Corrupting America's Youth (Expert Adventures Part 4)

Or, "D&D is my FAVORITE!"


EPILOGUE

As per usual, I conducted a bit of an “exit interview” with my nephew after we had finished our adventure (said discussion occurring the next morning after we’d both managed to get some sleep). I like to “check in” with folks and see whether or not they had fun and try to get some feedback on the game in general. I’ve been doing this since at least the nineties or so.

Asked if he had fun, the answer was a resounding YES. “I LOVE D&D…it’s my favorite!” Better than World of Warcraft? “A lot better…well, different…well, I don’t know.” They’re two different games right?

“Yeah, they are different games! But D&D is a lot better!” Why is D&D better? “Well it’s more interesting…and you can do more stuff!” Like making friends with giant squids, shaking hands with cave bears, turning sticks into snakes, jumping of cliffs, etc.? “YEAH!”

My questions are loaded and specific, but I’m looking for specific information in what I’m asking (I do this with S.’s brother who is able to verbalize his feelings better, and his thoughts are much the same). Is table-top gaming an obsolete relic of the past? No. It does things no video game can do…and I’m not just talking about improvising spot-rules, nor being able to tailor games mid-stream to accommodate the expectations of one’s players. I am talking about the rapport that gets built between people sharing an imaginary space together, engaged in play. It is a creative exercise, building both the semblance of an “adventure story” and building COMMUNITY between the people sitting around the table. And I mean REAL community, not just the fantasy campaign world that exists with the rules and interactions of DM and player.

“I love coming over to your house! It’s more fun than ANYTHING!” This despite the fact that we never watch TV, turn on a computer, or fire up a gaming console. O we’ll watch a rented movie or two, but otherwise my wife and I revert to very “old school” type family fun when entertaining children: cooking, eating, doing chores, playing games, strolling the neighborhood, petting the dogs. For me, I’d like to live like that all the time. But until we have kids of our own, I’m limited to the odd weekend or week-long baby-sitting gig.

Regarding B/X: the Expert style play was clunky at times for me as the DM. It would have been better if my books were in better condition (pages were coming loose as I flipped through my 27 year old copy of the Isle of Dread!), but even so the organization of rules in the Cook Expert set (getting lost, wandering monsters, weather-stuff…they’re all in different sections), made the search-and-handling time a pain.

Wandering monsters were a real blast from the past. My old AD&D games almost never involved wandering monsters, and my few 3rd edition games blew them off completely. But in Expert, they are a ton of the action when playing strictly by the rules…there are simply miles and miles of map to explore, and even with 2-3 dozen numbered encounters, S. never stumbled upon any of these "planned encounters!" For him, most every day brought fresh wandering encounters to deal with…making the forested mountains and jungle swamps of the Island all the more forbidding. But for me as DM, it was both clunky and a bit monotonous/repetitive.

What DID work for me, though, worked well. I love how D&D facilitates such different distinct styles of play! My wife plays very cautiously, Z. is curious and clever (sometimes overly so) about things, and S. (once he figure out he could communicate with most every encounter) tried to make friends with everything.

It is very interesting to me how folks without preconceived ideas react to threats they encounter. When confronted with something unexpected or strange/new (like archers or a five headed hydra) the basic reaction often becomes “Run away! Run away!” I don’t know if this comes from on-line gaming or not. Personally, my own play style is more “fortune favors the bold” (if you talk to Meepo or MikeD I think they’ll vouch for this), and this may be due in part to my “insider’s (DM) knowledge” of how the game works (but not necessarily...my WH40K army is completely composed of Khorne Berserkers, chaos hounds, and rampaging dreadnoughts!). For the newbie players…well, they know they’re not going to be reincarnated at the local graveyard should they die, but I think it’s more than that.

However, after running/DMing three B/X games in the last month, I’ve yet to have a single PC death. And that’s with all new players and no “shields will be splintered” house rules. The combats have been quick and decisive, with many henchmen being left in ruins. But the PCs themselves have weathered the worst of it. Perhaps their caution is what’s led to their extended life expectancy?

Who knows…maybe I’ve just been too easy on ‘em. It’d be interesting to see how they’d fare if they were playing less durable classes (like thieves and magic-users).

Regardless, it appears I’ve succeeded in converting these little football athletes into uber-nerds (though isn’t WoW nerdy enough? I guess I don’t get the status ladder of teens these days). Not only that, but S. is well on his way to being an OLD SCHOOL nerd. I presented him with his very own copy of Labyrinth Lord (purchased retail, thank you very much…I have another copy for myself) as well as a set of purple dice. I explained to him how, though the rules appear to be of intimidating length, much of the text is monster lists or descriptions of spells and magic items. I then contrasted that to my 3rd edition books just to REALLY show the difference in money and investment of time. His reaction? “Why would anyone want to buy that version?”

Why indeed.

I did explain that while LL is for the most part the same as B/X, there are some differences (“for copyright reasons?” yeah, probably). For example, the cave bear damage in LL is the exact same as a black bear or polar bear or grizzly bear, and many of the equipment costs are changed. S. told me that he preferred to have his game set be “as close to the original as possible” and asked that I pencil in the “correct” monster stats and gear costs. Which I was happy to do (though admittedly, I did not go line by line through every monster entry)…sorry, Dan.
: )

Anyway, quite fun. Hopefully both S. and Z. will read up on the game before their next visit. I know that after last weekend’s game, Z. was already expressing interest in learning how to be a Dungeon Master. Perhaps my next report will be as a player!