Wow. Things just got real busy around here real fast.
I've been sick with a flu bug for the last week or so (did I already mention this? yeah, I did)...just have this lingering cough that is a killer for trying to get to sleep at night. *sigh* Lots going on around here...probably working myself a little too much.
[doesn't help that every time I have a beer I suffer a bit of a setback. And yesterday's shellacking of the Seahawks at the hands of the 49ers was worth three...]
A week till Christmas and the tree's not even up yet.
So, apologies to everyone but I'm going to have to shut it down for the year. Totally lame since this has been my lowest output of blog posts since 2018 and I was really hoping to at least hit triple digits this year. Unfortunately, far too many of my posts have simply been tiny missives like this or mini-rants...not really enough content for my taste.
But what can I say? I wasn't trying to putz out on folks. Fact is, I probably did more gaming this year than my B/X hay-days, pre-Paraguay. Both running AND playing. That's...well, that's good progress. If I haven't been writing as many theoretical essays, or posting the speculative rule modifications of yesteryear, you can blame it on the fact that I've been deep in the AD&D...and the game just doesn't need much change at all. It's a solid game (as I've written more than once) that simply needs to be respected and taken seriously to provide solid hours of enjoyment.
Ya basta. Enough of that noise. Folks can go "rules light" if they wish, and still get more-or-less the same result, so long as they put in the world building stuff (just means you end up doing more heavy lifting down the road). I'm not harping on that.
Instead, I'll just wish folks a festive holiday season and a happy New Year.
See you all in 2023. Blessings and best wishes!
Happy Holidays JB! All the best this season to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteOK, got to comment on this...
"Folks can go "rules light" if they wish, and still get more-or-less the same result, so long as they put in the world building stuff (just means you end up doing more heavy lifting down the road)."
Why down the road? I do all my heavy lifting before the campaign begins. Once the game starts it's all pretty easy.
At least, that's how it works for me. YMMV.
Mm. I think folks start with light rule systems specifically because they DON'T want to do a lot of "heavy lifting" mechanics-wise in their game. It's the idea of 'let's just play and see where things lead and if we need more rules/system mechanics we'll make them up as needed.'
DeleteThe thing is, in a campaign that's long enough (time wise) and deep enough (engagement wise) to sustain lasting satisfaction, you WILL need more robust mechanics to accommodate game play unless one wants to solely rely on GM fiat and "illusionism" style play (the latter being a term taken from Forge/indie game design glossary).
SO...unless one is running a short series for a lark, you might as well START with the more robust system. If you're going to do the "heavy lifting" of RULE DESIGN before the game begins...um, why? Why not choose the robust system to start with? Then you can take that energy and effort and INSTEAD put it where it properly belongs: world building and scenario design. Let the GAME do the work for you.
See?
Ah, by heavy lifting you mean mechanics. I see. I misunderstood. I was thinking World-Building from a narrative perspective.
DeleteI try hard to work out any rule additions or adjustments to the rules ahead of time. I rarely add additional rules once the game begins. As you probably know by now, rules are the least interesting and important part of the gaming experience for me.
For Example: My Ghostbusters homebrew is basically the original WEG D6 Ghostbusters game crossed with InSpectres. Later, before running a one-shot with my old GB crew, I added a modified version of the Stress/Panic System from ALIEN by Free League. Worked out a few other rules and done. One-shot went well and I used the same game to run a short campaign serious afterwards.
Never needed to do any other work on the mechanics.
Why do it ahead of time? So you don't have to do it later. Why run a broken game you need to fix? Take a simple, flexible set of rules, customize it to get the feel and effect you and your players want and hit the ground running. Just works better from me that way.
Hey sorry to hear that you are still sick. I can understand the playing/thinking balance conundrum, as my wife says that I spend much more time reading about the game than I do playing it.
ReplyDeleteSee you in 23.
Honestly I thought the niners were going to have 400 rushing yards and beat us by 21. So with low expectations going in the fact it was close late was great. The losses to the Raiders and the Panthers really stung.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
Delete¡Feliz Navidad JB! I'll be waiting for your post next year.
ReplyDeleteGracias.
DeleteCatch you on the flip side - enjoy the family time and holidays.
ReplyDelete