My earlier blog entry on the World's Largest Dungeon has got me thinking about maybe trying again to run the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons. During my first campaign I didn't give 3E the total effort I could have exerted and I whimped out when the power level started to rub against my comfort zone. I know I can do better than that. D&D 3E may not be my favorite incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons, but I feel kinda alienated from my own hobby because I'm not playing the Big Game. Sure, I went through my "D&D sucks, [insert random game here] rules!" period in the early nineties, but I can lay a lot of that attitude at the feet of TSR and its misdeeds. The rest was youthful exuberance at discovering other gamers who actually played other games. It wasn't long before I was back kicking doors and swording orcs.
More importantly, I've come to a conclusion regarding my Game Mastery skills. I like to try lotsa different things, but I really only have my "A" game going when I am running a classic fantasy dungeon crawl. I look back over my years of GMing and I see things like the Dungeon of Doom as the high points. I put a lot of work into the Dungeon of Doom and it played out very well. I'd like to rebottle some of that lightning without it being a dusty old system that "nobody" likes to play any more. The solution seems to be to sit down and write a multi-level underground extravaganza for 3.0 or 3.5 D&D. The alternative systems (earlier versions of D&D, fantasy-flavored Savage Worlds, Castles & Crusades, BESM d20, SenZar, World of Synnibarr) all shrink the potential pool of players for relatively little gain. Savage Worlds at least gives me a readily available player base, but how long will it be before it is no longer the local flavor-of-the-month?
Pat was over today and he and I talked this situation out a bit. As usual, he is uber supportive of whatever direction I want to go. He referred to Black Fire, the draft game linked from Ron Edwards' Gamist Essay. I went back and re-read it but I don't see how it fits into a proposed 3E campaign. Pat, if you read this, could you drop a note in the comments section explaining what you have in mind?
One of the things we discussed was the perennial problem in modular games: what do we take out, what do we put in? Pat lobbied for a serious consideration of some of the materials in the new Unearthed Arcana. I'll have to take a look at that. Another factor to consider is what will players be able to use for making characters. I bounce between the two extremes of "three corebooks only" and "any published classes and races are fine". One option helps keep a tight focus to the game, the other really allows the players to cut loose.
If I'm really going to tackle a 3E campaign the first thing I need to do is re-read my copies of the core books. Right after I'm done putzing around with SenZar.
Actually, old son, I meant the plying in phase only, and
ReplyDeletemostly in application to Avatars. The round-robin "here is a
baron," " Yeah, and he has a daughter,""And she just had a
Half-Fiend kid," " and now theres' a bounty on SATAN!"
kind of affair where players air-drop monsters and situations seems like it both clarifies what sort of stuff
the players want and drops a little GM overhead.
I know your distaste for spell-caster-equivalent monsters,
but if someone asks for a demon ruling a castle in Corben Hollow, then maybe you only need to figure out whether
a Shibboleth casts Unholy Slap at 16th level once in the campaign.
Likewise, if someon keeps requesting swording ops, and someone else the tracing of an intricate backstory, you can stop frission, or delay it, or i can just tie up the schmuck
The more swords, more straps, more skulls, more ugly, crud
I dismiss. It seems a little juvenile. I'd cut to the quick, and play a barbarian with no skin on his face, and a huge wang. You know, just like Skeletor.
Oh good. Now I can go back to "What the crap was Ron Edwards thinking?", my normal reaction to much of Black Fire, instead of "What the crap is Pat thinking?", which is decidedly more confusing. Usually we are resonating on the same vibe on this sorta thing. but I didn't see it until now. Ron's "playing in" does seem like a great technique for getting players' agendas right out on the table. The dead god's corpse spawning monsters idea is pretty cool, as is the "twisting the knife" mechanic. They all look like the kind of stuff one can rip off for another game.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: As I type this there is a little linky labeled "comment as a different user". I wonder how many people set up sock-puppet accounts so they can agree with themselves? Sounds fun! Stupid, but fun.
Yes, it is fun!
ReplyDeleteGreat article! Thanks.
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ReplyDelete