I'm going to start trying to post on this again. Unfortunately, when I let things slide for too long on the posting schedule I proposed, I got embarrassed and didn't want show up. It resulted in a downward spiral of looking the other way. From now on, I'll just try to keep posting whenever I have an idea and worry less about keeping a schedule. After all, it's better that I get the ideas down at all than worry about powering out something that I can't put my heart into.
So here's to the horse, and getting back on it.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Saturday, April 24, 2010
On Using Published Campaign Settings
One thing that kind of bugs me is when DMs or GMs use a published campaign setting, but end up only utilizing the setting canon as backdrop for adventures mostly unrelated to the state of the campaign world. Sure, you might be in Eberron, and if you walk far enough south in Breland, you'll run into Sharn, but the story playing out for the PCs isn't tied to the movers, shakers, and critical events that shape the world. This big lavish campaign world ends up just being a short cut to believable geography should the PCs wander off the beaten path.
I have a few recommendations for using published campaign settings below that might help you have a more satisfying campaign in the world of your choosing. (I'll couch examples in D&D's Eberron as it's a personal favorite.)
The Status Quo Exists to be Altered - If you've purchased a campaign setting, you now have a big book sitting in front of you that tells you about people and places at a very specific juncture in time. Even if the setting doesn't bother to tell you what year it is, you're seeing the state of said campaign world on "Pause." The moment you drop PCs into that world, you're pressing "Play," No, better yet, you're pressing "Record." From that moment forward, the PCs are going to meddle with the state of the world and, if you're running the game to a high enough level of power, will change it dramatically. And that's exactly how it should be. In Eberron, the Mournland exists to be solved! Solved by the PCs in your campaign no less! The 4e D&D Eberron material actually does a good job encouraging this particular point, going as far as providing a Mourning Savior epic destiny for adventurers who would end their careers removing the catastrophic blight left by the Last War.
PCs are a Canon-Violating Force - "But Drizzt does that in book five of the 'Drow are Awesome' series!" is a crummy reason to have fate conspire against having the PCs make a particular change to the world. PCs in your game should exist in a timeline separate from any novels about the campaign setting that aren't already incorporated into the campaign setting as written, and their very existence sets the world on a different course. And beside that, if your PCs existed in the same timeline as novels in the setting, New York Times Bestselling authors would be writing about them, because your PCs are awesome!
Answer Unanswered Questions - Whether deliberately or accidentally, the answers to some questions about the events or nature of a campaign setting will be left unclear. Maybe the author is doing it on purpose, and outlines a few rumored answers to whet your appetite, or maybe he was four cups of coffee into that part of the book at 2:00 am and "It all made sense at the time." Either way, your players should not have to wait for expansion material or novels to fill gaps of information in a campaign setting. Hurl the PCs headlong into the mysterious situation and have them find the truth along the way. If later material contradicts your answer, strike it from your game's canon, or better yet, have that new answer be commonly believed across the world. Now you've got a whole new adventure in spreading the truth and dealing with forces that might be angered by what the PCs are revealing.
The bottom line is that I think you'll have a more satisfying time exploring a published campaign setting if you end up writing parts of it. The game at your table doesn't exist in the same universe as published novels or the play that happens at any other gamer's table. Make the setting your own through play.
I have a few recommendations for using published campaign settings below that might help you have a more satisfying campaign in the world of your choosing. (I'll couch examples in D&D's Eberron as it's a personal favorite.)
The Status Quo Exists to be Altered - If you've purchased a campaign setting, you now have a big book sitting in front of you that tells you about people and places at a very specific juncture in time. Even if the setting doesn't bother to tell you what year it is, you're seeing the state of said campaign world on "Pause." The moment you drop PCs into that world, you're pressing "Play," No, better yet, you're pressing "Record." From that moment forward, the PCs are going to meddle with the state of the world and, if you're running the game to a high enough level of power, will change it dramatically. And that's exactly how it should be. In Eberron, the Mournland exists to be solved! Solved by the PCs in your campaign no less! The 4e D&D Eberron material actually does a good job encouraging this particular point, going as far as providing a Mourning Savior epic destiny for adventurers who would end their careers removing the catastrophic blight left by the Last War.
