Musings of the Chatty DM

Story Contest results

ChattyDM — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I'm slowly catching up on things. A few weeks ago, I launched a contest to get people to submit Characterization tips to help me and my group get better tools to create better integrated adventuring parties. Well I had about 40 tips from 20 people. Quite a nice turnout given that characterization is not the easiest thing to do for the average roleplayer. I'm pleased to announce that Tommi (of Cogito, Ergo Ludo) is our contest winner! Since Tommi lives in Finland, instead of sending the Planescape box, I offer a 15$ gift Certificate at DrivethruRPG .com. (If for whatever reason you don't really care about this Tommi, I can also write an article on a subject of your choice... let me know). I also brought together all tips into a single PDF file that I'm offering for free here. Share the file, post it on forums. Just please don't modify it. Tell people that Chatty and his minions are happy to share it. I have a few more contest ideas and I'm waiting for a Prize Pack from Paizo to serve as the next prize. What about the Planescape box you ask? Well, unless Tommi really wants it (and we come to an arrangement for shipment), I was thinking of selling it on Ebay and using the proceeds to pay for more Swag for future contests. I'm open to suggestions.

Slowing down... Spring break... and Akismet finally activated.

ChattyDM — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:10:33 +0000

My kids are starting the primary school equivalent of spring break (i.e no school, but no partying in Florida either) so I decided to slow down a bit on the blog this week. Expect a one or two-part post on last Friday's game tonight and maybe tomorrow but not much else this week. I could use the rest... Also, I was assaulted by about 70 spam comments last night on my Legend of the Broken Dice post that somehow got through the Captcha. So I temporarily activated Akismet while I look into it (I might need to update a few of the other plugins). Have a nice week y'all!

ChattyDM — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:17:17 +0000

DM Chronicles, Session 12: The Great Game! Part 1

ChattyDM — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:32:00 +0000

I guess I had to complain about attendance in order to get a full house last Friday as everyone showed up! Yay! Franky and Stef showed up first and I got to clean the floor with them in a few Magic game with my rebel and Elf decks. Then Yan showed up and we teamed up against Franky and Stef to beat them. So the evening was off to a good start. Eric showed up at around 5 PM and started to level up his Crusader character to level 10 (although he had promised, at least twice, to do it beforehand... Not that we ever believed him). Since Math missed the last game, we decided to start before he arrived. Last time, we had decided that his character, Aravard the Arcane Archer, didn't tag along and stayed behind to fight the horde of Driders and the few Huge Dread Harpoon Spiders (MM III, p80-81) that were attacking Iridithil's House back in Ptolus. The Beastlands So the PCs started around the tomb of the Fallen Hero of the Beastlands. Ignoring the wards, Cixi entered after Cruguer and studied the galleries of images, searching for any clues that might relate to her long lost people. None were found. When they both left the crumbling tomb, the party observed the Wolf lord sitting on it's hunches not far away from the forested island. I envision this layer of the Beastlands like a darker version of World of Warcraft's Ashenvale (see image). Anyhoo... as the players were discussing ways to get to the Beastland's first layer, to pay Elhonna and Lillee a visit, the Wolf lord informed them that the Demons on this layer were dispersing. It also mentioned that it appeared likely that they would be repulsed successfully. That implied that once the common was enemy gone, the normal order of things would resume and the PCs would become prey again. As a token of honor, the Wolf lord offered the PCs with a safe conduit to anywhere on the plane under its protection, which included, after the PCs asked, 'walking' to the 1st layer and meeting with an Aspect of the Goddess of Forests. The heroes debated the offer as they wanted to go and check on Aravard as well as go talk to Elhona and Lillee. At that time, Math (and the Chinese food) had arrived, so they asked the wolf, quite shrewdly, if they could take the Safe Conduit a bit later, after having gone and retrieved their friend somewhere between here and Midtown, Ptolus. The wolf agreed, more because of the rule of fun than any timing consideration. So they returned to where they entered the plane and lo and behold, there was Aravard! I'm telling you, those in-game coincidences sure are convenient! Picking him up, they learned that Iridithil's house was probably destroyed and that Aravar was basically pushed into the portal by the Elven leader, telling him to go after the source of this evil, not it's manifestations. So onwards they walked. They climbed a tree so high that it pieced through the Rocky canopy of the layer above and crossed into a forest of eternal dusk. They then walked forever and climbed a mountain that led to the clouds, on which sat another forest basked in the purest of sunlight. (I really love describing these things) The whole layer was in a bloody uproar. A huge bruise-purple rift from which tiny dots were seen falling endlessly was visible very far away. Hosts of Celestials, animals, magical beasts and petitioners were fighting everywhere. After many days of endless walking, following the Wolf lord, the heroes arrived to a war camp. There they met an ecstatic Lillee (I love playing that character, I'm so happy ~~I stole her from~~ Yan let's me borrow her now) and a stern Eleven female archer pouring over a battle map. After unsticking Lillee from himself, Cruguer thanked the Aspect of the Goddess for his second chance and conveyed that he had refrained from trying to weasel out of the 'deal' by reuniting with his sword's psyche. (At that point the Sword's hilt mysteriously whacked Cruger real hard on the back of the head... go figure) . The Goddess conveyed a bit more history about Cruguer's former self. She explained that he became a powerful lord of Evil by basically selling all the souls of his original home world to the lords of Hell. He then engineered a last minute demonic invasion and let the world slip in the grasp of the Abyss who absorbed the world. Truly a magnificent Bastard he was! She then instructed Cruguer that his true salvation lies in saving the homeworld of the other party members from the same fate at the hands of the Yugoloths. At that point Cixi realized that she'd get no details from that aspect on her own homeworld. The Aspect of Elhonna then set them on their way back to Ptolus but not before bestowing them with a gift that turned out to be very useful: The Oil of Elhonna Upon anointing one's body, this magical oil bestows it's user with the Barkskin spell (CL 12, +5 bonus to natural armour) for a period of two hours. Furthemore, once during that duration, a user can benefit from a Cure Serious wounds (CL 12, 3d8+12) upon spending a swift action. I'll let you work out the creation costs and spells. :) Ptolus Back in Ptolus, only 2 days had passed since the attack of the Driders. Doredian Mythlord, leader of all Ptolus surface elves, was dead and Iridithil's House lay in ruins. Aside: For a setting that cost us 120$, I'm sure being harsh on it... well at least it's signed by Monte! Once returned, the PCs were 'recuperated' by a group of tabard-wearing people all hailing to be from the newly formed 'Brotherhood of the Prophecy'. All were allies of the PC's taken from the last 2 Ptolus campaigns. The tabard bore a reproduction of the prophecy and all those that could read it were invited to join. After 11 sessions, the players still hadn't settled on a name for their group... now it was settled. :D Part of Ptolus had fallen to anarchy, with the southern walls being battered down by the coutryside refugees and those parts of the city being overrun by demons, mobs and petty gang lords. The PCs were ushered in the northern parts of the city around the Pale Tower (HQ to the city's celestials) where the newly-formed brotherhood had allied with the Keepers of the Veil and the Knights of the Pale to maintain order and peace in the northern parts of the lower-city. The town militia and the noble houses were concentrating in maintaining the Upper parts of the city (Oldtown and the Noble's quarters). Railroading aside: At that point of the game, I took firm control of the story and info dumping as I had no wish of making the next part an investigation. With only 3-4 hours of game time, I wanted to fast forward to the actual search for the second Demon-slaying sword. So this basically turned into a slightly interactive cut scene. It ended up being a good decision. So the brotherhood of the prophecy showed the party all they had found about the Sword. That it was forged by the Ysgard Frost Giants to go and slay Kostchtchie, the demon lord who had stolen Nilfheim from Ysgard and brought it back into the Abyss (do you see a theme here?). The stories then went out to tell that the Frost Giants of Ysgard rallied around a Jarl called Gulgar and stormed the Iron Wastes (what Nilfheim became called in the Abyss). Almost all Ysgardian Giants were ruthlessly slain and only Gulgar's son, Gulgir, escaped alive with the sword. The most recent book placed him and the Jarl's ruined keep in the Frozen reaches of Ysgard. As the players were getting ready to hunt for a gate to the Heroic domain of Ysgard, Nogard the 1/2 dragon barbarian was accosted by a Bronze Clad human (My pet NPC Plantagonox, the Bronze Dragon) and he was asked if he knew about Xorvintaal.... The rest tomorrow. :) (Hint... check in the Monster Manual V under Dragons of the Great Game)

Hot nerd girl! (Safe for work)

ChattyDM — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:31:42 +0000

I Found this video on Dane of War's blog by way of Jeff the Evil DM's blog. [youtube JJZ6JJN_ON4&eurl] She's got other stuff that she posted here. I don't know if she has a blog... I like her style! Nerd/geek girls are the best for us guy geeks. I married one and I bless my luck every morning that she's still here regardless of my crazy projects and cave dwelling.

Thanks Gary... Peace be unto you.

ChattyDM — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:21:49 +0000

I just read from Dave that E. Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons died. Enworld is down, probably from traffic overload. But the story is creeping up on the net and CNN confirmed it. I owe my favorite hobby and way of life to this man. I would have wished to thank him in person at Gen Con but this short, poorly written note sent on the electron pathways of the Net will have to do. I picked up the Dungeon Master Guide when I was 12 (in 1985) with my hard earned savings from being a paperboy. I became a DM at that time and I never looked back. Adv. D&D opened up a new world of games and possibilities to me. The games may have changed a few times, but the legacy of having fun inventing fantastic stories always remained near and dear to my heart. It helped a socially inept, somewhat shy boy gain long lasting friends, build self confidence and become the successful and happy man that I am today. For the rulebooks, the Temple of Elemental Evil, Against the Giants and everything that RPGs brought to my life, thank you Gary and rest in peace! My condolences to his friends, family and the readers of this site. I shall uphold your memory by teaching the game to my children and their friends. Edit: Here's a few other posts on the subject by fellow bloggers and news sources in solidarity to a great man. I'll add them as I see more pop up. Blogs

Critical Hits' Dave
Stupid Ranger's Vanir, Dante and the Stupid Ranger herself.
Jeff's Gameblog tribute, and subsequent proposal
Greywulf's Angel tribute
DNAPhil's tribute
Geekdad's news
Epic Level Grognard's tribute
Evil DM's tribute
John Arcadian's tribute and 3 news stories.
Ronin's tribute
Shamus Young's tribute
Bruce Cordell's tribute
Bob Younce's tribute and tribute/News page
Graham's tribute
Dr. Rotwang's tribute
Captain Cursor's tribute

WebComics

Penny Arcade's very fitting tribute
The Order of the Stick's perfect tribute!
Duelling Analogs' Very funny tribute
Full Frontal Nerdity's tribute
Questionable Content's tribute (and it's not a gaming comic)
Fuzzy Knights' tribute
Cat's Grace tribute
xkcd's very fitting tribute

Companies

Wizards of the Coast's tribute
Paizo's tribute

P.S. This is not me trying to catch all tributes, but mostly those of my extended contact, friends or those that caught my eye.

ChattyDM — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:22:57 +0000

ChattyDM — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:15:20 +0000

DM Chronicles, Session 12: The Great Game! Part 2

ChattyDM — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:30:12 +0000

Life goes on... See part 1 here. So when I left off in part 1, Nogard had been accosted in his Dragon Temple by Plantagonox, the Juvenile Bronze Dragon errand boy of House Dallimothan (i.e. The Dragon-friendly Noble House of Ptolus). When 'Gonox asked Nogard if he know about Xorvindaal, Nogard responded that he did not. The young dragon impatiently brushed this display of ignorance aside, telling Nogard to look the word up. He gave Nogard a Dagger made from the tooth of a White Dragon and said that House Dallimothan was very concerned about the PC's quest and very much wanted it to be successful. 'Gonox then took a very conspirational tone and informed Nogard that Dallimothan's Pool would be unguarded tonight and that a little dip (with the dagger) could bring some 'refreshing' insights about the Demon-slaying sword the prophecy was referring to. Then he left, telling Nogard to say Hi to 'Slarty' for him. DMing aside: Yes this is exceedingly heavy handed (read railroady), even for my usual style, I totally agree. I wanted to give the feeling that the PCs weren't alone in all this, as harder times lay ahead. Clearly mapping out the party's allies was paramount to me. When Nogard informed the group of his meeting, they researched the meaning of Xorvintaal and found that it referred to 'The Great Game' that some dragons played to one-up each other. I presented Xorvinataal as being basically a cross between Chess and Poker, where the world(s) was the chessboards, the Dragon's hoards the chips and sentient beings the playing pieces. Not really liking to be pawns, the heroes still agreed that following Dallimothan's cue was the best course of action. At dusk, the PCs set up to climb the upper-city to reach the Noble Quarters where the Dallimothan Estate was. To get there they had to cross the gate of Dalengard, the old cannon-armed fortress that protected Ptolus' upper reaches from invaders. There, Cixi recognized some old comrades of arms she used to command in the Order of Iron Might. When the soldiers recognized her, they parted ways and saluted the party by banging their swords on their steel shields, shouting rallying war cries. You should have seen the smile on Franky's face... it was priceless. The party did indeed find the gate of Dallimothan's Estate unlocked and unguarded and they rapidly reached the Gold-Dragon shaped fountain. Nogard dipped the Dragon-Fang knife in the pool, creating a spreading glow in it. All players jumped in and found themselves in a natural pool of freezing water inside a frigid cave that featured a silvered-haired man seated nearby, surrounded by bookcases filled with books of all kind. "I hope that House Dallimothan was aware that you were playing in their pool" said the man without looking up from his book. When the players responded with the usual 'but of course you moron' he sighed and asked if they had had the foresight of bringing a new book with them. Thinking on his toes, Math had Aravar step forward and offer a new edition of a reference work on waging war against the Drow. The book was politely accepted. 'Slarty' then welcomed the group to Ysgard and confirmed that he was indeed keeping an eye on the ruined keep containing the Frost Giant Gungir and the Demon-Slaying sword. The PCs returned to Ptolus, geared up for the cold and came back for some Frost Giant Diplomacy. The party approached a ruined compound embedded in a rocky hill. It was guarded by a lone Frost Giant and a trio of Winter Wolves. At that point, the players had planned to negotiate for the sword (which surprised me as I was sure they'd be looking forward to attack anything). When they tried to parlay, the Frost Giant let out a cry of anguish and anger about Gungir having been slain and launched a boulder at the PCs while the wolves eagerly attacked them. Welcome to Ysgard, he Heroic domain where fighting is how people greet one another! I used the Ruined tower battle map of the Frostfell Rift Fantastic Location. The fight was incredibly short, mostly because three party members are stocked up on fire magic/abilities and creatures of the cold subtype are vulnerable to that. The Winter Wolves moved in on the slowed characters (who had to walk through hip-high snow) and failed miserably to inflict damage. Statistics aside: It rarely happens but that night was the night where my dice decided to play way below the probability curve. I missed about 80% of all my attacks in the night's two combats. It's worth noting that I decided to start playing à la 4e with all diagonals only costing 1 movement square... this is so much easier! Adopted! The PCs dispatched the Winter Wolves and moved on the Giant who was rapidly killed. Then the heroes noticed that wounds healed rapidly. In Ysgard, all living creatures gain Fast Healing 2, so some additional hacking of fallen enemies was done. They entered the keep and found it oddly deserted. While exploring it, they found a huge pair of doors adorned with a shield design on which a white claw was drawn. Beside that door they also found a kitchen where a grief-stricken old female Frost Giant was carving huge pieces of meat, surrounded by a gaggle of Ogres. When the party entered, all Ogres scrambled behind the Giantess. The old Giantess was mute (having had her tongue ripped out repeatedly, as it regenerates in Ysgard, and nailed to the kitchen's wall) but she managed to convey that she had no beef with the PCs nor that she could help them. When they asked about what happened to Gungir, the giantess let out a strangled cry and the Ogres excitedly said 'the Dragon, the Dragon, the Dragon killed him!' In front of the claw-decorated double doors, all players used their Oil of Elhonna (see part 1) and entered. They were met with a huge 20'X60' corridor where floor to celling slits were found on each side spaced 5' apart. The corridor ended in another locked double door. Aside: This was one of the Encounter traps presented in Dungeonscape. It features a trap that has many elements that can be disabled by a rogue-like and/or destroyed by might and magic. It basically acts like a giant monster. Smelling a rat, Inigo calmly advanced to the corridor's middle and promptly dodged the Pendulum blade that exited one slit! The room was now filled with 12 such blades! Of course I went on playing abysmally bad rolls and no one was actually struck by any blades. A key was found attached to one of the pendulums. The Blade was destroyed, the key was recovered and the door was opened... ...into a huge icy cavern (I used the Frostfell Rift battle map from the D&D fantastic location series) that featured 2 billowing clouds of Chilling Fogs (which are Cone of Cold Living Spells from the Monster Manual 3) and a Huge White Dragon (I'll add pictures soon, my wife left with the camera for a few days). This Dragon featured a strange Aura of bluish energy (It was built with the Dragon of the Great Game template, doing away with spells and Spell Resistance in exchange for some cooler abilities). The players moved in on the fogs and dispatched both in 2 rounds. That's when Eric (Cruguer) made a monstrous tactical blunder. He used his boots of dimension door to land in melee range with the Huge Dragon, right before its turn. Here's the thing, I don't usually go out of my way to kill PCs. I usually downplay all monsters a bit to allow players to shine with smart tactics and brilliant maneuvers. But if a PC jumps in the fire, I do not extend a net. When the Dragon activated, the energy aura dealt Cruguer 36 points of Cold damage, no save. Then it proceeded with:

A bite (hit)
2 Claw attacks (hit and hit)
2 Wing slams (both hit)
1 Tail slam (Critical hit)

Cruguer was now at -27 hit points and quite dead. This came as quite a shock to the table and caused priorities to rearrange themselves. The dragon used its breath weapon on all players (for a paltry 20 points of damage) making its aura disapear. Inigo and Nogard moved in while Cixi and Aravard provided artillery fire. Then Inigo, using his spring attack feat, hit the dragon and Yan stopped his miniatures 3 squares away from the dragon. A huge dragon that can move 1 square and make a full attack with a reach of 2 squares... At that point, I decided, not quite consciously, to up the dragon's overconfidence and moved 7 points of attack to damage (with the Power attack feat), bringing it's Attack bonus from 21 to 14. I proceeded to attack Inigo and all attacks thankfully missed (Huzzah for the +5 natural armor bonus provided by the Oil of Elhonna). Even though the dragon had fast healing and could have afforded to fight more defensively, I pressed on the attack. It was nearing 10h30 pm and people were getting tired. Player Psychology aside: After leaving Eric to marinate about 10 minutes in his instant death, I explained to him that a pair of buxom armored maidens picked his soul up (instead of the devils he expected, given his Hellbred 'nature') and invited him to the nearest Heroe's Hall. That cheered him up a bit. A bit later, I had one of the occupants of the mead hall tell him 'Cheer up, demon boy! Nobody can truly die in Ysgard! You'll rise up like all of us tomorrow, ready to continue our glorious battles!' At that point Eric was all right. I might be taking some artistic liberties in my retelling. :) The dragon was finally slain by a combination of critical hits, spells and martial maneuvers. The bonus to natural amour class that all characters had through the use of the Oil of Elhonna truly helped save the day. The party raided the Dragon's hoard and found the Demon slaying Sword. I can't stat it out exactly as it's taken from the Adventure... But I can say that it's a magical large greatsword that is more efficient against evil outsiders, that it adds some cold damage to all hits and grants an extra cleave attack to the yielder. Upon returning to Slarty's cave, they found him packing his books, saying that the party ended his requirements for staying here and that he was grateful for their intervention. His role in the Great Game was to make sure that the White Dragon, a recent loser in the latest rounds , stayed there but couldn't talk about it. As a reward, he offered the PCs to become Exarch of the Great Game (basically Elite pawns) which they politely refused. The party awaited the next morning and Cruger rose from the dead, fully healed and with a wistful look on his face. Thus ended the session. Lessons Learned

Driving a more controlled plot can be used sparingly if the payoff for players is worth it.
Making all monsters vulnerable to fire made the fights a bit too easy... but such combat are appreciated once in a while by players.
Making token gestures by NPCs to acknowledge how cool the PCs are is always appreciated.

What players liked:

The heroic feel of Ysgard and the fact that no one can die.
The Dragon fight... people always like a Dragon fight
Moving diagonally for 1, so simple.

What Players Disliked

Dying... (doh!) Good thing we were on Ysgard
Math was a bit frustrated that his arrows missed when spells were on them.

What's next:

The Yugoloths (which I'm making into demons as of next game) make their final move on Ptolus. I'm calling the next game 'Knee deep in Demons'

ChattyDM — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:22:05 +0000

YABM (Yet another Blog Milestone)

ChattyDM — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:24:29 +0000

This morning I hit 200 RSS subscribers for the 1st time! Yay! I am getting used to the fact that this Blog thing is for real, I'm still amazed that people follow my ramblings. As always, I thank you all! I'm keeping with my decision of doing few (or light) posts this week. I'll be back next week with Adventure preps (Special E. Gary Gygax tribute!), the Pathfinder preview of #6, a new comic and maybe a Trope post. I also got a few requests by email and I plan on tackling them soon. Fell free to drop me a line at chattydm(at)chattydm.net if you have your own requests or questions. Heck drop them here in the comments if email is too much trouble! All in all, I'm still having a blast doing this and I feel that my writing is improving (my editing needs work though)... Hopefully, by November I'll be up to the task of tackling NaNoWriMo or maybe take on a 4e freelancer project or submit something to D&D Insider. Oh and finally, PM made this little Ad banner you see in the post. If you have a website with Project Wonderful, drop me a line and I'll add you to my buddies for future biddings on your site!

ChattyDM — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:56:29 +0000

GaryCon

ChattyDM — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:07:23 +0000

Borrowed from The Evil DM's blog (and adapted): World-Wide GaryCon this weekend! By now everyone I'm sure has heard of the passing of Gary Gygax. One of the best suggestions so far for a fitting tribute is GaryCon. Basically GaryCon is about gaming. This weekend take some time and play a game. Run a game for your kids, play a game with your buddies, teach someone new about gaming-any gaming. Dungeons and Dragons would be great, but have a game of GURPS if you like, or Candyland, or Monopoly, or even Pokemon! It doesn't matter - just sling the dice, deal the cards, move the tokens. Interact, have fun, laugh and remember Gary and all he gave us. Game On! Thanks Jeff! This weekend, I'll take out the D&D minis and Dungeon Tiles and show my 6 year old son a little more complex version of the 'Let's kill the monsters in Miss Storeowner's cellar' game we play every so often. I'll introduce him to polyhedral dice and Hit Points! I 'll also play some My Little Pony/Barbie make-believe with my 4 year old daughter (she's got a Superman doll, weee!). Finally, next week, in my Ptolus game, I'll make each creature the players fight come from Gary's books and modules (damn I'm happy that the Mezzoloth and Nycaloths were originally Mezzodaemons and Nycadaemons).

Chatty's Out of the Box #004: Memories...

ChattyDM — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:16:47 +0000

Here's my Webcomic tribute to a great man. As usual, click on the thumbnail (and possibly once again on the picture) to get the sharpest image. It's funny how many memories one can keep of this game. All stories you see in the comic truly happened and featured, my friends Nicolas (panel 1, gone to Sweden), JeeEff (panel 3 gone to Quebec City) and Math (panel 4, still around for more than 20 years). Thanks for the memories guys. Also, note that all these monsters featured in the AD&D Monster Manual. For the photo geeks out there, I use a Sony Cybershot 7.2 MegaPixel digital camera (it's basically the family's camera). PM made me discover the Macro photography setting on it so focusing is now easier. Also, until I get some descent lighting, I use the Camera's low light, no flash ISO setting. Have a nice weekend.

ChattyDM — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:20:02 +0000

ChattyDM — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:24:28 +0000

Pathfinder #6 preview and conclusion: The Lost City of Adventure's End

ChattyDM — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:25:58 +0000

I just got the notification that issue #7 was shipped this week. That made me realize that I had to write a short blurb on the final issue of Paizo's Rise of Runelords Adventure Path. Issue #6: Spires of Xin-Shalast brings the stories of ancient, evil Sin-magic and the old empires based on them to a conclusion. One such Runelord will awaken from a thousand year old sleep and is ready to resume his conquering of all of Varisia (the country where the adventures were set). This adventure tries to capture the feel of discovering a long-lost city and the ancient, lovecraftian horror that slumbers underneath it (and we're not talking about the Runelord here). I must say that I'm growing somewhat tired of 3.x D&D's/Fantasy d20 over-borrowing of Lovecraftian themes. Maybe it's just the unfortunate choices of adventures and materials I bought over the years but the whole 'Elder Evil, World Shattering, Mind melting, Slumbering Evil' has been done to death. I think it's because it's simpler or maybe more 'fun' to 'save a world before the button is pressed' and Things Man Was Not Meant to Know are natural choices for such tropes. I think that's why I'm going for the Nuke the World, Save What You Can trope in my game. Okay, now Pathfinder #6 is set for four 14th level characters and should bring them to the 16th by the end of the Adventure Path. The usual breakdown:

Foreword by James Jacob: Where James thanks all the writers and lauds the talent of this adventure's author (Greg. A. Vaughan) , discusses the creation of a Mortal Big Bad Evil Guy (as opposed to Paizo's recent Worm god and Demon Lord) and starts talking about the next path.
Spires of Xin-Shalast by Greg A. Vaughan: A 56 page adventure that takes the PCs on a quest to find and explore a legendary lost city where the ancient Runelord of Greed is awakening. Then a titanic fight ensues that may awaken a slumbering Evil that can literally destroy mountains.
Karzoug the Claimer by Greg A. Vaughan: A 4 page write-up of the campaign's BBEG, a CR 21 Arcane Caster loaded with artifacts and unique magical items... (including embedded, non-salvageable Ioun Stones.... sigh)
Hazards on the World's Roof by Greg A. Vaughan: A 4 page set of environmental guidelines and rules to play in high altitude, mountainous regions. This covers altitude, Avalanches, Cold, falling and Random Encounters.
Pathfinder's Journal by James L. Stutter: 6 pages of fluff of past adventurers. I must be perfectly honest that I never read any of them, but perusing them shows nice maps, journal-like depiction of monsters and treasures. High quality stuff no doubt... just not my cup of tea when I tend to only read what I must to run an adventure.
The Bestiary by Greg A. Vaughan that feature:
- The huge ridable Crag Spider
- The Denizen of Leng which are mandibuled horrifying outsiders (complete with a 'Lovecraft Again' side bar... I rest my case)
- The Kuchrima: A Lamia-like cross between a Condor and a Humanoid
- The Harridan: another Lamia-like cross between a Hunting Cat and a Giantess.
- The Hungerer: a Huge swollen sack of oozing, bleeding flesh and claws (Which is a deformed Harridan)
- The Rune Giant (Yet another Giant!) that can control other giants and blind opponents whenever they use their spell like abilities and Lightning Shower attack.
- The Wendigo: An Outsider Yeti
Preview of the upcoming adventure path called Curse of the Crimson Throne that promises to be a more city-focused path.

Overall impression: While I only read the 1st one in any details, I've perused all of them. Enough to conclude that the Pathfinder product is a richly detailed, beautifully presented and highly useful product for DMs. While I won't play more than the 1st one, I got to use monsters from them in my own adventures and the players really liked them. I also know from various feedbacks I read on the net that not all adventures were 'equal' in quality and fun. Being written by different people, the styles tended to clash widely from issue to issue. What starts out as a low level romp through goblins and demonic minions switches abruptly to a Slasher Horror adventure to then go into the 'Hills have Eyes' degenerate horror theme. After we go in the opposite direction and get the Against the Giant treatment, then go into a huge trap-filled extended dungeon crawl and finish with a Lost City scenario. If I look at my own players, I know that some of these adventures would not interest them at all and I would have to seriously hack some of them to get a constant level of enjoyment. Then again, such is the case with all adventure paths. Also, I'm a bit unimpressed with some of the monsters created for the series. The strong Giant and Lamia themes have been visited a few too many times I feel and most monsters definitively lacked the late-design 'coolness' (i.e. simpler, cooler special attacks) of WotC's pre-4e work. One thing I really liked about the adventures was that the DM was encouraged to tweak things to their players' tastes. Some pointers were given for doing just that. This was done especially around each adventure's more controversial issues (like should goblins attack and kill children, how far can the depraved Ogres go, how sexual do you want the adventure to get in the pits of lust?...) All in all the 1st Pathfinder has been the most deluxe, well supported set of adventure I've seen. For those who wanted them, Paizo published many products (Item cards, Map packs, True 20 conversions, etc), which is a good move on Paizo's. I'll maintain my subscription for the next arc, but my interest in 3.5 stuff is definitively waning and will probably stop if the arc after the next is still 3.5. Thanks for reading. I'll tackle #7 as soon as I get it.

ChattyDM — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:36:55 +0000

Theme Week: Endings

ChattyDM — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:38:51 +0000

As I was planning my blogging week I realized that I had a running theme going on. So much so that I decided to make it official! Since I'm planning the end of my D&D 3.5 campaign in the next 3 months, I decided to spend the week dealing with endings of all kinds:

Today's post was about the ending of the 1st Pathfinder Adventure Path.
I'll tackle a trope post on endings of the catastrophic kind
I'll write a post about ending an adventure arc or a campaign
My adventure prep post will deal with how I plan to end mine.
And I plan to start a series on transitioning from D&D 3.5 to 4e as my whole group agreed to make the jump.
etc (I'm open to in-theme suggestions)

So stay tuned, this will be the beginning of many ends!

ChattyDM — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:28:49 +0000

ChattyDM — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 23:48:44 +0000

Mining Tropes for RPG Nuggets: This is the End, Friend

ChattyDM — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:43:10 +0000

No no, I'm not ending this series, no worries. As mentioned here, I'm exploring "Endings" as applied to RPG campaigns... Many long-lasting Role playing campaigns based on power-gaining PCs hinge around a progressively increasing threat that almost invariably escalate to the World Destroying level. The threat usually takes the form of an impeding Cataclysm that would be caused by some sort of Doomsday Device (Technological, Biological or Magical) or assorted Lovecraftian horror s. If left unopposed, such threats can lead to... The End Of The World As We Know It What will happen if the heroes don't stop the Big Bad or the Ultimate Evil from doing its nasty work. Can be either supernatural or superscience, depending on the villain, but in either case the bad guy must be beaten down and his toys broken in order to save the planet, or the universe, depending on the focus of the story. Is usually figurative -- expressed as "merely" the death of humankind, the obliteration of Civilization, or its subjugation to aliens, for example -- rather than the literal rendering of the planet down to gravel. Common in Speculative Fiction, horror and over-the-top espionage shows, as well as many anime series. May serve as a prequel to an After The End series. May also include Cosy Catastrophe and/or Scavenger World elements. Especially if the heroes are slated to succeed in preventing the End, they (and the audience) may be treated to a detailed preview of what's coming. This trope is the bread and butter of schizophrenic overlords and somewhat emotionally unstable cultists. As mentioned above, applying it to a Role playing campaign is often the logical conclusion to the PCs always seeking out the Boss behind the Boss. Threatening world destruction is often expected to be the ultimate motivator for Player Characters . I mean what's cooler than saving the world from assured destruction? Right? (it sure is used a lot in published adventures) The thing is, unless you are an adept of gritty games where heroes are deluded, statistical anomalies (until eaten by Azatoth), chances are that your players may not actually feel all that concerned or 'scared'. In heroic games where coolness (or power gaming) rules over logic, chances are your players expect to 'roll a 20' when shooting at that exhaust port or break the Altar of Endless Sorrows just before Chthulu's left tentacle enters the realm. There are ways to address this. I'll explore a few of them and then propose my own take on the subversion of this trope. Storyboarding the Apocalypse One of the ways to make the threat believable is to have the players get a glimpse of what things will look like after the Cataclysm strikes. This works well in movies and TV shows by showing a montage of 'just-how-bad-things-will-get'. However, unless you are a brilliant orator and your players are selfless listeners , chances are you'll be narrating to a distracted audience if you try to do this the passive way. The trick is to get the players to interact with these visions of the Apocalypse. For example, it could be done with:

Traveling, for a short time, to the future ( just like Hiro did in Heroes) to witness how bads things will get.
Have the heroes live a shared dream-sequence (powered by a Psychic or Seer)
Play one 'what if' session where you go forward in time and present the campaign world as it could become, a post apocalyptic version of your home campaign with future version of the PCs or new PCs that are actually linked to the original ones.

In such cases, you should feature some of the NPCs that the heroes care about. Go fish in your PCs backstories and do the most gruesome stuff to their loved ones, friends and allies. If your players are allergic to back stories and have no relationships with NPC's, make sure that none of the survivors of the post-Kaboom world remember anything about the Heroes, Better and more evil yet, make them reviled for not having saved the world in the first place! Make the world part of the player's stake. Another way to get players to care about an End of the World trope is to actually have them come to see the game world as more than a reservoir of Mooks & Loot to get richer. Make them heir to kingdoms. Give them the leadership of the thieves guild or make them advisor's of powerful leaders. Make them Earls of luxurious acres of fertile lands. Fill such lands with industrious citizens who are more than happy to toil for the glory of the Hero, in exchange for some protection from the insidious machinations of an Evil DM. Make sure to have all NPCs they meet make a point on how grateful they are and how cool the PCs are to be the leaders. (Trust me, it works. Your players will be grinning like idiots by the third game) Then hatch the World End's plan on them, threatening their beloved holdings and having the NPCs implore them for help or look up to them expectantly. "Nyogtha" is awakening? Bah, good thing that Bokdar the Bold here is our liege. He'll kick that thing's butt back to the Far Realms before the end of the week! Right my lord?' It's the whole 'Give them the Sun and Have them fight for the Moon' application of the Rule of Cool. Another day, another world saved While getting PCs to care about an End of the World threat can be a challenge, the act of saving the world is usually pretty basic. Saving the world usually entails killing the Big Bad before the proverbial button is pressed, or by chucking the Ring in the Volcano, or interrupting the last part of the Dawning of Eternal-Nights Ceremony, etc. In such cases, it's expected of GMs to apply the laws of Dramatic Timing in one form or another. This means that no sane GameMaster would trigger the Doomsday device while the PCs are getting their armour fixed or that the meteorite never strikes when the heroes are asleep. In fact, Players may expect that you will apply one or another of the Just in Time trope (and you just may). But you know what? After having done this for about 20 years, I'm a bit weary of that trope and I am soooo ripe for some honest to goodness subversion. Nuking it! Cataclysmic events are often seen as a prelude to a Post-apocalyptic campaign, as ancient history to a rebuilt world or downright averted by the timely intervention of ~~meddling kid~~s Fearless Heroes! However, is your campaign coming to a close soon? Are you thinking of changing systems, GMs or at the very least, switch editions? Then why not pull the plug on your campaign and game world with Style? Go ahead and have the Big Bad press the Button, break the Seal or summon The Ultimate Evil. Do this while the players are actually fighting for their lives against the Horde of Endless minions! Of course, don't have the Cataclysm kill the PCs when this happens (unless you really need to get a message across) but everything should be exploited. This is a perfect way of surprising a group of players who didn't actually expect you to have the Stones (or Iron Ovaries, I'm totally equal opportunity) to pull it off. When you start destroying mountains and draining oceans, you have to offer the heroes a new focus (and keep player buy-in) such as:

Trying to stop the destruction before it kills everyone.
Brining as many people to safety, as fast as possible.
Find a new world for the PC's dependents (from family to entire kingdom depending on your campaign's scale)

The thing is to shift the campaign from saving the world to salvaging it, or reclaiming it. Depending on how grim or gritty your group's playing style is, the PCs may die or fail. You may then end your campaign thus, making the next one about an After the End theme or a fight to Reclaim what was once lost (Excellent post Trask). This subverted trope is a perfect opportunity to take an established world and make it into a new one. A strange new/old dark world, where danger lurk everywhere and civilization has shrunk to a mere few Points of Lights. (hint hint) It's the End of the World as we know it... and I feel fine! :D

lolthtkingsm

ChattyDM — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:25:19 +0000

Adventure Prep: Planning Ahead for the End

ChattyDM — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:37:52 +0000

This series covers the thoughts that go behind my Adventure Preps. I don't go into details as my players read this blog, but I try to showcase the key challenges and choices I face every time I sit down in the days before we play. Game week again! For those who don't know, our group usually manage to play every 2 weeks (with a few canceled games). Our 'season' usually spans from the end of August to mid-December, where we break for the holidays. Then it starts again in early January to peter out somewhere in May as everyone's thoughts turn to vacations. During summer months we usually get together once or twice to play a one-shot or micro-campaign. We've adopted this formula ever since I moved back to Montreal in August of 1999. This make us going through our 9th RPG Season. Two of them were a Gurps Fantasy Campaign and the rest was D&D 3.0/3.5. In that time frame we played 4 full 'in season' campaigns and one aborted summer one. Why am I telling you all that? Well, one of the common things in all these campaigns apart from the second D&D campaign, which we managed to 'finish' by revisiting it after an 18 months hiatus, were canceled mid-season (much like any Geeky show with potential on Fox) usually because of waning interest or when we got our hands on radically different source books we wanted to try. With the advent of D&D 4e and it's apparent compatibility with our group's tastes in gaming (i.e. Trope-driven Action Fantasy Roleplaying), its a given that our current campaign is going to hit the curb by the June. But here's the key difference from all my other campaigns: since it's death is announced, a mere 6 sessions from now, I can start planning for an honest to goodness end for a change. So for this week's adventure prep, I'm not just focusing on the next game's scenes, but I'm actually trying to bring the campaign to a satisfying conclusions for all of us. As you may know, I'm still playing an adventure that's loosely based on WotC's Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, which I've hacked quite a bit. As the plot now stands, the PCs have recovered both Demon Slaying weapons that are to help them in the upcoming trans-planar conflicts. As written the story remains rather weak so I decided to assume fully my hacking of the adventure and combine this with some End of the World trope of my very own... all in 6 sessions. So here's my high level plan for what's coming. Session 1: All out Assault on Ptolus by Bad guys, PCs go scout on Lolth's plans in her realm. Session 2: Players return from Demonwebs while Bad Guys trigger the mother of all Oh S#17 moments on them! Session 3: A re-orientation session where PCs explore their new reality, reassess their priorities, check on their remaining allies and start planning on salvaging the situation Session 4: Players secure the means to stop World's End and head up for final Showdown Session 5: PCs Crash the Ultimate Evil Pajama Party and slay some more Demonic butts Session 6: Standing over a mortally wounded world, PCs ponder on its healing and the choices that need be made to save what can be saved. Roll credits, drink a toast to 7 years of awesomeness and put 3,5 D&D books on Ebay. I'll leave you with that. Needless to say, if I can pull this off without being exceedingly railroady, this campaign may very well be one of the most memorable we'll have played. This week's game is also going to be a tribute to Gary Gygax... I'm going to call it Knee Deep in Darkness! Ohhhh yeah! I might skip tomorrow's post depending on how much work needs to be done on the game. Anyone else having thoughts of concluding their campaigns?

exaltedlogo

ChattyDM — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:50:35 +0000

You want to end... D&D? White Wolf's ready...

ChattyDM — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:50:54 +0000

I'm not dead... I've hit one of those deadly pockets of 'work' that drain all energy and creativity from your being. Plus my Friday game is not yet ready. If I finish early tonight, I'll put up a short 'ending your campaign' post with tips. In the meantime, here's something interesting that Tommi sent me. As he says, it's either a Marketing stroke of Genius or one of the most opportunistic/desperate grasp at market shares I've seen in a while. It's probably both as Graham surmises on Gtalk... The bottom line is: Trade in your PHB 3.5 to get a Free Exalted 2e book. How many are up to it? I'd be tempted just to have a look at that game...

Ending a Campaign: a Few Tips

ChattyDM — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:17:36 +0000

It's no secret that with the advent of the next edition of D&D, I have endings on the mind. While I've still got to make my final decision to adopt 4e upon reading the new Core books over the summer, chances are we are going to go the 4e way. I know many others are in a similar place and are trying to plan the end of their campaigns. There are many ways of ending a campaign and I broached one earlier this week when I suggested blowing up your game world. Here are a few, less drastic tips to close a heroic campaign in such a way to make it memorable and leave a good souvenir.

Plan a final confrontation with your campaign's main antagonist.
Make the confrontation hard, but not impossible.
Drama trumps dice. If need be, modify things on the fly to make it intense and fun!
Make sure that you'll have some playing time after the confrontation to allow a non-conflict conclusion to the campaign. This is where the world surrounding the PCs gathers and celebrates the victory (or mourn their sacrifice).
Bring back NPCs from all parts of the campaign and plan cameos and mini-scenes where they help the PCs or thank them or just to tell them that they Rock (players love that!)
If PCs are victorious, give out ludicrous rewards in land, titles and leadership positions in the game world.
If for some reasons the PCs fail (they shouldn't, but still) make their actions count! Tell a story of how they inspired younger heroes to rise up and vanquish the Big Bad in their name soon after.
After the campaign's Evil is beaten, plan a 1/2 to a full session epilogue where you focus on each player and play out, as a story, what they want their characters to become. Don't roll dice, just say "that's what happened".
If you plan your campaigns in a continuing game world (like we do), integrate the PCs action throughout the campaign in your world's history. Have the ex-PCs show as cameos in future games (players will also appreciate).

Please share your own tips on how you ended your campaigns. Daniel (Omnius) over at Game on, had a very interesting post on this earlier this year. P.S.: I've got a serious case of Writer's Block for this week's game and it shows a bit on the blog as well. Work-related stress is involved. I may take a short break from blogging to polish my Stres-management techniques a bit. Thanks for understanding.

4e-phb

ChattyDM — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:17:00 +0000

Chatty on 4e: Nostaglia vs Fun

ChattyDM — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:27:11 +0000

As I mentioned when I proposed this theme week about endings, I can't stay away from D&D 4e until June. I've enough of a 'business' sense that Love it or Hate it, the 4th edition of D&D is on the minds of a lot of people and writing about it is going to garner interest. Since I'm currently battling the specters of the White Page Syndrome, I decided to tackle this Mofo head on by writing about a new subject! So I'll post a series of short texts where I tackle 2 short subjects on 4e from a DM's perspective and ask for your thoughts. Since the D&D experience weeks ago, a lot has been said about it on various sites. Since then I've had time to form my own opinions (not always easy when the Hype machine rages strongly) on some things that seem promising and some that leave me a bit uneasy about the new edition of the game. In a nut shell, D&D 4e IS NOT going to be about Nostalgia and IS going to be about the Rule of Fun/Rule of Cool. Kicking Nostalgia to the Curb One of the design philosophy of D&D 4e is 'We don't have to keep something in the game just because it's always been there'... to which I'll add '... at least not in the three Core books' Things are going to be taken away from the game such as Alloy Dragons, the 9-point alignment system, Save or Dies, Level drains, some Core classes and the Great-Wheel Cosmology. While what the designers and developers propose to replace these things with are promising and probably cool/fun, I can't deny that I have a twinge of regret for some of the aspects of the game they are taking away. This goes deeper than Change Resistance. There are things about D&D, even the bad ones, that we grew attached to. I think it's bad form for 4e proponents to try to sweep these changes away without at least allowing a moment to acknowledge that these things had a sentimental and/or irrational value to us long time players. I believe this is one of the things that fuel some of the debates I see on the boards. (Yeah I took some Change Management courses...) People are weird. Some liked that Bards were horrible in combat, others prefer Dragons to be color coded for evilness. When I read on Jeff's Gameblog about the blast he has playing Original D&D, I realize that there are people around here for whom taking away some of these legacy systems (like level draining) literally takes away the interest they had in the game itself. It's a given, much like 3e, D&D 4e is going to be a totally different game from previous editions. So here I say it. Let's take a few seconds to acknowledge that we are going to miss some of the stuff they are taking away from 4e ... Much like a freed kidnapped victim after the Stockholm Syndrome sets in. That won't make 4e a bad game and this is not a dis on a game I've yet to read. But I've seen few people come out and say what I feel many of us feel in various degrees. There I feel better to have been listened to... thanks! :) It's all about Fun and Games What D&D 4e is going to be about is having fun with the mechanics and allowing to do Cool stuff easily in combat and with skills. D&D is going to be about, among many things, making monster simpler to run, with at least 1 key cool ability each. It's going to be about faster paced fights with an emphasis on moving our miniatures around the board, jumping on tables, striking at opponent's Armor, Reflexes, Will or Fortitude directly (a brilliant progression from 3e d20 core mechanic). It's going to be about powers, options, and giving all PCs with something significant to do all the time in combat. D&D continues it's progression from a Fantasy Role Playing game to a Fantasy Action Role Playing game started in 3e. One of the core design philosophies seems to be 'you saw that in a movie, sure you can do it in the game too'. Now to those that will decry that D&D 4e is only going to be about combat... let's be honest here... the mechanics of all D&D games have always been about conflict. For example, with a few exceptions, spells are written with combat application in mind (making them often too constrained to be used in non-combat situations). I said it before and I'll say it here again, you don't actually need mechanics to roleplay. My 4 year old daughter grasps the concept of 'narrative' and 'story' very well. By making sure that every core class as a significant role in combat, it seems to me that the designers are only making sure that everyone that wants to have fun in combat can. Those that never cared about it will just do as they always did and wait it out, rolling d20 whenever their turn comes up. At least I believe that all classes will be equally useful in Combat at the game's launch. I have a feeling we'll see sub-par designs in future source books from designers who didn't 'get' that philosophy or are against it. Plus, if I understand this correctly, XPs are now going to be given on a Scene-based basis, so Story awards will definitively be in. So there you have it. Some of us lose some of the bits we grew attached to. Some of those bits will be released in later supplements (and I'm going to do a whole post about the planned marketing strategy of 4e), but some are gone for good. The game will be about action, coolness and fun (as defined by the WotC R&D team) for the players. Such concepts are not for everyone, and I predict that the Indy scene (the Forge games community for example) will probably decry D&D's move into more populist, MMORPG-friendly territory. What say you? (Please note that I know that this is a touchy subject, we've managed to avoid flame wars on this blog so far, so let's talk on the basis that we agree to disagree... but I want to see your heartfelt argument pro and con from what you've seen of the game so far).

Mining Tropes for RPG Nuggets: The Crowning Moment of a Character

ChattyDM — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:10:54 +0000

[youtube 07oNRro83dU] As I reading through the recent changes on TVtropes.org, I stumbled upon a Trope whose application to RPGs is as simple as it is brilliant: Crowning Moment Of Awesome The moment in a show when a character does something for which they will be remembered forever, winning for them the eternal loyalty of fans. While I was going through the trope's examples, it dawned on me that one of the things that make a Roleplaying campaign fly is when the PCs start having such moments. For example, when Yan's new character activated his Fire Snake Maneuver that burnt through a few Driders and ended in the square of Stef's Fire Immune Half-Dragon, that pretty much clinched it for Yan's PC. Similarly, during a mook fight, Eric's Crusader rolled a critical hit that dealt so much damage that I described how he managed to kill 2 mooks with one swing of his Bastard Sword. He basically spent the rest of the evening High Fiving every living thing with hands. We've had such moments on several of our campaigns and I think this is one of the strongest thrills that a player seek in playing such games. I think that you as a DM should strive to achieve such moments on a regular basis. This will give players a sense that they are truly heroes/bad asses in your game world and will help crystallize what each character is about. So whenever a player goes out of his way to do something cool, ask yourself if you could spice up the description of what he does to truly make the action into an awesome moment. If it does, go wild and, as usual, put aside rules and logic and give the player the spotlight. The DM can also have his/her Crowning Moment of Awesome too. When you describe a scene or set up a confrontation filled to the rim with Rule of Cool elements, chances are one of your players will let out a very rewarding 'this is so cool' . My best one was a few years ago, when I managed to give my players a truly epic problem to solve: "The God of food is dead, the whole world is starving because eating doesn't nourish anymore. You have 48 hours or babies start dying", one player told me 'Man I feel like we're in a David Eddings Novel' It don't get much better than this... What about your players/character/DM crowning moments of awesome?

Not Dead... but not all that well either...

ChattyDM — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:39:47 +0000

This post is going to get a bit personal feel free to skip... :) As you may have noticed, the flow of posts has slowed down in the last few weeks. I'm dealing with a certain amount of stress-induced anxiety related to both my job and the blog (The family and my physical health are fine). As is often the case for type A personalities, I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and I tend to set unrealistic goals that I then struggle to meet. As Andy wisely predicted at the beginning of the year, I can't be a good father/husband, go for quality daily post, do my day job adequately, run a forum and run a bi-weekly game (with prep) without hitting a wall. I hit that wall squarely a few weeks ago and went into turtling mode, ignoring my own forum, lowering the number of posts I do and generally dealing with the White Page syndrome. One of the reasons I get stressed by blogging is that I can't seem to decide if I do this for fun or if I'd like to have my writing take a more official place in my life. The rapid success I met made me want to commit to new projects and bite more than I can chew. Plus my day job is gearing up for some serious, important milestones that use up a lot of my creative energies (I spent most of my time building processes, writing procedures and running the systems I built). Bottom line, I started suffering from Insomia, lack of motivation, lack of hunger and early morning (i.e 3 AM) anxiety attacks. All are familiar signs that I'm not heading in the right direction with my life. What kills me the most, is that rationally, I know that I can deal with whatever my job throws at me and I also know that no one ever asked me to post daily about Roleplaying games.... but at 4 AM, everything seems too complicated and impossible to deal with. The key thing here is that I have absolutely no wish to continue this downward spiral that has led me to severe depression in the past. So I took initiative to deal with that and that's why I decided to write about it today, I know a lot of people live with anxiety issues and I want to share my solutions and maybe ask for your own solutions.

I will no longer post every day, unless I feel like it and am inspired.
I will continue to write, it is therapeutic and I still like doing it... when done for fun!
Blogging = fun and not a business. I'm a gamer,not John Chow!
I'll tackle fewer, simpler projects... I'm sitting on a sponsorship with an online store that I will unveil soon and that will be my main online project for some time.
I subscribed to a Gym that's real close to home and I plan on going after work from Monday to Thursday (a psychiatrist told me that exercise is better than anti-depressants).
I'll get help from a therapist if exercise doesn't help.

There you have it. I know I will get better (I'm already better than last week), I'm just trying to relieve some of the self imposed pressure. :) All right. I'm sitting on a 1/2 written account of last week's game... it will get out soon and you can finally read the story of the mooning Crusader... I'm still trying to recover from the shock. Cheers and thanks for understanding.

dsc05012

ChattyDM — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:43:42 +0000

DM Chronicles, Session 13: Of Moons and Xanathos Railroads, Part 1

ChattyDM — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:33:24 +0000

This post is part of a series that chronicles our current D&D 3.5 campaign. To say that last Friday's game wasn't intense would be a bald faced lie... it just wasn't intense for the reasons I planned for. This time around I won't go into details of our actual story. First because it get so complicated at times that I would need to add 500 words to the post just to explain what transpired. Second, I realized that some of these have tended to turn into Story hours (i.e. the time it takes to read them, HA HA!) and I'd rather make these into the actual craft of Dming. I will however, discuss the highlights of the game and what worked and what didn't, because this was one of the most polarized games we had in a long time. The 1st half was incredible, and the second half collapsed under the weight of a badly planned and delivered scene. Stef (the 1/2 dragon barbarian player) was missing this week. We also started the game pretty late (6h30 PM) as Math finished a bit later than usual. We started the game with the PCs coming back from their last adventure in the Norse-inspired world of undying Heroes and heading to their current Headquarters in besieged the City of Ptolus. There they met a new character, a Cleric of the Ancient Dragon gods. This character, played by Franky's brother Mike, was the new addition to our group following our decision to add a sixth player as discussed here. Before the game, when I discussed character choices with Mike, he was more than willing to take on the much needed role of the party's healer. However, based on PM's experience in our D&D for Newbie game, Mike told me that he'd prefer to play a healer version that wasn't overly penalized for healing other players. Putting on my 'tweaking classes for cooler characters' hat, I mashed up a pair of variant rules that Graham and I had discussed at length on Gtalk to make the basic Cleric more fun to play. Here's what Mike got:

Take a basic cleric.
Make all 'cure X wounds' spells castable as a swift action, provided the cleric has access to spells at least one level higher than the cure spell in question. (i.e: Cure Light wounds becomes a swift spell when the cleric reaches level 3 and gains level 2 spells and so on).
Make turn undead deal 1d6 damage per cleric level to all undead within 30' (Will save for 1/2) (Variant taken from Complete Divine).

Also, I gave Mike's character a Mithril Breastplate to provide maximum Armor Class without making the character slower (because slow clerics are boring to play). Anyway, when the new character was introduced, I started the scene by blowing up the top of the Player's Headquarters (a Tower housing the city's Celestials)... As the characters ran outside to see what had caused the blast, I described how a red glow was receding from the top of Ptolus' thousand feet high Spire and how the top of the Tower had been blasted to bits. The Death-Star-like beam was featured a few more times in the upcoming fight, merrily blasting away at some of Ptolus' Real Estate. As hinted in the previous paragraph, Demons were waiting for the people fleeing from the tower. As a request from one of my players to have a fight with numerous mid-level threats to make for a spicier fight, I set up a fight with 2 Canoloths (Dog demons with a 20' long paralysis inducing barbed tongue), 2 Mezzoloths (Fighting fiends with some spell-like abilities) and 2 4-armed Arrow Demons (deadly archers). My choice for these monsters was theme-related (the bad guys in my version Ptolus are Drow and Demons/Yugoloths). I also wanted to design an encounter that featured complementary Monster roles like the Dungeonscape sourcebook describes (and is probably a good glimpse into the encounter design philosophy of 4e). In that Sense the monsters had the following roles:

Canoloths: Controllers
Mezzoloth: Bruisers
Archer Demons: Artillery

The fight started with the Canoloth and character locking horns, while the Mezzoloths sent a Cloudkill right where the heroes stood (that spell is awesome as it forces Players to adopt different strategies to get out of the cloud ASAP, that thing is Toxic!). Math's Arcane Archer (Aravard) got paralyzed, grabbed and bitten in the first round.... which didn't bode well for him. At that point, while I knew that the cleric had the means to free Math's character from a paralysis that would outlast the fight, I proposed to use the 4th edition's rule that such special conditions allowed a saving throw each round. I decided to go for that so that should the other canoloth get lucky and paralyze another party member, things would remain interesting. Plus, I didn't want to overwhelm Mike with too many duties in his 1st high-level D&D 3.5 game (he played a low level game twice so far. We DMs must nurture our newbies if we want to keep 'em! Don't worry he get's his share later). Bottom line, the Canoloth who captured Math was promptly killed by the Eric's Crusader. Math's character saved on his next round, losing only one round to the paralysis. Math's night was saved with just the right amount of frustration to spice things up! Yay me! I'll let the picture my players took show the early fight in all it's glory! From top Left to Bottom right: Aravard the Arcane Archer, Cruguer the Blue-clad Crusader, the Canoloths (Doggies!), Cixi the Iron Hero Archer climbing the building to get out of the Couldkill (Red Sqwire), Arrow Demon on left Roof (Green archer), Mike's Cleric getting transformed in Swiss Cheese by the Arrow Demon, Inigo Firenze the Swordsage engaging the Mezzoloth, the other Arrow Demon awaiting for a character to emerge from the poisonous fog and the last Mezzoloth getting ready to cast the second Cloudkill. The fight was a great success, fun-wise. The players had a hard time and generous numbers of Action Points were spent. Here are the most memorable highlights: Mike's cleric was pummeled very badly. So much so that he used his swift healing spells mostly on himself. At one point, Yan's character and both Mezzoloths were sitting close to each other. So much so that Yan told Mike to go ahead and cast Flame Strike on everyone, so confident he was that his Swordsage would save and evade the pillar of holy flames. Well Yan missed his save and went well into mortal negative Hit Points territory ... (that when I reminded everyone that we were using a variant Death and Dying rule). Fortunately, Yan's character managed to make his save and Mike's cleric promptly used his swift Cure to bring him back to near full Hit point in the same round (that was so cool!). Math's Arcane Archer cast a Swift fly spell and grabbed Eric's Crusader and both landed on the roof of the left building, helping Cixi fight to the very dangerous Arrow Demons. Cixi got nearly killed by a volley of arrows from the Arrow Demon. She used a full attack and failed to drop the Demon. Then later in the turn, Franky asked me if we could backtrack and let him use an action point to get a bonus attack. I decided to allow it because Cixi would have probably died. He scored a solid hit and the Arrow Demon dropped. Yeah, I'm a softie, but I think that was a good call. Finally, near the end of the fight, Eric asks me if he could jump down the building onto a Mezzoloth and attack it. I ruled that he could provided he rolled a jump check to drop on the monster and get the equivalent of a charge bonus. Eric not only managed to ace the jump check, he also rolled a critical hit! Talk about a Crowning moment of Awesome! He was so happy that he got up his chair, shouted 'IN YO FACE' to us all and promptly mooned us!!!!!!!!!! ... ... No I don't have a picture of that lying around... and let's all thank the lord I don't, the image is so seared in our brain a reminder is not necessary! The fight thankfully ended, the heroes victorious and the players (and DM) still a bit shaken. By that time the evening was already passed the 9h00 PM point. It was a long fight but a fast paced one. So I decided that I would play out the next scene which was mostly a Roleplaying one... ...Which ended up blowing in my face, well in part. I'll go into more details in my next post as I got a good reminder that even the tamest groups will rise against railroads when they lead away from what they are willing to accept.

pathfinderrpglogo_500

ChattyDM — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:46:26 +0000

This Just in... Pathfinder to remain 3.5

ChattyDM — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:47:22 +0000

From the Paizo Newswire:

Pathfinder™ to continue under the 3.5 rules. Tuesday, March 19th, 2008 Paizo Publishing today unveiled the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game that will serve as the anchor for the company's popular line of Pathfinder adventures, sourcebooks, and campaigns. Today marks the beginning of a year-long Open Playtest of the new rules, which are based upon the popular 3.5 rules available under the Open Game License. The Pathfinder RPG is designed with backward compatibility as one of its primary goals, so players will continue to enjoy their lifelong fantasy gaming hobby without invalidating their entire game library. The first Pathfinder RPG Alpha release is available now as a free 65-page PDF download at paizo.com/pathfinderRPG. Until the finished Pathfinder RPG's release as a hardcover rulebook in August 2009, all of Paizo's popular Pathfinder-brand products will continue under the current 3.5 rules set. "I'm really excited to work with the playtesters to make this the best game possible," said Jason Bulmahn, Paizo's Lead Designer. "In the spirit of the Open Game movement, the Pathfinder RPG is really your roleplaying game. It's a huge thrill to get to lead the design process." Paizo will issue additional Pathfinder RPG Alpha releases in the coming months, covering new changes and additions to the 3.5 rules. Gamers can download, read, and participate in the free open playtest by setting up a paizo.com account and joining the discussion with Paizo's design staff at paizo.com/pathfinderRPG. The Pathfinder RPG will be backward-compatible with the 3.5 rules, and the staff has kept this goal as a primary focus since design began in 2007. This coming August, Paizo will release a massive, full-color, softcover Pathfinder RPG Beta release for $24.99. This book will be available on paizo.com, at Gen Con, as well as through hobby distribution at local game stores. Just like the Alpha releases, the Beta release will be available as a free PDF download on paizo.com. As Wizards of the Coast's core 3.5 rulebooks are expected to go out of print with the release of 4th Edition, Paizo will use the Pathfinder RPG as a replacement for the 3.5 core rules. The Pathfinder RPG Beta release will represent Paizo's first published take on an updated 3.5 system, and playtesting will continue through spring 2009, when Paizo will incorporate the open playtest feedback and create a hardcover Pathfinder RPG for release in the hobby trade, bookstores, and paizo.com in August 2009. Paizo hopes to support 4th Edition with fan-created online conversions of its Pathfinder products and a complete line from its partner company, Necromancer Games, a trend-setter in the original Open Gaming movement. Necromancer has already announced a new 4th Edition version of their award-winning Tome of Horrors monster encyclopedia, and has plans for additional player and GM support products. Today, Paizo also announced the hiring of Nicolas Logue to run the Pathfinder Society organized play campaign, a massive mega-campaign to launch at this year's Gen Con. The Pathfinder Society will feature events at major conventions, retail stores, and home play as a way to involve thousands of players in a constantly evolving campaign environment fueled by downloadable scenarios released by Paizo. Nicolas Logue is a long-time Paizo contributor to the print versions of Dragon and Dungeon as well as the Pathfinder Adventure Paths and Pathfinder Modules line. He also co-runs an annual competition at Gen Con called Iron DM that will continue to be co-run by Nicolas Logue and his Iron DM compatriots. Nick begins working at Paizo in April. "Nicolas Logue is one of the most energetic, personable gamers I have ever met," said Erik Mona, Paizo's Publisher and the co-founder during his tenure at Wizards of the Coast of Living Greyhawk, the largest organized play RPG campaign in history. "Running a successful organized play campaign involves a magical combination of cool ideas, organizational skills, and enthusiasm. Nick is absolutely the perfect man for the job, and I'm thrilled that he will be joining us here at Paizo."

I don't know about you... but this is disappointing. I would have expected Paizo to at least announce 4e support at the same time as this. From what I read here, they'll remain 3,5 (at least for Pathfinder), expect fan conversion to 4e (for free) and check how Necromancer Game does with it's 4e Tome of Horrors... My gut feeling is that Paizo will soon announce another product line for 4e (it would make sense), but I would have liked a crossover of Pathfinder to 4e. If you have any more news on this (I don't want to trawl the Paizo forums just yet, I need to go to bed) please feel free to share. Yup, disapointing. What say you?

chattys-out-of-the-box-_5-001

ChattyDM — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:50:40 +0000

Chatty's Out of the Box #005: Right Said Slaad!

ChattyDM — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:52:12 +0000

Here's a new comic with my favorite Green Spawn of Chaos! As usual, click thumbnail. This time I've officially teamed up with PM who contributed to the writing and the Photoshoping. He deserves his share of the credit and here it is. I think we're on to something here and we already have brainstormed a few gags, so chances are, this comic thing will become a team effort. I 'm really growing fond of Kermit here and this, as any Troper will tell you, is a sign that I need to step away from it before I Flanderize it. I don't want to burn the potential for that character just yet. As always, thanks for reading!

railroad

ChattyDM — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:01:43 +0000

DM Chronicles, Session 13: Of Moons and Xanathos Railroads, Part 2

ChattyDM — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:13:23 +0000

See part 1 here. After the fight and Eric's Bare-assed performance we moved on the evening's 3rd scene. Now I won't get into details of the scene, because there's no way I could describe it without spending hundreds of words in backstory. Let's just say that this time I really managed to surpass my tendency to over-complicate simple plans and it landed the game directly in Xanathos Roulette land. In my defense, I wrote the scene the day before the game, while under a massive writer's block, during lunch, at McDonald's. Here are the highlights of the scene I played to the PCs. Try guess where things went wrong (yes, it's a rhetorical question):

PCs all get summoned to a minor NPC's abode for an 'urgent meeting'
NPC comes from prior campaign and was key to allow Cixi to escape from a prison world where all her people are.
NPC did 2 cameos in this campaign (heck, it's still unnamed for all intents and purposes).
NPC reveals herself as being a Demon similar to the ones the PCs are fighting
NPC explains she is the Mastermind of a interplanar scheme to free her people and Cixi's from the prison world.
NPC takes credit for all the atrocities that befell Ptolus lately so she could engineer her plan
NPC offers a key bit of info to direct players toward the solution to save the world
NPC offers a very,very detailed plan to Cixi so she can find proof that interplanar pact that landed both 'groups' in prison is no longer valid.
NPC requires PCs to hunt down said proof.
Proof which also just happens to be on the Home plane of Lolth, the Drow godess where they can learn more of her own plans to take over the whole world and maybe stop it.
In exchange for NPC 'helping' PCs, she merely keeps Ptolus for her own use to get back in favor with an old ally.

At some point, the players revolted. They told me that this made absolutely no sense for the heroes to accept to play along such a scheme, regardless of the threat on their world. One player was even honest enough to tell me that he will go along because that's what I had obviously planned but that it violated everything that he thought his character was about. I tried to defend my decision and story, but it's clear that they were right. First, they were heading to the Spider Goddess' home plane anyway. Second, I broke almost every rule of my DMing book here in more ways than I can count: I took away the player's coolness, I took away all control, I needlessly overcomplicated things.... for nothing really (actually I really wanted to give Franky a path to campaign closure with Cixi... I just choose a most convoluted way.) I ended up doing an Asspull, explaining that the Demon NPC was only responsible for some of the mayhem in Ptolus and that the rest was driven by the other faction of demons and drow (the real bad guys!) working for the Spider Queen. While it was interesting to see the players wrestle with the unsavory proposition and debate what to do, the scene was a mess that I have to take responsibility for. I'm not beating myself over the head too much with this... even DMs are allowed brainfarts every so often.... I haven't been at the top of my game lately and the 1st half of the game was awesome enough to make the whole evening palatable for all. Fortunately, the players were able to rationalize this bit of insanity with a very prosaic "If she's a Demon, why the hell would we believe her? We take her info, we'll do an independent check and we'll come and kill her when all is said and done'. God I'm a lucky DM! I also fully realized that I played my 'one per campaign' Free Railroad ability... We ended the evening with a short scene where the heroes set up to locate the portal to Lolth's Home Plane by tracking down the Drow base of operation under Ptolus. They found it, besieged by Ptolus's Elven survivors, bent on revenge. Of course, they couldn't get passed the last line of defense... good thing the PCs showed up just now... Lessons Learned:

Stop forgetting about the KISS principle man!
Always give choices and options to players, otherwise, just write a damn novel.
The Cleric variant rules rock!
Large fights with multiple intermediate monsters are fun.
Update the Social Contract by adding a 'keep your pants on' clause

What players liked:

Mike liked joining a new D&D group and enjoyed his character.
Players appreciated my being generous with the use of action points and backuping to allow better choices.
Eric was really really happy about that Crit
Math appreciated that save once per round thing.

What Player disliked:

Probably most of the second scene
Mike would have preferred not to spend so much healing on himself... :)

Next game: Into the Drow HQ

YABM: Welcome new commenters, almost 2000 comments!

ChattyDM — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:04:55 +0000

YABM: Yet another Blog Milestone Having been a bit out of it in the last few weeks and having finally tackled the very passion inducing subject of 4e (and Paizo's 3.5 strategy) I haven't been able to personally welcome each new commenter on the blog as I tried to do before. So I'm taking a few minutes to welcome you and thank you warmly for investing the effort to put your thoughts out here. I hope you will find, like I do, that this growing community is fascinating, involved, passionate and respectful. In no particular order (and with added extra linky love to your respective blogs, go technorati), welcome to :

Tetsubo
Donavan
Michael Natale
GAZZA
The DM
Brian
Deadshot
Yehuda (indirectly with a link from his game news blog Purple Pawn)
Shadow145
Scot Newbury
God of Awesome
Jeremy
Composite
Jeff Rients
Aywren
Justin Hilyard
xfoo
Epic Level Grognard
BrianB
Greenvesper

I know I already welcomed some of you, but I don't think one can overextend his hospitality. While we're doing the whole meta-blogging thing, this blog is just 9 comments shy of hitting the 2000 comments mark. I don't have a contest or a prize set up for it yet (I'm planning a much bigger thing with Graham and my soon-to-be-unveiled sponsor) but I'll chime in later and name the 2000th commenter I'll make sure it's not me Also, this week I rose over the 200 000th rank on Technorati (that's a far cry from my initial 8 000 000th place 6 months ago) giving me an authority level of 40 (which I started from 0 again when I moved out of Blogger in late November). Thanks to those who linked to me. It's now a running joke in my gaming group that I level up faster on Technorati than I allow my players to do so in the game. All right you have a nice Easter holiday (for the Christians out there) for the rest, have a great weekend!

rock-band

ChattyDM — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:47:39 +0000

Of Exercise Videogames and Musical Rumours

ChattyDM — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:18:06 +0000

No RPG content here... but a few geeky lifestyle comments and a video game scoop. All right, my stress is under control. Exercise helps a lot, but end of weeks are always easier. My big test for my new stress-control strategies is going to be tomorrow morning (i.e. returning to work). Friday morning, before I left for my friend PM's house for a Geek Movie day, I picked up my Gym things and went to do a short session of stress-busting Cardio. I did my required 30 minutes and as I was walking toward the floor mats to do some abdominals and lumbar exercise (I have a weak back and those exercise are magical), I stopped beside the Dance Dance Revolution station (It's a PS2 with 2 full-sized metal dance pads). Since it was Good Friday and the gym was mostly empty I said 'what the hell!' and stepped on the machine. After spending a few minutes learning to navigate the interface, I started the 'workout' option, entered how much I weigh (215 lbs, although the gym's scale under weighs me by about 10 lbs) and entered the time (15 minutes). I'm no swan, I move like a lot of nerdy white overweight guys. However, after 5 minutes, my geeky side took over my self-conscious neurotic one and my nerd side started analyzing movement patterns to make it easier. I failed, miserably, but boy was that fun! I ended up doing a second 15 minute series of songs (bringing my cardio session to a never before reached 60 minutes!) Being of the slightly obsessive-compulsive nerdism school, I had found me a new project! While driving around with the kids on Saturday, I found an excuse to stop at a EBGames store, officially to buy Mama Cook Off (great family game!). While I was waiting to pay for the game, my eyes fell on the Disney Channel edition of Dance Dance Revolution game for the PS2 (I own a PS2 and a Wii ) ... I bought it for the kids, you know... Strictly for the kids. :) Thing is, they do love it. My 6 year old is already quite good and my 4 year old is also learning the ropes at a blistering pace. My wife tried it and she's looking forward to insert it in her own exercise routine. As for me, after having done all the tutorial lessons repeatedly (to the tunes of High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Kim Possible... sigh) I finally got to grok the game... and I love it even more... this is going to be my ticket to sustained exercise.... and less stress! Of course I still plan to go to the Gym from Monday to Thursday (playing some DDR over there when I don't do weights) but now I have the game at home as an instant stress-buster and mental fatigue equalizer (i.e. when the mind is more tired than the body, which is almost all the time with nerds, emotional imbalance is more likely). All right! Enough about dancing games. Let's switch to a similar-themed physical game: Music 'Playing' games. Having tried both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, I really really dig the later. I played the XBox 360 version one evening at Math's and I was sold! Thing is, I don't want to buy the feature-limited PS2 version and the XBox 360 is not on my list of impulse buys anytime soon.. I want it all. But it hasn't been announced by Electronic Arts yet... Here's my Scoop: For those who have a Wii and would really like to play Rock Band, I was told by a friend of mine (not a friend of a friend mind you) who works at the company that sets up and hosts the servers for Rock Band (among other console online games) that they received the Rock Band Software Development Kits for the Wii! (Yay!) Several questions remain, chief among those are:

When? (The EB Games guys think it's going to be in October)
Downloadable content? (That is a deal maker/breaker). Our gang assumes that it will be possible to use the SD cards to download songs.

Needless to say I'm really looking forward to this! All right, this week is our D&D game week. I'll focus on prepping the game more than the blog. However, I'd like to post another Robin's Rule of GMing post. We'll see how my sanity holds up this week... :) Have a great week!

Linky love from a papercut DM!

ChattyDM — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:23:24 +0000

Hey there, I'm taking it cool today, Gym was tiring, and while I am working on a Robin Laws post, I realized that I need to spend a little bit more time reading up on stuff to do a good post on it. Plus, I got a paper cut on my ring finger today and it makes typing painful and slow! Stupid job with too much paper! Woe is me... :) However, let me point you toward a interesting things I recently found about. First up is Geek's Dream Girl, a blog that offers Geeky dating advice and talks about e's (that's her online persona) recent introduction to D&D. She invited me over to participate in her next edition of her Blog Carnival. What a cool concept: you ask bloggers to choose their own posts to be featured on your blog! Next up is my friend's Yax recent call for DM tips over on his blog in exchange for a chance to win his Comp copy of D&D's Exemplar of Evil. He got a whooping 160 comments on that post (!!!) . So instead of being a jealous jerk, I'm inviting to go over there and read all the gems Yax' readers posted. Finally, there's a new 'kid' in the DM blogging town who just opened his blog. His name is Rip and he was somewhat forced into it by Tommi and I after he posted a great long article about making interesting villains over in my forums. RipperX, a long time D&D 2e Storyteller, and recent commented here took his courage in both hands and made the leap. You can find his new blog, called Advanced Gaming and Theory, here. His Villain post can be found here. Oh and the Evil DM is trying to stick it to the Google man by trying to rack up 100$ in Ad money. He's rewarding the clickers with some gratuitous Cheesecake pictures (Note to non-English speaker: it's an euphemism for 'partially undressed ladies') . There you go Ripper, your 1st link! That should give you your 1st Technorati authority level in a few days! Good luck mate! All right, I have almost no prep to do this week, but I have to do some serious Ret-Coning to fix last game's horrendous plot exposition. I'll talk to you later this week but chances are I'll skip the Adventure Prep post if I don't have anything relevant to say about it . Cheers!

I'm okay but busy...

ChattyDM — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:04:48 +0000

Title says it all. With a huge job milestone coming next week and the daily gym, my energy level is steady but on the low side. So when I'm done putting the kids to bed and doing a little prep for my Friday game, there's no juice left for blogging. I did manage to perform an elegant, player-approved, Ret Con for last game's Role Playing debacle and I hope to be able to write on this later this week. Today I have a 3 hour company-wide meeting and then I have 4 interviews for new positions in our labs... I'm so taking a few days off after next week :) (Hurrah for unused Vacation days). Cya later...

Adventure Prep: My Rewind button

ChattyDM — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:21:17 +0000

This week, my actual prepping work is rather light. Since all 6 players are available (What are the odds?) we have to move the game out of my place. I can only accommodate 5 in my gaming den. That means I'll have to pack my stuff to go to Math's on Friday evening. It also just happens that the prepping I did 2 weeks ago wasn't all used up. To make thing easier still, a big part of the next 2 sessions will be exactly as written in the published adventure I use, i.e. Expedition to the Demonwebs pits. Anecdotal Aside: Monte Cook was initially approached to tackle this product and he thought it was about mixing Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (a Sci-Fi themed AD&D adventure) with the classic Queen of the Demonweb pits. He envisioned having a party of adventurers taking the ship off Greyhawk and crashing it into the Demonweb... Now that I would have liked to see! When he actually learned what it was about he wasn't as interested. Since my prep is minimal, what I'd like to talk about is something that I did only sparingly in my quarter century as a DM. However, it was beneficial to the game whenever I did it. I'm talking about Ret-Coning a campaign's plot in order to salvage a session and/or campaing arc that took a wrong turn somewhere. Ret Con stands for Retroactive Continuity. It means re-framing (or revising) past events to explain a new path a story is taking. When done inelegantly, a Ret Con can be defined as an Ass Pull. That last one means when a writer pulls something out of thin air (or somewhere else) to explain an event. As you may remember, my last session ended somewhat badly when I used a single, rather minor NPC to expose way too many convoluted plot elements and forcing all my players on the rails of Chatty's Approved Plotline ®. When I saw the players taking out pickaxes and dynamite to blow those rails... I had to do something. So what I did was let a few days pass after the game so that we would all move on to other things. As time heals all wounds, so does it dull the memory of a less than stellar game. We all ended up filing the last game as 'a heck of a great start and a so so ending, no biggie'. Then, earlier this week, I announced by email to the whole group that I would perform a Ret Con and present this at the start of the next game. A player asked that I share what I had in mind beforehand so they could wrap their minds around it before the game and I agreed. I re-framed the events of the last game as such:

While the PCs were hunting down demon-slaying weapons according to their prophecy, the city of Ptolus was under the assault of 2 gangs.

One gang, bearing the markings of the 'Spider' is made of Drow and demons are based underneath Ptolus and conducts various raids on the surface, targeting Elven settlements.

The other gangs, marked with a Skull, performs much more precise, much more damaging 'seek and destroy' missions on key forces of Good in Ptolus.

Originally there was just one gang, the Skulls, who were responsible for everything

Rule of Three (The Adventure's main patron) points the players toward the Demonweb to sniff out Lolth's plan for this world and the Outer planes.

This is the published adventure's actual next step. I had Cixi (Franky's Iron Hero) old patron do that in my broken version

Cixi's old patron summoned only Cixi (instead of her whole crew) and gives Cixi a mission to sniff out the Demonweb for proof that the pact that imprisoned Cixi's people has been violated by Lolth and therefore is no longer valid.

Instead of the patron revealing herself as the true villain/Magnificent Bastard of the campaign and forcing Cixi to fetch her the proof she needs to free her own people, the wardens of that prison.

Now, the only hint that something is not right is that Cixi's old patron wears a Necklace bearing the Skull insignia.

(I don't expect you to all catch what this means, suffice to say that it's Franky's character's campaign goal to find Cixi's original Homeworld and free her people from the prison world and I was trying to give Franky a path to full closure with the end of this campaign) The players really liked it... it was simpler, more elegant, hinted at what was wrong and made it more 'acceptable' for the heroes to continue on to the Demonwebs. In order to salvage what we played out in the last game, I told them that all the plot elements that hadn't been contradicted in this re-telling was actually the stuff of rumors and conjecture in Ptolus. What I'm driving at is that I think it's okay to tweak, or even downright change past event of a campaign (recent or not). You can do so if it serves your game better and if the players are willing to suspend their disbelief enough to bring back the story within their comfort zone. At the very least, doing this type of game rewind can allow to bring a game back into the 'potentially fun' zone. Heck, I remember a few years ago, in one game where I sprang an unannounced Alien Invasion of a Fantasy world, my players were so shocked and unprepared that they decided to ignore that part of the story and went to explore another region of the world where no Bug Eyed Monsters had landed... I had to scrap a few weeks of prep readjust to the player's reaction. I don't know if a Ret Con is a common thing in other playing groups. I wonder if playing style can influence the possibility of a DM doing this. Let's make this open questions:

Have you as a DM used ret-con to adjust aspects of your game? If so, how?
Do you as a player, agree to such a technique? If so, how involved do you want to be?
What is an acceptable Ret Con, what is too much?
Are there DM/players that believe you shouldn't do it? If so, why?

The comments are open, let's discuss this!

Robin’s Laws Revisited: Part 4, Creating your Campaign

ChattyDM — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:45:43 +0000

This post is part of a series that revisits Robin Laws' classic work on Gamemastering, called simply enough Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering. I tackle each chapter in order. It's not so much a review of the book but more my views on the subjects Robin touched then. If you want to get better at GMing, this system-neutral book is probably the best 8$, you can spend . This time it's about designing and starting a new campaign. So you have chosen your rules set for your next game (or settled on what everyone agrees to play) and now you want to design your own campaign... Robin Laws discusses a few areas you may want to explore while building your campaign Planned vs on the Fly A planned campaign is one where the GM has a defined plot and has created specific areas and NPCs that PCs will meet at various key points (in time and in space) (Edit: I used an erroneous example here so I removed it). On the opposite end of planning is the On the Fly campaign, where it starts with a single adventure, often a published one and the plot and developments grow from there as the GM preps is next adventures based on what happened in prior ones. The world map often starts with a single base of operation and the nearby adventure sites. My campaigns tend to be mostly on the fly. Of course campaigns are rarely just one or the other. But if as a GM you tend to have a binder full of background notes and maps before the players show up for your first game, chances are you have a planned campaign on your hands. That doesn't mean that a planned campaign isn't improvised or that an On the fly one isn't scripted. Robin makes the distinction between designing a campaign (over arching themes and plot) vs the actual adventures (the next chapter). For instance, while my campaign are mostly on the fly things, my actual adventures are scripted and follow well defined scenes. On the other hand, my friend Yan will have a 50 pager background document for his campaign world and a plot worked out in advance but has a completely improvised, open-ended approach to adventure design. Both can be good. In truth, I'm pretty sure that GMs mix and match pre-planning and On the Fly depending on available time and natural style. Genre Robin then touches on Genre. This was a very relevant choice to make in the late 90's, even once you had settled on rules, because each game system had an abundance of styles. Gurps had worldbooks, each World of Darkness games had a distinct genre and even the A D&D 2nd Edition game had a large number of very different settings that mixed genres. Now, in the late 00's, genre is still relevant but the choice of game often sets the main genre. Still, as you build your campaign, you may decide to add genre additional elements to your game. A common example is to add Lovecraftian-type horror to Heroic Fantasy games. Or re-visit the old '70's classic of mixing Sci-Fi elements with Fantasy. Published vs Home-Grown setting The next choice is to go with a published setting or create your own. This mostly goes down to a matter of player/GM preference. In D&D 3e, players can chose the default setting (that I call Greyhawk lite), the Forgotten Realms or Eberon. Third party ones like the Scarred lands, Kalamar, Pathfinder's Golarion to name a few are also available. If your group chooses to go for a published setting, chances are you'll have real fans of that setting in your groups. That's why Robin Laws suggests that players be allowed to read all sourcebooks of the settings. While it will most likely reveal settings secrets it will increase player immersion and buy-in of your game. As long as the group agrees to stay off published adventures that the GM intends to use, I really think this approach is best. Provided the group has an agreed upon stance against meta-gaming and out of game knowledge. Much like Robin, I have found that campaign setting secrets are not worth keeping because the reveal is never as appreciated by players as you'd like. Reserve big reveals for NPC plans and actions you created and that aren't found in the books. :) That brings me to touch a similar point for home-grown campaigns. These are great because as the GM who created the world, you know all about it and you can shape it in whatever direction you without being limited by a setting's Canon. Canonical Aside: Actually you can do whatever you please in a published settings too, but you may face resistance if some of your players are 'Real Fans'.... "What do you mean Elminster is a female Warlock??? " Heck I discarded a good 60% of the established Ptolus meta-plot, I plunked the city in my world (when it's supposed to be a Demi-plane), and I'm actually destroying it... At 120$ for the book and 60$ for the PDF, I can well do what I want, no? However, home-grown worlds have a tendency to activate GMs' authorial genes and cause them to spend countless hours filling reams of paper (or Wikis, or Word Documents) on the minute details of Livestock commerce, Barbarian court etiquette, epic timelines, etc. When all this work is done, a GM tends to want to share all this (it's only natural, when you pour a lot of effort in something,seeking validation is normal). Thing is, the tendency of many GMs is to present this in the form of non-interactive presentations... (which often leads to this type of reaction from players) My advice to you, if you are the type who enjoys creating worlds in detail, is to make all this info part of your adventures. Make learning key tidbits (not whole pages) of the background core elements of some of your adventures. If you must, hand out a 1 pager summary of what players should know about the world (more than that and some won't read it). Of course, if players ask for more, go wild :) Tone If current rulesets often pre-determines Genres, the actual tone of your campaign is another issue. Even in fantasy, you can set different tones. You can go the classic Heroic, PCs-are-Badasses path (which D&D 4e is embracing at full speed), or you may decide to go for a darker, grittier game using the same system. You may also decide to explore a key emotion/feeling for your campaign like, for example, a pervading sense of Paranoia. You may go for pure action, investigation, silliness, etc. For example, my buddy Dave the Game has a fascinating campaign where places and NPCs have a distinct Pop-art feeling and/or pun-filled names. The last log I read was called Fear and Loathing in Van Legas! :) It's a good idea to check with your players if the tone you'd like to go for is different from the mainstream. Campaign Mission Robin laws concludes this chapter with a very important point that remains as valid now as it did 10 years ago: When you create a Campaign, you already have in mind what it is that the players will be doing. Make sure you convey that to your group and get thier buy-in... If your players expect a Hack N Slash heroic fest of mayhem, springing a Paranoid Dark age Court Intrigue campaign on them will likely result in a lot of slain Gothic Princesses. :D Laws calls this the campaign's mission. I wouldn't suggest that you write one down and mount it to your game room's wall like corporations do. However, actually sitting down and writing your campaign's elevator pitch will force you to crystalize what it is you want the game to be about and convey this to your players in just a few lines... Conclusion: Once players know what the campaign is going to be about (Genre, Setting, Tone and mission) they'll be able to think about and choose interesting character concepts that fit into that picture. What about you, what are your campaign design strategies? Feel free to link to your blog posts on the subject or forum posts you once wrote. Or use the comments here, I'm always interested to see what other GMs do. As for you players out there (I had a poll once that showed the majority of readers to share playing and GMing duties), what do you expect of a GM to be ready to tackle creating a character for a new campaign? Have a nice weekend all.

focuswagon_big

ChattyDM — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:56:30 +0000

Found a name for my gaming group!

ChattyDM — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:58:46 +0000

Yesterday, before we started our bi-monthly D&D game, I had to step outside to go and get the last player from the Subway station nearby. As I got out, I noticed that out of the seven people that play in our group, 4 own a Ford Focus Station Wagon (So Ronin, I may have to call on you soon...) That gave me the idea for an official name for our group: The D&D Focus Group! Feel free to leave your groans in the comments! The non-Focus drivers own a Honda Fit (me), a Honda Civic (Math) and a Mazda 5 (Yan). I guess it's a battle of the American Family car vs the Japanese! Stay tuned for the Campaign log. It was quite a nice game last night.

chattys-out-of-the-box-6-001

ChattyDM — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:08:56 +0000

Chatty's Out of the Box #006: Gummy Dragons

ChattyDM — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:09:37 +0000

Here's another comic with some new characters, once again done with the creative support of my good friend PM. It was about time that I put my gargantuan and Colossal dragons to use, it's not like I ever needed them in my actual games. I owe the original idea of this comic to Scotticus, thanks man! I'm really enjoying doing those, and I'm perfectly aware that it's not everybody's thing here. I do it because I get to learn a lot on so many things: digital photography, comic book writing and comedy (which ain't easy). I still need to make myself a pair of light diffuser and I should experiment taking pictures from different angles to show different parts of my gaming room (although, the way I currently do it allows me to snap pictures without actually cleaning up my work/play space...) If you want to see a bit more of my play room, have a look here. I'm actually thinking of putting the comics on it's own series of webpage and implement some sort of archive... but I've only done 6 so far... so no hurry. Thanks for humoring me and thanks for the feedback both positive and constructive.

