Site Updates
You may have noticed some minor changes to the site in the last few days. Here’s a brief summary of the changes so far:
Categories to Tags. I’ve always been more of a fan of tagging article as opposed to putting them into specific categories.
Subscription Service. You can now sign up for a subscription, either through RSS or by e-mail delivery, both thanks to Feedburner.com
Social Bookmarking Shortcuts. At the bottom of each post you’ll find buttoms to allow you to quickly and easily submit the article to Stumble Upon, Digg, Del.Ico.Us, Slashdot and Technorati.
Recent Comments. I’ve added a recent comments section to the sidebar, which will display a link to the most recent comment from each of the five most recently commented on articles, as well as a link to the website of the most recent commentator from each category.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Personal Rules for Playing
The other day, I posted my personal rules for Narrating a game, so I thought today I’d share my rules for playing in a game.
Object Only Once. Everything deserves one objection. If a rule is applied incorrectly, or something impossible or unfair happened, it deserves pointing out. After doing so, and the Narrator has made a decision, it shouldn’t be brought up again until after the game, lest all play grind to a halt.
Make the In-Character/Out-of-Character Line Clear. By making it clear when I am speaking as a player as opposed to a character, a lot of misunderstandings are avoided. Making it clear when I am speaking In-Character encourages other players to respond as their characters as well, encouraging role playing. Often, simply adopting a speech pattern different from my own is enough to alert other players. In some situations, I have seen an additional signal used to signify Out-of-Character speech, such as raising a hand or visibly crossing the index and middle fingers.
Share the Story. Ideally, my character’s story should strengthen the stories of the other characters and be strengthened by their stories. While the weaving of stories together is the Narrators job, it’s best not to make that any more difficult by providing as few restricting details on the story as possible.
Clear New Characters with the Group. Whenever I roll up a new character, I make sure that the concept is acceptable to the rest of the group. While problems rarely do crop up at this point, it is often best to establish whether or not a Paladin may be acceptable in a party, or whether a Ranger would be a bad choice as the other players intend to focus on Urban Environments.
The Party Comes First. While I am generally loathe to sacrifice role playing or any aspect of the story simply for game’s sake, there are some situations where this is almost required. When playing a character who will do something which can affect the party in a significant and story altering, I try to find a time to clear it with each of the other players. The story is theirs as well, and if they feel that a particular action would derail the story or ruin their enjoyment of it, I talk to the Narrator about finding a solution to the problem.
Always Participate. I may find puzzles boring, and my character might even find them boring, but it is still important to pay attention to them and participate in them. The Narrator worked hard to design the adventure and puzzle, and not participating or engaging part of it is at best discouraging and at worst insulting. When caught in these situations where you feel impotent or bored as either a player or character, a good fail-safe is to participate by active observation and learning. Watch what the other players do, and you can learn both how to accomplish new things, and sometimes how to enjoy doing so.
Ask Questions. My most important rule. There will always be times when a rule is not fully understood, or something happens which I do not follow at the time. When this happens, ask questions immediately. It is better to pause the game so that an explanation can be provided than to temporarily withdraw from play because something wasn’t understood.
What are your rules for playing in a game?
Critique on Fire-and-Forget
The Fire-and-Forget Magic System, whereby casters memorize spells in order to cast them, losing the knowledge to cast them and thus the ability to cast the spell again, was first presented in Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series. Gary Gygax used Vance’s work for a number of sources in the early days of Dungeons and Dragons, but he decided to use a Vancian magic system for two reason:
- It’s easy to balance for game play.
- It has no resemblance to any real world mythology or occult belief system.
At the time, both reasons were very good. Dungeons and Dragons was almost always under scrutiny in the beginning, due to the various beliefs and legends of ties to devil worship or some other such nonsense.
Today, however, neither reason is necessary. Numerous games have demonstrated a number of ways to balance spell casting systems without resorting to a Vancian system, many by simply introducing mana or an equivalent stat. In addition, role-playing has become much more mainstream, and with information available many myths are dispelled. Some organizations, like The Escapist, exist solely to address these myths and educate the public.