PCs are a Canon-Violating Force - "But Drizzt does that in book five of the 'Drow are Awesome' series!" is a crummy reason to have fate conspire against having the PCs make a particular change to the world. PCs in your game should exist in a timeline separate from any novels about the campaign setting that aren't already incorporated into the campaign setting as written, and their very existence sets the world on a different course. And beside that, if your PCs existed in the same timeline as novels in the setting, New York Times Bestselling authors would be writing about them, because your PCs are awesome!
Answer Unanswered Questions - Whether deliberately or accidentally, the answers to some questions about the events or nature of a campaign setting will be left unclear. Maybe the author is doing it on purpose, and outlines a few rumored answers to whet your appetite, or maybe he was four cups of coffee into that part of the book at 2:00 am and "It all made sense at the time." Either way, your players should not have to wait for expansion material or novels to fill gaps of information in a campaign setting. Hurl the PCs headlong into the mysterious situation and have them find the truth along the way. If later material contradicts your answer, strike it from your game's canon, or better yet, have that new answer be commonly believed across the world. Now you've got a whole new adventure in spreading the truth and dealing with forces that might be angered by what the PCs are revealing.
The bottom line is that I think you'll have a more satisfying time exploring a published campaign setting if you end up writing parts of it. The game at your table doesn't exist in the same universe as published novels or the play that happens at any other gamer's table. Make the setting your own through play.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Adventure Idea: Dungeon SWAT
I just had a really neat idea for an adventure that would work well in any number of rules-heavy, miniatures-dependent RPGs. Incidentally, it would also make an awesome convention game, and I may elect to run it next time I attend a con. If you end up running this, let me know how it went in the comments.
Goblins and orcs have stormed your village during the night. They rampaged through, stealing valuables and terrorizing the peasants, and furthermore have kidnapped the three fairest maidens in your town, known far and wide for their beauty. They have since retreated to the dungeons and caves beneath a nearby abandoned keep with the spoils of their victory, where they plan to sacrifice the maidens to their dark, monstrous gods...
...and they have no idea how badly they've just screwed up!
The very keep that the monsters have retreated to has been scoured clean of evil, mapped, documented, and bugged with magical sensors by adventurers like yourselves on prior expeditions. Break out the blueprints, plan your assault, and breach the dungeon from multiple entrances simultaneously. Weave confusion in the enemy ranks with tools to blind, deafen, and daze unsuspecting opponents while you extract the hostages from danger. Exploit existing traps to take out your under-informed foes, and overcome their greater numbers with the advantage of an unexpected shock-and-awe strike. If you play your cards right, it could all be over in sixty seconds.
You're fast. You're efficient. You are Dungeon SWAT.
Goblins and orcs have stormed your village during the night. They rampaged through, stealing valuables and terrorizing the peasants, and furthermore have kidnapped the three fairest maidens in your town, known far and wide for their beauty. They have since retreated to the dungeons and caves beneath a nearby abandoned keep with the spoils of their victory, where they plan to sacrifice the maidens to their dark, monstrous gods...
...and they have no idea how badly they've just screwed up!
The very keep that the monsters have retreated to has been scoured clean of evil, mapped, documented, and bugged with magical sensors by adventurers like yourselves on prior expeditions. Break out the blueprints, plan your assault, and breach the dungeon from multiple entrances simultaneously. Weave confusion in the enemy ranks with tools to blind, deafen, and daze unsuspecting opponents while you extract the hostages from danger. Exploit existing traps to take out your under-informed foes, and overcome their greater numbers with the advantage of an unexpected shock-and-awe strike. If you play your cards right, it could all be over in sixty seconds.
You're fast. You're efficient. You are Dungeon SWAT.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Player Sheets
I had a strange idea the other day. We're all familiar with the concept of the character sheet. It records the state and abilities of your character.
What about a player sheet?
See, one thing I really don't like doing as a GM is killing PCs. When a PC dies, not only does that character's story comes to an abrupt halt, but the player also gets more-or-less kicked from the game until a resurrection or introduction of a new character can occur. This is really kind of lame, especially since folks have gone out of their way to attend the game.