Superu Anime Comicu #001

Graham — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:12:17 +0000

It's time to move on...

ChattyDM — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:01:07 +0000

I think many of you saw the signs in the last few days... longer periods between posts, a few personal posts about blogging vs real life and general funkyness. Well after thinking about it long and hard, I've decided that it's time I moved on to more productive things. So I'm going to start writing guest posts for Internet Marketing and Management Coaching sites. That way, I can start actually getting paid for all that work! I've had a few offers lined up to give it a try for a month, if that doesn't work... I could always start a new religion. Never fear though, I'm not leaving you alone! I've sold the blog to PM and Graham. They decided to take over, using my nascent online popularity to launch a new anime webcomic! Using the fact that every gamer is also an anime fan, they should have a perfect pre-made fanbase. I am confident they will go far, and they have made me a moderately wealthy man with their offer... well at least I'll get a Xbox 360 and Rock Band out of those last 6 months of work. Here's a preview of their work (Click to enlarge)... you got to admire the strength of their writing and the finesse of their characterization. All right, thanks everyone, I had a lot of fun and you were all absolutely fantastic... P.S.: Don't ask me to translate... look it up on Babel Fish... it ought to be entertaining...

phase-spiders

ChattyDM — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:43:36 +0000

DM Chronicles, Session 14: You Wanted Planescape? You Got It!

ChattyDM — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:06:20 +0000

This is part of a long running series that chronicles my current D&D campaign set in an adapted version of Ptolus. Oh yeah... I'm not actually quitting.. While it is a lot of work, I'm still having fun here. Last game I played a rather badly designed plot exposition scene that left our enjoyment of the game in a so-so state. In order to salvage it and put the players back in their heroic groove, I took the liberty to do a little Ret-Con and adjusted things so that things ran more smoothly. This week, all players showed up so we moved the game to Math's (I can only sit 6 adults in my gaming room). I made it there with no damage to my car or my house, which is quite a feat! (When I play away from my place, trees have a tendency to fall on my house or my car tends to be a magnet for sideswiping Minivans...) We started the game at around 6h30 PM, with Cixi (Franky's Iron Hero Archer) taking leave from her old patron (from the last campaign). Cixi had been called upon and given the mission of exploring Lolth's Demonwebs for proof that the pact that kept her people imprisoned in Carceri had been broken by the Spider Queen herself (and therefore annulled). It's important to note that her old patron was a fiend posing as a human that happens to be one of the Carcerian Prison's wardens (and that Cixi knew about that). The party later obtained the information that the nearest portal to the Demonwebs would be found within the undercity's Drow compound where countless raids on Ptolus had been carried out from lately. As mentioned last time, the surface elves of Ptolus had already counter-attacked and forced the Drow to retreat into their compound. When the heroes joined the elven commander in charge of the counter assault, they were told that the Drow were entrenched into some mines, protected by some magic draining force and some powerful large spiders. Of course, being the heroes that they are, the PCs charged in! I had set up the fight with numerous adversaries. The opposition was 4 Large Lolth-Touched Spiders (A really strong, high hit point templated Spider, MM IV), 4 Drow Ninjas! (MM IV, woot!) and an Arcane Ooze (A magic absorbing/immune ooze, MM III). A CR 11.5 fight... The fight was mostly a non-event (the players were actually a full level above what I had planned). Inigo Firenze (The Scout/Swordsage) used it's darkness combo (Inigo is invisible to Darkvision, but he himself has it) to kill spider. Nogard, the half-dragon tank/barbarian, was flanked simultaneously by 2 ninjas but his high AC protected him. Both Ninjas were dispatched almost instantly. Cixi was hit by another pair of invisible ninjas and that's only because Iron Heroes have an end-all weakness: they lose all their bonuses to AC when flat footed (giving her an AC of 10 instead of the mid 20s). After cleaning up the place, the PC's entered the glowing portal to find themselves in a large underground Drow temple. The temple was littered with torn Drow and spider bodies. A few Dead Umber Hulks, bearing the dreaded 'skull' marks (see my Game prep for notes on the 'skulls') were found as potential responsible for the Drow massacre. Aside: While it does play a role in my story to have had the skulls kill all the Drow inside the compound before the heroes showed up , I actually didn't want to have the players mow down wave after wave of Drow opponents all evening long. This was basically a shortcut to bring the PCs to the Demonweb and maintain some sort of minimal internal logic the players were willing to accept. The players spent a few minutes exploring the recently abandoned temple and found another portal gate which they activated with a key they had just found. They landed on a granite pedestal, in a room made of slightly sticky webs crafted out of damned souls... Welcome to the Demonweb, please mind your step... Following some vague directions they got back in Ptolus, the PCs set out to find a renegade drow scholar to get the lowdowns on the Spider Queen latest schemes and the sought after proof that Cixi was seeking. After following a long 20' diameter Web tunnel they arrived in an area where 4 such tunnels merged into a large figure 8 shaped chamber whose floor was made up of Cable thick strands weaved into an actual gargantuan web (spread over a limitless drop into the endless Abyss). Being quite fearless (and mostly because he is, you know, a Scout) Inigo boldly advanced on the taut web cables to explore the various exits of that 'room'... ...Only to be flanked by 2 Lolth-touched Phase Spider s who promptly phased out after hitting him hard (while another one hit another character). The players spent a few rounds trying to deal with the spiders popping in and out of the ethereal plane, quite ineffectively. They were having a real hard time so I more or less skipped on the hazards caused by the room such asforcing balance checks whenever one was hit or having the players get stuck on the web's various 'sticky zones'. It's a good thing I did because Cixi got hit repeatedly by the spiders (AC 10 when flat foot remember?) and failed on her saving throw against poison (1d8 Constitution damage both times... ouch!!!) After a few rounds of this, I pointed out to the players that they could use the ready action to interrupt a phase Spider's turn. That tip helped turn the tide of the battle... at a certain point, the brighter than average spiders stayed in the ethereal plane to see how the secondary poison damage would turn out. That's when Cixi dropped to a constitution score of 2 and was still sitting alone on her side of the map. So I had one spider jump on Inigo (it was promptly killed by readied actions) and the 2 others jumped on Cixi... she was saved in-extremis by well timed readied actions and some luck. As the fight was over, Franky indicated that they would have to return to Ptolus to recuperate (Iron Heroes in my campaign are immune to all forms of healing magic).. but before they could leave, I sprung a Drow patrol on them (thinking they'd choose to flee). Of course, players beings D&D players, they stood their ground and vanquished the drow in 2 short rounds. All in all it was an interesting fight except for Cruguer the Melee-only Crusader that spent the whole fight unable to reach a spider. The rest of the session was mostly story related. The players returned to the Undecity of Ptolus to recuperate for 48 hours, they returned to the Demonwebs and found the renegade Drow scholar. She just happened to have been fascinated with the Iron Heroes and wanted to expose her Queen's schemes for Cixi's Homeworld to gain some leverage outside of the Demonweb. She also indicated that Lolth had invited a host of Demon Lords to negotiate an alliance pact to end the internal strife of the Abyss and break the equilibrium of the Outer Planes to allow it's full conquest. The invitation consisted in a Golden Ticket (as hinted in the heroes' prophecy) to be shown at the impassable Black Gate to the Demonweb pits. Then, the scholar pointed the party toward a non-descript gate. Using a portal key she was given by her ex-patron, Cixi opened up the gate into a temple overlooking a vast plain where countless thousands of humans were being subjected to never ending corruption processes to transform them into demonic forms of Iron Heroes. Cixi had finally found her homeworld, snatched by Lolth 10 000 years before and hidden in her webs. The Spider Queen had violated the pact that forbade all powers in the Great Wheel from trying to exploit the Magic resistant, ultra powerful humans, as the dukes of Hell did before. Cixi now had to find a way to Mechanus and present the case to the multiverse's ultimate avatar of Law: Primus of the Modrons. After that discovery, the players returned to the Demonweb, only to find it shaking violently, web walls tearing up and millions and millions of tiny spiders swarming all over the place. Then a loud voice screamed of intruders invading her domain and Lolth showed up not far from the PCs, ready to open a can of WhooPC. The players, wisely, chose to run from that aspect of the Spider queen and return to Ptolus. They made it... Aside: This is one case where descriptions trumps crunch, because the Aspect of Lolth (at CR10, the party is level 11) involved in this little charade was so laughable that the Phase Spiders could have taken it down. Once back under the city, I started describing how everything was shaking and cracking underneath the city (Like a typical Star trek Bridge shaking). The heroes rapidly made thier way to the surface, only to find the sky over the city shifting rapidly. It looked like the whole city was flying through an alien landscape. I then described a seemingly floating city appearing on the horizon and approaching Ptolus at a staggering pace... Ptolus then crashed into Zelatar, the Demonic city of Demon Prince Grat'zz. ... a voice was heard throughout the cities: "My name is Grat'zz, lord of Zelatar, welcome to you citizens of Ptolus, newest neigborhood of my domain..." The heroes' base of operations was now in the Abyss... Fade to black... Lessons Learned:

The Challenge Rating of special monsters like phase spiders means nothing for a party not equipped to deal with it.
Complex combat encounters are usually the best, but when players are already having a hard enough time, it's best to make things simpler on them.
You can screw around with the setting and make things as grim as you like... as long as players are on board and trust that they can overcome it somehow.

What Players liked:

Kicking Drow butt
The dread-filled atmosphere of the Abyss and the schemes of the bad guys.
They got a facefull of Planscape all right!

What players disliked:

Cruguer sitting a whole fight because he couldn't hit anything
Franky's finding that Cixi lost a lot of her shine in the last few games as her weaknesses came to the front in this game.

What next:

Re-orienting themselves in Zelatar, the most civilized of demonic cities.

ct-player-guide

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:22:34 +0000

Pathfinder Preview: Curse of the Crimsom Throne Player's Guide

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:32:23 +0000

I got a nice, very red, surprise in the mail yesterday. It was Paizo's Pathfinder #7, the 1st adventure of the series' second Adventure Path, along with a copy of the player's guide. Since I got the guide this time, I thought I'd preview it first and then tackle the adventure tomorrow. The Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path is shaping up to be mainly focuses on city-based adventured centered on the city of Korsova Don't you think that it sounds more like a Czech Beer than a fantasy city? :) The Player's guide is a modest 16 page softcover stapled full color booklet. It shows the usual high quality product values found in the previous Pathfinder products. The interior of the front cover shows a high level map of Korsova while the back one shows a map of Varisia, the country where this Adventure Path (and the last one) occurs. The booklet starts with the usual 'how to use this guide' and comes right out by saying that it doesn't try to describe a large city in 16 pages (it actually only spends about 5 on the city itself). It points players and DMs to the separate 64 page Guide to Korsova. (A 12,99 PDF or 17,99 Hardcopy accessory).

I understand perfectly that a city can't be covered in details in either the player guide (I actualy read all 750 pages of Ptolus... almost twice and it isn't as complete as some would have liked it to be).

Still, I am somewhat irritated by the fact that this adventure path is not more self-contained. For instance a series of 10 page city Gazeteer could have been posted in each issue of Pathfinder leading to about 70 pages worth of material over the 7 issues.

Of course, nowhere is it said that it is essential to play the Adventure Path, but hints of it's potential usefulness are seen in the early pages of both documents. Anyway, I can't fault Paizo for wanting to sell stuff... it's just not my favorite way of going at it... (Item Cards, Battle Maps, DM screen....I'm all for it... not gazeteer-style supplements) However, to be perfectly honest, I always tend to ignore these world-setting accessories.. A Forgotten Realms fan I am not! The guide touches Korsova's main neighborhoods and key NPCs. It also features a few new feat that are nifty. For example, one gives a 4th level ranger a ridable hippogriph as an animal companion. Another grants instant reloading of any type of Crossbows (Woot Machine Gun Heavy Crossbow combo!) while another one grants 1 round summonings to conjurers. All interesting stuff really. Then the guide offers a 4 pages on races and classes (1 paragraph each) and refers to the Rise of the Runelords (i.e. the 1st Adventure path) players guide for more details (available in PDF for 2$... also somewhat irritating for anyone wanting to start a campaign with the second adventure path). The guide showcases a few Varisian and Korsova-specific pices of equipments like Bladed Scarves, Doctor Masks and Sawtooth sabers. Some of these items are reprints of the 1st guide (which is fine by me... considering my previous rant... ) One of the most interesting part of the guide comes in the last section. Here players are invited to choose a Background trait to link the PC to the city of Korsova. All these traits have in common that the PCs have been wronged in some manner by a named Korosovan crime lord (offering various avenues to explain why the players would band together). Traits cover a wide range of backgrounds like drug addiction (as an addicted friend or a personnal addiction), having been framed, having a lost love, a missing child or unhappy childhood. Like the drug addiction example each trait offers 2 variations... a creative DM could create many others. As an added bonus, each trait gives a small bonus to the PC. For example, in the Unhappy Childhood trait (where the player was enslaved by the crime lord and exploited as a thief) , a player can choose 'tortured' which explains that the PC was repeatedly mistreated and finally left for dead on a heap of garbage. This made the PC jumpy and honed his/her speed and reflexes (+1 Reflex save). I really like this last idea, a great mix of minor bonuses with a focused background concept on which to build a character upon. Traits are chosen by players and I can totally envision having a group disscussion with players over these traits to build ties between character during generation. So all in all, the guide is a useful, interesting and accessible guide for players (at fully illustrated 16 pages, this is not a daunting reading assignments). While this annoyed me, the existence of a City Guide that is already available for those who are hungry for more is an interesting addition to the adventure path (I would gladly review it if someone sent me a complimentary copy... I just wouldn't buy it myself especially since I don't plan to actually play this adventure path...) Oh did I mention that both books are very very red? Up next is the actual Pathfinder issue.

car-phone

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:39:02 +0000

Mobile Phones in Cars

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:41:04 +0000

I only have one blog and I need to rant about something totally unrelated to RPGs... but somewhat geeky... so feel free to move on or add some oil on the fire. On April 1st, a new law (for real, not as an April Fool's) passed in Quebec that strictly forbids the use of hand-held phones in cars. I must say: It's about freaking time! While I have been guilty of doing it ever since I lost my Bluetooth headset, I fully agree that driving with only one hand is dangerous especially if you drive stick (I speak from personal experience). But thats not here nor there. What pisses me off is that the lobby (which includes Government institution like our Public Health organizations) that pushed to get this legislation out also wants to ban the use of mobile phones in cars period, hands-free included (they say the new law is just the 1st step). They argue that it's not the fact that phones are hand held that causes accidents but the mere act of speaking on a mobile causes sufficient distraction to increase accidents While I can imagine that speaking and driving is more likely to cause distraction than having all one's concentration on driving (and who has.... I mean people freaking daydream while driving), I really don't see the difference between speaking on a Hands-free device and talking to your car pooling partner or discussing with your significant other. To those who push for complete banning of Hands-free mobile phones in cars I say Bull$hit! What's next? Prevent children from talking to parents, make arguing with a passenger illegal? I'm not a fan of the all too easy slippery slide argument... but I strongly believe that the opponents of mobiles are pushing this one to far. And wait till they start having more studies that it induces cancer... I can already see it the ads: Second hand mobile phone usage causes cancer in nearby children, please refrain from using it near yours. Ahhh, that felt good! The mike is on, I'm I full of it, am I spot on or am I missing something?

blonde-bombshell

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:51:59 +0000

big

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:48:12 +0000

edge-of-anarchy

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:20:00 +0000

pzo9007_180

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:20:50 +0000

edge-of-anarchy1

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:23:33 +0000

Pathfinder #7 Preview: Curse of the Crimson Throne #1

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:33:03 +0000

I'm having issues with uploading images to the blog's server. That's why this one actually points to Paizo's site... I'm going to take a different approach with this series of review. While I'll still list what's in the adventure, I'll add more of a review element to it. Paizo started publishing their own 3.5 OGL compatible (they can't say D&D anymore) Adventure Path when Wizards of the Coast revoked the Dungeon Magazine license last year. Pathfinder #7 marks the start of the second campaign arc. This one is set in the Varisian city of Korsova. The adventure is called Edge of Anarchy and is designed for a party of 4 level 1 PC that should take them to level 4. Adventure Synopsis (SPOILER ALERT SKIP TO NEXT SECTION): The players are brought together to bring to justice an old nemesis shared by all. In the nemesis lair they find an object that belongs to the city's young Queen mourning her dead husband. After returning the Mac Guffin, the PCs are invited to join the Royal City Guards to help prevent the shocked city from falling into anarchy. Many adventures ensue and PCs get mixed with more and more trouble like chasing the king's presumed assassin, trying to avoid a war with the regions' barbarians and dealing with an infamous masked outlaw hero. High level critique (Oops slight spoilers here too) I haven't read the whole adventure yet, writen by Nicolas Logue, author of the Hook Mountain Massacre (the one with the depraved Hillbilly Ogres), but I started reading the first few encounters. The style is very engaging and this is one of those adventures that reads almost like a novel. It alternates Event based encounters with short (5 to 10 room) site-based ones like many good city-based adventures do. Now I know that all adventure paths are somewhat railroady (it's a path after all). Regardless, I am worried that this one might be a bit much for freedom-loving players and I find it that it assumes a lot of things. First assumption is that players will accept to take the traits that the Player's Guide propose to link them with a common nemesis... if they don't the 1st encounter fails and the DM must rework the whole introduction... In fact, I'm a bit disappointed that such a great idea (the traits and background presented in the guide) gets used up completely in the adventure's 1st scene. Unless I'm in for a surprise later in the adventure or the series, that nemesis never comes back. Pity. The second assumption is that after dealing with the nemesis in whatever way the PCs decided upon and playing around in a city gone mad with it's monarch's death, they will naturally all band around the stolen Mac Guffin and return it to the queen... I don't know about you but that's a risky bet. And there the adventure uses a few classic techniques that more or less results in all of the city's fences closing up as the PCs approach and putting up signs saying 'this way to the Castle'. One element of this adventure may however smooth out the things that worry me here. The whole adventure path is flavoured (yes mr. spell checker... we use the 'ou' in Canuck land) with the concept of the Harrow deck (available at Paizo, but with a free alternative presented in the current issue) which is a fantasy adaptation of the Tarot deck. The deck has 6 suits representing D&D's core abilities (Str, Dex, Wis, etc) and the 9 alignments. Each adventures of this path assume (again) that the party (as a single entity) will get a Harrow reading that will foreshadow the upcoming challenges they will meet. The reading consists of picking a 'chosen' card (like the figures in tarot) and then get a nine card spreads based on the alignment grid that represents concepts like Positive Past (Lawful good) to Unclear Present (True Neutral) to Negative Future (Chaotic Evil) The harrow rules seem to be another set of those good fluff/crunch combos that Tommi has talked about before (like life paths in some games). A skillful DM can use Harrow to weave a believable divinatory reading (being both vague and accurate) much more easily than with any other tools offered in the Players Hanbook's descriptions of divination magic. That's not all, each adventure has a suit associated to it (Edge of Anarchy is Dex) and each player gets a set of 'harrow points' equal to the number of cards of that suit played in the spread. These points can be used to reroll Dex related rolls (like initiative, Dex-based Skills, Dex modified attacks... etc) or get dodge bonuses to AC for a full encounter. That's very very cool! So I think that if played correctly by a creative DM and if the players buy-in the Harrow playing scene the adventure can work really well. Still that's a lot of 'if's. Phonetics aside: Are Harrow and Tarot pronounced the same in English? In French Tarot is actually pronounced Tah-row. All in all, the adventure seems to be a great read and the background it is built around makes for a classic Heroes vs political Mastermind villain campaign. I'm no fan of published city-based adventures and this one has caught my interest in the 1st paragraph of it's background. Breakdown of Issue #7:

Foreword: Where editor James Jacob talks about Nicolas Logue's mad writing skillz, the challenge of setting an adventure in a large city (buy the city guide he says!) and then points out a few of the changes the Pathfinder magazine has seen (It's freaking RED!!!).
The Edge of Anarchy: A 52 page adventure that throws some heroic native of a royal city in the chaos caused by the death of a heirless king.
Harrow: A 6 page essay that explains how to play Harrow without the deck published by Paizo (good call, but awkward unless a very creative DM crafts his own deck with Photoshop!)
People of the Road: An 8 page gazeteer essay on the Nomadic Varisians.
Pathfinder's journal: A 6 page fiction-like journal of a legendary Pathfinder
Beastiary: 14 pages of monsters by Nicolas Logue featuring:
- Sewer Random encounter chart (BTW anyone still uses those in general? I'm curious)
- The Carrion Golem: A cheap, CR 4 disease-ridden Flesh Golem. Way Cool
- The Devil Fish: A CR 4 Horse-sized squid-like mass of teeth and hooks complete with Fishing stories!
- Dream Spider: A CR 1/2 critter. The web cause hallucination. I love spiders, you can never have too many spiders in that game! Heck, I'd call my version of 3.5 OGL fantasy "Sewers & Spiders"!
- Soulbound Doll: A tiny very cute manga-like doll animated with a fragment of a creature's soul... freaky!
- Raktavarna: A surprise monster (I won't spoil it).... very clever.
- Reefclaw: a CR 1 child-sized Lobster-eel! Again with Fishing stories about some reaching the size of a Giant!

There you have it... All within 2 days of delivery! Have a great weekend all!

How's my health? Much Better

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:01:01 +0000

Much like a nasty kidney stone, my work-related milestone passed (with resounding success). As you may have noticed, my posting schedule has recovered and actual RPG related postings have started creeping back in the content. (Sprinkled with non gaming stuff... chances are this will stay like that). I'm much better. After 3 full weeks of work-day exercise, increased cuddling with my beautiful wife, playing with the kids more and reduced self-imposed pressure, I was able to weather the stress related to my job and the blog. I'm now getting quite adept at Dance Dance revolution. Acing songs at the Basic levels and starting to learn the patterns of some at difficult. I use the gym one to warm up for my weight training and I use the one at home to exercise during the weekend (30 minutes a day). I've also started branching out in blog reading and I started reading some writing focused blogs such as Bob Younce's The Writing Journey (of The DM Blog). Bob made me discover another writing/buisness-building blog called Men with Pens co-written by fellow Quebecer James Chartrand. (Salut James!) Today, Harry, James' co-writer, posted an excellent post related to what I was dealing with (and still am to a lesser degree) called Why Web Workers should Indulge in Guilty Pleasures. What he says about not letting our job define us is spot on and he's right that giving yourself some slack is necessary to maintain your performance to the best level possible for your client/colleagues. This reminds me of an idea I had when I used to be a Pharmaceutical Quality Compliance Supervisor. I was living a high level of stress back then that led to a full blown burnout. Anyway, I once commented to my teammates that while drug manufacturing regulations have clear requirements for doing preventive maintenance on equipment (to prevent breakdown during manufacturing ) there was no such thing for employees. I then joked that if I could implement a human preventive maintenance program, complete with day offs, subsidized massages and workout, I'd probably be either fired on the spot or be named the most brilliant manager in buisness magazines. I may very well do that one day... Have a great weekend all!

pzo9007_500

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:15:17 +0000

dndlogo4e

ChattyDM — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:49:21 +0000

Chatty on 4e: Retro-Stupid vs... well Retro-Stupid

ChattyDM — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:06:34 +0000

This is the second in an series of articles where I tackle 2 short subjects on 4e from a DM’s perspective and ask for your thoughts. The 1st one can be found here. While I was reading stuff on D&D 4e on the various blogs, news sites and the Worlds and Monsters book (which I finished last week), I began to see another of the driving philosophies of the designers and developers. I explored one last time which was 'nothing has to stay in the game if it wasn't fun'. The other philosophy is related to the 1st one and could be summarized, in my mind as "out with the bad Retro-Stupid, in with fun one. Definitions Before we start a flame war because I apparently called earlier editions of D&D Stupid, let's define our terms shall we? The term Retro-Stupid was defined 2 years ago by Jeff Rients when he poked at the Gamist/Narrativist/Simulationist model of RPG theory apparently for fun. Thing is, as humourous as these definitions may be, they are accurate, at least the Stupid and Retro ones... (I'll leave exploring the Pretentious definition to other bloggers and pundits) He defines Retro games as:

Retro games make use of settings, mechanics, or assumptions that are now considered outdated by the rpg mainstream, but these same assumptions once defined that mainstream. Does a game have classes and/or levels for no damn reason? That's a retro design element. Do you have a group of PCs going on ill-defined adventures with little or no motivation? That's another hallmark of retro design. These games may be old, or intentionally designed with an old school vibe.

and then he defines Stupid as:

Stupid games do not take themselves seriously. PCs can die horrible deaths and other grim stuff, but that horrible death might involve being eaten by a horde of zombie chickens. Big dice charts, such as wandering monsters or random mutations, are often associated with this style of game. Most comedy games fall into this category, as do all the good versions of Gamma World. The new editions of Paranoia and WFRP look pretty Stupid to me as well.

By these definitions, Retro-Stupid gaming is one where the rules don't make sense anymore (or never had) when compared to modern RPG design concepts and where characters could die in arbitrary ways by sticking their heads in the mouth of a Statue (or dropping their magical sword in icy crevices on a flat % roll) . That's why I believe that Jeff clearly had Advanced D&D and it's predecessors in mind (among others) when he wrote those definitions. Out with the Retro-Stupid The 4e design team had a clear mandate to cut in the game's 'fat' for the Core set of books. I believe that in that crusade they set out to get rid of some of the legacy Retro-Stupid elements that we associate with D&D like Save or Dies, Level drains, armour-based Spell failures, Speed in feet, Symmetrical planes, etc. Still some elements of Retro design were kept because, well they were created in the 1st D&D game and still define it. Things like character levels and arbitrarily defined character classes. Doing away with those would probably push things too far away in terms of brand recognition. This cleanup has allowed the entry of more 'à la mode' (as 'in fashion' not as in 'served with Ice cream') rule designs such as the much discussed 'Class Balance' initiated in 3.x and now heavily influenced by the more successful MMORPGs. Now all characters are supposed to be equally useful in combat, baring efficient character design by a player, from level 1 to 30. This may end up pushing away some other Retro-stupid concepts like 'Sorcerers kill all mooks all the time', 'Bards suck' and Front loaded mutliclass characters (I'm looking at you Mr. D&D 3.0 Ranger/Paladin/Figther). It also opens up a discussion on how, much like in Magic the Gathering, a player's skill will affect how effective a character can be. (To be saved for later when we all have the Players Handbook in our hands). In with the... Retro-Stupid? Now here's the hard part of my argument... In the last years, I've seen a definitive return to the roots of the game in the products created for d20 and mostly by those written by the current D&D designers (Rich Baker, Rich Burlew, Mike Mearls, etc). Its like you see a rules progression from the early version of D&D 'peak' somewhere in the middle of D&D 3.x's life and an inverse 'feeling' progression from late 3.5 onwards. When you remove the rules elements of our classic Retro-Stupid fantasy games of the 80's what remains is a series of encounters where impossible, often cool, brain-twisting things could happen that needed players to be creative (not rules-savvy) to get out of. Gravity less or frictionless rooms filled with diseased-ridden razor sharp spikes? Yup been there. Pulsing Altars that could either produce a magical item or eat a player character's soul? Yup, done that. This was the cool stuff of Retro-Stupid games. Yes you could die at the drop of a dice... but so could you score a Wish! What's that joke about a Gygaxian dungeon? (I can't find the source so I'll Paraphrase)

You come into a room with 3 doors. Behind Door Number 1: Instant Death! Door Number 2: A Magic Crown! Door Number 3: 4 Giant Bees guarding a bag of flour...

Weee! When I read a (true) Gygaxian dungeon (Including the recent Maure Castle in Dunegon Magazine, it's a 5$ PDF that's totally worth it!), I'm still amazed how he managed to create actual stories in such limited environment as a series of underground rooms. It's always about Gang A hating Gang B that shares the same dungeon level. If the PCs actually refrain from killing everything, they could harness this social situation in ways that were very satisfying (like my players using the 300 dungeon-bound slave orcs of the first part of Against the Giants to strike at the drunken partying Hill Giants of the upper level). What I've read on 4e's development and reading the late D&D 3.5 books seems to point toward capturing this (the fun parts at least). So while 4e seems to move away from Retro-Stupid design, it seems to completely embrace the Retro-Stupid feel! The fundamental difference I see now is that while Adv. D&D was based on Gary's internal sense of rules whose algorithms had to be guesstimated by DMs who wanted to create their own stuff, the 4e game will be based on actual algorithms of an integrated game engine. Both try to capture the exact same thing though: Fantasy Heroic Action. While Adv. D&D depended on players trusting the DM (which when gone bad gave rise to a whole culture of Bad DMs and Killer DMs), it seems to me that 4e wants to achieve the same level of good, clean, fun Retro-Stupidity while shifting part of the trust to the game's engine. (Incidentally for an excellent discussion on trust in RPGs, read this blog post, it's pure gold) This is particularly evident in the Dungeonscape sourcebook, which along with the Magic Item Compendium and The Tome of Battle, seems to define what 4e will be all about. Dungeonscape invites DM to create encounters and role playing challenged based on functionality and role instead of logic and consistency. This is where you see roles like Controller and Brute defined for combat opponent. Traps are presented as combat encounters that invite participation by the whole party to disarm. In fact the whole book tries to re-validate the dungeon as the perfect adventuring environment. And as much as some of my more vocal players prefer story-based adventures peppered with site-based dungeons, the call of the massive, story-filled, trapped and tricked Retro Stupid Dungeon sings to me! I'm so doing an undedark campaign. On a parting note, may I point out to the fact that Saving Throws will now be a 50% thing most of the time (with some modifiers)... doesn't that look strangely like a Retro-Stupid flat 50% chance? (However, such saves for continuing effects like poison and Paralysis are often re-rollable from round to round.. so it's better Retro-Stupid... not worse) Next time, I'll tackle the new World (or non-world) of D&D 4e. Your turn! Will 4e be a Retro-Stupid game?

gavel

ChattyDM — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:51:09 +0000

(Really)Mini-Post: A GM's Authority

ChattyDM — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:52:35 +0000

I took two days off from work today and tomorrow and that somewhat includes blogging (unless I get an inspiration like I just did now). I'm currently writing a guest post for another RPG site and while I was editing my work, I added this small sentence:

It's one thing to have a rule book say you have the final call and another realizing that respect for a GM's authority is earned, not inherited.

How true is that for you as a GM and/or player? I've discovered that much like being a teacher and a manager in a company, GMing is all about using the power given to you by your peers. Respect comes from using it wisely and only when necessary. How have you dealt with taking "ownership" of the much fabled, often abused GM authority and the hard to learn lesson of handling it properly? I will most likely make a full fledged post of it in the near future, based on your responses. This truly is one of the things that interest me most about the human interactions seen in RPGs. Post Comment edit: A very good point brought up in the comments is that a new GM starts with a certain amount of Respect and Trust that players grant by default. To build up that trust/respect, the GM's got to earn it. Losing it however can be really easy... leading to a crashed game.

house-cleaning

ChattyDM — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:56:13 +0000

House Cleaning

ChattyDM — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:02:51 +0000

I'm enjoying my time off by mostly lounging around and taking it easy. I am also tinkering with the blog a bit to make it more useful for readers. That's why I moved the Recent Comments to the top of the primary sidebar. I'm also finding that my blogroll is stretching beyond what I'd like it to take. However, I'd like to add more of them also to showcase all the blogs I'm reading. I'm going to move it all to a seperate Blogroll page and people will be able to link from the 1st page. Edit: I will leave a few links in my 1st page Blogroll. Those are the Blogs that helped me get on the map and inspired/supported me from the start. Everyone else is going to be on the 'Blogroll' link found in my header bar. If you want to join that extended list (drop me a line at chattydm@chattydm.net) I don't know what I'll do with the minions! page. I haven't engaged in any Overlord of Crunch silliness in quite some time and I'm not sure anyone misses that. For those who wonder, the minions page is like a commenter's roster (Your user name, your URL and maybe an image that represents you) with a bit of Trope Fluff added to it. Edit: It stays there for the moment as it tells a little about the commenters/readers. I might also experiment with a 'most popular post' plugin but I'm not sure yet. Regardless expect to see things move around a bit today. If you have any comments or suggestions (like plugins) don't hesitate to drop them, I'm here all day... alternating between geeky stuff and house chores. Edit: I'm done... tell me what you think.

the-postman

ChattyDM — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:19:48 +0000

Chatty's Mailbox: Of Terrain, Random Generation and Villains

ChattyDM — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:28:11 +0000

A few weeks ago, I got a nice email from a reader, full of praise and constructive feedback (I love those!) and in the mail there were a few questions. I thought I'd respond to it in post form and maybe encourage people to send more questions at chattydm@chattydm.net. If it catches on, it may become a new feature. Here's the questions part of the reader's email:

I would really like to see a post about interesting terrain features for encounters. Do you do random encounters? What about random magic items? Both have been problematic for me in the past. Also, what has worked for you in making really memorable bad guys? G.

Terrain features: The basic D&D terrain features can be a bit dull, being mostly things that block the way, can be climbed or make you move slower. However, combining them can be really cool. When I used to have more time for prepping games I would create fights with trees, cliffs, Scree (Gravel that can be slippery) and Swampy squares. When we celebrated our 20 years of Role Playing 2 years ago, I made a Dragon battle on a map that combined all these elements. I had more fun with the map than with the monsters. However, my best discovery was Mike Mearl's Mastering Iron Heroes. The book introduced the concept of Action Zones... which are a set of rules to design and use interactive areas in a battle (basically a combination of traps and terrain features). For example, a ruined 10' tall wall needs a DC 15 to climb onto it, a Balance Check DC 10 to walk on and a DC 15 STR to bring a 5'X10' section on an adjacent character who takes 3d6 of damage. Other examples:

Ruined Stone Columns that can be toppled
An Altar that pulses waves of fear, causing all creatures to save vs being shaken
A camp fire with poisounous twigs sitting beside it. Chucking the twigs in the fire causes a non-magical Cloudkill effect.

I hope this feature makes it into 4e... if not I may write some 4e rules for it and publish them in January 2008 if the system license (and the current owner of the Iron Heroes copyright) allows it. The D&D miniature Fantastic Locations also present beautiful terrain on which you can create your own rules for features (or use the one that are described in the rules booklet). Thses map feature things like lava rivers, bottomless chasms, fungi forests, stalagtite that act as caltrops and squares of blood rock that double the threat range of weapons. All really cool features. Random Encounters: I don't do random encounters, ever. I do however setup fights that do not directly advance the story when I feel that the players would enjoy them. I also make sure that creatures fit the game's story. However, in a recent post where I asked the same question, other DMs have chimed in, saying that they used random encounters by pre-rolling them in their planning in order to better prepare for them and have the stats on hand. If your group likes Random Encounters I would suggest that you pre-roll them so you can make sure you won't be caught off guard with a result you don't want. However, they are not necessary and played as is, straight from a table while the players are waiting, is definitively a Retro-Stupid element (i.e. it is enjoyed by some but is not so mainstream anymore). Random Magic Item: Ever since I purchased the Magic Item Compendium, I have been using random magic item generation almost exclusively for unassigned treasure. The charts in that book are sensational (plus it allows you to create a full treasure in mere minutes). Much like I suggest in the last section, I pre-roll them so I keep some control, but I usually retain the results. However, I do not usually determine the equipment of NPC/Monsters randomly as I prefer to pick and choose items that are useful for the adversaries. Memorable Bad guy: My easy answer would be choose a character-specific trope and flesh out your bad guy accordingly. But I'll try to be more helpful. For a villain to be memorable it needs non-combat traits that make him completely different from the rest of your nameless mooks. I remember a Monte Cook article in Dungeon Magazine that suggested you pick 2 defining features (physical or personality-related) for a NPC and bring these features into play whenever the NPC showed up in a scene. For memorable bad guys, you need to pick over the top traits that will be seared in your players brains. I say non-combat because while nifty combat abilities may make a fight memorable, it won't make the bad guy memorable. However, you can always make the trait have a combat effect. Adding tentacles to an otherwise human bad guy is an often seen example in published adventures. So go ahead, make the Overlord's toady lisp like an Igor or have your villain have a weird echo in his voice (only to be revealed that he has demonic tumour embedded in his chest)! The freakier the better I say! Give me More! (Not to be confused with Gimme Moore) Feel free to add your own tips. Also, I would be more than happy to respond to any other kinds of requests. I might not get right down to them but I will answer all of them, either on the blog or directly by email.

r2d2

ChattyDM — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:33:01 +0000

demons

ChattyDM — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:46:37 +0000

Adventure Prep: Hide in Shadows

ChattyDM — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:50:48 +0000

I sat down yesterday to prep and I'm a bit out of ideas for custom scenes and hacking ideas for the adventure we're playing (Expedition to the Demonweb Pits). I therefore decided to play the next session almost directly from the adventure and I set out to read it once again to familiarize myself with it. (It's still rather bad, but bearable... ) However I had one issue to tackle. At the end of last game, I had ripped out the player's Base of Operation (the City of Ptolus) and I crashed it into the Demonic City of Zelatar on Demon Prince Grat'zz's domain in the Abyss. While it was a flavourful, catastrophic definitively Epic plot twist, I did rob the players of their points of references/safe house. When I asked Yan how his character will react in such circumstances he told me that he would write Ptolus off and find a way back to the bigger world to try to save it. That gave me the warning I needed because I would rather have the players stay in Ptolus for the rest of the campaign (i.e. about 4 games) than have them waste time hunting for a new base of operation. So anyway, I got an inspiration to keep the whole 'OMG Ptolus was stolen!' feeling and still allow the city to be a rallying point for 10-11th level adventurers. That's when I remembered that one of Ptolus Noble House is known as 'House Shadow' because of it's ties with Shadow magic. Plus, in a recent discussion with my good buddy Graham, we explored a few ways to introduce some of the cool 4e world concepts like the Shadowfell and the Feywilde in our late game to have a cool transition to the new game world this summer. So here's what I cooked up: The City of Ptolus was sitting over a forgotten Seal called the Shadowseal. This seal kept the world of Shadow completely seperate from the material world. Those who engineered the 'kidnapping' of Ptolus to send it in the Abyss found that seal and blew it open, using the eldritch/divine energies it released to propel the city into the greedy hands of the Demon Prince. When my lase game session faded to black, the demon hordes of Grat'zz were moving in Zelatar's new neighborhood... all seemed hopeless. What I proposed to my players by email yesterday was that the head of House Shadow, discovering that the not only existed but was now opened, rapidly channeled part of the released shadow energies to weave a spell that partly snatched Ptolus from the Abyss and dropped it in a Shadowy demi-plane... The city is still visible from Zelatar's walls... but it's structures and citizens are intangible to the corporeal demons and soldiers. So the city is still in big trouble, away from it's 'home' but no longer exposed to the imminent dangers of being wholly absorbed in the horrors of the Abyss... The players accepted and we're off tomorrow for the next adventures to try to save the world from a fate similar to what is happening to Ptolus... they just need to find a way to get out of that shadow world. ...plus it just so happens that the next part takes place in Zelatar... what are the odds? :D

CommentLuv Plugin Activated

ChattyDM — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:04:03 +0000

I've seen it on a few blogs and I must say I liked it a lot. I just installed the CommentLuv plugin that basically checks the URL of a commenter and tries to recover a link to the latest blog post of that commenter to add it at the end of a comment. I think this a great way to showcase the content of other blogger's posts... and it gives the commenter the option to not link if they don't wish to advertise. (Maybe like people who don't update their blogs all that often.... ) I hope you like it.

mouse-mission-impossible

ChattyDM — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:20:50 +0000

Mining Tropes for RPG Nuggets: The Quest Improbable

ChattyDM — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:34:05 +0000

It's been too long I know. After having done more that 20 Trope related posts, it becomes kind of daunting to try to produce one that won't be a re-hash of a previous one (or, you know, bad!). As I was losing time on the TV Tropes wiki looking for some more character specific trope I found the Con Man, which lead me to The Con. This gave me an idea to maybe explore Quest-types tropes to inspire an adventure. Digging deeper, I found a real classic: The Impossible Mission An assignment is received in The Teaser. A planning session is held (Avengers Assemble). Then comes The Caper or The Con, using a Master Of Disguise and an A Team Montage. The resolution is as close to end of The Tag as possible. At about the 40-minute mark, there is a Pseudo Crisis. The Impossible Mission trope is a perfect blueprint for a one evening RPG adventure. It basically is a Scene-based 5 room-dungeon. Plus, if well-designed, you can put in key motivators for each type of players you may have, making an enjoyable game for all. Such adventure is basically set on the premise that the players will be given a mission to infiltrate a stronghold or organization that they aren't supposed to defeat by brute force alone. They then get to plan the mission as they see fit. Once there, they must retrieve something (maybe one of the Seven Whatevers) or someone. Alternatively, they may have to eliminate or just break something. After, the characters get one last scene to high five each other and ponder on the impact of their mission on the overall campaign plot. Let's break it down a bit: The Teaser This scene can put into action NPCs that are related to the adventure's main plot but aren't key players. The players find themselves at the wrong place and/or at the wrong time and witness something happening. The NPCs, setting or props they interact with must have at least a tenuous link to the place/organization the characters will get to infiltrate later. This is the perfect scene for the butt kickers to flex some muscles or for Psychodramatist/story tellers to explore the setting and interact with minor NPCs. At the end of the scene, you must hand out the assignment for the PCs through the mouth of a patron/client NPC: infiltrate the organization responsible for the disturbance in the teaser and do whatever must be done. Examples:

The Characters stumble unto a slaver's raid and learn that the Sheik's favorite daughter was taken by that group. The PCs are implored to join the slavers, recover the daughter and bring back the (insert appropriate part of the anatomy) of the Slave lord.
The characters are the special guests/guards/bystanders at the inauguration of a temple/museum/spaceship, a bunch of mooks crash in on the party to try to steal the Ankh of Eternity/Skull Jewel/Fluxitron Drive Crystal.

The Planning Session This is exactly why brilliant tactician players play the game. Give the players some resources (Intelligence, contacts, gadgets, magic item list, money) and let them organize the mission as they see fit. Make sure you provide the appropriate info in a way that won't result in an adventure bottleneck (like an obligatory Knowledge check to find the stronghold). In fact provide about 80% of the info necessary to plan the mission accordingly. The remaining 20% (i.e. 2-3 key info) should necessitate creativity and effort on the part of the players to obtain but should greatly increase chances of success. Missing those 20% doesn't make the mission a failure, it only makes it harder to pull off. Examples:

Players find a map easily but by digging deeper in the archives, find another map that shows a secret door to the inner sanctum where lies the sought after object.
A contact mentions the guard's schedule, but an extra bribe makes him add that at every 3rd shift the lieutenant meets with all guards in the barracks for a 5 minute report, leaving the walls unattended.

The Mission This is basically your average Dungeon/House/Space Station setting except you set up the opposition to be mostly circumvented, not taken by a frontal assault. Depending on your inspiration, you can make this a one scene infiltration Role Playing encounter (Go in, try to fool everyone, grab/save/kill/break whatever and get out) or you can nest in an actual 5-room dungeon. Each Players will take a roll that fits their preference best. The stealthy specialists will likely go for scouting or infiltration. The Story Tellers/Psychodramatists may go for the disguise and try to fool the NPCs. The Power Gamers will want to use their powers to make the party's job easier and the Butt kickers will be itching for the crap to hit the fan. Your brilliant planners will have a ball seeing their masterful plan come to fruition. Examples:

The assassin's guild received a contract to kill the king. The characters must recover the contract before the guildmaster reviews it.
Some Eco terrorists put a Radioactive Sludge Bomb in a luxurious Private Space Resort. The Owners refuse to believe the threat is credible and refuse access to the PCs. They must kidnap and replace the Space PunkGrunge Metal band scheduled for a show that very night to be admitted.

The Crisis You should plan for an unforseen event during the mission to throw a curveball at your smug brilliant planners. He he! Have something totally unforeseen happen whose impact is inversely proportional to the preparation they put in the planning phase (i.e. poor planning = major Snafu). Examples:

Think 'Raiders of the Lost Arc Rolling Boulder trap'.
If they are trying to grab something/someone and leave have the 'dungeon' rearrange itself to block the planned exit.
Have a 3rd party, maybe the mooks of the campaign's Evil Overlord, stage a frontal assault at the exact moment when PCs are caught sneaking in the castle (or when a PC blows that apparently crucial Disguise vs Spot roll).

If you can't think of anything, have ninjas attack! (Ninjas always work!) The Epilogue After the mission, focus on the party's story-tellers and Psychodramatist and develop how the mission played into the grander scheme of things. Did the characters make new allies or enemies? Has it change the overall situation of the storyline? The Power Gamers will be sniffing at any recovered pieces of loot or Mac Guffins. Reward them generously. If the plan worked well, have the interested NPCs (the quest givers) openly praise the PCs and comment on their brilliance and awesomeness (players NEVER tire of that, I promise you). Chatty's Example: I played a 2 player D&D game one night a few years ago. Most of the group couldn't show up but I was available and itching for a game. So I set up an adventure where the 2 players (who were of the Anti Hero type) set up to infiltrate the vault of a Lawful Good God's cathedral to recover a copy of the Sacred Codex (The players wanted some hidden info about a certain fallen angel they had taken in interest in lately). So I set up a Lawful Good dungeon, complete with Guardians (Angels, Indentured Half-constructs Paladins and Golems) as well as initially traps. Said traps were initially benevolent (Suggestion enchantment traps that forced intruders to turn themselves in) but became more and more serious ones the deeper you got in the vault (Symbols of Death). The players used their money to purchase a lot of magical items (Stones of Silence, Invisibility potions, Protection from Good potions, etc). Then we played the whole dungeon (a 5 room one mostly) in real time (i.e. round per round). They got their hands on the sacred Codex and made off with it. It was, quite possibly, the most awesome home-brewed adventure I ever played. Have you ever played such impossible mission games? How did it turn out?

Sick! :(

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:22:53 +0000

With my game in Friday night (went well), my family sick with Gastro on Saturday and me coming with the same ailment today, my web presence has been severely limited. Some great comments were posted over the weekend, especially by Micheal Philips who's finished a run through my 290-some posts (woot I can lay claim to the Archive Binge trope) but I haven't been able to follow on them. I'm sorry. Plus I had to rebuild my work laptop from scratch and installing the Vista Service pack on my main desktop (we have 4 computers at home, 2 laptops and 2 desktops). I have been watching a show called Spaced while resting between bouts of nursing and feeling sorry for myself.... that Simon Pegg show is a trove of awesome tropes. I'll catch up later this week.

vrock

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:55:14 +0000

DM Chronicles 15: Weathering the Apocalyspe with your Poker Buddies

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:05:21 +0000

In the game session 2 weeks ago, I concluded the party's foray in the Demonwebs layer of the Abyss with the wretching of Ptolus (the campaign's home base) out of the material world and plopping it up in another layer of the Abyss ruled by the Demon Prince Gratzz. Last Friday's game wasn't stellar nor was it bad. Much like a game we played 2 sessions ago, it resumed itself to a large fight against demons and then a quick series of short encounters to move the story forward before we stopped for the night. I won't go into last Friday's game much, I want to discuss the changing social aspect of our game more than what we played. Anyway, it was pretty standard fare... The Actual Game Right after Ptolus crashed into the Demoninc city of Zelatar, the city was 'attacked' by a few flights of Vrocks (Vulture Demons). The party had trouble fighting the Mirror imaged, flying-all-over-the-place, teleporting demons but were never in any true danger. During the fight, the city was ripped out of the Abyss and placed in a parallel plane of shadows as explained here, transforming the whole city in a dark, sinister version of itself. The PCs met with Rule of Three (the Adventure's main Patron) who was very nervous about the latest events. The players confronted the nervous Gith who confessed of being one of the numerous bastard sons of Gratzz. He confirmed that he was using the PCs to discredit Lolth in the eyes of the various demon lords by disrupting her latest schemes. The sudden annexation of Ptolus (and near-instant shift in the Shadow plane) was a serious wrench in his plans as he was a wanted 'man' in Zelatar and he feared treachery by one of his countless siblings. He was able to convince the PCs that he was sincere and that following the initial plan was the best way to save their world. That plan's nect step was going into Zelatar and meet with Ambassador of Orcus (who wants to see Lolth fail too) to get the time and place of the meeting of the Demon Lords in the Demonweb (in order to crash that party) and the means to access it. Only, he had no idea how to operate the various portals he opened in Ptolus from this shadow plane. The party accepted to play along, according to their rules, in exchange for Rule of Three giving them a merchant charter for Zelatar and promising to bring them to Mechanus after they were done with Lolth. Then they hunted for a way to attune the PCs to the Shadow world in order to activate the portals (using some shadow demon trapped in pocket watches made by Ptolus main Crime lord). Finally they shifted to the Abyss, right beside the Shadow of Ptolus, and entered the Demonic city, dodging a fiendish Slave trader and getting attacked and poisoned by some Viper Trees while entering the city of the Dark Prince. (It was 10h30pm, we stopped there) D&D has become our Poker Night It's no mystery to my players (nor the regular readers) that my interest in D&D 3.5 is waning rapidly. Much like it often happens with me, my interests is dropping faster than my enthusiasm to see the campaign through. Having a somewhat mercurial temperament and being prone to embrace change rapidly, the promise of a shiny new toy makes me long for D&D 4e while causing some ennui with my current game. However, a recent realization on my part makes me want to see the campaign through. You see, our current playing arrangement makes it that we start gathering at around 16h30 every two Fridays. However, we don't start our game until 18h30 (possibly 19h00) while we wait for players who finish work later. During that time we shoot the breeze, drink beer and eat chips and play some Magic the Gathering or other short and simple games like Munchkins or Toc Toc Toc (English name Knock,Knock). When we do start playing, we can manage about 4 scenes with about 2 average combat encounters. On evenings where a complex combat encounter occurs, that's pretty much all we do. A few months ago, this would have driven me insane... or at least upset me a lot. As you have been able to see on this blog, I tend to take my D&D very seriously... However, with our current workloads, job rushes and parallel projects, I'm beginning to consider our bi-monthly D&D gathering as the equivalent to a casual Poker night. We have fun, but the D&D game is currently an excuse to hang out together rather than the relative importance of the campaign. It's not so much the rolling of dice or the weaving of the story... It's about a bunch of friends hanging out and laughing at stupid jokes and drinking nice red wine to celebrate's one's recent promotion (Congrats Stef!). The reason I'm okay with that is that I don't spend so much time preparing the game anymore and I don't want to stop seeing my buddies either. I also know that, like myself, most of players are also awaiting the next edition and aren't all that involved in the game anymore. Heck I'd argue we were never really that much into it... a legendary campaign this one isn't. Entertaining? Yes. Gripping and deep? No. We hit the campaign's zenith in the session where we entered the Beastlands. ...and that's okay for me. So for the remainder of the campaign, I'm going to go with the adventure as written (with modifications based on player choices and the current story)... I have a grand finale planned, if the players decide to bring the game there. One reason why I don't worry so much about this current campaign's overall success is that the players have started talking about the next campaign, choosing character classes and even backstory concepts. That's good news right? Chatty's Patent-Pending Game Session Review Lessons Learned

If I have to hack the adventure further, plan for shorter fights and scenes because play time is limited in remaining sessions and actual Friday Night time.
D&D as Poker night is okay as long as everyone has fun.

What players liked

Cixi started doing critical hits like there was no tomorrow again! Weee!
Flying characters are cool... Stef's half-dragon new home grown racial level has flight...

What players disliked

Yan's character wasn't able to have a significant impact in the fight against the Vrocks.
The cleric is not the most mobile of characters and it's impact on the game remains somewhat limited.

Have a nice week all.

vultures-eye

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:58:41 +0000

canadiens

ChattyDM — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:51:01 +0000

La Ville est Hockey (The City is Hockey)

ChattyDM — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:54:47 +0000

After 15 years without a Stanley Cup win, Montreal is going bonkers over its own team. I'm no big Hockey fan but I too am succumbing to the fever. I'm therefore throwing a challenge to the geek blogsphere. Any Boston Bruins fan Bloggers reading this? If you are, I bet that the Habs will win the 1s round of the series against them. If I win, I ask any people who took up the challenge to post a logo of the Canadien on a blog post on the day after the win and congratulate them fair and square. If I lose I'll put up the Boston Logo and write a congratulations post myself. I'll do this as long as our team is in the race. Any takers? You don't have a blog? Heck, I'll lend you mine! (Thanks for the idea Yan)

The Ultimate Retro-Stupid CRPG gets a facelift!

ChattyDM — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:03:19 +0000

I got the info from RPG pundit's blog (Read the man's colorful prose at your own risk). The grand daddy of free geek CRPGs(Computer RPG), Nethack, has had a recent facelift. I've been playing NetHack on and off for more than 10 years, much to the amusement of my buddies who can't fathom how I could play a game whose default graphics was Ascii characters for so long. The thing is, I have very seldom found a game of Nethack's depth in term of different stuff you could do. Sure World of Warcraft and Hellgate London look a lot nicer... but you can't do as much! From using a wand of polymorph on a pile of junk to make new Magical Items (do it too often and you get a hostile golem) to diping a scroll in a fountain to erase it so you can use your magic marker to inscribe a scroll of Genocide, to training your pet by feeding it so it can pilfer from stores... The sheer level of interaction with the game's objects and characters are staggering. Also, It doesn't get more Retro-Stupid than that! You can die of the most inane things in that game... Eating too much, getting hit by a wand of death ricochetingt on a wall, stepping on a trap that summons stupidly powerful monsters in all adjacent squares. But the stupid runs both ways. My favorite thing of that game: Yielding the corpse of a cockatrice (with gloves of course), called "the rubber chicken", to turn all your foes into statues... just be careful not to go blind or get your gloves stolen by a Nymph... Anyway, over at Dark Art Studios, someone updated a 3d tile-based GUI of Nethack and applied it to the latest version of the game (3.4.3 Dating back to December 2003). This version is called Vulture's Eye and can be found here. Time to hunt for that +2 Grey Dragon Scale Mail armour... It's not like I ever was dedicated enough to win that game (i.e going down to the 100th level, getting the 'true' amulet of Yendor, make it back to level one, reading a cursed scroll of gain level on the 1st level's up stairway... Ah nevermind! If you know the game you know how it goes... if you don't, give it a try). I only made it to the Vampire's castle without cheating in 10 odd years of playing sporadically... including whole weekends virtually non-stop... (And I made it only marginally farther while cheating) Heck I remember losing a much beloved character on a Sunday Afternoon and then thinking "$#it, another weekend wasted!" Good times! Happy Hacking!

sw-steampunk

ChattyDM — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:23:09 +0000

Steampunk Star Wars RPG... How cool would it be?

ChattyDM — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:00:04 +0000

I love the concept of Steampunk Star Wars, I really do. It blends two styles that I really love: Space Opera and Jules Vernes' Victorian setting. As I already talked about, blending two cool things together can result in an explosion of cool. I mean, just look at the Spork! (Credit: Graham) For instance, look at the work of this guy (found through Wired's Geekdad blog and appearing here and there on the blogsphere). It's just so full of awesome! He also does Gaslight Justice League. Had I the time to do it and the interest of my player, I would totally make a Steampunk Star Wars mini-campaign using the SW Saga rules. Add the artwork of this other genius and you have all the visual fluff you need to start planning a game. I'd use the rules as is, I'd also change the names of the technology and place the action on just one planet (possibly Earth). Each planet of the SW universe would become a country and the Hyperdrive could become Supersonic flight (Star Destroyers becoming Armored Airships). Alternatively it could be ocean going ships with FTW (faster than wind) drives as proposed by Phased Weasel in my 1st Steampunk post. :) Coruscant would be based on a gaslit New York/Gotham City equivalent, Tatouine would become be based on Marakesh. Hoth would be an Arctic Base surrounded by Yetis! Sprinkle some more cool like Victorian Genetic engineering and you can have Velociraptor mounts and Steam-armored Diplotocus Based AT-AT walkers! The Empire would span most of the Civilized portion of the planet and possibly a few of the planet's moons... The rebellion would occupy ruined cities and the wilderness. The Deathstar would be this huge analytical engine capable of destroying an entire country! Add Vampires and Hollywood-typed Werewolves and you have Sithlords and Wookie or maybe use actual aliens. The possibilities are endless. One key question would be the Force. Would I keep it as is? Make it more like magic? Could it be harnessed in object and help explain the advanced technological feat using steam-powered machinery? Man... screw D&D! I want to play this! Sigh... What's really cool about being a gamer is that you don't need George Lucas' permission to create games like that. You can borrow what you damn well please, steal plots, tropes, concepts and ideas and create your perfect game. Also, by mixing two familiar elements like the SW universe and the Victorian era, you can create a completely new gameworld with enough reference points to allow players to build solid backstories and GMs can build adventures based on both Sci Fi and industrial era tropes (Like the rebellion being made up of members of the nascent industrial Unions being brutally repressed by the Empire). Anyone doing a Gen Con Steampunk World Wars game? I want in! You have any other cool ideas that should make it in a theoretical Steampunk SW book? (It's never going to see the light commercially, but your ideas could help a DM/GM create his own binder). Edit: Reader-proposed ideas so far:

The Earth's moon as an ancient Deathstar or as the actual Deathstar
The Force = Manipulation of the Ether
Jedi = Etheromancers
Sith = Mad scientists looking for Global unifying theory
Light Sabers = Glowing Blades of Plasma encased in Ether... (Controlled by a Jedi's mind?)
The Force = Electromagnitism
Nicola Tesla = Jedi Electromancer
The Order of the Tesla Knights!
The Force = Psionics (Perfect Body control, + Telekinesis)

A RPG Truism

ChattyDM — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:45:48 +0000

Over at Twenty-Sided, Shamus posted about The Sims and how some people enjoy this far longer than others. In one of his argument, he mentions his prolonged interests in Shooter type games. When challenged by a hypothetical person of a different demographics (man I love how he dodged so many mines in that post*) he replied with:

For me, killing evildoers and gathering up their belongings is a perfectly valid way to spend an evening.

You know what? I think that pretty much sums up my position on RPGs. Yes you can do a lot more. Some do and enjoy it immensely and I often end up doing more than that. But deep down, when we're all tired and we're done drinking our first beer of our gaming night, killing bad guys and collecting loot while having fun interacting face to face with friends is all I'm looking for. Well technically, I spend the evening having my evil doers get slaughtered, but I'm fine with that too... That's why I'm currently nostalgic about all the Retro-Stupid stuff I read about. * Shamus my friend, I feel your very vocal readership has made you create a complex set of rules so you could handle them! Thing is I don't think you have a choice... there are a few pouncers in that bunch!

office-space

ChattyDM — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:28:08 +0000

bored

ChattyDM — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:28:24 +0000

The Stages of a RPG Team’s Development, Part 6: Stagnation

ChattyDM — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:38:01 +0000

Somewhere between September and October of 2007, I wrote a series about comparing a RPG gaming group to a workplace project team. The analogy was rather solid and I got a lot of good feedback on it. Since then, I was pointed toward Kyle Aaron's similar work over here. There, he pointed out a key difference between the a project work team and a RPG group: The project group usually breaks off after the project is done. A RPG group, on the other hand, can continue for a long time if they are playing an open-ended and/or long term campaign. That's why he tackled another stage that's specific to a RPG campaign. Since I feel our group is currently going through that stage (at least partly), I decided to tackle this as a bonus post on the 4 (now 5) stages of a RPG group performance.

Your players show up late, cancel at the last minute or actually fail to show up without prior warning.
The player go through the motion of chucking dice, eating chips and play the game mostly on a mechanic level.
The game starts late and ends early and is sometimes canceled so the group can partake in another social activity (Movie, video games, etc)
While not punctuated by inter-personal conflicts the game tends to feel stale and full of 'Been there, done that'
Metagaming may be rampant ("I bet he placed a Umber Hulk riding a Bullette there')
The GM's enthusiasm for his game wanes and preparation becomes harder.

Those are what I would consider signs of Stagnation

After a time, some game groups lose direction. Management theory doesn't discuss a "stagnation" stage because work or study groups are brought together for a particular purpose, and once that goal is achieved they break up. In game groups, the purpose is usually less concrete. Rather than "design a new space capsule for orbital work," or "make 400 pizza bases," it's "let's have fun." It's very difficult to get somewhere unless you know exactly where you're going and what route you'll take. So the vagueness of the goals of roleplaying groups can lead to Stagnation. A group is Stagnating when people aren't interested anymore. A player comes in, lies down on the couch and says, "wake me when it's time to roll for combat." Another player reads a comic. Yet another simply doesn't show up often, or "forgets" where the session was going to be this week. Most game groups will fizzle out at this point. A work or study group rarely stagnates because there's a boss or teacher outside it who keeps it focused on its goals, and achieving those goals is compulsory. But a roleplaying group is a voluntary social activity, and attempts by someone (say the GM) to impose goals on it will usually result in only bad things for the group, and can actually hasten Stagnation, since one kind of Stagnation is for everyone to leave everything up to the GM.

At this point of a group's development, people are used to playing together, they know the rules in and out and are harder to surprise or engage. Inter-personal conflicts are few and far between. Inside jokes abound and focus on the game is harder to maintain. The DM is often working on automatic (from prep to game execution) and the players follow suit. While everyone enjoys playing together, the emotional sparks and energy that was present in all previous stages is waning. Once again, the ratio of good to 'meh' games decreases. I know many long term gaming groups go through this stage. Much like prolonged Storming groups, it almost invariably leads to the crashing of the campaign. The only difference, is that a Stagnating group will be more likely to accept starting a new campaign/game with the same group than for a perpetually storming one. There are many issues that may bring stagnation :

No more thrills of the exploration of a game's rules and setting
A campaign's lack of focus
Insufficient (or absent) character development
Inertia caused by players not getting out of their zones of comfort anymore
Lack of enthusiasm (mostly by the DM, but from players also) and/or DM burnout
And many more

In our group, after having played a very successful 2 1/2 year long D&D campaign, we played 2 successive campaigns that have grown somewhat stale during the first season of each. The Solution: Storm again! Kyle suggests that the key to break stagnation is to send the group into Storming again. To change something that will alter the group's dynamics or sense of purpose. Basically, I think he suggests to force the group out of its torpor-inducing comfort zone. This can be done by:

Adding new players to an existing campaign
Change Rules and/or Setting
Starting a new campaign
Giving the role of DM to another player

These are all good ideas that can give a stagnating group a jolt that sends it back to Storming. In theory, a group that's used to working together will then swiftly adjust by transitioning to Norming and moving on to Performing. The 'Group Fatigue' factor However, based on our own experiences, I feel there's a few additional issues that Kyle didn't touch. A gaming group accumulates a certain level of fatigue as the 'seasons' of an open ended campaign progresses that contributes to stagnation. It's possible that nudging the group back into Storming when the group's energy is low may not result in the expected results. For example, we tried starting a parallel game before X-mas and the storming was stronger than expected. However, I feel the group didn't have the energy to properly steer itself into productive Norming and we more or less abandoned the game after 2 sessions (We're going to pick it up next month, don't miss my Player diary!) Also, a group that is 'tired' but also very well adjusted, may actually breeze through the storming stage and jump right back into Stagnation again if the change brought isn't strong enough. This is currently happening in our group. We added a new player, (the brother of one of the players) who adjusted really quickly and we basically returned to a stagnating stage after 3 games. Please note that a stagnating game doesn't mean bad or dull. It just lacks the energy and vitality of a game done during a group's Performing stage. Take a Break In such cases, I propose that the group end it's current campaign and takes a breather from RPGs for a couple of weeks, maybe even a few months. This allows the DM to recharge his/her creative batteries and explore different games (or new editions), setting and tropes. Players also get a break and may, if they wish, drift away from the social group to do other stuff and return later, fresh and ready to tackle a new adventure. Another approach is to make campaigns less open-ended and/or program them to last for shorter periods of time. At the end of a mini-campaign, you could skip a session and plan a new one, possibly with the same characters for those that are motivated by continuity. That's why I'm looking forward to our annual summer break that also coincide with the release of a new edition of my favorite RPG. I'll be readying and playtesting with a subset of our current group over the summer and come fall, fresh off Gen Con, I'll be ready for a new campaign. Plus, we recently created a new social group that meets on a monthly basis and there I'll get to play a character and leave all the nasty DMing stuff to someone else. Have you ever lived that stage in your group and how did you handle it?

300-leonidas-poster-l

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:13:34 +0000

300th Post!

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:16:17 +0000

Hell, I've been trying to say something about my 300th post and everything sounds either clinically boring or monstrously egocentric. This is my 3rd stab at it... Bottom line, I can't believe I made it that far and I owe it all to you that take a few minutes to read my ramblings! It means a lot! The blog's comment activity has literally exploded these last few weeks and it makes me very happy... even if I tend to ask people to start their own blogs.. Ha Ha! I've succeeded at transitioning from my 'I feel I must write tonight' to a 'I'll write if I feel like it tonight'. While it doesn't necessarily seem all that different to you as I still post about once each weekday, the blog has become less of a burden to me. In these last few months, I've dabbled with reviews and will continue to do so sporadically. I've taken a stab at creating a photo Webcomics and while I find this very fun, it's hard enough that I prefer to get struck by inspiration instead of doing them on a regular basis. I also started doing some guest posting on other blogs (I did one for Dungeonmastering and I have a Chatty's Tips monthly column starting soon with Johnn Four's Roleplaying tips) and I find the experience very rewarding. All in all, I don't really have formal plans for the next 100 posts. I'm going to continue to do my thing and hope you will enjoy it. I'm not hunting for a writing job ( I thought about it, then I compared the revenues vs what I do now and let it at that). I'm just a RPG geek that likes to discuss my favorite hobby with people. One thing I'd really like to do more of is Chatty's Mailbox. I just got a question by email and will post on it this weekend. So feel free to send me questions at chattydm@chattydm.net. (However, if you are looking for love, I suggest you have a look at Dream Geek Girl) All right, tomorrow (Friday April 18th), I probably won't be Online much. I've volunteered to be a Judge at a the Finals of my Province's Science Fair . I'm going to see what the younger Quebec Geek Generation is working on! I'll catch up on the blog if I can get online... if not, I'll be back in Friday night. Thanks for being there!

Chatty's Random Thoughts: Potions

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:57:45 +0000

Chatty steps on the stage and walks up to the mike, looking nervous. He clears his throat, takes a deep breath and starts. How ya doin? Nice to see y'all here. All right, what's the deal with potions? I mean it's a spell that you drink. You chug that little bottle of power and it does things to you. That just freaks me out! Here's what I don't get. How does that work in your digestive track? How the hell does the magic know that it's supposed to do its stuff and not just make your crotch glow or your hair catch fire? Does anyone know what happens with the juice once the magic's gone? I can't find any reference in the SRD that says how you eliminate potions from your body? I mean, is the magic transfer complete? Does the local latrines have a slight transmutation magic aura once you're done? Y'a know what I mean? Seriously though, what about empty potion bottles? I mean don't they have a deposit on them? You have to pay for it when you create a potion, so how come you can't reuse them? If ya ask me, I think all dungeons have a bunch of low level wizards hobos raiding it for empties and selling them once the PCs are done killing stuff and taking the loot. All right, you've been great, I'm here all week! Chatty leaves the stage in a hurry, dodging Handaxes and Tanglefoot bags.

sniper

ChattyDM — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:56:28 +0000

Hit by a (consultative) Drive-by Shooting

ChattyDM — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:58:33 +0000

This morning I woke up covered in (figurative) blood. I had just been the target of James and Harry (of Men with Pens's fame) Drive-by Shooting Sundays. The rather colorful and fluffed-up setup is actually a lookover consultation of the blog from the eyes of trained online buisness men. While I knew that the Blog could be improved, I must say that my Ego was somewhat bruised (As often happens with brutal honesty my buddy Graham would say). I think that part of their criticism comes from the fact that they were cold called on the blog and know nothing of what I was about (except that I was a gamer) so they evaluated the blog from that stand point. Regardless, all their observations hit true to a certain extent. Here are a few key observations (Read the whole post here):

Hm. I’m not sure what to think of a first impression. Personally, I’m not big on cartoons. I think cartoons should be used sporadically and be well illustrated to convey a message without downgrading the seriousness. (Is gaming serious? Damned straight it is.)

I pointed out in the comments that the Cartoon is actually a caricature of me. I don't think I'm going to surprise anyone by saying that the blog's branding turns around a certain Chatty guy... (I've even been accused, quite nicely, to foster a burgeoning personality cult... what? I'd never do this to my minions!)

The banner title is fuzzy, so that should be cleaned up to be sharper. Harry finds the comment bubbles interesting and I hate them, so it’s a toss up on that, too.

That is something I might have to take up with the Artist that made the banner. I didn't mind it when I got it, but I've had more than one feedback on it. With 4e's publication, I think I'll commission Veronica for an update.

The tagline gets lost in the banner and isn’t visible at all. Who is Chatty DM? Why should I read these musings? What’s this site about anyways? It does tell readers what the site is about – your quest. But again, why should I read this site?

With 4e's publication, the tagline will lose it's meaning. I'm probably going to change it with 'Where the Rule of Cool meets the Rule of Fun in Tabletop RPGs' or something.

The comment count should be at the bottom of posts to allow readers to read and then click immediately to comment without having to scroll back up.

That's actually a very good point. Maybe I'll ask Graham to hack this bit when he's done with his finals.

The main problem seems to be that the overall color theme is bland. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s… forgettable. There’s nothing interesting to capture readers at a glance and no punch to the page.

This is where I disagree (as often happens in artistic decisions), I quite like the soft, bland colors because I wanted a relaxed atmosphere. When we discussed colors, it was suggested quite early on that we'd move away from the current color schemes and go for different... I think that once again the suggestion comes from a 'I'm a first time visitor that dropped from a search result... make sure I stick around' which is a valid point... although I'm guessing my growth comes more from word of mouth than from random walk ins. There you have it... your friendly Chatty's head has exploded and for once I had to use my minions' cloning banks for myself. I'll have my revenge, MWa HA HA HA! Still, I'll look into this more and start planning for Chatty DM's 4.0.

10195689

ChattyDM — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:32:38 +0000

Laboratory flasks holding blue liquids (blue tone)

misterbennet

ChattyDM — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:58:08 +0000

Chatty’s Mailbox: The Magnificent Villain

ChattyDM — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:11:35 +0000

While I was writing my 300th milestone post, I got a very interesting email from a reader. Here's what he wrote:

Good afternoon! I've been a long time reader of and commenter on your blog, and I was looking for some brainstorming help. Specifically, what kind of holds could a magnificent bastard have over a party in D&D of 10-14th level? The problem is offense is far easier in D&D than defense, and players (as I'm sure you know) are often willing to risk a lot to satisfying revenges or simply kill someone who annoys them. So, with that in mind, what are some good holds a partially-revealed magnificent bastard could use to keep the PCs busy and away from himself? There's always the kidnapped friend or relative, but parties are extremely good at breaking into tightly guarded locations, and resurrection magic means they often do not fear the death of a valued NPC. There's information, but once that is imparted the Magnificent Bastard loses his hold. What do you think? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks so much! -PW

My post on the Magnificent Bastard is quite possibly my favorite Trope article so far. That makes me more than happy to try to tackle this. In the 10-14th level bracket, D&D PCs are now big shots that can afford to bully/ignore pretty much anyone that isn't an encounter planned by the DM. At that level, players expect to be the only local badasses that stand between This makes playing a Magnificent Bastard as the campaign's main villain hard, especially with remorselessness players who use the game's mechanics to rationalize doing horrible stuff like letting loved ones be killed to raise them later. If you must play the Bastard as a villain, I'd say that he/she needs to hold the PCs by the proverbial cojones. At level 10-14, that may be difficult but not impossible to pull off. The MB can hit old SchoolPCs/Teflon players in the following areas:

Prevent the PCs from being raised if the NPC ever wishes so. (i.e.: You kill me, you hurt me, you stay dead!)... maybe the MB has sold the PCs souls to devils or has influence with the divine agents able to raise the PCs.
Prevent the PCs from selling loot or acquiring new Magic Item ("Did I forget to mention that I am the son of the head of Wizards' guild?")
The MB marries the sister of a PC... who truly loves him and dies of depression if the MB is killed. (She then refuses to get raised, always an option, unless her love returns whole! That's evil!)
Pull a Raven...

Pulling a Raven is a reference to Neal Stepheson's Snow Crash, where one of the 'bad guys' called Raven goes around with a Nuke strapped to his motorcycle and has it plugged on his vital signs. You kill Raven, you create a glass Crater. In that sense, you can make the Magnificent Bastard imbued with an enchantment (or artifact, or diabolic pact) that basically spells doom for a whole kingdom should he be slain. Now PCs need to find a roundabout way of dealing with the MB. Maybe by deactivating the doomsday device or trapping him on another plane... ...But being a Magnificent Bastard, you can be sure someone/something is going to fall under his charms and release him soon enough. Lastly, if the PCs do end up killing the MB... why not bring him/her back to life all the time? The Bastard probably has allies in high places that can spring for a true resurrect much more easily than the PCs. That should annoy the PCs to no end. I used exactly that trick with a Chaotic Evil Noblewoman in an old Ptolus adventure (The Banewarrens). Even though she was Evil, she had quite a few political alliance with teh Lawful Good church that guaranteed her a True Resurrection if she died.... and she needed them! :) One key point of the Magnificent Bastard is that from the moment the players hate him/her unconditionally he stops being a MB and becomes an Overlord or other type of villain... The Magnificent Bastard depends on having a love/hate relationship with the other characters. If you can salvage a break in trust just once, the NPC has done it's job... Don't force it too much passed this point, you'll be accused of having a Marty Stu. Anybody else has ideas to share on how a villainous Magnificent Bastard could have a hold against old school/Teflon players? Keep the letters coming! I might not get to them real fast but I'll do one per week if I have enough material for it.

My Tax return and Hockey ate my post!

ChattyDM — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:02:47 +0000

I wanted to write a post, I really did. However, with a decisive Hockey game tonight and me having to run to my accountant's place to drop my tax papers (we're late!!!), there's no way I can make it. I may write one tomorrow morning. Wish my home team luck... Go Jets Habs Go! Edit: Final Score Mtl: 5 Bos: 0 Next up, the Rangers or the Fliers! Will I get a blogger to take up my wager?

hook-horror

ChattyDM — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:02:03 +0000

ogre

ChattyDM — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:59:24 +0000

When Funny Becomes Story

ChattyDM — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:05:51 +0000

As I look at my schedule (I have visit coming over, a game to prepare and the job has started being a bit heavier again), I'm not sure how much I can post this week. So I thought I'd share with you a short but funny memory brought up by a Gtalk chat I had with Critical Hits' Bartoneous this morning. He was telling me that he wanted to re-visit his college RPG campaigns and write about them. This made me remember about one such campaign I played at college (i.e. 13-14 years ago) during summer. It was a Gurps Fantasy campaign that could basically be summarized as:

Hafling accountant stole deeds to a gold mine and the One Ring from Lich Emperor boss, runs away with misfits accomplices (including a Were-Serpent Mage and a Split Personality Thief/Acrobat )and befriends a Microwave Ogre.

Bart then asked me what was a Microwave Ogre. Here's the gist of it: There was this Ogre that had recently joined the party. Being an Ogre, it had to hide in the Hayloft of any inn's stable whenever the PCs were sleeping in a town. One night, Some NPCs come in the Inn occupied by the PCs bearing torches and Pitchforks, asking if anyone had seen an Ogre marauding around. All players literally jumped in to spin this incredibly funny and ridiculous yarn about how Ogres were scary, fanged creatures with a magical gaze that caused Metal Armour to spark up. It also made people melt or boil or even explode whenever they stared at it for too long! The NPCs ran away screaming, the players were choking because they were laughing so much and the Microwave Ogre was born and remains to this day a legend in my home-grown game world. This is a perfect example of players taking initiative in shaping a story (no matter how initially ridiculous) in such a cool direction that it becomes instantly embraced by all. Such events are the stuff of legendary games and this session remains in my top 5 RPG stories. Have you ever had such player input (funny, ridiculous or just plain cool) that became part of your campaign's lore? Is it still referred to in later games and campaigns? I'd love to hear about them! While I'm at it, can any of you Crunch Heads come up with a D&D mechanic and or stats (any edition, just specify) that could help us make a real Microwave Ogre? I'd love to drop that on my players as a tribute to that old game. For 3.5/4e I'd probably would start with the Bodak, but instead of instant death I'd probably have the gaze attack cause 1/2 Electrical/ 1/2 Heat Damage based on the Fireball spell (Fort Save for half, penalty for Metal armour). Your thoughts?

microscope

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:50:15 +0000

Adventure Prep: To Analyze and to Fluff

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:03:44 +0000

As I write this I realize that it's a very clinical assessment and analysis of my current campaign. I'll post it to show you how I go at it, but it might be a bit heavier than my usual fare. As mentioned in my last few Adventure Prep or Campaign log posts, I've stopped systematically hacking the adventure I use (Expedition to the Demonweb Pits) to better fit my personnal and player's tastes. I did this mostly because my interest in the game is somewhat waning and the prep time I allow myself is diminishing (I blame the blog, damn you attention addiction!) That being said, we've (well mostly I) made the decision of seeing this campaign through. I spent some time thinking how I could pull the game from "meh. 's'all right" to "cool" without spending too much effort in it. So I started by reviewing the current state of the game: The Campaign's main plot elements:

Planescape-themed campaign centered on stopping the Spider Queen, Lolth, from signing an alliance with her fellow Demon Lords therefore upsetting the balance of the Great Wheel (of which the players don't care about all that much)
The Main Campaign city has been wretched from the material plane, brought to the Abyss and rapidly snatched from there and dumped in the Plane of Shadows.
The main campaign world is on the verge of being absorbed in Lolth's Realm
A 1/2 demon 'patron' uses the PCs to discredit Lolth at the behest of his Demon Lord father.
Demon lord doesn't expect PCs to succeed
1/2 demon son who as a stake in maintaining the planar balance ain't so sure... and ponders the advantages of letting the PCs win.
Regardless of what happens, Campaign world has possibly been "mortally wounded" by 2 campaigns' worth of alignment-based global wars
PCs are currently in a Demonic City trying to find a 'friendly' ambassador to gain access to Lolth's 'party' to crash it.

My assumption on the PCs perspective:

Aravard the Elven Duskblade: Save his world and Ptolus. Trash as many Drows as possible and stick it to Lolth bad.
Cixi the Iron Hero Archer: Free her imprisoned people from Carceri and free her original homeworld from Lolth's clutches (Most fleshed out plot PC-focused element of the campaign so far, but only affects one player)
Nogard the 1/2 dragon Barbarian: Save the world and re-establish the ancient, almost forgotten, Church of the Platinum Dragon (Well developping plot element).
Kynes the human cleric: Save the world at the behest of his Dragon patrons
Inigo Firenze the Human Swordsage/Scout: Burn Stuff Save the World at the behest of his Dragon patrons .
Cruguer the Crusader (Missing this week): Save the World at the Behest of the Divinity that gave him another chance.

Real life constraints:

3-4 sessions before summer months breaks group cohesion because of diminishing player availability.
Players are tired, less focused, that includes me.
We start at 7h00 and we usually need to conclude by 10h30, giving us a 3h30 session.

Conclusion: Focus on save the world scenario and make the PCs seen as real heroes by all non-hostile NPCs. Discuss with the group about Cixi's separate but compatible agenda. Have them kick a lot of Demon lord butt! Add to this that historically the best games we had as a group were games where we played scenes that had significant impact in terms of of the story and where the player's actions had a significant impact in shaping them. Planning the game itself: The last few games have been mostly about the players completing Fed-Ex Quests while the whole world turned to crap around them. It looked good on paper and would make a nice story, but role playing wise it wasn't so good as no choices were given to the players and everything was more or less orchestrated to serve the story. So by looking back at the plot, I see that I fell, once again, in the common pitfall of the DM trying to be a writer instead of a stage manager. What I need to do now is use the existing adventure (to save time) and let the players use it as more of a sandbox. Since time is running out, I'll need to keep an eye on pacing (unless players are having a lot of fun) so that they spend no more than 1 session in the Demon city and 2 sessions in the Demonweb pits. Also, I won't set up large fights or complex encounters anymore... nor will I add bottleneck conflicts that take 2 hours to play out. Any planned encounter area that I feel not conducive to the story will be ignored. For instance, the Demon City encounter plan is set up to reach the plot objective relatively easily (if the players are smart). However, it then degenerates in a series of fights and pursuits which are a complete waste given the time left we have. However, if the players as a group, come to a decision that creates combat, well then, I won't deprive them of thier fun now will I. Lastly, being more tired myself on Friday Nights, I tend to reduce the amount of description I do. I believe that this is one of the key things that has made the games less engaging. Description makes or break a game in terms of atmosphere, especially during combat. I won't start a full essay here on the benefit of concise colorful descriptions. my new friend Ripper X did it quite well here, but suffice it to say that it's one of the key things that sets a game's mood. My players are, for the first time of thier lives, in a Demonic city (Zelatar, a city that spans 3 layers of the Abyss, under the control of Grat'zz, prince of demons). I need to describe it and paint an evocative picture of it all the time... It has to be more than just a dirtier, smellier Ptolus. I sure could use some help by my fluff focused readers here! Feel free to share snippets of Demon city fluff that I could use to spice things up! Thanks!

johnn-four

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:38:00 +0000

When You Have GMs as Players

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:00:11 +0000

In the last few weeks, I've been discussing with Johnn Four of R oleplayingtips.com (you should subscribe!) about setting up some sort of monthly guest feature on his very popular GMing newsletter for me to share GMing tips (Notice the use of the more generic GM).

Earlier today, my first column was posted here.

I'm reprinting it here to allow comments, questions and feedback on it. I'm rather proud of it and I hope you'll enjoy it!

A seldom talked about challenge of GMing is when you find yourself surrounded with other, possibly more experienced GMs as players.

This might not be an issue for gaming groups with alternating GMs, however, I've often seen players who would love to take a stab at GMing in an established group but back out at the somewhat scary prospect of having one (or many) more experienced GM(s) with a character sheet sit across from them.

Here are a few tips to make your first stints as a GM of GMs less daunting.

1) Establish The Ground Rules Of The Game

Chances are, all players around your table will know you have limited experience. You need to openly acknowledge that and not be insecure about the others stealing your game.

Expect a transition period where any former GMs adjust to the new role of player (i.e. relinquish control and let someone else do it).

If you feel the transition doesn't go well and the game tends to get stormy more often than not, take the time to discuss it one on one with your fellow player/GMs to try to work it out.

In such cases, don't wear your heart on your sleeve; be ready for some critical (and hopefully constructive) feedback on your game, and don't let that force you out of GMing.

However, don't hesitate to establish your space as GM. The others need to acknowledge that they don't get to both play and run the show. Concessions must be made to your personal style and allow you to grow into your new role.

One thing that I've seen work to ease up these transitions is to ask another GM (preferably the one who GMed the last campaign) to act as a reference for rules and maybe help out at running the administrative aspects of the game.

In such a partnership, make it clear what you expect of that person and explain what parts of your game you want to be solely responsible for. Work out in advance how to handle GMing calls when the old GM doesn't agree with a call you make.

In fact, you should do this even if you don't plan to ask one of the former GM to help. The reflex of making (and challenging) GMing calls can become deeply ingrained in GMs. You therefore need a clear politic on rules discussions that you are comfortable with. It's one thing to have a rule book say you have the final call and another realizing that respect for a GM's authority is earned, not inherited.

2) GMs Are Players Too

This tip might feel obvious, but GMs have the same preferences and motivations seen in other role players when they grab a character sheet. Some are Butt Kicker, looking for heroic mayhem. Some are Power Gamers who love to accumulate new powers. Others are Story-tellers, seeking to be swept in an epic tale which, for once, they don't have to plan for.

Much like I would tell any GM, take the time to learn what motivates each of your players by asking them what would be the perfect game session (and then the perfect multi session adventure for them). Take a few notes per player, and try to insert at least one elements of each player's list in each gaming sessions.

3) Disorient Your GMs

Use a different rules set for your game, or at the least, a completely different setting for your game. This will disorient your GMs a bit, giving you some slack while you settle in your new role.

If you decide to play with a rules set the GMs-turned-players are more familiar with than you are, make sure you shake things up: play in a unique game world you designed, or set it up in a place never visited by the group.

It might be worth exploring a sourcebook/adventure the others are unfamiliar with, and base your game on its material.

4) Start Simple

Your goal as a GM of GMs is not to blow away your players with a legendary campaign (such campaigns often grow from simpler, more modest beginnings). If you are new to the role of GMing, chances are your enthusiasm and breadth of vision for your game will greatly exceed your actual abilities to pull off all the things you think would make for a cool game.

