On Friday night, my gaming group assembled for our second game of Old School Hack. Once again, Kirin's rules really lent themselves to a breezy experience packed with humor and cinematic action. Unlike the previous session, where I pretty much ran things completely off the cuff, I decided to run the party through a predefined dungeon. In particular, I used the Karst Chantry map that I was developing for the One Page Dungeon Contest. I made use of my original DungeonWords and stocked it with subsequent rolls as the party explored the site.
This was my first attempt to run a traditional dungeon adventure in some time and I am extremely pleased with how much fun it was. It was great seeing the party come up with creative ways to navigate non-combat hazards and there was a wonderful mood of exploration. Really, I should have no complaints.
But as the session ended with only about a quarter of the dungeon explored, I felt a little uneasy and unfulfilled. I have been running episodic games for years and I believe that I have a pretty good feel for the one-shot format. One shots, in my opinion, have definite beginnings and satisfying endings. My mistake, it would seem, was not to treat this session as a one-shot.
I think I was banking on the fact that we would (I presume) continue the adventure next week. So instead of trying to steer things towards an exciting cliffhanger, I called the game due to time after the party wizard rather unceremoniously ended an what was supposed to be an epic battle by putting the minions to sleep that were on their way to get reinforcements.
With a couple of nights sleep, I can now appreciate the awesome parts of the session (and I hope to post a recap) while still remaining critical of how handled the pacing. But it does make me question my entire relationship with the dungeon format.
You see, I really had fun with the dungeon for most of the session. I long for my younger days when I could actually run a weekly game of D&D or a something similar. I've never run a true megadungeon and I think it could be a hell of a lot of fun.
But with a busy family life and friends with busy family lives, I don't have the luxury of weekly games. I need to squeeze as much out of a single session as I possibly can. And endings definitely matter, even if I suspect the adventure with continue.
OSH Armor Reconfigured
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8 comments:
Tim, your last paragraph is completely my life. Since my gaming is limited to about once a month, every thing I run is a one-shot, simply because I KNOW it can't turn into something long term...and sometimes that limitation is really frustrating.
Paramount of those limiting frustrations is the inability to see ideas fully realized over time and to have certain ideas off-limits because of the inherit scope.
I game much less often than I'd like to, and can definitely relate to wanting each game session to be significant and end on a good note.
It's too bad my gaming group is not within easy commute distance when you account for DC's insane traffic situation. I could totally swing a weeknight game otherwise.
I know what you mean, I always feel like I should end it on a cliff hanger, even if I know we will be back next week. I have really begun to like the short, few room dungeons or encounters that will clearly establish an 'end' for this week.
My last session of OSH had the anti-climatic ending of the century, all crazy insane middle leading up to boring wrap up.
Such is life.
I think your idea about treating it as a one shot makes a lot of sense; OSH is great for one-shots (as you know).
I also think that if one fully embraces the old-school megadungeon model, the DM has to pretty much forget about pacing. That has it's good and bad points, but given the format and the use of random tables, it's (purposefully) hard to script.
@Dr. Pope: I also think that if one fully embraces the old-school megadungeon model, the DM has to pretty much forget about pacing. That has it's good and bad points, but given the format and the use of random tables, it's (purposefully) hard to script.
I think you can pace dungeoncrawling, but it's more about being aware of the (real world) time and mood of the players. But the dungeon format (while awesome) really needs a regular game to get the most out of it. Wish I could have a regular game, but it's not going to happen any time soon.
While it's difficult to end a one-shot (or my two weekly sessions) on a satisfying cliffhanger, it sure looks like your role-players had fun with Old School Hack! Always leave them wanting more...
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