Dark Fate's Foreword

The hobby of roleplaying formally begins in 1974, when Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax published three little brown books containing "rules for fantastic medieval wargames campaigns playable with paper and pencil and miniature figures," but, of course, roleplaying is much older than that. Nearly every child who has ever lived has roleplayed--imagining himself to be someone braver or stronger or more important than he actually is. Arneson and Gygax taught us that roleplaying need not be restricted to the very young and that this creative activity is in fact a worthy one in which grown men and women can engage.

Those little brown books are sometimes derided as "amateurish" and, by today's standards, perhaps they are. What's often forgotten, though, is that "amateur" is a French word that means "lover," for an amateur is someone who engages in an activity for no other reason than his love of that activity. Arneson and Gygax were lovers of fantasy and of the imagination. Certainly the original game they created was limited in its scope and crude in its presentation, but their shared love of the fantastic comes through on nearly every page. Here were two grown men who loved imagining and they bequeathed to us the means to join them in that noble endeavor.

In the thirty-five years that have passed since then, millions of people across the world have followed in the footsteps of Arneson and Gygax, imagining worlds that never were and sharing them with their friends. That's just what Marcelo Paschoalin has done with Dark Fate: he imagines a world that never was and shares it with all of us. In these pages, you will read about the new Dark Age that has fallen across the land and of those who have arisen to face its challenges. Indeed, through this game, you can become one of those who does so.

Based on the award-winning Swords & Wizardry rules, Dark Fate is very much in keeping with the unbounded creativity of Arneson and Gygax. Its rules are simple and straightforward, leaving plenty of room for players to make them their own. Something similar can be said of the world it presents. Although Marcelo describes his world in loving detail, he never forgets that, in sharing it, that world now belongs to others as well. What you and your players bring to the game are every bit as important as the words within these pages. It is your imagination and creativity that will give it all life and make it a place of memorable adventures for you. This is the true heart of roleplaying and one I am glad to see continue decades after the publication of those little brown books.

Onward, then: your dark fate awaits.

James Maliszewski,
Toronto, November 2009