Troll Lord Games

So I was working on getting my new campaign going and spent most of the weekend making notes digging through old maps and other stuff. I had decided to set it in the Wilderlands to try something new. Then it hits.

I can't think, ideas lock up and I'm lost for a starting point. SO I takes me a break and put the WL stuff up and look at the Haunted Highlands. Again no dice. I look at Yggsburgh and things flow a bit better so it goes into the use pile. Something is tickling the back of my mind and I don't want to go there. So I grab my Codex of Erde and look around it and my brain locks up again.

So I cave, after 16 years of running this I wanted to take some time off. Explore other settings, see what else is out there. But no, I think this easier, it flows better and dammit I have some good ideas here.

So after about a years hiatus I'm back to running FR again. Seems like after you run a setting that long you get tuned to it.
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Yeah, same here. I have run Dragonlance and Ravenloft for so many years, that I cannot seem to do any justice to any other fantasy settings, as hard as I try. That, and I guess I am getting old

*chuckles* I know your pain. I'm generally the same way but with Greyhawk.

Usually, the only way I can break the mold is by running a published campaign arc such as the Dragonlance Age of Mortals books or currently Pathfinder.

Other then that? I'll get the ball rolling elsewhere and pack it up for Greyhawk after only a brief time.

Another problem I have discovered when I'm running C&C campaigns is that as it goes on I have to really struggle to not revert to AD&D.

The longer a C&C campaign lasts, the more I think I'd prefer to be running it with AD&D.

Oddly enough, I don't have that problem with d20. I think I view it as a different game than actual D&D so the temptation is not there. With C&C however, it feels enough like AD&D that it actually makes me want to play AD&D instead.

DangerDwarf wrote:
Another problem I have discovered when I'm running C&C campaigns is that as it goes on I have to really struggle to not revert to AD&D.

You are not the only one, DD. I feel the same with AD&D and Classic D&D. In fact, I am about re-starting a Dragonlance game with Mentzer

Yeah. It gets kinda hard sometimes to stay C&C as I think I prefer many of the ways things were done in previous editions of D&D.

2nd Edition usually has the biggest draw to me because most of my gaming has been done using that system. Mentzer is also a big temptation as well as that is how I got started in gaming.

And actually, my wife isn't even babysitting today so we have the house completely to ourselves until school lets out. I think I might break out the old Mentzer stuff and see if she's up for some old basic fun.

DangerDwarf wrote:
And actually, my wife isn't even babysitting today so we have the house completely to ourselves until school lets out. I think I might break out the old Mentzer stuff and see if she's up for some old basic fun.

Dude, with an empty house, I've got to hope that your wife is up for some "old basic fun" that has nothing to do with old Mentzer stuff. Priorities, man!

We always make time for the other basic fun. So, never any complaints there. Finding time for gaming however, isn't something that always happens.

DangerDwarf wrote:
2nd Edition usually has the biggest draw to me because most of my gaming has been done using that system.

I got started with 2nd edition. And yeah, I know the draw to it. However I tried to run a modified version of it using differing concepts and went backt o C&C. But, I still use alot of material from 2nd in my games.
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It's not that uncommon. Being familiar with a setting makes everything so much easier. You don't have to look up every information, you know the general politics of the world, the religions, important facts and places, NPC's. Plus there's all this stuff that you have created yourself.

I think that most GMs use only one setting because of these reasons. Convenience and familarity.

True. However I am going to be changing things up a bit. The Realms as we knew it are going to have some serious problems soon.
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Julian Grimm wrote:
True. However I am going to be changing things up a bit. The Realms as we knew it are going to have some serious problems soon.

You'll preparing the stage for the 4th edition changes?

Nope. but I will get the 4e setting book. However I'm going to play off Obulds invasion of the north and reshape the northern pantheon a bit. Have Obuld be the trigger for some tensions that were brewing when we stopped using FR.
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SirClarence wrote:
You'll preparing the stage for the 4th edition changes?

Kind of. I believe he is referring to an idea James Mishler gave him over on the Necromancer boards in the Wilderlands forum.
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The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

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That's part of it. It's a mix of the fallout from the Hunter's Blade Trilogy and idea from Faiths and Pantheons concerning Lathander, Jame's idea, The situation in western Faerun at the end of our last campaign* and some things I wanted to do for awhile.

*This saw Zhent operations crumble at Semmemons leaving of the Zhentarum and our PC's smashing the infastructure of the western Zhent operations. There have been grumblings and sabre rattlings between Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. When we quit some skirmishes had begun. Also the high forest became home to a red dragon of considerable age.

So with a brewing war, the vacum created by the Zhent fall and Obulds invasion things in NW Faerun are destablizing quickly.
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My big reason I like using new settings is that is my way to explore new things. So its kind of an adventure for me to go on, then drag my players through what I discovered.
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The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

DangerDwarf wrote:
Another problem I have discovered when I'm running C&C campaigns is that as it goes on I have to really struggle to not revert to AD&D...it feels enough like AD&D that it actually makes me want to play AD&D instead.

