How can I make my games better?

[Hywaywolf]

there is a reason old school is designed the way it is and new school is the way it is. If people want to play new school style, then just play the new games. You really can't make it like a video game and expect to keep the flavor of old school. From the few times I watched/played 3.5 and 4e i come to believe that new school is lots of bells and whistles, interchangeable parts between both classes and races, super power, near invincibility, etc.. If that is what your pl;ayers want then give it to them.

But if you want them to experience old school then play old school where death at low levels is not surprising (higher levels you will spend the dough or find a way to get resurrected), where you may encounter a 12th level vampire riding a dragon guarding the entrance to the front door of your dungeon (find another way around or use a lot of paper creating new PCs), a party where every member has their niche and is needed for party survival, a game where a MU has to be meek before he can roar.

[SmootRK]

rather than making the characters take the express train to higher levels, give them role-play kudos.

For instance, after they save the princess. The Kingdom declares a holiday in their honor, they get a 'pass' on any taxation or gate tolls. Perhaps a party is held, where the characters are showered with adulation and minor gifts... all great role-playing situations... and at this party, the next 'adventure hook' occurs (bad guys crash the party or otherwise set the stage for the next set of travels and adventure for the group.

Excitement is not all about the next BAB or Saving Throw increase or next spell slot. In fact, such story type awards seem to always be much more memorable than simple things acquired via level advancement.

[xav++]

Yea maybe it seems this way to me because I've grown up on the new stuff. I've been playing 3.5 for like nine years. Also smoot that is a good point. As long as they can get through the first dungeon. hahahah

[Hywaywolf]

xav, this is an excellent article called "Quick Primer for old school gaming" I think you will find it very interesting ...

http://entertainment.lilithezine.com/Qu ... aming.html

[Steveman]

Just be awesome. No, seriously. Just be awesome. You can make mistakes, you can tell run of the mill stories with your games - but as long as you are always awesome it will always be great.

Personally, I prepare to be unprepared as well, all too often I get groups that say "bollocks off" to the plans and go down their own path - so I've had learned that I need to be ready for a trip to the moon at all times, even in level 1 campaigns where the first planned event is tracking a bandit.

[xav++]

I have been enlightened and will enlighten my players

[Solomoriah]

"Go down their own path..."

As soon as you think you know how the adventure is going to play out, you're almost certainly wrong. Once you conceive of the railroad tracks in your mind, you'll find yourself panicking when they go off of them... or trying to muscle them back on.

Don't.

A GM doesn't write story, except for BACKstory. Story is what happens when the players pick up their dice and walk into your world. Over time, you may get a knack for seeing how some adventures will play out, but a good GM learns never to count on that.

They'll overlook the obvious story hooks, miss the secret doors you're just sure they'll find, blunder into the dungeon when you expect them to talk to the locals first... and then, they'll see right through the bad guy's secret plot, find the secret door you didn't think they'd EVER find (even going so far as to TEAR DOWN THE WALL if you deny them the opportunity to discover it otherwise), and generally mess up your plans royally.

It's okay when they mess up the bad guy's plans. It's not okay when they mess up yours, because you should NOT have had plans to start with!

If you find yourself building a railroad, stop. Think it over. Why torture yourself, and/or your players, by trying to force the game to turn out just as you've foreseen? It's WAY more fun when the story is something that neither you nor they could have predicted.

[xav++]

How does one improve like that though?

[Hywaywolf]

one plays and makes their mistakes and gets better.

For what its worth, millions and millions of kids back in the 80's picked up the book, chose which of them would DM (usually the one who actually bought the book) and started playing without the internet or an established gaming community telling them how they were supposed to play. And they had a great time. It can still be done. Just don't worry about if you are doing it wrong. If you do it the way that you want and you are having fun, then you are doing it right.

[Steveman]

A GM doesn't write story, except for BACKstory.

You missed the meaning of my statement. Not every game session of every campaign can be an open-ended sandbox where the GM perfectly reacts to what the players try to do. Sometimes a GM must have something planned out, even if it is as simple as a dungeon map and a reason to be in said dungeon. I was simply remarking that all too often the players will look at all of the dangled threads and go "nope, we're gonna invent the East India Trade Company" and that being ready for any weird stuff like that to happen behooves a good GM.