S&W Light - Why?
Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2017 2:01 am
I see the obvious similarities between Light and White Box, although it has elements from Core. But - here's the thing. The original WB was a great beginner's game if you had an experienced ref running it. There was too much left unsaid and implied to be helpful to a completely new referee (and this is why the S&W Quickstart was so useful back then - an adventure with loads of practical tips). That seems to be the case with Light as well, but to a much greater degree, since the hints and suggestions for house rules are gone. Not only that, what struck me first when I read Light is that it is so concise it had stripped away the bits that fired the imagination.
Light's primary purpose was originally for the lapsed gamer, but the opening paragraph on page one of the rules seems to imply it is also aimed at newbies ("or if you’re curious what fantasy gaming is all about, this is the perfect introduction"). I can't see myself recommending this to either camp, and if Light was available in 2009 in its current form, I don't think I would have played it, even though I was the textbook case of a lapsed gamer back then. Now we have continual light coming soon, and monster supplements, and adventures/settings...most of which could have been in the rules to begin with so ref's did not have to download four or five different documents. But then I guess continual light will have a setting and 14 more pages of rules. So I guess I'm wondering - what is the point of Light? Is White Box really too unwieldy that we need to have two micro-rulesets and a bunch of supplements to replace it? Maybe I'm not the target demographic so I should really just relax . But I'm interested to hear what others think.
Light's primary purpose was originally for the lapsed gamer, but the opening paragraph on page one of the rules seems to imply it is also aimed at newbies ("or if you’re curious what fantasy gaming is all about, this is the perfect introduction"). I can't see myself recommending this to either camp, and if Light was available in 2009 in its current form, I don't think I would have played it, even though I was the textbook case of a lapsed gamer back then. Now we have continual light coming soon, and monster supplements, and adventures/settings...most of which could have been in the rules to begin with so ref's did not have to download four or five different documents. But then I guess continual light will have a setting and 14 more pages of rules. So I guess I'm wondering - what is the point of Light? Is White Box really too unwieldy that we need to have two micro-rulesets and a bunch of supplements to replace it? Maybe I'm not the target demographic so I should really just relax . But I'm interested to hear what others think.