Start simple; create an adventuring environment whose scope is limited and where the players (especially the former GMs) can adjust to you as the GM, and you can settle in the rules, setting, existing social dynamics, and your new responsibilities.
5) Build Up To Bigger Things With The Help Of The Other GMs

Unless they GMed by default (because no one else wanted to do it before you stepped up to the plate), your fellow players became GMs for a reason. Regardless of how well they adapt to their new roles as players, chances are they will miss some aspects of their old job.

This opens the door to possibly the coolest thing about GMing for GMs. You can harness this to help them build up your campaign up to something far greater than you could pull off alone!

Some GMs love to build worlds. While in your game, have them design aspects of your campaign for which you don't have time but feel it would add to the fun of all to have there.

For example, in your fantasy game, an ex-GM is now a rogue who's a member of your city's Thieves' Guild? Have him/her propose names for guild leaders, draw maps for the guild's headquarters, and propose a few adventure hooks that could involve the freshly fleshed out guild.

Other GMs prefer to tinker with the rules. Discuss with them, outside of the game, how you'd like some sub-system to better address your needs for a specific scenario you are cooking up. Chances are you'll find a receptive ear and many helpful suggestions.

In the end, you'll have stronger buy-in into your game as it becomes a group effort while allowing you to create the stories you want and grow into the joys of GMing.

green-dragon-001

ChattyDM — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:22:20 +0000

red-dragon-001

ChattyDM — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:23:11 +0000

hook-horror-001

ChattyDM — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:24:44 +0000

Chatty on 4e: I heart Grapple!

ChattyDM — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:26:11 +0000

(Click on the images to be able to read the word bubbles) Last week I dropped by my Favorite Local Game Store (FLGS) to buy myself a few boxes of the 1st official 4e product available: the D ungeons of Dread D&D miniature game. I purchased the Starter and 2 booster boxes. Before I dig in my 4e post, here's a... Mini-review: The D&D Miniature Starter Game You get 5 cool battlemaps that weren't printed in previous products:

A 1/2 size map of a Country Crossroad featuring 2 boulders and a ruined building.
Another 1/2 sized map of a Monster Lair complete with a 3 room cave complex with campfires on one half and wilderness with trees, a boulder and a thin river on the other.
Flooded Ruins, an underground complex featuring a large river, pits, Stepping stones (over river) and teleporters
A dwarven Outpost, an underground cave map with a defensible building, a bridge over a lake and some difficult terrain (rubble, supplies and stalagmites)
A jungle Temple, an outdoor Yuan-ti themed temple with Obelisks and Jungle Squares.

The game comes with 5 non-random, exclusive miniatures:

A large Young Green Dragon
A Yuan-ti Swiftscale
A Human Sellsword
An Eleven Warlock
A Dwarven Battlemaster

A word of warning, the starter set contains combat stats for the skirmish game only and not for the 4e Roleplaying game. I was unable to find them on the Wizards website either (but here's a full list of the 4e stats for the whole group of random minis). Instead, the back of each stat cards includes hints on playing each minis of the starter set against each other. That's a disappointment for me. As for the game itself, it's much like the old one. Except creatures have better defined powers and new 4e mechanics like 'Bloodied' make an appearance. I don't currently play the miniature game so I can't really discuss it. I'll return to it if my son and I start playing it more. On with the 4e stuff When going through the 4e stats of the miniatures, I got a few very interesting insights in the 4e combat mechanics. Please note that I haven't been digging around for 4e news all that much, relying mostly on discussions with Graham and some of the blogs I read regularly like Dave and Bartoeneus' Critical Hits. This means there's a chance that my observations are already old hat to some of you. My first thought was that combat will be very different (and better fitted to my taste as a crunchy gamer) from previous editions. Here's a rundown of my 1st impressions: Bye-Bye iteratives! Multiple attacks per round have been a staple of Advanced D&D and it's descendants. Back when the game still bore Gary's name, Fighters had 1 attack per level against 1 Hit Dice (and weaker) Monsters. Weapon specializations, a very popular variant rule that appeared in Dragon magazine (iirc) and then in Unearthed Arcana, also allowed fighter-type classes to gain additional attacks against stronger foes. I'll skip 2e, I haven't played it enough to remember, but chances are Weapon Specs were still in there. D&D 3.0 and it's (evil?) twin 3.5 made multiple (iterative) attack a mechanic opened to all classes. This one design decision created the strongest tactical justification for static, battle-line types of fights were players would go around the table and chuck multiple dice, nudging minis every so often to optimize the number of attacks one could dish out in a turn. Late design sourcebooks and d20 variants like Iron Heroes, Star Wars Saga and the Tome of Battle have shown welcome alternatives to this rather boring (but oh so efficient) combat model. Well that's finished now. Monsters all have 1 main attack, possibly a secondary attack (like Dragons) and a slew of special attack/abilities that are conditional to spending resources or meeting certain criteria. For example, the Bralani, a Level 19 Controller 'monster' has 2 attacks:

A longsword +4 (+26 vs AC, 1d8+12)
A Whirlwind Blast (which I assume is an arrow storm-type attack since the figurine has a bow), a 10 square line attack at +21 vs Ref for 1d6+12 damage.

and that's it! Of course it flies and has got a few powerful special abilities... see below. Monsters and PCs are different. That's one of the changes that pleases me the most about 4e; monsters that were made to be fought are now based on simpler to play mechanics that are different from PCs. Now, there's a possibility that the D&D stats of theses monsters are oversimplified like they were in the 3.x. Regardless the Gnoll Marauder (a Level 6 Brute) does not feel like a level 5 Barbarian with a gnoll racial HD. It's a fast spear warrior that gains a second attack against bloodied foes (i.e. when the target is at half-HP or less), deals more damage when attacking in packs and/or is itself bloodied. I still don't know if there will be mechanics to create classed Humanoids. I believe there will be in either the Core Books or in a future Savage Species-like book. Regardless, I see this change as good because it will make my job as a DM easier. I have the Power One thing is for sure, D&D 4e combat will be about ressource management and cool combat abilities. While mechanically things will be simpler, the sheer number of things you'll be able to do in combat will allow for enough complex tactical choices to make brilliant planners happy. I've read a ton of complaints that D&D 4e is ripping off MMORPGs. Actually it's more like they've taken notes from Collectible Miniature Games; not just D&D minis, but the clicky games like Mage Knight, Hero Clicks and so on. The main feature of these games is that they allow faster turns than classic mini combat games (Warhammer, Battletech...) while retaining a rich number of tactical options and game effects. For example, the Adult Red Dragon (a level 7 Solo soldier, AC 27, 136 hp) has 1 action point that can be spent to use any of it's standard abilities (Attack or breath weapon) as a free action. Furthermore, its breath weapon is a 5 square 'long' cone that deals 3d12+6 Fire damage and 'recharges' by rolling a 4 on a d6 at the start of each of it's turn. Finally, when it gets bloodied (i.e. at 1/2 hp) it gets to breath fire once, as an immediate action, in retaliation. This basically makes me think that I'll be able to create 'cards' (or use tokens) for each monster that I can 'tap' or remove when a limited use power is used and 'untap' return when the power can be used again. Simple, cool, effective, easy to manage. I like a lot! Oh and you want to see what replaces a Save or Die attack? Here's the Bralani's special attack: Curse of Autumn: Range 5; +21 vs Will; Round 1: –2 atk/Def and Slowed 1 rd. Round 2: –5 atk/Def and Slowed 1 rd. Round 3: –5atk/Def and Slowed 1 rd and dies in 24 hours. Permanent, remove as curse. Recharge 5. Talk about a deadly debuff! Battlefield interaction: Finally I have this little mini here that gives a lot of insight in the various board control possibilities of 4e combat. The HookHorror (a level 13 soldier) has a nasty attack chain: Claw Reach 2; +21 vs AC; 1d10+8 AND Followup (that means it gets the other attack listed after it) Followup +19 vs Fort, L or smaller; pull 1(That means it drags someone one square closer to itself on a successful attack vs Fort ) AND Restrained; only 1 at a time Yup there you have it... that's how Grapple is going to work it seems. Hit with an attack, roll vs Fort to pull in and prevent movement. But that's not all... :) Secondary melee attack: Feast +21 vs AC, Restrained only; 3d10+8 (that means that if you are grappled, the Horror snacks on your PC in future attacks) or Secondary attack: Fling +21 vs Fort, Restrained only; 2d10+8 AND push 4 AND knock prone That means that if it beats your Fort Save in a future attack, it throws you anywhere within 4 squares of itself on the battle map (remember that diagionals now count for 1) and drops you down. The game will be rife with Pull (bring closer), Push (push away) and Slide (move either way, no attacks of opportunity) maneuvers. This screams 'use the terrain to it's full extent' and I love it. Combat on icy ridges and hellish lava-filled landscapes will now be truly scary ordeals! Expect to throw PCs in pits and pools of acid a lot. Expect to have the same (and worse) done to your creatures too! Is it still D&D? As I read over these new combat mechanics, one thing that is becoming clear to me is that the game has changed in more ways that I initially though. Probably too many ways for some and that may hurt 4e in the long run. There was this example In my old Cognitive Psych class, way back in college, on how much you could remove from a bird and chage it with mammal part before a child stopped calling it a bird... Well, my main remaining doubt about 4e relates to just that. Will D&D 4e feel enough like D&D to allow me to identify to it or will it be a completely different game that that just happens to meet my current needs as a RPG player? (Much like I turned away from A D&D 1e/2e to embrace Gurps in the late 80's)... will I feel something missing? I'll know in a a few weeks now won't I? Have a great weekend.

world-of-broadsword

ChattyDM — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:09:23 +0000

Mini-Link: The Stew, the Rant and the Barbarian!

ChattyDM — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:12:14 +0000

Super casual weekend post here, I've got my 90 minute Lasagna to prepare (Anyone want's my recipe?) because tonight I have a special visitor! Extradited Montrealer and DMing blogger extraordinaire Yax is in town on vacation and I've invited him over for dinner. Now either expect us to seal our power sharing deal for world domination or maybe we'll just watch Hockey and have a few cold ones. Stew! In recent news, Martin Rayla of Treasure Table fame is coming back to the world of GM-focused blogging after a 1/2 year hiatus. His new project, a 8 people strong cooperative blog named Gnome Stew will launch in May. Talk about an awesome name! I hope I leveled up enough during Martin's hiatus to weather the new competition... :) Paizo gets it good! Also, my good friend Graham recently outdid himself in a Campaign log/Rant post about his last Pathfinder game and the weaknesses of the 1st adventure path that he found. I'm amazed at the energy he puts in hacking an adventure to make it better for his players. I'm having a hard time doing it... The key message I take home from his post (other than Paizo dropping the crunch ball on a few overpowered encounters...) is that I have to be more carefull in choosing an adventure by actually reading it cover to cover before selecting it for my group. An ill-devised creates more work to salvage and may end up causing you to stop caring about it and affecting your enthusiasm about it... and an unenthusiastic DM is always bad news. Support your local Evil DM While I have yet to read it, my buddy Jeff the Evil DM has two published RPG products under his belt. One called Broadsword that he co wrote sometime ago and another called World of Broadsword that's all his. I'm buying them as I write this. 8$ for a game and a world-book about Conan-style Barbarian mayhem, I don't think I can go wrong! Expect a quick review here soon! All right, I need to start cooking!

broadswrod

ChattyDM — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:27:51 +0000

Chatty's Review: Broadsword or Let Me Break that Sword on Your Head!

ChattyDM — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:29:28 +0000

A few months ago, I promised fellow RPG blogger Jeff Mejia (infamously known as 'The Evil Dm') that I'd review Broadsword, the indy RPG game he co-wrote with James Stubbs, as well as his recently published companion book World of Broadsword. As mentioned yesterday, instead of asking Jeff for free review copies (he offered to do so more than once), I purchased both product for a grand total of 8$ US to support his work. I set out to read both product with the only reference that it was a RPG based on the cheesy Barbarian/Sword and Sorcery movies of the 70's and 80's. This post will be about the Broadsword game. I'll post a second one soon about the game's expansion: The World of Broadsword. As I was reading through Broadsword, my initial gut reaction wasn't all that positive... Once I was done and slept on it, I started digging around and I realized that to be fair to the product I needed to review it from a different perspective than a D&D veteran used to current design philosophies. Broadsword is a simple, Beer & Pretzel RPG that has no other assumption than letting a bunch of players create Brawny/Buxom, ham-fisted warriors in minutes and spend 2-4 hours killing stuff and getting hacked to bits numerous times. So I'm going to tackle this review from another, less anal-retentive, crunch obsessed angle... Once upon a time... Back in 1983, I was a 10-year old nerd that loved to play with the Atari, Intellivision, Legos and boardgames. One lazy weekend afternoon, my childhood friend Mathieu G. (not the same Math of my current group) called me and asked me to come and try this new game he had discovered. Picking up my motocross-shaped bike (I'm too old for the BMX craze), I dropped by my buddie's house. We sat on the basement table and he brought up 3 sheets of white paper, a pencil and a d6. "My cousin has this game called Dungeons & Dragons" my buddy started. " It comes in a Red Box and it has full of weird dice. Let play a game I created based on that. You are an adventurer and you have a sword and a shield. I'm going to draw a map as you explore a dungeon and you get to kill monsters and find treasure" 'Sure’ I said. “How do I kill the monsters?". "Hummm... roll a d6, if you roll 6 it's dead, if you roll 1 you're dead" "Cool! And what if I roll 2-5..." "We'll say that you go from near death(2) to wounding the monster real bad (5). "Awesome!..." We played that version of the game for hours and hours. I showed it to my father and all my other friends. Then a 13 year old neighbor I kept pestering borrowed the AD&D Players Handbook from a friend and showed it to me (probably just to shut me up). I never looked back... Broadsword is that game I played before I discovered AD&D (And learned English trying to decipher Gygaxian Prose). Mechanics: Broadsword is a 17 page RPG that's part of the 1PG line of games. 1PG stands for 1 page. That means that the actual rules of the game (including char gen, but excluding magic) fit on just one page. They're even reprinted on the character sheet so players have all they need to know about the game. The mechanics are simple: Each character has 2 sets of randomly determined stats: The Primary stats are Brawn, Personality, Perception and Knowledge. Each has a numeric value between 1 and 3. Each primary stat has between 4 and 10 skills that you can buy with randomly determined skill points. You can spend up to 3 points per skill. Task/Combat resolution is then: Add skill to related primary stat and roll less than that on a d6, 1 is always a success, 6 always a failure. Opposed checks (like combat or contests of whatever) are won by succeeding by the widest margin against the target number. The secondary stats are: Presence: The character’s charisma. Determines the number of 'traits' you can buy with the character at char gen. Guts: Your resilience to fear. Failing a guts roll makes you lose a presence point. Dropping presence makes you too unnerved to be of any use in the party (and actually makes you prone to hurt the other members) Blood: Hit points ! Reputation: General perceived badassness. Combat then is done by foe and PC rolling opposed Fighting/Shooting skill (from the Brawn list ). The winner deals Blood damage equal to weapon rating (from 1 to 8 ) + Brawn rating (an extra 1 to 3). A PC starts with 3d6+10 blood points. Armour has a rating of 1 to 3 and absorbs that many damage upon a hit. There are 20 advantages that a player can choose from to customize a character. That's where the whole Barbarian feeling comes to life in that game. With choices like Animal Buddies, Flesh Wound, Good Looking and Lightning Reflexes you can deck your Thundar McConan with the traits to make it a perfectly acceptable unidimensional warrior! Finally there is a one pager about Magic that gives some indication to adjucate magic (although it actually refers to another product for the core magic rules). There are some character advancement rules but this game was not designed with campaigns in mind. Actually, the game assumes that players may go through numerous characters in one evening! Fluff Once you account for mechanics, character sheets and cover pages, the book contains a one-page series of tips for referees which can be resumed as

...this is not a scholarly work or an in-depth roleplaying experience; it's "make-believe goes to the movies."

The rest are one page adventure plans: 3 stand alone scenarios and a 6 part 'campaign' arc. So basically, there’s no fluff in the book, apart from a 1 paragraph introduction before the rules stuff starts. At that point I was a bit perplexed, the game has no setting and explains none of the tropes of the genre... That's when I realized that the setting and fluff of Broadsword reside in the player's minds. The game was created to appeal to players who watched hours upon hours of pulp barbarian movies and want to recreate that feeling for in an evening without having to buy 3 Core books, 2 sourcebooks and designing a 15 page adventure. (That being said, World of Broadsword, the second product provides an actual setting, stay tuned). Chatty's take on the game So now that I've taken the game in perspective, what do I think of it? First, I'm not the target audience for that game. I don't usually play a pick-up RPG game. On casual evenings, I'll usually reach for a board game or play console games with my buddies. However, for a simple game that can be learned in 5 minutes (15 if you create characters) and whose GM can whip an adventure almost instantly, it truly delivers on its promise. Still, I think the game makes a few assumptions that might not be evident for literal minded GMs like me. First, it's clear that such simple mechanics mean that the GM must wing a lot of how things happen when it can't be resolved by a simple skill roll. For example, how do you handle a 2 (or more) on 1 fight? Additionally, there's no indication about how much Armour and Weapon cost. Characters get silver but there are no equipment/service costs anywhere. I think it was intentional because the game was not designed to be focused on gear or loot except as a vague motivator (I mean why does Cohen the Barbarian raid the temple of the Scantily clad Snake priestesses if not to get his grubby hands on the Gem of Eternal Stiffness, sell it and spend it on ales and whores right? ). However, because weapons cover a large range of damage (from Shuriken=1 to Greatsword=8) and armour also covers a range (hides = 1 and metal = 3), any player with a smidgen of the power gamer gene will automatically go for a Greatsword/metal armour combo all the time. While it's a Sword and Sorcery game, the magic rules leave me a bit confused, probably because it's actually an extension of magic rules found in the 1PG companion. That’s the game weakest point by far because it fails to deliver on the ‘sorcery’ part. Still, in such movies, the magic yielders are always the bad guys (i.e. NPCs) and the engine is flexible enough for a creative DM to fake magic attacks and enchantments without arousing suspicion. Regardless, I can totally see how I could recapture the feeling of playing like I did 15 years ago. Take the description of a creative GM, a barebones rule set and a bunch of eager tongue-in-cheek, slightly drunk players and you got yourself an evening filled with laughs and crude Chainmail bikini jokes! Final Verdict Broadsword is a minimalist but effective RPG engine that offers to recreate the best (and worst) of low-budget/low-fantasy movies taken directly out of the collective recollection of the sword & Sorcery genre of the 70's and 80's. Oh and it's 4$. Post publication random trivia As I was checking the weapons list, I noticed that while the game is called broadsword, there is no broadsword in the list! I guess that 'sword' is a broadsword... :)

ethanol-fuel

ChattyDM — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:59:28 +0000

You Put That in Your Car?

ChattyDM — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:08:22 +0000

Is it just me? Like your average working parent, I can't look at the media's alarmist take on the world food crisis (re: increasing prices of basic foodstuff ) and stay unfazed. Like many upper middle class North American, I probably don't spend more than 10-15% of our household earnings on food. That's why I can afford to spend time on a second virtual job and churn out somewhat entertaining posts on games. :) I know that there are many reasons for the increase in basic foodstuff price, oil price and speculation on futures being key drivers beneath it all. I'm not an economist but I know the basics. I'm also fairly to the right in terms of Canadian economics policies (which is actually to left of America Centre, but this isn't a comparative political blog). I strongly believe in a free economy with minimal obstacles to trade and ideas. But for the love of all that is merciful in the universe, be it God or social Darwinism, why the hell are we allowing to create fuel for cars out of fucking FOOD? Making ethanol out of corn, the food that Latin America depends on to survive and using it for cars is quite possibly the stupidest things humans have done in the last few years. It should be criminal! That freaks me out way more than climate change (for the moment). I'm a microbiologist, I (somewhat) know how Ethanol is produced. It's basically what microorganisms excrete as waste when 'eating' plant sugars in the absence of oxygen. I totally get how important it is to find an alternative fuel source. The developing world, China and India's at its head, can't be denied the growth the occidental powers were allowed just because we did it first and now there's not enough resources to go around. I'm all for using ethanol as an alternative fuel (I prefer electricity, coming from a fully Hydro-powered region of the world), but come on people! Ethanol can be created from anything that has a sufficient amount of complex sugars, as long as we use the proper tools to unlock them. Anyone that says that other ethanol producing technology aren't worth it yet should take a good look at rising Maize price (and everything else getting hit because of oil). Also, look at the food riots that have flared in Haiti and Africa. After all that, one should think about supporting the funding of some serious R&D. Use cornstalk, Grass, Sawdust... We've found bacteria and yeast that thrive on the quasi-useless byproducts of agriculture. Heck use Maple Syrup, it's not like the world needs it to survive! If I've discovered a bacteria that can degrade Chrysene into Carbon Monoxide during my Master's research (which is as 'unedible' as rock) there's a bug out there that will eat up our worst waste and shit fuel. I can afford to pay 100% more for food in the short term... but a lot of people in North America and Europe can't, let alone the rest of the world. That alone is good enough to stop using corn ethanol for fuel now. Do you agree or am I full of it? (We'll return to our regular programming soon... that shit really freaks me out and I feel I can't do anything about it)

Stealing a good idea: The 10 words adventure synopsis

ChattyDM — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:21:13 +0000

In order to make up for my militant rant of last night, I thought I'd steal Penny Arcade's excellent concept and give out a little brainstorming writing assignment for your RPG campaign and then share it Here's the assignment, write an adventure concept (any genre) in exactly 10 words and post it in the comments. Believe me, I sent in two entries to the PA contest and it's hard to do. Let's make this a contest shall we? I'm opening it up for 1 full week starting on Noon EST of April 29th until the same time next week (May 6th). You enter by posting your entry in the comments here. The best one will get a choice of a D&D mini Dungeon of Dread booster or an equivalent value Gift Certificate from Drivethru RPG. For the contest to be valid, I need at least 20 entries from 20 different people. There are currently 265 RSS subscribers on this blog so I think it's feasible to hope for a 7-10% participation. You can submit multiple entries. If I don't get enough, I'll still post the best entries in a later post with credits. Actually, regardless of how it goes, I'd probably make a selection of entries (or all of them) into a PDF and offer it for free. Therefore, please note that while I will credit your entry by your true name or internet moniker, I get the rights to the entries. I don't plan on selling any of this though. Heres a few examples to get you started:

Help tiefling bastard daughter of snobby paladin quests for Birthright.
Castle falls from sky, PCs must uncover where it's from (Contractions count for one word ok?)
Dragon ate poisonous cursed gnome, will trade hoard for relief
Barbarian posse drops in hell, kick Diabolic Ass, take over (Perfect for Broadsword)!

I know you can do better! Sound off! Tell your friends, pimp that contest abroad! Edit: Dave the Game of Critical-hits and Jeff Rients have offered to be judges. Better shape up cuz these guys are good! This is shaping up to be a lot more popular than I expected. If any Sponsors wants to step up to sweeten the prize deal it would be great, contact me at chattydm@chattydm.net, I'd be willing to add a permanent link of your organization in this post! Want to see the entries in a more Digestible form? See here. The list is updated periodically as the contest progresses. Also have a look at the Random Adventure Synopsis Generator Tommi created with the entries! Prizes have been offered by Kobold Quarterly, Wee!! Kobold Quarterly magazine is devoted to D&D and roleplaying games, covering fantasy, steampunk, and swords-and-sorcery at their finest. It features articles and interviews by leading game designers including Ed Greenwood, Keith Baker, James Jacobs, and Monte Cook. Each issue comes with an Ecology article, new spells and monsters, and the finest player and DM advice we can find, from super-rules-heavy design crunch to rich, meaty flavor usable in any homebrew or published campaign setting. Subscriptions are just $16 for 4 issues, and available at http://www.koboldquarterly.com/

And now a little Farniente

ChattyDM — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:13:51 +0000

If y'all don't mind, I'm going to take a night off and enjoy the ride this blog has become lately for 24 hours or so. What with the contest and all, the Chatty minions have literally taken over and I love it! Great thanks to Shamus Young, Jeff Rients, Johnn Four and all the other cool bloggers who have linked to this blog in the last few weeks and brought so many new readers. Ah yes, please note that Lijit search has been broken for some time, apparently Google has re-indexed my blog in some weird way (maybe because I got a bump to a page-rank of 4?). They are working on it and I'll let you know when it does. I'll re-instate the default search widget for the time being. Peace out!

grazzt

ChattyDM — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:26 +0000

DM Chronicles 16: Are we there yet?

ChattyDM — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:25:29 +0000

Having been playfully accused of doing some heavy comment baiting this week, here's a more mundane campaign log! :) The RPG season is winding down. Like some of my blogging buddies, we're slowly getting ready to call it quits and it shows in our games. Still we managed to have a good time last Friday. Let's dig in shall we? L ast time, we left our heroes right inside Zelatar, the city of Demon Price Gratzz that covers three layers of the Abyss. The PCs needed to find an Ambassador of Orcus, the Demon Lord of the undead. They hoped to retrieve a way to enter the deeper Demonwebs and disrupt Lolth latest scheme (and as a side quest, save their world from absorption into the Abyss). I was upfront with the players and I asked them how they wanted to go at it in such an hostile environment and they all agreed that they'd prefer being discreet and avoid combat at all costs. I was all for that. In order to set the stage for a demonic city I started describing the environment of the city, focusing mostly on the demonic 'citizens' around them. (Thanks for the numerous tips!) I described a series of maimed demons offering their services as guide. As the PCs were looking at the meager choice, I started describing a dialogue (in abyssal) between a nearby impaled demon and a Crow trying to feast on the impalee's eye, Terry Pratchett style! When Cixi perked up (she understands Abyssal, that's what all Iron Heroes speak... hint hint) she engaged discussions with the crow and it was soon hired as a guide. A bit later, I set up an scene where a spherical object was kicked toward the PCs followed by a horde of screaming, charging demons! (At that point someone caught on my trope and called: "That's a head coming our way!") As soon as it stopped at the feet of the PCs, the disembodied head let out a weak 'save meeeee' as the raveous demons were charging the party. Always quick on his feet (literally), Inigo Firenze (played by Yan) kicked the head back into the middle of the the fiendish horde, who returned to their Football/Soccer game. A bit later, I had a demon slaver ask how much the party wanted for Cixi, willing to go as as high as 50 000gp! They were tempted... Hell, even Cixi was, after having clearly established that she was her own owner (a concept the demon had to work out some). We then spent the next 30 minutes or so exploring the city as the crow was leading the PCs to their destination and acting as tour guide. After some time, they arrived to a 'hotel' (In the Monte Cristo way), a series of buildings arranged around an inner courtyard and protected by barred gates. That was the PCs destinatiuon, the Sign of the Black Heart, a very private and exclusive Inn on the remote 3rd layer of the realm of Grat'zz. There they PCs had to negociate, cajole and pay through the nose (About 3500 gp....) just to be allowed in the Inn's common room and get a vague promise that a message would be sent to the Ambassador 'soon'. Extortion DM aside: I had never realized how satisfying it can be to extort in-game money from players. As for out of game money, I do at every game when I collect for food! :) After spending some time in the inn and getting nowhere, the party got fed up and started doing some serious intimidation to get to meet the ambassador (including breaking a few fingers of the serving staff). That got results pretty fast (and started the timer as the maimed waiter ran to his bosses) and the PCs were in the Ambassador's room, taking to a giant Undead Bone Snake (A Death Naga)! There the Quest Giver Ambassador showed them how to get in the Demonwebs Pits (the Deep parts of the Demonwebs) and gave them the details on when Lolth was having her little 'council of Demon lords'. When all things were said and done, I had the door of the Ambassador crash and the Inn's bouncer barge in, while some of Grat'zz Lamia Nobles were in the Inn's courtyard, screaming for the Mortals' blood. I asked what the players wanted to do and they decided to run. So out of Zelatar they went with no dice roll and some rapid descriptions. Deviating from a published adventure aside: The Adventure had 5 back to back fighting encounters to chronicle the PCs struggle to get out of Zelatar alive (and find an exit portal). I chose to waive all that (as the players wished) and replaced with only one encounter. At the point where the entry/exit portal back into Shadowfell-bound Ptolus was, a large monster awaited them... It was a horrible outsider made of heat and electricity whose breathe made Armour Spark up! Yay! it was an honest to goodness Microwave Ogre! (Thanks to Graham for making the stats up) It's a shame we can't share that monster as it's an adaptation of the CR13 Ember Guard from the Monster Manual V and therefore completely not OGL material. Here's a hint, Drop DR to 10/good and give it a 3d6 fire breath that deals an extra 3d6 electricity to metal clad targets (-4 DC save to them too). As is the case for (almost) fully charged PCs, the fight was short. The Ogre scored a solid breath attack and then fell under the combined onslaught of a well coordinated group. The party returned to Ptolus and geared up for the final foray in the Demonwebs and we were ready to go. Up to that point the game had been awesome. The rhythm was sustained, a few obstacles were actually resolved with roleplaying and the flavour of the Demonic city and denizen was fun to play with. The Demonweb part of the adventure wasn't nearly as dynamic. While the players had been given a map to the Demonweb (which is a very very convoluted, ever changing series of 20' wide web corridors), it was completely useless. The players spent about one hour stumbling through empty rooms and poorly guarded, easy to kill guardians. It got to a point where the rising boredom of the group was palpable and I forwarded the PCs to the next part into the Demonweb Pits I hadn't really read as I didn't expect to reach that point that night. That's when I realized that I was getting really tired, (and so were the players) although it was about 9h15 PM. Thing is, we had started at 5h30 that night, a full 90 minutes earlier than usual as our Late working friend, Math, actually showed up real early that night. By 9h30, we had been playing for about 4 hours (including a short dinner) and we were pooped. Yeah I know, we're wusses... I remember playing from 5h00 PM to 3 AM when I was a teenager. Now, if we have more than 3 combat and 2 roleplaying scenes in one night, we're preety much done unless said scenes have been utterly awesome. Anyway, soon after getting into the 'deeper' parts of the Demonwebs, the party met yet another guardian encounter. Having no wish to have one more of those mindless Speed bump fights (heaven knows we had enough if those in that campaign), I stopped the game for the night. Some players left and we ended the evening playing some Magic the Gathering. Lessons Learned

Story trumps combat when a gaming group is getting tired of an adventure
Paying tributes to old memories is fun, at least for the DM
There is such a things as too many meaningless fights, no matter how retro-stupid-nostalgic one may get.

What Players liked

Exploring the Demonic City
Getting out of Zelatar unscathed

What Players disliked

The seemingly senseless Dungeon crawl after a few good story driven scenes
Even at level 11 and tweaked to heal without spending an action, the cleric is clearly underwhelming in terms of 'doing stuff that matters' when compared to the late design classes*
Speed Bump fights...

I'm definitively going to do something about those speed bumps. I'll tell you more next week, but I'm probably going to go all out story telling next session and end the campaign there. *Nitpicking avoidance alert: While buffing and healing matters, it's not interactive and players seeking action have less fun. In my experience, druids are more fun to play.

10 word contest update

ChattyDM — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:32:55 +0000

As of 9h30 AM Thursday morning, we have 72 entrants who submitted 457 entries in the contest. I removed a few of the more nonsensical ones (mostly the ones that talked about me, the blog or old times...) I'm still thinking about how to go at it for judging. In the meantime, I've created a special room in my forums where people will be able to discuss this and see all the Entries per submitter (You'll need to register to participate, sorry, but it's open for reading to guests). I'll move the entries per submitter this morning and update periodically. Have a nice day. Edit: Check out Tommi's Generator using all our ideas! Wee! Thanks man!

seven-days

ChattyDM — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:55:36 +0000

Pathfinder #8 Preview: Seven days to the Grave

ChattyDM — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:04:00 +0000

I'm going to be a single dad for the next few days. My lovely wife is doing some consulting work in the great North and I hold the fort here in Montreal with my 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter. My online presence might be somewhat limited. Yesterday's mail brought up a rather hefty package from Paizo. I opened it and lo and Behold, I got the next issue of Pathfinder as well as the long lost Issue #4 I never got back in December! Weee! On to the review: Adventure Synopsis A plague breaks out exceedingly fast in the city of Korvosa and catches the PCs in the middle of it. Drafted by a church, the PCs fight a losing battle against the spread of the plague. As they progress in the adventure, the PCs trace the ones responsible for the plague and follow the chain of guilt up to the City's newest Monarch. High Level critique I'm not going to do a critique based on it's content because the adventure actually failed to interest me. It's a series of Urban scenes that develop the story of a unnatural plague spreading in a city and nothing can do anything about it. (The Authors are very careful to point out that there are not enough clerics to cast sufficient Remove Disease in the city to prevent it). That being said, I'm not much of a fan of Investigation-driven urban adventures. To my eayes, the plot feels rather railroady as it assumes that the players will help the uncle (a NPC they met in the 1st part of the adventure) of a young girl that fell sick from the plague. It's expected that the PCs will cough up the cash needed to heal her. Then the adventure assumes that the players will side with the church that charges to heal people to investigate the plague further. One reason why I don't catch on the adventure is that I don't really like Gritty adventures all that much, especially at low levels. Getting PCs caught in the middle of an outbreak, while great on paper, forces players to live the pretty unheroic role of trying to find the source of the plagues while people are dying. I'm perfectly aware that a few weeks I specifically argued the opposite that you should have the apocalypse hit your campaign once in a while. However, in my mind, you should do that when the PCs are used to the gaming world and are established heroes of said world. When nothing much can threaten the PCs, threatening the world is an appropriate approach. But now, we have a bunch of level 4 PCs stuck in a plague-ridden, chaos-filled city being played by a Queen gone insane. In my book, that's not the kind of adventure I picture my players enjoying. Oh and yes, the Queen they so romantically saved in the 1st part is the actual BBEG here, she can't bear having to be the monarch of the unwashed and the poor. That being said, you might really dig that type of against the clock investigative adventure. Bottom line, with my interest in 3.X melting faster than ice in a Fission reactor and the failure of the product to grip my interest, I will put an end to my subscription. While the product remains a very high quality one, its contents no longer meet my needs as a gamer. If and when Paizo goes 4e, I'll revisit the line. Breakdown of the Issue

Introduction: Where the editor talks about the real challenges of making disease an actual, non laughable challenge in D&D (The solution, hit the world, not the PCs)
Seven Days to the Grave by F. Wesley Schneider: A 52 page urban adventure taking characters from level 4-7.
Plague and Pestilence by Rick Miller and Edward P. Healy: A 6 page essay on comparing Fantasy plagues with real world ones. Interesting for people with limited background in medical microbiology :). It covers Epidemics, Pandemics, Medieval Physician equipment, new Diseases and herbal remedies.
Abadar by Sean K Reynolds: The description of the Church of Abadar, God of cities and laws.
The Pathfinder's Journal by James Jacobs: The usual World specific background presented through the eyes of 'historical' pathfinders
The Bestiary by Sean K Reynolds and F. Wesley Schneider
- A random Encounter table for the Korvosa Crypts
- The Luekodaemon: A CR 9bNeutral Evil Plaguebringer Fiend (Paizo's take on the Yugoloths)
- Daughter of Urgathoa: A CR 8 undead tentacled monstrosity
- A Giant Fly/Giant Maggot: A CR1 Fly and a CR 1/2 offal eater... 'Nuff said.
- The Lawgiver: A CR 15 Gargantuan Construct with a Freaking Big Hammer.
- The Nosferatu: Ugly Vampire Template that can turn into a Swarm.

YMMV... Have a nice weekend!

chattys-out-of-the-box-7-001

ChattyDM — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:53:36 +0000

Chatty's Out of the Box #007: Itsy Bitsy and Horny

ChattyDM — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:57:01 +0000

As it been a month already since I posted a Comic? Good thing I never promised to deliver this on a schedule. Here it is. As usual, click on the comic to see it full size. This time I had 2 concepts in mind:

start introducing the 4e miniatures to my collection
Have fun with the Warlock's association with Bugs, bats and spiders.

When I noticed that the Elven Warlock of the Dungeons of Dread collection was, well, apparently designed to deliver some Fan Service, I couldn't resist bringing back Kermit "call me K" the Slaad. Oh and I'm sure the Warlock has no such Baleful Polymorph effect but I had this great 4e Deathjump Spider mini that begged to be used. I'm getting the hang of doing those pictures, I really like how they look. However, I'm starting to feel constrained by Comic Book Creator's rather limited collection of clip art (I'd have preferred a Zap! instead of a Boom). I guess I'll need to start hunting for better ones or 'gasp', make my own. Still these are fun to do... although they tend to take longer than writing actual posts! Have a great weekend y'all.

mario_kart_wii

ChattyDM — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:16:00 +0000

Chatty's bid for world domination!

ChattyDM — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:19:15 +0000

Actually not really. This is just a quick note to tell you that I wrote a guest review of Mario Kart Wii over at Critical Hits. I thought it would be more appropriate over there than here. So if Video Games are your cup of tea, head on over there and have a quick read. Also, I take the occasion to say that Critical Hits is an excellent Geek blog that also covers, among many things, movies, board games and Role Playing games. It's part of my daily reads and I started blogging partly because of the cool things I saw these guys do. Enjoy.

Ookay... what do they sell again?

ChattyDM — Sat, 03 May 2008 21:30:44 +0000

Found via Geeknews. As far as I can make it, Wonderhowto.com is a genuine 'How to' video archive (with ads)... Well no one will fault me for not meeting my PG-13 borderline R rated standards. [youtube 1ldduCEU8ko] So I ask you... how un-believable is she? I'm more inclined to believe other types of geek girls (note: That last link takes you to an adult service run by a gamer geek girl, other links from there are potentially NSFW, you've been warned).

flyers

ChattyDM — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:33:24 +0000

It's over for the Habs

ChattyDM — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:37:46 +0000

I'm not even going to try to analyze the Canadiens' performance, I'm not enough of an armchair general for that. Suffice it to say that if the Flyers managed to beat the Habs four games in a row, chances are they were better than our Home Team. Well good luck to Brière, Biron and that Umberger guy (Excellent job RJ!) Now the city is going to get a bit more boring... Oh well, maybe I should get my nose back in my RPG books and finish that campaign of mine.

Chatty's Review: Travel the World of Broadsword and kill stuff!

ChattyDM — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:09:57 +0000

Last week I tackled a 5$ 'pocket' Sword & Sorcery RPG called Broadsword co-written by my good friend (that I have yet to met IRL) Jeff Meija, AKA The Evil DM. The game is part of the 1PG product line that offers low cost, pick up RPGs whose rules fit on just one page. This week I'm tackling an expansion to the game written by Jeff called World of Broadsword . Support material for small press games are not that common and this one is actually so good it more than makes up for the shortcomings of the original game. Nutritional Crunch The 31 page PDF gets into the meat of the matter really fast. After a short 1 page homage to actress Lana Clarkson, we get 6 new advantages for characters. I personally like 'alcohol immunity' as I could totally see a few scenes where my character would drink a whole mob of NPCs under the table. Then you get more that 5 pages of full game statistics for animals and monsters (including special powers when appropriate). Given that each entry takes about 4 to 8 lines of text, you get quite a few. This alone makes the book worth it because it offers a GM all the needed stats for non-human adversaries, making adventure creating a real snap. It features, among other creatures, Alligators, Bears, Sharks as well as Basilisk, Dragons and Vampires, you don't need much more than that. Tasty Fluff! However, the true added value of the book (and testament to Jeff's skills) comes from the Gazeteer section of the book. There, following an old school, color hex map of the proposed game world, Jeff created a series of 15 one page entries for its major regions. What makes it so interesting is that Jeff used an actual corporate planning tool called SWOT analysis (Short for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to flesh out key regions of the world. Thus after a short description paragraph, each given regions gets fleshed out in terms of where it shines (Strength), how it can be exploited (Weaknesses), Adventure Hooks (Opportunities) and things that can befall it (Threats) catching PCs in the middle of it. I've rarely seen a settings write-up provide so many plot ideas and adventure hooks in so little space. Mike Mearls would be proud. I must say, this is so freaking brilliant that I'm going to steal that and incorporate it in my World building toolkit from now on. About the world itself, it's a pretty straightforward low-magic fantasy world. I'll even jab Jeff (who never touched the recent editions of D&D) a bit and say that it's a perfect 'Points of Light' setting where small City-States and kingdom co-exist in an otherwise savage wilderness. The 'chapter' concludes with a one page description of various other location where a Broadsword GM could set his adventure (The Corsair Coast, the Deathlands Swamps and other imaginative locales). After that, there's a short, partial page on the world's gods, featuring names and portfolios. The last section of the product features an adventure centered around the infiltration of a band of river pirates. It's got a lot of the trappings of the classic pulpy Sword and sorcery Feel, including fighting in an alligator pit and squaring off against a black magic witch woman and her pet leopard. Actually my only non-positive critic about the product is that the adventure at the end of the book contains absolutely no game statistics for human NPCs. As such, in order to play it, a GM would need to generate each and everyone of them, including a Witch, without much guidance in terms of average mook stats or using the games somewhat convoluted and incomplete Magic rules. Having spoken with Jeff about it, I know that he wanted to make the adventure as system neutral as possible to allow it to be adaptable for other system. While the concept is noble, chances are prospective clients would not usually buy it unless they were hoping to use it with Broadsword. If a revision of the PDF was to be done, I'd suggest addressing that issue as the main priority. Final Verdict While I wasn't all that sold on Broadsword, the World of Broadsword sourcebook actually multiplies the worth of the whole game and makes up for most it's original weaknesses. The sourcebook itself can actually be useful for GMs, especially for someone looking for a simple, Conan-like setting for any fantasy RPG. Finally, if you want to see an example of SWOT analysis applied to world building, this book is well worth the 5$. In fact, I'm going to ask Jeff if I could make a Blog post about the technique (or maybe ask him to post one over here...)

10 Word Contest Update: We got Prizes!

ChattyDM — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:39:37 +0000

Hey there everyone! Last Friday I sent some email feelers to three gaming companies to try to get some more prizes for the contest (as things were I had 1 Booster box of the Dungeons of Dread D&D mini game or a 15$ Gift Certificate for DriveThruRPG.com). Last night, Ed Healy of Kobold Quarterly answered and offered 3 PDF copies of the latest issue of this OGL gaming magazine. Yay! Thanks to Ed and Wolfgang Baur for their support and the cool prize. I'm still hoping to secure more prizes in the next few days but I already have enough to announce that I'm going to go with three categories:

Best Adventure Concept (i.e. Oh man I want to play that!)
Funniest Entry (There are quite a few knee slappers so far)
Best Pop/Geek culture reference (You know who you are!)

The entries have been awesome enough and numerous enough to warrant such a split. So far, unless I get new prize sponsorships (and I have at least one other lined up), we'd give our the Minis/Gift Certificate and a PDF of KQ to the Best Adventure Hook. The other 2 categories would get a copy of KQ each. The Contest is still open until tomorrow at noon! Let's have a final stretch! As usual, if you know someone in the 'biz' be it big or small that would like to offer something (for this contest or later ones), have them contact me at chattydm@chattydm.net. Have a nice day!

keep

ChattyDM — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:21:06 +0000

Chatty on 4e: Schooled by the Old Combat School.

ChattyDM — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:55:50 +0000

As I mentioned in my Retro-Stupid post, I feel that 4e is knowingly taking a step toward embracing the aspect of the early versions of the game that were fun while doing away with some of their unfun legacy (fun and unfun being completely subjective concepts; I think it is at the heart of many pro/con 4e debates so far). This time I'll share my take on the apparent shift D&D 4e takes in regards to the difficulty of combat and I'll draw a parallel about how the 1st versions of the game actually fostered Role Playing without any non-combat incentives. As I was reading through the various blog entries published in Wizards Presents "Worlds and Monsters" one of the recurring themes was that D&D 3.x combat were better and more fun when a DM ignored the CR rule and created encounters where each individual opponents was close to the characters' level in power. As experienced D&D 3.X DMs know, the Challenge Rating (CR) was designed to create combat encounters in which a party of a given level would spend about 25% of it's resources to beat a CR equivalent threat. A formula was even proposed for an adventure where you would get a few lower CR encounters, a few CR equivalent and one or 2 higher Boss-level CR encounters. The formula was very good when we started playing D&D 3.0 way back in the early 2000s because we were learning the ropes of a new game, we experimented with class builds and, quite frankly, new players sucked at combat! As players gained experience, grew used to the gaming group and achieved some forms of synergies, the system could be beat easily and the 25% of resources often dropped to much lower (baring no critical hits by monsters). As the novelty of D&D 3.0/3.5 wore off, CR equivalent combat became less interesting especially when you needed to grind 13 of those to gain a level. Combat could become very repetitive and a DM needed to be creative to create challenges for PCs to spice things up (including ignoring the CR suggestions or adding interactive terrain elements) Heck, even a CR+2 dragon isn't much of a challenge for my players anymore (which points out to another 3.X problem for solo monsters). Now if you compare to the 1st editions of D&D (I'm talking about OD&D, the first versions of the Basic D&D game and, to a lesser extent, Advanced D&D 1e) most if not all combat encounters were downright lethal (and still are, as people still play those games)! I haven't played any of these games except AD&D, but I've read numerous accounts on Retro gaming blogs and forums along theses lines. Now the level of lethality in these earlier games didn't seem to be much of an issue since Character Generation was relatively fast and I don't think one was supposed to derive all that much fun from building up a character's story. The stories probably grew from the fact that one could actually survive from one dungeon delve to the next. (I'd like to see some feedback on how accurate that assesment is in current retro-gamer groups) However, here's where I suspect the actual Roleplaying elements of D&D were born. If combat was that lethal, it became a challenge for players to survive long enough to come out of the dungeon alive with some loot. Finding ways to avoid combat became a strong incentive, regardless of XP, and what better way to avoid combat than parlay with the creatures of a dungeon and try to survive with a player's wit instead of testing his luck with polyhedral dice (or Paper Chits if you're that much of a Grognard). In fact, non-competitive Gygaxian Adventures, from Keep on the Borderlands to the recent Castle Maure commonly had multiple communities in a Dungeon that you could pit one against another and avoid some fighting. Heck, in the 1st Against the Giant adventure, there are 300 slave orcs in the dungeon under the keep that just beg to be given the chance of ruining the Giant's party on the level above (at least that,s what my players did). I'm convinced that E.G.G. was well aware of that and derived more pleasure from seeing players find non-combat solutions to his fiendish encounters than having players bore him with line combat and endless spot and listen checks. I once read that he created the Ear Seeker (an insect that burrows from your PC's ear to his brain, killing him) as an answer to overcautious, over-predictable players. My final argument on this (though I doubt that any of this is controversial) resides in the fact that A D&D gave XPs for finding treasure and using magic items. Getting one's hand on treasure and surviving was one great motivation not to charge headfirst in the room full of trolls with your 3rd level characters. My point? Well, the 4e designers seemed to have fully realized this and have espoused the philosophy that harder fights with monsters whose power level rivals the PCs are more exciting and can motivate players to take another approach than killing everything. For this to be doable though, one fundamental aspect of the game had to be killed and that was the caster's dependence on spells per day. Making combat more difficult automatically means that you increase the amount of resources PCs need to spend to succeed in the encounter. Keeping all of the caster's resources based on Vancian magic would have meant that players would request, then argue, then whine about resting after each encounter (Am I right or am I right?). f all encounters were designed to be harder than 3.x, then the whiners would be right if character survival is the a core value of the gaming group. Given the time it now takes to design a D&D character, it usually is. That's why I think that the new 4e casters will only have about 20% of their resources tied to 1/day abilities. That's also why I think many characters (all?) will have access to healing surge powers to recover hit points without necessarily resorting to 'healing' magic. Harder, more lethal fights but this time with a toolbox of resources to deal with several of those over the course of an adventure is, IM(not so)HO a good move on the part of the 4e design team. What say you?

Odds and Ends

ChattyDM — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:48:33 +0000

I just finished compiling the list of contest entries and I posted the whole list over here in the forums. I'm not going to write another article tonight, I'm pretty much spent. Here's a few tidbits. On the Contest There are 96 participants in the 10 word adventure contest. I lost count after 300, but there are 20 full pages of entries. WOW! This is absolutely awesome! Oh and James Hutchings has the most entries, followed by Revered Mike. D&D Toolbox Have a look over Jeff's Gameblog, he wrote a great post about how useful a checklist-type of SRD would be for the Retro editions of D&D. I'm a Chatty Twit I caved in on the hype and I am on Twitter (find me at http://twitter.com/ChattyDM) feel free to add me to the followers and notify me, I could use more RPG-focused friends, my current crowd is very Writing/Online marketing focused (which is fine, I prefer my dishes more varied). RSS vs Email subscription My RSS subcriber count currently hovers around 280 (Almost 300, yay!) and I was wondering if some people would like me to implement an Email RSS subscription? I'm not actively shoping for increased traffic (hey I got a PageRank of 4 for a RPG-niche blog, thank you Google!) but some people might prefer this to using RSS readers like Google Reader. Let me know. Chatty has been very Chatty I've been extremely prolific lately (maybe even a bit too much). It was done by choice and passion, not by obligation. Now I'm not going to say I'm going to slow down (because every time I do I write MORE!) but I will be skipping days every so often and maybe start forcing myself to keep some posts as unpublished instead of hitting the publish button as soon as I'm done with an article. Just so you know, all my posts are usually written shortly before posting. I never manage to buildup a 'buffer' of articles (as some of my fellow bloggers urge me to do) because it kills me to sit on finished stuff. I'll work at this... or expect me to disappear completely when I go on vacation. That being said, my health is better. I get a few twinges of anxiety early in the week, but the constant exercise (I rock at DDR now) is doing it's magic and things are looking good. You all rock! Thanks again one and all for the massive participation in the contest, and I wish to welcome all new readers who joined us in the last few weeks. Might I remind you that I will be at Gen Con this fall and would love to set aside an evening for a Get Together with readers. (As well as some games!) Cya later this week where I'll write about my last Adventure Prep for the end of our campaign.

debate

ChattyDM — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:11:57 +0000

debates

ChattyDM — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:12:52 +0000

Chatty's Debates: Paizo vs WotC

ChattyDM — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:14:39 +0000

Let's try something new. I've noticed lately that we have quite a few articulate and passionate people over here. Its also clear from the passions that rise around 4e that there is a lot to get out of our collective system. So instead of writing an opinion piece this morning, here is a question to debate instead: Will Paizo's move to create and support an independent 3.5 OGL Fantasy Role Playing game create a significant schism in the RPG market? In fact, does Paizo stand to become the Google to Wizards of the Coast's Microsoft? This question works well with the analogy I've seen that 4e will be Vista, 3.5 is XP and Paizo's Pathfinder is shaping up to either be Win XP SP3 or maybe a Linux built? Let's start by putting some oil on the fire shall we? My personnal feeling on this is that while Paizo is gathering a lot of goodwill on their very open project of developing a 3.5 RPG in the next year, I doubt that it will obtain a significant part of the market (10% let's say) as gamers are going to feel the economic woes coming and will probably send the little cash they have toward Hasbro, especially if 4e gets Rave reviews. Sound off! Please keep things civil. It's a wonder that we've avoided the jerk factor so far, and I applaud all of you. Let's continue proving the Internet wrong! :)

grande-finale-002

ChattyDM — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:22:32 +0000

Adventure Prep: Grand Finale, World Saved? Roll Credits!

ChattyDM — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:23:11 +0000

There we are, this is going to be the last Adventure Prep post of the current campaign. A lot of things were said since that September 6th night where I pondered how to salvage a campaign that started on the wrong foot. Now I'm planning how to end it. L ast game, the PCs met with the Ambassador of Demon Lord Orcus in the Demonic City of Zelatar so they could assume it's place in Lolth's upcoming Grand Council for the signature of some pact between Demon Lords and the Goddess of the Drow. Orcus has no interest in this pact so he had no trouble sending a bunch of suicidal mortals crash the Spider Queen's party in his name. Then the Heroes literally got lost in the Demonwebs and so did the player's interest in that part of the night's game. So this week, I decided that I wanted to conclude the adventure and I decided to bring the party at the door of Lolth's gathering of Demon Lords and Ambassadors. As you can see on the picture, there are a lot of people in attendance. I'm pretty sure it's going to drive home the point that a "kick down the door and kill everyone" approach is NOT a good idea, regardless of what the back of the adventure says (Visit the Abyss. Meet Demon Lords. Kill Everything) I've bitched a lot about Expedition to the Demonweb pits, and most of my bitching is well deserved. It is a rather boring adventure (combat and encounter-wise) and un-interactive (Role-playing wise, there are places where it's written "the NPC ignores whatever the PCs may say"). It's also based around a very convoluted storyline. That being said, I must say that the finale is pretty darn cool. Cool enough for me to use it almost 'As is'. Without giving anything away to my nosy players, the last scene, based around the Demon Lords council, is a complex sandbox environment where the players can play as many or as few scenes as they feel like to learn, integrate, plan and act to resolve the adventure. Much like the later Robert Jordan Novel, it was sometimes excruciatingly painful to get there but the finale is totally worth it! Now in order to tie in the campaign to this adventure, I added a campaign specific BBEG who's joined the council to cement it's participation in this Fiendish pact. I look forward to the PCs meeting and recognizing it. In order to allow the best possible player experience of these scenes, I will ask the players to rewind back to Ptolus and check how ready they are for the mission up ahead in terms of disguises, background checks and so on. Then my plan of the evening is to fast forward to the Grand Finale, tone down the 'if party does X, Demons attack' a bit (as well as keep the classic antagonistic NPC arrogance in check) and let the players run the show. Of course if they decide to go at it with swords and spells... I'll be ready (I have some lighter fluid I'll use to douse the battlemap and a match). I don't know how long the scenes in this setup are going to take... And I'm willing to let it go to 2 full sessions if the players are enjoying it. However, it's what I have planned for after that makes me look forward to the game. You see if the PCs make it out of the Abyss alive it will probably mean that the whole silliness about the world getting absorbed into the Demonweb will be resolved... ..But the world is in a bad shape. It lost a large chunk around Ptolus, it has been at war for 2 straight campaigns and it's been more or less destroyed by the Yugoloths. The next part will then be about me describing how everything is collapsing in the world while the Players scram to find solutions. The key reward they'll take from completing the adventure will be a 'Carte Blanche' to visit pretty much any plane they feel is necessary to conclude the campaign. On the one hand, Cixi will want to have her people freed from Carceri and her ancient Homeworld wretched from the Demonwebs (We might play this off camera if time is missing). On the other, the rest of the PCs will want to save the world, or at the very least their own butt. The problem is that the Chaos that has been fomenting in the Outer Planes (i.e. the Planescape Great Wheel) in the last two campaigns has broken the balance that held everything together for good. The disruption the PCs will have caused in the Abyss will accelerate the unraveling of the multiverse and the planes themselves will be collapsing. In order to play this out, I'll throw away the rule books and go with Story alone. As this will be the last game we play in the gameworld I created 22 years ago, each player will be allowed to bring in characters from any campaigns we played in that world and put them to tasks the players believe will help save the world and/o r its inhabitants. I have a few solutions in mind, and I have been seeding them in the mind of players and the game itself. However, I promised myself to leave the DM Clue Bat in the closet and let the players figure out and suggest solutions. We'll see how they handle it. If it works out, the next campaign (a D&D 4e one most likely) will be set in whatever is left of the world, 1000 years in its future. If the world dies, we'll start anew and I'll draw a new map... anyway, after 23 years, it's a bit frayed now. Wish me luck!

Of Judging and Other Stuff

ChattyDM — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:35:29 +0000

No planned posts today as I'll be spending the free time before tonight's D&D game continuing the judging of the 10 word adventure contest. I got some news from Paizo and we may get more prizes as the request got sent to the marketing department (no pressure here guys!). Keep your fingers crossed. I added a link to subscribe to the feed by email. Also, I added a little subscription counter to show you just how many we are here! Weee, just 4 shy of 300! We'll be able to storm the Persians soon! I'm also working on a new Trope post with the highly unlikely title of The Truman Mirror Tomato Surprise! With a title like that I can't go wrong right? Yeah, I might change that... Be good!

grazzt

ChattyDM — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:55:05 +0000

DM Chronicles 17: This is the end, Fiend

ChattyDM — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:33:04 +0000

It's done, our D&D campaign is over and so is my playing D&D 3.5. Sigh*... The game went exceedingly well, better than I had hoped.The players were clever enough to navigate the minefield that was a hall full of Demon Lord avatars and ambassadors and live! It went so well that we actually managed to end the campaign, maybe not as dramatically as I would hope, but it was satisfying to have closure. Feel free to skip to the end if you want to see the my patented 'lessons learned' format. For the rest, here are the details. I set up the players right at the entrance of the final chamber of the adventure, a Grand Hall that took up a whole battlemap. See picture here. As I was setting the map, the players were obviously nervous. I said that it was possible that characters may die here and all players said that they were ready for it and accepted this. It's not often that you get that kind of buy-in! The room was guarded by a Stone Spider Golem that let the players enter once they showed their golden pass. The room contained the following:

a Vrock Ambassador of Pazuzu with 2 Vrock Guards. They had just killed a pair of Drow guard and dared anyone in the room to do anything about it.
A classic-looking winged demon covered with Eyes (New Monster, Oculous Demon) attending a mass of claws and scorpion parts that was the avatar of Obox-Ob
A Frost Giant ambassador of Kostchtchie.
A Yugoloth called Sharlocke (my addition, it's the campaign's CR 18 big bad, PCs are level 11-12) awaiting to trade the PCs world so the Yugos can forge a permanent alliance with the demons (1st of many foreshadowing of 4e)
An avatar of Baphomet along with 3 jet-black minotaur guards.
An avatar of Demogorgon, alone, on a pedestal and exhorting the virtues of the Pact to the assembled lords and ambassadors.
An avatar of Yeenoghu along with a full retinue of minions.
An avatar of Malcanthet along with a trio of Succubus.
An avatar of the mysterious primordial Demon Mother Pale Night.
A Huge Bebilith Demon and 3 of Lolth's most trusted Drow minions all of them guarding the way to Lolth's envoy (another avatar).

Quite a lot to absorb, yes. The players agreed to let Cruguer (The Hellbred Crusader) and Cixi (The Iron Hero Archer) be the group's faces since they were the only ones to speak the local language (Abyssal). As they entered the room, the Vrocks all linked together to start dancing in glee around the dead Drow guards. At that point the non demons NPCs fled deeper in the room. The PCs, having fought Vrocks 2 sessions ago, recognized the dreaded Dance of Ruin (i.e. after 3 rounds of 'dancing' a 100' radius, 20d6 (vs non-demons) explosion detonates) and fled deeper into the room also. After the blast, the PCs settled in an unoccupied area of the room and stared doing some recon. I'll spare the minute details, but suffice it to say that the players did some interesting role playing that led to Cixi making a fake pledge to Obox-Ob and became it's ambassador to Lolth. This lead to the exposition of Malcanthet's avatar being a disguised avatar of Grat'zt as Obox-Ob could see through the disguise. When exposed, Grat'zt made a speech to the whole room, uncovering the player's stratagem (The players were really surprised by that turn of event). He knew all along that they weren't really ambassadors of Orcus, he engineered everything to discredit Lolth. Since they had managed to navigate the whole room without getting killed he made his move (he sorta hoped they'd be killed by now and he could have blamed Lolth for shoddy security and take over the Pact's leadership... ohhh poor demon lord baby). Of course the Demon Lords answered something in the lines of 'Well if they're puny mortals, why don't YOU deal with it?'. Fight! The Demon Prince avatar was focused on avoidance (DC 27 to beat a permanent Sanctuary effect, man I'm going to miss the d20 SRD) and charm, forcing one character per round to attack an ally. Things became grim really fast. On the 1st round, one succubus made a suggestion at Inigo (Failed Will save) to jump down the 20' mezzanine and 'go teach that smug Yeenoghu bastard' and at the same time Cruguer got charmed by another who was saying "Come on big boy, wouldn't you rather be kissing than fighting?" Then the cleric cast dispel Magic on Inigo before he got to act (success) and the charming Succubus was slain in one blow. Not so grim anymore. After that the avatar fell to 3 consecutive critical hits. At that point, all hell (well Abyss) broke loose and the Demon lords all attacked each other viciously, Grat'zzt political maneuvering was the only thing keeping them in line and now that he was discredited (Avatar killed by mere mortals? Pfaa!) there was no incentive to keep the charade up. As players were high fiving themselves, they seemed to have forgotten about saving their world for a minute so I had the Yugoloth scream 'ENOUGH, I MUST SEE HER NOW!'... I told players that the Yugoloth would be in the room of Lolth's envoy (3rd floor of room) in 5 rounds and make the deal to trade their world away. The whole group reacted really fast. They concluded that if they killed the envoy first, the BBEG wouldn't be able to forge his own alliance. (They had metagaming knowledge that the Yugoloth was way way more powerful than they were). So they ran past all the drow guards, slid underneath the legs of the Bebilith and burst in the room of Lolth's envoy. There she was, a 10' tall Spider-silk clad Drow female standing suspended by 2 strands of webbings over a Huge Web stretched over the middle of a 100'x60'X60 Ovoid room. When some players thought about parlaying with her (Role playing is deeply ingrained in some of my players) others chimed in that the Yugoloth was coming and that any deals with the avatar of the Goddess of Treachery and Deception was bound to be worthless. Fight! On the first round, Inigo used his newly acquired Swordsage power and flew 30' forward and 20' up to cut both strands of webbing, causing her divine envoy to fall on her Room-wide Web. That was so cool! Inigo then saved graciously and landed on the web too (a failed Reflex save meant a 60' drop). Aravard then hit the Envoy pretty hard with his Duskblade/Arcane Archer True-Strike, Vampiric Touched Fiendslayer Arrow combo! The envoy, who was a magnificently built enchantment-focused sorcerer-like Outsider, cast Confusion on the 1/2 Dragon (Save failed) (He then hit her hard and then plummeted to the bottom of the room). On the second round, a second avatar of Lolth (In Spider with Drow head form) dropped from the ceiling on top of Inigo. Than the Envoy called in the Bebilith. It was an awesome fight. At one point, Cruguer jumped on the back of the Spider Avatar and stabbed it repeatedly! The players managed to beat both avatars and the Bebilith. They were extremely happy to have killed 3 avatars in one evening. At that point, I more or less went for a full Hollywood ending and had a portal open and a bunch of Celestials pour out to invade Lolth's realm. Lillee (Yan's ex Pixie character) appeared and brought the PCs back to the Beastlands. We played one more hour, describing how the world was saved from complete destruction. There I described how the whole Planscape Great Wheel collapsed (fueled by the Death of Primus of Mechanus while no one was there to take his place). There also, Cixi managed to saved her people (Primus revoked the Imprisonment pact before dying). The PCs then forged an alliance with nature goddess Elhonna to fuse their mortally wounded world with the collapsing Beastlands to create a dual world (Physical world/FeyWilde), my transition to the 4e world was near complete. That fusing of worlds needed to 2 essences of each worlds to power it. Elhonna's avatar stepped forward, asking for the PCs to come up with their end of the bargain. Confused the players weren't sure where I was going with this. Then Kynes, Mike's cleric's of Bahamut stepped up and told the players that he wasn't human, he was created by the ancient Wyrms from this world's essence to save it. He said he had been created according to ancient draconic prophecy for this sacrifice and he stepped forward. (I'm taking some artistic licenses here... but one of the greatest things about retelling is adding all the fluff!) Then Elhonna and Kynes joined (complete with a Fifth element inspired sex scene) and both worlds were joined together, saved from the destruction while the multiverse collapsed in the Astral Sea, Ptolus still trapped in the Shadowfell. Roll credits... Lessons Learned:

Keeping the pace is important as a DM, but sometimes a player needs to know the details of a given situation even if you feel it's not necessary. Waiving that need away can lead to a frustrated detail-oriented player.
As much as I riled against that adventure, the final was PERFECT for our needs, the avatars were well crafted and the final scenes were awesome.
Woflgang Baur, I apologize, you can weave the crunch as adroitly as the Fluff... I bow to you in this round of our conflict.

What Players liked

Killing Avatars (called Aspects in D&D 3,5) of Demon Lords and a God
All them critical hits!
Finally finishing a Campaign!

What Players disliked

Mike remains unimpressed with the cleric. While his help was crucial in maintaining the group in the fights, it's so damn passive.
Me ignoring genuine need for details that I don't find important and showing signs of impatience when the players insist on getting them.

There you have it. Have a great week. *I'll probably post a pair of Post Mortem articles, one on the campaign and one on my whole D&D 3.5 experience in the following days, weeks. Also stay tuned for my Player logs (pre-game and post game) of Franky's new McWod Shadow Chasers campaign starting next Sunday.

mystery-gnome

ChattyDM — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:09:13 +0000

Ding! The Stew is Ready. Hope You Like Gnomes.

ChattyDM — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:13:39 +0000

Have a look at the newest GM-focused blog. It's Gnome Stew and it just launched. I really liked the Short Sessions: How to Cope by Walt Icantspellhislastnamejustnow as it plays directly in our gaming challenges. I wish a great big welcome to the GnomeGMs:

Martin Ralya
John Arcadian (yay!)
Patrick Benson
Walt Ciechanowski (I was just kidding, no I'm not I can't spell that)
DNAPhil (Yay squared!)
Scott Martin
Adam Nave
Matthew J. Neagley
Kurt 'Telas' Schneider
Troy E. Taylor

Looking forward to read more of your stuff guys, Thanks for the early link love and good luck.

Monte Cook Un-Retires and Joins Pathfinder RPG team.

ChattyDM — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:01:46 +0000

Well not so much out of retirement as he's becoming a rules consultant for the Pathfinder RPG. What was it you said about Paizo NOT being a Google-emulate? :)

Monte Cook Joins the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game™ Team

Co-creator of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons® to act as Rules Consultant
Paizo Publishing®, LLC today announced that Monte Cook, the co-creator of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons and author of the 3.5 PHB and DMG as well as the Ptolus™ campaign setting and the recent Book of Experimental Might™, has joined the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game team as a Rules Consultant. "This is going to be a lot of fun," said Monte Cook. "Pathfinder is a fresh spin on a rules system that I love and the guys at Paizo are great to work with. They produce nothing but the highest quality products." "Monte Cook is a legend of third edition and of the Open Gaming movement," said Paizo's Publisher, Erik Mona. "He's also a great DM, and has the best mind for mechanics I've ever seen. To have one of the original third edition designers helping us with the Pathfinder RPG is like a dream come true. With Monte's involvement, I am certain that the future of the edition he helped to create will be very long and very fruitful." "I am really excited to be working with Monte on this project," said Paizo's Lead Designer, Jason Bulmahn. "His advice has been a great help to the Pathfinder RPG. When it comes to rules design and knowledge of the 3.5 system, there is absolutely no one better." Monte Cook will also be contributing an introduction to the final Pathfinder Roleplaying Game hardcover, scheduled for an August 2009 release. The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a tabletop fantasy roleplaying game that will serve as the anchor for Paizo Publishing's popular line of Pathfinder adventures, sourcebooks, and campaigns. Last March marked the beginning of a year-long Open Playtest of the new rules, which are based on the popular 3.5 rules available under the Open Game License. The Pathfinder RPG is designed with backward compatibility as one of its primary goals, so players will continue to enjoy their lifelong fantasy gaming hobby without invalidating their entire game library.

Well Monte chose his camp as he made clear a few weeks ago by saying that 4e was not going to be his cup of tea. From Monte's blog:

And in case you were wondering, don't expect any 4E-compatible material or conversions of our stuff to 4E. (Even if I wanted to do 4E stuff, and to be honest I really don't, the morass that the current licensing situation appears to be in is not at ALL attractive to me as a publisher.)

It therefore apprears he went with the continuation of the game he designed and the version of the open Gaming movement he preferred. I wonder if this will change anything in the paths that Paizo's 3.75 / WotC 4e chose for themselves. Probably not. I'm sure this is going to make some people very happy and others to go 'meh'. For my part, let's just say I'm happy to know I'll have a familiar face going over That Other Game should 4e fail to please me. Also if you missed them he published 2 Book of Experimental Might, PDFs filled with variant D&D 3.5 rules. I haven't read them as I'm no longer interested but both are smashing successes. 1st one here and 2nd one here. What say you?

truman

ChattyDM — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:50:37 +0000

Ods and Ends, part Deux

ChattyDM — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:36:13 +0000

Hey! We made it! We topped the 300 RSS subcribers milestone! I say we, because while I write the site's content, it really only runs as smoothly with Graham's technical assistance (whose apparently saving the internet one site at a time) and all of your participation as readers, Stumblers and Commenters. Woot! I've got my 300 minions! Hoo-HA! Thanks everyone! I'm also sitting on a completed Trope post about doing big reveals in a RPG campaign. It's scheduled to come up at 20h00 tonight. I think I did a good job with it and I hope it will give you ideas. The judging of the 10 word adventure contest is progressing. All 3 judges settled on picking our personal top 5 in each of the 3 categories (Best Adventure Hook, Funniest Entry and Best Pop/Geek reference) and we'll debate them once we are all done choosing. We're waiting on the results of the last judge and we'll get to the arguing :) Oh and before I leave, while backtracking all the contest entry's blogs and website, I discovered Max's blog who posted the absolute best D&D 4e Monster Generator. I'm printing it here without the author's permission, only to show you how brilliant the guy is... GO READ HIS BLOG! :)

One of the highly touted aspects of the new edition of D&D is the ease with which DMs will be able to create and customize monsters to challenge their players. In fact, I just learned the DMs will be able build monsters on the fly, using just a few rolls of a trusty twenty-sider:

1 black blade brute

2 blood blood creeper

3 bone bond/bound delver

4 death claw fiend

5 demon cloak/cloaked filcher

6 doom doom foamer

7 dread fang gnasher

8 flame fiend horde/hordling

9 ghost fire howler

10 grim gaunt hulk

11 ice haunt lasher

12 iron horn leaper

13 night maw racer

14 poison rake reaver

15 razor scale ripper

16 spell spike scourge

17 stone tusk sneak

18 storm warp/warped swarm

19 thunder wing titan

20 wind wrack wurm

With attacks and abilities built right into the name, spelled out in ubiquitous damned adjectival compound nouns, a DM need only decide the creature's level range and role, and let 'er rip.

I made me a Thunder Fang Howler... a critter that has a poisonous bite that deals continuous electricity damage and can deal electricity damage and push opponents with it's Thunder Howl Breath weapon! See ya later!

Mining Tropes for RPG Nuggets: The Truman Mirror Tomato Surprise!

ChattyDM — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:51:35 +0000

This is a series that explores Tropes and tries to apply them in RPGs. Have a look here, I wrote over 20 of these so far. So Sorry for the double feed, something happened when I posted this the 1st time and 1/2 the text was eaten! One of the things I've seen GMs struggle with is campaign secrets and big reveals. Oh, how we GMs like to be full of secrecy about our pet plots and NPC motivations! Often, we become overprotective of those secrets don't we? We hoard them and keep them near. Oh yes! Our preciouses! We tend to think that by handing secrets in X-Files-thin slices, the unfolding multi-dimensional story will grab our players by the throat and the campaign will culminate in a crescendo of coolness followed by an instant Ferris Bueler's street party where you get to crowd surf and the whole world basks in your awesomeness... Hum, no. Chances are you'll get your players confused and/or impatient and they'll most likely go try to poke into the undefined parts of your neat plot-lines. Worse yet, they may just ignore it altogether and jump the rails. It happened to me in a spectacular fashion once. I was playing a Gurps Fantasy campaign game on a world ruled by dragons, made up of the standard fantasy races. The plot I presented to the players was that they had to bring down a ruthless Dragon prince who was holding the relatively benign Dragon King and Queen of their kingdom in the castle's dungeons. Pretty standard fare huh? What I failed to tell my players was that the dragons came from a Shadowrun-like Earth, had read The Hobbit and found the whole 'Smaug' thing to be quite sensible. In order to live that dream, a bunch of filthy rich dragon billionaires built a STL Arkship, stole a huge pile of Human DNA and left for the stars. They later found a planet and terraformed it to lord over a bunch of fantasy races they had tinkered from all that DNA. Yeah, I used to go for the real simple stories like that all the time. My campaign's main plot was to have the players explore/adventure around the world a bit and then get hit in the face with an honest to goodness alien invasion/Sci-fi vs Fantasy mash up! When I did my Great Reveal® by describing the crash of an alien spaceship near the player's campsite, my players' PCs basically blinked, picked up their campaign gear and left the scene to go explore something else. So yeah, that didn't work. I humbly came back with a more traditional storyline, leaving the aliens in orbit while the PCs returned to killing Demon Assassins, Senile Undead Dragons and a Wight named Barry. So what's the point of all this and what's the link with tropes? Well, I think that you can have secrets and big reveals in your campaign world, as long as it doesn't send the adventure down a path players refuse to walk. Three related tropes I discovered that are especially well designed for that: Tomato Surprise The resolution of a plot by the sudden revelation of some important detail which has been deliberately hidden from the viewer. Had this detail been made known at the beginning of the story, much or all of the dramatic tension would have been missing from the plot. Usually, it hasn't been hidden from the "viewpoint" character(s). Sometimes, it has been hidden from one character, so the character will be just as surprised as we are. This is a trope you can use when you wish to have a campaign-level cliffhanger or a game defining plot-twist. In the RPG version of the trope, the twist is definitively hidden from the PCs and others but possibly not for some key NPCs. This is especially interesting when you pull this, successfully, mid-campaign and offer the PCs the choice to pursue the story as if nothing happened or take the twist into account and redirect the story (i.e. Take either the Blue or the Red Pill) Examples:

The PCs are serving an aging/sick/senile king/old man that turns out to be a God/Dragon/Demon or to be From the Past/From the Future/their father/the BBEG (this is the Classic, almost Cliché version of the Tomato Surprise)
The Ultimate Evil that threatens the whole universe turns out to be an innocent 5 year old big eyed little girl, complete with cute animé puppy, whose nightmares become reality and devour whole countries.
The PCs must recover the Seven Whatever from each kingdoms of Gamecubia to stave off a meteor from crashing into the planet. It turns out that the Whatevers were in fact seals that protected each kingdom from a plague and now everyone is dying. Awwww.
Two words: The Matrix

My Dragons vs Alien game was an example of a failed application of this trope. For it to have been successful, I would have had to come forth and tell player of the game's Sci-Fi background and to expect it to become significant later in the campaign. At the very least I should have planned in advance that the characters might decide to take the other pill. If you want to pull some really weird crap on your PCs, you may want to explore another trope where the Tomatoes are the actual PCs! Tomato in a Mirror Our protagonist is going through a perfectly normal day. Only... something's wrong. The people around him are acting just a bit off. They keep mentioning a string of words, or are trying to herd him to a certain place. It looks like the town's been taken over by the pod people, and our hero's the only one left. He attempts to either escape and warn the outside world, or find where the invaders are coming from and shut it down. But once he gets there, he discovers the horrifying truth: he's the fake! A robot, a clone, a ghost, or some other duplicate that forgot he wasn't the real thing, or was programmed to believe that he was. In an ongoing series, it'll be a duplicate of one of the main characters. In an anthology, it'll just be someone who thinks they're human. Either way, it's an effective inversion of The Puppet Masters. This is a trope when you want to make one or all PCs to be something else than what they think they are. This can be dangerous. If played badly it can change a PC's core reason of being and totally screw a player's characterization and possibly ruin the game. Thread carefully. I beleive that the key to successfully pulling a Tomato in the Mirror reveal is to, once again, give the players to chance to ignore the reveal without major impacts or embrace the plot twist fully! Another important aspect of this trope is that you must drop subtle hints and sprinkle flashes of the TRUTH so the players start piecing what they are slowly. That's tricky, but just watch a few hours of Lost or the X-Files and you'll get the hang of it. A few examples:

Your characters are Cylons-equivalent, and get the choice of turning traitor or sticking on the side of the race they were imitating.
One character is in fact a shapeshifter with amnesia sent in the party as a sleeper agent, however, the trigger to recall it's mission and lift the amnesia partly failed and now the character gets a highly skilled Jason Bourne character!
Characters are all Angelic/Fiendish Outsiders sent, memoryless, to the material world in humanoid form to learn the realities of terrestrial life. Later in the campaign, a war between the Celestial and Infernal forces break out and all PCs learn of their true heritage... and get to choose either of the 3 sides.

Finally, here's one last trope that I used quite successfully once. Truman Show Plot Usually a variant on the Tomato In The Mirror, where it turns out that the lead character is in fact the main character on a Reality TV show. Exactly how much of his life is controlled varies: in some cases, every little detail of his life is controlled by the network, while others basically let the main character do whatever he wants, so long as they catch it on camera. It can be a twist ending, or it can be established right at the start of the show. I pulled a successful version of this trope in my Iron Heroes Campaign. At one point the players investigated a strange portal found at the bottom of a Sunken Tower and that brought them to a fortress that was sitting right beside a huge force bubble sitting over a ring of mile-high mountains. That was the whole Iron Heroes world... and they had been unwitting prisoners for countless generations. Their warden were fiends and angels trapped with them, posing as normal people or monsters and such. I had decided this on a whim mid-campaign and when I revealed that, the face of my dumbstruck players was worth billions! You should try it... :) Here's one last example: All characters are in fact trapped in Hell in a fake Fantasy world. They are led to believe that they are adventurers exploring dungeons and killing monsters for loot. In fact, the adventurers are part of the eternal punishment of the damned souls there that get reincarnated in new monsters every day and placed deeper and deeper in the dungeons. The reveal comes when the PCs find a secret exit (perhaps aided by a Damned one) that reveals that the whole thing is the Infernal equivalent of a reality TV show and the Dungeon was this huge divinely morphic stage! Imagine the Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells, siting in the director's chair, clapping slowly, an enigmatic grin on his face. Yeah! Can you come up with other examples of these 3 tropes? Have you played any of them? P.S. Anyone think what the recipe would be to make a Truman Mirror Tomato Surprise?

gearup

ChattyDM — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:58:18 +0000

Chatty's New Partner

ChattyDM — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:00:54 +0000

In the next few weeks, you'll see a few changes in the Ad setup of the blog. After meeting with fellow Quebec businessman Pierre of ZeStuff.com, we've agreed on trying a partnership for a while and see how it works out for each of us. I'm really excited about this! ZeStuff is one cool Geek Online Store and it's mere minutes from where I live. I just bough this coolest of Laptop bags and I'm already in love with it. Here's what you will see from this partnership:

This blog will be linked to from ZeStuff's website, replacing the Store Blog
I'll place a permanent banner to the online Store on the blog.
I will make periodic reviews of RPG products and various Geek games
We'll try to set up an affiliate program where people can be referred to the store from here.

As a first step to this partnership, I have gotten to read the D&D 4e's Adventure Keep on the Shadowfell and I will post a preview/review tonight! Stay tuned! While we're at it, for those who haven't secured a pre-order of the 4e core books, ZeStuff has them for 86,45$. I'll be offline all day, I'll catch you later!

keep1

ChattyDM — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:11:34 +0000

Chatty's Review: D&D 4e's Keep on the Shadowfell

ChattyDM — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:39:58 +0000

As mentioned this morning, I was able to read a copy of D&D's 1st 4e adventure, Keep on the Shadowfell, thanks to ZeStuff. Now it's time for the review! Hurrah! I'll take the spoiler-free approach (though I may slip a bit in places) as I guess that a lot of readers will want to play it in the upcomming weeks. Let's dive in shall we? Physical Characteristics The product is made of 2 non-glossy magazine-paper booklets: A 16 page 4th Edition quick-start rules booklet with pre-generated characters and an 80-page one containing DM-rules and the adventure itself. The adventure also comes with 3 large size, double-sided full-color battlemaps. Except for two of them, the Battlemaps are actual reprints of some of D&D Fantastic Adventure Locations:

The King's Road
The Dragon Graveyard
The Dungeon of Blood
The Forest Cliff Lair

All without the D&D miniature-specific info like Start and Victory Areas. The remaining two are a Graveyard and another Dungeon/Temple map. I don't really mind getting duplicate maps, but it would have been nice to have all different ones portraying the encounter areas so that a DM could increase his collection. The booklets have nice covers and the interior is black type on white paper, separated by decorated section titles. One word of warning, and my main beef with the product, the booklets are very fragile (paper is easily damaged) and the ink smudges very very easily. I've been handling this one for a few hours and pages are already covered with enough fingerprints to incriminate me without actually having to call the local CSI. Since the booklets do not have a back cover, the smudges on the white background are becoming bad enough to make it harder to read. I heartily suggest that find a way to protect this product. All of this is packaged in a sleek, light cardboard portfolio. The booklets and maps slip neatly in each side of the folded package. Quick Start rules booklet The booklet starts with a 1/2 page intro to D&D and roleplaying in general, marking this product as an entry level product. However, I don't actually think a complete neophyte DM could run this without the 4e core books. Then there are 4 1/2 pages of the basic rules of the game. This covers:

The d20 roll mechanic
Skill checks
Attack rolls
Encounters (Combat vs Non-combat)
Combat
- Actions (Standard, Move, Minor, Opportunity, Immediate)
- Turn sequence (Very much like Magic the Gathering, I'll post on this soon)
- Attacks and Damage
- Critical Hits (Full damage)
- Flanking
- Other Actions: Charge, Second Wind (i.e. use healing Surges to regain 1/4 HP), Powers
Movement
- Move actions & Forced Movements (Pull, Push, Slide)
- Occupied Squares
- Difficult Terrain &Obstacles
- Action Points
Hit Points, Healing and Dying

Right up front, the authors tell us that D&D 4e rules are exception-based. This means we have a few Core rules and a ton of exceptions built into powers, options, magic and so on (very much like the game rules of Magic the Gathering). From these very summarized rules, the biggest changes that jump out at me from 3.x are Healing and Dying. Healing: All characters have a certain number of healing surges that they can spend in a day. The most basic way of spending a surge is by spending a standard action, that gives you 1/4 of your max HP back (once per encounter I believe). Some examples of exceptions to this basic rule:

The cleric's Healing Word ability allows an ally (or the cleric) to spend a surge without using an action.
The Paladin's Lay on Hands ability allows a character to be healed while using one of the Pally's Surges.

Bloodied and Death: At 1/2 HP, a character becomes bloodied. This has no effect in itself but a lot of powers are triggered when a character or a target is bloodied. At 0 or less (up to -1/2 HP) a character is dying and falls unconscious. The player must make a saving throw (i.e. roll 10 or more) every turn. Success has no effect. However, should a third save fail before the character is stabilized, he/she dies. At -1/2 HP you're dead, regardless of saves. I really like this because death is somewhat predictable, takes long enough to give the party tactical flexibility while still creating a dramatic '3 strikes you're out' tension. The rest of the booklet presents five characters sheets that you can photocopy and play with. Just add a name and a gender and you're good to go. The characters even have leveling up instructions until level 3. The characters are:

Dwarf Fighter
Halfing Rogue
Human Wizard
1/2 Elf Cleric of Bahamut
Dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut

All are loaded with a lot of powers, most of them cool for level 1 characters. Each have numerous options for combat and a list of skills that are explained very succinctly in this booklet (and in more details in the other booklet). I won't go into the details as I leave this to your discovery... but a lot of the 4e promises are there. Wizards and Cleric have a lot more to do than the per-day allotment of spells. The paladin reeks of helping others and the Rogue will give control freak DMs a heart attack as they slide monsters all over the place (confirming once and for all that miniatures and maps are essential). No background or stories are presented or suggested. Each character comes with a short descriptive text that can act as a primer to a personality. This is mostly a 'learn the game' set of characters as such a product is won't to be. Adventure Booklet This 80 page booklet starts with the introduction to the adventure. The adventure centers around a walled-village surrounded by farms (an archetypal point of light) sitting 5 days away from the nearest city. As the title suggests, there's a ruined keep nearby and all kinds of stuff happens around the village and the keep. It's a totally classic adventure plot with limited (but not absent) backstory and roleplaying-driven storylines. It's well suited for an introductory adventure (it reminds me of the Village of Hommlett) and I found the story to be more interesting than 3E's The Sunless Citadel. The booklet then presents three optional adventure hooks (including quests with gold and XP rewards) that the DM can choose to start the adventure. Then there is a 2 page explanation of the adventure's structure like how the tactical encounters are to be read and how to read Monster stat blocks (each taking about 1/8 of a 2 columns page, weeee no 1 pager stats!). The Quick-Start rules are re-printed as is, with a few more DM-focused rules such as leveling up, Conditions (Blinded, Dazed, etc.) and Skill descriptions. Then the adventure starts on page 16 with the 1st combat encounter (a roadside ambush). WotC kept their Encounter Format developed in later 3.5 adventures. These remain very useful as you have all the necessary information to conduct the in a two page spread (3 pages for the Grand Finale). Each encounter features different monsters, each presented in an all-inclusive stat block that covers all special powers with full descriptions. Let me tell you that many of these monster powers are cool. Players will absolutely HATE some of the iconics low-level humanoids featured in this adventure. The term "slinger" may very-well end up instilling fear and respect in low-level characters. The 1st 'Boss' level fight features an Elite Brute boss that has more than 100 HP (while players are still 1st level). This confirms that there's some more HP inflation from the last version of the game. While minion monsters have only 1 hp, various level 1 soldier-type monsters have HPs in the 30's (and PCs have between 25-31 HPs). The adventure assumes that 5 players would be around the DM and has no instructions/tips for lowering the number of monsters if the party is made of less than 5 characters. I would suggest to reduce the number of minions and soldier monsters in each encounter. It's not necessarily a big deal but it will make the adventure particularly lethal in the hands of an inexperienced DM with less than a full set of players. (On a side note, I really liked having 4 players, things went fast and everybody had adequate time in the spotlight) Also, a new feature I had never seen in D&D adventures are 'DM's Advice' and 'Interludes' pages between chapters. In these, roleplaying and descriptive tips are suggested to give life to the adventure. Instead of telling you that X NPC is surly or Y location is gloomy, the DM is encouraged to make them up as they see fit and to pick up on mundane interaction to build up a side-story. For example, you are told you can build on the discussions between a PC and a Store owner if and when they try to pawn a piece of jewelry looted from the monsters. That's a promising change. Investigative parts of the adventure are presented in FAQ form. Questions PCs would ask are printed out, followed by in-character responses that this or that NPC would answer (you can read, paraphrase or adapt as you see fit). I really like this approach as it gives material to build upon for creative DMs while still lending sufficient fluff for less experienced/confortable DMs. Some combat encounters are set up on the included battlemaps. The others can all be created easily with the D&D tiles or drawn on graph paper in a few minutes. I really like that (I'm a big D&D tiles fan!) In the dungeon encounters, there is a break in tradition with previous adventure. Encounter area now encompass between 3 and 4 dungeon rooms, allowing larger space to move around (no more fights in 5' wide corridors and 10X10 rooms! Hurrah!) This means that dungeons don't have boxed text for each room, only encounter (combat or otherwise) get them. If PCs decide to take a room by room search approach, you'll have to make it up as you go, fortunately, the dungeon maps feature furniture and such, making description easier. Finally, the one +1 magic Item I saw so far combines the classic bonus with an additional static power (bonuses to saves) as well as a daily power. That's nice and makes a mundane item more interesting. The adventure does have a few editing issues which seems to indicate that it was somewhat rushed out. It's small things like saying that a monster throws a spear when it's equipped with javelins, I've seen a few other ones. Bottom line This is a well made adventure that showcases what low-level heroic-tiered characters and foes can do. It's a simple, straightforward story that puts into play some of the core 4e fluff (The Shadowfell, Orcus, points of lights and so on). The preview of the combat ruleset really reminds me of Magic the Gathering where you have well defined turn sequences and where each players use powers they chose (during Char Gen) and see how they interact on the battlefield. Combo fans like my friend Yan will fall for this system really fast. Corollary to that, such exception-based rules design will lead to the creation of broken (post publication edit: not broken maybe but really effective) combos with the creation of additional powers and options in future sourcebook. DM discretion, as always, will rule. In fact, I predict that a group of well designed characters handled by a group of players used to teamwork and cooperation will be extremely efficient during combat encounters... Luckily (or unluckily) DMs with good deck encounter building skills will be able to create fiendish encounters whose synergistic powers will be quite a match to brilliant players. So does reading this pull me in or out of 4e? In definitively... I need to try it now and see how my gut reacts while players slay baddies and interact with the adventure's NPCs. However, I remain somewhat concerned with the 'gimmicky' set of PC and monster powers that abound in there (and the game in general), but I'll reserve judgement on this when I actually play it out... chances are the gimmicks are going to make for some awesome action gaming. We'll play this in early June, I'm looking forward to it. If you have more questions about the adventure, feel free to ask them, I'll try my best to answer them. You want to pre-order this adventure? You can here.

