Throw Out The Dice

Harder Than You'd Think

2012-01-26T23:20:00.003-06:00

With all the primary races now written up for folks to look at and get a feel for the peoples of Saratta I am left with the task of drafting stats and abilities for them that help each feel unique. With the first couple races I didn't have much trouble, but now that I am working on the core races that most D&D players are familiar with I need to strike a balance while maintaining that unique feel.

Granted, I really don't have any issues in having some balance issues. Saratta is meant to be a roleplay focused world, and sure, you're going to have some people playing in a game that want to twink (hence trying to balance things), but I'm finding that even some of the base D&D races are stronger than others. The bigger task for me is to ensure that everything stays more true to the world, balance may or may not arrive at the same conclusion.

Time will tell I guess. Core races should still look fairly familiar to what people have seen in 3.5 with a couple twists. Elves need to sleep, some of the dwarven bonuses are shifted around or no longer existent to better reflect the world, etc. I plan to have a couple guys over in this neck of the woods review the scores and give me some feedback - or rather, let me bounce thoughts off of them until I have come to a solid decision for why things are the way they are...

That's enough rambling for now. Racial trait stats soon!

Short Stuff

2012-01-22T21:46:00.002-06:00

Finally. Goblins and Gnomes are both up on the Saratta site, which means that my next endeavor will be to put stats to each of the races as I have done with the Othar and Ephryn. As John mentioned in on of the comments previous, stats shouldn't dictate why you choose a race, but for some folks it does. This will simply help make the decision making process a little more drawn out - or at least make you think twice about playing a race that you would normally pass off.

Whenever I sit down to make a character I usually try to make something that is of the most common race in the world I am a participant of. Since most of my experience falls into the D&D realm that means I usually go with human. I'm sure that a part of it comes from the extra bonuses that the race gets so I can make a little more of a power character even though I try to steer clear of that and look at the character for role-play purposes.

You can strike a good balance between an RP character, and still maintain combat prowess but I like working a good backstory in, which leads this random thought train to Rich Taylor's 100 questions character test. If you have a character and haven't taken the time to consider even a 10th of the questions in this test then you aren't doing whatever game you're playing in justice. Make a character, play the character a few times so you get a good feel for who they 'might' be, and then use the questionnaire. It will help - plus, my next post is going to take a good look at it, so you might as well familiarize yourself with it.

Best Character Quiz Ever.

A Wild Place

2012-01-03T23:36:00.002-06:00

Orcs are up and my races document is getting really big. I like being able to share large updates on the Saratta site, which means that I need to keep writing even more to keep the flow of content going. Taking a quick look through the races write up revealed that I only have 3 more "civilized" races to go to get things mostly done. Then it will be a matter of trying to determine balanced stats for in game purposes

Nothing draws someone attention to a race quite like knowing the bonuses they will be getting. I guess that is the way of an RPG though, even if we strive for total roleplay it is still tough to remove the desire to make the "ultimate" character.

An Update Here And Maybe One There

2011-12-29T14:34:00.002-06:00

I haven't had too much to post about of late. The last gaming session we ran went far better than expected and the result was some great role play. I'm not 100% convinced yet as we had a small group, so that means no solid reflection post until I've had the chance to run with a large group...

On another note though, I've been working at getting a few more races complete for the Saratta site. If you missed it I posted an update for Humans back in November and then Half Elves in December here. Now the work is proceeding on Orcs which I'd like to have posted early January since that is right around the corner already.

Time seems to fly with the holiday season, so once its over I suspect things will calm down a bit. I finally got my hands on Gamma World for Christmas and plan to play a bit of that for the January gaming session when I get around to figuring out when that will be... I think I may also pick up Shadowrun too and try to get a second, smaller monthly group going - that'll have to pass by Breanna first though.

Did anyone get any cool gaming stuff over Christmas?

Thats it for now.

Where's the Role-play?

2011-11-03T13:55:00.002-05:00

After a good break from gaming we finally held another session - I closed down the Gloryseekers of Gildale game and started Hellbound much to the delight of my players. It proved to be a more immersing experience for the group but I still found myself thinking at the end of the session that something was missing.

I'm a bit spoiled in from the last few years of running games. I have had a group of rock solid role-players who knew how to focus solely on their characters and build upon them through the game. Something from those games has been missing in my more recent games and I think I have finally put my finger on where the trouble lies.

My moment of epiphany came a couple days after our game. Bob (a friend of mine and gamer in our group) posed this question to me in a chat session: "There are some things I wanted to RP but didn't want to waster the other 9 peoples time with. Can I pitch those to you some time?"
...Didn't want to waste the other 9 peoples time? I have never found role-play moments a waste of time, but when reflecting on the game I recalled a couple players in the group who groaned that an in-game argument between wizards seemed to drag out longer than what they were used to. To me such a moment was necessary; it developed some tension between players and drew some distinct lines that help define characters.

Such moments have been commonplace in my other games, so why isn't it occurring now? Where is the role-play? The answer is obvious but sometimes hard to sort out. Bob's question to me reminded me of what I always knew. The greatest opportunity for role-play occurs in the moments when the Game Master isn't focused on you.

For players, this means you need to start talking even when it isn't your turn. Bob had told me "...I wanted to RP but didn't want to waste the other 9 peoples time..." In this context it outlines the biggest problem I believe I am having with my group. They are too afraid to talk over one another. Perhaps it is a Minnesota Nice thing... we want to give everyone their moment, uninterrupted. That needs to be stopped though. Encourage your players to just talk to each other while in character - even when it is someone elses turn. You don't always need to be in the know about everything - GM included.

To say that this concept may be a little hard on the GM might be a bit of an understatement. Part of being the GM is maintaining control over your game. You usually want to know what is happening all the time, but when it comes to role-play you need to let your players go. Let them be creative, form the setting themselves.

For instance: When I ran Forgotten Light with my group in Duluth the biggest role-play moments were always happening when I was doing something else. Players developed their characters further by remaining in character an talking to each other when they were not in the spotlight. As a result, I ended up with people suddenly asking me (often in the middle of something else) what the cost of ale was at the locale tavern. I would discover that during the small skirmish I was ruling over, my players had taken it upon themselves to go to the local tavern because they had been talking for quite a while. I often didn't learn what was discussed until after the game when we discussed what events had happened over the course of the night.

Another group (this one was my friend Brian's) was quite a quite group when I started playing with them. I remember drawing Tima's character into a conversation with my own... WHILE Brian was trying to do something. The looks I got from some people probably could have curdled milk (if you'll excuse the cliche). It hadn't really been done before or at least that was the impression I got. It soon passed though, and most of the guys continued the trend, focusing on the interplay between their characters all the time rather than only on their turn. It is my hope that they continued this trend well after I moved (perhaps Brian can shed some light on this too if he is reading).

Encourage your players to be a bit more bold in game, and to stay in character. As long as you remember that a GMs job is to move the story and maintain the rules then things will be good. As the GM you can always pull players aside later to learn what was being discussed without your knowledge. Giving them a creative opportunity and the OK to keep playing even when they aren't the focus will help boost the roleplay going on in game. I know I'll be talking to my group and encouraging this behavior before I start my next session, and if you haven't yet perhaps you should too.

Building Suspense

2011-10-18T22:37:00.002-05:00

Hunting season has made it a little more difficult for to find time to muse about Dungeons and Dragons, but Tim's recent post has inspired me to get back up on the figurative horse and write. The topic at hand? Building suspense in your game.

Ever since I was introduced to the Ravenloft campaign setting, I've been attracted to the dark, gothic side of D&D. If there isn't at least one point in a campaign where my players have been too afraid to head down that dark passageway, float a boat out onto a strangely calm underground lake, or—in the case of my old Star Wars campaign—board a deserted Star Destroyer, then I'm not doing my job right.

But weaving the elements of horror into your campaign is harder than it sounds. First of all, I believe it's much harder to give someone a good scare in a Dungeons and Dragons game than it is in a horror movie. The spoken-word medium of D&D just can't capture the energy and visceral feeling that film can, no matter how hard the DM tries.

The key to building suspense, if there is one, is to avoid the expected. That means no horror clichés. Not only can they break the in-game atmosphere, but they show a lack of imagination on the part of a DM. If your players are expecting something bad to attack while they're traversing that eerily calm lake, let them cross unharmed. Then, when they're resting on the other shore, hit them with the best you have.

Show, don't tell. It's a cardinal rule for writers, and it applies equally well in this case. In D&D, words are all you have—and you have to use them wisely when it comes to building a truly terrifying experience. Obviously, you can't order your players to be scared. But if you take the time take your time to describe the sights, smells and sounds of their surroundings, you're immersing them deeper into the game. When your players are immersed—when their disbelief is suspended—they're more easily scared. So, don't tell them they're in a dank underground passageway.

Instead, say something like: "Rocks jut out at sharp angles in the underground passage that stretches before you, and they conspire with the flames of your torch to cast strange shadows across the crevices and crags of the cavern. In the distance you can hear the faint sound of soft footfalls, as something passes unseen further down the tunnel.

Your preparations don't always have to be in-game, either. A great way to build tension is to host a game by candlelight or by flashlight. It simultaneously makes your game setting more intimate (because all your players can see is the table and each other) and more creepy.

Breaking Up

2011-10-16T22:50:00.002-05:00

I've been a bit inactive of late... something I hope to rectify rather than continue to put off... that being said, the post I wanted to focus on about changing the rules for your game just got pushed further back. My next gaming session is going to take place at the end of the month and it has had me reflecting about where the game is going and what should have been changed.

I discovered during the last session that I had made a blatant mistake. One that amateur DMs make in their games. I thought that I, as a seasoned DM, was not about to make such an error in my games... I was wrong. I know now that in the future, if I'm still running games (which I certainly hope I am) I'll probably make the same dumb mistake again. Perhaps though, I can deter you from making the same error.

Do NOT break your group into smaller groups and keep running the game. I can hear the objection already... "But why not? We do it all the time Tim." It is ok if your group goes their separate way occasionally (shopping for good in a town for instance), but when the group routinely gets split up during the course of an evening gaming session it can be quite immersion breaking, both for the players and for the GM.

My wife has found that she is having a hard time focusing and getting into character for this very reason. My current group has managed to be split into several small groups; off shoots of the primary group. The trouble is, I wrote the game to be this way. They are supposed to be guards in a town investigating a series of strange events that have been going on over the last 3 weeks (in game). The result is that they would end up looking into different aspects of the "case". What I didn't count on happening was the hour long intervals where I would focus on one of the small groups.

While you might be able to sustain bouncing from group to group for a time, it starts to get quite confusing pretty quickly. The story I wrote has plenty of twists worked into it that if the group catches forms a complete story. The trouble with broken up groups is that the pieces can be found out of order or not at all. But even more troubling than missing something is when your players are no longer able to focus on their characters.

When you lose the ability to immerse yourself in the game you spend less time in character than is healthy for the sake of the game. It puts cracks into an otherwise good story. It also encourages your players to turn their attention to other things. With technology becoming more and more common I've found that a large number of my players tote tablet computers with them, further breaking the game.

When the bulk of my player base is distracted by something else the drive for me to tell a story falls by the wayside. I'm hoping that I can conclude the current game and make way for a new one that will hold my players together as a group. If I can't finish it I may be forced to scrap the story in favor of making sure my group gets the best experience possible. It may also be time for me to enforce a 'disconnect' policy during games...

Take it from me. Don't split your group up so that the game focuses only on 2 or 3 people for extended periods of time if you want to maintain interest. It might happen occasionally in the grand scheme of things, but don't make it a habit, and don't write it into the game.

Teaser for the Next Game

2011-08-24T11:06:00.003-05:00

You open your eyes to find only darkness. Slowly objects begin to take form in your field of vision, but you find it difficult to focus and a mist seems to settle at the edge of your eyes. You can hear a man speaking, his voice is carries soft tones and bored drawl. A thick Transylvanian accent is fused into his speech. As he talks the space around you transforms, replaced by visions of other places and realms you have only imagined in dreams.

For age I have been trapped. A king forced from his throne, made to endure an endless waiting within the depths of a necropolis.

A stone seat stands before you. Rusted iron chains dangle from the arm rests and at the base of the seat. Upon the end of each chain is a manacle, darkened by deterioration over the ages. A vertical line of fresh blood glistens along each manacle catching illumination from a hazy red light that originates from somewhere above you. The light is strong enough to reveal decrepit structures lying at the edge of the darkness surrounding you.

Those responsible for my incarceration are dead an gone. I watched as their kingdom crumbled around them in a rain of stone. They now reside in my kingdom, justice for their own misgivings; and once more I am free.

The scene around you transforms, the darkness whirls about, a great spinning typhoon of shadows that rises into the air and vanishes. You find yourself suspended above a grand city of golden spires. Warm, gentle sunlight cascades down upon green hills, dotted with trees that sway gently in the breeze. Trails of black smoke rise from the ground beneath you, marring an otherwise beautiful scene. Conflict fills the streets below, the clang of metal upon metal and cries of pain reaches your ears.

The sky grows puce, clouds rolling in from all directions. The land below splits and heaves. The earth lifts up from the surrounding landscape and is hurled into there air. It topples back down toward the ground, crushing much of the city beneath it. The few things that were spared catch flame and are consumed. The fires begin to fill your vision.

But in my realm, freedom simply means a new prison. My throne is now a seat without power, my shrine a tomb. Still, I know something that my latest captors do not...

When the flames subside you find the landscape changed once more. A desert of crimson sand stretches as far as the eye can see, mixed with pools of jet black water and gnarled, leafless forests. Mountains formed from blood colored stone stretch up toward a star-filled sky. Atop one of the larger mountains is a white domed building. Cracks run across the its surface.

A time is coming, very soon now.

Flames bubble out of the desert sand, coursing across the land like a sidewinder snake, burning everything it touches. Devilish figures complete with horns and hooves stalk fleeing souls across the dead lands with blood covered instruments of torture. Screams of anguish and terror rattle the skies and raise the hairs on your neck. In the sky a thousand eyes open appearing out of the air as though they had always been there. One turns toward you, drawing your vision into its orange glow. You feel layers of flesh being stripped away until only your bones remain. Every secret and fear you have kept become anchors, driving you toward the ground and onto your knees. The eye becomes a maw of silver fangs. Saliva drips from each tooth and dribbles to the ground, moving away the sand, changing it into a pile of bones. The disembodied maw lungs forward to consume you.

I shall reclaim my throne and reforge the metals of my kingdom without impurities. I shall banish all doubt that the Alabaster Throne has lost its glory. Soon my seat shall burn with the Justice of the Eternities! For soon, my salvation shall be

Flexibility on the Playing Field (Rules: Part 1)

2011-08-18T15:53:00.003-05:00

I wanted to sit down and simply write about last minute developments prior to a gaming session, since finally after a 2 month break we are all getting together to play, but I found that it just wouldn't come out in worlds; much less thoughts in my mind. Fortunately Bob and I sat down and talked earlier this week and it spurred an idea that is perfect for Throw Out The Dice --- rules, and what they mean for players and the GM.

When you sit down to play a game, the last thing that should be going through your mind are rules. Some GMs (like me) like to break the rules in their games simply because they don't like a particular rule or don't feel a system does just what they need it to do. Houserules are born this way, and can make huge changes to gameplay. For players this is generally not a big deal, until the GM starts to blatantly break rules they consider balancing to the game.

The most conflict that I've run into comes from other players who run their own games. They don't want to turn over the reins of power to someone else and seem to love to bring up the fact that a rule was skipped or how a rule is designed for balancing the game and shouldn't be broken. I know that I am to blame for this kind of thing when I am in the player's seat, but over time I've learned that the best thing to do is just shut up and play.

A GM wants to run with certain rules, whether you like them or not (I usually run into issues with GMs who follow the rules far more strictly than I do). Beware of this when you are playing. Your objections to rules can be extremely immersion breaking, especially when it becomes a conflict between you and the GM. When a GM makes a decision about something in game, as a player it is our duty to accept their decision, even if we don't agree with it.

GMs: Don't shut down your players if they do pose questions about your rules. Sometimes this can be extremely beneficial for you to flesh out your own systems or rules that will help make your gaming experience more unique.

As a GM you also need to be flexible for the sake of your players when it comes to rules. I happen to enjoy it when players challenge the rules in a game, but only if they have alternate suggestions for how to improve those rules. Criticizing a rule without constructive alternates is just as immersion breaking for me as it is you. If a player can give you a good reason why a rule doesn't fit, you should take some time to make a judgement on that rule.

If you need to make a split second decision in game, be sure you stick to that decision in the future - or at least for the duration of the adventure or campaign you are running. Further changes can always be made in the future.

Next Week: More on rules... when they don't fit your game.

Inequality

2011-08-11T17:42:00.002-05:00

Our world is far from equal. Women's rights are quite new, despite younger generations having grown up with it in place (mine included), and slavery at least at face value is no longer present in the U.S. My recent writing has taken me to a location in Saratta that makes inequality glaringly apparent, and I am certain that one day someone is going to pull up my works and say, "Gosh, that Wiley must hate women", or they will find me to be a racist or whatever else people think they can infer from what a writer wrote (I never subscribed to the "close reading" thing in school for those of you who have endured it...).

I'll accept the ridicule at this point should it come my way, because a world is a dark place when you stop looking at the surface. Many fantasy worlds that I have taken played in usually tote equality as a strong point, where men and women are the same and flowers and sunshine fall from the heavens. The most difficult thing faced is some ancient evil rising up to destroy the world.

With Saratta I wanted to see a change, something that presented a challenge without being a physical beast that could be slain. In my DMing I know I don't quite reach the real world concept that I am pushing toward, but at least knowing of the inequality in a country helps to really push toward the feeling that the world is far from fair, and evil doesn't need to be a monster. It can be men putting down women, or slave trade, or other things that we put by the wayside or choose to ignore in life.

Roleplay requires strife to be a complete experience, which is a thing I feel many fantasy worlds lack when trying to immerse you into the world. Video games fall short on this as well. Take Dragon Age: Origins for instance; they took steps to make the elves an outcast race by adding in some racial conflict, but just calling an elf "knife-ears" never really made me want to side against the elves. When racism rears its head the emotional conflict should be powerful, or at least character reaction should portray how they really feel when an insult is hurled their way.

I had a player in one of my games who tried to pull the Dragon Age "knife ears" on an elf of Tyr. Elves in my world are far from your butterfly loving softies that seem to be common place in other worlds (you can add that one to your repertoire of insults to hurl at an elf, since Sarattese elves will loathe you for saying it even inferring it). Had it not been for the intervention of another player and racial treaties, my player would have been left in a pool of his own blood.

Inequality is a very powerful thing, and when used in a game provide another angle for conflicts that players must overcome. A woman might pose as a man in a country where women have few rights, rise to become their champions and then reveal her womanhood to the people in hope of winning rights. Just don't be surprised if things dont work out the way you imagined - womens rights took many knocks before becoming a more mainstream concept. Just don't be afraid to throw these concepts at your players; it forces them to grow (both character and player).

Up the Ante in Battle

2011-08-04T21:07:00.005-05:00

Think back to your favorite Dungeons and Dragons battle. Chances are, it was a cliff-hanger, a nerve-wracking nail biter from which you barely escaped with your life.

D&D wouldn't be the same without the thrill of combat, and it's a DM's job to make sure that each encounter a party comes across is unique and challenging in its own right. As your party grows in strength, that task becomes more difficult. Creatures your players would have struggled to defeat in single combat are now a cake-walk, and you soon find yourself combing the pages of the Monster Manual, looking for something that's a suitable challenge for your quickly-advancing characters.

But wait! There's another way!

You don't necessarily have to dish out tougher creatures to up the challenge rating of a battle. There are plenty more subtle options for a DM to up the ante in a fight without throwing a Red Dragon or Beholder at your hapless party. Here are a few examples:

Obstacles, Obstacles, Obstacles
Nothing slows down the progress of a party like a few well-placed obstacles on the battlefield. Put a pair of ordinary weak skeleton archers behind a set of stalagmites that give them 50 percent cover, then place a steep slope of loose rock between them and your party. Suddenly, those easy-to-defeat skeletons are anything but easy. Your ranged party members will struggle to overcome a percentage dice roll, while your heavily-armored tank with his terrible armor-check penalty falls on his face trying to climb the rubble slope to get within melee range. Meanwhile, your puny skeleton archers are raining arrows down on the party.
Create Your Own Creature
On the other side of the dimly-lit glen, you see two bright yellow eyes watching you. Out of the shadows steps a wolf—but you quickly realize this is no ordinary wolf. To start, it's as tall as a horse, with a hunched back and unnatural long limbs. And as your eyes trace the wolf's sinewy form, you realize with an involuntary shudder that its legs terminate in paws that look an awful lot like human hands. You unsheathe your sword, trying not to stare too deeply into the malevolent yellow eyes of the beast as it approaches.

Nothing will surprise your players more than a unique creature of your own design. Seasoned D&D fans come to expect the orcs, trolls and other common denizens of a high fantasy realm. But when faced with an entirely new, utterly alien creature with its own unique abilities, they're suddenly back to square one. How do you deal with a creature you know nothing about? You'll just have to learn from the school of hard knocks.
Unknown Alignment
Players always expect enemies to readily identify themselves on the battlefield, but what happens when evil lurks beneath a seemingly innocent surface. The best example I can think of is a situation my own party faced several sessions ago, when they traveled to an abandoned town to solve a series of murders. The only person still in the village was the town's resident wizard, who had remained behind to put an end to the violence. The characters expected him to be friendly, or even helpful. What they found when they arrived was an old man driven to madness by an all-consuming evil. Most lawful or good parties will hesitate to attack another being until that being displays hostility toward them. Let your NPCS or creatures get the drop on your characters. In my experience, the end result is a frenetic, hard-fought battle.
Unique Setting
Make your characters think on their feet in a battle. What happens if their enemies are a group of bandit archers firing down on characters from hidden positions up in trees. The characters will have to climb the trees to reach them or even set the tree on fire to smoke the opposing ranger out. Or maybe your players are the first in a boarding party about to breach an enemy ship. To get across, they have to dodge a hail of arrows while crossing a wooden gangplank. Or maybe your characters are forced to fight a flying enemy while clinging to a narrow ledge overhanging a vast, subterranean cavern. There are plenty of interesting features or settings to spice up your next fight.

Elves in the Woodwork

2011-08-03T08:01:00.002-05:00

My document for the races of Saratta continues to grow. When I started it was only a handful of pages and very little content as I had just laid out templates for what information was needed as an introduction to each race. It currently weighs in at 32 pages, probably closer to 31 if you exclude the double space between sections and paragraphs that could technically be their own section (but aren't as they tie in to the topic they are written under...).

As of last night, the 3 elven races have been been posted on the Saratta wiki. That leaves me with only 7 more templates to go, but I hardly think I'm close to finished with racial information for Sarattese races as there are some not so mainstream races that could easily be made playable. Plus it will give me good insight into how the "uncivilized" races of the world function.

Saratta's elves run it a bit of a different direction from the typical fantasy elf. Stereotypically elves are a goodly race, one with nature, and prone to slow decision making. Saratta's elves are slightly similar, with 2 of the races trying to live with nature (the other chooses to shape it in their vision). They can be brash, with little patience for all other than themselves, xenophobic, warlike, and mysterious. In the same step they are magnificent craftsmen, lyricists, and musicians. They are diverse and full of possibilities. Go take a look!

