(or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the d6)
I got a few questions about playing T&T after my last post, so I thought I'd just address it all in one blog.
Until about 2003, I had never heard of Tunnels and Trolls. Then, in an RPG discussion board, some crazy old hack (who I am now married to) started lecturing me about how T&T was really awesome and D&D sucked. I still didn't see the inside of the near-mythical 5th edition T&T book for another few years, when we picked up a copy from eBay. I flipped through it, noticed some things I liked, but didn't really give it a thorough read because we weren't doing any regular RP'ing at the time anyway.
In 2005, Fiery Dragon published 7th edition, written by the original creator (Ken St. Andre) in a nifty little tin box. They skipped 6th edition because of all the pirate versions that had been floating around in the years between 5th and 7th. I liked this. I was only slightly irritated when I saw that St. Andre had come up with ideas similar to my own about how to handle skills in a less bookkeepy manner than other games.
So before long, Crazy Old Hack (let's call him Laggy for short) had recruited some friends from work who had never played RPG's before and we started a T&T campaign. There are things that seemed strange to me then and can still nag at me now, like the endless attribute expansion and the buckets of dice, but I have to say that I really enjoy playing the game. It's just so... laid back, like it's a game or something, instead of homework. It doesn't hurt that Laggy is a great GM, but I don't want to give him any more credit than I have to.
Flying Buffalo (the original publisher) has since released version 5.5, which is essentially 5th edition with some extra articles in the back. Personally, I like 7th better, but 5.5 has a loyal following among the old-timers.
Tags: T&T PerytonGamers
