Everything tabletop gaming since 2005
I’m off to New York City in a few hours to attend Comic Con 2010. One of my main activities over there will be to participate in the “Learn to Play D&D” experience at the Wizards of the Coast booth using the newly released Red Box.
Since I’m going to teach D&D to new (or returning) players, I thought it would be appropriate to do a little retrospective of the posts I wrote on the subject and those I found on the net.
I think one of 4e’s problem is that the DM tools are now so structured, it becomes a hindrance for people with creativity issues to push through the proposed models and discover “new tech”. I know I’ve been having a hard time selling some of my weirder ideas like “Trap-Monster hybrids” and “The whole party stuck in the same body” because it seems people can’t see it done (or can’t afford the effort to squeeze the concept) in their 4e games.
At this point, the players really got into what Vincent Baker told me Apocalypse World was all about: Loyalties in the face of crises. With the column of Hummers and APCs heading for Shanty Town, Thunder ordered his whole gang around to go defend the home base. Raven, sitting behind Thunder on his Hog, didn’t see it in the same light and we were subjected to a spat about the importance of protecting the many against going to help the truly meaningful.
While Apocalypse World is a low prep RPG, it is by no means a no prep one. The game/author reminds us in no light terms to refrain from plotting out a story. Instead, the book provides a series of structured tools to build what’s called Fronts, templates of linked threats that loom around the PCs, trying to forward specific dark agendas the PCs may decide (or have no choice) to go against.
Last week, I got an interesting email from M. asking advice about dealing with “That Guy”. Now contrary to the ones we discussed in that panel in Toronto, everything seems to indicate that M.’s guy is one to get the generic “you have to be the flexible one to fit him in your game” answer. Quite the contrary.
In which Chatty recounts his first Apocalypse world session right after character creation. A fight, an explosion, some threats and a love scene, just like in the movies!
A few weeks ago, I reviewed Vincent Baker’s Apocalypse World Role Playing Game and found it very well written and intriguing and enough to give it a few session’s worth of tries. I brought the whole crew back together and we sat down to create characters.
One of the highlights of my visit at last weekend’s Toronto Fan Expo was the one hour panel I had the honour to share with RPG legends Ed Greenwood and Robin D. Laws. We ended up speaking to packed room of 100+ people. I was impressed!
In about 24 hours, I’ll be leaving for the Toronto Fan Expo with my friend PM. The Expo is Canada’s largest event for Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime and Gaming fans where they get to meet some of their favorite industry personalities and stock up on merch. I have a 5 hour car trip to plan so I thought I’d reach out and share/ask how the travelling part of the trip should be prepared!
The first product of the D&D Essentials product line, while likely to be the target of hordes of people who will complain that it is not what it could never be… is what I wished I opened in 1986.
It is an introduction to the D&D game that goes directly to the heart of things.
Recent Comments