Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Parallel Universe D&D

I think every Dungeon Master could benefit from this idea.  Instead of calling it Dungeons & Dragons, call it something else.  Mazes & Monsters, Demons & Sorcery, Dark Towers, Scourge of the Crimson Wyrm, etc.  Whatever you want... because this game is just like the fantasy RPGs you're familiar with, except that there are no written rules!  But don't worry, if things go well, you'll be creating a home-made reference of guidelines as you game.  The DM should come prepared with an hour's worth of notes (this is not an exercise in RPG design - so don't go overboard).  He creates the game and lays down the law... influenced by player input, of course.

When something comes up, the DM makes a ruling.  He's free to ask the players their thoughts, and listen to their suggestions; however, it's still the Dungeon Master's game.  Nevertheless, I encourage the DM and players to reach some kind of compromise a majority of the time.

"What's my Elf like?"  "What powers does he have?"  "How does magic work?"  Everything that hasn't been considered in the hour or two beforehand, must be briefly considered (3 second rule!) and adjudicated right then and there.  No looking anything up in a book, deck of cards, online, or anything else  - that kind of thing is forbidden!  This session is a rulebook free zone.

What kind of game will evolve from such an experience?  How will this game be different than your usual D&D, Pathfinder, Warhammer, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Dragon Age, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, Burning Wheel, Houses of the Blooded, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game, etc.  As DM, you should absolutely feel free to borrow a game mechanic or rule from RPGs you know and love - just as long as it's from memory.  But, on the other hand, you're not bound by anything as there is no rule book to look at.  You're free as the cold northern winds to do as you please.

Maybe you want to start with a version of Amber's attribute auction, take the career options from Warhammer, the rolling doubles stunt mechanic from Dragon Age, the possibility of mercurial magic and corruption from Dungeon Crawl Classics, giving narrative control to players like Houses of the Blooded, add Call of Cthulhu's sanity mechanic, post-apocalyptic vehicular combat from some kind of Dark Sun Car Wars hybrid, and the rest (as far as your memory serves) from AD&D.

This exercise is about giving us license to roleplay according to our will, without being bound to tables, charts, or having to interpret the judicial language of arcane tomes.  It's all fast and furious; fueled by the raw, instinctual fire of our collective imaginations.

Not sure which way to go?  Let the dice decide!  Or pick another randomization method.  The DM could think of a number and whoever correctly guesses it gets to decide how a fireball spell works or the chances of a cleric receiving divine intervention (remember, it works both ways - the monsters and villains encountered have fireballs and clerics, too!).  Do you want to get away from randomness?  Vote on it like a democracy (maybe the DM gets two votes and each player gets one?).

This is your opportunity to break away from conventions - and those insufferable rules lawyers!  If this concept scares you just a little bit, that's all the more reason to go for it!  Hey, it's an experiment.  Give yourself permission to screw it up.  If it's a roaring success like you just rolled a crit with a vorbal blade, you'll realize the awful truth - the rules never mattered as much as you thought they did.

One session should gauge your on-the-fly competence in regards to Mastery of the Game.  Want to see how far the demon-rabbit hole goes?  Play another session of Crimson Sorcery & Dungeon Wyrm!  You'll be amazed at how the game organically evolves over time... until it feels like you're finally playing your game.  After several adventures, the table can't help but roleplay differently.  Not necessarily better or worse, but more intuitively.


VS

10 comments:

  1. Great post! This kind of game is all to the good.

    I had some thoughts similar to this recently. I was considering a beach trip with some friends, and the thought came up, "what happens if it rains the whole time"?

    I think I could run a D&D/S&W type game with nothing but dice, paper, & pencils. Not even maps, let the players draw the maps as I describe whatever come to mind.

    Heck, a lot of the rolls in my S&W game are just "roll the dice and see what happens" high means good, low means bad, middle means both.

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  2. Indeed, Rob! A percentile roll can tell us a lot about a situation.
    Thanks for commenting.

    VS

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  3. Just out of curiosity, have you seen Dungeon World?

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    1. I've been educating myself over the last 24 hours. Yeah, some aspects are similar... like when players describe the history of their favorite weapon complete with Dwarves, Dragons, and Drow - then those things suddenly exist in the game world.

      However, I'm of the opinion that a lot of these emo/forge/storygames create pockets of meta-game artificiality in their attempt to make play more narrative. That bothers me a bit.

      And yet, I can see myself incorporating a couple elements of Dungeon World into my own campaign, even if I can't imagine myself ever running a DW game.

      Thanks for the comment, Brennan!

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  4. Do I really want to be this free? I am not sure but I might give it a shot.

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    1. Freedom is liberating but also scary. Yes, give it a shot, Chris! And tell us what happened after the session.

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  5. Sounds very much like a Apocalypse World/Dungeon World environment with a free-form combat system and a less orchestrated Magical Sysytem. I like it and would be willing to play in a game based on a system like this. Very verbal without or very limited in mapping and figures/tokens.

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    1. Indeed, J! Very free-form. Even more so than AW/DW. See my reply to Brennan's comment above.

      If the DM wants to use lots of maps, miniatures, and visual aid, that's his prerogative. If you ever run or play in a game like this, please let me know!

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