First of all, I would like to extend my sincere apologies to any readers I may have left at this point: I've been away for quite a long while, and it's entirely because of everyday life. Between work, preparing for marriage, and having two insane cats, I've very little time to give over to writing a blog. With that said, let's get to the fun stuff, shall we?
Something that can always add some believability and interest to any RPG is procuring supplies; whether you have to forage/hunt for your own food, find a reputable salesman for a vehicle, or keep your activities hidden from authorities, there's always something to be done in finding what one needs for a mission. Often times, a GM can just simply gloss it over: "you purchased X supplies for Y price, with little haggling." Sometimes, it can become a very involved discussion with the seller, with compliments, threats, haggling, even bribes going back and forth. The question is, when do you do one and not the other?
As an example, if the players have reached a new area and will need to establish new contacts (or be given an idea about how the locals operate, true or not), one is better off to role play the encounter; how much and how long is entirely up to personal styles and the expectations of the players. If the seller the characters are dealing with is an old friend or contact, one could be well justified in role playing an exchange of platitudes and then ending the encounter - after all, these folks know each other, and the players will have it in their minds how it went down.
Trying to get access to a place or item(s) one needs can be very interesting if the possessing party is wary, greedy, or even traitorous. Such encounters are best played to the nines, with accents, speech patterns, and full descriptions. Immerse your characters in the situation; let them feel the burn of the sweat in their eyes, the cold steel of the cheap desk that they're leaning on as they argue. One could gloss it over with "you wait around on the corner for about an hour, and finally find someone who will sell you Z for some amount of A," but it's best done only to expedite a lagging story.
What if your heroes need a fast get-away car, and quick? If they're all over the news, no car lot will sell to them, and fences will most likely want to charge triple their usual prices. Do the characters steal a car? Do they even have the ability? Never forget that in a varied group of people, someone is very likely to have the intelligence and skills to come up with something the characters might need, and without their being involved with some trader.
A great example is food in a fantasy setting: you could find a baker in the next town to sell you a loaf of bread, but if you're well equipped you might make your own, or alternatively be wiley enough to steal someone else's from their larder. Often a woodsman might offer to share his kill in exchange for help carrying back what he's just downed. How you play such scenarios is of course entirely up to you, but don't forget the benefits of having the characters scrambling up and down hillsides after a stag they've wounded in the hunt, or their coming to a town for provisions only to find that famine has raised the prices sky-high.
As a framework, many games often have rules and guidelines for GMs in need of some guidance: D&D has a town-building guideline which provides for how many levels or gold's worth of services are available based on the population; Alternity has full listings of what is available at specific places (in published adventure modules). Don't ever forget that as the GM, you determine what happens; if the group absolutely needs that getaway car, provide it for them - just don't be obvious about it without a good reason.
Nest week on Roy's RPG Tactics Blog: Who knows? It might be good.
Showing posts with label roleplaying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roleplaying. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Editions Of D&D and Me
Sometime this month, you've probably seen the advertisements or fliers for Dungeons and Dragons 4E (or seen the books themselves). I admit that I've not looked at them very extensively - nor do I want to. I do, however, have an opinion forming about it from what I have seen and heard; that opinion can be summed up in one word, and that word is 'no.'
Some of the more entertaining classes have been removed from the Player's Handbook; Barbarians were one of the better classes in D&D, and having them added back in was what initially drew me to D&D 3E. Now, one must wait for a supplement or an official release (both of which might cost you) in order to get them.
Another major change is on the list of player races. Gnomes have been removed, and Tieflings and Aasimar are now starting races with no real modifications. I'm sorry, but Tieflings and Aasimar were only supposed to be a rarity, even in Forgotten Realms (where they were apparently most common). Changing it that way seems to remove that last bit of believability that makes D&D so appealing to so many people.
Now, obviously there's nothing I can do, or could have done; but I still don't like these and other changes (such as a near requirement of miniatures and tiles according to the PHB's supplies list), and that's enough to keep me from paying good money to play it. I'll have a good enough time playing my now 'outdated' games that I shouldn't even miss the new stuff.
You may be wondering, what does Roy play, then? Well, for now, I'm engaged in preparing for an AD&D second edition game. My fiancee has a wonderful idea for one and has worked dilligently upon it. When we get together with her brother and his wife, then we'll start playing one of my favorite games of all time. Yes, it's very math intensive and archaic, but it's an excellent vehicle for that nostalgic feel.
One must never forget that their games are about entertainment and sharing; otherwise, it's only money and time you've handed off to someone else.
Some of the more entertaining classes have been removed from the Player's Handbook; Barbarians were one of the better classes in D&D, and having them added back in was what initially drew me to D&D 3E. Now, one must wait for a supplement or an official release (both of which might cost you) in order to get them.
Another major change is on the list of player races. Gnomes have been removed, and Tieflings and Aasimar are now starting races with no real modifications. I'm sorry, but Tieflings and Aasimar were only supposed to be a rarity, even in Forgotten Realms (where they were apparently most common). Changing it that way seems to remove that last bit of believability that makes D&D so appealing to so many people.
Now, obviously there's nothing I can do, or could have done; but I still don't like these and other changes (such as a near requirement of miniatures and tiles according to the PHB's supplies list), and that's enough to keep me from paying good money to play it. I'll have a good enough time playing my now 'outdated' games that I shouldn't even miss the new stuff.
You may be wondering, what does Roy play, then? Well, for now, I'm engaged in preparing for an AD&D second edition game. My fiancee has a wonderful idea for one and has worked dilligently upon it. When we get together with her brother and his wife, then we'll start playing one of my favorite games of all time. Yes, it's very math intensive and archaic, but it's an excellent vehicle for that nostalgic feel.
One must never forget that their games are about entertainment and sharing; otherwise, it's only money and time you've handed off to someone else.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
It's Been One Week Since You Looked At Me
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?
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 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.
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.
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