D&D on the horizon

So my first love has always been D&D. I'd basically be playing that above everything else if I could. However, my luck with finding a good game is not the greatest. I've DM'd from time to time, but always prefer playing. However, with the D&D drought in full swing, I decided to see about starting up a 4E game again.

Now you may be wondering why a 4E game when 5E is just around the corner...well the fact is that I have a friend who is dying to play 4E, and I already have all the stuff for it, and also, quite honestly, it is a great system for the DM. I know it has its issues, what version doesn't? But still, I have lots of resources for it and I like it too.

The first problem to tackle though, is players. I've given that task to my friend. He gets to gather them up, weed out the weirdos, and hopefully have enough left to get a game going.

That leaves it to me to write the story. I've had a few ideas popping around my head for the last few years, and I've gotten maybe a few sessions written down. Now I have to get back into that frame of mind, flesh things out, and hopefully find something that is engaging, and collaborative. That later part is really important to me. I can lay down a rail line with the best of them, but I find the best stories are ones that the players help write.

Right now I've got two ideas. One is an evolution of a game I started years and years ago with 2nd edition. I think I have an interesting backdrop....but after a few sessions, not sure where to take it.

The other is a newer concept I was toying with to help players work together and for characters to survive. It is based off of a descriptive festival I once wrote on the Order of the Stick forums. I've actually developed an over-arcing plot for it...but not quite sure how the players fit in to all of it.

Part of me wants to try to combine the two. But they don't exactly fit together. The first concept is a home grown world that is fairly barren and not the typical high fantasy setting. The second world is more of a straight forward D&D world.

So on one hand, great background, but no plot....on the other, typical setting with a good plot, but no plan for how the characters fit in.

Maybe in a few days I'll post up the general outline of each and see which one sparks the old creative juices.

Till next time...