Blackmarsh and S&W White Box

So, I was talking to a local friend of mine who, along with his wife, is an artist about his daughter.  I guess she was interested in Dungeons and Dragons and was interested in trying it out.  She went to a game sponsored by a local meetup group and didn't get a very warm reception.  I'm thinking it was the stereotypical D&D-geek-arrogance that I am all too familiar with, but still shake my head at in sadness.  Anyway, it kind of put her off the game.  I heard this and gave a quick little spiel to defend the game and explain how some of the less socially adept members of our hobby can be, especially to young, female newcomers.  He got it, and I eventually offered to run a game for the three of them and Mrs. Higgipedia (who is also friends with them) will round out the group of four.

I've been tapering off my game with that same meetup group (mostly because Wednesday nights aren't all that great this semester) and this group looks like it might be a good fit.  My wife has played (mostly 2e and a little bit of 4e with some of our other friends), but the rest are going to be blank slates.  I am kind of excited to be bringing some people INTO the hobby for the first time.


I gave it some though about what I'd be running.  I thought that since both parents are artists and their daughter is a smart 14-year-old girl, something very rules-light would be in order.  It also has to be thematically appropriate for a 14-year old.  That meant that my two go-to systems, Adventures Dark & Deep and Lamentations of the Flame Princess were out.  I looked through my books and decided on Swords & Wizardry White Box.  It's as rules-light as it gets and it will give my very creative group of players and I a lot of leeway to tweak stuff without re-writing rules or gaming the system.

I know from my previous LotFP game that I don't have THAT much time to write for a game right now, so I am using a pre-made setting... Rob Conley's Blackmarsh.  I've known Rob since 1993, although I reckon he wouldn't remember me from PRO (although he knew my old roommate at Penn State), and I've been a big fan of his stuff at Bat in the Attic.  Blackmarsh was small, simple, and perfect for my needs.

So, I've been poring over it (as much as you can pore over 24 pages) coming up with notes from the book as written and then looking into what I'm going to do with it in this particular game.  I'm excited.  I'll try to post game reports this time.