How I Roll - Online Gaming

OK - let's face it. If we're going to game at all for the next several months (if not longer) it's going to be using various online platforms.

I'm not a fan of online gaming in general (I like the in person social interaction) but that's not going to stop me from exploring my options for online gaming. Because I would rather game at a distance than not game at all.

I won't be reviewing any of the platforms out there. Others have done so very well. Instead I'm going to talk about the implications of moving a game from table to the ether.

I'm a veteran of conference and video calls for work. Online communication is nothing new to me. So I'll use those experiences as my comparison items here.

One thing that's much more of an issue with online communication is stepping on each other. For those unfamiliar with the term it's when two or more people start talking at the same time. Or one starts slightly later because there's a lag on their end. Then there's a pause. Then it happens again. Eventually it sorts itself out but it breaks up the flow of conversation.

The same thing happens with video. It stutters. It freezes. Someone suddenly can't see it, at the worst possible time.

Think about how your game normally runs. It's smooth enough because people can see when someone else is going to talk or the response time turns it into a snappy back and forth between players. That's not nearly as organic when you're all online. And to me that takes away some of the depth for the game.

Given that I play an older version in a licensed setting my online options are very limited. I can get the OSR but nothing with the setting. So the sites that let you have online character sheets and such just don't work for my game. While doing my research I thought that my best (and only) option was to take away the setting and have the players retool their characters for OSR 3.5.

I was wrong.

We're going to try using Google Hangouts meetings. I'll have a camera on the battle mat and we'll do an audio version of the game. I still need to test this setup but it gives us the complete flexibility that tabletop has without much disruptive technology.

I'm a bit worried because not only am I going to be running the game I'll also be running the battle mat and the meeting. Adding another layer of things to control may make me feel I'm not running a good game. I honestly don't know.

One thing I did realize about this is that I could use cool stuff I had printed but wasn't able to haul around. But then I realized it would probably be in the way of the camera angle. Another thing to test.

I'd love to be able to go to an online platform, have everyone enter their character sheets, and pick up the game with more information at my fingertips. I know that's not how it works.

I may find that I like online gaming and look more into the platforms to run additional games. I'm beginning to accept that I'll have to deal with 5e if I want to do that and have been slowly resigning myself to that sorry fact.

I may find that I really don't like online gaming and count the days until we can feel safe meeting up in person again.

I know there's real problems out there. My feelings about online gaming are trivial. But they're my feelings. This is my game. These are my players. It's my release in a world that's getting more difficult every day. I don't feel bad taking the time to do my research and find ways that we can spend a few hours every other week to set aside the problems we all bear and have fun.

Never feel bad about doing things that will bring a bright spot into an otherwise dark time. It's what makes us human.

How I Roll - GM Mojo

Following all those posts on prepping and story arcs I have to admit that my GM mojo has felt very weak to me. I've left game sessions feeling like I haven't done well enough by my players.

I think every GM feels this at some point. If not then please let me know how you do it, unless you're the GM who runs modules with no deviation and rolls in the open. Then we have such different styles that I don't know if there's any common ground.

Thinking about it I wonder how much of my uncertainty in my personal life spilled over into my gaming life. I'd like to have the two completely disconnected but I can't. I don't know if anyone can. But I play games to escape my real life!

GM mojo is hard to define. The players could have had a fantastically good session for them and the GM still feels like they didn't do things right. They didn't make a call correctly. They gave out the wrong information. They didn't set things up for the next game well enough. Things that the players don't really think about follow the GM like a balloon tied to the belt loop of their jeans.

I realized a mistake I made when I gave out information on a book a player found when searching a hideout. The information was that the history book was more fiction based on stories the author heard from people who'd been in the general area. My plan was for the player to use the book as a tool in trying to resolve his backstory, not knowing that everything was made up. But no. I lost that plot hook because I made the mistake. A sloppy mistake.

At the same time my story arc isn't really that great. Once they get out of where they are I have no idea how to motivate them to do something new. They'll be back where they started before this excursion, a little wealthier and a little more experienced. But without a clear goal. That's where I feel I'm failing.

Why am I putting all this in a blog post? To show that even the most prepped and ready GM can be insecure and make mistakes. That one slip can take an entire story arc out of play. And that happy players are great but if the GM ain't happy there's a problem.

I can solve my problem. I know this. I need to take a step back and see where to send them. I know the players better now and have ideas about what motivates them. This will help me with more enticing plot hooks which can lead to better and richer games.

