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Doc Hawkins posted:Using game-time to share the "fantastic story" of the NPC will necessarily do exactly that. The story of an NPC is the Tale Of How [NAME] Interacted with The Protagonists. They can have pasts, and tell anecdotes and whatever, but to give them complex free-standing motivations is to lessen the centrality of the inherently important characters. That's pretty much exactly what I was getting at. The people I play with would prefer the NPCs/DMPCs got enough of the spotlight to be "Dave the bowyer with the dead daughter and the limp he got trying to fight off her attackers, who will eventually take his revenge if he gets to the BBEG's castle" instead of "Dave who has half move and shoots a bow". If it becomes the story of "get Dave to the castle so he can take his revenge", then it's not me who did that, it's the players deciding that's why they're going to kill the BBEG instead of a different adventure hook. If that's the case, then Dave eventually gets wounded/captured/killed so the PCs can take the spotlight. If not, then they might ask him along since he's going that way anyway. Dave is not the main character, but if the PCs decide he's a Major Plot Person then he is, and if not then they have to rescue the pricess / retrieve the macguffin / avenge PC 2's family grudge / whateverthefuck gets them to the BBEG instead of Dave's sob story. Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 11:44 on Oct 11, 2011 |
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Oct 11, 2011 11:41
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I'd like some advice on a Shadowfell adventure for my players (just in time for halloween). Basically the scenario is this: They stumbled through an eldritch fog into the Shadowfell version of the world in which they play (I'm using a customized version of Phillip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers). Anyway, I tried to set the initial mood by having the NPCs they were traveling with become extremely depressed and hopeless and wandering off on their own, weeping. Now, the players have to get back home. Any advice on adventure hooks, setting the mood, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
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Oct 11, 2011 15:09
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Death Hamster posted:Now, the players have to get back home. Any advice on adventure hooks, setting the mood, etc. would be greatly appreciated. The Shadowfell is made up in part of places which have done too much wrong to exist in the normal world anymore. Their only hope for getting back is to find one of them and root out the tendrils of corruption that keep it in this dark mirror of reality.
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Oct 11, 2011 16:13
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Death Hamster posted:Now, the players have to get back home. Any advice on adventure hooks, setting the mood, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Does the world they typically play in have any really recognizable landmarks/cities/buildings that the PCs are intimately familiar with? If I'm using the Shadowfell, or something similar, I generally explain things like haunted houses as buildings that exist in both planes--regardless of whether or not the inhabitants of either are aware of the connection. It accomplishes the double task of (1) making the familiar seem otherwordly for the PCs, and (2) infusing locations that would otherwise be generic or not plot-relevant with sudden critical importance to the story. It also means that when the PCs finally get back to the regular world, those once-innocent locations will now seem ominous and foreboding. In your case, I imagine it would be easy enough to nudge the PCs towards finding some piece of geography equivalent to wherever they came from, or with a connection to it. The secret to opening the door could be some previous, seemingly-innocuous element of the description of that location in the normal world.
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Oct 11, 2011 17:48
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I haven't DM'd in 6 years or so, and I'm feeling rusty. After my last GM vanished without a trace (literally, we have no way of contacting him and he just simply stopped coming to sessions) I've been voted new DM of new game. I've thrown some stuff together that I think will make for a fun game. Question though... do you guys think it'd be okay to railroad the players once? That is to say, set them on the initial road, and then open things up? To clarify, since this is suddenly put on me, I've only sketched out the world, and I've detailed a particular part that I want adventures to take place in. It's a frontier area, beyond a very dangerous wilderness. I could either start the players in the frontier, and if they want to head back to civilisation make them go through the wilderness (giving me real time to prepare what civilisation is like) or, I could start them out in civilisation, and railroad them into crossing the wilderness (which I think would make for fun encounters, and gives me more time to prepare more open world stuff as well as develop the plots more). I'm leaning towards the 2nd option for the reasons mentioned, but I'm somewhat distressed at the idea of railroading at all. Any advice? Also, Second question: I'm DMing 4e for the first time. According to the encounter builder I'm using (masterplan), I can sic two lvl3 elites plus a skill challenge on a first level party and have it be a "Hard" encounter. Specifically, my plan is two wyrmling dragons (grey and brown) plus an adult red that exists not as a combat opponent, but a skill challenge (the red isn't really focused on killing them, but destroying the boat they're on). Is this a TPK? I want to start things out with a bang and terrify the players of ever going through that part of the wilderness again if possible, as well as set up some potential plot hooks, but I don't want an impossible encounter. Iunnrais fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Oct 11, 2011 |
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Oct 11, 2011 18:36
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Mojo Jojo posted:The setting is deliberately vague and subtle so that DMs can do what they like the world (although, the more rulebooks you buy, the less this implicit setting become ague suggestions). I will probably run with this then, thanks.
