Developing Taste

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 I was dissatisfied with some recent sessions

My players really like talking to NPCs. Just talking and interacting. They find it fun to poke and prod them, and occasionally just get along, but they enjoy it a lot more than I do. Honestly the in-character acting is one of my least favorite parts of RPGs. Yet it's many peoples' favorite parts.

This should make me prime OSR material, yes? Yes. But also I've been having trouble with newer adventures I've run. I ran the tomb of Sir Brandon as part of The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford a couple weeks ago, and the dungeon design was OK. I didn't love the knight virtue riddle. It didn't encourage dungeon exploration. It did more theming than engaging. It just didn't encourage cool play as I see it. I have a similar retrospect on when I ran Winter's Daughter.

I think I'm just understanding my tastes in OSR. I like the 'thinking adventures,' as Luke Gearing puts it. I wanna Put those Players in a Situation, a dangerous one too, and see them come out the other side.

I ran Lair of the Lamb too, for a different group with no OSR experience. They loved it. They were clever. They explored. They risked themselves, and some died. It was a lot of fun!

As I continue my thinking on running a megadungeon, I think this is important food for thought for me to evaluate critically what I run and why I like it. Also getting my players out of a rut of endless NPC conversation.

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