My old gaming group (and still close knit group of friends) has started shaking the tree regarding "playing D&D again". Now the core of the group is still based in NYC, but we have others in Texas and Washington State that were added during the MMORPG years.
As a gaming group, we broke up due to the usual commitments - work, family, the complicated lives that adults live, but we transitioned to MMORPGs as it allowed us to game from home and get the most out of our limited free time. I remember waking up at 430 on a Sunday morning to play the original Everquest until about 1030 / 1100, when family commitments would start to come into play).
Many systems were tried, and now we are largely fragmented - heck, I hardly play MMORPGs these days myself.
So I was surprised to get emails inquiring about me running a D&D game for them via G+ Hangouts. I suggested OSRIC or BFRPG (damn cheap on Amazon) - they responded with either AD&D 1e or the new fangled D&D Essentials. Yes, they've been out of the loop for a while. They want to play "real D&D, like it was 25 years ago" and somehow the clones don't make that connection (despite me putting copies in many of their hands over the years - from C&C to OSRIC and others in between) but 4e Essentials did in their mind.
Amazing the power of "The Brand".
Needless to say, I put my foot down on the "4e Idea" ;)
Time will tell if this idea takes root. If it does, I'll be running a second campaign on Friday nights. I'll need to smooth things over with the Wife Goddess ahead of time... heh
I know I don't need to say it, but go 1E, young man!!! ;-) I bet it feels good to get the old band back together, eh? I am jealous! Hope you can pull it off, good luck and have fun!
ReplyDeletei already run a steady saturday night 1e / OSRIC game - 1e is good for me (although I did mention BFRPG too)
DeleteI've been trying to pull this off since the days of Fantasy Grounds 1 ;)
ReplyDeleteThe difference is that now THEY are trying to pull this off...
It would be awesome to get the old group back together again! I have tried a few times over the years but nothing ever happened. I do have some interest from 2 of the old group and 1 new guy so it just might happen.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteDid they actually *read* essentials?
ReplyDeletenope - they never read it - just read some review somewhere
DeleteRun them through a Dungeon Crawl Classics 0-level funnel. If they still want to play 4e after that, there is no hope.
ReplyDeletei would go DCC RPG, but that's a heavy investment for bringing a group back to the table
DeleteWait, you say OSRIC, they say no, 1e? They do know that like you saying sprinkles, and they say, no, jimmies?
ReplyDeleteSome of my group was reluctant to anything that didn't say "D&D" on it, too. My sales pitch for ACKS before we started playing must have been pretty good, as no one whined about it and everyone is enjoying the game.
Playtest D&D Next. I like D&D 4E, but the Next playtest is, IMHO, better.
ReplyDelete