Mar/094
Old School Gamer Rant
Kids today are just lazy. I’m not talking about sitting on your ass lazy not wanting to go out and play in the yard. I’m talking about being too lazy to make an investment of time and effort in order to get a well earned payoff. Kids today don’t want to be challenged. They just want to feel special. They want to win or just want to feel like a winner.
This old man rant was fueled by my recent DMing experience to a couple of high school kids. They wanted to game so badly that they drove all the way down from Oklahoma just to play some DnD for a day. I guess I should give them some credit for making that sort of journey just to sling some dice but in all honestly I think gaming was just an excuse for a couple kids to go on a fun road trip.
The adventure I prepared was tailored to challenge 14th level characters. Sure that’s a tough level for new players but they were going to have two veteran players (Ruen and Sluder) with them to provide the extra experience so I wasn’t worried. I realized that both boys were a bit new to DnD but seeing as they had played a handful of times I assumed they had at least read the Players Handbook and had their characters ready to go. Unfortunately, that was not the case on both counts.
So we spent half the day helping them put together a couple of dark elf bad asses that generously stroked their young Drizzt love. Once the characters were finally done we got started with the hack-n-slash. I knew a roleplay heavy game with intrigue would be lost on these guys so I just went for the gusto and put they up against some tough combat encounters.
Unfortunately, tough combat was not well received. They got dominated by a vampire and mind wammied by a mind flayer. They went up against monsters with tough DR that shrugged off many of their hits. They challenged the law of averages with a stunning run of crappy die rolls. All in all they felt worthless because they were up against opponents that did not easily roll over.
By the end of the night we only got through three combat encounters and that includes the last one where I just sorta gave it to them. Call me a softy but having the evil cleric cast slay living just seemed like it would have added insult to injury. Everyone was tired and I could tell that the boys were not having that much fun.
So where did it go wrong? Here’s a quick summary:
- Too Many Assumptions: I assumed they’d have their characters ready. I assumed they read the Players Handbook. I assumed they knew how their classes worked. I assumed they came ready to play and didn’t need someone to hold their hand from character gen to figuring out how to fight.
- Forgot to Set the Game to “I WIN“: These guys didn’t want to be challenged. They wanted to feel like badasses. They wanted to dominate every fight and feel mighty. They wanted to win without any real risk of failure. They wanted to mow down rows of lower level mobs whilst rocking out to Ice T (sorry random Body Count refrence).
My only hope to redeem the events of that night is if years from now when the boys become men and they come to the realization and appreciation that they got the participate in an “old school” DnD game that didn’t pull any punches (even if I did at the end but that’s beside the point). Alas, after hearing one proclaim that he would have rolled a different character had he known they were gonig up against vampires i’m guessing that they’ll just toss their memories of that night into the trashcan of wasted time.
Jeez. I guess I’m officially old.
Jul/087
Non-Combat Challenge = Story Roadblock!
Yesterday was Ruen’s turn behind the screen for our 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons round robin night. He pulled off one of my favorite game starting ploys and kicked things off with a combat encounter. Our 2nd level challenge was a lone ogre which he tweaked to be a solo encounter. Considering how powerful he appeared, I was a bit surprised to see that we survived the encounter (if he hit me twice I would have been toast). I’m now completely convinced that without a healer in the party the group would be toast. Everything does more damage and the monsters have WAY more hitpoints than ever before. Ruen assured us that the ogre was by the book and should have been on par with other solo challenges for our level.
Our next challenge was of the a non-combat (skill) challenge type where we were to gain information about the orcs and this “red eye” that they used to sack Fallcrest years ago. Ruen did a great job of developing backstory and intrigue but what he (and we) quickly realized was that if you’re used to giving out story information through roleplaying and cleaver party / NPC interactions then using a non-combat challenge is the quickest way to cock block your player’s progress. By failing skill rolls, story elements that the party needed to progress the game could not be uncovered leaving the party a bit in the dark. I’m not sure if this frustrated Ruen or if he just figured he’d rather just leave it to roleplaying because according to him he abandoned the system about 1/4 of the way into it.
Personally, I’d like to give skill challenges another go. I think for secondary plot hooks and player initiated plots the skill challenge system could be handy to at least give the players an uncertainty and randomness to their character’s pursuits. However, if a DM has some plot elements that the PCs need in order to progress the game and story then it’s best to find another way to bring them in instead of relying on the fickle toss of die.
During the final fight I discovered that a defender who can mark a character is the nemesis of a quick footed ranger. The 4th edition ranger is all about stick and move, stick and move. They’re badass when it comes to maneuvering for the hit and then getting out of range. Combine that with an allied defender and the ranger is relatively safe. However, if you stick that ranger up against a defender who can mark then suddenly he’s getting smacked down everytime he goes for higher ground.
All in all I enjoyed Ruen’s game. He does a great job of setting the scene and playing the NPCs to the hilt. I got a little chuckle out of his more direct style of DMing since I’m pretty sure the others arn’t quite so used to it (unless they perhaps see my games that way). Maybe it’s the army brat in me but I dig a little game table discipline. when it time for the game to roll then mind your lip and get ready for some action!
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