Gonna Make This a Thing

I wouldn't say that the 15-minute blog post worked out that well, but it served the goal of getting me a write a bit, and that's the important thing. Given the fact that time is going to be at a premium for the next week and I've still way behind on blog posts, I think I'll keep up these stream on consciousness posts until I'm caught up. So, here we go:

These types of posts are very out of my comfort zone. Instead of thinking about what I'm writing, I'm writing about what I'm thinking, which is the opposite of how I usually operate. It's the same thing when I talk: I'm mostly silent since I'm always thinking, either about what's being said or what I should say. Thinking is a time consuming process, and though many people can think aloud, I'm not comfortable doing so.

Anyway, I saw some pictures from a D&D session some friends of mine back home had. I'm jealous--I haven't had much time to run a session lately, as readers of my blog might note due to the lack of session recaps. Maybe next week. Some of my players are itching to play.

I'm toying with the idea of switching over to 5th edition soon. I really like it, and my players sometimes complain about 3.5's "needless accounting," which I can totally understand. There are a lot of numbers to deal with, and leveling up, though exciting, can also be a chore. I need to pick up the other 5th Edition books first, though, and actually read through the Dungeon Master's Guide a bit to see how certain aspects of my current campaign might translate before proposing an actual transition.

It's funny, though, how the endless paperwork didn't bother me at all when I first started playing. I was so into the game that I dove into the system and learned as much as I could--or, in some cases, simply intuited how things worked for a year or so (heh). Over time I learned the system well enough that I started using shorthand for most of the stats in my own notes, but early on I took great pleasure in making full character sheets for every single enemy and most NPCs just because I could. I got very familiar with the system with that method.

On that note, I'm also behind on my D&D notes. We can't actually play much if I don't prepare anything. I could make it easier on myself and plan out a couple of battles to eat up time, but my current party has, interestingly, done their best to avoid battles what possible, and I think we all enjoy the roleplaying parts more than the violence.

DM tip, though: battles, even very involved and scripted ones, are the easiest way to fill up time in a D&D session. A half-hour of preparation can eat up two hours of play time in battle, while the reverse is true for roleplaying parts.