Don't Give Experience

2011-07-28T09:37:00.002-05:00

I like to level my characters. I really do. Having the opportunity to transform your character in whatever direction you want them to go is fun. Concepting the most powerful incarnation of your character and knowing how much butt-kicking goodness they will have can be quite appealing. Yet some of the most fun (an sometimes infuriating) gaming experiences I've had focused on not awarding experience or leveling.

Awarding experience is typically used in games to measure the progress of your character as they hack and slash their way to the top. Ideally, experience should be awarded based on the actions taken by a character rather than how well they swing a sword. At the end of a game session when I hand out adventure experience, this becomes glaringly apparent. The typical response when I ask "what did you do that deserves xp?" is "I killed ", or "I landed the killing blow..." blah blah.

Any experience awards should be based on merit of role-play. Major character changes or attempts at overcoming a fear (or roleplaying that fear to its fullest potential without it coming across as cheesy) are instances where you should be awarding experience if at all. But how do you get to the point where you recognize role-play value over "I killed it!"?

Give NO experience. At all.

If the group kills a monster, they don't get XP. They don't get the chance to level or progress. Stats remain static (though you might allow them to change if the players use their skills actively - but that is aside from the point). This isn't something you try for a single session. Don't give experience for the duration of the adventure or campaign.

I've been on the player's side of this kind of treatment. You start playing for a while, and then you start longing for some kind of change to your character. It wont come though, because the GM isn't giving out experience. What do you do? Keep playing and learn how to better change your character from within the game rather than on paper. It takes time and patience on your part, and a rock steady belief that your players will figure it out when you are the GM.

No experience emphasize growth of the character purely through role-play. Sure, you'll want some new cool power, but you need to realize that you will not get it. Instead you need to be more creative with what resources are at your disposal. If you are given potions? use them. Magic goods? use them. Lotion? Rub it on your skin (Silence of the Lambs anyone?).

The point is to develop your character without the crutch of leveling up. Leveling introduces immediate forced change. No experience forces change as well, but the development has less to do with what is on paper, and more to do with what roleplay ability is in you.

A Dwarf-ish Update

2011-07-19T11:04:00.003-05:00

I've been working on getting most of the racial content written for all the races of Saratta. Sure, some of them are fairly similar to the typical fantasy world, but I didn't want to have the same old thing offered by so many other fantasy lands (and Saratta does not disappoint me in that). The Elves of the world are far from being your lovable aloof race generally associated with good, and Dwarves a pretty much dead and gone, but trying desperately to stay alive.

My latest update to the Saratta website just went up. There are probably a few grammatical mistakes, since I haven't gone through to clean up the content yet. It is likely that I will get there eventually, but there are still quite a few other races that need to get posted. Stats for these races will go up eventually as well, but for now it is purely informational content.

Take a look!

Aspect of All

2011-07-15T23:12:00.002-05:00

Roleplay is a journey, an opportunity for some to simply get away from reality and immerse themselves into the shoes of someone else; similar to reading a book, though far more interactive. It is more like imagining yourself in a characters shoes withing a story. For others, it is acting without the pressure of being on a stage or in front of random people. Others play RPGs simply for the hack-n-slash opportunity.

If you are a usual reader of this blog, you know where my opinions fall. RPGs should focus on the growth of the character you are playing. They should not be 'flat' characters, without depth. They should be diverse and multifaceted. A character will usually take on some aspects of your own life, but you need to remember that they are not you. You might think that something would be funny because its what you would do in real life, but if it is out of character for the person you are playing then it might be time to rethink things.

I presented a number of Aspects as a series of posts with the expressed purpose of generating ideas for new characters. The next concept is therefore an easy transition. Each of the Aspects I covered (and those that I didn't) can, and probably should be combined to give your character greater depth.

The dreamer can be tied in with a "shy guy" role, making for a character with huge ideas and goals, but lacking the social skills to reach them. They would make a wonderful addition to a group as a character who is working to come out of their shell. It shouldn't be a transition that occurs in a single game, and it might not even occur during an adventure. Let the character develop at their own pace.

Adding additional aspects to a single character will add to the back story, and if you didn't create a back story, simply start creating one as you go. What makes your character shy, why do they have a stutter, what do they fear, can they over come it? These will reveal themselves as the game goes, but the more preparation you do in advance for such a situation means that you will be much more prepared. As a player this will help you to further develop the role you've stepped into.

Over time, that character of yours will begin to morph and take itself in whole new directions you may not have seen coming. I've said it before, and will continue to press the idea... let your characters govern themselves. You want them to become something, but if you discover that is not what they truly want, then let them undergo whatever metamorphosis they wish to follow.

Perhaps that means they will become evil over time. If your GM is careful with how they work the plot, you could be a hero worthy of mention in future games, or possibly the villain that the next group is after.* There is only one way for you find out what they will become, so go with it, and have fun.

*GMs - it is probably wise to take control of a character you turn into a villain. Your players need to stand apart from the actions taken by that character or you risk revealing vital plot information and possibly alienating players. I have taken this route in the past and employed it to great effect. As an added bonus to your players, you may want to allow the "villain" to still be voiced by the original player, or have them work with you to achieve the most effective tale.

A Short Blurb

2011-07-07T09:55:00.002-05:00

I had been talking with my friend Bob not so long ago (perhaps a month ago now if I think about it... that isn't long right?). We were discussing what it is we do to wind down after a day of work. Bob programs for a living, so I was surprised when he told me that he goes home and does more coding - this time on personal projects, and that serves as his relax time.

Normally, I sit down and play a video game... perhaps not the most productive use of my time. Then the more I thought about it, the more the idea started to sound appealing. I decided it was time that I sit down and start writing for a bit once I get home. If I ever want to get more content up on the Saratta site then there is only one way to do it... write, write, and write some more.

Its only been about a week now since I started and I've found myself bouncing from topic to topic. I started fleshing out small writeups for each country, including Geographical information, Daily life, government systems, etc. To say the least, the process is slow going, so don't expect to see those coming up quite yet as I got distracted by another subject.

With the Cradle of Souls having concluded, I realized that it was time I started getting the last of the plot synopsis finished, since having yet another incomplete topic on the Saratta site is too much. That being said, there should be an explosion of information pertaining to the synopsis for CoS in the next couple days. It should make for "decent" reading, since it is unedited and mostly from memory (so for you who played, I might leave little things out, or details may have changed slightly, but the overall adventure is there).

Aspects of Roleplay: The Dreamer

2011-06-20T10:09:00.002-05:00

The Dream may just be one of my personal favorites, at least in concept. This character is drafted with heavy roleplay in mind. They can be very versatile and are limited only by your imagination, or the quirks that you build into them. When playing a dreamer, you will be allowing the character to grow however THEY want to. I stress this point, because the dreamer should always be generating new and fantastic ideas based on their experiences.

Who is the Dreamer? I'm sure you have met one in real life. Their concept for "What I want to be when I grow up" is constantly shifting. Some much so that in college they had bounced between 4 different majors before settling on one, only to change gears just as they were about to complete the one they were working toward. Commonly we stereotype these kind of people as flighty, or non-committal. That is where we would be wrong. They are still looking for their identity; trying to find the things they truly enjoy, rather than just picking one, sticking with it, and then hoping for the best.

When playing the Dreamer, you need to be ready to just let them wander and transform on their own. They might hold some of the same tastes as you, but it is likely you will discover that they might want to explore options that you normal wouldn't. I should also point out that in the course of their adventures, they might learn that their heart isn't in there for combat. They might want to settle down and just stay in an area (if this happens, it is ok for you to retire a character). More likely the spirit of adventure will keep driving them onward. When one mission is done, they will seek out another, especially if it seems to align with their personal goals.

In a campaign or adventure, the Dreamer can be a GMs nightmare, or salvation. I like thinking of them as the latter. A Dreamer is the character who will create hooks for your game without trying. They will prompt adventure that goes outside the scope of what you had in mind. It can be grueling, as most of the things they will want to do will put you on the spot. Be ready to adlib at a moments notice.

Any character can be a Dreamer, and some may develop into one for a short time if it suits their personality. Overall, the Dreamer is a personality concept that you can add on to your character to add depth (as are most of the aspects, and as such, I will cover combinations of aspects in the future). If you are looking for something to broaden your roleplaying experience, give this concept a try and see what becomes of it.

Creating a Sense of Place, Part 2

2011-06-19T19:05:00.006-05:00

So you have the maps of your village or city charted, and you've even written a short description of the city's economic, social and geographic features. Now, how do you breathe real life into that place? Well, that's where your NPCs, stores and other details come into play.

The people inhabiting your village are its living, beating heart. Otherwise, the town would just be a collection of buildings and empty rooms. The attitudes and worldview of the people living in a village make it unique. Even the local customs, catchwords and folklore (think Minnesota's trademark 'uff da' phrase) have a role in creating a sense of place.

Have a village by the sea? Chances are, the locals have legends about the monstrous fish that got away. Constructing a dwarven citadel, maybe one of the forefathers of the city delved deep into forgotten tunnels and never came back. Fast forward several hundred years, and the current residents of the city have erected a statue in his honor and have posted a reward for anyone who finds his body.

But creating a realistic town requires more detail than a few well-rounded folktales. What are the aspirations and dreams of the towns' residents? Does the bartender in a small village yearn for greater things—the life of excitement that all the local adventurers who frequent her tavern talk about? What kind of unique local products are sold in stores? Are the stores and the merchants that your party encounters memorable—more than just a face and an inventory of goods?

Here are a few examples I've written, taken from the city of Florentine, which is a hub of trade and the seat of a small city-state in my current campaign.

Hammerhand Market

A cutthroat nexus of capitalism in the southern quarter of Florentine, the Hammerhand Market is a ramshackle bazaar outside of the Hammerhand Guildhouse. Many of the men and dwarves who operate stands in the market are aspiring blacksmiths who are struggling to be recognized by the Hammerhand Guildhouse, a famous weapons and armor craft guild. As much as they aspire to become Hammerhand employees, many of them also share a resentment of the guildhouse and its near-monopoly on the metals trade from the dwarven city of Craghaven. A small gang of children runs around the marketplace and is led by a crafty young boy named James. They pickpocket newcomers, but also serve as unofficial guides to the market.

The River Inn

Location on an island in the Florentine River just north of the city, the River Inn is the most popular establishment for the city's wealthy upper crust. It is frequented by powerful patrons, some of whom have taken up residence in the inn's spacious rooms. The matron of the inn is Helena Rosa, a powerful woman with fiery red hair and an appetite for cocky men. A wild, fast-talking woman, Helena is the leader of the city's hedonistic Scarlet Order, a social organization centered around the River Inn. Many of the Scarlet Order dabble in necromancy, conjuration and other arcane skills, but few have any real power or training.

The Flint and Barrel Tavern

A large, square, ramshackle structure located on Shipwright’s Row, the Flint and Barrel Tavern is the ideal place for a frosty drink and a warm meal. Founded in 7 A.L. by famous adventurer, Erasmus Ellypick, the tavern plays host to a number of sailors and “recent arrivals” all year round. Erasmus, well into his second century of life, still frequents the Flint and Barrel, but his son Niccolo, actually manages the establishment. A famous Lor’Athyl singer, Quell Dathyl, is enslaved at the tavern, which is known for its ambience and music. Nearly senile and hard of hearing, Erasmus is one of the founding fathers of Florentine. He spends much of his time in the tavern reading and chatting with adventurers just off the boats. While he is ordinarily very talkative and helpful, Erasmus doesn’t like telling anyone about his last adventure up north, other than to mention that it was a very “strange place.”

By this point, I hope you've picked up a few pointers about creating a city, village or hamlet in your campaign. A lot of it comes down to the amount of detail you put into a place, but even a few well-placed, memorable NPCs, shops or other organizations can lend a lot of vibrancy to a setting.

Part One: Creating a Sense of Place

2011-06-05T11:18:00.006-05:00

World Creation: It's one of the most fundamental steps for a DM. It's also one of the most daunting parts of running a game. Most DMs strive to create a unique sense of place and history for their world (take Tim's extensive work on the history and theology of Saratta, for example). Others pull canned, unimaginative settings out of books or fantasy cliches.

Creating a world is a huge task, but like every big project, you have to break it down into steps or segments to make it manageable. In this case, it's easiest to begin by creating villages or cities and their immediate environments. So how do you make a village unique and memorable? I'm going to take you through the process that I use when I'm building locales for a game, using the village of Climharadh (one of the settings in my current campaign) as an example.

Obviously, everyone has their own approach to the art of creation, and what works for me may not work for you. But maybe you'll pull a few pointers or new ideas from my process.

Step One: Maps

Maps serve as the foundation to my village-building. I usually start with an overarching 'world map,' and then create mini-maps that represent a smaller segment of the world (usually a city and its immediate surroundings). So why do I start with map drawing? Without knowledge of the geography around a settlement, how can you create the culture or society of the village, or start writing the adventures that await your PCs?

Depending on the size of the settlement, I may draw one close-up street map of the village or city, and highlight important locations (taverns, stores, churches) within the city for future reference, and one map that shows the city and the 10-15 miles of landscape around the city.
Often, I'll also do a ground-level drawing of the village to give to my characters, so they have a visual representation of what I'm describing. The drawing allows me to flesh out the architecture and layout of the village.

After I've drawn the maps, I write a brief description of the sociology, geography and economy of the village. This general description is incredibly important in my process. It's often the point when my ideas start to coalesce and take shape. This general description serves as a reference as I delve into the more specific details of the village. Here's what I penned for Climharadh:

Founded by a hardy and swarthy folk from southern Osseros, Climharadh is an independently-minded village situated between the Sheltered Bay and the slopes of two of the highest peaks in the Leptis Line: Baltoro and Karakoram. The people of the city have come to revere the two peaks, which reach upward abruptly from the sea coast. The area around Climharadh is warmed by breezes from the Sheltered Bay, and is very hilly and forested. The slopes around the city play host to a number of small streams and rivers, fed by rains that frequently run up the sides of the mountains. Two of the larger rivers in the area, the Coldstream and Onyx, are glacial meltwater rivers that have their origins high up in the mountains. The small vale above Climharadh is farmed for potatoes, but the true livelihood of the villagers is coastal fishing. The ships the natives use are small outriggers, nimble but difficult to maneuver. The city itself is built from granite and other hardy, volcanic stones, and clings to the cliffs above the ocean like a seagull’s next. Roads form switchbacks down the cliff to the seashore, and ruins dot the hillsides above the city. Traders also frequent the area, as Climharadh sits at the foot of the only gateway through the Leptis Line up into the high plains. The cleft road leads to the Obsidian Staircase –a dwarf-hewn track that leads to the Dwarven waypost of Carven Vale, high in the mountains.

Baltoro and Karakoram: Hidden by the clouds that frequently form around the base of the mountains, the two peaks are omnipresent in the minds of the villagers of Climharadh. The townfolk have constructed an abbey that doubles as a shrine to Alessa and an altar for the two peaks. An almost animalistic religion has built up around the mountains, which are rumored to be inactive volcanoes. Karakoram, to the north, is feared. Villagers consider it a bad omen when the clouds clear around the mountain, and the snow-tipped peak is visible to the land below. Rumors abound about gray creatures with gangly limbs that will snatch up unwary travelers. On the other hand, Baltoro, to the south, is considered to be the silent protector of the village. The villagers see the two peaks as good and evil, vying against each other. A few people in the village can claim that they have scaled Baltoro—a dangerous but powerful feat. Those who have scaled the mountain enjoy high status among their peers below. A rough cemetery for the village lies at the foot of Baltoro.

Next time: people, stores and village culture

Concerning Metagaming

2011-06-02T09:08:00.002-05:00

Matagaming: In an RPG, this is the act of a character doing something or knowing something that they do not have knowledge of. The player takes knowledge from outside of the game and uses that to change the actions of their character in game.

All gaming groups will experience Metagaming at some point. Even very experienced role players do, despite doing their best to avoid such situations. I am certain that I have done posts on the subject of Metagaming before, but it came to light in my most recent game that I need to brush up on my skills for reducing the issue.

For players:
Metagaming is a very easy thing for players. You dont want anything bad to happen to your character, or you like to always be in the action (I am certain there are other reasons to metagame, but these are the big ones). The first thing I need you to do in a game is stop. Take a moment and think - does my character know this? If not, don't act. Plenty of things go by in our lives without us knowing when or how it is going to happen. You need to let events develop centered around the gaming experience and story; not your character.

This can be quite the challenge though. When you know that something bad is going to happen to you or another character your first instincts are to run in and save the day. Take note: if you don't know what is happening, or you have chosen a different course of action - DO NOT rush to the rescue.

The same logic holds true if the GM tells another player about a secret entrance to a building and you {the player} have your character start talking about said secret entrance. If your character was not told the information or they were not present to hear it, then they know nothing about it.

Role-playing games are based upon an honor system. The GM expects that you are able to remain in character and maintain the role that you were placed into. In my games I allow players to make their own characters. I try to give a bit of background on the situation they have found themselves in, and then go from there. It is up to you to keep that in mind. A player can derail a game quite quickly if they do not follow that course.

For the GM:
Metagaming is preventable, you just need to take some steps to help things along. I learned while playing with friends years ago that the best way to prevent Metagame knowledge was to pull players aside. Take them into a separate room if they are looking to do something that is outside of the knowledge of everyone else.

If they are approached by an NPC with important information and no-one else is present, pull them aside. This serves two purposes.

1. It personalizes the experience, making the player feel that something unique is happening to their character. Noone else gets to listen in on what is happens.

2. It cuts down on Metagaming. Now the others in the group have no idea what was discussed. When the player chooses to fill in the group, they can omit important details to give them and edge, or fill the group in to ensure cohesion.

Try pulling people aside, or if you feel that your story is best told in front of everyone, give the group a friendly reminder that they need to stay in character. In character moments transcend personal feelings, be they feelings due to a relationship, or feelings of animosity because you dont get along with someone.

Side Note: Relationship bonds in game are the easiest to work with, but if you don't get along with someone you may want to bow out of the group both for your sanity and sometimes the groups. Raise any concerns you have with your GM. They need to know what is going on to best facilitate the game.

Next Time: Aspects of Roleplay returns! Turning dreams into reality!

Soap Operas

2011-05-18T09:09:00.001-05:00

I read very recently in a magazine that Days of our Lives (or one of those soaps - I don't exactly keep up on them) is coming to its end. Yippie Skippie, a soap opera is coming to an end... what does that have to do with gaming? On the outside, not much, but if you dig into a soap you will find the the groundwork for quality role play.

Soaps are not known for stellar acting, but they make up for that by having stories that focus and revolve around the characters. Other tv shows we watch do this as well. Take Stargate for example, plenty of focus on the characters but I think it fails in comparison to a soap. Stargate gave us a great cast of characters who stay true to their roles but do not undergo any big changes in their personality (alternate universes and single episode role shifts aside).

In a soap, a character who has been a "good guy" for a long time can suddenly shift to become the "bad guy" for a while, cheating or stealing, or whatever else they can think of to create the role shift. They don't necessarily need to become the "bad guy" either to achieve a shift. They can give in / relent to a rival trying to steal the man / house / car... whatever. The point is, they transform.

In an RPG this is what we want from our characters. Sure, when you first make your character you will plan out how you want them to grow, but if you set that in stone, you are depriving yourself of your characters natural growth. Not everyone is open to letting their characters grow though.

My friend Dan for instance, had a vampire that he was particularly pleased with. As the game progressed, I introduced him to a young vampire girl who was trying to regain her humanity from the god of Undeath (Saraniah for those of you who have played in my games). This was his characters introduction to the hardships of being a vampire. Eventually I stuck him with a tough decision - continue being a vampire and killing the girl (who had regained her human life) so she would be forced to endure undeath again, or become a celestial champion to defend her.

Dan did not want to see the character die, so he took the later option, transforming his character into a celestial being to defend the girl. Needless to say, this was not what he had in mind for his character, and he lost interest in playing it. A year or so later, he had come to grip with the change and wanted to give the character another go.

If we make ourselves open to the possibility of change and allow our characters to develop on their own, we will not be disappointed with the results. It will help you grow as a role player, and more importantly it diversifies the experience, letting them grow as they would in real life. Soap opera characters shoot for the same thing. Take a moment and learn from them. Too often we throw aside soaps as though they offer little in artistic or creative detail, but we need to instead open our minds to the idea that it isn't always action that drives a story, but the journey for each character.

A New Face

2011-05-09T14:48:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone~

My name is David Henke, and I'm a lifelong D&D addict who learned the ropes by playing with Tim in high school and through college. Tim and I have had plenty of long discussions over beers, after D&D sessions and even while we were out camping on what makes a good Dungeons and Dragons game — and how we can improve our role-playing experiences. He was kind enough to invite me to blog on his site.

Even before I started playing D&D, I was reading fantasy novels (like the excellent Lone Wolf series, Redwall and, of course, LOTR) and drawing maps of cities, countries and worlds that sprung from my imagination. Playing D&D for the first time in the Detroit Lakes High School library with Tim was a huge eye-opener. For the first time, I had an outlet for my imagination, the right side of my brain that wanted desperately (and still does want) to create epic stories, familiar characters and even whole worlds.

Playing is great, but I was drawn immediately to DMing. Since then, I've run more standalone adventures than I can count and a few campaigns. For a long time, I ran light-hearted, almost-comical Star Wars campaigns with a great group of friends that contained more laugh-until-you-cry moments than I have space on this blog to recall.

After taking a hiatus from D&D for most of college, I've found my way back to the game. For the past few months, I've been running a campaign with a small but growing group of RPers in St. Paul. Unlike many of my past ventures, the tone for this campaign is very serious. The amount of writing, map-making and work I've put into it is ridiculous — I used to make fun of Tim for carrying around a big binder of D&D sheets, but now I find myself moving in that direction.

Like Tim, I think the heart of D&D is not dice, stats or natural 20s, but involved, thoughtful role-playing. The biggest reward for me, as a DM, is to play with well-rounded characters to respond to and come to love the world you've created for them.

Aspects of Roleplay: The Flirt

2011-04-30T13:49:00.003-05:00

There is a woman standing at the far end of the bar. She is the target. You aren't supposed to interact with the target, but seeing her like that... and here of all places... well, what would it hurt, right? You saunter up to her, lean against the bar, and with your most winning smile and a wink ask her if you can buy her a drink. Several hours later you're leaving the bar, your arm over her shoulder... its good to be a flirt.

In many of the games I have played, the most flirtatious characters have always been NPCs. Playing a flirt from the perspective of a player is well outside of of most people's comfort zones. Occasionally in sessions I will see someone break away from their comfort zone and flirt with other NPCs or the occasional player. From my perspective this is a ton of fun.

Stepping outside of your comfort zone can be a daunting task, so doing it can be tough. I can't force the idea of expanding roleplay ability, but if you want to really push yourself, taking up a more flirtatious role can really improve your skills (taking up any role above and beyond your personality will really help to improve your skill for that matter).

