The Road is Long

I am in what you could call a state of limbo. I have spent an exorbitant measure of hours in frenzied modes of thought; referencing large amounts of material and sampling various systems in hope of finding the perfect offering of D&D, yet each step towards assertive action is proceeded with extended periods of facepalming and a recurring fear of failure. I have not once played D&D; my proposed group of players aren't even sure what it is; my fear of failure is I think justified. Included in the wealth of material I have consulted, one key occurrence tends to be prevalent in 'introductory' stories concerning roleplaying; the presence of some medium of mentor or guide. I go on with no such luck other than the written word offered in core rulebooks. Luckily teachers are abound in developing my knowledge of storycraft; my current consultation of Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces and sporadic dips into the short stories of H.P Lovecraft and the like have taught me more about my desired style of weird or cult fiction than I could hope to learn in such a brief period.

Anyway, back to the issue, roleplaying. As I tend to do, I shall mark the end to a period of obsessive, irrelevant yet massively productive procrastination with a rejuvenated objectivity , this post, and more importantly, an idea:

Pretending for a moment that I did have a mentor, he would certainly have recommended that I become familiar with my chosen system (Labyrinth Lord) via the running of a relevant commercial adventure. Running a game for a group of first time players, the same metaphorical mentor would however be seriously alarmed by my choice; I give you Death Frost Doom by James Raggi, an adventure to which many fears of a first time DM become key devices: death, confusion, panic, anxiety and failure are to be expected. Raggi draws on the Lovecraftian theme of an unknown and unspeakable horror which upon first reading fell short of inspiring fear but arrived at a pleasant plateau of leaving me immediately quite unsettled. This won't be a review of the piece-not until I have had the pleasure of running it- but I will explain my reason for choosing it and how it could perhaps be a useful starting point for other hopeful DMs.

Combat Light

As is the case with other published adventures by Raggi, the story is in essence one light in combat and rich in atmosphere. I concede that one very likely avenue in which Death Frost Doom hopes to transpire is in the presence of a rather large and incalculable threat, but again this is something which remains quite simple to work with and something I anticipate will remain a matter of tracking movement or declaring the group cornered and thus instantly dead. All other combat is delivered in simple encounters with an interesting variety of creeps to which a new DM should have no trouble.

Atmosphere

Death Frost Doom really shines in this respect. Raggi states in his foreword (or maybe from another of his PDFs?) that when one purchases a commercial adventures one should expect a rich and defined atmosphere. He does not disappoint. Death Frost Doom is far from a traditional dungeon crawl; the meat of the experience I feel is established in the surface area of the cabin and burial ground in which the responsibility lies on the DM to truly evoke a similar atmosphere offered in the text. With first time players in mind, this is a departure from conventional dungeon crawls and can encapsulate flavours of unconventional cult horror which I would argue is a far more effective tool for inspiring interest in a group than the prospect of slaying dragons or slaughtering goblins. Cult horror or the 'weird tale' offers something Skyrim or most other popular vehicles or genres of fiction cannot and Death Frost Doom offers the budding storyteller a great opportunity to develop his skills.

A Mature Challenge

Having become familiar with a number of products geared towards introducing players to the game, I have found most of which to fall under the category of being either orientated towards children, void of any reasonable challenge or being, for lack of a better word, boring (or all 3). Death Frost Doom fits the requirements of the adult gamer whilst maintaining simplicity and one of the most interesting location based adventures I have come across (which is not all that many).

I'll stop here for fear of talking in too greater depth of a game I have not run yet. Forgive the great lack of detail for I would like to save that for the review/gamelog.

I look forward to running the game with my players in the next few days and will give an update on their progress.