So in my recent quest to find a decent digital dungeon designer, I found myself stumbling upon (by the guidance of one of my PC's) an application called Gametable.
The page itself even recommends you pair it with something along the likes of Ventrilo.
I have since given it a good whirl, and so far I love what I've seen. Gametable is an applet that will let you draw in the lines of dungeons and encounters, and your players are able to fully manipulate everything; which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on your players. My way of interpreting good use out of this would be to have the DM draw the dungeon in his private edit mode, and then reveal areas and monsters as they are explored by the PC's. You do this by finding the private edit mode, and drawing everything in there that you want, and then use the publish crop to select what parts you want the players to see and when.
Coupled with the player's ability to draw their projected lines of movement, the game could run very smoothly, so long as nobody purposefully tries to mess things up. You also have the option of making dice macros, which are perfect for people who have a hard time remembering the pluses and attacks to all their weapons. A player can simply take all of their attacks and set them up so they have the correct plus and the program does all the math.
Ventrilo comes in when you realize how difficult it is to play D&D through text chatting alone. I've managed to set my computer up as a gametable and ventrilo server without much difficulty. Vent, as we call it, is a beautiful thing that lets you clearly hear the words that your friends from around the world would be saying to you. It is a VoIP that is expressly designed for groups of people to be able to conference together smoothly. It does require you to have a moderate technical awareness though, as the setup and directions aren't exactly user friendly.
So when Ventrilo and Gametable are joined, we expect a huge success in terms of incorporating a long distance friend into some 4E gaming this summer. I personally will be guiding him through a series of quests simultaneous to the main campaign, and he will join up with them when he moves back to the Green Hills this fall.
-Lance of the Hill People
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Formula: Making a Dungeon
Today I thought I'd share some of my ideas on how to make a dungeon. Through a step by step process, you can make a pretty sweet dungeon adventure in only a couple hours.
Begin With a Trial
I find it nice to open with some sort of challenge to the players themselves, but it can be equally fun to challenge their characters. Regardless of whether your dealing with a meta-challenge or an in-game challenge, there still manages to be some crossover between the two.
To Implement: The trial could easily be finding the dungeon in the first place. This could require players to make a series of checks much like the challenges described in the Dungeon Masters Guide. It could also be a puzzle in itself. You might have a series of clues scattered about a forest labyrinth that eventually leads them to the entrance to the dungeon within. You could also make the dungeon easy to find in itself, but difficult to initially crack into. Breaking in could be a challenge, or there might be a puzzle that when solved unlocks the path beneath. Another possibility would be to have a guardian, or perhaps a potential guide, send the heroes on a quest for a trophy to prove their worth. All of these are great side quests to get the players excited about what's actually beneath.
Start Mapping
This part is easy, and can be really fun. Navigating a dungeon could take weeks depending on how long or frequent your gameplay is. But making the dungeon itself takes less time than a single session.
To Implement: Break out your graph paper, or even your computer, and start mapping out the different levels, obstacles, traps, and whatnot that you want in your dungeon. Even if it doesn't make sense in terms of storyline or lore, you want to make the dungeon big enough so that the players will have interesting combat with different decision points in it. Make rooms with potential combat open enough that everybody will be able to find the battle accessible. You don't want people waiting outside the door for monsters or players to move out so they can actually see some action. Also, if the players do not, or try not, to surpass certain obstacles, give them another way around, but make it equally challenging in a different way. If they get stuck solving the sphinx's riddle, let them go around and use their brawn instead of brain.
Find an Encounter Theme
Not every encounter has to be the same type of monster, such as a dungeon full of only goblins, but it's good to have a theme behind the encounters. Let the players guess why certain monsters have teamed up with each other. This makes for more interesting encounters, and can even give you ideas on how to bring the concept back around later on.
To Implement: Balance what makes sense with what makes for interesting gaming. For instance, if the players are heading into a dungeon that was sealed for many centuries, make sure there are plenty of undead in there. In fact, the only living creatures should be ones that are known to survive for centuries on very meager living arrangements. If you go with an only undead dungeon, switch it up. Don't just use zombies and skeletons, throw in a specter or a wight, even a couple ghouls now and then. And most importantly, tie all the undead in some how. You may not have them encounter a lich at the end, but give them a clue that there may be one in this realm, and that could be their followup quest. But in terms of tying the dungeon together, make sure you've got at least one big bad monster at the end. It could be a demon leading a horde of underling goblins and such, or whatever you think is possible under the constraints of your story.