You might read this and ask yourself why having a flirt in a game is so important. Aren't these games all about kicking some enemy butt while getting to roleplay a bit too? Sure. Combat sequences are fun but when those are said and done there is much more that people (real or imagined) will do with their lives. They might relive the battle in their head a few times but they are not going to fixate on that. They want to live and grow, develop relationships with others, and generally enjoy life.

I am certain all of you already know what flirting is, but to summarize: it is the part of our personality that is designed to foster interest (romantically/sexually) from a person of interest to you. It is also used to gauge another's personality; to see how they respond to an advance, or spurn it. In a game you can use this to your advantage, but only if the rest of the group will play along.

Ultimately, playing the Flirt will boost not just your roleplay skills, but force the rest of the group to grow and adapt as well. It is worth your while to give it a try.

A Bit of a Break

2011-04-30T12:58:00.002-05:00

Yup, thats right. I took a bit of a break. It was nice too - especially since finding the time to write up a blog post can get a bit difficult. We just had our big game 2 weekends ago which was a really good time. Its been a while (2 months or so) since we last held a game; first time at our new apartment.

I am a bit torn between being excited to start up a new game and ending the current one that we're on. "What!?" Those of you who are playing in that game might be asking... yup. I am drawing toward the end of the current game. It is very likely that the story will continue after that, but as far as the story I have been carefully cultivating... its almost finished.

I am hoping to get a bit of ahead on writing some of the more 'formal' articles (a couple more Aspects of Roleplay would be good). If you have any aspects that you would be interested in hearing about from my perspective add it into the comments...

Life keeps getting more busy. I am hoping to get a brew kit this weekend and begin brewing a couple batches of beer before attempting to make a spice rum, or pumpkin ale. My daughter has begun toddling which means even more play time with her, plus a few video games - my wife and I are playing through Dragon Age together, and I wouldnt mind getting my hands on DA2.

Keep your eyes peeled, I should have another Aspects of Roleplay up by Wednesday!

Aspects of Roleplay: The Good Guy

2011-04-06T10:19:00.002-05:00

I am working at concepts for improving classes in the D&D system that generally get little play. In particular I mean the Paladin. A paladin is supposed to a truly chivalrous knight, he cares not for himself but those he is with, and will gladly sacrifice himself for the greater good. He must always be Lawful Good - following the common laws and liberties that keep people free and safe. He does not purposely do any wrong or to break those laws.

The concept of a pure and good paladin is a crock of crap. When roleplaying we try to fulfill the role we take on - if you're a good character, the general idea is that you are always good and self sacrificing, but that isn't always true. A good person will still cheat and steal if there is necessity. The same holds true for the Paragon of Good Paladin mentioned above. Just because you are good does not mean you must ALWAYS be perfect.

Very rarely do I have people play the "good" classes (clerics and paladins) in my games, and I'll admit that I too am hesitant to play those classes. There is a stigma attached to them that makes us think we need to play them exactly the way the rulebook (or other fantasy tales we may have read) describes them. You are really limiting your options if you take this route. We must remember that a good character is after all mortal and therefore capable of committing wrongs against others.

This doesn't mean that you're going to go out and kill NPCs left and right, or that your characters personal morals shouldn't get in the way of objectionable actions. That being said, it does mean that you can / will steal if it is necessary. Only the most innocent people still think like children when it comes to ethical situations (meaning that Black and White tend to blend into gray a bit).

Lets look at one of my favorite scenarios from an Ethics class I took in college: Your wife/husband is sick and dieing. There is a pharmaceutical medication available that will save their life. You have $1,000 saved for such a situation. The medication costs $10,000, is manufactured for $50, and works 100% of the time. You try to talk down the price and argue that it will save your wife/husband's life but the medical companies don't care. What do you do?

According to the Lawful Good alignment, you can't do anything. You don't have the money and stealing it is wrong (children typically see it this way). Keep in mind though that this is someone you care about DEEPLY, and the medication works. At some point even a good character can be pushed to action when they would normally be passive. Some GMs may argue that stealing the medication goes outside of the bounds of the alignment, but I will likewise argue that it doesn't go beyond what a person would do or is capable of doing. After all, when you roleplay you are taking on the aspects of another person.

There will be times when playing a good character will prevent you from taking action as well. In one game I was part of, one of the players insisted on playing a good character who was morally opposed to wanton killing. This meant if we were going to engage a group of orcs their character would not partake in killing them, or help us steal or coerce people into doing our bidding. A good aligned character should try to avoid such things, but keep in mind too when you play that a good character will defend themselves if attacked (or run) - and will defend their kin / race before jumping in to defend everything else (this is simply human nature at work - if you created your character to act as such though, then stick to your guns - there are certainly people alive who are opposed to an fighting / killing / or theft for that matter).

Like the Villain in a group, a good character must also determine WHY they are part of a group. If you have a pacifist character in a group of mercenaries, you may be playing the wrong type of character for that particular game. The same holds true if you are playing a good character opposed to stealing partaking in a game about a Den of Thieves - unless, for example: you were taken as a hostage by said Den of Thieves and your character developed Stolkholm Syndrome and chooses to defend the Den - acting as a moral compass in the hope to turn them of their ways. As you play out the scenario, you may discover that your character is turning toward theft and deceit rather than away from it...

Good characters can be a ton of fun to play, but always remember that they are people, and thus are subject to the same kind of feelings as we are. They get angry and can lash out even if it is "not in character". Likewise they will feel sad or self conscious if they go outside their usual bounds. They will try to make amends and right any wrongs. They are not perfect, and that is what makes them fun to play.

Next Time: The Flirt. Another uncommon aspect of roleplay that some are willing to try and others naturally shy away from.

Aspects of Roleplay: The Villain

2011-03-23T09:33:00.002-05:00

I've played games under many GMs, and one of the common traits of each is their distaste for allowing players to be evil. I will even include myself in this group, because evil characters often prove to be an issue when it comes to group cohesion. They are apt to killing off characters if things don't go their way, and it can really turn people away from wanting to enjoy your game.

That being said, a touch of villainy can really add to a game, transforming one of the players for hero to hunted if that is how you want to twist the game. Having a character who is crude and rude and wont let anything stand in their way creates tension, but also brings about some interesting results.

A friend of mine, Westy, once ran a one-shot adventure, his first experience GM-ing. I created an evil half dragon monk, which got the usual skeptical raise of the eyebrows from the GM. He wasn't sure that an evil character would mesh well with his story. As it turned out my character really didn't blend with the group, and tended to charge ahead and be the party's loner.

We came to a point where the group met a Nymph guarding a bridge that would give us access to the treasure we were seeking. Standing in the center of the bridge, she ordered us to stop. The group did; I didn't. As I drew nearer, she unleashed a bolt of lightning right at my feet, ordering me to stop. My answer: "No.", and I promptly threw her off the bridge.

Everything was a means to an end. I wanted a powerful artifact that was kept in the treasure room and was going to use the party to get it. Even evil characters have motivations, and more importantly a reason for being with the party. If you have a player or you are that player who wants to play an evil character, you MUST have a reason for joining the party. Without a reason, there would be no purpose for your presence in the group.

Playing an evil character doesn't mean that you have to be a bloodthirsty fiend (those types of people certainly exist out there, and probably would not work well with any group). An Assassin who has murdered before can leave plenty of opportunities for roleplay interaction, especially by good players who are trying to "cure" them of their ways. You could also try playing the character who simply doesn't care about anyone else.

Here are a couple scenarios in which you have evil character interaction that doesn't involve slaughtering your own party:

Injured people laying on the ground after a fight? Leave them behind, unless you have a purpose for saving them. If your party insists that you help, do a half-assed job - they might care but that doesn't mean you have to.

Dragon attacking a town? Push people down as you run for it - saving your skin comes first.

Robbing a bank? Leave behind some evidence that will implicate a person in the party that you don't like. If things go wrong, there's no reason you need to take the fall.

Don't like that NPC? Arrange for an "accident" to befall them, or if possible challenge them to a duel you know you can win. It is rare that people just go out and kill during the daylight with others all around to see it. You don't want to get caught. Be discrete about it. (This one tends to be ignored by role-players for whatever reason, but just because you are evil doesn't give you a free ticket to murder and plunder without getting caught).

Just keep in mind that there are a lot of bad things that happen in the world. If you are going to play the harbinger of those bad things, try to keep it a bit out of sight. In many cases it is always the person you least expect to be pulling the strings.

Next Time: The Golden Child - Paragon of Good - Can Do No Wrong. Wrong. Playing a good character does not mean you have to be a goody two-shoes all the time. Be good while keeping it real.

Aspects of Roleplay: The Madman

2011-03-09T12:00:00.001-06:00

I've always wanted to play a crazy hermit in game. Perhaps a ranger who simply lost his mind in an attempt to further become one with nature. A subtle kind of crazy, but one that tells you that the lightbulb burned out a while ago. There is a very subtle blend between all out crazy and playability though.

The first time I ran across a crazy character in the role playing field, it was under the guise of a split / multiple personality. We all sat around gave our jest filled har-hars but I'm certain we all knew such a character is made simply to get laughs from the group rather than make a solid roleplay character. And laughs we got, though it probably wasn't what our friend had in mind.

The character was goofy, with a calm demeanor that could blow into a frenzied maniac whenever the player thought it would be fun or cause problems. My friend Tucker and I quickly put an end to it by killing the character off. Madness could ruin our plans after all. Undeterred, our friend created yet another "schizophrenic" and tried to get back into the game. We quickly finished him off too.

The whole idea of having a character that can swing out of control might be fun, but it has no depth and certainly does not do justice to the disability that you are trying to portray. If your heart is set on this kind of "crazy" then I would advise you to do your research and really understand what you will be playing.

The most memorable instance of madness was played out by my friend David. His character, the learned druid (a character who wields the power of nature in D&D) Calemis stuck his nose in the wrong book and was curse with insanity. At first he babbled nonsense, clamoring about like a loon before a storm. It didn't take long for people to start laughing though. Nonsense became attempts at one-upping the behavior until a point came when David confided that the effort of playing up an insanity curse was wearing on him. It had become a game of outdoing what had already been done, and he was at his wits end for where to go next. Lucky for him, I returned Calemis to normal. Despite this, it was still one of the better instances of 'crazy'.

The latest falls on the shoulders of Tucker who opted for a more subtle approach. His wizard has touched into the outer planes (worlds that bisect our own - kind of like dimensions) and exposed him to a bit of madness (think Cthulu only a little more tame). As a result during times of high stress he has begun to think that reality is warped. At one point he believed that he could not walk on the floor for fear it was lava. The madness comes and goes, but so far hasn't been used for laughs. It might get one or two giggles, but generally he has played up the problem at inopportune moments that give the group pause to question his sanity.

Leaving room for questions while maintaining character integrity is a must for playing the Madman type character. It adds a little depth to the character, gives you a moment to break away from what is normal, and could prove to be an excellent player created hook for a GM to take advantage of. Moderating the amount of insanity will keep your character intriguing enough to not be regarded as a complete nuisance.

Next Time: Terror and Villainy, Occult and Bloodthirsty. Only a few traits of Evil. Playing an evil character does not always mean that you murder and plunder though. A look into a little played and little accepted aspect of roleplay.

Aspects of Roleplay: Introduction

2011-02-23T12:58:00.003-06:00

As I've mentioned before, I am in the process of moving, thanks to a new job. There are some benefits to moving, which include getting rid of old stuff that you don't need anymore. Part of my own "spring cleaning" for the move was taking a look at all of my D&D stuff and deciding what I am keeping and what I no longer need. My books, a mixture of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, D&D 3.5, and a couple Shadowrun handbooks are staying. Many of the papers that have no relevant information, or are unrelated to Saratta are being tossed.

To get an idea of all the random assorted papers that I have laying around, pick up a manila envelope or file folder. Now pack it with a crud ton of papers, probably about 1/2 an inch thick. Now add about a dozen more folders. All of these papers are old character sheets, half finished maps (and some that are finished), old worlds that I was in the process of creating at one time but abandoned after running end of the world gaming scenarios, and the campaigns that went along with them.

In short, all of these papers contain memories. Memories of past games, good times with friends, and probably more sugar filled beverages than a cooler full of unmixed Tang. Many of these pages (with the exception of the bare necessities for the sake of remember how far I've come with the game, or very memorable characters) I tossed. Particularly when they shared no relation to anything about Saratta.

During this cleaning process, I stumbled across a folder containing the first Saratta game I ever ran, and the related maps and paths that my friends took while playing. It got me thinking about the different play styles that they took during that game and in others that I played through High School.

Aspects of Roleplay will focus on the play styles, big and small, that I've seen or even acted through the course of my gaming days. This will include everything from the goody two shoes paladin, right down to the evil villain type characters. Most of the time when we play these types, we overemphasize one aspect, be it good or evil, and we make that out to be what defines the character. Sometimes this is good, but other times it takes away from the true depth that you could provide to your game. "Aspects" is about the player, and how you can grow outside of your safety bubble while still having a great time.

Next Time: I'm not MAD! You're MAD! You think that you're SANE, but I KNOW. I KNOW the TRUTH!

Thoughts: The Moving Process

2011-02-16T18:48:00.002-06:00

Another week without an in development post has spurned me to deliver something a little different. A thoughts section where I can submit a little bit of rambling into the ways of my life and such. Kinda the way a regular blog would run, only less often and perhaps less focused than most of my posts. But then again, maybe not.

Over the course of the last month I interviewed and was offered a position at Arvig Communication Systems. They are an ISP that covers the bulk of central Minnesota. I am a Help Desk technician, a job similar to one that I held while in college, though quite a bit more complicated in the fact that I am providing support for people who are trying to get online, or who are of all ages and skill levels who may or may not have pressing computer problems (though all of them are pressing to them.

Getting a new job is great, giving me more hours which means more money and more ability to support my family. It also means less time for outlets, at least right now (hence the lack of an in development posting right now). The sheer volume of information that my brain has had to consume and compute in such a short time seems mind boggling and certainly overwhelming at first. I'm only a week and a half into training, but I've noticed that at the end of the day, while driving home my mind drifts into the imaginary realms I've so often trod on before. It's a familiar friend and one I am more than happy to accompany.

My imagination gets kicked into overdrive thanks to books on tape that serve as entertainment in the half hour drive I make from work and back. This week the book is The Other. Sometimes overladen with details that I wanted to cast aside and say were dull and boring, I've since changed my stance, allowing those details to complete a picture that I can bring to life in the reaches of my mind. Its a guilty pleasure I'm all too happy to indulge. It also makes me hope that one day I can sit down and write like that. I also hope that the tales I tell in gaming sessions are not so burdened as to make my players wish I would just get on with it.

I am hoping that soon my mind will catch to paper again, but I know that moving will probably keep that from happening quickly. With any luck my wife and I will get the apartment we were looking for, and before long I can begin my tales again, with tottering baby in hand, wife at my side, and a host of friends along for the ride.

- Tim

2011-02-09T12:00:00.000-06:00

The more time you spend running games, the greater the chances will be that you will encounter Content Skipping. In the last two parts I covered the causes of of content skipping. This time we move on to attempting to minimize content skipping in your games.

New GMs tend to "railroad" games in order to make sure their players dont skip content. "Railroading" is the act of forcing your players to do what you want, usually by sending overpowered beings, monster or NPC, to ensure their actions. Regardless of your GM skills, we want to avoid that tactic. The players know when they are being forced to do things, and they usually don't approve. They will play your game, but their limited choices will quickly make them loose interest in the game. Players have much more fun when they can make choices on their own.

The easiest way to keep content skipping from occurring is to create linear dungeons and adventures. This is done in video games all the time, and many of the GMs that I've played with choose to employ it to keep the game running smoothly. When I began running games I also created linear worlds. It worked like a charm and is wonderful for starting out. It makes sure that all of your story is told. The only catch is the limit to choices.

As I delved deeper into world creation, I began to move away from linear gameplay. If the focus of an RPG is the role playing aspects, then like your emphasis of roleplay for the players, the world must also be a living and breathing entity. In doing this the linear format is thrown out the window. Your emphasis when creating content will lie in a wide range of choice instead. Unfortunately, it also opens a lot of room for content skipping to take place.

The best way to limit content skipping in a non-linear game is simply to create "hooks" that will keep the group wondering what is around each corner. A "hook" in an RPG is a suggestion made to the players, sometimes directly by an NPC, or a subtle hint that they might want to pursue. Lets say for instance that you are playing a game where the group must descend into a crypt beneath the city to slow the progress of a tide of undead, a hook for that situation might be an ancient treasure vault hidden somewhere down there. In simple terms, it's a side quest.

Avoid quick transportation out of an area the group is exploring. This was my problem with the last game I had run. If the devil had not teleported the group, it is likely that they would have explored most of what I had written. Sometimes you just need to learn by making mistakes (the only real way to get comfortable GMing). You can't control every instance of Content Skipping, but if you take some efforts to minimize them, you can have a very successful game and still reveal everything you took the time to write.

Skipped It, Passed, Missed Out.

2011-01-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

Having the content that you worked so hard to perfect suddenly get skipped is disheartening. For some, it may even be aggrivating. You just spent who knows how many hours to get things just right and in an instant it became all for nothing. I used to think that it was always the players who skipped content, but that thought came to an end recently. I learned that you can't always blame players because it isn't always their fault. It takes a little refection over what happened during the game session, but whenever something gets skipped, there are little clues to suggest where things went wrong.

This all dawned on me after I created this:

The ruins of Em'Nay are from an ancient civilization buried by Druid magic several thousand years ago in Saratta's history. I had bits and pieces of history to provide the group if they explored all of it but much of it was simply fluff (filler that we provide as GMs but is not vital to the continued plot). The red line indicates the path my group took, as well as the only path that was important to plot development. At the end of their path they met a demon, and after freeing it the demon transported them back to the surface, where the leader of their expedition, Ulias, told them there were to press onward.

Ulias's command is the important point note here, and where most things went wrong. But let's follow the breadcrumbs...

I didn't think anything of it; events had occurred exactly as I had planned them. The group found the demon and were teleported out of the caves. It was all written into the adventure, and I knew it was a possibility that the group would follow the 'plot path'. Sure, I thought there would be more exploration and chances for experience gain, but to me the plot was the important part. Not until after the session had ended did I really understand what went wrong. It went a little something like this...

"I would have gone the other was if I'd known we were going to be transported out... Or we could have gone back down if Ulias (the leader) hadn't told us we were leaving."

Guess whose fault it was for the skipped content. Mine. All mine. Have you ever had something like this go down in your own games?

Next time: We discuss what can be done to avoid content skipping so your work doesn't go to waste.

In Development - Pantheon

2011-01-19T06:28:00.002-06:00

I unknowingly began writing the pantheon of Saratta when I took a mythology course in college. Prior to that moment I had spent my time focused on drawing up maps and writing short legends and histories of the lands, and I was quite content to leave things that way. I definitely shouldn't have been. Adding in gods, particularly of your own creation adds a whole new flair of life into the world. I then realized that with the gods came a whole new chapter in the world history books. I am always amazed to discover new things that happened in the world because of the dabbling of the gods... but before I go too off topic; Mythology.

One of the last projects we were asked to do for the class was to develop a god. We were discussing Egyptian gods at the time, but I wanted to give mine an aspect / domain that he lorded over. Thus, the first god that I wrote was Demuen, god of Fire. Normally when you think of fire, you see flames and destruction, judgment and punishment. I didn't take that route, instead making the flames purifying and renewing (Have you ever seen the after effects of a fire on a farm field prior to the planting season?).

Soon after I began developing a pantheon in earnest. I decided that there were going to be 12 gods, but when you create a living world, things often surprise you. 12 gods became 16, but 4 of them had become "forgotten" with only pockets of worshipers. As I wrote I learned that the gods gained power from the aspect they ruled over. Take the lord of Undeath (Brashq) for example. Each undead raised grants him more power even if it doesn't worship him.

Lately I have been learning that my gods have held different titles throughout history. Their aspects have changed as they decided to transform themselves. They never lost the domains they had control over, but the people stopped focusing on them just as the gods had. On top of that, people can effect the mood of the gods and vice versa. If there is a war in the heavens, it will spill down onto the people and envelop them. Conversely, if the people manage to make peace while the gods war, slowly the gods will calm as well. It creates a give and take relationship between mortals and immortals, and is quite fun to watch develop.

I have been working on getting the new 'old' aspects of the gods up on the website to reflect the changes as I understand them. You will also find as I post additional content (soonish, probably by the end of the week) that there is pantheonic history mixed in. Eventually I will compile all of this into a single history, but until then it will be scattered.

They Did What!?

2011-01-12T10:00:00.002-06:00

Skipped it. Yeah. All that content you just spent a couple hours on? Breezed by in the first fifteen minutes of the game and kept on going. They didn't look back or protest and you're pretty sure you saw one of them snickering at you as your plans for the night crumble. What should you do? The simple answer, keep playing. Too bad it usually isn't so simple.

I had a discussion about gaming not to long ago with my cousin Matt. He taught me how to play Dungeons and Dragons back when I was a wee lad, and then took a break from it. Recently he got back into it with his wife and dedicates a ton of time to making the adventure process spot on. This takes a ton of time, so it didn't come as a shock when our subject turned to the time taken to make and adventure and how bad it is when players skip it.

I allow my group a very loose leash when it comes to adventuring. This enables them to really choose to do whatever they would like to in game. For many new players this can be a very liberating feeling, especially when your only roleplay experience comes from video games where you have to follow a very linear route and can only do what the developers wanted you to do. Matt mentioned to me that one of his players really liked the fact that if you wanted to "eat lava" you could. It would be a poor choice (and probably very deadly) but you could do it. This means you can also skip that encounter that the GM designed to take all evening.

There are certainly ways to make sure that the group has no choice but to go along with what you planned, but you need to be a bit more alert to making it feel natural. A big bad powerful monster blocking the path you don't want your group to take often feels forced when you are a player looking for unlimited freedom. So can a locked door that requires a key to open it. This one drives me nuts when I'm playing - it is a video game gimmick that doesn't belong in a game where you are playing a thief but aren't allowed to pick the lock - sometimes you just have to take a chance and let them try the lock. Make it tough, but make it possible.

It could be explained that a magical barrier prevents access to a location until the creature maintaining it is slain, but in my opinion you need to write in a chance that dispelling that barrier could be possible.

Sometimes the easiest methods to preventing action are the simple ones. An tremor in the earth causes the unstable cave to collapse, trapping the group inside. It could take days to dig out, but supplies are low. The dwarf feels a breeze coming from the back of the cave... and now they are off.

Sure content skipping sucks, but sometimes it happens.

Next Time: A personal take on being skipped and an eye opening account where the players weren't at fault.

In Development - Temple

2011-01-05T10:00:00.004-06:00

First a little insight into what the In Development postings. Since the blog was started I've tried to write for the benefit of Game Masters and Players alike. To that end, I would like to take the opportunity to shed a bit more light on that area, and actually take you through what I do when designing an adventure. This will include some of the artwork / maps as I draw them up in addition to the usual monologue that I provide.