The player sheet would theoretically provide some sort of codified narrative control resources for the player to employ while he waits for a new opportunity to bring a character in, as well as some narrative control resources for when he or she does have a character. I think this might soften some of the blow of having a PC die. Play of any given character would add resources to the player sheet based on the character's achievements.
One thing that had a hand in inspiring this idea is the concept of achievements in video games. On the XBox 360 for example, just because you finish a game and sell it doesn't mean that your experiences in that game cease to matter. You gain points for your GamerScore, which exists outside of individual games to provide a record of your accomplishments across all XBox 360 titles. I'm pretty sure the score isn't really good for anything other than bragging rights, but it planted the seed of the player sheet in my head.
Really, if you and your friends wanted to, you could have player sheets that had impacts regardless of who among you was GMing or what system said GM was running. You might need to do some trial-and-error experimentation to find the sweet spot of making the sheets matter without having them either throw off game balance or restrict players from having powers and defining details that the GM would have handed over anyway were the sheets not a hurdle to that, but if successful, it could end up a gaming scrapbook with purpose in play.
As always, your comments are welcome.
What about a player sheet?
See, one thing I really don't like doing as a GM is killing PCs. When a PC dies, not only does that character's story comes to an abrupt halt, but the player also gets more-or-less kicked from the game until a resurrection or introduction of a new character can occur. This is really kind of lame, especially since folks have gone out of their way to attend the game.
The player sheet would theoretically provide some sort of codified narrative control resources for the player to employ while he waits for a new opportunity to bring a character in, as well as some narrative control resources for when he or she does have a character. I think this might soften some of the blow of having a PC die. Play of any given character would add resources to the player sheet based on the character's achievements.
One thing that had a hand in inspiring this idea is the concept of achievements in video games. On the XBox 360 for example, just because you finish a game and sell it doesn't mean that your experiences in that game cease to matter. You gain points for your GamerScore, which exists outside of individual games to provide a record of your accomplishments across all XBox 360 titles. I'm pretty sure the score isn't really good for anything other than bragging rights, but it planted the seed of the player sheet in my head.
Really, if you and your friends wanted to, you could have player sheets that had impacts regardless of who among you was GMing or what system said GM was running. You might need to do some trial-and-error experimentation to find the sweet spot of making the sheets matter without having them either throw off game balance or restrict players from having powers and defining details that the GM would have handed over anyway were the sheets not a hurdle to that, but if successful, it could end up a gaming scrapbook with purpose in play.
As always, your comments are welcome.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tweaking Savage Worlds
In a previous post, I talked a little about my opinion of the Savage Worlds RPG, and as you may recall I'm not overly fond of it. Still, it has some good bits, and the other day I started thinking about what I might be able to do to bring the things I dislike more in line with my preferred mechanics.
One of the mechanics that rubs me the wrong way is the spell point system. In fact, most times that I run into a system that seems like ammunition, my knee-jerk response is, "Oh, so you're saying that I can have exactly this much fun before I suck at life." If a character wants to build a magic-user in an RPG, he should be able to be a magic user all day, every day. That's his schtick. He shouldn't have to turn it off halfway through a day or a fight.
So I began tinkering. I wanted to share the results. Mind you, the following system won't make sense married to the Weird Science arcane background, but for backgrounds like Magic or Miracles, I think it looks pretty good.
Arcane Power Fatigue
With this system, a character can easily cast 1 and 2 cost effects over and over again as long as he hasn't been wounded. As the cost of an effect rises, so does the risk. The game would need a few new edges that might add a +1 or +2 to the fatigue resistance rolls, and edges that currently reference power points would have to be stripped, but I think you get the idea. If you're experienced with Savage Worlds, I'd welcome your feedback since my experience is a bit limited. Feel free to nitpick if my SW jargon in the italicized rules text isn't accurate too.
One of the mechanics that rubs me the wrong way is the spell point system. In fact, most times that I run into a system that seems like ammunition, my knee-jerk response is, "Oh, so you're saying that I can have exactly this much fun before I suck at life." If a character wants to build a magic-user in an RPG, he should be able to be a magic user all day, every day. That's his schtick. He shouldn't have to turn it off halfway through a day or a fight.