Follow these three steps, and your dungeon might certainly guarantee fun and interest. Start with a trial, have an interesting geography, and make sure the monsters don't get stale. Also, it always helps to have a hook, a twist, or a big bang at the end of every dungeon.
This post is to make up for last Sunday. More to come later today.
-Lance of the Lazy People
Begin With a Trial
I find it nice to open with some sort of challenge to the players themselves, but it can be equally fun to challenge their characters. Regardless of whether your dealing with a meta-challenge or an in-game challenge, there still manages to be some crossover between the two.
To Implement: The trial could easily be finding the dungeon in the first place. This could require players to make a series of checks much like the challenges described in the Dungeon Masters Guide. It could also be a puzzle in itself. You might have a series of clues scattered about a forest labyrinth that eventually leads them to the entrance to the dungeon within. You could also make the dungeon easy to find in itself, but difficult to initially crack into. Breaking in could be a challenge, or there might be a puzzle that when solved unlocks the path beneath. Another possibility would be to have a guardian, or perhaps a potential guide, send the heroes on a quest for a trophy to prove their worth. All of these are great side quests to get the players excited about what's actually beneath.
Start Mapping
This part is easy, and can be really fun. Navigating a dungeon could take weeks depending on how long or frequent your gameplay is. But making the dungeon itself takes less time than a single session.
To Implement: Break out your graph paper, or even your computer, and start mapping out the different levels, obstacles, traps, and whatnot that you want in your dungeon. Even if it doesn't make sense in terms of storyline or lore, you want to make the dungeon big enough so that the players will have interesting combat with different decision points in it. Make rooms with potential combat open enough that everybody will be able to find the battle accessible. You don't want people waiting outside the door for monsters or players to move out so they can actually see some action. Also, if the players do not, or try not, to surpass certain obstacles, give them another way around, but make it equally challenging in a different way. If they get stuck solving the sphinx's riddle, let them go around and use their brawn instead of brain.
Find an Encounter Theme
Not every encounter has to be the same type of monster, such as a dungeon full of only goblins, but it's good to have a theme behind the encounters. Let the players guess why certain monsters have teamed up with each other. This makes for more interesting encounters, and can even give you ideas on how to bring the concept back around later on.
To Implement: Balance what makes sense with what makes for interesting gaming. For instance, if the players are heading into a dungeon that was sealed for many centuries, make sure there are plenty of undead in there. In fact, the only living creatures should be ones that are known to survive for centuries on very meager living arrangements. If you go with an only undead dungeon, switch it up. Don't just use zombies and skeletons, throw in a specter or a wight, even a couple ghouls now and then. And most importantly, tie all the undead in some how. You may not have them encounter a lich at the end, but give them a clue that there may be one in this realm, and that could be their followup quest. But in terms of tying the dungeon together, make sure you've got at least one big bad monster at the end. It could be a demon leading a horde of underling goblins and such, or whatever you think is possible under the constraints of your story.
Follow these three steps, and your dungeon might certainly guarantee fun and interest. Start with a trial, have an interesting geography, and make sure the monsters don't get stale. Also, it always helps to have a hook, a twist, or a big bang at the end of every dungeon.
This post is to make up for last Sunday. More to come later today.
-Lance of the Lazy People
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Return from the Mushroom Forest
Twas mid-afternoon by the time they passed their last mushroom.Though the land and air was no longer moist, or filled with potentially hallucinogenic spores, it was no less desolate. They traded the earthy mushroom forest for a drying wasted forest, their path weaving through the hills. Flint Fireforth was finally starting to believe his companions were something more than hallucinations.
As the party reach the crest of a hill the mangy head of a giant rose into view. Ducking behind rocks, and dropping to the dry leafy ground, the group decided wisely to not risk becoming someones dinner. Oblivious, the giant continued his amble to the east, never turning toward the hidden adventurers.
Now fully alert, the party made haste to Helmville.
The town cheered triumphantly at their return, as though they also had risked their lives for a few pounds of precious mushroom. The heros were led in to the town center, where they were greeted by the haggard Dr. Trusswilvene. His face shone with relief, and he quickly left with the bags of mushroom, leaving the young adventurers to their adulations.
And adulated they were! Vinn, the innkeeper, treated them to the finest dinner they had seen in months. With meats, vegetables, and only the barest hint of mushroom. Soon tipsy on Mushmead, each adventurer tried to retell the story of their adventure for the eager townsfolk, each tripping over one another with bits of the story, with goblin clans becoming armies, and their close call skirmishes becoming a legendary battle featuring favored gods.
"We fought a billion goblins! And we saved the babies! And it was Gooood!" The cleric told a pair of Auching dwarvish younglings.