Wow, so I'm not the only one? I was experiencing the exact same thing, especially since I was making heavy use of my old D&D books with C&C. I'd made quite a few house-rules to C&C that made it more like the old systems (surprise, saving throws, movement, etc). Then I ran game with Holmes/OD&D rules, as an experiment, and it hooked me, hard.

(None of this has changed my opinions on C&C: I think it's a great system, and I run two C&C games. But I've also found there's still some magic in those first loves.)
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Lost City Campaign Log

Yeah, I ended up running a session of BECMI D&D for just my wife today. Running around B2 as a starting point.

Was meant to be just a little 1 shot for fun, going after the raider encampment in the module. We had a blast.

This was the first time my wife ever played the old basic D&D. She absolutely loved it and wants to do another session this evening. She's playing an elf, and gets a kick out of the fact that its just "Elf" as her class.

I've pulled out the RC now and am refreshing myself.

I'll still be running my C&C RotR campaign, but looks like I got a second mini game that will be ongoing as well using D&D.

For me C&C had the opposite effect, we tried a 2E campaign and it just felt too awkward, tried a 3E game and just too many rules, so system wise I'm pretty much set with C&C (using houserules to fine tune it).

As for settings I've never had much luck running campaigns in established settings, I tried the Realms several times, GH, Known World, but nothing ever really stuck.
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I think the hardest setting for me to run games in is Dragonlance.

I absolutely *LOVE* the setting. But I have problems running games there a lot of the time. Most of my fantasy reading is DL books and I think I'm too finickey with DL, trying to make it perfect that I defeat myself.

I hate that. Now, the few long running campaigns I have run there have been some of my most memorable by the players. I just wish I had more success and quit defeating myself when running a DL game.

Regardless of what setting you use, as long as the players are having a good time, the CK will end up having a good time. This means you;ll be having a good game! Isn't that what really counts afterall?

As a CK, I strive to never use the same campaign setting two times in a row. The reason for this is that it helps you as a CK expand your gaming palatte, and helps overall to develope as a CK. It also helps from getting campaigns to fall into a stagnant phase (at least for me). New settings can really add some new zing to old hat. A lot of times, good players can play off that and make for a unique feel to the game.

These are some important aspects to consider. However, no other aspect is as good as having good old, FUN!

............................................Omote

FPQ
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I'm kind of this way about home-brew settings... Despite my love of Greyhawk I mostly only end up reading GH stuff (well, that and stealing bits here and there!). I'll probably end up doing the same with Yggs and the Castle.

But since the beginning I've run my own worlds, it's what I'm used to and I really don't feel I know any setting well enough... With a home-brew I can always add in details, etc.; with a published setting I always feel a certain fear that I'm forgetting or over-writing something (and there have been a few occasions where I've tried to run a published setting and missed something the players thought was really important and where basing their play around...)

It's funny, back when I started playing AD&D several DMs used the maps from the first Greyhawk box (and, boy, did I ever love that map!), but no-one (at least IIRC) was actually using the setting as written. I think who-ever's box the map came out of, they where either purely a player or else they just never got around to reading the books, or something... Everyone else would just grab the map and point... (Of course, having to be different, I had a {tiny} campaign world that was based off of the maps in B2, and which, er... "changed"... a bit each time I lost the maps and had to re-draw them! )
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My heart is black, and my lips are cold

Cities on flame with rock and roll

Three thousand guitars they seem to cry

My ears will melt, and then my eyes

~ Blue yster Cult

A bit o' history here. When I started AD&D we were basically in our own homebrew setting. Then after I got my books and started running a game of my own I found the Grey Box. It wasn't long before my game became a Realms game and I ended up running two or three games there in High School.

So fast forward to me getting back in with 3e and I wanted a familiar place to start so I get the 3e FR set and ran some camopaigns there. So basically since my beginnings of the hobby in the late 80's early 90's era I have been using FR as a base for my games.

Now I decide to take a break from FR and see what else is out there. I mean what good is my other settings if I don't use them? Sadly every time I tried a game in any other setting it crashed. So my familiarity and logevity is with FR. With successes in Yggsburgh as well. So I decided to combine my sucesses and go from there.

Maybe I'll get lucky to get playtime in another setting and get a feel that way.
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DangerDwarf wrote:
Yeah, I ended up running a session of BECMI D&D for just my wife today. Running around B2 as a starting point.

Was meant to be just a little 1 shot for fun, going after the raider encampment in the module. We had a blast.

This was the first time my wife ever played the old basic D&D. She absolutely loved it and wants to do another session this evening. She's playing an elf, and gets a kick out of the fact that its just "Elf" as her class.

I've pulled out the RC now and am refreshing myself.

I'll still be running my C&C RotR campaign, but looks like I got a second mini game that will be ongoing as well using D&D.

same here! I started with my wife a basic D&D campaign. It was meant to be a "one-off" in the Dragonlance setting, but she enjoyed it so much, that she asked to play other games. So, I am "retrofitting" my Dragonlance material to classic D&D.