Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="InzeladunMaster" data-source="post: 2500389" data-attributes="member: 9774">Well, that was a different game with a different style of play.  My 2nd Edition games focused on character and world development.  The adventure itself was actually a secondary concern.  Inzeladun is a fantasy world.  By the time 3rd edition came out, I was more interested in a sword-and-sorcery world.Sword and sorcery is a subset of the larger category of fantasy.  I want my current games to meet the criteria of the sword and sorcery genre.  Sword and sorcery is a genre wherein a violent and often amoral swordsman battles sinister agents of dark sorcery.  Light-hearted magic does not belong in sword-and-sorcery games.  Helpful magic does not belong in sword-and-sorcery games.  These are worlds of obscene shapes moving stealthily in the darkness, sacrificial smokes blotting the skies and the world resounding to the clash and clamour of cold steel against cold steel.  The emphasis of Sword-and-Sorcery stories is a contrast between the might of the sword or flesh against the raw and awesome power of the occult.  This is not a game about Good vs. Evil.  There are no alignments in sword-and-sorcery games as might be seen in High-Fantasy games.  The savage ambitions of men, even the so-called heroes, are often self-serving; in effect the protagonists may perform good works but the motive is almost never altruistic.  Perhaps the barbarian is saving the girl, which could be seen as good, but perhaps he is saving her because he wants her for himself.  However, he is facing the darkest of ancient sorceries to get her, which is what sword-and-sorcery is all about.  Sword-and-sorcery is a tale of the power of the natural (the sword) brutally pitted against the power of the unnatural (the sorcery).What about ‘role-playing’?  Role-playing is taking on the role of someone else and making choices that are appropriate to that role.  Too many people equate acting with role-playing.  Players do not need to be actors to be role-players.  Choosing to make a Diplomacy check instead of an Initiative check or attack roll is role-playing if it is appropriate for that character.  Role-playing in a sword-and-sorcery game is not about peaceful discussions between characters, all ‘role-played’ (acted) with false-voices and only speaking ‘in-character.’  Sword-and-sorcery is about the violent confrontation of physical might against sorcerous might.  This struggle is brutal and is not about going to the market and ‘role-playing’ a minor transaction between the character and some droll merchant amusingly played over-the-top by a skilled Games Master.  While such encounters arguably may add some verisimilitude to the game, it really is not what sword-and-sorcery is all about.  In Robert E. Howard’s stories, Conan usually has a sword or axe or other weapon, but the origin of said weapon is almost never discussed.  It is unimportant to the struggle ahead; only the fact that he has a weapon is important.  Just let the Player Characters have whatever weapon is appropriate to the region and send them headlong into frights and fights.I tried doing that with 3rd edition, which didn't quite work out.  No one wanted to give up helpful magic and good-guy magic-users.  However, it seems to work very well with Conan.  But the focus of the game is still on battling the weird and the unnatural, not on character development or world development.  (Character and world development can still be there, but that is just not where the primary focus is.)I can still run 2E style games (with 3E or any other kind of rule set one might want), but they would not be sword-and-sorcery style games because the focus is wrong.  The reason there is so much combat in my current games is because Sword-and-Sorcery is pretty much a big grudge match between swordsmen and sorcerers.  Anymore, I leave character development to the Players and I just don't worry on world development at all.  I am not much interested in my old 2E style of character and world development, unfortunately.  I really like exploring the sword-and-sorcery style game, something I have been hunting for since I was 13.  But if you guys want an old-fashioned game, we can take a short break and revisit Inzeladun, perhaps.</blockquote>

Verification