I've gone back to work on the GM Guidebook for my house rules of D&D. I figure I'll go ahead and keep what I've got written so far, which is mostly how I run things explained in a way that hopefully inexperienced GMs will find useful. After I'm done writing this, I'll condense just the rules bits into a shorter booklet as a reference for more experienced GMs to use at the table.
The past few nights, I've been reading over what I wrote before, and I added a "secrets of running a great game" section for those new to RPGs, or new to old school style play. I've decided rather than try to cater to all tastes, I'm just going to write this thing to show the way I run my game. I'm not trying to tell a story with my campaign. I'm not trying to lead the party through a series of staged and micromanaged encounters for an evening's entertainment. I'm trying to present a world to them that is full of challenges and problems, and allow them to seek out what they will. That's my authorial voice. That's the way the rules tell you to play. Feel free to disagree, but I'm not going to waste time telling people how to run D&D as a narrative game or a balanced challenge game. There are other games for that. The teacher side of me wants to do that, but I'm resisting the urge.
That said, I am realizing there are quite a few things in Classic D&D that I don't really use (like the Caller or the Declaration phase of the combat round) so I'm ditching any references to those. I'll go back and edit my player (and monster/treasure) books later to match. There are a few mistakes here and there in those booklets that need to be corrected, as well.
It's not a revolutionary game. I don't intend it to be. But it will be nice to share it with the world.
Don't expect it to be done any time soon. I've still got a lot of things left to write, like all the rules for crafting dungeons/wilderness/settings and those for high level campaigns (domain formation and management, planar adventures, artifacts, etc.). I will probably include a few rules variants that I've toyed with or at least considered (XP for magic items found, alternate character creation methods, etc.) near the end.
But I've got some steam built up for writing this thing, and I'm going to try and capitalize on it. Some day, this may actually be a complete game system that others can use.
If YOU can use the system, it'll be a win.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Dennis!
Thanks, I know the system works, because it's what I've been using to run my games for years now. It's just that I've got so much of it internalized that it's hard to put it down on paper. I either worry that I'm not explaining it well enough, or I'm over-explaining
DeleteAnyway, Happy New Year to you, too!