Thinking Require Underworld Exploration - Role Playing Game

The TSR RPG’s from the early 80’s describe procedures for the expansion of war-games into ‘physical exploration of dangerous places’ in order to gather treasure to fund their armies. The procedures detail the search of the underworld (underground ruins) and the wilderness (which serves to connect the entrance into those ruins). Overtime the procedure shifted to begin with the exploration portion and then shifted to the war-game leading to a progression of exploring underground leading to exploring the wilderness to make expanding your domain. The guiding principles of these procedures were 1. the use of player skill (analytical thinking and reasoning) to overcome difficult conditions adjudicated by a referee, 2. resource management and timeliness which was expressed as managing torches, supplies, and logistics, and 3. role-playing as a player placing himself in his character’s role be it tomb-raider, pioneer, or captain within the milieu. The prior principles lead to the later ones: a player must think critically to overcome the disadvantaged state, similarly they must manage their resources as to not lead themselves into a disadvantaged state, similarly they must think about their role as to understand what in the milieu is valuable to obtain or explore.

The TRVE game does not have a narrative pre-made, the narrative emerges from the gameplay and as a consequence from it. The term Referee is used as they adjudicate the challenges rather than write a story for those at their table. I urge those who wish to tell a story at their table to instead wash their hands of RPG’s and out down pen to paper and write a story.

The mechanical procedures in a TRVE game exist for facilitating a player to over come challenges by thinking. The same reasoning skill a player uses to find a hidden passage, is the same reasoning skill a player uses to cross a river when they encounter a broken bridge, is the same reasoning skill a player uses to put the armies of his enemies against each other to then destroy them both.

In a TRVE game, the player is of much greater significance than the mechanics of their character. A TRVE game is where the player wins not because they stacked numbers or bonuses to their character but by outsmarting the challenges written by the referee. The rules exist as a means to adjudicate “player skill failure”, they are only relevant in the case when simple ruling from a referee cannot be made. For instance if a player fails to outsmart the detection of a monster the rules for combat resolution emerges from the darkness of the underworld. A simple reminder for the referee is to “stay TRVE” to create a milieu which facilitates “thinking required underworld exploration”.

A TRVE game is a test of wits for those who play them. It will be difficult and is not for the faint of heart, but they utilize the unique aspects of a role-playing game and are not offered by any other medium save truly risking life and limb to explore dangerous situations.