OSR Commentary - Defining parameters of Dave Hargrave's Arduin'a Play

 Its been a very busy day today & there hasn't been a ton of time for hobby related stuff until late this afternoon. But talking over Arduin rpg this afternoon with some friends has been interesting to say the least. There's three things that have always appealed to some folks about Arduin. The scope of Arduin as a setting isn't actually all that big. So DM's can scale the adventures to the player's PC's. The fact that power attracts power means that your character is gonna be at the center of the action. Consider the fact that monsters are going to try to eat your face but because of Nexus Gates you could potentially encounter anything. 
  The fact that much of Hargrave's material could be plugged into many of the Seventies &  Eighties Judge's Guild adventures was or is  a huge plus. 

Was the choice to dive into the Dave Hargrave world Arduin worth the price of admission?! To a certain extent the answer is yes. Why?! Because the fact is that any band of adventurers if they survived the uncertainties of life & limb on Arduin can & will come into their own. 
Using a combination of Judges Guild & Arduin material with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition a group of players could potentially end up as royals after a few years of play. This goes back to something that a bunch of us with my uncle's gaming group had noticed. 

Arduin is built to have stuff happening to the player's PC's  with all of its random tables, races, and what not so that campaign play happens. No we're  not talking about 'wild & crazy' events here. We're talking about the type of play that promotes organized domain play of the Arduin variety. As has been said elsewhere on this blog. Dave Hargrave was ahead of the curve of 'fashion' of rpg's by decades. And even with say out saying it. Arduin was created by Dave for the players to make it their own. Even more so then say Greyhawk or other canned world campaign settings. Its this customization through play that's a part of the Arduin legacy. Each DM's Arduin is going to more then slightly different then the others across planet Earth. That's all well & good. Campaign worlds need to be defined not through books of campaign setting lore but through actual table top action & decisions.