How Dragonbane Pointed out the Clashing Desires of My Gaming Group

[Thomas Shey]

Dragonbane was originally inspired by Basic Role Playing (the root system of Rune Quest) and like all those games luck is a big factor, much larger than in D&D. This is not conducive to long campaigns, a few unlucky rolls can easily end a character and many unlucky rolls can end a campaign.

Some people like this kind of RPG, I don't but I respect those who do.

I'll just note we ran some pretty long duration RQ campaigns, so this at least isn't altogether true.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I'll just note we ran some pretty long duration RQ campaigns, so this at least isn't altogether true.

Agreed - we ran an RQ campaign for 3 years, and a Cthulhu game for 2. Players learn when to engage and when to avoid combat. They learn the healing routine, and combat is tense and exciting.

I also don't know what style of play you like has to do with respect.

 

[billd91]

I also don't know what style of play you like has to do with respect.

In a hobby where people crap on other peoples' styles of play as badwrongfun more often than they have hot breakfasts, I appreciate someone saying they aren't into a style... but respect the people who are.

 

[Von Ether]

Your group remind me of two tables I use to play in back in the day. One was for Champions and the other was for Battletech.

In Champions, we spent about 20 minutes figuring out where we could ambush the super villain and the rest of the night was the fight. The Battletech table had a referee (a GM) who spent 5 minutes giving us a briefing before the fight. People spent the rest of the time going over their salvage.

These are suggestions, per se, but I feel you pain.

 

[Von Ether]

That's an odd take on superhero gaming going by the players' stated desires. You're going to spend a great deal of time investigating crimes and villainous schemes in most of those, with all the "talking to NPCs" and "following a story" that comes with that. It's also commonplace for individual PCs to have to use teamwork to stand any chance against single, much more powerful master villains, or even to face villains that can't be beaten by simply hitting them without discovering their weaknesses first. The better systems also mechanically support the comic trope of the hero suffering initial defeat and then rebounding to win a rematch, but even temporary setbacks like a TPKO aren't likely to feed into the power fantasy some of the group explicitly want.

I also question how many of these players could convincingly play a heroic role in the narrative sense, or even be willing to try. Some of them don't see NPCs or the world itself as relevant, just obstacles to their combat posturing, and that mindset doesn't rescue hostages, protect innocent bystanders, or restrain themselves to limit collateral damage. Even a villainous settings like Necessary Evil isn't likely to work, since running amok will simultaneously alienate the mundanes around you and call down the attention of the alien occupiers and their quislings - who are explicitly too powerful for the PCs to beat directly (at least at first), which again spoils the power fantasy.

I hear you but the Champions group I played in, the investigation was minimal and most of the night was focused on the hex map and the fight. At least back then, most everyone waiting their turn was reading a comic book instead of being on their phone.

 

[NN]

My summary , possible uselees

1) probably your tastes are fundamentally incompatible and your group is doomed

2) the ruleset is a red herring
What 2/3 of your players (esp mrs) really want is to play “D&D” on Easy Mode. Rather than agonise over the system just give them characters 2+ levels “too high” for the adventures and let the slaughter commence.
Assuming, of course, You can find some Fun in that.

 

[Von Ether]

My summary , possible uselees

1) probably your tastes are fundamentally incompatible and your group is doomed

2) the ruleset is a red herring
What 2/3 of your players (esp mrs) really want is to play “D&D” on Easy Mode. Rather than agonise over the system just give them characters 2+ levels “too high” for the adventures and let the slaughter commence.
Assuming, of course, You can find some Fun in that.

I'd like to say that eventually gamers get bored of playing game with no challenge but I've discovered that's not true and some gamers will demand even more safety nets over time. To them, an easy game is a safe space where they don't have to face the hard choices they make in life.

Just as the Internet was blooming, I was stuck in a tiny town for my first job. We had about 6 or 7 gamers. I was always butting heads with a local who detested RPing. (He was also a verbal bully. When he saw I had a huge box filled with Earthdawn, Vampire, GURPS, etc. He just scoffed and said, "Those are all just rip offs of D&D.")

When Diablo came out, he ghosted us, which was really a blessing.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'd like to say that eventually gamers get bored of playing game with no challenge but I've discovered that's not true and some gamers will demand even more over time. To them, an easy game is a safe space where they can don't have to face the hard choices they make in life.

Just as the Internet was blooming, I was stuck in a tiny town for my first job. We had about 6 or 7 gamers. I was always butting heads with a local who detested RPing. (He was also a verbal bully. When he saw I had a huge box filled with Earthdawn, Vampire, GURPS, etc. He just scoffed and said, "Those are all just rip offs of D&D.")

When Diablo came out, he ghosted us, which was really a blessing.

Watching my kids play with other kids, I suddenly have flashbacks to my own "Monty Hall" gaming style from decades ago.

It no longer has any appeal for me, but I try to just grin and say, "That's great....you kids have fun."

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I hear you but the Champions group I played in, the investigation was minimal and most of the night was focused on the hex map and the fight.

That is frequently true of Champions IME, and honestly likely to come up with any system that features relatively complex combat rules, especially when positioning on a grid is as important as it is in Champions, D&D 4e, etc. I have a lot of respect for Lancer for just accepting that the session's likely to mostly be about combat and skewing the design in that direction - but without completely skipping on the roleplay side of things.

At least back then, most everyone waiting their turn was reading a comic book instead of being on their phone.

Ah, those were the days. OTOH, one can read comics on their phone nowadays, even if that isn't the first thing most phone zombies do with theirs.