Ha, ha! The year has slipped away now, not just the year. We managed to play one session of Tomb of Annnihilation on Roll20 this year. Perhaps we'll get one more in before the end of the year, but time is running short.
D&D has definitely slowed this year... Although the company released several products, only the first one The Ghosts of Saltmarsh really appealed to me. There are interesting elements to some of the others, but I'm not interested in exploring hell, playing games in Eberron or a cartoon reality, or dabbling in extra-planar nonsense. Of course, this almost certainly means another down year next year, too. That really depends on what they put out.
So, what do I expect? I expect a Dark Sun setting book, another updated release of an earlier edition product (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks??, along with a planar book), and a PHB 2 type of release like Xanathar's. This might not be too bad, all things considered. I think their planar book will focus on the Astral Plane and feature Githyanki, Githzerai, and Mind Flayers. That will be good, even in a ridiculous setting.
They've put out a lot of class enhancements featuring psychic powers that would work with either a Dark Sun setting, or with a Gith themed adventure on the Astral Plane. They've been working pysionics out for some time, and with the number of options they've brought out in the last two months, it seems likely they are nearly ready to actually release something featuring them.
We've had reasonably good luck playing, but haven't been able to find a consistent time to do so. Our weekly Thursday game is going great, but it too has seen interruptions. We have finally settled into a good playing group, and our style has really begun to mesh well with each other. This promises good things for the upcoming year.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Gentle Rumblings
The month is slipping away and the holidays fading into memory. With that the pressure is mounting to get back on track with playing.
That urge has got me looking at our online game. I needed to look into it and remind myself of where we were and what was going on. It's amazing to look back on something you haven't dealt with in two months and see how much you remember. It's also a little daunting when you realize you have no clue what the party can handle anymore, either.
It has been helpful to have a game that has continued through the season, and I think even now the process of restarting our online game is less stressful and daunting as a result. We still have to set a start date to begin playing again. I'd like to get a little more done before playing, just so I have a better feel for where to go with the game.
I've learned a couple of important points from running games online. First, over preparation can actually work against you. It can be easy sometimes to get caught up in creating scenarios, building all the variables, and so on, but often you'll get to use a third of it if you're lucky. A better way to prep seems to be to plot out two or three points, with a detail or two. Start things out, and let the course of the session, and in particular the players' actions, dictate how you develop things.
Secondly, while overdeveloping a session can be detrimental, it is essential to have some preparation done. Ironically, the better an online session works without a lot of encounter level prep, the worse the overall campaign seems to run on similar terms. It pays to be thinking two or three encounters out from where you are. I was watching a video recently discussing the difference between story and plot, and (presuming I remember the analysis correctly) that is the core of what I mean here.
Running online requires a good sense of plot. This is the goal, these are the bullet point locations of interest, whether for an encounter or some other kind of event. These need to be thought about and structured to some degree. They build a progression for the story to evolve through. The individual sessions become about the story being developed to fit the plot.
This may finally help me get a handle on the irritation that arises in me when people start talking about "railroading" and "sandboxing." I feel like there is value in plotting out an adventure path, knowing who the villains are, and where, knowing how they should be approached, and what order they should be dealt with. But there is equal value in letting the play of the game hold a stronger influence on the actual story that you are building.
The more memorable sessions we've had are ones where I said to myself "these are the pieces I want to use," and mostly reacted to the players' decisions within that arena. There are unique difficulties in playing online that make it difficult for too many things to happen or be said at one time. It is too difficult to hear and be heard unless everyone is willing to listen, and allowed equal opportunity to respond with their own thoughts. It is a good way to develop conversational skills like respect and attentiveness. The added benefit as a game master is to give you time to think on your feet and adapt the plot points of your adventure into the storyline developing as you play. It is a healthy trade-off.
That urge has got me looking at our online game. I needed to look into it and remind myself of where we were and what was going on. It's amazing to look back on something you haven't dealt with in two months and see how much you remember. It's also a little daunting when you realize you have no clue what the party can handle anymore, either.
It has been helpful to have a game that has continued through the season, and I think even now the process of restarting our online game is less stressful and daunting as a result. We still have to set a start date to begin playing again. I'd like to get a little more done before playing, just so I have a better feel for where to go with the game.