This week I have been constructing designs for a Druidic Temple that my group will be venturing to in The Cradle of Souls (if you want to know what happened or what it is about, a raw plot synopsis is posted in the Saratta wiki). The Temple is a place of repentance where there is said to be healing waters. When I start my adventure concepts I begin by writing about the place. I gather its history, why the group needs to go there, and why they will have a tough time getting what they want. Sometimes the write-up is short, other times it is long. Right now it weighs in at a whole 2 pages (front and back).

Some GMs draft up the combat sequences before anything, but since I take a strong roleplay approach, knowing everything I can about the place and why it has artifact level powers is paramount to writing a solid story. Monsters and combat usually come last, after my favorite part - design.

It starts out simple, without much detail, but quickly grows from there. When I am done all the areas A - D will have their own mini-map. Odds are the players will get to see this, which means I need to do my best to keep plot and combat labels to a minimum unless they are unimportant. Why do I share this work? Because I put so much time into it that I want others to appreciate what went into it.

As you can see, I added quite a bit more detail to add to what existed and started to input some of the dimensions (at least height wise). These drawing also serve as a means for me to add information like species of trees. Such details are important when creating a world or just an adventure because it adds depth to the game. Sure, not everyone is going to care about what kind of tree it is, but some might.

Stay tuned for more. As I go about creating this adventure and future ones for the Cradle of Souls or any others I might run, those too will be posted. Hopefully it will give you some valuable insight into the process so you can do it yourself, or just appreciate the time your GM takes into crafting adventures.

Next Week: They Did What!?

The Second Age

2010-12-29T09:35:00.002-06:00

I've had a week now to sit down and decide the direction to take with the blog. I will continue to do an every other week article as was the standard previously. In addition to that I get to take things in my own direction. Between weeks I will be posting an In Development feature (or possibly whatever random stuff may be on my mind and/or related to the subject at hand...) that will take a look at what I am doing with Saratta. Ideally this will force me to sit down and write more, adding content, generating ideas and maybe (stress on maybe) get me to where I can really write a book. Yeah. For Realz.

Over the Christmas time I got the chance to play a "new" RPG. New to me anyway. The game, Gamma World, is a D&D 4.0 based game that takes place in the future, 2100 or something like that. It is set after an event called the Big Oops. The Large Hadron Collider manages to produce a Big Bang, fracturing the multiverse and causing them to blend together. As a result, your character mutates every battle, giving you new abilities and disposing of the old ones. You also can find special weapons and ancient junk, all of which are drawn out of a deck of cards or randomly rolled.

The system plays out quite well, though the focus is more about the battles than the roleplay. As with any game, you can add in Roleplay, but I found it just as enjoyable with a low amount of roleplaying combined with quasi-hack and slash. Any of the weapons or armor you use have a chance to break after combat, rendering them useless, or one shot weapons (in the case of the hand held rocket launcher I picked up) that you use and then they are gone for good.

I played a little more conservatively with my items, and by the end of our game still hadn't used the abilities - something I realized I shouldn't have done once it was all over. It would have been far more beneficial to use those weapons to end the fight and keep the adventure moving on. We only played for a couple hours, but it was great fun. I would suggest looking into it.

A Good Run

2010-12-21T09:22:00.002-06:00

It has been a bit over a year since Fletcher and I decided to sit down and create a blog designed for the benefit of those who role play, or are slightly interested in such things but still teetering on the edge. The opportunities that we have had to get out our ideas and share our experiences with you has gone quite well. That being said, we have reached the end of an era, and where Throw Out The dice goes from here will be in the hands of my readers.

Fletcher has opted to bow out of writing due to life in general. More work and projects means less time for blogs, so it falls to my shoulders to decide whether or not to continue writing. I made it my goal when we started to do my best to ensure that what I wrote provided a focus and starting point for GMs to learn and grow from. I wanted to bridge the gap between the player base and those running the game, and bring to focus in on the fact that a gaming group needs to be a group of friends who can use the game as an excuse to socialize. I would love to continue that trend, but will only do so if the interest in reading such topics remains.

Therefore, I am taking some of the weight off my shoulders and handing it to the readers. Is this something you would like to see continue? Are there any topics that you have been struggling with that would be beneficial for me to enlighten a bit with my own experiences? If you do, please leave your comments below (I will not be moderating the Fridgewire Forums and would rather chain messages below the topics for the time being...) With enough support I will do what I can to ensure that you continue to get the best of my thoughts and ideas.

Thank you for the input. Hope to hear from you!

- Tim

The Golden Thread

2010-12-08T12:00:00.001-06:00

Take a look at the beginning of this series. What was the big question?

"How do I make the game EPIC?"

I have worked for years trying to get this down and while my method is by no means perfect I believe that I have cracked the secret to ending on a note where the players feel it was epic. As a GM you need to allow your players to tell their story throughout the game, and once the big bad has fallen you need to find out from them what direction their character would follow afterward. The trick may surprise you. It is not a mighty boss who can self heal and kick major butt or a fight between a god and player (though that could certainly do it for you). The real trick is the games epilogue.

"Whoa, whoa. Epilogue? This isn't a book - why do I gotta have one of those? Can't I just give them another level or special item and call it good?"

Sure, you could give them a level or an item, but short of turning them into a god none of those are going to be special to the character and player (and even godhood won't be the ending some players are seeking). When you end a game it is your duty to really connect with the players and make them feel like they accomplished something over the course of the game... something that goes deeper than just leveling up. They have been doing that the whole game, but now you're concluding it. They want something great.

An epilogue allows you (as GM) to give your players a tailored finish that tells them just how great they did by finishing the game. It lets them know the fate of their character and where their futures lie. Did they continue adventuring or get promoted as a head of a mages guild (or corporation, or captain of a spaceship. Insert your genre here)? Perhaps they got married to that PC or NPC they were chasing through the course of the game. Granted, much of this really depends on your players as to how you tailor the ending, but it will make them feel important and solidify that the game was awesome for everyone.

The best example I have to give came from a game that I ran while working at Many Point Scout Camp (sadly not a Saratta game). Throughout the game a friend of mine was pursuing an NPC who he had saved in one of the towns they had defended. He went well out of his way to make sure that she sat in the seat of luxury by providing for her family. It was his intention to marry her before the true villains plot caught up the group. By the time they reached the final boss battle she was far, far away (though not forgotten to his character). When the group beat the boss I asked them what their character hoped to do afterward. The group told me their intentions and I started the epilogue.

True to his word, the one player ventured back to his love and married her. They set out on the ocean in search of riches and had a child who became one of the greatest oceanic tacticians known worldwide. Another character ascended to a seat of power using dark magics and would become a future villain in the world. These are just two instances of tailoring the ending for my players. It was short and sweet, but something that they certainly haven't forgotten as far as gaming experiences go.

Other options you might use - To a character who died, present them with a grand funeral where they will be always remembered by the people for their sacrifice. Or even a statue depicting the living groups legacy. At the end of the Coils of the Silvertongue campaign (Saratta) the surviving group was honored with a statue being erected in their honor at one of the towns they saved.

An Epic ending only takes a little work to ensure that it is remembered. Take that time, it is well worth your while.

Shameless self promotion

2010-12-05T18:53:00.004-06:00

Thought I would put this up here for anyone interested. I put together a simple dice rolling application for Earthdawn that runs on Android phones. It takes steps and rolls the corrects dice based on that. When we were playing our ED game we couldn't find one at all so I decided to fill the void.

More info is on the forum here.

You can download the APK directly here.

And for all you cool kids here is the QR code to the direct link.

Thoughts about progression

2010-12-01T04:06:00.002-06:00

I am much better at asking questions than I am answering them. I think that is because I don't think in absolutes and tend to think every problem has multiple answers that are all valid. Today I am going to share my thoughts on one of those questions. Is progression necessary in an RPG.

I think the was this started is when I posed a question to my group out of curiosity. "If you played an entire game only to find out it was a dream (or not 'real' in some sense) would you feel cheated?" I added the condition that the game would end at that point so there would be no 'loss' or advancement. From my group I got both yes and no answers. Some felt if the characters' experience was not real then there would be no point and that there was no consequence. On the other side some said the experience is still just as valid and the character and story still would develope so it wouldn't be different from any other game.

That conversation got me thinking and then linked my mind back to some other games. Now I want to ask this question. "Would you feel a game without character progression (levels/stats/etc) is pointless?" I can see both sides of this one pretty well. I have played in games like this and both enjoyed and disliked them. Does removing the concept of 'leveling up' in some way take it to far away from an RPG for it to be considered a game anymore? I personally don't think leveling is necessary for a fun game. Not having to worry about stats constantly changing can be nice once in awhile. You get into a groove and know what to roll and when from memory. On the flip side, things don't change. You can't get better and as a result you can't patch up your flaws.

I think running games without leveling can be fun. There are a few issues to look at though when doing this. Most important is know what your players want. I know there are some people in my group who would foam at the mouth if they couldn't level up ever. That is fine, I won't run those then. The other consideration is the game type. An epic fantasy D&D game with low/moderate level players is probably not the game to run. However I do think a high powered monster class D&D game would be a good one for it. That game, in my opinion, requires less leveling to even out power scales, since you are at the relative top. You can still see a lot and not get super bored. Other good games would be one's that focus heavily on character development and not so much on killing the next goblin. It's all about style and that is for each person to decide.

I would like yo hear your opinions on the forums about this. I'm sure we can get lots of discussion on this one.

Filling the Spool

2010-11-24T12:00:00.000-06:00

The game is reaching its end. The grand finale where all of your questions will be answered... or all of your answers will become questions. Part of the fun of an open ended kind of game like Dungeons and Dragons or Shadowrun is that the game isn't over when it is over. Life goes on and continues even when the big bad has fallen. As players this is certainly something to keep in mind when the game concludes.

My own players learned that the end isn't always filled with puppies and rainbows (if they hadn't already learned it from previous games they had played) at the end of Forgotten Light. As Fletcher once stated (On the forums - if you don't already read what is posted there, I implore you to reconsider) the game ended on a rather dour note. The losses faced by the group made imprisoning a demon seem like nothing. This isn't to say that the fight was anti-climatic, but the victory was lacking. There was no glorious anthem at the end, only a journey home and friends left behind. Yet life went on, their journey's would continue. We ended on a note that left the future of the characters uncertain but whispered of more tales right around the corner.

Some players really like this sort of ending. It lets us dream about what our characters would do next. They have power and skills, and as long as many years don't pass they are still young and ready to continue adventuring or taking a seat of prominence in their homes. It makes your group ready to get up and go again with the same group (and consequently means you will be bugged about running a continuation game too - not that that is a bad thing).

Other player really like having an ending that actually ends the game. Many times this is where they kill the villain and the world goes back the being a good place, or they seize control of the artifact they have been after and return to the kingdom for their reward. It gives a sense of conclusion and is more storybook in style than rather than open ended. They know that the game is over, and can start dreaming about the next adventure in which they will continue with their character or play a new one.

Sometimes creating a great twist at the end will leave your players in wonder and talking about the game for hours after it ended. I pulled such a twist in Forgotten Light. The group was certain that the big bad was trying to release the god of Chaos, but when the gateway to the gods realm was opened, the villain called out the name of a different god. For some this fact flew right over their heads, but for others it was a momentary "WHAT!?" moment.

I suspected that would be the case, but was incredibly pleased to see it happen. It confirmed to me that the story I was telling was really being paid attention to. My group wasn't just showing up to immerse themselves in a fantasy setting, but were actually getting into the story too.

A truly epic ending must have player interest or it falls on deaf ears. The key to getting there is impressing role play over rolling dice. Many players are looking for a great boss battle at the end of the tale, but a plot twist right at the end can give your the "wow!" factor too.

For you players out there, give your GM every opportunity to WOW you. The more story you put forth, the greater this can be. Build the in game relationships and write your own ending. GMs: Don't be afraid to let your characters make some choices that affect the end of the game. This will give them confidence in your ability to let them have some fun. This doesn't mean let them go on a killing spree, but allow them to tell their story and you will draw closer to a truly epic ending.

Next Time - We wrap things up completely. The secret to an EPIC ending.

What I do when I can't write

2010-11-17T07:04:00.002-06:00

I'm sure anyone who has GMed or written a character backstory or two has probably been completely unable to think of any ideas. I think it's the nature of writing anything for writer's block to creep up on us. I can sit staring at a computer screen or piece of paper for hours without anything ending up on it for my game. I have a couple of techniques I use to help get the ideas out.

Basically my first idea is, don't write. Just get up and walk away from it and do something else. Read a book, watch TV, play a game, hang out with friends. Just do something else. I have generated more adventure/campaign/story ideas from not trying to write than forcing myself to do it. They can crop up anywhere. Obviously if you are consuming media it is likely to find something (See my posts about Media and Inspiration), but often they come from life in general. I was having dinner with some friends the other night and one of out conversation topics suddenly became an adventure idea in my head. Things like that are great. Heck just seeing a person walking by on the street and making up a story for them is a great thing to do for ideas (and a heck of a lot of fun). Life is full of great ideas that you don't have to look for.

My second method is very basic. Take a story and use that. Not exactly though, change it up and make it your own. You can create completely new stories just by changing a couple elements. Take a story and suppose one event doesn't happen or one character has a different outlook or makes a different choice. It changes the whole story, and many times that story is something interesting and new. Suppose King Arthur didn't pull the sword from the stone and got it through underhanded means? Makes the character a completely different person and changes the tone of the story. There is a lot you can do with existing stories and I don't care what people tell you, it is still creative.

Don't Let it Jam

2010-11-10T09:33:00.001-06:00

There is a lot to be said about hitting the middle of a game that goes well beyond the scope of being a GM. Each individual player has invested a ton of time into the game at this point (just in playing if they haven't been conceptualizing the direction that their character's will continue in). If you haven't been taking the time to get to know other characters in game, you are doing your fellow players a great injustice by not helping their characters develop further.

I include myself amongst the guilt parties when slowing this kind of development. When I play, I love to talk about what motivates my characters and why they are who they are. Unfortunately I do this out of character, and often after the game session is over. As players, we should not do this as often as we do. Yes we have spent a bunch of time developing our characters to this extent, but its real place is in game.

Well Tim, doesn't talking about our characters out of the game help us to direct them in game? Sure, but it gives you a ton of outside knowledge that is often not privy to your character. This will change the way your character reacts to a major revelation about another character because you have had time to think about how you would react. In game, you are only give a split second to respond in that situation, providing a more 'human' response. This in turn develops the way that another character feels about yours.

By the middle of the game you are starting to get a feel for the other player characters in your group or party. You should be comfortable enough with some members of the group to begin letting down your walls (if you haven't already) and allowing character to character relations to grow. Some players are more skittish about letting this occur because they probably have not thought that in depth about their character or that is the nature of the character. Unfortunately it is usually the former, which is why we emphasize character to character interaction.

The more another player has to interact in game, the greater their understanding of their character. Knowing their character better will allow them to forge in game friendships with others and helps to solidify the group. Building these commonalities by the 'middle' of the game will help see you through to the end.

Next Time: The end of the game can be stress inducing for a GM. You want it to be epic and let everyone walk away telling tales about your glorious adventure. If you don't know what to do, I'll give you some thoughts.

No Post

2010-11-03T23:33:00.002-05:00

Sorry guys, no post this week. Work and life got in the way this time.

A Little at a Time

2010-10-27T09:03:00.000-05:00

The middle of the game is usually a moot point for players. We usually don't know when it hits, and as long as the game is still going well, we often don't care. We know what we want to do with our characters. Some have already plotted out the next levels of progression, or have been eying up the next power-up or feat that they will get upon leveling, and depending on the group, they have also been working out how to fit those changes into their character's story.

After plenty of years acting as a GM, I know from experience that the middle of the game is also where players really begin to want to insert their characters into the world. They are powerful enough at that point (usually) to cause some changes to occur in the world. They have the ability to persuade others into different courses of action that the GM usually don't expect. If you're a GM reading this, pay close attention - if you're a player then pay it even closer.

You've probably heard me mention that players make the game at some point or another through the course of reading Throw Out the Dice. For you players out there, I mean this literally. You make the game. Take advantage of that fact. When you sat down to create your character and back-story there were many angles that you could follow to round them out. By the middle of the game, it is time to start acting on some of those story hooks that motivate your character.

If finding members of your family was important to the character for instance, then start gathering information to help find them. Or perhaps you've been eying up an artifact of great power after reading about it in a book. Take the steps necessary to open that avenue up for an adventure. This will solidify your role with your character even further, and provide a great storyline hook for your GM to follow up.

What do you do if the GM is not willing to direct the story in focus of your character? I would talk to the GM and keep trying in game. Not all GMs want to turn the focus of the game on a single character. Once you make a player the focus of a game that player becomes necessary for any other game sessions. If they are not around, the game can't progress because none of the other players are as invested in the adventure. If you can bring up reasons for the other players to assist you and invest themselves in the adventure you GM will probably be much more willing to make your character's goal the focus.

If you don't sit down and talk about it with your GM though, you will likely be swept along with their story before you can get out some of yours.

Next Time: Focus on the characters from the player perspective. Why you need to learn the background of other characters in order to progress the game.

Props and Images

2010-10-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

Gaming is an exercise of the imagination. That is one of the great things about it. You can see and create people and place that could ever possibly exist and explore new worlds. The big issue is conveying these imaginations to other people. The imagination isn't something you can see or touch and that makes it difficult to share it with others sometimes. I have started using images much more in my games and would like to share some of the experiences I have had with that and other props.

A couple games back I started getting pictures online for my character. Most of the group did this as well and it was a really cool thing. We each searched for something that would represent our character and kept it with our sheet. It made things simpler in the beginning. Instead of having to describe every aspect of how your character appears you could pass around the picture and supplement it with your own descriptions. It also gave some people an actual description of their character because they many not have thought it out too much.

Finding a picture is pretty easy for me. I usually just search something on Google Images or my most successful place has been Deviant Art (Quick warning: Deviant Art does have pictures containing nudity and other possibly objectionable content. They are blocked by default, and you need to log in to view them, but a felt a warning was appropriate.). I throw a few quick words in to a search, like "human necromancer" or "Elven warrior" and I sift through a few pages until I find something. One thing to remember when doing this is that all those images are copyright and can't be used in any public way. Most well balanced people won't freak out if you used it to represent your gaming character for a few sessions with no attribution to yourself as long as you didn't steal a commercial image. If you want to take a safer, and more expensive, route you can commission artists most of the time. For the little I have looked this can be anywhere from $10 to a few hundred depending on quality, medium, skill level and other factors. Not a solution for everyone, but an option that should be thrown out.

I really started using images in my current game to show different types of ships and locations on planets. The players seemed to really latch onto this and it helped them identify what they were up against. Having that visible thing in front of them helped pull them into their role and the world. Obviously there won't be pictures available for everything and it may not work in every game, but it gives that little bit extra.

Props are something that I think are really cool, but have never really used. My brother ran a game where we had to collect a few rituals written on parchment. He typed each of them on his computer in a cool font (That we couldn't read because it was a fictional language), printed them out, soaked them in coffee, and let them dry. This gave them the appearance of old parchment. He then rolled them up, tied them with a bit of thin rope and gave them out to us when we found a new one. That was really cool. We would role play with them and hand them around the group when we changed possession of them. That kind of thing really pulls you in to the game and puts you in the character's shoes. Obviously you want to be careful of what you use as props. Something players with fiddle with too much will be distracting, and giving people real daggers or swords is probably not a super good idea.

Feeding the Spindle

2010-10-13T08:13:00.002-05:00

When you sat down to start a game, you had everything in order. You thought you knew exactly how it would play out and how it would end. As the game progressed you realized that not everything was going your way. The players were making decisions that you hadn't planned on, and it is beginning to derail the game. All GMs reach this point unless they let the game die away right at the beginning. You have reached the middle.

Last time we sat down and discussed a story that was chained together by adventures with similar events to create a cohesive story. A great game does not need to be a singular story arch. In fact, you can create just as great a story experience by having completely unrelated stories. Using this method you have the ability to expose your players to multiple genres, giving you a chance to experiment with different settings that would not normally appear in a story based game. One adventure can be horror, immediately followed by a sunshine filled mystery.

So what ties the games together then if we aren't playing a cohesive story? The answer should be easy; Player Characters. Their stories are what will bind the games together. With each new experience the characters will grow closer together (hopefully), or draw apart and head their own way.

Fletcher ran a Shadowrun game where all the missions were unrelated short stories. They all tied in with character backstory, and drew upon our character's past experiences and contacts. The focus was not a "save the world" scenario. It was strictly about the characters and their struggles to survive in a world that didn't want them to. It was a breath of fresh air coming from the story based games that I like to write.

If you want to give this style a go, it is likely that there are pre-written modules for your system that can help to get you started. Some GMs feel that this is cheating your players by not coming up with something original. Don't fall into this trap of thinking. Pre-written modules give you something to work with to quickly get a game up and running. Plus, they were 'original' to the person who wrote it and decided to share it with the rest of the gaming community.

Give it a try, especially if the middle of the game blues has caught up with the adventure. Your focus needs to be on the players. If it is, they will help you to grow the game.

Next Time: The middle of the game occurs for more than just the GM. Slogging through it can be difficult for players too.

Leadership

2010-10-06T02:10:00.001-05:00

The game I just started running is in a military setting and I was talking to the player who I appointed as the leader and on comment he made about the game was "Leading is hard." and that got me thinking.

I'm sure I have wrote about this in the past, but I couldn't find the post if I did. (We are hitting close to 100 posts so I had a bit to go through.) I started thinking about leadership in games. Almost all of the games I have ran or played have had one character emerge as a leader or the primary motivator of the game. I have been this myself a few times. Sometimes it is an assigned role such as in my current game where I appointed someone or Forgotten Light when I was technically the highest ranking PC (I think it would have happened regardless of that though). Other times it is sort of an implied authority. I ran a Shadowrun game where Tim's character was a mob bosses son and he inherited the leadership role even though it was never "assigned" but it seemed to be heavily implied. Other times a leader just seems to emerge. The players gravitate around a specific character for advice and direction. My initial guess is that this is human nature. We seem to seek leadership of some kind or seek to lead. This is just me making stuff up, maybe someone with more of a Psychology background than me (That's you Tim!!) could verify or deny this claim.

So, we know it happens. My next question as a GM is "How can I manipulate this?" Obviously I could appoint someone. This works well in military setting, but not as well in other less structured settings. I think this is tough to engineer without a player wanting the leadership to some degree. You could have one player be the source of all their quests/missions/etc like having a contact that will only speak to them. That make everyone have to interact with that player and automatically gives them some amount of authority. I don't really have much for advice here. It kind of jumped into my mind. I would like to hear what other people have done with this in the past or their experiences on the matter. Give a shout on the forums if you can!

Stacking the Straw

2010-09-30T08:57:00.000-05:00

A quick apology for those of you who expected to see this post Wednesday. Once again I have moved, and I was hoping to have internet already, but that is not the case. Regardless of that situation we shall continue...
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The middle of the game can be one of the most difficult parts of any RPG. Your group has decided that it will mesh together or become a thorn in your side. You will also have made the decision whether this is a game that you want to continue or not. If you are still on the fence now, we need to do a little work to harden your resolve to keep with it.

