Doc RotwangMaaaaan...I wish more people in the #rpg sphere were talking about Tunnels & Trolls.
#tunnelsandtrolls #ttrpg [I hate having to use that one] #frpg
Jon Hancock@DocRotwang Used to discuss it a lot more here than I do currently, probably because the mess with Webbed Sphere and the protracted silence from Rebellion sapped my enthusiasm a bit (although it's not like I'm ever going to move on from fifth edition, so I don't know why it bothered me). Still, if you think it's quiet here, try posting about MSPE over on Vin's Trollbridge…
And personally I just stick to #RPG regardless.
Ed Heil@BigJackBrass @DocRotwang I was thinking about this yesterday and I feel like we do not need any new T&T published content. We can play with 5th edition (1979). Maybe with a black sharpie over a notorious spell name. And the page on "slaves" ripped out.
Newer stuff all has the problem of T&T having been evolved into "Ken's Personal Campaign and House Rules" in the 7th/7.5 edition, which isn't what I want and which still heavily burdened Deluxe Edition.
@BigJackBrass @DocRotwang There's nothing wrong with playing old games. A game doesn't have to be constantly re-updated for republication and re-purchase for it to be "alive." It's alive if people keep playing it, not if a publisher keeps publishing it (except for the minimum necessary availability for people to be able to access it at all).
@BigJackBrass @DocRotwang (I'm not fundamentally disagreeing with anything anyone else is saying here btw)
@edheil @DocRotwang I'll certainly get back to running it (everyone in my group likes to GM, so it's often a slow turnaround), but I came to the conclusion a while ago that I supported Deluxe because of Liz, Ken, Rick et al, and that the revision of the game hadn't improved much for me (30th to 7.5 editions I didn't think much of at all). Fifth edition and house rules still does the job.
Because of that, my contributions to discussions slowly ebbed, as questions and conversations started to focus on specifics of the newer rules or the "official" setting, neither of which I could helpfully add to. When the Rebellion version appears things will be similar, since it does nobody much good to have some dusty old sod in the corner going on about the game from several decades ago. It's still a cracking little game (as is MSPE), but most of the conversation has moved on, as happens.
@BigJackBrass @DocRotwang @epidiah I was mentioning on Bluesky yesterday that this is my dream game that I should create: a variant T&T made for swords & sorcery instead of dungeon crawls. Not because I think it would necessarily be so great technically to use the rules that way, but because the rules have such nostalgia power for me. It would be just self-indulgent nostalgia fanservice for me and almost nobody else that the T&T rules would be involved.
@BigJackBrass @DocRotwang @epidiah but when I think about it, I think about bringing in MSPE rules for the sake of them being more grounded. Avoiding some of the wild attribute inflation you see in old T&T materials ("some random rogue in the Black Dragon Tavern is 7th level and for some reason has all attributes in the 20-40 range" and suchlike). Though PC attributes could be high. No Tolkienian races.
I don't know how close the magic system would be to T&T's. Not sure about that yet.
@edheil @BigJackBrass "It's alive if people keep playing it" sounds exactly like something I'd say! Meaning, I agree.
@edheil @BigJackBrass I kinda like Talents.
Alien_SunsetIirc @epidiah has said quite a bit about Tunnels and Trolls in the past.
Digital Mark λ ☕️ 🌮 🚀 🌗@DocRotwang The problem is right now nobody is publishing T&T, and Monsters! Monsters! hasn't got that much support yet. I post when I have something new, but that's about it. Hashtag stack is too much, too.
I have been writing some for my M!M! jungle setting, but I do that in spurts.
mhd@mdhughes @DocRotwang I blame licensing.
There also were some interesting takes on TFT, before SJG squeezed some money out of that again.
@DocRotwang @mdhughes There was at least "Heroes & Other Worlds" which added a bit of d20 to TFT, and the "Legends of the Ancient World" games by Dark City Games.
I'd love to see any version T*T with an easy on-ramp for homebrews, although I'd prefer to have at least some kind of DM's Guild/Jonstown setup and not just a "fan works" non-aggression pact.
@mhd @DocRotwang That's The Fantasy Trip (by Steve Jackson (US), lately republished), not Tunnels & Trolls (by Ken St. Andre).
https://monstersmonsters.org
or https://trollbridge.proboards.com
@mdhughes @DocRotwang I know. My point is that alternative takes to D&D from the "old school" are less likely to receive support because of licensing issues, with TFT it just was a bit more obvious…
Traveller and RQ get a little love, but then again, both have semi-decent licenses.
Any hope on the T&T/M!M! front regarding this? SJG is pretty hopeless here, ideologically and economically (the golden throne of Munchkin)
@mhd @DocRotwang Ken/Steve Crompton have some "ask us about using M!M!" text in the new edition, but not an open license as such. They're a little burned out by the guy who was reprinting T&T stuff.
Revolution's supposed to launch their new T&T this year, 50th anniversary, nobody's very enthused.
I just treat it like Judges Guild treated D&D: Give stats, possibly use euphemisms, don't worry about it until later.
Artikid@DocRotwang have you seen Sarah Newton's Lair of the Leopard Empresses?
@artikid No, but you're the second person to mention it, and my interest grows!
not a martian, honest@DocRotwang what do you have against the titterpig?
@kyonshi @DocRotwang Not the OP, but I sometimes think it's the #crpg people who should need to adjust and the default #rpg should be "tabletop" ;)
@mhd @DocRotwang well yeah. But that ships kinda sailed
@DocRotwang @kyonshi We're taking back #rpg from those who only play first person 3D action adventures anyway ;)
@mhd @DocRotwang @kyonshi At the very least, it's not an RPG if you're playing a character whose name you can't change, or stats you can't roll/select.
#rpg
#rpg