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Ivellius
2011-11-28, 11:24 AM
I moved about half a year ago and have slowly been trying to build a gaming group from scratch. I know of a handful of other gamers in the area (and some of us are playing in a Star Wars RPG), but I like to grow the hobby and have tried targeting people who haven't played much before. I live in a college town, so there's a good pool of potential players.

Well, last night I wanted to have another short session in the World of Warcraft RPG--but projects have made most students really busy (including myself), so I only had two players. I tried asking around but couldn't find any others, so one dragged his girlfriend into it. And my wife, wanting to be a polite hostess and not let her feel left out, decided to join us as well. Now, the one time she'd played before she really didn't like it, and she's not much of a board gamer in general. I'd planned on running a bit more...grim scenario, but scrambled around at the last minute to adapt the "Something's Cooking" adventure found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b&page=1). I figured a less serious adventure would go over better with the women.

And you know what? It did. (Even if they killed a helpless guy at the end...ack, don't know what they were thinking.) My wife said she had fun with it, and I think she would continue to play as long as I can keep the mood lighter. Fostering this would be a good thing, I think, but I have a couple of issues.

First, I prefer a "higher" feel to my games. I can adapt, but one of the things that pulls me into RPGs is that heroic epic sense, that I (or my players) am being a hero and making a difference in the world. Is there advice people would offer to blend the two somehow? I know that WoW is frequently a light-hearted game (Cataclysm seems darker, from what little I played of it, but ah well), so it's probably better suited to that style than some. But I like creating backstories for characters and wonder if there's a way I can slowly get players invested into theirs (we've been using pre-made ones so far).

Second, time is always a factor, and I'm not sure I'm the best person at crafting more humorous/lighter adventures. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting material? Or just general suggestions for running these kinds of games?

Much appreciated.

Yora
2011-11-28, 12:04 PM
I think what you are looking for is running adventures that do not revolve around killing monsters and defeating the King of Blood and his Army of Skull Knights.

Instead, the group seems to be more into more character driven stories.
One suggestion for such games would be to drop XP, which has a wide number of nice side effects: Seeking out fights instead of avoiding them doesn't provide any benefit, so the players will be more inclined to search for creative solutions to problems. And also it helps players to focus more on the story than to find ways to make their characters stronger, which quite changes the mood of the game. Instead decide every couple of sessions, that it would be a good time for everyone to add a new level to their characters so they have more options on abilities they can use to solve problems, and better chances to pull off the more far fetched plans successfully.

The very basic concept of an adventure is "something is not as it should be, and the PCs do something so everything is right again". The problem doesn't have to be a monster that eats the villagers. You could have an adventure, in which suddenly the river of the village is poluted and poisonous, so the PCs have to find the source of the polution and put a stop to it. Could be a witch trying to kill the villagers, but could also be a toxic plant that kept on growing in an abandoned wizards tower that has reached a size that it's roots are reaching the river next to it. The PCs would have to find the tower, find a way inside, discover that the plant is the source of the problem, and find a way to get rid of it. Can all be done completely without fights or any monsters.

To make everything more character focused, have the whole campaign take place in the same town or city, where the PCs have their own homes and often meet the same characters during their adventures, like the town priest or the captain of the guard, whom they can ask for help in later adventures as well. Instead of a vampire breaking in some random strangers house, make it the house of on of the PCs neighbors, and everything gets to a whole new level.

You might also take a look at "Mouse Guard". The setting is unusual, but the game system focuses a lot on games that are problem solving instead of monster fighting. It should work quite well for pretty much every setting in which the characters live in a town or village instead of traveling the world fighting monsters. (Since many of the rules really only make sense if you have a home base and lots of friends and allies.)

jackattack
2011-11-28, 10:40 PM
Discworld. Epic and lighthearted.

Also, read Once On A Time by A.A.Milne. (Yes, that A.A.Milne.)

Select episodes of "Hercules" and "Xena" may also get you in the right frame of mind.