Trying a new style of Gaming

Well, my Savage Tide campaign finally came to a successful end. Good game. I enjoyed it, although, I can honestly say that I'm not going to be DMing 3e again for a good long while.

I am, however, becoming a game whore.

Yup, I'm hopping from system to system like a frog crossing a busy street. The premise of our new, erm, campaign? is that we are going to play what I guess I should call campaign vignettes. Instead of starting campaigns that are intended for long term play, each DM will only have 8 session max to tell his or her story. Any system the DM wants, but the 8 session limit is meant to be hard and fast.

We've just started, so I'm not sure how well this is going to work. But, I do have high hopes. I'm currently a fairly hard SF game using Savage Worlds and have discovered that I absolutely LOVE exploding dice. That's just freaking cool.

I guess I should back up a sec and provide a bit more background. I've been playing D&D pretty much exclusively for a really long time. Other than a far too brief stint (like three sessions) playing The Dying Earth, I've done nothing but 3e D&D since about 2001 and even before that, other than a brief stint of GURPS, it was 2e D&D.

I'm tired of D&D for a while. After ten or fifteen years of weekly play, I don't feel too bad about that. But, I pine for the old days when my friends and I would try new games all the time - Star Frontiers, Champions, TMNT, 007, Gang Busters, Battletech and more. So many games. I want that back.

So, that's why I've badgered my group into this plan. Savage Worlds first, followed by Sufficiently Advanced, possibly followed by a Spirit of the Century game based in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, a possible 4e D&D game, and there was some mention of Esoterrorists and Paranoia. SCHWEET.

BTW, if anyone is interested in a short term fling with no long standing commitment, I'm your whipping boy. (oh damn, wrong board. )

Sounds fun!

You should keep us posted on the different systems and games your group runs.

You could call it "Running commentary on Hussar's gaming group". Kind of like Rel's and Piratecat's threads.

I wish I had a big enough group, and interest within that group, for multiple systems. Not that we aren't having fun with our current system, but it might be fun to "get a little strange" now and again.

If my group would be up for it, I'd try to break out a little Alternity and Star*Drive for a bit of a change (and maybe some Rifts, just so we could blow stuff up).

Throw in a session of Og: Unearthed, as well. Perfect for one shot games.

Maybe one of Faerie Tale, if you have the right group. Its a clever little game in its own right, even if its designed for kids.

I really like that idea. I would love to read about how it works out for your group.

One idea I immediately thought of (and excuse me for this) Star Wars-style pacing. Whether it be just a nod towards the movies attempt at putting their characters 'in media res' at the start of each arc/session, or if its actual GM-advice from the SWSE developers .. I think that might be a nice way to do it.

/SW love.

C.I.D.

I really like that idea. I would love to read about how it works out for your group.

One idea I immediately thought of (and excuse me for this) Star Wars-style pacing. Whether it be just a nod towards the movies attempt at putting their characters 'in media res' at the start of each arc/session, or if its actual GM-advice from the SWSE developers .. I think that might be a nice way to do it.

/SW love.

C.I.D.

Wait. SWSE talks about in media res? Haven't seen the edition, but it sounds like it's been lifting from the West End Games' d6 Star Wars. Which had some GREAT GM Advice. But I threadjack.

Hussar, I'm jealous. I want to do exactly what you're doing. And one day, I'm sure I'll be able to get the group to go along with it.

Games I'd want to play:

d6 system (love it)
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Serenity (I think I have the most hope of playing this game)
BECMI - for nostalgia sake
Call of Cthulu
Earthdawn

As has been said, this sounds like a lot of fun!

I currently run 1 (4e) campaign and play in 3 others. The one I run is about to end and a new one will start on a different day... so the current day used (SAT mornings) will be open and I am considering something like this - short runs using different systems, etc.

Another idea I have had was to go back to an older dnd edition and run old mods I have that I never ran. I have never run an adventure module in my 20+ years of gaming as I like to make up my own stuff, but I'm thinking it would be nice to be able to say, yes, I ran The Isle of Dread, etc.

We'll see, but yea, this sounds fun

These days with only 2 game days/month, tops, this style is increasingly attractive to me. Currently I'm running 4e Vault of Larin Karr - 4 sessions in, but it has material for a lot more. At least it's a sandbox not an adventure path, so no feeling of slogging through it to the destination. Also looking at a finale for my 3.5 D&D Willow Vale campaign, which I started in July 2008. It ran through to May 2009, with 17 sessions I think - 1 introductory session plus 4 adventures each of 4 sessions (in order: Rahasia, Horror on the Hill, Palace of Shadows, The Slithering Overlord). I think in hindsight my plans for that campaign were a bit too ambitious, and I am looking to wrap it up in 1 more 4-session adventure (Temple of Death). In future I think 8 sessions is a good number to aim for for a mini-campaign, that's 4 months, which may be as long as I can reliably run a game for at the Meetup. OTOH the usual approach there by other GMs is just to run a single module, which for some reason takes other GMs 2-3 months of weekly play, ie 8-12+ sessions for stuff I cover in 4.

So, Hussar - you're saying that your new style of gaming resembles this:



Well, good luck!

Cheers!

if you want different try duty and honour

DUTY & HONOUR

i think i like it even better than Savage Worlds, which has been my fav for the past year maybe.