Vincent Baker, I blame you for my Monday Night Group breaking up! *End Sarcasm
So, I am going to assume that quite a few of us have stories such as mine tonight. Last June, I came back from a 4 year hiatus after feeling absolute low in the gaming industry.
Just moving to FL from VA and having a hard time finding a gaming group, I was able to start one with one of the new Virtual Table Tops just created in this last year where I assumed gaming mechanics that I knew and loved from before I left …. d20. 5 months things went well, until i learned about Dungeon World in which in this last 2 months have become absolutely everything World related as it really is the kind of narrative system I love to play and run. Well, tonight a line was drawn in the sand in my group for those that want a narrative experience and those that want no RPing in an RPG and would rather it be larger scale board game.
Even explaining the rules, they didn’t like that somethings were left narrative or that some items were subjective ….. I actually think one of my player’s head popped as he was instantly quiet. Should have seen this coming miles away when these people hated when I referred to them by their character’s name. Well, off to make new friends to run more fun games!
this sounds like a player’s reaction (your companions) i had experienced in a game i ran of D&D when i switched to a hybrid system of both D&D and worlds. He quit.
Its funny though that i ran Star Wars Worlds for him and he loved it. I guess he didn’t want to give up the rules power he had with the items and objectives he had previously achieved.
Weird, because I think players have more control (and more power) in a game that is as narrative and story-driven as Apocalypse World (or Dungeon World)
Patrick Henry Downs I thought so too, but tonight reaffirmed some people don’t want to think … they want to look at there piece of papers and just dictate the words on their sheets that come exactly from the book.
So, this sounds a lot like a trust issue. And trust has to be built. I mean, if I were a dedicated D&D grognard with no background in anything prior to D20, I probably would have similar feelings. In D20, you know exactly what you can do and what you can’t. In AW based games, that’s not true. So — there’s some various ways to do this. First, start integrating (and I’m a DW player mostly, so take this with DW terminology in mind) Defy Danger into a lot of things… getting their stats engaged a lot more in the game. Secondly, move away from using mini’s at the table and convert to a more “Mind’s Eye Theater” style of combat. Then eliminate rounds and let the story drive the action. In other words, go slow when you’re looking to make a major shift on a group. Or, find a new group. Or lay down the law saying “Hey, I really enjoy playing with you guys, but I’m not having fun and it’s because of the system.
Good luck!
Brennan OBrien It’s not about trust at all, some people are just dedicated to rules and numbers. Could be a safety net or it could be that they are built that way (feel that way about accountants as well.)
I am shifting groups as you said, not slow but combing the narrative part of the group with a few friends I know would love this style of play.
Tommy Rayburn I’m an accountant, and that’s not true. I like numbers. I like stories better.
Patrick Henry Downs Sorry fir the sterotype ….. must be all the accountants I meet in person.
In all fairness, most accountants are crazy.