Ok, 4e D&D comes out on 07.06 and I am scheduled to start running it on 29.06. That shouldnt be a problem I hear you cry, surely someone as witty, intelligent and imaginative as you should be able to generate an intensely engrossing 20 session long campaing for 5 highly demanding gamers in a mere 3 weeks.
Sadly I am not Mr Nicholls who seemed to create the last hugely engrossing Sheffield game I played in on the back of an envelope in about 5 minutes.
So, what are my big issues. Well, for one I havent actually run any game in nearly two years. That's not entirely true, I ran one off games at both Cottagecon 1 and 2 which were well received and I ran a three session Cold City game which was ok. Still what I am looking at here is quite different. I want to try for something with more legs to it. I like the idea of 4e's tiers of play and I want to be able to play through all of them. It may require some hack of the advancement system to work or we would take years to play out. This works for some groups but didnt quite click with us when we tried the Great Pendragon Campaign.
Secondly is the game itself. Its D&D and I have 5 very experienced players who expect a high quality game. We have made D&D work for us as a group before and I think it can be done again but it remains an issue. Will it actually support our method of play or at least not get in the way too much? I am stuck with the nagging feeling that SotC or The Shadow of Yesterday might be better fits. The one wrinkle is that neither seem to possess a useable magic system, pretty much a must for any fantasy game for me. Who knows, maybe The Dresden Files will sort that out.
Thirdly are the players. I dont think any of them would disagree that they are a demanding group. If there are problems then they will be aired, in some cases, publicly disected with scientific rigour. This isnt a huge issue for me as I tend to do a lot of that myself and am generally open about it so hopefully it will help to improve the game not damage it.
So where does that leave me? Nervous about being able to deliver the game the group wants, excited about trying out a new game despite the vast number of naysayers and happy that I am still able to game with imaginative, thoughtful people after 20 years in the hobby.
