So I noticed that it's been a week since I last posted to this blog. I'd been having some writer's block about what subject to discuss next, but with the passage of time it finally hit me: Let's discuss time itself.
In my game on www.rdfrpg.com, the time progression has been very slow. Over the course of about a year of gaming, the time line has only progressed about a year and a half. Many times in a ROBOTECH RPG, the game can stretch over several years in just a few session's time. This is not necessarily the standard, but seems to be a common practice among many GMs. Time progression is dependent on the style of game one is running, as well as the gaming system itself.
If there is a lot of character development interspersed among conflict or other events, often a GM would be well advised to have the time pass slowly; months of gaming may produce only a few short weeks of progression. Conversely, if there are lots of chunks of time between events in one's games, progressing by years at a time could be the key to smoothly transitioning from one section of the campaign to another. Time can be as viscous as corn syrup or loose and fast as a river, and it's entirely up to the GM how to use it.
As another example from the game I currently run, consider this: three of us have been playing the same character for almost a decade. From time to time they are set aside, or reworked as we mature, but the core being of that character is still there. While for a time the game progressed by nearly 15 years, we have returned to our roots, and begun a reworking of our old histories. This very involved process requires lots of character exposition interspersed with intense giant-robot action. So far, we've progressed only about a year, and most of that time was due to some of the characters needing time to recover and rehabilitate after a devastating loss and injury.
Normally in a game such as this, I'd already be into the third or even fourth year of the story line, but that's just how I do it. How will you handle time?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
/b/ Talk
No discussion about tabletop role-playing is complete without at least mentioning dice. The polyhedral objects used so frequently to determine success and failure alike are really quite simple. Any geometric shape with an even number of sides can be considered for die-hood.
The game store aficionado knows all too well the huge range of dice that are available, from four sided dice all the way to 100 sides and even beyond. The little blighters come in sizes varying from 2 millimeters across to the size of a good summer watermelon. Dice can be made from nearly any material and often are; just in the small gaming shop in Huntington, W.Va. I can find over one hundred colors in at least thirty materials. In some gaming centers (such as Dragon's Lair in Austin, Texas) there are entire counters devoted to dice and their containers. Many of these extreme sizes, shapes, or colors are gimmicks and collectibles, but they're so popular they're worth mentioning.
Why do so many games use dice? Think about that, for a moment. You have to come up with numbers for the spaces to move on a board, or the damage done by a weapon... do you let the player decide? How do you know what is what, without some chance involved? A die is nothing more than a percentage generator, and you can know what to expect out of it by knowing what its average roll will be. Assuming the dice are fair, it's a completely honest way of determining how far to move across the game board, or wether or not you succeeded in attacking your enemy.
Any die or dice that a player rolls will turn up the median score +1 for roughly 17% of the rolls. That is its average. As an example, let's say you roll two six-sided dice: 17% of the time, you should roll a score of seven. This is twice as likely to happen as rolling a four or a ten, and four times as likely as rolling a two or an eleven. Using these same standard deviations, you can calculate the percentages for any die or combination thereof that you would roll.
From a GM's standpoint, dice are important but still secondary to the story. All players with any experience can recall at least one time where they feel the GM cheated them out of a victory for one reason or another; most often that was for the good of the story. How can the players stop an apocalypse brought on by the evil cleric if they kill the villain months before he can research the spells from the book he just stole? Often, a GM will have to fudge things in the direction needed, which brings up the need to be good at solving disputes as well as writing adventures.
Nearly every game comes with some form of rolling table for determining everything from random encounters on the road to what odor a person has. A GM will spend more time rolling on these tables, or on tables which help determine the effects of particular actions than anything short of combat encounters. The dice can determine nearly everything, if you let them. All of this information needs to be recorded or memorized, which goes back to organizing the game.
