I have been thinking about the recent convos on twitter about "What is D&D?" in the various forms, such as: metagaming, what is a campaign, player agency, War-game vs story-game, etc.
This reminded me of a snarky reply to Jeffro ages ago, about Jeffro's Quixotic search for an ur-D&D, hidden in the rules of 1e. (which tweet, of course, I can't find now).
Then I thought about the responses to this video from Runehammer, which I shared on my game discord:
B____'s response in particular:
The perspective offered is about carefully tuning the session from the DM's perspective to balance encounters, scenes, power curve, etc. … it's completely counter to organic session play.
There's some value to the practice of tracking stats that could be applied from the PC side to tune their preparation or tactics, but it'll be more impactful the more complex the system is.
(Aside: Honestly, I would love to do a stream with B____ on this topic in the context of Player approach vs DM approach, but that's for another time)
The point of this ludicrous introduction is that there is indeed an ur-game buried in the 1e DMG but it is NOT a codex of rules and/or mechanics. Don't look for an ur-game in which kind of saving throw to use, for example, or how to name it, or how they should change with advancement.
A Definition of Ur-Game
One of the players (a different B____) commented that I had missed a step, in defining the idea of the ur-game itself. Which, in fact, I did miss. He suggested a definition, which I have massaged a bit:
"An ongoing, open-ended, *multi-player, multi-front, map-based wargame campaign, which can be abbreviated as* "**Braunstein**", where participants set their own proximate victory conditions, and are ~~
always~~ *continuously* able to change ~~their~~ *said* proximate victory conditions."
This definition of ur-game is then supported by several concepts that can be mechanically represented in a set of rules. These rules can be in the form of an RPG like Dungeons & Dragons, or in a wargame like Shot, Steel & Stone.
The ur-game concept, in the example of saving throws, is “a saving throw of some kind should exist in the game”, with the ur-game definition of Saving Throw being: "a saving throw represents the pulp-heroic trope of our hero having a chance to escape certain death by some uncanny means."
This can be represented by a target number, a decrementing score or die-type, or a dice pool. The mechanics don't matter.
The mechanics don't matter.
What we should be tracking is the usage of the ur-game concepts:
Alignment as Worldbuilding and Game Mechanic
Encumbrance
Morale
Reaction Rolls
Time in the Campaign: Strict Timekeeping + 1:1 Pacing
Level Training
Crafting
Spell Research
Factions
There are more, this is a list I have teased out without really knowing what it was I am looking for. Now that I know what I am looking for, I will be able to drill down deeper.
For example, “Factions” is a very broad idea that covers:
NPCs ruling Domains
NPCs in charge of Guilds or Trading Houses
Tribes of Bandits, Nomads or Humanoids
Various Religious Cults
Adventuring Companies (Player groups)
Powerful NPCs/Individuals without Domains
and Henchmen/Hirelings
Making sure we are using these concepts, via whichever mechanics are part of the rules, would be a much more valuable set of data points.
What Should We Be Measuring?
Let’s take a look at how, and why, we could measure some of these ur-game concepts, in the context of a game session and the downtime surrounding it.
I am imagining a sheet of graph paper, with a list down the left-hand side of the items you want to keep track of. But not too many at once, as you don’t want to overload yourself, your role as Referee is plenty big!
Alignment, Reaction Rolls, Encumbrance and Morale
These four items are probably the most important for tracking right away, to make sure that your players are participating fully in the mode of the campaign we are running.
As I ruminate on these principles, it occurs to me that alignment is probably the most often ignored rule in the game. It has to exit for a reason, right? That is why I believe it has two functions in the campaign: World Building and Mechanical interaction.
From the very beginning of the game, on page 39 of the Chainmail book, there is a list of creatures and how they are aligned, concerning Law and Chaos. Alignment carries over into the AD&D Monster Manual, although it is enlarged to encompass Good & Evil.
The creatures with an Alignment of Lawful or Chaotic are creatures that one would find on the same side in a battle. A Chainmail-scaled battle in your D&D campaign. This is the Worldbuilding part. Which creatures are on the side of Civilization and which are on the the side of the Wilderness.
When your players and their characters are galivanting about in the world and they encounter another intelligent creature, whether a group of dwarves or a tribe of goblins, they will have a good idea of which side the other group is on. This is not to say that they cannot communicate, parley or negotiate, but rather, which way any such communication might go.
Make a tic-mark beside Alignment each time there is an encounter and your players use alignment in a way that may influence the encounter. Also make a tic-mark (next to “Mechanical”) if they indicate that they wish to use their alignment in a way to modify any possible communication or response.
If both groups are Lawful there may not need to be a Reaction Roll, especially if you know the groups are working (even if only superficially) toward the same goal. On the other hand, it may be a group that you have randomly generated, without knowing anything about their background or goals. They may have a goal at odds with the player characters, and the dice can certainly make things interesting!
Tracking these tic-marks for the various features of the game can give you a good idea of how well your game is stacking up against your expectations. The results might surprise you!
I will be tracking some of these principles in my own game, and will definitely be reporting back on the results.
Thanks for reading, and keep on gaming!