Creativity in Gaming
^.^
( This entry was originally started back in 2009 or so, but rather than scrap it, I figure the entire topic of creativity in gaming is good to talk about ... )
Before I get into the subject of tonight's blog entry, I gotta lead into it with what's been up in local gaming over the past couple months. My own d20 Modern campaign died a quick death, because it really wasn't getting too popular, and when a GM gets the feeling that their game is not popular, their own interest in the game tends to drop off...
Unfortunately, my friend Rhett was also working on game that died off at about the same time. This happened because of the opposite reason that my game died...it became a victim of its own popularity, as Rhett found himself burning out with all of the work of running a campaign.
With the failure of two games, the group decided to experiment a bit. Those of us who wanted to GM would come up with a campaign idea and run a demo of their idea. Jason was chosen to go first, then me, then Alicia, and finally, Adrian.
Jason's demo was a AD&D campaign that was going to mix in Rhett's Final Fantasy campaign with the original AD%D world that our group started with a few months ago. I found myself unimpressed because it didn't seem that much effort was made to put meat on the adventure. I know we're talking about demos, but if you're doing such auditions, you need to give a FULL presentation of what your campaign is, and what you can do as a GM.
My demo was of Nexus, a long-running campaign set in the Nexus sci-fi universe. It's also featured on the DSN webpage. In my demo, the character were a group assigned to a Nexus ship that responds to a distress signal from a planet. When they get to the planet, they discover a Markann survey mission that is investigating the planet. The players chase the Markann away, and they attack the enemy ship as it is attempting to escape, and the Markann ship destroys itself rather than be captured. While I thought that the episode (entitled "Reload", and using the Rob Zombie song of the same name) was generally good, and presented more story, the downside was that the Champions system was not fully presented, and two
players did not have a lot to do during the ship battle.
The third demo never happened. Rhett ended up creating another campaign, and I brought in a character based off the cartoon character Invader Zim. He was terribly annoying, and WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIBLY ANNOYING ... while actually being competant. This was successful, as Zim is to this day, dreaded by the local gamers ... even those who never played games with him.
Rhett now has a gaming store, located at 214 E. Ivinson, in Laramie WY. The store is called Chrome LLC, and deals mainly in Magic the Gathering cards, Magic tournaments, Warhammer miniatures, and RPG sessions. Anything not in the store can be obtained by special order.
The reason I mention the store is that it marked a turning point in gaming creativity. We've been playing a number of AD&D campaigns down at the shop since it opened, and the campaigns have been of varying quality, but generally good. There was a short-lived campaign shortly after the store opened, and the first (and so far only appearance of Zim at the store) was capped off when he charged into a fight with several zombies, and in a heroic move, decapitated one of them! Of course, the five zombies next to the now headless one turned and attacked Zim, who was a *wizard* who happened to be specialized in longswords.
The next AD&D group has continued since the breakup of the first group, and with a few difficulties and player changes, has continued to this day. The DM is incredible, with a very nice sense of humor and improvisation that brings the campaign to life. Perhaps the biggest problem right now is that we are running elite characters tasked with taking on the gods. Perhaps the most common question in this situation would be, what do we do to top this?
Rhett has also stepped back most recently with a new AD&D campaign. I have a wizard named Meriele, and she was able to hit pretty much everything on the battlefield from where she was standing. The campaign started off with the characters being brought into a small town to combat a zombie/undead problem. It was a fairly simple starting plot, just basically to get the players and characters to know what this group of characters can do.
I am expecting more of course, as things progress. I have done nothing on Meriele's background or past. I figure that this should be a cooperative thing between the players and the DM. What I enjoy is a campaign that steps outside the box, so to speak. How about getting involved in local politics? My character is an Eladrin, which generally means that she was born from nobility. A campaing with political elements may lean toward giving her something to do. Of course, the other players and their characters need some love as well. Perhaps the biggest problem with prior AD&D campaigns held at the store was that one or two characters got most of the play time, in part due to what the characters would do: a bard who insists on playing out the telling of each and every epic tale that they use in a situation simply takes time away from everyone else. At some point, the DM needed to step in and stop the filibuster of the game.
DM and player creativity is a necessary element to have a good campaign. Rhett and Brock are both capable DMs, and I have been working on a new campaign of my own. We'll just see where things go.
