Friday, September 9, 2011

Throwing Down the Gauntlet

While I'm always happy to talk about how much I like the 80's arcade games Gauntlet and Gauntlet II, this post unfortunately is not about them.

On Facebook, we've got a group now for D&D in Busan. I told everyone that since we can't play our 4E game this weekend due to the holiday, I'd be happy to run a Classic D&D one-shot in my Megaduneon. Another guy wants to start a Pathfinder game, and is looking for players interested in a campaign.

Now, I could be talked into a game of PF, if I weren't already committed to the 4E game. I just don't have the time to play in two campaigns right now. And so far, there's been more interest shown in my game than in the PF game for this weekend. So maybe it's a bit of frustration that he can't get the game he wants to play going. But he posted this in response to one of my comments about scheduling:

What is classic D&D? That garbage system with negative AC?
I responded to him this way:

Robbie, yeah, it's got negative AC in the book, but one of my house rules is to use attack bonus and ascending AC. It's still the version where Elf is a Class, not a race option. ;)
So, trying to defuse the situation with a bit of humor.  I haven't met the guy in person, but I'm wondering if our little group of RPGers are about to enter into a bit of a civil war? 

[Jeremy, Brian and anyone else in the group who reads the blog, this is a bit tongue in cheek.  But if Robbie wants to discuss the merits of Pathfinder vs. Mentzer D&D, I'll be happy to engage him!]

4 comments:

  1. JD wants to run a 4E campaign, but we got a few noobs who looked at a character sheet and are worried it may be too complicated (also he's still writing it).
    So I think I'm gonna break them in with a one-shot based on the "Classic Characters" you reworked which eliminated THAC0...
    Should be fun.

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  2. Don't play his name game and call it "negative" AC, it is just "descending." :)

    Really though, he sounds ignorant about the game, offer to show him that it is fun, and that you would not run a "garbage" game. If anyone asks about the quirks of older D&D explain to them how and WHY it is that way, and the advantages it affords players opposed to where modern games have taken things. If you want to get down to picking on small quirks, EVERY edition of D&D is a garbage edition.

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  3. I'm not going to get all in his face about it. As I mentioned in my parenthetical to the local group, I'm not bothered that he doesn't like Old School games.

    I'm interested in playing Pathfinder, actually. I always enjoyed 3E as a player, except at the really high levels. It was only as a DM that I got tired of the system. It's just a shame that this guy's knocking the system I like.

    Anonymous, good advice. Likely what I would have done anyway, and very likely how I'll treat him in the future, if he continues to bash the system. If he doesn't bash it again, I'll likely just let it go.

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