Many of the games that I run have a continuous ongoing story. In the past it has involved hunting down a primary villain who keeps taunting the heroes so that they will take him down in the end. It might be a cliche story arch, but I can tell you from good experience that it is usually what people tend to enjoy. Of course, the story does need to leave the realm of cliches in order to really shine, so as a GM we need to step out of our comfort zones and push the boundaries a bit.

How do you go about this though? It certainly is easier said than done. In a continuous game where the villain is persistent through the story arch you need to make sure that they have purpose and motivation for what they are doing. You don't need to tell the players what that motivation is, but it will help make the villain more real to you.

When I ran Coils of the Silver Tongue (There is a bit of info here) for instance, the villain Verdis appeared to simply be a figure of evil stringing the party along. His intentions and methods most definitely were sinister as he was attempting to Ascend (a state of godhood in Saratta). It was fortunate that the group chose to mesh well and chase him, but much of the games success came from breaking the story down into smaller archs, much like chapters in a book.

The game featured multiple short adventures with different conflicts in each. The first few dealt with hunting down magically created creatures and then moved on to the source of those creations. From there they focused on chasing Verdis and slaying him. In the finale the learned that Verdis had been resurrected by his followers. They tracked him down and finally finished the job. Each story was a little different, but were closely related enough to make a great persistent game.

If your game seems a bit rough, you might give this a try, chain the tales together to make something great. If that isn't your style or you would like to try something else out, stay tuned;

Next Time: We are going to start weaving bundles. If short story sessions are your style or you want to give it a try, keep your eyes peeled and be ready!

Freeing the lost ideas

2010-09-22T01:26:00.003-05:00

I recently started a new game for my group that I conceived probably close to a year ago and had been working on for almost that amount of time. To be honest after that amount of time I am surprised we actually started playing it. Most projects or ideas that sit that long without being 'releases', for lack of a better term, never see other people's eyes. I bring this us because I think RPG adventures/worlds/campaigns/characters we try to create often fall to this trap. Sometimes that is a good thing, because something that sounded cool at first you come to realize is a huge pile of stink. I don't think that makes the process worthless as you more than likely learned something or took away some kernel of useful knowledge or inspiration. Many times really good ideas fall by the wayside and are never shared with the world. I, personally, think this is a tragedy.

We all play RPGs for different reasons. It may be for a new challenge, a new outlook, to explore new worlds, and many other reasons. We enjoy each new thing we encounter (mostly I guess). I love seeing new worlds and the people in them. Not getting to experience on of those worlds is something that bothers me to a great degree. People may not feel the same as me, but to each their own. When one of those ideas disappears it is a whole world of opportunities I just missed out on. I think we need to work on keeping those dreams alive.

One pitfall that is huge, for me at least, is trying to make it just right. We spend so much time polishing details that we never get around to letting the idea out. This particular game didn't have that, but I have had that in past projects. You think you need each little tiny piece in place before you can let it see the light of day. Don't do that. Get what you NEED done and then share it. Getting something out is better than nothing. If you delay things too long it gets stagnant and loses appeal. Get it out while it is in everyone's minds and put the details into place as you go. A recent project I was involved in was a Shadowrun fanzine called the Dumpshock Data Haven. All the content was in play to be released almost a year ago, but the leaders of the project wanted it to look just right. It spent a year getting kicked around with no result, until of the people got fed up and threw it together in 5 hours and released it. The overall opinion from the Dumpshock community was positive and they wished it would have been released a year ago with less polish. (If you want to check it out you can find it here. It's good stuff and some shameless self promotion on my part).

I have seen many games that I looked forward to a great deal never come to fruition because of this. As a result I decided not to fall into this trap with my game. Instead of filling in small details that had no huge impact on the current plot, I opted for a collaborative effort. I let the players fill in details. The game is sci-fi that spans many galaxies and systems and I cannot possibly get all of them, so the important one's I lets the players fill in. In a world that large there will be cultural differences, so I let them decide how people live where they are from. I even stayed away from important places like out solar system and let players decide what happened to it. I was now free to create the places I needed to make and give the players the opportunity to fill in where needed. This won't work for all games obviously, but the collaborative style worked well for me.

I realize this is a bit rambley, but that works. You will get a coherent post next week from Tim.

Bundling the Straw

2010-09-15T08:22:00.002-05:00

I am going to go out on a limb here, but I believe the majority of players simply pick up a character sheet, make a few rolls to determine stats, drop a few points here and there to give them some "depth" and then jump right into the game. When asked for a background they answer "I make that up as I go. When I know so will you". While I understand that this method works (I use it myself on occasion) it lacks a solid foundation. Consider this: The GM sits down and works up an adventure. They pour hours of their own time into the game to make a story concept that can incorporate many different player types to create a cohesive game. Based on the prep work done by the GM, don't you think that a little more effort needs to be put in on the receiving end?

Alright, I'm sure some of you who are familiar with RPGs are saying "Tim, not all GMs put that much time it. They usually just wing it." or "Why should I put in that kind of effort ahead of time when my character will just be killed by the first monster or player I come across. The GM doesn't care about my character..." OK. I admit, these are very valid points for skipping all of the work involved to create your character in advance of the game. It is often the reason that I make a quick character, with little emphasis on background, too. You are going to have to be the judge of that yourself, based on the GMs that you play under. Not all of them are going to care about group survival.

That being said, if you do come across a GM who puts in the time and effort, and who does care about the survivability of your character, then you need to be ready to put in the time. From the GM's chair, when I ask my players for a background story I want it so that I can present opportunities to make the adventure about them. If I have no story, or you decide you are making it up as you go, then there is little material to work with as far as tailoring an adventure around that character.

Most groups will have one or two people who take the time needed to create a background for their characters. If your GM does not focus solely on telling his or her story, you will likely discover that these characters receive a ton of attention from the GM as far as story progression is concerned. As a GM, the more information you give to me means that I can bring your past to life. A mother or father may have a quest for you, or a former nemesis can find their way back into your life.

Your story enhances the game and gives opportunity for the story to expand beyond the original focus. Take the time, and really think about who your character is. You don't need to develop their personality completely (some of those things are best left for the game anyway), but knowing the important events in their life will benefit you, and quite possible the rest of the adventure.

What makes a group

2010-09-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Through good fortune I have been able to be a player instead of a GM for some time. It's great to see things from the other side and get to create all those characters I have had in my head for so long. One other thing it does is really let me examine what I do as a GM and where my strengths and weaknesses are. It also lets me get a good inside look at things from a players perspective.

Something really popped out at me in our latest game is how our group is related and organized. Well, actually the lack of such jumped out at me. It is not something we have ever really discussed as a group and I think it shows in most of our games. Aside from the "You are this" before creating a character we have never dealt with other issue of being in a group together. Most of the time random people don't stay together without a very compelling reason. They need some common ground and common goal. Maybe it is just accented in this game because of all the Shadowrun we have been playing and every character afterword has the alignment of Chaotic Self-Centered. Somethign doesn't jive with us and more thought needs to be put into it.

I have, without realizing it, been trying to push this concept for the next game I am running. I may have everyone answer some sort of group template questionnaire like the one the guys from Fear the Boot put out. This will a least give some reference for everyone to go back to if needed. I also thing there are a good deal of questions on there that are very important to the stability of the group.

If nothing else the players should, as a group, answer a few basic questions. What keeps us together? What is our collective goal? Do we have any group breaking issues? I think those three will be a good start. Basically a group needs a reason to stay together and a reason for being together. Those may be the same reason, but often times they are different. The reasons may also change over time. In Tim's Saratta game we started out staying together because of a military order, later we got out and stayed together because we were on a mission together, and some of us were friends by then. If a character is staying with the group just to stay with the group I think there is a problem on a couple levels. First, that character needs some investment in some way. Second, the GM needs to help create that investment. If there is no reason for them to be with the group maybe you need to look at making a new character or altering something about the current one. People do things for specific reasons, they don't follow invisible plot lines because that is where the game is going.

One last thing I would suggest is to make sure the characters in the group fit the tone of the game. This should go without saying, but I think it happens too often. If the game is going to be a heroic fantasy game people shouldn't be making a bunch of bandits who are jerks. If the game is serious player's shouldn't be making characters who are jokes. That doesn't mean characters need to fit in a very small box, they just need to fit the overall theme of the game. Characters who are jokers (in character) may fit in a serious game sometimes. That is something that should be talked about before hand in any case.

Warming up the Spindle

2010-09-01T17:26:00.002-05:00

We have spent plenty of time here at ToTD giving you pointers for starting up a game and avoiding some of the common pitfalls to playing. The next step is to start putting all of this together into something semi-cohesive. But what if it isn't fun to play? That is a definite concern that all prospective GMs must face at some point. The same question is asked by players the first time they sit down and really dig into the aspects that will flesh their character into more than just a piece of paper.

In this series of articles, we will be looking at the progression of the game from two standpoints, flopping between both the GM and Players to give you a fully embodied perspective on some of the concerns that appear on both sides.

Lets warm up the spindle...

When you first sat down and decided that you were going to GM a game you wanted to create something epic. It soon became apparent that getting the EPIC bit right was going to be the hard part. None of your ideas came together quite the way you wanted it to, and the whole story seemed to be a patchwork of ideas that was never going to come together. I can't be sure if this is your story, but it certainly was mine when I began. The multitudes of maps and ideas that I tried to bring together into the best tale ever often felt far from EPIC.

Unfortunately for many starting GMs this is where their story ends. They decide that it is easier to sit back and let someone more proficient tell the tale. I have a word of advice for you though - don't quit. The more games you get it the better your storytelling skills will become, even if the first sessions seem like dribble.

The key to opening a game up is often the attention getter. If you pick up a good fantasy book (or any book for that matter), it will usually open with a sequence designed to enrapture your imagination. Try starting the game in the middle of a battle, or as Brian once posted on the forums you could have them begin on trial for something they did not realize they had committed (then enter a "flashback", starting the story).

A slow beginning does not mean a failure. Sometimes it takes time to build a games momentum so keep at it. If what you are doing is not keeping the attention of the group, then let them direct it for a while. Letting your players create their own adventure is often a great way to begin a game too, ensuring that they feel some ownership over the way the game will go.

Get out there and put your skills to the test. If you would rather not have the spotlight as the GM the entire time, set up the game to only take a couple hours and then switch GMs. Take a moment to get some feedback. If you are worried about people giving you a big thumbs down, then set some rules in place before the game begins so that the group will provide you with constructive criticism. If you would like an idea of how to do this, refer to The Rotational Experiment and modify it to suit your tastes.

Above all go out and have fun. The more you take the GMs role, the better you will become at catching everyone's attention and before long they will be retelling the stories you told them.

Next Time: Starting a game from the Player's perspective. What can you do to make things run smooth, or to tell your own tale.

Changes to the Posts

2010-08-25T17:56:00.002-05:00

Life gets more hectic the older you get it seems. As such, Fletcher and I have decided to change up when we make posts to ensure that there is always some new content each week, and to give us a little more time to think up ideas between postings. Beginning next week we will be making a post every other week (respectively). I will post next week, followed by Fletcher the week after. Hopefully this will keep the content flowing for YOU!

If you enjoy what we are writing about, don't be shy. Sign up on the forums and give us a shout. If you want to hear a particular topic, suggest it and we will write about it. We want to hear from you!

Inspiration from Media: News/Current Events/Etc

2010-08-15T03:02:00.002-05:00

If anyone asked where most of my Shadowrun missions came from this would be the answer. I have heard many people say that using new stories or current events for adventure/missions ideas is their most common method. When having writers block I find paging through a newspaper, or hitting up CNN, or watching a TV report helps give me seeds for an adventure.

I have a couple reason I like news and current events. One of the major ones is that it is real in some sense. It actually happened and as a result people can identify with it. They can create a strong emotional response to the content and that can really draw people in, or in some cases push them away. The current sci-fi game I am writing has a strong influence from September 11 and the conflicts resulting from that event. While not explicitly stated people may notice and identify with that because of their experiences in reality. I like these are powerful emotions and I like pulling those in. You still need to be careful and know your group before using strong emotions. This can really cause problems if it crosses the line for someone.

One thing I enjoy about using news is that when creating an adventure from a new article you start with the end and write backwards. You are starting with the end result that a news reporter finally learned and you, as a GM, get to decide what happened that led up to that event. This gives you a lot of freedom while still allowing something to work with. I have had a lot of fun with this in the past and really exploring that can be a lot of fun.

Inspiration from Media: Television

2010-08-02T02:57:00.002-05:00

Probably the source I take the most inspiration from both for storytelling elements and source material is television. There are so many TV shows of all different kinds that there is pretty much something for everyone and as a result there are endless sources of inspiration. It is also unique from movies in a few different ways.

One of the big features of a TV that translates directly to role playing, in my opinion, is the episodic nature of it. TV shows fill only a half hour or hour of time and need to fit everything into that amount of time. Role playing games are similar in that you have a certain amount of time to tell your story and then that is it for the night. Even if things pick up directly where you left off there is a break there that gives people time to digest the information for awhile.

Basically and episode follows a format of an introduction, reveling the focus, rising tension, and the it ends. There are two ways they ususally end. The first is a wrap up which is common in a lot of shows. They beat the bad guy or disarm the bomb and the episode ends and everyone is happy. The other, which I use all the time, is the "to be continued" ending or a cliffhanger. This is where something big happens and the episode ends leaving everyone to wonder what will happen until next week. This keeps people wondering and thinking about what will happen, but you need to be careful not to overuse it. Anything can get boring after awhile.

As I said earlier there is pretty much a TV show for everything. RPGs latch onto this heavily and as a result there are many many RPGs set for a specific TV show. Shows offer a greater amount of content than a single movie and give a more developed world. Those resources are essential for creating enough source material to create an RPG. That isn't to say movies can't become RPGs, but they seem to be developed world already. For example Star Wars d20 is a very popular RPG.

The danger to using a TV show as inspiration is the same as anything else to a somewhat greater degree. It is very easy to almost copy a character or other element exactly. It is important to look at the world presented as a whole and think about a person who would be in that world instead of looking at a character and thinking about someone like them. Broaden your view and use small elements from different episodes to build your character. You should have a lot to work with if the show went more than a season. Now I am going to ask a question. What shows do you draw inspiration from?

Stay a While and Listen - The Tie In (Part 6)

2010-07-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

At long last, be sure to tie your NPC into the plot. Bruticus could be any old hired hand with a ton of power behind him, or he could be important to the story. If you are going to take the time to write an NPC party member into the game, write them into the story too. For this tale, Bruce was the Lord Protector of the capital city.

He served under the king for 37 year, joining the kings army when he was 13. After 6 campaigns he had risen through the ranks to become a praised general. When he chose to retire, he was given the title Lord Protector and placed in charge of the capital cities defenses.

Over the years the state of affairs in the kingdom began to weaken. Several famines left many without food, and the king was forced to raise taxes to import food. The people began to revolt, forcing the kings hand into action. Bruce was ordered to quell the uprising which he did with quick efficiency, imprisoning those who led the rebellion. These events completed the kings transformation into a despot.

Times grew worse and the poor grew poorer as the king continued to raise taxes. Soon agents of the kings army were going out among the poor and taking them off the streets to be "helped". Rumors were spreading that Bruce, now called Bruticus the Snatcher by the capital's people, had sent out the military to take slaves. Bruce dug into the matter and discovered that it was true, though he had never given such orders.

Spies of the king learned that Bruce had been growing nosy and informed their lord. In short order guards arrived at Bruce's chambers to arrest his for treason against the crown. With years of experience under his belt, the Lord Protector fought back, wielding 2 maces with deadly efficiency. When the fighting ended, 4 guards lay dead and Bruce was gone.

The story was carried by the slaves in the castle, whispered through cracks in the walls and spoken in secret amongst the nobility. Less than a year later, revolts began in the name of Bruticus the Pummeler. Some failed, but others were lightning strikes and hit the city hard. Raids soon began occurring across the kingdom, forcing the king to act by sending the full force of his army into the lands causing turmoil wherever it marched.

Bruticus began leading people out of the kingdom when the fighting became to terrible. While he claimed that he was not responsible for starting the war some blamed him, while others raised him up. Our story begins on the plains, 7 miles outside of the kingdoms borders...

Where the tale goes from there is entirely up to the GM (though after taking the time to work it up, I fully intend on using it for Saratta). Investing this kind of time into your own character will transform a powerhouse into something far more. Plot Powerful does not need to be overpowering, and can always be "dumbed down" for the sake of placing the emphasis of the story on your players.

The next time you sit down to create an NPC or character, keep these tips in mind:

1. An NPC should be well balanced around the group. This means it should be near to their level. If it has abilities that surpass the groups level, be sure that they are only usable in specific situations.

2. A combat character designed to specialize in a specific style of fight is dumbed down a bit, but still a powerhouse against particular enemies. The less you twink your NPCs, the less your group will twink their characters.

3. If the NPC is powerful, think about what you can cut back on. Do they need the extra levels? Is it giving the group a chance to shine more than just giving you the pleasure of killing something? If not, it is time to re-evaluate your NPC.

4. Comic relief works well in young gaming groups who are still learning how to role-play. It should not be emphasized in a more mature group. As role players we are learning how to get into a character and act as them. Comic relief is designed to draw players back into reality for a laugh. (Keep in mind that some comic relief can be good when the situation merits it. Sitting inside an inn, or feeling awkward at a ballroom dance when your character is a warrior princess are great places to break away from the setting).

5. Tie your NPC into the plot.

6. Place the story driving emphasis on the players.

7. Have fun! Memorable experiences are built by having a good time.

Inspiration from Media: Movies

2010-07-26T01:33:00.000-05:00

Movies are probably in the top three for popular media, along with television and books, that are easiest to take inspiration from. Now, you probably noticed I separated television from movies. I see them as very different methods of presenting stories. You need to take a different approach when making a TV show or a movie and as a result you can pull different elements from each.

I was running a World of Darkness game last week and after one event one of my players basically outed one of my movie influences. I accepted the accusation right away, because that is where I got the idea from. It is easy for other people to grasp and imagine an element that they have seen and can relate to.

I like movies as an influence for a few reasons. First is that they are usually a complete story. They may leave some questions unanswered, but usually have a general resolution. This is helpful when trying to create a storyline. You can use movies almost as a template and relate that story line against it. It helps to notice where and how the beginning, middle and end happen in a story. You can look at pacing and buildup and everything else that applies to movies. Now, this will obviously take a little reworking, but it is a good place to start.

Second, I really like characters in movies. Introducing characters in movies is a great example for introducing characters or NPCs in RPGs. You need to identify a character that the audicene (players) don't know, but the people in the world know already. Using those elements is a great way to make NPCs come to life a bit more. They feel more like part of the world and less like a new character you threw in.

Another thing I like using from movies is the aesthetic. You can use movies to give you a starting point for describing scenes. You can use epic battle scenes from movies like The Lord of the Rings to describe epic fantasy battlefields. I have been using the movie Event Horizon to describe the feel of a space game I have been writing. Being able to see something allows you to pick up details that you can use in your description to make it come to life more.

One thing to remember is that movies are a relatively condensed story, compared to a book or a TV series. You will need to keep that in mind so you don't make everything too short. A movie is a great way to envision an entire game, but a TV series is better for planning it session by session. You need to keep in mind you will be breaking up the overarching plot. Still, these elements are great to use in RPGs.

Stay a While and Listen - Transformations (Part 5)

2010-07-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

Once you have determined whether your NPC is a powerhouse or not, you need to make the decision to leave things alone, or make the changes necessary to providing the with high role-play value, and good plot tie ins. Let us presume that we are running an adventure with a powerhouse NPC. The adventure is about a group of refuges fleeing from a cruel despot. The story is about survival in a harsh land, a place where life is tough and a few beefy arms help greatly.

Your NPC is a battle hardened warrior by the name of Bruce. Most call him Bruticus the Pummeler because of the large mace he totes about. It is said that he could take down an army on his own and eats the hearts of his enemies. Bruticus is also your comic relief, always bearing your witty one liners and acting like a fool to get laughs. He is 5 levels about the rest of the party to fulfill his duty as Lord Protector.

Stop! Too much has been piled onto this one NPC. I have found that many GMs use NPCs to give them a chance to play in their own game. With all the power a GM wields they find it perfectly acceptable to play a powerful character. Besides, they can't do that in other games, and plenty of other GMs they have played with pull the same deal in their games. That makes this OK right?

Wrong. Lets ignore the 5 levels above the party (that is easily fixed) and take a gander at the core issues with this character. Recall your setting. This is a survival game, or it could very well be a "rise to the top" type of game where everyone starts beaten and bruised and climbs to hero status. When we role play we want to make the setting feel as real as possible. Neither of these scenarios are comical. They are quite hard on people.

Enter the comic relief part of Bruticus. In this kind of setting comic relief is going to take away from the grim feel of the game. I have watched many GMs blunder through this aspect of the story, preferring instead to add a comical character into the mix to lighten the mood. You play an RPG to get away from the grim aspects of life right?

I work incredibly hard to portray a grim setting in my games, though I am not always successful. It is very easy for any GM to want to pull out the comic relief card and entertain his/her players. Avoid this! Not because a bit of laughter isn't needed, but because there is a time and a place for it in a game, and survival / bottom of the food bin style of game is not it.

As far as NPCs go, battle hardened implies a tough life, fraught with the horrors of war. Any of us who have not experienced that directly can only imagine how difficult it could be. No matter how hard we imagine though, we will never get it right. When GMing though, we must bust our butts to try.

Bruticus may have been the class clown in his youth, but after years of combat his comical attitude will have washed away. His many scars will tell the tales of how it was chipped away. Once the group gets to know him, he may crack jokes to get a grin while telling a tale, but he will never be a stand up comedian looking for attention. He has had plenty on the wrong end of the sword.

After all of those years, the comical teen has become a man now more practical and realistic rather than a prankster / joker. His style of humor will catch the bright side of sadness and sorrow, but he is no longer a naive fool. The hard life has taught him better. Despite his hardship, Bruce does not brood on past events. He looks ahead, ever preparing and steeling himself for the moment when he must fight to preserve the innocence of other jokers who will never see the world through his eyes. As far as he is concerned, it is for their best.

Do not be afraid to let him crack a joke to try and lighten the mood, but he is not about to stumble into the middle of the group and dance a jig. I have covered the same point multiple times like a broken record for a very specific reason. The mood you give to an NPC is quite important, and as a GM or even player you must dig into the attitudes you give to the character.

If you feel your game still must have a comical character, Bruticus can not fill those shoes. Instead it is up to you to craft a second NPC to fit that role. Keep your setting in mind, and spend a good 10 minutes (at least) figuring out why this new NPC continues to hold a comical outlook on life, especially when he is fleeing the country.

Once Bruticus has been split into two characters, we can dig a little deeper into transforming him from a Powerhouse down to a Plot Powerful character. Some GMs give their NPCs the extra levels so that they can have all the feats (special abilities in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5) and skill that are not available to lower levels. Odds are, that is what happened to Bruticus. All the special abilities of a higher level character might make him fun for the GM to play, but remember your audience.

To make our transformation complete, we will strip away the extra 5 levels from Bruticus to even him out with the party. In most legends the hero in question was aided by others in his travels. The same holds true for Bruce. There were many minor characters who assisted in his legendary status, but he is only a man. Cutting down his levels will help make that more apparent.

