Another Dead Campaign, but Gaming, Finally!

Due to a very much too long lapse in playing, my groups Darkling Ways campaign has come to an abrupt end. I promised myself I wasn't going to let this happen; however, my lifestyle, which includes too much travel at times, is not conducive for a long term campaign. In the future, I am aiming lower. I would be happy with a campaign more in the 12 to 15 session range. As that is about the number of times I get to game in a 52 week calendar year.

The campaign was not a dud. It was entertaining. I was happy with the rules system we as a group settled upon, Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game. BFRPG is a good mix of Old-School with a dash of d20 thrown in. This works well for me, as I do prefer an old-school style of play; however, I appreciate things such as ascending AC for what they are: "easier".

I attempted to leave my game world setting generic and develop it as I went along. This worked to a degree. I think I would have done better starting with a "pre-packaged" generic world, such as The Known World, or Greyhawk; however, both of those with later supplemental material became loaded down with pre-expectations. Without having a bare-bones setting to work off of, I found myself floundering, as I am not good at maps and the big details. I do great with the small details, meaning, I can create an NPC on the spot complete with name, personality and quirks, but ask me "what's on the other side of those hills?", and I'm stumped.

A new campaign has risen from the old. Not from the ashes. I started over. We are two sessions in. This time out of the gate, I decided to use Tunnels & Trolls 5th Edition. My choice of T&T comes not from a lack of love for BFRPG, I like the later, and will most likely keep it as my go to system for D&D. T&T is fun.

I've used it little over the years. It is one of those games that sit upon my shelf and gets talked about, but very little play-time. I had been thumbing through my T&T 5 box set in between bouts of "Dungeon Master Block", by which I mean I was trying to think of a way to re-energize my excitement level for my Darkling Ways game and failing. I simply fell out of love with the old campaign and started jonesing to run some Tunnels & Trolls.

My choice of 5th vs 7/7.5 is simple. I own 5th and do not own any edition after that. AND, I'm happy with 5th, warts, bumps, silly-spell names and all. I added a couple of later edition house rules to my 5th edition and presto! Game on!

As for world settings, I was going to start a new campaign in my Darkling Ways world, but T&T just didn't feel right. Not wanting to repeat my previous mistake, I did some research and came across The Phoenix Barony. Thus far, I am more then happy with tPB, and will talk more at length about it in the future. I will say this now, it is an excellent bare-bones setting, with no pre-expectations from myself or my players. I kinda wish I had started my BFRPG in tPB.

We are two sessions into the new game, which is shaping up to be a "mega"-dungeon delving campaign. I put the "mega" in parenthesis, as it is not an unending dungeon. Thus far I have 5 levels planned with a possible 6. When it is explored, the campaign is over.

As always, I enter with high hopes, but this time with limitations.