Today we played two and a half hours of *Torchbearer*. We had three players and started out with me playing the warrior, Johannes playing the halfling and Harald playing the dwarf. Pascal was running the game for us. It involved a kid disappearing into a tomb. We crawled into the tomb, got up, advanced down the corridor and met four skeletons. We went for a *kill conflict* and started with a disposition of 10 vs. 5 but by the second volley we were down to four and we just barely managed to avoid a total party kill. My warrior escaped, badly wounded, got lost in a swamp, was led astray by green flames dancing in the distance and nearly drowned.
We wound two replacement characters (the cleric and the magic user) and then we went there again. We realized that going for a kill was dangerous and tried a *trick conflict*. Again, we started with a disposition of 9 vs. a lot less, and within a few volleys we had lost. We were driven off by the skeletons never to return...
And that was that. We liked some ideas *in theory*. We liked the grind. We liked the light rules. We liked how encumbrance worked. But as soon as the conflict started, we got disconnected from the fiction. Attack, Defend, Feint and Maneuver—it was dry, hard to picture, very abstract, and we lost. And then we started noticing that the other systems didn’t seem to make a difference or didn’t result in a play experience more entertaining compared to using classic D&D.
We’ll be playing something different next indie night.
#RPG #Indie
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Some discussion on Google+.
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A thread on the forum for the same dungeon that went very differently: Dread Crypt of Skogenby.
And here’s a thread on the same dungeon where Luke advises: “Take care in the first conflict. The players may blithely walk into a Kill conflict and can easily lose (and thus get killed). So, go easy on them there. Don’t Feint!”. Advice for Dread Crypt of Skogenby? I also like the game master’s summary after the game: “The players didn’t much care for the rules. The main complaint was ’way too many moving parts!’, with the opinion that the same sort of effect could have been gotten with a smaller and more cohesive ruleset [...].” Very much like our reaction. The same game master later ran a different game which went much better, apparently. Second time's the charm: spider-killing for fun and profit.
Advice for Dread Crypt of Skogenby?
Second time's the charm: spider-killing for fun and profit
– Alex Schroeder 2014-03-25 11:05 UTC
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I’ve GMed Torchbearer thrice now; twice the starting scenario from the book in person and once the one you guys played on Google+. The first time went horribly wrong with players mostly into OSR games. The third one was also a failure, although not as big as the first one. The second one, however, was an ultimate success. Granted, I explained every rule thoroughly and made sure everybody understood what was what and how it worked; they really enjoyed the game, especially the conflict rules.
– Ynas Midgard 2014-03-25 11:38 UTC
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I’m sure this works for many people. As for myself, I need to ask myself the question: how many times must I have tried it before I confidently say, that it is not for me? After running a few sessions of Burning Wheel (campaign wiki), a one-shot at a convention, a session of Blossoms are Falling, and playing a few sessions of Mouseguard and buying at least six books, and trying to read Burning Empires, I must finally confront the Ugly Truth: where as I like the writing and the promise of these games, they fail me at the table.
– Alex Schroeder 2014-03-25 14:11 UTC
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As I was reading Ramanan's Google+ post and the comments, I went looking for those threads where Luke and Thor reported on their B/X D&D gaming.
“We’ve been playing D&D at BWHQ for the past four months...” on Google+
“I’m sort of embarrassed by how excited I am about this little tale of dungeon exploration...” on Story Games
– Alex Schroeder 2014-03-26 12:50 UTC