In my last post I spoke about the fact that I'm not really a fan of Gonzo in gaming. Now, I'm going to tell you why in spite of my opinion remaining unchanged, I am currently gung-ho about running a revamped version of my homebrew D&D setting, Aerth. Aerth, and The Winghorn Guard (the primary focus of the campaigns set in this milieu) are straight-up Gonzo of the highest order.
So why is this the Great Gonzo?
It isn't! I am! Ha-Ha!
Hey Gonzo! I'm glad you came by.
[Wait...how did you get on the blog? We're on a space station fixed to an interdimensional nexus point. Whatever. I'll look into it later.]
I'm talking to the folks at home about Gonzo gaming, and why I am enjoying the prospect in my new Aerth campaign.
"Well isn't it obvious! Being Gonzo is awesome! You're a boat with no rotor, cast on a sea of possibilities! There are no limits on the horizon - not even the horizon itself!"
Wow. That's a heck of a description. Yeah, that does sound cool...
"You bet it's cool! I am the master of my own destiny! The king of the domain of me. I might decide to launch myself over one of the great pyramids via catapult in a burning barrel! I could free fall from an airplane while juggling anvils, and singing the star spangled banner! No one puts baby in a corner!"
I...huh?
"Sorry, I got carried away with that last part."
Right. OK, but what about about cohesion. What's the thread that holds it all together?
"From a gaming stand point you mean?"
Yeah. I am with you brother. I want to allow for a heaping helping of anything goes, but if anything and everything goes, what stops it all from flying apart? What makes this all one world, one setting, one campaign.
Case it point, I have no trouble seeing a wizard next to an alien with super strength, next to a guy with a bow and arrows in a Superhero game, because the genre is Classic Superheroes and that's a setting that easily fits all that.
Now I am running a D&D style Fantasy game, and if things get too wacky, it stops feeling like Fantasy to me.
"What does it feel like instead?"
Well, it feels like...at best it feels like...Oh.
"Oh?"
It feels like Superheroes.
That's why I am so excited about this campaign. This is my chance to finally run a good Supers game with my Barking Alien Gaming Group. Superheroes hasn't really worked for us in the past because not everyone in the group gets the concept of Superheroes in the same way. Here...
"It isn't Superheroes. It's Fantasy. Gonzo Fantasy. And they get Gonzo Fantasy don't they? But to you Gonzo Fantasy is really..."
Superheroes.
Whoah. Mind blown.
"Haha! Great idea! Hmmm. Maybe I'll figure out a way to do that which isn't permanent. And which somehow includes tapioca."
Um...sounds like a plan. Hey man, thanks. I needed a little help on this particular epiphany, and you were there at the right place, and the right time. I really appreciate it.
"What are friends for? Well, I've gotta fly. I'm taking Camilla to see Civil War."
IMAX?
"Re-enactment."
Gotcha. Have fun.
This is going to work.
AD
Barking Alien
[Wait...how did you get on the blog? We're on a space station fixed to an interdimensional nexus point. Whatever. I'll look into it later.]
I'm talking to the folks at home about Gonzo gaming, and why I am enjoying the prospect in my new Aerth campaign.
"Well isn't it obvious! Being Gonzo is awesome! You're a boat with no rotor, cast on a sea of possibilities! There are no limits on the horizon - not even the horizon itself!"
Wow. That's a heck of a description. Yeah, that does sound cool...
"You bet it's cool! I am the master of my own destiny! The king of the domain of me. I might decide to launch myself over one of the great pyramids via catapult in a burning barrel! I could free fall from an airplane while juggling anvils, and singing the star spangled banner! No one puts baby in a corner!"
I...huh?
"Sorry, I got carried away with that last part."
Right. OK, but what about about cohesion. What's the thread that holds it all together?
"From a gaming stand point you mean?"
Yeah. I am with you brother. I want to allow for a heaping helping of anything goes, but if anything and everything goes, what stops it all from flying apart? What makes this all one world, one setting, one campaign.
Case it point, I have no trouble seeing a wizard next to an alien with super strength, next to a guy with a bow and arrows in a Superhero game, because the genre is Classic Superheroes and that's a setting that easily fits all that.
Now I am running a D&D style Fantasy game, and if things get too wacky, it stops feeling like Fantasy to me.
"What does it feel like instead?"
Well, it feels like...at best it feels like...Oh.
"Oh?"
It feels like Superheroes.
That's why I am so excited about this campaign. This is my chance to finally run a good Supers game with my Barking Alien Gaming Group. Superheroes hasn't really worked for us in the past because not everyone in the group gets the concept of Superheroes in the same way. Here...
"It isn't Superheroes. It's Fantasy. Gonzo Fantasy. And they get Gonzo Fantasy don't they? But to you Gonzo Fantasy is really..."
Superheroes.
Whoah. Mind blown.
"Haha! Great idea! Hmmm. Maybe I'll figure out a way to do that which isn't permanent. And which somehow includes tapioca."
Um...sounds like a plan. Hey man, thanks. I needed a little help on this particular epiphany, and you were there at the right place, and the right time. I really appreciate it.
"What are friends for? Well, I've gotta fly. I'm taking Camilla to see Civil War."
IMAX?
"Re-enactment."
Gotcha. Have fun.
This is going to work.
AD
Barking Alien
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