"Auch!" They replied.
A bonfire was raised, and music and dancing filled the night. Melori praised her patroness Melora for her aid in battle, and danced in her honor. It was appraised as a good, but fruity dance, as the rest of the party, and the town folk, began Kossak dancing in triumph. Unable to game-face it, a drunken Yorma repeatedly kicked the local blacksmith, until she was pushed over, to everyones laughter. She was helped back up, and handed another stein.
~~
The next morn, their bodies singing from warm beds, extra blankets, and a mighty brunch, our adventurers met with the good doctor to gauge their success. He roused himself from his office chair, clearly the first shut-eye he had in days, and informed them the children were recovering. With the supply of mushroom they had procured the village would be safe from outbreak for years. He was overwhelmed, and grateful. With the permission of the village council, a portion of the town treasury was rewarded to them for the heroic deed.
"No, no, we can't take this." Krellian tried to refuse the money. The doctor placed 800 gold in his hands.
"It is yours. Divide it as you like. But do not return it" Reluctantly Krellian took the money, to the joy of his companions. Noting their eagerness for gold, the doctor was reminded of a crypt he had once visited nearby- on an unsuccessful scouting mission for some missing hunters. Town lore had it that the crypt held something of great value, though when he had found the entrance, he also found a swarm of fire beetles protecting a puzzle therein, and his party was forced to retreat. Not content with village life, the party signed on to explore the crypt.
"Have you heard of fire beetles before?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, I know ALL ABOUT fire beetles." Galah'ala assured his friends, his horns bobbing as he nodded convincingly.
"Oh good, then I won't bore you with the details. As you know, these are dangerous times. Please do be careful."
"Yeah, you don't want to get their itch. Their terrible beetle itch." Galah'ala added.
The doctor paused in confusion as the party left his office.
In town, the adventurers bought fresh supplies, argued over the fire-resistance of lard, and sharpened their weapons for the fight. Twas only mid-morn by the time they were cheered out of town, on their way to the old crypt. There was no path to guide the way, but the doctor had given them suitable directions. Even so, as they came over the rise of a hill they found themselves staring down a group of kobolds and a pair of clicking fire beetles, nearly the size of Yorma.
The beetles scuttled forward, their mandibles chortling and horking in an ominous fashion. Raising his weapon to the sky, Flint called forth a bolt of holy light, piercing a hell beetle, and calling Melori forward to join in it's demise. Krellian ran forward, swinging his longsword down on an angry beetle. Yorma, eager for the fight, threw an eldritch blast, which flew over the kobolds heads and struck a nearby tree. Pulling out her sword, Melori charged in beside Krellian and struck at the giant insect.
The kobolds hurried into position, two jabbing at Flint and Krellian. Another took aim and flung an earthen pot, which broke on the ground some ways behind Flint.
"Have you heard of fire beetles before?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, I know ALL ABOUT fire beetles." Galah'ala assured his friends, his horns bobbing as he nodded convincingly.
"Oh good, then I won't bore you with the details. As you know, these are dangerous times. Please do be careful."
"Yeah, you don't want to get their itch. Their terrible beetle itch." Galah'ala added.
The doctor paused in confusion as the party left his office.
In town, the adventurers bought fresh supplies, argued over the fire-resistance of lard, and sharpened their weapons for the fight. Twas only mid-morn by the time they were cheered out of town, on their way to the old crypt. There was no path to guide the way, but the doctor had given them suitable directions. Even so, as they came over the rise of a hill they found themselves staring down a group of kobolds and a pair of clicking fire beetles, nearly the size of Yorma.
The beetles scuttled forward, their mandibles chortling and horking in an ominous fashion. Raising his weapon to the sky, Flint called forth a bolt of holy light, piercing a hell beetle, and calling Melori forward to join in it's demise. Krellian ran forward, swinging his longsword down on an angry beetle. Yorma, eager for the fight, threw an eldritch blast, which flew over the kobolds heads and struck a nearby tree. Pulling out her sword, Melori charged in beside Krellian and struck at the giant insect.
The kobolds hurried into position, two jabbing at Flint and Krellian. Another took aim and flung an earthen pot, which broke on the ground some ways behind Flint.
"Look out for oil!" Melori cried.
Murmuring under his breath, Galah'ala eyed a skirmishing kobold. Feeling his spine tingle, the little lizard glanced up at the warlock. His eyes grew wide, and he fell forward, just before a column of dark flame shot down from the heavens- obliterating his husk.
Encouraged by the smell of flame and charring, the fire beetles ceased their clicking and opened their mandibles, releasing waves of yellow flame. Krellian and Melori turned away, but when the breath was finished, they both smoked, their exposed skin brown and red.
