, culminating in BATTLES which constituted the on-board element

so a “game” = a “whole campaign”

though doubtless yr mileage varied depending on how much of a LIFE you had :D

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:24:28 +0000

plus with wargaming there was less “character development”, so changes to troops tended to be for that game only, rather than something that would be carried over…

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:48:59 +0000

i think’s D&D innovation is the INSTANT power-up (viz = magic) — wargaming had lots of powerdowns (out of bullets, collapse of morale), but all the power-ups i can think happened “off board”

(this is based on some little handbook i bought aged c.12 plus dim memory — i’m not sure that there was a FIFA-type standard rulebook for wqargaming)

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:42:47 +0000

I thought there must be power-ups and downs in wargaming, as D&D took nearly all of its mechanics from there.

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:32:22 +0000

my grandad had a super-elaborate pirate game with little ships, where particular events could strip a player of powers which they had to build up again

ie if i remember correctly you had beads for rations and picked up beads for treasure — they threaded onto the little masts — and if you were stuck on a sandbank for [xx] goes the rations ran out and then if the tide turned before you starved, you could only sail one square at a time till you got to port

also i think you could “lose a mast” in particular circumstances (tho your piece never did)

it is quite hard to play as the “board” is a rolled up map which is hard to keep unrolled unless weighed down with with books and stuff — if one of these gets knocked the whole board rolls up in a flash

it is NOT buccaneer but it is called something quite similar

(also i think old-skool wargaming involved similar heighened/reduced powers for rations and morale…)