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Oct 11, 2011 18:38
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Astfgl posted:Does the world they typically play in have any really recognizable landmarks/cities/buildings that the PCs are intimately familiar with? If I'm using the Shadowfell, or something similar, I generally explain things like haunted houses as buildings that exist in both planes--regardless of whether or not the inhabitants of either are aware of the connection. It accomplishes the double task of (1) making the familiar seem otherwordly for the PCs, and (2) infusing locations that would otherwise be generic or not plot-relevant with sudden critical importance to the story. It also means that when the PCs finally get back to the regular world, those once-innocent locations will now seem ominous and foreboding. Interesting. I actually started out my campaign with them killing off an orcus cult. Maybe they can reap the consequences of that action now. I also could have them go back to the shadowfell version of their home city, full of insane paranoid people. I wonder if there could be dark reflections of real-world people in the shadowfell?
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Oct 11, 2011 18:48
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Iunnrais posted:Question though... do you guys think it'd be okay to railroad the players once? That is to say, set them on the initial road, and then open things up? No. Do not do this. quote:To clarify, since this is suddenly put on me, I've only sketched out the world, and I've detailed a particular part that I want adventures to take place in. It's a frontier area, beyond a very dangerous wilderness. I could either start the players in the frontier, and if they want to head back to civilisation make them go through the wilderness (giving me real time to prepare what civilisation is like) or, I could start them out in civilisation, and railroad them into crossing the wilderness (which I think would make for fun encounters, and gives me more time to prepare more open world stuff as well as develop the plots more). This is what you should tell the players. See if they get excited by the idea of exploring a wild frontier from a base of operations, or of crossing one in an epic trek toward safety. Tell them up-front you don't know what civilization is like, and that either way you'll need more time to prepare it so the game won't start in the setting equivalent of Waterdeep. Now everyone is on the same page. The players know what to expect from the game and will make characters they'll enjoy in that context, and you won't commit a mortal sin of GMing.
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Oct 11, 2011 19:07
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D&D 4E: My players are in Mithrendain, the fancy-pants magic city. They're looking for a special sword, and they know that the sword is in the posession of the local mob (this is the Eladrin underworld, so it's all very fancy regardless) inside his casino. The previous sword owner lost it playing cards. So my player decide that they're going to pull a heist, and possibly kill the mob boss and somehow appoint their goblin ally as the mob leader for fun and profit. Normally I'm pretty decent at implementing the stuff they come up with but this one is well out of my experience. Any ideas? Party is an Eladrin Enchantress (currently wanted by Mithrendain Authorities, although they don't know she's in town) and the others are fairly out of place - Githyanki Swordmage, Half-elf Warlock who channels the power of the Jabberwock, and a Dragonborn Ardent. Edit:Also occasionally the aforementioned Goblin (Splug, from the Keep on the Shadowfell module, although he's now a permanent employee and wears a goblin-sized tuxedo while running their market caravan in a dodgy way), Dalia the half-elf shopkeeper who is the face for the caravan, and Gark the Orc who is the stall's guard and likes to intimidate the customers into making purchases. Also Naer, the Eladrin procurer. All NPCs, just around as extras on occasion. The party likes to pick up strays.