Apply several of the skills and feats that he received for being a higher level. As he levels up with the group, he will not receive new abilities; only hit points to let him stay alive longer with the rest of the group. As a GM you can add on abilities and skills that a normal character could not possess. This will allow you to maintain the feel of a powerful character but will also reveal to the group that he is far more mortal than they think (especially when he gets his butt whopped by a strong monster).

Next Week: We wrap things up by tying Bruticus into the Plot!

Playing a female character (as a guy)

2010-07-19T02:06:00.002-05:00

One thing that has annoyed me for a long while is how misrepresented women are in gaming. I know I am guilty of it as well, but in a hobby dominated by males it is tough to have a well represented female in a group.

Awhile back I decided to play a female character for a D&D game, and to avoid some of the misrepresentations I decided to do some research and try and find some tips on playing female characters. I found a good site that I cannot remember anymore (props to the author, If I find it again I will link it). I got some good advice from it and it helped greatly and I will share a little bit of what I got.

Quick disclaimer: I am not a woman. I don't know everything about you all and I am not climing to be some sort of female sociology/psychology expert. I am just a guy who wanted to play a more realistic female character and I know I missed the mark on many spots. I am also going to make statements that are generalizations. These don't reflect all women, but are good starting places for stupid dudes like me. If you are female and would like to comment on this or offer some advice hop on over to the forums via the link in the comments.

Alright on with the show.

One of the first things the article mentioned was that women need a damn good reason for adventuring. Roles in society often place women as caretakers that raise the family and stay at home. The natural maternal instinct also keeps them from adventuring. They value family highly and this can be enough to keep them in one place. Not everyone is like this and some of them can end up as adventurers.

Females also value relationships much more highly than males. Think about it for a second and you will probably realize this is quite true in general. As a result your role playing encounters should value important relationships highly. My female character was often on the move, but was always with people who she had important relationships with. This should be a strong element in your RP.

Another thing is emotion. Females display emotion more than males and react based on those emotions more often. I believe I read from a different source that women also tend to look for blame internally before looking for it externally (the opposite of men). They stop and think "What did I do wrong?" before asking "What did someone else do wrong?", this can be a huge thing to play out. I would caution on overplaying it though. You could end up with a really lame character that blames themselves for everything.

The female character I played focused heavily on strong relationships with others. She would also often take blame on herself when there was no clear answer to who was at fault. Every character is unique just like every person is unique and in the end you need to find who they are. I think the biggest thing to remember is the easiest. They are not just a set of boobs who will do anything, they are complex people just like anyone else with hopes, dreams, motivations, fears, and everything else. Making a serious character just like you normally would and making them female will often work out alright. In most of the games we play females have just as many opportunities as men, unlike that reality in that period of history.

Again, I don't claim to understand women at all (ask my girlfriend), and am just referencing what I have heard and what I have done myself. I would love it if some female gamers hopped over to the forum and gave some comments on this.

Stay a While and Listen - Plot Powerful (Part 4)

2010-07-14T11:15:00.000-05:00

Last week we touched on the subject of powerful NPCs and how they change the way that the group interacts in the game. As a powerhouse NPC can create reliance, so too can the emergence of a 'Plot Powerful' character. The difference between the two stems from the limitations placed on the Plot Powerful that do not exist with a Powerhouse.

Level make a huge difference in games like Dungeons and Dragons (The game system under which most of my games are run). With each new level characters and NPCs gain access to new and more powerful skills to help them along. A plot powerful character does not necessarily have to be the same level as the players but it helps quite a bit. Keeping them at the same level means they will be accepted as a party member much easier as they are not already standing on a pillar above everyone.

The first limitation we will look at lies in how the character ties into the plot. Your NPC is not designed to specifically assist the group. Instead, they have been weaved into your story. While they may possess abilities that exceed the group, that extra power MUST be important to how the tale progresses.

My most successful Plot Powerful character was Nathan Cannigan, a psion (mind powers) of equal level to the group. At birth he was born with the power of an 18th level psion (which is quite overpowering when your group is only level 2).

"Whoa! Hold up!" You say. "Weren't you just saying that level has a lot to do with your game? 18 vs 2. Great example..."

Quit rolling your eyes and let me finish explaining. 18th level power (out of 20 levels) is incredibly powerful, and young children are not trained to control such force. As such, barriers were placed within his mind to restrict the flow of power. Their design allowed the barriers to break when his mind matured and could handle to power. The barriers also held a serious flaw. When other psionic power was used to connect with his mind (such as telepathy - a mental ability that allows others to speak to you with their minds) the barriers would break down, permitting the energy that was held back to flow like a burst dam.

Unable to control such a power surge, Nathan would loose control over his powers and use them on both friend and foe in order to preserve his own life. If he did not, the energy would overwhelm his body and he would die.

In the adventure I ran (Forgotten Light) Nathan's part of the story was to represent the impossibility of changing Fate. Due to the high level of power, Nathan had seer-like ability, and could foretell the future. The one that stuck out to him the most was his own. One in which he led an army and slaughtered thousands of innocent people. It soon became on of the group goals to change Nathan's fate, hopeless though it seemed.

Nathan was limited in power by a set of rules in place well before the game. He was very powerful, but only if specific criteria were met. Otherwise he was an average guy, with hopes and dreams that he wanted to meet, and a future he wanted to prevent. Without strong role play elements he would have quickly transformed into a Powerhouse rather than a Plot Powerful character.

Take a look at the characters you have made in the past. Did they have a powerhouse build in mind? We don't necessarily mean to make them that way, but you must place greater emphasis on who they are and what they mean to the plot. Any NPC can be made to help the group, but the quality ones tie into the story. If an NPC is levels beyond your group (even 3 - 4 levels makes a HUGE difference) then dumb them down. You don't need to have the most powerful character to make the game fun.

Next Week: Making the changes necessary to transform Powerhouse to Plot.

Inspiration from Media: Music

2010-07-12T02:53:00.003-05:00

I made a post some time back about taking inspiration from media. I deiced to do s sort of series breaking down different types of media and incorporating some of those elements into games. If you have a strong interest in this I would suggest checking out Postcards from the Dungeon, a podcast entirely devoted to this topic. I will go through a few types of media, but I am going to start with what I say is one of the hardest first.

Music is a very powerful medium by it's very nature. It can convey strong emotional messages without even using words. Combined with strong lyrics it can be a very powerful force. Some songs tell stories, some convey emotions, and others are just there. All of these are great for drawing inspiration from. I tend to listen to song with a strong emotional component (yeah some is emo, deal with it) and that really helps create a solid feel for a game's mood. Songs like "Red Sector A" by Rush, and "Angels Calling" by Sabaton deal with times in history that were some of the darkest times in recent memory (the Holocaust and WWI, respectively). The events described in the songs are pretty much enough to go off of for a game, but if you listen to the feeling of each of the songs they are almost haunting. For my they almost try to make them feel like they are events we don't want to be real, like they are in a far of dream. Now, take that mood and add it into your game. You could create and even that is so powerful it almost doesn't seem possible. That is a thin line to walk, but imagine the impact of that. Try to reinvent the feeling of a soldier waking into a death camp freeing people who look like the dead, or a group of young soldiers wandering the trenches watching their friends fall to unseen shots. These are real events in history, but they can be amplified by creating a complimentary environment.

I have used songs to create characters also. One of my favorites that I use to describe a character is "A Place Called Home" by Kim Richey (I also posted about this in an old thread). That song describes a type of person and basically creates an entire motivation for a character in my opinion. Songs can describe entire people also. One song that I think describes a very interesting (if not somewhat sad) character that could be used as an NPC is "The Dutchman" by Michael Smith. Looking at just the words it is a song about an old man with Alzheimer's and his wife who takes care of him. If done right that would be a very emotionally powerful character. The feel of the song really sets the tone for interactions for them. It is almost sad, but contains some hope in it. Someday I hope I am skilled enough to play a character like this.

The funny thing about music is that every song means something different to everyone. We react to emotions differently and understand things in different ways. Sometimes the best way to use music in your game is an indirect method. If I need a specific mood I will sometimes throw on some music and listen to it while I write my games. Sometimes it's jazz, other times metal, and sometimes a mix of many things. Listening to a few tunes on your way to the game or before it starts is a good way to put yourself in the right frame of mind also. Music is a very personal thing so I can't really say do this, that, and the other thing with it. You need to experience it in your own way and let it flow into your game. Over thinking it will sometimes make it not work.

Stay a While and Listen - Powerhouse (Part 3)

2010-07-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Whether you like it or not, many of the RPG settings and systems are going to involve some measure of combat. The players are going to have to take up arms and take someone or something down during the course of the game. In a well balanced group (and I don't mean one where you have a character of each class; I mean equal-ish level) it is going to require the combined effort of all of them too meet the challenge.

When role play is an important factor to the game, a united front is not always possible. Some characters might hold a grudge against another and not help out when a fight breaks out. Others might be frightened of fighting or of the creature / situation being fought. They go running, leaving one or two level headed people behind when your encounter was designed for 5 or 6. To remedy this, many GMs have an NPC join into the fight to help even the odds.

In my time GMing I have discovered that it is best to have an NPC who is equal level to the PCs. You can make some exceptions when it is plot relevant, but even then it is better that you avoid doing so. The more powerful the NPC, the greater the groups reliance on them.

For example: The group has encountered a Beholder (a large magical beast with multiple eyes - each eye delivers a dangerous beam attack that can turn people to stone, shoot fire, etc. It also can fly) and rush in to engage it. The fight goes poorly, one person turns to stone, another disintegrates. The group hides behind the powerful NPC and pushes them forward. The NPC rushes in and in a single blow slays the beast, saving the day.

I have encountered that very situation, albeit Nathan (the NPC in question) was one of those 'plot powerful' characters whose power could be turned on the group just as quickly as a monster; and the group had taken down more than 2/3s of the Beholders health before Nathan disintegrated it. In one blow, the monster was dead.

Isn't that a good thing, you ask? Haven't you told us multiple times in other posts that your GMing style keeps the party alive to experience the story? Yes, I want to keep the party alive for the sake of the story, but I also want them to have bragging rights as a character. Being able to have you character deal the final blow is more satisfying for you, plus you can say "I killed it." rather than "Nathan killed it."

A powerhouse NPC often steals the thunder because they are multiple levels above the group. A 10th level NPC in a level 5 group is going to outperform and outshine every effort put in by the players. As GMs we need to remember that our responsibility is to ensure that our players have more fun that we are. Placing a powerhouse in the group means they WILL rely on them rather than act on their own. Build up your players, give them every moment to be the ones shining in glory, let them learn when to fight and when to run. GMs think up the experience. Players make it.

Next Week: Just a little bit left. We will be discussing what actions you can take if you have a Powerhouse NPC and the differences between Powerhouse and "Plot Powerful".

Fake it 'till you make it

2010-07-05T05:41:00.002-05:00

I am pretty sure I have talked about this in the past, but I would like to revisit one of my favorite GMing techniques. I'm sure every player in my group has heard me say "I just made that up". One thing I have noticed some GMs do is worry about covering every possibility when writing a game. If something unplanned happens they freeze up or stumble.

Preparation is a good thing. I am going to get that point out of the way quick. I should prepare more, and preparing for your game will make them better. Unfortunately, you can't prepare for everything. Players will do things that you didn't foresee. What do you do now? You fake it. Make something up. If something plausible pops into your head go with it. The vast majority of the time the players won't know it. They think we have every aspect of the world completely planned out and running in out heads. The truth, for me at least, is I can't process that much information. I can only plan so much and remember so much. Creating content on the fly lets me worry about the things I need to without having to prepare for every scenario the players may run across.

I must admit here that I tend to go somewhat overboard with it sometimes. I will run entire games where I don't write anything out and just make things up. They work out well enough, but I don't think they tend to be my best games. I have used these made up events to create adventures later on though. I like to expand on my ad lib and make it something bigger and those can turn out better in my opinion.

I know this whole thing was a bit steam of consciousness, but the real point is don't be afraid to wing it. React to your players in the same way they react to situations. They don't get to prepare in advance, they just react.

Stay a While and Listen - Self Discovery (Part 2)

2010-06-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

No longer having a reliable information or go to source ensures that the players are going to take a bit more time to plan out or research what they are going to do for particular situations. It gives the GM an opportunity to add more depth to the setting and feel rather than hand the players everything on a platter. For you players out there, it gives you a great opportunity to explore and create the storyline yourselves.

I have found that limiting how much an NPC knows will help quite a bit as well. When you create/concept an NPC, make a decision early on about what they know and when they will be willing to share it. The NPC who knows everything makes it easy on the group. While it may also make things easy for the GM it takes away from player satisfaction at having figured the problem out themselves.

An example. A resent game of mine required the group to figure out some information given to them:

Seek ye the in between,
Tore and Saw-Rez.
Seek ye the sigil,
'neath the Ever-Verdant.

It is not a riddle, but more a list of steps that they needed to take and piece together. The group received it by speaking to spirits on the other side of a mirror. As they delved deeper into solving the puzzle, they learned that the mirror was not always right. The spirits on the other side deceived with half truths hoping to draw souls into its collective when those heeding its advice struck "accidental" ends.

After several hours of blundering and slowing going the direction the puzzle required I decided it was finally time to let the group in on some information. The spirit of a librarian who they had saved (jokingly called Libraricus) helped to fill them in.

Group: Libraricus, this might be strange, but does this mean anything to you? *Group asks the puzzle question*

Libraricus: Tore and Saw-Rez? You mean Torren Sanchez right? I've never heard of Tore and Saw-Rez, but I have heard of Torren Sanchez...

This bit of advice went unheeded for a bit, as Torren Sanchez had been of little assistance previously to the group. By the end of the session they had finally determined that the in between was the 1st floor, sandwiched between 2 basement levels, and 2 upper levels. It was consequently the same level where Torren Sanchez had his private study where he spoke about things requiring secrecy. After a good 6 hours of play, they finally had the answer.

I could have given them the answers right at the beginning, but it would not have given them the satisfaction of figuring most of it out themselves. The NPC is a tool that can provide some information, but it should never be able to give it all. The NPC is a person, and prone to doing things that people do. You are the GM. You can steer the group in the right direction from time to time, but keep it subtle. Most of the fun is had exploring.

Next Week - We look into the drawbacks of having a powerful combat NPC in the party.

Understanding Alignments

2010-06-27T00:23:00.003-05:00

I was recently tasked with a topic that I think many people will find some humor with me writing about it. I was asked to clarify the idea of alignments in the scope of D&D 3.5, and mainly the differentiation between the good/evil axis and the lawful/chaotic axis. This is a point I actually really like about the alignment system, so here goes nothing.

When discussing alignments most people only consider good, neutral and evil. These definitions can vary somewhat, but they are a generally well understood principle. This aspect is only half the whole alignment in D&D. This covers the moral scale. My basic idea for morality is good people help others and evil people only help themselves. That is obviously oversimplified, but that is the basic tenant.

The second aspect is the axiomatic scale. This deals with the obeying of rules or law, without the concept of morality applied. In D&D a lawful person obeys the rule of law, respects authority, and all that stuff. A chaotic person ignores laws, sees no rule in authority, and believes more toward anarchy. The main thing to remember is that this has nothing to do with morality. Your morals and axiom are separate ideals.

Now, obviously examples are needed. I will cover the two most misunderstood here.

Chaotic good: In this your moral is good, therefore you like helping people. Your axiom is chaotic, so you do not follow the rule of law. What do you get? Someone who helps people outside the bounds of the law. The best example of this is Robin Hood. He helps others by breaking the law.

Lawful Evil: Your moral is evil, therefore you look out for yourself. Your axiom is lawful, there for you respect and abide by the rule of law and authority. What do you get. Someone you helps themselves by using the rule of law and authority. I see this as the corrupt politician who uses legal means to gain his own wealth.

I think the best thing to remember about alignments is that they are not the only way you act. They are a guideline to your typical outlook and actions. I have had good characters that have tortured people, and evil characters that help people without cause. These are not the normal actions of the though. The good person heals people most of the time and the evil person exploits them most of the time. Don't take it too seriously or you will end up with a huge headache.

(P.S. If you disagree with my definition of alignments I don't care. This was to help people understand the basics. If you want to argue about the definitions of an alignment don't do it here.)

Stay a While and Listen - NPC Pitfalls (Part 1)

2010-06-24T08:03:00.004-05:00

I love having NPCs in games that join up with the group and follow them around. They are an additional outlet for my energy, allowing me to participate in the tale I am telling rather than being detached. In my years of play I have learned that the best NPCs are the ones that you treat just like any other character. They are people in the world that probably know just as much, or possibly a bit less that the actual PCs.

Unfortunately, it is a common tendency of both the GM and players to place far too much reliance on them, turning that efficient tool into a great big pitfall. I can pull from my early days of gaming to give you an example. Most of my early NPCs were far to powerful for the good of the group and knew things that the group did not. They were extensions of the GM, manifested in the gaming world.

Soon my players began relying on the NPC to gather information for them, or knew that when the NPC suggested something, it was clearly the will of the GM for them to do it.

NPC: You don't want to go into that room. It could be dangerous.
Group: OK. Don't go in there guys, the GM told us.

or

Group: Hey Mr. NPC guy. We need to know/get 'X'
X could be anything from the next location of the items on their quest, down to small gems that the group did not want to find themselves.
NPC: Alright. If you are paying I'm good to go.
Minutes later the NPC had what the group required, striping away possibly hours of valuable role-play time.

As I became more knowledgeable with the role playing experience I began to make sure that it was more difficult for players simply to ask an NPC whatever they needed. I began treating NPCs much like I would a real person, giving them quirks, hidden agendas, the capacity to lie. Lies turned the tables on the PCs, since the NPC was no longer a truly reliable source of information.

Group: Mr. NPC Guy, we need you to bribe security so we can get access to the banks back door. Here is the cash you will need.
NPC: Sounds good, I'll have it taken care of.
The NPC then proceeds to go down the road to the nearest Hearthstone to get a cup of coffee, and some snacks. He has a couple hours before the deadline and goes to see a movie. He then gets caught in traffic on the way to the bank, with only 10 minutes to go before the group was supposed to arrive.
Group: We open the back door and head inside. *The door opens slowly, but you don't see any guards* We step inside.

Minutes later the bank is crawling with security, a silent alarm went off and placed the bank on lock down. They contact the NPC only to discover that he didn't do what he said he was would. Now they are annoyed and in a pickle. Hilarity ensues (or they end up arrested/dead).

Next Week - More pitfalls to look out for and how you can avoid them in the future.

Problem players, in and out

2010-06-20T00:48:00.002-05:00

Some people just cause problems. Most don't realize it and some are just jerks, and these people crop up in all aspects of reality including the RPG community. When dealing with problem players you really need to figure out if they are causing problems because they don't know better, or if they are just naturally a jerk.

I think the vast majority of gamers who cause problems cause them in game. This is a somewhat forgivable offense, depending on circumstances. Some people just don't realize they are ruining things for other people. Most of these problems can be solved with the big C word. Communication. I do think problems should initially be addressed where they occur though. By that I am saying if they are causing an in character problem, resolve it in character. If it is an out of character problem then it needs to be resolved out of character. A lot of problems are just misunderstanding and can be corrected with a quick conversation. When addressing these issues it is a good thing to try and understand the other person (but not necessarily agree with them). This sounds really cheesy, but it works. If you jump down someone's throat they will get defensive and fight back. Don't attack them, let them explain themselves if necessary and then explain yourself. Also, do this alone. Don't embarrass a person in front of everyone else. That will also make them defensive and put them on edge. Be polite and respectful and be honest. Covering up your feelings will just make things worse later. If the person is a rational and decent human being you both can usually come to some agreement or at least understand each other.

Now, some people are not rational and/or decent. There is one good solution for them. Kick them out. Seriously, just don't game with them. I know we all don't want confrontation and that stuff, but ruining everyone's game is counterproductive and not fun at all. It is just best to ask them not to come again. If you have exhausted all other options and the person is still causing big problems and being an all around jerk off, then it is time for them to find another group. Again when dealing with this be polite. A domestic dispute is no way to ask someone to leave your group. Be the bigger person and be respectful. Explain your reasons and let the person know that they just don't fit in with your group. I know it sounds like you are breaking up with them, but it is better to do that than to be the girlfriend who treats a guy like crap until they he breaks up with her. You have to look out for your own group and your own interests, and that may mean leaving a group if you can't get along with people. I had to do that once and it made the game much better for everyone else.

Rant: Twinks

2010-06-18T11:28:00.002-05:00

Fletcher jokingly mentioned in dicussion that his next rank would be stats related. I will leave that up to him if he wants, and touch on something that is just as close; Twinks. I hate them. I am probably just as guilty of having tried to make them at one point or another, but the more I have gotten into role play, the more I hate twinking.

For those of you who may not be familiar with twinks, allow me to enlighten you. A twink is a character designed for a very specific task, usually combat. All of the stats, special abilities, and advantages are poured into this type of character to make them unstoppable. There are defense twinks, designed so that you can't hit them, or they can dodge everything thrown at them. Combat twinks can hit everything, stun the enemy so that can not do anything until they die, they kill huge monsters for fun without breaking a sweat.

I do not find this style of play to be fun. It cheapens the entire gaming experience, reducing it to mindless hack and slash fests that are so often stereotyped as the "nerds in the basement" concept. The last twink I created was a purely grapple twink. The character lacked any solid semblance of personality, and the result was a poor play experience. Had I thought to build street brawling and wrestling into his background I probably would have had more fun, but even then a challenge would have been hard to come by.

Speaking of challenge, a player who likes to twink tends to cause problems in a group. They usually don't know the first rules of role play (stay in your character damn it!) and like to crack out of game jokes or act lewd and rude in game while telling everyone "thats who my character is". They make a cheap high school jock and only monopolize on one aspect of the personality. People usually don't like to interact with this individual in game or out because they like making an ass of themselves.

To make matters worse, a twink in the group requires that a GM tailors encounters to match the twink rather than the 5 other players who made normal people. It stops being fun when ever creature encountered kicks the tar out of the group and forces them to make new characters.

Perhaps I am simply jaded with the who concept of twinking and thus place my own stereotypes on the people who like to role them up... whatever the case, I will keep screening PCs to keep the game grounded and challenging.

Rant: Gear

2010-06-13T02:00:00.001-05:00

So, I finally decided to add something else ot my list of things I hate. I can't stand gear. I'm sure you are thinking gear is an essential part of RPGs, but it ranks up there on my list of annoyances; right next to initiative.

When I say I hate gear what I mean is that I hate gear with stats; so basically all the gear most people enjoy. Overly specific gear tables drive me nuts. I feel they pigeon hole me into choosing specific items because of those stats. This may or may not be true, but that is why opinions are so fun. I don't need to know if something does 1d6 or 1d6+1. I am not playing the game to do 1d6 or 1d6+1 damage. I am playing it to create a character and develop that character and live out their life. Yeah combat happens, but I think the merits of my RP in combat should be more important than if my weapon has a +1 or not. I also think not worrying about gear gets rid of the "I take his stuff" attitude that pisses me off so much. Sometimes it is rational, but nine out of ten times someone isn't going to strip someone they just killed of all their gear and try to pawn it off later. The purpose of gear should be to flesh out your character.