"Urrg, it doesn't hurt that bad!" Krellian groaned, willing himself back to the fight.
"Back on your feet, Lass!" Waving his stout fist in the air, Flint restored Melori's vigor. The stench of the broken stink pot began to waft, and Galah'ala wretched at the scent. The battle continued until the beetles were beaten to the ground- before they released another fiery onslaught.
The kobolds, seeing their hulking pets collapse, began to run. Curses and marks struck them in the back, and before they reach the next hill they each fell into a heap.
"Hurray!" The party cheered in eerie unison. After a round of bandaging and brow wiping, Yorma and Melori cut away portions of beetle shell, hoping for protection from the next insects they'd face. The glands of the beetle were harvested, as they glowed a warm orange. Again, the party marched on, keeping wary of any passing hill giants or more kobolds. But they way was clear to the crypt, and when they arrived, they found a surprise.
Val! The ranger who had aided them in the mushroom forest, was collecting herbs nearby the old crypt. "This'll be useful!" She said, picking a last white flower and tucking it into her pack. Krellian offered her her cut of the reward money, and hearing about their quest to the crypt, she gladly signed on.
The crypt entrance was a pale sun-bleached granite, partially hidden under crawling vines. Galah'ala cleared away some of the brush to reveal the plaque the doctor had spoken of.
When order is reached
The way is clear.
Inside the one room crypt was a stone sarcophagus, it's lid loose. Krellian approached and cautiously pushed at it with one hand. It budged. Melori joined him and together they shifted the entire lid off the other side. But inside was empty. So empty in fact, that there was a ladder leading down into a dark cavern below the crypt. A gland was tossed down, illuminating a dry stone floor, and the passageway beneath.
The party climbed down, tossing glands ahead of them as they walked, revealing a curving tunnel, carved out of stone, that led into a large open room, most of which still basked in darkness.
Drawing their weapons, the party charged into their midst. Metal met hard shells, dark and light magics raised a frenzy of furied clicking, and the stone cubes sat waiting. The room burst into hot daylight briefly, and in the flash chutes were visible around the ceiling of the room, just large enough for a fire beetle. Peeking from behind their scavanged shields, Melori and Yorma nodded to each other before launching themselves anew at their enemies. In wild desperation the adventurers felled one horrid beetle after another, Flint and Krellian calling encouragements and casting divine aids to their friends.
One by one the beetles fell. And yet, in the silence where each man and woman bandaged their wounds, a quiet and copious clicking could be heard softly through the cool stone walls. Exchanging knowing looks, the party agreed to approach the dais again. Krellian stepped forward, and found the following.
Nine square holes cut into the stone alter top. Nine stone cubes numbered zero to nine, placed in a large square hole.
The party began examining the room, looking for more clues. Yorma began stuffing beetle corpses into the empty chutes to plug them. Glancing up, Melori found a bit of unusual writing on the crumbled ceiling.
"It's dwarvish." Someone noted.
"Dwarf!" Krellian called. "Read us what it says."
"Auch... something about... words." Flint replied, studying the ceiling.
"That's it? Words? You can't read your own language?"
"I had a bit of mushmead before we left." Flint confessed. The group sat down and waited for Flint to sober to have a clearer look at the writing. Val retrieved a game of Scrappli she carried with her to pass the time. Melori wandered back down the hall towards the sarcophagus. Eventually Flint looked up again. "It's about the order of the words. It's what gives them their power."
"The lid of the tomb reads 'WRITING'. Who knows what that means." Melori said, returning to the room. Chins were scratched. Beards were twisted. Brows were furrowed.
"I've got it!" Val cried. Pulling the cubes out and lining them up beside holes she explained, "Spell the WORDS, put them in alphabetical ORDER, and that's how they go." To the hesitant gasps of her companions, she nudged each cube into a box. 8, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, 6, 3, 2, 0.
From within the walls they could hear the sound of wheels turning. The soft clicking crescendoed, along with the sound of crunching and wet pumpkin innards. Thin maroon liquid began to dribble from the unstuffed chutes. The party backed away towards the corridor as the trickle became a stream. A mash of legs, guts, and shells began to push out, tumbling to the ground. Some small fires flickered as the room filled with the crypt's offering.
Eventually the flow of mush tapered off, and the alter lowered and twisted out of sight, revealing a winding staircase.