It is, however, the second reason which disturbs me the most. I cannot think of a single Fantasy book which has used Vancian magic since Dying Earth, excluding the novels which are based off of RPGs. What am I supposed to model and emulate when presented this situation? The images and archetypes that I am constantly surrounded with are replaced by more constricting ones.
While it is true that in more recent editions of Dungeons and Dragons the Sorcerer has somewhat fixed this problem, though exclusively for arcane casters, if one does not go searching beyond the core books.
For me, this has always been a problem not just of game mechanics, but of disconnect from everything I’m familiar with outside of gaming, and I feel unable to bring a lot of that into the game with systems that use Vancian magic.
Personal Rules for Narrating
Today, I thought I’d share a few of my own personal rules for running a game.
The Story Isn’t Mine. It can be tempting to try to control or direct the course of a story, I make up only a small portion of those who participate in it. The story belongs to the players, too.
The Story Isn’t the Player’s. The story belongs to the characters who make it up, and the story should evolve from their actions and behaviors, not those of the party. This can be hard to balance, especially with the previous rule, but adhering to it helps keep the story from getting stale, predictable, or becoming a one-way railroad track.
When in Doubt, Ignore the Rules. I’m not sure where I first heard the term “rules gap” used to describe a hole in the rules, or a situation not covered, or even a situation which causes the rules to fall apart, but every system has them. Some systems, most often those which are setting specific, rarely see these situations come up. When this happens, don’t be afraid to throw the rules out the window for a house rule, or a temporary ruling. Make sure that the group is okay with this, as changing rules can be problematic.
Force Breaks During The Game. For my group, I’ve noticed that after three hours of solid gaming, a break is needed. Often they don’t realize this, or are excited and want to plow ahead. When this happens, I inform them I need a few minutes to check some rules, take some notes, or roll up an NPC. Taking a five minute break keeps everyone’s mind fresh, and allows another three hours of continuous gaming to take place.
It’s Over When The Player’s Say It’s Over. I will never force my character’s to retire their characters, nor simply kill them off so that they are forced to create a new character. Players put a lot of time, effort, and love into their characters, and I won’t take them away.
This isn’t to say I won’t temporarily remove a character from play if the story takes that character in a direction the rest of the party can’t or won’t follow.
Start and End With Crossroads. By ending every session in a position where players have several choices about what to do at the start of the next session, they are allowed to pursue their passions or moods of the moment. For bigger decisions, allowing players a week to think over their choices gives them time to make sure they aren’t deciding out of impulse.
What are your rules for running a game?
Building A Campaign Website
A common trend in modern gaming is the use of websites, dedicated entirely to a single campaign or campaign world, designed for use by a single group. This allows players to access information wherever they are, without necessitating a Narrator’s presence. Last year, I implemented such a website for my own campaign. Here are some of the things I learned:
Go Wiki. I first built the website using a standard Content Management System, and I regret it. Wiki systems allow players to edit the information themselves, while saving old versions in case information turns out to be incorrect. Wiki also allows for a Talk section, built right in and connected to each page, allowing for easy player discussion.
Make the players help. As the ones who will benefit the most from the website, players have a built in incentive to contribute. If they need more, promise your players that you will review their notes and help them by pointing out anything they missed - something players will almost always want.
Appearances are… very little. This site is for you, and your playing group. Very likely, this is a grand total of less than ten people. Unless you are a graphic designer or a web programmer, you’re better off using a pre-built theme, as long as the interface is usable, your players will be happy.
Provide an OOC Section. Your players ARE going to talk about the game Out-of-Character. Very likely, they will draw parallels to mythology from Earth’s own history, compare events to other games, movies, novels, and scenarios.
Link Outside the Site. If you have page dedicated the incarnation of Tiamat in your game, it may be a good idea to put a link on that page to the Wikipedia entry on Tiamat, or any other relevant online source you can find.
Have you picked up any tips, tricks, or advice for building and using a campaign website? Share them in comments.
Welcome New Readers!
I’d like to thank Yax over at Dungeon Mastering for the link today, and to welcome any new readers to the site.