Help him Rebrand Himself, Win a 4e Book

ChattyDM — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:06:20 +0000

My buddy Bob Younce of The DMs Blog (at dndreview.com) is trying to rebrand his blog to better reflect what it's going to be about. He seeks help from the community and he's offering a prize. I'd call him a copycat, if I wasn't one myself with the 10 word adventure contest (Results out tonight!). He offers a free D&D 4e Core book as a prize (Or an Amazon Gift Certificate)! Here's what he has to say about this:

You can enter as many times as you’d like. Be creative. Be unique. Be interesting. Here’s what I know I want: I want a blog name that has an available “.com” domain. In other words, if I’m to be The Jolly DM, I want jollyDM.com to be available. You can find whether a domain is available at http://www.domainsearch.com/.

I want a blog name that has one of these keywords in it: dnd, dungeon, dragon, rpg, or roleplaying. This point isn’t mandatory, but if you can incorporate one of them it’d be swell.

I want a blog name that is no more than 3 words long (excluding the word “blog”).

I want a blog name that represents my writing style and my blog’s mission. For my writing style, you’d have to read some of my posts. For the mission, well, here is my newly-minted mission statement:

“(Name)’s purpose is to provide interesting and informative information for Dungeons and Dragons players, DMs and fans, to facilitate discussion of issues in the Dungeons and Dragons community, and to serve the gaming community at large.”

Go and help him out!

10-word-adventure-combined-entries

ChattyDM — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:45:32 +0000

winner

ChattyDM — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:55:11 +0000

Ten Words to Victory, Winners and Runner Ups All Together!

ChattyDM — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:56:10 +0000

Well it's done, what started as a lunch-time idea exploded in the biggest thing we ever tackled here. With the help of fellow bloggers Dave The Game and Jeff Rients we whittled down 21 pages of entries filled with several hundreds of 10 word adventure concepts. As indicated, the entries were so numerous and so good that we decided to create 3 categories:

Best Adventure Concept (The one that made us go 'I want to play this!')
Funniest Entry
Best Pop/Geek culture reference.

As mentionned earlier, the author of the Best Adventure concept will get his choice of a D&D Mini Dungeons of Dread Booster pack (or 15$ Gift Certificate of your choice of PDF shop) and a PDF copy of Kobold Quarterly. The winners of the other two categories will get a copy of KQ. So without further ado, here's the results and the runner ups of each category: Best Pop/Geek Culture Reference Runner Ups:

Parrot is definitely deceased. And now for something completely different.
Horses have disappeared, replaced by coconuts. Furious paladins blame swallows.
It’s the Plane of Snakes, what did you expect Samuel?
Dimensional travel to a popular setting from another game/movie.
Sorry for your loss. The Princess is in another castle.
It is dark. You might be eaten by a grue.
LG hamlet has little crime, many accidents. Investigate, guns blazing.
Wizards live on the coast. Everyone argues about their alignment.
Five Elemental Rings awarded by Wizard. You're stuck with Heart.
I for one do NOT welcome our new martian overlords!
Drizz't Dourden brutally slain; Elminster eviscerated; Simbul disintegrated; adventurers rejoice.

Best Pop/Geek Culture Reference Winner:

Orc has pie. Kill orc. Eat pie. Find another orc
- Bob Younce.
- With apologies to Monte Cook :)

Funniest Entry Runner Ups:

Liberate abused Bulettes being used as ogre mage polo mounts.
Say nothing. This tomb has ears. Hands too. Also: teeth.
I’ll give you ten gold if you pull this lever.
Boy saves his city from disaster by fingering a dike.
Tarrasque spontaneously starts reproducing asexually. World seeks Tarrasque birth control.
You’re infected with memory poison. Retrieve cure from… uh… hmmm…
The Round Knights of the Table: defenders of the Shire.
Why is everything on fire? I hate PCs so much.
Necromancer steals the king's crown jewels. No, the other ones.
Anvils, dynamite, etc. are suddenly fatal. Toons are dying out.
Three swordsmen fighting the Isle of Wights REALLY need cleric.
Aliens invade from hovering castle; cast Fly, hijack that shit!
Dinosaur Escape: Washington DC. All agree, the best filibuster ever.

Funniest Entry Winner

What happens when you crossbreed red and white dragons? Science!
- Bjorn

Best Adventure Concept Runner Ups:

Long-awaited crackdown on crime arrives. Pity you’re a thief
Albino Minotaur rules cannibal cult of children in the sewers.
PCs, dwarves, goblins – in Carceri, each with 1/4 way out.
H. G. Wells is hiring ghostbusters; specialized equipment provided.
Get kiss from lost faerie queen to save dying boy.
Strange disease turns flesh to gold. Who gets the vaccine?
Frost giant shaman steals Drum of Winter - will spring arrive?
Cunning were-rats are mining plague-steel, stop them before it spreads.
Dragon seeks love, requests adventurers carry presents to distant penpal.
Steal Wand of Orcus. Survive interplanar chase to Mount Celestia.
Clockwork gorilla has a map in heart, murder on mind.
Slaver raid, airship chase, cult volcanic sacrifice, demon unleashed!
Idiot king's intelligent sword advisor stolen. Recover before kingdom crumbles.

And here's the winning entry! Best Adventure Concept winner

The Sunkiller seeks its divinity through a dead god’s remains.
- nw_meyer

Congratulations to our winners, please contact me at chattydm@chattydm.net so we can arrange prize distribution. As an added extra bonus, I made a quick and dirty PDF of all the combined entries that you can download for free: Combined contest entries PDF (Please don't break my bandwidth!) This has been awesome! I wish to send my heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated. There will be other contests in the future. But for now, I must rest! :) Kobold Quarterly magazine is devoted to D&D and roleplaying games, covering fantasy, steampunk, and swords-and-sorcery at their finest. It features articles and interviews by leading game designers including Ed Greenwood, Keith Baker, James Jacobs, and Monte Cook. Each issue comes with an Ecology article, new spells and monsters, and the finest player and DM advice we can find, from super-rules-heavy design crunch to rich, meaty flavor usable in any homebrew or published campaign setting. Subscriptions are just $16 for 4 issues, and available at http://www.koboldquarterly.com/

yoda

ChattyDM — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:08:03 +0000

Mike Mearl's D&D 4e Elemental Evil Campaign

ChattyDM — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:10:19 +0000

Recently Mike Mearls invited people to follow his 1st 'for fun' D&D 4e campaign. It's very loosely based on Gary's Temple of Elemental Evil, it gives a very good feel of what 4e will be about and it's all played in one hour sessions. I don't think reading this will change anyone's idea on 4e (playing it will, most likely), but it's cool to get a glimpse of some of the non previewed stuff. After reading this, it became clear to me the D&D 4e will make a DM's life a lot easier and allow them to actually build stronger stories and Narrative... Heck he has 2 sessions (albeit, still one hour long) without fighting. I'm also impressed to see how a complex fight can fit in one hour. Follow it here and his behind the scenes DM stuff here.

mcwodcover

ChattyDM — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:08:55 +0000

I, Demon: The Awakening

ChattyDM — Sat, 17 May 2008 19:19:01 +0000

This series is going to be a diary-like re-telling of the d20 World of Darkness game I'll be playing once a month. It's going to be GMed by my buddy Franky. Way back when, we started the game but it was left aside for some time. We're kick starting it again and this post is a pre-game exploration of my new character, a yet unnamed Demon recently woken up by the Nightmare Wave. I have slept for countless eons on this inconsequential mud ball. What I am and how I got here can't be written in that simpleton system of grunts and scribbles that you call language. In any case your fragile linear minds would crumble if I was to convey to you all this. Suffice it to say that I am Rage and Destruction made alive through the very material that this cold moldy rock is made of. I along with my brothers were here, surfing and slumbering along the tectonic plates of Pangaea way before any amino and ribonucleic acids decided to meet up and have a party in the so called primordial soup. Intelligent design? Pfaa! If only they knew... Fast forward a couple of hundred million years and that thin layer of dirt and water flourished in what Humans like to selfishly call 'higher life'. Among those finally arose Homo Sapiens, with its ideas of grandeur and obscenely naive beliefs. That's when the awakening call, like the progressively louder buzz of an alarm clock, started to stir us. I woke up, as luck would have it, about 2 years ago deep in the muck of the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Texas. The "incident" had just occured and my masters (don't ask, really) were beckoning me to arise and act against the humans. Chief among our 'ennemies' were the Awakened, a subset of humanity who are a tad bit less boring than all the billions of mind numbingly dull sheep most of that rest is. Unable to resist their biding, I took form from the rock and seafloor sediments surrounding me and crawled to the surface. As I stood on the shores, so many miles away from the incident that triggered all those commands screaming in my mind, my newly formed physical shell slowly dried up. As water evaporated from my body and the salt just became an inert crystal layer, I realized just how strong I was and how much more powerful my will could be. (Aside: My character's weakness is salt water) As the voices were filling me with their plans and edict, I raised my head toward the heavens and let out the most liberating of howls: FUCK YOU! THIS MOTHERFUCKING WORLD IS GOING TO BE MY PLAYGROUND' NOT YOURS! While the voices continued for some time, from that moment on, I didn't feel compelled to act on them, nor even listen. They eventually stopped, writing me off as an inconsequential rogue. How wrong they are! I made my way to a coastal Texan community and took the appropriate shapes whenever it became necessary to avoid detection. I started absorbing what little knowledge humans had comprehended so far and the tools and beliefs they used to keep their fragile sanity intact in this cold dark reality. Reality that was soon to become much colder and infinitively darker unless I helped them a bit. I learned all of this mostly on something called Wikipedia and also Fox News. It's during that time that I discovered this cute human habit of writing one's private thoughts on paper. That's why I recently got myself a notebook and started recording my antics. It's completely useless but even Demons develop quirks I suppose. Demon. It's such a quaint name to wrap one's mind around what it is that I am, but it will have to do. Keeping a log of my daily life isn't the only thing I put down on paper. I also translated some of the things my former masters were telling me. I choose carefully the things I decided to write so they could be conveyed to the authorities that were organizing around the Awakened humans without shattering their simple minds. Armed with some key 'secrets' of the Inconnu's plan (cute name too), I made my way to Chicago, where the "Incident" occurred and I sold them to the IDA. I had to use a lot of my powers to persuade, charm, and convince them of my loyalty to the humans' cause. (HA!). It worked, I was hired to fight the Inconnu, alongside a few others of 'my class'... That will get, interesting! I'll be able to monitor what the awakened do (and screw with their puny minds, just for shits and giggles) while at the same time beat back the Inconnu so I can have this world to myself afterwards. I start tomorrow. Looking forward to see what kinds of 'partners' I'll have... Apparently I'm joining a group where one of their Awakened buddy's snapped and went off the deep end. Hopefully I'll be able to help the remaining one along. You can call me... Citations Needed.

zombie-dog

ChattyDM — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:59:56 +0000

I, Demon: This is getting interesting...

ChattyDM — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:17:29 +0000

This is my play session log of our re-started d20 World of Darkness game (written by Monte Cook and published late last year). I'm writing in character because it allows me to explore a more narrative writing style, but I'll pepper it with Out of Character (OOC) comments on the actual game. The main thing one must know about the game is that because of complete lack of product support (and setting incompatibility with other WoD books, since the underlying story is drastically different). we are actually playing more of a Shadow Chasers d20 Modern campaign with d20 WoD character classes. Dramatis Persona:

William Gunther, Awakened Human, played by Yan
Duncan Clark, Werewolf, played by PM
Brook Didler, Vampire, played by Mike
Citation Needed/Vicky Fox: Demon, played by your's truly
GM: Franky

An atmosphere of distrust and suspicion pervaded my first few hours in the Shadow Chasers squad of the Chicago branch of the IDA (Intrusion Detection Agency). I wouldn't want it any other way. My introducing myself with my chosen name succeeded in impressing my peers, causing them to have fits of barely suppressed trembling and stifled gasp while trying to avoid my seeing their reaction. They adopted it and shortened it to CN, probably to better deal with it... So far so good. We got an assignment quite rapidly. An IDA investigation team went into some sort of college to investigate a possible infiltration by agents of an organization called the Pentagram (I need to check who they are, someday). Of course, they got into something bigger than they could handle (as sheep are wont to do) and Agent Jake Ernstery called in for the evacuation of the whole campus on account of it being attacked by apparently undead animals. He also screamed somthing about his partners having been killed. That's where we came in. When people can't deal with whatever shit the Nightmare Wave generates, we were to go in, kill everything that isn't natural and we let the sheep clean up afterwards. Works for me. Before we left, I went into my office, took my Vicky Fox freelance journalist form and called in my contact at the Daily Enquirer, Chicago's yellowest tabloid rag , and promised them a full video account of what was happening at the college. I love screwing up with the public's mind, when all the sheep are together, there's more cerebral material to screw with. OOC aside: While joking around with Graham, trying to find a name for my Demon, I told him that everything the character knew about the world was gleaned from Texas Newspapers, Wikipedia and Fox News. We naturally came up with the name Vicky Fox. While it's an easy gag, it really fired up my imagination for a sideline freelance reporting gig. Franky graciously went with it. To get there, my partners suggested that I travel in the vehicle's trunk so as to not create unnecessary panic, which seemed sensible. Once there, we saw that the whole campus' main building was cordoned off by the Metropolitan Police with some entry points barricaded and others being guarded by the Swat team. We decided to enter from the kitchen's delivery dock, letting Gunther our stealh specialist, do some recon. Clark, like a guard dog, was watching me closely, unable to get itself to trust me... Good boy, have a bone! The building was mostly silent, punctuated by periodic screaming and animal cries. However, the decoration was vivid, to say the least, as human gore and entrails were everywhere. We finally found a few laboratory animals ripping some freshly deceased students in a classroom. The animals charged us. One bit Gunther solidly (OOC: A crit that dealt 2 points of Constitution) but we moped them all up in mere seconds... It seems that even when turned into ghouls and twice their size, lab rats, dogs and cats are not that dangerous. We later found the labs and killed all the zombie animals that were trying to burst out of their cage. How mundane... At that point I was fearing that all that 'fighting the supernatural' buisness was going to be dreadfully boring and that I would have to start killing my partners to make things more interesting. We finally made our way to the building's amphitheater where we spotted Agent Ernstery fighting against a whole menagerie of those undead housepets. We jumped in the fray and made short work of them all. Ernstery, or whatever it was, reeked of supernaturalness and was really intent on going to the building's basement to save his remaining partner. We tried to confront him but we came to a standstill, no one trusting each other. Thinking that keeping him close to us was best, we followed him to the basement. There, Diggler and Gunther started sneaking while I followed Ernstery and, ironically enough, Duncan followed me. Quite an amusing trio of distrust and paranoia we made. Shortly after, we finally found another group of zombie pets. As we were engaging them, they were joined by 2 humans whose's skins had been flayed off and who tried ripping chunks of our flesh to feed on them. One managed to rip part of my body, but he was solely disappointed to realize that my 'flesh' is actually nothing more than clay and rocks given life by my considerable will. Yeah, choke on this inside-out man! As predictable as a 'pedia entry on Scientology will get edited, Ernstery revealed itself to be the true enemy and went after our rear-guard Awakened human (Gunther) with a Katana... Yawn. Things were getting busy... but Gaunther told us that he could handle Ernstery himself. That he did by promptly blowing our predictable turncoat's head with a well place assault Rifle burst (OOC: Critical hit, 11 points of Constitution damage, booya!). Then Ernstery, or whatever it was, finally became original and managed to stay up and continue fighting sans head! It was quite entertaining to see our vampire duel a headless man Meat Clever vs Katana! I was 'wounded' several times during the fight, only to have the satisfaction of 'healing' as fast as the Flesh rippers were tearing chunks off my body, absorbing chunks of concrete and cheap plaster. After we spent more than a minute clawing, biting and shooting the thing that Ernstery was, we started to suspect that it couldn't be killed by 'classical' means. That's when good old perceptive Gunther (I'll grant that the Awakened are aware) noticed that a previously slain flesh ripper had a canvas bag tied to it's waist. He reached in it and pulled a, wait for it... grinning demonic Head... Which he promptly blew away with a high-caliber bullet... the rest of its body fell to the floor. Maybe this will be fun after all. I must say that my partners were a lot more interesting that I had initially believed... I might not kill them in their sleep after all. We finally found the headless demon's diary and it was filled with whatever it is that corrupted, summon-a-big-evil-only-to-get-killed-by-it write in these things. I pocketed it for later reading. I stayed behind while my partners returned to the tell the authorities to clean up. I recharged my Anima by sweeping through the numerous bodies. I also took my Vicky Fox form again and started filming the carnage, spinning quite a colorful tale of mutilating aliens, terrorist cannibals and escaped Zoo animals. Shortly after that, as the media shit storm abated, things took another interesting turn. Clark, Digler and I were picked up by a limousine where we were treated to a tedious monologue by a lieutenant of the local Vampire crime boss. (OOC: As Franky was working up into his speech, I asked him, out of character, if he would mind my character interrupting it to ask the bad guy to cut to the chase. He said to go right ahead. I really didn't want to barge in and break his GM groove). After I cut him from his lovely speech, he went for the bottom line. The crime boss wanted us to act as insider agents in the IDA in exchange from protection from both the vampire and werewolf gangs of Chicago. As I felt my vampire and werewolves friend tense up, I told them we were in fact already part of an Inconnu organization that we couldn't name and that we had already infiltrated the IDA. I told him that I didn't see how our 2 organizations couldn't cooperate. I concluded that we would consider the offer in the best possible light and would most likely contact them whenever the occasion came up in our later missions. (OOC: I love weaving that kind of BS, I was really having a ball!) I also mentionned that in order to maintain our cover intact, it was quite possible that we would hit their organization on occasion. Our host graciously agreed to let us go, giving Didler the address of the local Vampire bar. We ended up briefing our Awakened friend of our meeting and we broke up to our respective function until our unit was called again. Game conclusion: It was a really nice session. It was action driven and it ended up with a bit of roleplaying. The supernatural classes rock. The Vampire and Werewolf are killing machines in combat. The Demon is an absolute blast to play with it's nearly at-will shapeshifting and various mind-screw powers. However, mechanics wise, the Awakened humans suck. Sure they are overloaded with high attributes and skills... (which are absolutely useless in combat). By re-engineering his character from a Melee fighter to a Sniper, Yan made it into a workable character... but from a fun standpoint, much like 4e tries to address, having 3 players have fun with powers while your character has high non-combat 'skills' sucks... especially if you like to fight too. We leveled up to 3 (we were 2) and we'll reconvene for another mission next month.

Taking a few days off.

ChattyDM — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:51:09 +0000

My 6 year old son has a somewhat major surgery scheduled for this Friday. Nothing life threatening, but they have to take something in the bone behind his ear that's not supposed to be there and that's slowly making it deaf as it grows. Any parents reading this will understand that as excited as I am with 4e's release and the tons of DM things I'd love to talk about, I'm really not much in the mood for writing as my thoughts are elsewhere. So until he undergoes surgery and wakes up, I won't be posting anything on the blog. Thanks for understanding and I know that you all care enough to have positive thoughts for my little Dungeonmaster. See you next week. Philippe-Antoine

False Spam Alerts

ChattyDM — Wed, 21 May 2008 01:12:50 +0000

I just noticed that some comments get caught by my multi-leveled Spam filtering system (Mostly those with links)... Namely Felonius and Shadow145 lately. Just a quick note to tell you that should your comment be eaten up by my anti-spam system, just notify me on Gtalk (phil(dot)menard(at)gmail.com) or at chattydm@chattydm.net and I'll bring it back. Sorry for the inconvenience, with more than 16 000 Spams in the last 2 months, the defenses are a necessary evil.

Chatty's Debates: Black Box vs Process-Response design

ChattyDM — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:26:13 +0000

While pondering the darker reaches of a parent's anxiety and trying to think of something else, I came upon a post by user Blackeagle on EnWorld's board. It's so good and it touches so many things I was thinking about 4e that I decided to repost it here. Instead of making a Chatty on 4e post on the same subject, let's make this another debate as it will take my mind off things for a while. Here's the post, see my debate starting questions afterwards.

I've been thinking about this for a while, and after Lizard's epiphany thread I decided to post about it. The "simulationist" label has gotten thrown around a lot in some of the recent arguments about 4e (the recent minion thread for instance). However, I don't think the simulationist label gets at why some people don't like what they've seen of 4e. I think some simulationists can like elements of 4e that drive other simulationists crazy (see Lizard's epiphany, for instance). The real distinction here is how willing a person is to accept a the change from a process-response model to a black box model, particularly for character and monster development. Black box vs. process-response is one way scientists classify different models. In a nutshell, a black box model tells you what happens, while process-response model tells you how something happens. How is generally a lot more difficult to figure out than what, so process-response models are usually a lot more complicated. If you want a more scientific definition (lifted from this article):

Quote:

Originally Posted by NASA

In a process-response model, the components and process of cause and effect are explicitly represented. A black-box model represents the relationship between cause and effect but does not explicitly account for the process. A graph of the relationship between traffic volume and average speed on a highway is a black-box relationship, whereas a simulation of individual vehicles and driver behavior is a process-response model. Process-response models tend to be more complex, but not necessarily more realistic because process-response models depend on accurate depiction of the underlying mechanisms whereas black-box models can be finely tuned to the outcomes that one is trying to model.

In general, 3e leaned towards process-response models, particularly when it comes to modeling characters and monsters. If you wanted to make a more powerful version of the regular monster, you had to advance it to more hit dice, or give it character levels, or give it a template. Each of these is complicated and has all sorts of side effects. In 4e, from what we've seen, you slap on a more powerful power or two, add some hit points, compare it to an existing elite or solo monster and say, "looks good". The monster's "internals" don't matter, all that matters is the stuff that interfaces with the players. This is a classic black box model. When the D&D designers talk about exceptions based design, what they're really talking about (at least when it comes to characters and monsters) is moving from a process-response model to a black box model. Another area where the 4e rules moved from a process-response model to a black box model is the grappling rules. In 3e, if you try to grapple someone, you provoke an AoO, you make a roll to grab, you make a roll to hold, you move into the target's space. Then next turn you're presented with a menu of actions you can choose from with detailed rules for each. It's definitely a process-response model with a nice little chain of cause and effect. In 4e you make one roll to grab an opponent. If you succeed you can hold on. Much more of a black box model, we don't care about all the details of the move, just whether you managed to latch on or not. So, 4e black box models allow us to jettison a lot of the complexity that goes along with process-response models, but at the cost of not being able to see the internal details of the model. I think a big part of whether or not a person (particularly a "simulationist") is going to like 4e depends on whether they think this is a good thing or not. Do we want to know about the internal workings of a monster or the minutia of a grapple check badly enough to deal with added complexity? Do you want to model characters and monsters, or the interactions between characters and monsters?

Is Wizards of the Coast's move from a "process-response" to a "Black Box" model a good move for D&D's future? If not, and especially if you are bothered by the 4th edition, is this the main reason why? My take on it: This is exactly the move that I was waiting for. While I loved seeing the engine behind 3e, with time, my needs as a DM pulled me toward making things simpler, faster. I didn't need to know the actual workings of the engine. As long as I can tinker with the outward components (monster attacks, powers, hit points) I'm happy. I really feel that 4e returns to the roots of the game (1e) which was black box, but now I know the mechanics are unified, built logically and relatively exempt of dissimilar subsystems.

Slow return to Normal

ChattyDM — Sat, 24 May 2008 09:25:19 +0000

My son was the ultimate trooper. He spent more than 3 hours in surgery because the Eye-Nose-Throat surgeon had to repair the more extensive than expected damage that the thing growing in his inner ear had done. The Good news, the growth is gone. The Bad News, the whole middle ear has been mostly destroyed. While his eardrum was reconstructed and so as his auditive canal, the little bones responsible to conduct sounds (called osselet in French) were lost. The surgeon is confident that when he'll re-operate in 8 months to check for re-growth, he'll be able to successfully install a prosthesis to restore hearing. Here's to hoping. That being said, he hears really well from the other ear. He also was able to stand 3 hours after the surgery and was complaining of hunger all the time. He ate 3 soups and crackers at 6h00 PM and he was released to go home at 6h30. We've spent the whole evening playing Boom Blox on the Wii and this is quite possibly the best boy game ever where you get to break stuff by throwing baseballs, rubber or bowling balls at stuff! So Cool. I still will focus mostly on my son for the next 3 days or so, but if I have the energy while he sleeps, I'll start posting again. Thanks for everyone's positive thoughts, prayers and wishes of good luck. Nico made his Fort Save and in 8 months, the surgeon gets to cast Cure Partial Deafness.

planescape

ChattyDM — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:43:34 +0000

Story Building tips, a Contest?

ChattyDM — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:51:39 +0000

I read this over Robin D. Laws' Livejournal this morning. He starts with:

Given that we’re learning a new crunch-based system I was concerned that the characterization could get lost. So I asked each of the players to submit a two-pronged character arc. This consisted of two opposed possible outcomes for their characters as they develop through the course of the campaign

That is a very true concern that I see being bounced around and his proposed solution is a very simple and interesting way of addressing this. Here's the example he used for his players:

Frodo Baggins: find the endurance to serve as the ringbearer, or give in to temptation and despair

He then creates a table where he placed each of his players arcs. I assumes he gave the table to all his players because he then went further and added more two columns . This is where he put how each players choose a way his/her character could act as a positive influence toward the arc of another player and as a negative influence for another. Wow, I love this. You see I'm not so much concerned about the crunchiness of 4e being detrimental to characterization because, well, there's not much to threathen. While most, if not all of my players would like to have bitching characterization, we all more or less suck at developing coherent stories that fosters party cohesion. So that's where I turn, once again, the mic toward you. I'm asking you to submit to me (and to the readership in general) a series of short easy-to-implement tricks to help poor, story-handicapped gaming groups like ours develop better stories and characterization. Robin's arc matrix is once such trick. I'm looking for individual tips and broader, group story tricks. Now to make this a contest here's what I propose: Contest will last 1 week (up to noon of May 31st). I'm currently sitting on a Near-Mint, complete, used-once, copy of AD&D's 2e Planescape Setting that I want to get rid of. I'll ship it out to a randomly chosen submitter. Aside: That thing is worth 55$ used? Maybe I should hold on to it... Nope, I have no use for it and would rather give it out to someone who wants it more. I hope to get more than 60$ worth of tips, so tell everyone about the contest. Multiple entries are encouraged, but you only get one chance of winning regardless of entry (he he, I learn). Once again, I'll make a freely available PDF of the combined, edited entries. That means that by entering the contest you are giving me the non-exclusive rights to do this and you also allow me to derive (and keep) ad revenue from the traffic generated by them. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me in the comments or at chattydm@chattydm.net. Thanks in advance! Edit: The contest's deadline has been extended to June 7th. Plus, if you have been refraining from participating because you didn't want to gouge me with shipping fees, here's a deal: As an alternate prize, I will offer a 15$ gift certificate for DrivethruRPG where all kinds of cool Planescape products are. Or, if you live in Europe, Asia or Australia and you are willing to pay for shipping, we can talk.

Chatty's Review: Wii will get you Fit

ChattyDM — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:25:40 +0000

I just guest posted a new review about Wii Fit over at Critical-Hits. Why don't you go and have a look... you might learn just how evil that thing truly is! I love it and my son loves it... he can't wait to recover from his surgery to start playing it again. Enjoy! I may tackle Boom Blox too later this week.

Robin Laws' Revisited: Part 5, Creating your Adventure

ChattyDM — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:44:24 +0000

This post is part of a series where I discuss Robin D Laws' seminal work on GMing: Robin Laws' of Good Game Mastering, written at the end of the 90's . I compare it to my personal experience and opinions and I check how well the guide has 'aged'. The other posts of this series can be found here. If you liked them, I encourage you to purchase Robin's book. With a new edition of D&D around the corner, some GMs have new campaigns on their mind. Others, less inclined to play D&D are setting up their summer games or are playing various RPG products whose available pre-published adventures might be limited. I bet that many from both groups have adventure design on the mind. In fact, July is Worldwide Adventure Writing Month, so I think the timing for tackling the Adventure Creation chapter of Robin's GMing guide is perfect! Let's dive in shall we? Plot Hooks Robin starts by saying that, be they fully detailed module, a few scribbled notes to help you improvise or somewhere in between, your adventure needs to have a clearly defined plot hook. A plot hook is a sentence (that starts with a verb) that lays out what needs to be done. Examples:

Escort the Duchess of Tropia through Orc-infested lands so she can sign peace treaty with the Kingdom of Clee-Shay.
Find the lost tomb/lair of El-Veess the Lich-Bard and stop the enchantment-infused music that is driving the whole continent mad!
Enter the cave, kill the Dragon and fence his hoard
Prevent the marriage of the warrior daughter of the Barbarian King to the half-human scion of the Ophidian Empire.

A simple plot hook makes it easier to players (who aren't privy to your adventure plan) to know what is expected of their characters. It will gave them a clear point of reference to base their first actions on. Of course, you have to ensure to convey this plot hook in a straightforward manner to your players (or their characters) as early as conveniently possible in the adventure. Laws mentions that the plot hook must clearly set out the adventure's 'victory' condition that defines a clear ending. Once those conditions are met, the adventure is over (except maybe for a last epilogue scene). Structure vs Player Type The next part hammers the core point of the whole book: The strategy you take to chose the structure of your depends entirely on your player types. By structure, he means the type of scaffolding on which you build your adventure's flow. He argues that some player types are more inclined to appreciate structured adventures (Storytellers and Method Actors) while others (i.e. Tacticians) supposedly hate any kind of climactic buildup because it defeats the purpose of out planning the opposition to gain a complete victory. However, I feel that the narrative structures you decide to build your adventure upon doesn't have to take player types into account. That is, it doesn't provided you include plot elements and challenges in them that will cater, at least in part, specifically to each type of players you have around your gaming table. So when he says that tacticians hate an adventure whose structure leads him to a big boss fight, I disagree. Just make sure to put in a planning scene where the tactician's decision will have a significant impact on the last scene and you should have a satisfied player. In fact, very few players belong to one player type (thankfully), so feel free to adopt the structure you prefer (I'll get to them shortly) when you design your adventure. In fact, I suggest that you mix and match them based on your campaign needs and the time you can spend prepping. The (myth of the) Unstructured Dungeon The first type of adventure structure is what Robin calls the unstructured adventure, represented by ""the plot-less dungeon" (his words, not mine), where players knock down doors, kill monsters and loot the room. The order of encounters is set by the whim of which area of the adventure the PCs chose to explore. While Robin was careful not to bash this play style, he does mention that Storytellers find this form of adventure insufferable. This is where I got my first point of annoyance with Laws' tips. I understand that by the late 90's, Storytelling games were on the rise and there was an emergence of new design philosophies around new RPGs (or new editions of current ones). However, having played Adv. D&D 1e from quite a few years, I can attest that all published adventures (except possibly the tournament classics of the 'S' series) had plots, although it wasn't spelled out in an 'Adventure background' section. You often had to hunt it down through the room by room descriptions. The Against the Giant series of modules, while very hack and Slashy, had surprising politics, stories and mysteries hidden in the few pages each of these 3 adventures took. I won't dwell too much on this as I'll probably make it a different post, but I really prefer the more modern term of 'Site-based' adventure which can include mindless dungeon crawls but are certainly not limited to such type of gaming. I strongly believe that the site-based adventure has evolved in the last 10 years, incorporating most (if not all) of the other adventure structures Laws' talks about in this chapter. In fact, I invite you to have a look at Paizo's adventures (From the moment they got stewardship of Dungeon Magazine up to and including Pathfinder and Gamemastery modules), the Goodman Games Classic adventures and especially Wizards of the Coast's Dungeonscape to see how 'the Dungeon' has been treated. The Episodic Adventure This form of adventure is a series of unrelated (or thematically themed) encounters presented in an order set by the GM. Similar to an episodic campaign (where one adventure has no obligatory link with the next one), an episodic adventure is basically a linear dungeon where "rooms" can be switched for "scenes". The archetypal episodic adventure would be a trek where static unrelated encounters are met one after the other. Using the 5 room dungeon adventure model as an example I could get:

Plot Hook: Bring back recently freed slaves from mountains back to civilization.
Scene 1: A Group of slavers ambush party in order to recuperate 'stolen goods'.
Scene 2: Avalanche!
Scene 3: Trolls requires an outrageous toll per head to allow passage.
Scene 4: Wolves attacks at night.
Scene 5: Hungry Dragon Family fancying a free meal jumps on ex-Slaves.

While technically well suited for exploration-type games for world-building DMs, I really don't picture myself doing such an adventure often. I could be tempted to use this structure when I need to create a transition adventure between two larger plots. (However, I would use this as a sub-part of an adventure...) The key characteristic of such an adventure structure is that the party's performance in a prior scene has no impact on later ones (except total party kill, unless players can create new PCs). Each scene is a self contained Roleplaying/Combat/Puzzle challenge. I heart the Set-Piece! The Set-Piece is based on a technique used (among other things) in movies/TV shows where the action revolves around a few successive scenes leading up to a big finale (the Set piece). All scenes are built around common areas and NPCs. The first Matrix movie or some of the episodes of the 1st season of Heroes are great examples of the Set-Piece approach (The Save the Cheerleader or the season finale episode comes to mind). In such adventures, you have a central plot idea and a set of characters and 'props' on which you build your scenes. Each scene thematically leads to the next one. Contrary to the episodic structure, what characters achieve in one scene can help or hinder their progress in later scenes. So here's an example, using the same 5 room dungeon/scene approach.

Plot Hook: Rescue kidnapped children taken by a Chaos cult who consider monstrous mutations as signs of divinity (with thanks to Monte Cook's Chaositech).
Scene 1: Character witness and possibly interrupt a kidnapping attempt at an Orphenage
Scene 2: Character Investigate clues to find out who cult is and where it operates
Scene 3: Mutant monsters and cultist minions ambush nosey party
Scene 4: Party finds HQ and Rumble against Mutant Mooks (or possibly sneak in without being noticed)
Scene 5: Boss Fight against Ogre-Sized, Acid-breathing, Wall Climbing Boss (and assorted failed mutant turned into oozes) in a multi-storied underground aqueduct.

This is my natural adventure design philosophy. By combining this with the 5 room/scene approach, I can churn out an adventure in about 2 hours. I even sometime nest an 'unstructured' 5-room dungeon in this (The Cultist's HQ for example) to flesh out the adventure into a 2 sessions arc. While players have choices that can affect the outcome of current or future scenes, the adventure itself remains pretty linear. In fact, since the adventure is linear, Laws' mentions that such adventures must not have choke points where a failed skill roll or missing piece of information prevents the adventure from moving forward. Branching A Branching structure is, according to Laws' the hardest one to pull. It is the true, non-linear adventure. The DM creates his plot hook and the initial scene and tries to work out in advance the most likely outcomes and plans possible (usually 2) scenes that can develop from there. Each scene can then lead to more, branching out the adventure in multiple directions. As you can imagine, this can get out of hand pretty quick, even if 90% of the scenes are improvised by the GM. That's why the various published adventures who try to emulate a branching out structure will either be very light on details, leaving them up to the GMs, which often makes for frustrating reading (been there!) or actually have scenes branching out and then converging back to the 'trunk', creating an hybrid type of structure. You may have guessed already that I think that hybrid = good in my (yet unwritten) book. Puzzle-Piece Puzzle-Piece adventures are a way of creating apparently non-linear adventures while limiting the ammount of work. As the name entails, this is the structure for investigation-type adventures. The GM sets the plot hook, defines the adventure's victory conditions and breaks up the required conditions to achieve victory in bits and pieces. Such bits and pieces are then spread over various locales and NPCs that PCs have to investigate in order to solve the "puzzle". Dante of Stupid Ranger has already tackled this and I invite you to checj it out as I'm close to hitting the 2000 word mark! Suffice it to say that investigation adventures can become some of the most unfun RPG sessions when they start running in circles or when Players start pixel bitching each and every scenes. GMs using such an adventure structure are encouraged to keep a sharp eye on his player's enjoyment level, pacing and should really hand out far more clues than what one usually expects to solve a puzzle. In the end, whatever the structure you chose, Robin Laws hammers repeatedly that Whatever the Structure you use, Tailor the adventure's content to your player's tastes. Yeah, it's like the take home message of the whole book. This post has run long enough. I'll post a follow up article soon that distills my 'Adventure Prep' series to extract my personal adventure designing philosophy as I tend to disagree with some of Robin's approach to adventure design. Bottom line is that you should pick and chose any structure, including combining them in the same adventures in order to be able to create the adventure that you feel like prepping and that your players will enjoy the most. Any other adventure structures out there that have evolved since? Feel free to share!

robins-laws

ChattyDM — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:41:29 +0000

Campaign Post Mortem: Part 1, Highlights and links

ChattyDM — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:03:49 +0000

I was taught in Project Management classes (I did 6 months of them) that it's good practice and useful to go over a completed project and do what is called a Post-Mortem analysis. Well my last D&D 3.5 campaign has been completed for more than 2 weeks and I thought, while I await for my new 4e Core Books, that now is a perfect time to do so. I won't get into the actual analysis tonight, but I'll post the campaign's Elevator Pitch and the highlights so that late readers can follow without reading the thousands and thousands of words I wrote on this game. Campaign Elevator Pitch: Four survivors of the Sphere-wars converge on Ptolus, teaming up with a local noble with a mysterious past. They are determined to end the threat of the Yugoloth Shadowlords who scheme over the destruction of this ravaged world. The Sphere-Wars were alignment-based interplannar conflicts centered around our homegrown gameworld,. It was the focus of a previous campaign. Campaign Highlights: Four Characters were brought together, united in their fight against the Neutral Evil Fiends trying to take over the ravaged world. A fifth character, a super-human warrior escaped from a Prison world joined them in Ptolus. Arc 1: Getting severely beaten by an incursion of Fiends, the characters retreated, regrouped, made new allies and vanquished the expeditionary force. Arc 2: Investigating a new Drug appearing on the streets of Ptolus, the PCs uncover the existence of an alien entity that mutates humanoids into plant-like bipedal extension of it's consciousnesses. Entity is vanquished, but not before it transforms a human Dragon Shaman into a 1/2 Dragon Barbarian! Arc 3: PCs uncover a Xanathos Roulette plot to take over the world by the Neutral Evil Fiends, The Drow Spider Goddess and a Demon Prince. World is saved from absorption into the Abyss. However, it is being destroyed while the Great Planar Wheel collapses. It is saved by fusing with the Beastlands and linking with the Realm of Shadow, creating a tri-plannar world. As a reference please find the combined links to my whole campaign: The Adventure Prepping Posts

The Campaign Log Posts

Up Next: In the next post, I'll review the big decisions that drove this campaign (and their consequences). Also, using my usual lists, I'll go over what I feel my players liked and disliked most about the campaign. I'll try to quiz them on it too. I'll finish up with my campaign-wide lessons learned.

evil-overlord

The Crunch Overlord — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:53:49 +0000

The Overlord Welcomes 4e! Crunch Wins!

The Crunch Overlord — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:56:16 +0000

Please take this post with the necessary grain of salt. See my comment below the post. Ahhh it's been a long time now has it? What? You don't know who I am? I am the dark power behind Chatty's feverish prose. I'm his id, his darkest desires made thoughts! While he tries real hard to be balanced, fair and open to such ridiculous concepts as 'Shared-narrative' 'stories' and other RPGs than D&D, I'm the honest one here. It's always been about mechanics, die rolls, power accumulation and so on. All in the name of " The Rule of Cool" (Pfaa!) For I am the Crunch Overlord, and I'm here to say that I won! Mwa HA HA HA! With the inevitable advent of D&D 4e, I can finally come out of the obscurity and announce that my plan was a rousing success. Crunch wins and fluff lost. Even my Nemesis is, as we speak, working at a 4e adventure! I mean, Chatty's little Characterizations tips contest isn't garnering much participation now is it? He offers a 50$ prize (you know you can sell it on Ebay if you don't need it, right?) and it got a mere 8 entries after 4 days! You want proof that Crunch won? Here's an example from the most overlordy of Cleric spells: Command! In the 1st edition of the game (taken from the Old School Reference & Index Compilation)

Command: By speaking a single word of command with the force of divine power behind it, the cleric may force a creature to obey the order. The creature must be able to hear the cleric and understand the language in which he utters the command. The command may be only one word and must be completely unambiguous. "Halt," "Flee," and "Sleep" are typical commands, but many others arepossible. The command "Die" has the same effect as the command to "Sleep". Creatures with intelligence of 13+ and/or hit dice of 6+ gain a saving throw against the spell's influence.

Bla bla bla! Now in 3.x (From the d20 SRD):

Command: You give the subject a single command, which it obeys to the best of its ability at its earliest opportunity. You may select from the following options. Approach: On its turn, the subject moves toward you as quickly and directly as possible for 1 round. The creature may do nothing but move during its turn, and it provokes attacks of opportunity for this movement as normal. Drop: On its turn, the subject drops whatever it is holding. It can’t pick up any dropped item until its next turn. Fall:On its turn, the subject falls to the ground and remains prone for 1 round. It may act normally while prone but takes any appropriate penalties. Flee: On its turn, the subject moves away from you as quickly as possible for 1 round. It may do nothing but move during its turn, and it provokes attacks of opportunity for this movement as normal. Halt: The subject stands in place for 1 round. It may not take any actions but is not considered helpless. If the subject can’t carry out your command on its next turn, the spell automatically fails.

Can you feel the restraints of game mechanics choking the flexibility out of the description? Now in 4e (*):

Command: Attack: Wisdom vs. Will Hit: The target is dazed until the end of your next turn. In addition, you can choose to knock the target prone or slide the target a number of squares equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.

Isn't this the most beautiful, concise, description possible for this spell? And let's face it, it's what people have been doing with this spell for 30 years with the possible exception of forcing a monster from dropping it's hand held weapon. Any DM worth his salt could have argued that drop is vague enough as a one command word to be interpreted at least 2 ways (i.e. Fall down or Drop what's in your hand). So there you have it. Almost all of the PCs powers are for combat use and are explained with minimalist but oh so crunchy prose. My Fluff-inclined minions (that I keep nearby to better watch my ennemies) have pointed out that there is flavour text for all of 4e's powers, but seriously, who reads those? In fact, D&D finally embraces it's role as a Combat Roleplaying Game and that makes me so happy! I've won dear Mr. Baur! See you at 5th edition's launch in 8-10 years. * Yes I've seen the Core Books, don't ask me how because I won't tell. I'm perfectly aware of how thin the ice I'm skating on is, I will assume the consequences if any. Buy the books!

dmg

ChattyDM — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:17:09 +0000

4e a Bestseller, the Leak and Community Service for Naughty Geeks

ChattyDM — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:19:07 +0000

Well well, D&D 4e is already such a huge success that WotC have re-sent the books to the printers before the release! I truly am happy about that since I was worried that the appearance of the pre-press printer files of the Core books on the net would cause a dent in demand. It's now not much of a secret that any lucky or enterprising geek (or anyone with such friend) as had the Core Book in one form or since the last 48 hours or so. I'm not going to comment much on the leak only to say that I'm astounded at the speed those files have been spreading! I'm starting to believe that we'll all need to rethink how we perceive and protect intellectual property because the Net is making things far to easy. And I don't think that policing and barriers are the way to go. I'm not qualified to give out solutions, suffice it to say that in the realm of Role Playing rules book, I'm in no way ready to use PDFs at the game table, I want physical books... and Hardcovers trumps printed PDFs! So here's what I propose all naughty geeks do to atone for this anticipation-fueled indiscretion: Why don't you call your FLGS and ask if they need help with D&D Games Day that is scheduled for Saturday June 7? If you are a DM (full or part time) go and offer to be a DM for the day. Chances are they will accept. Plus as an added bonus, you'll get to read and play an exclusive adventure written for that day! If you have liked what you saw in the Core Books, it's time to share the enthusiasm and show how awesome that game can be to others who aren't so sure yet! I just called my FLGS (Librairie Donjon in Montréal) and I asked the manager if he wanted me to DM for Games Day and he was very happy I offered. So If you live in the Montreal Region and want to have a game DMed by the Chatty one, call Frederick Alexandre at Donjon (514-387-8510) to subscribe to my game! I know Graham is doing it in Winnipeg. Are there others that have already signed up or that are considering it? I strongly believe that if you got to see the books early, you owe it to yourself to become an herald of the new game :) Have a great weekend people. I can't wait to start designing Solo monsters and Elite NPCs!

Chatty's Initial Thoughts on 4e

ChattyDM — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:41:45 +0000

I've decided that I won't review the 4e Core Books. I will probably do a few 'Chatty on 4e' and 'Chatty's Debate' posts on things in the core but I won't review them. Part of this is because my way of doing reviews tend to be pretty massive. I'd end up with a multi-parter series for each book that would take this way past the period people cared about it. Secondly is that as much as I like reading it right now, I really need to play the damn game and make my own mind as I keep alternating between anticipation and slight irritation as I read things (Especially the DMG). But heres a few of tidbits from what I gleaned so far. PHB:

Races are all cool, even the half elf (who gets to learn and use another class' power)
The Magic Item "economy" is different. Anyone can buy magic Item, if you can work out how with your DM...If you can't, well just buy a ritual and make your own! But buying and making it is the exact same cost (+ paying for the ritual). Selling magic item, or disenchanting it into components, yields exactly 20% of its market value.
The Vorpal weapon is awesome, You get a bunch of extra dice of damage on crits or using it's daily power. On top of that, whenever you play max damage with it (not just while doing a crit), you get to reroll damage and add it up. You keep re-rolling as long as you play maximum damage. Here's to hoping to see a player break the Bell Curve!
You get to a swap powers, skills or feat (max one per level) whenever you level up.

The DMG (partly read):

Written by James Wyatt, I don't quite like his writing style but once I got over it I was okay. This is not Monte Cook (3.0 DMG) or Robin Laws (1st part of 3.5 DMG II) whose styles I'm more in line with.
The way he proposes to deal with Rules Lawyers is shocking but possibly quite effective (let him step out of the game, fading his character out, for as long as he looks in the book, missing out on the game without keeping others from playing)
Monster mod and creation is truly easy and useful. Templates take minutes to apply. NPCs can be full characters or Faked ones where simple stats and hand picked powers simulate a full character.
Random tables are gone. Make your own or start an Imprint and make PDFs full of random tables if you like them... If they are good you will make money.
Treasure attribution is highly structured (I'd say even clinical), see previous comment.

I had a 3 paragraph long rant about the absence of the second Rule 0 (1st one is: Everybody must have fun, it's there all right) which is "Feel free to ignore rules and/or make your own". Then I decided to properly research my rant lest I get a (well deserved) stern remonstrance by my Winnipeg buddy. On page 189, there's actually a full section on House Rules and how to approach them (with quite sensible suggestion of thinking things throughly). So Rule 0 is there, in the following form:

If you disagree with how the rules handle something, changing them is within your rights

More important, do the other players agree to the need for a change? You have the authority to do whatever you want with the game, but your efforts won’t help if you have no group.

While the suggestions above is sensible, the key philosophy of this book is that it does not try to picture the DM's as a figure of authority but more like a partner and an interpreter of the rules. I think that is a wrong move (or at least it paints an incomplete picture). As I discussed in my 4 stages series, the partner DM is a later, natural evolution of a norming gaming group. The more supervisor-like DM is a necessity earlier in the group's 'career'. The needs of less experienced, less cohesive groups should have been addressed. Once again, it's a question of style. James Wyatt and I are describing the same elephant from different angles. Not a deal breaker... but it is making my reading of the DMG more arduous than any GMing book I have read since the 2e DMG. YMMV. It is filled with good, sensible DMing advice but somehow it seems to be smeared in brussel sprout paste and I need to digest it before seeing it for what it is. I get to finally play Keep on the Shadowfell next Friday, I really can't wait. We'll use the pre-gens as this is going to be an exercise in learning the rules. Players are also encouraged to trade PCs between encounters to get to see what each one does. We'll see how it goes. So there you go... I managed to make it into some sort of review after all...sigh. Have a nice week!

dartboard

ChattyDM — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:39:39 +0000

young_silver_dragon

ChattyDM — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:56:04 +0000

Contest Season... and Pimp your site.

ChattyDM — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:58:55 +0000

No true post tonight. I'm reading the D&D Game Day adventure (titled Into the Shadowhaunt) to prepare for a full day of DMing. I won't spoil it but I can tell you that you should get a D&D mini that represents the pre-generated character you will choose (one of 5) on Saturday. So call your FLGS and register for a game! Oh and I scored a Large Silver Dragon in my last D&D Dungeons of Dread minis booster box! Woot! Here's a few new community projects to make up for my lack of Chattyness. The Propagandroid's Wiki! My new blogging buddy Propagandroid of the Gamer Dome has created a Game Design Wiki to bring together creative types to works on RPGs (Rules and Settings), Board games and Card games. He's giving out a copy of the 2nd Edition of the Talisman game or the d20 A Game of Thrones among those who join. Is the Pen mightier than the Sword? James and Harry (see James? I named you first) of Men with Pens have created a new web site called Escaping Reality. It's a new experiment for those who want to explore creative writing in the form of an online Role Playing game (like you see on some forums). They have also created a Blog specifically for this endeavor and have posted a contest to get people started! They are giving out a lot of World of Darkness prizes. It's a shame I can't spend more time online, 'cuz I'd have been there! Chatty's own contest! Also don't forget about my own contest, open until June 7th where I asked you to provide me with Story tricks and tips for characters. Pimp your Website here! Finally, I haven't been able to keep up much as a community promoter. So I'd lke to invite readers with blogs to leave a comment here and pimp their site or recent posts. Feel free to leave links. While your comments may get eaten up by my Spam filter, I'll re-instate them... Which in turn will supposedly teach my new plugin (Defensio) to recognize true comments from spam. See you later this week.

game-day-banner

ChattyDM — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:40:35 +0000

Chatty's Worldwide D&D Game Day

ChattyDM — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:46:17 +0000

On Saturday June 7th, FLGS around the world will celebrate the launch of 4th Edition with a Day long demo of the newest ruleset of D&D. As I said earlier this week, I think it's the best occasion for those who have been fervent hopefuls or downright 4e fans to share their enthusiasm by showing the game to new players. I thought I'd take a few minutes to share a few scoop to push along those sitting on the Fence about DMing or trying the game out on that day. I won't spoil anything major but I will give you a few choice tidbits. There is a never before published D&D 4e adventure called 'Into the Shadowhaunt' that is available for free at your FLGS if you sign up to DM". It's a 15 page booklet that features a short adventure hook and 4 encounters. While it is no Story-telling adventure (it would be hypocritical to expect an intro D&D adventure to be) it isn't a hack and slash fest either. It features a puzzle, actual choices to be made by PCs that affect the whole adventure, traps and combat challenges. All are clever and seemingly interesting and all exist in a dynamic environment. The Battle map is made out of a photographic montage of existing D&D tiles and serves as a perfect example for DMs to use this product to build a whole dungeon. Players get to choose between 5 pre-generated characters sheets, complete with a painted D&D miniature that players get to keep! (I also saw that each miniature has the appropriate D&D miniature card). In fact, I believe it to be a better adventure than Keep on the Shadowfell, but then again, I've always preferred 5 room dungeon-types of adventures. I expect it to last about 2-3 hours. But that's not all. For those who survive the adventure, there is a second part, a one encounter mini-adventure, called 'Against the White Dragon' (The title doesn't leave out a lot now does it?). This one should last another hour and showcases just how fearsome the game's namesake critter is! (Yes, we're talking about 1st level PCs taking on a Large Dragon... I expect it to be a very hard challenge, potentially a TPK but not for brilliant players that work well together) Now here's the real scoop. DMs who accept to run the adventure get to keep everything that WotC offers to run it! This means:

Both adventures
A double sided battlemap featuring the D&D tile dungeon on one side and a reprint of one of the Frostfell Rift Fantastic Location.
All the monster and NPC minis (That's 9) including an exclusive Large White Dragon (I sure can't see it in the Dungeons of Dread checklist)!

So if you'd like to get these things and are willing to DM with strangers for one day, ask your FLGS tomorrow and get the adventure a few days in advance so you can get to read it. However, do expect to have to deal with some anti 4e flak and a constant stream of 'but that's just like Warcraft', 'it's just crunch and no fluff' and other easily thrown comments like that. While there is no doubt that 4e will be a bigger success than 3.0, this is a game that needs to be played, digested and pondered on before it gets adopted. Being a herald for the major changes that 4e brings is not going to be an easy job, but I'm willing to take that challenge, I hope some of you will too. In fact, I bet that I get to sell a bunch of Player's Handbook that day. I'll even go as far as making the pledge that I will have each of the players in my games say 'this is so cool' at least once... (no bet for bad faith haters!) Wish me luck!

lom_header

ChattyDM — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:07:48 +0000

Afterschool Tropes Special: The Campaign as a British TV Series

ChattyDM — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:18:00 +0000

This trope post is going to be a bit different. Instead of applying tropes to characters or adventures, why not explore a few tropes that could apply to the actual structure of a campaign? As I'm pondering about my last campaign, I decided that I would spare you the analysis and discuss the key lesson I learned from it here. You see, my campaigns have almost always crashed before we concluded them (the last one nearly did). There are always multiple reasons for them but mostly, I think it's because they run longer than the writer's capacity to fuel them, and by writer, I meant me, the DM. Then I started to think of my campaigns as a TV series. I started comparing just how much they tended to resemble long-running American TV series. Very much like these shows, Seasonal rot often set in our campaigs. (That's when a series takes a bad turn in terms of plot choices and ends up leading to a bad season, think Battlestar Galactica Season 3) Then, this year, I discovered the joys of British Brevity with Life on Mars and Spaced. In such shows, seasons last just 6-8 episodes and then we're done. I also recalled Tommi's Burning Vikings campaign... ...and I had an epiphany! I always have been making my campaign based on long plotlines. TV Tropes calls this..

The Story Arc A story arc (a contraction of "over-arcing storyline") is a sequence of episodes that puts characters through their paces in response to a single impetus; basically, an ongoing storyline. This can be a few episodes, an entire season, or even the focus of the entire series.

However, while I tend to spring for Myth Arc (i.e. really long story arcs), I find myself stuck with limited time to prep and occasional bouts of the White Page syndrome. In such cases, I often have to hunt down pre-published adventures with no link to the story arc (or a tenuous one at best). While I sometimes can hack them to fit into the storyline, more often than not it jars with campaign continuity. I also often end up taking a series of questionable decisions, like adding strange sourcebooks and merging genres and mechanics in the campaign. I do this without thinking about the consequences and I invariably find myself struggling with a campaign so complex and full of loose threads that I become discouraged with it and just feel like abandoning it... This in turns affects my enthusiasm and makes the game less fun than it could be. Memo to Self... you also tend to do that with your jobs Phil. Oh shut up Freud, I'm writing here! Anyhow, as I sat there watching Life on Mars, I pondered: Why not make shorter campaigns around a specific Story Arc? Let's say 5 to 6 four hours game sessions based around a core idea I can describe in 10 words of less. (See my guest post on that at Johnn Four's Roleplaying Tips). With such a short span, my core idea will remain to the front and not be derailed by a random adventure or me adding things... I could now afford to wait a few weeks to add new material in the next mini campaign. Also, if I decide to take a published adventure, I can make the adventure the actual story arc without having to worry about long term plots and such. So basically this would make my campaigns modeled after British TV series. At the same time, why not allow players to choose if they want to play a new character or keep the same one in the next campaign? This would basically make each campaign a "season" of the series. Characters would progress in their power level from campaign to campiagn, each new character being at the same levels as the others in the party. Then at the end of our gaming year, we decide if we continue with that model, Keep the structure but start at the bottom of the power tree again or abandon it and purchase/play a classic adventure path. Yeah... that could work. What I really like about this approach is that I can let time pass between those mini campaigns and allow players to decide what it is their characters (retired or not) did during that time. This would allow marriages to be had, children to be born, treaties to be negotiated, businesses to be run. If a player decides that a character should retire, so be it... he will be until he/she decides to call upon him in a later campaign. Then when we all agree to a timeline to start the action once anew, the characters become heroes again. Others can also rise to the challenge: nephews, sisters, spouses and friends of ex PCs. Alternatively, new heroes could join the returning heroes. I feel a lot of possibilities. From a more gamist D&D 4e perspective (how's that for an oxymoron?) , such a model would allow players to experiment new characters and get to use new sourcebooks as they become available. This would allow the gaming group to infuse newness in the game without waiting for the end of a long season (or a character's death) to switch. I feel that such a campaign model would be ideal for our upcoming D&D 4e games. I'm not too concerned with continuity as those who long for it can keep the same character over a long time. That being said, nothing prevents the DM from doing a little bit of Arc Welding and tacking on a Myth Arc to the emerging stories that results from these short adventure... Much like reader MAK proposed in my little characterization tips contest (still a few days to participate!). So am I onto something good or am I missing something... are there disadvantages I fail to see that can bite us with such a model? Let me know!

gnomemonster

ChattyDM — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:53:59 +0000

X-mas in June: D&D 4e is out!

ChattyDM — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:56:37 +0000

It's 5h45 AM and I can't wait for Pierre-Luc (of ZeStuff) to open the doors to his Warehouse Store at 10h00 am so I can pick up my D&D 4e hardcovers. I know most of you have seen it, but Scott Rouse of WotC has made you all a series of notes allowing you to ditch work/school/chores so you could get your books and start playing right freaking now. Tonight my whole gaming crew will be there to try out the game. I'm going to play the Game Day adventure and add a Warlord or Warlock to the lineup of characters. Hopefully we get to play it all and I get to break out my Silver Dragon mini to stage the 'Against the White Dragon' adventure. So for those who are buying the books, how are you going to spend your day? Admit it, none of you are going to be working very hard now are you (That's why I'm up so early, so I can get work done before diving in the books). Here's to a new era of D&D. I hope it's as fun and as interesting as prior editions were and totally free of .5!

I have them! 4e books!

ChattyDM — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:02:38 +0000

Expect a ton of mini posts in the next few days as I chronicle my 4e Experience. I have them, still shrink wrapped! Woot! I just got back home from ZeStuff (the main sponsor of this here blog) where I picked up 2 Core Sets, 5 Players Handbooks and 1 Dungeon Master Guide. Pierre-Luc was nice enough to offer me a Core Set so I'll post reviews/playtest of each in the next week or so expect a few reviews/playtest reports in the following days (Thanks man, you guys rock!). I also got a nice dungeon floor-colored Vinyl Battlemap, such a nice cool gift. Now I'm off to crack the wrapping and get drunk on that new book smell.

Playing 4e: Initial Thoughts

ChattyDM — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:17:08 +0000

Are you hungry for a review? Check Martin Ralya's over at Gnome Stew, mine will come later (in one form or another). I got to play a few hours of D&D 4e last night with the D&D Game Day adventure. We were 7 (1 DM, 6 players). Here are a few tidbits: The Good

From a fluff perspective, it feels like D&D to us. Fighting iconic monsters, getting hit by traps and solving riddles... yup same feeling.
Mechanically, it feels like late D&D 3.5 with all characters playing from the Tome of Battle (which I loved).
Players feel competent in regards to skills, like we did playing 1st level Iron Heroes.
Critical hits are awesomely easy and fun.
You understand what 'striker' means when a 1st level Rogue crits for 38 points of damage. So Cool.
Combos!!!!!!!!! Sleep + Rogue Coup de Grace
Simple Monster stats! I never opened the Monster Manual
Monster powers are varied and gives each monster a specific flavor (my fear of monsters being stick figures with fluff rubber suits was unfounded) .
The tactical fog of war caused by monsters readying actions when players don't know what powers they have makes for great virtual control of the battlemap
The Players Handbook organization is perfect for playing and reminds me of the Rules Compendium. We wasted very little time finding rules even though this was a new game! (Having 7 copies around the table helped).
Traps are fiendish and stay a threat over a period of time.
A trap in combat is evil!
Clerics are cool to play again... being both helpful in combat and as a healer.
Warlords are Dragon Shaman made right. A perfect mix of combat effectiveness and party interaction.
Wizards are area effect machines. Waves of Thunder (I forget the proper term, my stuff is still in the car) is a great crowd control spell.
Fighters and Paladins are true tanks that can dish out and absorb damage.
Second wind, Healing Words, Healing Strike... ALL GOOD!
Combat goes around faster as players adapt to the new rules and power.
Bull rushing is easy!
Crossing obstacles are now explained in the adventure itself. Ex: DC 15 atheltics and 4 squares of movement to climb a 10' pedestal.

The Bad:

Since fights last longer number of rounds, unlucky players feel that they miss all the time and it gets a bit frustrating. I had a few 'what's the use' and 'my bonus sucks' events... usually right before a critical hit or a perfect sneak attack.
Monsters have a gazzillion HP, that's why fights take so many rounds. It's not bad but two 86 hp monster in a level 1 fight is a concept that is hard to come with.
Monsters dish out a LOT of damage and PCs can be dropped to bloodied in the first round in fights w/o minions.
Players that open multiple doors in low level dynamic dungeons are asking for suicide... our 2 tanks explored a corridor while the rogue was opening a door... players had to do Boss fight and intermediate fight at the same time!!!
Corollary to the last point, since all encounters are designed to be a challenge for a party, multiple encounters at the same time can be lethal.
I killed a PC when a construct had an attack that sent a PC prone and a follow up one when he went down. I could not bring myself to do the gamist thing and skip the second attack on the already KO PC... and I killed him because he went over the 'minus bloodied' point.
It remains unclear how powers affect non creatures. Can the Wave of Thunder area attack tip a sacrophagus where a DC15 Str check could? The power says 'target creature'.... Can you blast a door with it?
Players always assume that the second wind power is a minor action.

Conclusion The game is a definitive winner. It remains to be seen if we will grow weary of fighting mechanics... I guess that if we do, this will foster more RPing . That's it for now. I'll post my actual play later. Now people are getting up and I just realized that I slept only 5 hours (but then again, Graham has been playing for over 14 hours, see here)

victoryandlooting

ChattyDM — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:21:58 +0000

Playing 4e: Game Day recap and DMing 4e Musings

ChattyDM — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:27:53 +0000

So I spent all day Saturday at my local Game Store, called Libraire Donjon, in Northern Montreal. I DMed the Worldwide D&D Game Day adventure. I thought I'd make a post where I freely mix and match play reports from both games I played, adding semi-random DMing thoughts in the mix... Read at your own risk! I decided to play it in 'open DM' format as suggested by Jonathan Tweet here. It means giving the players all the metrics of the game whenever a dice roll was played to portray how the game works. So I always said how high Defenses were, what attack bonuses I had and the DC of rolls. I also played all rolls openly. When a player wanted to try something I explained the numbers needed to be rolled and gave the player the choice to reconsider. It made the game more clinical and gameboardy, but my goal as a DM was to show the engine of the game, not engage the player in a meaningful narrative or fudge dice rolls. The adventure, written specifically for this day, was called 'Into the Shadowhaunt'. It starts with the usual assumptions for Con-type games:

Party as been together for some time
Mission has been given and PCs are ready to leave.

Said mission is: Widowed silversmith has had both sons kidnapped and taken to abandoned Mausoleum in wilderness, please find them. I had players wanting to buy stuff with the up front reward and others wanting to gather more intel on the mission. I got to crack open my PHB and notice that there are no oil flasks in D&D 4e. Nor any other alchemical items other than a sunrod! Still a player wanted a small barrel of oil, so listening to the Rule of Fun, I made stats for it on the spot. Here are they are:

Barrel of Oil, 5 gp, 5 lbs, allows you to create a Flaming Oil Slick Hazard. Standard Action to create a Blast 3 oil slick (you pour the oil or break the barrel near you), Minor action to light it with torch or Flint/Steel Flaming Oil Slick, Hazard Attack: +6 vs Ref, deals 2d6 fire damage. Attack occurs whenever a creature enters starts it's turn in the flaming area or enters it. Lasts for the duration of the encounter.

This was so easy to do on the fly. I had to make a few more calls like that and they came easily and made sense. The knowledge skill rolls gave a bit more info on the bad guys and the mausoleum. Fast forward to the mausoleum (some players were a bit surprised about the lack of 'random' encounter on the way). Boring granite building, door slightly opened, signs of recent traffic... Inside were 6 featureless sarcophagi, alcoves with statues of gods of Good and an obelisk with the names of the people interred here. A secret door is found on the obelisk but no obvious opening mechanism. After a few minutes of searching, a shadowy spirit rises from the floor and rasps a riddle about sinisters and sons and sires. With some slight DM guidance, players from both groups worked out that the statues needed to be moved in a certain pattern so the secret door could open, revealing some stairs. Fridge Logic Aside: How did the BBEG get in the dungeon below if the statues weren't already correctly placed? Such thoughts are toxic to proper 4e appreciation. I assumed that the spirit, semi-controlled by the villain, "reset" the puzzle. Moving on. Spirit appears satisfied and sinks back in floor. It appeared in various other scenes, asking PCs for specific things... working it's way to friendlier status when PCs complied... It's final disposition toward players determined how helpful it was in the last scene (possibly attacking the Boss) Stairs lead to a room with 2 exit blocked by 2 sarcophagus on which rested a pair of lanterns. 2 Hobgoblins armed with longbows were waiting behind, ready to rumble. Now here's the 1st taste of 4e combat for all 11 players I DMed through this over 2 days:

Hobgoblins had close to 30 hp
The sarcophagus were filled with oil and the covers were weakened... stepping on them caused the cover to break and the lantern and PC to fall in 2 feet of oil.... Whoosh!
The Sarcophagus could be toppled to create a 3X3 flaming oil slick... by either the hobbos or the players.

Putting traps in encounters has always been a good idea in prior editions, but traps used to be one-off bear-trap kind of things. Those sarcophagus were props that changed the tactical aspects of the encounter. They provided cover, were hard to cross and could be interacted with. They were absolutely awesome. Here's a few things that happened with them:

Players could jump over them or climb over carefully (if unlit) with athletics checks.
The rogue PC asked to use Acrobatics, I allowed it instead of athletics (tumbling over the sarcophagus) and I got to witness a rogue trying to cartwheel, slip and dive head first in flaming oil!
A fighter shield-rushed one and toppled it on a hapless hobgoblin, producing the first 4e fried Hobbo crisp®. Yum!
A wizard used Mage Hand to hold the lantern in place while another PCs broke the cover and stepped in oil.
The same wizard later used Thuderwave on the hobbos and the sarcophagus... I wasn't sure if this could topple it, so I instead ruled that it sent the lantern flying.
Now that I got to think about it more, I'd allow an Intelligence check vs DC 15 to allow tipping the sarcophagus with that power.... what say you?

Can you see how much interaction occurred with that trap? It was sheer Rule of Fun genius! Behind the Hobgoblins was a natural corridor that that lead to a large cavern featuring a diabolical-themed double door and an exit deeper in the complex (both were actually quite close). Now in both instances that I played this, the rogue went to study the locked door while the Noisy armour clad PCs when to investigate the exit. (I think this is a disadvantage of playing exploration with Miniatures... players focus on different features because they all want to do something) The exit led directly to the room where the dungeon's boss (a Necromancer-like elf) was standing on a 10'X10'X10' 2 sqX2sqx2sq pedestal reading a tome and protected by a magic circle. Before the rogue could do anything more than look for traps, the noisy PCs got noticed by the Necromancer and 4 skeleton warriors fanned out from behind the pedestal. Initative! In both games, the Elf played rather early in the initiative track and was able to activate the 2 Animated statues that sat behind the closed double doors (and open the lock doors). Those statues were exceedingly badasses and way more dangerous than the actual Boss! They were level 2 Elite Brutes with 86 hp!!! Each had a trio of powers that might have been a tad bit to lethal:

Smash a PC to send him prone to the floor by attacking his Fortitude (2d6+3 dmg)
Follow up as a free action with a 'kick them when they are down' attack (2d6+3 dmg)
If a prone PC gets up while adjacent to a statue, statue attacks automatically, makes PC prone again and ends the PCs turn (yup, 2d6+3 more damage).

That's just too evil! That's why I'm happy to have read the part of the DMG that mentionned that you shouldn't spring "gotcha" attacks against PCs. Whenever a player was knocked prone (it happened a lot), I mentionned that the statue seems to be twitching and get ready for them to get back up. Thus, I never had to use the 3rd attack because players found other ways to get up without gettig smashed again. In both instances I played this large encounter, the Boss was ineffectual and served more as an exercise in trying to push him off the platform (I made successful saves each time so the elf spent most of the fight prone on the pedestal). However, the 29 hp skeletons with longswords and the pair of animated statues were lethal. In my first game, I had a Rule of Fun brainfart. After knocking my friend playing the Paladin out (I had 6 players the 1st time, so we used the Keep on the Shadowfell ) I did the follow up kicking attack and ended up killing the PC... depriving my buddy from playing in the next 2 hours. The DMG explicitely mentions that you should ignore fallen PCs to concentrate on conscious ones to make the game more fun for players and allow the extra tactical complication of having to deal with monsters and dying PCs. Say what you will, but I happen to agree. I did so in the second game and it worked like a charm. After 1 hour of fighting, all PCs were down to single digit HPs and no more healing. It really felt like old school D&D when the next hit could kill a PC outright. Let me tell you that such dire situations forces players to learn the freaking rules fast and become creative. At a certain point all players were prone and/or dying. The wizard player piped up and told all the others to play dead. He then asked me if he could use Ghost Sound to mimic armoured people walking up the initial corridor (he had like of sight to the entrance to the large cavern. Ahhh the Rule of Cool sang to my DM ears and I sent the remaining 2 skeletons and both Statues running for 2 rounds, allowing most PCs to be healed and regroup in a defensive position. My 1st group managed to win with only one casualty. My 2 Brilliant planners (called Thinkers in the 4e DMG) were playing a Warlord and a Thief and they caught on the true role of the striker and the synergies created by a leader class that can move PCs on his turn. Also they controlled the battlefield by remaining in the same area all close together. Oh yeah, the 6th PC helped a lot... While I added an extra Hobgoblin in the 1st encounter, I left the encounters as in for the rest. The second group's rogue failed to be able to flank the statues and the needed damage output to kill them never materialized. Of course being only 5 PCs fighting a 2 fronted battle in 2 rooms didn't help at all. That's why I ended up killing all but one PCs. They all died by failed death saving throws or crushed under the Cave in trap triggered by the rogue freeing the boys found in the animated statues rooms and running for it, the last remaining Animated Statue (with 30 remaining HP) in hot pursuit. Both game lasted about 4 hours. I didn't get to play the White Dragon scenario as the players decided to leave.... Awwww. 4e Verdict I like it a lot! It's an entirely new action role playing game based on common elements of prior editions. I love how fluid and fast the action can get, how easy it is to adjudicate actions not directly covered by the rules. All calls felt natural and players agreed to my proposed calls without debate. I adopted 4e once and for all sometime during the afternoon of my 2nd game... Here I was with complete strangers (most of which had no intention to switch to 4e), killing their PCs and still seeing excitement, trepidation and fun on all their faces. Well except one, but he kept complaining of being screwed by the dice and more or less doubting that I could play so many 20s without cheating. :) I'm going to be taking a D&D break for a few weeks. With summer coming, I don't know when my buddies and I will reconvene. At worse, I'll start again in August. During that time I have a lot of reading to do. Cheers and have a great week.

question

ChattyDM — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:35:54 +0000

D&D 4e Questions

ChattyDM — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:36:33 +0000

Heather from The Things They Still Carry has a few questions remaining from her first D&D 4e games. Here they are:

I spent some time flipping through some of the Core set today as well as reading some of the DM Guide for the Keep adventure. My reading answered some questions and presented more. There are currently 3 that stand out in my mind.

Healing Skill - I think I understand now that one use of healing skill is First Aid. I assume that First Aid applies some kind of healing to an adjacent ally. How does this work? Does it use the other players healing surge if the check is successful? Or is there a die roll to determine the number of hit points added to the hurt ally? If so, which die? I assume this can be done while in combat as a standard action? Is there a limit to the number of times assuming the person succeeds in the check? Also, how is the DC for a healing skill determined?

Perception Check - This is a question specifically regarding the Keep adventure (potential spoiler). The kolbolds ambush the players at some point in the adventure. The DM Guide calls for you to ask the players to make a Perception Check with a DC of 25. I understand that you want the DC to be hard and 25 counts as hard but I'm looking at the premade characters and unless I just do not understand how the perception check works, it seems only 1 can possibly pass the check and that is only with a roll of 20. My understanding of the perception check is that the players have to meet or beat the DC. So, in this case, they would have to make a 25 or better by rolling a d20 and adding their perception modifier. One character in the premade characters has a perception check bonus of +5. If he rolled perfect, he would not be surprised but no one else in the party stands a chance. Am I missing something? Am I misinterpreting something? I agree it should be hard (otherwise there is no point in an ambush) but this seems just about impossible (for 4 premade PC people it is impossible).

Fortitude, Will and Reflex Defense - I understand that say an enemy makes a magic attack against a PC that instead of AC it might attack reflex. The enemy has to roll the d20 higher than the reflex defense figure of the PC it is trying to attack. Maybe this was a table rule specific to this particular DM (like the critical failures where I kept hitting myself in the damned head) but there were many times when I was asked to roll a d20. Supposing my Fortitude Defense was 12, I had to roll under 12 in order to be saved from damage. There was once I rolled in order to determine whether I took full or half damage. Is this a save roll? If it is a save roll am I mistaken in thinking that by 4e rules you just have to roll better than a 10 to be saved? My interpretation of the rules thus far have made it seem that the defense figures appear to be different versions of AC for different attacks and the save roll seems to be unrelated to the defense in this edition.

I started answering in her blog but then I thought we'd all be better served by some cross-blog pollination and allow all readers to take a stab at these questions and maybe add their own to the mix. Here's my stab at them! Healing/first aid You can use healing as a standard action so another PC can use his Second Wind ability (i.e spend a healing surge and heal 1/4 HP) without using a standard action herself. Do note that if the character to be healed has already used the second wind ability, you can't do it again. This is mostly used when someone goes KO before having used second wind. Since a KO character can't take action, the healing skill allows to use Second wind since it's a conscious character that takes the action. You can also use healing to stabilize a dying character (stop him from making death saving throws) but her HP don't change. Finally, you can use healing to grant another PC a saving throw. Usually a Saving throw (rolling a d20 and playing 10 or more to end a negative effect on your PC) occurs at the end of each PCs turn. A Healing skill check allows the healer to grant a saving throw to a PC during the healer's turn. Ambush mechanics As written, the 1st kobold ambush doesn't give players the occasion to detect the ambush, its planned to show combat to players and since it's a rather easy fight (compared to let's say the hobgoblin one in the Game Day adventure), players aren't put in deadly danger by not having access to a surprise round... do note that the kobolds also do not surprise the PCs so it's a 'fair trade'. But to answer your question specifically, refer to pages 186 (Perception) and 188 (Stealth) of the players handbook. According to skill description I'd say that an ambush against unwary PCs (i.e. when PCs aren't walking at a crawl pace checking every rocks and leaf) is played out by the ambushers rolling their stealth skills (one per ambusher) and you compare the roll against the PC with the highest passive Perception skill (i.e. 10+Perception Skill). Success by each ambusher grants it a surprise round against the party. I assume here that the high perception PC will inform the whole party (as a free action) about each ambusher he spotted. There are other ways to play it. For instance, to make this even faster, compare passive stealth of each ambusher vs passive perception of most perceptive PC. The 4 defenses vs saving throws Ack Heather, your DM was either incompetent and/or one that likes to impose his own house rules on people. The only time you take half damage from an effect is when the DM attacks one of your 4 defenses (AC, Reflex, Will or Fortitude as required) and there is a 'Miss' entry in the power that says 1/2 damage. Players never have to play against any of their own defenses. A saving throw only occurs at the end on your turn (see healing for exception) when you try to end a negative effect that calls for a saving throw (Sleep, slow, weakened, debuffs... etc) as described in the power that 'granted' the effect. As you rightly assumed, you roll a d20 and make the saving throw on a roll of 10 or more (i.e. a flat 55% success) There you go. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask them here. I find that answering questions while away from the table is a great way to search the rules with a specific goal in mind and then remember them because of the time one takes to formulate the answer. Anyone else has a question or want to clarify/challenge my answers? Let's open this discussion and make this an unofficial FAQ until WotC chimes in. Have a great week!

Anyone can go about web site hosting once done with networking courses. This is the best thing about internet marketing. Whether it is seo or email marketing , anyone can do it.

swamped

ChattyDM — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:32:51 +0000

I'm swamped! Obligatory Link cop-out!

ChattyDM — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:33:07 +0000

I can't seem to find time to read the Core books and I'd like to take a stab at reviewing them soon. I have to write my monthly column for Roleplayingtips.com. Plus I have to do the draw for the Story/characterization contest. I also have to do some maintenance on the blog, add a few people on my blogroll/minions list, put up a new banner for my Sponsor, get rid of Google ads (what was I thinking?) and start planning my Gen Con trip and the seminar I'll be doing with DNAPhil and friends. Yeah, I'm a bit swamped here. So I'll be taking a few days off from regular blogging to catch up on all that stuff. In the meantime I have a few tidbits for you. Of D&D, Storytelling and Legos First while backtracking on all the links to this site, I've discovered a very recent blog called 'At-Will' that linked to one of the very best play reports I have ever seen. It's about a Story-telling GM playing Keep on the Shadowfell with his 7 year old son. The number of humbling lessons that a 7 year old can give about D&D in this series of post is just too awesome. Forget Meepo and meet Slllkot and Blag, the 2 best kobolds NPCs ever created. Oh and also the whole adventure is done with Legos... including a model of Winterhaven created by a 7 year old World Builder. I'm so playing KoS with my son this summer! You have the core books? How about some free Forgotten Realms In his quest to conquer the Internets by having you all subscribe to his Feed by both email and reader, Yax has put up a contest. This time you get a chance to win the 3 future Forgotten Realms hardcovers (or the 3 Core Books if you don't have them yet). All you have to do is subscribe to Dungeonmastering.com email feed. Oh and did you see his new layout? Awesome man! The Nice Troll One of my new favorite blogging stops is Brian's Trollsmyth. While Brian prefers all things Old School, he takes the time to pick and choose D&D themed articles (from all editions) from the Blogsphere and comment on them. He's been very nice to often link to my stuff, so now it's time for me to return the favor. Have a look at his hacks of the Magic-User spells for the D&D Red Box( Moldvay/Cook)/Labyrinth Lord games. There's a lot of work there and it seems like a very interesting addition to the somewhat limited prowess of old School magic users. Back to the grind All right, that's it for me... I'm going to catch up and come back with more chattiness soon.

Chatty's Debate: How far can a DM go?

ChattyDM — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:10:34 +0000

Okay... I may be swamped but there are limits to what I can tolerate in other DMs. Heather's been comparing her experience with her Game Day DMs and what she is reading in the DMG (she is a newbie RPGer and wants to try her hand at DMing. However as she reads, she is getting strong cognitive dissonances from the 2 Dms she observed. Aside: We're all behind you on that Heather! You can jump in with little to no experience... I did when I was 10 and had played only 3-4 games. Witness this musings of hers:

WTF is with the XP? Both DMs (Fumbles and Bumbles) were weird about XP. They awarded XP according to who actually hit the monster. If you took a swing at the monster, you were awarded XP. If you did not take a swing at that particular monster because you were busy flanking another monster, you did not get XP for the monster you did not actually hit. The DMs did not actually track who hit which monster so this method of XP rewarding became rather silly as people had to try to piece together who hit what. Additionally, there was a lot of complaining about how unfair this type of XP rewarding was to melee characters. Ranged characters could get a whack on all monsters on the field where melee could not. This would give ranged characters a huge advantage. I questioned why you would divide the XP in this way. Each person there helped overcome the obstacle in some way, therefore should be granted equal XP. The players would all advance at the same rate and no advantage would be given to a particular type of player (ranged). I wanted to say that they were doing XP weird because there needed to be a winner of the scenario so that a prize could be awarded. However, Fumbles and Bumbles tried to explain why equal division of XP would not work – a point I completely missed. I later read the DMG which says “simply divide the xp total for the encounter by the number of characters present” on page 41. In this case, I will thumb my nose at their stupidity because they made a big issue over nothing and in doing so may have warded off a couple people on the fence about 4th Edition.

Remember when I called these DMs incompetants and Graham called them idiots? This is worse.. this is DMs with a very perverted notion of the rule of fun. These guys give DMs a bad name. This is the exact opposite of my philosophy. I don't deny DMs their authority (if it is earned and used judiciously) but this is just plain stupid. XPs to PCs who hit monsters... These DMs are trolls. So my debate question is thus. How do you deal with DMs like that? Are they within their rights to impose their vision of the the game like that be it at a convention or with their buddies? How do you deal with them when they are your DMs? How do you deal with them when you hear them boast about thier 'realistic' house rules in game shops? Arghh!!!

character-story-contest

ChattyDM — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:12:40 +0000

Story Contest results

ChattyDM — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:25:51 +0000

I'm slowly catching up on things.

A few weeks ago, I launched a contest to get people to submit Characterization tips to help me and my group get better tools to create better integrated adventuring parties. Well I had about 40 tips from 20 people. Quite a nice turnout given that characterization is not the easiest thing to do for the average roleplayer. I'm pleased to announce that Tommi (of Cogito, Ergo Ludo) is our contest winner! Since Tommi lives in Finland, instead of sending the Planescape box, I offer a 15$ gift Certificate at DrivethruRPG .com. (If for whatever reason you don't really care about this Tommi, I can also write an article on a subject of your choice... let me know). I also brought together all tips into a single PDF file that I'm offering for free here. Share the file, post it on forums, etc. Just please don't modify it. Tell people that Chatty and his minions are happy to share it. I have a few more contest ideas and I'm waiting for a Prize Pack from Paizo to serve as the next prize. What about the Planescape box you ask? Well, unless Tommi really wants it (and we come to an arrangement for shipment), I was thinking of selling it on Ebay and using the proceeds to pay for more Swag for future contests. I'm open to suggestions.

With Fame Comes Opposition! Meet G.I. Mike!