Everyone is going to like different things, and that is fine. Just don't expect anything too elaborate, gear wise, from me when playing in one of my games. It's less work for me keeping track of everything, and I can just roll anything I want for combat, like I do already. I'm sure someone will start crying about balance and stuff when I go hating on gear, but I don't care about balance. The real world isn't balanced and many fantasy ones aren't either. My balancing factor is role play and role play trumps everything in my games including rules and plot. I know the RPG police will probably come and arrest me for saying that, but I won't hide it. Gear is something for people who can't be creative on their own and need a chart to tell them what to do. Your character's stuff is a part of them and I'm guessing you don't need a chart to create your character. Wait... We are playing Shadowrun... Well, some game out there you don't need a chart... Still, you can define your character without being bound in by too many rules. Use you imagination instead of just consuming something stuffed in your face.

(Note: This is not completely serious. Take it for what it is and enjoy it.)

But the Rules Say! ...

2010-06-09T07:44:00.002-05:00

If you play in enough RPG's, with plenty of people and quite possibly multiple groups you are bound to encounter someone who will jump up shouting every time there is a breach of the rules. You may even have been that person at some point. Whatever the case I have found that these people are often a source of aggravation until they get comfortable with your GMing style.

Much of my game time has been spent throwing out the rules and substituting my own in. These "house rules" are usually to the benefit of all, replacing something that did not make sense to begin with. Class skills for instance. In Dungeons and Dragons (3.5), every class has a number of skills that are meant to be unique to the class. In order for another class to take those skills, they must typically spend 2 skill / build points to "cross class" into them. I played this way for years, and then after a discussion with one of my groups, I decided to remove the cross class penalty altogether. The decision was one based on opening roleplay options for characters, but it was a solid hit.

If you do run into a person who is set on following the rules, there are some ways to ease them into the game that will reduce the chances of conflict.

1. Explain the rule changes to them ahead of time. This will set their expectation of how the game will flow. This forewarning can extend to explaining that you don't role dice often, emphasis on role play, and how your group functions in general. As a player, knowing these things is an invaluable way to start into a game with a new group.

2. Be consistent. If you make a ruling it must extend to every part of the game. Don't change a rule for one moment, and then reverse your decision the next. This will throw people off, and in an RPG confusion is not the goal. We are content as players, knowing that you will make a decision and stick with it. Even if that means that you will go over the rule after the game to make sure it is used correctly during the next one. A surefire way to stir up a nest of malcontent is to change your decision mid-stride. If player A and player B got to deal massive damage to a monster because you made a mistake in your ruling, players C and D better receive the same treatment.

3. Make an official ruling later. This is one that I still run into trouble with. The flow of the game is one of / if not the most important part to player immersion. Every time you have to stop and look up rules will stop that immersion abruptly. Make a decision on the fly about how an event will work and then stay consistent, but let the game keep moving. No stops please.

4. Take ideas from the group. Your players know what they are doing even if they don't take up the GM's Chair. Use them as a resource when making a ruling. Someone might know the rule off-hand or better yet - have a way to improve upon a rule that is stupidly complicated. Giving the group the opportunity to voice the way they want to play gives them some control over the game, and makes them more invested too.

Outside investment

2010-06-06T05:36:00.002-05:00

I have a dilemma quite often. I have tons of good ideas (read; things I took from somewhere else) that I would love to try out. Some of them are settings, or plots, or characters. The thing that has really been on my mind lately is alternate forms of telling or adding to the story. I have really got into thinking about some experimental kind of things for games. This has cause a problem, at least in my brain. I will explain some of my ideas and then relate the problem.

Some of these are my own creation, some are collaborative and others are influenced from forums and podcasts I listen to. The alternate ideas seem to revolve around media and keeping people engaged during the week. Using devices such as fake websites, free 1-800 numbers, and in character email addresses are top on my list. I think it would be kind of cool at the end of a session to give the players a phone number to call during the week at their leisure. If they call it they get a recorded message giving them a hint for next session. Those who don't won't be out anything. You could create a fake website for some fictional corporation or group and leave a few hints on it for the players to discover. The email idea is similar. These devices seem like they would give a cool sense of connection when the game isn't going on. Plus, they are cheap or free to set up.

Now, my question. When are you asking too much from the players outside of the game. I know some players would love to play all week and constantly be sending in character messages to others (if you are in my group please do this), but many want to go home and wait until next week to game. For my next game I am requiring my players to get all the information on the forums and that is a stretch sometimes. I talk about gaming almost any chance I get, but others don't. So, how much is too much for you? Does interacting at all during the week appeal to you in any way? I want to hear back on this one.

Reactions On the Battlefield

2010-06-04T17:03:00.002-05:00

I recently had a conversation with a friend about one of the games that both of us are part of. Unfortunately I could not be there for the session, and with all the buzz of a coming baby mixed with looking for work it is unlikely that I will again any time soon. As such, I figure that the best place to address some thoughts on the ordeal would be here.

When we sit down to make a character, we usually think of a person who bears great emotional attachment to the world and people. These are often the dark hero type folks who have had bad things happen in the past and are struggling to make amends and all that jazz. These are fun to play and give you a ton of room to build from, but I don't think that they are the most challenging to play. Choosing a person who has a ton to loose and is probably a bit naive, that could be fun. My friend chose a different method, the emotionally detached.

In his back story, the character, Canis, was taken from a world of "normal" and raised as a heartless assassin. Murder, torture, and cold calculated anger were poured into this being for 14 years. After such a lengthy period of brainwashing, these tasks became little more than mundane chores, creating a walking monster with little understanding of what it was like to feel.

Having so much detachment caused a major character break down during the first few sessions that I played in. My own character constantly questioned Canis and turned his well honed killing world upside down with a twist of morals. With the seeds planted for building emotion once more, his rehab began. Introduce morally destructive situation A; an entire town is killed, messages are left on the flayed bodies of the innocent to make the group feel terrible. From the GM standpoint, very well played. It was effective at destroying moral in character (and out of character), and made most of the characters enter various levels of disturbed.

Canis however, went into mechanical mode, systematically breaking down and compartmentalizing the events. Before you cry out that this is not how a normal person would handle the situation, take a look at what this character knew for the last 14 years. Torture, death, strict obedience to kill and not to feel. Punishment when he did feel. This kind of event would dredge those feelings back up to the surface. I believe his reaction was appropriate for the event, though most would (and did) decry it as evil.

As aggravating as this may be for others playing who do not feel the reaction is appropriate, I would urge you to sit down and hash it out as a group. We tend to think of our characters as normal people, and having one who is well outside of the status quo can be taxing for us all. I feel that both reactions should be applauded. The horror felt by everyone playing normal characters at the reaction of one who is a little more evil, and from the "evil" one who shrugged it off nonchalantly. These events make the group and show the personalities and clashing feelings of characters. It is precisely what we try to achieve when we play.

What reactions have you found odd or out of place when you play? Did you take a chance to put yourself in that particular characters shoes? When you play, just stick to your guns. It might make interaction between parties strained, but isn't that similar to life?

No post

2010-05-31T00:43:00.000-05:00

I usually post while working midnights, but I have a work emergency and won't be able to make the post this week. I will be back next week with something for you all.

Pastsight

2010-05-25T12:50:00.002-05:00

Its been a week or two since you last sat down to play a game. The past session flickers in your mind like a television with a bad antenna. The signal is broken, giving you only fleeting images of what happened. For players and Game Masters alike, a recap of the games previous events help to set the mood of the game. It enables a quick and easy transition into the game rather than the group sitting around trying to recall what they were doing last time.

My recaps often vary in the amount of time required to get everyone up to speed. Sometimes its as easy as a 5 minute blurb, but sometimes spending 15 minutes before the game gets going has a ton of benefits. It allows you to get a feel for where the group was going last time so that you can make some quick preparations before the action starts.

The same holds true for you players out there. Having been in your shoes before, I know how good it is to hear what last went down. Knowing that information lets you recall your plan of attack, or bring together a weeks worth of downtime plotting.

Due to my desire to one day write a book about the adventures I have ran in Saratta, I started up a new method for recapping a game in addition to the usual pregame "What happen last-time" bit. At the end of the game sessions I begin writing down the important information gathered during the game in a short historical story. The fun part comes from injecting NPC comments and journal logs that the players would not have insight into otherwise. It allows me to continue to breath life into those NPCs even beyond the game.

The written work is a valuable tool for me to see the direction of the plot beyond what I had planned. Running a D&D game, or any RPG for that matter provides room for the unknown to occur and throw off the planned plot. Seeing where it is going lets me plan how to get it back on track. Is planning necessary? No, but a bit of a plan will not detract from the games streamline (it may improve it too).

Don't have time to write a couple pages of story before the next game? No problem. Take down some notes to remind you what occurred during the last session and use that to jump start the next game. Without insight into the past, it may take a bit for your game to really get going immediately. If you GM and haven't ever thought of doing this, give it a try. If you're a player and your GM doesn't do this, ask them to. It will make the game experience far smoother for everyone.

My thoughts on NPC sheets

2010-05-23T01:00:00.003-05:00

I have been talking with some people and reading a few forums and noticed that people feel the need for NPC sheets desperately. I cannot understand this phenomenon. I tried to remember the last time I wrote up a character sheet and came up blank. I think I wrote two for the entire Shadowrun game I have ran up until this point. For my own games I find very little use for them.

I like sample bad guy stats when I am learning a system, and pretty much only when it is a skill buy based system. Levels are easy to work with. I use the rules for abilities and such, but the written out stats are something that I do not enjoy having for a few reasons.

There are basically two types of NPCs I use. Plot and mooks. Mooks are the general bad guys that the players encounter from session to session. I almost always make up stats on the spot. Even if I have a sheet I tend to adjust them on their first combat turn to compensate for the players killing the heck out of them or getting killed by them. I just go off the PCs skills and go higher or lower to taste.

Plot characters need sheets even less. Most often the characters will not try and kill this NPC, and if they do then they become a mook in which case I make up stats. Plot NPCs are for interaction and their traits are more important than any numbers I could write on a sheet. I often write NPCs on a sheet of paper or computer file and it simply is in the format of "NAME -> role, traits and important info." Most of the time this takes up a line or two. Jot some more notes as more interaction happens and I am golden.

I think this really comes down to how I play. I don't care much about rules. I know they are there for a purpose, but I am consistent and I don't change rules to kill my players. It's just how I roll. I would much rather see good in character discussion, a solid personality, interpersonal conflict without combat, and creativity. Anyone can roll a d20 and add their base attack bonus, the real fun starts when the dice become secondary.

Filling in the scene

2010-05-16T02:11:00.002-05:00

I recently was reading some of the writings by Blackjack. He hosted a website on Shadowrun during the 2nd and 3rd edition days. His articles contained a comical and somewhat exaggerated hatred for players and their lack of creativity. I don't subscribe to this belief fully, but I had to agree with him on a few points when reading his articles.

One thing that was frequently mentioned was his players' need to be spoon fed a scene. By this he meant that players only interacted with things described to them in the scene. He felt they did not make the mental connection of "I am in an alley, therefore this may be here as well," and ask him if something like that existed. If a bad guy jumped on the PCs from above the players would complain that they didn't know that could happen to them. His response was, "You should have asked."

Now, Mr. Blackjack is a little over the top sometimes and possibly a little harsh, but I tend to agree with him to some degree. I am very gifted to have players that will make these logical leaps and I don't have to describe every brick and shingle of a building to them. Heck, most of the time I will go into a scene with very little in mind and let the players questions create it in my mind. For example, they run into a dead end alley with bad guys after them. They ask if there are windows or doors. I say there are, but they are too high to jump to. One player asks if there is anything to climb, I decide there is a drain pipe from the roof they could possibly climb. Another player asks if there is anything to use as an improvised weapon. I tell them there are some old broken wood planks to one side. This keeps on going and going. The scene began to take shape and it only started as a dead end ally with nothing else.

GMs may want to use more descriptive settings often times and that is great, but not all scenes need to be pre-planned with detail. It is a great thing to be able to adapt like this when the situation warrants. You also don't have to give them everything they ask for. Saying no is perfectly fine.

Players (You thought I would let you off on this), you need to help the GM in these situations. Take some initiative and invest some time in the world. Ask questions. I prefer to be asked questions as a GM rather than feed information. I also like to reward creative thinking beyond "I hit it with my sword," and this is a perfect opportunity for that creativity. GMs aren't the only ones who are supposed to be thinking on their feet.

The New Game and The Host

2010-05-12T20:59:00.002-05:00

Last month I began a game that is as much an experiment as it is a legitimate game. The plot is concepted and ready to go with NPCs that are slowly but surely developing. For those who are anxious for the next game it is not just the suspense but the waits between them that seem to last an eternity as each session only occurs once a month.

In my previous group we ran a game every weekend, but after moving and with the prospect of Fatherhood looming nearer each day my gaming schedule has needed to change. My wife also joins in on the sessions which means it needs to work out well for both of us. The truly experimental part of the process really lies in where the other players come from.

Unlike previous bits of advice I have given for gathering a group, I found my new home to be a little harder to crack. Lacking a job through which to build new interest in the games I had to pool from those who I knew. The tough part: They are all over the state. Using social networking sites I sent out a feeler message to determine who might be interested in a once a month game. It turns out more than a couple did, and were willing to make the trip to come to us! This is no easy task for some of them as they need to make a 3 hour trip just to get to us.

With a month in advance for each game though we have ensure that people can try to make it if they feel inclined. It also means that communication is even more key. At the end of the previous session we decided when the next game would be by looking at everyone's schedules. Knowing this, I was able to determine the best time to get everyone there (which consequently means we will have a very full house Saturday of next week).

It also means that there are other considerations to take into account too. For those traveling long distance, actually playing the game is a must (with a month of prep time, I had better be ready) and options for food must be made as well. My wife and I made soup for the last session, but for those of you who have been host to a game you know the cost of feeding a group.

Food is a touchy subject, because some folks would rather go out and just buy their own meal. If everyone wants to do this, go ahead but if there are folks who want to have a meal you need to lay down some ground work. As the host of a game, you are providing the gaming area. The costs of meals should not be lumped on your shoulders (my current group is estimated at 10 people). If everyone chips in $2-$3 per game you will be set for making soup or something else that can come in bulk. Make sure to talk things out with your group though. I will be discussing it very soon to get an idea for what everyone would like to do and will definitely talk about the results.

Discuss, decide and stick to the plan. It is important for your group to know how you'd like things done when you are the host. Since this game is new, and the monthly game is a new thing for me, I will probably write about it more and give you all insight as it comes to me. So far all things are going well, and I am looking forward to another successful game night!

Inspiration from Media

2010-05-09T02:23:00.002-05:00

Recently there was a discussion on the forum relating to using inspiration in media. A lot of good thoughts came out of that so I decided to throw out some (more) of my thoughts on the topic. I'm probably going to throw the word "trope" around like it is going out of style. I just want people to know that I am using a definition best summarized by TVtropes.org. I see them as "devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations."

The big deal that comes about when talking about inspiration through media is originality. If you are taking things from the media then you can't be original, right? I would disagree. I pulled up the dictionary definition for original, mostly to see how I would be flamed, and found that some of the definitions didn't necessarily agree. So, if I can't go with facts I will toss out my opinion. Original is not where you get something in my opinion, it is what you do with it. You can present the same story in many different ways and all of them can be original. If you take a really good look at popular movies and literature you will see that most of them use similar themes, archetypes, and elements. Does this make you enjoy the story less? I know it doesn't both me often, unless it is bad storytelling and that is completely different.

So how can you use elements of popular media and still be original? Well, I'm glad I asked myself that. You just need to use elements, not entire entities. A common pitfall people can fall into is seeing something really cool and saying "I want to do that." and copying it almost exactly. You need to boil that entity down and decide what you actually want from it. Copying every aspect will usually make people groan when they realize what you did. At the same time don't feel shame for taking something you like and making it your own. Blending common elements can make a character/setting/story that people can really relate to, without making it feel stale or boring. I recently used a good number of archetypes and common character tropes to create a group of NPCs that I feel have a great deal of life to them (I hope my players agree or I will just look like a fool).

Now, it may seem like I don't feel we have the capacity for originality. I don't think that at all. I feel that by sheltering ourselves from tropes we do much more work and 'reinvent' them ourselves. I think it is much easier to be original if we understand what came before. So don't give up on creating some great and original. Just don't be afraid to work with everything great minds have given us for hundreds of years. Shakespeare didn't invent the tragedy, but I dare anyone to say he wasn't original.

Runaway Game, Never Coming Back (Part 4: History of The Tangent Stick)

2010-05-06T09:44:00.002-05:00

Stick
n. A long slender piece of wood, especially:
a. A branch or stem cut from a tree or shrub.
b. A pice of wood, such as a tree branch, that is used for fuel, cut for lumber, or shaped for a specific purpose
c.A wand, staff, baton, or rod.

Combine the previous definition; Tangent. The result – Tangent Stick. Use: Beating a tangent into submission.

The group is chatting, and you've been trying to get the game on the right track to no avail. You spot the culprit who started the whole mess in the first place. They said something about going to a party during the week or something dumb like that. Whatever it was, they derailed your game and now everyone is talking. A stick in the corner catches your eye. You pick it up. With malicious intent, the stick causes itself to swing right at the culprits leg. You didn't mean for it to happen, it just did.

“OWWW!!!” The culprit shouts, and glares at you muttering curses under their breath. Back to the game!

The Tangent Stick is the final tool in a Game Masters arsenal. It sits quietly unnoticed in a corner somewhere until some upstart decides that it is time to do something other than gaming. Sometimes that is alright, but when it gets out of hand... well, you get the picture.

The groups that I have been a part of since college have always had a Tangent Stick. It began as a cane whose purpose I no longer recall beyond being threatened with a beating whenever a tangent was started that got in the way of a game. When it was time to create a new group to play Dungeons and Dragons with, we carried the idea of the tangent stick with us and though I am certain that many other groups have a similar device we just opted to give it a name. The Tangent Stick has been through many incarnations, it is an ever evolving object.

Evolution of the Tangent Stick
The tangent stick came into being long ago, some say during the days of primitive man by their civilized wives. Various families would gather to discuss plans for the new cave expansions. During the discussions the men would eventually shift into talking about their latest inventions, particularly the bonfire to which they would receive a strong rap from a stick held by their wives.

In the ages that would follow, many cultures would take up the stick to bring order. Some historical figures were great proponents to the stick, happily persuading others to take them up as well. One such advocate was President Theodore Roosevelt, who once commented “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.”

Since those days, sadly the stick became a thing of the past. Its popularity began a slow but steady decline in wake of assault charges, lawsuits and the end of corporal punishment . Most tend to chalk it up to a disease in the general population; Low Pain Tolerance.

Rumors say that the stick has made a strong cult following, returning slowly to our homes. It took some time to regain a physical form, forced to act under the disguise of verbal threats,

“Don't make me get the Tangent Stick!”

These threats were often short lived and lacked anything to validate their presence. To rectify the issue, brave Game Masters began bringing sticks in from outside. At first this simple act was extremely effective. People would cower away from the table simply at the sight of The Outdoors. As with all things though, many developed an immunity due to prolonged exposure.

Epiphany finally came when the wive of a GM decided to play. We'll call her Helga. Tiring of her husbands constant prattling during a game, Helga snatched up the stick, and in time old fashion, swatted her husband. Stunned, the gamers gaped in awe at the power of the stick, and it has been evolving ever since.

Incarnations of the Tangent Stick (from my own gaming group)
Verbal threats: Ever classic, short lived.
A walking cane: Used by Randy and Sarah to threaten beatings should the tangent fail to stop. The cane appeared to be enchanted with The Outdoors.
A metal rod: Quickly abandoned due to an outbreak of Low Pain Tolerance.
A Carved Sword: Made from the splinter of a 2x4 when I was at Tomahawk Scout Camp.
The Tangent Tube: A carpet roll tube reinforced with Duct Tape. Very painful.

What we want out of it

2010-05-03T00:48:00.002-05:00

One thing I have learned from the various people I have gamed with, talked to, or listened to is that not everyone expects the same thing from gaming. It seems we all go into it expecting something different and come at it from different directions. I'll share some of the different expectations I have seen and give a few comments on each. What I would really like to see is everyone to click the link in the comments and let us know your opinion. I'm sure there will be many more things than I list here.

In my opinion the most basic expectation is the board game. This is basically people who do little role play, are not concerned with the story, and are basically in it for the old 'Monte Hall Dungeon Crawl'. I think a lot of gamers start out expecting this from a game. Heck I know this my in my mind when I first started out. It offers some escapism, a feeling of power, and there is little risk involved. I have wandered away from this as I grew, but I can understand why people stick with it. It is simple. Everything is defined and there is little ambiguity because the rules define everything.

Some people are story driven. They play the game to take part in the telling of a story. There is a good amount of role play and the setting is much larger. This does not have to be a heavy RP however. You are just following a story. It may not interest you to learn about characters or NPCs. Interactions may not be the point. You could be more concerned with what is going to happen instead of who it is happening to. Things can still be very linear though.

Others value interaction. This deals with interactions between the NPCs and other characters. It values relationships over rules or plot. Obviously role play can be included in any game, but people who value interaction can care little about where a plot goes or what the rules are. They are more concerned with how the plot affects their characters and the others around them. The conflict tends to be more interpersonal than combat or plot driven. I think I have this outlook more than any other outlook. I would prefer to see what happens between the characters and NPCs than see what happens in the overarching story. Not to say that I dislike plot, I just prefer to concentrate on interaction. Exploring motivations and relationships is incredibly interesting and can happen with little or no motivation of a story.

One other piece I personally like is moral exploration. This can be a very difficult thing to get into a game depending on the group. This involves hitting on moral issues and being able to act them out in a fictional environment. These can be anything from definitions of good and evil to the morality of killing. The issue with this expectation is that everyone has a different point where they will feel uncomfortable. I think most gamers could deal with the morality of killing, but not all groups would like to deal with something as touchy as rape or even violent torture. This can make morality a difficult expectation to achieve. I also see this as a subject where people will interpret your character's views and your own.

I guess this is mostly letting my brain ramble. Please hit the discussion link in the comments and let us know what you expect from a game. I'm sure I didn't get everyone on this very short list.

Runaway Game, Never Coming Back (Part 3: Long Tangent)

2010-04-27T22:22:00.002-05:00

The Long Tangent: This tangent often just occurs. You don't really have much say in them, or if you do its your fault its still going. The long tangent began as a short one. Perhaps a joke that reminded everyone of another such joke. Whatever the case, it began spiraling out of control about 37 minutes ago according to your watch. You tried all the usual comments that normally stop a short tangent but around every corner was a new tangent, lurking stealthily with razor sharp fangs and huge man tearing claws. Its just like that beast that the group tried to slay last time but couldn't, and then Dan and John got mangled and it was... Ahem. Sorry about that.

There is still a way to get the game back on track once the long tangent has begun but it requires plenty of patience. Just keep in mind, this tangent is not occurring because your players don't want to play the game. It occurs because you have not seen one another in a while. There are things to talk about and discuss that have been brewing about in their heads for a whole week (maybe more, maybe less depending on the group).

