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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

My favorite "style" of old-school game

In general, I prefer a city setting. I actually had the most fun D&D gaming when we were in Waterdeep, but the DM was running the game like we were Shadowrunners instead of your standard D&D party. I know there is a fair amount of overlap, but Shadowrun has a distinct feel compared to D&D. We had a guy we met in taverns (our "fixer") who gave us missions, and we got paid in gold instead of nuyen.

Some of our missions were not very nice. We broke into places, kidnapped a noble's son, and robbed a couple merchant houses. But instead of using smart-linked Ares Predators, we had fireballs and longswords. It was a lot of fun. I haven't played in a D&D campaign like that since the mid-90's, but I will never forget it.

I'm thinking of running something like that the next time I get a gaming group together. I will focus on the street gangs, the taverns, and a couple mysterious people who need work done by discriminating adventurers. And I am not going to include alignment in the game, which I think will really change the players outlooks. I will keep stuff like Angels are good and Demons are evil, but alignment doesn't matter for normal people.

3 comments:

Timeshadows said...

Excellent.
--I concur.

Have you seen Privateer Press Iron Kingdoms setting for 3.5?
--In particular, I think you may enjoy the Five Fingers setting book.

https://store.privateerpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6534

Dan said...

I have heard of that city book. I might pick it up. I was not hugely impressed with their character guide (though I LOVE their art). They had really wonky stats on a number of things. But, now I wish I'd kept it, as I don't really use 3e anymore.

Timeshadows said...

They weren't thrilled using 3.x as the system, but at the time it was the only money-maker.
--As of today, to the best of my knowledge, they've yet to find a replacement system, or create their own which is in line with their MKII Warmachine/Hordes minis rules.

I agree with your assessment of the stats, but the world and art are among the best out there, IMO, and Douglas Seacat is a really cool guy and good writer.

If I find a lower price on Five Fingers I'll let you know.