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Oct 12, 2011 01:10
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I suppose this is about as catch-all of a thread as any, so has anyone taken a look at The One Ring from Cubicle 7? I picked up a copy and it seems pretty nice to me, nice enough that I'm considering running the starter adventure on here to see how it goes. I'd like to get some opinions from more experienced eyes that might have looked it over, though, to see if there are some horrible ideas in it that I'm just overlooking.
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Oct 12, 2011 03:33
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Kestral posted:This is what you should tell the players. See if they get excited by the idea of exploring a wild frontier from a base of operations, or of crossing one in an epic trek toward safety. Tell them up-front you don't know what civilization is like, and that either way you'll need more time to prepare it so the game won't start in the setting equivalent of Waterdeep. To sort of pick up on this idea, if it's necessary to start them out in a frontier area, ask *them* to tell *you* how their character ended up there. That makes things more collaborative right off the bat and they may invent some backstories that you can use to help create the rest of your setting and/or use as part of the campaign down the road.
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Oct 12, 2011 03:51
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UnintelligibleSmurf posted:D&D 4E: My players are in Mithrendain, the fancy-pants magic city. They're looking for a special sword, and they know that the sword is in the posession of the local mob (this is the Eladrin underworld, so it's all very fancy regardless) inside his casino. The previous sword owner lost it playing cards. Maybe handle it like a heist movie - make up four or five separate obstacles (security spells, tough bouncers, finding the specific sword, etc.) and then let the party do sort of an Ocean's Four (or maybe bring in specialist NPCs with a grudge against this casino boss) thing? Let the PCs come up with a mega elaborate plan, and then you play off it? The part about installing the goblin as the new mob boss sounds kind of dumb and impossible to me, but maybe if they focused on gathering some really good blackmail material they could pull it off.
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Oct 12, 2011 04:45
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Iunnrais posted:Also, Second question: I'm DMing 4e for the first time. According to the encounter builder I'm using (masterplan), I can sic two lvl3 elites plus a skill challenge on a first level party and have it be a "Hard" encounter. Specifically, my plan is two wyrmling dragons (grey and brown) plus an adult red that exists not as a combat opponent, but a skill challenge (the red isn't really focused on killing them, but destroying the boat they're on). Be careful. It isn't you that might be the problem, but 4e relies pretty heavily on teamwork. If they've gotten the idea down - defender keeps em busy, controller holds em back, strikers kill em dead, leaders buff everyone, they'll probably be okay. If not you can tumble down TPKville pretty easily. Also if you don't have a balanced party (one of every role) targeting the weakness can be pretty brutal. You can end up with a TPK without meaning to say by throwing a bunch of skirmishers at a party without defenders/controllers, or Brutes at a party without Strikers. Been there, done that. Be careful of adding too many Brutes or Soldiers, especially MM1 soldiers. It'll make the game drag like all the 4e haters like to complain. And if you haven't, a DDI subscription is the best thing a 4e GM could possibly buy, if only for the compendium.
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Oct 12, 2011 05:44
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Darksaber posted:I suppose this is about as catch-all of a thread as any, so has anyone taken a look at The One Ring from Cubicle 7? I picked up a copy and it seems pretty nice to me, nice enough that I'm considering running the starter adventure on here to see how it goes. I'd like to get some opinions from more experienced eyes that might have looked it over, though, to see if there are some horrible ideas in it that I'm just overlooking. Now although my comments were mainly negative, pay attention to what I said in my last post there - I have big problems with two things in the game, neither of which are necessarily gameplay issues. They are issues with how the book is written, more or less, which affects the way the game is played but does not determine it. So while they are big issues for me, I can certainly see how there would be many people who really aren't fussed about those things, and for those people there's a lot of good material in the game.
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Oct 12, 2011 05:58
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A question for all you DMs, my DM got all his books stolen the other week and he's obviously fairly bummed out about the whole thing and I'm secretly putting a collection together to replace them. What books should we get him? I know I can, but I want to steer away from the Essentials line if possible as we're trying to replace the old books. Would the following suffice: - Dungeon Master's Guide 2 - Monster Manual 3 - Adventurer's Vault 2 - Forgotten Realm's Campaign Guide Does that get him set back up fairly well?
