[Shadowrun] What's wrong here?

[ffilz]

I find they just don't sit easily with each other. See, the exploration (and it's required adlibbing) doesn't tend to create interesting conflict without focus on that. And if the GM focuses on making tactically interesting conflict, it kills off exploration since were not finding out about the world, were just finding out what the GM thinks is a good challenge.

This is what gets me curious about what happened to power the enjoyable Rune Quest campaign I had, because I think both things were happening. But I'm not sure if it was luck, or what. If it wasn't luck, I think it's worth trying to figure out what elements drove it to be able to repeat the experience.

If you want to expand on my experiences, please see this thread.

Frank

[Rob Alexander]

Hi all

I'm a bit overwhelmed with the volume of replies in this thread, plus the various ones you've all linked to. So please, don't any of you be offended if I don't manage to come up with a reply to your post. Thanks to all of you for the great response...not being too sure about the Forge etiquette I was worried I'd get an icy reception.

....and if you do make it to Dragonmeet in London, I can guarantee you a game of Heroquest. I and a few others will be running demo's under the Masters of Luack and Death banner.

I'll have to see how things pan out...but I should be able to take you up on your offer.

Crikey, you'll be a fine narratavist gm with that mindset!

Thanks....I hope you're right!

[gsoylent]

I was a bit stuck for a character at the start, so I settled on a Street Samurai based on the character 'Ghost Dog' from the movie of the same name. Throughout the run, I had real trouble "getting into character" - I just couldn't work out how he'd talk or what he'd do. Towards the end, I just started playing him as a "big, well-meaning dumb guy" which worked for laughs but wasn't what I'd intended at all.

The first session was okay, and a bit of a novelty, but the rest of them I found deathly dull.

About the only exceptions were the fights, maybe four significant ones in the whole run. As soon as a fight started, I "came online" and was very invested in what was going on.

May I just point the obvious? If you are playing the big, dumb street samurai, it sort of make sense that you only "come online" during combat.

Also, as with most anything, playing with strangers is never going to be much fun.

[Eric Provost]

Also, as with most anything, playing with strangers is never going to be much fun.

Um.. yeah.  Most anything except a well-designed game.  You know, Like Dogs in the Vineyard or Capes.

... or darts

... or air hockey

... or football, soccer, basketball, gin, poker, monopoly, risk, pictionary, clue, craps, The Settlers of Cataan, Fluxx, Zombies!, hearts, spades, war, stratego, paintball, mahjongg, chess, checkers, scrabble, boggle, dominoes, go, yahtzee, backgammon,...

Oh wait... most game are fun to play with strangers.  It's just the games that are poorly written that are problematic, because you've got to learn how to play them all over again with every group you meet.

Like... D&D, Shadowrun, L5R, GURPS, Rifts, Vampire, Mage, Werewolf, Changeling, Call of Cthulhu,...

-Eric

[gsoylent]

No need for sarcasm. I think it's pretty obvious most people would choose to play a boardgame with friends. In fact the whole puprose of playing the boardgame in many instances is to be with with friends.  That's what games are about.

Sports are a bit different. You play to get better, play to keep fit. When you are that focused the social aspect can be secondary.

This goes even more for a roleplaying games because when you play an rpg you are a lot more exposed than say, when playing Monopoly.

Sure there will be times circumstances force you to make the effort and join new gaming group, but if after a while you don't click with the people, it becomes pretty pointless.

Also, as with most anything, playing with strangers is never going to be much fun.

Um.. yeah.  Most anything except a well-designed game.  You know, Like Dogs in the Vineyard or Capes.

... or darts

... or air hockey

... or football, soccer, basketball, gin, poker, monopoly, risk, pictionary, clue, craps, The Settlers of Cataan, Fluxx, Zombies!, hearts, spades, war, stratego, paintball, mahjongg, chess, checkers, scrabble, boggle, dominoes, go, yahtzee, backgammon,...

Oh wait... most game are fun to play with strangers.  It's just the games that are poorly written that are problematic, because you've got to learn how to play them all over again with every group you meet.

Like... D&D, Shadowrun, L5R, GURPS, Rifts, Vampire, Mage, Werewolf, Changeling, Call of Cthulhu,...

-Eric

[Ron Edwards]

Hi guys,

I'm the judge of courtesy here, not you. If you have an issue with someone's tone or phrasing, send me a private message and keep it off the boards.

Rob (Alexander), this thread is wandering a little. Do you think it's met, or is meeting, what you want from it? I suggest that we need to focus this one better or let it end here.

Best,
Ron

[Lamorak33]

No need for sarcasm. I think it's pretty obvious most people would choose to play a boardgame with friends. In fact the whole puprose of playing the boardgame in many instances is to be with with friends.  That's what games are about.

Hi GSoylent - do you have a name we can call you by?

You seem like your pretty new to the Forge, and as a newbie myself, welcome, if you haven't been welcomed before. Although Eric made a point a little, well, I won't get into that - he did have a point of sorts. When I came to the Forge I went straight to the Articles section, read the Glossary, GNS articles and System Does Matter. However, I was advised to do so before I had actually visited the Forge. Others may come by other routes.

If you have read and digested the above articles and read Eric's post again, I think you might understand what he was getting at.

If you have any questions then fire away, but you may wish to start a new thread. Forge etiquette requires that threads don't wander 'too' much. Make sure you read the stickies on the front of each Forum to minimise those 'doh!' moments.

Best regards
Rob

[Rob Alexander]

Ron Edwards:

Rob (Alexander), this thread is wandering a little. Do you think it's met, or is meeting, what you want from it? I suggest that we need to focus this one better or let it end here.

Well, I've got a lot of ideas and observations out of this thread that I'd like to take some time to think about. So in that sense it's been good, yeah.

But I don't really have any particular ideas for focussing it now. My brain is a bit overloaded with all of this and the other threads I've been reading. So probably best to stop it here before it goes all wobbly and vague.

Thanks everybody for your comments and advice, and for making a newbie feel welcome.