The game store aficionado knows all too well the huge range of dice that are available, from four sided dice all the way to 100 sides and even beyond. The little blighters come in sizes varying from 2 millimeters across to the size of a good summer watermelon. Dice can be made from nearly any material and often are; just in the small gaming shop in Huntington, W.Va. I can find over one hundred colors in at least thirty materials. In some gaming centers (such as Dragon's Lair in Austin, Texas) there are entire counters devoted to dice and their containers. Many of these extreme sizes, shapes, or colors are gimmicks and collectibles, but they're so popular they're worth mentioning.
Why do so many games use dice? Think about that, for a moment. You have to come up with numbers for the spaces to move on a board, or the damage done by a weapon... do you let the player decide? How do you know what is what, without some chance involved? A die is nothing more than a percentage generator, and you can know what to expect out of it by knowing what its average roll will be. Assuming the dice are fair, it's a completely honest way of determining how far to move across the game board, or wether or not you succeeded in attacking your enemy.
Any die or dice that a player rolls will turn up the median score +1 for roughly 17% of the rolls. That is its average. As an example, let's say you roll two six-sided dice: 17% of the time, you should roll a score of seven. This is twice as likely to happen as rolling a four or a ten, and four times as likely as rolling a two or an eleven. Using these same standard deviations, you can calculate the percentages for any die or combination thereof that you would roll.
From a GM's standpoint, dice are important but still secondary to the story. All players with any experience can recall at least one time where they feel the GM cheated them out of a victory for one reason or another; most often that was for the good of the story. How can the players stop an apocalypse brought on by the evil cleric if they kill the villain months before he can research the spells from the book he just stole? Often, a GM will have to fudge things in the direction needed, which brings up the need to be good at solving disputes as well as writing adventures.
Nearly every game comes with some form of rolling table for determining everything from random encounters on the road to what odor a person has. A GM will spend more time rolling on these tables, or on tables which help determine the effects of particular actions than anything short of combat encounters. The dice can determine nearly everything, if you let them. All of this information needs to be recorded or memorized, which goes back to organizing the game.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Set the Table With the Good China!
Alright, you as the Game Master/Dungeon Master/Story Teller/God in miniature have selected your game, arranged a playing schedule and gotten everyone started on character sheets. Hopefully by the time your first session rolls around you have had time to create your campaign.
Many well-run games have been created entirely on the fly and can last for long, long times provided that the GM and players have a very sharp memory. For example: my first real foray into non-AD&D gaming was an online version of the ROBOTECH RPG. I'd had the books for about a week but no one to play with here. Instead, I joined a group of friends in playing in a very off the cuff game which lasted years in some form (and is currently in its ninth year over at http://www.rdfrpg.com). The original GM of that game did nearly everything on the fly or from memory, keeping only a folder of our character sheets, a few quick tables for enemies, and a log of what we did last week. It blossomed from a group of 12 kids to over 65 active members in all age groups.
The most successful method of campaigning is still the most work intensive: writing it all out ahead of time. For a quick game not meant to last more than a few sessions, only a few notes may be necessary for memory's sake. A game that lasts more than just a couple of weeks may well require lots of set up, notation, and rolling of the dice.
So, now that you've got your system in hand, what is your setting? Is this going to be a short adventure, or the humble start to a long winding road for the players? The longer the game is going to last, the harder everything gets to be. Adventures, contact lists, histories and backgrounds all get more complex as a campaign evolves.
Start with the largest slice of your setting you reasonably can; let's assume one starts with a single planet. What color sun does it orbit? How are its seasons and temperatures? Does it have a moon, or multiple moons?
Next, move down a stage to the land the players will walk on: what kind of history does this world have? What are the major religious beliefs, the social climate? Are there other races about the planet? How do they get along? A brief history that can be expanded upon or referred to easily can answer all of those questions.
Is this game going to be combat intensive? Will anyone at the table need access to lots of dice, or writing space? If you play a power-gamer version of Vampire: The Masquerade, often the rolls can get very high very quickly. Some dungeon delvings may run so long or be so massive that an entire table could be devoted to just the map and any miniatures that are used. Once that has been completed, often everything is ready for the GM to pick the first adventure for the group.
