Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Rules and me

I love indie games, I want to play more indie games, but it's kind of hard to find non D&D (throw Pathfinder in there) gamers.  I don't know if people my age just want to imagine themselves killing goblins, orcs, and other shit to take their stuff, or what, but that's not the place where I am with my gaming.  I am hoping to run a Witchcraft game very soon, and plan on developing a deep interactive plot with deep character development, NPC intrigue, a little horror all wrapped in a web of nasty trouble. I did, however, tell myself I would finish the story arc our game group is on for Castles and Crusades.  I think more than indie games I'm just itching to play a non Fantasy game.  The Star Wars game we started with the remnants on the AD&D2e group ... well let me be honest I don't think one session counts as starting, was a glimmer of hope dashed by new employment for the GM.

So I went on the hunt for another game group to join, and found a new local Pathfinder game.  Now I do enjoy me some rules light, mostly because that's about all me little dude brain can handle as a GM.  Last night was our second session, and going till midnight on a Tuesday was cool, but made getting up at 6 (okay I snoozed till 7) this morning sort of tough.  As a player I love the free online tools other geeks have made for me, and I can see as a GM it would be quick to throw a stat block together in a pinch.  My problem is all the rules take a certain amount of creativity out of the game.  In our C&C game I let my players do pretty much any thing if they have a great description of the action, and make an appropriate ability check.  If they want to get up and charge the filthy ragged savage that just attacked their camp fine, but it better sound like "I leap to my feet grabbing orc cleaver scream get off my sister you fiend throwing down the scabbard, I spring over the dead fire pit I smash the bastard in the nose with a quick head butt and run the violator through."  That's cool, and thank God there aren't move actions, standard action, free actions and whiner actions.  I just want to play not spend most of the night watching someone else look up rules in a big book.  However for now the group has been fun and I'll keep playing.

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