Games - Gameworlds vs. Imagination

It's easy to get nostalgic about simpler times in gaming or any other sub-culture, to see the first faltering steps with a misty eyed glow. In truth there is always going to be something more exciting about something new, than the appreciation that comes with something old that's merely been given a bit of a polish.

But I think there are several serious problems in gaming, by which I mean board, war and roleplaying games. Possibly one of the more damaging ones is the game worlds themselves. In the early days, and in some games still, you had rules on different types of weapons, bestiaries of creatures, some world background and some scenario hooks. The games came with almost everything you required, minus a little bit of imagination.

One of my first introductions to gaming was during a school lunch hour, someone got four or five figures out, put them on the table, told us who we were and what we were doing and then we played out the scenario. That's quite liberating, for it was the element of imagination that was so important, you were free to invent your own creatures, worlds, heroes to populate them with. You could take a bit from that movie, or a little from this game and make something of your own from the mix.

Since the eighties there have been many games that came with whole worlds attached, worlds that you could go to and never come back from. TSR had several D&D worlds, Games Workshop had its fantasy and science fiction Warhammer worlds and White Wolf had its World of Darkness. And since then countless games have launched with their own unique worlds, all trying to funnel you into a trademarked property they can sell you, a piece of turf at a time. Most collapse back into themselves as failed ventures, but some do thrive to become cash cows.

In these games, the world is already fully created, though there may be some small fuzzy spots you can call your own. The types of characters you create are already formed in off the peg packages, often labelled archetypes. You are part of a bigger world, which has already been charted and you can never really shape it and you're following the path of thousands of loyal consumers before you. You learn about these worlds not through playing or adventuring, but through emptying your wallet.

The best roleplaying games I've played have had almost all of their rules and game worlds summed up in one rulebook. Any other supplements have been occasionally useful or entertaining, but not essential. Ideally you should be able to pick any game up, play it and then leave the world behind for another game. But it's rather easy these days to find yourself simply playing another game of a different type, set in the same background. It seems like an unhealthy way to play, and a slightly insidious trap for the unwary.

That's not say that a visit to these worlds is an entirely negative thing, but they say that travel broadens the mind. So perhaps you should think about occasionally creating your own worlds, they don't have to be in the same all consuming depth as commercial ones. Come up with some basic principles, and play with them, create and add to them as you go along. You aren't tied to restrictive systems, games are there to play and have fun as you learn.

Do as thou wilt.