By the time this posts I'm hoping that I've resolved the big issues and am diligently chipping away at the small ones that continually crop up. I'm still not at all great about gemstones as treasure but I'm working on various methods to combat that. If that's my biggest ongoing problem I may be the best GM in the world.

So what happens when the GM mojo is gone? That's a tough question. Is it something temporary? Is it a group dynamic? Is there a problem player? Or is the GM burnt out or in some other way not invested in the game anymore? Each question and others not listed has a different solution. It's not always to end the game. It's not always to give up the GM chair. But sometimes it is.

In my case I'm going to read some short adventures to see what ideas I can glean from them for my own game. I'll read the introduction to longer modules. I'll ask other GMs for ideas. If I can think my own way out of it I'll find help wherever I can. And if I still don't feel like I'm doing my best I'll ask my group what they think is lacking. If they don't think anything is then it's a very personal problem. If they do then I have guidance on what I can try.

Notice that asking the players is the last option. That's because I don't want them to panic or to put doubt in them if it isn't already there. I'm lucky that my current batch of players isn't shy about asking me about things so if they have issues I think I would know about them. This isn't hubris - not asking the players. It's about exploring other avenues before bringing the problem to them when it isn't theirs to solve.

Here's a hint. If you're afraid to ask the players what they want you to do better, you need to do better. If only for your own state of mind.

How I Roll - Encounter Prep Game Session

This continues on last week's post about how to build and prep story arcs. That one was a higher level post about the whole arc and how to run it through to completion. This post goes into how I prep for a game session. Believe it or not I do prep.

I prep by having all the components in place that will require interaction. That means having a location mapped out (to various degrees), having role play and combat encounters planned, and deciding what reward the players will get from the session.

Yes. Players get rewards in each session. Playing for hours and not getting some kind of reward is a way for them to lose interest in both the story and the game. Give them treats!

I'll use the goblin encounter story arc for my examples here, since I've already built it.

Location

The town is on a plain with one side bordered by cliff faces. A waterfall provides plentiful water and there's farmland outside the town walls. The farms have basic fences to keep livestock from wandering and to set boundary lines but no real defensive perimeters.

Why have I built it this way? To give plenty of opportunity based on what reason comes up for the goblin raids.

Reason

They could want the farm produce. They could want the town to use as a new lair. They could be coming back to ancestral lands to find them occupied. They could be holed up in the cliff face and simply raiding for loot. There's lots of options there both for the raids and the final encounter. Let the role play decide it or pick one and lead the role play there.

You should know what drives your players by now. Tailor the reason for that. If they're a bunch who prefer to deal with loot they're not going to be interested in the scenarios where the goblins are raiding for better living conditions.

Role Play

Let them talk to the town leaders, people in taverns, the shopkeepers, the temples, and anywhere else they go. Let them overhear the NPCs talking to each other and pick up information or misinformation from that. Maybe a group of residents isn't happy with the mayor and have agitated the goblins into making it so they can take over the town themselves. It might just be talk, it might not.

Encounter

This is the more serious raid on the town. They've already had the raid that turned tail and ran at the change in defenses. Now they're back with more and better warriors. Play them smart enough to challenge the players. Split them into more than one group. Have them set fires within the town using fire arrows. Have them complete tunnels into the basements of a few buildings. This isn't the big fight but it's going to be far more than the initial raid.

Resolution

The goblins retreat (leave some alive to retreat!) but there's damage to the town. It may be less than the damage that was being done, in which case the citizens will be grateful. It may be more damage since there was more defense, in which case the citizens will be far less grateful and start thinking they were better off before.

Knowing what the goblins are after now (based on the previous sessions and this one) the final battle encounter can be planned. Defenses set, NPCs enlisted, reward negotiated. Everyone knows what they're up against and it's time for it to stop.

End of Session

So what would I prep here?

• The goblin stats
• The combat plan
• Both sides of how the NPCs react
• The reward from the encounter
• The final reward

That's it. What I've planned is flexible enough to handle what goes on in the game session and keep the story moving along. At each step the players determine how the story progresses. And at each step they can back out of the entire thing without me losing out on hours of planning.

Here's the other advantage. I have things prepped and ready for more encounters while they're at this level. It doesn't take much to increase the difficulty if they players have leveled because of this encounter since I'm not making stuff up from scratch.