So I began tinkering. I wanted to share the results. Mind you, the following system won't make sense married to the Weird Science arcane background, but for backgrounds like Magic or Miracles, I think it looks pretty good.
Arcane Power Fatigue
With this system, a character can easily cast 1 and 2 cost effects over and over again as long as he hasn't been wounded. As the cost of an effect rises, so does the risk. The game would need a few new edges that might add a +1 or +2 to the fatigue resistance rolls, and edges that currently reference power points would have to be stripped, but I think you get the idea. If you're experienced with Savage Worlds, I'd welcome your feedback since my experience is a bit limited. Feel free to nitpick if my SW jargon in the italicized rules text isn't accurate too.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Fear the Con 3: Reflections
First, apologies for failing to post last week. Between the launch of Final Fantasy XIII and the convention that weekend, I was thoroughly distracted from blogging. Here's to getting back on the wagon.
Fear the Con 3 was very enjoyable. Festivities started on Thursday evening with me knowing only two attendees, and ended (for me anyway) after some post-con tourism with visitors on Tuesday with a lot of fun behind me and a lot of new friendships.
I mentioned in my last post that I was signed up for all but one gaming slot at the convention, and that ended up getting me just about as much gaming as I wanted, but did so because one GM canceled and another no-showed at game time. Three slots of scheduled gaming ended up being enough for me, and gave me time to mill around, join pick-up board games, and watch a lot of play as well.
I definitely took home some good observations about RPGs for convention play. Con games are a very different animal compared to a one-shot game with close friends. If I end up running something at a future con, here are two of the factors I'll consider during prep.
Have events suggest a clear course of action - For one of the games in which I played, the GM gave our party a mission without providing clear direction on how to achieve our goal. We infiltrated a space station held by two factions while disguised as members of one of the factions. Our goal was to disrupt peace negotiations so that the two factions wouldn't trust one another, and would be easy for our true masters to subjugate. Unfortunately, we were given so much latitude in how to achieve our goal that we became paralyzed by indecision. When I prep for convention play, I'll make sure that a course of action is always suggested, so that if the players fail to be proactive, they don't flounder on account of that alone.
Be prepared for wacky play - At a convention, you'll often be roleplaying with people who you don't know very well. When people first meet, it's common for them to make small talk, and the RPG equivalent of small talk seems to be craziness. Expect players to play their characters in a one-dimensional fashion, blowing the smallest hints of personality into behavior-defining characteristics. If you're using a system that shares a lot of narrative control around the table, the story will likely take a turn for the comedic very quickly, and if you're playing an action packed game, don't be too surprised if the characters die in a blaze of glory. After all, the players have no long term investment in their characters since they won't see a second session.
I'm still turning over the events of the con in my mind to see if I can produce any more nuggets of wisdom. If I come to more conclusions, I'll make sure to post them.
Fear the Con 3 was very enjoyable. Festivities started on Thursday evening with me knowing only two attendees, and ended (for me anyway) after some post-con tourism with visitors on Tuesday with a lot of fun behind me and a lot of new friendships.
I mentioned in my last post that I was signed up for all but one gaming slot at the convention, and that ended up getting me just about as much gaming as I wanted, but did so because one GM canceled and another no-showed at game time. Three slots of scheduled gaming ended up being enough for me, and gave me time to mill around, join pick-up board games, and watch a lot of play as well.
I definitely took home some good observations about RPGs for convention play. Con games are a very different animal compared to a one-shot game with close friends. If I end up running something at a future con, here are two of the factors I'll consider during prep.
Have events suggest a clear course of action - For one of the games in which I played, the GM gave our party a mission without providing clear direction on how to achieve our goal. We infiltrated a space station held by two factions while disguised as members of one of the factions. Our goal was to disrupt peace negotiations so that the two factions wouldn't trust one another, and would be easy for our true masters to subjugate. Unfortunately, we were given so much latitude in how to achieve our goal that we became paralyzed by indecision. When I prep for convention play, I'll make sure that a course of action is always suggested, so that if the players fail to be proactive, they don't flounder on account of that alone.
