Play is a key activity in the RPG space and a key goal of mine in 2024.
Few other activities trump play in terms of keeping the hobby alive. A crucial loss of the G+ era was the ability to have actual play be in such close proximity to the discourse and creativity around old-school D&D. The whole scene vibrated with this energy. Talk about a cool idea on Monday and by Thursday/Friday night, you had games running with those same concepts. I want to continue to evangelize that aspect. Play is the best expression of D&D. And experiences from actual play still seem to be a minority in the hobby space.
I started out running Caverns of Thracia & Forbidden Caverns of Archaia at my local game store. It proved popular as I would regularly have tables of 6-10 strangers. Wonderfully, 3 other people from that experience decided to start DMing as well. I love my present-day 2+ years experience with Miranda Elkins' Nightwick Abbey and its done a lot to make me want to get back into the DM's seat more.
But time per week will be a factor in 2024 and I want this to not be a burden on me and morph into feeling like an obligation instead of something fun. To combat this issue here is what I think is a nice setup:
100 MINUTES OF MEGADUNGEON MAYHEM
1 | Two-Hour Format
WHY: I'll be busy this year so a short session would work best for me, the DM. Also, if a player happens to join and it is not their thing, then they will not have wasted an afternoon. Here's the breakdown that is technically 120 minutes, but "100 Minutes" is a punchier sell.
- 10 min: Gather...
- 50 min: Play!
- 10 min: Break.
- 50 min: Play!
2 | Megadungeon-Focused Open-Table
WHY: With the goal of adventure crammed into 100 minutes, I think this "microcosm" would be ideal: town-to-dungeon and back again. This keeps the world simple and it can be quickly conveyed in a few moments. I think the past couple of years of Zelda, Dark Souls, Blasphomous and Darkest Dungeon games have also prepped the wider potential audience for a megadungeon environment.
Plus, I think there is great potential for a megadungeon to grow specifically through the actions of the store players. So a nice opportunity to build something that is community-specific if that makes sense? The great podcast Into The Megadungeon expounds on this.
I also want to encourage a more low-overhead version of D&D. I want to break down this idea that it requires so much prep and backstory and PC optimization. Bleh. Sit-down, roll up a PC and play!
3 | BX-based System
WHY: It's the one I know the most and would be easiest for me to run. This gets back to the whole idea of keeping this a fun activity and not an obligation. I can also add in a lot of the OSE Advanced classes for players who want that. And since I am running it at a store, Old-School Essentials might be the way to go because it is also something the store itself could stock✤.
Some possible alternatives:
- OD&D: The 50th anniversary of D&D this year would be a great time to roll this out thematically
- Shadowdark: Best option to draw 5e folks and it was inspired by BX
- Knave 2e: Just released, so a simple classless system, but might throw too many people off who want to play an elf barbarian
- Cairn: Like Knave quick and to the point especially the auto-hit combat and ablative armor (or Mork Borg)
I'll most likely use the house rules document Serpent Song Hymnal to adjudicate. I also think I'll be throwing in some recent rules I've picked up:
- If a PC fills only four equipment slots, +1 to all rolls
- Fighters have a bonus equal to their level which can be added to the to-hit roll, damage roll, or to make an extra attack with no bonus
5 | Downtime Procedures
WHY: I think downtime procedures from carousing to crafting to romancing provide (1) a sink for resources, (2) a sense of a living world, and (3) an outlet for role-play that might not quite be provided by strict dungeon crawling. Keep it simple at first, but use Downtime in Zyan to flesh out any additional needs of the table. Ben L., the author, puts it best here:
[Downtime] serves as an antidote to the relentlessly cooperative and world-focused character of OSR play by allowing PCs to develop some uniqueness and depth. It facilitates the pursuit of individual ends in addition to the collective ones. By not gating downtime behind name level play it allow players to pursue their dreams and leave their mark on the campaign world from early levels. It is also designed to be part of a virtuous circle with adventuring, so that downtime itself creates hooks and problems to be solved through adventuring, and adventuring creates the possibility of further downtime.
6 | Just Play
Hope this is an inspiration for you, dear reader, to run a game this 2024. Remember, no one knew how to do it "correctly" or the "best way" in 1974 and 50 years later I think it is still that way- just play. As Miranda so wonderfully put it:
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✤ I know that RPGs make next to nothing when compared to MtG or Warhammer. But when recently speaking with the ower of my local FLAGS, I was dismayed to learn that even 5e makes nothing for the store because most folks just come in, see the books, and buy them on Amazon.
The owner did think about pivoting more toward indies inorder to support the RPG space, but still be able to make a profit on the books.
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