It's been awhile. I've been good and hope all of you have as well. I've spend a lot of time thinking about what this hobby and its industry mean to me. I think I'm at a point in life where finding time for my buddies is more important to me than the games.
Further, I'm not sure I like running games anymore. I know I prefer the games I run to have less and less combat and that they resource management of DnD and its many, many clones just don't do it for me. Honestly, the OSR showed me the resource management aspects and I think it's why I don't have much to say about running any of those games. I've really come to realize I prefer games about big damn heroes fighting the good fight and if there isn't any real danger for the characters I don't know what the point of combat is. I'd rather run games where the conflicts have different stakes these days and I know with 100% certainty that I don't want any part of a combat that lasts over an hour and if the tide of battle looks like an assured victory for the players I'd rather just end it and move on.
I also find myself wanting less rules. I don't want a 300 page rulebook or a 300 page adventure. I'm lucky that right now I play with two fantastic groups who prioritize fun over rules and I trust them to let the story drive the sessions.
Additionally, I've found that I am really tired of rolling a d20 and seem to favor d100 and 3d6s as resolution systems these days. I've been looking at GURPS, The Fantasy Trip, and the HERO System a lot. HERO was my first RPG and maybes its simply nostalgia? Along those lines I've been reading Green Ronin's Adventure Game Engine offerings like Dragon Age, Modern Age, and Fantasy Age. However, I've found myself finding more satisfaction from systems where you roll equal to or below your TN as opposed to equal to or above. That is a major sea change for me but I think it has to do with wanting to think less about rules while at the table and putting the mechanics into the hands of the players.
The only drawbacks I have with HERO and GURPS is that I don't want a full blown point-based system so after reading through GURPS Lite for 3rd Edition I've been looking at merging B/X DnD or Gamma World with the bones of the HERO system replacing the skill system and combat system and GURPS standing in for armor and weapons.
Hopefully, I'll get back to posting again to showcase my ideas.
1 comment:
I think maybe there's a happy hybrid form where we get 300-page rulebooks and adventures to enjoy paging through outside of gaming BUT there's nothing about them that makes us feel like we have to be familiar with all of it to play the game "properly." That was always one of the draws of d20 material for me...I could read about endless classes and imagine how they interact with the game I know, in genres I may have never played, but they were absolutely unnecessary for a basic d20-based game.
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