Wise Words from Old School Games

[Kyle Aaron]

AD&D1e
"A fantasy roleplaying game is an excercise in imagination and personal creativity."

"Considerable enjoyment and excitement in early play stems from not knowing exactly what is going on."

"This game is unlike chess in that the rules are not cut and dried. In many places they are guidelines and suggested methods only. This is part of the attraction [...]"


Aftermath!
"The first major assumption to be made is that no matter how you ended the world in your campaign, there are not a lot of strategic nukes left. If you want the characters to find (or at least seek) a legendary "last big bomb" in a silo somewhere, then fine. But there is really no reason to put them in possession of a city-killer more than once."


Dungeoneer
"Don't let yourself get too worried about all this talk about roleplaying [...] the ultimate object of all this is for everyone to have fun, not to recreate some form of high dramatic art."

"If a villain is involved in a plot, make him a good one. [...] All villains are appalling over-actors, with more ham than a butcher's shop. Furthermore, they all seem to have something wrong with them. In some this appears quite subtly, simply manifesting itself in an obsessive desire to rule the city, the land, the world. In others, there are physical problems: gammy legs, hunchbacks, missing eyes, strange speech impediments, nervous twitches, whatever seems nasty enough."


Harnmaster
"Lovecraft [the skill of seduction] may not normally be improved by solitary practice."


RQIII
"Players should consult their gamemaster on questions concerning the interpretation or use of the RuneQuest rules. Gamemasters who receive such questions should use their best judgment and interpret the rules as is appropriate for their fantasy worlds."

"Real roleplaying - clothing a few numbers with imagination - [...] should be approached with playful seriousness."

"Gaming is social. [...] Cooperation is essential to enjoyable roleplaying games [...] There also needs to be cooperation between players and gamemaster."


Timelords
"Combat - Combat will occur in the course of play."

"Why isn't anyone ever happy to see us?"

***********

Any others?

[Rocket Man]

In Nomine

"The difference between free-form, no-rules group storytelling ... and a structured roleplaying game is like the difference between playing cops and robbers using fingers as guns, and playing cops and robbers with paint pistols. Someone may yell 'No, you didn't hit me!' -- but when he's dripping with paint (or staring at an unlucky die roll), there's less room for argument."
(Main rules, p. 27)

[Rindis]

Marc Miller's Traveller (T4)

"The purpose of the referee is to present obstacles for players to overcome as they go about seeking their goals, not to constantly make trouble for them. This is a subtle distinction, and one that many beginners have trouble with."