Where I have been

For some time now I have been seeking a deeper understanding into how and why the game ticks the way it does. With so many different RPG options why is D&D where I gravitate?

I'll admit it is where most of my RP experience lies. It's what my friends and I have played for a long time partly because it's what we know, a gaming language we all speak. At a certain point you become pretty heavily invested in a game, and I'm not speaking personally or emotionally or any of that crap. At $30-$50 a book after everyone in your group has the basic, and you as the DM have 30 some odd books it's just not cost effective to change gears. It's a system we like, with a setting we like so why rock the boat?

Here are some reasons why: After a while everyone becomes so versed with the forms of the game that several players start doing crazy things with their characters because there is very little world left to discover. This in itself is not an issue and I applaud a player for coming up with something cool, but what frequently happens within our circle is that a cool character idea will pop up, get played, not be as cool as it first seemed, fade into the back ground and then get replaced by the player because they have some other cool idea. It's hard enough to keep a story together in the face of dramatic character deaths, but when someone is subbing out a character every other session because they are A.D.Ding on something else today it's pretty impossible.

As a DM I find it difficult to keep things relevant when players have valid but very divergent ideas about their characters. We play a lot in the Forgotten Realms, which has so much rich detail that I can't really fault a player for wanting to be a part of it. If one of my guys takes the time to learn about the country or religion or secret society that's relevant to his character I feel like I should be including some of those things for him, else he immersed himself in the setting for nothing and might not bother next time. I like to tell deep stories so to discourage my players from making deep characters is not an option, but when everyone is deep in a different direction I sometimes wish they would.

There is no mystery in the world for us anymore. We've killed all the monsters, we've been all the heroes.

We need new heroes, we need new monsters, we need a new world.

I have some ideas...

Hey there interwebs

   So I’ve recently moved far from home, and thereby from my gaming group. Now I’m out in Ottawa with gaming on my mind and as of yet no outlet.  That makes you, the anonymous internet, the vessel unto which I shall pour my game theory, likes, dislikes, past gaming experiences and so on.

   Before we begin let’s get to know me a little. I’m 30, play mostly 3.5 and pathfinder, have DM’d for groups as large as 11 and as small as 2, and have an unhealthy love of tentacles. I am a fan of this guy and this other guy, who both seem to think like me. As such, if you think I am ripping them off from time to time I might just be, and will hopefully remember to give them their due. I have considerable cross-geek knowledge and often look at things in terms of other genres or games.  More on me as it becomes relevant.

   I find myself constantly trying to recapture the sense of wonder RPing held for me when I was young, and many of my rules experiments tend to lean in that direction.  

   I’ll leave more specific discussion for another time.