Order of the Stick Adventure Game
So I played the Order of the Stick Adventure Game (hereafter referred to as OotS:AG) last Saturday. In preperation for playing I spent quite a bit of time on the GiantITP.com forums reading up on the game. The general consensus was that it's long... To this I can attest, I even took some preemptive measures to shorten it and it still was after 1 am when we finished (we started slightly after 6:00 pm). Still it was a lot of fun, but at 6+ hours in length a lot of people have asked me if I would play it again. And the answer to that is....
Definitely. In fact experiencing the flaws of OotS:AG has made me even more eager to play it. A great game is merely enjoyable to play, a good game is only slightly less enjoyable to play with the added enjoyment of triggering my inner game designer. "There's a great game inside OotS:AG waiting to be let out, and I'm the one to do it." In particular I like the idea of shticks (a great play on words). Shticks represent the basic abilities, weapons, and special qualities of each character. They also represent the characters leveling up. So you might have a shtick for a sword, or for diplomacy, or for armor, or one that allows you to do special things with the loot (Haley in particular.)
Shticks are so cool in fact that it makes me want to create an actual RPG system based on shticks. I don't think I will have too much else to do, but my experience, particularly playing in the family campaign is that the world could use a really simple RPG system and yes I know there are some out there, (and if anyone says Amber:Diceless I'll rip out your spleen) the point I'm trying to make is that it's rare to come across a simple system that is really compelling, mostly you focus on the features you've given up for the sake of simplicity, but that wasn't how I felt about OotS:AG.
In any case I will be playing again, though obviously with some modifications. I already made the modification of starting characters out with more shticks (4) and loot (6). In addition I think I might fool around with the number of rooms in a level, and the number of levels. Also I think having a big enough surface to lay out everything all at once will really help (we ended up playing from a table while constructing the dungeon on the floor.) As my house rules develop I'll keep you posted.
In a life or death situation never trust a raven
Definitely. In fact experiencing the flaws of OotS:AG has made me even more eager to play it. A great game is merely enjoyable to play, a good game is only slightly less enjoyable to play with the added enjoyment of triggering my inner game designer. "There's a great game inside OotS:AG waiting to be let out, and I'm the one to do it." In particular I like the idea of shticks (a great play on words). Shticks represent the basic abilities, weapons, and special qualities of each character. They also represent the characters leveling up. So you might have a shtick for a sword, or for diplomacy, or for armor, or one that allows you to do special things with the loot (Haley in particular.)
Shticks are so cool in fact that it makes me want to create an actual RPG system based on shticks. I don't think I will have too much else to do, but my experience, particularly playing in the family campaign is that the world could use a really simple RPG system and yes I know there are some out there, (and if anyone says Amber:Diceless I'll rip out your spleen) the point I'm trying to make is that it's rare to come across a simple system that is really compelling, mostly you focus on the features you've given up for the sake of simplicity, but that wasn't how I felt about OotS:AG.
In any case I will be playing again, though obviously with some modifications. I already made the modification of starting characters out with more shticks (4) and loot (6). In addition I think I might fool around with the number of rooms in a level, and the number of levels. Also I think having a big enough surface to lay out everything all at once will really help (we ended up playing from a table while constructing the dungeon on the floor.) As my house rules develop I'll keep you posted.
In a life or death situation never trust a raven
posted by DireKobold at 1:09 PM
5 Comments:
I can't wait to hear how the Ross Variant works out.
It was fun, until the person on my left kept playing monsters I couldn't kill. :(
Being seperated from the rest of the party and unable to get support didn't help either.
I want to play another character next time. ;)
When are you going to get a bicycle?
Are you going to say when it stops snowing?
"... my experience, particularly playing in the family campaign, is that the world could use a really simple RPG system ..."
Yeeaahh, okay? I'm gonna need you to clarify that part between the commas.
I have to agree with hallamigo, I think that the family campaign runs great, when not distracted, I think someone just likes the idea of avoiding getting the group to 20th level???, though I will also admit that Order of the Stick was fun and it was great playing all those REALLY tough monsters
-Other Rob
Haley Rocks. Next time I am playing Belkar and I am going after your spleen.
Inconclusion let me just say two things:
Amber:diceless
* *
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