If you want more depth, then by all means go into great detail! One of the more fascinating things about the Faerun setting for AD&D was the creation of a few minor races, and the alteration of some of the accepted fantasy races. The world was different from Earth in many respects, and not just topographically; entire species of plants and common animals were introduced and described, just to make the place seem different. Consider designing a map on a computer with some of the many software systems that are available for free use or direct purchase. Sometimes, these come bundled with free software that helps to create characters, situations, rewards, or even track an entire campaign.
Working out a map on paper with your own artistic talent can add to the overall experience as well. Hand drawn maps have an entirely different feel to it, something your players will notice right away. This is YOUR campaign, not some print shops! Maps for entire settings are best drawn carefully, and made permanent once you know what you want to include.
Maps of dungeons, military bases, pipe systems and what have you are best done on a per-game basis. The old stand-by of gridded paper usually works the best. With it, you can make a well regulated, even sided room, building or other structure, and know how far it is to what. Sometimes for combat systems (especially miniatures based systems like Battletech) the system is marked off in hexagons instead of squares. Depended on the combat system or your needs, either way can work so long as you know how you must use it.
Over time, extensive notes about non-player characters, settings, events, and scores are often key to the long-term success of a tabletop or online RPG. I'm not advocating that the GM has to have a detailed sheet for absolutely every NPC, town, and rock in their little universe; but if that GM has some basic stats and a quick description of the NPC on paper, and a flow chart showing where that ugly old man with the scar knows the players from the game may go much more smoothly.
I usually keep a little 3/4" binder for each campaign I'm running; inside will be character notes, an action order sheet (which will be posted eventually), game notes and maps, and copies of the player characters' sheets all go inside. The operating order of it is personal preference, but I like to keep all the character notes and combat sheets up front, with the group's progress directly behind them for reference. Any actual game notes I have will be sitting just beside the binder in case I need to check something.
One of the most important things to consider for your GM's notebook is use of flow charts. A flow chart can outline the entire campaign, the possibilities of an individual adventure, or who knows whom and why. They can take some time to craft, but are worth their weight in rare earth metals once they're completed. They're not for everyone, but they can be read by anyone and thus save some trouble.
Sometimes, I keep note cards in a tiny recipe box or check keeper for easy access. What is contained on those cards determines whether or not I'm willing to share them with the group I'm running the game for. The last stack of cards that I made was an alphabetical list of spells for D&D 3E; each spell was completely described on one card, front and back. This particular set of cards was kept around for both the players and the DM to use.
Using these few tools to your own liking may well help a new or failing GM to organize their thoughts and prepare their worlds for exploration by the players. No one says that all GM's must do it this way, but it seems to be universal that all the greatest hosts have done at least a few of the things listed here today.
Next time, something random!
Many well-run games have been created entirely on the fly and can last for long, long times provided that the GM and players have a very sharp memory. For example: my first real foray into non-AD&D gaming was an online version of the ROBOTECH RPG. I'd had the books for about a week but no one to play with here. Instead, I joined a group of friends in playing in a very off the cuff game which lasted years in some form (and is currently in its ninth year over at http://www.rdfrpg.com). The original GM of that game did nearly everything on the fly or from memory, keeping only a folder of our character sheets, a few quick tables for enemies, and a log of what we did last week. It blossomed from a group of 12 kids to over 65 active members in all age groups.
The most successful method of campaigning is still the most work intensive: writing it all out ahead of time. For a quick game not meant to last more than a few sessions, only a few notes may be necessary for memory's sake. A game that lasts more than just a couple of weeks may well require lots of set up, notation, and rolling of the dice.
So, now that you've got your system in hand, what is your setting? Is this going to be a short adventure, or the humble start to a long winding road for the players? The longer the game is going to last, the harder everything gets to be. Adventures, contact lists, histories and backgrounds all get more complex as a campaign evolves.
