tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post4220611511469526940..comments2024-02-25T08:15:34.559-05:00Comments on The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope: Brand ExpectationsMichael Curtishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13217338828086458862noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post-51457661671402947942009-06-22T12:02:17.567-04:002009-06-22T12:02:17.567-04:00Boy, it just sounds like your players had a failur...Boy, it just sounds like your players had a failure of imagination. How hard is it accept "You may have heard a different version of this story, but this is the version I'm telling, so forget your preconceived notions (and, anyway, quit metagaming!)"<br /><br />Wow, what Brett said. I ran three different FR campaigns back in the day, and I always said upfront "Don't believe everything you've read; those are the legends, my campaign is the reality". Elminster may be a 9th level hedge wizard with good PR; Fzoul Chembryl could be a powerless figurehead manipulated by a demon; etc. My players enjoyed ferretting out the "mistakes" in the way things appeared in the printed products to my "reality". Those are some dang lame players that don't enjoy the thrill of solving mysteries in place of a predictible setting.Badmikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199830751033032585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post-57031499962394079272009-06-19T21:41:38.864-04:002009-06-19T21:41:38.864-04:00I've never liked (well hated) all published se...I've never liked (well hated) all published settings for the reason you mention. Players expect the setting to be as published (I'm an prolific tinkerer) And they often know more of the setting than I do.<br /><br />As far as running a not as published FR campaign without player angst, I have one very simple solution.<br /><br />Don't call it Forgotten Realms. Even when players pick up that there are some aspects of FR in your campaign, they won't have that physiological expectation that it should be 100% like what they know. Labels are immeasurably powerful.Norman J. Harman Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01319655075997712313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post-40371615531839093862009-06-19T18:05:42.248-04:002009-06-19T18:05:42.248-04:00Boy, it just sounds like your players had a failur...Boy, it just sounds like your players had a failure of imagination. How hard is it accept "You may have heard a different version of this story, but this is the version I'm telling, so forget your preconceived notions (and, anyway, quit metagaming!)"Brett Dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824523035634687498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post-13059283363351153772009-06-19T14:13:07.066-04:002009-06-19T14:13:07.066-04:00When I ran a Lord of the Rings campaign, I told th...When I ran a Lord of the Rings campaign, I told the players up-front that they’re entering <em>my</em> Middle-earth. While obviously I was aiming for it to be recognizable, I reserved the right to change, ignore, or be ignorant of any “canon”. This let the players know to check about obscurer points rather than making too many assumptions. (Or choosing to interpret any bad assumptions on their part as an example of their PCs naturally having an imperfect understanding of their own world.)<br /><br />Pretty much the same for Traveller if I run the 3I, but most people I play with don’t really know the 3I.<br /><br />Now, that doesn’t mean that players won’t be disappointed, but it makes it for fewer nasty surprises from conflicting assumptions. I’ve not yet had a player refuse to play in a campaign because my version of a existing setting didn’t meet their preferences. As long as we’re clear about things up-front, most people understand that some compromising of preferences is required to make a gaming group go.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post-40770917168963632122009-06-19T12:50:18.439-04:002009-06-19T12:50:18.439-04:00No experience with the Forgotten Realms (my groups...No experience with the Forgotten Realms (my groups all pretty much used homebrew), but I can relate as concerns Traveller.<br /><br />When <i>I</i> talk about the game, I'm talking about the three little black books (or the one larger black book that replaced them), but it seems like everybody else in the world is talking about the entire edifice of the Third Imperium (which I don't use for reasons you've elaborated above). It gets frustrating.<br /><br />On the other hand, I know a guy who runs 3.5 and only allows the 3 core books. No funky weird feats from some splatbook, no bizarre character classes (or prestige classes...) from some third party module. And people eventually get used to it -- or they just don't play. So some gamers at least are amenable to doing things differently from the norm.Will Douglashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06379173017869751088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4727301007280965202.post-29688836131543643892009-06-19T12:46:02.592-04:002009-06-19T12:46:02.592-04:00I've the enjoyed the heck out of this weeks FR...I've the enjoyed the heck out of this weeks FR post's. I too have a love/hate relationship with the setting. I've never played in a FR campaign, but I've DM'd a few, and all of them have had whole chunks of Toril changed. To ease my players into it I simply changed the name from "Forgotten Realms" to "Dude, where's my Realms?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com