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Oct 12, 2011 13:48
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I'd recommend Rules Compendium and Monster Vault as well. Technically Essentials I suppose but RC is a fantastic resource and MV just has so many well-designed and basic monsters.
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Oct 12, 2011 14:06
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I bought Rules Compendium a while ago and it's a fantastic resource to have on the table. It always gets whipped out by someone at least once a game.
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Oct 12, 2011 14:19
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UnintelligibleSmurf posted:D&D 4E: My players are in Mithrendain, the fancy-pants magic city. They're looking for a special sword, and they know that the sword is in the posession of the local mob (this is the Eladrin underworld, so it's all very fancy regardless) inside his casino. The previous sword owner lost it playing cards. Does the casino/mob boss have any other enemies? It's common in heist movies for the protagonists to meet up with someone on the inside who's been laying the groundwork for such an event. The best part is that once the PCs have digested the plan and have started to rely on this person, you can kill him off and leave the PCs in a tense situation with no way out but completing the job.
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Oct 12, 2011 14:48
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Jimbozig posted:I haven't played it, but I posted my (mainly negative) impressions in the Indie Games thread. Starts here and I make a couple more posts just afterwards. Thanks a bunch for that review! I'm not that much of an indie-gamer, so I didn't pick up on all the cribs from Mouse Guard, but I did have a bit of a 'wow that's a lot of numbers' moment when I saw the character sheet. I'll have to read it a bit more and let it all sink in, but it definitely did feel very true to the source.
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Oct 12, 2011 14:55
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So my players are currently in the midst of a huge fight with an enormous boss Black Dragon (complete with "phase shift" abilities a la Metroid Prime fights). Afterwards I've got a planned Dragonborn Cult idea ready for them. My idea AFTER that was, of course with them being completely loving dead and probably having used a few of their dailies/encounters (they won't have any time to recover, so not even their encounters are back), they have to choose to either fight a Swamp Troll or, the safer/smarter/planned option, run away with skill checks like Athletics to push a log across some quicksand, acrobatics to climb a cliffside, Nature to figure out where the troll tends to hunt, etc. I'm just trying to think of ways to do it that won't leave someone in the dust, or won't completely screw the entire team if one guy has to be compensated for (Maybe acrobatics to climb, then throw down a ropeladder so they can just climb up with a much easier DC, or Perception to hear the Troll getting closer and set up a quick trap). EDIT: To clarify. "Dead" in the sense that they just busted their asses. Not literally "Reroll" dead. "I just worked a double shift, helped my friend move, and then dragged a $160 grocery order up 3 flights of stairs" dead. Classtoise fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Oct 13, 2011 |
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Oct 13, 2011 04:38
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Hm. Here's my new thought. I'm still kinda set on the wilderness encounter thing, so instead of starting them either in the frontier town OR in the civilization, I'll start them in the middle. A small adjustment to the map, and there's now a midway-post sort of fortified inn in the middle of the road towards the frontier. I can have the players tell me how they got THERE, and then heading either towards the frontier OR heading back to civilization will give me the nice buffer time to prepare more for wherever they go. Heck, they could run off towards the mountains that I've suggested is impassible if they want, and that could be fun too! As far as the dragon attack goes, I think the safety valve will be that the dragons don't want to kill the players, they want to take the stuff belonging to the riverboat caravans. The players can always survive by jumping ship and running away, as they'll have no real vested interest in staying beyond maintaining a mode of transport.
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Oct 14, 2011 02:45
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So I finally got my group to come back to D&D and I'm running a 4e essentials campaign for them. I have my world down and everything, but there's an area I put in that is essentially supposed to negate arcane or divine magic just due to the history of the place. But thinking it through now, I feel like this may end up being just an annoyance to the one or two spellcasters in my group while everyone else just kind of goes along normally. So I'm thinking of modifying this in some way so that everyone has some kind of debuff or just removing it altogether Anyone ever use something like this in their campaign? Any thoughts?
