Anatomy of an RPG Adventure

[bayonetbrant]

[Double Deuce]

One of these days I'll get to try some Cthulhu.

[Bison]

Ha! 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Cthulhu was always my favourite RPG to play by far.

[Bison]

I never played cthulhu, but then again I've never read any H.P. Lovercraft either. 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

You don't need to read any of Lovedraft's work to enjoy the game.  In fact, if you're a player it's better if you don't.  The main thrust of most scenarios involves the players learning of the existence of horribly powerful spooky things and then doing a butt load of research and investigation into finding a way to try to thwart it without having to confront the thing directly because direct confrontation equals a bunch of dead or insane players.  It's all about finding clues and unravelling a mystery before it's too late.  Not having any foreknowledge makes putting together all the pieces of the puzzle that much more enjoyable IMO.

One of the reasons I stopped playing D&D was the fact that every one in my group became far too familiar with the rules, the world, and the lore and the play sessions became less about the story and imagination and more about rules exploits, min/maxing, and power gaming.  "Oh, it's monster type X.  We're all level 4 so we should be able to kill 3 per round while losing only an average of 6.3 hp per encounter and they'll drop treasure type B.  We should be able to level up by the end of this dungeon and then my attacks will go to 3/2 rounds! Whee!"

[Bison]

Wow your D&D play groups sound significantly different than those I grew up with playing.  But that is a problem with any RPG.  Eventually it gets very difficult for some players to distinguish between player knowledge, the rules and monster stats, and the character knowledge, wtf is that scaly dog-like creature charging me with a dagger?