I’d also like to thank both Yax from Dungeon Mastering and Martin from Treasure Tables for their advice on how to improve the site. You can already see some of the changes inspired by their advice, and more will continue to be implemented, some obvious, and some not so obvious.
Update: Thanks to StupidRanger for putting up a link to us on their website.
What’s Wrong With Conventions?
The first convention I went to was Shore-Leave, and I was instantly hooked on the idea of conventions, and starting going to every one that I could. Years later, I would get to attend GenCon, the glory of which was beyond words.
So why is it that now, I found myself leaving conventions with nothing but disappointment?
I recently attended the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Convention in Cherry Hill, mainly so that I could meet William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. The convention lasted three days, and my attendance package for the weekend was several times what I had paid at any other convention. Once inside, I found a small vendor area (taking up one hallway) and numerous rooms set aside for activities and events. I was excited.
My excitement would soon dwindle, however, when I found that though multiple rooms had been reserved across the three day period, only one event would take place at a time. Most of the events constituted three hour blocks of time where you could pay between $25-75 to get a photo taken with a Star Trek Celebrity, which you would then receive in the mail six weeks later.
No fan panels were provided, no game room, no con suite that I could find. When I asked convention volunteers, they said that people might have things going in the hotel room, but that was unsanctioned and unsupported by the convention. The convention, which I had paid so much to attend, was so boring that on the second day, rather than attend I drove half-way across New Jersey to visit Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.
I have seen other conventions become impossible to communicate with, their P.O. Boxes shut off for months at a time, while their e-mail servers are down and every bit of contact information on their website is incorrect, a dead end, or out-of-date.
I have been approached by convention organizers to run panels and sections, exchanged contact information with the organizers, only to be never contacted again, and find that their contact information is no longer valid.
Convention organizers need to remember that conventions exist for the fans, and without them, the conventions will fall apart. Some conventions, like GenCon, are still doing it right. The rest need to get their act together.
Technobabble in RPGs
A staple of writers, particularly those in the Science Fiction genre, has been the use of technobabble, the stringing together of words with the intention of conveying believability without getting into specifics.
Done well, this allows the audience to focus on enjoying the story, and not focus too much on the technological or scientific aspects of the story which are either impossible, too complicated to go into, or simply not understood. Done poorly, technobabble can become an incoherent string of jibberish which can destroy any story it is a part of.
The difference between the two is often that good technobabble makes sense, both in context of the story and in its internal references. This kind of technobabble is often very nonspecific, for instance: Many science fiction writers employ Faster Than Light travel, and many will describe the process by which it happens as “warping space” in a “higher dimension” bringing “two points in our space closer together.” This line of thinking is consistent with both itself and many types of String Theory and other physics models.
When dealing with technobabble, it can be helpful to remember that the phrase or words used can describe the end result of the technology, and not the process actually employed. For instance, “inertial compensators” most likely do not affect inertial forces directly, but instead they may introduce a counter forces such that the inertial forces are sufficiently balanced out.
Why does bad technobabble, which is little more than scientific sounding jargon, not work as well? No one can begin to understand the technobabble, or even what it is supposed to represent. In normal stories, this means that the audience is being fed, for at least a time, content which is absolutely meaningless. Additionally, in games, players can become dissociated and discouraged from attempting to solve problems based on an in-game model for how things operate.
Use it carefully because technobabble can make your game run more smoothly and more enjoyably.
‘Winning’ In RPGs Part 3 of 3
In Part 1, I outlined the definition of a “win moment” and what most games use as methods of securing a win moment. In Part 2, I outlined the pitfall of “win moments,” as well as several common behaviors which are looked down upon, often committed by people seeking win moments. Today, I conclude with how to produce win moments which encourage the desired style of play.
Wizards of the Coast released a supplement in July of 2005 called Weapons of Legacy, introducing the concept of Legacy Weapons and Legacy Items, magical items which grew in power as the play did. This provides an opportunity to give a player an immediate win moment in the acquisition of a unique magical item, and a series of win moments following as new powers and abilities were unlocked from the item and new ones were discovered, all while preventing unbalance from creeping into game play.
