Dare I ask, what do you really want to play?
Twice annually, a small number of us gather for what we dub Convergence. Convergence is a long weekend where we gather at in a central location and game for as many hours as we can fit into the weekend. The first one was pretty ad-hoc. Other than a plan for when and where, none of us formulated a plan for the actual games to be played.
The second attempt was more organized. Instead of Friday night & Saturday, we arrived on Thursday night to have an additional full day. We had a plan for who was running and what system it was. A little forethought let us skip character generation to maximize on the on-site gaming time. In the end we ended up playing one of the pre-planned games and an ad-hoc short session of another game. The end result was far more enjoyable than the first attempt.
During a phone conversation, Kevin stated it would be far better to ask the players who and what they want to play rather than selecting a system by the GM based upon what he wants to run. It makes complete sense. The number of players outnumber the singular GM. Maximizing enjoyment for the majority should always be a priority. After all, when players have interest in the game, it ends up being a better session/campaign and gives each of them the opportunity to toss in some Rule of Cool.
So we’re going to pose the question to everyone planning to attend in the spring. What do you want to play? It won’t be quite that simple. Instead, I’ll be reaching back into a very introspective era when Kevin and I were actively debating the pros and cons of gaming systems, rules, settings and most importantly role playing.
- Considering all the characters you have played over your gaming career, can you identify a specific one who didn’t reach the potential you envisioned? Or has there been a persona you’ve always wanted to play but have never quite had the opportunity?
- With that character in mind, what is the ideal scenario, setting, or campaign that would fit the goals and motivations you have envisioned? What did you want to endeavour but didn’t get the chance to undertake? What would fulfil the character concept?
Note the absence of a rule system. Rule systems are just a framework we play by. Someone responding with a rule system didn’t really consider the question. Certainly, rules are useful and necessary in the majority of situations. Rules are also a barrier. A barrier most never recognize. Fewer still can play without rules. Pure enjoyment is achieved when player’s don’t ask how to use a die to achieve something. They act, you interpret, and it just keeps flowing. Dice are nice when you need to add the risk of failure but they are not an absolute necessity.
If everyone would start with an real idea of who the character is rather than what it can do based on rules and stats, gaming sessions would be a lot more fun. Ask to play outside of the box. If you hand a GM a character with a rich background and balanced capabilities, asking for a power outside the norm will not be a stretch..
Instead, everyone starts it with “I have stats of X, Y, Z…and P, D, Q” … uhh, guess I’ll play this template because it fits my rolls. The rules just quashed another great character based on dice. At least it could have been a great character. GMs can make template characters come to life but doing so is the exception, not the rule.
Personally, the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had gaming were when the G in RPG was an afterthought. All the play was dominated by goal driven role play not by fighting a battle with a foe. Defeating an opponent doesn’t always need to take the form of combat.
I have faith there are many other DMs and players like us. I haven’t yet identified the persona I most want to play in the spring But I’m working on it.
Tickle your imagination… Who, where, what and why would you choose?
Tags: Ramblings of Mark, Rules10 Comments
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Popular Resources
Categories
- Brewing (11)
- Code (111)
- Convergence (26)
- Game Design (4)
- Hovel (1)
- Labyrinth Lord (71)
- Maintenance (9)
- Merakai (15)
- Musings (199)
- Old School (100)
- Random Generator (17)
- RPG (404)
Though I may have been the genesis of this idea, I must admit that as of yet even I don’t have an answer for this question. My problem stems from the fact that I’m usually on the other side of the gaming screen and as a result don’t have so great an investment in any characters that didn’t reach their potential.
But I’ll noodle out an answer after some thought on it. And yes, I definitely think this is the track we should be taking.
Ok, firstly I apologize for the delay in this comment, but I must admit the post did it’s job and elicited an emotional response and it has taken me this long to come up with some semi coherent response for the elicited feelings. Secondly, upon first perusing this I was annoyed. Of all the crazy ways to answer the “what are we going to do?” question. I also read the “Can I do X” posting, which didn’t really help the situation at the time. After a couple days and numerous note takings of my wandering thoughts, here I am. I have jotted down my own list of 9 characters that I really enjoyed role playing, but with no basic parameters or points of reference it’s implausible to chose a single entity to say “Here you go!” To me, role playing is an ability driven by numerous inputs. Setting/Genre, GM buy in/comfort level, my buy in/comfort level with the game, the other players’ buy in, and even just physical/emotional level all play heavily. That being said, my question to you is “What campaign setting/genre did you most enjoy GMing?” Not necessarily which one did the players enjoy most. With that information I can drop from 9 wildly diverse characters from multiple different game platforms to just 2 or 3, then depending on what the other players are considering, I can drop to one. I know, that sounds lame, but party balance is such a nice, hassle free, aspect to any session. Also, if the setting happens to be something I don’t have available I can easily modify one of the 9 to fit, as with the Kore Supers at the first Convergence. Just stating that I wish to play this certain character from this genre, when the other potential players are doing the same, seems problematic at best. Anyways, there’s my 1.5 cents worth, damn economy! , so let me know what you think.
