Renewal of Connection

After a few years of playing a game, a lot of rulings, rules drift, and full fledged house rules accumulate. If you have a pretty steady group, this accumulation is gradual and can seem much more minor than it is. One of the interesting things to come out of the "retro" gaming movement, and the OSR in particular, is the idea of going back to the source. The OSR expects and encourages house rules, but at the same time, there is a real interest in digging into the original texts and seeing what's in there before interpreting and modifying away. 

The last time I embarked on a Street Fighter "Revision," I was steeped in years of game play. This time, picking up where I left off, I find I have a bit more perspective on the house rules we developed back then. In fact, in reading some of the interesting rulings and rules scattered about on the various Street Fighter fan blogs that are still out there, it's interesting to see the same core sets of issues being discussed that we ran into in our games, and in many cases similar kinds of solutions being reached. But not in all cases! And where they differ, there are some very interesting ideas. 

Between the influence of the retro-movements and some time spent reviewing Street Fighter RPG resources online, I've found myself more and more wanting to go back to the source and start from there. This doesn't mean I'll be throwing away all the work we did over the years to develop additional moves and styles, but I do think I'll be approaching the rules discussions and additions on this blog from a different perspective than I would have five or six years ago. Instead of deep structural changes that effectively transform Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game into "my version," I'll be hewing much more closely to the original. I'll talk about our house rulings but refrain from making quite as many fundamental changes. I'll approach adding new special maneuvers and styles from just that perspective -- adding, not replacing wholesale. 

In that spirit, I'll note that for my purposes, Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game will consist of two books: 

• Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game
• Secrets of the Shadoloo

I think players of the game will know why I've made that decision. I'll also be beginning from the beginning, by rereading these two texts and seeing what I can discover. I've already noticed some interesting things that have me thinking.