The Crunch Overlord — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:22:18 +0000

My rise to power and global domination of the bloggsphere continues! My Chatty DM clone is slowly winning everyone over with his niceness, cross-pollination and other pseudo-socio-fluffy constructs. Witness the number of times the Head Gnome linked to me in today's post and tell me I'm not right! Heck, we even managed to beat the legendary Yax in terms of Technorati ranks! I'm unstoppable! Mwa HA HA HA! But what's this I see on my Overlord threat radar? Do I see dissent? Do I see the nascent germination of opposition? Oh joy, could it be that I gained another Nemesis? As I was slowly taking over a quaint little blog called 'The Things the Still Carry' one of the co-authors took umbrage to Chatty leaving a comment! Going as far as naming him ChattyAsshat! He then added more and called out for open warfare! I like his style! Pity he decided to play for the other team! I'll name him G.I. Mike so we don't confuse him with my most loyal of Imperial guards minion Mike. It's a fitting name for a "Hero" and is also appropriate since he's an on-duty member of the US Armed Forces. But boyo, your beef is with me! Not Chatty. You can rave at the mouth about the French and Canadians. You can laugh at our humble origins and our apparent taste for Mimes and Blue Cheese... (Although you should know that Poutine and Hockey is a far deadlier combination) but know this: I shall win you over and make you cross to the dark side of Evil. I've already converted your wife to the evil joys of crunchy Role Playing games and she's already taking over your blog with her enthusiastic journey to becoming the best of Overlords: a Dungeonmaster! And now I will do what you fear the most. I ask of you my dear minions to go over Mike's latest saber-rattling post and drop comments on it. But here is where my fiendish plot becomes mind-bogglingly awesome. Do not leave insults, give him words of encouragement, ask him to write more (he's a great, if shy writer), give him support for the hard job he and his buddies are trying to accomplish in Iraq (regardless of your personal feeling for the decisions that lead them there). Tell him his wife will be an awesome DM. Encourage him to join us in the dark side of the Rule of Cool and Evil fun! That should drive him insane and make him into a loyal minion within a day or two. Now that's what being an evil overlord is all about! Go forth minions and make me proud! As usual, clone replacements are on me and all commenters will get a free holiday on my secret Island Base Resort! (Now 60% safer from Nuclear raids!)

satisfaction

ChattyDM — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:06:25 +0000

Chatty on 4e: Exploration vs Competence / Fun vs Satisfaction!

ChattyDM — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:11:03 +0000

I've mentioned in older posts that D&D 4e seemed to go back to the roots of the game for simplicity of Game Prep and monster stats. So far this has been true. At worse, game stats for level 30 creatures take one full column of the Monster Manual. Such baddies are usually limited to 4-5 different powers, making playing them a lot easier than the previous edition. (That in itself is not an objective improvement, but it sure is a subjective one. My needs as a DM playing late cycle D&D 3.5 was to get easier to create/improve/play monsters) However, where 4e and the Original Dungeons and Dragons games (O.D&D and the Basic/Experts rulesets) differ a lot is the PC's mechanical competence (both in and out of combat). Old School Let's face it, in the old games, it was all about the environment and the monsters. PCs were a mere nuisance, a semi-serious threat to the average dungeon. The game was a lot about dreading what was behind the next door and getting a thrill by trying to survive a fight against the three killer bees guarding the Magic Crown. Sometimes, PCs were lucky and they just had to deal with an inventive trap/hazard that caused instant death in randomly-determined fashions. Making it out alive of an evening of dungeon crawling was a feat that deserved to become legend. Players who actively wanted to increase their chance of successes needed to become creative enough to survive monsters that were far too powerful for them (like Ghouls, I mean is there a worse low level party killer?). However, said creativity needed to be innovative and interesting because there was nothing more lethal to PCs than a bored DM. (And I feel that Gary Gygax hated being bored by players) Bottom line, the old-school versions of D&D were about exploration first and foremost. The hardship of combat fostered creativity and made for awesome stories. And there was great fun in that. That's why these games still have adepts. New Old School As the game progressed, more emphasis on character competence evolved. Weapon proficiencies were introduced in the 2nd cycle of Adv. D&D's life (Unearthed Arcana) giving fighters an edge in combat (and making fighting exciting and fun for them). As the 90's loomed, Non-weapon proficiencies appeared and D&D started its tortuous love/hate relationship with skill mechanics. Somewhere between 2E's PC kits and 3E's release, the game's mechanics shifted from fantastic exploration to heroic-fueled competence. Nowhere is it more evident than seeing 1st level 4e characters perform feats of stealth, athletics and acrobatics that would put an AD&D level 6 Thief-Acrobat to shame. The spotlight is now on the PCs. The stories come from the successes of the PCs and how they shape their characters through these successes. The dungeons, monsters and traps are nothing more than papier-maché props arranged around the main actors to make them look good. Hell! The DM mechanics of the game actually remind me of playing with wire-frames on which you can put whatever fluff you feel like. I absolutely love this about the game. The Tyranny of Fun? A word of warning though. As I'm starting to see people arguing quite vehemently that this enshrines the Tyranny of Fu n. I have to strongly disagree. Fun is not going through easy challenges and mirror poses to admire one's awesomeness. If that's what you are aiming at, or if that's what you beleive that RPGs have become, I think you are missing the boat by a few miles. Fun is important... but satisfaction is BETTER. Satisfaction is working freaking hard, sweating bullets, getting a buildup of frustration, look failure in the eye, think about quitting AND THEN succeed! Bloodied, tired, but victorious. Satisfied players go home thinking they had the best of time... Even if they were a bit grumpy about bad dice rolls or were complaining that they were all going to die. As long as they managed to beat the challenges or lose with style while getting a healthy dose of hope to get sweet revenge later, they will be satisfied. D&D 4e, in the hands of DMs that care about sharing fun moments with others is a game system that runs on satisfaction. It might not be for everyone, but it fills a niche that needs be filled. Do you agree or am I full of it? Sound Off!

paladin_motivational_2

ChattyDM — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:16:18 +0000

I Don't do Paladins Really Well...

ChattyDM — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:20:28 +0000

I just finished reading/browsing the D&D 4e Core books. As I let my impressions simmer and fuse into a hopefully unified set of impressions for my reviews, a multitude of D&D souvenirs come to the surface. One thought that surfaced this morning was that Paladins have the shortest lifespans in my games. You see, I don't kill PCs all that often. In a 15-20 session D&D season (bi-weekly games from late August to early June) we usually have one or 2 PC deaths. Most of these have been paladins in the last 6 years! Back in 2003-2004, when we started our second (and longest standing) D&D 3.0 campaign, Franky made the first paladin of our group. Said paladin was brutally slain within the 2nd hour of the game when he got hit by an attack of opportunity from a Troll and had his ribcage cracked open by a successful combination of claw-claw-rend attack on the monster's turn. Fast forward to 2008, Eric was playing a Crusader ( a holy warrior from the Tome of Battle, close enough) and used his teleport boots to land right beside a Huge White Dragon. The dragon went next, with only one legal target within melee range. Claw-Claw-Bite-Wing-Wing-Tail slap... Dead Crusader. Then last week, Eric (again) was playing a D&D 4e paladin. He was bloodied but valiantly holding the line against an animated statue (yeah, the D&D Game Day ones) when he was KOed by a punch and then trampled to death in the same round. The moral of this story? Don't play a Paladin in Chatty's games. (Only one pally ever survived in our campaigns, and that was mostly because the PC in question was really a Silver dragon in disguise. Oh and we abandoned thatr campaign after 4-5 sessions). Have you had character archetypes in your games that seemed to bite the dust more often that every others? Was it because of a flawed class or because the specialist player running them had a (not necessarily intentional) deahtwish?

Welcome Roleplaying Tips readers!

ChattyDM — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:39:50 +0000

(Placeholder page until I write it) See here.

First Crop of 4e Tools

ChattyDM — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:20:17 +0000

I wrote my monthly column for Johnn Four's Roleplaying Tips newsletter last night. It was a 1500 word article on teaching a RPG to new players, I'll repost it here as soon as Johnn puts it on his site. That also means that I have no meaty article for here this morning... time for some linkys! Fans are taking initiative in the wake of WotC's on par performance with DNDinsider (i.e. they always sucked at software) and making some incredibly useful tools for D&D 4e.

First and foremost is Asmor's Random 4e Encounter generator. You plug in the Encounter level, the number of PCs and the difficulty of the encounter. Optionally you can dictate the range of creatures of each type (Artillery, brutes, elites, solos, etc).

The results might not make a whole lot of sense... but some of the encounters presented in the Monster Manual aren't all that logical either.

Use them to stretch those creativity muscles and don't forget that an encounter now is usually spread over larger area (i.e multiple dungeon rooms).

Also from Asmor, here's his 4e Monster Math Cruncher.

I keep saying that 4e monsters are wire frames on which you tack on powers and fluff. Well that application is one awesome Wire Frame generator!

Chose level, monster role and type (Normal, Elite, Solo), Establish Ability scores and crunch. You get all the necessary stats for your monster. Add 1 to 4 powers and fluff it up with a name and you'r in buisness.

Asmor, you are a freaking Genius! Have a look at his fluffier Encounter-a-Day blog too.

Our new friend Propagandroid has posted about quite a few more 4e goodies, namely beautifully rendered power cards and character sheets. Have a look.

If you have any more of 4e playing aids you found or would like to share with us, drop them in the comments and I will add them (with credit) in this post.

Have a great week, I can't wait to start Keep on the Shadowfell on Friday.

Reader Submitted links:

A system neutral Random Dungeon Map generator. (From Will)
Skeleton Key games Random Dungeon Generator (From Greywulf)
A great set of system neutral tools, Map, Dice, Token and initiative (From Felonius)
Another Monster Name Generator (From Max)
System Neutral NPC Generator (from James McMurray)
More 4e Power Cards (from jfallara)
Dragon Avenue's D&D 4e Ressource Page (from Dragon Avenue)

Chatty's Review: The 4e Dungeon Master's Guide

ChattyDM — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:10:23 +0000

If you want a very good (albeit mostly positive) review of the 4e Core books, look no further than Martin Ralya's. I don't think I can beat it in terms of depth, style and entertaining values, but I'll do my best to share my thoughts on the book in my own rambling style. The latest edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide has in common with its progenitor (Gygax's lovely and quirky's DMG) its title only. Everything in the 4th Edition is focused on one thing and it's DMing. I have to agree with Martin that it is, bar none, the best DMG ever written and it's a must read for all new or recent DMs. As I was reading, I divided the book in 5 parts:

DMing
Encounters
Adventure/Campaign/World design
DM tools
Quickstart World

On Dming The first part covers pretty much everything I have ever read about being a DM/GM. From definitions, to prepping, player types, pacing, improvisation and so on. When I first read that part, I was rather annoyed and irritated by the style and content of it. Then, after reading Martin's raving review, I picked up the book and started reading again from page one, challenging my perception of reality. The second pass wasn't so bad and most of the stuff here is pretty good. Only, it reads like so many GMing blog entries and GMing books I have read already. I can't even say it's written as well as some I've seen. For instance, I largely preferred Robin Laws book, Monte's 3.0 DMG and the first section of the 3.5 DMG II. So bottom line, solid DMing tips, on par with the internet 'knowledge base' but not mind blowing if you already are an avid GM Blog/books reader. On Encounters Given that D&D 4e is almost all about encounters, the next section delivers in spades. The combat encounter section covers most everything a DM needs, from determining monster readiness to handling poison. By far the best part of the whole section in Page 42's "Action the Rules don't cover". If my 1st Edition DMG has yellowed Combat charts and my 3.0/3.5 DMGs have frayed XP charts, I assure you that page 42 will suffer a similar fate. I'm so going to scan, print and plastify this page (including the "DC and Damage by Level" table) and put this in my DM screen. This one page allows you to rapidly adjudicate pretty much everything not already in the rules and make it feel natural. The book then covers building combat encounters. It describes the whole 'XP budget' concepts with very well defined guidelines about number of monsters and suggested acceptable level ranges. This is pure crunchy blueprinting. No more CRs, Weee! One thing that bugs me in that part of the book is in fantastic terrains. Some terrains calls for a DC check when entered. Instead of suggesting static DCs, the book tells you to set a DC according to the Tier the PCs are. What that means is that not only are character Epic... the Cave Slime they step in becomes Epic as well and the DC goes from 20 at level 1 to 33 at level 30. That does bother me a bit as it forces a DM who likes consistence to set the DC when PCs first encounter said terrain and then keep it as is later. Alternatively, the DM may change the name of the terrain (Cave Slime, Dire Cave Ooze, Dread Ectoplasm, Infernal/Fell Goo...) as he increases DC. (Why am I thinking of Killing boars all of the sudden) It's no biggie as I understand the thinking behind the concept, but this is a change that created significant cognitive dissonance in me. Follows then the section on Non-combat encounters, including the already infamous Skill Challenges. That's where the book falls flat on it's face. As I was reading the actual Skill challenges mechanics for the first time, I couldn't help finding that the description didn't fit at all with how I imagined Skill Challenges. The writing is exceedingly dry and initially devoid of examples, the maths are hard to grok and it totally fails to bring out the true potential for such rules. I really felt there was a disconnect between what it was the book wanted to say and how designers wanted skill challenges to be used. It seems I'm not alone in this, even WotC realized something was wrong. In fact it's only in the examples (after all the rulesy stuff) that you get a glimpse of how cool skill challenges can be. Here's to hoping that an Errata/Web Enhancement fixing this comes soon as it is the worst part of the book (and negatively affects the game as well). The section on non-combat encounters also covers Puzzles, Traps and Hazard, which are very well described. The part on puzzles describes how they challenge players rather than characters and advises to be careful about using them (no bottlenecks and refrain from using with a table full of slayers and power gamers). On Adventure/Campaign/World Design The next section describes how to adapt published adventures or create your own. It touches on the key lessons of adventure designs: Adapt to player tastes, avoid bottlenecks and so on. All very good stuff. Rewards come in 4 types. Experience Points for combat, Quests (Major and Minor, inspired from CRPG), Milestone (gain Action points to compensate for used Daily powers between rests) and treasure. As many have pointed out after WotC previewed how loot worked in D&D, monetary serves to create/purchase level-equivalent Magic Items (and bring back PCs to life). More powerful Magic items are obtained by adventuring in excruciatingly defined parcels. Once again, you get a "budget" to spend, this time you are expected to spread it over the 10 or so encounters needed to level up.I have been doing something similar in 3.5, but at least I had random Magic Item tables to spice things up a bit. I understand the why of it, which is to limit randomly determined vendor trash, but boy does it feel formulaic! I'll need to try it before stepping off the fence on this one. The book then touches on campaign-types and a very high level description of the D&D default game world, complete with some awesome sentient artifacts! On DMing tools This is the book's second high-point. You get the full mechanics behind customizing and creating monsters. Monster templates are introduced and take mere minutes to apply. Classes can also be added to monsters by applying a template and picking a subset of a class' power, creating a monster that feels and acts like the class it simulates. You also get instructions and tips for creating NPCs (i.e don't stat up the blacksmith unless he fights) and a whole sub-section on creating House Rules. Now I couldn't help but notice that for the first time in the history of the DMG, you have to get to page 189 before getting told that you as a DM are entitled to do away with rules you do not like. Rule 0 does makes an appearance, with the caveat that you need players' buy-in before you House rule.

You have the authority to do whatever you want with the game, but your efforts won't help if you have no group.

Yup, typical 4e DMG. :) Still this section on House Rule is solid. On the Quick Start World I skimmed the last part. It's basically a mini-setting based in and around the city of Fallcrest. It includes description of key locations, a few NPC stats, a regional map that shows Fallcrest in relation to the Keep on the Shadowfell (Adventure H1) and the Thunderspires (H2). The book concludes with a short level 1 adventure (featuring the exact same creatures as the first part of Keep on the Shadowfell... Yawn). This is a good primer and is quite sufficient to kick start a new campaign. Verdict As mentioned before, this is the best DMG ever written. The Good: Page 42, DM Toolbox and most of the Encounter Section The Bad: Skill Challenges need a rewrite. Near-Miss: The Dming section. If you are a crusty old DM and /or been actively trying to get better by surfing GMing ressoources, there is better out there.

dd-ressources

ChattyDM — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:19:36 +0000

dwarf

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:50:04 +0000

D&D Character Workshop: The Stubborn Cleric

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:55:43 +0000

I'm too tired to write anything serious (I have the plan for my next trope post about fridges, I'll tackle it this week) so I thought I'd share my 1st D&D 4e character concept. (Run!, Chatty wants to tell you about his character) Okay, I made a Lawful Good Dwarven Cleric. Str 13, Con 14, Dex 11, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 14 Combat Gear: Chain Mail, Shield, War Hammer Powers: Sacred Flame, Lance of Faith, Healing Strike, Cascade of Light. Feat: See below Skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, Heal, Religion I was thinking of playing the Dwarven cliché to the max and make him a worshiper of the ideals of Stubborness (either the Dwarven god of Strength and Stubborness, or the actual philosophical ideal of it). As I was working on the character concept, I had an idea for the God/philosophy specific Channel Divinity feat:

Inertia of Faith [Divinity] (Placeholder Name) Prerequisite: Channel Divinity class feature, must worship (stubborness) Benefit: You can invoke the power of your beliefs to use Inertia of Faith. Channel Divinity: Inertia of Faith Backed by your deepest convictions, you repeal your opponent's attempts to make you budge! Encounter, Divine, No Action Trigger: An enemy attempts to pull, push or slide you Effect: You may prevent the effect of forced movement. Special: You must take the Inertia of Faith feat to use this power.

Monster Aside: Can you suggest one or two power that a Priest of Stubborness could have if he was a Monster? Dave The Game suggested canceling a Diplomacy roll (but I'd probably work this as a Skill Challenge obstacle rather than a combat power). I would probably make a rechargable power where anyone attempting forced movement would get an immediate vs Fort attack (2w) and be pushed 1. Now I need to work out where he comes from, why he's adventuring and how he can fit in a party. He's not a jerk and he will abide by the rules of the majority but he'll be grumpy as hell about it if it goes against his wishes (and it always does). For instance, how did his stubborness get him kicked out of his home-mountain city? Any ideas or suggestions?

gsllogo

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:47:05 +0000

The Game System Licence and SRD are out

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:47:56 +0000

Via The Gamerdome Here's the GSL and the SRD As promised, the SRD is only a 65 page long list of references defined in the Core book whose names you can use freely (baring that you abide to the GSL) but that you can't redefine or print the text of. So you can put Kobold Wyrmpriest, but you can't copy the stats in your published adventure (although you can print the full stats of a Kobold Wyrmpriest Lich as it is derived content). You can add new applications for existing skills and you can create new classes, powers, feats, magic items and monsters, provided they do no redefine existing ones. I shall mourn the loss of the Hypertext SRD... as I still have limited faith in WotC's yet to come Online Rules Compendium. Edit: As Jeff Rients points out in the comments, the Hypertext SRD will remain. There just won't be a freely available equivalent for 4e. Unless the Rules Compendium is the awesomes and, with the other services, worth the price of subscribing to D&Di. I'm also eagerly awaiting their official Fan Site policy. Interesting times ahead.

Random Thought Table: Of Subs, Quotes and Anecdotes

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:53:23 +0000

I took a few days off and I have the kids with me. So online time is limited (I'll be back later this afternoon when they all go to the Optometrist with my lovely wife). I know that Thursdays is the day where the call of the net is strongest, so let me point you toward my blogging buddies Dave and Danny's contest over at Critical Hits. They want you to share your funniest RPG quote/anecdotes. You could win a 20$ Amazon gift certificate (just don't use it to order the 4e Core Book Gift set). I left two of my best stories there yesterday. Also, while I'm at it, I just wanted to mention that Musings of the Chatty DM has creased the 400 RSS feed subscriber point! It now has more readers than posts (This one is #369). We're a long point from the moment that I had my first comment, from a friend I kept bugging about 'my new blog'. As usual, you all rock and I really appreciate you taking the time reading these lines. If you want to join my community, you are always invited to take the Minion test or join our Forum... with summer coming and 4e out, I think things will pick up on it. I'll post a larger post later today, I hesitate between a Trope post about refrigerators or about posting my 'how to be a RPG blogger' one... I'll see what strikes my fancy.

fridge1

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:12:07 +0000

fridge11

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:13:36 +0000

Afterschool Tropes Special: What's That Fridge Doing at the Table?

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:17:31 +0000

I've decided to rename my trope series because the posts feel like I'm writing a new season. I'm also experimenting with slightly different formats of trope posts. It remains to be seen if I'll be jumping the shark or making the series grow a beard. Have you ever had the experience, at school, in your families or at work of throwing out a clerverish expression and slowly seeing that expression take root and start being used by others? While writing my Worldwide D&D Gameday post, I mentioned an unexplained plot element that could lead to a "WTF?" moment if players stopped and though about it. I referred to this as a Fridge Logic moment. I've since then seen the expression adopted by a few readers and bloggers and I was told that it also crept up on Enworld. Now I didn't create the expression, it's actually part of the TV Tropes Wiki (and an industry term). However, since it seems to be making its way in our collective RPG subconscious, I thought I'd discuss it and ponder how to use it (or ignore it) in your RPG sessions. Fridge Logic

Half an hour after the show is over, J. Random Viewer is staring into his refrigerator, vaguely bemused by the fact that his six-pack of beer has somehow become a two-pack of beer. Rather than work out how this might have happened, it occurs to him to wonder how in the hell Sydney Bristow (Chatty: from the Alias TV Show) went from Hungary to Melbourne, Australia, then to LA, all within 24 hours. It hadn't bothered him during the show. It wasn't until he discovered he was running short of beer that it became an issue.

So Fridge Logic isn't a trope per say. It's more like a safety net on which writers can afford to thin (or ignore) a plot element and not break the viewer's suspension of disbelief during the show.

Fridge Logic has been the writer's-room term for these little internal-consistency issues for a good while, as in "Don't sweat the fridge logic, we've got bigger fish to fry. We've only got 20 minutes left to work in three costume changes, a foreign language, and a weird wig." The phrase is often attributed to Alfred Hitchcock, who referred to the delayed recognition of a Plot Hole as "the refrigerator moment."

Carefully avoiding/subverting Fridge Logic events is what we have started to see in what I like to call 'cleverly written shows' like Lost, Heroes and Battlestar Gallactica (well, the good parts thereof). Thing is, as a Game Masters (GM), we too have way too many fish to fry. We usually can't afford to prevent such refrigerator moments. While some GM will try to do exactly that, such careful writing comes at a cost of:

Taking time from prepping more scenes (or more complex/exciting ones)
Favoring logic/verisimilitude (note my not using the term realism here) over excitement/fun
Squelching cool ideas because "there's no way this can fit in the story!"

In my very first trope post on the Rule of Cool, I mentioned that...

...my efforts as a DM should not so much be on far-reaching World Building and tight nitpicking-proof plot lines and such. I should go all out for encounters and role playing that will swamp my players in coolness

I still very much believe that you should not spend too much time trying to unify every single plot hooks and thread in your campaign. What you don't want is for your players to have time to ponder fridge logic during the game either because pacing is too slow or because you have been sloppy and left a gaping/railroading plot hole for all to see. As a Dungeon Master (DM), you want to grip your players in an exciting storyline, amazing action scene or high-flying stunt-ridden combat. You should just go with the flow of where your gut feeling leads you and do whatever you feel like to entertain the players. If you liberally use the Rule of Cool both in creating your adventure scenes and let your players invoke the same rule when they get creative, any fridge moment you let through won't be picked up on... Here's a little GM secret: Since players are at the frontline of your adventure/story and not a detached audience, they most probably will be too focused on their somewhat selfish perception of the game to tug at any loose threads. If they liked the game and had fun climbing over that Gargantuan Colossus in the Caves of Woe, chances are they'll recall the mind-bogglingly crazy stunts they pulled. They probably won't stop and wonder how the hell a 90' walking fortress got into the dungeon in the 1st place. So don't fight the Fridge Logic, embrace it! In fact, if a player does mention that there's something fishy about how that Gelatinous Cube could acquire sentience and ally itself with the Lawful Good Illithid Barbarian, put on your sliest look and wink. If the player insists, take a note and start planning a follow-up plot arc where you explore how this came to be. If no-one bats an eye, feel free to ignore it for more promising threads. They say that constraints fosters creativity, I tend to agree. In fact sometimes you will have to fill a hole discovered during one of your player's refrigerator moments and discover a series of plot ideas that will lead your campaign to a memorable series of adventures. Now let's have a look at another Refrigerator-themed 'viewer reaction' that I've seen happen a lot online in the last few weeks. Fridge Brilliance

First impressions are really important. They build relationships and opinions, and you will wish you could do it over again. Yet, there are times when your opinion of someone or something might change. It could be upon receiving additional information, learning the alternate opinion of someone else, or simply that you have grown up just a little. Fridge Brilliance is the idea of gaining a new respect for something that you initially hate. One night, as you get up for a midnight snack, you open the refrigerator door and the light dawns on you, "This is the real purpose behind this plot!"

With the advent of D&D 4e, a lot of emotionally charged, often negative posts have been written on it. Now I'm not going to launch in another "4e is teh Awesomez" post as I've done enough of those lately, but suffice it to say that I have been reading a lot of Fridge Brilliance posts about that game lately. Take about any random RPG blog and look in its archive (including this one). You'll almost invariably see a neutral to negative series of post prior to the release. Then, from the moment the PDFs got leaked in early June and especially after people got to try it you start seeing a significant shift in opinion. Most spectacular of those is Robin Stacey's (aka Greywulf) 170 degrees turn on it (he dislikes the parts of the PHB like I do the DMG). My take home message? If you can, give the game a try, from either the player's seat or the DM (they are two different beasts). What's that? How could we use Fridge Brilliance in a RPG game? You mean gushing about 4e is not enough anymore? Awwww... :) Let's say you want to sell your group on another RPG (any game). Chances are you'll have someone (or more that one) opposed and being vocal about it. Take the time to note the players' concerns and issues with the new game (be they factual or irrational). Also take the time to note what kind of player type that person is. In the course of discussion, try to get the player to agree, gracefully and in good faith, to giving the game a one session try. (If he/she won't, don't bother). Now check if the proposed system can accommodate your player's type and choose/create an adventure that will address his concerns/issues. I believe that resistance to change exists because our perceptions of something are deeply set in our emotional centers. Rational discourse can eventually overcome it, but fighting fire with fire and using emotions is a almost always more efficient. If you focus on your players' needs (including the less than enthusiastic ones) and give them an emotionally satisfying session, it's quite possible that a Fridge Brilliance moment will occur and the new game will be adopted. It's a very tall order, but if you really want to GM that new game, seeking a gut-response Fridge Brilliance moment in your change resistant players is the best path to achieving your goal. Anyone has had positive experiences teaching a new game in the face of active/passive resistance? What were your strategies?

portrait

ChattyDM — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:34:41 +0000

index-world-of-warcraft-logo

ChattyDM — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:53:07 +0000

Chatty Slides back in WoW, Follows Shamus Young

ChattyDM — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:54:00 +0000

So after 4 years, Shamus Young gave in to MMO. First it was Guild Wars. It lasted a few days. Now he's joining World of Warcrack... We all know this will not last just one week. He joined the Kirin Tor RP server and joined the Pig & Whistle Society (A Rpg.net guild run by Chainmail Bikini graphic artist Shawn Gaston). Well, I decided to join too. I made myself a Dranei Mage called Pathuun and Shawn promptly invited me to join (such a nice guy! . Feel free to join me. I'll play a few times a week, after 20h00. If people are interested, I'll post a schedule on the forum. It starts! Oh yeah, totally unrelated big contest post coming up later tonight or tomorrow morning!

New Contest: The One Sentence NPC!

ChattyDM — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:00:42 +0000

We've had a few contests, here at Musings of the Chatty DM. For instance, we recently had the very successful 10 word Adventure and very useful Characterization ones. Now it's time for something bigger! I have teamed up with RPG e-Zine mogul Johnn Four (of roleplayingtips.comfame) to bring you the biggest independent RPG-themed contest to date! How do you enter? Quite simple! You need to write a One Sentence NPC, generally based on the tips provided in Johnn's latest edition of the e-zine: Use 3 traits, include a contradiction, Make it generic but interesting. See the tips reprinted at the end of this post. You can submit them on the blog's comments here or email them to Johnn (johnn@roleplayingtips.com). Please don't submit the same entry at both places... :) The goal is to have a short writeup that can be used by GMs to drop in their game and/or inspire them to create similar NPCs with their favorite RPG system. Each NPC submitted grants you one chance to win a prize, determined by a random draw (yes you could win multiple prizes, so enter massively)! What's in it for you? How about a metric ton of prizes? Such as: From Wolfgang Baur: http://wolfgangbaur.com/

3 x Kobold Quarterly #4 issues (print or PDF - your choice)
1 Standard Patron Open Design account (value $30)
1 Senior Patron Open Design account (value $100)
- Note that each patronage can be applied to either the OGL Blood of the Gorgon Horror adventure, the OGL Tales of Zobeck adventure anthology, or the 4E Wrath of the River King adventure.

From Hero Lab http://www.wolflair.com

4 x Hero Lab 2.0 licenses (character creation software for multiple game systems)

From Expeditious Retreat Press http://www.xrpshop.citymax.com/ 1 print or PDF version (your choice) of the following:

1 on 1 Adventures #9: Legacy of Darkness
1 on 1 Adventures #10: Vengeance of Olindor
1 on 1 Adventures #11: Unbound Adventures
Advanced Adventures #4: Prison of Meneptah
Advanced Adventures #5: Flaming Footprints of Jilanth

From Goodman Games http://www.goodman-games.com/4371preview.html

3 x GM Gems book (print or PDF - your choice)

From Paizo http://paizo.com/

Print copies of Pathfinder #7,8 and 9 (The 1st half of the Curse of the Crimson Throne path).

Entries will be edited and then given back to everyone in the e-zine and here on the Blog (as a PDF). What GM couldn't use a list of one sentence NPCs for instant game and planning use? Here's an example entry to get you started (See also Johnn's Elmo below)

Nervous, twitchy bodyguard with a drinking problem becomes intensely focused and displays nerves of steel when client is in danger.

So have fun! Tell all your friends about this contest and participate in droves, this will make an awesome gaming aid! Thanks very much to the generous prize sponsors. As usual, by submitting entries, you grant us non-exclusive use of your entries for free publishing on the e-zine and the PDF file and you permit us to derive ad revenues for the traffic generated by this contest. We also reserve the right to invalidate any entry or disqualify a participant that does not comply with the contest's intent (obsenity, repeated and/or automated/nonsensical bulk entires, etc). Here's the tips proposed by Johnn Four:

1. Create Three Traits It's important you give your one sentence NPCs three traits or characteristics. NPCs done well are the life of the game. They not only drive plots, but they fuel roleplaying and add depth to the game world. You can create one or two trait NPCs, but during play I find those come off as cardboard, clownish, or cliche. It seems the third characteristic creates that extra dimension needed to make NPCs alive. It provides you that extra spark to GM and roleplay them well, and to mine them for story roles and encounter ideas. A great technique is to pick one trait from three different categories (categories are outlined in later tips). Each category reveals a new aspect of the NPC, and this turns out to be the key if you desire three dimensional non-player characters in your games. For example, if I only chose the Appearance category, and gave the NPC three appearance traits, there wouldn't be much depth or material to work with when GMing that character. To make him interesting, you'd need to resort to extremes, giving him an odd or distinguishing appearance. That might get you by with a few NPCs, but if your whole campaign was filled with NPCs who looked remarkable, with no other traits, it would seem strange and become dull. That brings us to another aspect of this tip. There are more than three possible trait categories. I've seen NPC formulas in the past, including in this e-zine, but cookie-cutter NPCs without variation will cause campaign and world development issues fast. The predictability and repetition will ruin sense of disbelief, mood, and atmosphere. Fortunately, there are more than three categories to choose from, and by picking one trait from three different lists each time, your NPCs are sure to be varied, interesting, and unpredictable. Perfect! 2. Create A Contradiction A key element to the one sentence NPC technique is to create one conflict or contradiction between the character's three traits. This will generate friction in the NPC's makeup, and is where his humanity (for lack of a better word where NPCs can be of any race), depth, and mileage will come from. This is a critical aspect of making NPCs, especially the one sentence variety. For example, Elmo has three traits:

Occupation: farmer

Appearance: big and strong

Stat: low intelligence

Here's a one sentence description of Elmo: Big and strong secret agent, posing as a farmer, who often gets into trouble because of his low intelligence. At first, players will have fun poking the big, dumb, rural man. Soon, though, the roleplaying will dwindle and the group will look for a more interesting NPC to game with. Elmo might be good for a comic relief role, which is fine, but he's become a one dimensional cliche. Worse, plots or encounters you might try to drive with this NPC will feel forced or lack depth. What if we add conflict and change Elmo's farmer occupation to secret agent? Elmo is only posing as a farmer so the villain's minions won't pay him any attention. We now have an interesting NPC with a bit of depth. As you roleplay him, his mission will drive his objectives and decisions. You can mine this for many gaming opportunities and cool encounter moments. He's much more fun to GM too, as I find gaming a secret that's close to the PCs adds a lot to each session. You've also got a great surprise in store for your players when Elmo's true identity gets revealed. We're not done with Elmo yet, though. The real conflict amongst his traits comes from his poor intelligence. You can play this in many ways, as intelligence has many definitions. However, this shortcoming is at direct odds with being a successful secret agent. What fun! This twist gives you lots of GMing material.

If Elmo becomes an ally, perhaps the PCs need to rescue him a few times.

Elmo might have enough guile to maintain his cover, but as you roleplay him he makes several unsavvy and odd actions and decisions that perplex the PCs, giving them a mystery to solve while the major story arc progresses.

Once the PCs know Elmo's secret, they might join forces, and he keeps getting them into predicaments, or forces the PCs to roleplay and get him out of trouble with his superiors on occasion.

Note: I advise not going for more than one strong contradiction. Feel free to experiment, but you don't want to create a tossed salad NPC with so much conflict and weirdness that he becomes unbelievable or brittle (though Dennis Hopper fans might disagree). 3. Make One-Sentence NPCs Interesting But Generic Until Used It might seem like a contradiction, but leave your one-sentence non-player characters as generic as possible until you bring them into play at the game table or in a design session. Do this to keep your options open until you're ready to introduce the NPC. You want to minimize in-game, last minute changes or retrofitting, to make GMing easier. It also means you need to make fewer notes to track changes. While GMing, it's often simpler to bring in a generic element and customize it for your current need, than to bring in a fleshed out element and trim away on-the-fly to make things fit. In practical terms, when creating a roster of one-sentence NPCs for later use, you can leave the following bits of information blank until the last minute:

Name

Gender

Race

Location

General appearance

4. Use Traits That Affect Encounters This tip was hard won by experience. :) After more times than I care to count of creating NPC details that had no effect on gameplay - ever - I finally learned that the details that matter most are ones that come into play during encounters. I would spend an hour on an NPC's history, for example, but during games that information would have no impact, or worse, become obsolete or contradictory due to shifting details. Writing fiction for an hour is not a waste of time. In previous e-zine tips I've described how creative writing helps GMing. For pure NPC value though, stick to details and manage your time so you only create what will impact your game directly. Use NPC traits that affect encounters. For example, our spy Elmo might have a fear of spiders. Fears have a spectrum of severity, so let's say Elmo's fear is debilitating when in the presence of large spiders. Unless you plan for large spiders and Elmo to be in the same encounter, your creative effort has been largely wasted. Maybe a kinder term for it is deferred. :) If spiders and Elmo have something going on, be sure to jam them together in an encounter - hopefully, more than one encounter. It's important to reveal each of the three characteristics you've defined for your one sentence NPCs, so that all their dimensions and conflict come into play. Another trap is creating a trait that does come into play, but is too minor to have any impact. For example, we say Elmo dislikes cloudy days. Except in extreme circumstances, this fact will not affect the game at all when it comes up. Roleplaying, action, plot, clues, and other storytelling categories all seem unaffected with this trait. Best to replace it with something that does affect gameplay when it manifests.

genconlogo

ChattyDM — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:17:12 +0000

Chatty's Gen Con (and contest update)

ChattyDM — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:45:49 +0000

It's done, I just purchased my plane tickets for Gen Con Indianapolis 2008. I will be there mostly for one thing, and it's meeting with fellow bloggers, readers and some industry people I've quipped and had fun with since I have been online (You better have those Electo-fluff cannons ready and buffed Mr. Baur). I have been absolutely unable to tame the Gen Con reservation app so I decided that I would let others decide for me. To that effect, I will therefore be a Season 0 Paizo Pathfinder Society GM for 4 sessions (Thursday morning and Afternoon, Friday morning and Afternoon). So maybe one of you (un)lucky readers will have to endure my horrendous French accent® while I gleefully walk you through one one the 4 scenarios. On top of it all, they're paying for my badge! Weeee! I also registered to try RPGPundit's Forward to Adventure game on Thursday night (ID: RPG01714). However, I'm still the only one who registered... so feel free to join me and I will pay a few drinks to any reader who joins me (or we'll blow the game and go drinking with the GM who publishes Pundit's game, see below). On Saturday Morning, I will co-host a two-hour GM preparation Seminar with DNAPhil, Vicky Potter and Zach Houghton. On Sunday morning, I'll join the Stupid Ranger Crew to participate in some sort of crazy ass open-ended RPG. I'm also up for a yet undisclosed RPG Blogger seminar. If possible, I want in on an Industry party like Paizo's or Wotc's!!! (anyone connected enough to get me in?). Also, I still hope to get an invite for the Ennies (I submitted the website, like I promised in my New Year's goals) but I'm not banking on this too much. So that leaves me with quite a lot of free time. I'd love to spend some meeting some of you, playing games and getting roaring drunk! Here's what I would like to do:

Set up a D&D 4e game in my Hotel Room (the Hyatt) with some of my close online buddies. I'd love to DM an adventure of my own or whatever exclusive script someone would like to submit to me for playtesting.
Go to dinner with the Stupid Ranger Crew as promised last year.
Get to meet and greet people!
Get free swag! (One can hope!)

I would love, love love to have a get together on one of the evenings! Friday night if I don't make the Ennies would be great or Thursday. Anyone available? Contest Update: Our latest contest is going strong (but I know it could be stronger). A lot of people are becoming interested in it. In fact, James and Harry of Men with Pens/Capturing Fantasy/Escaping Reality have offered to join the action and add prizes of their own:

1 hardcover copy of White Wolf's World of Darkness
1 copy of their ebook, "How to Get what you Want Out of RolePlaying"
1 copy of thier ebook, "How to Create a Believable Character"
Maybe something else!

Now Harry is a hardcore World of Darkness fan and he's got an army of fluff minions that could give us a run for our money. You guys need to throw in your lot massively before his crowd drowns us in creative writing-fueled characters!

Chatty's Debates: The Relative Merits of Action-Oriented RolePlaying

ChattyDM — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:22:05 +0000

I know that this here site has been somewhat content-lighter lately. Summer has arrived and I start to feel the pull for other evening activities than blogging. Also, since I don't have a game going anymore, gone are the periodic DM logs or Game Prep posts. There's nothing to be worried about, just a more infrequent stream of RSS feeds from your neighborhood Chatty DM. While I'm at it, why don't you have a look at my latest guest post over at Geek's Dream Girl. All right, time for another little debate! The 4th edition of the World's Most Popular Roleplaying game has embraced Action Roleplaying as its most basic philosophy. It's all about the encounter (mostly combat) and their resolution in the most entertaining way possible. This double focus on Action and the 'fun' that must be derived from it is apparent in all parts of the game's design. From the ton of powers available to players during Character Generation/Leveling up, in rules that try to foster speedier resolutions, in the actual DMing tips that support this playstyle to the somewhat minimalist designs of monsters in the Monster Manual. Let's be honest here, D&D has always had the potential to be all about action, but in editions prior to the third one, it was just one of the playstyles the game could easily embrace, especially in the 2nd edition. In fact the A D&D 2e Planescape campaign Setting repeatedly mentioned that Killing and Looting was not the 'best way to play the game' anymore. My debate questions are thus:

Is Action-Oriented Roleplaying game more likely to entice new Role players in the hobby?
Can one have an immersive story-intense roleplaying expercience in a such a system?
Do the rules that foster such action (Combat, skill challenges) act as a barrier preventing immersion to a certain degree? (or: Can you Roll-Play and Role play at the same time?)
Do other action oriented system (like Savage Worlds and maybe Burning Wheel) have the same features and barriers?

My take on it: Action oriented Roleplaying games are the best entry-level systems for new players. The designers of D&D 4e were going after a new market nd time will tell how succesful they'll be. I predict that we'll see significantly more new players with the release of the 'Starter Game' in large-chain bookstores later this year. As one learns the many specific rules around an action-based (tactical) Roleplaying game, the mechanics take center stage and pretty much occludes Story-driven method acting. As the rules get mastered, action scene accelerate and players who enjoy this type of gaming immerse themselves in this action. Battle moves and stunts may start getting described outside of mere mechanical constructs and players may start quipping NPCs and each others. However, as any modern action film can attest, an action scene is all about the action and the special effects. The story more or less grinds to a halt for that Chase in the markets of Marrakesh or that fisticuff with the Ogre-Sized Nazi underneath a parked bomber plane. To that effect I believe that D&D's approach to Core Game action rules will tend to squelch role-playing in favour of Roll-playing in most player types. As anything else about RPGs, I find it a perfectly valid way of playing a game. I believe that this is a conscious design/business decision. The Core Game is mostly only about action and conflicts and straight up go-beat-the-bad-guys heroics. Later products will likely explore wider possibilities and playstyles. That's why I hope that later campaign settings will, like A D&D 2e, explore the game's potential outside of relentless action and mayhem. Sound Off

phb

ChattyDM — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:50:34 +0000

Chatty's Review: The D&D 4e Player's Handbook

ChattyDM — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:01:49 +0000

Last week, I reviewed the DMG and found it to be the best version of this long-lived book. It wasn't without flaws, chiefly among those was how the writing of Skill Challenges was doing the mechanic near-criminal injustice. This week, I'll tackle the 4th Edition Players Handbook, from the standpoint of its content and then its organization. I'll also apply something I learned from making scientific presentations, I'll give you my conclusions up front and you can read on to see how I got there. Chatty's flash review of the Player's Handbook: The new 4e rule set deliver what the designers promised and actually achieves much more than I would have expected from an exception-based designed Core product when compared to similar designs (Collectible Card/Miniature games). The book presents the new rules in a clear, concise and well organized manner, making it a great reference book. While the book shines as a great set of rules and ease of reference at the gaming table, it seriously lacks in terms of walking a new player through the game and making a character. Char Gen requires constant, somewhat confusing page flipping throughout the book. That should not be seen in such a State of the Art game design. The Player's rules In the book, you'll find everything that players need to know to play D&D, including predictably Character Generation (taking most of the book), equipment, Magic Items (which is a first) and combat. As some have noticed it's the about Martial, Arcane and Divine Heroes. I know it's no surprise that WotC will print more source books but this time the book actually comes out and mentions things like "in future volumes of the Player's Handbook". At least they are being brutally honest about it, and let's face it, that's what a lot of fans want, more crunch . For instance, I have over 45 D&D 3.5 books! The Players Handbook is the core of the crunch of D&D 4e. About 80% of the games' rules are in there. Like D&D 3.X, giving out the combat engine and task resolution mechanics to the players makes it a shared responsibility game. I'm all right with that and after nearly a decade of D&D 3.X, I think most players are comfortable with that. It's been said in countless other venues, but D&D 4e is about action scenes, well defined class roles and equal opportunities for all characters to have a significant impact both inside and outside combat. The rules are built around a few key concepts such as:

Roll high with a d20 against target number
A set number of actions per round
Death and healing mechanics and so on

All these concepts can be explained in about 15 minutes and don't need to be re-explained. However, as simple as the game core mechanics are, the strength of D&D 4e comes out in the way each power, feat, magic Item and other sub-component interact in a synergistic way and allow players to break the core rules. Having played Magic: The Gathering casually and competitively since it's release, I'm very comfortable with this approach and this gave me an advantage in learning the new ruleset. Such an approach actually makes rules argument easier to resolve and allows easier adjudication of out of the ordinary events (you just find a simple way to break the rules that maintain suspension of disbelief in your players). For this, the Player's Handbook, as the embodiment of the D&D 4e rules, shines like a bright star in my book. I'm actually impressed that so many things can be done with this Core game. When you buy a Core set of other exception based design games, you don't get as much stuff... (but then again, with an average 80$ entry price, it's to be expected). In fact, I will go against the current opinion on the subject and say that D&D 4e was probably not designed to get the Video game/MMORPG crowd to adopt Tabletop RPGs. I actually believe that Wizards of the Coast are trying to eat market shares of the very large and lucrative collectible/non-collectible card/miniatures gamer pool. Business analysis comments aside, the PHB is a very dense read, with the tons of powers, feats, magic items and rituals. I often found myself skimming ahead to the next chapter. So dense is the book in fact that after a certain time, all powers and Magic Items start to feel like they are one and the same. I've since found out that they are boring to read but fun to play, so stage a few fake fights with your new characters. The Players Handbook Organization. From a DM's perspective, I like how the PHB is organized. Having read it only once, I was able to find whatever combat rule or piece of equipment in mere seconds when I played my first few trial games. The combat section is well laid out and the various special actions (like Bull Rush and so on) are found alphabetically. The same goes for skills, feats magic Items and so on. A limited but useful Index is found at the end of the book and I found it to complement the table of content admirably. I found the book to be on par to with the 3.5 D&D Compendium in terms of at-the-table usability. (Note that the 3.5 Compendium was among my favorite D&D books). Actually, maybe that's where the book's greatest problems lie. In making the book more useful at the game table than on your desk it might have partly defeated it's purpose of being a helpful reference to new players and to create characters. I did two characters so far with it and I must say that the organization of the book does not lend itself to a seamless, linear process. I don't know if it's because I haven't mastered the book's layout yet but creating a character leads to a series of page hunting exercises where you dive in all over the book, front and back, to get to whatever choice you have to make. I'm sure it was sensibly the same in D&D 3.5 but it's was bad enough that I got annoyed by it. I mean, Gurps was published 15 years ago and had from the 1st edition, a linear approach to character generation. What it needs to be fixed (and please don't tell me about D&D insider, this book needs to be a stand-alone product) is at the very least a series of tables with page-referenced Powers arranged by class and by level. Like in the Monster Manual, those tables need to followed by an alphabetical Powers index. These two additions would make it a bit easier on players making PCs and would speed up in game reference more. I'm starting to think that D&D would have been better served (regardless of the outcry it would have generated) with a Character Generation/Equipment/Magic Item Players Handbook and a Combat/Task resolution Adventuring Handbook. The designers said they weren't afraid to change what needed to be changed, maybe a 4th Core Book would not have been that far fetched. So there you have it. Great fun rules, great for referencing during a game book, somewhat hostile to new players, especially during character generation.

Chatty's Wow Posse: So it starts

ChattyDM — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:41:42 +0000

Image Credit: Heliopolis at Deviant art So I joined the Kirin Tor Server after reading that Shamus Young was trying it (and if you read between the lines of his recent posts) liking it. I was well received in the Pig & Whistle Society guild and have also had the pleasure of buggin Shamus with my semi-witty remarks on the game's chat. He's a super nice guy who will take few seconds from being killed by wolves to chat you up. He's also very generous with the drops he finds and has mailed me some lots of nice things! Thing got even more interesting when I was joined by my friend Mike (no not that one... at least not yet) and Asmor with other low level characters. Joy! So I'm going to spend this Friday evening playing the level 10-15 Dranei quests, feel free to join and add Pathuun the Dranei Mage and his Paladin Buddies. We are hyper casual and like to banter on the chat channels (I won't go voice yet as I don't want to impose My French Canadian Accent to the world just yet). Can this lead to something bigger? Wow is going to be my summer D&D!

draenei_mage_from_wow_by_heliopolis

ChattyDM — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:44:09 +0000

Taking a break for some Gen Con Prep

ChattyDM — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:46:43 +0000

All right, up to now, whenever I posted about posting less, I always ended up posting more. However, I now have to write quite a few pages worth of Trope and Player type GM tips and advice for the Gen Con seminar I'll be co-hosting with DNAPhil and Vicki Potter. I also need to do them now! So since my free time has already been eaten up by the blog (and World of Warcraft), I'm going to trade the 1-2 hours I spend daily on writing posts and focus on the Seminar for the next week or so. Of course, I know myself, so I might drop a few short (i.e. less than 100 words) posts if something cool comes up (like WotC's Fan Site Policy), but if it takes me more than 15 minutes to type, I'll save it as a draft and revisit later. So see ya in a week (or whenever I decide to cheat on my promise, no wonder I can't lose weight!). In the mean time, don't forget the Contest. Also, it's Worldwide Adventuring Month, maybe you'd like to give it a try? Also, my blogger buddy Propagandroid recently moved his gamer wiki over here. Have a look, post some things!

Random Thoughts: Story Telling Dungeon Crawling Kids in Diablo's Caves to Crit Mearls

ChattyDM — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:36:20 +0000

(Told you I would not last a week) I was supposed to be at work, getting ready for the arrival of a new colleague in my team but my 6 year old son has developed a case of Chicken Pox. I'm therefore at home, playing some Raving Rabbits 2 with him and drawing some Manga out of a Christopher Hart How-to book with my 5 year old daughter. I pencil and she inks... I think we would make a good comic Team... I'm taking a few minutes to drop in and say hi! Gen Con work progresses. I'm sending letters out to publishers tonight to get some GM-centric material to showcase at our GM-Fu Seminar (and then offer it as prizes). Here's a few random thoughts not worth making a full post but subject to fire discussions a bit. Say yes or face the dungeon (Through lame mage production by way of Tommi's shared RSS feeds) Ben I know you'll love this. T his one is for you. In a story telling game where players get to dictate what happens and how, GMs now have a way to insert Dungeon crawls, in the spirit of the classic 'say yes or roll the dice', ! If players want to accomplish something in your ongoing story that the GM considers too hard to just allow without having the players work for it, he can present a dungeon and tell the players to beat it to get what they want. The trick? The players and the GM get to decide together how the crawl would fit in the story. Once agreement is reached, the crawl starts. For example, players are trying to negotiate a peace treaty with ultra conservative dwarves who refuse to acknowledge that non-dwarves are sentient. The players come up with the idea that they could get to a dwarven Book of Law, find a non-refutable proof that a non-dwarf can be considered sentient and worth discussing to a dwarf. The DM thinks it's a great idea, but not an automatic success. He then says, 'I've got this kobolds occupied dungeon, with a few traps and a nasty surprise Boss, if you beat it, you convince the dwarves to organize a conclave to discuss peace. So now the players and DM discuss how the crawl could fit in the story. One players says that the lost original of the Dwarven Codex of Law sits in that dungeon, forgotten by all except for a vague reference that one players heard about earlier in her career. Said Codex could possibly show that non-dwarves are worthy beings and that later copies were corrupted because of linguistic shifts (or malicious intent by older dwarven leaders). I don't know about you, but I absolutely love this. On playing D&D 4e with children Truly, as mentioned here, D&D 4e is a snap to teach to children. They 'get' the concept of powers instinctively. I've been playing a few mini sessions with my son and here are thoughts for those who'd like to try it with their own little minions. I'll post more structured thoughts later (making a tips article out of it) but here's a few:

If your children are literate, just give them the power cards and keep the PC sheets on your side.
If not, describe (or draw) each power they have
Role playing comes naturally to children. It's perfect practice to work at your improv skils , doing voices and changing things on the fly
Hit Points are only a suggestion, when children start fidgeting with the dice and the chairs, it's time for those monsters to become all minions.
Children will say out loud what they expect like "Ohhh I bet this door is stuck and I'll need to force it open with my great axe!' ... well make it so!
Children like to make friends in dungeons... drop friendly NPCs that can help... however...
Keep NPC on NPC action to a minimum it's okay for NPCs to help, it's not okay to have them spend 5 minutes attacking everything that moves with an area effect. Give the child control of the friendly NPC
Make then roll all dice!
Keep sessions short... After one fight, take a break and do something else...
Yes, you can now do stuff in 30 minutes in D&D... with children, fight go faster because they don't overthink things... and they still manage to beat the crap out of stuff (hint hint to you planner/cautious types here)

Diablo III's demo is oddly familiar: PM, Yan and myself were watching the play demo of Diablo III yesterday. Throughout the series of nerdgasms and making us Blizzard's Bitches for life, I kept saying, but that's what D&D 4e is about! Cool powers, bringing down the scenery on monsters, exploding minions... it's all in 4e! So guys, D&D 4e is not ripping off MMORPGs, it's a Diablo Clone, without Cain and with added Role Playing elements. :D Critical Hit scored at Origins Dave is just back from Origins and scored quite a few interview in the form of Podcasts, including one with Mike Mearls. I've been told that he mentions me in it! (Hurrah for minions!) and Dave told me that after the interview Mike mentionned a post of mine he read and liked... Woot! My fragile attention whorish ego just leveled up! See you later!

paizo-drow

ChattyDM — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:01:48 +0000

Mini-Post: Ascension of the Drow and 4e Fantastic Terrain

ChattyDM — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:22:15 +0000

Gen Con Drow Insanity This morning I had an email by Nicholas Logue, adventure writer extraordinaire from both Paizo and his own Sinister Adventures. Here it is:

Hi All! If you are on this list, it means you have volunteered to GM and or assist with the Ascension of the Drow mega-event at Gencon this year! The event slot is Friday night from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am and this event will be a MASSIVE (and MASSIVELY FUN) affair involving 126 players as well as some special cameos by Paizo staff as NPCs. It shall be intense! Thanks for volunteering. There will be a ton more details coming your way in the upcoming weeks. . Talk to you more soon!

So there you have it, The Chatty DM will be one of 16 DMs to run this insane event with the Logue. Here's what I found about it so far:

Deep within Golarion’s Dark Lands, the sprawling drow city of Deraktinus is consumed by shadowy conspiracies as its noble houses war for the city’s dominance. Take on the role of a noble drow in a deadly game against the other players. Decide the destiny of Deraktinus in this exclusive preview event for Pathfinder’s Second Darkness AP. If your noble house takes control, your evil exploits will be immortalized forever in Pathfinder #16.

I don't know if any readers registered for it, all 126 places are taken. This is going to be awesome! Gah! Does that mean that it will happen at the same time as the Ennies? I still don't know if they got my submission... Oy, I'm starting to feel I bit off more than I could chew at Gen Con. Ahhh Who cares! It's going to be my only time there and I'll go down in flames! I prefer GMing to Playing anyway. Plus I'll get to meet Nick Logue, Wolfgang Baur, (maybe) Mike Mearls and others! Uh oh! DMG author might be on to me (Via Graham through Gtalk). Other news flash, I think James Wyatt might have read my review of the DMG. In it I said:

One thing that bugs me in that part of the book is in fantastic terrains. Some terrains calls for a DC check when entered. Instead of suggesting static DCs, the book tells you to set a DC according to the Tier the PCs are. What that means is that not only are character Epic… the Cave Slime they step in becomes Epic as well and the DC goes from 20 at level 1 to 33 at level 30.

Here's an excerpt from his Under the Hood of the DMG article posted yesterday.

Does that mean that high-level characters encounter Epic Cave Slime that's objectively slipperier than the Heroic Cave Slime they encountered in their early careers? Maybe. It doesn't matter. What matters is that the DM has permission to use terrain that's relevant to the characters, regardless of their level -- and has a table supported by solid math to make sure it's relevant.

Well that answers the question I had and I tend to agree now. Not to sound grumpy or anything, mentioning things like that in the DMG would have helped some of the transitioning pains of crusty old 3.5 DMs set in their ways. However, I appreciate he took the time to post this on Wizard's site. I'm starting to realize that there are chances that I met these people at Gen Con and I'll have to stand by my written word! Thank god I have been polite as Greywulf pointed out. This has been a very geeky week for me. Which brings me to the question: What's next for this blog and my growing relationships with the industry? That's a good question. Only I'll try to tackle it after I'm done prepping for Gen Con. Have a great day all.

poutine-ashton

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:02:07 +0000

What's your disgustingly good local dish?

ChattyDM — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:07:50 +0000

I'm smack dab in the middle of my Gen Con preparation week (which will likely bleed over into the next one). This means that whatever I post here is going to be very light in relevant content. Since I can't shut up and I hate silence, I put up little texts just to let you know I'm still there. For a few weeks I've been pondering the sheer global aspect of the readership here. As you may know, readers come from all over the world and that's just so cool. Thinking that I could find someone to have a drink with in Tokyo, Nokia, Oslo, Paris, Jakarta, Sydney and pretty much all United States is mind blowing. So to celebrate the globalness of the Minions believers in the Rule of Cool, I want to have an open and frank discussion about food! More specifically our local, junky meals that we have a guilty love affair with but that are probably downright disgusting for other cultures. I'll start with our very own, Quebec Born Poutine! From Wikipedia:

Poutine (Quebec French pronunciation puts?n (help·info)) is a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown BBQ chicken gravy and sometimes other additional ingredients. ^[1] The freshness of the curds is important as it makes them soft in the warm fries, without completely melting. It is a quintessential Canadian comfort food, especially but not exclusively among Québécois.

Yup, French Fries (the greasier the better), Cheese Curds (Soft, unripened cheddar-type cheese) and BBQ Chicken Gravy. Disgusting? Probably. Good? Hell yeah! A Gazillion calories... Our nutritionist Nazis keep reminding us that it's got as much fat content as a block of butter. So what's your local disgustingly good meal? I want to hear from as many countries/states/counties as possible!

Player Motivation and Types Revisited, Again

ChattyDM — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:05:14 +0000

The Gen Con 2008 seminar I'll co-host with my friends DNAPhil, Zach and Vicki is going to be about sharing tips with GMs about prepping RPG game session . My parts of that seminar (What I've been doing most nights of this week and possibly the next one) will cover Using Tropes (yay!) and Player Types. As I was re-reading the player types part of my review of Robin Laws's Book, I reworked the list to feature some new types brought in the 4e Dungeon Master Guide. As I was writing my seminar outline, it dawned on me that player types (as presented in Robin's book and the 4e DMG) are different from player motivations (as presented in the 3.5 Dungeon Master Guide II). The first one is, IMHO, mostly a convenient label that simplifies discussions while player motivations is what a GM needs to understand to get the most out of the RPG experience he/she shares with the rest of the group. So here is my updated list of player motivations (So yeah it's partly reposted stuff, but bear with me for a min, I think it's worth it): Post publication edits: Rechecking the DMG II, I found that Player motivations are the incentives that make players excited and motivated to act in the game. Thus, I will move/remove things like the lurker and such around to better fit that definition.

Player motivations in a RPG(Adapted from DMG II and paraphrased by me):
- Accumulating Cool powers: Enjoying the acquisition of loot/powers, planning a character many levels in advance.
- Kicking Butt: Enjoying combat for the sake of inflicting mayhem and destruction on foes.
- Brilliant Planning: Enjoying combat for the sake of winning, beating foes with brains and tactics.
- Puzzle Solvers: Resolving riddles, short puzzles or longer investigation type puzzles.
- Playing a favorite role: Seeking the same class/themes/roles campaign after campaign.
- Supercoolness: Being a badass and be able to show it often.
- Story: Seeking the range of emotions that comes from a game’s narrative and non-crunch achievements.
- Psychodrama: Seeking to explore and develop a character from an internal perspective.
- Irresponsibility: Being able to create trouble without having to deal with real-world consequence (ex: jumping off the rails and go wild!)
- Setting Exploration:Seeking new horizons in a setting and learning the lore of in-game objects, locales and events.
- Make Things Happen: Pushing Buttons, opening doors and start things regardless of the group's wishes. Pushing the game's and the gaming group's limits.
- Cheetoism: The game is just an occasion to get together with friends and socialize
- Competition: Match wits against the GM and players to 'win' or gain advantage.

Question Number 1: Are some missing? Should we add more to that? Post suggestions and let's have a mini debate on this. I'd like to have the most complete, yet concise list of motivators. I now believe that understanding those and pegging which motivations are stronger in each of your players is more useful than assigning player types. Still, player types are useful as a simpler, one word model to peg players. Here is the revised list:

Player types (Adapted from Robin Laws' of Goodmastering and the 4e Dungeon Master Guide):
- The Power Gamer: Get more powers and use them often and efficiently.
- The Butt-Kicker: Enjoys combat and pwning NPCs!
- The Tactician: Likes to beat complex situations through thought and planning.
- The Specialist: The one who always plays a . Ninjas and Dritzz clones are popular.
- The Method Actor: Likes total immersion in a character’s assumed persona, whatever the costs!
- The Storyteller: Enjoys exploring a story unfold around a character’s actions and choices.
- The Watcher/Lurker: Shows up to be with friends and share the social energies of the group without necessarily being motivated by the usual incentives.
- The Instigator: Likes to make things happen and trigger awkward situations
- The Outlier: Seeking the emotional kick of subverting a group’s dynamic by creating weird characters or actively seeking failure.

One thing that bears remebering is that player don't usually fit one player type perfectly. I'd say each player features a major type and one or two minor ones (which mirrors thier top 3 motivation to play RPGs). Question number 2: While I'm doing this, are there other player types that are misisng that don't fit in these ? Question 3: Most of your readers are hybrid GMs players. So I ask you, what are your main motivations as a player and how would you peg your main player types? Have a great weekend.

doris-day-teachers-pet3

ChattyDM — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:40:01 +0000

Teaching Role Playing Games to New Players

ChattyDM — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:42:05 +0000

This is a guest post of mine that originally appeared in Johnn Four's Roleplaying tips newsletter #408. It's reprinted here to allow for comments. Subscribe to John's weekly e-zine for awesome RPG tips delivered to your inbox. Introduction Unless you have been living under a rock, you likely know there is a new edition of D&D out. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share my thoughts on teaching a new RPG (D&D or otherwise) to new players. I'll assume that you already have players that have accepted to give the new game a shot. I'll also assume that one game session is enough to demonstrate the essential aspects of a game. My goal here is to help you hook these players to this new game with a few tips. Keep it Simple You need to dive into the adventure you chose/created for this demonstration game as soon as possible. I don't advocate showing the games' core rules "as you go along," because this risks breaking any kind of story/game momentum you may build as you step in and out of the game to explain concepts. However, you need to keep the rules lecture to minimum so your players' eyes don't glaze over. While each system has its own level of complexity, I suggest you keep the presentation of the basic rules of the game to 10-15 minutes. For this, I strongly suggest you completely skip character generation, and provide players with pre-generated PCs. Present the rules in basically the same order the rules book does. Go over attributes, basic task resolutions mechanism, combat and related statistics (Health/Hit points, wounds and dying rules). Keep examples and options to the bare minimum. You need to focus on the game's most basic rules that allow capturing what you want to share with your players. Keep everything else for later sessions, or to fuel future discussions of the game with players if interest is sustained. I strongly suggest not using house rules in the demonstration game unless such rules are necessary to make the game more enjoyable to new players. If such is the case, make sure house rules are part of the initial presentation. While making house rules is one of the great things about RPGs, they are usually not crucial for teaching the game. Take a few more minutes to go through the pre-generated PC sheets with the players. Attribute them as you see fit (randomly, by player preference, etc.) and go over each one in a few key sentences. If you have some players around the table who have already played the game and/or have read the rules, ask them to help you explain what each PC can do. Once you are done with the rules and PCs presentation, take the time to answer questions your players may have. Be careful to reign in your enthusiasm for the game and keep your answers as short and to the point as possible. Your goal is to make your players secure with the new rules set, not awe (or more likely confuse) them with all the cool things that you can do with some of the more esoteric options/powers/variants of the game. If things go well, they'll discover them when reading the rules while eagerly waiting for you to start a new campaign. Keep it Short Once players are satisfied with your answers to their questions, it's time to dive in the adventure. Focus on capturing what got you interested/excited in the game in the first place, and infuse all parts of the adventure with those elements. Since the goal is to demonstrate what the game is about, you should jump right into what the game does best. If your game is an action-driven RPG like D&D, start in media res with an action scene, such as an ambush or a chase. If the game is more geared toward storytelling, set a scene based on the narrative elements that make the game shine, such as a role-playing challenge/conflict. In either case, inform players that it is assumed they know each other and are used to working together (unless meeting together and forging a party is the focus of the game/adventure your are teaching). When starting the adventure, avoid elements that force new players to take initiative. They are dealing with a new system and are probably going to prefer reacting than planning. While you should go with your natural style, avoid having a long background-heavy introduction to your adventure. Remember, you already spent at least 15 minutes going over the rules, and possibly the same amount going over the characters. For the same reasons, if you chose a game or adventure that relies heavily on investigation type challenges, make sure that finding clues and ways to progress are relatively easy. The last thing you want is frustrated players stuck because they missed one clue, bringing the game to a jarring stop. You should also pick/create an adventure that will be completed within the time planned for the demonstration session. I can't say enough praise for the 5-room/scene model where you set up a whole adventure in 5 scenes or less, including introduction and resolution. If you play a more classic exploration-based" kill and loot" game, those 5 scenes can be an area (a dungeon) made up of 5 significant rooms (plus a few empty ones) including the entry, guards, and the area's 'boss'. Keep it Open You should open up all the numbers of the game so that players can understand the "why" and the "how" of the rules faster. That means putting the GM screen away and laying down the numbers as you crunch them during the game. Slowly go through each task resolution, each skill roll, and combat rolls with the full numbers. You tell the players how hard it is to hit an opponent in combat, how skilled an NPC that they want to best is, and how dangerous it is to try to jump over a snake-filled pit. Inform them that this is for demo purposes only this session, and that you are sacrificing some of surprise/fog of war effects for their benefit. Thus, players get a complete picture of how the game plays from both sides of the table and they get to see what goes under the game's hood. If this sets your teeth on edge, I invite you to rationalize this by seeing your role as more of a salesperson than a game master. You want the potential client to understand and embrace the product (so you can start a campaign with them later). Since you are playing your own dice in the open, this means you won't be able to fudge dice and statistics. If this goes against your usual play style, I suggest you make an exception, and just mention you usually keep such rolls and numbers on your side to provide the best possible playing experience. Take the time to answer questions and explain, more than once if necessary, how you came up with the target numbers that players must roll. Informed players are more likely to be satisfied with their experience and base their evaluation of the game on the merits of its rules and your interpretation of them (plus your awesome narrative skills, of course!). Keep it Fun First impressions are vital, and your demonstration game is the equivalent of a job interview. You need to keep things moving as much as possible. You need to do everything in your power to eliminate downtime. If you are new to the game yourself, make sure you've read the rules that you need to use a few times. Be also very familiar with the adventure you use. Keep rules discussions to a minimum unless it's necessary to satisfy a player's need for understanding. If any rules discussions threaten to break the pace of the adventure, invite the player(s) to discuss it after the game, or call a pause at the next logical point and continue the discussion. During the game, especially during combats, don't be a killer GM. Play opponents in a fair and believable way, but give more than enough chances for the PCs to shine. You want to leave an impression of satisfaction and pleasure in your players, not a face full of deaths and failure (at least, not at this stage). Keep it Up! All this is a lot to rest on your already burdened GM shoulders, but know that you should be proud of yourself. By teaching a game to new players, you are doing the role playing games hobby a great service by bringing new players to it, or expanding the horizons of existing RPG gamers. If you make the experience fun and you manage to communicate your enthusiasm, chances are you'll have sold the new game, and you'll have takers for that campaign idea you have been working on.

Open Letter to Wizards of the Coast

ChattyDM — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:36:31 +0000

This is a rantish post to expose, in my usual style, my misgivings about my favorite games and the company that manages them Dear Wizards of the Coast, This is a letter to share with you my worries and disappointment at the way you have (or are) handling the game brands that I care about as a gamer geek. Before I get into this, I must thank you for having made one of my favorite games, Magic: The Gathering and for having recovered and revived my favorite game of all times: Dungeons and Dragons. I also wish to say that I really appreciate that you have a flourishing and dedicated R&D department hard at work constantly trying to make these two games better. However, I must say that I'm worried about where you are heading with both brands. I also wish to tell you that you are on the verge of losing the loyalty of a good customer with a lot of disposable income. First and foremost I must say that I have lost interest in purchasing new Magic the Gathering cards in the last year. While I used to be a competitive casual player that would faithfully participate in each and every pre-release tournament, play casual limited games with friends and build up collections, I have now stopped since the release of the Shadowmoor expansion. Your new practice of publishing 4 expansions a year is just too much for me to absorb and enjoy, the same goes, to a greater or lesser extent, for my current gaming group. In response to negative fan feedback you said that each expansion would now be made up of less cards. This is unacceptable to me because it basically translates in getting more copies of the same common and uncommon cards, often functional reprints of older cards. Please go back to the original 1 large, 2 smaller block release model with one extra block every 2 years. Furthermore, while I still love seeing new mechanics and themes, I can't help but feel a certain staleness in the cards mechanics since the release of the Time Spiral expansion. Maybe it's time to inject new blood in Magic's upper management? Its possible I have been too involved with this game in the last 5 years and am suffering burnout. It's also true that most of the time I use to spend on buying and sorting cards, building decks and playing with friends has now been taken by online writing. Still, this is the first time since I started playing the game again (at the release of the 7th edition) that my interest has seriously waned to the point of no longer wanting to buy cards. I also, recently upgraded my Magic Online account to the Magic 3.0 client. Having tried the program extensively during it's Beta development and having tried repeatedly to play in the last few weeks, I must say that I'm deeply disappointed. The graphic interface of this game is awkward, too charged and user unfriendly. Navigating it is frustrating and robs me of the desire to play within minutes of starting it. Please note that I have purchased more than 10000 cards on this game (about as much as my physical collection). You can therefore understand my frustration of having to deal with an application that falls far short of expectations. In the age of Blizzard, Facebook and cutting edge game design techniques, the Magic Online interface is an insulting joke. In that, you lost me as a loyal customer. In regards to Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition, I absolutely love the new game and I can see the quality of material published in the new Dragons and Dungeons E-zine. If this keeps up I would consider a paid subscription for these two products. I must however say that the key digital parts of your online content, D&D insider, completely fails to live up to all the hype of your numerous marketing campaigns. I find that after having been told time and again how great D&D insider would be, after reading about it in the Core Books, on their covers and online, not having it at release and being told 'that it will be ready when it's ready' is completely unacceptable. In my limited Supply Management experience, I was told that you should stick to what your company does best and abandon/outsource the elements where it is weaker. Wizards, I have followed your digital initiatives since you launched Magic Online 1.0. I purchased the D&D 3.0 E-tool, I was there at Gleemax's launch (and quit), I participated in multiple Betas for MTGOs 2 and 3, I played around with the 'Rules Compendium' and I witnessed the non-launch of D&D insider. You have repeatedly failed to deliver on my diminishing expectations. In that, you'll have to fight to regain my loyalty for any online services other than published content you offer. Please take it from a concerned customer that wants his brands to be managed as best they can to guarantee their survival. Please abandon all digital initiatives or invest the appropriate amount of resources to pull it off as professionally as we should expect from a multi-billion dollar company. Best regards. Philippe-Antoine Ménard (The Chatty DM) What say you, dear reader?

Musings on Musings of the Chatty DM

ChattyDM — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:45:37 +0000

Hey there. I know no one believes me when I say I stop/slow down my posts. I won't say it anymore. Suffice it to say that I've stopped writing posts that take me more than 45 minutes to write since the last 2 weeks (including the Open Letter) as I'm preparing my Gen Con presentation. Speaking of Gen Con, Ennies nominations should come up today and you'll all know if I made the cut. Regardless, if I don't make it I still get to rub shoulders with Nick Logue and kill a room full of Drow PCs... I mean I get to kill Dritzz clones by the boatload, what's the downside here? My life is nearing a huge crossroad both personally and professionally. Sticking to my golden rule of blogging, I'm keeping the professional one under wrap for the time being (more on this very soon). In parallel, I can't help seeing the stars align for me having a greater involvement in the RPG community. What with a monthly column in Johnn Four's E-zine and being called on by Mike Mealrs to pitch for a Dragon Magazine article. Wow? I mean, I really should go for it no? (And you should too! Chase that dream). Thing is, as DNAPhil reminded me yesterday...

What is the difference between a Game Designer and a Large Pizza? The Pizza feeds a family of four.

I make a very comfortable living doing Quality Management in the Pharma industry and that living may actually become more comfortable very soon. It's clear to me that regardless of where all this may go in regards to the RPG community, my writing will for the time being, stay in the realm of hobbies. Actually I need to start planning to return my writing to the realm of hobbies as this blog has grown to levels I never dreamed of reaching and there are too many days where the pull to participate in the blog's discussions and tweaking the site take over my desire to work. So what does that mean to you? Not much. Chances are the frequency of posts will be reduced because of new professional opportunities (I can hear the 'yeah, right!' from here). Content type will remain similar, maybe less opinions and debates, more tips and stories of my games and my prepping of them. Style-wise, things will stay the same, I really like the 'chatting at the register of the Local Gaming store' analogy that Ish used to describe the atmosphere here. I really want to keep that. In regards to comments, I think I'll have to take a page out of Shamus Young's book and reduce the level of interactive commenting I do here to focus more on my work duties. I'll drop by during breaks, lunch and back home... Not posting in the morning will also probably help a lot... Yeah I'm not exempt from irony. All right, all this to say that as I near the 1st anniversary of the blog (July 24), a lot of things are on my life menu and I'll have to seriously ponder what to order. Thanks for being there!

The 2008 Ennies: Chatty Walks Away, Disappointed.

ChattyDM — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:20:31 +0000

Well Yax made it and I didn't. See here for nominations. Congrats Yax, you created and developed quite an accessible, and interesting quality RPG site! I'm disappointed, for sure, but not bitter. I gave it the good old college try and will likely enter again next year. By submitting the site so early in it's 'life' I forced myself to give quality content and foster a great atmosphere. In that, the blog is a resounding success, regardless of awards. Awesome job Yax, best of luck! Now it's time to plot the destruction of some Drow Noble houses. (Okay now I'm focusing on Gen Con... I have to finish that sucker up! See you later!)

Random Thoughts: Atomic Pod Treasure Trove Reveal Stolen Pixels

ChattyDM — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:56:48 +0000

Before I forget! Only 2 more days to send an entry in the One Sentence NPC contest! Soooo, Gen Con prep is slowly nearing completion, it's taking longer than expected but I believe that the GM-Fu Workshop book we're doing is going to be awesome. So awesome in fact that we plan on making it available online as a free PDF after the convention. If you're wondering what I will talk about in the seminar, well I'll stick to what I do best and discuss Tropes and Player types... No surprises there. I got a few cool things to share with you this week. Atomic Colonial Podcast! Ed Healy, founder of The Forge and Eden Studios has a new podcast called Atomic Array. Along with Rone Barton, they discuss games they love to play. It's very professionally made and seems to cover games of the Indie persuasion. Issue number one covers, among other things, a RPG game called Colonial Gothic, a supernatural horror game set at the eve of the American Revolution. Asmor's Treasure He's done it again! Our friend Asmor is breezing through the D&D 4e tool First up is the Monster Maker (not to be confused with his previously released 4e Monster Math Cruncher) that lets you make a 4e monster and save it in the form of the now familiar stat bloc. Dude, as soon as I start playing 4e, I'm going to camp out your site 24/7! That's not all! Asmor has also created a tool to help you find 4e Magic Items for your character. Now you plan your purchases/crafting or put them on your wishlist should your DM ask for it before generating the treasure parcels (Somehow that's just feels so wrong and yet it can be so right!) Stolen Pixel: My online buddy and recent World of Warcraft friend (BFD tonight woot!) Shamus Young has launched a new webcomic over at The Escapist (home of the very funny No punctuation video reviews). It's called Stolen Pixels and Shamus pokes fun at the things that annoy him in Video Games. Having read his posts faithfully for more than a year I know that he's got material for ages! The first issue laughs at the Unreal Tournament 3 Solo storyline. It also takes a format that Shamus successfully tested on his blog which is a vertical series of videogames screenshots panels with added comic book dialog besides a colum of Shamus' usual witty and funny comments. Way to go for snagging a paid gig Shamus! I took the occasion to update my favorite webcomic page. It's one of the blog's oldest posts, go have a look and suggest comics I might have missed! That's it for me this week. I plan on tackling some more Gen Con prep this afternoon and play some more Wow tonight! Have a great weekend all.

box-set

ChattyDM — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:24:53 +0000

Mining Tropes for RPG Nuggets: Season 1 Boxed Set

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:00:32 +0000

One of the lessons I learned from the Ennies Nominations is that my Site could gain from better navigation tools. This post is a step in this direction as I'll put a link to it in my sidebar. Director's Intro: I discovered the TVTropes wiki on the 'Okay...Your Turn' gaming forum early in September 2007 (I'm Jag Dell, the newbie blogger gushing all over that thread). At that time I was struck by how appropriate it was to consciously use tropes in RPGs since they are a form of narrative entertainment like movies, TV shows, novels and plays. What started as a few stabs at a huge subject rapidly became my specialty. It became a Series that I named "Mining Tropes for RPG Nuggets" and I had a blast writing them. This post is going to be an annotated repository of links to all the trope posts of the "1st Season", This should be useful for newer readers long time readers alike as a reference link. Enjoy! Bonus Feature #1

The Rule of Cool: The post that started it all. Short, effective and to the point. One of my all time best I think.
The Rule of Fun!: A later post that complements the Rule of Cool. Both together resume my GMing philosophy in regards to RPGs. That probably makes me a proponent of the Tyranny of Fun and I'm damn glad to be!

Episodes (and commentary):

Opening up the Mine: I defined what a Trope was and how subverting a trope could surprise players and create a stronger emotional kick in the game.
Meet Marty Stu: I tackled the Pet NPC syndrome and suggested not overshadowing PCs.
Running on the Edge: I tried to tackle, with limited success, the D&D 3.5 Crunch involved in climbing on a humongous humanoid construct to defeat it. If I was to remake this post I'd get rid of the Crunch altogether.
Let Them see the Light: Where I advocated allowing fantasy PCs skill-independent knowledge about monsters and magic and then subvert it once in a while. I like this one a lot!
Glowing Fluff Elemental: Making stuff glow means it's more powerful and just plain Cooler... 'nuff said!
...And cut!: Using the diagonal cut trope to enhance the description of a Critical hit makes players feel badass!
The Blessed Curse: Where I describe how to use a great power, like immortality, to make it into a campaign-wide curse. I so need to use the 'nobody can die' idea for a mini-campaign.
Grab a Can of Evil: One of my favorite Fantasy/Supernatural trope, dealing with ultimate evil sealed in objects. The exchange in the comment is a mini-campaign in waiting.
Halloween Special: Where I discuss combining multiple cool tropes to create hybrid concepts. Chainsaw Axes, Firethrowing Fantasy tanks and sporks!
What a Coincidence: Coincidences is the ultimate shortcut a GM can take to make a gripping story while still cutting corners. Players won't notice, they'll be too busy being the center of all that attention.
Gravity? Pfaa!: Occasionally ignoring balance checks and tedious Jumping rules can make for an acrobatic action filled RPG session that players will remember for a long time.
Ice, Ice baby: I was snowed in and pissed off at all that white stuff. I made a trope post about it!
I, Overlord: I tackled the Overlord trope in various forms. I'm very proud of that post.
Fighting Depression with Some Deep Pression: Once again merging real life issues with tropes, I discussed how to tackle depression in NPCs/PCs and the gameworld itself.
You, Bastard: Another of my favorites. The Magnificent Bastard character trope gets presented in various NPC forms. Revisted here as a reader request.
Have Time, Will Travel: The Time travel tropes! I initially wanted to make this into several posts (starting with the Stable Time Loop) but it proved harder than I thought and I ended up abandoning the idea. Maybe I'll revisit in season 2.
This is the End Friend: Ending a campaign with an apocalypse. I'm proud to have successfully pulled off this trope in my campaign.
The Crowning Moment of a Character: Make your PCs true Heroes and give them each their 15 minutes of glory. Players love this!
The Quest Improbable: Applying the Mission Impossible structural trope to an adventure. Makes Brilliant Planners happy and encourages players to be creative about solving problems.
The Truman Mirror Tomato Surprise!: Playing with the reality of the game world or the perceptions of said reality of players/PCs. A good season finale!

Bonus Feature #2:

The Bad, the Killer and The Evil: A tongue-in-cheek description of 3 GM types. I should write more of those short posts.
That Would Make such a...: At one point I started a "Tabletop and Tropers" series where I planned to tackle tropes that originated in RPGs. It didn't fly for long because I ran out of inspiration fast and I had trouble getting the message out. This post is about not stealing the ideas of a whole movie but to borrow just a few tropes to recreate the feel in your game.

That's all of them! I might make then in an E-Book someday if there is demand for it. In the meantime it's available to all. As some have noticed, I renamed the Series "Afterschool Trope Special" and I started tackling tropes from a wider perspective of campaign design. I still don't know where I'll go with it...but that's part of the fun isin't it?

dice-fetish

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:38:47 +0000

Chatty's Questions: What's your Dice Fetish?

ChattyDM — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:26:44 +0000

I'm almost done with my Gen Con Seminar prep, I should be done by Tuesday and come back with meatier fare soon after. Here's another content light post! I started reading a pretty good webcomic called Weregeek (thanks Sandrinnad!). In one strip, the author addresses the Dice Fetish trope were one player freaks out when another player reaches for his dice as shown here: I've never seen this happen but I guess it's a trope because it does happen in certain groups. My questions to you then is: What are your group's dice fetish? What's this Dice etiquette about? I don't want to get killed at Gen Con or anything. Here's a few of ours:

I buy a new set of Dice whenever I start a new campaign.
Math stores all his dice in the same butt-ugly pencil case he's been using for 20 years! 15 years ago, we would officially start the game by zipping open the bag and dumping all dice on the table... we should start doing that more.
Bad rolling d20s are periodically retired for the evening.
PM has put his d20 in a Microwave and seriously threatened it on multiple occasions

Your turn!

Email issues: Deactivating Subscriptions

ChattyDM — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:10:18 +0000

I've e-mailing issues with the blog lately. There are a some comments that I'm not getting notification for since I activated the "Subscribe to this post" plugin. Have others been having issues with emails from the blog? I might not re-instate the plugin. I encourage you to follow comment on the following feed: http://chattydm.net/comments/feed/ Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Tyranny of Fun...is a Load of Pure Unbridled BS!

ChattyDM — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:09:21 +0000

I'm starting to get annoyed at all the hate being spewed about the Tyranny of Fun, whatever the fuck that expression means. I won't link to any of them as I find that a rational discourse on this is nigh impossible seeing how emotionnaly charged the atmosphere around that screwed up concept is. Google it along 'RPGSite' and you'll get a good Idea. On second thought, since I'll probably be called a coward for not linking, I'll link directly to both of RPG Pundit's blog post on the subject: Here and here. Here's the RPGSite thread on this. I really can't deal with all the hate and spittle over this. (Actually I'm really sick and tired of global hate mongering and I'm looking forward to see it go out of style once more). I think that anyone that believes that the current RPG trends is to give players the sun with no fight is missing the boat by a few miles. I really don't believe that always giving what players what they want is 'fun'. Jeff Rients said it better than anyone:

Give them the Sun, have them fight for the Moon!

Any parent will tell you that if you give out what people ask for all the time, you only get frustrated people when you can't give anymore. Now I may be reading D&D 4e all wrong but I'm sure that's not what the game says we should do at all. I've said time and again that fun is good but satisfaction is better. So call me a proponent of the Tyranny of Satisfaction! Here's an excerpt from my Gen Con Seminar on that very subject:

This (determining Player motivations) necessitates a certain amount of empathy and emotional detachment as players are not excited because you rock as a GM but mostly because the game hit what they are seeking as players. Similarly, you have to resist taking player frustration and apparent disinterest as a personal affront or critic of your GMing style.

"Leveling up" as a GM requires you to detach yourself from your player's reactions to the game. Part of the satisfaction of playing RPGs is hitting pockets of rising frustration, followed by cathartic release when goals are attained (occasional failure being a type of frustration). Once you start understanding what players seek and get better at weaving frustration-building challenges and satisfactory release based on player motivations, you'll derive great enjoyment from seeing an increase in involvement.

So I tell you: aim not for fun, but for satisfaction. GMs need to stop being control freaks and the almighty 'keepers of Fun' and players need to stop being so goddamn demanding of GMs. Talk to each other! I'm done! :)

I'm finally done!

ChattyDM — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:59:46 +0000

After nearly 3 weeks of procrastination, World of Warcrafting and some serious intense writing, I'm finally done with preparing my half of the GM-Fu Gen Con Seminar. I wrote about 12-14 pages of tips and tricks on Tropes and Player types motivations. A lot of it is original stuff (as I felt bad recycling too much of my own material) in regards to potential readers who registered to that. Now I've a huge list of things to do, some blog related, some Online guest posting and some real important life stuff. I'm sitting on a huge professional decision that's coming up that will have an impact on my online presence. I'll let you know as soon as the paperwork crosses my hands. Anyway, I'm off to process the NPC sentence Contest results! I'll catch you all tomorrow night with a new post... hopefully something meatier than the last few weeks! Thanks for your patience and your overwhelming responses to my wacky posts! I'll never look at dice the same way again!

rman3806l

ChattyDM — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:20:53 +0000

Moderates have fun too!