I've learned a couple of important points from running games online. First, over preparation can actually work against you. It can be easy sometimes to get caught up in creating scenarios, building all the variables, and so on, but often you'll get to use a third of it if you're lucky. A better way to prep seems to be to plot out two or three points, with a detail or two. Start things out, and let the course of the session, and in particular the players' actions, dictate how you develop things.
Secondly, while overdeveloping a session can be detrimental, it is essential to have some preparation done. Ironically, the better an online session works without a lot of encounter level prep, the worse the overall campaign seems to run on similar terms. It pays to be thinking two or three encounters out from where you are. I was watching a video recently discussing the difference between story and plot, and (presuming I remember the analysis correctly) that is the core of what I mean here.
Running online requires a good sense of plot. This is the goal, these are the bullet point locations of interest, whether for an encounter or some other kind of event. These need to be thought about and structured to some degree. They build a progression for the story to evolve through. The individual sessions become about the story being developed to fit the plot.
This may finally help me get a handle on the irritation that arises in me when people start talking about "railroading" and "sandboxing." I feel like there is value in plotting out an adventure path, knowing who the villains are, and where, knowing how they should be approached, and what order they should be dealt with. But there is equal value in letting the play of the game hold a stronger influence on the actual story that you are building.
The more memorable sessions we've had are ones where I said to myself "these are the pieces I want to use," and mostly reacted to the players' decisions within that arena. There are unique difficulties in playing online that make it difficult for too many things to happen or be said at one time. It is too difficult to hear and be heard unless everyone is willing to listen, and allowed equal opportunity to respond with their own thoughts. It is a good way to develop conversational skills like respect and attentiveness. The added benefit as a game master is to give you time to think on your feet and adapt the plot points of your adventure into the storyline developing as you play. It is a healthy trade-off.
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Getting Started
It's been a slow start to the new year, mostly organizing and thinking. I bought a large toolbox, which works nicely as a case to carry miniatures. I've taken several of the smaller craft/tackle boxes I had and used them to separate and organize my minis. I've been able to fit all my minis (at least the small and medium sized ones) and dice inside the toolbox.
I took them all out and separated them first by monsters and characters. These I split up by race - elves, human, halflings, dwarves, etc. The monsters I separated by type along the same lines. Some of these were obvious, like lycanthropes and demons, but others are more general, like aberrations. Most of these are shapeless blobs that I've yet to use in combat ever, so they all feel like the same thing anyway. I did make an effort to keep all of the pieces I use regularly as PCs in the same box, so in a pinch I can just grab that one box and have what I need to play.
On the thinking side… it seems all of us have been considering the mystery angle with D&D. This is something I've been mulling over for years, and have tried to work out on several different occasions. I even tried making it the focus of a NaNoWriMo effort a few years ago, the idea of combining my love of D&D with mystery - Columbo or Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy setting. Oddly, it is a surprisingly difficult thing to manage.
"The jeweled necklace has been stolen, what do we do?" the victim asks. "Get a spell caster and cast locate object." Oh, ok… "Someone's killed Nigel! We need to find the killer." "I'll cast speak with dead and ask him."
Obviously, even in these examples, there are limitations on the spells and so on, but it does demonstrate how easily a lot of modern detecting can be negated with the use of spells. What we're working on now is a little different. With the focus on urban adventures surrounding the fall release of books set in Waterdeep, the interest has shifted to more of a heist adventure, something like Ocean's Eleven. It has the advantage of being a scenario that can work in D&D, and the disadvantage of being complicated enough to require some careful thought.
I think we have a consensus about wanting to play a higher level heist. My example is a formal reception/dinner party with a regional ambassador in town to display a treasured item or donate it to the town. There are invited guests, security, extra help, etc., as well as multiple interests looking to acquire the object. This offers multiple ways of infiltrating the setting, multiple allies and adversaries, but more than anything makes for a complicated environment to manage and resolve as DM.
We recognize the complications, and have turned to simpler versions in order to test some of the possibilities. Even these are proving to be complicated. I've been working on a bandit outpost with a rescue mission. I see three elements - observation, infiltration, and escape. The players need to study their adversary, get inside, and get away with the object of the rescue. What makes it difficult is that you find yourself playing all the roles, bouncing between them at every turn.
What are the players looking for? What can they learn? Now, you're plotting all the movements of the bandits. What are they aware of? What will they notice or ignore? Now you're back thinking about player movement. What if they fail, how will that change things? Back and forth, getting more involved and complicated as you go.
