RPGs and the Pandemic

I admit, we have not tried to game over Zoom. We are getting bored and would like to get back to a campaign we were playing with some friends. We are not alone. Many gaming groups are starting to do this, and we are late to the party. Incidentally, these articles will be a somewhat regular feature in my feed, since I need a break, and we all can help with COVID.

Incidentally that people are getting more supplements and gamebooks. Miniature games are hard to do remotely. The old paper and pencil games is a great way. You can be social, without necessarily being in the same room.

So I was thinking about how to run an RPG, and why I would not do the linear method, meaning a game goes from point A to point Z, and there is no deviation. A gaming group taught me this is not bright, or fun. I will tell you why.

It was early in my game mastering career, and we were having fun with a Mechwarrior 2 campaign set in Solaris. Mind you, that became a very long-running campaign that lasted years. The only reason it survived was this trial by fire. Like many young Game Masters, I was set on writing my own adventures. And by writing, I mean the whole thing. There were encounters, there was a plot, a character arc for major Non- Player Characters, and the order things were supposed to be found by the players. It was a murder-mystery. This adventure was on a rail and it was supposed to go on for a few sessions. In my mind it should have gone for at least four…and then the game master encountered the players.