Ok, here's an update for those that care.  My group played Mouse Guard again, and once again, everybody had a good time, even those who hadn't expected to when things started.  I still didn't quite hit the character's Beliefs, Instincts,  Traits and Goals like I should have, but there were a couple extra hits on Traits from the players' side, earning a few extra checks at the end.  Nobody's opinion seemed to change on the conflict rules, though.  It's not that those that didn't care for them thought that they were bad or anything (and they used them with zeal when the time came), it's just a matter of personal preference, it seems, from a "tactical minis" -style crowd.  There were some positive comments on the "condition track", though.  It's pretty much what it sounds like, only with a broader range of effect (Hungry, Angry, Tired, Injured, Sick) and not tied to "hit points" (the track is all that there is).

The Guard Mice didn't "solve the mystery" yet, though they made considerable progress.  Unfortunately, we probably won't be able to play again for some time, as we've got a GURPS fantasy game we're still working on.  That's ok, except that I'll probably have forgotten all of the rules by the time we pick it up again.  And it seems unlikely that anybody will remember what happened last time, so no "prologue healing" for our desperately beat-up group.

P.S. Oh, and something else I wanted to point out was that after the game, some players were shocked that only a few hours had passed.  They felt like a whole lot happened and assumed, based on past experience, that it would be much later than it actually was.  That was one of the things that I had heard these kinds of games were good at: more fun in less time.

So, all in all, "Yay, Mouse Guard!"

This last weekend I played session of Mouse Guard with my Saturday group.  Mouse Guard is based on the comic by the same name, and it's about mice with medieval-level technology struggling to survive the seasons, the weather, the wilderness, wild animals and each other.  I feared the game wouldn't go very well, as our group has varied tastes regarding subject matter, playstyle and just plain quirky preferences.  But I ran it... fumbled through it really, and yet it was well recieved.  The reasons varied, from enjoying the background to a strange fascination with the rules system and probably other reasons as well.

I doubt that the game would hold up for the long haul (for this group), but the session we had was fun.  Things seemed focused and energetic.  Things kept happening and dice kept rolling and people seemed to enjoy their characters, pregens though they were.  Because of the structure and because we were unfamiliar with the system, the first session went pretty quickly, and so we followed it that same night with a second "session", and my group seems eager to give it another go next week and see how things turn out.  The overall system is pretty simple and people mostly liked it, though the "conflict" system, which in this case was used in a combat, was cited as being "too abstract".  I think this was probably specific to combat.  If it had been an argument or a chase or something (which all use basically the same rules) it might not have been perceived as a problem.

People did seem to like the advancement rules, though, which basically require X successful uses of the skill and X-1 failed uses of the skill, where X is the current skill level, to advance a skill.  It allows for an "organic" growth of character skill, such that skills only advance if you use them, but also encourages players to try difficult (ie, "dramatic") things in the story in order to earn those "failed" checks.  (For those unfamiliar with this sort of system, I should point out that there are no meaningless, "fail-to-pick-the-lock-try-again" failures which means that failure always has significant and hopefully interesting consequences.)

Now, as the GM, I didn't give the challenges the thematic depth that they could have.  I didn't focus on the characters' beliefs, instincts, goals and traits as much as I could have, though nobody seemed to notice.  The players also didn't earn "checks" against their traits during the sessions, either.  Part of this is my fault for making the "GM Turn" so short.  There really wasn't much room to hit those traits, but partly I think the players didn't quite "get" how traits and checks work together to give them more options on the "Player Turn".  Still, I think we'll all do better next time.  And even if we don't it seems like we'll still have a good time.

Questions or Comments?

The other day I was looking at the print-out of my 4e Warlord, in particular the "power cards", and I thought to myself that back in the day, these powers would be pretty awesome.  They'd excite me.  I'd be eager to get in there and put them to use.  I'd sit in the floor of my friend's (large) bedroom with the windows open on a balmy summer day, with a bag of Doritos and a can of Mountain Dew, and we'd laugh and joke and have crazy fantasy adventures.  AD&D2 and Rifts mostly, but we also tried whatever game-of-the-month I'd gotten my hands on.  It was fun.

Now, I'm sure that nostalgia clouds my memory somewhat, and it's not like I don't have a good time with my current friends in our current games, but I find myself less excited by the prospect of the game as represented by the character sheet.  Comparing DEX scores, poring over equipment lists, fantasizing about the cool uses for special abilities and the like just don't seem inspiring anymore.  Of course, this phenomenon isn't confined to 4e characters.  Generally, the stuff on the character sheet of any game just sits there like a lump.  Now, I do find that the drama-centric elements of the character sheet, if it has them, do get a bit of a flutter.  They might spark a bit of a "what if" in my head, and perhaps have me imagining a dramatic moment in the story, the kind that you talk about at the water-cooler the next day with you co-workers.  "Can you believe what he did!?"  "I knew that would happen.  It was just a matter of time."  "What do you suppose [character] will do when she finds out?"

But even that seems weaker than it could be.  Things are just different now, I guess, and I'm trying to understand how as I expolore my attitudes and preferences and habits.

Has gaming changed for you?  Is it better or worse than before?  How is it different?  Has gaming changed, or have you?  Or is it both?  ...Or is it just me?

COMMENTS?

Felicia Day

So I was inspired by this next 3 comics by the fact that a few weeks ago when I showed up to my Saturday D&D game, I got a tweet on my phone and it was Felicia Day posting that she was going to her 4e D&D game, she plays a wizard.

I was amazed that she was playing 4e D&D at the same time that I was playing D&D.  And I was envious because my group has 2 modules left of our 3.5 campaign before we fully switch over to 4e. Gah!

So anyways, this comic was started by it.  But who is Felicia Day? What?!? Some of you don't know? Ok, we can give OldGrump an out, he's old, and grumpy, probably because he doesn't know who Felicia Day is, but the fact that he caught my math chicken reference last Friday gives him an out.  For the rest of you, here is your introduction.

Felicia Day is the female lead in Dr Horrible's Sing-A-Long blog, she also was in Legend of Neil, and in Buffy Season 7, and of course The Guild.   She also wrote or cowrote a lot of that stuff, and most importantly for our purposes, plays D&D. ;)

Ah, creating a real person in the dndorks style.  Its not easy!  Jason spent several days trying to figure out how to draw her, so part 1 ended up going live today instead of Monday, and last night I spent extensive amounts of time trying to decide what colors to use for her.  I had to pour through her website grabbing pics for color matching, at one point I had 3 screens with some twenty photos of her up.  It was hard work, let me tell you!   

As I often do, the reward is in the final comic of this, but I think todays comic is good, hope you enjoy, and the dragon will face its doom, or our players, soon.

New 4e Game

So my current 4e play-by-post game (which you can read here) is going well, so well that I've decided to run a 2nd one to give more players a chance to play.  If you'd like to try 4e play by post, maybe you miss playing D&D, or maybe you want to try this new fangled 4e without a heavy commitment, check out my starting post here, its set in Eberron and should be a lot of fun.