Gaming Goodness

What is Gaming Goodness? I admit to having heard the term on the internet originally, in reference to the sheer joy that's brought about by playing a game that's well balanced along game play and graphics, but I'm going to steal it for this week's editorial, and ask you all: have you experienced Gaming Goodness at your gaming table?

In the years that I've been gaming, I've been fortunate enough to have experienced Gaming Goodness frequently enough that I've kept coming back to the table over and over again. Sometimes, as a player, and sometimes, as a Dungeon Master. I think walking three players through the Caves of Chaos and watching them square off against the Kobolds, and winning just by the skin of their teeth, that was Gaming Goodness for me.

But what is Gaming Goodness with regard to pen and paper role playing games? For myself, I think it's the moment when the balance between victory and defeat, combat and role-play, reward and loss is struck perfectly. These elements don't come in to balance all at once during a gaming session, but I feel that as a player or Dungeon Master, if a session ends and all the above have happened, then I've achieved Gaming Goodness.

Another fellow role-player once defined Gaming Goodness as when he, as a Dungeon Master, got up and walked away from the gaming table and the players continued to play in their roles without him being present - speaking and dealing in character.

Gaming Goodness transcends systems. Gaming Goodness is about sitting back and saying "Wow. What a great game!" and never thinking about being hosed or monty-haul'ed by a game mechanic.

Gaming Goodness should be about enjoying yourself in the company of friends - or at least people whom you enjoy gaming with - and not worrying about whether or not you sound like a dork when you speak in the voice of Falstaff the Fighter.

If you experience Gaming Goodness every session you play, my Wizard's Hat is off to you. Sometimes, a potentially great session can become merely good or even indifferent if something doesn't come in to balance. If a session is nothing more than an extended by-the-numbers combat sequence with no chance to speak for your character, I think it can drag things down to sub par. Alternately, if the game becomes the Dungeon Master's Story Hour wherein the players are loaded with exposition after exposition, never having the chance to raise a sword 'gainst chaos, then this too can push the game back down.

Gaming Goodness is something everyone should experience. If you've hogged all the glory (as either Dungeon Master or player) and the rest of the players are glaring at you even as you gloat over your +5 Sword of Dragon slaying, the fair maiden's undying love for you and the heaps of gold you've won - time and again - then while Gaming Goodness may have been achieved for you, it has not for the rest of the players!

So ask yourself, the next time you're preparing to game, as a Dungeon Master or as a player:

Am I in the right frame of mind for the game?

Am I willing to accept the fall of the dice in the spirit of fun?

Can I surrender a scene to another player, or allow a little exposition to drive the story?

...

You, yourself, dear reader, probably have a share of questions you'd add on to this. Try to think about these things before your next gaming session, and I'd wager you too will find yourself getting closer to Gaming Goodness.

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