Be prepared for wacky play - At a convention, you'll often be roleplaying with people who you don't know very well. When people first meet, it's common for them to make small talk, and the RPG equivalent of small talk seems to be craziness. Expect players to play their characters in a one-dimensional fashion, blowing the smallest hints of personality into behavior-defining characteristics. If you're using a system that shares a lot of narrative control around the table, the story will likely take a turn for the comedic very quickly, and if you're playing an action packed game, don't be too surprised if the characters die in a blaze of glory. After all, the players have no long term investment in their characters since they won't see a second session.
I'm still turning over the events of the con in my mind to see if I can produce any more nuggets of wisdom. If I come to more conclusions, I'll make sure to post them.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Going to my first RPG convention!
Late next week, I'll be attending my first ever RPG convention. Fear the Con takes place in St. Charles, MO, which is just a short half-hour drive from where I live, so I won't have to deal with any great expense to participate. Fear the Con is the official convention for the Fear the Boot gaming community, and I recommend the podcast and message board. They're full of friendly and polite folk who exhibit a strong sense of community.
I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the con. I think the closest thing to this that I've ever participated in is a Magic: the Gathering pre-release tournament, and I don't have the fondest memories of that experience. I almost slid my car off of the highway on an icy patch on the 2+ hour drive into Detroit from where I attended college. I played on little sleep since I was nervous about how I'd perform, and it seemed like all of the players were pretty cutthroat and business-minded in my matches. A friend who rode to the tournament with me performed pretty well, but beyond that I mostly remember just a string of losses.
Obviously, an RPG convention is a different animal. Our games are cooperative in nature so I don't need to worry about vicious play souring my day. I won't be running any events since I thought I'd find the newness of the experience stimulating enough without adding particular responsibilities on top of it. Also, I'm signed up for a number of RPGs that I've always wanted to try out as a player like Fantasy Craft and Spirit of the Century.
Still, I'm a bit nervous. I have introverted tendencies, and I'll be meeting a lot of new people. I've also filled all but one event slot in my schedule, so I'll be roleplaying for over 10 hours each day, which could get exhausting. Having a one-shot with relative strangers will be a new experience for me too, though I have played over Skype with a few community members who will be in attendance. Still, in a one-shot game, there's not a great deal of time to find my footing with my character, both mechanically and from a roleplaying standpoint.
Anyway, I'll try to make at least one post from the convention itself on Friday or Saturday. Furthermore, after the event is over I'm sure I'll have at least a few more posts in the near future in response to the event. If you've never been to an RPG convention before, I hope my reflections on my first time will be valuable to you. Also, if you've attended an RPG convention before and have any general advice for me, I'd love to read it in the comments section.
I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the con. I think the closest thing to this that I've ever participated in is a Magic: the Gathering pre-release tournament, and I don't have the fondest memories of that experience. I almost slid my car off of the highway on an icy patch on the 2+ hour drive into Detroit from where I attended college. I played on little sleep since I was nervous about how I'd perform, and it seemed like all of the players were pretty cutthroat and business-minded in my matches. A friend who rode to the tournament with me performed pretty well, but beyond that I mostly remember just a string of losses.
Obviously, an RPG convention is a different animal. Our games are cooperative in nature so I don't need to worry about vicious play souring my day. I won't be running any events since I thought I'd find the newness of the experience stimulating enough without adding particular responsibilities on top of it. Also, I'm signed up for a number of RPGs that I've always wanted to try out as a player like Fantasy Craft and Spirit of the Century.
Still, I'm a bit nervous. I have introverted tendencies, and I'll be meeting a lot of new people. I've also filled all but one event slot in my schedule, so I'll be roleplaying for over 10 hours each day, which could get exhausting. Having a one-shot with relative strangers will be a new experience for me too, though I have played over Skype with a few community members who will be in attendance. Still, in a one-shot game, there's not a great deal of time to find my footing with my character, both mechanically and from a roleplaying standpoint.
Anyway, I'll try to make at least one post from the convention itself on Friday or Saturday. Furthermore, after the event is over I'm sure I'll have at least a few more posts in the near future in response to the event. If you've never been to an RPG convention before, I hope my reflections on my first time will be valuable to you. Also, if you've attended an RPG convention before and have any general advice for me, I'd love to read it in the comments section.
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