A bit of wishful thinking is permissible for Christmas.
Wishing for world peace for example. A full belly for everyone. Defeating disease. Happiness and harmony.
My personal wishful thinking regarding rpg’s this year (once more, that is…) took concrete form during a recent editorial discussion: I wish for brevity (and I wish for brevity being appreciated more). A new game’s core book comes along at 200, 300, or better yet 400 pages (if it isn’t split across multiple books at 400 pages apiece) and that is being touted as a sign of outstanding quality.
Is that what I want to pay for, though? Or – more in line with the spirit of Christmas – is that what I wish for? A maxed out word count? The total weight of paper delivered? That can’t be it, can it? Obviously I can only speak for myself, but what I want and wish for are interesting ideas (no matter whether rules- or backgroundwise) and their convincing realization. Those wishes are about quality, not quantity. Whether an idea is interesting or not isn’t measured in the amount of paper used in its description.
I even go so far as to claim that a long description/large word count is actually indicative of bad execution. Blabbing on and on about a concept or just shying away from paring it down to the purity and beauty at its core is in no way an exceptional achievement. But keeping things short and down to the point, eliciting a strong response with a few well placed words, achieving precision without wasting space, that is an art and a skill. For Christmas, I wish for more of that.
(Without the slightest hint of disrespect I am reminded at this point of fellow German gamer and blogger Zornhau, who can boast of a certain fame for writing long, very long articles. I am reminded of him because he once said, that in his opinion writing a short text was difficult and hard work, which was the very reason he usually didn’t do it.)
Apart from this bit of wishful thinking, my more tangible wishes for next week include the following articles:
English articles:
On Monday, we get „Tea Parties and 1-Percenters“ an Unknown Armies article from Hasran, dealing with politics, television, and unspeakable horrors from beyond.
On Friday, the English version of Miranbrück by Shadom introduces a small German town as a setting for Changeling: The Lost.
German articles:
On Monday, there will be a German translation of „Tea Parties and 1-Percenters“.
On Friday, the German original of Miranbrück appears, utilizing the Changeling translation matrix presented last week.