The World's Largest Dungeon has killed my Conan game!

[Evilschemer]

It definitely doesn't sound like your group is into the Conan thing. You could try talking to them, asking them what they didn't like about Conan. Maybe it's something you could fix, or maybe they just aren't into the Conan style.

Hope it all works out.

Already figured that out. Next time we play Conan, if they let me, I'll know better what to do (see previous posts about starting local, recurring NPC's, sense of place, connection to setting, etc.).

Which is funny, because it's the SAME lesson I learned after trying to run Exalted for the same group. I should have applied the same lesson to Conan. Stupid me.

 

[Anonymous]

What I find amazingly, bitterly amusing (after posting some suggestions to help Schemer out over on RPG.net) is the bile and vitriol that folks seem to be spewing at the WLD.

It's pretty obvious from the postings that very few of the people complaining about it have even read the product. It's especially telling when writers like myself get told that we're brainless hacks without a shred of talent. Or that it's a meatgrinder.

Tell me - have any of the complainers published? Unlikely. Have they read the WLD? I'd guess not.

I won't say the product is perfect - far from it - but I'll happily jump into the ring to defend it as a good product. Flip through it. Read up on the sections that have multiple plots and subplots going on. No, most of it's not suitable for a Conan game (though Conan did influence the bits I wrote to a great degree), but for the love of Crom, give it a chance.

 

[sbarrie]

The World's Largest Dungeon was guest-written?

 

[Anonymous]

*laughs*

Over 22 writers worked on the WLD at various stages...so I suppose you could say that. :lol:

 

[The King]

I won't say the product is perfect - far from it - but I'll happily jump into the ring to defend it as a good product. Flip through it. Read up on the sections that have multiple plots and subplots going on. No, most of it's not suitable for a Conan game (though Conan did influence the bits I wrote to a great degree), but for the love of Crom, give it a chance.

I won't say it is a bad book, though I don't know it, but it doesn't offer the same entertainment.
Dungeon Crawling is a thing where all earlier roleplayers made their first XPs. But you can't play political or strategical intrigues there.
In fact the setting is quite limitative as what you can do. That is most probably the reason of all the critics.

 

[Anonymous]

I won't say it is a bad book, though I don't know it, but it doesn't offer the same entertainment.
Dungeon Crawling is a thing where all earlier roleplayers made their first XPs. But you can't play political or strategical intrigues there.
In fact the setting is quite limitative as what you can do. That is most probably the reason of all the critics.

A last comment, at the risk of hijacking the thread further - I'll agree they're two different experiences, but I'll counter by also saying that the intrigue is there. I just couldn't write a straight-up crawl.

 

[Evilschemer]

We started it last Friday. We barely got our toes wet.

Funny anecdotes:

We're 1st level characters starting out in the 1st level sector of the dungeon. So, what do we encounter?

A blue dragon! A titan! And a death trap with no saving throw! Yay, 1st level!

Well, not really. The blue dragon was to get us to flee into the dungeon and not retreat. The titan turned out to be dead. And what appeared to be a death trap was just a one-way portal. However, to us paranoid players, they were no-less scary when we first encountered them.

Also, our GM said when he first saw it in the store, he thought "Cute." but wasn't going to buy it until he overheard someone else in the store say to his friends "Yeah, it's cool. I got a Total Party Kill in room #3!" At which point, he HAD to buy it.

So, after going past the dead titan (I figure Room #1), and the empty room (I figure Room #2), we were standing outside the black one-way force field doorway. Not knowing what lay beyond or whether the forcefield was, indeed, a death trap that led to our dooms, we decided to take a chance and blindly push on. At which point, I reminded the other players:

"You do realize, that the titan was room #1, this is room #2, and by alla ccounts, this entrance leads to 'Room #3'?!"

Many shudders ran through the rest of the players.

 

[Sutek]

I will never understand the two-dimensional "party kill" style of GMing.

Not dissing anyone; I just don't get where it's "fun"...

 

[JimHague]

Chris, you've got my sympathies, you really do - A's a rough Region and not, IMO, the best lead in to the cooler stuff in the WLD. I'm with Sutek on GM style - where's the point of arbitrarily killing off PCs?