ChattyDM — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:22:07 +0000

Okay so 2 days ago I posted a rant against the mere concept of the Tyranny of Fun. Now not only was I surprised to get some feedback from Mike Mearls (giving yours truly a fanboi moment) but I was absolutely astounded at the civil, dynamic exchange of point of views. Out of the post and the more than 70 comments spawned, I'm the only one who actually uttered swear words! I would first like to point you to four posts spawned by that rant: Ninetail shared his take on the subject here which amounts to 'you don't have to impose your version of fun on me man' and 'Civilization is not eroding because some games allow characters to be cool most of the time now' Dave the Game posted about a tendency seen across games (RPG, Board, video) where a game is deemed to be better than another regardless of other people's tastes. He compares the 3e/4e fracas, Eurogames/Ameritrash debate and even the Fallout 1 & 2 vs the upcoming 3. Scott dug deeper in the increasing comment pile and extracted the essence of an interesting discussion that grew up from the thread. In essence he pipointed the comment brought by newcommer Donny where D&D 3.5 (and possibly older versions of the game) allowed for Lone Wolf/Supercool characters to shine whereas D&D 4e's Balance philosophy does not encourage it. As I was writing this, Ninetails also posted about the Teamwork focus of 4e. Aside: It's going to be a very big thing guys... a D&D party could conceivably be designed like a CCG deck. DMs be warned that players who merge into a Performing team will be able to wipe much stronger opponents than what the rules assume. That distinction seems to be a very valid reason why some player would prefer to stick to D&D 3.5. What it all boils down to is that most of us are way cool with accepting that fun is subjective and that 4e is not an all-inclusive system... yet (if it ever becomes it). As James V puts it early in the thread:

There are so many levels to fun the true tyranny is saying your fun is the one that applies to everyone else

I must mention the interventions of Donny, who initially came into the discussion a tad aggressively but mellowed out when we told him we were interested in what he had to say as long as we all did it buddy style. He did! (Thanks bro) and ended up bringing cool points and I'm glad he joined the fun. I really encourage you all to slug it through the comments, it's very interesting stuff! Guys, I really can't say enough how much you all rock. Now I'm off to write my real post!

why-blog

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:39:45 +0000

So you wanna write a RPG Blog? Part 1: Why?

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:04:28 +0000

Blogging is a strange beast. There are literally tens of millions of blogs on the internet. I'm sure most are inactive or are nothing more than Bot-driven post-stealing Google Ads strewn smears but it's still a very impressive number. Even in the restricted niche of RPG blogs there seems to be scores of blogs (my extended blogroll showcases a few, which, I realize, I must update). It seems to me that they have litterally exploded in the wake of Martin Ralya's Treasure Tables and Zachary Houghton's RPG Blog. I know that many potential bloggers think that the RPG "market" is saturated. I know for a fact that this has discouraged many from trying (or continuing after a few tries). Well I disagree. Blogging about RPG is probably the best way to check if you have the passion, the interest and (let's be honest here) the talent to produce quality content for the hobby. I strongly believe that the game designers and adventure writers of the future are today's/tomorrow's burgeoning bloggers. This post is my first stab at a new series where I will try to share how I built a successful RPG blog and how I encourage people to do the same. This post will be about the "Why" of RPG blogging. Before I go into specifics I must share a few truisms (repeated a billion times on other writing blogs) about blogging in general:

Most blogs die within the first 3 months (It's a lot of work).
Readership does not appear spontaneously, active marketing is needed (i.e. more work).
Making money in RPG blogs is possible but unlikely. Very aggressive techniques are needed (yet more work).
The only way a blog will grow is if you periodically write material that people want to read (yup, more work)
Blogging is a lot of work (well duh!), possibly even more than your current day job.

Alright, now that's out of the way, here's my take on the reasons behind building a successful Blog. Why do you want to Blog? I think the first question you must ask yourself before starting a RPG blog (or any blog for that matter) is Why do it? If you are thinking about starting a RPG blog, chances are it's because you:

Have a campaign you'd like to tell people about but feel unsatisfied with the relative anonymity (or attitudes) of gaming forums
Are an experienced player/Game Master with knowledge to share
Have strong opinions about RPGs (Specifics or general)
Are a fan of a specific/niche/orphan RPG and want to discuss it and/or publish new material for it.
You are new to the hobby and wish to explore it by posting your musings and questions about it.

Or many many other reasons. Thing is, I think you need to clearly define why you want to do it. You need to keep this in mind as you start experimenting with the media (the blogging software, the widgets, colors, banners, ads...) so you keep a focus on why you're sinking time in this. Not only must you often think about the why, those reasons must be focused on you, not the readers. In the early stages of the blog you have no readers (except your gaming buddies and possibly your mom) so all your reasons must remain self-centered. Actually I believe that most of your reasons to blog should always be personal and self-focused. Pouring your passion and creative power into things you care deeply about will most likely lead to interesting posts about what makes you tick. What's so cool about the Internet is that sooner or later, someone who ticks on the same things will find you (I'll discuss in a later post how to accelerate this). Heck, I'm currently seeing a new interest in playing Retro-Sci-Fi clones RPGs. It doesn't get much more "niche" than that. Yet I love reading about it! Heres is my list of reasons why I started to blog almost a year ago:

I love RPGs and being a Dungeon Master more than all my other non-family hobbies combined.
Instead of posting long RPG-themed emails to my gaming buddies I'd do it online and make reading it optional for them
I wanted to become a better writer
I wanted to write about my current campaign, my preparation and how I wanted to become a better DM
I wanted to learn about publishing web pages.
I'm somewhat of an exhibitionist and wanted to test if I'd get noticed

Some have since changed, but I still know the reasons why I do it. Bottom line: Ask yourself why you want to blog, and keep that in mind once you started. Focus the reasons toward your needs and interests. From Reasons to Goals When the blog does pick up (if it does), you can revise your reasons to keep blogging. Better yet: Also set yourself some goals. Goals allow you to refocus your blog's content to fit with the feedback you get from the early readers. (Don't let them set your agenda, but stay alert to their responses). Goals also motivate you to do a little bit more with the blog.

You could decide to post your campaign logs "in character"
Create a new set of House rules for issues that bug you in your pet RPG.
You could start a series, or a RPG-theme webcomic.
You could also create whole adventures or encounter seeds.

There are a countless things you can challenge yourself with. Don't forget to be realistic, go for goals that will ask you a little more than your actual blogging load, not herculean efforts. The one thing you must avoid is making blogging feel like a job. But Chatty, didn't you say 5 times in a row that Blogging was a lot of work? Yes I did... but it mustn't feel like it! At least not for prolonged periods of time. If you set goals that need you to spend more time on blogging than what you want, you're doing something wrong. If you feel like you 'HAVE' to post, you're also doing it wrong. Check your reasons and goals and see if they still fit your needs. When I started having readers that weren't my friends, I decided to give myself goals, here's a few:

Post multiple articles per week.
Create and sustain a series of articles over a prolonged period of time.
Get noticed and Interact with Game designers/writers.
Build up a network of like-minded RPG bloggers

I hit all these goals in the blog's 1st year and I'm currently pondering next year's goals. Why you should blog about RPGs. As I mentioned at the beginning, there is no shortage of subjects to dicuss, dissect, debate, build upon and criticize in the RPG hobby. We need more people talking about them. The community can definitively absorb more writers. Blogging can be your first stepping stone from being an unknown geek to getting your 15 minutes of fame and get the chance (and the nerve) to pitch for a gaming magazine article or postulate for a job in the industry. I'm not afraid of the competition, I think it's a wrong assumption to believe that the pool can become full. Hell I'm a geek, I want to be blown away by someone's writing! Blogging will get you to find and meet people who have the same tastes and passions as you. One of the biggest bonuses I discovered about blogging is that I made new friends. That is hard to beat. All right, next time I visit that subject (if there is interest), I'll tackle the 'How' of RPG blogging.

Comment issues: Defensio gets the Boot, Akismet called back in

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:26:22 +0000

I've been having incresing troubles with Defensio spamming my fellow blogger's comments and Trackbacks. Since the last thing I want is to create a hassle for readers and delay their comments, I've booted Defensio out and reactivated Akismet. If any of you are experimenting similar (or other) commenting issues let me know at chattydm@chattydm.net. Sorry for all that.

One Sentence NPC Update

ChattyDM — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:58:12 +0000

I haven't forgotten about you. The One Sentence contest closed last week end. I formatted all entries posted on the blog and sent them to Johnn Four for processing. As soon as I hear from him, I'll let you know. We'll post the edited entries here and on Johnn's site (I think). P.S. Did ya know that the second D&D adventure, Thunderspire Labyrinth, is out? So are the newest D&D Dungeon Tiles: Hall of the Giant Kings. I'm going to buy them later today and I'll let you know.

Oh Noes! Joss Whedon is onto my plans...

ChattyDM — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:53:48 +0000

I know, I know I'm late to the party and almost missed it. I love Joss Whedon, I like Nathan Fillion and I have a schoolboy crush on Felicia Day (She's Codex from The Guild). Add that Dougie Howser guy (Neil Patrick Harris) and you got the weirdest, geekiest thing ever created (yeah I'm in the middle of a geekout... I'll go watch some Baseball after that to calm down) Just go see Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog. It's up until tomorrow night. As Joss puts it:

A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.

I love me an Evil Overlord Musical love Story... By the Way.. I'm supporting this 100% and bought it on iTunes. Not because I want to see it after it's gone from the official site (though I certainly will), but because I want to support a different distribution model of visual medial. This 45 minutes of bliss is easily worth 6$ to me.

dr-horrible-half_banner

ChattyDM — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:59:19 +0000

cheetoes

ChattyDM — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:49:14 +0000

Chatty's Questions: Heroes' Feast

ChattyDM — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:51:46 +0000

One of the philosophy of tabletop gaming I adhere to is Cheetoism, which basically boils down to:

We game for the snacks. And also the dice. But mostly, just to hang out with friends and tell tall stories

I used to be more hardcore about 'THE GAME' until I realized that my gaming friends weren't all that much into the nuts and bolts of the crunch and the total immersion experience of Epic Fluff. I sinced took it down a few notch and it's been great. My point today is not to debate the finer points of gaming philosophy, let's save that for later. A big part of Cheetoism (sorry for those who hate the name because it refers to those chemical-weapons-called-snacks) is the sharing of food at the gaming table. Since a lot of RPG session run a few hours, there is often a meal involved and, at the very least, almost always the presence of snacks and Drinks at the table. My questions to you is thus:

What are your group eating/snacking arrangements when you game?
Who orders the meal and who pays the it?
What are your typical snacks and drinks?

For us, since we mostly game after work on Fridays twice a month, we always have food delivered and eat before playing. It's usually chicken in a box, Pizza or Szechuan food (General Tao Chicken!). The host of the game usually orders the food and collects money from all participants (DM pays too). When I'm the host, I usually collect a flat 10$ per meal (which cost on average 7-8$ each), the extra goes to help pay for books and gaming material. The whole group is fine with that so far. As for snacks, we usually have them when we start playing pickup games before the whole group has arrived. We usually have bag or two of potato chips... Which we grow sick off real fast since we eat too much of them too fast because we're so hungry. Later in the evening, on occasion, my wife will bring a dessert she prepared with the kids and we'll thank her profusely for the much appreciated extra sugar boost. As for drinks, we usually have a mix of alcohol (Beer or Wine) , sodas (colas and Iced Teas) and fruit drinks. We occasionally have too much to drink (especially me, being a very fast social drinker, I drain beers at the speed of gulp), which tends to have an effect on the game. However, things have been cool lately (I switched to light beer to keep the buzz down). So what's your Heroes' Feast like?

how_to_make_it

ChattyDM — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:26:36 +0000

So you wanna write a RPG blog? Part 2: How?

ChattyDM — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:00:02 +0000

A few days ago I started a series where I share my views on starting and running a (hopefully successful) RPG-themed blog. Last time I tackled the "Why" which covered the reasons to start a RPG-Blog. Today I'll tackle the "How". Blogging Platforms and Hosting: The very first things you have to decide are what blogging software to use and where to host your blog. A blog is nothing more than a website whose content gets added to in reverse-chronological order (i.e. newer entries come before older entries), with a more or less important number of side features (like links, ads and various webpage gadgets). I won't be talking too much about platform choices. First, because I know relatively little about them, and secondly, because Wikipedia does it better. However, in order to write about your Risus campaign, you need to adopt a software that fits your needs and your tastes. The last thing you want is to use a blogging interface that makes you waste time or energy fighting with it, time that would be better spent writing! It's therefore not a good idea to rush through this part and settle on the first platform you find. Chances are you'll be spending hours working with the software's interface so make sure you don't hate it. For my part, I started out on Blogger (real simple, hosted by Google) and later moved to a self-hosted Worpress blog (harder to use, way more flexible). What about self-hosting then? It's a matter of choice and resources really. You can now "rent" space and server resources for a few dollars a month. This gives you your own web address (URL), private blog email account, and tons of space to store images, create forums, host your own picture galleries, etc. I really like the liberty it gives me, but paying for 2 years upfront (about 250$) can be a barrier for newish bloggers with no revenue. Alternatively, platforms like Blogger, Wordpress, and Live Journal all offer free hosting albeit minus the email accounts and unique URL (your blog would be, for example, blogname.wordpress.com). Bottom line: Chose the software you feel comfortable with and start posting your 1st article pronto! Layout and Design: While new bloggers want to dig in and start blogging right away about their latest house rules for D&D (as well they should), some time must also be spent creating the blog's layout and design. This can be really simple, monstrously complex, and/or expensive depending on your vision, skills in coding, "friends in the biz," and time to sink into this. A successful blog does not need a special theme or awesome plugins, but they can help readers recognize you and feel "at home." I invite you to experiment with themes and layout in the early stages of your blog, while no one is watching you. What it definitely needs is ease of reading and making the life of your readers/commenters as easy as possible. You blog because you want to be read by people, right? In that sense, I strongly encourage you to keep things dead simple. Take a neutral background, either pale (white, or a soft color like my background) or black. Use a text color that is VERY visible on the chosen background (like white on black or the inverse). Many potential readers have impaired visibility and having yellow over a navy blue background is very bad! I also guarantee you that you'll go crazy with plugins and widgets (those counters, doodads and whatnots in your blog's sidebars). I won't tell you not to use them, but I now believe that most are useless. You want to bring attention to your content, not the sideshow freaks populating the surrounding real estate. Consider trimming them to the bare minimum once you stop playing with them. Focus on plugins that encourage readers and commenters. Keep things like "Recent Comments" and "Subscribe to RSS Feed", which are very useful things to have on a blog. One of the dangers you'll meet in this phase is that you'll grow used to how the blog looks and you'll stop seeing its imperfections as barriers for readers. Worse, you might even resist honest feedback by thinking that the blog's look represents your artistic expression. This is not a painting people, it's an electronic newspaper! Also, a short word on ads: Don't. Even at my level of readership (500+ subscribed readers), Google Ads pays peanuts and I only get a few cents a day from Project Wonderful. I'm currently having more success with Text-Link Ads, but I don't know how long this will last and I had to wait 6 months for the 1st ad to show up. I therefore strongly suggest that you save yourself the work (and the temptation to click your own ads, something widely frowned upon) and establish your credentials as a blogger (i.e. get readers) before you go that way. Later, if that's a goal for you, start exploring monetization techniques by talking to the other bloggers you'll have networked with. You can also try reading some of the gazillion "make money online" blogs, but I don't recommend this since most are run by charlatans. One thing that might be worth considering is to go for a unique banner to identify your blog. This is the first thing that newcomers will see and that can set your "brand" as a blogger. Depending on you skills as a Photoshopper you can grab some RPG-themed clip art (check for copyright!) and create your own. Once I decided to move the blog to Wordpress and since I was skill-less in the graphics department, I emailed an artist whose webcomic I liked and commissioned her to create a banner. Best 80$ I ever spent if you ask me... I even got a bonus avatar! If you feel like you need help and have a few dollars to spare, I invite you to ask help from professionals. For example, my buddies at Men with Pens are experts at doing just that. Bottom line: Keep your design and layout dead simple so that the blog is easy to read. Posts are king! Get a nice looking banner if you can. Writing Environment: Even if you're a hyperactive speed writer like I am, you will be spending countless hours writing on your blog. Thus, it's a good idea to make your writing environment (both virtual and physical) as conducive to productivity as possible. For example, you should set up your desktop/laptop close to your gaming books so you can reach out to reference them without interrupting your creative flow. You also need sufficient light, a comfortable chair and some way to tune out the sounds of your household (or, heaven forbid, workplace). A soundproofed game room and/or sound dampening earphones are good examples. From a virtual standpoint, you need to set up your workspace so that all the game references (rules, forums, similar blogs, wikipedia) you need are within one click. Using a browser that supports multi-tabs (like Firefox, IE, and Opera) and putting the websites you often use in your bookmarks simplify things a lot. Bottom line: Blogging is a lot of work, make sure that your environment fosters effective work habits. Quality of Language and Editing: You don't need to be an English major or even a native speaker to be a successful blogger (I'm neither). You must, however, know how to build a sentence and formulate a thought in such a way that someone other than you can understand. While spelling is important, you can get help by installing the Google dictionary (assuming you use Firefox) and pay attention to all those little underlined words. If you're not used to writing, keep sentences short and simple. You also need to keep paragraph as short as possible. Nobody likes to read walls of texts, as soon as you said what you wanted to say about a particular topic (in two, three sentences), switch to the next paragraph. Writing is an exercise and as you do more of it, you will get better. For instance, my writing style has evolved tremendously in the last year. I've seen similar things in fellow bloggers, some so dramatic that they went from "hard to read" to "engagingly well written" in just a few months! Finally, you've got to read yourself, slowly, only once before you post. If you are anything like me as a writer, you build your text as you write and focus on content more than form, leaving behind countless typos and sentences that don't quite read as you intended. Editing your work is as important as writing it. The few extra minutes spent on this are worth it. Bottom line: While spelling and grammar are not hyper-critical (and can be helped by online tools), writing clear sentences and ordering your thoughts in a comprehensive way is very important. Conclusion: So that was a very rapid (although still lengthy) pass on how to setup and start an RPG blog (or any blog really). In the next post of this series, I'll tackle the "What" (Game-related Content) and "Who" (target audience, forming networks and advertising) of RPG blogging. I hope this is useful to you; it sure is fun to write.

what

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:01:17 +0000

So you wanna write a RPG blog? Part 3: What?

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:03:25 +0000

I started this series to share my views on starting and maintaining a RPG blog. I first explored the "Why" and then the "How" of RPG blogging, both of which applied, more or less, to all blogs. Today I want to delve in the specific aspect of RPG blogging which is the "What" of our beloved blogging niche. In a break with my usual tradition, I'm writing this series nearly back to back, mostly because I got near-instant feedback that the timing was right and also because I feel that a lot of Role Playing Blogs start in Summer (as mine did). Hope you'll enjoy this one too. Content All right, what is there to talk about in a RPG blog? Actually, more things that a mere blogger can list. Still, here's a starter list to get your gears going (I apologize to my fellow RPG bloggers for borrowing from their content):

Campaign logs: You tell the story of your game as a:
- Player: Either as an in character narrative or straight up as a player of the game
- GM: As a narrative or as your point of view as GM (discussing players, rules calls, etc) or both
GMing tips: Sharing your system specific/neutral GMing tips
Player tips: Character tips, playing with various groups, etc
Adventure Preparation: Sharing how you prep your game sessions (be careful of spoilers... your players will read your blog)
Slice of life: Journal-like entries of your gaming experiences
- You chronicle your gaming sessions you host at home
- You chronicle your learning steps as a GM and/or Player
Industry News: Hunt gaming scoops to post and/or comment on
Reviews: Reviewing RPG products, including books and other websites
Editorial/Pundit: Comment and criticize the hobby's health, main trends and theories
House Rules for specific games
Campaign, Adventure and/or Encounters: From seeds to fully fleshed out
RPG tools: Tools (online and otherwise) to make the life of GMs and/or players easier
Forum: Not a blog per say but you can create a RPG community with them and 'blog' in a reserved board
Character Concepts: From one sentence NPCs to 3 page D&D 3.5 antagonists
RPG Tropes: Sorry, you can't touch that one... Nah, go ahead I'd love to have a fellow RPG trope blogger
RPG Art: Either visual or audible art you create or links to other art sites of interest to RPGs (be careful of Copyright)
Reference Material for RPGs/Fiction: Discussing real world/Fiction elements that can be used as inspiration in RPGs and associated litterature
RPG Webcomic: Hey, they work, when done properly!
RPG Theory: Very popular topic in some circles
Player Psychology: Discussing what makes players 'tick'
RPG themed Quizzes: Always popular also
A RPG Digest site: Where you link and comment on other RPG posts and news

I'm forgetting a lot of subjects, I'm sure, and I invite readers to submit some more in the comments. I initially wanted to provide links to examples of each of those types of posts, but that would be too time consuming. I therefore invite you to visit my extended Blogroll or my series and 'Categories' in this blog's sidebar for examples. As you can see, the field of RPG blogging is a rich one and is wide enough to accommodate multiple bloggers, each with their unique styles and take on things. Don't feel constrained by the format you choose initially. You're definitively allowed to explore any or all of these themes. You can also use your blog to write on other subjects if you feel like it. Just as long as you realize that not all your readers will follow you when you veer off the path (especially if you do it for a prolonged period). For example, this blog is mainly about GMing tips, the games I play, some opinions and Vox Pop pieces and the reviews I make. However, I sometime discuss Geeky non-RPG things or I'll actually tackle a Real World pet peeve of mine (Heck I even tried my hand at Webcomics, too much work). Not all readers follow each of my sub-themes and that's all right. I like to think I go through each often enough to keep the interest level constant. Bottomline: There's tons of subjects, you don't have to feel any constraints. On Originality: RPG websites have been around for a long time. RPGs have been dissected and discussed in Newsgroups, Forums, blogs and social networks for years. Chances are, if you write a post, someone, somewhere posted something similar before. Especially in the realm of GMing tips, some things have been threaded multiple times. Writing original material requires some serious research mouse work... You know what? Who Cares?! The thing about a blog is that it's a personal discussion on subjects you really care about. While you should definitively do a Google Search about what you intend to write about, you should build upon what was written before instead of abandoning an idea others already visited. Better yet, link to the other material in your post to present to readers what was discussed on the same subject. In such cases however you need to add your personal touch to the post. You need to share your ideas on the subject and add material to what was said, even if it's only your personal experience with said subject. Content is important but your personnal style makes it cool even if it's to re-visit a familiar subject. One thing though, Just linking to other sources and repeating what was said, unless your theme is to be a repository of Cool RPG links, is called the Echo Chamber effect (repeating what has already been said) . Websites on Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are good at that, yours doesn't have to be. Bottomline: Originality is the twist you put on subjects, even if they were tackled by others previously. Fighting the Inner Demons: I discuss blogging with a lot of readers (no not just you) and a theme that keeps coming back is the Self-Defeating litany of:

But I don't know what to write!
My writing sucks! (Often coming from English Majors)
No one wants to read what I have to say!
That seems like too much work!
Everything I have to say has already been said! (see above)
It takes me too long to post because I need it to be perfect!

While I understand where this all comes from (Insecurity mixed with perfectionism), I'm willing to bet that these attitudes are the prime responsible for failed blogs. Yes some bloggers don't have the chops to become popular. They lack sufficient imagination, the basic communication/language skills, or the willpower to put in the effort of writing. However you won't know until your tried and push through that first barrier that is your Self-doubt trying to hold you back. Writing IS hard, it's made especially hard because we constantly see other people being so good at it (making it look easy) and we compare ourselves to them. However, as I keep hammering in this series (and this should be the one take home message of it all), you blog for YOU first and foremost. It's been shown that Blogging is an excellent therapeutic tool (I speak from personal experience). You do it to prove to yourself that you can do it. You do it to slay the demons of self doubt. You force yourself to press 'publish' knowing it's not a perfect masterpiece of prose (it never is and people won't notice). Readers may or may not come. Chances are, if you are enthusiastic/passionate about the hobby and you can string sentences in logical order, you'll get a readership. In my next post I'll give out tips and hints to actively go and get readers. If you don't manage to get readers, you have to ask yourself why and resist the urge to blame others (readers, bloggers who 'stole' your idea, etc). Chances are there's something with your writing/website that prevents people to understand what you have say. If such is the case, you should check how to make your content more accessible/readable. Bottomline: Shut those demons up and write! Writing is a form of self-help therapy for our neuroses. What if it's not gonna work? If you do try Blogging and can't get the hang of it, or lose interest or just abandon it, that's okay. You tried and that's a lot more than what most internet users ever do. You can always try later or move on, saying that it might not have been for you. That does not make you a failure. I'd be lying is I said successful Blogging is accessible to all. It's not. What I'm saying is that everyone can try it, learn from the experience, and be surprised by the results. All right, up next is the 'Who' of RPG blogging. I'll discuss the potential target audience of such blogs and the fine art of getting readers through networking.

cupcake1

ChattyDM — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:02:21 +0000

I made it! Musings turns 1 and 400!

ChattyDM — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:01:20 +0000

Image Credit: Labareda (As a gift to me) On July 24 2007, I wrote the first post of what was to become the biggest, most incredible project I ever tackled! Yes, a few weeks behind Stupid Ranger and Dungeonmastering.com, Musings of the Chatty DM turns one today. What's more, true to the avatar I created for this endeavor, I managed to post on average more than once a day, for a whopping 400 posts! (Yeah I kinda timed that one, I'm big on symbols) If we average each post at 700 words each, that's 280 000 words, which roughly translates in more than 2 Harry Potter Novels! I set out to prove to myself that I could post quality content on the net, to stop rambling in my gaming buddies inboxes and to become a better DM through introspection and discussion. What I never expected was that it would make me into a better writer and actually get readers who weren't in my game group or related to me! I never, ever believed that I'd last a year, much less garner more than 550 subscribed readers from all over the world. Said subscribers, along with occasional/regular readers, drop for a visit here more than 45 000 times a month! I also never believed I'd get to cross online path with the cool builders of my hobby, people like Monte Cook, Wolfgang Baur, Ed Healy and I even got an online visit by Mike Mearls. Thank you all for making this pet project of mine the addictive bundle of satisfaction it has become. What's next for the upcoming year? I'm not sure. My professional life is undergoing an early midlife crisis and I've been in a holding pattern for something big for quite some time. The outcome of which will shape what happens here. I'll keep you all posted, this I promise. Now what I'd like from you all is gifts! Yay! Oh not money, I hope I never get to that point. I'd like you to share with me (and the readers) one thing you are particularly fond of, something that made you smile, something you created or something you think others would appreciate. Post it in the comments please. For instance, it could be (please indicate if it's not safe for work (NSFW)) :

A funny Youtube movie
A recipe you like
An insightful Forum post
Your best Blog post
Someone else's best blog post
A link to a good free E-book
A link to an awesome song
It can be a shy hello from someone who never, ever comments
Anything cool, nice, funny or fun!

It doesn't have to be about RPGs, it should be a bit geeky, but you're giving so I'm not complaining. For those who have never created Hyperlinks here's a quick formula you can copy and paste: Text to be displayed Where "url" = the web address (inside quotation marks) and "Text to be displayed" is a word to replace the link like 'Best Cookie Recipe". Now don't be surprised if my Anti-Spam eats your comment. It's to be expected. I'll manually approve all blocked comments every hour. I thank you all profusely for being such wonderful readers and commenters. Here's to hoping I write a similar post next year!

book-of-bdays

ChattyDM — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:56:38 +0000

chatty-1-year-congrats

ChattyDM — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:46:47 +0000

zestuff-clearance

ChattyDM — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:30:08 +0000

Clean up in Aisle 4!

ChattyDM — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:41:18 +0000

Hey all, Without getting into details (in order not to break my Golden rule of Blogging), the 'big thing' I was waiting for didn't pan out. I'm done with disappointment and I'm moving on to re-organizing my projects. One of the things I'll be doing over the next few days is to re-tag my whole blog to make it easier to navigate with the search box. Also, I want to say that I'm sorry for the delay in the One Sentence NPC contest, my buddy Johnn Four is on vacation and should chime in soon with the winners from the drawing. It was also brought to my attention that I might be skirting over the the edge of some provisions of the 'fair use' doctrine with the various uncredited images I use to decorate my posts.Mostly that I don't add value to the 'borrowed art' but rather use it as mere decoration. It seems I've got to think about these things as my blog grows and garner's more attention. So while I mull over what to do with that (I've made a promise not to take any far reaching decisions prior to Gen Con) I'd like to ask you:

Do the somewhat random images I find on Google Image add anything to my post?
Would me stopping doing it lower the enjoyment value of the blog
Should I stick to Creative Common images (which implies more work on my part to hunt down and credit)
Should I stick with borrowing images from corporate products (book covers, Released art like Wizards' galleries and so on)
Do I keep doing the same thing, but make a little extra effort to site the source of the image (and use only 1st source images in that case).
Am I over thinking this?

I'm also pondering doing a re-design of my site to make it more user-friendly (Bigger Rss buttons, easier Navigation, slight color shift). Now that I'm starting to get regular revenues from this blog, I intend to re-invest some of it into blog development so to speak. So while I'm thinking about that and since the design has been around for some time now, I'd like to ask if any of you feel there's something missing from the blog. In the same vein, I'd like to know if some things are annoying and/or unnecessary on the page. My goal is to keep this blog casual, friendly and welcoming, and I'm not considering those 3 Columns/Square ads themes we see poping up. Finally, going back to my initial goals of blogging, I had planned to blog for a year and then tackle National Novel Writing Month in November. Since I've developed a strong addiction to blogging, I've had this idea of creating another blog on chattydm.net. I'd post my daily NanoWriMo and open them up for comments, and critique" It would also be a window into how an amateur author goes through the process of writing a first novel. Since I don't have an aspiration to publish it yet, I wouldn't mind posting it online. Does that spark any interest in any of you? (Not that the response would influence my decision of doing it, I'm just curious) I would need the advice on Copyrights about a few issues such as protecting the manuscript, allowing comments w/o getting accused of plagiarism if I get influenced by them and the implication of a possible publication from blog to paper. I trust I can resolve this before November. That's it for now, I've a few more Blogging/Guest posting/Review projects on the horizon. As usual, I'm not anywhere near running out of Ideas/material yet. Speaking of Cleaning up, my nice buddies at ZeStuff are having a Clearance Sale. Here's what owner Pierre had to say about that:

We’re currently doing a massive clearance sale on ZeStuff where some of the items offered were ridiculously reduced. There’s definitively something in there for everyone. There’s over 20 models of t-shirts at $7.95, books, board games, card games and geek jewelry. Additionally, until August first, all orders over $50 will be offered 5$ flat group shipping cost. This can be a huge saving for big orders or orders with heavy stuff.

That gives you a few days to save big. Yes I get a commission for stuff you buy after clicking the ZeStuff links from here, so in essence you're helping me support the growth of the blog through improvements and Prizes for contests!

So you wanna write a RPG blog? Part 4: Who?

ChattyDM — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:45:27 +0000

Last week I initiated a series on starting and running a RPG blog based on my own experiences. It was supposed to be only one post, but I should know better by now, right? I started with the 'Why', then I tackled the 'How' and the 'What' of RPG blogging. Today I'm going to talk about the 'Who', meaning who you write for, how to interact with readers and the RPG blogging community and how to advertise your blog. Target Audience I made 'write a RPG blog for you' a key theme of this series. However, you do post your stuff online so that others can read and comment on it. I mean it's the whole raison d'être of a Blog right? Otherwise you might as well just write in your word processor and leave the texts on your computer. As (relatively) large as the RPG market is, only a small fraction of it actually reads anything about them on the web. What's more, out of that small fraction, only a part of that population strays outside of their game's official sites/forum. A quick discussion with RPG bloggers has established the current potential audience of RPG blog readers at somewhere between 1000 and 2000 and growing slowly (I'm not sure if Email subscription and RSS Reader count double for the same 'subscriber'). There are more, but I'm willing to bet that a given blog's content can hope to reach that number based on regular quality content. That's not a huge reader base granted, but it also means that you should be able to handle the blog's growth. As a starting blogger you should not focus on getting to the top. As we covered in the "Why" part of this series, you write for your own reasons and trust that similar minded people will start reading you. In fact the best tip I got from the readers of this blog is that you should be your own target audience. Write about things that you find interesting and you'll eventually get readers who share your tastes. As you develop your blogging skills, you'll invariably start drifting in your content and style as you explore the medium. Hopefully that shifting will bring in more readers. Plus maybe you'll get lucky and you'll create a new style of posts that will generate a new audience. My Trope Series did just that. Bottomline: Write as if you were your own target audience. Comments Ahhh comments... How hard we hope for them to start coming in. How frustrated/discouraged we get when we get none. How blown away we are when complete strangers start responding. How panicked we get when they get out of control! Getting comments, preferably positive ones, is such an addictive feeling. It's the payoff of all that writing work and a sign that you've started to affect people. Here's the thing. Readers don't usually comment. It takes a particular spark to get a reader to want to respond, and that spark must be strong enough to motivate the reader to go through the hoops of commenting on your blog (i.e.: Entering Captchas, email address, naming oneself and sometimes even registering). My wholly unscientific observations seem to indicate that about one RPG reader in 10 comments on a blog. About 1/2 that do it frequently. So when you get your first comment from a stranger, chances are there are 9 others lurking on your site. However do remember one thing, readers do not owe you anything. They don't have to comment and they don't particularily like behind asked or told to do so repeatedly. They're being generous enough to actually take some of their time to read what you have to say, don't press your luck, especially early in your 'career'. While I think it's all right to nudge readers gently for feedback by asking open questions, just please don't be that blogger that nags and sounds hurt/desperate that no one comments. That's why you absolutely must do everything you can to make commenting easy for the readers as I mentionned in my 'how' post. Lastly, when people do start to comment on your blog, please be cordial and try to answer rapidly. Not necessarily in the following minutes, but please do so in the next few hours. If you have nothing to add to the comment, at least welcome the reader and thank him/her for the comment. You might think that's unnecessary, the reader won't. A blogger's answers to comments is what makes readers want to comment again. It shows you care about what they have to say. I've left many comments on blogs that never answered. Said comments were left on posts where I was the only commenter! I don't visit these blogs anymore. Blog communities are born out of that dialog. Content is the fuel, dialog is the fire that keeps the blog's steam engine running. The frequency and penetration of your response to comment depends on your free time and personal comfort discussing with strangers. Some bloggers answer each and every comments, others chime in on those that need a response. Others, especially on very high volume blogs, don't respond anymore as the community has become self-sustaining and comments go in the hundreds within hours. I'll touch on this in the next post of this series where I'll discuss the handling of a RPG blog's success. Bottomline: Comments are the currency of a blog, you have to earn them, not beg for them. Once you get them, maintain them by interacting with the readers. Networking... Here we come with the key points I've been wanting to make all along (only 3000 words later... sigh). The RPG blogging niche is a small one, but with a suprising number of bloggers doing it. Most of these bloggers are friendly, generous and passionate geeks that love to discuss and exchange on new ideas (at least I like to believe they are). What you need to do to get your name out there is to comment on their blogs and enter, in the comment registration field, the URL of your blog. Do it often and do it well. By that I mean add something to the discussion at hand don't just say 'QFT' or 'man that sucks' or, heaven forbid, 'First Post!' and then leave, that's spamming at best and trolling at worst. If another's bloggers post inspires you to write more than 2 or 3 paragraphs, I suggest you make your comment into a post on your blog instead. Make sure to link that post to the original post that triggered your reaction (I mean you have to generate content on your blog, not feed the other's). I guarantee this will likely bring the other blogger running to your site to see what you have to say about the original post. If the points you make in your posts about other bloggers points of view push forward the discussion at hand, chances are that blogger will write a follow up article linking to your post. Bingo! You just got a door opened to another blogger's readership! Just remember that they don't have to do it. If they do, you should leave a comment thanking them (don't gush too much) and move on. Regardless if this happens or not, after a few back and forth, you should add that blog to your blogroll (gaining goodwill points from the other blogger) and possibly ask the other blogger to do the same for yours. Feel free to send emails to the bloggers asking questions, giving feedback and generally being nice. Just don't expect a warm and rapid response (if any) if you haven't made your mark yet. If you have the time, you may even offer to be a guest poster on another blog. It pays nothing in our niche (trust me, it doesn't) but it gives you added visibility and authority. All this is the best possible publicity you can hope to get. It's free, it's generated by peers and it fosters your feeling of belonging to a community. I owe a lot of my current success to other bloggers and online publishers like Critical-Hits, Dungeonemastering.com, Stupid Ranger, Roleplayingtips.com, Gnome Stew (then Treasure Tables), and Twenty Sided and I'm happy to have felt welcome in these communities so early on in my 'career'. (See what I just did there? It's worth the extra 5 minutes!) ... and Advertisement Before I conclude, a short word on advertising your blog by more 'traditional means'. I've rather little experience with it and I'm still unsure how efficient it really is. Feel free to chime in if you can add to this (he he he... I'm shameless). While buying some Google Adsense space, registering a banner with outfits like Project Wonderful and submitting your posts to services like Stumble Upon and Digg will give you page views and traffic spikes, I'm just not sure how many clickers 'stick' to the blog. I've found that leaving comments and cross/guest posting is by far a more efficient strategy than advertising with banners and submitting posts to sharing services. Your Mileage May Vary of course. I mean I'm always happy to surf on a Stumble Upon wave, but once the wave is passed, the traffic usually isn't all that higher. Bottom line: Networking with other bloggers by linking to them (through comments, derivative and guest posts) is the best growth tool a RPG blogger can count on. Up next will be my final post of the series. I'll try to tackle how to cope with the slow growth, success or failure of a RPG blog project. Chances are I won't write it before my vacations and Gen Con as I want to let this series to run around for a bit. Thank you all for reading!

Someone Broke the Brain's Jar

ChattyDM — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:26:32 +0000

This blog is not about breaking news, others are better suited to do it. Regardless, I got an email a few minutes ago by a fellow reader (confirmed by Propoagandroid) that informed me that Gleemax, Wizards of the Coast's Social Gamer network, will close down for good in September. While Propagandroid makes a good case about the human impact this will have (People possibly losing jobs), I can't help but see that Wizards is moving toward fixing what I complained about in my Open Letter. As Randy Buehler, a person I have great respect for, puts it:

Anyway, all of that is what led me to be such a passionate evangelist, pushing to move Wizards in a more digital direction. It remains clear that gamers are moving online and if we're going to preserve everything that is special about Wizards of the Coast—and the hobby gamer culture in general—then we have to move online too. The mistake that I made, however, was in trying to push us too far too fast. I still think the vision for Gleemax is awesome: creating a place on the web where hobby gamers (or lifestyle gamers or thinking gamers, or whatever you want to call us) can gather to talk about games, play games, and find people to play games with. But I've come to realize that the vision was too ambitious. We've made progress down about ten different paths over the past eighteen months, but we haven't been able to reach the end of any of them yet. The correct strategy at this point is clear: we need to focus. We're not going to abandon the vision, but we are going to put large chunks of it on the backburner until we prove that we can succeed at the most important pieces. Those pieces are Magic Online and D&D Insider.

I'm not going to say "I told you so", my letter underlined something that was obvious from a customer's perspective and I'm overjoyed to see Wizard's stepping up to the plate, admit that mistakes were made and proposing an alternative plan to make their vision come true.

Magic Online "V3" is up and running, but it took us a long time to get here and it's by no means perfect. We have a lot of ideas about what we can do now to make the game better and we'll be devoting significant resources in future months and years to doing precisely that.

They are aware of the problems and will address it. That's promising.

D&D Insider functionality has started to roll out, but we're still behind where we wanted to be.

That is an understatement, but I'm willing to extend extra goodwill for the admission. Dragon and Dungeon magazines are promising. As for the Rules Compendium, what I really want to see is a monster Stats generator that will allow to cut and paste formatted monster stat cards in my adventure notes. Until I see the results, I will move in the cautiously optimistic, somewhat skeptic crowd.

(Not)Understanding The D&D Geek

ChattyDM — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:00:02 +0000

I think everyone can agree that Wizards of the Coast has issues with 4e and it's digital initiative. Yesterday's announcement of the demise of the Gleemax Gamer Social Network experiment and the continued fan backlash over everything 4e is eating up at Wizards' reputation as the trustworthy keeper of two of the world's most popular hobby-gaming franchises. I think Wizards knows this and is taking steps to deal with this. Yesterday a friend of mine posted on Twitter about how he hated to be told by some stranger how to run is business. While I can sympathize, this morning I realized that there are cases where a business should stop and listen to the best possible consultants: Paying clients. Having been a RPG customer for more than 25 years (15 buying and playing D&D) and having developed a community voice in the last year, I think I'm qualified to offer my views on Wizard's marketing strategies of the last year. Know your geeks The past, current and future clientele of D&D are mostly geeks. I define them as people who spend a lot of time and energy mastering and enjoying their favorite hobby. The inherent technical challenge of mastering said hobby being part of the geek's appeal for it. D&D 3.x was an ever changing system that was a challenge to master. Us committed geeks did. We bought countless books, we poured over them, we tinkered with the rules and we created awesome campaigns. Yes, D&D 3.5 (and its predecessors) had warts and some less than stellar components. Still we mastered them. The more adventurous of us even opened the game's hood and fiddled with the engine to get rid of the warts we didn't like (Save or Dies comes to mind). We spent ungodly amounts of time templating leveled monsters for our adventures. Some of us then saved time by trading them in the safe harbor that was the OGL and in the less safe, but unpatrolled waters of forums and fan sites. We even bought the later Monster Manuals and adventure paths to stop spending so much time on prep. A geeky fumble... Then came Wizards of the Coast with the much awaited (albeit not enthusiastically) announcement of 4e and the slew of designer blogs on Gleemax/pre-D&D Insider. While I was eager to see the new game and the previews did turn out to be more promising than I anticipated, what was the key message I continually got from it all?

D&D 3.5 was too hard, broken in places, too complex! D&D 4e will be simple, awesome and easy! No more spending hours prepping!

Huh, excuse me.... Is that how you reward us for all those efforts we spent on your game in the last 8-9 years? We all agree that D&D 3.X had issues. Hell we've been playing with them for so long, but we learned them! We tamed them or at the very least we learned how to circumvent them and still had fun. We even grudgingly followed through the dubious necessity of upgrading to 3.5. I think the biggest gaffe of 4e's release is how the geek clientele was treated by the various 'Change Agents' of Wizards of the Coast. There was something not quite patronizing, a bit 'we know better' and a lot 'this is soooo much better' in the corporate message I think 4e would have been better received if the changes had been presented as a dialog (however one sided it needed to truly be) in the lines of: "How about them Save or Dies huh? Do anyone hate them as much as we do? Here's how we think we could address them" "How do you deal with an underpowered PC that sits on the side while the Wizard nukes the Battlemap? We think it would be more fun for the average gamer if we proposed a more balanced apporoach for 4e!" I'm sure people more versed in the transition from 3.x to 4e will chime in and say that's what the 4e design/marketing teams tried to do. Well I believe the message was not properly delivered. Instead, I'm willing to bet that many geeks got the impression that the 4e team decided what was fun and kept pointing to the less than stellar parts of 3.5 to drive the points home, regardless of how much fun we actually had with those very same parts! (Don't quote me out of context please... he he he) Geeks on both side I don't blame the designers though, because here's the thing, the D&D 4e designers are geeks too! If there's one thing you can't do is stopping geeks from talking about something they love and spent so long tinkering with. They did, and I'm happy they did... only they could have reined in their geekiness to spare ours. I think what went bad was marketing's leadership (or lack of) about shaping the message to the geek clientele and from the geek employees. I realize that there are countless variables I can't possibly know about that led to this publicity fiasco (the word is not too strong). There was the obvious power struggle behind the license, there were IP issues and Hasbro's lawyers to deal with. Plus, let's turn the mirror around for a minute, there's just no WAY to please geek fans when a major change is in the air. Trying to do so is corporate suicide, some people had to be pissed off, that's the price of change. However, the path that was chosen ended up causing unnecessary damage. Here's to next time and hoping that the geek psyche is better understood. Have a look at Magic's R&D's web content (and the content of Starcitygames.com) in the Ravnica years/8th Edition years, that was transition well done. Taking too much on one's shoulders I think that Wizard of the Coast has tried to be a Hydra with way too many heads and it's collapsing under it's own weight. By shooting all over the place with printed games, digital initiatives and mass/viral marketing campaigns they managed to fail in multiple places. This makes the company look unprofessional and fuel the online pundits that gleefully chime in with easy (but well deserved) 'I told you so!'s The recent mea culpa and refocusing of efforts might be a step in the right direction, but the specter of the post 3.0 mass layoffs makes me a cautious customer (i.e is it going to be better or are they just going to throw a lot of people out on theirs asses and hope for the best with freelancers). It's a shame because D&D 4e is a very nicely designed game that brings heroic fantasy roleplaying in a new, not all that unfamiliar direction. Let Geeks/Fans do what they do best. I don't think it's too late to make the game reach it's full early-life potential, a change of the message and the underlining philosophy is however necessary. I think that the designers/developers should start pointing toward the (maybe hidden) complexities of the new game instead of comparing them to their equivalent from 3.5 all the time. For example, they should start to massively sell geeks on the lie that monsters in the Monster Manual are. They need to show us just how downright easy it is to create a thousand monsters by tweaking the MM ones. They need to flood us with examples of properly created Skill challenges and dare us to do better! If this has already been done, I blame poor research. Regardless, the message needs to be stronger to balance out the pundits and critics. Heck just look how much fan work has been invested in trying to 'fix' the Skill Challenges on Enworld. D&D 4e has now got it's dedicated Geek Squad working at its rough edges (and its got some too, just ask Graham what he thinks of how character size interacts with weapon). This is an opportunity that needs to be grabbed much more vigorusly by Wizards of the Coast. There's a lot of potential fan/geek goodwill, just waiti to be tapped, to turn this thing around. Maybe enough to balance out the hate. So here's my suggestion to better sell 4e to the world: The D&D Geek Manifesto Wizards of the Coast, we ask you to do what the hobby has always done to make 4e a success. Let the fans spread out the word, help US teach the game to others. Make us some bitchin' published adventures. Create non-RPGA gaming material that we, the fans, can use in cons and game stores*. We, the current gamers, are your future livelihood. We will buy your supplements, we will teach the game to new players. Don't underestimate the power of the online writing community. RPG blogging is still in it's infancy but its influence will rise. We have the time and the energy to make a true, long term viral marketing campaign. All we ask for, is your support and your help! Continue making good games. Hire more designers/writers. Re-think your marketing campaigns. We the fans will handle the rest! Chatty DM *I will be a DM in 2 of Montreal's biggest cons in the next year, I'd love to have some exclusive D&D material for that!

We be Chatty Geeks

ChattyDM — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:04:42 +0000

So 24 hours (and about 80 comments) after publication, a lot has been discussed about yesterday's post. I don't want to spend more time on this. I feel it's time I put my money where my mouth is and leave discussion about the D&D edition transition behind me and start focusing on the near future (Gen Con!) and the period after that (New Campaign!) I will however point to other people's post that linked to it. Sean K Reynolds mused on letting D&D 4e live on its own merit instead of being compared to the previous edition. (Yeah, I've been having chain-geekouts on my side of the screen these last few weeks with all these industry people I admire dropping in for a quick comment or three...) Greywulf also took the occasion to revisit his Dungeonmaster's Creed and how D&D 4e stacks up against it. Dungeon grrrl linked to the post (warning, some of her LJ avatars are NSFW ) to point to the possibility of having a cordial online discussion about such an emotionally charged subject. She also has a funny post, poking at WotC's Gleemax issue, right here. If I missed any (I'm sorry), feel free to inform me and I'll update this post. Have a nice evening, I.now.must.sleep.

So you wanna write a RPG blog? Part 5: Then What?

ChattyDM — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:55:37 +0000

In the last 2 weeks, I wrote a primer about starting a new RPG blog. While I knew it wasn't going to be all that original, I thought that would-be RPG bloggers could benefit from it. It turns out they did as I'm already seeing a few new RPG blogs cropping up (Here's one and here's another). This last part is about dealing with the future of your newly minted blog. Let's fast forward a few weeks/months and discuss what will likely happen with your shiny new RPG blog. I want to discuss a blog's success or failure as well as likely motivational slumps. I'll end this series with links to other people's articles you might find interesting as further reading and a request for more! Success! So you're getting a few comments per post, you got a few links by other bloggers and the overall feedback is good (or bad, it that's what you're after) and you feel full of energy and pumped! You spend too much of your work day checking your emails for notifications. Yup, it has started! People read your blog and have started to react. Congratulation you've made your first step out of the huge pile of unread questionable content that is 90%+ of the blogsphere. If growth of your blog is among your goals, now is the time to resist the easy lure of safe comment baiting. Don't try to mimic what gave you a few comments but think of expanding your range of subjects for new posts. The cliché that content is king, is true. While the tips I gave about networking and linking to other bloggers will bring about curious onlookers, it's fresh content that will turn visitors into regular readers. One reaction I see frequently among bloggers with burgeoning readership is jealousy/insecurity vs other bloggers. I read more than one comment, usually in jest, in the likes of 'Don't come and steal our 5 readers'. I also keep seeing bloggers selling themselves short by mentioning how 'no one reads this post', or 'if you feel like loosing time, please read the following' This is nothing more than those inner demons rearing their ugly heads again. It's fear of inadequacy, of not being able to cope with success and the good old impostor syndrome ("Oh Noes, they'll soon discover I'm nothing but a hack that got lucky"). Please don't let the demons win. Any defensive and/or self-defeating reaction on your part (in posts, comments, Instant messages and emails) is a warning sign to readers that you're not comfortable as a blogger. Don't sell yourself short, ever! Success should not be scary. Humans get used to everything, that's why we don't go insane because we hear a clock ticking. Success is nothing more than getting recognition for the hard work you poured in your website. Take it in strides, you'll get used to it... eventually. As the success of you blog increases, it will translate to more and more comments on your posts. You'll have to decide how you wish to react to them. Following comments is extremely time consuming (especially trying to respond to all of them) and may very well threathen your day job's performance. Let's be honest here, most readers and your response to comments are done during regular buisness hours. If you have a job that allows you the liberty to follow your blog, fine, but be careful to keep your priorities straight. Unpaid successful blogging can become way more rewarding than your day job and therin lies the danger. I suggest that you disable email notifications and check on your comments at specific periods of the day, where you can afford to spend time on them (I'll get to that with my own blog... eventually). As mentioned in the 'Who?' part of this series, you might also think about leaving your commenters to fend for themselves and visit only a few times a day to read and comment when your input is needed. After a certain point (more than 10-20 comments or so), the discussion often becomes self-sustained and you can enjoy the ride without the fear of insulting your readers by not showing up all the time. Bottom line: Success is fun, take it in stride and make sure you won't lose your job because of it. Failure So you've been spending a few weeks writing your heart out. You comment on forums (with a link to your blog in your signature) and on other people's blogs and no one ever comments on your blog. That's not fun for sure. Try to find a reason for that, chances are it's not because the RPG blog readerships is made of tasteless jerks, it isn't. They're an interesting, spirited, opinionated, but usually nice bunch. There's a good chance you're doing something that keeps readers from "getting you":

Is it because you make too many mistakes or post huge walls of texts with no paragraphs?
Is it because your ideas are all jumbled up and the text is hard to follow?
Is it because you are an emotional person and you post vehemently about things that bug you about RPGs (This can work, just not all the time and with limited amounts of venom)?
Is it because your subject range is to restricted or you revisit the same subject too much?
Are you the blogging equivalent of that guy that always talks about his character?
Is it because your blog is written in pale blue over a yellow background?
Is it because readers have to register and fill unreadable Capchas to comment?

If it's any of these reasons, you should try to change a few things to make the experience better for the readers. Chances are, they'll eventually start coming. However if, after all the effort, you just don't have that much to say about RPGs or writing is just too much effort for you, maybe blogging is not your cup of tea. As I said before, that's okay too, you can always try later when inspiration hits or if you develop your creative writing skills through other outlets. Bottom line: If no one will read you, don't blame others, check what you may be doing wrong and change. Maybe blogging might just not be for you. Hitting a slump/Blogger Burnout Somewhere in the first few months of blogging you will hit a wall. Blogging will start feeling like work. You'll feel you have to post something new. You'll feel all your posts end up saying the same things. Worse still, Writer's block will set in. Much like a gym membership, you'll start to rationalize why you'll skip the next post and you'll feel guilty about it. When this happen you need to pause and reflect on the reasons why you blog and the true goals you set for yourself. Ask yourself some questions like:

Do you have to post that often?
Do you post to please a crowd?
Have you ventured in a series or a blog project that does not interest you anymore?
What would you need to do to make blogging fun again ?

If you forge on through this without some reflection you'll eventually go through blogging burnout and most likely quit for an extended period of time. One good way to get out of the slump is to take a short break. Don't worry, your readers will come back, that's what RSS feeds are for (I'll take good care of them.... he he he). During that break, revisit your blog's theme and plugins. Brainstorm for some new types of posts. If you focused on campaign logs, how about posting some house rules (we all have them) or giving your players some questionnaires to post online? If you are artistically inclined, start a RPG themed webcomic or post some of your art. One thing you should not do during a slump is posting about how sorry you are for not posting or how down you feel. While you can occasionally share your feelings when life takes a turn the wrong way, your readers' tolerance for melodrama is not infinite. I mean, I used to love the Megatokyo Webcomic, but I stopped reading the artist's Angst-ridden 'woe is me' posts a long time before I stopped reading the strip. A slump is a signal that your motivations are no longer aligned with your original reasons for blogging. Heed that signal and see what needs to be changed. If you do, you will likely bounce back... I did, at least twice, in the last year. As you can see, I'm still here, on a nearly daily basis. Bottom line: A slump is a signal that something's wrong. Stop and reflect. Change something and bounce back! Where to go from here? My work here is mostly done, like Yax said, I made a one post idea into a 8 000+ word epic. If you want to learn more about blogging in general, I suggest that you give a visit to some of the blogs that focus on writing. My good friends James and Harry at Men with Pens and Bob from The Writing Journey have written many posts on the subject. Here's a Chatty's special selection: Men with Pens

The Writing Journey

Finally, during my writing of this Series, Trask, of Living Dice wrote an interesting post about Search Engine Optimization for RPG bloggers. Ninetail of A Butterfly Dreaming also chimed in with a very useful post about hosting your blog on a hosting service. Edit: My good buddy Bartoneous just linked me to another blog doing a similar series, only she's tackling Niche blogging as a whole, have a look. Reader Ravyn, owner of Exchange of Realities posted about dealing with the crunch we feel when we get too close to a writer's deadline. Your turn, the E-Book project Seeing how popular this series became, I'm thinking seriously about making it into a free PDF book. In order to make it more useful, I would love for your RPG bloggers to chime in with posts on RPG blogging of your own. Maybe you think I missed something or that something could be expanded upon. Post the articles on your respective blogs and tell me about them. We can then discuss how to make them into chapters of the book (With credits and links top your blogs). The book would be built shortly after Gen Con and I'd love to get some nice art, professional layout and editing. I'm going around you guys by email asking for help. Thanks so much one and all for reading and commenting! Now time for a vacation!

ennies

ChattyDM — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:53:31 +0000

Vote for the Ennies

ChattyDM — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:56:52 +0000

(Image Source: The Ennies Website) The Ennies is the Roleplaying equivalent of the Oscars. All fans can vote for their favorites. I just voted and I encourage you to do so. You have until August 6th. You can vote here. Yes I submitted this site and I didn't get nominated, my friend Yax did... (for which he will pay dearly in our Drunk D&D and Out of the Box Games). Like a bitter candidate that took way to long to support his winning rival, I officially back Yax's bid for Best fan product. Also, please check out's Commenter Tony Law's Fire and Brimstone, it's a set of rules for Lava for your favorite fantasy game It's nominated too! Hmmm, maybe I should use it on Dungeonmastering.com?

Chatty's Vacations

ChattyDM — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:31:44 +0000

Depending on how long you have been a reader here, you know that the biggest inside joke here is that whenever I say I'll stop posting for some time (for whatever reason), it's usually the best sign that I'm on the verge of starting a posting storm. No wonder I wrote 400 posts in one year. I am however leaving on vacation next Thursday. I'll be spending 5 days camping with the whole family (away from electricity and Wifi) and then I'll have one day to prepare my baggage for Gen Con. Until then, I still have to get ready for the convetion as I have the following to prepare:

I have to read some Paizo Pathfinder Society material and I'll DM an adventure a few times.
I have to get ready to be a DM for the Ascension of the Drow
I have to finish preping for my Drunken D&D game that I'll run for my RPG blogger buddies Dave the Game, Bartoneus, Yax, Dante, Stupid Ranger, Vanir and Bob Younce
- We'll find a way to chronicle all that craziness and letting you know about it.
We have a few more details to work out for our GM-Fu: Session Prepping seminar on Saturday
On top of that I'm participating in a RPG blogger panel on Saturday (thankfully no prep).
I also have to make a 5th level D&D 4e character for Stupid Ranger's Out of the Box madness on Sunday Morning
I'll also play in DNAPhil's Iron Heroes game.

Damn, I'm already tired just thinking about all that. So that means that I don't plan to write anything serious/deep until I leave for camping. As for Gen Con, I'm not going there as a journalist. While I will have my laptop with me, I don't plan to post about it while I'm there. I might still do it, but it's not on my to do list. Contrary to some other better organized bloggers I didn't write articles in advance to be posted every day I'm gone nor did I seriously think to ask other bloggers to guest post here. (If someone wants to volunteer, email me at chattydm@chattydm.net, I'll set you up with an account) So here's the deal, I invite all bloggers who read this blog to come and drop a comment here whenever they post a new article. I'll see you after Gen Con.

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ChattyDM — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:57:45 +0000

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ChattyDM — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:58:50 +0000

RPG Bloggers Unite!

ChattyDM — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:04:32 +0000

Last year, Dave the Game and Bartoneus of Critical-Hits approached me with an idea to create a sort of hub where the RSS feeds of various RPG bloggers could be found on one site. The idea was not to create competition but rather create a combined stop for RPG blog readers where they could glance at the titles and short excerpts of the recent posts of various RPG blogs.

With the announced demise of Gleemax and a flurry of activity in our e-mailboxes as various would-be entrepreneurs were moving on the news, we decided to make our own move.

Please allow me to introduce to you http://rpgbloggers.com/. It's the newest house for the combined feeds of a few RPG blogs that decided to join the network at launch.

The idea is quite simple. If readers see posts of interest to them, they click on them and get transported directly to the original post on the blogger's website. That's it, no post slurping, no stealing of content. It's a one stop shop for a group of like-minded bloggers that will surely grow.

At launch, the current blogs are on board:

Critical Hits
Musings of the Chatty DM (you know, like here...)
Living Dice
The Gamer Dome
Geek's Dream Girl
Critical Ankle Bites
Stupid Ranger
Dungeonmastering
Unclebear

I hope many more will join! If you are interested, have a look here for our adhesion requirements.

This is not a social media site, it's not a forum and it most certainly not about a Brain in a Jar! It's a bunch of friendly bloggers joining together to make their content easier to access for their shared/overlapping communities.

Will it grow out of this to something bigger? Maybe, only time will tell. For now, it's something geeky that we're proud to be part of.

Mini Crunch: Fun with D&D 4e Action Points

ChattyDM — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:59:50 +0000

I get ideas sometimes. Ideas that, if I don't use them, will leave me for another, younger, more prolific writer. Being a slave to nubile, half-dressed ideas, I take them and put them on electronic paper. One such idea struck me while reading UncleBear's latest post about using Hero Points in Hollow Earth Expedition (through our nifty new RPGblogger network! Sorry couldn't resist the easy plug).

(The game) also uses a Hero Point system, called Style Points. (...snip...). You spend them to roll extra dice, or for a player-initiated deus ex machina. I did that a lot, and it made the game so much more fun than just declaring tactical actions and rolling dice. For instance, when a troop transport truck full of Nazi pulled up, (my Character) took a bead on one of them with his rifle… smiled… then shifted his aim to the fuel depot right behind them. Yeah, I spent a point to have a fuel depot there. BOOM!

So here's the thing. D&D 4e has action points. You start with one each day and you get another one every two encounters to kinda make up for used resources during your long adventuring day. According to the Rules as Written (RAW), action points can be used only to get an additional Action (Stardard, Move or Minor) during your turn. This allows you to do all kinds of broken things alone, or combined with your team mates. Now why not let action points, combined with the use of powers and some player/DM narrative juice, become so much more? For instance, a rogue is fighting against a Minotaur that has its back against a wall where the DM described some glowing arcane rune,. The rogue shoots the monster with it's crossbow and misses. Thinking really fast the player asks the DM if he can use his action point along with one of his encounter powers that deal damage and slides a target. He says he wants to simulate the effect of his X-bow bolt hitting the arcane rune and making it explode violently in a torrent of arcane energies, possibly hitting the Minotaur and pushing it right between the 2 defenders. This is pure Rule of Cool, I'd totally go for this (Or shooting a crack in the ceiling making rocks fall and pushing the Minotaur). The player came up with a brilliant idea and is willing to spend resources to do so. So what if the power used does not exactly that you can do that? In fact, as long as an action point is spent, I'd totally allow slight bendings of rules (and some generous bonuses to d20 rolls) to awesome up the scene. Heck, should we allow it without spending an action point? I think that cinematic groups should! Based on what I heard Mike Mearls say when Dave interviewed him, I'm sure the game was designed to allow playing with powers like that (as well as the fluff behind them). So I'm totally going to try that and tell you how it goes... Of course, knowing my players, they'll be so focused on learning the RAW that they'll probably never invoke that... except Yan! I'll let you know. I can't wait to start playing. Anybody would like to expand on this? Does it make sense? Let me know!

RPGBloggers.com: Moving Forward

ChattyDM — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:37:31 +0000

Day 3 of the RPGbloggers network and already things have been, shall we say, dynamic. Since I self-appointed myself the community voice of this little project, I thought I'd give you an update. This nerd project, an initial idea by the Critical-Hits guys and backed by a handful of eager bloggers, was met with such astounding success that it grew past our expectations in mere hours. From 7 blogs at opening it grew to 30 until Dave collapsed on his bed and had to recuperate and focus on actual paying work. Then, after a few hiccups with website feeds and humongous graphics exploding on the site's front page, the site inexplicably crashed for many hours. Was it traffic, a badly parsed feed, or some CSS loop gone mad? We don't know yet and we're investigating. All this around a fan-based unfinanced project whose philosophy and vision is probably ahead of our technical readiness to pull it off (although I must give Graham and Dave all the credit here to have hacked things to this level in such a short time). As with all rapidly growing projects, some opportunities for improvement showed up fast . We're all painfully aware of the limited usability of having a gazzillion feed over a far wider range of subject than the average RPG reader cares about. People have voiced concern over the filtration of RPG content, the sheer number of posts appearing on a daily basis, the possible drowning of one's post in the page's rapidly updating content and a perceived dilution of quality vs quantity. We (I mean the little core group of people supporting/leading this initiative) tend to share similar concerns and have been discussing solutions. Here's a rundown of the short/mid term solutions we are entertaining to make the network easier to use. First, let me be absolutely crystal clear that there is no plan to cull the current number of blog members (and we plan to start adding new blogs as soon as we master some technical issues). I don't think we have a quality issue so much as an organization of feeds challenge. Secondly, we plan to implement a stronger categorization of incoming feeds (with the help of member bloggers) so that posts will appear in subject-specific sub feeds. Readers will be able to use tabs (or a similar mechanism) to see (and subscribe to) feeds on subjects they care about. Third, we plan to have some site-exclusive featured posts that will, among other things, present periodic 'best of' from the site's feeds, a sort of digest of what's going on in the RPG blogshere. Fourth, we'll draft a 'Good neighbors' quality charter for the members to adhere to in terms of proper tagging/categorizing of posts, that suggest workarounds for the unavoidable Echo Chamber effects (i,e. all bloggers talking about the same thing at the same time) and foster community building behavior. Finally, we'll create a style guide to help bloggers building cool titles and great excerpts to look their best on the site's page. That's about it for the near-term stuf. It's going to be a lot of work, but we all want this to be a site that people will enjoy using. That being said, I've been surfing on many of the network's sites and I must say that comments have picked up on many of them. The intended cross-pollination of readership has worked beyond our expectations! People have discovered new blogs and are commenting on them. This is what the network is all about. Later, it will probably be more, but for now I see it as a mixer party where people from different communities mingle and get to know each other. Then we'll take out the spiked Punchbowl and get this party really started. On a last note, some potential members have raised concerns over loss of RSS subscribers and possible impact in advertising revenues of individual blogs. While I still find the possibility of making significant amounts of money in the RPG blog niche debatable, this is a genuine concern. Please note that the following is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of rest of the network's members. There currently is one good 'ad campaign' going around, The Wizards of the Coast Banner ads, and I predict more will come. While this campaign seems to be focused on RSS feeds (i.e you need to have reached a certain RSS subscription point, and know the appropriate people to get it), I Intend to lobby hard for advertisers to explore different ways of gauging a website's worth for advertisement. RSS feeds subscription can be easily manipulated (i.e. having multiple subs per reader) once a blog reaches a certain point and I'm starting to think that's not such a good idea. I'll keep you posted. For now, enjoy the network and know that keep on getting better and better... ...then some mega corporation will buy us off for eleventy gazzilion dollars. Yeah right.

So You Wanna Write a RPG Blog? What NOT To Do

Berin Kinsman — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:18:41 +0000

Hi folks! My name is Berin Kinsman, and I'll be guest blogging here while our beloved Chatty DM is off vacationing in the wilderness. I've been a roleplayer since 1978, which officially makes me an old grognard. I've been writing about gaming on my own site, UncleBear, since 1996, long before the word "blog" was coined and tools like Blogger, Wordpress and Livejournal were available. I've been doing this before a lot of what's now conventional wisdom became conventional. What I want to do is pass along some of the mistakes I've made over the years, to help you avoid some of the pitfalls I experienced. Don't Lose Focus Complete this sentence: My blog is about _____________ . At least 95% of the posts you make on your blog should be about whatever you filling in that blank with. The other 5% should tie into that topic. If you're writing about D&D, write about D&D. If you suddenly want to write about religion and politics, it had better tie into D&D somehow. The most successful blogs avoid topic drift. * Corollary A: Don't Make the Topic Too Narrow If you decide you're blog is going to be about clerics in 2nd Edition D&D, you may be restricting yourself. You'll find you want to talk about other things, but it's hard to do in the context of your chosen topic. Topic drift will happen. It's okay to expand your blog's focus as you go along, but it's better if you start off at the right level of granularity * Corollary B: Don't Make the Topic Too Broad If you're going to cover all things roleplaying, you had better cover all things roleplaying. Don't ignore the 800 lb. gorillas in the room. If you spend most of your time writing about [Your Favorite Game] and little else, then you've got a blog about [Your Favorite Game]. Don't Give Rude People An Inch There is a broad gap between respectful disagreement and a flaming troll, but I've sometimes been too nice for my own good and given the latter the benefit of the doubt. Don't. Not ever. You can set your own rules about issuing warnings, banning people from leaving comments, and so forth, but the very first time someone does something uncool you've got to nip it in the bud. Once you've got an established community your regulars will often do it for you, but as you're ramping up one of two things will happen: the jerk will inspire others to imitate his behavior, and/or the nice people will free to politer ground. * Corollary A: Don't Take It Offline If You Don't Have To If the jerk says it in your comments section, address it there. Whether you're posting a polite "yeah, uncool, chill" or putting someone's head on a pike, it establishes the ground rules for other readers/commenters and shows that you're in control. I have two or three regular readers who never leave comments on the page, but send me emails taking me to task about something-or-other that I posted. A one-off note to point out an error and help me save face is cool, but these folk want to engage me in private debate. My policy is to not respond to negative comments from people I don't know (and if you're a regular commenter, I "know" you for purposes of this rule whether we've ever met face-to-face or not). If you want to engage me, do it in public. Often they want to remain in email because they know they'd look foolish in a public forum, or that other readers would rise up to back me. Don't take the flame bait. Don't Blog in an Altered Mental State This is an extension of the Chatty DM's Golden Rule of Blogging. My two personal caveats are Don't Blog Angry (I tend to say things I regret later) and Don't Blog Bummed Out (I whine. A lot). I'm not saying don't write it; you probably need to get it out of your system, and you can probably edit and salvage something useful from it later. Just don't post it until you're in a better place and have had a chance to think about what you're putting out into the world. I've extended this to include blogging while under the influence of controlled substances, including prescription medications and over-the-counter cold medicine. I've never done it (okay, I've blogged on NyQil a few times) but I know people who do, and their posts run the gamut from incomprehensible to painfully embarrassing. You just hurt your credibility and lose readers. Don't Stop Playing Most of you are probably looking at me funny, but this is gospel truth: there was a two-year period where I was neither running nor playing in a game, but I was still writing about it. It was frustration for me, to say the least, and it came across in my writing no matter how neutral or upbeat I tried to be. I became very disconnected from the roleplaying community and started to veer off into my own orbit. Because I wasn't gaming, topic drift set in and I was violating Rule#1. Don't Fear the Reruns If you're going to be away from the blog for a few days, rerun some best-of posts. It's easy when using tools like Wordpress; just change the post date, and it will keep the same URL so links to the post won't get screwed up and all the original comments will remain intact. I usually put a new note at the top, indicating the date it was originally run. Reruns don't have to be your most popular posts; they may be something you're proud of writing that wasn't appreciated at the time, or something that's suddenly topical again. It's quick filler, if nothing else. You're not cheating. No one will pelt you with fish for doing it. Don't Lose Touch with Regulars As stated in Rule #2, if someone regularly posts comments on your blog, odds are you "know" them to some degree. They're also likely registered on the site, so you have their email address. If they suddenly stop posting, after a few days you should drop them a line and find out why. They may have found some cool new spot to hang that you might also like (or need to compete against, or join forces with). You, or another regular, may have inadvertently offended them. They may have lost interest, and you really want to find out why so you can improve your blogging. In my case, I had a regular vanish for months and while I thought about following up I didn't, because I didn't want to violate their privacy. When they reappeared it turned out they were having trouble, and that I might have been able to help them. I still feel guilty about that. You don't have to hold a huge fun raiser to help people with their medical bill or anything like that; just letter a member of your community know that you've noticed their absence and miss them can have a huge effect when they're having a tough time. Well folks, thanks for the soap box. I hope that this was useful to you, and that it helps you avoid some of the trials and tribulations I went through to build a blog and a community that I'm proud of.

Get Your Dice Off My Lawn!

Berin Kinsman — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:33:39 +0000

Another Guest Blog Post by Berin Kinsman of UncleBear. You kids today think you have it so rough. The D&D Online Tools aren't ready yet! I can't play a Bard or a Druid in 4e! I don't have a flying car to take me to my game session! Spoiled, whining brats, I tell ya! When I was your age, we didn't even have dice! My first D&D boxed set had a sheet of cardboard with numbers printed on it that we had to cut up into chits, and we drew numbers out of a cup! We took turns shaking the paper cup and tried to avoid paper cuts! And we had to reload the cup for every die type! Just "rolled" a d20? Now you need you roll a d4? Dump out the 20 chits and put in the 4. Now you need a d6? Dump the 4 and put the 6 in. We had little piles on the table for each die, and had to keep them separated. And when we did finally get dice, they were crap! They were made out of the lowest grade plastic and were probably toxic, and they crumbled like hard cheese when you rolled them. I had a d20 that only rolled 7 and 13 because most of the corners were sheered off. It was like rolling initiative with a marble. One guy I know got to a game session and his dice bag with filled with nothing but plastic grit, because his books had crushed his dice to powder inside his backpack. You think old grognards won't let you touch our dice because we're superstitious? It's because we're afraid you're going to break them! Those dice didn't come in all kinds of fancy colors, either. Everyone I know had pale blue dice, because that was all the hobby store sold. By hobby store I don't mean game store or comic shop, because there weren't a lot of those around back then. I mean a place that sold model kits and Lionel trains. And balsa wood. Aisles and aisles of balsa wood and dowel rods. It was like buying dice at a tiny, tiny lumber yard. People back then needed a lot of balsa wood and dowel rods, unlike today when all you kids do is play video games and never go outside in the fresh air! Dice didn't come with the numbers painted on so you could read them easily, no sir! They were blank plastic. You had to use a crayon to color in the grooves so you could read the numbers without picking the dice up and squinting. Buying the deluxe dice meant the crayon was included and you didn't have to supply your own. There were no 10-sided dice. Those weren't invented until later. The d20 was numbered 0-9, twice. You used two different crayons and declared one color "high" and the other "low". If you used red and blue, for example, and declared red high, a red 7 was 17 and a blue 7 was just 7. To roll a percentile we rolled the d20 twice, the first time for 10's and the second time for 1's, because few people had two 20s at a time. Not that we didn't buy them, they just disintegrated from use and you couldn't buy just one die, you have to buy a whole new set. So you'd end up with 47 d6's and 22 d8's and only 1 d20. And as for your lack of flying cars, we had to ride dinosaurs to our game sessions! Uphill! Both ways! In a snow storm! It was an ice age back then. You kids should make the most of your global warming and all the nice weather. Now get off my lawn! Boy, I sure do miss the good old days...

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Davetgame — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:44:06 +0000

miskatonic

Davetgame — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:46:39 +0000

Afterschool TV Tropes Special: Location. Location? Location!

Davetgame — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:46:55 +0000

Dave Chalker, AKA Dave The Game here (from that other website) (and that other, other website) filling in for the Chatty One while he does whatever it is Canadians do on vacation. I decided to aim high. Sure, I could have done a post about RPG blogging, on how to snare your friends into writing for your website in exchange for occasionally being given free things but usually just getting hassled, but I think I've learned this past week that there's tons of people blogging about RPGs already. Four gratuitous plugs in the opening paragraph? Check! Fake checklist that I make up as I write this? Check! Today I have decided to enlighten you with a post in the Trope series, that life-ruining pastime that somehow manages to translate into fame and fortune. Sure, you've seen plenty of tropes before, but do you have anywhere to put them? I didn't think so! As you might have guessed from the title, this is a post about settings, and how they can inform your campaign design. And by the end, I might even relate it to the reason I'm posting here today. "Frylock! What are you... doing... here?" "I live here." There are many famous cities in RPGs, and I'm sure I'll annoy someone by leaving out their favorite, but Sigil is by far the first one that comes to mind. The famous inter-planar hub ruled by Rebus-speaking weirdos and an enigmatic, purposely unexplainable ruler keeping things in check is the cornerstone of the Planescape setting, and a great base of operations for your party. Then there's Ptolus, which is a bit more grounded, but a very hefty setting filled with cults, odd magic tech, and machinations for your party to sink into. (And you'd have to be really crazy to mash them up into the same game.) But I'm here to say to you: you do not need to look to the fantastic to have your source of adventures. You need not look any further than your local university, or your home town. Any place can be a City of Adventure, providing endless hooks, characters, and places, without having to do a thing. Wottsamatta U My favorite campaign was a Call of Cthulhu campaign in college, where the PCs played students at the university we attended. (I babble on about this campaign all the time.) The beauty of it was no additional buy-in: I didn't have to explain the locations, what day to day life was, who all the NPCs were (though I was able to populate it with a number of new eccentric professors and crazy college students), and didn't need to provide a campaign map: we could just swipe one from the Student Union. At the same time, there was never any problem with introducing a little Geographic Flexibility to add whatever I needed for the horror/weirdness adventure of the week. At the same time, I didn't have to worry about the PCs not being interested in dealing with whatever was going on or calling the police: after all, "this is an isolated midwestern university, nothing exciting ever happens here." Besides, the citizens know that couldn't have been what it looks like! Of course, this doesn't just apply to University settings (though I recommend you try it!), but even your local sleepy town has an adventurous side. One of the players in the University campaign went on to run a similar game on his summer break from school... and you wouldn't believe how much mileage you can get out of a giant picnic basket. "From beneath you, it devours." So you've got your place, but you need some more justification on why these strange things are happening now. After all, you live there, and you've never had an adventure that required a series of skill checks, right? Well, it just so happens that in your campaign, your town has its very own Magnetic Plot Device, that gives off Weirdness Magnet Radiation (WMR.) It's entirely possible to never explain why the things are happening to your town, and now, but thinking of one can often give you inspiration for what to do from week to week. Both episodic campaigns and myth arc games benefit greatly from having even the tiniest shred of connection between it all, giving the entire campaign the feeling of building to something great. Some easy examples of explanations:

The whole town is built over the resting place of an ancient evil thing... and its dreams are starting to leak out. (Or something is trying to release it.)
The place was built on top of a portal to another dimension.
The town just happens to have a high concentration of people who make it strange. (Or a high concentration of people who aren't quite people.)
Or maybe there isn't anything supernatural about it at all, but everyone's got something to hide.

"Strange and bizarre things happen to you with alarming frequency." From there, all you have to do is see what plots work well with location + reason. There's a few trope-adventures in particular that I'm fond of in this setting:

"Hey, there's a lot of stuff that went wrong today that we just found out about. And it happened to fall on a Holiday. If only we had known for the start of the day that so many thing were going to go wrong..."
Mr./Mrs. Right comes along for the PCs, or a close contact of the PCs. Surely there's nothing wrong with him/her.
Everyone around town seems to be acting just slightly odd today. Or maybe just one of the PCs is acting slightly odd...
Heck, grab ANY White Wolf book, and decide what supernatural thing has infiltrated your town, a way to get the PCs involved, and ways they can stop the threat.
Of course, after a while, even the most devoted citizens want to get out of the city for a bit. Then it's time for a vacation! (See? Vacations! It all connects!) In a college campaign, spring break is the perfect opportunity to inflict mayhem- I recommend checking out the adventures in GURPS IOU (obviously the book as a whole is a strong inspiration) for a few good off-campus adventures. And whether it's for holiday break at a university, or the PCs just have off their jobs on Christmas day, you can always unleash A Kringle in Time.

As always with tropes, the surface of the roleplaying potential is only scratched here, even just looking at all the setting tropes. Hopefully I've encouraged you to try something new (and yet familiar) in your games. I'll give back up this space to the other fine guest posters, and catch you in the comments.

Visit Storyteller's Blog

Storyteller — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:21:14 +0000

Extreme Makeover: Tavern Edition

Storyteller — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:15:35 +0000

Howdy all, from your friendly neighborhood Storyteller. I'll be your guest blogger this fine afternoon in Chatty DM's continued absence. I'm a young'un when it comes to the RPG blogosphere though I've been a roleplayer since middleschool and help to run the RPG club (Adventurers Wanted) at my university. Trust me when I say, there is nothing quite as satisfying as convincing the student government to grant funding for core rulebooks to put in the library. Anyways, enough about me. Let's get right to the topic at hand. Taverns! Yes taverns, you heard me right. D&D's most trite, overdone, and tired cliché. Taverns get a bad rap, and for good reason. Most DMs just avoid the things entirely unless one is written into the adventure they're running. With a tavern's blatantly important NPC's and obligatory shadowy corners, just the mention of such an establishment elicits groans from experienced and new players alike. This is, after all, Dungeons and Dragons - not Taverns and Gazebos. So, how do we fix this problem? Taverns have always been a staple part of D&D and an aspect of the game that, I believe, is worth our time. There is hope! Let's just take a gander at the five potential highlights of every tavern and determine how you as a DM can work to incorporate these into your next tavern adventure. The Name Simple right? [Insert Adjective Here][Insert Noun Here]. It's as close to mad libs as D&D gets! Let's see how talented a DM my good friend Mr. Word Generator can be. Random Tavern Name #1: The Imaginative Wren Random Tavern Name #2: The Unaware Daughter Random Tavern Name #3: The Resting Mirror Voila! Three great tavern names, right? A tavern by any other name would… smell as sweet I suppose? Nah, you can do better then that. I have faith. A tavern's name can hold a lot of power if you're trying to hold onto a player's interest. Contrary to popular belief, when opening a new place of business most people do not throw darts at a wall full of words in order to determine the company's name. A tavern's name should have a reason behind it! When you decide on the name for a tavern you're already half of the way there in determining the establishment's atmosphere, theme, and decorations! While you're in this brainstorming process, or looking at a tavern's name for the first time in a published adventure, give some thought to what that name says about the tavern itself. A tavern's name is the foundation upon which you can build an experience to remember. Make it count. The Ambiance If you give every room in a dungeon at least three to four sentences of your time in description, you can at least give a tavern's common room the same effort! What does the sign outside look like? Who's behind the bar? Are there balloons? When you start reading a description for the tavern the players just walked into, you'll get their pavlovian reflexes kicking. At that point they'll start paying attention for fear of falling through the pit trap directly inside the main entrance. Obviously, you're not going to want to map out every tavern ahead of time, but spicing up your tavern's atmosphere is one of the best ways to get players interested. Even just having one or two things catch the attention of the characters is all you need to set the scene. Remember, you can make your tavern as absurd and abnormal as you want. The stranger it is, the more entertaining your players may find it. Of course, there can always be too much of a good thing (a red dragon bartender for example). Trust me when I say, a little bit of "weird" goes a long way. If you have the time, come up with some ideas of your own. If not, roll a d% twice on the Random Atmosphere Generator table below (reroll if you get the same result twice) for instant ambiance. The first roll distinguishes something interesting, while the second distinguishes something unique. Either way, these are some areas of interest that you might want to think about when introducing a tavern. Random Atmosphere Generator 01-20% - Lighting 21-40% - Staff 41-60% - Decorations 61-80% - Music 81-100% - Clientele Lighting: Interesting? Magical torches work well, or perhaps candles that float about an inch off every table. Unique? Firefly powered lanterns! Maybe a disco ball? Staff: Interesting? Maybe a Satyr works the bar, or the waiters are lizardfolk. Unique? A team of twenty Iron-Chef style Kobold cooks and waiters. With top hats. Decorations: Interesting? Tapestries or hunting trophies could work as a standby. Unique? Walls lined with mirrors, or even a fountain in the room's center. Music: Interesting? A self-playing lute, or music that seems to emanate from the tavern itself. Unique? A trio of animatronic Clockwork Constructs. Banjos included. Clientele: Interesting? A pair of Hobgoblins enjoying tea or a peaceful Gnoll priest might make the characters do a double take. Unique? GNOMES! They're everywhere! The Food So why are the characters really at the tavern? If they answer "to advance the plot" it's because they're full of lies, probably delusional, and have been up too late spouting vicious rumors about your mother. We all know that they're really there for the alcohol. Oh, and maybe some food to. When it comes to bringing food before your players, you have the opportunity to engage all of their senses at once. Does the food actually look like food? Is it burnt and crunchy, or does it melt like butter in their mouths? Does it taste bland, or have an overwhelming amount of spices? Does it smell like hell and taste like heaven? That's all up to you! If you have the time and initiative, type up a couple menus! Print them out on manuscript paper! Walk around your table with a towel over one arm while you hand them out! Or maybe at the mention of food, the Half-Orc waitress just drops a shovel-full of stew(?) into their bowls and it's up for them to decide who takes the first bite. (Mmm... tastes like food poisoning!) For a unique dining experience, you can give a tavern the same sort of themes that modern-day restaurants have. Maybe it has a salad bar, or a dessert cart! One dining adventure I recently sent my players on was to a tavern with a hibachi-style grill manned by a pair of Halflings. The two cooks juggled knives between them as they steamed up fresh fish and vegetables – eventually catapulting the dishes across the room onto the player's plates. Success of the launch was determined by whether or not a player could catch a piece of popcorn in their mouth as I hurled it at them. I had fun. Speaking of popcorn all over the floor, this brings up another point. Use real food! For those of you out there skilled at cooking, it never hurts to actually give your players food as they order it in-game. "Well, we have Mountaine Dew Ale, and a fine Pretzale Stixa Salad…" This is a good way to keep the snack rations lasting throughout the whole session, not to mention a great way to get your players to actually look forward to their tavern visits. Always a plus.

Note: If you're lacking vast quantities of food, I don't suggest hoarding too much of the snacks for this purpose, lest your players gnaw their own hands off. But if you feel like baking cookies, or making milkshakes, these could function as fun tavern surprises.

As for the alcohol? Well, you've obviously got your ale, mead, rum, and anything else your players want to guzzle down (you can provide those at your gaming session too if you're old enough and wild enough of course). You can always get imaginative with wines as well, but nothing really beats the "House Special". What is the House Special you may ask? Well, that's for you to decide, but I highly suggest that drinking it involves a note being passed from the DM to a player. And of course, hilarity should ensue. If all else fails, trust in the creativity of your players! Have a brewer in your party? (Or a Dwarf, since they're all brewers, right?) Have the bartender ask for their help to finish off a new drink's creation. Let them name it! Thus, the Scotch'n'Bacon was born in my campaign, and we've never looked back. The Gimmick Every tavern should have something to do at it besides sit in a corner and look shady (as a side note, one way to deter this behavior is to have a completely circular tavern, or even better, to have the only other person sitting in a corner to be dressed in pink – it works, trust me). With so many resources out there, how can you have a tavern without a game or two running! From Wizards we've got Inn Fighting and Three Dragon Ante. From Pathfinder you could use any of those shiny new gambling games from the Gold Goblin (Pathfinder #13). Don't have such resources? Wizards had a great series on the D&D website called Dice Games that you can check out for some simple gambling games to wrangle your players in. If you don't care as much for gambling games, there are many other ways to entertain your traveling adventurers. Have a Tarot reading if you can do such things, or a Pathfinder Harrow Reading (Pathfinder #7) if you feel so inclined. Taverns can have any assortment of games and competitions set up for your amusement. Let the characters show off their abilities with arm wrestling matches, dart throwing, or even a sparring arena set up in the back! If all else fails, a good ‘ole match of pin-the-tail on the kobold works well (live kobolds suggested). The Fight Ah, the tavern brawl. The glorious end to all tavern adventures. Now, I'm not saying you have to give your players at least one tavern fight per campaign, but yes, yes you do. Tavern fights can occur for any number of reasons really. "Wait. The Eladrin waitress is shacking up with the Tiefling bouncer?!" "Yes, now roll initiative." Back in the days of 3.5, such encounters would be a headache to manage. If I may quote the Player's Handbook for a moment...