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Oct 17, 2011 17:58
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Your instincts are right, it'd be pretty bullshit that a subset of your players are effectively useless (can't do the thing they're good at) just because. Would you create a region where physical confrontation was completely ineffective, and only magical effects would work? That said, it can be done. The important thing is player buy-in, telling them ahead of time and making sure it's something they think is cool and can play off of. It'll provide roleplaying opportunities and can shuffle party dynamics a little. However, there's much less reason to do it in 4E now there isn't as much of a caster supremacy. You may be better off saying "no dailies" or "no healing surges" depending on if you can balance it, but even that is iffy. A better strategy might be a region filled with chaotic patches of anti-magic fields and Shield spells. It'll be terrain obstacles that encourage players to push enemies around where they can hit them, without explicitly targeting a particular group of them. The players will need to work together to get a baddie out of the area that gives him a bonus to AC (using a power that targets reflex) to a place where he can be damaged by a physical attack (because that same region protects him from magic).
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Oct 17, 2011 18:22
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DarkHorse posted:A better strategy might be a region filled with chaotic patches of anti-magic fields and Shield spells. It'll be terrain obstacles that encourage players to push enemies around where they can hit them, without explicitly targeting a particular group of them. The players will need to work together to get a baddie out of the area that gives him a bonus to AC (using a power that targets reflex) to a place where he can be damaged by a physical attack (because that same region protects him from magic). This is a really elegant solution, I think. I've been in a campaign where magic ended up restricted in some areas, if it's a really common place or situation, tell players ahead of time so they can adjust a bit. But I think Dark Horse's idea is pretty solid, unless there is a reason the magic needs to be negated everywhere.
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Oct 17, 2011 18:55
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Not sure if this will fit exactly, but check out how Eberron handles the Mournland in 4e - mist hazards that can put you on a Mournland Affliction disease track if you don't avoid them. Then just start hitting their healing surges. Final stages of the disease could be as extreme as costing healing surges to pop off dailies. Make it so you have to be outside of the zone to reverse the disease, then put a shiny mcguffin in the middle. I'd just be very up front with your players before starting to gently caress with their surge resource mechanics.
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Oct 17, 2011 19:04
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DarkHorses' solution definitely works, and it fits nicely with the part of the world where this occurs (mainly a desert that has shards of an ancient prism scattered throughout it). I also overlooked messing with their healing surges in some fashion and will incorporate some of that too, thanks!
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Oct 17, 2011 20:52
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I'm sure this has been addressed in thread, but nearly 50 pages is daunting so I'll bother y'all. I'm gonna start PbP DMing for a group of my friends for the first time ever, and I'm interested in gathering some maps and stuff for this endeavor. Does anyone have a good resource for that/recommendations for easy editing? Is it mostly just photoshopping tokens onto the map or is there an easier way? I think I can handle everything else through Orkos and stuff (we'll be starting with a Gamma World campaign) but this is the only thing I am a little hazy on.
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Oct 28, 2011 09:19
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Quidnose posted:I'm sure this has been addressed in thread, but nearly 50 pages is daunting so I'll bother y'all. Use MapTool and move tokens around on that and take screenshots?
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Nov 2, 2011 03:59
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Quidnose posted:I'm sure this has been addressed in thread, but nearly 50 pages is daunting so I'll bother y'all. Yep, you just keep tokens on a separate layer to the "map". Generally, I just knock up my own maps these days in Inkscape (because it can be a pain to track down pretty ones that suit a given encounter and I'm really no artist). It's kind of stripped down, but my players said it reminded them of scribblings on a whiteboard, so I suppose that's good?
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Nov 2, 2011 10:41
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homullus posted:Use MapTool and move tokens around on that and take screenshots? Was actually coming here to ask a question about MapTools. I'm trying to find tiles etc. to download, and whilst there are some here and there is there a massive resource hidden away somewhere that I can't find? Ideally just a massive download that contains tons of background tiles and objects.
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Nov 2, 2011 11:45
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Captain_Indigo posted:Was actually coming here to ask a question about MapTools. I'm trying to find tiles etc. to download, and whilst there are some here and there is there a massive resource hidden away somewhere that I can't find? Ideally just a massive download that contains tons of background tiles and objects. PyMapper is really good.
