I'm sure you've already heard about the release of Maze of the Blue Medusa. I don't want to lay it on too thick, so I will refrain from gushing too much; suffice to say, I feel as though this is the point at which the Do-It-Yourself RPG movement has come of age.
Please understand me: I am not talking about "the OSR", which is a term I have never really liked. I am talking about the broader liberalisation, if you can call it that, of the creation of RPG materials for mass audiences - as facilitated and boosted by technological advancement (the internet), changes in the industry (the OGL and similar), and key innovators (everybody from Vincent Baker to Ron Edwards to James Raggi). This is what I mean when I talk about "DIY RPGs"; it's not something which the story gamers or d20 publishers can fairly be excluded from.
Why is it a coming of age moment? Because Maze of the Blue Medusa is, I think, better than most if not all mainstream RPG books which I own. It is not quite Pendragon, not quite the original Planescape boxed set. But it is at that level, in terms of the quality of the product and its content.
The fact that a couple of people made it from the modern day equivalent of a studio garret demonstrates two things. First, there are people with sufficient talent, and second that technology has advanced to such a level, that there is no excuse for there not to be a hundred such products emerging from this thing which I refer to as the "DIY RPG movement" within, say, 10 years' time. Products which are in the same bracket as the original Planescape boxed set, which was the pinnacle of what TSR was capable of at its zenith.
That is really quite something.
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DeleteJust today I was wondering whether it's only my biased perception or if the number of people posting RPG related material, and the amount of content they post has actually decreased noticably in the last two years. I think it does, but having browsed the archives of some older sites I feel like quality has increased a lot. Posts tend to be a lot longer, more insightful, and more creative.
ReplyDeleteAnd when you look at published products created and released by the very same circle of people, I think the recent output is indeed of the highest quality it ever had. There has indeed been a very significant shift compared to five years ago, and I think it's been an overwhelmingly positive one.
I think you may be right about that. I certainly think I am better than I used to be, but readers may see it differently!
DeleteI think there are less posts and more content. Once the lustre was off the chaff was swept away leaving wheat.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of getting one person to interpret someone else's art. I think a lot of the best stuff from Monte Cook has come through the same process.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just "Here's a cool thing, now D&D it.", but there's a kind of grown in translation effect, where someone's ideas generate mysteries that you must absolutely not ask them the causes of, but instead try and fill in the gaps, and if that is done with enough integrity, with enough taking it overly seriously, then you can get some good results.
I mean, it's basically like developing something based on random generation, except that instead of it being random, it's just a different kind of structure, that is cool in its own way.
I am excited, glad I stumbled across this before the print run ran out.
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