~Apples
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
DM'ing: What Constitutes a Failure
Apples and I got into a discussion about Tuesday's post, and I encouraged her to post her opinion in the comments. She did, and now I shall respond
This is a clarification on what it means to fail as a DM. Failure as a DM can mean different things. Sometimes it can be blatantly obvious and effect the entire session or even campaign. Sometimes it can be nothing but a personal failure that not another soul would necessarily know about. And sometimes it could be a hazy mixture of the two.
Ways to Fail
Nobody Has Fun: This is the absolute worst way to fail. The worst part about it is that it's not always in the DM's control. However, as the DM, you will often be the one expected to facilitate the game in such a way that everybody can find it enjoyable. If this is unattainable with certain players behaving unacceptably, that would be a good condition to ask the player not to return, or at least warn them a few times first.
Besides players behaving badly, the DM can have a lot to do with this as well. The game exists in a world that you describe, but that doesn't make it your playground. You do not have control over the players, and they are most certainly not your toys to manipulate as you see fit. DM's on power trips is a fast road to failure, while letting the players have an equal say in their destiny will bring you many successes in the fun factor. Make sure you listen to the players, and let them build onto your story, as opposed to succumbing to your puppetry.
Preparation: Don't come under prepared! If nothing else, have at least one random encounter that the players can triumph over during a session. If the players do nothing but fail, then this can also reflect very poorly on your DM'ing. If an encounter of supposed average difficulty ends up squishing the PC's, you should give them something easy by the end of the session if possible. Give them at least one victory no matter how they manage to come by it. If they have to talk their way out of something to survive, that could be an even greater success than bashing goblins to bit through brute force. Be prepared to improvise if necessary too.
Also, don't come over prepared! This can be very dangerous as you may find your players are completely disinterested in your storylines or quests. If you throw them a bone, and they don't take it, make sure to let them seek out something different. If you put your entire planning into that one quest and dungeon, and eventually end up forcing the players through it, they will feel forced through it, and will not enjoy it nearly as much. This method will work on rare occasions though, and I will go into that more in a later post.
The key point to all of this though, is that failing as a DM has nothing to do with how far the campaign went, or what the players accomplished, or whether the game ever got past the first session. Failure means nobody had fun, failure as a DM means nobody had fun, and there's something you can do about it. The same can be said about certain players though, so make sure to consider this from different angles. Find what you need in your world to give the players a good time, and give it to them. If it gets stale, switch it up a bit and experiment. You won't have your best successes until you've had your worst failures.
This is a clarification on what it means to fail as a DM. Failure as a DM can mean different things. Sometimes it can be blatantly obvious and effect the entire session or even campaign. Sometimes it can be nothing but a personal failure that not another soul would necessarily know about. And sometimes it could be a hazy mixture of the two.
Ways to Fail
Nobody Has Fun: This is the absolute worst way to fail. The worst part about it is that it's not always in the DM's control. However, as the DM, you will often be the one expected to facilitate the game in such a way that everybody can find it enjoyable. If this is unattainable with certain players behaving unacceptably, that would be a good condition to ask the player not to return, or at least warn them a few times first.
Besides players behaving badly, the DM can have a lot to do with this as well. The game exists in a world that you describe, but that doesn't make it your playground. You do not have control over the players, and they are most certainly not your toys to manipulate as you see fit. DM's on power trips is a fast road to failure, while letting the players have an equal say in their destiny will bring you many successes in the fun factor. Make sure you listen to the players, and let them build onto your story, as opposed to succumbing to your puppetry.
Preparation: Don't come under prepared! If nothing else, have at least one random encounter that the players can triumph over during a session. If the players do nothing but fail, then this can also reflect very poorly on your DM'ing. If an encounter of supposed average difficulty ends up squishing the PC's, you should give them something easy by the end of the session if possible. Give them at least one victory no matter how they manage to come by it. If they have to talk their way out of something to survive, that could be an even greater success than bashing goblins to bit through brute force. Be prepared to improvise if necessary too.
Also, don't come over prepared! This can be very dangerous as you may find your players are completely disinterested in your storylines or quests. If you throw them a bone, and they don't take it, make sure to let them seek out something different. If you put your entire planning into that one quest and dungeon, and eventually end up forcing the players through it, they will feel forced through it, and will not enjoy it nearly as much. This method will work on rare occasions though, and I will go into that more in a later post.