My son has been thinking about locked room scenarios. All the suspects in one place, how does the crime take place? What things can complicate the mystery? Silence, darkness, and other spells - how can they affect the story? Another problem here is motivation. Part of the reason these work well in fiction is that everyone has a secondary motive that they want to keep to themselves. That gives them a reason to lie. They suspect someone else and wish to protect them, they have a guilty secret they want to keep, they have an old grudge against someone and want to frame them, and so on.
This can be harder to get in game terms. I think it is part of the effort made in the 5th edition adventures to create factions and encourage players to align with them. It is related to backstory, but has a communal element that can be manipulated for reasons external to the individual. Still, these only work if the players buy into them and use them. Otherwise, the plot deflates and the adventure goes too flat to work.
To make the plot work, you need to plant ideas in the players' minds. That makes it feel like you're designing a new game more than a new adventure. It feels like it would be easier and work better as a one-off with pre-gen characters. That might not be a bad idea, and might be useful to refine the mechanics, but I think in the end it should be possible to create an adventure that could work without pre-gens.
I took them all out and separated them first by monsters and characters. These I split up by race - elves, human, halflings, dwarves, etc. The monsters I separated by type along the same lines. Some of these were obvious, like lycanthropes and demons, but others are more general, like aberrations. Most of these are shapeless blobs that I've yet to use in combat ever, so they all feel like the same thing anyway. I did make an effort to keep all of the pieces I use regularly as PCs in the same box, so in a pinch I can just grab that one box and have what I need to play.
On the thinking side… it seems all of us have been considering the mystery angle with D&D. This is something I've been mulling over for years, and have tried to work out on several different occasions. I even tried making it the focus of a NaNoWriMo effort a few years ago, the idea of combining my love of D&D with mystery - Columbo or Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy setting. Oddly, it is a surprisingly difficult thing to manage.
"The jeweled necklace has been stolen, what do we do?" the victim asks. "Get a spell caster and cast locate object." Oh, ok… "Someone's killed Nigel! We need to find the killer." "I'll cast speak with dead and ask him."
Obviously, even in these examples, there are limitations on the spells and so on, but it does demonstrate how easily a lot of modern detecting can be negated with the use of spells. What we're working on now is a little different. With the focus on urban adventures surrounding the fall release of books set in Waterdeep, the interest has shifted to more of a heist adventure, something like Ocean's Eleven. It has the advantage of being a scenario that can work in D&D, and the disadvantage of being complicated enough to require some careful thought.
I think we have a consensus about wanting to play a higher level heist. My example is a formal reception/dinner party with a regional ambassador in town to display a treasured item or donate it to the town. There are invited guests, security, extra help, etc., as well as multiple interests looking to acquire the object. This offers multiple ways of infiltrating the setting, multiple allies and adversaries, but more than anything makes for a complicated environment to manage and resolve as DM.
We recognize the complications, and have turned to simpler versions in order to test some of the possibilities. Even these are proving to be complicated. I've been working on a bandit outpost with a rescue mission. I see three elements - observation, infiltration, and escape. The players need to study their adversary, get inside, and get away with the object of the rescue. What makes it difficult is that you find yourself playing all the roles, bouncing between them at every turn.
What are the players looking for? What can they learn? Now, you're plotting all the movements of the bandits. What are they aware of? What will they notice or ignore? Now you're back thinking about player movement. What if they fail, how will that change things? Back and forth, getting more involved and complicated as you go.
My son has been thinking about locked room scenarios. All the suspects in one place, how does the crime take place? What things can complicate the mystery? Silence, darkness, and other spells - how can they affect the story? Another problem here is motivation. Part of the reason these work well in fiction is that everyone has a secondary motive that they want to keep to themselves. That gives them a reason to lie. They suspect someone else and wish to protect them, they have a guilty secret they want to keep, they have an old grudge against someone and want to frame them, and so on.
This can be harder to get in game terms. I think it is part of the effort made in the 5th edition adventures to create factions and encourage players to align with them. It is related to backstory, but has a communal element that can be manipulated for reasons external to the individual. Still, these only work if the players buy into them and use them. Otherwise, the plot deflates and the adventure goes too flat to work.
To make the plot work, you need to plant ideas in the players' minds. That makes it feel like you're designing a new game more than a new adventure. It feels like it would be easier and work better as a one-off with pre-gen characters. That might not be a bad idea, and might be useful to refine the mechanics, but I think in the end it should be possible to create an adventure that could work without pre-gens.
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