Gaming

There was some stuff here. Some of it was optimistic, some of it was a complaint. I deleted it because I can write it in a shorter format. Sunday went as follows: Overall I had fun and think everyone else had fun. There were some frustrating points for me, and some frustrating points for the group. Eric got a little pissy, but I forgive him. I need to pay more attention to what they do, because they did didn't know how to run or bull rush and didn't know you could downgrade a standard action to a move or minor action. I kind of have the expectation that they are looking at their books and familiarizing themselves with rules and their class between scenarios, and I'm not sure they do that or know that. I may make a point of mentioning that to them. Its not a big deal, but its difficult for me to remember the scenario, rules and abilities I need to know for my NPCs, and make sure the player are all following the rules for reloads and attacks and keep track of what powers they're using and their math. That's reasonable isn't it?

So what is next for Steve the DM? Well, I want to work out the called shot system. It should be fun, but I don't see the real need. All it will be is a series of attacks, made with penalties based on the target, to add a status effect or ongoing damage effect to enemies. So many powers already do that, so it seems redundant to me. After the called shots are finished and submitted to the group I begin work in earnest on the fifth scenario. I'm hoping to set up something in the scenario that the PCs take note of, but don't really care about, and don't really think of till the final scenario. I'm also going to do something to immerse the group in the scenario. It involves finding a decent text to speech converter. We'll see how it works.

I find myself thinking ahead. What will my next campaign be? I mean, I finally feel myself settling (happily) into the role of DM, so I intend to continue after this campaign finishes. Its going to be in this world, definitely. This world is too rich for me to just cast aside. Will it pick up where this campaign left off? Will it be about the Nel? Will Volung's brother descend from the North to finally murder him for his crimes? (Anyone know who Volung is?) I dunno what it will be, but it will definitely be in this world. Seriously, I do not know what it will be, nor do I want to. If I start thinking about it now I will get sidetracked. This is something I can ignore till like the tenth or eleventh scenario, which is when I see us heading into the end game of the campaign. I'm planning twelve scenarios, more if necessary (and happily).

What system will it be? 4th? No. I like 4th Edition, but its not a good fit for my world. If I still wanted my elves to like forests and was still into Tolkien-esque cliches, I'd do 4th edition. Its also RPG Lite. I like it, but it is definitely a less complex version of DnD than the previous editions, and this is a good thing and a bad thing, depending on who you are. I can find reasons for it being both.

Will it be GURPS? Perhaps. John seems interested in it and Jeff as well. Honestly, if not for Fred and Martel and the fact that they bought a book and travel at least half an hour to join us when we game, I would have switched to GURPS already for this campaign. I love the complexity of the system and the way you can tweak everything about your character to be what you want. I love the depth you can add to combat, or remove if you want something less rules heavy.

Pathfinder, the supposed DnD 3.75, has its hooks in me as well. I like the art style a lot. I mean, its generic fantasy art (minus the much maligned, and deservedly so, dragontits of 4th Edition) but I like the style of it. I have yet to do a real in depth look at the ruleset, but it does appear to be a more refined version of 3.5 that doesn't have the massive changes of 4th. Maybe I'll read it a bit and see if I can pro and con it. We'll see.

Music: Refrigerator Heaven - Alice Cooper
Music: Faeries Wear Boots - Black Sabbath