I can get away with this because I'm decent at improvisation. That's a good GM skill to have. Not everyone has it and they need more planning. If that's the case then build on each section a bit and have some decision trees ready. Don't try to write a story and expect/force your players to follow it. Let them make the choices based on how the session goes.

And don't forget to write down what they do and don't do so it can continue to build after they've left!

How I Roll - Encounter Prep Story Arcs

Building a series of encounters takes some forethought. My thought on this is to have a story arc that lasts about five sessions and to have each session be a mini arc on its own that works towards the goal of the main story arc. This is assuming the players don't take a left turn and change things so that after the X mini arc the main story arc no longer makes sense. Not that players ever do that, right?

I'm going to use a five session plan here because my games tend to be several hours long so the mini arcs can also be short. If you're a group that plays for eight hours at a time I'd limit it to two, maybe three, mini arcs. Of course those mini arcs can be chopped up into micro arcs so they're still at the five quantity but it's always up to the GM to know their players and how they like their games.

To do this I start with a goal. Let's go with "Goblins are raiding villages in the mountains where there were never goblin raids before" as the main story arc. This means something is happening to send those goblins to that location (or be seen there). It gives me a chance to work through the process.

• What is the location like and where would the goblins come from?
• Why haven't they seen the goblins before?
• What does the location have that the goblins want?
• How does the location deal with the threat?
• What does the location want to do about the goblins?
• What does the party do when they encounter the goblins?
• What does the party do when they find the goblin lair?

This is the meat of the main story arc. Not everything will be its own mini arc but they're lurking in there. This is how a story develops. It brings out the basics - why is it happening, what's the plan to fix it, and what to do when they find the source.

Never mind how it can lead to another story arc. That's for later.

Taking all this information let it simmer.

• Location will determine where the goblins' lair is. 
• Knowing that leads into why they location wouldn't have been them before and how the goblin attacks happen. 
• It's up to the GM how the location can handle the attacks and if the party is involved they shouldn't be able to handle it on their own or there would be no need for the party to get involved. 
• What do the goblins do when they're attacking/raiding the location?
• What do the goblins do when the party defends the village?
• What do the goblins do when the party starts looking for the lair?
• What do the goblins do when the party finds the lair?

With this you can make the main arc - a town is being raided by goblins, their population isn't up to the challenge of running them out, and they need help. Perfect. A basic story arc that the players can get behind.

First they need to get to the village and talk to the NPCs about what's going on. That's role play stuff. There's a goblin encounter that turns into a small running skirmish when the goblins figure out they're not dealing with easy meat now. That's the combat stuff.

Now the party knows more about the goblins and what they're doing. Are they taking food? Are they clearing out the farmers? Are they working to eliminate the town? Each of those goals has a different reason behind it. Decide which one it is from the previous arc and what comes out of the role play. If your players aren't that good at it or prefer not to role play much just pick one. Throw in a stronger encounter.

The next session is guarding the town and having a more serious encounter with the goblins. They know that the town has protection and they're going to see how good it is. Have them also achieve a portion of whatever the goal is, just to keep tensions high in the town. Even with the party there they can't fully protect the town. That's going to make the residents wonder why they're paying the party.

The final town encounter is a large scale goblin raid that does some damage to the town but draws the party out on the path to the lair. Now you're into the end game. The party knows why the goblins are attacking the town but they don't know why they're doing it now when they didn't do it before.

The last encounter of the arc gets the party to the lair. Combat ensues and they can either slaughter the goblins to eliminate the threat without ever finding out the ultimate reason or get some role play in to figure out the reason and maybe talk them into doing something other than attacking the town.

End of story arc. The party has successfully eliminated the goblin threat to the town. They get paid and they get some loot from the goblins. They've done what adventuring parties do - they've adventured.

Now they're at loose ends again. Following this arc, based on what happened at the lair, they can get a new story arc from it. The goblins were driven out of their homeland and the party wants to know why. Another faction of goblins sees easy meat in the town and starts their own raids (derivative and depends on how the players feel about repeating events), the party finds out there's a bounty on goblins so they go hunting for more. Or this story arc is over and a completely new one starts.

This all takes planning. Each mini arc builds on the previous ones and gets more difficult. Then the last, climactic session with the final reward.

Don't stress too much over writing out every single thing that can happen during these mini arcs. Make a framework you can hang events on as they occur. Toss in things that let the spotlight shine on each of the players. React to something they did in game and keep it rolling. Overplanning means you're not as flexible.

