labcats | Sad News: Erick Wujcik

Erick Wujcik, rpg designer, has died. This was not unexpected.

He wrote the Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game at a time when the idea of parting gamers from their beloved dice was so heretical that some people stormed out of the room when he was describing the game.

A decade after the game came out, I did a playtest review of it at Tastes Like Phoenix Games. The playtest made me realize that I had grown into being able to gm Amber DRPG. I was no longer afraid of the idea of winging it as a GM, that all gm'd games, not just diceless ones, have a Persuade the GM skill, and that I had made a certain amount of peace with that.

I spoke with Erick only a few times. He was amazingly charismatic. I disagree vehemently with large parts of the gming philosophy he espoused in Amber DRPG, but I can see why people were eager to game with him. I regret that I never had that opportunity.