The Joys of Minimalism

"I leave you with Antoine de Saint Exupery’s definition of perfection: 

“not when nothing more can be added, 

but when nothing more can be taken away.'" 

- David Thoreau 

For the sake of my (potential, at this particular point) players, I've decided to use Swords & Wizardry Complete as my main rules set for Newold, but I have to admit that I'm not entirely happy with that decision. There's a part of me that longs for the simplicity of a set of rules that can fit into three "little brown books," a game where my players could generate characters in about ten seconds, and where any character can try any physical action with a reasonable chance of success. Basically, Swords & Wizardry White Box.

White Box and White Box

I've found that a lot of the player demand for "choices" comes out of a dissatisfaction with the classes "as is"--or more particularly, with the class restrictions. Many players like the idea of a holy warrior, but dislike the arbitrary restriction that clerics can't used edged weapons, so they choose paladins, druids, or (depending on the rules-set) bards. The evolution of the thief towards the ninja-like rogue "striker" shows that most players don't really want to play someone who is altogether weak in fighting, just someone who has a lot of skills and cleverness. I find players gravitating towards elves, bards, and multi-classing because they don't like the magic-user's arbitrary weapons restrictions--after all, didn't Gandalf wield a sword?

So what if we removed a few restrictions and, with some clever game mastering, encouraged characters to make clever use of skills?

First, let's talk about the balance intended by these restrictions. In OD&D (and S&W WB), all weapons do 1d6 damage (+1 for certain two-handed weapons in S&W). The magic-user's restrictions basically limited him from the best magical weapons, while the cleric's restricted the use of most missile weapons and magical swords (the best and most common magical weapons in the game). This kept the fighter class desirable.

But is that really necessary? Let's take a slightly different approach.

First, let clerics use the fighter experience tables. Combined with the relatively fast progression of the fighter's attack rolls (S&W gives the fighter their first increase at level 2, instead of level 4 as in OD&D), the fighter's ability to take on multiple low-level opponents, and the fact that 1st level clerics cannot yet cast spells, this keeps the two in relative balance. In addition, I would add that fighters can be unaligned, while clerics must choose between Law and Chaos. Since magical swords all have alignments, this would give fighters an edge--and indeed, clerics might be leery of using magical swords, since those of opposed alignments can do great damage to you.

What then of magic-users? Their lack of armor already makes them more vulnerable in a fight, regardless of what weapon they wield. And perhaps magic-users by their very nature have to be aligned just like clerics, making them vulnerable to being destroyed by swords of opposed alignments. (For that matter, many magic swords might insist on being wielded by great heroes rather than middling magicians.)

Most likely I'll use Complete for my main rules-set, but keep White Box handy for pick-up games. That way I can scratch both itches.