I give the same advice for the opponents. In this case I'd have levels of goblins so some are more experienced than others. To do raids there would have to be unit leaders. There'd be someone in the lair who planned the whole thing. And there could be NPC goblins that have to be dealt with in one form or another. Don't forget to throw in situations to challenge the player's morals.

There you go. A very long winded way to explain how I plan my sessions in advance so there's coherency in what they're doing in game and a satisfying story. Of course if they choose not to take this bait it's already prepped for another time. Encounter prep never really goes to waste.

Drawing 101 - Class 2 of 6

Tonight's class was about shading. As I said for the first class even though it's listed as being two hours long we're lucky to get one and a half hours of class time. That's not exactly bad but also not exactly good.

All three students were there - MG (manga girl), PL (Pinterest lady), and SAG (serious art guy). MG doesn't seem to understand the unspoken rule that once you pick a seat in the first class that's your seat forever. So instead of sitting next to PL I sat next to her. Not exactly bad but a breach of classroom etiquette.

Once again the instructor pulled out his very large pad of newsprint and gave us all pieces. I'm glad that we're using his paper for all of this because the class supply list had us buy a pad of rather expensive paper for use with pastels. I'd hate to waste nice paper on this. I'm also interested to find out if we're even going to use it. But I digress.

Tonight's class was very basic - trace shapes, shade shapes. The most complex thing was the use of a vanishing point. I'm not saying that it was bad at all. Shading is a basic technique that is necessary to learn. And I'm glad that he had a lesson plan and didn't do another "just draw" session.

Here's our first assignment - a pyramid-like shape and a sphere:

I'm not overly fond of that line on the triangle that makes it into two planes but gives no depth, which is the intention of shading. It's also not my class.

He had posterboard templates for the shapes and a ruler for the baseline. Around they went and off we went. He also handed out charcoal pencils for us to use (even if we had our own) and later in the process offered people willow charcoal sticks. I wasn't offered and I would have declined. It was too dark for me in this exercise.

My result:

Yes. I know they're not in the same order but that's because he handed out the templates in the other order. He also didn't say the line we were drawing was the baseline until I'd already drawn on the shapes. I simply couldn't deal with that triangle so I made it into a pyramid.

I think I got the concept down. Charcoal pencil, smudged using a paper towel. I know the shadow on the sphere is very light for what it should be but I also wasn't going to sit there and darken it up when I knew what the concept was.

SAG was working with all his own supplies and shading like a MOFO. He had a waning moon going on there he had such a solid black section. MG was working quite well and got excited when she saw my pyramid, saying that now she knew what had been bothering her. I couldn't see PL because she was too far away.

Here's the comparison shot of the example vs my attempt:

Overall I think I got the concepts down and while I knew it wasn't great I also wasn't going to spend a lot of time futzing on a class demo piece. That gets boring to me when there should be more to learn.

And there was! Next up was a cube and a cylinder:

Way off over the cylinder is the vanishing point for the cube.

So we're learning perspective as well as blending. Sneaky...

Anyway. Some ruler work, some posterboard templates, and off we went. Note that the cylinder is open at the top. Our template was a rectangle and we had to add the rounded bits.

Honestly the shading on the front face of the cube is something I would have to look into and figure out myself. I'm not sure how it would look with the light source and I don't know that the example is correct. But that's minor.

My result:

They're in the right order this time. You can't see my vanishing point because it's under the paper at the top but I left it and the guidelines in place. The cube looks a little ragged because I didn't use a ruler when I darkened the lines. Again, practice piece!

Here's the comparison shot of the example vs my attempt:

Yes. That's my first drawing under the example. Again I think that I got the concepts he was trying to teach even if I didn't go to the extremes in the example.

I was the only person turning my drawing board to make it easier to do directional strokes of the pencil. Why make it more difficult for myself when I can turn the thing ninety degrees and make nice, smooth lines?

I was working with trying different ways to blend the pencil while I worked. Mostly I went from light to dark so I wasn't dragging more color into areas where I didn't want it.

The handout for this class showed four different kinds of shading strokes - layers, scribbles, hatching, and blending. I did try a little of the scribbling but found it wasn't going to work for me with these strong geometric shapes. Maybe on more organic things or in different areas it would be something to try and I might do just that.

Thus endeth the class. SAG left early and won't be there for the next class. Life and stuff. It happens and he was polite about telling the instructor so we wouldn't be waiting or wondering.