The key point to all of this though, is that failing as a DM has nothing to do with how far the campaign went, or what the players accomplished, or whether the game ever got past the first session. Failure means nobody had fun, failure as a DM means nobody had fun, and there's something you can do about it. The same can be said about certain players though, so make sure to consider this from different angles. Find what you need in your world to give the players a good time, and give it to them. If it gets stale, switch it up a bit and experiment. You won't have your best successes until you've had your worst failures.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
DM'ing: How to Start
I've been approached by multiple people in the course of my D&D career who have mentioned or asked about becoming a DM. Every time someone brings it up, I usually get excited. There are few things in life that I have studied and practiced more than being a game master. This is not limited to simply D&D mind you, but to almost every aspect of gaming. Through my World of Warcraft career I have been a party or raid leader at every possible opportunity. Whenever a board game comes on the table, I usually try to take the reigns and lead everyone in the right direction to start understanding the rules and getting the most out of the gameplay. These are the kinds of things that a DM does.
The Dungeon Master is in no way in charge of the actions that the party takes though. They can't give orders to the players, but simply tell them the reaction to every one of their actions. One of the in game PC's is usually the one who does the leading, but the DM leads in a different way. It is of great responsbility to the DM to keep the players interested in what is happening in the world. It is also of equal responsibility to the players to let the DM know that certain aspects of the world are no longer interesting to them. They can do this by direct means, such as plainly telling the DM, or subtle means, such as looking for or inventing quests that have yet to be alluded to.
These are some of the basic precepts to being a storyteller and a world master, but how does one start? Like THIS!:
Step 1: Just start. There's only two good ways to learn, do it yourself, or do it with someone else.
Apples had her first DM'ing experience by teaming up with me for a large session amongst our college friends. We had discussed it for a long time, and eventually decided she would do a sort of apprenticeship under me. We worked out storylines and geographies together, but I did most of the world making. She took care of a lot of the details at that point. When the sessions actually ran, we would have one person take over as storyteller, and another person as the combat referee. The game was successful for the length that it lasted, and all had fun. Apples soon took over her own game though, and was learning a lot from being forced into both roles at once. She soon learned how mentally tiring it can be, but all in all, she did a great job.
The other method, my method, had a lot more failures in it. I played two sessions of D&D with my oldest brother before I found that I really wanted to play it a lot more. Very few of my friends had ever heard of it, as I had very few friends at that age anyway. I picked up DMG for the 2nd edition books and read through the whole thing. I also read the entire players handbook, and over time the entire monstrous manual. 5 years later I was DM'ing in high school for a small group of friends, and having a blast. Those 5 years carried a lot of utter failures and ridiculous jaunts, but you have to start somewhere. As my body matured, my gaming became more sophisticated, and I slowly added more players of different backgrounds under my belt. Every new person I DM'd for was a new lesson in how my games should run, and eventually I learned the ultimate lesson: It's all about fun. No matter how many times anybody tells you, that is what it comes down to in the very end. However you manage to get there with your gaming group is the actual difficult part, but every group will either find that, or disperse.
Step 2: Learn the Rules
Plain and simple, pick up the PHB and read every rule that applies to combat and character creation. You will often find that you are the one that everybody asks the questions of. The questions come fast at times to, so it's good to have a bag of tricks up your sleeve just in case. One of my favorite tricks is to answer a question with another question, or perhaps put some mystery behind it. "How come he gets to be a Dragonborn, but I can't?" "Good question, maybe you should go on a quest to find out." or "The book says scale mail costs 45! How come he's charging me 100g!?" "Why would he charge so much for scale mail?"
Making a mistake at times can often lead you into a quest or a chance at a unique RP encounter without you ever planning it. Mistakes can be what keeps the world fresh and interesting. However, eventually the mistakes should be sieved out to a minimum, and the fresh and interesting should be as intentional as possible.
Step 3/4: Make Some Encounters/Create A Story
These two steps are completely interchangeable. Sometimes if you have a story, you can just throw some monsters in there for fun and excitement. Conversely, if you have some great encounters planned, figure out how the players will end up wandering into them! Sometimes it can be easier than you think. A good adventuring group should be wanting some adventure anyway; make it easy to find, and give them so good rewards for it!
More next week.
-Lance of the Hill People
The Dungeon Master is in no way in charge of the actions that the party takes though. They can't give orders to the players, but simply tell them the reaction to every one of their actions. One of the in game PC's is usually the one who does the leading, but the DM leads in a different way. It is of great responsbility to the DM to keep the players interested in what is happening in the world. It is also of equal responsibility to the players to let the DM know that certain aspects of the world are no longer interesting to them. They can do this by direct means, such as plainly telling the DM, or subtle means, such as looking for or inventing quests that have yet to be alluded to.
These are some of the basic precepts to being a storyteller and a world master, but how does one start? Like THIS!:
Step 1: Just start. There's only two good ways to learn, do it yourself, or do it with someone else.