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Nov 2, 2011 14:40
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Yes. http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/?page_id=23 The "Two Big Starters" are nice. I found the monster tokens kind of limiting (a lot of them are top-down views where I prefer portraits) but in terms of objects, tiles, etc they're very good. Monsters are usually easy to find anyway with google image search.
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Nov 2, 2011 14:43
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So, I've had my 2nd session DMing this week, and I'm beginning to notice a problem. I've been unable to motivate my players with anything but fear. Heck, this last session I dangled a magical item that one the players has been EXPRESSLY REQUESTING and REALLY WANTED in front of them, guarded by KOBOLDS, and their solution was to run away. Luckily for me as DM, they were spotted by the kobolds who I decided would give chase, get murdered, and give up the item that way... but it felt almost like railroading. Okay, okay, if I'm honest with myself, it WAS railroading (at least of the "all roads lead to rome" sort). I don't want to railroad. I justified it this time with "they're going to get phat l00t whether they like it or not!" but in retrospect, that's stupid. I don't want to railroad again! But I'm really nervous about the next upcoming session, when the players will suddenly lack ANY survival motivators and will have to pick a plot hook to seek out. Specifically, I'm nervous that they won't choose ANY plot hook, and that I'll have to motivate them again... which will train them that they must always react, when I want them to act! I suspect the problem is partially that I started the game off with a bang-- basically sic'd a boss battle on 'em first thing. They started the fight off on the wrong foot and messed up their tactics, and they decided to cut their losses and run. They've been running ever since, even when not needed. Any suggestions? For reference... Available plot hooks will be: (1) Kidnapped children, (2) News that the wilderness path north has been scrambled by magic, (3) Conflicts in town between farmers and merchants, (4) A batty old wizard attempting to figure out how to become a god, (5) Local organized crime-- one of the players' backstory included killing off an entire city's crime bosses, so something could come of that here.
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Nov 2, 2011 21:41
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Sometimes players seem to just not want to play. No matter what hooks you dangle in front of them or opportunities you give them they don't do anything, which just raises the question "why did you create a coward to play in a game of adventure". Although as a GM what you CAN do is explain during character generation that this game will require brave heroes, so they make characters with that sort of thing in mind. Of course if you're playing a spooky investigative game where charging into adventure and jumping at every opportunity for combat and adventure will get them killed, explain that to them before hand. But some players are just jerks. They think they are clever for throwing a monkey wrench into the game. If they detect at all what the GM is hoping for or planned for, they will do the opposite. Dangle treasure and easy combat in front of them and they'll come up with an excuse not to fight. NPC gives them a quest and they'll find a reason to ignore them. They love to prove they are "smarter" than the GM by ruining the game. These people are annoying and should be avoided. In your game it does sound like they just need to be spoon-fed some easy encounters to get their confidence up though. Or maybe they like the idea of a more gritty realistic horror game where combat is best avoided? Sometimes it's good to just talk honestly with your players about their expectations, what they find fun, and what you have in mind for the game.
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Nov 2, 2011 21:50
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Sometimes players have their ideas and expectations molded by previous experiences. Talk to them. Ask them why they were afraid to fight the tiny dog men for a juicy reward. One of them might have participated in a hyper-lethal campaign. Another might not understand that combat heavily favors the PCs at lower levels. Talk to them, and you can get a mutually agreeable game.
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Nov 2, 2011 23:32
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:Sometimes players have their ideas and expectations molded by previous experiences. Yeah, definitely, some might also have difficulty with the easy killing assumed in these games, on the basis that 'people don't just go around killing as the first solution'. However, remember, railroads are not universally bad. They have been terribly misused by many DMs(especially the 'let me tel you a story' variety), but serve an effective role in delivering content to the players. A completely rail-less campaign assumes that the players would be self motivated, and that as GM you can provide sufficient interesting world detail for them to act on. All roads lead to Rome is one of the better ways to guide PCs really. The illusion of choice is easier to produce than genuine choice, and while it might seem bad at first glance, all of it only exists in your head until the players reach it. So, it might help to raise the rails a little more while they get used to the idea of the game, and gradually lower and let them exercise more choice.