Start with the largest slice of your setting you reasonably can; let's assume one starts with a single planet. What color sun does it orbit? How are its seasons and temperatures? Does it have a moon, or multiple moons?
Next, move down a stage to the land the players will walk on: what kind of history does this world have? What are the major religious beliefs, the social climate? Are there other races about the planet? How do they get along? A brief history that can be expanded upon or referred to easily can answer all of those questions.
Is this game going to be combat intensive? Will anyone at the table need access to lots of dice, or writing space? If you play a power-gamer version of Vampire: The Masquerade, often the rolls can get very high very quickly. Some dungeon delvings may run so long or be so massive that an entire table could be devoted to just the map and any miniatures that are used. Once that has been completed, often everything is ready for the GM to pick the first adventure for the group.
If you want more depth, then by all means go into great detail! One of the more fascinating things about the Faerun setting for AD&D was the creation of a few minor races, and the alteration of some of the accepted fantasy races. The world was different from Earth in many respects, and not just topographically; entire species of plants and common animals were introduced and described, just to make the place seem different. Consider designing a map on a computer with some of the many software systems that are available for free use or direct purchase. Sometimes, these come bundled with free software that helps to create characters, situations, rewards, or even track an entire campaign.
Working out a map on paper with your own artistic talent can add to the overall experience as well. Hand drawn maps have an entirely different feel to it, something your players will notice right away. This is YOUR campaign, not some print shops! Maps for entire settings are best drawn carefully, and made permanent once you know what you want to include.
Maps of dungeons, military bases, pipe systems and what have you are best done on a per-game basis. The old stand-by of gridded paper usually works the best. With it, you can make a well regulated, even sided room, building or other structure, and know how far it is to what. Sometimes for combat systems (especially miniatures based systems like Battletech) the system is marked off in hexagons instead of squares. Depended on the combat system or your needs, either way can work so long as you know how you must use it.
Over time, extensive notes about non-player characters, settings, events, and scores are often key to the long-term success of a tabletop or online RPG. I'm not advocating that the GM has to have a detailed sheet for absolutely every NPC, town, and rock in their little universe; but if that GM has some basic stats and a quick description of the NPC on paper, and a flow chart showing where that ugly old man with the scar knows the players from the game may go much more smoothly.
I usually keep a little 3/4" binder for each campaign I'm running; inside will be character notes, an action order sheet (which will be posted eventually), game notes and maps, and copies of the player characters' sheets all go inside. The operating order of it is personal preference, but I like to keep all the character notes and combat sheets up front, with the group's progress directly behind them for reference. Any actual game notes I have will be sitting just beside the binder in case I need to check something.
One of the most important things to consider for your GM's notebook is use of flow charts. A flow chart can outline the entire campaign, the possibilities of an individual adventure, or who knows whom and why. They can take some time to craft, but are worth their weight in rare earth metals once they're completed. They're not for everyone, but they can be read by anyone and thus save some trouble.
Sometimes, I keep note cards in a tiny recipe box or check keeper for easy access. What is contained on those cards determines whether or not I'm willing to share them with the group I'm running the game for. The last stack of cards that I made was an alphabetical list of spells for D&D 3E; each spell was completely described on one card, front and back. This particular set of cards was kept around for both the players and the DM to use.
Using these few tools to your own liking may well help a new or failing GM to organize their thoughts and prepare their worlds for exploration by the players. No one says that all GM's must do it this way, but it seems to be universal that all the greatest hosts have done at least a few of the things listed here today.
Next time, something random!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Someone Set Us Up The Game!
Welcome to the first post of the RPG Tactics blog! Since this is the beginning of the blog, I feel it's only fair to discuss the beginnings of an RPG campaign. Let's get started, shall we?
Before anyone gathers around the table, before the dice are set to rolling, and certainly before the pizza arrives, all those involved in the game should have a clear idea of what to expect from the coming game. Is it a sword and sorcery fantasy? An exciting deep space thriller? A murder mystery? There are almost as many different settings and styles for games as there are people in this world, and picking the right one is the first step to any good game.
