Paul CzegeSep 20, 2020

I love that he runs it as an open table. That's the old school way. College kids would run a weekly game at Berkeley or wherever, and if you knew about it you could play. It only changed when TSR published Dragonlance and...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/20/us/dungeons-and-dragons-longest-game-great-big-story-trnd/index.html

Show threadPaul Czege
... sold everyone on the idea of a persistent group of player characters having a collective story arc. And then you had to figure out how to get the same group of players together consistently. I wanted The Clay That Woke to support drop-in players, guest players, open table...
Sep 20, 2020 at 7:39pmWeb
Show threadPaul CzegeSep 20, 2020

... play in a persistent world, and I think it does. But no one runs anything that way anymore.

#claytalk

Show threadSandraSep 20, 2020
A lot of people do. Sometimes these campaigns are called West Marches. I may be a bit selective about which players I have but as far as characters go, they die and new ones are rolled up all the time. And we play even when someone would miss a session, even though that stings.
Show threadSandraSep 20, 2020
@paulczege It’s a world of a thousand stories. One character might die quickly, another accomplish feats of legend. As participants we get to see these glimpses, and learn more and more about the world. It hurts when a beloved character dies but there is still more to discover. I find it hard to look away, even as old swords are put to ground and new stats are rolled up. I have the campaign map on my wall next to my bed and I go there in dreams. The smell of coriander and oranges and the fresh open sea await me.
Show threadkitSep 20, 2020
@paulczege That just doesn't sound like an engaging or rewarding way to play for me. It's like having a weekly jam, instead of a band. You end up covering the same ground repeatedly.
Show threadPaul CzegeSep 20, 2020
@wlonk I actually think D&D is not the best ruleset for it. Level disparities across PCs make for painful play, regardless of which edition of D&D you use.
The Clay That Woke is a way better choice.
Show threadSandraSep 20, 2020

@paulczege That takes care of level disparities, type-of-being disparites, name disparities and… gender disparities?

What’s the twist? It seems like I am missing something, because on the pitch/surface level so far it feels like kind of a 1 Kings 3:26 style “solution” that is more painful than the problem.

It’s true that games without levels, like Traveller, can lend themselves well to sandbox play. But…

Show threadSandraSep 20, 2020
@paulczege Speaking specifically about the game as a widely-encompassing solution to the problems posed by decades-running, open-table, sandbox play, not about the game seen as emergent, focused narrative.
Show threadSandraSep 21, 2020

@paulczege Haha, wow, got an earful via email from one of our friends who loves the game. OK, OK, I get it.

Not trying to knock the game as a whole, just saying that the problem of “how can we have disparate characters without pain” still needs a solution beyond “play a game where you can’t”.