Settings & Systems

Yesterday it happened again. While discussing possible future roleplaying settings a member of my group associated such a change of story to also imply a change of system. 

This is, of course, what most gamers seem to do.

New Game, 

New System?

The development of roleplaying games over the last 40 years has generally proceeded, at least for me, along two parallel lines. The first has been the fact that commercially sold gaming requires that companies kick out something fresh on a regular basis, and the second has been the fact that most of the settings sold come with their own (and often different) rules system.

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Three Lessons From Friday

Friday was the first session in our new Infinite Worlds campaign, using the GURPS 4th edition rules. From my perspective it was a good evening well-spent. There were three major lessons that it turns out I needed reminding about.

Lesson 1: Go With It
Way back when, before we got into D&D 4th edition and even before we started butterflying our way between settings and systems, I used to GM our campaigns in a free-form and largely improvised style. These games represent, at least for me, a golden age of roleplaying within our group. The players were different (only one is still at the table) and so, for a long time, I had merely assumed that those days were past: the chemistry of the group, the game, the system was past. How wrong can you be?

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Bringing Back the Fantasy

The dungeon crawl is dead, at least in my hobby. Good riddance.

The thing is, ever since we ditched playing D&D, I've been wondering how to revive the genre within my own gaming. This has mostly involved reflection upon the flop that was my recent Mykovnia campaign.

Here then, for your elucidation, are my conclusions thus far...

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