Hook Us Fast

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

So, I bring back a load of indie rpgs from a convention, and I'd like to try a bunch with my local gaming group. This often doesn't happen, and when it does, it often peters out sadly.

After some thought, I have concluded that it is not because my local gaming group is intrinsically flawed. The people I play with have, by and large, compatible styles, and want enough of the same things. The people I play with, by and large, as the same as the people I socialize with.

I have a pretty smart bunch of friends, and they also have a fairly high tolerance for crunch, rules hacking, rules reading, and generally paying attention to the rules of a game. So, I am reasonably convinced that, if my fellow players tell me en masse that a rule is vague and fuzzy, they are not being astoundingly clueless.

We do, however, have limited free time. We also want our games to be fun for us. These two factors mean we won't leap to try every new game. Still, there are enough games with a good enough rep that enough of us are willing, nay, eager, to give them a go. We've tried My Life With Master, Primetime Adventures, and Sorcerer, as well as a bit of noodling with Dogs in the Vineyard and Capes, and a session of the alpha release of With Great Power.

The results have been, at best, mixed. Now, sometimes, it's a matter of what we want vs what the game provides. Sometimes, in our not so humble opinion, a given game isn't as good as it's cracked up to be. But, sometimes, there's a game that I think could work if we put more time into trying it. Makes sense, right? You don't get good at something overnight, do you?

But, we don't want to. Under the best of circumstances, a game is likely to get one shot. If it doesn't work out, well, life's too short, and there are games that do work for us.

Oh, I still think Primetime Adventure has potential, and I do hope agrumer gets off his duff and runs a game of Dogs in the Vineyard. We may well play The Shab al-Hiri Roach. I've run multiple sessions of a Sorcerer game, and I do hope to run Polaris. But, in general, if it doesn't work well the first time, there's not going to be a second time. It's like a book where, if the author doesn't hook me from the get go, I want to go on to the next one.

I don't want to hear that I need a new bunch of players. I don't want to hear that I'm not hip enough to get it. If the author can't communicate clearly enough that we get it the first time, that is the author's problem.

Comments

Indeed

[mneme]

The indie crowd has gone very heavily into tight-focus games (though I think you mis-characterize Dogs -- which is really all about putting the players into an unappetizing ethical structure and having them judge that society as much from the player perspective as from the character one...but that's still a pretty tight focus).

Not -all- the indie games are tight-focus -- Sorceror's "focus" is "you've all made some kind of double-edged bargain. Go." Whereas PTA's is even looser. But he Forge development structure very much tends to a "design what matters" process that goes very narrow and then focuses the design details around it, whereas most of us (the gamers, that is) don't really want to be told what matters so much as given a way to decide what we -want- to make matter in a game.

That said...Hero doesn't grab me mostly because of those 2 hour tactical combats. :)

Re: Indeed

[avram]

It’s the two-hour tactical character generation that gets me.

Re: Indeed

[(Anonymous)]

2 systems have failed my Smoke Test, aka Can Lisa Create a Character in the System? test.

The first was one of Palladium's games, I think Beyond the Supernatural. There was some stat I couldn't figure out how to generate.

The second was HeroQuest. I so, so, so wanted to love that game. I can't stay awake when I try to read it.

Again, not talking about flavor, mood, setting, or anything like that. I'm talking about comprehending the rules.

Re: Indeed

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Again, me. Sigh. Can comments be edited?

Re: Indeed

[jl8e]

You can always delete your comments and repost as yourself.

I've developed the habit of visiting my "My LJ" page first, because that forces me to log in.