Wednesday, October 12, 2022

A friend was commenting Why did you Learn to Minmax OSR?

Why!? Short explanation: as an Exercise - I cannot have a TECHNIQUE if it only applies to one system - it has to apply with MANY SYSTEMS - even for Work - understanding procedures in our manufacturing and operations. 

Long Answer
So when I had the ability to Min Max GURPS I tested that ability and proceeded to do it with Rifts, Fuzion, OSR, etc... systems that are TINY as compared to 5e and 5.5e NOW

For Cepheus Engine I tried to make CE as easy to use as possible. The result will be published as Mneme 

But OSR is interesting. As much as EVERYONE had nostalgia for it, like myself IMAGINE remembering intimately all your decisions and reasoning "Like Dual Wielding" and then WANTING TO KNOW - "who was that kid (myself) and why did he think these things?" 

Knowing how we reasoned when we were younger and being able to accept it, for all its flaws and mistakes reminds me of Loving my kids. Its a kind of love where flawed stuff is OK because that's what we were capable of AT THAT TIME. 

of course - WANTING TO GROW. Wanting to KNOW who we were and learn why we love things a certain way. 

So I got to know me and my brothers misreading and misunderstood the rules as well as how much my friends all misunderstood the rules growing up. NOw that I know better I'm like - if I was with my friends and my younger self I would have pointed out ways they can better ENJOY the games. 

So here the SCIENCE - the ability to look at Knowlege and Not hold it as DOGMA - to play with the KNOWLEDGE. Let the kids create their home brews based on their ideas of how to world Works and ENCOURAGE IT. 

The OSR is one Vehicle TO BEGIN, as it was during the 80s BUT its not the main Vehicle - the main vehicle was the imagination. As I previously mentioned my brothers and I didn't have to BOOKS, we had to use the Azure Bonds Computer Game manual (in a box that had missing disks ). We had to photo copy the books chapter by chapter in the school's library spending 2php per page during the early 90s. Thats  about 10-20php now per PAGE due to inflation. 

Go back and check out how we used to think and improve or learn from it. 

We are still that kid, we will be that kid till we die - we just happen to know more things and done more things. Knowing What Changed - what we know now - helps understand that in the FUTURE we will know differently and will ACCEPT the new information that will shape our decisions - but we are still that kid trying to understand a POORLY WRITTEN set of rules and developing the Key critical thinking skills by the desire to OVERCOME that challenge. 

What I would tell my younger self - I would approach it with the AGILE project management skills I have now - working with ONE problem at a time, until we accumulate Technical DEBT and thus UNDERSTAND why we will change our FUNDAMENTAL understanding and resolve that Technical Debt. AND repeat the process over and over - learning and growing with each Iteration of a NEW reworking of our Logical Fundamental Systems. Telling our younger self - OUR ABILITY to change ourselves and learn from our mistakes and BUILD up from scratch is an amazing journey we will learn to enjoy until our faculties leave us. 

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