Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Dice Were Rolled

This past Sunday the gaming group I play in (not the one I GM) got together after a hiatus of...well, I can’t remember exactly. A long time, at any rate.

Again the party stayed one step ahead of the law, getting a wrongly accused noblewoman (strong on giving orders, weak on helping out) to another city where she had a safe-house. What are our motivations here? If we were after money, a detour through a dungeon solved that problem. Loyalty to the noblewoman’s cause? Doubtful--at least for the thorough-going rogues among us.

I suppose, our motive was: adventure! And that we got--though sometimes in a Keystone cop kind of fashion, admittedly.

A few highlights: A brawl on a train with Agnar (our fighter) bluffing a mercenary with a ridiculous tale, just as my artificer was blasting another mercenary in the face with a Melf’s Acid Arrow, only a few feet away. A Warforged monk dropping from above unto two mercenaries with a cry of “Moon Knight style!” Discussion of how formal wear could be modified to hide weapons, and a female halfling thief complaining about wearing a dress. Bargain-hunting for weapon and armor upgrades in the city.  A foiled assassination attempt in a burning ballroom.

A few times during the gaming I found myself thinking about all the theoretical discussion that goes on in the blogosphere and forums about how things "should" be done, and measuring the conduct of our game against those various, often well-argued ideals. 

Ultimately, none of those concerns, interesting though they are, really mattered--not in the moment and at the table. No one was confused about our goal--enjoyment in the context of a game--and GM and player’s were of one mind in that regard. Dice were rolled and--whether an action succeeded or failed--everybody won.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Great to see you back at the table. My own group hasn't met in about two months and I'm chompin' at the bit to resume the games.

The Angry Lurker said...

Enjoyment is the name of the game alright and the goal. Sounds like you had it in spades.

Meowlissa said...

Always glad to hear good times were had especially when a fellow Rogue is involved...even though I wasn't there. Like how I just include myself into every Rogue known to man? :P

richard said...

That's the only metric that matters. I know I'm guilty of overthinking the whole thing: in my defense, it's because I am/was a game designer and I remain a habitual tinkerer - I always want things to be just a bit better and I'm always working up to proferring my very own all new and shiny system for my very own campaign. But my system will always have one terrible flaw, which will render it a marginal curio around these OSR parts: it won't be D&D.

Captcha word: fixing. I should just leave my commenting career right there. It will never get better than that.

Trey said...

@Risus - Here's to hoping you get the chance soon.

@Angry Lurker - Indeed. :)

@Meowlissa - We had a split party--two "goodies" and two chaotic neutrals. The angels of our better natures didn't always carry the day. ;)

@Richard - I think all of us bloggers are guilty of overthinking it--we wouldn't be doing this otherwise. And I by no means mean to suggest good things don't come from that--but sometimes I think you just gotta be zen about it. :)

christian said...

I fid it hard to evaluate my style in light of what other people deem correct and incorrect. For example, I've really been struggling with the fact that back in 1982 my friends and I played in a manner that was nothing like what the "old school" says things were like back then. At the end of the day, fun is all that matters. I need to stop slamming my hand in the car door and instead find a game I like and play the hell out of it.

Malkavian said...

Bro what are you playing? i just found out about your blog thx to the Angry Lurker. But is it 3.5?? 4th edition??? House Hold rules free style? im interested in this

Trey said...

Hey Malkavian. We were playing Pathfinder with a few of houserules, the main one being all "knowledge skills" are subsumed under one general knowledge skill. There may be a few others. When I'm not GM-ing, i don't sweat the rules stuff too much. Pretty much I just show up and play. :)

Telecanter said...

Holy Cow, someone else knows about Moon Knight!? One of the only comics I collected due to the happenstance of buying an issue on vacation as a kid.

Loved me some Sienkiewicz art from the second run.

Glad you had fun too :)

Jay said...

"When I'm not GM-ing, i don't sweat the rules stuff too much. Pretty much I just show up and play."

Now you're just talking like a madman!


/Moon Knight FTW!

Trey said...

@Telecanter - Old Moon Knight is great. The kater series (Fist of Khonshu) wasn't bad either. The nineties series on the other hand...

@Jay - What can I say? My "min-mazing" days are well behind me. ;)