"To determine the size category and appropriate damage for an improvised weapon, the DM should compare its relative size and damage potential to the weapon list to find a reasonable match."

Yeah… some of us have a game to run. Sorry, but I'm not going over the weapon list to find a reasonable weapon match for a flying bowl of stew. And how does one comprehend the "damage potential" of a half empty (half full?) mug of ale? Anyways, fourth edition has shiny new improvised weapons tables which apparently cover everything "from a rock to a chair", so we're good to go. I was recently in a campaign where, during one tavern trip, my group may have engendered some hostility towards ourselves which ended with… shall we say… unfortunate consequences. The angered party, which may or may not have had multiple peas catapulted at their heads, rose to the challenge with an overturned table and a snarl on their faces. We responded in kind as our barbarian snapped off a sizable table leg, I grabbed a handful more of peas, and our rogue readied some throwing forks (yes, Mystery Men jokes were made, I assure you). And what happened? Everyone in the tavern ran! They left us to our fates while the barkeep took a nosedive behind the counter. I may not know much in this wild and crazy world, but I do know one thing. I don't care if you're a first level peasant or a tenth level paladin. If you live in the D&D universe and you go to spend some time at the local tavern, you are waiting for a fight! It's like watching Nascar. Someone's got to crash eventually! When your players face off against the pack of drunken Dwarves who just called them lily-pickin' lightweights, and they begin breaking bottles on the edge of the table just because it looks cool, this is the moment that everyone in the establishment has been waiting for. If your players are patient – give it a moment. Let the silence fill the tavern for just a second, before the storm hits. War cries from the local butcher, bottles flying, crazed laughter from the town's tax collector before a spinning plate catches him in the gut, tables toppling, maybe even a Halfling being thrown. This is what the tavern brawl is all about. There are no enemies or allies, just things to hit. And if you have any love for me, please give the barkeep a heavy crossbow that cocks like a shotgun. C'mon, you know you want to! Happy taverning!

Random Thoughts: Gen Con, Job Posting for ZeStuff, Mearls joins network!

ChattyDM — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:14:09 +0000

I'm off to Gen Con. I just finished packing my suitcases and I'm done doing all the prep work for my games, seminars and other fun stuff. I don't plan to live blog because I'm already so overbooked that I fear I won't enjoy Gen Con as much as I should. Between DMing 13 hours for Paizo, my own game of Drunken D&D, my 2 hour Mastering your GM-FU Seminar, the RPGbloggers unite panel, Stupid Ranger's Out of the Box D&D game (I'm playing Gloom Darkendusk, Halfing Cleric of Cheerfulness!), a White Wolf party and DNAPhil's Iron Heroes game, I'm not sure I'll make it out alive! For those looking for me at Gen Con, I look like this (I'm the guy in the Hawaiian shirt, not the R2D2 mailbox) and I'll be wearing my Chatty DM cartoon in my Gen Con Badge. When I return, I plan to post my thoughts on the Pathfinder Society organized play, the Ascension of the Drow 126 player adventure, Drunken D&D as well as any cool encounters I make during my stay. ZeStuff looking for help My good friend Pierre at Zestuff is looking to hire someone in the Montreal region to work in the Laval store, being in charge of tabletop gaming stuff. If you're bilingual and would like to work in a very cool and dynamic environment, have a look at his posting here. RPGbloggers news. After one week, our network has more than 50 member blogs and Dave's inbox is still full of requests for adhesion. This is so cool. Our last addition before we closed everything down for Gen Con, Mike Mearls! Have a look at his new blog called The Keep on the Gaming Land. I was blown away to have Mike join us! After Gen Con, we'll come back to adding new members and helping those with feed issues whenever possible. Wish me luck!

Gen Con 2008 Rambling (Semi-Live blog)

ChattyDM — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:06:09 +0000

Two Sentences Summary: Gen Con is the most fun I ever had with tabletop gaming, ever. It's about making friends, laughing like hell, and having no shame about being silly. I thought it would be a one shot 'meh' thing, turns out I'm now addicted to the Con! I'll put my ramblings here as I live Gen Con... no promises... just stream of consciousness time sinking when I can. Wednesday, August 13th, 4pm I'm at the Montreal Airport. In order to make sure I don't get screwed by Continental Airlines Baggage practices (I have a connection to Cleveland), I adopted a crafty strategy: I packed a huge Clothes/Swag suitcase (3/4 empty) that I sent to bag checkout (I'll put all then stuff I get at Gen Con in it). I kept a small-size suitcase packed with my core-books, Dice, Minis box and other gaming stuff. I packed an extra change of clothes in that one and some snacks for DMing. I'm not letting that one out of my sight! Of course, that box was X-rayed and security people were curious. They asked me if they could open the suitcase and 3 of them looked at my books and minis, more amused than cautious. When one of them asked me if this was D&D and I said 'yes', all inspectors smiled and nodded, one saying 'I knew it'. They actually thanked me for making thier job a bit less boring for 5 minutes... I was happy to oblige. All right I have 2 hours to kill now, maybe I should re-read those Pathfinder adventures. Later! Wednesday, August 13th, 11h30 PM Made it to the Omni Severin hotel without a hitch. Had dinner, alone, with a Gen Con Catalog at a nearby Irish Pub. There's a Hooters nearby... I have to lose my Hooters virginity someday. I'm still not sure where the Convention Center is... probably too big for me to notice in the dark. Tomorrow at 6h45 am I'll do the dumb thing and follow all the gamers. Thankfully, Paizo is just at the Entrance of the main convention hall. Going to bed. Thursday, August 14th, 5h00 AM Sleep, What is sleep? Hah! I'm just too excited to sleep... and I'm 35 freaking years old! Never stop being a kid they say. Well, it seems some RPG Bloggers absolutely hate what Gen Con is all about and I kinda dig what he means by it all. 27 000 nerds being asked for money at every opportunity... he got that one right. The Omni Hotel has got a 'Weekend Gen Con menu' that makes me heart rise to my throat:

Buckets of Dew
Buckets of Red Bull
Chili Cheese Fries

Yuck... Oh wait...

Bacon Cheeseburger...

I think I'm in love again! I realized that I failed to pack some very basic items. I'll need to inquire at the Front Desk about getting them. Is there a Department Store nearby? Cya later, I have 4 hours of killing D&D 3.5 fans with Paizo's own, somewhat lukewarm Pathfinder Adventure. Thursday, August 14th, 6h20 AM I'm sitting down in line to get my badge, computer propped on my suitcase. I just set up my 1st day of Wifi Access in the Convention Center (13$!!!!). So I guess that I might update people a few times a day. You can also fellow me on Twitter @ChattyDM. Some gamers are antisocial wrecks! This is going to be a very interesting 4 days, observation wise... Thursday, August 14th, 1h30 PM First game of Pathfinder Society went well... mostly because I'm such a softy DM. One death, whole adventure saved from certain TPK by timely Turning check of Cleric... can you say "I win" button? Met Dave, Danny (of Critical hits) and Yax (of Dunegeonmastering) and toured the Exhibit hall a bit. I met Wolfgang Baur and Ed Greenwood... our duel was postponed for after the Con, Ed offered to mediate. (So cool!) No one showed up for my 2nd Paizo game... I was one of the 2 tables without players... :( Oh well, I have 4 hours free... time to offer my playtesting services to Wolfgang and try to fix broken Wifi at the Convention Centre. Oh yeah, Chainmail Bikinis exist! Friday, August 15th, 1h30 AM This has been, by far, my geekiest, most rewarding gaming day ever... I met Ed Healy (of Atomic Pod and many other projects fame) and he introduced me to all kinds of nice people. Got some free RPGs and bought some 18$ polish Runic dice. Went to late lunch with Dave and Danny of Critical-hits.com and got invited to a Wizards of the Coast Press Dungeon Delve DMed by James Wyatt... we all died... It was so worth it. (Working title of game report: WotrC Killed the Press!) Then I scooted over to the hotel and we started our Drunken D&D game. Which just might have been the greatest gaming fun I had in 25 years. We spent 4 hours on one damn lousy fight vs Flesh Golems and Stirges and we pissed our pants (a free action in 4e, it's confirmed) because we laughed so much! More on this soon... we agreed to reconvene on Saturday Night to continue. I lost my badge earlier today and I just got a Twitter message from Ed Healy saying he found it... what are the odds? I'm off to retrieve it. Friday, August 15th, 6h30 AM You know what's the downside to Drunken D&D? The Bud light Headache. Which is slowly receeding as I write this (thank god). I thankfully didn't drink all that much last night (actually less than I do on some of our average games) and I'm glad I did... except, it kinda defeated the adolescent purpose of a D&D drinking game. Oh well, there's always Saturday. Day #2 of sleep deprived gaming insanity starts. I'm on less than 8 hours of sleep in 48 hours... and I'm set to DM for more than 12 hours today! Something's going to break, I feel it. Day number 1 was so much fun, I hope today is as entertaining. I'll get to see Nick Logue in action! Weeee! Friday, August 15th, 4h15 PM I just DMed 2 4 hours games. I need to sleep. I've 2 hours before the next game and I haven't had a full meal (my bag is filled with cereal and fruit bars.... well it used to be). I must say that DMing low level 3.x games remains exceedingly fun. The game is very mature and players know the rules and experiment with weird concepts. Highlights at my table today:

A Sorcerer that uses the Mount spell (look it up)... many times. A horse is a hard thing to deal with in a small room.
A halfling fighter using hand axes
A fight lasting 30 rounds and using 12 potions of Cure light wounds...
A whip wielding Bard that dances to inspire... on a rowboat during fight.
PC exploded in a ferocious attack by magical beast (sorry not allowed to spoil)

I'll try to catch some Zzzzzs before the next event (a 5 hour mega adventure with 26 GMS and 126 players... all sharing the same game!) Friday, August 15th, 20h20 PM Copied from Twitter: Starting the Acension of the Drow Mega Event. I'm a table GM for the Noble House of the Dire Masters: Slavers, Vampire Priests, Gladiators. I have half the noble house, sharing other group with second GM. My table is full of nice, not too scary people... other GM not so lucky. More as I have time to add... TY Monte Cook for showing me how to cheat at 3.X. Advanced a Roper to 30 and made it fiendish in 5 min... had 12 players fighting it fight lasted 3 rounds and 30 minutes! All players were happy and had fun. Roper exploded for 20d6 on death... No casualties... but 8th level bard 'ronin' that just offered allegiance to house made it unscathed... somehow. I made him the mascot of the House and he grants a +2 bonus on any die roll to the House player closest to him. I said a lot of bad things about D&D 3.5 but when you play it seat of your pants and let the rule of Fun take over, it's still a fucking awesome game.... Okay, Demon lords are pissed that No Drow noble died yet... they want half of the city to die in the next hour or they nuke the place. Yeah... this is a huge Storytelling game with Hundreds of railroads... but hell, the players seem to like it. Oh shit we have to kill 63 players, by combat (not narrative) real fast... I'm not paid enough for this... I fucking love it! Latest plot decision by my players... trying to capture 3 nobles to sacrifice them and bring in the Tarrasque in the Vault. (Personal Analysis: Why are they trying to destroy the city they are trying to rule) New 'ronin' showed up offering services, BArd Mascot babckstabbed him... Minotaur gladiator joined the fun, dead wizard. Fuck my house summoned the Tarrasque and it turns on us Tarrasque Killed one Gladiators and all other Pcs (14) flew/teleported/gaseous formed away... I got to play a Tarrasque! I'm done with D&D 3.x, I'm going to bed... I'm Gen Con's whore for life. Players are doing a throne run... I say that my Vampire Priestess (and her Loyal 1/2 red dragon troll barbarian/fighter player win it. Friday, August 15th, 20h20 PM I'm done... going to bed after packing my stuff up. I loved every minute of it. I heard that Yax (dungeomastering.com) won an Ennies and he thanked me for getting him to enter. I'm happy for him. A bit envious, yes, but happy. He deserves it, and the Magnificent Bastard always, always walks away with the chick. Good game man, next year maybe. Paizo also won a ton of awards, congratulations guy, you guys are the Epic Legendary underdogs of Fantasy RPGs. See you tommorow all. August 16th, 00h55, Pre Sleep musings (I gotta Empty my head or I won't sleep) I thought yesterday could not be topped... I was wrong... or close. Met Chris Sims and Mike Mearls... he signed my DMG (I'll catch Chris to sign my 3.x Compendium). I went fanboi on Mike and told him about "my adventure". I Dmed 12 hours for Paizo... as you can see up there... and that was the best way for me to say good bye to D&D 3.5... it will live long in Paizo's hands. For the first time in my DMing career I felt like Pro DM. I could lead a group through whatever was thrown at me in a fast way that I felt was fun for all. I watched the Tower of Gygax DMs do thier stuff at lightning speed and I realised that's exactly what I have been doing today. I'll post a lessons learned post shortly after Gen Con, broken up by day. I got a lot of insights into DMing RPGs that changed my way of looking at things. I leveled up as a Geek and as a DM. Thank you to all players, industry people or legendary geek family members I met in the last two days. I'm now officially a Gen Con Addict. August 16th, 05h44 am Woke up 15 min ago, with lots of ideas to start the Seminar with... damn brain, I need my sleep! (12,5 hours in 3 days). Man, was I drunk last night ir is that fatigue coupled with too much caffeine and not enough veggies? Murderfuck????... Nah, still an awesome word! I'm giving the first part if the GM-Fu seminar on Adventure Prep at 8h00 am (Embassy Suites III, it's full but you can try to see if there are no shows... I intend to go somewhere with the group from 10-noon so I can have a real meal and talk with everyone). I need to review the actual contents so that I at least make a token effort in fitting my stuff in the 1 hour that I have. Some people are finally understanding what I meant when I called myself Chatty. All right I have some prep to do... August 17th, 00h40, Wha...? I didn't post all day? (I was already told twice that this post is too long... I agree, but you know what, I don't actually expect anyone to read all of it... peruse to your heart's content... feel free to skip ). Finally back to my room. I didn't want to pay for the Convention Centre's internet access today because I wasn't Gming anything. Day started with GM-Fu seminar, which was a resounding success. 21 people showed up at 8h AM to hear us supposedly authoritative GMs talk about our personnal GMing philosophies and techniques about Adventure Ideas generations and Prepping techniques. I woke up the whole room with liberal use of the F... word. Apparently, that's a big thing in this country. You must know that fuck means absolutely nothing to me and I don't mind using it. However, I saw two people with far better people-skills than I have (Cough, Ed Healy, cough) asking people if they minded about cussing... so maybe I should be about that. GM-fu Seminar went really well, although I had to shut up at a certain point because we'd still be at it now. After that I wanted to go buy stuff in the exhibit hall, but I met Dave and Danny and we tried a new cool party game called Say Anything. It's a really fun fast party game and I'd love to see it translated in French! Then we had our RPG bloggers Unite! panel and it also went really well. We talked about the why and a bit about the how of blogging. I got a lot of good things out of it, including from Bob Younce, about niche blogging. One person had a great comment/question about how new readers were not in on our own lingo and inside jokes. She said that a primer post/welcoming page about what the blog is all about would help new readers navigate the blog better! Duly noted! Then we had a buisness meeting about the RPGbloggers.com network where we agreed that this thing was more serious than your average nerd project needed to be. We therefore hammered out the basis of what this project needs to rest upon and what needs to be done in the near future to make it better. After, we had lunch with Ed and I basically basked in the glow of his wisdom. I finally got "how" to do a proper product review and basically got to know a great guy better. Of course, being as tired as I was then, I was a complete social wreck and ended up treating a bit like crap, for which I apologize. (I know you were ribbing me about it Ed, but I do sincerely apologize... some things I just can't blame on being French). Then Dave basically observed that we've spent far too much Gen Con time doing business stuff and not, like, actually, playing games. So we agreed to go do a Magic the Gathering Draft. We signed up for a 10th edition draft (Sorry, I can't explain what this is, but It's my favorite way of playing that game) and we were paired with very nice players. I ended up drafting a Monster Mono-black deck as I was being shipped insane black cards, a sign that the whole table was made of non pro-players (a good sign). During the draft, I got to meet Magic Designer Ken Naggle. He showed me Magic cards he designed and how much some prototypes get changed during the design cycle. So Cool. He also shared with me his experiences about D&D 4e. It was very interesting to see that while both games are astoundingly similar in some aspects of thier respective mechanics... fans of one game might just not "get" what the other game is all about. Ken does not get D&D... and he's cool about it. I ended up winning the 1st round and playing against Dave for the second round. In a textbook perfect Magic match, Dave and I went to 3 games, playing masterfully. Dave is a true master of game design, marrying fast appraisal of situation with rapid threat/response analysis. Still, thanks to a slight error on his part (which he disagrees that it was) I ended up winning the 3rd game in a very close match. Of course, by that time, it was 20 minutes past the start of our Drunken D&D game and that's when I realized that I had told Bob to meet us in the lobby of our Hotel at 7h30 PM, told no one else about the meeting point (all others made it to the game room) and I never gave Bob our phone/room numbers. Here's the thing... I freaking hate it when people blow me off or come in late. It's the epitome of rudeness. Yet, here I was, doing that very thing to Bob. Bob, if you ever read this, I'll make it up to you, somehow. I truly am sorry and take full responsibility for that. :( As I was getting ready to set up, I realized that I had lost my binder with my D D&D game printed out (I think I forgot it in the Paizo Ascension of the Drow Adventure). This basically means someone may have had their hands on my adventure. Oh Noes! While I have no intention of ever publicly publishing that adventure as I can't publicaly advocate excessive drinking, I claim ownership of this adventure should anyone find my binder. Regardless, the game comes first and we still played our Drunken D&D. We loosened the drinking rule tremendously as we were just too tired. As it so happens, anything remotely dirty still made us crack up... Stupid Ranger took many photos where the Chatty Dm was broken by a witty comment by Vanir, Danny, Dante or Dave (sometimes all of them teaming on poor old me...) Said pictures will appear online soon, I promise (no worries, everyone kept their clothes). So yes... Drunken D&D is definitively the most fun I ever had with RPGs in 25 years of DMing. I'm shutting up now as I basically wrote another '5000 word epic about the contents of my laundry basket'. Don't forget, you don't have to read it all... There's a 2 Sentences summary at the top. I'm off to bed soon. I promise. Monday August 18, 2008 1h15 am I'm home. Still too excited to sleep. I played in Stupid Ranger's Out of the Box roleplaying and had a metric ton of fun (better than Imperial I say!). Quick quote: Dave the Game"s Character, yielding a Ring of Wish, pointing at Vanir's turned-into-a-Balor character: "Fix our friend" Vanir, Growling and mewling at the same time (!!!): I can't have children anymore! This people, is the way to play D&D whatever the edition! Oh yeah, I've finally discovered my Player Type, I'm an (Impatient) Instigator, Storyteller, Psychodramatist. Sigh, I hate those! Then I ate lunch with the Stupid Rangers (and great friends!), Dave, Bartoneus (Criticalhits.com) and Yax (Winner for the best Fan product at the 2008 Gen Con Ennies awards.... oh yeah he runs a blog too... Je t'aime man!). I basically took over the discussions and proved for the N'th time in 4 days why I chose my moniker. I liked them as bloggers, I now love them as Brothers and Sisters.... Except Bartoneous, I just really love him... And his mom. I finished Gen Con with a very rapid run through the Exhibit Hall (Losing my Gen Con Pass, and dropping Yax's and then losing my Baggage ticket... I was so out of it). Chatty's Play by play Mad Rush through the Hall so he doesn't miss his plane (Imagine a 24-type digital clock ticking) I Bought Pokemon Cards for my Son... We're going to break the Pre Constructed decks soon and I'm going to teach him about Deck Building (he's 6 years old). I met Bruce Cordell. I Geeked out with him a short bit and pitched him my Dragon article idea. He said 'go for it' and that he'd see with the office how to explore that idea if I didn't follow up on the pitch. Aside: Now this opens up a discussion on the ownership of ideas, and I will have a post on this someday. I currently think that if I don't use an idea and someone else uses it to make the game I love better, how am I losing I say Ideas are worthless if there are no guts, talent and sweat to back them up. Ideas alone should not be hoarded or be guarded jealously" Chatty DM says: get the fuck off your butt and deliver on them! (So sorry for the hundreds of inside jokes. You'll know soon enough) Plus the Wizards of the Coast people are currently busy enough not to kill-steal the ideas they hear about. At least it beats hearing Vortos monologue about his Paladin for 2 hours. Where was I? Ah yes! I bough a Kirby and a Luigi Plush Doll for my 5 year old daughter so they could play with the Mario doll I got from ZeStuff and the Donkey Kong one we got during our vacations. I met Robin Laws and apologized for "borrowing" his stuff in his Laws of Gamemastering book to make a series without asking first. He basically said 'no, that's totally cool, go for it! I will finish it... once I find the PDF again... or find my Steve Jackson Games account number to download it. I then used my action point to whip out our GM'-Fu seminar workbook and say 'well actually I also built on your stuff in this book of tips I wrote, here's a copy!" and then use my move action to run away. And a free action to be Happy. Yeah, Pissing your pants, having fun and being happy are Free Actions. Wotc confirmed it, news post at 11. Expect ChattyDM Studios to come out with the 500 page E-Book of Free Action in January. Only 5$! Ahem... Game designers are one nice bunch of geeks, almost nicer than RPG bloggers... When they are both, we get Nerdvana level niceness! I ran away from the hall, bid my brothers in arms farewell, made strong promises to come back next year and got to the airport (Graham, we're spitting a press room) On the way, I asked the Taxi driver to stop at a CVS and I bough my non-gamer-but-still-geeky wife 100$ worth of Itunes US cards. Why? Well because we can't legally download US TV shows in Canada because of our (sadly very much needed) cultural protection laws. Yeah, I have to commit a technical Federal felony in order not to commit another very real one. Ask Shamus Young what he thinks about that? Then I got back home safe. Roll credit on Gen Con 2008, the murderfucking best 4 days of gaming! Damn 3807 words. I was so going for 5000. Oh well. I love you all. Peace out, I'm going to bed!

Back from Gencon, Coming attractions

ChattyDM — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:14:03 +0000

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="245" caption="No, I wasn't quite broken yet..."][/caption] (Photo credit: Bartoneus/Dave: The Game) I'm back home! Still under the grip of it all. My rational brain has gone into Coma when my "friends" (Said with a totally snooty French accent) broke me sometime during the 1st Drunken D&D game. My Emotional Center has been running the show since then. Since I assume that a lot of people are sick and tired of reading about Gen Con, I will do only 2 Gen Con posts in the coming days. In fact here's a short list of things I plan on posting soon:

Gen Con lessons learned, per day. Some key things I learned from all that madness of awesome bliss.
The Unauthorized Ascension of the Drow Pathfinder Society Spy Report
The One Sentence NPC contest winners! (I promise I'll do them this week!)
New Series: Project Kobolds love... (What is that?)
New Series: YA5KEACLB*

See ya later all, I'll go sleep for 24 hours now. *Yet Another ‘5000 word epic about the contents of my laundry basket.

YA5WKEPACLB*: What Gen Con 2008 meant for me

ChattyDM — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:06:56 +0000

[caption id="attachment_979" align="alignright" width="300" caption="It was the Monster Mash!"][/caption] Yax, this one is for you! Feeling: I entered Gen Con 2008 feeling like a Nobody, I left it feeling like a Rockstar Lesson learned: Edition Wars hate mongers are idiots. Rules are lies, Game systems are guidelines at best. Bask in the awesomeness of your bile and leave us alone while we have fun. 77 words. *Yet Another 5000 word epic post about the contents of my laundry basket. Image Credit: Robin Stacey (AKA Greywulf)

rockwolf

ChattyDM — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:49:50 +0000

discocleric1

ChattyDM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:16:11 +0000

Epic Laundry Basket: Laser Clerics!

ChattyDM — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:25:59 +0000

I like Laser Clerics. Like Jeff Rients, I think there should be more lasers in D&D. You disagree? That's fine with me. Here's the thing: rules are lies, especially the Fluff! You want a darker, grittier Cleric? Why don't we just apply Chatty's patented template of Doom to this ability then?

The Evil Eye With a slight smirk and a spark of glee in your gaze, you flicker your wrist slightly and rip part of your target's essence. You transfer this essence into a nearby ally, the shared bond guiding his next strike. At-will, Divine, Implement, Psychic Standard Action Ranged:5 Target: One Creature Attack: Wisdom vs. Will Hit: 1d8 + Wisdom modifier psychic damage, and one ally gets a +2 power bonus to his or her next attack roll against the target. Increase damage to 2d8+ Wisdom modifier at 21st level

So please leave my laser cleric alone. 154 words Credits: Robin Stacey (Image), Graham Poole (Stuff)

poliwrath

ChattyDM — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:58:50 +0000

poliwrath1

ChattyDM — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:02:38 +0000

Chatty's Bedtime Campaign: Nico's Quest

ChattyDM — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:12:57 +0000

I have mails to read and posts I planned to do but this... this I have to share with you. 8h15 PM. Nico, my 6 year old son, is playing in his room waiting for me to come and read him a story. As I come into his room, he tells me he'd rather play than have a story. Knowing my 6 year old's sharkness, I gently refused, telling him he'd try to hustle me out of a story anyways. Then inspiration struck! What I'm about to tell you, I never, ever did. I'd like to thank James Wyatt for that. I tell Nico to get in bed, we'll make a "Game Story". He distrusts me. Dad is trying one of his parenting tricks again. After a bit of father/son negotiations, he tentatively agrees to the project. Here's a Play by Play. Nico's Quest, Chapter 1: Character Generation: Chatty: Okay, what's the name of our character in this story? Nico: Nicolas... looking unsure and still trying to determine where I was going. Nice name. What does Nicolas do for a living? (Mumbling): I don't know. Is he a Knight, a Pirate, a Spaceman...? A Knight. Okay... (Nico Warms up and cuts off his father): With a Big Sword, a magical sword. It has this Diamond that you press and it shoots lasers! Cool power, So you're, like, a Space Knight? No! I'm just a Knight, you know? All right, how about another power? Hmmmmm (Shrugs) What if you get attacked by Snowmen? Oh! I got it, another gem button activates flames on it and melts the snowman. Awesome, do you have anything else on you? I have this magical armour! Does it have powers? Yes, it can control the weather (like Storm in X-men). Wow, that's good, anything else? (Nico is really into it by that time): I can, I can... roll into a ball of steel and move real fast! Great! So where do you live? What kind of house do you have? A Castle. Of Course, are you living alone? No, You, mom and Rory (his 5 year old sister) live there too I do? Yes. Hey daddy, What powers do you have? I'm not going to be in this adventure Nico. Oh come on dad! Well if you must know, I'm a Wizard-King of great power, so that makes you a Prince-Knight. Cool! Maybe later we'll do adventures together. Are you ready to start the story? Yeah! Chapter 2: A Strange Visitor Okay, one morning, someone knocks at the door of the castle. Are you going to open the door daddy? I am. Who do you think is at the door, a good guy or a bad guy? A monster! What kind of monster? (Nico, who's lying beside me, climbs over me and reaches over to point at his Pokemon Poster on his wall) Let's find someone real bad looking. (He picks and discards a few) Nico: This one! (Points Pokemon #62, Polywrath) Chatty: Scary! Okay, well daddy opens the door and talks to someone and then you hear a loud noise. What do you do? Nico: I go down... No! I grab my Sword and Armour and I go down. Chatty: The door stands open, empty. A paper is nailed to the door. It says:

Nico, I kidnapped your daddy because I want to be the king! Bring me the Crown to my secret cave before Sundown and I'll free your father. My cave is super secret and only Sandshrew knows about it.

(Nico helped me pick the Good Pokemon) Chatty: Okay Nico time for bed, we'll continue in 2 days. (My wife and I take turns telling stories to each of our kids). Nico: Daaaad! Just a few more minutes (For once I wasn't annoyed, I was grateful!) Okay, one more adventure. So what do you want to do? Outside your home you see a small town, a forest beside it and a large mountain with lots of caves. I want to use my armour's weather powers to blow all the trees away! Why do you want to do that? I want to see if someone in the forest is running away. Hmmm (I then decided to blow whatever thin plot hook I had and run with it), okay do you uproot the trees? No I want to keep the stumps there so they can regrow (Regeneration trees? Check.) Okay, so you use lightning to shear all the tress clean off their stumps and you shape lightning buzzsaws to cut all that wood in neat stacks of wood. Cool! Then the Lumberjacks come out of the village and see all the wood and they explode in cheer! Yay! Then an old man comes out of the forest, he has a huge white beard and asks you 'Why did you destroy the home of all the animals and the birds of this forest? Look at all these animals behind me, looking sad". (Nico makes a wry/worried face, realizing the consequence of his action) Well, can I ask the lumberjacks to build a huge farm to be a home to all the animals? That's a great idea! The lumberjacks get to work and build a luxurious Forest farm. The old man, who is a druid... What's that? It's an old forest magician. Okay. Well the druid plants a few trees in your farms' gardens and uses magic to grow them so the birds can stay here too. Yay! You did it Nico, you repaired your action and made the animals a better house, the lumberjacks cheer you and say that you are a hero! Time for bed! This was the best story ever, can we continue next time? Of course! Chatty's Conclusion I could add 100's of words analyzing that... There were tons of lessons here for me, even after 25 years of DMing. I'm not going to do it. If you don't get it, come back and read it later, I don't think I could explain it. Should I do weekly updates? Credits: Nicolas Menard (Story), Nintendo (Image)

rockband

ChattyDM — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:49:04 +0000

Gen Con 2008, Lessons Learned

ChattyDM — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:00:56 +0000

I started Gen Con 2008 with some doubts about my ability to go up to designers and say hi. I'm an extroverted, exceedingly chatty person.. but when I'm not introduced to someone, I clamp up real good. Except, something happened to me somewhere during the second day. Probably during the 126 players chaosfest that was the Ascension of the Drow mega game. All my inhibitions fled, I didn't give a fuck what people thought about me anymore. I stopped being afraid of being blown off. It really paid off! Here's a post about what I learned about gaming, people, and myself at Gen Con. Day 1

Gamers don't care about Bloggers...yet. Most don't know what it is.
Industry people, on the other hand, care about bloggers very much!
Industry professionals are turning to the Blogging community to tap in on the more constructive debate than those found in Forums.
Always be ready to change your plans if others don't depend on you being somewhere at a given time. That's how I ended up playing D&D with James Wyatt.
Making silly voices is fun!
Sparing PC's lives to put them in a hard position to roleplay out of is a staple of a legendary game master.
We are bad roleplayers because we are scared to look silly in front of people, even those we'd trust with our lives.
Alcohol lowers those barriers... but it is not necessary.. it did help me understand the last lesson.
Drunken D&D was the best D&D game I ever played (no offense James, you had the best techniques ever!).

Day 2

Never underestimate the power of networking. I met a God of Networking and all I could do was bask in his glow.
D&D 3.5 is still an astoundingly fun role playing game.
Never, ever let your 3.5 Sorcerer pick the Mount spell unless you make sure that all your scenes can handle a few large terrified animals!
I channeled Kevin Smith for 15 minutes in a scene where a Guard blocks access to an office. The players managed to go around him to the office, insulting him a bit. They found find it locked with a 'Back in 10' sign, only to have the guard say "Hmm, break is over", saunter to the office, unlock the door and put the Official's cap on and smile at the PCs. Seeing the players face slowly absorb the trope and still get hit by the punchline was freaking gold! What's the point of this lesson? Do this more often!
When you GM for large events, Industry professionals will sneak up on you... Always be your best! Heck do better!
When you talk to someone you know, introduce them rapidly to all those around you. That's, like, basic networking man... took me 35 years to realize it.
Facebook is where your future clients currently are, come and meet me there (Philippe-Antoine Menard), we'll think of something to grab our future audience early.

Day 3:

Cursing at 8 am (FUCK the Rules!) to wake up people at a seminar works.
Getting blown off by an industry representative does not hurt after all.
Geeks are inherently shy and hate business, they distrust it like the plague. That's why so many are starving and/or living in the halo of other, gutsier, business savvy writers.
Gen Con is for playing games. Don't spend too much time networking and doing seminars/panels.
Magic: The Gathering Drafts still rocks after 15 years!
Dave Chalker is one mean player and a very talented Game Designer... hire him before I do or he starts his own thing! It took my 10 years of intense Magic experience (and a bit of top decking) to beat him in round 2.
Two words: BattleCruiser Magic!
Magic the Gathering and D&D R&D employee don't seem to realize how similar both games are!

Day 4:

Off the pants, crazy insane funny D&D with incompetent PCs (which is actually nearly impossible in 4e, we tried hard) is a lot of fun!
I have to accept it, I'm an Instigator player. I'm also a Storyteller and a Psychodramatist...
I therefore concede to Wolfgang Baur, the Crunch Overlord died forever on day 4 of Gen Con, I'm now a Fluff and Crunch yielding Rockstar! Ha!
Industry people are so nice, a lot nicer than the clients they serve.
People, don't talk about your Characters unless asked to, ever! It's Standard Social Imperative.
Stop hating other games and go play yours, I need the fresh air this will save us.
Never underestimate the Epic power of just being Nice.

I left Gen Con feeling like I could take on the whole RPG world... Maybe I should just give it a try. See you next year... Now I'll start looking at PAX, trying to score a media invite.

Epic Laundry Basket: Console Music Games

ChattyDM — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:00:19 +0000

I finally Bought Rock Band for the PS2. Start playing Guitar Hero and Rockband at Medium. You'll thank me later. 21 words.

One-Sentence NPC contest winners

ChattyDM — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:49:19 +0000

Way back in late June, Johnn Four and I launched a big contest to get readers from both sites to submit one sentence long NPC descriptions. Summer vacations and Gen Con interfered and the results have been long coming. Well, I'm back and tonight's post will be to announce the winners and prizes for the readers of Musings of the ChattyDM (all winners were determined by random draw). There were more than 700 entries! So without any further ado, here be winners: The_Gun_Nut: A Senior Patron Open Design account greywulf: Pathfinder #9: Escape from Old Korvosa Felonius: Pathfinder #7: Edge of Anarchy Zelgar: Kobold Quarterly #4 Ben Overmyer: Kobold Quarterly #4 Kavonde: Hero Lab 2.0 Milarky: GM Gems book Kaeltik: GM Gems book Dave T. Game: 1 on 1 Adventures #9: Legacy of Darkness Dadamh: 1 on 1 Adventures #10: Vengeance of Olindor Congratulations to all! We'll contact you through email to send you your prize. As soon as Johnn and I meet again online, we'll put up the combined entries PDF here and on his website. Thank you for your patience. Speaking of contest, Gnome Stew is running one just now with one of the most original prizes I have ever heard of! You get to win your choice of professionally recorded Sound Effect/scenes for your games! Register on their masterfully written blog and leave one comment on this post and you're in! All right, I'm off, have a nice weekend all.

Chatty's Bedtime Campaign: Bend it like Nico!

ChattyDM — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:49:30 +0000

Oh yeah, he was expecting it tonight. As soon as teeth were brushed and pyjamas were worn (i.e. an old T-shirt of mine... Enjoy every second of the time when your kids hero worship you, it won't last), my little 6 year old Laser Knight was ready to continue his adventures. Chatty: Okay so you blasted the forest away, gave all the wood to the Lumberjacks, built the animals and birds a big farm and were made a local hero. Nico: That's right! Now ask me some questions again daddy! Okay, so you have a cleared up Forest of stumps, a Village and a Mountainside filled with Caves, what do you explore? Hmmm. Let's go look in the forest! Chapter 3: The Forest Friend! Okay, well as you search the stumps, you notice a pair of tracks made by round little feet.... between those tracks you also see a furrow in the ground, like if someone/something was dragged behind (Chatty: Narrative steering attempt). Ohhh, that must be Sandshrew! He has a tail and that furrow must be his tail! (Chatty: Nico 1, Narrative Steering 0). I follow the tracks! Wow, you're good! As you progress deeper in the forest of stumps, you notice something yellow, hiding and trembling behind a large stump. It's Sandshrew, he seems scared of you. "Don't be scared, I'm a friend!" "If your a friend, why did you destroy the whole forest?"' "I did it so I could see who was stealing my dad!" "Ahhh, good reason then... are you Nico the Knight-Prince?" "I am! My daddy was stolen by Polywrath" "Oh, that bad Monster, I bet he told you that I knew where he was huh?" "He did, he left a message!" "Well then I can help you get there before the end of the day for sure, but first I need your help. During the storm, my favorite yellow ball was blown away into the village. I'm too scared of Humans to go and get it back. Can you do it for me please?" "Of course!" Chapter 4: Who broke wind? I go talk to the lumberjacks daddy! (Man, I want this little man in my campaign now! He actually cares about NPCs!) Okay, well they tell you that they didn't see the ball. You should go talk to thier children who play all day long in the village square. What's a village square? It's like a big park in the middle of a village, usually between a church and a market. Ahhh okay! I go there then. As you come up the square, you see a large group of children play with a big yellow ball. They seem to be having a lot of fun! I go talk to them, ask them if the ball fell from the sky? They tell you that it did fall from the sky earlier today during a scary storm and that it was the bestest ball ever! "Maybe it belongs to someone else that misses it?" "That may be so, but we're having so much fun with it" "I'd really like to take it back to it's owner" As Nico says this, a large kid, a bit like Billy in Toy Story, comes to him and says "you want this ball? How about we play for it?" Hmm, okay? This boy's name is Biff, he's the strongest kid in the village. While others are a bit afraid of him, he's not all that bad. He proposes that you both kick the ball real hard and whoever kicks it the farthest keeps the ball, do you agree? Yes! Okay, well Biff goes first and kicks it from one side of the square up to the other side, right up to the church's steps. All the kids cheer real loud and Biff looks satisfied. Your turn. Okay. Hmmm. I don't know if I should use my armour's power to create wind to push the ball further or just use me? (He phrased it like that in French, it's grammatically incorrect but oh so 'right') Well it depends, do you feel like you are stronger than Biff? No I'm not, I'll use my wind powers then. Well then, you kick the ball really far and it goes across the square, over the church, past the street, over a home and into the pool of someone! All kids break out in a huge cheer! The ball is yours. Yay! I go pick up the ball and return it to Sandshrew. Okay, Sandshrew is real happy and is ready to tell you where Polywrath's cave is. He tells you that you have to count your Age up and your Age right to know which Cave entrance to use... Huh? The caves are arranged like an apartment building, the caves are arranged in a Grid... Ah so I count up for 6 and then toward the right for 6? That's it! You're smart! You see a ladder going up to that cave. I climb it. A sign says: Welcome to Polywrath's Super Secret Cave. Yay! All right Nico time for bed! Daaaaaaaad! All right all right. One more scene. Chapter 5: The Not so Unfriendly Cave You enter the Cave and see a smaller, less scary version of Polywrath. Oh! That must be a Polywag, he's an unevolved version of Polywrath! Is he now? Cool! Well Polywag can't let you pass because he's a guard and he tells you that you must have your daddy's crown to go in! Do I have the crown on me daddy? Hmmm, I don't think so, you told me you took your armour and sword only when you left (Ohhh! Chatty pulls an Evil GM on his own son! That's cold!) Oh yeah, I remember. Well then I give him one of my spare sword diamonds! That one can blast light beams that blind people and can stun them for a long time! Post Game aside: After the story, Nico explained to me that his diamonds have limited ammo and that he carries a lot of them to recharge/replace them when they run out. Polliwag says "You're giving me this gift? For real?" "Of course!" "Wow! That's so nice of you... you can come in, I'll go play with my diamond now! If you ever need help, just call me!" Yay! We're done for the night Nico, good night. Good Night Daddy. Are you going to tell your Internet friends about this story? Do you want me too? Yes! I hope they like it too. I'm sure they will. Good Night. Credits: Nicolas Menard (Story), Nintendo (Image)

027sandshrew

ChattyDM — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:57:47 +0000

060poliwag

ChattyDM — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:59:19 +0000

wizard

ChattyDM — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:26:30 +0000

Epic Laundry Basket: 4e Vancian Wizards!

ChattyDM — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:29:26 +0000

Want Vancian Magic in 4e? Here's how I would do it: Leave at Will-Power as is (for fun purposes). Make level 1 and 2 daily spells into level 3 encounter spells. Shift the whole power list like that to have new spells at every 2 levels. Give level 1 Wizard access to 5 level 1 Encounter Powers (include spells from other sources like Dragon) and 2 level 3 Encounter spell. At the start of the adventuring day, the Wizard chooses one Encounter Power of his level and one of the higher level. He can only use any power only once per day. The higher level spell acts as a Daily power and the slot can only be used once. At each short rest, Wizard can chose a new non-used Encounter Power of his level for the next encounter. Upon leveling up, Wizards learns 2 more spells of his current level or lower. New Encounter/Daily Power slots gained (like at level 3) means wizard can cast more spells in an encounter. Allow Wizard to find ancient scrolls and spell books with spells to learn new ones. 177 words Credit: Wizard of the Coast (image)

The Unauthorized Ascension of the Drow Spy Report

ChattyDM — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:50:37 +0000

This is my play report of Nicolas Logue's Ascension of the Drow prequel Mega-Adventure. It was a free-for all, storytelling-intensive D&D 3.5 game featuring 126 players (21 tables of 6) and more than 33 GMs. Everyone was sharing the same game at the same time! It was held at Gen Con and ran from 7h00 PM to the wee hours of the morning. It was insanely fun and had me use all 25 years of my experience as a GM. The setup was relatively simple. Almost all players were members of one of the Drow Noble Houses of Golarion's (Paizo's Campaign World) Drow Capital, Zinarkaynin. The 12 major houses had been ruling the city without a Monarch for countless centuries, but this was no longer an option if the Drow were to survive. All players had 24 hours in game time to nominate a new Monarch or the whole city would be destroyed and all souls in it would be eternally damned in the deepest pits of the Abyss. The following is a retelling of the game seen from the perspective of a Chelaxian Vampire Pathfinder spy who was posing as a Slave. Dear Para-Countess, I've seen my share of atrocities in my 200 years as a Child of the Night in the service of our Dread Lord Asmodeus but none as vile, horrendous and so throughly fascinating as what I witnessed a few nights ago in the Drow City-Vault of Zinarkaynin. As originally planned, I was taken by the slavers of Drow Noble House Rasiverin, The House of Dire Masters. This major Noble House, one of the 12 ruling Houses of the vault, was renowned for its near limitless slave pens, the gladitorial arena and the shrine of the Crimsom Spire. Said shrine devoted to Zura, Demon lord of Cannibalism and Vampires, patron of the House of Dire Masters, was the central point of the House's vampiric leadership. I was based in the family's estate in Deraktinus, the Vault's Upper Neighborhood. My status as a Vampire allowed me to rapidly climb the echelons of the house slaves hierarchy. I was soon assigned as a body servant to this House's de-facto leader: Miyana Rasivrein, Vampire priestess of Zura. The night before I escaped this forsaken but oh so beautiful city, all 12 ruling heads of the Noble Houses were summoned by their respective patron demon lords and were horribly slain for having failed to put a ruler on the Soulwrought throne for so many centuries. Mistress Rasivrein, the heir apparent of her now leaderless House, told me that this throne held (and controlled) thousands of souls captured from the enemies of the Drow over countless centuries. Without a firm ruler to keep them in check, the souls had started to become restless and threatened the existence of Zinarkaynin. Upon slaying all House leaders, the Demon Lords required that a new ruler be named within 24 hours before the Throne surrendered its last shred of control over the souls within them, liberating them all and leveling the city mere moments after their release. What then followed was a cavalcade of confusion, alliances, betrayal, double, triple and even quadruple dealings. Alliances with various Houses were established, chiefly with House Vonnarc (The Archmages), Misraria (Messengers and Assassins) and Sardavic (Artisans and Entertainers). While the House of Dire Masters took a wait-and-see approach to the conflict initially, major members of the House were all over the place, dealing, fighting and negociating. An avatar of Demon Lord Zara itself materialized and heavily influenced the course of decisions that House Rasivrein took. Armies marched in and out of the city, hordes of slaves, groups of elemental and legendary dragons were summoned and released on the hapless city. Water conduits were poisoned and plague rats swarmed Noble Households. Citizens and slave alike were butchered for the greater glory of this fraticidal succession war... Yet, of the 120 nobles and associate members, only one died in the first twelve hours of the conflict, which goes to show that, true to what we have come to expect of the Drow, the ruling Noble Houses had always been more concerned about their own safety than the good of their city. Shortly before the 12 hour mark, the Rasivrein household and some close allies were holding council in the garden of the family's main estate when they were brutally attacked by Tsu'kirith, a Legendary Demonic Roper. The monster was able to rapidly drain several opponents, who were invariably restored by Miyana, the House's leader. The timely intervention of Felize Rasivrein (Miyana's Bodyguard) and Render (the Arena's 1/2 Dragon Troll Champion) promptly killed the fiendish beast which exploded in a torrent of unholy energies. No one was killed in that assault. While it had obviously been engineered by a rival House, it was never established whom did. Shortly after that, all Demon Lords congregated over the vault and shared their anger at the fact that with less than 12 hours to go, almost all nobles were still alive. They threatened that if more than 1/2 of their blue blooded followers still stood in the next few hours, they'd take matters in their own hands... ... that they did, helping one of the Houses to poison the whole city with a vile green gas, Leaving all but the strongest alive! While House Rasivrein recovered and consolidated its alliances, it sacrificed one of it's own major family members as well as two captured nobles from other houses to summon the Tarrasque, convinced by Zura (thier Demon Lord) that it would follow Miyana's orders and allow House Rasivrein to walk to the Throne room of the Upper city, recover the crown and take ruleship! That didn't happen, as the Tarrasque promptly destroyed the family's estate, slew one of the braver gladiators (Tybalt Mornblade, the Minotaur fighter) and tried to kill Miyana. All members of the House fled the premises to make a desperate run after the throne, leaving the Tarrasque to continue it's mad rampage. Having barely survived the assault of this nightmarish beast, I elected to leave this madness and initiate my return to the surface to report to my leaders of the Pathfinder Society. During my journey back, I was informed by a fellow traveler fleeing the city faster than I was that House Rasivrein failed to take the throne and that a Sardavic matriarch, cloaked in the protection of her Vonnarc allies, did. It's my professional opinion that we should not have to worry too much about the Drow in the upcoming years. They will need to recuperate in this most bloody of short civil wars I had ever read about, much less witnessed. I remain, dear Para-Countess, your most devout servant. Viscount Ereg Galduvian IV Chatty's DM analysis of the event: This was by far the craziest, most incredible Role Playing event I have ever been part of. Never before have I had to think faster, improvise more and work so damn hard to keep up with a game. Overall the event was a resounding success. Nick Logue is truly a Role Playing mastermind genius with a strong retinue of loyal fans ready to help him pull the craziest of stunts. However, I can't help myself but to share a few points of constructive criticism.

The names were unpronounceable to both English and French palates.
Players were confused, very confused and needed to be prompted by the table and Demon Lord GMs...
So much so that GMs stopped being referees and became players, they tended to influence players to a point I became uncomfortable with (I later learned that a lot of GMs were White Wolf Storytellers and it showed!)
The crunch behind the PCs were overly complex, with useless multiclassing that never actually came into play, most of the players never fought! I'd have done 12 templates and fluffed them to fit all 126 character, saving the writers a ton of time!
Speaking of Writers, let me name the two who did the most work: Steven Helt and Shane Cottom! With hardly any money, or time, they wrote over 30 pages of fluff and created all 'named' monsters and all 126 PCs!!!!! These guys deserve a ton of credit along Logue and his pals.
Killing most players with a Poison Cloud was a cheap shot that caused a lot of players to get mad/disappointed.
In order to truly create PC to PC conflicts, Combat and Demon Lord GM's should have been less generous with players using vague resources like 'slaves' and 'were rat infantry' that only created 'news item' that no one listened to and force players to commit themselves to the various schemes that they wanted to hatch.

Still overall, this was an incredible event and It gave me an idea for a future such event that I pitched to the writers of that event for next year. I hope they give it serious consideration. Hopefully I'll get to play in it... if it's not on the same night as the Ennies :) Credits: Nicolas Logue (Event), Shane Cottom, Steven Helt (Writing), Paizo (Image)

skeleton

ChattyDM — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:13:15 +0000

Nico's Pick up D&D 4e Game

ChattyDM — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:16:34 +0000

My 6 year old son Nico and 5 year old daughter Rorie are at their Granny's for the next 3 days as both Alex and I work and school only starts on Thursday. That means that I won't have new chapters of Nico's Quest to share with you. I did however start a D&D 4e campaign with him yesterday morning and I thought I'd share it with you as, once again, my son gave me excellent insights on how to improvise and DM rapidly for a 6 year old's attention span. The Adventures of Super Nico, Dragonborn Paladin of Goodness! "Daddy? Can we play that Story Game where you ask all those questions?" "This is a game for Bedtime Nico, but do you want to play a game like it with the little figurines and the map?" (Nico perks up) 'You mean the game where I help the nice lady with the cellar full of Monsters? I have been playing some near-no-rules RPG games with the minis and tiles before, this time I wanted to try full 4e with me keeping all the rules behind my screen and let Nico roll dice and move minis. "Yes, only you get to chose some of the things in her cellar" "Yay! I hand Nico all my 4X4 Dungeon Tiles and he promptly starts to sort them in Cool/Boring piles. During that time, I set up my 4e DM screen and take out the pre-generated characters of Keep on the Shadowfell (I won't play that adventure after all, so I might as well cannibalize it). "So Nico, who do you want to play today" "Same as always, Super Nico, the Knight" "Well, I have pictures of cool heroes in my booklet here, why don't we look at them" He glances at them and isn't impressed, until I turn to the last page of the adventure showing the Dragonborn Paladin. "I want that one daddy!" "Good choice, did you know that he can breathe fire over a large area on the map? He can also make his Sword glow with the Power of the Dragon gods and blast evil doers!" "Cool!" "Here's your figurine." I hand him an upright Medium White Dragon. "So Nico, do you want a story where there is more talking to people or where there is fighting bad guys?" "Fighting!" "I hear ya!" I reach in my large Dungeon tiles Ziplock and pick out the Tavern Tile and put Nico outside and Noëlla the friendly Tavern Keeper/Quest Giver behind her bar. Nico: "Will she recognize me?" Chatty: "Of course she will, she knows heroes by what's in their heart, not what they look like." (Tacky yes, but I've a parenting agenda here... somewhere). "Cool! I enter the store and ask her what's today's adventure." (Memo to self: an Adventure Menu!) Noella: "Super Nico! I'm glad you just came in, there's a small stranger in my cellar that needs help and he asked for you specifically?" Nico: "He did? Does Noella have objects for me?" "Of course she does." I look at the Pre-Gen's character sheet and grab my box of Gamemastery Item cards. and pull out a Plate Armour, a Longsword, a Javelin (with a post it written 3 on it) and a Holy Symbol and give them to Nico. "What's that necklace (Holy symbol) do daddy?" "It calls the ancient Dragon Spirits to give you special powers and help you" "Cool!" "You also get a special item!" I grab a card at random from the box and get... a Key. "What's that for?" "Noëlla tells you that there's a secret door in her cellar that leads to an ancient treasure room where you can get to a special item that will help in your quest. As you talk, you both climb down the stairs and you see a little scared man waiting beside an open Secret door hidden as a Huge barrel mounted on the wall" I lay down a large featureless tile and add one door and a Goblin figurine. "Is that where my treasure is?" (I kinda know what he wants to do first). "No that's the door that the little scared goblin came out of, your secret door is here." I place another door on a different wall. "The little goblin runs to you, introduces himself as Bromiket and asks for your help to dislodge a nasty monster from his home in the dungeon" "I want to help him but I need my special item first." Bromiket: "Well, I can help you get the item and then you can help me with the monster?" "Okay!" At this point, I grab the Halfing Pregenerated sheet and place it beside Nico's Paladin behind my screen. I also have the Monster Manual opened to the Monster per Level table and am looking up the level 1 monsters to build an encounter. I place a corridor tile beside the new secret door and Nico places his mini at the end of it. I place a Tapestry acting as a door at the other end of the corridor . Having decided on Decrepit skeletons as the 1st enemy I describe: "You hear the sounds of metal scraping on the floor and a strange rattling sound" "I look behind the tapestry" I set a 6X6 Tile with Runes on the outer squares and start looking at Nico's Pile of 4X4 tiles he chose. I find one featuring a pyramid of Bones and Skulls and plunk it on the 6X6 Tile. I put 4 Skeleton Minis around the pyramid. "Okay, you see 4 skeletons armed with swords and wearing rusted armour walking slowly around a large Pyramid made of bone, they don't seem to notice you, What do you do?" "I take my javelin out and throw it at the nearest skelly" "Take that round dice and roll, you need to roll high" Clatter, Clatter, a 4 comes up. "Do I hit?" "No, the Javelin wizzes by the Skeleton and hits the Bone Pile" "Awwww.... Can Bromiket play now?" "Sure, he throws a big knife and it also misses" "That's no fun!" "Be patient, it will get better". I make Nico Roll for initiative and he goes 1st while the skellies and Bromiket go after. "I attack with my sword" 'Okay, it starts glowing with the power of the Dragon spirits" Clatter Clatter... I pick up a marker pen and give it to him. "Show me how you swing your sword" As he demonstrates, I move my own pen up and block his swing "The skelly blocks your attack and sparks of light shower all over the place" "Cool! Next time I'll hit it!" "Bromiket throws another blade and misses. All Skellies move around you and start to attack. The first one misses you, the second one hits your shield like that (I hit my Empty Coke can with the marker to make it resonate). The third one hits your armour hard (Nico does the Coke Can trick, enjoying it immensely) but fails to hurt you. The last one slips under your armour and hurts you a bit." "Am I badly hurt daddy?" "No it's just a scratch, it's your turn now, you know that now would be a good time to breathe fire." "It is? I do it!" Clatter, Clatter (20!), Clatter "All 3 skellies caught in your blast are instantly incinerated!" (Hurrah for Minions!) "Yay!" "Bromiket takes his dagger and hits the last one real hard (Clatter Clatter the dice say) it falls to pieces real hard, you beat all skellies!" "Yay!" "As you celebrate, you hear a rumble on top of the Pyramid and you see bones jumping and forming a bigger, much stronger looking Skeleton. It says 'How dare you disturb my slumber and destroy my trusted guards?'" As I describe this, I can see that his attention is starting to wander, we have played for 30 minutes, which is his usual attention span for non-video games. "Can we go play something else now dad, like Boom Blox?" "Sure, do you want to end the game?" "No, take a picture or something so we can start again later!" "I'll put all minis and tiles in this empty Ziplock bag and I'll write 'Nico's Game, Do Not Touch!" on it" "Okay! I'll race you upstairs!" To be continued. Lessons Learned:

Letting players influence a quest is always good.
Picking plot elements from a deck of cards or a Random Table is always great improv fuel.
D&D 4e is really fun and dead simple when it needs to be.

Credits: Wizards of the Coast (Image)

cc-logo

ChattyDM — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:38:10 +0000

Chatty DM Gets Commonly Creative

ChattyDM — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:40:31 +0000

As a prelude to opening Chatty Studios (don't click yet, it will only return you here) and launching Project Kobold Love, I obtained a Creative Commons License for the whole content of my blog (See in blog's footer). I chose the Attribution-Non Commercial Canadian license. What does that mean for people not versed in Intellectual Property management (like me)? It means that while I own the copyright of all the content I wrote on this blog I allow the following:

You are free:

to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work (i.e. Credit me for the work: Philippe-Antoine Menard).
Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work.
Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
The author's moral rights are retained in this licence.

In other words, feel free to use my ideas, change them, hack them, publish them on your web site or in freely available PDFs. You are not free to take my posts, cram them in a RPG book/ Website and charge for the content (Ad revenues are an exception) unless you talk to me first and we discuss licensing of my content. In the wake of this, I also registered www.chattystudios.com and www.chattydm.com, just to be sure that I had those URLs ready when I need them. Now that this is out of the way, I'll go work on the introductory post of Project Kobold Love.

Chatty's Mailbag: Reader Complaint

ChattyDM — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:30:42 +0000

Long time reader and one time co-contributor PM wrote me:

I'm not sure I'm satisfied with your new musing schedule. A single post a day (some non-epic...) does not entertain me enough... Where are the days of multiple cascading avalanches of text!? I want my money back!!

Here's the response of our resident Customer Service Rep: Dear Reader, Thank you for taking an interest in our Website. Your feedback is important for us. By looking at our records, we see that you are one of Chatty DM's trusted lieutenants known to prod our glorious leader into frenetic waves of posting and melt his sizable brain with your Photon Project Beam. We therefore aren't sure if your complaint is genuine or just one of your nefarious backstabbing schemes. Rest assured that Chatty is just testing new ways to take over the RPG world and will return to his usual style shortly. Once again, we appreciate your patronage. Should you still decide to want a reimbursement, feel free to write yourself a check in our name for the amount you paid so far to partake in sharing Chatty's heavenly wisdom. Yours Truly, Bob Glitterclaws Killer Cyborg Ninja Ogre Customer Relations and Dismemberment Feel free to send your feedbacks and comments to Bob at chattydm@chattydm.net

kobold

ChattyDM — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:11:33 +0000

Chatty Studios Presents: Project Kobold Love

ChattyDM — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:00:09 +0000

Edit: For those coming over from Kobold Quarterly, hi! Just a quick note to clarify that I'm not taking any donations for Kobold Love... That one will be free to see me build it and such to prove to you guys that I can produce quality material... I might ask you to buy the final product if I get it published, that's all. In which Chatty jumps off a cliff of his choosing... One of the numerous lessons I learned from my first Gen Con Experience was that I had the skills and guts to carve myself a name in the RPG industry, I just had to believe in them and do something about it. However, with a family to feed and being already halfway through my 30s, I can't afford to start at the bottom of the Freelancing ladder and climb my way up... I might as well just stick to my day job. Enter Chatty Studios Chatty Studios is my own part-time stab at entering the RPG publishing industry. Taking a page from Wolfgang Baur's Open Design concept, I want to publish fan-supported D&D 4e material through a patronage system. Patrons would pay me up front (giving me capital to allow me to hire artists and technical help I do not possess) in exchange for an open and interactive experience where I build the product through blog posts for their eyes only. In those posts I would share my design/writing philosophies, poll patrons on design choices, participate in play-testing and create the product like a TV chef cooks up for viewers every week. In the end, we'd have a final product that all patrons would get first (PDF or Dead Tree, depending on participants). I'd then publish the adventure (or license it to a publisher) to help me pay for my next Gen Con trip and maybe buy my wife and kids a few gifts. Thing is, I'm perfectly aware that I'm currently an unproven nobody in the industry. While I'm a rising Blogger, I know that I don't have solid street cred... Hell a lot of my readers don't know my real name! That's why my first Chatty Studios project will be a Creative Commons D&D 4e adventure that I'll create on this blog (Chatty Studios will have it's own Website when I launch it officially before year's end). All readers are invited to partake in it (please see below for boring legal IP stuff) as if they were paying Patrons. I've been shamelessly hyping it all over the Blogsphere for the last week and I dubbed it... Project Kobold Love! Here's the project's pitch I wrote when I came back from Gen Con: I'm sick and tired of the Editions Wars. So much so that I want to show that a game system is just an excuse to have fun, no more. Project Kobold Love will be a Creative Commons, Non-Commercial, 5 scene adventure featuring the Reverse Dungeon Trope. If it's good, I want to be able to publish it commercially while leaving others the right to hack it legally as long as no one tries to sell it without talking to me first. Elevator Pitch of the adventure: A bunch of Kobold ugly ducklings go forth on a Quest to seek out the Tavern-in-the City. They are to kill the mysterious stranger that sits in the corner, giving quests that always end up destroying their dungeon home. It's going to be a 5 scenes, Semi-linear event-based adventure, filled with carefully chosen Fantasy RPG tropes. Playing time 4 hours. Approach: I will make a series of posts on a 1-2 posts per week schedule. In each, I'll build the adventure for D&D 4e, full with DMing tips, Tropes design notes. The Hook: I will openly ask other RPG bloggers and readers to follow my lead, stating the adventure in their favorite non-4e game system. Legacy D&D, Pathfinder, Encounter Critical, GURPS, BESM... I don't care! The crazier, the better. Hell it can be all hacked to hell and be made about Pigs in Space... I'm sure it's going to a LOT of fun. I'll then publish my adventure on one of the RPG PDF sites and look into getting it printed by someone out there. I'll then see if I can get customers to pay me to do another project. I want to network the hell out of that one, I want people to have fun with it. Yes some of that is Hype for me, but that's what business is all about. I really want to get our growing community of readers/fans to start merging and mingling more. We're friends for heaven's sake, not enemies camped in the headquarters of our favorite game company/designer. I have challenged Mike Mearls, Wolfgang Baur, Nick Logue. I expect their fans to tackle this project on their sides. If anyone wants to take the challenge of making your own Kobold Love adventure, my sponsor, ZeStuff.com, is offering 3 15$ gift certificates. I'll draw 2 randomly between those that tackle the project on their website, or in my forums here (just email me at chattydm@chattysdm.net and I'll create you your own message board). I'll put the last one (that I'll try to up to 30$) up for the readers to choose the best Kobold Love Hack! Edit: This just in! Alex of http://maille.czaralex.com is offering a Brass bag capable of carrying 30 assorted gaming dice fastened with a leather cord and bead to the reader-chosen winner of the contest! Have a look at how great they look! Prizes will be given 2 weeks after this series concludes... So you have plenty of time (like 5-6 weeks or so). So please step up in this post (or the next one), with your game system of choice, if you feel like you could tackle this! Boring Legal Stuff: I lay IP claims to the project and the adventure I will publish in this series. As per the Creative Commons license I applied to this blog, everyone is welcome to hack it, modify it, post it on their websites and do whatever they want with it, provided they credit me and don't try to commercialize it without my written agreement. Also, by posting comments in any articles of this series, you surrender the commercial rights to any ideas or derivative work I might do with them. I will credit (with full name) anyone that helps/inspire me (and likely give out free copies of the finished product) but I do not want to fight with anyone about me stealing ideas if they were posted up here... It's just too hard to differentiate what ideas I had and which were influenced by fan suggestions. Now that this is out of the way... Here's my post plan for the series:

Interlude 1: The Posse is Building
The Adventure Plan
Interlude 2: Reflections and the Half-Kobold Template
Intro, Background and Summary, part 1
Intro, Background and Summary, part 2
Interlude 3: Changing Gears
Scene 1: Dungeon Diplomacy! Part 1
Scene 1: Dungeon Diplomacy! Part2
Scene 2: On the Road... Again
Scene 3: Skill Challenged Kobolds in the City
Scene 4: Trope Showdown in the Tavern of Clichés
Scene 5: Conclusion and Epilogue
New Mechanics, Templates and Monsters
Playtesting
Layout issues, Maps, Arts and Monster Stats
Naming the adventure and making the final product

As mentioned before, I might add new posts or break down some if they grow too big. You, the readers will help me drive the show. Up next: The Adventure plan! Credits: Wizards of the Coast (Image)

chattydraconis

ChattyDM — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:06:42 +0000

Campaign/Adventure Prep: 4th Edition Treasure Hunters!

ChattyDM — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:45 +0000

My gaming group usually takes off for the summer. We put our campaign on hiatus because of vacations, family quality time and yard work. While we gamed some (Magic:The Addiction, one shot RPG games, etc) this summer was rather dry. Next Friday is the long awaited start of our new gaming season and both my players and I are pumped! This is going to be my first D&D 4e campaign and it's going to be a first for most of my players. Here's our player lineup for this year, and my interpretation of their Player Types:

Yan: Story-driven brilliant planner with a side of cool power accumulation and setting exploration (he's DMing his own 4e campaign so he's our rules guru)
Math: Supercool butt kicking power accumulator (New dad, so we're going to game at his place).
Franky: Story-driven setting explorer with a taste for power accumulation
Eric : Near pure butt kicking psychodramatist
Stef: Ex-Casual turning into storytelling butt kicker
Mike: Franky's brother and our newest member, I haven't pegged him yet, I'd say Casual Storytelling Butt Kicker but the jury is still out.
Phil: Incredibly talented DM with a side order of God complex (ha ha!)

While mentally preparing the campaign over this summer, I made a few choices to make the most of our 4e experience and cater to my player tastes. Chief among those was that I want players to be able to use any new sourcebook that comes out this year, including new classes:

The campaign background/plot is vague to allow storytellers to help me build a story.
The season will be made of short, British TV-like campaigns around one core adventure/theme.
Each campaign will be in the same shared world.
Significant in-game time will pass between mini-campaigns (months to years), allowing players to set stories as they see fit (marriage, kids, disease, retirement, etc) outside of my control (As long as PCs don't level up).
Players may chose to create a new character (at the current party character level) or play with an existing one from earlier in the season.
I'm stealing the West March es concept of the build-as-you-play Table Map.
The campaign is set in the same homegrown world as my previous campaign except it's one or two thousand years after the cataclysm that nearly destroyed it.
None of the world's original empires and countries exist anymore.

Here's my campaign's Elevator Pitch (borrowed from Paizo's Pathfinder concept) You are adventurers! In a world who's history is muddled by the rise and fall of numerous civilizations, you seek fame and fortune through the search of ancient treasures and artifacts that can help decipher the countless mysteries of the past. You also are willing to sell your swords and wands to whomever needs heroes in this dangerous world. Friday's adventure is going to focus on us players rejoining after a long summer break. Such meetings usually do not lend themselves to a serious game so I plan to focus on having players discuss their characters, drink beer, form relationships, drink beer and maybe do a few encounters to review/try rules while drinking beer. That's why this year I didn't ask for player backgrounds and such, we'll discuss it in-game. That's also why my first scene is going to be dead simple: You are a group of adventurers who recently joined together to perform a service to your local Liege-lord. Having successfully performed your quest, you have been befriended by the Noble. You have all been invited to stay at his main residence and partake in the festivities that mark the beginning of the Harvest Season. You are currently in the Lord's company, in a Banquet hall, eating and carousing. You are enjoying the Bard's somewhat embellished retelling of your recent deeds... ...and we'll see where that leads us. So far the PCs are lining up to be:

Yan: Elf Fighter
Franly: Eladrin Warlock
Eric: Eladrin Wizard
Math: Elven Cleric
Stef: Halfling Rogue
Mike: Dragonborn Warlord

Talk about a balanced party, they'll be unstoppable once they start teaming up! I think it's going to be a great campaign! Credits: Wizards of the Coast (Image)

kobold1

ChattyDM — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:51:46 +0000

Kobold Love: Interlude 1, The Posse is building

ChattyDM — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:38:06 +0000

My Kobold Love adventure plan post goes up at 20h00 EST tonight.

While we wait, I thought I'd share the names of participants who officially joined the 'hack/test Chatty's adventure' part of the Project:

Cross-System Hacking:

Greywulf joined to do it in his own Microlite20.
Dave T. Game joined, hinting about d20Modern.
Fang Langford joined to do it using his own Scattershot RPG.
Brent P. Newhall is pondering about doing it in his own Giant Robot RPG Gunwave. So Cool!.
walkerp is very tempted to join and do it for Savage Worlds.
Steven T Helt, the Iron DM, joined to do it in Pathfinder Beta.
Lex Moxgrove joined with a yet undefined system.
Felonius is pondering about joining and use Burning Wheel
Dr. Checkmate joined to do it in Savage Worlds
DanVoyce joined to do it in Seven Leagues
MadBrew joined to do it in White Wolf's Storyteller

Play Testing:

Shane Cottom (Co-writer of the Ascension of the Drow) accepted to be a playtester DM
Reverend Mike accepted to playtest as a DM (Still room for one).

In fact, I may offer a prize for the playtest reports. Stay tuned.

Now just so we're clear, I do not ask you guys to go to the end. I know how much work an adventure can be. The Final Prize (the 30$ Certificate and the Chainmaille bag) will go to someone who finishes it, but I'll consider anyone that gives the project an honest attempt for the 2 participatory prizes.

Plus I expect people to jump in after the next post (Adventure Plan) as I bet people with different ideas will want to tackle it differently.

See you tonight...

Project Kobold Love: The Adventure Plan

ChattyDM — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:19 +0000

Hello and welcome to the 1st official design essay of Project Kobold Love. Here I'm going to reveal it to you, all 5 scenes of my adventure, including the very Tropa-licious ending I cooked up last week on my plane ride back from Gen Con. The 5 scenes model Kobold Love will follow a model similar to Johnn Four's seminal 5 room dungeon model. It will consist of 5 self-contained scenes (or Encounters in D&D 4e speak) that are linked in a linear fashion by a story. I chose that model because it makes for a short adventure (I want to tackle another project soon). I also chose it because a 5 scenes adventure can usually fit in a 4 hour gaming session, which is a common time slot in home games and conventions. Kobold love is not designed for campaign play, although it could act as a springboard to one. The Adventure Plan When I prepare a homegrown adventure for my gaming buddies, the first thing I do is a plan of each scene I envision in the upcoming adventure. I don't necessarily write it all, I've made and played 5 scenes adventures without notes, but it often helps me when I do. While this yet unnamed adventure (Kobold Love is just a placeholder name) will be somewhat linear, I still like to have a high level idea of the possible encounters before I start building it. The way I do it is to write a few paragraphs for the introduction and each scene of the adventure. That allows me to outline my main idea about each part. If inspiration hits while writing the plan, I pour it in, but I try real hard not to let details creep in too much (and take over my creative cycle), that's for later. So here's Kobold Love's plan: Adventure Introduction A party of big ugly kobolds have lived all their lives with an old Kobold crone that acts as the dungeon's Oracle/Witch Doctor. What the ugly duckling kobolds lack in grace they more than make up with cunning and a very acute sense of survival. Since their infancy, they have been able to avoid the numerous adventurer raids of their home dungeon, pulling their adoptive mother to safety while most other dungeon denizens perished. One day, the Oracle had a vision and shared a prophecy with the whole underground complex: Now was the time to break the cycle of raiding and killing in the realm of Darkness. A group of outcasts was to go to the Outside Dungeon, seek the "House with Dark Corners" and slay the Quest Giver! As soon as the words were spoken, outrage and anger ignited the dungeon... Chatty's Comments: That's typical me, I start writing and it all pours out... this is basically the whole adventure background. I'll just retouch later. At least it gives you all the context of where I plan to go with this. Scene 1, Dungeons and Diplomacy Shortly after the Oracle pronounced the prophecy, angry (and muscled) representatives of the dungeons's strongest factions show up in the Crone's Cave Lair and demand that she retracts such heresy. They are ready to argue their position with weapons, teeth and claws. Monsters don' t just leave dungeons! Therein lies madness! There the kobold PCs, who have been identified as the obvious "Outcasts" by all factions, must debate with the factions leaders to convince them of the validity of their quest. With a skill challenge based on social skills (and role playing), the PCs can reduce the number of hostile enemies they have to face. The number of successes and failures determines the number of factions the PCs will have to fight simultaneously as each success returns a faction to its lair. Scene 2, On the Road...Again As the Kobolds make their way to the nearest Human city, they have to rest near a road. During their rest, a generic adventuring party is passing by to raid their dungeon. If the PCs are spotted, the party of adventurers cries 'Kobold Ambush!' and attacks. Chances are PCs will attack if unspotted, turning this into a real ambush! Chatty's Comments: This scene is a tribute to Keep on the Shadowfell and countless other In Media Res adventures. I just had to put it in! Scene 3, Skill Challenged in the City. Kobolds have to get into the city. Various ways are made available, including climbing the outside wall at night, Bluffing the City guards (Skill challenge: Disguise, Bluff, Diplomacy) and sneaking into the sewers Chatty's Comments: This is the least developed (and least linear) scene in my mind currently. Therein lies the danger of over writing it. For example, in the sewers, I have possible trap-like encounters with monsters or another roleplaying skill challenge to convince sewer denizen of righteousness of quest in mind. Actually I think I'll give DMs playing the adventure the option of making their own 5 room dungeon just for the Sewer part of the adventure, possibly adding treasures to help the PCs later. Scene 4, Trope Showdown in the Tavern of Clichés. PCs make it to the Tavern where they meet a roomfull of the some of the most known D&D archetypes/clichés characters. Among others, they'll meet a dual-scimitar Drow Ranger, a Naive Fighter and his sickly Wizard brother. a wisecracking halfling rogue and, of course, the Stranger in the Corner. An epic, very hard fight ensues... with a possible Roleplaying "out" See Scene 5. Chatty's Comment: Yup, a subverted barfight against tired clichés! Choosing the right archetypes for maximum effect is going to be important here. Crunch wise, the encounter must be at the near maximum of the party's capacity. The Tavern must also be a dynamic environment ripe with props and cool terrain exploits to give bold/creative PCs a slight edge. Scene 5, You wouldn't dare! Edit: This Scene as be marked for possible rework. See comments. As the stranger in the corner dies, he drops 2 scrolls. The first, written in common, says "Go forth in the nearby Caves of Doom and find an old Kobold Crone living with a small band of kobolds and give her this scroll. Kill everything else!" The second scroll, written in a secret language the Crone taught the PCs says "My love, I miss you so! I'm ready to be a good father now, if you'll still have me" Roll Credits. Chatty's Comments: Did I forget to mention that all PCs were half-kobolds? I did? My bad. =) If the DM feels especially evil he can let the PCs bring back the scroll without reading it and witness 'mom' cry herself to death upon reading the note. However, I really want to allow the adventure to finish in a different way... Maybe the stranger will be willing to surrender and parlay if bloodied and that might be an occasion to have a 'Sith Lord Daddy' moment that's just as strong. Possibilities...Endless! Your Turn! So any thoughts on this in general? Anyone wants to take this in another direction? Sound off in the comments, on our Forum or on your own web site (don't forget to link!) Up Next: Adventure Background and Summary (and maybe a bit more) Credits: Wizards of the Coast (Image)

The Seven Habits of Great GMs

ChattyDM — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:00:47 +0000

Inspired by the Stephen R. Covey's seminal books. After 25 years of GMing, you learn a few lessons about GMing. Some are easier to learn than others. Here's a list of what I've observed in good GMs and what I strive to develop. It's in no particular order.

Being Enthusiastic: A great GM exudes loves for the game you to play in. He relishes in your successes and convinces you not to quit when things are grim.
Being Empathic: A great GM is directly connected to the emotional energy of the table. She actively looks out for the emotional states of each player (Boredom, Excitement, Frustration, Irritation, etc) and can use that knowledge to keep the fun level high.
Being Open Minded: A great GM is willing to throw any part of his preparation out the window if something more fun comes up in the game, especially if this comes from the players.
Being Humble: A great GM is perfectly willing to admit she made a mistake or misinterpreted something. She'll be willing to compromise to bring the game state to the best possible outcome once the issue is resolved.
Showing Leadership: A great GM will bring players together and give everyone (including him) all the necessary tools to have fun. He'll wear the mantle of authority with fairness and concern for the fun of all.
Being Organized: A Great GM will make sure that her material is arranged to suit her natural style and flow. She won't lose precious time looking for things and break the game's pacing.
Being Self Aware: A great GM will know his strengths and limits during prepping and at the table. He'll focus on his strengths and make efforts to push back his limits in order to outdo himself as a GM.

You want to share any more? Please do, I sure can afford to learn more.

Chatty's Bedtime Campaign: Nico's Party!

ChattyDM — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:00:04 +0000

This is the last part of Nico's Quest, an interactive bedtime story game I started with him my 6 year old son Nicolas in the last week. I also just bought a digital recorder to better capture the story and write it later since my blogging schedule is starting to get crowded! Chatty: "So what happened last time we played?" Nico: "I met Polywag and gave him a diamond so I could enter the Cave." "Oh yeah I remember now" "I enter the cave now" "So, what do you expect to find in there? Something big?" "Yeah! Are you recording this?" "I am, so I can remember all the cool things you said" "How does it work?" "You press the button here and it just records" "Cool" Chapter 6, The Arena Cave "All right, you enter a huge cave that's all dark! You don't see much in it as only the light from outside the little door comes barely in." "Hmmm, I take my laser sword and I fill it with laser energy to make a sort of light" "Nice, What color?" "Yellow, because that's what powerful swords look like" "Yes, power does glow. Okay, You see you're in some sort of immense super huge Oval shaped rooms with Smooth walls that go up really high over you. (Excitedly) "Oh Yeah!" "It looks like a Pokemon arena." "What's an Arena?" "That's the large places where Pokemon fight" "Oh yeah, like in the movies!" "That's right! Also, high on the far wall, you see an opening like a window and in it you see Polywrath sitting on a large Stone throne. Beside him, there's a man tied up and gagged, trying to speak... but all you hear is Mmmmmmrghmmmm!" "It's my father" (Notice how he's started to separate his in-game father with me) "That's right, it's your kidnapped father" Chapter 7: The Faceoff Polywrath: "Mwa HA HA HA Nicolas, we finally meet. Are you bringing the crown so you can have your Daddy back?" Nico: (With conviction!) No! I came to recuperate my daddy, not to give you the Crown!" (God I'm happy I recorded that, I now can recall the emotions.) Polywrath: "I will never give you back your daddy unless you go back and get me the crown!" "Fine! Did you know how I entered this cavern even though you left Poliwag guarding it?" "Yeah, I was wondering how you did that" "I gave him one of my Diamonds!" "What? And he left and let you in?" "Yes." "Argh! He's not very nice to leave his job like that" "No! It's you who's not nice... You never gave him gifts so that he would help you!" (Long Pause... I was shocked) "Yeah, you do have a point there Nico... but, but but that's not what I want from you. You were supposed to bring me the crown, I should have the crown, I should be the King, not your father, ME!" "Yeah, let me tell you that you don't always get to be the King in real life!" (What???? Am I being thought a life lesson by my own 6 year old here?) "But, GAh, Hmmm.... ARGHHHHHH! What you're telling me is making me very mad!" Chatty: "Polywrath picks up your father and hangs him high over the Arena floor" Poliwrath:" Bring me the crown or I drop him on the floor! That will hurt him a lot!" Nico: "Awww, What can I do now? Do I tell him no? What can I do" (There are long pauses between each sentence as he's trying to find a solution" Chatty: "What is it that you'd like to achieve?" Nico: "I want him to put my father down, but I don't have the Crown" "But you don't want to give him the crown?" "No I don't, even if I had it with me" "Poliwrath gets real mad that you aren't leaving to get the crown and he lets your father fall. Your father says.... mmmrghplmmmmm!. What do you do?" (Giggles and Stutters) "Calm yourself Nico, you have time to think it over. What are your powers again?" What followed was a little bit of back and forth to lower Nico's rising but unnecessary anxiety and brainstorm ideas to save Nico's father. Then Inspiration Struck! Nico: "I'm going to use my armour's weather powers to conjure a Cloud to stop his fall" Chatty: (Picking up on Nico's uncounsious DragonBall reference): Awesome, you manage to summon the Nimbus Cloud that flies in. Nico: "For real?" "Of Course. The cloud zooms right underneath your falling father. Does the King have a pure heart?" (The Nimbus Cloud is solid only to those types of people) "Yes, The king has a Pure Heart" "Well then if he's a such a good King, he hits the cloud gently and it flies him down to the ground, safe and sound" Polywrath: I'm tired of this Nico, you always foil my plans! I want to fight in this arena you now!" Nico (laughing!): "Ok!" Chatty: Polywrath jumps down in the arena and starts his Hypnosis attack. What attack do you prepare? Nico:" I aim with my laser sword and shoot!" "Okay, we'll play this combat with Rock Paper Scissors." (Nico always, always starts with scissors... so I was on safe ground here). Nico: "Scissors!" Polywrath: "Paper!" Chatty: You hit Polywrath with a laser beam and he's knocked back and he slams against the Arena's wall, stunned." Chapter 8: The Disney Imperative Poliwrath (Wheezing and Crying): You won! It's no fair! All I wanted was to become the king because no one wants to be friends with me. Maybe if I was King I'd have friends." Nico: "No. If all you wanted to have is friends, you just had to ask and be a little more nice" (My wife reading over my shoulder commented that kids really soak in those children movie values... Think about it). "You think that it would work?" "Of course!" "People are never nice to me." "But why?" "Maybe it's because I'm too mean ?" "But what did you do to be mean" "I always say bad things about people, I never want to share my toys and I always want others to play the games I decide to play" (Yeah, yeah, parenting agenda and all) "Okay, you don't HAVE to share your toys, but you really should let others chose the games they want to play. When you want to make friends, you have to share many things and let them decide things for themselves. You can chose games, but not all the time." (Once again... Shocked. That little man will go a lot further than me in life if he sticks to that philosophy. He would also be one hell of a Gamemaster). "You really think so?" "Of course. You should also share your toys a little sometimes" "Okay then. Can you forgive me for having kidnapped your father" "Yeah, it's Okay." "Phew! Thank you Nico. I'll try to be nicer. You can go with your father, I'll stay here and think about this" "Okay! I'm done! yay!" Epilogue: Party! Chatty: "You did it Nico, your a champion! What do you do now? Do you go back to your Castle and make a big party?" Nico: "Yes! And I'll invite all the friends I made during this adventure! " "Do you invite Polywrath?" "Of course!" "Awesome, it's a great party and everyone has fun! Good Night Nico" "Good night daddy!" Here ends Book one of Nico's Quest. Chatty's Thoughts: The number of GMing lessons I learned in this little exercise (That I will definitively keep on doing , I might just not write about it) are countless. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I'm now closer to my six year old and we now have our very own father-son thing. I'm just so proud of my son! I'll never tell you how to live your life, but please do everything in your power to slow time around your family so you can actually see your children grow up slowly. Peace out! Credits: Nicolas Menard (Story), Nintendo (Image)

dragoras-dungeon

ChattyDM — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:03:36 +0000

DM Chronicles: Session 1, That's how you start a Campaign! Part 1

ChattyDM — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:00:03 +0000

DM Chronicles, along my Adventure Prep posts are my longest running series on the Blog. The Chronicles are a DM's report of my D&D game that I run twice a month from September to June every year. This year marks our 9th straight year playing with the same core group and my 1st D&D 4e campaign. The preparation for the campaign's structure can be found here. We were all very eager to play as chatter on Email exploded in the days leading to the game. One of the things I kept mum about both on the blog and with my friends was the actual adventure we would use. While I can write an adventure (heck I'm trying to make a part-time job out of it here) I often choose a published adventure and hack it to my players' tastes. In this first mini-campaign, I wanted to master the 4e rules set, try many new GM tricks and techniques so I didn't want to spend much time prepping. At Gen Con, I bought a 4e compatible adventure from the Goodman Games booth. A certain Harley Stroh was at the booth. I looked at the offerings and picked up one he wrote that looked interesting (yeah the nearly naked chick on the cover played absolutely no role in me picking it up). I gave it to him, paid for it and asked him to sign it... You should have seen his face! I might have been his first autograph fan! I started reading the adventure on my way back from the con and was sold after the 1st paragraph, it's fiendishly hard (I mean, Tomb of Horrors hard, except with no 'Bang you're dead' fiat) but it remains one very well designed adventure. (Expect a Review soon, the adventure ships game stores today). It was written for advanced players, which my players are... This is a brilliant concept for a new edition of a long standing game. Since I'm playing a published adventure, consider this paragraph as being a huge SPOILER WARNING. All right let's dive in shall we? The Cast (includes the backstory info we shared and built upon as we begun the game): Naquist (played by Math): Elven Cleric of Bahamut. Left the elven forests surrounding the Eladrin Capital of Baragramir to sail to the southern Dragonborn island city of Coral's Bay to study at the Platinum Cathedral. Naquist is one of the only elves to have ever set eyes on and touched the Platinum Claw Relic in the Cathedral's Inner Sanctum. He came back to the shore to spread Good and help the downtrodden in a life of adventure. Intra party Relationship: Met Takeo on the sea trip back to the mainland. Bjerm (Yan): Elven Fighter, left the elven forests to find worthy challenges to hone his combat skills. Spent some time in Hobble's Port gladiatorial arena but was disgusted at the Halflings merchants obsessions with manipulating and rigging fights. Created the party by signing up on a quest to defend a Logging and Fishing coastal Fort against a Human slaver raid. (Quest assumed to have occurred before the campaign started). Intra party relationship: Was a Gladiator in Roco's uncle 'stable'. He left right after uncle asked Bjerm to participate in a rigged fight. Roco la Muerte (Stef): Halfing Rogue. Roco was the son of a rich Halfling Merchant in Hobble's Port. He was destined to take over the family business. Instead, he ran away and joined the local Handlers and Cleaners Guild where he trained to become a master cat burglar and assassin. During his training, he met Roco, a legendary master Rogue who impressed him a lot. Soon after, the elder Roco vanished without a trace. When the young rogue 'graduated' from the guild he took up Roco's name. Intra party relationship: His uncle owns a large stake in the Gladiator's arena. Due to a bad business decision, the uncle lost his most promising star: Bjerm the Fighter. Fizban (Sigh... Eric): Eladrin Wizard. A graduate of the Tower of the Mages of Ar'Damara, the world most ancient organization (i.e. Math created that one when we were 15-17) and the only Elven building still standing in Baragramir. Fizban forswore his birth name in favor of one he read about in ancient documents recuperated from before the Cataclysm. Fizban is an absent minded scholar fascinated with strange monsters and ancient ruins. He often needs prodding from his buddies to react to danger which he'd much rather sketch than fight. Intra party relationship: Fizban is a childhood friend of Masaru, they kept in touch during thier respective training. Takeo (Mike): Dragonborn Warlord. Scion of a great military family of Coral Bay, Takeo has recently completed his military training and felt the need to venture out in the world to prove himself. He joined Bjerm in helping defend the coastal Halfling fort against the human slave raiders. Intra party relationship: Met Naquist on the ship to Hobble's Port (mainland) and both met again later in the quest to save the halfling coastal fort. Masaru (Franky): Eladrin Fey Pact Warlock. Masaru's ancestors were living in Planescape's Beastlands prior to the cataclysm (i.e about 2000 years ago). In order to survive the troubled centuries ahead, Masaru's Eladrin clan secured a pact with the primal Fey spirits that sprung up when the Beastlands fused with the mortally wounded world. In return, Masaru's family had to leave the newly formed Feywild and live in the mortal's world. The family helped found Baragramir over the ruins of the ancient elven capital but has never been among its noble families nor had any particular political ambitions other than survival. Since, the family has had at least one Warlock among it's living members. Masaru is the latest of such a line. Intra-Party Relationship: Masaru befriended Fizban earlier in their life. While Masaru's status as a Warlock makes him 'one of the weird kids' in Baragramir, Fizban's own kind of 'specialness' has brought them close together and they remained friends ever since. (You can tell which players are storytellers huh?) These short background, shared around a beer are so full of hooks and grey zones that we could make whole campaigns out of them. As each player shared his thoughts on his character's origins, others were invited to chime in. It really created a sense that the party belonged together like we never achieved before. The game started with the following scene (adapted by mixing my initial prep idea and the character's backgrounds): You are a group of adventurers who recently joined together to perform a quest for Hobble's Port biggest Halfling Merchant Baron: Brandobaris the Fat. You answered his call for help to save one of his nearby Coastal Fishing and Logging Venture Fort from a Human Slaver raid. Having successfully performed your quest, you have been befriended by Brandobaris. You have all been invited to stay at his legendary Coastal Banquet Hall in Hobble's Port. There, you partake in the festivities that mark the beginning of the Harvest Season. You are currently in the Lord's company, eating and carousing. You are enjoying the Bard's somewhat embellished retelling of your recent deeds. It's a good thing that you are enjoying yourselves as no one is allowed to leave the table until Brandobaris passes out. I gave the players the choice of either an Eladrin or Halfling Liege-Lord. When they voted on a Halfling, I improvised a fat Merchant King and picked the first name that came to my mind. Brandobaris was originally a halfling hero described in AD&D's Unearthed Arcana in the Demi-Human pantheon chapter. Consider this one of many homages to Gary Gygax I hope to make in these mini-campaigns. The actual game log will be in part two that I'll post later this week after the next Kobold Love post.

dragoras-encounter-1

ChattyDM — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:31:10 +0000

zain-kin

ChattyDM — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:42:23 +0000

dragoras-002

ChattyDM — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:05:43 +0000

jump-off-cliff

ChattyDM — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:34:07 +0000

Kobold Love: Interlude 2, Reflections and the Half-Kobold Template revealed

ChattyDM — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:58:32 +0000

The Cliff is higher than I thought. Over the weekend the immensity of what I have tackled with Kobold Love crashed on me. As comments, mostly positive, and some (well deserved) reservations started pouring in, what initially felt to me like a public adventure prep exercise took a new dimension. This is the real deal Phil, you will need to play by the publisher's rules. That means mastering the 4e rules set (even if rules are lies), writing (and editing) above and beyond my current habit and make design choices that will be open to criticism. I'm fine with that, I can take diverging opinions and criticism. Heck, chances are I will most certainly rise to the challenge and outdo myself. I won't try to please everyone. That's absolutely impossible, no matter how talented I may be. I will listen to people and seriously consider their opinions, but at the end of the day, I will go where my guts tell me to go. That's one of the many reasons the adventure is up for Hacking by anyone, so you can make it into something you would like to run! Hacking the Love! Speaking of hacking, some people contacted me with questions and/or not too sure about what was this whole part of the project about. Here's the rundown of what I expect of you my hacking readers: I will work on the 4e version of Kobold Love. I will possibly publish it commercially if it gains sufficient interest. However, anyone reading the blog will be able to get a playable adventure by just copy/pasting these KL posts. I invite others to start with my Elevator Pitch posted back here and create their own version of Kobold Love in their favorite system (apart from 4e, see below). It doesn't have to be about kobolds... It just has to be about taking some of a games' core tropes and subverting them to the breaking point and back. Those who participate on thier own websites or on our forums get a chance to win a few prizes. Those who make it to the end and offer a playable adventure get to go under the readers' spotlight and run a chance of being voted 'best hack' and win a bigger prize. I don't lay claims to anything more than my 4e version of the adventure (and ask people not to tackle it in 4e, but I won't kick in your door and seize your laptop if you do). All I really ask is that don't sell your adventure without talking to me first. Posting Schedule The specter of 'blogging as work' as started showing its ugly head again and I only have myself to blame. I have just too many bloddy cool things to write about. As I try to flap my arms while falling from my cliff, I started feeling anxiety again... for the first time in nearly 6 months! Anxiety for a project that I don't even depend on to live, that's bloody ridiculous. That's a clear sign that I have to slow down somehow. That's also why I'll probably try to do no more than one full KL post a week and an interlude one to discuss the projects' current issues. I might do more, if the fun is there, but I won't press the issue if I don't feel like it. Enough with the whinning Phil, gimme the damn Template! Okay, okay! Here it is... Designed by Yan Décarie. Feats by Yan Décarie and P.A. Ménard. Yes I'm sticking with this idea, I just will offer a less gross finale as the main Scene 5 alternative. The idea is that the Half-kobolds are a blend of Kobold Cunning and Human resourcefulness. They are also medium size and don't come with the dreaded shifty ability built-in the racial template. [Begin race template] Half-Kobolds Average Height: 4´3''–4'-9'' Average Weight: 80-100 lb. Ability scores: +2 Constitution, +2 Dexterity Size: Medium Speed: 6 squares Vision: Normal Languages: Common, Draconic Skill Bonus: +2 Insight, +2 Diplomacy Dual-Heritage: You can take kobold and humain feats Survival Instincts Encounter Power Immediate Interrupt Personnal Trigger: You missed an attack roll or an attack has hit you Effect: You can add or subtract two to the attack roll and change the result accordingly. [End race template] We also propose three new feats (all powers and feat names are placeholders): Shifty [Kobolds] Effect: You can use the shifty Kobold power (MM P 278) as an encounter power Improved Shifty [Kobolds] Prerequesite: Shifty Effect: You can use shifty as an at-will power Designer Notes: The shifty ability is too powerful to give freely to a PC. I believe that Making it into 2 feats makes it more inline with current PC available powers Trap Sense [Kobolds] Effect: You gain +2 bonus to all defenses against traps. Comment, suggest and discuss! Credits: Gregory Taylor (Image)

Epic Laundry Basket: Arrogance vs Cockiness

ChattyDM — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:30:30 +0000

One of the things that I associate with success is giving the appearance of fearlessness, of being Gung Ho about one's abilities. It does not have to resonate true inside but it sure needs to be outside if you want to be taken seriously. When fame does arrive, people start having reasons to hate you. I guess it's one of the prices to pay. One of the easy grip haters will have on you is calling you arrogant. Arrogance implies that you look down on some people and treat them with disdain. Much like haters do. Cockiness is close to arrogance and can get irritating at times. However, it's just overprojected self-confidence, not an imposed sense of superiority. The line between both can be slim sometimes. In my upcoming career as a RPG writer (or whatever it is I plan to do), I aim to have my 2 feet well set on the side of cockiness, not arrogance. I firmly believe that the only time you should look down on someone... is when you help them up. 177 words.

