01545: Gaming Thoughts Between Turns

Last night we had one of the most interesting game nights that our Saturday group has had in a while- a Houses of the Blooded game that surprisingly shifted into a Lacuna game. I know that I had written previously that we were more likely to plat one of these two games, I was not expecting a seamless transition between the two in a rather disturbing way.

And I concede this is primarily given the strong meta twist to things that defines how Tobie runs Lacuna games. He has chosen to make the experience totally immersive including running then whole game in real-time, keeping the players in the dark about the setting and of course a lot  little touches with lighting, music and surprise elements hidden around the Sietch. It makes for very fulfilling game sessions and the occasional sleepless night when things get too hairy. Or spidery.

Playing in a game run by the likes of Tobie is like reading a really good book - it's an almost inspiring event that makes you want to attempt to create something similar. And it is precisely why I want to finally get over my fear and try to run a game (chronicle?) of my own soon. But that'll take a fair amount of prep work and so I'll need to invest a wee bit more time and effort into things.

Today we're playing Blood & Honor with our current Sunday group together with Mahar and Erich. Urim may re-join us soon provided he is fully recovered from his recent illness.

This is Erich's first venture into co-narrative dramatic game systems and it's interesting to watch him adapt to the differences in how the game works. I have to admit that it was a bit of a challenge for me too when I first tried Houses of the Blooded. It requires a significant paradigm shift in your gaming thinking - but once you get over it, the game certainly has its perks. And quite a fair amount of drama.

It's nice how I've been exposed to so many different game systems in such a short period of time. It has given me a better perspective on the larger sense of tabletop gaming and will definitely factor into how I eventually run my own gaming session. The thought of it alone leaves me both scared and excited at the same time!