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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5200553" data-attributes="member: 80487">On the other hand -- more commonly in my experience -- one might be sure to get the characters back out, because camping in the dungeon is suicide and the advancement of game time along with real time is (as in 1st ed. Advanced D&D, Chivalry & Sorcery, RuneQuest and other rules sets) an assumed part of the game.That has (as have many things in early RPGs) much to do with the game's not being limited to just a few players, always meeting at set intervals. For "quick pick up" role-playing, I see great advantage in making a session of play a satisfying game in itself. The assumption that it should take several sessions to reach any sort of roundedness can sometimes be self-defeating, as people can lose interest along the way.That can be especially problematic if sessions are less frequent than weekly. Playing but once a month, I find that we have a harder time even remembering just what the situation was when we left off.I also think that "complete today" is a desirable goal for someone's first experience, not only with an RPG in general but with a particular group of players.What I have found most suitable of all are games in which advancement in power -- especially in "stats" -- is not a big deal. I have played a lot of such games as Metamorphosis Alpha, Traveller and Marvel Super Heroes with characters that were more "iconic" than ever-improving. The emphasis was less on what they acquired than on what they did.The "sword and sorcery" genre, in the sense in which Fritz Leiber coined the term to distinguish works such as his and R.E. Howard's from the likes of Tolkien's epics, has flourished in short stories.The adventures of Howard's Conan were not originally even presented in chronological order (the first-published tale taking place when the adventurer is already King Conan of Aquilonia). Even when so arranged,  they leave significant periods in between to be but briefly sketched (or filled in at greater length by other hands, as Carter and De Camp inserted a novel between "The Pool of the Black Ones" and "Red Nails").</blockquote>

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