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Game Day
Warning -- there's RPG-heavy talk in this post. Non gamers will probably pass out from boredom...
Our role-playing group gets together almost every Friday, and we decided to work our way through an old 1st edition D&D module to remember the passing of the father of role-playing games. We didn't know it was Gary Con until I visited The Lair of the Evil DM today (I usually visit once a week or so). The idea of Gary Con was that everyone get together to play a game this weekend. A fine idea, and I'm sure we're not the only gamers who decided on a tribute without even knowing there was something of an official movement.
I divested myself of almost all my D&D modules at some point in the 80s. There were a few I couldn't sell off -- not because of sentimental value, but because everyone in my group then, and in other groups in the area, thought Shrine of the Kuo-Toa was dull and that Tomb of Horrors was impossible. For those not in the know, Tomb of Horrors is an expedition into the tomb of an undead wizard and is infamous for its difficult, nay, ludicrous challenges. Because I didn't want to kill off my players or try to work the dungeon into the existing fantasy campaign, where it had no place, I just told them they were having a shared dream.
This time, what had seemed impossible and annoying proved a laugh-riot. The traps WERE impossible. "Why would anyone DO that?" we found ourselves asking. Instead of grinding our teeth in frustration when something went amiss, though, we dissolved into laughter. All the characters got blasted into smithereens when someone touched an exploding altar, so I ruled that they woke up from their dream, had a little trouble returning to sleep, then reappeared in the tomb in the same spot...
We didn't quite finish the whole thing, but we had fun, and afterward we all reminisced about early campaigns and looked over copies of the 1st edition books one of our players had retained. All of us had come from different groups, but we'd all started with AD&D. It's funny, but I hadn't ever thought about how MANY of my friends come from role-playing, and for most of us, that started with AD&D. One little game had a huge, long-lasting, extremely positive impact on my life.
Friday I played part of a module from Dark City Games with my kids, and another part of it with them today. They loved it, and so did I.
Some say that tabletop RPGs are on their way out. I sure hope not. I'm a little too tired to wax too philosophical about it, but I sure hope not. Here at the southern outpost of Black Gate, on the shores of the Sea of Terror, we'll be playng for many a year to come.
Here are two more links I wanted to share. The first is to a nice RPG celebration my good friend Eric Knight put up over the weekend.
The other is a nice cartoon from Order of the Stick.
Next time I post I'll finally put up that small Black Gate 12 sneak preview I mentioned.
Howard
Our role-playing group gets together almost every Friday, and we decided to work our way through an old 1st edition D&D module to remember the passing of the father of role-playing games. We didn't know it was Gary Con until I visited The Lair of the Evil DM today (I usually visit once a week or so). The idea of Gary Con was that everyone get together to play a game this weekend. A fine idea, and I'm sure we're not the only gamers who decided on a tribute without even knowing there was something of an official movement.
I divested myself of almost all my D&D modules at some point in the 80s. There were a few I couldn't sell off -- not because of sentimental value, but because everyone in my group then, and in other groups in the area, thought Shrine of the Kuo-Toa was dull and that Tomb of Horrors was impossible. For those not in the know, Tomb of Horrors is an expedition into the tomb of an undead wizard and is infamous for its difficult, nay, ludicrous challenges. Because I didn't want to kill off my players or try to work the dungeon into the existing fantasy campaign, where it had no place, I just told them they were having a shared dream.
This time, what had seemed impossible and annoying proved a laugh-riot. The traps WERE impossible. "Why would anyone DO that?" we found ourselves asking. Instead of grinding our teeth in frustration when something went amiss, though, we dissolved into laughter. All the characters got blasted into smithereens when someone touched an exploding altar, so I ruled that they woke up from their dream, had a little trouble returning to sleep, then reappeared in the tomb in the same spot...
We didn't quite finish the whole thing, but we had fun, and afterward we all reminisced about early campaigns and looked over copies of the 1st edition books one of our players had retained. All of us had come from different groups, but we'd all started with AD&D. It's funny, but I hadn't ever thought about how MANY of my friends come from role-playing, and for most of us, that started with AD&D. One little game had a huge, long-lasting, extremely positive impact on my life.
Friday I played part of a module from Dark City Games with my kids, and another part of it with them today. They loved it, and so did I.
Some say that tabletop RPGs are on their way out. I sure hope not. I'm a little too tired to wax too philosophical about it, but I sure hope not. Here at the southern outpost of Black Gate, on the shores of the Sea of Terror, we'll be playng for many a year to come.
Here are two more links I wanted to share. The first is to a nice RPG celebration my good friend Eric Knight put up over the weekend.
The other is a nice cartoon from Order of the Stick.
Next time I post I'll finally put up that small Black Gate 12 sneak preview I mentioned.
Howard
Our group has used a variety of systems over the years. We have a home-brewed percentile system we use for both fantasy and science fiction (including a Firefly campaign, temporarily on hold while we run some fantasy). We use the Talislanta system for both generic fantasy and for play in the wonderfully rich Talislanta campaign world (I wrote up a glowing review of the Tal gamebook and world setting in an early issue of Black Gate). We've used the diceless Amber system to roleplay Amber. Interestingly enough, when I asked my wife and one of my oldest gamer friends which system they preferred out of all of them, it was the diceless Amber system, so maybe it's time to dust that off again.
I like the simplified system employed by Dark City Games.
GURPS I read for the amazing reference books, though I've only played a few times with the system. Hard to beat those books as reference. Traveller I read for ideas to plunder for science fiction adventures. We tried the earlier White Wolf stuff for a while about ten years ago but the system didn't quite work for us, mechanic wise. Don't recall the specifics anymore. I hear they've got a whole new system.
One of my all-time favorites was the percentile system created for Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game put out by FASA. It was a big leap forward and very similar to modern game engines (re: skills) except for the lack of merits and flaws.
I should also mention the original Marvel system, which seemed to work quite well, although I was never on the gamemaster side of the screen. We tried the new diceless Marvel system and found it unwieldy.
Whew. Well, that's probably way more than you wanted to know.