Of Classlessness and Quarantines

Quarantine has begun here in New Zealand,  or to be precise, it we are in the 48 hour beginning of lockdown prior to it going into effect for the next four weeks. Sure, I will be working from home for the day job, but there is going to be an extra bit of time that I do not normally have to take advantage of. Outside of family activities, I want to get to work on some personal projects. One is getting back to some regularity with this blog. I have also begun working on my classless game system. It is a bit of a daunting task, but really, it is just for me to get it off my list. I mean what serious hobby gamer hasn't taken a stab at their own game system or modification of an existing one? I think it is important to nail down what I want to achieve in order give myself a framework to work in, and probably more importantly, something to hold myself accountable to so I don't go completely off the rails and waste the time I have at hand. Let me start with some things I don't want:

• Not another retroclone - there are many, many out there that do a great job of emulating past versions of D&D/AD&D
• Not a high fantasy setting - again, there are many games out there that already do the classic high fantasy with demihuman races and they do it well

So what do I want? Well, to understand that, I should probably mention my biggest influences in my fantasy/sci-fi/horror world view. First, Michael Moorcock's multiverse and Eternal Champion series is perhaps one of the biggest influences on me. From a fantasy standpoint, he is my unquestioned go to for fantasy. Robert E Howard, not quite as big an influencer, but still massively important. Frank Herbert's works, particularly Dune and the Pandora sequence just blew me away and still do. Jack Kirby - ok, I am a HUGE comic book fan. Jack Kirby is at the absolute top of the pile for me. Particularly his Fourth World saga, Kamandi, Devil Dinosaur, the Eternals, Captain Victory, the Demon, and just about all of his sheer brilliance in universe building. Jack is indeed the foundation on which so much of the rest of my influencers rest. H.P. Lovecraft, yeah, yeah, of course. Say what you will, but the creation of the mythos has had unparalleled impact on so many aspects of fantasy/sci-fi/horror. Al Williamson's work on Flash Gordon. I think my first real memory of Flash Gordon was seeing the 1980 classic movie, well, classic to me anyway. I liked the whole gonzo blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Going back and looking at the comics really is even more fantastic. Go check them out. Well, this isn't an exhaustive list, but good enough to lay out the basics.

Well, this is getting pretty long so I will save the rest for my next post. I know, you are all waiting on pins and needles to find out what it is I am proposing to do. It'll keep. I am such a tease. So until next time, cheers and happy gaming 😀!