Adventures are what you'd call "customer facing" creations. They are what the players interface with. Adventures are the NPCs, setting, and character challenges all rolled into one. So when a system doesn't support those, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Swords & Wizardry, and OSR game, does it right, with mechanics that support adventures built to give that old school feel. I played a dungeon crawl that included scrambled key-word puzzles, mystical portal mirrors, and a haunting little girl controlling the madness that the PCs found ourselves in. The adventure was the main feature, as it should be. Without the dungeon-crawl adventure, it's easy to see how S&Ws itemized inventory and gamey combat can be a drag compared to more "modern" systems.
My game of Fantasy AGE, on the other hand, was a homebrew adventure run by the creator. On one hand, I have to give him props for running his own thing at GenCon. That takes guts, and overall he did well enough. However, it wasn't a very interestingly designed adventure, and the players spent a lot of time digging into deeper meanings when there weren't any to be had. We got to see the system well enough, but without a proper adventure its very hard to judge how fluid the system really was. In the end, we ended up skipping rules in an effort to move the adventure along, which was disappointing.
I also went to a variety of talks, with one about puzzles and one about villains being the most valuable. Both of these things are built into adventures: very few systems have actual mechanics for designing these. A good villain can drive an entire campaign, and a good puzzle gives the party an interesting challenge that isn't tactical combat.
This all is going to be doubly important for me in the next month as I prep for this year's GrandCon. I'm running Hostargo all weekend, and I don't want to stumble as I have before with an adventure that's half-baked!
If RPG podcasts are to be trusted I've heard many times that the adventure is what gets people interested in your game. The system will keep them there. An area of caution is the GMs enthusiasm, it can be a big part of that con adventure that is hard to replicate with your home group.
ReplyDeleteVery good points. I hadn't thought about the system "keeping them there", but that rings true to me. You hook them with the adventure, but if the system keeps getting in the way, they won't want to keep going over the long term.
DeleteLikewise, GM enthusiasm is a thing I hadn't thought much about. It's just like any other blind playtest I suppose: a game can be great until it gets into the hands of someone else.
Yes, yes, I know this is really late coming and untimely as you are probably at GrandCon right now - for some reason my G+ notifications are not very prompt.
ReplyDelete"I also went to a variety of talks, with one about puzzles and one about villains being the most valuable. Both of these things are built into adventures: very few systems have actual mechanics for designing these."
That is probably the most insightful comment about RPGs I've read in years - as a story-first DM, I think I would break the bank for a system that does this well. I have been using cribbed puzzles (it helps that I love puzzles) and my own trial-and-error/read-up-other-peoples-insights villain design for years.
Does Histargo have mechanics for designing puzzles and/or villians? If so, I'd love to read them and discuss. If not, I'd be happy to discuss and help create. I imagine your three magic types would create a lot of flavors of premade puzzles and puzzle design ideas for various combinations of magic users (also another point for your sell-sheet).
I share your thoughts and no, I have not seen a lot of resources for creating good puzzles or villains. It is definitely something I plan to do now that I have had these realizations, but also no, Hostargo does not have them right now. If you have any ideas, feel free to throw them at me. Otherwise I'll definitely remember to ping you when I get to it myself! Thanks for the comment!
Delete