 

[Evilschemer]

I'm not complaining. I know we're only in the first 1/100th of the dungeon, but so far it's been fun. The scary stuff in the beginning just served to put us on edge, which was great and did it's job for a 1st level part of the dungeon.

Most of our fun, of course, has been from role-playing our characters and nothing to do with the dungeon itself. Though the sheer uncertainty of our fates with the black force-field was great tension-filled fun!

 

[Sutek]

I assume you guys are playing D&D and not Conan going thru that thing. Using Conan you're liable to be paste before sub-level 5. :lol:

 

[The King]

I won't say it is a bad book, though I don't know it, but it doesn't offer the same entertainment.
Dungeon Crawling is a thing where all earlier roleplayers made their first XPs. But you can't play political or strategical intrigues there.
In fact the setting is quite limitative as what you can do. That is most probably the reason of all the critics.

A last comment, at the risk of hijacking the thread further - I'll agree they're two different experiences, but I'll counter by also saying that the intrigue is there. I just couldn't write a straight-up crawl.

Wouldn't you try there to tempt away Sword and Sorcery fans from Conan RPG in favour of the World's Largest Dungeon? :wink:

 

[JimHague]

Wouldn't you try there to tempt away Sword and Sorcery fans from Conan RPG in favour of the World's Largest Dungeon? :wink:

Nah. Plenty of room out there for both. WLD has some Regions that're suitable for S&S, but there's a lot that simply aren't. fortunately, it's designed to be modular, so you can take it apart and use everything individually.

 

[Evilschemer]

I assume you guys are playing D&D and not Conan going thru that thing. Using Conan you're liable to be paste before sub-level 5. :lol:

We're actually using a strange hybrid of Conan d20 and D&D d20 created by the GM. His name is Trevor so we call it "t20".

It's 90% straight D&D, but with Defense Bonus and damage-reducing armor. He's also gutted the skill system, reducing it to about 10 skills. No skill points, you get your class skills at level +3, plus two additional +3's anywhere you want (either +6 to a class skill for a total of +9, +3 each to two class skills, +3 each to two cross-class skills, one cross-class at +6, or one cross-class and one class each at +3).

 

[Sutek]

That's better. (hehe) I just figured if your group was using the damage system in Conan it was probably goin gto be an inordinantly short campaign.

 

[Michka]

You are absolutly correct, Guest. I didn't read any of the game. That's because it was sealed in shrink wrap and the back of the book had no text. At $100, I'd sure like to know something about the product before I buy it. As for the mean spirited posts, well those were uncalled for. I wrote a really nasty one earlier and for that I apologize. I am unpublished and I have no intention to be published. That doesn't give me the right to attack your product.

 

[JimHague]

I got lucky with WLD - being a contributing author, I (finally) got my comp copy. Be happy to answer any questions regarding it (within reason, and with spoiler warnings for Schemer's sake), too.

Speaking of Schemer...does Trevor have the house rules written up? I'd truly dig on seeing those as a document, considering I'll be taking on another fantasy campaign in the near future, in addition to my own Dark Thuria Conan game.

 

[Evilschemer]

Trevor's got the weapons list, armor list, and list of weapon proficiencies and skills, and created a new character sheet. But I think that's just about it.

He's modified the weap prof rules. Now instead of just simple, martial, and exotic, there's short bladed, medium bladed, long bladed, hafted, chains, etc.

There are two new saving throws: Luck (CHA), and Breath Weapon (INT).

I'll see if I can get the e-files for the lists and sheets he's created.

 

[The King]

...There are two new saving throws: Luck (CHA), and Breath Weapon (INT).

Does it mean every character can now breath fire or something like that ? :lol:
It wouldn't be that silly because it is a special move in the Hercules & Xena RPG (which uses D6 Legend).

 

[sbarrie]

I will never understand the two-dimensional "party kill" style of GMing.

Not dissing anyone; I just don't get where it's "fun"...

Yeah, I much prefer the four-dimensional party kill. There's nothing like the look in your players' eyes when they realize they let their enemy travel back in time to kill their parents before they were born.


Seriously, when player's turn to each other after a TPK and say "I guess that was pretty obvious in hindsight", it's a good kill. Everybody will remember it. Or if they realize what horrible thing is going to happen just before it's too late. (Just after it's too late is fun too)