Campaigns I have Run.

[lokidr]

Goal: figure out what makes a fun game.  So, I have listed my current games playing, now for a list of games run:

• Star Wars Boy Scouts.  My first campaign.  The game was Star Wars by West End Games (still the best) run for the Boy Scouts.  It always short-term and never had much plot but I did manage to diffuse a few real personality problems.  This

Comments

[sirin15]

Nah - that polyhedron was totally not your fault in any way. It was, as Agent Smith likes to say, inevitable.

As far as the running plot... whisps of it come to mind, but, with the way it ended I don't think we ever really had big discussions about it. I mostly remember the time when we were trying to build the a-team van. :)

I kind of share your feelings about the 4e methods... I got to play a demo of it at gen con this year. It very much moves D&D towards a very board game kind of zone. (Though.. one could argue if you want "RPG" anymore then you should be playing in the world of insufficient light anyway...)

[lokidr]

My fault or not, I'm still sorry.

Back on RPGs, the lack of a memorable plot seems to be a weakness to me, even if the A-Team van was an amusing side project. I'll bet John still remembers the devil dogs.

The best explanation of 4e's board game style can be explained as rules dissociation. Basically, the game encourages you to treat it like a board game to accomplish the objectives. 3rd edition had this as well but there were also much more open options, like general illusions or spells like telekinesis.

[sirin15]

Well, as I recall, we never really found out what the plot -was- in that game, due to our in general ineptitude. ;)

I think that rules dissociation is one of the key things that bothers me about 4e. Magic doesn't really feel like "magic" anymore. Playing a wizard loses most of its appeal, because the big thing for me was being able to collect spells and have a huge golf-bag of solutions to call upon if I had to. (And you can forget about setting the grease spell on fire!)

A big thing to me is that magic isn't really magic, because of the aforementioned 'rules dissociation'. There isn't really a difference between -any- of the classes... you could probably re-write the fluff text for any power to make it work for any class.

In other news, L5R is kind of interesting, now that I'm playing in ninjadebugger's online game. I think we're all going to die in the session tonight though. ;)

[lokidr]

I believe any power for any class was intentional. It makes for a balanced and tactically interesting board game. It doesn't lead to much role playing. What I don't understand is how others don't understand how rules can affect role-playing.

[gwyndolyn42]

Shadowrun - Epic was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. I think everyone was invested in the game but also did the unexpected and valiant. It's spectacularly awesome when group dynamics come together that way.

-E

[lokidr]

That seems to be be where this list is leading me. I won't find that level of group dynamics in such a conservative place as my current gaming groups. No one takes that level of emotional risk here. It makes me appreciate what I had back at school even more.