Shortly after publishing my previous blog post, I had a major curve ball thrown at me: the company that employed me sold their book of business in the state I work in. I was given the opportunity to take a position at the company that was doing the buying, which I of course took.
I didn't have any other options lined up and the job market is pretty rough, to be honest.
So, I moved to the new company and it's been a mess. A fun mess, to be sure, but a mess. It is a brand new program and I'm helping to create its shape. No one else at the company can do what I do. For the moment. So, I have a lot of responsibility.
A lot of responsibility means a lot of time. I've been dedicating more time and energy to work, which means I have less time and energy for other pursuits. But, I don't see this as a bad thing. For the first time in my life, I'm focusing on my career, really trying to build it into something more than I've ever had, something that could fulfill the goals I've held onto for years. And, I think it's working! I like the direction it's heading!
Because of this, I've had to put my play by post games on hold. I was sad to do it, but there's just not enough hours in the day for work, and family, and gaming as I was doing it. I'm still making time for my in person games, because those are close friends that I need to spend time with, and spending time with them allows me to deal with the increased stress. Friends are important! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
So, I suppose the purpose of this post is to explain what happened. I just disappeared! Now you, dear reader, know why. I'm still a GM. I still have lots of stories to tell. I have little time to indulge in that.
I have been working on a modern western Werewolf the Apocalypse game. It was a rather offhanded comment I threw at one of my game groups and they got excited about it. So excited, in fact, that they tell me about character concepts they think they might like to run. Or asking questions about what a modern western actually is. Their questions have made me think about it a lot more.
A Modern Western is a story that has themes from traditional Westerns, but in a modern setting. We'll have cell phones and the world wide web, modern medicine and modes of transportation. We'll also have that lawlessness, that frontier feel where you have to rely on yourselves because no one's got your back. We'll have those big open spaces where anything goes, and borders that mean safety or danger. There will be people who've come to escape the big city, and others escaping their past.
My plans are still not as advanced as I'd like them, but I have enough ideas that as soon as we start making characters, things are going to click into place and the story is practically going to write itself. I'm looking forward to this game like I haven't looked forward to a game in quite some time!
Rules-wise, I'm going to be using Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition. Woah, I just felt a disturbance, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and demanded why I don't use Werewolf 5th Edition. The simplest answer is that I don't want to. I like the Classic World of Darkness rules. I like having multiple dials to adjust the difficulty of a roll. I like the simplicity of the base system, and the complexity of the sub-systems added to it.
And, I'm familiar with it. I've played/run it enough that I can make reasonable rulings on the fly without having to stop the game and refresh my memory of how something works. That's a comfort level as a GM that helps the story flow. And, I'm more familiar with the way the world is built in W20. There are just enough changes in W5e to make me pause and try to figure out if I'm doing something right that I think the flow will suffer.
And, the players are fine with it. We ran Orpheus with Classic World of Darkness rules. They enjoyed them. Are the rules perfect? Of course not. Are they fun? You betcha!
This game's not going to kick off until we finish our play through of Scion 2e. That's a fun game and I'm enjoying playing a character. I have experienced a little fatigue with the game, since I ran a game from Origin to God with another group before this group started playing, but overall it's been a lot of fun.
Anyway, that's all for my rambling thoughts for now. If you read through this post all the way to the end, I award you a gold star. Put it on your forehead and wear it proudly. You're awesome no matter what anyone else says.
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