Being a player again in a D&D 4e game has gotten me thinking more about running, and what kind of game I want to run. The first thing I have realized is that, while I am having fun as a player, I just don't want to run a 4e game. Unlike vociferous critics of the game, I don't fundamentally have a problem with 4e. But I do think it fails to address what I disliked about 3.x, and remains as cumbersome in many of the same ways. While I don't doubt it is easier to prep for, and even if it may be easier to run than a high-level 3.x game, I think that the game still requires too much cognitive engagement with the rules implementation to really get my DMing motor running.
However, while I'm making notes about dungeons and other stereotypically "old-school" elements of the game, I'm also less than excited about that. But then, I realized that much of my gaming after junior high school eschewed the dungeon crawl and the Judges-Guild/Wilderlands sandbox and approach and really was about ad-libbing plots, dropping interesting characters into the game, and creating a sense of involvement by making it seem like things were happening that were driven by the players and my hints of events. Sure, that may be a bit of a sandbox, but it's mostly story-driven gaming, and I would have to say that that's my strength. Ad-libbed games based on a loose "plot" mostly filled in by the players.
Some would call that not very old-school, but that's how I played since the early 1980s, so it's not exactly newfangled either.
So as I look at prepping for the campaign, I need to keep that in mind and come up with some notes and ideas based on what I like, what I think I can provide for players, and without creating too small a box for it to be fun to play in.
I often feel like the blogosphere leads to a hivemind effect with waves of emphasis on various playstyles -- sandboxes, megadungeons, pulp/S&S -- that aren't necessarily reflective of how the game was actually played by most or even the majority of gamers back then. I wonder what the Old School Renaissance would come up with if everyone avoided reading each others' blogs for a few years ... :)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't care how reflective any of this stuff is of the majority of play back in the day. I'm just scrounging through the refuse of bygone eras for crap that might be useful in my game.
ReplyDelete@Doug: "Ad-libbed games based on a loose "plot" mostly filled in by the players."
ReplyDeleteMy simple brain is confused. How is this *not* old school?
@Scott: 1000 variations of Encounter Critical, only moreso. ;)
@Jeff: "...scrounging through the refuse of bygone eras for crap that might be useful in my game."
I think that might be quote of the day.
I've never GMed a full-on "sandbox" OR "megadungeon," and it sounds like your "ad-libbed" games closely match what I was usually doing back in the day.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that "story" is NOT old school or that you need megadungeons or sandboxes to BE old school. I think as long as the play is quick and fun and the plot is devoid of railroads, you're old school enough for nearly any gorgnard.
Thanks for the assurances. Scott, you're right. The blogosphere has been infecting my brain. I need to get back to letting me screw up my brain in my own ways....
ReplyDelete