by Eric McColm
I started gaming in 1978, using original Dungeons and Dragons, the three books in the box. Since then, I've used many game systems. Generally, the rules don't matter.
After losing a lot of characters, playing a lot of different games, and exploring a lot of settings and styles, I played in several games refereed by Lee and Barry Gold, which is a bit like visiting Lothlorien; no-one leaves quite unchanged by the experience.
Maturity, like imagination, is contagious.
Oddly enough, I started out wanting more definition in role-playing games, and now I want less. The general drift of game systems has been from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons to Champions, and from Champions to Feng Shui, with many intermediate steps on both journeys.
Why? At first, I wanted a system that did it right. Later, I wanted a system that had rules for everything I wanted to do. At last, I wanted a system that didn't slow down the game.
The Holy Grail of role-playing games always has been, and still is, modelling battles at 10 seconds of battle per minute of play, while preserving a players control of their characters fate. In this way, a realistic small-unit action with up to 100 combatants may be played out in about two hours, maximum.
No current role-playing game system can meet this standard. And frankly, any really advanced fantasy or superhero player-character party could face 100 soldiers from any historic classical army, and emerge victorious.
My experience has been that most such systems require about double real time of play per combatant, making battles of over 20 combatants impractical. Combatants with substantial non-melee ability, such as artillery, transportation, spotting, magic, creature powers, selective attacks, morphogenics, or hampering similar enemy abilities are significantly slower.
In contrast, Chainmail battles run near real time. But players are not in command of their fate without the original Dungeons and Dragons expansion, which significantly slowed battles.
My current fascination with Feng Shui stems from its reputation as fast and not very detailed, with most of its blatant lack of realism aimed at making player-characters larger than life. The house rules I have developed enhance the speed of the game, while preserving this life-enlarging flavor.
Feng Shui characters live in an age of heroes. Really fast heroes. This may someday result in real-time battles between opposing player-character parties. Someday.
Chainmail, Dungeons and Dragons, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Champions, Feng Shui, and a host of other words and names, are trademarks of their owning game companies.