Tales of Swords & Wizardry is series of posts I’m doing about my bi-weekly game of Swords & Wizardry. This is the second post in the series. Here is the first.
One realization I had while playing in my bi-weekly game of Swords & Wizardry (a retro-clone of OD&D) is the entertainment value of character incompetence in an RPG. In the 3.5 campaign I played in, I started with a level 10 rogue who had a devastating sneak attack and was well equipped. Level 1 characters in 4th edition start out very competent with powers and healing surges. So, it wasn’t until playing S&W that I played a character that was not entirely competent.
I’m playing a cleric, Arvin Ardmore. I don’t have the character sheet in front of me, but I ended up rolling pretty well for stats and gold. So, he is armored pretty well and can hit moderately well. But, he misses a lot. Also, level 1 characters in S&W are fragile things. He can survive maybe two solid hits before going down. He has been near death twice so far. Clerics don’t get spells until level 2. So, he can’t even fill the cleric’s traditional role of healer, yet. And Arvin is one of the more competent members of the party.
You’d think that would be annoying. Before playing in this game, I would have thought it would be frustrating to play a character that can’t do much and could die at the drop of a hat. Or that it would be frustrating to be in a group where the rest of the characters are as incompetent as yours or more so.
But, as it turns out it, it’s actually pretty fun. Some of the best moments at our table have grown out of our characters’ utter failure. One of the best moments during our campaign was an ill fated battle with some giant spiders. Slick Vinny, our wizard, managed to roll not one, not two, but three 1′s in a row. Arvin ended up nearly dead after the wizard rolled the first 1 and accidentally whacked him in the head with a staff. Arvin and another character ended up poisoned and vomiting from spider bites. Gedleesmite the dwarf rolled yet another 1 as he was about to attack one of spiders and slipped and fell in vomit. My DM wrote a great summary of this on his blog if you want to read the gory details.
A very entertaining comedy of errors. I like the idea of our group as a hapless bunch of adventurers barely scraping by. Our group often plays things for laughs and our bumbling only heightens that. There is also a genuine sense of suspense when we are on the verge of utter failure. Victory is that much sweeter when we actually do accomplish something.
I know have a better understanding of the criticisms of D&D 4th edition with its powerful first level characters. Without house-ruling “level 0″ characters, 4th edition flatly could not provide this experience. I understand why the designers went that route though. Because while I’m having fun with a weak first level character, the experience could get annoying on repetition. Also, I think one-shot games such as those popular at conventions would be less entertaining with S&W style level 1 characters. Then, there is the fact that while fragile characters heighten the suspense, they also die more easily which could be frustrating if you’ve invested a lot in your character’s story.
Many of you more experienced gamers are probably well aware of how fun incompetence can be, but it was a nice realization for me.
You bring up some good points. This incompetence, IMHO, make the characters more ‘real’. They’re not superheroes or even heroes, just a bunch of guys trying to go for some easy coin, maybe make a name for themselves (for good or bad) and perhaps die trying. With death becoming a real possibility I think that makes for a more tense and unexpected adventure.
We’ll get to the next session one of these days soon!
Welcome to S&W!
I don’t think of it as incompetence, I think of it as “ordinary people doing extraordinary things and surviving!” You’re very right that the lower level characters are paper thin creatures, but that makes the accomplishments even more fun – and you learn to be creative with what you have!
With a good game, you’ll soon find that it’s not as repetitive and boring as you might suspect it could get.
There is something rewarding about having a character start from nothing and become a hero. I mean that’s the appeal of pretty much every single superhero origin story.
Slick Vinny is probably the least competent member of the party, although as I write this it’s a few days since our last session and I’m still gloating about having finally acquired a damage spell. I shall soon cast it on the darkness, but nevermind.
I can’t decide whether Slick Vinny’s idiocy is more due to the nature of this game, where level 1 means “green as grass,” or to the fact that I’m still learning how to play a tabletop game. It’s so much more like acting than I expected.