No it's not alcohol, but rather the attempt to incorporate too many things into a game. While "frankensteining" may not be unique to those of Celtic heritage, I think there is a genetic predisposition to think that more some how equates with better. Variety is the spice of life, but too much can be overwhelming I often think of my mother's kitchen. When hot-glue guns made their advent in the late 70's wall space disappeared in the kitchen. Every blank space had something glued to it. Cool, but WTH!?!
As I look at my habits of GMing I tend to fall into that habit of adding more and more to the game. Any of my players can tell you that D & D 3.X provided me with an overabundance of professions, weapons and subskills for Dragonquest. I did a little raiding from the 2nd edition, but really only the psionics and a few professions were looted during that time. I wasn't actively playing, so there was no urgency.
As I assemble the pieces of Blood Moon I am already looking at 25 playable races for the game, 10 for the "basic" edition. I have 20 different firearms in the works, and will try to thin it down to a dozen or so for the basic game. New skills need to be added to the game such as prospector, tinkerer, mechanik, fleshweaver and some others. I find all of this exciting and think of the gaming experience, but I certainly don't see it as a OSR endeavor, but more like an D & D 3.X infection gone crazy. Be that as it may, if anyone should want a copy of my handiwork, it is there for taking once I it get completed.
