The Term "Arnesonian"

[finarvyn]

I swear that there is another thread like this one. Maybe it's on DF and not here. Seems like a topic we've visited before... 8)

Yeah, it doesnt seem like Dave to have been interested in forcing others to play "his way".

Yet, when Dave thought that players didn't play "his way" he sometimes involked a "wrath of God" kind of punishment where characters might take damage every round for not playing right, etc. Rules lawyers seem to be the focus of a lot of bad karma in Dave's campaigns.

For me, much of the "Arnesonian way" is playing with rules only known to the Referee. Dave seems to have enjoyed a loose style with few rules at all on occasion, where he had total control of when characters leveled up and kept monster stats hidden from his players so that they couldn't challenge his rulings. But that in itself doesn't really define the way Dave did it, since a lot of his rules sets seem to be quite complex when he wanted them to be.

Another trait of an "Arnesonian" game seems to be a mix of styles in one place, such as the introduction of Star Trek tricorders into his First Fantasy Campaign rules. I don't like to think of Blackmoor as a highly technological place, but instead as a place where occasionally at random one might find some unexpectedly cool item that doesn't really fit the setting. The serendipity of Dave's campaign seems like it made Blackmoor a fun place to play in.

A third trait I see is that of freedom. If a player wanted to be a vampire or a cleric or a balrog, Dave didn't worry about the fact that there weren't rules for it but allowed it anyway and (it sounds like) worked out rules as needed. Dave doesn't seem to have been limited by the rules and encouraged his players to think "outside the box" as well.

Just my two coppers.