Trying a new style of Gaming

[El Mahdi]

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

Well, good luck!

Cheers!

Squish!

 

[Primal]

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.

These two are great systems, and I, too, highly recommend them!

Hussar, SotC and Dying Earth are two RPGs I would definitely want to try myself (I'm a huge fan of pulp fiction and Vance's stories).

I'll also recommend trying Polaris, Nine Worlds and Dogs in the Vineyard. If you want to try a grittier version of gamist/narrativist fantasy RPG, in my opinion there's no better candidate than Conspiracy of Shadows.

 

[BlightCrawler]

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.

I highly approve! I just don't understand groups that only play one system. It's so far from my experience. I've never known a gamer personally who refused to play a new game. You've got some good games lined up.

Spirit of the Century is one of my favorites. I've heard great things about Esoterrorists too.

 

[kitsune9]

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.

This is kind of what I'd like to do with my current gaming group. I'd like to get them to think that there is more to RPG Life and than just D&D and that there is such a thing of other rpgs other than D&D. Unfortunately, my players are fairly resistant to the idea, so I think I'm stuck for now.

 

[karlindel]

One of my GMs is trying something similar. He's planning on doing a series of narratively focused mini-campaigns in different systems in order to get more variety in our gaming. I'm looking forward to it. I used to run mini-campaigns fairly regularly, but lately I've been running a long-term 4E game, and my wife just started her 4E Eberron game, so my gaming has been D&D heavy lately.

 

[Hussar]

Thinking about this I wonder if it has to do with my tastes in literature changing. I've found, over the past few years, that I'm getting more and more into shorter fiction - flash fiction or short stories/novellas. Way back when, I used to love the tome sized novels - Tad Williams for example - and my campaigns reflected that. Huge sweeping settings, massive numbers of NPC's and whatnot to track, buckets, and buckets of work.

Now, I'm more into a very short, tight feel. I don't want all that extra stuff. It's not for me. But, OTOH, I want something a bit meatier than a one shot. One shots are great, but, they are a bit light on substance. I'm hoping this will be a good compromise between the two.

I picked 8 sessions because that's a pretty decently long module in D&D for us. Which is enough to get a full story in, as far as I'm concerned.

Like I said, we've only had a couple of sessions in, so, we'll see how it flies.

BTW, Merric - that's EXACTLY the image I was going for.

One of the big hurdles actually is learning the systems fast enough. I've found myself choosing systems more on their quick start rules than anything else. Do you have an online pdf quickstart set? No? Sorry, not interested. I perused the new Twilight 2000 system (Twilight 2030? something like that) and, even though I liked T2000, I'm not going to give this a try since their quickstart rules are terrible. Just a fan made pack. Not interested.

Same goes for Forgotten Futures. Another system I'd love to take for a spin. I adore Steampunk and it's just a cool system. But, WAY too complicated for what I need and the quickstart rules were .... lacking.

So, we'll see how it goes. I'll post back to this thread from time to time. If you're interested in the setting for our Savage World's game, try a Timeline of the Future and The Protocols.

 

[MerricB]

Thinking about this I wonder if it has to do with my tastes in literature changing. I've found, over the past few years, that I'm getting more and more into shorter fiction - flash fiction or short stories/novellas. Way back when, I used to love the tome sized novels - Tad Williams for example - and my campaigns reflected that. Huge sweeping settings, massive numbers of NPC's and whatnot to track, buckets, and buckets of work.

Interesting. I must confess, I've still got a liking for the really big, epic works. I'm unsure of how much that influences my games, though.

(Give me a nice big tome anyday. I've just finished reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series; and I'm happily awaiting the next of Steven Erikson's Malazan books. Of course, I also read at the rate of 200 pages an hour, and I've just picked up this collection of Roger Zelazny's short fiction, so...).

As I've grown older, I've become less interested in picking up new rules systems "just because". 4E fit where 3.5E was moving in my campaign (with Incarnum, Bo9S and other mechanics), but I can't see myself going far outside the d20 mechanic in the near future, unless its for games I was previously fond of (Amber, James Bond) or Martin decides to run one for me! (Quite likely after we finish our Saga/Dawn of Defiance game.)

Still - continuing wishes of good fortune upon you, Hussar!

Cheers!

 

[Hussar]

Heh, funny you should mention Erikson. It's one of the few, big honking tomes that I love to read. And, honestly, one of the few fantasy authors I read anymore.

See, I'm on the other side of the fence from you I think. I've been sticking with one system for a LONG time now. Weekly, and sometimes twice weekly games of D&D, either 2e or 3e for a decade or so now. It's REALLY time for a change.

Heh, when I mentioned that in Sufficiently Advanced it's actually possible to make a character that can blow an orbiting ship out of the sky from the ground with weapons that are internal, I think he was sold.

 

[BlightCrawler]

Thinking about this I wonder if it has to do with my tastes in literature changing. I've found, over the past few years, that I'm getting more and more into shorter fiction - flash fiction or short stories/novellas. Way back when, I used to love the tome sized novels - Tad Williams for example - and my campaigns reflected that. Huge sweeping settings, massive numbers of NPC's and whatnot to track, buckets, and buckets of work.

Now, I'm more into a very short, tight feel.

In that case, you should check out In A Wicked Age! You play out an entire story in 2 hours (or there abouts, I suggest limiting it to two hours). Each story is called a chapter, and so you get 2 or 3 chapters done in a sitting. 8 sessions of this would get you at least 16 chapters, creating a pretty epic novel. It's basically modelled after the sword and sorcery short stories of the pulp magazine era.

But nope, no quickstart rules. But it's a simple system with lots of emergent complexities. But there's also no prep needed. Character and plot creation are all apart of the game. It's fantastic.

 

[Hussar]

Not currently jonesing for fantasy at the moment, but definitely worth a look. thanks.