John B.
( This entry was originally started back in 2009 or so, but rather than scrap it, I figure the entire topic of creativity in gaming is good to talk about ... )
Before I get into the subject of tonight's blog entry, I gotta lead into it with what's been up in local gaming over the past couple months. My own d20 Modern campaign died a quick death, because it really wasn't getting too popular, and when a GM gets the feeling that their game is not popular, their own interest in the game tends to drop off...
Unfortunately, my friend Rhett was also working on game that died off at about the same time. This happened because of the opposite reason that my game died...it became a victim of its own popularity, as Rhett found himself burning out with all of the work of running a campaign.
With the failure of two games, the group decided to experiment a bit. Those of us who wanted to GM would come up with a campaign idea and run a demo of their idea. Jason was chosen to go first, then me, then Alicia, and finally, Adrian.
Jason's demo was a AD&D campaign that was going to mix in Rhett's Final Fantasy campaign with the original AD%D world that our group started with a few months ago. I found myself unimpressed because it didn't seem that much effort was made to put meat on the adventure. I know we're talking about demos, but if you're doing such auditions, you need to give a FULL presentation of what your campaign is, and what you can do as a GM.
My demo was of Nexus, a long-running campaign set in the Nexus sci-fi universe. It's also featured on the DSN webpage. In my demo, the character were a group assigned to a Nexus ship that responds to a distress signal from a planet. When they get to the planet, they discover a Markann survey mission that is investigating the planet. The players chase the Markann away, and they attack the enemy ship as it is attempting to escape, and the Markann ship destroys itself rather than be captured. While I thought that the episode (entitled "Reload", and using the Rob Zombie song of the same name) was generally good, and presented more story, the downside was that the Champions system was not fully presented, and two
players did not have a lot to do during the ship battle.
The third demo never happened. Rhett ended up creating another campaign, and I brought in a character based off the cartoon character Invader Zim. He was terribly annoying, and WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIBLY ANNOYING ... while actually being competant. This was successful, as Zim is to this day, dreaded by the local gamers ... even those who never played games with him.
Rhett now has a gaming store, located at 214 E. Ivinson, in Laramie WY. The store is called Chrome LLC, and deals mainly in Magic the Gathering cards, Magic tournaments, Warhammer miniatures, and RPG sessions. Anything not in the store can be obtained by special order.
The reason I mention the store is that it marked a turning point in gaming creativity. We've been playing a number of AD&D campaigns down at the shop since it opened, and the campaigns have been of varying quality, but generally good. There was a short-lived campaign shortly after the store opened, and the first (and so far only appearance of Zim at the store) was capped off when he charged into a fight with several zombies, and in a heroic move, decapitated one of them! Of course, the five zombies next to the now headless one turned and attacked Zim, who was a *wizard* who happened to be specialized in longswords.
The next AD&D group has continued since the breakup of the first group, and with a few difficulties and player changes, has continued to this day. The DM is incredible, with a very nice sense of humor and improvisation that brings the campaign to life. Perhaps the biggest problem right now is that we are running elite characters tasked with taking on the gods. Perhaps the most common question in this situation would be, what do we do to top this?
Rhett has also stepped back most recently with a new AD&D campaign. I have a wizard named Meriele, and she was able to hit pretty much everything on the battlefield from where she was standing. The campaign started off with the characters being brought into a small town to combat a zombie/undead problem. It was a fairly simple starting plot, just basically to get the players and characters to know what this group of characters can do.
I am expecting more of course, as things progress. I have done nothing on Meriele's background or past. I figure that this should be a cooperative thing between the players and the DM. What I enjoy is a campaign that steps outside the box, so to speak. How about getting involved in local politics? My character is an Eladrin, which generally means that she was born from nobility. A campaing with political elements may lean toward giving her something to do. Of course, the other players and their characters need some love as well. Perhaps the biggest problem with prior AD&D campaigns held at the store was that one or two characters got most of the play time, in part due to what the characters would do: a bard who insists on playing out the telling of each and every epic tale that they use in a situation simply takes time away from everyone else. At some point, the DM needed to step in and stop the filibuster of the game.
DM and player creativity is a necessary element to have a good campaign. Rhett and Brock are both capable DMs, and I have been working on a new campaign of my own. We'll just see where things go.
John B.
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