Remember when you first started out in the roleplaying hobby? Remember your first "awesome" accomplishment? How about the first time you really felt threatened by a monster (a Hook Horror for me) and thought you might not make it out alive? Remember the overall feeling of epicness?
I wonder if it's possible to feel a sense of wonder again or are we all just jaded, having seen it all years before. Is it even possible to convey that feeling to players anymore? I'm just sorta thinking out loud here, but it is something I've been wondering for sometime now. Feel free to toss your two cents in.
I feel it when a game is awesome. When it works well and the pieces click. Like Hellbent fighting the good fight. But I'm pretty easy to please game wise--heroic, action packed games, with some thinking? I'm there.
Hmmm, my first batch of games mostly sucked badly. They didn't start to get good until I got my brother to GM.
Solution: force my brother to GM again.
In 24 years, we've been able to keep that feeling alive :)
Like pizza and pussy, great gaming just requires the right ingredients and when that clicks, it's all good - regardless of whether its the first time or the ten thousandth.
I just played an AWESOME game of Crimson Cutlass last weekend. Such a freaking blast and its those moments that remind me why I tolerate socializing with all your geeks. :)
For me lately it's just been a matter of comfort. I prefer to play at a proper table with some natural lighting and we play in a semi-finished basement. I like to have room to get up and move around while playing but I'm stuck scooting past people to use the restroom at best or standing in place at my seat. Give me windows, proper chairs and space and I'm a happy gamer.
Down with cluttered gaming rooms, up with comfort! :D
I also have game master ADD lately but I'm taking care of that myself.
Yeah, I hear you, though for me it crops up again and again at unlikely times in unlikely places (which was much like the first "oh-wow" moment). Know what I mean? There you are, at the table, the group is debating something silly, and suddenly some scene hits or someone says something and you're there in the story, or somebody does something totally crazy with the character and the dice agree...
Can't plan those, I'm pretty sure. It's mood, it's timing, it's how everyone gels for a moment and are in tune with each other's gaming. It happens. Just gotta be ready to run with it when it does.
Game with people whose company you enjoy.
Regards,
David R
Y'know, the other day I had an idea for an adventure involving . . . well, let's just say it put a huge smile on my face thinking about it.
Roleplaying games have given me that smile for over thirty years now, so I would have to say that lovin' feelin' . . . whoa-whoa lovin' feelin' . . . has never gone . . . gone. . . gone away.
Whoa-whoa-whoa.
I definitely enjoy it way more now than I did in the early days.
I seem to be in the opposite camp of the rest'a youse guys; my early days were fun but the later times were very...blah.
It seems like back then we weren't such sticklers for rules but more of a "that's cool, lets try that" caution to the wind kinda folks.
Lets turn this conversation around a bit...a mental U-Turn, as it were. What makes the great games/campaigns fun? Is it the people? The setting of the game? A fun, loose ruleset? Just what the heck is it that makes you coming back for more and wishing every session wouldn't end?
I think having the right group is pretty much mandatory...
That will keep me coming back even when the rules are annoying or the setting fail to inspire.
If the rules are fun, and the setting lights up my imagination... then it's magic.
Quote from: Megamanfan;294989What makes the great games/campaigns fun? Is it the people? The setting of the game? A fun, loose ruleset?
Yes.
What draws me to roleplaying games is that it works my imagination in a way that no other activity does. I can watch a movie, and that tickles my imagination one way, or read a book, which tickles it in a differrent way. What makes roleplaying games unique in my mind, and keeps them fresh after years of playing, is that they involve the synergy of several different imaginations all firing at once. The referee and the players create a shared imaginary space together, challenging me to go beyond the limitations of my own imagination. It's a puzzle and a flight-of-fancy at the same time.
I've never really reclaimed the feeling of danger and excitement I felt the first time I played AD&D 2e. I don't really see high school as a golden age of gaming though, it's more an amusing collection of anecdotes that make me amazed I stuck with the game at all.
These days, I am almost always the DM. I don't think I've been a player in any fantasy game that lasted more than 2 sessions since high school. This makes me sad, but I've noticed that ever since I started DMing, it feels weird to be the player- I'm constantly thinking about how things could be improved, and have a hard time stifling myself.
What I remember most vividly from my early D&D experiences was the immanent feeling of danger, which eroded over time and made the game suck when I realized the DM would never kill me- at least twice in the game, I was taken to -10 HP and he simply told me I was knocked out, even when I WANTED to make a new character. I later died in the "epic final battle" he had planned, and was resurrected the next round by some random nameless high level cleric who hadn't even been mentioned up to that point. I try to bring more danger and possible PC death into my games, but I have a tough time doing it- I just like PCs too much usually. Doesn't help if we've been playing a long time and everyone is really attached to the characters.
I think our current game definitely has the "danger and excitement" feeling. Check out the most recent episode of the podcast on my site when the party finds the old crypt: One of the players decides he's just not going in there, and when things go south, they rest of the group runs like hell.
Just as good as it ever was when I was a kid. :)
The group you are in makes all the difference.
Even then, some sessions fall flat while others are fantastic.
I've been burned out before, thinking I might be finished with this silly hobby, and then I'll experience one of those epic sessions where I remind myself of why I still do this.
I think its almost an alchemical creation.
The right group is important. Good people who enjoy the tone of the game your running. (Whatever that tone may be.) Who don't make too light of serious themes, or too serious the light ones. Those that aren't so concerned with the rules and oneupmanship, but simply having a good time and enjoying the game not just for their actions but for those around them, in the group, having fun and doing well OR screwing up (in character at least.)
