Entering the BiblioStein

I have for a while now not felt that I could commit to either playing or running a steady campaign. I could never be sure to have the same night open with any kind of regularity. Previously this would have relegated me to playing a faction via downtime orders. But with multiple clubs linking up and creating a means for individual characters to quickly move between multiple town/dungeon locations across varying campaigns, I suddenly had a new play option available: I could start a character without necessarily having to depend on any given club’s capacity meet my schedule.

This is cool.

And finally, after a long hiatus I could finally experience AD&D for what it’s really all about….

AD&D is about rolling percentile dice at the start of the session in front of everybody because, after all, this new character just might be a psionic.

AD&D is about getting charged by giant rats… and then telling the DM that the monsters will get their attacks for the round before they check for initiative… everybody being not sure about this… and then telling people that the phrase “Inflicting casualties without receiving any” from the morale modifiers confirms this reading of the rules.

AD&D is about hashing out when targets are randomly determined and when you get to choose.

AD&D is about asking so many questions about a dead body that the DM just threw in without thinking too much about that he finally relents and agrees that he is wearing magic-user robes, has a magic-user hat, and carries a spellbook.

AD&D is about hearing rumors of a bizarre exploit of the fire trap spell.

AD&D is about wanting to follow and interact with and know more about an NPC party you can see moving through a passage on the level below you and admitting to yourself that this is likely a TPK waiting to happen.

AD&D is about someone hearing a rumor that all characters can automatically use magic weapons regardless of what proficiencies they have and then stopping the game for five minutes to think about what “subsumed” means in this context.

AD&D is about monsters charging into battle because “Close To Striking Range” doesn’t get you any melee attacks that round.

AD&D is about getting everyone to agree that the sleep spell will take effect before the broadsword attack is rolled in the case of simultaneous initiative.

AD&D is about figuring that the guys standing guard at the entrance to the dungeon would only tax on the spot the coinage that you bring out. For jewelry and magic items they will wait for you to go sell them and then take a cut on that.

AD&D is about everybody being tired and ready to wrap up the game after making a score… and then asking the DM if there are any encounters for the group on the way out.

AD&D is about getting graded down for your play as a magic-user because you saved your one spell back in case the group really needed it.

AD&D is about wondering if the guy playing the multi-class character should get a different grade for each class role… and then not saying anything about it out loud.

It’s a great game!

As to the session, yes… as you can see, the overall thrust of the proceedings was about a table full of referees helping a novice referee become acculturated to the sprawling awesomeness of a truly baroque set of rpg rules. I remember when I was first mastering the game and it was a constant scramble to work out how rules I didn’t even know existed were supposed to work. I really hope the collective efforts and excitement of the gang helped to elucidate things overall as opposed to us geeking out so much that the game would seem impossible to get the hang of. But really… there is at least as much charm in exploring the rules as there is in exploring the underworld.

And as to that world… I think with a four hour session where the caller is making 80% of the decisions for a typical dungeon raid scenario… then what you are looking at is hopefully establishing one new thing that can become a load bearing campaign fixture that is revisited and embellished many times in future sessions.

What did we manage to carve out in this episode…? Well, we did manage to get beyond the referee’s preparations, so the game world definitely became more fully realized as a result of our efforts. We collectively blazed a trail down to the third level of the dungeon… which means that anyone privy to our map has access to a sort of dial whereby they can control the difficulty level of a particular game session. Also… we observed an NPC party passing by on the third level… and we can only wonder what it is they are up to and what will become of them. I will not stop wondering about that. I can’t stop thinking about the treasures they’ve won and the forces they have inadvertently unleashed in the process.

Now, clearly, the brief four hour game session begs the question of what can experienced players do to help novice referees that are starting a new campaign and after sitting through the proceedings and pondering this matter afterward, I have to say… it is not the time for a 47-hour lecture series on fundamental mega-dungeon design theory. I mean, yes… I am the bugbear of the rpg world, it’s true… but occasionally I endeavor to read the room.

Thinking about the session, though, and reflecting on it… I have to say that the most important thing beyond just collectively getting the hang of the core rules systems is every instance where the players ask something that is not specifically covered by the rules or the preparation and the referee is forced to use his imagination to establishing something that will be a continuing aspect of play. My thought right now is that the thing that people can do that would most help the game is to be able ask the right questions and make the right choices to cause the world to come into being more fully. (If you don’t see the opportunity to do this in session, then be on the lookout for what you can do to effect this in your down time.)

My hope for the novice referee would be that at some point each of these individual drops of spontaneous world development synthesize into something unexpected… something that feels inevitable in retrospect… and something that feels inspired. It’s liable to be different depending on the table and the referee and the group dynamics. Everyone will hopefully have a different style or emphasis or quirk. But I think it is important for referees to be on the look out for this moment and to become confident enough that they are able to seize the moment when the day finally arrives.

The game has procedures, sure. But it is devised in such a way that every decision at every step requires imagination and judgement. Most people see this as a design flaw. Most people want a computer program. Or a set narrative. But we all know that this game is capable of so much more.

And that’s a big part of why we all keep coming back to it.

And oh yeah…

I have a first level magic-user that just scored 1,325 gold pieces and 1,673 experience points. If I thought I could sit out on a second game night just because I was tired or busy, I have to now deal with the fact that there is an open table somewhere with a portal in its staring dungeon town that I can easily pop into the next time a free evening opens up.

It just got that much harder to not come back to the game…!