There are other questions to consider, as well:
What system will you be using?
There are so many systems available, with varying compatibility to a game. Systems like Alternity, GURPS, and d20 give game masters incredible options and basic rules that can apply to nearly any campaign. Generic systems have the ability to mold themselves rather closely to any setting.
Other systems, like Battletech or The Call of Cthulhu are tailor-made for certain styles of gaming. Fantasy or inter-spacial psychological thrillers often require more complex and theme specific rules which could put off some players.
Will everyone know the rules well enough to begin playing, or are cheat sheets needed?
Some systems have nearly all the rules of play contained on ready-made character sheets. Others are so complex or setting-specific that some new(er) players may need some guidance by the game master or other experienced players. A great example of this is ROBOTECH: The RPG. The rules are what Palladium Games later based Rifts upon, but so much of the system is setting specific that a player needs to know about both the show and the gaming system in detail before the game begins to make sense.
How much time and energy do you have to devote to play?
Is everyone going to be staying the same length of time each session? What night(s) will your group gather to play? Is it an online game, and how is it run? All of these need answers, and many require a group consensus. An online game can be held in a chat room or on a message board, and both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Play-by-post on a message board allows everyone to meet a minimum schedule, but often players can be stuck waiting for unresponsive players or GM's. It can get frustrating quickly, or fall apart while no one is watching.
Playing in a chat system allows the GM to tailor each session to who is available, and in theory no one will have to wait very long for the next player in line to react to the game. However, one player's absence can completely change the game's direction.
I hope this brief foray into starting your games has helped in some small way. Much of it is common sense, but sometimes a person still needs a clear idea of what to expect in their minds. Next post, I'll be discussing choosing a setting, and what one needs in order to begin crafting their campaign.
Before anyone gathers around the table, before the dice are set to rolling, and certainly before the pizza arrives, all those involved in the game should have a clear idea of what to expect from the coming game. Is it a sword and sorcery fantasy? An exciting deep space thriller? A murder mystery? There are almost as many different settings and styles for games as there are people in this world, and picking the right one is the first step to any good game.
There are other questions to consider, as well:
What system will you be using?
There are so many systems available, with varying compatibility to a game. Systems like Alternity, GURPS, and d20 give game masters incredible options and basic rules that can apply to nearly any campaign. Generic systems have the ability to mold themselves rather closely to any setting.
Other systems, like Battletech or The Call of Cthulhu are tailor-made for certain styles of gaming. Fantasy or inter-spacial psychological thrillers often require more complex and theme specific rules which could put off some players.
Will everyone know the rules well enough to begin playing, or are cheat sheets needed?
Some systems have nearly all the rules of play contained on ready-made character sheets. Others are so complex or setting-specific that some new(er) players may need some guidance by the game master or other experienced players. A great example of this is ROBOTECH: The RPG. The rules are what Palladium Games later based Rifts upon, but so much of the system is setting specific that a player needs to know about both the show and the gaming system in detail before the game begins to make sense.
How much time and energy do you have to devote to play?
Is everyone going to be staying the same length of time each session? What night(s) will your group gather to play? Is it an online game, and how is it run? All of these need answers, and many require a group consensus. An online game can be held in a chat room or on a message board, and both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Play-by-post on a message board allows everyone to meet a minimum schedule, but often players can be stuck waiting for unresponsive players or GM's. It can get frustrating quickly, or fall apart while no one is watching.
Playing in a chat system allows the GM to tailor each session to who is available, and in theory no one will have to wait very long for the next player in line to react to the game. However, one player's absence can completely change the game's direction.
I hope this brief foray into starting your games has helped in some small way. Much of it is common sense, but sometimes a person still needs a clear idea of what to expect in their minds. Next post, I'll be discussing choosing a setting, and what one needs in order to begin crafting their campaign.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
