Creativity vs. Packaged

I actually don't know what to write about tonight; I can't think of anything significant that happened today, nor do I have any burning questions in my mind that I need to articulate. So, I'm not sure why I'm even making this post, except to continue a posting streak.

I know what I want to talk about...it's that 'forbidden topic' that my wife can't stand, but it's been a part of my life for nearly forty years, so I have a lot to say about it. Role-playing games, that is. I've mentioned before that I want to teach my son a few games. D&D, Traveller, and Champions. Why those three? Because they are, in their purest form, setting-free. Sure, D&D is largely associated with its settings now; Dragonlance, Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Dark Sun, Eberron...but you don't need any of them to play the game.

D&D was published in 1974; the first modules didn't appear until 1978 (the Giants-Drow series), and there wasn't any published setting until 1980, with the Greyhawk Folio. Likewise, Traveller was published in 1977, shortly after the release of a little-known movie called Star Wars. Its first official setting material didn't appear until 1979, that being The Spinward Marches. And Champions...well, Champions can be used to simulate any published setting (character sheets for everyone from Superman to Ambush Bug can be found online), but the basic rulebooks only include a few stock characters; the rest is up to the Game Master.

My reading of older pulp-style stories was inspired by Jeffro Johnson's Appendix N series on castaliahouse.com; he read every author and book mentioned in the 1st edition DMG's Appendix N, including Burroughs, Zelazny, Dunsany, Anderson, Howard, etc. And in so doing, he discovered a whole new world of fantasy and science fiction that were heavily influential in the early days of RPG design. It's a fascinating look at how people viewed fantasy literature at the time; they weren't all reading Tolkien-style pastiches.

So, what I'm hoping to do with my son is slowly introduce him to these three particular games, and give him the chance to let his own imagination run wild and be creative in how he designs his settings. Why hand him the Forgotten Realms grey box, or a Champions supplement filled with 'official' characters, except as examples? Let him come up with things. Maybe his D&D setting will have herds of pegasi flying around under the control of elvish knights. Maybe his Traveller setting will incorporate a feudal system like Poul Anderson's The High Crusade. Or he'll combine everything and do a Princess of Mars-style setting, just because he feels like it.

However he does it, I'm sure it will be a ton of fun. And one of us will definitely write all about it. But, in the meantime, I've got more to write, including the sequel anthology to The Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival, available now on Amazon in either e-book or paperback.