Good points, Randall and a tough question.
I’ve pondered if I have a favorite setting or genre. If I was forced to select one, it would be a variation of D&D since I’ve ran that one far more frequently than any other. However, I’ve had good campaigns and bad ones in that genre. Same with the settings within that genre. A few of the good points were that people were very familiar with the system, character generation was pretty straight forward, and people were apt to generate better character background making for a more immersive game. We also had house ruled most of the heaviness from the system and added what 4E calls Healing Surges in the form of Rolemaster (?) herbs. Doing so kept it light and fast which I greatly enjoy.
Within that genre, I’d have to favor my own campaign settings over anything published. My lack of an eidetic memory kept me from running modules. I like the sessions fast and loose with minimal rail roading. Printed settings always seemed to get in the way of my style. Of course, since I never kept any real record of my settings, if I ran one over it would be far different than the original. I can just rubber stamp a different date on it.
I also had fun running Cyberpunk even amid its impossibly long character generation and clunky rules. The genre appealed to most of us even if the rules got in the way most of the time. Its also one of the more difficult systems to GM given the divisive nature of the disparate characters. Big D’s attempt with the nomad tribes was a good idea to be less divisive.
Running oddball 1-off things is always fun too. Like the strange survivalist nature of the Red Dawnesque campaigns. I still am not convinced it could ever be carried into something long term but they certainly can be a great deal of fun if the moment is right. The several times I’ve run them have been fun because people immediately buy in because they are playing themselves. It might be fun to try with normal character creation. Using only ourselves could be limiting to some people.
I also like to run (and play) characters who are marginally powerful rather than struggling to become so. Higher level characters, to use a D&Dism, make for a better game than those struggling to gain some modicum of power. 1st level games can be a great deal of fun but we’ve all played them so many times, its lost a bit of its magic. Starting people at higher power has downsides if they have no real idea of who the character is but they evolve much more quickly once they can be more heroic.
And just to try to answer or eliminate some things based on my own questions:
Perhaps the lack of evolution is why I have never bought into a super heroes game. I’m sure the appalling GM who introduced us to the genre didn’t help matters. Supers characters just feel stuck in time to me. Personally, I just find them too unbelievable and disconnected from the rest of population. I’ve never had any emotional tie to the games or the characters. I’ve had fun playing those games but supers would not be a genre I’d ask anyone to run. Maybe I need to play a villain to spark my imagination.
I love fantasy settings. DM’s can hook me with a great starting plot-line which places me in a situation where I’m forced to engage my character fully but still provides an open-ended story where I can exploit the goals and motivations of my characters. The Dark Sun launch was such a setting but far too brutal in the end. Though I still remember it. Big D had numerous great starts. His forte was always starting well.
Games where the tone, pace, and an engaging plot are set forth quickly but are balanced with allowing the characters to manipulate and change the story as the game moves forward. Kevin did an admirable job with Top Secret exploiting both the start and then allowing the game to evolve. Unfortunately for him, we took over and it was no longer fun from his perspective. The characters controlled every facet of the story. He was disconnected from the game because he wasn’t integral to any element of the game.
While I’m rambling on Modern games, Chris did a great job on his GURPS/Vietnam campaign. He knew the material and was passionate about it. He got us into the game and engaged quickly. The game didn’t manage to get beyond the narrow, initial focus. It could have given a few gentle pushes from the GM into something larger. That game never quite achieved what it was capable of but I can see the roots of Guido in that game. GURPS would not be my choice of a system today but it was useful at the time. Too ungainly for a convergence setting much like ‘Punk.
Seems I cannot answer my own questions. I’ve rambled enough…probably longer than the original post.
After reading your response Mark, I have to admit that while I might be reading more into it than I should, I’m also somewhat dismayed. I know the answer we’re all leaning toward and I’m not entirely enamoured with it. If you want a game where everyone can easily and quickly come up to speed, where we all know the world mechanics, and where we all have an idea of what we can and can’t do (thereby eliminating “Can I do X?” moments.)
Then the obvious answer is some flavor of D&D.
Why might I be a bit dismayed by this? While I’m totally familiar with the ruleset, and could run D&D with all the rulebooks tied behind my back, I’ve been hankering to move outside the staple of rpgs. Not leave it behind, but we’ve done D&D in both Convergences. I think it’s time we spread our wings and venture out from the safety of the cave to explore the rpg-verse a bit more.
That said, you know I’ll play/run D&D at any time if that’s the will of the audience. But that answer fails the “What do you want to play?” as well as “What do you want to run?” questions for me.
@Mark: (I split this comment out from the previous because it bears inspection on a different level in my opinion.) I’m curious based on this:
“Perhaps the lack of evolution is why I have never bought into a super heroes game. … Supers characters just feel stuck in time to me.”
And yet you seem to have little issue with modern “real-world” campaigns (like the Vietnam GURPS game Chris ran.) I’m failing to see how the one doesn’t fall peril to the limitations (in your experience) of the other. How do the two differ enough in your experience to like the one and not the other?
