Real tale of Old School feel?

[Quasqueton]

The discussion in the Desert of Desolation thread made me think of this thread on RPGnet. So I went back to it, and lo and behold: it's been updated!

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=116562

Is this the "Old School Feel" with D&D3 everyone wants?

Quasqueton

 

[Mark Hope]

Yes. Yes, that is it exactly.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Wow. That's, umm, really... sheesh. I'm speechless.

 

[Zappo]

Ew. If that's it, I think I know why I never understood it.

 

[gizmo33]

That's a funny story of DnD, but on the topic of "old school":

So PCs from another universe walk through a magical gate and find a sea-side resort on earth.

"Why is there a big body of water there sloshing around for no reason?"

"Why are those people just sitting there on the sand wacking an air-filled ball back and forth while listening to music coming out of a box. And those people - over there - they're not even talking to them."

"Why is everyone staring at us and our weapons?"

Seriously - I think one of the basic points here is that the author didn't believe in the setting and I really think he telegraphed that to the players and so they became skeptical. Even from the start - the mist did not "deserve" the title of "mysterious mule-eating mist" - there was an undertone of derision there. So had Castle Amber existed in a bubble within the Negative Material Plane - would the players reactions had been any different?

"um...flesh golems...sort of" - I can't figure out what the authors problem is. It seems reasonable to me that a family of wizards would have created it's own construct/android servant. "why are the servants hobgoblins?" Why are all servants supposed to be humans? Really - between this and the other thread it sometimes seems like I'm trying to explain DnD to some random people down at the corner.

I don't take exception with everything that the author says, clearly some parts of the module were a bit thin. But it's just too much to wade through all of the criticism of elements that really do not deserve it in order to get to common ground. I think the players are not taking the setting seriously mainly because the DM does not. Why would two wraiths attack some mortal adventurers? Why not? Why do people eat hamburgers? Contributing to the DMs lack of belief is the rather heavy-handed intro to the module - players predictable turn pranksters when they're forced into a situation not of their choosing. IMO the DM is uncomfortable in situations that are not heavily scripted. While the PCs were blinded by the trap the DM could have at least taunted them with some spooky sounds in the castle - perhaps a clue or two about upcoming encounters. But again, the DM really didn't believe that the castle was real and made no attempt to bring it to life so the PCs just sat there. It's bad DMing IMO (or poor preparation).

It's a one-shot adventure - so from the perspective of a group that's used to plot heavy adventures that are tightly woven into the campaign world, it's bound to disappoint. The NPCs in the castle could have used some scripting so that they were doing more than just standing around, but it's 28 pages and it isn't back by a bunch of RA Salvatore trilogies and video games so I don't think it does a bad job in 28 pages of describing an adventure.

 

[Quasqueton]

You know, gizmo33, I honestly can't tell if you are serious in your defense of absurdity in module design, or if you are just playing around to be silly. I'm going to assume you are playing around, because thinking you are serious weirds me out.

You're funny.

Quasqueton

 

[The_Gneech]

Well, Castle Amber is a particularly whacked module, even by Old School Weirdness standards.

It's fantasy in the purest sense, i.e., of being "fantastical." You have to let go and get into it to enjoy it. If the occasional "Why not go mad?" adventure annoys you rather than entertains you, then of course you won't like it!

-The Gneech

 

[gizmo33]

You know, gizmo33, I honestly can't tell if you are serious in your defense of absurdity in module design, or if you are just playing around to be silly. I'm going to assume you are playing around, because thinking you are serious weirds me out.

See - both me and the sphinx have something in common in this situation. And that is that you need to invent an explanation that you understand in order to feel better. If your life was a DnD adventure and I was an NPC, you'd be demanding an explanation from the DM and telling him that his world is unrealistic because the NPC (me) is acting in a way that's beyond your ability to comprehend and it's making you uncomfortable.

A "sense of wonder" in fantasy requires that you have something to wonder about - that was sort of the theme of what I was getting at.

Again, I ask you to consider telling any group of non-gamers the plot-line of your latest DnD adventure and counting how many times they use words like "absurd" as a reaction. You and I have a lot more in common than you'd probably want to realize.

 

[D'karr]

Chateau d'Ambreville is a great adventure in an "Alice in Wonderland" kind of way. Why was Humpty Dumpty on the wall? Who cares. Give him a reason or not to be up there. Why is the rabbit going to a tea party? Same answer, who cares? The absurdity of it is its charm.

The tone of that adventure is completely up to the DM to set.

Yes, the module could give you motivations and information for every single NPC. Then it would definitely be a bore. Half the fun of that particular module was the ad-lib between the NPC's and the Players.

 

[Andre]

Again, I ask you to consider telling any group of non-gamers the plot-line of your latest DnD adventure and counting how many times they use words like "absurd" as a reaction. You and I have a lot more in common than you'd probably want to realize.

Just to be fair, I hope you can admit that this particular module requires a LOT of forbearance by the players to be taken seriously. Doesn't mean it can't be fun, just that it's sillier than most old school modules.

You make a good point about how all playing groups have to meet the GM halfway - any world/module can be seen as absurd if the players expect too much "realism" from it. This module demands more than most groups are capable of, but it's a matter of degree, not either-or.