Death of a campaign, that is. Yep, death is not the end, again. (Apologies to Filthy Thieving Bastards)
Throughout the months of June and July we had various scheduling issues where we did not have everyone at the table for five or six weeks in a row. None of us really wanted to continue our Savage Worlds Known World campaign without the full crew. So we started playing an alternating series of short adventures depending on who was available what night. Rachel and Todd composed one group and Bridgett, Rachel, and RJ composed the other. By the time we got to where everyone would start to be available again at the same time, the players all decided that they wanted to move on to something new instead of trying to pickup with the Known World campaign. That decision was a little disappointing…okay, maybe a bit more than a little disappointing. The Known World campaign had been going so well and had turned into a rather cool little bit of alternative fantasy…shipwrecks, dinosaurs, pteranomen, and some nasty evil baddie lurking around the edges of it all…but it was probably going to be difficult for the players to continue that campaign with the same vigor and enthusiasm after being away so long. And so, sadly, we lay to rest our Savage Worlds Known World campaign.
We also started to move away from Savage Worlds at this time. We did a little Dungeon World since I was curious about it but quickly moved to some good old-fashioned D&D…sort of. I ended up putting together my own little Old School Renaissance (OSR) set of rules that harken back to MY experiences with D&D back in the 70s and 80s, is a little more tailored to the playing styles of our current gaming group, and–so far at least–has been pretty easy to convert material from most versions of D&D. I also have shamelessly “borrowed” things from some of our other favorite systems like Savage Worlds (e.g., cards for initiative…which we all find fast and easy) and even some ideas that have been around for awhile in lots of games but were nicely formalized in Dungeon World (e.g., “tags” and the idea of success, failure, and success with complications).
So far, it has been working pretty well for us…which is all that really matters, right?
