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.