@cynical13 Just finished a campaign of the Perils and Princesses RPG last night. It was a fun little campaign. Took us 19, 2-hour sessions. I had never run it before but I was delighted with it's fast pace and character empowerment.
This was a bit of a palette cleanser after a 2 year D&D 5E campaign. Now I'm passing the GM hat and getting ready for a Pirate Borg campaign!
@critfail_press That's awesome, congrats! I'm not familiar with P&P. What do you mean by character empowerment?
I needed a bit of a palette cleanser after playing 5e to the point I went to Pathfinder 1e, which is way crunchier than I care for, but the players are loving it.
Decades ago, I ran a 3e D&D game in a pirate setting. I had a blast but I wasn't as focused in running as I am now. I hope you enjoy it!
@cynical13 Thanks! It was really fun. Jealous of your 3E pirate campaign, I've always wanted to do a nautical focused campaign, with island hopping etc.
Based on my experience with P&P, I found that like many other rules light systems, it doesn't codify every single interaction that could happen in the game. As a result my players felt like they had a lot of freedom to try out more unconventional solutions to the challenges they faced.
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@cynical13 The game even has a term for this, it calls it "Antics".
So by the end of our mini-campaign they were often times finding ways to use Antics to achieve things like tricking an enemy, or reaching inaccessible locations, etc.
It's not really a new concept in a TTRPG in my opinion, just putting a different name on the idea of a situational skill check, but by defining it as a thing (Antics) my players started considering it more as an option on their turns.
It was fun to see!
@critfail_press The pirate game was more swashbuckling D&D in a pirate town, less sailing, but I'd like to revisit the idea at some point.
I love codifying the idea of antics into the gaming language but I find the constant changing of terminology from game to game to be confusing at times and a little grating having to re-explain concepts to folks when we switch games.
I've tried to lead by example on that kind of freeform play. Powered by the Apocalypse games are good for that which is why we're doing so well with #Masks. When we played #FengShui, I would ramp up the action and the players often would follow suit.
That's also one big reason why I prefer #OSR type games. I'd rather make an interesting ruling based on a neat player idea than be locked into a set of rules.
@cynical13 Yeah I feel that sentiment. The closest to #OSR games that I get is likely Shadowdark RPG. Over my career as a GM I've run a variety of different systems and definitely distilled my own "style" when it comes to running games as a result.
The idea of Rulings over Rules is one of the big ones. Even in crunchier systems like 5E or PF I feel comfortable just running by feel and course correcting for rules later if needed. I think my players benefited from the concept of Antics though.
@cynical13 When you run an #OSR game what system do you like to use?
I know a lot of the systems by name (OSE, OSRIC, Cairn, Knave, etc.) but not what makes them distinct or what play styles they favor.
@critfail_press #CastlesAndCrusades and #ADnD2e for sure. I love C&C for the simplicity of the SIEGE engine mechanic from what little I've gotten to run with it. AD&D 2e was the first game I played and I love it despite/because of the weird sub-systems for rolling. I'm going to run an Al-Qadim based backup game for my Pathfinder group.
I've even started running my Pathfinder game more OSR-style. My players are incredibly creative and I find that I need to make a quick, fair ruling on the spot if I don't want to drag things down looking for specific rules. A couple of my players do usually have tablets or computers up to help me find some rules on the fly though, so that helps.
I find that there's an incredible amount of trust required for OSR games. You have to feel like the GM is going to be fair and balance resolutions for the story and for the characters. I think it's a little more intimate of an experience, which I love. I feel honored that my players trust me to bring a satisfying gaming experience at my table and I don't want to betray that. It makes me be a better GM, I think.
Jeff
CritFail.Press
💉😷🌿🇺🇦🇺🇳🇪🇺Oiselarius (he/him)