It's a new year...2008

Here we are in 2008 already...and I don't have any new pants.

Don't ask me why I said that. I just thought I'd start off with something rather off the cuff, you know, in an attempt to be more spontaneous this year.


OK, to a serious matter... games. What will the year bring? I for one have no earthly idea what to expect. I'm not the serious game-head here. I don't go out and purchase game after game in an attempt to satisfy some hidden passion. No, I'm pretty well set. I LOVE Dungeons and Dragons. Yep, you heard me right... That's my game of choice: Dungeons and Dragons.

Tell you what though, I'm looking at another game that incorporates what I consider to be the fun part of the Dungeons and Dragons of yore with some of the newer aspects of gaming taken from WotC's OGL. (A nod to WotC please... thank you.)

Odd things are astir in the land of games. I'm seeing a ton of older games come to the surface. A renaissance if you will. Games that I'd long thought dead. I mean, I haven't heard of people playing original Dungeons and Dragons in years. AD&D? Long dead...or so I thought. Wrong.

And that's not all. The OGL has spawned all sorts of other games like OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, and my favorite, Castles and Crusades. Ah, Castles and Crusades, what can I say about this game? It's a mix of old school archetypal game play mixed with some newer mechanics. It's just downright cool.

I'm telling you, if you haven't tried this game, and you enjoyed the older editions of Dungeons and Dragons and yet ached to be rid of some of the more bulky mechanics like thAC0, then you'll like this. Seriously, you owe it to yourself to check this game out.

One of the things that I like most is that I can use tons, strike that, all of my old material from years back. Everything from the Rules Compendium, Creature Crucible, all the old AD&D books, modules, settings, etc, can be used. Everything from the second edition. Even things from the third edition can be converted..although with a little more effort. Which sort of says something about third edition.

Castles and Crusades is often referred to as what Advanced Dungeons and Dragons should have become. You open the PHB and are instantly at home with all of the concepts. The only new thing is what they call the SIEGE system. Which is the backbone of the game. And frankly, it's the thing that makes it compatible with all of the legacy Dungeons and Dragons stuff.

The SIEGE system is simple and elegant. It's applicable to nearly any type of situation in role playing. Really, it's simply brilliant.

Enough ranting and raving. I seemed to have lost the thread of my blog. I guess what will be "new" for me is to get a game of Castles and Crusades going with my group this year. Heh...what's old is new again. How apropos.