I used to play Dungeons and Dragons in high school with some exquisitely nerdy friends, and have collected a group of friends in grad school that are really excited to play. I'm really excited, because I'm approaching this as like a collaborative writing project. I've created an interesting world, and my friends are currently creating their characters. I'm approaching this experience much like I would an epic fantasy, with a lot of world building and direction and story-building. The really fun part is that I don't know how the stories are going to play out because I don't have any control over my characters. The collaboration is exciting. I've never done the RPG's on this site or elsewhere, but if any of you have and have any advice on how to make it a successful and rewarding experience, please help. Also, if you have any dungeon mastering experience, obviously I would like to hear about that, too.
I used to play with friends when I was in high school. I only DM'd once, and it was within the Dark Sun realm so I didn't really have to do any world building. In retrospect, it was a lot like crafting a story, although yes, you don't have control over the characters which can be maddening. For me, it was a one-and-done because I spent so much time on the story and my friends pretty much screwed around and didn't take it as seriously as I did. Given that you are doing this with grad school people, you probably won't run into that problem to the extent I did. Good luck!
Hell yeah, for years. It was a wonderful outlet for story telling, character development, world building, plotting. Everything an aspiring writer needs (except the writing--I did plenty of that while DMing, but it wasn't prose, of course). I still have all of my old 1st edition AD&D stuff, but haven't played for 10 years (and then it was 3rd edition). Before launching a new campaign, I would spend a couple months worldbuilding, (except when I used Greyhawk, but even then I personalized it.) I would create a homebase (usually a small town) come up with some interesting npc's, plot out the first few adventures, and work on a couple larger population areas. I used to follow the format of the Greyhawk campaign books when creating worlds. Basically, I'd map it out, then come up with info on populations, resources, politics, through in some interesting, mysterious areas (ruins, unexplored rifts, etc.), and my favorite, the villians. Have fun with it and good luck.
I started way back in high school and still play with some old college friends (yes, the term 'old college friends' is becoming more appropriate for multiple uses as the years pass) a few times a year. It's really an excuse to get together. I've run a lot of games over the years, and it really can't be explained 'how to do it right' other than to be prepared and moderately flexible, yet not let the players run rampant and frazzle you (the GM). Actually I wrote an article, funkybassmannick, which is relevant to this thread I think and might be of interest to you as you get back into RPGs. Link: The RPG Experience to Writing a Novel
Thanks everyone for posting advice! TWErvin, I read your article and definitely found it interesting. I like what you say, that being a GM will strengthen my writing skills. Not only am I having a ton of fun, but I'm also gaining some experience, "leveling up" as a writer...
