Old School...

Gamewick Games first publication is going to be WEGS 101, Old Skoolin'. (The story of how we went from WEGS Copper to WEGS 101 is an interesting story which we'll pick up in another post.) As per the title, we're focusing on Old Skool delights - but what exactly is old school anyhow? That title can be applied to anything.

For me, this title pertains to a specific epoch of time in the adventure game industry. It was a time when everything was still a little crude and your imagination was needed to fill in all the blanks. It was a time when things weren't overthought. Everything was raw cause everything was new. And then it all became old.

The old school days were the days of TSR (the guys who published D&D) and Judges Guild (the guys who published the classic module City State of the Invincible Overlord). These were the days when adventures didn't have world-shattering relevance. You went into a tomb and stole things. You stormed the castle of the mountain giants. You explored caves infested with creatures of chaos. You were delighted to reach Level 2 with your characters.

These were the days loooooong before the gloss Wizards of the Coast and Magic The Gathering. These were the days of monochromatic module covers and newspaper quality publications with staples holding them together. It was a time when everything floated and it was hard to tell the garbage from the gold.

There's nothing like the smell and feel of my Keep On The Borderlands.

"Bree-yark", baby!