Apples had her first DM'ing experience by teaming up with me for a large session amongst our college friends. We had discussed it for a long time, and eventually decided she would do a sort of apprenticeship under me. We worked out storylines and geographies together, but I did most of the world making. She took care of a lot of the details at that point. When the sessions actually ran, we would have one person take over as storyteller, and another person as the combat referee. The game was successful for the length that it lasted, and all had fun. Apples soon took over her own game though, and was learning a lot from being forced into both roles at once. She soon learned how mentally tiring it can be, but all in all, she did a great job.
The other method, my method, had a lot more failures in it. I played two sessions of D&D with my oldest brother before I found that I really wanted to play it a lot more. Very few of my friends had ever heard of it, as I had very few friends at that age anyway. I picked up DMG for the 2nd edition books and read through the whole thing. I also read the entire players handbook, and over time the entire monstrous manual. 5 years later I was DM'ing in high school for a small group of friends, and having a blast. Those 5 years carried a lot of utter failures and ridiculous jaunts, but you have to start somewhere. As my body matured, my gaming became more sophisticated, and I slowly added more players of different backgrounds under my belt. Every new person I DM'd for was a new lesson in how my games should run, and eventually I learned the ultimate lesson: It's all about fun. No matter how many times anybody tells you, that is what it comes down to in the very end. However you manage to get there with your gaming group is the actual difficult part, but every group will either find that, or disperse.
Step 2: Learn the Rules
Plain and simple, pick up the PHB and read every rule that applies to combat and character creation. You will often find that you are the one that everybody asks the questions of. The questions come fast at times to, so it's good to have a bag of tricks up your sleeve just in case. One of my favorite tricks is to answer a question with another question, or perhaps put some mystery behind it. "How come he gets to be a Dragonborn, but I can't?" "Good question, maybe you should go on a quest to find out." or "The book says scale mail costs 45! How come he's charging me 100g!?" "Why would he charge so much for scale mail?"
Making a mistake at times can often lead you into a quest or a chance at a unique RP encounter without you ever planning it. Mistakes can be what keeps the world fresh and interesting. However, eventually the mistakes should be sieved out to a minimum, and the fresh and interesting should be as intentional as possible.
Step 3/4: Make Some Encounters/Create A Story
These two steps are completely interchangeable. Sometimes if you have a story, you can just throw some monsters in there for fun and excitement. Conversely, if you have some great encounters planned, figure out how the players will end up wandering into them! Sometimes it can be easier than you think. A good adventuring group should be wanting some adventure anyway; make it easy to find, and give them so good rewards for it!
More next week.
-Lance of the Hill People
Monday, June 23, 2008
Mini-Review: Last Chaos
This is a free to play, pay to win, MMO that was recently featured on one of those sites that list tons of free MMO's. It's called Last Chaos, it's a relatively small download for an MMO client (700mb?) and has decent graphics for a free game.
Character creation was very easy, and very limited. You can only be a human, and you can only choose from 5 classes. And in case you wondering, which you probably weren't, the class you pick also determines your gender. Someone played a bit too much Diablo II...
Anyway, I chose healer, and I was dumped right in the middle of what appeared to be some kind of tomb. Turns out this was some sort of dungeon underneath the city of Randol, and it was full of zombies! I could handle the zombies easily enough with my bow, but they certainly made it difficult with a very odd control system:
Left click on the ground- move to that spot
Left click on an enemy- move into range and attack
Left click on an enemy- select that enemy
In other words, you use the same button to move, select, and attack. It was awkward, but not unmanageable. Something I would have to figure out how to change before paying any money for the super duper features. Back to the zombies...
The zombies were mindless and slow, and died before they got to me. I had a special ability or two, but they were utterly useless to my autoattack at that point. I worked my way through a few dozen mindless guardians and simply clicked on the exit to finish the mini-tutorial. That's when I was immediately placed in what seemed to be the only city on my map. It was nearly impossible to tell what was going on that was appropriate to my level.
However, I was not completely lost. The first thing I did was seek out a class trainer, as I have played many RPG's in my day, and would not think of adventuring with outdated skills! I found the trainer, and had very little luck in actually deciphering what was actually available right off. It wasn't too terrible, just very unorganized for the most part. I trained the next level of my self heal and super bow attack thing, and headed off into the wilderness.
Journeying outside of Randol I ran into some other players killing foxes and wolves. I asked if I could join them, and didn't a single response for about 5 minutes, so I went off on my own. Equal level enemies were easy enough, and thanks to a 1.5x experience bonus buff, I was able to level fairly fast! It wasn't long before I was killing elder and dire wolves outside of town. But, as joyous as wolf extermination can be, I found my attention diverge to what appeared to be an angry sasquatch. Level 13. I was only 6 at that point, and thought it was about time to see what the death penalty was like.
