Roleplay Madness
Two years ago this shelf was practically empty. A handful of 2nd edition modules and basic guides that an ex left behind; an old 1st edition rulebook an uncle gave me when I was 10.
4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons was my gateway drug into the world of RPGs.
4e is how I met my gaming group: brennildandd yanked me out of my comfort zone and got me hooked on Don't Rest Your Head, Gaald had us giggling like little kids in games of OG, Certis took us across the ocean to the city of Ptolus.
4e has led me to amazing blogs like The Mighty Atom, Newbie DM, and Neo Grognard.
I love all that 4e has brought me, but unfortunately we've stopped playing 4e. Our gaming group is small: 4 people. When one of us DMs, that leaves 3 people to run the party and 4e really likes you to have 5. We've tried, with a decent amount of success, to have two people run two characters, but those that do end up feeling burned out. I really miss it though, so I've decided to try my hand at DMing.
I'd thought about doing it last year and had this huge adventure planned. I had a big plot and grand ideas. I even bought dungeon tiles and props! But the more I read of the Dungeon Master's Guide, the more I realized I was started way too big. So I picked up Dungeon Delve with thoughts of starting small. Try my hand at a few encounters and grow from there.
Then I got distracted and I never finished reading the DMG. But for some reason summer gets me in the RPG mood all over again, so I'm re-reading the it. I like what I see, but there's also a lot of work ahead too. Like I said before, 4e really is built for parties of 5 people and you have to do a bunch of tweaking to get it to work with 3. So while I'm trying to figure that out I might try DMing something else: Dragon Age.
I picked up Set 1 on Friday on a whim and I like what I see so far. It's built for parties of 2 players or more, it's not too rule heavy, and only uses 3d6! Can't get much simpler than that! Everyone in my gaming group loved the CRPG so I think this'll be an easy sell for them.
I just need to finish the GM guide first. Here's hoping nothing shiny distracts me this time!
Currently Playing: Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA), Demon's Souls (PS3)
Currently Reading: Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin