Catching up and a new beginning
It has been awhile since I last posted. That doesn’t mean I’ve been idle:
1. I’ve been working on an article for the Silven Trumpeter. It will focus on addressing moral issues in rpgs.
2. I’ve been setting up the groundwork for the D&D campaign that I’ll be running for my roomates/extended household. More on this below.
3. I’ve been making a Reaver Daiklaive. I don’t know why. Perhaps I’ll post some pictures soonish.
So… the D&D game. I’m nervous about it. I haven’t run a D&D game since 2nd ed… probably over 15 years ago. I’ve run other things since then, but I’m worried that my GMing style (I’d characterize it as fairly hands-off. I tend to focus on setting up conflicts and then letting players act as they will.) won’t be conducive to an enjoyable D&D game.
Why am I running D&D as opposed to Exalted or Unknown Armies or Sorcerer or Wraith or… anything else?
Part of it is that one of my players (who has been roleplaying for about six years now) has always wanted to play in a D&D game, but has never managed to do so. Making her happy would be good. Part of it is that I love tweaking d20 rules, and running a game will let me playtest a few ideas I’ve had. Part of it is that I do actually have a fairly compelling (to me at least) campaign idea, and I’d like to see how it comes out… and it is fairly D&D dependent.
I’m nervous right now about the first game (this Thursday evening). Beginning a campaign always has a sort of a forced feel to it, and there is a lot that can go wrong. About half of the players are playing sort of jack-of-all-trades type characters – will D&D support a game in which there isn’t much niche protection? At least one of my players has requested that this be a relatively combat-light D&D game. Do I really need to start the game off with combat? (My current plan is to throw a fight in there and leave it up to the players whether or not they want to get involved. It is possible that some will and some won’t.) I plan on baiting the big hook for the campaign in the first session (though it won’t be clear what it is) – what if they don’t take it?
All of my questions will be answered soon enough, I suppose.
