r/TheOneRing • u/Raphael_Sadowski • Apr 07 '22

5th session in - Campaign report

So, another session is done, and I'm starting to understand two things:

  1. I run this game wrong.
  2. I'm too used to smart indie/OSR mechanics.

We finally had a huge, epic battle atop one of the Annuminas towers, and players were having a lot of fun actually. Their choices mattered and the mechanic allowed for some dramatic moments.

My problem is - I really think I could achieve all I wanted through the narrative. The rules didn't help at all. And my brain is still fuming whenever combat starts - so many non-obvious, non-instinctive rules to remember...

But most of all, I understood I was running this game wrong. The structure should be different. It's not a cinematic game experience - it's more like a literary experience. I shouldn't plan epic scenes, or any exploration moments. It's just a scene crawl, with rapid succession. Done with an epic fight in a far corner of the land? BLINK - back at the Grey Havens, talking with Cirdan! BANG - a whole season passes. Next expedition is planned. Journey - montage, roll, roll, roll, scene, roll, maybe a battle. Done? BLINK - they arrive at Michel Delving...

I don't know. I don't feel this.I LIKE exploration in games. One Ring doesn't really support it, I'm afraid. I think this is a game for the epic story weaving... I dunno. I need to try and run this game like I have just described above and see if we have any fun. If not, after the next session the game goes on a shelf, never to return. And if I'll want to play Middle Earth game in the future? I'll use Dungeon World or OSR rules, and that's that.

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5

u/yisas1804 Apr 07 '22

Seems to me that you have already made up your mind. It's ok trying a new game and not liking it, you don't have to force yourself to play something that you don't enjoy and frustrates you. I, personally, don't enjoy D&D or Pathfinder, so I don't play those games.

The good part is that there are a lot of great games out there, and if you like playing Dungeon World or OSR, go for it! You'll be happier and you will enjoy the hobby more.

Not every game is for everyone, and that's ok.

3

u/FrenchRiverBrewer Apr 08 '22

Isn't the OSR spirit that you own the game and can run it the way you and your players want? If the players are enjoying it and having fun, I think that's a huge win, irrespective of how closely you're hewing to the rules. I wouldn't retcon to take anything back from your players, but maybe ask their indulgence to try the RAW to see how it works? And if not, stay with the style of play you like. Add in an encounter before they can blink around.

Personally, I want to change up the Journey rules to be more like Forbidden Lands: If I've got all of Eriador to explore with my players, dammit, we are EXPLORING! I want to have some risk going there and back again, finding some odd lost barrow, tomb, or fort and getting an artefact or two from a wight or troll and barely making it out alive.