Everquest introduced a similar concept years before, items which simply had a level requirement to wield, or abilities with a similar requirement. This allowed players to experience two separate win moments, the initial when they acquired an item which was most likely considerably more powerful than what they currently had, and a second when they themselves became powerful enough to use it.
Far-reaching consequences also provide an opportunity to spread a series of win moments out for players. News often travels faster than adventurers do, and they may find rewards or recognition waiting for them for an event months prior, whether it was defeating a terrible enemy, saving a leader from assassination, or delivering a moving speech. Be careful not to employ this tactic too often, however, or it may encourage PCs to rest on their laurels.
Allowing players to tell stories of their own adventures is another way to provide additional opportunities for win moments. In my Oerth campaign, there is a tavern run by a master Dwarven Brewer who sells his drinks primarily to rich adventurers and dilettants. Being an avid enjoyer of stories, however, he will allow adventurers free drinks in exchange for regaling him with stories of their exploits. This not only encourages players to relive their previous adventures and win moments, but to re-create them in their telling, making themselves even more glorious in the eyes of their listeners.
It is important to provide a variety of ways for players to achieve win moments, so as to match their differing styles of play. One of my favorite ways to introduce logic and puzzles into the mix is by pitting the players against a Logic Golem, a creature which is sufficiently to kill or greatly weaken the party, but will always engage in a logical discussion if not locked in combat, and will accept a line of logic which it is unable to refute. This puts the party’s lives in the hands of the clever players who will engage in problem solving and logic, as well as those of the role players who need to engage NPCs.
Ideally, win moments should be repeatable, and ideally not affect the balance of game play anymore than the system calls for. How do you introduce individual win moments into your game? How do you introduce repeatable ones?
Why I Feel Betrayed
Thanks to Yax at DungeonMastering.com for the original alert.
In 1974, TSR released the initial set of Dungeons and Dragons. This original version featured four races and three classes, and was in many ways crippled if you were not a Chainmail player.
In 1979 the rules were revised, and ADnD was released in it’s first incarnation, and closely resembled the later released Second Edition ADnD, and contained play very similar to later d20 versions of the game.
In 1985, the boxed set was released. This contained rules which were in many ways different from that of previous editions, and while somewhat simpler, also covered a far greater range of rules, including play beyond Level 36, and Godhood/Immortality.
In 1989, Second Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was released. This game featured a set of rules which would see refinement and additions over the years, but remain largely unchanged until 1995 when a series of Players Options books were released, greatly increasing the capabilities and possibilities of the game.
In 2000, Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons was released. This game feature a completely new set of rules, and used the d20 system. In many ways the feel and style of play greatly mirrored that of previous editions, despite the new simplified and unified mechanics.
In 2003, 3.5 Edition Dungeons and Dragons was released. This game was largely an update and replacement for the previous edition, fixing many problems with the previous edition, but making no substantive change in the flow or style of play.
Now, just months before Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons will be released, featuring a slightly less linear approach to character advancement and simplified rule structure, it has been announced that a modification and collection of rules and content from the current edition, 3.5, is being released in a Rules Compendium.
In 1997, just two years after the Players Options books had been released, TSR did the smartest thing I think they did before they were bought by Wizards of the Coast: They released a Wizard’s Spell Compendium, available in four thick volumes, which contained EVERY Wizard spell from every edition of Dragon, Dungeon, and Polyhedron magazine, as well as all official TSR publications, modules, and releases. The spells were all updated slightly to be congruent with the modern editions, but most survived with few changes. Simultaneously, they released a four volume version for Priests. Both these editions were cross-referenced and index thoroughly. Around the same time, boxed sets were released with a card based version of these books, each card containing the complete information regarding a spell, all categorized by spell level and put into alphabetical order.
They made it easy for players of their game to get the collection they needed, and they did this at the height of the game. In releasing this product now, Wizards of the Coast has managed to do the opposite to its consumers, who still clamor for an official Spell Compendium to be released.
I feel betrayed because, supplements aside, this Rules Compendium is the book I’ve wanted since the game was released. Where are the other compendiums? And why is this one being released only months before it becomes obsolete?
I feel betrayed because when I want to run a game of 3.5, I don’t want to have to carry a bookcase with me to feel like I can run a relatively complete game.