Games where you play no matter who is there, in some manner, and keep having fun even if its not about moving some big plot around.
I also tend to like lighter rules myself that I can judge to help people have fun on the fly, rather than locking them into some for ordained structure that might impair fun.
One thing to nod towards Paladin's post above: Part of it is being willing to go on, even when the session isn't exactly what you want. In my opinion: Stop having an agenda and just have fun.
One thing I do notice is that I really enjoy having that sense of 'danger' some here have spoken of.
In my earliest games our GM was pretty impartial when it came to character death... dead was dead.
The games I play in now... well, it seems pretty hard to die. I've had two characters die but both times it was by my own volition, because I refused to spend the fat chip/karma points needed to keep him going... it just felt like they should be goners. It didn't feel quite the same though... in both cases the GM offered me an out.
It seems the trend of late has been toward less character death and more 'teh awsome' in character power... and I've never really been one to enjoy being 'teh awsome'.
When you first encounter things, part of it is the sense of wonder. But you can't recapture that. It's best to go on learning and developing, and trying to deepen your experience. What you lose in innocent wonder – and you lose it anyway – you gain in understanding.
Either that or give up and do something else with your time.
Certainly it will never be possible to get it back, as droog makes a fine point. Maybe what I'm looking for is as simple as creating interest and players who clamor for more when the session ends every week.
Silverlion makes a good point about competition as I've seen it happen a lot over the years. I want to nip that in the bud too.
Aporon also makes me think that fudging die rolls in favor of the players is a bad idea and one I've certainly been guilty of in the past. It could be said that a character who survives years of honest to goodness danger is going to be more precious to a player than not.
I'm thinking that, when I finally get a chance to run a game, it's going to be a fairly light rules set with lots of action and whole lot of letting players try out wacky things without getting too bogged down in rules. I'm seriously considering not using a screen either, to keep me honest.
Quote from: Megamanfan;295184Aporon also makes me think that fudging die rolls in favor of the players is a bad idea and one I've certainly been guilty of in the past. It could be said that a character who survives years of honest to goodness danger is going to be more precious to a player than not.
I'm thinking that, when I finally get a chance to run a game, it's going to be a fairly light rules set with lots of action and whole lot of letting players try out wacky things without getting too bogged down in rules. I'm seriously considering not using a screen either, to keep me honest.
I rarely if ever fudge and only if it keeps things exciting. Danger and risk is naturally exciting so I never feel the need to fudge those sorts of rolls unless I made a horrible error on my part as the GM.
Screenless is definitely the way to go IMO. I do use one but it's off to the side of me and keeps other stuff hidden, I always roll on the table save for the rare event when a result must be hidden for the time being. One way to make that interesting is to have a cup and extra dice. Shake your die/dice up in the cup, slam it down and then keep the roll hidden from everyone until such time as it's needed.
Quote from: Megamanfan;295184I'm thinking that, when I finally get a chance to run a game, it's going to be a fairly light rules set with lots of action and whole lot of letting players try out wacky things without getting too bogged down in rules. I'm seriously considering not using a screen either, to keep me honest.
Funny you should say that. After a long spell of general dissatisfaction with the hobby I started in January a Marve Super Heroes campaign (the old TSR version with the colour coded charts).
Just like you said, it is rules light, I'm pumping up the action, more than any previous campaign I've run and I am rolling my dice in the open (I tend to do that anyway, but in a game like MSH in which the players can use Karma to even things out there really is no reason not to).
It's been an absolute blast so far. We've done 6 sessions so far and everyone seems to be hungry for more with comments ike "Man, to think we could have been playing this all along!". Now I'm prepping the 7th, grinning ike a madman.
So, in my book at least, I think you have the right idea!
I definitely have more fun now than I did back then. The challenges I face or set up in games are a lot more interesting. I even get that sense of wonder sometimes, but that's because I don't play the same rpgs anymore. The gamebooks of the rpgs I played twenty-odd years ago might as well be firewood, even the new editions of those games.
If I want those old feelings back, I need new games to challenge and explore.
You just have to shake things up a bit. That childish sense of wonder you're nostalgic for came about because it was all new to you. So you have to
make things new, change them.
- play a game (whether setting or system) you've never played before - even a game you don't want to play. Try it anyway!
- GM a game you've never GMed before. With this and the last one, you might be surprised how much you enjoy them, and even if you don't, you'll see your stuff you do like with fresh eyes.
- play with some people you've never played with before
- recruit some people to play who've never gamed before
- write an entirely new game with the wackiest possible mechanics and run it
- take a break and don't come back until you really miss it
Variety is the spice of life, and gaming.
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;295365You just have to shake things up a bit. That childish sense of wonder you're nostalgic for came about because it was all new to you. So you have to make things new, change them.
- play a game (whether setting or system) you've never played before - even a game you don't want to play. Try it anyway!
- GM a game you've never GMed before. With this and the last one, you might be surprised how much you enjoy them, and even if you don't, you'll see your stuff you do like with fresh eyes.
- play with some people you've never played with before
- recruit some people to play who've never gamed before
- write an entirely new game with the wackiest possible mechanics and run it
- take a break and don't come back until you really miss it
Variety is the spice of life, and gaming.
This is dead on. I might have my special gaming hatreds, most notably, anything Palladium, but I'll even play that if I can trust it's not going to end up being a teenage powerwank. Don't get me wrong, I think creating a character for Rifts is nearly as tedious as creating one for Champions, but, I'm more familiar w/ Rifts, which KIND OF speed things up, when I can find the list, chart, skill, spell, or power armor, etc I want.
That shit needs to be color coded or something.