I mentioned previously that I think I have stumbled upon a Japanese Grognard, who I shall call Mr. 123, and it occurred to me recently that I could try and ask him some questions about his attitude towards gaming, his opinion of old school, etc. I’ve noticed that the people I play with here, though generally willing to try new games, are completely uninterested in D&D 4e, though some have made a major divergence into Pathfinder. Mr. 123 recently ran a game using the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, and is a big fan of Warhammer 2nd Edition (which is pretty old school, I think). So he probably has opinions on games and gaming connected with the period of the games. He’s playing WFRP 3rd edition with me, but this could just be because he’s willing to tolerate new rules in order to play Warhammer rather than GM it.
If I give Mr. 123 an interview, the basic questions I would ask would be:
- The usual demographics
- His gaming history
- What sort of games he likes and dislikes
- Whether he prefers games from a particular generation and, if so, whether this applies to Japanese as well as Western games
- If he knows anything about the OSR, and if there is an equivalent thing in Japanese games
But I would like to find out if any OSR gamers reading this might be interested in asking additional questions, and if so what sorts of stuff they would like to know. Please let me know in comments!
In a related note, there is usually a Pathfinder adventure at my local monthly gaming convention, run by a Mr. S. This local gaming convention has been running for 25 years, and the most recent event was the 60th meeting (in earlier years it was much less regular than now). I discovered recently that Mr. S has been running this convention continuously for the last 25 years! Beppu has a population of 123000, so I think this is a pretty good achievement – let alone that it’s run by just one person. I wonder if Mr. S is also a grognard, despite his Pathfinder-y-ness? And I wonder if a survey of the local convention gamers might be a good idea…?
Compromise and Conceit 
October 15, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I have opinions (lets call them that) on everything else here, so I may as well chip in on this too. Things I’d like to know are:
1. His opinion on plot heavy games (i.e. whether he wants the ability to walk away from the GMs offered plot line)
2. Whether he thinks there is ever an adversarial relationship between the GM and the players in Japan
3. How he would approach a TPK (retcon it/roll with it/laugh at the players and drink their tears)
4. Has he ever heard the expression “Kill them and take their stuff”? What does he think on that as a description of a game? Would he play such a game?
December 15, 2010 at 12:20 pm
[…] and if so what its principles are. I’m pretty sure that Mr. 123 is a grognard and I’ve previously proposed interviewing him about his philosophy, because I think the Japanese approach will be more inclusive and less […]