[OMage] Just Do Whatever.

I flipped through a few pages of my 2nd Ed. Mage: the Ascension text this morning, reading a few words that hadn't meant anything to me in years, if ever - the explanation of what a role-playing game is. RPG rules are very good these days; the two leaders of the field are doing good business and making good games. I'm referring to Wizards and White Wolf, of course. And if I have a marked preference for White Wolf games, it's probably because despite everything, I'm familiar with the proposed setting and I prefer the generally simpler system. Regardless, the line was about playing cops and robbers, arguing over who got shot, and it really took me back a touch.

When I was a lot younger, I played in some of those play-by-post or chat games that a lot of younger teens still do. They lack anything but the most rudimentary rules systems, often cobbled up from thin air by the arbitrater, who's usually the list creater of a Yahoo! Groups. I felt pretty nostalgic about it, but I also suddenly kind of 'got' something. The way I want to play my RPGs varies wildly. I've never stuck doggedly to the rules except, maybe, in Exalted, but that didn't have any particular ramifications. I kind of want to play a WoD game that only interacts with the rules rarely in the same way that I've wanted to try a very strict game of D&D for a while.  It just struck me, so if I think I've got something interesting to say about rules interactions in the next few days, I'll pipe up.

In St. Louis tomorrow. The 6th itself is apt to be very busy, and I'm most likely to be available on the 7th. If I'm around on the 6th and I think I'll be available, I'll try to call people. If not, I'll see about arraingments on the 7th. The 8th is probably occupied in the evening, such is life.