Hanging Out

In the early days of Dungeons and Dragons, people would take their characters from table to table, playing with different groups, different DMs, and experiencing a wide variety of games. Sometime later, as the fad of D+D faded, that tended to happen less and less. Even when I was playing in High School, we all had different characters for when different people ran games, even if it was for the same system (usually AD+D2e). That trend continued through my running 3rd edition, and honestly it was one I reinforced, as I wasn’t ever really thrilled with the idea of bringing characters from other worlds into MY world.

I admit, I was a petty and jealous God of the Gaming Table hiding behind a DM's screen.

Now, much less so. I have played in only in two G+ campaigns and I have different characters for each (I’m not positive that one of them is flailsnails). However I have also run a game with characters from different worlds, and even different systems (including a 3.5 character!!) trashing things in my megadungeon.

This has proved to me several things:

• G+ games are awesome as both player and DM
• G+ games are pretty easy**
• My megadungeon needs some work. It’s one thing when I’m looking at the map myself, it’s another when I’m trying to describe it.
• I need to play more (I knew this already)

How do I plan on addressing this?

• Sign up for more G+ games!
• Run more G+ games!
• Revise my megadungeon based on play experience (and player feedback)!

I've noticed a few other things about hangout games:

• Tablets are great for prep, crap for actually running games. For now, stick with a real book, and real book marks.
• Don't be afraid to try new things. If it works, great. If it doesn't, change it. No one will be mad at you, and if they are, just don't play with them again!
• Don't let one person run the party. If you're a player, step up. Offer ideas, suggestions, etc. If you're the DM ask the other players what they want to do. 
• Figure out at the start what the marching order is, and who's going to keep track of the treasure. Note: it's not the DM's job!
• If the DM uses group imitative, figure out who's doing the rolling.
• If the DM uses individual initiative, put your rolls in the chat screen. Trust me, it's easier!
• At the end, thank your DM and your fellow players. It's just nice.

If any of you out there that haven't yet tried playing on a hangout, I'd be happy to run a one on one quick game so you could try it out.

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**Aside from some technical issues. My netbook doesn’t handle hangouts very well, so I picked up a $30 camera & mic that I use on my desktop. Also, connecting from the east coast to Hawaii sometimes has lag issues.