Subj : BATH] The game ends, resignation, and final wrapup
To   : SSTUBBS@SHOUT.NET
From : HAROLD GROOT
Date : Wed Aug 23 2000 10:23 pm

I'm sorry to see another game succumb to the intervention of Real Life,
but that is a real hazard of games that take a lot of time.  Something
that can be played over-the-table in just a few Saturday Afternoons can
take half a year or more in the newsgroup.

I would suggest that possible future DMs take a look at what was
proposed, however, and some of the natural consequences.  BATH was not a
single adventure.  Instead, it was proposed to be a series of
adventures.  Granted, several of them would have been running at the
same time, but it was still planned to be one adventure per player.
None of the adventures would have had anything to do with each other.
None of the adventures would mean much of anything except to the one
player each adventure was designed for - but because they were traveling
together, all the players were going to have to go through all the
adventures.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but this seems almost DESIGNED to take too
long to finish.  After watching one game after another fold, it seems
clear that the thing that is needed is to have short adventures with
clearly defined goals.  Even with these there is a good chance of Real
Life interfering - but it's the best chance there is.  

I have already expressed a strong opinion against DMs unnecessarily
messing around with characters.  That was based on characters that have
been played and developed over years.  My objection is not as STRONG for
characters created out of thin air just for a specific game - but I
still think it is a Bad Idea for DMs to do it.  Now that the background
plot has been explained, what does it appear to be all about?  Why, the
DM is attempting to change the characters!  They are all to be converted
to Clerics of their respective dieties.

Yes, I can see that they were going to be given the chance to turn it
down.  It was not an =absolute= DM modification.  But that still was the
whole purpose of the game.  And in the fantasy worlds of literature, if
you know with absolute certainty that gods really do exist and that a
god has singled you out for this Calling, turning down such a request is
not really an attractive alternative.  

This is probably a subject that would qualify as one of my hot buttons.
I have seen a large number of PCs be quite blase about meeting gods.
There doesn't seem to be any of that sense of awe that there is supposed
to be.  PCs meet gods, they want to kick back, share a few brews and
swap lies over a game of darts.  So in such a world I guess it would be
OK to tell a god to stuff his job offer.  But that is not the way gods
and PCs are supposed to relate in AD&D.

I don't know, maybe the groups I play in are very unusual.  Maybe the
stuff I'm used to is out of line with what the rest of the world wants
from this game.  I'd just suggest that the next DM try a game where the
players have a reason to be together as a team, there is a specific
problem to solve, and let the players play their characters as-is.









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