Thoughts on Open Tables & Megadungeons
As we enter the sixth and final month of my open table game of Arden Vul, I think its time to put some of the many lessons I've gained to paper. The experience has been illuminating, to say the least, but as my first foray into this style of gaming there is so much I would do differently if I could start again (which I will, in due time, just not with Arden Vul). The game I ran was designed to follow the implicit philosophy of the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide, made infamous in OSR circles by the "BrOSR" movement. While I'm not enamored of them or their work, they do raise an important point: the original game implicitly assumes something akin to an open table megadungeon campaign with 1 day passing in game for every day that passes out of game. In the background of the megadungeon campaign is a simulated world in which characters are expected to live full and meaningful lives, with rules and guidelines being provided in AD&D for everything from harlotr