It has been too long since I’ve written a Tales of Swords & Wizardry about my regular game. Swords & Wizardry is “retro-clone” of the original edition of D&D.  It’s the only long term RPG campaign I’m currently playing in.  We play every other week and have been going strong since October of last year.  Unfortunately I had to miss two sessions recently, but got to play last week.  We have another session tonight due to the holiday.

I have a really great time playing.   Our group has really seemed to hit a groove.  Everyone has gotten more comfortable with role playing.  A good chunk of the last session was pure role playing and was a blast. Even when my character was not active in the scene, it was hilarious to sit back and watch the others.  Our DM did a great job of having our group confront some our past sins which led to some great story and role play moments.  Really a good time.  For a full write up of our past sessions, check out Paul’s (our DM) website, The Warlock’s Home Brew.  He also has created some great S&W gaming aides and even his own adventure modules, so check out his site.

The last post I wrote on this subject involved the death of my PC, the cleric Arvin Ardmore.  Since then, I’ve rolled up a new character, the Druid Gnarly Blunderbrush.  It’s been fun playing a different character and class who has a different role in the party.  Unfortunately, it’s left our group without a cleric, which due to our group’s penchant for getting, has been a little bit of a problem.  In a couple of levels, Gnarly can cast a healing spell, so that will help a little.

The number of players at the table has grown from five when we started to seven players.  I have played several games of 4th Edition D&D and seven players in that system is really too much due to the nature of combat. Combat just grinds to a halt with that many.  With S&W, it’s not really a problem, since it’s such a rules-lite system and combat is quick and furious.  Seven players has certainly added to the chaos, but it in a good way.  I can tell Paul has to work a little harder bring some order to the table and he does it well.  Seven players has resulted in raucous, slightly chaotic game sessions where we still manage to move the story forward significantly and have an absolute blast while playing.

I honestly think part of it is the game system.  We wouldn’t be having the same experience if were playing 4th ed or 3.x ed.  S&W has allowed us to have a very wild and woolly campaign that doesn’t get bogged down in the rules or combat.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I love 4th edition, but it provides a very different experience from S&W and old school D&D.

Can’t wait to dive back into the fray with our bumbling, debaucherous, slightly crazy adventuring group.