“Yeah, yeah... get to the point already,” you're telling me. Alright. Here is what you need to do to get things going again:

Let the tangent happen.

Yes, I said it. Just let it go. Keep on talking, join in on the conversation and make sure that you include everyone else. There will definitely be one or two players that on some level still want to game, and perhaps some of them will ultimately leave to do something else because gaming is not happening. Good. Let them.

The reason that you get together to play an RPG is so that you can do some socializing with friends. Some people go out and play a sport in order to be around other people (you might too), but sitting down and playing a game like this gets folks out of the house and interacting. Psychologically speaking, it is very, very good for you.

While the Long Tangent is going you now have a chance to did into the interests of everyone else and build upon them. You already get together to play an RPG. Discuss other games that you have wanted to play before. The floor is wide open for ideas.

Kick back, crack a beer and enjoy. Even a GM needs a break from time to time. This one is for everyone, just to get their mind off of work (and sometimes just playing an RPG can feel like work after a long week). Do something different for a change. Pull out that card game you've been wanting to play (I might suggest Munchkin, Cribbage, or the many variations of Poker) or a board game (Risk, Settlers of Catan, Axis and Allies) to maintain some semblance of a “gaming” night. This is another opportunity just to keep having fun with friends. After all, that is the point of having a Gaming Night.

If you are really worried about not getting the chance to play, let me ease your fears. When next week rolls around and everyone sits down to play, crack the beer early. Cook some brats over a grill and give everyone a chance just to chat. So what if it takes an hour off of the 5 or 6 you set aside for the RPG. It will provide a moment where everyone can just talk, and then the game will go on, and on, and on.

“Cheers,” * Gives a nod with a cold one in hand * “And enjoy your social night, they don't come as often as they should.”

Next Week: The Tangent has ended and the game is back on track. Kind of. Stay tuned for more of the Runaway Game!

Keeping things moving

2010-04-26T01:02:00.002-05:00

One thing that really bothers me when I am playing a game or running one is when everything just stops. I don't mean the plot has slowed or the players are not trying to advance things. I am talking when people just stop talking or stop doing things. I always feel guilty when I am a GM and this happens. Essentially the game grinds to a screeching halt and when we begin again it take a bit to get going again.

There are a couple things that really cause this for me and I will share what they are and what I try to do about them.

The main reason is almost always looking up rules. Someone does something and I am not sure how the rules handle it. This can happen a lot when you are running a new system or are not comfortable with the system. Sometimes something strange happens and you don't really know what to do. For new systems I like to make up cheat sheets that give me common tests so I can look at that quick and get going again. I will also often ask players to write down common tests they use, so I don't have to remember or I keep forgetting (Ascending tests in Shadowrun in particular). Other times I will ask the players if they remember how to do a specific test. This works well when other people know the system a bit. They may pick up something you don't remember. My last and favorite thing is just to fake it. As long as you are consistent you can just guess on it and keep the game moving. I will usually tell the player that I will look it up later and let them know how we are supposed to do it. That really keeps things going.

The second major time is when you don't know where the adventure is going. If your adventure is published then READ THE ADVENTURE. I am running a Serenity game that I didn't read cover to cover until the fourth or fifth session in. I know the players were not very happy with me on some occasions. Keeping a quick list of names and places will help keep things moving so you don't have to grab the phone book every two minutes. If it is your own world don't be afraid to make stuff up on the spot. In a few of my games the things I made up in a few moments ended up being larger adventures.

One thing I like when using a published adventure or just a standard rulebook is to mark important pages and sections with sticky notes. The little page tab kind of notes are perfect. You can label them and access areas really quick so you don't slow the game up. Of course going overboard on those may cause more confusion also.

I'm sure some of this stuff has been covered in previous posts, but this is a quick list of a few tricks I like to use to (hopefully) keep my gaming running smooth.

Runaway Game, Never Coming Back (Part 2: Short Tangents)

2010-04-21T20:35:00.003-05:00

What is a tangent then? The definition is clear enough; A sudden digression or change of course. That is to say, if the topic of discussion is the game, then the tangent is the random conversation that started because something in the game reminded one of the players of something that once happened to them. Most often they are short lived lasting little more than 5 minutes, though a good one can go on upwards of 10 minutes before someone pipes in that their brain is falling asleep.

Tangents are an integral part of playing any RPG. They exist because we choose to play these games with our friends, and many times we haven't seen them in a while. In the case of my previous gaming group, we played every Saturday (quite frequent, I know but it still allowed for a week to go by where we had little to no interaction with most people in the group). With only a week long gap, I had more than one game (be it acting as GM or as a player) suddenly derail and turn into an evening where nothing happened.

From the story tellers standpoint this can be frustrating. Especially if you spent a long time preparing for this game. What I have discovered though, is that the larger game devouring tangents tend to occur when you simply aren't in the mood to play, or that “ton of preparation” was really spent playing Xbox, reading a book, going for hikes, etc... When your preparation was actually real and your game derails though, here are some thoughts on what you can do to get things back on track.

The Short Tangent: This tangent often occurs because a situation in your game dredges up fond memories of another game or life situation from one of the players. They tend to turn into a short story session where a few others chime in about their own similar experiences. Most of the time you can get through these by letting the group chat for a little bit and then saying

“Anyway, back to where we were...”

Most of the time this is a sure fire way of redirecting attention to the game. Players will do this too, hoping to railroad the game back toward progression. I have often heard it go something like this;

“Ok guys, that's enough lets keep playing”

or

“Hey, Everyone! Look at me! * rolls the die * “18 to climb the tree...”

or

“Shut the Giant Flapjacks up and play already!!!!”

Either way, problem solved. The game gets to move on. It is likely that it will be interrupted by another such outburst in the near future. Don't worry though. You'll be able to handle that when it tries to jump out at you.

Next Week: The Long Tangent and the Truth.

Gamer Shame

2010-04-18T01:37:00.002-05:00

Let us imagine this situation that has very likely occurred with you:

You are home from work for the weekend. Some coworkers pass you as you leave and talk to you.

Co-worker: Me and some of the other people from work are getting together on Saturday night. Want to come?

Saturday you are gaming and won't be able to make it so you respond.

You: No, I am doing something on Saturday already.

Co-worker: What is that?

I have found that this tends to be a relatively common fear in the gaming community, admitting you are a gamer. It actually has a name. It is called Gamer Shame. I'm sure most of us have been nervous at some time to admit our hobby to the normal population. I have had it and have seen it from new to veteran gamers. It is somewhat embarrassing for us to admit we play RPGs.

I think the fear comes from some of the perception created by popular media that most people see. Gamers are portrayed as lonely social misfits playing in their parents basement wearing fake elf ears. You and I know that this is not the common gamer. We know who we are and why we enjoy gaming. We know the truth, so why are we so afraid to tell other people?

It took me a long time to finally accept my gamerness and freely admit to (most) people that I play RPGs. I still have some fear about it, but once I realized that it is just like any other hobby it made it easier for me. I realized that I was more like other gamers and they were not like the stereotype. I kind of enjoy telling people about it, if they are receptive.

It seems there are a few ways people will react when you let the cat out of the bag. To be honest, most have no idea what it is. Others know the stereotypes. A good conversation can usually clear up things and give them an quick glimpse of what the hobby is. Heck, some may even want to give it a try!

I guess I only ask one thing if you share with other people. Be a good advocate for the hobby. I'll get a bit preachy quick and say we are representing the gaming community as a whole. Be a good representative of it.

Next time someone asks you the question in the example don't be afraid. Admit that you are a gamer... or I guess you could just lie....

Runaway Game, Never Coming Back (Part 1: The Intro)

2010-04-15T10:41:00.002-05:00

Whenever I sit down to GM a game, I am preparing an interactive story. I develop a plot filled with twists, some that you can see coming from miles away, and others that slap you in the face as soon as they occur. The tale is my drive, and the chance to let others interact in it makes it even more fun. Once I have added in the “others” element to the game though, it increases the chances that my story simply isn't going to be told the way I want to tell it.

Player interaction can swing a game in directions that a GM does not plan for. In my case, I many of my prepared games come prepared for the unknown element by using ad-lib. It enables me to quickly react to a situation and slowly bring the game back into the scope I originally sought out. Even with this tool at hand I can't be ready for everything, but there are always signs prior to the storm. Eventually, no matter how experienced a GM you are there will come a time when you find that your players are no longer cooperating with you. It may be that they decided to go off on their own adventure in your game, or they aren't even playing. Nothing kills your sense of a game quite like either of these scenarios. Don't worry about them though, there is always a way to get your game back, you just need to be patient...

The Tangent Stick

tan·gent (tān'jənt)
adj.
1.Making contact at a single point or along a line; touching but not intersecting.
2.Irrelevant.
n.
1.A line, curve, or surface meeting another line, curve, or surface at a common point and sharing a common tangent line or tangent plane at that point.
2.Abbr. tan Mathematics The trigonometric function of an acute angle in a right triangle that is the ratio of the length of the side opposite the angle to the length of the side adjacent to the angle.
3.A sudden digression or change of course: went off on a tangent during the courtroom argument.
4.Music An upright pin in a keyboard instrument, especially in a clavichord, that rises to sound a string when a key is depressed and stops the string at a preset length to set the pitch.

It first starts with a fictitious game;

“You enter the room, a torch burns in the far corner, making the shadows along the other edges stand out, black and ominous. There is a ring of candles on the floor near to the center of the room, but they are not lit.” I tell the group.

“I step into the room.” John says, his character (Abigor) inches into the room glancing warily about, “and look for traps.” He rolls and tells me the number, 22.

“There is nothing that you can see that looks out of the ordinary or remotely like a trap. The room continues to make you feel on edge though. You can't place the reason why.”

“I'll send an orb of light over to the candles then”

Lightning balls up in Abigor's hand, twisting into a small marble of flickering energy. He releases the marble, and it floats into the middle of the room where its light reveals a body tied to the floor. A pike is embedded in its torso and blood runs freely into grooves cut in the stone floor.

“I get into the room and place myself in front of Abigor.” says Fletcher, playing Anze.

Anze impulsively shoves past the group in the doorway, dashing in front of Abigor not a moment too soon. The marble of lightning flickers violently, tendrils of energy exploding out of it, filling the room. The energy crashes into Anze, throwing her against Abigor causing both of them to tumble to the floor. Anze, now unconscious from the blow is on top of Abigor, pinning him to the ground.

“Just the way he LIKES it!” Holly burst out, unable to contain it.

“Thats what she said.” Dan mutters.

The group laughs, but it was only the beginning. If this tangent is short lived, we will chuckle and be back to the game in no time. I keep my fingers crossed. 15 minutes later it is still going strong. The joking has ended and we have moved on to how Holly had to deal with stupid people, to which others chime in with their experiences as well. A tangent is afoot, and there may be no way to stop this one...

Next Week: The Tangent Stick Continues! The excitement is just getting started!

How I make a character

2010-04-11T03:53:00.002-05:00

I wrote this up a couple nights a go to give people an example of the thought process I use to make a character. Some people have a lot of trouble starting out creating a character and hopefully this helps to ease the pain. Just for a frame of reference I did this one night at work and it took about an hour. You can easily spend much more time developing your character.

---
This is a quick example of my process I often use to generate characters. It has kinda been termed the "One word" method. Essentially I pick a concept, usually an abstract ideal, and expand my character based upon that word. I am going to be doing this from scratch and will possibly reference other sources. I will make a D&D 3.5 character because that seems to be easy for everyone to understand. Here goes nothing.

To pick a word I pulled up a list of abstract nouns from Google. I took a quick look through the list and picked the word "hate". This invokes some pretty strong feelings so it should be a good concept. I am starting with a word in this case to show the freedom you can have with this method. Most people would probably want setting information before selecting a concept word.

So the word is picked out and we know we are playing a fantasy setting. The GM gives me more info and tells me we are playing in Saratta (Tim's world) and our group template is a group of characters hunting necromancers. Sounds like a good time! Now it is time to build up the character a little bit. We need to explore the concept of hate now.

The dictionary says hate is an intense dislike or extreme hostility toward something. So whatever this character hates they have to hate it fully. There are a few directions that pop into my head. The first is a hate of humanity, but I feel this is a little too far on the evil side and don't want to use that. It could be an extreme hate of necromancers. After all that is what we are hunting. My last idea is an extreme hate of their self. I prefer to use internal motivations so I think I will go with that. So we have a character that hates their self for some reason. What is that reason? Maybe they didn't live up to someones expectations, or they failed someone, or they have some secret that they loath about themselves. There are many possibilities here and I can't quite decide which one I want. I think I will establish some other facts then come back to this question.

I know it is D&D so class, race and alignment are big things. I think I will decide what class I want to play first. After taking a quick look through the book I decide that I haven't played a paladin in awhile and would like to give that a try. So I am a paladin and I think I will be lawful good also (even though this world doesn't require that). Now I need a race. I take a look at the book and a couple races catch my eye. Elves in this world have special paladins called Fireguards that would work well into my story. Half-orc could make an interesting choice as well with a struggle for an identity in the human world he lives in. I think I will go with elf and play an ex-fireguard (after talking to the GM about this). I think I will keep this character male instead of challenging myself to play a female character.

We now have a lawful good elf paladin who hates himself. Good base, now time to expand. So we will fill in a few blanks now. I pull up the world history and find the elf paladin often follows the fire god. Sounds good to me. Do they still follow the fire god? I will say yes, but they are having trouble with their faith, hence part of the self hate. I decided on an ex-fireguard which means they need a reason for leaving. Maybe the shaken faith caused them to leave or they failed to perform orders. After leaving the fireguard they feel as though they betrayed their family and let them down, causing another portion of the self hate. I think there is a story working it's way up. I usually jot down a quick life history if I can think of one. It can always be edited later.

-He grew up in the country of Tyr and was trained as a Fireguard. He never questioned the elven customs or ways and brought much honor to his family. Eventually his mother became gravely ill. He prayed to the god to keep her safe and promised his life of servitude in exchange for his mother to be well. The next day his mother died and he began to question the intentions of the god. As a paladin he struggled with this and came to believe there was something wrong with himself. He then disobeyed the order to execute a slave who killed his owner when trying to escape to freedom. He felt compassion for the man even though elven customs told him not to. He began to believe he was no longer worthy to be a Fireguard or an elf. He abandoned the ranks and traveled across the sea to escape the shame. No matter how far he sailed the shame still weighed on him. He began to despise himself and considered himself a traitor. He began adventuring to try and atone for his traitorous ways. He often took up quests for free and gave most of his money to the temples and the poor. No matter what he did he always felt like a betrayer of his people and his god. When the offer to hunt necromancers came up he accepted with the thoughts that it would be a large step toward redemption. -

It is rough but I can use that as a decent back story. He needs a name. I took the easy way out and pulled up my Welsh lexicon and go with the Welsh word for hate. His name is Cas. Right about now I would pull out the 100 questions and start answering them. I will just fill in a few that I think are good. He has surviving family of a father, two sisters and a brother. He is the second oldest behind a sister. He has enjoyed woodcarving as a hobby since he was a small child. When he was young his father gave him a well made carving knife as a gift that he keeps to this very day. He feels strongly about helping those in need and has very little money as a result of giving most of his earnings away.

Alright, I could go on and on for backstory, but we will keep it short for now and get onto stats. I decide which stat is his biggest priority and which is his lowest. I think I will build him more as a dexterity fighter so I want that to be his best stat. Wisdom encompasses force of will and devotion. He may be having a crisis of faith, but he is incredibly determined and focuses on his cause of redemption so I think that will rank as second or third. I think charisma shoudl be his lowest stat. He still has his hostile elven attitude which makes him hard to deal with. Time to roll it up.

Alright I have 8, 12, 16, 15, 11, and 15 for rolls. I would place them like this.

Str: 15, Dex: 16, Con: 12, Int: 11, Char: 8, Wis: 15

Probably not the best placement, but that is how I would see him. Racial mods would put his dex up to 18 and his Con to 10. (Going from memory so it may be wrong. Really doesn't matter right now anyway.)

For gear I will give him Scale armor because he ditched his Fireguard armor, a longsword, a shield, his holy symbol, his carving knife, a pack with food, torches, water, flint, bedroll, and rope.

For his skills I would give him Knowledge(Religion) and Craft(Woodcarving). And his first level feat I'll give him Combat Reflexes.

Now you may notice there are numerous things about this character that are not optimal. That is just how I make characters. I am much less interested in the numbers than the story and who the character is. So if you are going to comment on any of the gear/stat/feat/etc choices don't bother. I would rather model my character how I see them instead of what makes me hit harder.

So there you have it a quick and dirty "one word" character creation method I use.

Roses and Candlelight

2010-04-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

A white mist settles across the land, settling onto the mountainsides and the descending like a river into the valley below. The villages huddle near a window of the inn looking wildly about for anyone who may be on the streets. One sees movement, a young boy running down the road. The mist gathers in the distance, looming nearer with each passing moment. A woman bolts for the door, the others try to stop her but she flings the door open and starts running toward the boy screaming “Run! Run! Quickly, get to me!”

The innkeeper wastes no time, slamming the door shut and locking it. You begin to protest but the mist flows over the two figures on the road. Their screams suddenly fill the silence and a spray of red blots the window. A sharp rap sounds on the wooded door, the normally dull sound playing out like a siren in light of what you just saw.

“Barricade the doors!” The innkeeper shouts. “NOW!”

The manner in which you open a game sets the stage for what more is to come. This setting will firmly entrench the moods of your players, quickly changing the way they think their characters will react. As a GM we do this with each adventure or game we run. Many times I open with a setting and that remains the theme for the rest of a campaign. You do not have to restrict your style this way though.

A happy go lucky game can quickly turn into a serious darkly flavored one if you mold it the right way. Oftentimes as a GM we look to NPCs to make the difference, but more importantly we should be looking to our players.

Players make or break the style of game that you are trying to run. Breaking the game is often the easiest example. For instance: Fletcher ran a Ravenloft adventure. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ravenloft, it is a setting for D&D that revolves around horror. He did an excellent job of building the horror feel. His players were filling me in on the details before I was to join them. I however, chose to play a less than intelligent orc who acted more as a comic relief character. The result seemed to make Fletcher's life quite a bit more difficult.

We players need to take some thought before jumping into a game. We influence the setting far more than most GMs (including myself) like to admit. If a horror game is being run, we must make sure that we act appropriately for the horror that awaits us. Likewise, if the game is to be bubbly and fun, go ahead and make a comic relief character.

Setting is about immersion. As players we dictate how deeply involved we are going to become to a world and setting. A GM then works with those feelings and continues to draw them closer to the way they want to tell the story. Check with a GM prior to joining into a game (especially if you are only joining for one session). Get an idea of the setting so that you can play into that role rather than breaking it. The GM has worked hard to get things to where they are at. Be courteous, blend with the setting.

The fear of the LARP

2010-04-04T02:09:00.002-05:00

I just want to share some thoughts I have noticed with different people I have gamed with. People react differently when confronting an RP encounter. Some people seem to avoid acting their character at all costs. What I mean by this is that they don't act out their character. This seems to come in numerous degrees. Some people will always reference their character in the third person and not be the character. Others may talk as their characters, and others will even perform small actions and mannerisms as their character. It is interesting to see how far people will go. Pretty much everyone in my current group will talk in first person and maybe even use a different voice if applicable. A few will even use mannerisms, but we never really have physically positioned ourselves to 'act out' a scene in a sense. Actually, one time I ran a Shadowrun game where the two characters were cops. They often would sit next to each other on chairs and talk as if they were in their squad car. I guess I have done if a few times, but it is not the norm for us.

I wonder why we don't try to do that more. It always seems to be fun and it really helps me to get into the game. I tend to not think of it or just plain to stay sitting when I am playing or running a game. There are no lack of opportunities to do this. What are we afraid of? Are we worried the other gamers in the room will shun us as LARPers? Are we just worried about looking like idiots? Is it apathy or just nothing thinking of it all together? I really don't know.

I am really bad at this. I don't act out scenes well. I try to do some accents and act out mannerisms, but overall I fall quite short of most others. The last time I acted something out I was standing on a chair reciting a line from a Shakespeare play. It got everyone's attention at the very least. I really don't know how effective it was with immersion, but I got a reaction and that was something.

I guess the final questions is: should we throw in some LARP? I guess that is up to you and your group. I think little twists of live action can give people something tangible to work with. I don't think every group could do it. I know some groups I played with would look at me like a crazy person if I did anything like that. If you just want a hack and slash keep it like that, but if you want more then I would say go for it. Try things out and see what works.

More to Come

2010-03-31T17:58:00.003-05:00

It is a break week for me this time around. Life has had me going hard focusing on finding work rather than doing any writing so I figured I would take the week to maintain my focus and ensure that I provide you all with a well thought out piece of work. This also presents me with an opportunity to give you all a moment to throw out some topics of interest that you would like to see. Be it from the players perspective, or GMs.

My posting for the coming week(s) is entitled Roses and Candlelight. It focuses on setting and feel in games, what you can do to make it feel more alive as a GM, and how you can change it as a player (for better or worse).

In the meantime, please take a moment and send some ideas our way either on the forum or right down in the comments section.

Killing your friend

2010-03-29T04:32:00.002-05:00

I quickly want to thank everyone who chimed in on the discussion from my previous post. We had a good discussion about it and it was nice to get all the different opinions. So, I would like to continue with something that came up at the end of that discussion and that is players killing other players.

I personally don't play RPGs as a competitive game. I don't see it as the players vs. the GM. I would much rather see what we can all accomplish together in terms of a compelling story and compelling characters. There are occasions where I like games where there is conflict between the players that could result in someone taking a break to reroll a new character. This can be a a touchy situation as a GM and as a player.

As a GM if you are planning on making a game where player vs player conflict will occur then let the players know going into the game. Make sure that they are comfortable with it. Tell them it is likely another player will kill your player. Allow them to voice concerns and work with them if they are worried they won't be able to RP this or are uncomfortable with it. Good communication is the key in most situations.

As a player you have a hard job. You need to remember that this is only a game. You can't hold grudges or try to get revenge on the player (In character revenge is a different thing). Remember that the other player is just playing their character and they are not out to get you as a person. I have seen lots of people act out their personal frustration through their characters in bad ways many many times. Guess what, it sucks for everyone. No one feels better and it tends to cause real life conflicts. The game is the game so keep real life out of it and the game out of real life.

This is a more general thing about character death that was brought up, but I will mention it because PvP character death is even more emotionally charged. I know what it is like to pour your heart and soul into a character to the point where they are as close to a real person as they can get. When they die, especially by another player's actions, it can really hit you. I have seen a few people come to tears or lash out in anger when their characters die. If your emotions are running high and you may have trouble holding together take a few minutes or the rest of the session. The other players and the GM should accommodate this and not be jerks. I'm guessing you wouldn't be to happy if you were in the same situation. Have some empathy and give them their time. It can be tough to act completely rational in the heat of the moment.

Remember the point is to have fun and tell a good story. You may balance that scale in different ways, but these people are you friends. You character doesn't have to be respectful, but as a player you need to be.