GameMastering Dying Earth
Aug. 30th, 2003 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI gamemastered an RPG today, for what was the first time in many years. I'm actually not even sure when my last GMing experience was. Probably around 1999, when our Prospectus Locus Ars Magica campaign came to an end, when BF moved out of town and CV stopped being around as much. Gah. Four years is a long time, but it sure felt like much longer when I was contemplating the duration. I can't believe BF left Berkeley just a bit more than four years ago!
Anyway, today's game was a playtest of The Dying Earth, which I'd had thrust upon me at GenCon. It's by Robin Laws, who's one of a couple of modern RPG game designers who I think really knows what he's doing (the other being Jonathan Tweet). The game was, as I expected, an immersive experience into character & background.
Laws did a terrific job of making the game really feel like the books, but that was also a bit exhausting, because I had to constantly work toward the same aim--maintaining a high level of discourse and a specific feel to keep the game moving well. I'm sure that in a continued campaign this work would start to lighten up as everyone got a feel for Vance's Dying Earth world.
The group was small, which made the experience even a bit more tiring. Just DP, KW, and DK. Fortunately DP and KW both got right into the feel & ethos of the background & really helped push it along.
Overall, a positive experience, though not something I have the energy to do every week. We briefly chatted afterward and the players affirmed that they'd be interested in trying this game again every once in a while. So, off to download the free adventure PDF that's online, which should give me a few more adventures with only mid-level preparation required (read the adventure, make notes for more fluid running).
Anyway, today's game was a playtest of The Dying Earth, which I'd had thrust upon me at GenCon. It's by Robin Laws, who's one of a couple of modern RPG game designers who I think really knows what he's doing (the other being Jonathan Tweet). The game was, as I expected, an immersive experience into character & background.
Laws did a terrific job of making the game really feel like the books, but that was also a bit exhausting, because I had to constantly work toward the same aim--maintaining a high level of discourse and a specific feel to keep the game moving well. I'm sure that in a continued campaign this work would start to lighten up as everyone got a feel for Vance's Dying Earth world.
The group was small, which made the experience even a bit more tiring. Just DP, KW, and DK. Fortunately DP and KW both got right into the feel & ethos of the background & really helped push it along.
Overall, a positive experience, though not something I have the energy to do every week. We briefly chatted afterward and the players affirmed that they'd be interested in trying this game again every once in a while. So, off to download the free adventure PDF that's online, which should give me a few more adventures with only mid-level preparation required (read the adventure, make notes for more fluid running).