I killed the sasquatch without getting hit. it wasn't just easy, it was too easy. A couple shots, run away, a few more shots, and the beast was done. I was disappointed, so I went after some level 17 beast of sorts. Thinking that this would be the end of me. The creature managed to hit me as I was overconfident and bored at this point, I took about 35% damage in the first hit. I soon realized how easy it was to simply run away and lure him around the entire wilderness slowly depleting his life, and enjoyed an entire level when I finally defeated him. I was unimpressed.
It was about this time that I realized I had some quests queuing up that I could acquire from mysterious sources out in the wilderness. I clicked the icon on my GUI display and quickly discovered that I was too high level for most of them already. Apparently you have to be the exact level for the quest to get anything out of it. And these weren't the kinds of quests that helped you level by loading you with XP, these were quests that teach fundamentals of out of combat gameplay. I still don't know how to get my spare items of good or better quality transmuted. Something about Lorraine?
Anyway, the game was enjoyable, but not worth committing to. If you're super broke, and really need something to do with your time, give it a shot, it's at least entertaining. But, unfortunately, I see no benefit or satisfaction out of getting far in the game.
For a freebie? Above average. Paying for it? Not for me.
-Lance of the Healer People
Character creation was very easy, and very limited. You can only be a human, and you can only choose from 5 classes. And in case you wondering, which you probably weren't, the class you pick also determines your gender. Someone played a bit too much Diablo II...
Anyway, I chose healer, and I was dumped right in the middle of what appeared to be some kind of tomb. Turns out this was some sort of dungeon underneath the city of Randol, and it was full of zombies! I could handle the zombies easily enough with my bow, but they certainly made it difficult with a very odd control system:
Left click on the ground- move to that spot
Left click on an enemy- move into range and attack
Left click on an enemy- select that enemy
In other words, you use the same button to move, select, and attack. It was awkward, but not unmanageable. Something I would have to figure out how to change before paying any money for the super duper features. Back to the zombies...
The zombies were mindless and slow, and died before they got to me. I had a special ability or two, but they were utterly useless to my autoattack at that point. I worked my way through a few dozen mindless guardians and simply clicked on the exit to finish the mini-tutorial. That's when I was immediately placed in what seemed to be the only city on my map. It was nearly impossible to tell what was going on that was appropriate to my level.
However, I was not completely lost. The first thing I did was seek out a class trainer, as I have played many RPG's in my day, and would not think of adventuring with outdated skills! I found the trainer, and had very little luck in actually deciphering what was actually available right off. It wasn't too terrible, just very unorganized for the most part. I trained the next level of my self heal and super bow attack thing, and headed off into the wilderness.
Journeying outside of Randol I ran into some other players killing foxes and wolves. I asked if I could join them, and didn't a single response for about 5 minutes, so I went off on my own. Equal level enemies were easy enough, and thanks to a 1.5x experience bonus buff, I was able to level fairly fast! It wasn't long before I was killing elder and dire wolves outside of town. But, as joyous as wolf extermination can be, I found my attention diverge to what appeared to be an angry sasquatch. Level 13. I was only 6 at that point, and thought it was about time to see what the death penalty was like.
I killed the sasquatch without getting hit. it wasn't just easy, it was too easy. A couple shots, run away, a few more shots, and the beast was done. I was disappointed, so I went after some level 17 beast of sorts. Thinking that this would be the end of me. The creature managed to hit me as I was overconfident and bored at this point, I took about 35% damage in the first hit. I soon realized how easy it was to simply run away and lure him around the entire wilderness slowly depleting his life, and enjoyed an entire level when I finally defeated him. I was unimpressed.
It was about this time that I realized I had some quests queuing up that I could acquire from mysterious sources out in the wilderness. I clicked the icon on my GUI display and quickly discovered that I was too high level for most of them already. Apparently you have to be the exact level for the quest to get anything out of it. And these weren't the kinds of quests that helped you level by loading you with XP, these were quests that teach fundamentals of out of combat gameplay. I still don't know how to get my spare items of good or better quality transmuted. Something about Lorraine?
Anyway, the game was enjoyable, but not worth committing to. If you're super broke, and really need something to do with your time, give it a shot, it's at least entertaining. But, unfortunately, I see no benefit or satisfaction out of getting far in the game.
For a freebie? Above average. Paying for it? Not for me.
-Lance of the Healer People
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