Games, games,games

I apologize for the long post.  I was unable to write down much until today.  So, you get four days of gaming crammed into one giant post.

Finally, I can come back and talk about my weekend.  Earlier Sat, I posted something, an inchoherent ramble I believe, about running a game at 1 in the morning.  I had started a game, which is starting to look like a one shot AD&D 2E Ravenloft game.  I was thrust into the role of DMing without much prep time.  Yet, I knew a module I had always wanted to use, Raggi's Death Frost Doom.  I had fun running it, the payers, two of which had never played anything remotely classic D&D before, hated it.  All of them thought it was a bit railroady and that, when they found out the "secret" of the plant" got pissed off saying the module is shit.

I completely disagree.  Death Frost Doom is a perfect example of characters being hoisted by their own petard.  They were so greedy and reckless, these three half-Vistani, (Yes, all three of them were half-Vistani.  None of them thought to do any checking, searching or study before heading off to the mountain.  Even Zeke screamed at them, as he always does, "It is EVIL.  DON'T GO UP THERE!")  Granted, most players see him as a old loon, yet I think Zeke is there for a very specific reason.  To make a smart player go, wait, what the hell is up there?

You could blame the time, we didn't start actual play until one in the morning.  It could have been that I had two neophyte gamers, in the sense that they had never played anything before 3.5, it could have been that it was Ravenloft and there was little in the way of villages besides the inn that the group found themselves in before night fell in Nova Vassa or it could have been that I was so tempted to run this module that I might have pushed them to go.  Yet, I still claim that it is a great module and I will run it again.  Maybe only use bit of it for other things, or try and run this in another campaign setting.

Moving onward from that, the next day we played CoC.  It was fun, though again, one fo the neophytes to "classic" gaming didn't enjoy it very much.  He is a World of Darkness gamer and there is nothing wrong with that system.  However, I find that particular style of game to be very power gamer oriented.  I will explain.

In World of Darkness, old or new, you aren't playing a typical human, or even a human or demi-human with any kind of "class" based training.  You are a vampire, a werewolf, a person who can re-shape reality or--in rare occasions--a mummy.  This is NOT typical gaming.  I have never been able to truly wrap my head around that kind of concept.  The idea that I am playing a vampire that has just been turned, I might be able to do.  Yet, the amount of power at my fingertips, even for a new vamp is, in my opinion, huge.  There is a whole new level of power that as a human, I could never do.  There is little appeal to me to play something that has the extreme advantages of a supernatural creature.

I don't apologize for my opinion.  You are welcome to your World of Darkness craziness.  I don't think I could ever really play it myself.  I will say that one of the players from this weekend of gaming has given voice to doing a fantasy based game with the "engine" of WoD.  I will try it once, expect a play test whenever it does happen.

Sunday rolled around and I went to my standard 1E/Hackmaster mash-up of Temple of Elemental Evil.  It was fun.  Our characters are still stuck in the Water Node and my character died twice, yet was brought back with some nifty magic and the help of the DM.  We also took out the dragon turtles that are the "big bads" of that node.  Yet, we still need the gem of that node before we can tackle the main temple.  That and find the golden orb.

Yesterday I would love to report more on the LotFP game.  Yet, it was shelved because some players didn't like it.  Enough people from my gaming group have shown interest to continue it later, I think I will attempt to set up a day for it.  Yet, we instead made characters and started a 3.5 Faerun game.  I have never been a huge fan of 3.5.  I tolerate it because the guy running it is brutal, I know he can make 3.5 deadly.  Which was always my problem with it.  (Well, that and the crazy stuff characters can do at first level that makes me think of a 4th or 5th lvl character from the more "classic" editions.)

One thing playing 3.5 again makes me think about.  My own tweaking of the game system.  Also, thinking of mashing different systems together and seeing what happens.  Not Hackmaster and say 1E.  I mean something like CoC and 1E?  Or 3.5 and taking the idea of decreasing the power level of characters a little.  Characters getting only a handful of points, even at 1st level.  Re-writing the skill lists.  Or using the CoC for skills.  Hmmm, interesting melange of ideas.

I have much to think about, hope you allhad a great weekend, and have an amazing week.