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Nov 3, 2011 03:51
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I think "campaign restrictions" and "ideas for cool stuff to have happen" and are both qualitatively different from "railroads" as the term is commonly used.
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Nov 3, 2011 04:40
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Megaman's Jockstrap posted:Sometimes players have their ideas and expectations molded by previous experiences. This. This, a thousand times over. Illusionism is not the solution. You want to find out what motivates your players and then hook into that.
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Nov 3, 2011 17:01
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A recent game brought to mind some advice I've always thought every GM should know, and I figured I'd share. The Amber Diceless RPG is based off of the Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny, and there's a bit in the GMing section using Zelazny's writing as an example for GMs - specifically, his fight scenes. See, there's a fight in the first book of the Chronicles between the main character, Corwin, and his hated brother Eric. It's an Important Fight, the culmination of virtually all of the first book's thrust and plot, and it's treated accordingly - it takes up several pages, with richly detailed prose and technical details (Zelazny was a fencer and martial arts enthusiast). Compare and contrast this with the first fight in the book, where an amnesiac Corwin is trying to leave a hospital and an orderly is trying to keep him there. From memory, the fight's description, in full, is this: quote:It was a very low blow, about four inches below the belt, I'd say, and it left him gasping. It's not an Important Fight, and is treated accordingly; the fight serves one purpose. Namely, to illustrate that A) Corwin is tough and B) Corwin is willing to fight dirty. The details aren't the point; they're not important. So they get waved away. How does this apply to Gamemastering? Simple. If it's not Important, don't spend time on it. Let's consider an example. A fairly experienced PC is wandering through a downtrodden city and is accosted by a mugger. The mugger is scrawny and emaciated; he's one of many poor folk who've turned to thievery in these tough times. Now, the mugger poses no real threat to the PC. He's outclassed in every way. He exists, not to provide a challenge, but to illustrate a facet of the setting. So the mugger attacks, and the PC beats the poo poo out of him. Now, the inexperienced GM will break out the dice and the charts and whatnot. This is kinda dumb. The better GM will shrug and say "Okay, you beat the poo poo out of the mugger and leave him lying in a pool of his own blood, spitting out teeth. Now what?" It's not Important. Don't spend time on it. ...now, this seems like pretty basic advice, and probably not worth the Effort Post, but there's a corollary that needs to be explored - the converse of the above principle, as it were. Namely, If the PCs want to spend time on it, that makes it Important. This is the part that even good GMs forget from time to time. Let's look at that same example again. If, instead of attacking the mugger, the PC decides to disarm the mugger and then buy him a hot meal and listen to his troubles and offer him a job... should that be skipped over as readily as the fight would have been? After all, the mugger is still a background detail. He's served his purpose, in the GM's eyes, he's illustrated the point he was meant to illustrate. Shouldn't he be quietly shuffled off the stage? The answer, of course, is no. The player, by taking an interest in the mugger - by devoting his own time and interest in the NPC - has made him Important. Something inspired the player to engage with the narrative that the GM has created; whatever it is, the player is interested enough to spend some time on it. That makes it Important. This is the bit that even good GMs can forget - and that's what leads to railroading. If you're planning on a daring tale of personal heroics but your players are more interested in politicking and alliance-building... give them their head. Let them decide what is Important - what kind of story they want to participate in. By giving up that bit of control and giving the players some room to decide what's Important, you'll have to work a little harder to adjust your story to their expectations - but your game will be better for it, generally.
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Nov 5, 2011 07:25
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| # ? May 9, 2024 00:35 |
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I don't disagree with any of that, but a large part of the problem is not communicating before the campaign starts. Why run a heroic fantasy game for players who want to build a trade empire? Or a fantasy-noir game for people who prefer dungeon bashing? You're unlikely to make everyone happy all at once, so some kind of compromise will probably be necessary, but that shouldn't present huge problems if everyone just talks about what they want before the GM sits down and starts planning stuff out.
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Nov 9, 2011 15:27
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