While we all finish early I'd rather that he not try to pack too much into a class so we have to rush and possibly miss things. I do these exercises quickly without consciously trying to do them quickly. I just do. In this case shading such large objects becomes an exercise in tedium so practice for me would be on much smaller ones.

We'll see what next week brings.

How I Roll - To NPC or not to NPC

NPCs are the lifeblood of a campaign. Without them you're not going to populate the world. But there's limits.

Personally I refuse to have an essential NPC unless there's an excellent reason and even then they're more background equipment than a person.

Example. I was running a Firefly game using Savage Worlds rules, because I hate the Cortex rules that come with the Serenity books and the setting really is Cowboys in Space so Savage Worlds is perfect. If you're interested in all my background material comment here and we'll work something out.

I had four player and none of them wanted to play the medic. Fair enough. It's not a very action packed role and losing that character can really be a problem. Hence "Doc in a Box" came into being.

Doc was an essential NPC. He got his share of the loot. But in no way was he ever essential to anything they were trying to do except to patch them up afterwards. I refused to use him as a plot device (Oh Noes! Doc got kidnapped! You have to find him!) but he did have some personality. Occasionally he was part of the role playing, he always had at least two very lovely women waiting for him in port although no one ever noticed him using the communication equipment, and he remodeled the med bay and his personal quarters when the ship was in for repairs. I purposely kept him mysterious.

But I didn't try to play my own game.

Non-essential NPCs run the world. They're the people in the villages, they're the people met on the road, they're the ones delivering messages, they're the ones hiring the party to do stuff. Without them it would be adventuring parties wandering around with nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nothing to buy.  Those NPCs rarely need to be fleshed out to be more than a job description.

Sometimes you'll find the PCs latch onto an NPC either for good or ill. It happens. Nothon the information weasel may suddenly be someone they want to protect and find who misuses him. PCs tend to do this without notice and for no reason that can be determined. That's great. They're interacting with the world.

Those NPCs need to have a bit of a story, some mannerisms, and some relationship to other NPCs in the game. They can be their entire own sidequest. The party may even want to bring them along when they leave. That's where things can get tricky because it sucks the GM into playing a character in the game. Nothon is no longer background once he gets on the road.

Every GM has different opinions on this. Some like to both run the game and have a place in the party as well. Some don't want to have to worry about the NPC's status while running the world. That's a completely personal choice and I won't say whether it's good or bad. The GM is the only person who can do that.

When I'm prepping a game I keep a list of names on hand. That way when the party encounters various and sundry NPCs I don't have to fumble for what they're called. The roles are easy enough since but names are more difficult for me. When I use a name I put it in my notes as to who they are and where the party met them. I also note what was the result of that interaction.

Players tend to forget about NPCs once they've moved on. The same can't be said for NPCs. If the party has caused problems that the NPCs have to deal with later (Nothon no longer has his protectors) then it's a huge opportunity for situations to arise in other encounters. The world doesn't actually center around the PCs and continues to spin on after they leave an area.

Use your NPCs as you see fit. But think about what happens when the PCs leave the area and how that can impact future interactions. Nothon's tormentors aren't happy with the PCs embarrassing them so the pass along word to their fellows in the next few villages. The merchant they cheated has told the caravans about them so their reputation precedes them and they have to deal with hostile merchants until they get much farther away. The barmaid they wouldn't stop pestering has family spread out across the area and aren't at ALL happy with how their cousin was treated.

It's more work but it gets immersive when consequences come back many sessions later. The players are confused as to why these things are happening until someone puts it together and they realize what they've done. It probably won't stop them from doing it again so be prepared for continuing NPC interactions based on previous encounters.

That having been said I recommend using this sparingly. Every NPC interaction shouldn't spawn future implications. Buying stuff from the magic component shop with no difficulty means that NPC fades into the background unless they go back to that specific shop. Pick up on when the players spend more time with an NPC and decide if that series of interactions could mean something further down the road. Literally, further down the road.

To wrap up I'll go back to my Firefly game. I used extended families to run business interests on different planets. It's a variant on the feudal structure and it's pretty stable for far flung enterprises where there's not an easy way to keep in contact. When the players would get to another location they'd more than likely find a business with connections back to a family they'd worked with in the past and there was a better chance of getting work for them. It wasn't in any way railroaded by me but they chose one family that they kept working for and that was the one where I spent more time on making more fully fleshed out NPCs. The rest? They had names and basic personalities.