@Kevin: First off, I’m surprised you are dismayed. The way I phrased the original post leaned heavily onto past characters and games. Given the bulk of what all of us have played has been a D&D variant, the answer to the question had a high probability of falling within the majority of our collective history.
I have no issue spreading our wings. To expect someone to pipe in that want to play something completely new isn’t a likely response. It may sound fun and likely a great time. However, there’s a risk of it not being as enjoyable as envisioned. Picking a known quality is what I suspected most would choose. In fact, Randall emailed me a list of characters he had considered. I could have named 3 of them for him, all from D&D settings.
I’m certainly not saying we need to play D&D or even focus on it. We’ve heard two of the voices so far.
@Kevin: Re: Supers
I’m not sure I can pinpoint my feelings. I’ve never been immersed by any super hero games. I’ve had fun but they are not compelling. Why? Characters seem to rigid; more like templates than an actual persona. For me, I have just cannot overcome the disbelief the genre requires. Maybe it is a mental block or perhaps I just haven’t picked the right character to play. Something is always missing. I cannot see a future for the characters I’ve generate nor can I see them in others characters. Part of it, I think, is the nearly complete lack mortality normally associated with the genre. Sure, an occasional death occurs, but it so rare it makes the characters nonsensical.
Maybe dismayed is a bit harsh… or perhaps heavy-handed. For the record again, I’m not against D&D as the staple of our Convergence games; it has so much benefit to draw upon (the collective understanding, the ease of start-up, the basics are all covered, etc.) But I’d like to see us move the question back away from game as a system and return to the focus as genre perhaps.
However, after re-re-re-reading your entire response to Randall, I see that you did try to draw back to genre at the end… so part of my response is a bit off target. And risking being redundant again, I’d prefer to focus on genre not system.
@Kevin/Luke/hopefully Wheels/Whoever else: Mark requested I post something I emailed him yesterday. When I was sporadically jotting notes for my first comment, I had also made notes on my favs list of characters and my very personal vision of the perfect spring convergence itinerary. I emailed these to Mark because after reading his reply to my comment/question it so well mirrored what I had scribbled down. The favs breakdown goes like this, 5 fantasy genre, AD&D, 1 spies genre, Top Secret, 1 future genre, CyberPunk, 1 war genre, GURPS Vietnam, and 1 supers genre, DC Heroes. I also noted that all of these characters are extremely narrow in where and with whom that can actually be played and enjoyed. For example, play my Grasslands of Merakai anti-paladin with some skipping through the tulips halflings or elves and no one has fun because someone is creating a new character. Anyways, for my personal perfect Spring Convergence, I have Mark running the meat and potatoes “campaign”, a possible one-off by Odie of Supers from the First Convergence, even though I know Mark isn’t into the genre, Odie running a one-off of the last Red Dawn genre session, even though I don’t think Luke is into the genre much, and a possible one-off CyberPunk session by me. Let me know what you guys think. Laterz!
Since I think Randall’s question tried once again to turn the question from “What do you want to play.” to “What will you run?” I’m going to hold firm on stayng away from that part of the pool. Asking what we’d prefer to run is exactly where we’ve been for the past 2 Convergence sessions. I really think it’s time to turn the reigns over to the players and ask, “What do you want to play?” Honestly I’d rather get a string of genres/settings and try to find where we have common ground than anything else.
Also, it has really been a long time since I actually played any character for more than a couple sessions. Because of that, I don’t feel I can use the “what character held your interest the most?” part of this exercise. Most everyone I’ve played has been a NPC or the game didn’t last long enough to really explore them (admittedly the Red Dawn-esque setting stands out as a stark counter-example to this point) or they’re from far enough back that I’m not sure I could even get into their frameset again without a lot of work (I’m looking at you Vigilante.)
That said, here’s my top genres/systems that I’d like to play in for the Spring Convergence. They’re deliberately out of order (in alphabetical to be exact) so that whoever gets the inkling to GM won’t be influenced by an ordered list. I’d rather see this as a Venn Diagram exercise where we all list a few systems/genres that we want to explore and then match them up against each other. Once that’s done we can see if someone has a great idea to GM or if we need to ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ the process.
Call of Cthulhu
Cyberpunk
Fantasy
Modern real world grit
Mystery (This could be combined with any of the others. But I put it here as a way of saying, “I’m more interested in exploring the investagatory elements of rpgs than the ‘kill them and take their stuff’ focus.”)
Superhero
Note the inclusion of the system isn’t a requirement, just an easy way of saying, “I think I’d like to play something like this or in this style.” If we are investigating alien horrors from beyond the void on a remote world with cyberware enhancements using something gleaned from ‘punk, something gleaned from Cthulhu, something gleaned from D&D, and something gleaned from whatever, then I’m cool with that.
I know that these answers will vary over time and what I want to play today won’t be what I want to play tomorrow – another reason to keep them out of any perceived order. But this is the general list of what would interest me as a player.
Hopefully I haven’t muddied the waters too much with this response, but that’s my forte none-the-less.