Although I agree that less books can be good, Suilan, it’s not always possible.
I would love to get a group that was more concerned with the Story, then the Rules:
But, I am usually stuck with only a few Players at a time, and most of these are unconscious Rule lawyers, and so if I wish to be involved with the group at all, I must give some leeway to said Players. It's just easier when there is a conflict between the players, to have the Rules that are applied on hand. This prevents someone stopping all the action to argue over what can, and can’t, be done.
I can also respect that the Players want to use the Rules to create strong Characters.
The problem with this is the misunderstanding that there are different kinds of strength.
One Player that I have loves to build strong RP characters that end up having almost no power when it comes to a fight. The Gadgiteer Scientist (or exclusively Item-Creating Wizard) with their Lab. Makes a great RP Character, but place this PC in a Dungeon and he’s FUBAR-ed, since they have no access to their Lab, and can only carry a few items at a time. Most of the time, I try to keep this kind of people as NPCs: someone you go and bargain with, to get the item(s) that the Character wants, or the Party needs.
Another Player loves to build powerful combat-oriented Characters (regardless of Class), and then worries about adding RP to them. Effective? Yes. But also tends to be able to be a Party Killer if the Player is ever in the wrong mood.
I can’t get rid of either of these Players, as they make up the majority of the Group that actually shows up on a regular basis. The rest of the Players either have to deal with overwhelming IRL issues (which is understandable, and forgiven), or have other interests that take higher priority in their views – something that happens, and just has to be dealt with, or overlooked.
And just because I’m the DM, does not mean that I always get listened to.
If I’m being ignored too much as a Player, and especially as a DM, I tend to leave.
“TV is more exciting then this game, now. Later…” Sometimes this gets the other Players to stop and get back to the Game, but not always.
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But I also don’t want to have to write an entirely new version of a Game, like I had to do with
C.J. Carella’s Witchcraft.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good system, and one that I prefer over
White Wolf, but there were things that were important to more then one game, that were not even covered.
Example: The overall Armor Value and Damage Capacity that your average car has. Well. Depends on the make, model and year, that it was built. A 1956 Roadmaster is going to have a lot more durability then a 2000 Roadmaster. The 56 is made of metal siding and solid steel beams that are layered in a way that adds to the durability; where the 2K is made of plastic siding and carbon-composite fiberglass framing, which is way less durable. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a DM, I love to help new Players learn to play the Games – any of the RPGs.
Personally (as a Player) I love to take a wimpy PC and build them into a Powerhouse – and it’s the story of how they became that Powerhouse that is important to me; but I also want the other Players to have a good time, and to be involved in the same story that my Character is in – each in their own way.
Suilan a GM who is so fascinated by all the wonderful detail he researched about, say, Sigil, that he cannot restrain himself but has to tell his players everything about the town as soon as they set foot in it when they would rather explore the alley they have just entered and proceed one street at a time, deciding for themselves whether to turn left or right, and which citizen to ask for directions?
LoL. This is a hard temptation to overcome, especially when it’s a group of friends that are playing together all the time.
Funny thing is, I have more of the reverse of this, where I will go and get a Module or a Supplement, and at least one Player (and usually at least two) that has already read (if not owns) that item, and knows all about it. (Awesome! I know that there’s an Orge in Dungeon Room 3, and a Mermaid in the town’s well!!)
Ruins the excitement for me of slowly revealing it to the Group. As such, I have a really bad habit of getting these things, not telling anyone that I have it, and then going in and modifying a lot of it with custom made locations, NPCs, and VPCs. The maps stay the same, only some of the place names change.
I’ll check out 4e D&D, but am not sure how much of it I will actually buy.
But, unless I can get my own laptop computer the Virtual Gaming Table
and e-supplements are not going to be something that I am going to be able to get.