DM Chronicles: Session 1, That's how you start a Campaign! Part 2

ChattyDM — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:37 +0000

See part 1 here. The Banquet We started with all PCs participating in a seemingly endless Banquet hosted by the local Merchant Baron, Brandobaris the Fat. Late into the scene's night, after some interesting Roleplaying, Brandobaris opened a casket of Drow Wine, reputed to turn into a deadly poison 5 minutes after being exposed to air. All PCs tried it carefully, while Brandobaris quaffed the whole cask in one large gulp. He then burped loudly and fell unconscious... a sigh of relief going through the whole Banquet Hall. Ninja Sleepy Time! PCs moved on to the hall's second floor, where the guest bedrooms were, as Brandobaris was carried to his extensive quarters. Most PCs moved to their assigned room in the early hours of the morning, with Takeo coming in last after having done one last review of the premises. Fizban and Bjerm elected to have their trance/rest at the far end of the corridor where a balcony overlooking the sea stood (See Figure). Soon after Takeo joined the rest of his buddies, all PCs heard an unnatural hush fall over the whole pavilion. I made an attack roll vs all PCs Will defense. All but Takeo were affected by a deep slumber. That's when a shuffling noise was heard under the door and a strange cloying vapour seeped from underneath it. Takeo moved in behind his room's door, ready to ambush whatever was trying to sneak in the room. He struck hard and fast, but only managed to scratch the Brutish Silver-backed Ape-Man Swordsman. A furious fight exploded between the two while the other PCs woke up and ran to join the fun. The Assassin (a lurker) managed to hit Takeo very hard twice thanks to his auto-combat advantage rechargeable power. At that point, I was describing each hit, swings and misses with numerous details of dodges, sparks and the assassin using the Censer as a shield (total fluff but it really was cool to describe). The assassin was mortally dispatched with no permanent injuries to the PCs. Running an investigation... literally! The following investigation, somewhat disturbed by the legendary snoring of Brandobaris, revealed that no other assassins were around and that the PCs seemed to have been the only targets. The assassin was found to be a Zain-Kin, a race of slave Ape-Men known to have served the long dead enchanters of Parhok. Said enchanters were thought to have self-destructed around the time of the cataclysm. The assassin's tracks were very fresh and led northbound toward the elven forests surrounding the Eladrin capital of Baragramir. The tracks went very far, the assassin had walked for several days to get so near Hobble's Point. Fictive Geography Aside: I may write a gazetteer series of my campaign's world as we build it. Right now it consists of a coastline with a huge Crater surrounded by dead lands/waters (hints to long time readers... crater used to be Ptolus). There's also a Halfling port named Hobble's point 2 days east of the crater and an elven region of forested hills around an Eladrin City (Baragramir, 2 days north of Hobble's Point) built on the ruins of an ancient eleven city of the same name. That's it. Obligatory Ravine Scene The PCs followed the tracks northwards for 4 days! Bringing them through the inhabited forest, past Baragramir and into some undiscovered ruins featuring a recent 200' long, 60' wide and several hundred feet deep rift. That's where the tracks stopped. All PCs with good passive perception felt observed for quite some time. After a short exploration of the surroundings, it was determined that the assassin had come from the rift. Peeking into the rift showed that a waterfall crashed atop a walkway joining a pair of matching doorways about 300 feet down. We fast forwarded the climbing and rappelling scene (except to check that there was enough rope). Once Bjerm (the 1st to climb down) was level with the doorways, he noticed that a rusted broken down set of scything blades was protruding from under one of the doorways. As this was reached, the party saw their topmost rope drop down the ravine and two small figures standing way over them, chucking 15 lbs boulders up their heads. Takeo was hit hard, hanging on the rope through sheer willpower (read: a high d20 roll). Bjerm tried to jump on the platform but it triggered a still functional pit trap. Now a bit later in the round, while PCs were being pelted with boulders, Yan pointed out that he didn't 'get' that the door was opened and would have tried to swing inside the doorway and not on the obviously trapped platform (he noticed the rusted blades under the walkway). We did a partial retcon by allowing a Saving Throw to see if Bjerm grabbed onto the pit's edge instead of falling. He did and remained on the rope. Everyone was happy. Just as this happened, Roco got hit by a boulder and slipped from the rope, falling into the pit... only to be grabbed by Bjerm at the last minute. (All the time I was trying to describe the action as dramatically as possible, down to the wetness spreading into Roco's shining leather pants). Now that's a Battlemap! After a short rest in the corridor, the party made it to a strange multi-tiered arcane laboratory filled with ruined benches, jerking brains in jars and skeletons. Like a funnel, the room featured 20' wide ledges arranged in tiers. As Roco and Bjerm were investigating the room looking for traps on the floor in the first few squares of the Walkway. When the rogue hit the second square, the invisible imp flying above released a sphere filled with a Needlefang Swarm (think a few scores of Jurasic Park 2's 20 inch high little raptors) that crashed on Roco and Bjerm... At the same time, 10 skeletons rose and attacked! PCs moved on all levels and the combat was truly action driven... I really like battlemaps set over multiple levels, it makes tactical decisions more exciting. I had an absolute blast describing how the Needlefang Swarm knocked down PCs and tore their armour, clothing and skin to shreds. It also 'talked' to the Dragonborn Warlord (Takeo) in primal draconic: "Why you kills us brotherssss" It was just so cool! After some close calls, all skellies and the swarm were dealt with. The party rested again and headed down to the Portal door on the floor of the bottom level. While looking for traps or marking, the party was attacked by the transparent Gelatinous Cube (an Elite level 5 monster BTW... PCs are level 1) sitting over the only apparent exit of this room. The Cube promptly 'ate' 4 out of the 6 PCs by engulfing and dazing them, putting a serious dent in the group's fun factor. Of course, the Eladrins both teleported on the upper tiers and started shooting Magic Missiles and Eldritch Blasts. The cleric sent Sacred flames and Lasers of Faith while the warlord was shooting javelins into it. After a few failed attempts at escaping, Bjerm and Roco fought from inside the cube, while getting healed repeatedly for acid digestion from both the cleric and the warlord. It was like the Gelatinous Cube was the Galactica and the PCs were Cylon Basestars/Internal agents. It finally collapsed in a pool of acidic bile after the cleric Sacred Flamed it for its 154th hit point. It was 11 PM, we called it a night. Best Campaign start ever! Lessons Learned:

Making silly voices, describing things enthusiastically and ignoring your friends snickerings when you are being a bit too silly for their comfort is SO worth it.
Don't hand out XPs when dead tired, I don't give enough for Roleplaying (that's why I'm going to double XPs each session if we keep this level of energy and enthusiasm).
There's some sort of subtle power struggle between me and some players when they insist on arguing things that just aren't all that important for the fun of the game. I think it's just a male friends thing but I may look into this.

What players liked:

The feeling of a party that finally has a reason to adventure together.
Killing that Cube!
The atmosphere of the whole game!

What Players disliked:

While dice rolls were played, some traps still felt arbitrary to some. I might also have taken an overly active role in placing the minis on the map when I triggered the Swarm trap.
Burning Daily powers because of a flubbed dice roll absolutely sucks.
The combat against the cube was somewhat static... especially with the 2 PCs stuck in it. I'll likely never use one again, it's done it's thing for us.

Credits: Goodman Games (Adventure), Harley Stroh (Adventure), Britt Martin and Clyde Caldwell (Art and maps)

TwittRPG

ChattyDM — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:50:45 +0000

(Work in progress, rules will change) I'm going to regret this, I can feel it! Sometimes an idea becomes so much bigger than it's original intent or just plain runs away out of control... Here's the context. TwitTRPG is an experiment I accepted to do on a whim on a random Wednesday night after someone asked me semi-seriously to create a Twitter (A microblog engine that limits post to 140 characters) game world to let characters play in. I set up a trial with 11 players and we played one scene. While it was far from perfect, it was fun and the concept holds sufficient promise to be explored more. Plus, I have it on pretty good authority that this had not been tried on Twitter before. What is TwittRPG? It's a Play by Tweets Storytelling Roleplaying game based on the features of Twitter. It's divided in scenes. The game structure goes like this:

The game has Two 'rounds' per day (See Below)
A scene with the DM posting a series of descriptive tweets and granting each player one action tweet.
Players can discuss the scene among themselves with no limits.
The action tweet covers a variable time frame depending on players.
Players send their Action Tweet to the DM before the appointed deadline of the next round of the next round.
The DM adjudicates the results of player actions, responds to some tweets and hands out bonus tweets to some players (Max one bonus Tweet per player).
Players can discuss among themselves.
Players with bonus action tweets send them before the appointed deadline of the day's last round.
DM describe results and concludes the scene or extends it to the next day's turn.
If scene is extended, DM summarizes event the next day and resets all players' action tweets

The game's schedule goes thus (All in EST): 8h00-9h00: New Scene or Summary of current extended one. 11h00: Deadline for action tweets Noon-13h00: DM Updates scene and adjudicates player action. Hands out bonus tweets if applicable 18h00: Deadline for all bonus Tweets 21h00: DM Adjudicates bonus tweets, Updates Scene and concludes day. Crunch: Success is DM-fiat based and is guided on cleverness of Tweets and subjective strength of tweet vs other party members' action. If a random event must be generated, a d20 will be rolled with the goal of rolling 10 or more. Possibility to get a +/- 2 bonus/penalty. Above and beyond using these mechanics, the Rule of Fun and Rule of Cool must prevail. DM must reward Clever use of the limits of a Tweet post (140 characters less the tag) and must focus on 'saying yes'. Fluff My current setting is a mix-match of all D&D editions and campaign settings (including the tropes behind them). It's also going to be quite a bit silly. Just because. Beta Game #rpg1 I'm going to hold a beta test game on Monday September 8th with the following players.

Coreworlder: A tall man, his clothing is nondescript but his short salt & pepper hair and numerous scars are testament to his experience
Shytrblmaker: Solidly built dwarf, with thick red hair and stubborn jut to her hairless jaw. Battleaxe and small herb pouch on her belt.
DictionaryBoy (Scarecrow):Dark haired Eladrin, smells of off meat, wobbly looking left leg badly stitched on, listing slightly, fixes you with a baleful stare. #trpg1
BrentNewhal: A slight, 19-year-old girl in a revealing outfit and a black cloak. She carries two long, worn knives and a flirtatious grin.
frdarvin: Male Psion with dark hair and Goatee.
Fang Langford:Wiry rogue Ajmir, old in bangs-covered mismatched eyes, 4th-hand hide-armour attired, is a heavy iron 7' pry-bar armed cat-burglar

Here are the twitter-specific instructions for game #rpg1:

Players need to follow me @ChattyDm
All posts about the game (in and out of character) must be tagged with #trpg1 before or after the tweet.
The non-playing followers can use tag #trpgfan to comment on the game.
Action tweets are written according to the following template:
- *Action*#trpg1 No need to put in @ChattyDM
Players and audience can follow game and audience by searching for #trpg1 and #trpgfan at search.twitter.com.
You can NOT use more than one Tweet for any action/description you send me. Extra tweets will be ignored.
Twitter is a hard media to master and its part of the challenge. No takebacks, no complaining on the channel.

Wish us luck! I wish to thank all players of the next phase as they have been the most helpful and enthusiastic fan of this very experimental project... If this works, I may try a similar model for Facebook. Opening scene of #trpg1 beta game:

#trpg1: Northshire. While resting at Lakeside Inn, bloodied horse barges in. As it rears in terror, its dead rider falls and drops scrol...
#trpg1… that reads: " Find the sword in Three for it must be set Free. For the paths to See, seek the Eddy"

Scene 1 Action Tweets:

BrentNewhall #trpg1 *Ellora puts out a hand to steady the horse, and inspects it. Is *t the rider's blood, she wonders? Is the horse otherwise special?*
DictionaryBoy #trpg1 *Cariel teleports in the direction of the lake to look for a whirlpool, leaving his left leg behind him*
ShyTrbleMaker #trpg1 *Furrowing her dwarven brow, Keldra marches towards the inn, intent on questioning the locals about the lake, the Eddy, and swords.*
fang_langford *Ajmir stoops to inspect the body, hands working quickly and professionally, finding all this rider's secrets, making them his own.* #trpg1
coreworlder *Kane pulls a scroll case from his pack, searches it and, finding a map of the region, looks for anything mentioned by the scroll* #trpg1
frdarvin: No Tweet submitted

Scene #1 update (I'm not posting intra player tweets, search for #trpg1):

#Trpg1: Horse normal, Blood from rider. No Whirlpool seen from Lake but numerous isles seen. Rider has a medallion with a spiral on it...
#Trpg1 At inn: legend of the sword was story about vanquishing primordial Demon King. There is an Eddie in town, village Idiot...
#Trpg1 At Inn and from map: There is an Eddy in lake among isle... Dangerous to fishermen
#Trpg1 On map: Tomb of King Edward, two days. As a group chose next course of action, 1 tweet for whole group.

Scene #1, Bonus Tweet Update

DictionaryBoy: *points outside and groans "laaaaake" before shuffling off to trudge the lakebed around the eddy near the islands in search of clues* #trpg1
coreworlder: #trpg1 *Asks the other travellers at the inn about the roads to our potential destinations and what might lie along them*
fang_langford: #trpg1 *Streetwise sly, I spend time with idiot Eddy, listening and pondering king, sword and troubled waters before meeting with the group*
ShyTrbleMaker: #trpg1 *I'll be about the village, asking folks of the legend of the sword. Mayhap there's a man of faith who knows more.*
frdarvin: #trpg1 *Asks around the village for more information about the whirlpool eddy.*
BrentNewhall: #trpg1 Ellora asks around the Inn about this village idiot Eddie, to see if anyone knows if he's connected to King Edward.

Final Update to Scene #1

#trpg1: Village Idiot been around for ever. He's ageless, distraught and bloodstained. Repeats nonstop that someone stole his Eddie...
#trpg1: On sword villagers say "'twas mighty weapon of Good ole King Ed, Demon King he chopped in pieces' Sword exploded, Relics now lost...
#trpg1: King Ed's Tomb in Deathfang Forest 2 days walk northeast by old road. Forest is inaptly named.... It needs a 's' after Deathfang...
#trpg1 Eladrin Zombie Shuffles off in lake. Comes back with Squid Stuck to Head. Groans something about Eddy leading to Sunken Temple!

Scene 2 Onward to the Sunken Temple!

#Trpg1 Our Stalwart band of heroes rent a fishing Dinghy and Make their way to the Isles. They see a whirlpool surrounded by sandbars...
#trpg1 ...You see more forested islands surrounding the sandbars. You hear the loud cries of giant predators surround you. 1 Tweet each.

Action Tweets for scene #2 Credits: Tangent128 (Image)

DictionaryBoy: No Action
coreworlder: No Action
fang_langford: #trpg1 *Holding the amulet before him, Ajmir wades slowing into the eddies of the churning whirlpool; ready with the lie, "I CAIN'T SWIM!"*
ShyTrbleMaker: #trpg1 *Removing a small spade from the pack on her back, Keldra searches the sandbars around the eddy.*
frdarvin: No Action
BrentNewhall:#trpg1 *Ellora rolls her eyes, grabs Ajmir, and holds him high enough to keep him from drowning (part of "helping with the amulet").*

I assume that all non tweeters have followed the group. Scene 2 Update:

#trpg1 Ellora and Ajmir wade around outskirts of Whirlpool, fiddling with medallion. Click is heard, it mechanically morphs into a hilt...
#trpg1 Waterphobic Dwarf practices archeology, Uncovers 3 Slabs of marble. "Eddy" circular symbols (medal. size) imprinted in bas-relief...
#trpg1 As heroes wade and dig, 10 Gargantuan tentacles burst out of water and surround the whole whirlpool area. Bonus tweet all!

Scene 2, Bonus Tweet update

fang_langford: #trpg1 *In a convincing act, Ajmir 'slips' and is swept under, hilt and all. Unseen, prybar bearing down on the dark maw, swims our rogue.*
frdarvin: #trpg1 *Mentally forms a disc of blue energy and hurtles it forth into another tentacle, severing it completely. The disc dissipates*
ShyTrbleMaker: #trpg1 *Quickly pulls axe from belt, and with a mighty chop, severs the closest tentacle. And then chases down another.*
BrentNewhall:#trpg1 (At medallion) "Yay!" (At tentacles) "Sh$%!" *Ellora slashes at a nearby tentacle and dives underwater to see what this beast may be*
DictionaryBoy:No Action
Coreworlder: No Action

Scene 2, Final Update

#trpg1 With 2 tentacles severed, remaining pulled back. Ajmir and Ellora grabbed by 2 each and are repeatedly smashed against rocks...
#trpg1 Both limp forms are thrown to nearest island and crash in the underbrush. Giant Squid retreats deeper to nurse wounds and ego...
#trpg1:Next scene tomorrow at 9h00 am EST. This concludes day 2 of TwittRPG beta game #1. Thanks for playing/following. Feedback welcome.

Scene 3 Fallen Friends

#trpg1: As you see your friends crash in the island, you ear several large carnivourous grunts of surprise and inquiry. Isle is 40' away...
#trpg1 With a sinking feeling you hope that Ajmir and Ellora didn't drop medallion-hilt. Both are conscious but beaten up. 1 Tweet each.

Scene 3 Action Tweet

BrentNewhall: *Ellora groans in pain, checks around for the amulet, then pulls both daggers and peers into the underbrush.* (Did we lose amulet?)
frdarvin: #trpg1 *Manifests inertial armor and rushes over to Ajmir and Ellora with his staff drawn to help fend off the predators.*
fang_langford: #trpg1 *Stumbling onto the beach, held up by his prybar, Ajmir has that wild-eyed, frightened look, his speed impaired by 'unseen' injury.*
coreworlder: #trpg1 *Hefts some still wriggling tentacle onto his shoulder and dashes through the shallow water before tossing it into the bushes*
TrbleMaker: #trpg1 *Keldra raises the clean axe and braves the water to aid Ajmir and Ellora, prepared to heal small injuries with herbs from her pouch*

(Awesome show of team spirit here, cue Nirvana song) Scene 3 Update: #trpg1: As friends converge, woozy heroes retrieve amulet. Dire Raptors encircle party of four who exhude smell of grim determination... #trpg1: Raptors hesitate for few moments, untill pile of juicy tentacles drops at their claws. Sashimi for all! Heroes Saved. End of Scene. Scene 3.5: A timely discovery! #trpg1 As you discuss the next step, you notice that both Ellora and Amjir are fingering a medallion! Ellora's is not Amjir's!... #trpg1 Second medalion is also bloostained and was found near fresh carcass of a gutted raptor. 1 tweet each. (Sorry for plot twist)! #trpg1 When activated, 2nd medalion forms the top half of the sword.... (other one forms hilt). (Fast forward to scene 4 as no significant tweets were necessary, all PCs assume to have restocked, sewn up and prepared to ride to King Ed's tomb) Scene 4: King Ed's Tomb of Horrors #trpg1: You spend 2 days traveling to King Edward's temple, daydreams of finding the 3rd medallion dancing in your mind's eyes... #trpg1 As you approach tomb, you notice devastation and death all around. Chapel and Tomb surrounded by undead!.. #trpg1: All are wearing familiar garment, that of the dead bloodied Horse Rider. A sinking feeling fills you as horde of Ghouls charge you. #trpg1: Your move players. ONE tweet each. (There's 3 ghouls to the PC) Scene 4 Action Tweets

BrentNewhall: #trpg1 *Ellora pulls out her long daggers and, with surprising agility and a few yells, slashes viciously at the nearest three zombies.*
frdarvin: #trpg1 *Focuses his mind to become more agile. Fending off 2 of the ghouls with his staff, he manifests a ray of hot energy toward a third*
fang_langford: #trpg1 *Behind the group's middle, Ajmir hefts his 6' iron prybar, revealing his hidden strength, readying for the first foe to touch him.*
DictionaryBoy:*Cariel readies a sword in one hand, and his rottting headsquid in the other, ready to engage the ghouls*
coreworlder: #trpg1 No Action (Fighting assumed)
TrbleMaker: #trpg1No Action (Fighting assumed)

Scene 4 Update:

#trpg1 A gruesome fight erupts! Pieces of flesh, undead and still living, fly up in an explosion of hatred for life and Steely resolve....

Scene 4 Dice rolls:

BrentNewhall: 1d20+2 = 6 Moderately wounded, 1 Ghoul killed.
frdarvin: 1d20+2 = 6 Moderately wounded, 1 ghoul killed.
fang_langford: 1d20+2 = 3 Dying, no ghoul killed.
DictionaryBoy: 1d20+2 = 18 Unwounded, Five Ghouls killed
coreworlder: 1d20 = 11 Unwounded, 2 ghouls killed
TrbleMaker: 1d20 = 3 = Severely Wounded, no ghoul killed
Ghouls: 9 ghould remaining

Game interrupted

After a long reflexion, I’ve decided to drop the TwittRPG experiment. While it is an idea filled with potential and is loads of fun, this is too work intrusive and interferes with my current, more promising projects.

I will return to it soon to conclude this page and offer tips to create a successful game and may revisit this as a 'special service' in my future endeavor.

tavern-brawler

ChattyDM — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:07:35 +0000

Drunken D&D: Funny Quotes

ChattyDM — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:12:20 +0000

I'm too exhausted to write a real post. But I have something funny to share it with you. At Gen Con, I played 2 sessions of Drunken D&D (designed by Dave the Game, DMed by yours truly) with my fellow bloggers friends. I wrote a 5 scene adventure for it and Graham created the PCs. We ended up playing only 2.5 scenes out of 5 because I put too many elite Brutes in Encounter one, we needed a lot more time to absorb the powers of 12th level characters and we actually roleplayed for about one hour in one scene. But these 2.5 scenes were among the funniest, most entertaining hours of D&D I have ever played. I will not post the adventure, as I can't be seen to encourage drinking in any form of social entertainment. However, all players were consenting adults, we had a designated driver and we played in the safety of an Hotel Room. So with no further ado, I give you: The DD&D quotes! (BTW: Tequilus was the name of the God of Spirits, Hangovers, Shame and Porcelain featured in our game)

Vanir: I answered the call of Ernie (Keebler), and all I got was this T-shirt.
Yax: I'll come over there and we can pound flesh together.
Yax: Oh, wow, I just found a new power under my sheets.
Dave: I have bloody Parkinson's, and I'll have you not to laugh.
Bartoneus: Let's attacks some bitches with some hoes.
Vanir: All my congratulations are in my stomach.
Bartoneus: Solar Wrath! - The golden ray of Tequilus bursts from me... or maybe I just had to pee. I mark them all!
Dante: "I may be topless at this point."
Dave: You would not believe how many ninjas have tried to put clothes on him.
ChattyDM says: If your tables become undead and if they are varnished, they will burn better.
Vanir: "Are you a wight supremacist?"
Yax to Vanir: "You have a very high sentence to 'WHAT?' ratio."
Dante: "Everything in life I learned from watching Yax"
Yax: "I want to behead him with my maul."
Chatty: "What's the armor class to hit puberty?"
Vanir: "We call that a critical mistress"

Next Year we'll do parts 2 and try to get Mike Mearls to play with us! Cheers! Credits: Dave Chalker (Game Design), Graham Poole (Character design, adventure co-design), Wizards of the Coast (Image)

kobold-quarterly

ChattyDM — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:55:49 +0000

Kobold Love: Intro, Background and Summary, Part 1

ChattyDM — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:01:17 +0000

I'm the type of person who needs to understand a process before tackling it head on. That's why this post is more about context and theory than actually writing Kobold Love's first part. Bear with me, it will be worth it. First Impressions are capital When a DM opens up a D&D adventure booklet, the Introduction, Adventure Background and Summary are the first things that will be read. While layout, art and gorgeous maps will entice a DM to read the adventure, that first section will, IMHO, make or break the adventure more than any other section. If you fail to hook the reader within the first paragraph, your adventure will be put away and may never be picked up again. This section is also the one that sets the tone for the whole adventure, it puts the adventure within the context of a story and gives the DM a rapid overview of what's going to happen in it. This makes writing this section a very crucial task that must be tackled with care and blow the reader's mind away by laying down what the adventure truly is about in the shortest number of words (yeah that's going to be a challenge for me). The evolution of the adventure's introduction I'm a DM that buys and peruses a lot of published adventures. Ever since the era of the original Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game, I've purchased numerous modules, and copies of Dungeon magazines. Throughout the years I've seen a shift in the way the first part of an adventure was written. In Gary Gygax's D&D era, published adventures had a few paragraphs of background in the likes of 'The local Duke requires you to investigate this cave or he'll jail you all" followed by a short context (A wizard is entombed here and no adventurer ever one came out alive) and sometimes a list of rumours. Sometime during the evolution of the Dungeon magazine format, the 1st section was divided into the 4 parts that are now common practice in the industry which more or less follow these conventions : The adventure's Elevator Pitch, followed with the nuts and bolts of the adventure like what level it was designed for and for how many characters. If the Adventure was published in Dungeon Magazine, it also mentioned if the adventure was setting neutral or specific (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realm, Ebneron, etc). This is usually one or two paragraphs. The Adventure Background: The backstory of the adventure. It covers the emplacement of the action, the main protagonists, the villain, his plan and the events that lead to the quest/events that will drive the adventure. This takes a few paragraphs and usually fits in a few hundred words, depending on how 'fluffy' the adventure is. The Adventure Summary: One or two paragraph description of what the players will go through during the adventure. Adventure Hooks: Some adventures provide Hooks, a series of short quests (usually 3 or more) and or motivations to get the PCs involved in the adventure. In D&D 4e, such hooks are often major and minor quests with appropriate XP rewards. Fluffy vs Old School introductions From my point of view there currently is 2 schools of thoughts on adventure background design. One, espoused by Paizo Publishing and Dungeon Magazine was to have detailed, rich back stories that involve several organizations and emplacements. Adventure path adventures like Paizo's Pathfinder and Wizards of the Coast Scales of War are good examples of this. The other, represented by Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics and Master Dungeon series is much lighter on context and backstory. They provide a quest and/or a villain, a few hooks and that's often it. Each type responds to different play styles and needs. Where are you going with this lecture Phil? It's quite simple, I have to chose what 'school' of adventure Kobold Love's intro will espouse. KL-1(like good old time modules) will be written to stand on it's own as a one shot, one evening adventure (if the DM does not expand it). Furthermore, as all 3rd party D&D 4e adventures, it will be need to be easy to adapt to all settings (including the Point of Lights non-setting) as well as all home brewed world. Furthermore, it's a limited scope adventure as I need to keep it rather short so I don't spend 6 months on it. So I'm going to write it closer to the old school way. It will feature limited fluff with lot's of narrative hooks and grey zones to let imaginative DMs some leeway. At the same time, I'll write enough to let a DM use it as a pick up game and still immerse player in the (half) kobolds' experience. Up next, Phil actually writes the adventure's intro. Credit: Wolfgang Baur's Kobold Quarterly you should subscribe! (Image art by Darren Calvert)

Chatty's Monthly Tips : Intro to Tropes

ChattyDM — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:25:18 +0000

I have a monthly column on Johnn Four's Roleplaying tips newsletter. This month, I adapted the material I wrote in our Gen Con 2008 GM-FU seminar to introduce his readers to the concept of tropes. Long time readers will notice that its a re-edition of some of my earlier posts. I'm re-posting it here because I have been asked a few times by recent readers to define tropes and how they apply to RPGs, plus I'd like to allow comments on the article. Do subscribe to Johnn's Newsletter, it's by far the best free RPG newsletter I've found on the net so far. Enjoy!

Understanding, Using And Subverting Tropes In RPGs

Roleplaying adventures are a form of narrative entertainment. As such, they share common elements with movies and TV shows, as well as graphic and classic novels. Some elements are obvious, like characters, background, plots, and action scenes. There is also a lesser-known type of element common to these forms of stories. These are tropes, and learning to use them (or subvert them) can make writing an otherwise-ordinary adventure stand out and become a very satisfying experience.

What is a Trope?

A trope is a narrative "figure of speech," shorthand for some concept the audience will recognize and understand instantly. Above all, a trope is a convention. It can be a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom. It's like leadership (or porn): hard to define yet you know it when you see it. There are a lot of tropes out there, many of which you probably already know about without knowing about it. For example, in a fantasy story, there often is a Dark Lord (trope) amassing an army of Evil Monsters (trope) to take over the world (again). There's also often a clueless 'chosen one' (trope) surrounded by a band of Heroes (trope) who end up defeating the Dark Lord.

What's a Cliche?

A cliche is an overused trope that ends up becoming intrusive or too obvious. It distracts the audience rather than serving as shorthand. When the audience groans, the trope has become a cliche. Examples of cliches in fiction:

"Nooooooooooooooo!"
The evil laugh
Fruit carts and panes of glass in chase scenes
"Luke, I am your father."
The ethnic comic relief
"It's quiet...too quiet."

Tropes in RPGs

Tropes work just as well (if not better) in RPGs, because the audience controls the main protagonists. Since tropes are shortcuts, this can allow a GM to elicit a reaction from players while spending limited effort. Cliches also have their use in RPGs; they aren't inherently bad. They can be a useful tool for introducing new players to the game, as they bring familiar territory into an otherwise unfamiliar game, facilitating participation. All adventures (published or homemade) already use tropes liberally because writers steal/borrow ideas all the time, consciously or not. It's the careful and conscious choosing of tropes to elicit an emotional response from players that add value to your adventure.

The Two Fundamental Rules of RPGs

The Rule of Fun: Games must be fun to play. Sure, we like pretty graphics and a good plot, but the fun's the main thing. If they're fun, a lot of incongruities can be forgiven. Go ahead, try to explain why the yellow circle loves dots and why the ghosts are out to get him, or why the frog needs to get across the road. You can't. Doesn't matter. Just replace "pretty graphics" by "cool mechanics" and the definition applies perfectly to tabletop RPGs A lot of shortcuts are made in the mechanics and premises of an RPG to make it fun. The Rule of Fun should also be applied by GMs to everything in the game, from choice of game to character generation, the color of dice, the miniatures players choose, the adventure used, etc. With regards to adventure preparation, I suggest you apply the Rule of Fun whenever you think of adding a challenge (a fight, a trap, or a skill roll) by asking yourself, "Will playing this out be fun?" If the answer is no or "probably not, but it's logical" you need to rethink your design choice. Rolling a climb check to climb a tree to see the advancing enemy troops 50 miles away is not all that fun. Climbing it to avoid a horde of berserking goblins has a better chance of hitting the fun mark Try to apply the Rule of Fun to any instance of travel, investigations, or NPC interactions. It will make a game session better. (Hint: random encounters, unless everyone wants them, are not usually fun.) The Rule of Cool: The limit of the Willing Suspension Of Disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to its degree of coolness. Stated another way, all but the most pedantic of viewers will forgive liberties with reality so long as the result is wicked sweet and/or awesome. This applies to the audience in general, as there will naturally be a different threshold for each individual in the group. To transpose to RPG terms: your players will put up with almost any illogical or wobbly plot devices or encounters as long as things get cool enough for them. A GM's efforts should be not so much on far-reaching world building and tight, nitpicking-proof plot lines. They should go all out for encounters and roleplaying that will swamp players in coolness. For example, think about combat on ice bridges, negotiating the release of prisoners in a flooding underground prison, or hopping from floating islands to pieces of flying ruins to catch the thieves of the Star Jewel of Radnia.

Adapting Tropes to RPGs

With the Rules of Fun and Cool in mind, the idea in creating adventures or campaigns is not to copy a whole movie or novel in game form. The trick is to extract the tropes you found cool and engaging and import them into your game. Since tropes are easily recognized, players will pick up on them and start building expectations. A useful technique then is subverting the trope by having it go in the opposite direction of what players expect. If you mix and match straight and subverted tropes, you will be able to elicit stronger reactions from player which will lead to more satisfactory involvement in the adventure. For example, if you want to recreate some of the feeling of the Star Wars movies in your games, you can deconstruct the series in the tropes you liked best (this is my personal list):

Dark Tower (Death Star)
Power Glows: Lightsabers
Mystic Ninja: Jedi
Badass Villain: Darths
Face Heel Turn: Darth Vader
Empire vs. Rebels
The Chosen One: Anakin/Luke
Kung Fu geezer: Yoda
I am your father: Cliche!

The idea is to borrow a few tropes and build an adventure around them. You could build a world where an Evil Empire threatens a small coalition of planets/states (rebel equivalent). Players are young Spiritual Knights (Jedis) in a monastery, being trained by an irascible old Crone (Subverted Geezer) who looks to be a few hours shy of croaking. The Empire has an order of evil Hell-knights (Subverted Jedi) powered by pure hatred and led by an ancient pupil of the Crone (Badass Villain). They trash the monastery and kidnap the crone. The party finds a prophecy that talks of the Five Nascent Stars (The Chosen Ones) chasing away the darkness and guess that it's them. They track the Hell-knights back to their "Invincible" Citadel of Woe (Dark Tower). They infiltrate it and battle through mooks and a few Hell-knights. As they enter the cell compound, they come face to face with Granny Sensei kicking Hell-knight butt saying, "What took you so long?" Then the Badass appears, gets a tongue lashing by the Crone; he goes mad and says, "shut up mom" (Subverted "I am your father") and the final fight starts. Near death, the Badass implores his mother and she turns against the PCs (Subverted Heel Face turn). It's as simple as that.

References

The Tropes Wiki - Contains description on thousands of tropes covering all forms of narratives, including RPGs and video games:
Chatty DM's "Mining Tropes for RPG nuggets" series

Chatty's Twitter RPG (TwittRPG): Beta Test

ChattyDM — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:36:58 +0000

After one of my Twitter followers asked me innocently if I could create a Twitter Game World for them to play in, my brain literally exploded with possibilities... For those who don't know what Twitter is, it's mostly a micro-blogging platform where users can post little texts of no more than 140 characters long. It comes with the possibility of following the musings of other twitters or to search it. It's used by many for Spams, Updates of Blog posts and the occasional Twitter Poop alerts. Thing is... Twitter is slower than Chat but faster than email. That and the 140 characters limit to post makes it a very interesting candidate for a mini-RPG. I played with it for one day and 11 guinea pigs and I refined the concept based on participant's feedback. I'm currently running a Beta game with 6 players and you can see the rules and follow the highlights here. It's a lot of fun so far for a very limited time investment (for the DM). I was told on good authority that I might be the first one to attempt something like this. I feel this might become very big! Feel free to look my rules over and provide feedback. I'd like to thank the following people for providing the idea's spark, their support and help:

David Dorward (For starting the ball)
Stacy Lang (For asking me to do a Twitter RPG)
Tom Murphy (For jumping on Stacy's Idea and bringing my attention to it)
Darvin TrueShot (For constant support)
Fang LangFord (For useful feedback and superb twitter search skills)
Brent Newhall (For technical support and overall enthusiasm)
Greywulf (For support and for being nearby if I ever stumble over my nascent improv skills)

Additional Credits: Tangent128 (Image)

twittrpg2a

ChattyDM — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:13:59 +0000

Epic Laundry Basket: Buried. Happy, but buried.

ChattyDM — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Projects are exploding. I'm solicited from multiple sides. My sideline "job" as a RPG writer is promising. All good! I'm writing the next Kobold Love post slowly and carefully so that I give you a good 1st draft. I hope to post it this week. Still good. TwittRPG is a success, but I won't keep it up for long, unless I start charging for it. I have to focus on pushing my work from the freely available column to the pay for Gen Con one. Less good. I can't read blogs or link to all the cool stuff I see anymore. Not good. I've also slowed my posting schedule (instead of saying I would) so I can work on other project than the blog. Thanks for understanding, it will be worth it. 133 words.

draconis-logo-2008

ChattyDM — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:09:48 +0000

half-kobold

ChattyDM — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:00:36 +0000

Kobold Love: Intro, Background and Summary, Part 2

ChattyDM — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:40:50 +0000

Part 1 is here. Introduction. For nearly 40 years, adventurers have been investigating dungeons, killing their inhabitants and making off with their possessions. To this day, for many, this remains a respectable life. Others found that it got old and moved on to other forms of adventuring. But what about the dungeon denizens? Some would argue that it doesn't matter since none of them live long enough to get old. However, what if a band of monsters, coming from the lowest rung of the dungeon pecking order, survived long enough to do something about it? Kobold Love (placeholder name) is a D&D 4e compatible Reverse-Dungeon type adventure (i.e. Monsters as PCs) for five level 5 characters. While it was written for pre-generated characters, it can be adapted to various other PC races found in the appendix of the Core 4e Monster Manual. As written, this short adventure should take about 4-5 hours to play. Chatty's notes: This takes about 150 words, and showcases my 'style'. By this I mean that I blur the lines between player and adventurers as well as poke gentle fun at playing styles. I then dive right into a super compact Elevator Pitch and conclude with the adventure's nuts and blots. Adventure Background Near the human settlement of Hope's Point, the forests of Heartfang Hills hide a series of caves. The network of caverns has held many names. The Caves of Doom, the Dungeon of Countless Teeth, and the Caverns of Sorrow are some of the more colorful ones. However, the multiple factions of its monstrous denizens have always had but one name for it: "Home." More than thirty years ago, the caves began to be visited by a new breed of surface-dwellers. Called "adventurers", these foolhardy treasure-seekers entered the caves wielding weapons, lugging carts, and exploring with long poles. They all hoped to strike it rich by ransacking the deeper levels. Most perished at the hands (and claws) of wandering bands of the dungeon's inhabitants. Others descended into well-placed secret stairways, never to be seen again. Still, every so often, a band of crafty men and demi-humans would be blessed by the gods and survive long enough to recover riches, leaving dead bodies and warring factions behind them. About 20 years ago, adventurers became bolder, if not more competent. At the same time new dark creatures with sinister plans and complex hidden agendas established lairs in the caves. The death rate soared on both sides and bards sang epic dirges of heroic victories and tragic demises. A decade ago, a bunch of horrendous half-kobold infants were found in one of the empty caves of the underground complex. No one knew where they came from or by what unholy process such half-breeds were created. Shunned by all, they tried to live off fungi and rodents. Many died but a handful grew sronger, learning the secrets of cunning and underground survival the hard way. They were eventually taken under the wing of Grak-th'ah, an ancient and much respected female Kobold Seer. As they grew up, they became the Oracle's heralds and protectors. A few years later, something happened that disrupted the equilibrium of the cave complex. Adventurers of all sorts started coming in droves, killing and looting with hardly any casualties on their part. The caves' inhabitants were systematically slain, dispersed or captured. The young misshapen kobolds half-breeds and the oracle managed to survive through each foray by sheer luck and near-prescient strategic retreats in the deeper caves. This continued for several years. However, a few days ago, Grak-th'ah had a powerful vision. A new age had been heralded where champions of the darkness would rise up and stop the killing cycle once and for all. Like flames to dry leaves, the prophecy spread rapidly over the underground complex. Unfortunately, who the champions were and how the prophecy was to be achieved was met with violent opposition by many of the dungeon's more conservative factions... Chatty's Notes: I could not resist making the whole adventure's background into a tribute to D&D's various editions (as that's part of what the project is about to me). I think it works out rather well. Adventure Summary A band of young half-kobold champions are charged to seek out and kill a quest-giving stranger residing in Hope Point's tavern. They must first battle and negotiate with some of the dungeon's denizens who are opposed to the PC's quest. On the way to the town, the PCs may get tangled up with the latest group of adventurers going to their dungeon. They must then find a way to sneak into the city without arousing suspicion. Once at the tavern, they get to face the stranger and many of the region's "heroes". They might find that they got more than they bargained for at the end of their prophetic quest. Chatty's Note: So that's the whole adventure's plan with some form of foreshadowing for the ending. Given the adventure's plot twist at the very end, I'm going to add a new section to the Introduction: Note to the DM: Much of Kobold Love's story revolves around the fact that the tavern's quest giver is actually the Half-kobolds' creator (See Scene 5, page XX) who sent his 'kids' to the dungeon 10 years ago as a test of the strength of his new creations. He since lost track of them shortly after they were taken under the wing of the old Oracle, who also happens to be the PC's 'mother. Since then he's been sending adventurers to try to contact them and find his 'children". The adventure will have 2 possible endings. The more classic one, where the stranger ends up being some sort of mad Wizard trying to recover his greatest creations. However, fearless DMs are invited to go for the alternate ending where the PCs might kill their true father who only wanted to return to his children's side. Chatty's Notes: There we are, no more secrets, the plot is revealed up front and the potential DM has the rest of the adventure to decide what to do. When I publish this adventure, I will likely add a 'Sidebar' or 'boxed text' part where I indicate how to adapt the adventure's plot for other types of PCs or different numbers of players. Up next: Scene 1 where I must create a very hard, multi-faction encounter, choose/create a Battlemap for it and write a skill challenge to allow PCs to negociate while fighting to even the battle's odds in thier favour. As always, your feedback is appreciated. Credits: Robin Stacey AKA Greywulf (Image)

Gaming at the Speed of Nostalgia

ChattyDM — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:45:21 +0000

Wil Wheaton is probably about my age (35) because when I read his recent post about going through his gaming library, I couldn't help thinking that we loved the same freaking games! (I checked, he's 36). As I read his stuff online, I see he'd have made a great gaming buddy. We could have ribbed him with his Star Trek McJob while we worked in grocery stores and University labs to help pay our college tuition. When I go through my collection, I see the following (from oldest to earliest): AD&D Dungeon Master Guide and Monster Manual Not originally mine but stand ins for the books that I use to have. I won't play that game again, but it has sentimental value. If someone wants to give me a PHB to complete my core book collection, I'm taking donation. Car Wars I have a bankers box full of Car Wars stuff. Arena maps, City Maps, 3 editions of rulebooks and compendium. Man I LOVED this game... It's such a pity it aged so badly. I've been told by several industry type that reviving this game and adapting it to modern mechanics is not worth it. Come one Steve Jackson, at least give me an Autoduelling Munckin Game! Gurps: I bought, sold and re-bought my entire Gurps collection. Until my wife said I could no longer sell books that 'I'd never play again'. From Compendium, Magic, Grimoire, Undead, Wizards, Vehicles, Supers and several less playable books, I have been a rabid Gurps fan throughout the late 80's and all the 90's. D&D 3.x The number of 3.x D&D books I bought is freaking indecent. I gave a ton of them away and I still have a Banker's box full. I also have battle boxes, Piles of Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, 2 Full Pathfinder Adventure Paths, scads of adventure (including a heavily penciled-in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil) and more dice than a Vegas Casino. D&D 4e: 3 Core Books, DM'S screen, the H1 and H2 adventures as well as Goodman Games' Dragora's Dungeon. I'm waiting for Adventurer's Vault like all the loyal 4e fans and I'll probably spend a fortune on 4e. That will teach me to go to college and marry another Urban professional. Gen Con buys Mutant and Masterminds. I'm reading it and so far I like it a lot. Nostalgia induced gaming Would I play any of the games I bought before D&D 4e? No. Mostly because I'm not the nostalgic type anymore, but I do understand the feeling. Looking over my collection, I can recall the feeling of discovery and thrill that I felt when playing each game. I also understand why many adult gaming groups try to reconnect with that feeling, thinking that older games were better. Chances are, they weren't, you just enjoyed them more because you were at a different point in your life. You were less jaded, had less issues to worry about, had way more free time and were easier to impress. I'm not nostalgic anymore because I'm once again having the time of my life with RPGs. Much like 20 years ago, I'm making new friends because of these games and I am eagerly awaiting my next game session whenever I'm not playing. I recently made peace with myself and the games I play. I stopped taking things so damn seriously and I accepted that my bi-monthly D&D game is nothing more than Poker Night with friends or Golf (at least it sure costs about the same). Oddly enough, I never had so much fun doing it since. I'm starting to believe that the system I currently play has little to do with the feeling, although the newness helped start fresh on virgin grounds. Nostalgia is not always your friend, it's actually one of those inner demons I keep talking about, holding you back, making you feel disappointed or unsatisfied. It's particularly insidious because nostalgia is made up of emotional memories. Those are the worse to get rid of and deal with rationally. Geek Nostalgia Aside: "The original Star Wars trilogy was JUST better dammit!!!" Well, while they were original, they weren't all that good (acting sucked and Lucas' insanity shows in places). We were just kids then and the movies left a deep emotional mark in our psyche! My 6 year old prefers the prequels and I also kinda like them when I see them with the eyes of my inner kid.... well except Phantom, I'm still a geek! You should therefore seek to understand the internal motivations that made you feel that good about an older game/older gaming group and try to achieve it again in the now. Its not the games that you played, it was the state of mind you were in. I'm just sayin' =) What about you? What gaming stuff do you still cling to and what do you long to re-connect to in your RPG experience. Have a great weekend.

draconis-logo-20081

ChattyDM — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:19:15 +0000

The Life of a Suburban Overlord

ChattyDM — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:12:27 +0000

Update: I went ahead and created a website for the webcomic. You can find it here. I will update it M-W-F until I grow tired of it or something... My friend Pierre bought himself a iPhone 3G, installed a Comic Book app on it and started posting possibly the first Twitter Webcomic. (He's going to hate me for doing this without telling him). Have a look, he's got talent with comedy. While reading his one-panel photocomics, I got bit by the bug again. I had made 7 comics based on my D&D minis earlier this year and stopped because of the workload. I loved doing them, but they take longer to make than a 1000 word post!. However, this new idea of mine is a lot less work intensive. I installed my license of Comic Book Creator 2 on my laptop and uploaded a few hundred family pictures and I started doing one-panel comics based on an idea I had last year on the forums, it basically goes like this: What if I was an Evil Overlord living my current suburban life? What if I was a bit like pre- Evil league of Evil Dr. Horrible, some sort of misunderstood genius bordering on the pathethic? Now add an Angelic Geeky wife that suspects nothing, a Clone/Zombie/Vampire/Robot son and a cute little daughter with the true soul of an Overlord? Basically, what if I made a one panel comic series based on the tropes of American family shows and bad Comic Book villains? I started posting them over here. I'll post the first ones (the cast of characters) over the next week and then I'll update them a few times a week. I make no prevision, humour is a fickle medium. Oh and I may work in the D&D minis back in at a certain point... Expect to see a certain Horny Slaad to make an appearance. Why am I starting YET another project while I'm already drowning in them? I'm not sure... my creativity is running rampant right now and I know I'll need to refocus soon. In the mean time, I'm having fun and that's all that really matters. Hopefully others will share in it.

Kobold Love: Interlude 3, Changing gears

ChattyDM — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:31:43 +0000

Yeah, at the rate I'm going Kobold Love will be finished by the time Wizards of the Coast publishes 5th edition. More seriously, I have already committed to run play tests of KL at Draconis (Montreal's gaming Con) in 3 weeks from now. I have to move a bit faster, without killing myself. So I decided that while I will stick to the 1-2 posts a week schedule, I'm not going to go for the refined product right now. I will share with you all the bare bones of each scenes (Monsters, Traps concepts , ideas of Battlemap features, Skill challenges, etc) so that you get enough to know where I'm going and can work on your adaptation. I will leave the refinement (and the use of reader feedback) to create the finished product after the Con possibly with some 'refining' posts if there's still interest for it. I already designed the core of scene one. I'll post this up tonight. I also dropped TwittRPG and other time intensive projects (like playing World of Warcraft!) so I could focus on this (and my other recent craze). See you tonight!

ravnica

ChattyDM — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:01:34 +0000

Random Thoughts Table: Magic NPCs!

ChattyDM — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:02:57 +0000

So yeah, as I was chugging along Kobold Love's 1st scene, I hit a snag with the skill challenge and I needed help 'debugging it'. Graham ran to the rescue but when we were done, I had 1/2 a post and very little time left for sleep. So I thought I'd share a pair of cool things with you while I spend a bit more time working on my main post. One-Sentence NPCs Some time ago, I ran a contest with Johnn Four, asking readers to submit NPC descriptions that fit in one sentence. I just wanted to share with you that all entries 700 entries were collected and edited in one PDF that you can find here. That's a very handy document to have near your GM notes. It takes some time to load as it's a 44 page PDF. Also, Johnn created a random selector, you can find it here. That was a fun contest. I'm working at a new, much bigger one for later this year, stay tuned. When D&D meets Magic: the Gathering. As many know, my friend Asmor has been churning the best fan created D&D 4e tools since the game launched and I use them often. What people might not know is that he's also been writing about stealing elements of popular non-D&D fantasy franchises and adapting them to the latest edition of D&D. My favorite by far is his series about Magic: the Gathering. So far he adapted the game's infamous Slivers, Monsters that feature one key ability/power each but that take up the power/abilities of all other types of slivers nearby. However, what really blew my mind was his adaptation of parts of the very popular Ravnica setting. Ravnica was a 3-set expansion that transported the players on a world entirely made up of one city. In that city, 10 guilds, each representing a pair of Magic's 5 colors, struggled against each other and a Guildpact that prevented all out war between them. This setting screams D&D, and Asmor pulled it off quite nicely by adapting one character, monster or magic item from each guild to get enterprising DM started. All right, I'm back to the grind of work and Kobold Love. I'll see you all later! Credits: Stephen Martiniere/Wizards of the Coast (Image)

map-mushroom-cavern

ChattyDM — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:16:29 +0000

kobold_monk

ChattyDM — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:03:29 +0000

Kobold Love: Dungeon Diplomacy! Part 1

ChattyDM — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:03:58 +0000

Ready to dive into the adventure? As posted in the adventure plan, Scene 1 is about the PCs getting a prophecy and facing opposition against ultra conservative elements of the dungeon before venturing forth on the surface world. When the adventure will be published in its final form, there will be a few paragraph that link the introduction of the adventure with the scenes. That's the part where the DM is instructed to paraphrase some parts of the Adventure's background to PCs and explain the setup. For the purpose of this post, we assume that players know the adventure's background and are handed out the Prophecy, which goes like this: The Prophecy (1st draft) From the darkest solitude rose the Outcasts//Shunned by all, through cycles of starvation and death they thrived//Of the Voice they became the shield and through bravery, achieved acceptance. Heralds of a new age for the Underworld they be//As champions of blades and silver tongue, in the eyes of hostile peers they must arise. Once peace of purpose met, the world of light they shall enter//To where false Hope dares pierce the night, in the home of Fallen Heroes, fate awaits. Where walls collide waits the Surface Scourge// It, the Champions must stop, its cycle of death broken, its spirit laid to rest. Only then will peace for dark hearths be found. (The spelling of Hearths is intentional) Prophecy Q&A Once the prophecy has been read. Players are free to discuss it and ask questions to the old Kobold Oracle. She should answer questions truthfully, if a bit roughly, about the most likely interpretations (skill rolls are unnecessary). Here are some likely questions: Who are the outcasts/new champions? Must I really spell it out? Look in that reflecting pool for a minute. Try not to fall in it and drown. And who's the Voice? (Oracle slaps PC behind the head) That would be me. What's this about hostile peers? Some of our neighbors are violently opposed to the idea of letting some lowly, ugly kobolds such as you go Outside and stir up more trouble. Silly gits, they'd rather die trying to repel invaders than taking the fight to them. What kind of opposition are we talking about here? Orcs, gnolls and other factions of the upper levels have threatened to seek out and exterminate all goblins and kobolds from the caves unless you face them and prove the worthiness of your cause. Knowing what passes as diplomacy here, that usually means you fighting them. What if we run away? (Oracle grabs questioner by ear) I'd much rather live thank you very much you ingrate! You will have to face up to the prophecy or we will all die, you included. (Feel free to have PCs who run away say that this would conclude the adventure but they would now be wandering monsters in a random table somewhere) If we have to face the other factions, do we have allies? The Kobold and Goblins are on our side, and their support will likely prevent factions-wide conflicts. But no one will want to face the more powerful champions likely to seek you out... Unless they are convinced of your worth. What about this thing about false Hope and Fallen Heroes? There's a human city called Hope's Point two days away from here. Chances are, the Fallen Hero is a reference to a place over there and the 'stranger' should be near it. This Prophecy is either pure gibberish or a thinly disguised reason to get rid of us! You are wise beyond your years young 'un... Maybe you can be seer after the adventurers come back and kill me! Feel free to improvise around those themes. Just do not reveal anything about the identity of the Stranger, regardless of the finale you chose (Father, Creator, Avatar of Kobold god...) his identity is a key final plot twist. Setting up the stage During the discussions in the Oracle's Cave, scores of Kobolds and Goblins enter the cave excitedly and run off in the numerous hidden foxholes and small-sized serpentine caves crisscrossing the main cave. If questioned, the terrified humanoids will mention that the faction champions are coming this way to see the oracle and her 'puny guards'. If pressed for information (Intimidate/Diplomacy skill roll) the following will be revealed: DC 13: The Orcs sent an Eye of Gruumsh with a band of Orc warriors DC 15: The above and The Ogres sent one of their feared Wyrmling hunters. DC 17: The above and The Vampire Lords sent a heavily armoured Wight! DC 19: The above and the Gnoll faction sent in one of their Rangers. DC 21: All the above and "The Gnoll Ranger is none other than the legendary Gnoll Chieftain named Grak Mankiller!" The Oracle absolutely refuses to leave for safety unless PCs pledge to remain and face the coming champions, she will retreat from the battle areas and faction champions won't try to harm her. Preparing for the opposition Being part-kobolds, PCs who ask to set up defenses are given a special Encounter Power that abstractly represents the various traps set all over the cave that can be used against the coming hostile forces: Kobold Trap Using the ancestral knowledge of kobold trapsmiths, you trigger a fiendish trap on your unwary foe (Player should describe effect) Encounter, Standard Action Chose one of:

Damage, Single target
- Variable damage source (Chose one of: Untyped, Acid, Fire)
- Range 10
- Target: One creature
- Dex or Int +4 vs Ref
- Hit: 3d8+4 of chosen damage type

Damage, Multiple Target
- Variable damage source (Chose one of: Untyped, Acid, Fire)
- Area Burst (3) within 10 squares
- Dex or Int +4 vs Ref
- Hit: 1d10+4 of chosen damage type

Restraining, Single Target
- Variable damage source (Chose one of: Untyped, Cold, Poison)
- Target: One creature
- Dex or Int +4 vs AC
- Hit: 2d8+4 of chosen damage type and Secondary Attack on same target vs Fort.
  - Secondary attack Hit: Target Immobilized (Save Ends)

Designer Note: I thought this would be a clever and easy mechanic to allow players to have a taste of koboldy trapmaking without bogging down the game table with designing actual traps and risking Planning paralysis. (The expanded features of the adventure could offer the option of placing actual traps). Plus, this should make storytelling players happy to invent crazy-wild trap description. The Battlemap Being no artist, I would be tempted to use one of the commercially available maps that depict a cave. The following from Wizards of the Coast are perfect:

Mushroom Cave (Hellspike Prison)
Drow Outpost (Dragon magazine)
Underground Grotto (Gargantuan Black Dragon)
Dwarven Outpost (4e D&D mini Starter Set)
Flooded Ruins (4e D&D starter set)

My personal choice is the Mushroom Cave and that's the one I would use in playtest. Should you draw your own, I suggest that you do the following:

Make the battle area LARGE! Between 15X20 to 20X30 squares.
Add Plenty of Cover and Difficult terrain
Add terrain features like climbable ledges (DC around 17) and such

Up next, The actual monsters and the embedded Skill challenge to whip the onlooking cowardly Kobolds and Goblins into helping the PCs in the fight against overwhelming enemies. Credits: Steven Helt (Sparked idea of Trap Powers from Ascension of the Drow), Wizards of the Coast (Image)

Chatty's Question: Reactions to your RPG hobby?

ChattyDM — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:37:06 +0000

1985: I'm in 6th grade and the phone rings at home. My mom picks up and another stay-at-home mom says that she heard her son talk about this new D&D game I'm playing. She warns my mother that kids who play that game have committed suicide. My mother answers that she trusts my judgment and will talk to me about it. Upon my return my mother tells me the story and requests that I keep up my excellent mark to be allowed to keep playing the game. I complied and she typed my 1st adventure Module I wrote!. 1988: my first girlfriend, without ever telling me, sends a letter to an teen magazine about her D&D playing boyfriend. She shares her reservations/worries about such a dorky hobby. I learn about it from other D&D dorks reading that magazine. 1990: We're playing AD&D over at Math's place. Her godmother comes in and sees the dice, paper and pencils all over our table and says: "You boys are doing homework on a Saturday? You are such keeners" We agree with her, since we had already learned that explaining RPGs to adults is just not worth it. 1999: we're gearing up for our game and my friend JeeEff's girlfriend drops him off and she says, a bit sarcastically "Have fun playing with your toy cars and soldiers". Gamer-friendly, she was not. Early 2000s: My wife throws her Magic: the Gathering cards in disgust and complains (quite accurately) that the new 6th edition rules are just about screwing with the turn structure to do dirty tricks. She quits tabletop gaming (except for an occasional game of Munchkin or Settler of Catan) but remains a gamer friendly wife (bless her!) 2008: My colleagues discover that I'm a successful blogger and can't suppress a small teenager-like snicker when I tell them I play and write about Dungeons and Dragons. They are still impressed that I got to meet the game's designers and play with them. What about you? How was your RPG hobby accepted in your household? How do people in your family, friends and coworkers react when they get a glimpse of that part of your life? How gamer-friendly are they? I'm curious, please share!

Kobold Love: Interlude 4: Kicking the Little Buggers Out!

ChattyDM — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:26:03 +0000

No I'm not quitting Kobold Love. However, seeing that there is recurring confusion about what the project is about, what I expect of people hacking the adventure, my publication plans and so forth, I think a fresh start is in order. Add to the fact that I'm finding that the project is robbing the blog of what I want it to be about: a place to discuss RPGs and geekiness and not a platform to market my nascent RPG design skills. Kobold Love was always planned to be learning exercise for me from the start, so I apologize profusely for the confusion and wishy-washy/scope-changing vibe it might gives some of you. After discussing it with my closest advisers, I decided that the kobolds needed to get a place of their own so they could stop making a mess of this blog :) I therefore accelerated something I was slow to move on and I officially opened up ChattyStudios. I'll move all Kobold Love posts over there in the next few days and I will relaunch the project with new clarified goals, expectations and estimated timelines. That also implies that I will set the new website's themem the About page and other important details later . For now, consider it 'under construction', I really want to recapture the initial reaction and community feeling that I got from it all when I launched this a few weeks ago, and I will make sure it does. Stay Tuned, this blog now returns to its original programming. I missed it.

switzerland

ChattyDM — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:50:15 +0000

Chatty's World Tour 2008: Zurich, Basel and Penzberg

ChattyDM — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:52:46 +0000

A few weeks ago, I made a joke about feeling like a Rock Star right after Gen Con. It was a quaint joke and I ran with it here and on Twitter for some time. Pretending to be a Rock Star is probably no worse than an evil Overlord. Well, here's an occasion to to play with it some more. Next month, from October 22 to 25, I will be in Switzerland for my Real Job®. I will be meeting with Alex at the Zurich Central train station at 18h00 on the 22nd for a drink/dinner. I'd love to meet any other Zurich based readers, if there are any. I will be also in Basel on the 23rd and possibly in Penzberg, Germany on the 24th. Since airfares are a usually lot cheaper when we stay over a Saturday, I could be somewhere between Munich and Zurich on Saturday and fly back on Sunday. So if anyone in theses cities want to hook up, have a drink and or a meal, or even better, a game on that Saturday night, let me know in the comments or by email at chattydm@chattydm.net. Rock on!

dragoras-imp

ChattyDM — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:30:03 +0000

thumbnail

ChattyDM — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:33:48 +0000

dragoras-temple

ChattyDM — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:35:57 +0000

DM Chronicles: Session 2, Indiana Gnomes and the Technicolor Snake, Part 1

ChattyDM — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:28:07 +0000

Previously in Chatty's game (Part 1 and Part 2): A group of young adventurers gets invited to the Harvest festivities by the region's biggest Halfling Robber Baron after saving one of his numerous Coastal Venture Forts from the hated Human pirates. Late after the day's festivities, they get attacked by an Ape Man assassin whose tracks lead to a recent crevice, 4 days north of the City of Hobble's Port. Exploring the crevice uncovers some long lost ruins filled with traps and a mischievous infernal. After a climactic battle against Skeletons, a Drake swarm and some fiendishly placed Ooze, the adventurers are ready to continue their explorations. Quick reminder: We're playing Goodman Games' Dragoras's Dungeon, a 4e adventure written by my new friend Harley Stroh. When imp rhymes with annoying little git. Fizban, played by Eric was absent. As this is wont to happen often in our group, we let his character fade out in the background as this is the simplest way we found to deal with it. When the player characters were done with the Gelatinous Cube, they rested for 5 minutes, wary that the invisible Imp would retaliate with yet another dirty trick. It didn't. After they busted open the trapdoor found at the bottom of the room, it opened on a damp corridor leading to a thin 5' wide, 10' long bridge spanning an underground river/waterfall. Being wary of being screwed by the diminutive spawn of evil, each PC crossed the bridge carefully. As expected, once the last PC (Naquist, the Elven Cleric) crossed, he got shoved into the waterfall by a gleeful devil laughing manically and it flew away and vanished before the other PCs could retaliate. Naquist got battered (and bathed) by the fall (both actually) and was rapidly recovered by his more athletic friends. Imp 2, Party 0 The Temple of Fridge Logic The party arrived into an Octogonal room with a simple granite altar, a very large glowing stone globe near the vaulted ceiling and a Stone Pyramid directly underneath the Stone Globe. At this point, my good friend Math launches, semi in character, into a passionate soliloquy about the sheer stupidity of such a design for a temple by the inhabitants of this underground complex. It was quite entertaining and appropriate, although with hindsight, I see that Math's reaction was probably fueled by the lack of Supercool his character suffered from since the start of the campaign. I somehow missed that clue. Dun Dun Duh (Foreshadowing music)! I told him to 'step away from that fridge' a few times, to general hilarity. Math is this super logic, hyper concrete guy. I pegged him as a supercoolness-seeking player a long time ago, but I forgot to address this so far in the campaign. The PCs searched the room and found a mechanism on the Altar that needed a 5-headed dragon key that had failed to find. Roco the Rogue went to work on it and opened the room's two secret doors. One lead to a shimmering portal and the other lead to an obvious trap of a 10' wide corridor/ramp leading to a 5' wide bridge over a seemingly bottomless abyss. Said bridge led to the top of a pillar on which stood a chest apparently made of solid silver. On the map, I made a point of writing 'Lootz' on the chest just to drive the point home. Mike, one of our resident World of Warcraft player, even added 'Fat' over it. Guess which path the PCs took? Steven Spielberg called, he wants his Boulder back! So all the PCs but Naquist the cleric (another missed hint, although Math is somewhat a risk adverse player) set out on the bridge with Bjerm the fighter in the lead. As the Fighter set foot on the pillar and grabbed the worryingly light lootz chest, an echoing click was heard and, predictably, the huge 9' wide boulder in the Octagonal room fell from the ceiling, hit the pyramid at just the right spot and barreled down toward the PCs. Each one got an action: Masaru, Takeo and Roco moved to the legdes found on each side of the cave's entrance. Being on the pillar, Bjerm tried to jump and hang from the pillar, hoping to dodge the boulder. Yan (Bjerm's player) failed his skill roll and I gave him the choice of jumping in the darkness or to stay on the pillar. Not seeing a true choice there, he stayed on the pillar, hoping that the boulder would not reach him before his next turn. Math (Naquist) told me that he wanted to kick the Boulder out of the way so it crashed into the wall and stop its mad descent toward Bjerm. That's where I ignored Math's third subtle request for supercoolness and made a DMing fumble. Chatty:(Not too sure how to handle this) "Hmmm it's a really big boulder..." Math: "Come on man, it hasn't gathered a lot of inertia by this time... it should be easy!" Chatty:(Sets himself up for the royal fumble) "Dude don't bring logic into this, it's just a game!" Math then promptly exploded into a flurry of frustration along the lines of "Fine! Whatever!" Ouch. Even with 25 years of experience, I still manage to be less than stellar sometimes. Writing this a few days after the fact, I now realize that Math was just asking for a chance to shine like a cool hero, whereas I was too focused on the 'cool' effect the trap would feature if triggered and kept uninterrupted. I know you read this Math and I apologize. Now I managed to salvage this, with the help of Yan, by opening the Dungeon Master Guide at page 42 and proposing that Naquist make an athletics check. A moderate success would mean the boulder is partly deviated and would be slowed by the ramp's walls and buy all other players an extra turn. A hard success would mean that the boulder indeed crashed into the wall and stopped there. I should have said yes and opened the book on page 42 faster, without resorting to the lame 'no logic in my game please' argument that I somehow cling to since I've been 15. Of course, Math missed his roll... He got over it preety fast. What I like about Math is that while he'll vocalize his frustrations, once done, it's done and he dove back into the game within a few minutes. As scripted, the boulder rolled down the ramp/corridor. It then got onto the bridge, which collapsed under the boulder's weight. The boulder then gracefully crashed into the pillar (with Bjerm on it) and destroyed the top 15' of it. The rest of the party could only be witnesses of Bjerm plummeting into the darkness, surrounded by falling pieces of the pillar and the boulder, but still holding on the chest! The next part tomorrow... Credits: Britt martin (Art) and Ed Bourelle (Cartography)

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ChattyDM — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:30:26 +0000

Project Kobold Love is re-launched!

ChattyDM — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:45:19 +0000

Head on over my newest Website to witness the newly re-launched Kobold Love project. I think it's a lot clearer for all. I also like to think that the project is now more interesting to would be participants. I'd like to know who's still in, so please tell me over there. I made commenting less of a chore by removing subscription requirements. I'll gradually update posts I transfered over there to link to the comments already done here (I was unable to import comments). Thanks all.

DM Chronicles: Session 2, Indiana Gnomes and the Technicolor Snake, Part 2

ChattyDM — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:01:12 +0000

See part 1 here. Spiders Blind, Strikers Shine! Fresh victim of the fiendish rolling boulder trap, Yan's Bjerm the Fighter fell 50'... Only to land unhurt on a huge spider web while pieces of granite were punching through it left and right. As he got up, he noticed 3 Human-sized bristly spiders (a new monster from the adventure) moving toward him. Roco (Rogue) and Takeo (Warlord) promptly jumped down to join the fight, while Masaru (Warlock) and Naquist (Cleric) stayed 50' up. The spiders were very hard hitters (they were designed as Brutes) and had an encounter power based on throwing bristles all around them, damaging targets slightly and blinding them. While blinded for some time and getting damaged rapidly, the fighter held his ground and the Rogue and warlock started dishing some serious damage. When Naquist the Cleric's turn came, he noticed that all his ranged attacks were limited to 5 squares (25'). He had however no intention of jumping down to join the fray. After 2 or 3 rounds of this, I was getting worried that Math's fun factor, already iffy from the previous encounter, would be borked for the whole evening. That's when he said a magic phrase: "I'm staying back so I can deal with the Imp if he ever shows up" The imp was NOT supposed to show up... but could I really resist? On the next round, the Imp popped up beside Naquist and poisoned him good! (Be careful what you players wish for, you could have a DM listening) Naquist was now in a fight with a Hit and Run opponent that he positively HATED (strong emotions = good in a RPG). While the Spiders were getting killed slowly by the rogue, fighter and warlord (helped by the warlord's healing), the Warlock and Cleric teamed up and took the imp down with concerted efforts and some lucky crits. Success on all accounts, game saved! Oh yeah, the chest was empty and the silver was just thin plating. The party rested and finally ventured forth in the portal, that showed a swamp-like environment. Dude, that's like a colorful snake man! Once through the portal, the party found themselves knee deep in brackish water. They were in some sort of underground swamp, surrounded by dead fruit trees and littered with small islands. Now according to the adventure, this relatively small area (the whole swamp fits easily on two Standard size battlemaps) containend several level five monsters, including a few elites and patches of quicksand. I wrote to the author about it and we agreed that, as written, this could become a bloodbath. It so happens that the Playtest group was lucky and managed to dodge a multiple monster trigger. I therefore made the whole swamp into one encounter... the technicolor snake! Called a Shimmering Boa, this Elite level 5 Soldier came in hidden (underwater) near the exploring PCs. It then triggered its recharging shimmering scales power during the surprise round, stunning all PCs (which leads to being dazed after a save). Luckily for the players, the power never recharged over the 10 rounds the combat lasted. As players rolled to save from being stunned in their next round, Roco failed his save. On its turn, the snake bit and grabbed the halfling rogue, dealing a lot of damage, and promptly gobbled him up. As he was "eaten", I was using hand gestures to describe the scene and my jerking motions to simulate a snake trying to eat something bigger than itself made quite an impression on the players. Now, it was round one of a fight against a level 5 Elite monster (PCs are still level 1). I had a PC that was down to 15 hp (Being swallowed and being dealt 10 points per round) and technically out of line of effect for healing. That's when I made the call that the Rogue could be healed. While this call was well received and fueled by the Rule of Fun, it led to Franky (Masaru's player) expressing that the constant nearly dead/new again yo-yo of D&D 4e's Hit Point management was stretching his willful suspension of disbelief. I must say that he is right, but given the harshness of this adventure, I preferred to err on the side of Gamism rather than focus on narrative logic. The fight was eventually won by the PCs. Once again, the warlock shined by dealing massive amounts of damage, while poor Roco missed all his attacks from inside the monster. This prompted a discussion on frustration management in 4e and how we could make a house rule to make low rolling streaks less painful for players, more on this in the next adventure prep post. I realized that by that time of the evening (10h00 pm) I was rather tired and I had taken a few more beers than I initially planned to. This made me a somewhat duller strategist and I didn't move the snake at all on the combat board, falling on my old D&D 3.x reflexes. Had I been a bit sharper, I could have weaved the snake around the PCs more, staying within range of healing to give the rogue a chance but give the players a harder time and force more dynamic movement. Once again, the fight felt a bit like like a Battlestar getting pounded by the Cylons. Thing is, having DMed at Gen Con way more tired than I was that night, I'm now convinced that the Diet Coke/Beer cocktail I drink all evening long is responsible for me being like that. Next time I'll test how I am at 10h30 PM when I stick to bottled water. We ended the game when the PCs found an old Aquaduct and an entrance underneath it. I doubled XPs and everyone made it to level 2. Very good game over all, if a bit too crunchy and not really story-driven... yet (It gets a lot better one or 2 sessions down the line). Lessons Learned

Whenever a player asks to do something that makes me want to say no, I need to stop for a moment, try to understand what is behind the request, and find a way to meet with the player's motivation.
I need to refrain from using killjoy DM comments when arguing. Not fun.
I need to spend 2 games without taking more than 1-2 beers and limit my caffeine intake, just to compare.

What players liked:

The feeling of exploration and the very cinematic trap
Math's monologue, very entertaining!
The description of the snake eating a PC (except for the PC in question that is)

What players disliked:

Math getting denied his supercoolness 2 games in a row (We made up for it with some nice finishing moves with Sacred Flame, Beacon of Hope and Lance of Faith).
Steph's inability to score a hit while being digested/healed every turn.

See you in 2 weeks! Credits: Clyde Caldwell (Cover art)

gm-fu

ChattyDM — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:50:48 +0000

Free GMing advice from the GM-FU masters!

ChattyDM — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:07:20 +0000

As of late last night, I'm officially a published RPG author! You can now download the Gen Con 2008 workshop booklet we created for our GM-Fu Seminar. Along with my blogging and GM-for-Hire friend Phil Veccione and with the masterful editing of Vicki Potter, we offer you a free PDF filled with:

Trope tips
Tailoring adventures to player tastes
Your writing cycle
Your prepping schedule

While some of the material I wrote (Tropes and player tastes) is adapted from the blog, there's also some exclusive content in there. Plus it's now available in a PDF form you can now peruse at your leisure offline! You can find the free document at your favorite PDF stores:

I wish to thank Vicki Potter and Tabletop Adventures for helping us put this together and publihing it. I am looking forward to Gen Con 2009 to give out the next GM-Fu seminars. There will be more than one for sure!

sleeping_dragon

ChattyDM — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:52:06 +0000

Bedtime Campaign: Nico outsmarts Smaug the Dragon!

ChattyDM — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:23:03 +0000

This post is part of a series where I explore freeform roleplaying as a bedtime story for my 6 year old son, Nico. Chatty: So what do you want me to read tonight? Nico: Can we play the story game again? It's been a long time and I'm sure your friends on the computer miss them! (Maybe I should call the Screen Actor's Guild) Okay, so who are we today? Same as usual, Super Nico, the Knight! Okay and where are we? I don't know (A spark was needed!) Well let's say you're playing in your room and someone knocks at the door of your Castle. 'kay. Your father the Wizard-King answers and calls you down: 'Nico, someone for you'. What do you do? (Giggling from mounting excitement) I go downstairs. A very colorfully clad person, with a guitar and a piece of paper awaits you. He asks if your are Super Nico the hero. I am! (Taking an official voice): I am Guzutt, the Bard! What's a bard daddy? It's someone that signs songs and tells stories. Okay. Guzzut: I have been charged by Princess Zix to ask your help to... Daddy, you know I don't like stories about princesses! Those are for Rory (5 year old sister)! So sorry! Wrong message. Guzzut opens his bag, puts the paper back in and takes another one out. Guzzut: I have been charged by Prince Guk to ask that you go to his castle right now so you can help him against the Evil Dragon Smaug! (The joys of gaming with a 6 year old, all names are original) Chatty: So do you want to go? Nico: Yeah!, but how do I get there real fast? Guzzut: Do you want to share my rocket Carriage? You can drive! "Yay!" Chatty: "So you spend the next few minutes flying over forests, swamps and arrive to a castle with a big hole in it." What followed was a not so interactive introduction to the Prince who told that Smaug the Dragon had recently punched a hole in the Castle, stolen all the prince's treasure and his little brother! Nico agreed to help. Nico: Can I have a few things to help me? Prince Guk: Sure, just go ask my Wizard on top of the highest Tower. Nico: (Excitedly) I go there! What can I get? Chatty: The Wizards gives you a potion that can turn you invisible. How's that? Nico: Cool! Okay, Prince Guk tells you that Smaug lives in a Cave deep under the Mountain of Ice. I go there! Okay, the Mountain is really tall and too slipery to climb since it's made of Ice. You see an entrance at the very top. What do you do? (Thinking long and hard) I call the Nimbus Cloud to get to the top! (A flying cloud that can fly Nico's character around) Good thinking, the cloud comes over from the sky, picks you up and starts to fly up the mountain. But it's very very cold and the cloud gets smaller and smaller and smaller until you fall off it and hit the mountain and start slipping down! What do you do? I take out my Sword and I plunge it in the ice really hard! Awesome! You stop slipping and your sword is stuck into the deep ice... I use my fire Gem to melt the ice! Wow! You start heating up the whole mountain, ice melts and a huge lake appears around the shrinking mountain. When your gem runs out of magic fuel, half the mountain is melted! You see that the entrance at the top of the mountain is actually the top floor of a very tall tower with a very long winding stairway climbing up around it. I climb it and enter. Once inside, you notice another set of stairs going down into the darkness and you hear a loud Snoring sound and a barely audible 'Please help me' That's the prince's little brother! I go down to save him! You climb down until you reach a large chamber filled with gold and gems. A huge dragon sleeps on the treasure, holding a cage in its claws. The young prince is in it, really scared. What do you do? Hmmm... I can't fight him without hurting the littlle prince. Oh I know! I take the potion... no half the potion so I can give the other half to the prince. Oh I see what you're trying to do! (Giggles) Chatty: Okay so you turn invisible and so does the prince, what now? Nico: (Smiling triumphantly):I make noise! The dragon wakes up with a start! He looks around and notices the empty cage! (More giggles) Smaug: Hey! My prisoner escaped! I need to find him again and put him back in this cage! Chatty: The dragon flies outside the room, looking for his 'lost' prisoner. You both reappear as the potion's effect fades. I take all his treasure... Huh, is there a big bag around? Young Prince: Take this magic bag there, I've seen the dragon use it to steal all my brother's treasure! Nico: Does that work? Chatty: Sure, you take all his of his treasure and you escape with the young prince before Smaug comes back! You win once again! Nico: Yay! Daddy? Yes? Why does the dragon sleep on a treasure like that? Hmmm. Good question. Remember the story about the princess sleeping on 20 mattresses? The one that felt the pea and couldn't sleep? Yup, well maybe big dragons are only comfortable when sleeping on lots of treasures and that's why he stole Prince Guk's treasure. Cool! Good night Nico. Good night daddy!

I love doing this! Up next, I will relate to you a story I did with both Rory and Nico while on a car trip. Credits: Nicolas Menard (Story), Laura Toivola (Scuplture)

I am a Writer...

ChattyDM — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:07:22 +0000

On the way back from Gen Con, my mind shifted into a seldom before attained creative overdrive (I'm going through another one today it seems). During my flights back I created Chatty Studios, Kobold Love and I wrote a post about being a writer in the RPG industry. I submitted that text to Bob Younce, a good friend of mine, author of RPGdigest and The Writing Journey, a rising blog about being, obviously enough, a writer. He was kind enough to post it here. Those who've been following me closely in the last few weeks will see where the plans of my current projects germinated. Thanks for sharing your tribune Bob, it's appreciated. Have a great weekend.

superhero-movie-pam-anderso

ChattyDM — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:25:49 +0000

superhero-movie-pam-anderso1

ChattyDM — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:26:47 +0000

Kobold Love's Website Updated

ChattyDM — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:06:28 +0000

I just updated all the Kobold Love posts over Chatty Studios' website to better together. I also created a Project main page where you can navigate to all other related posts. You can find the project's main page here and check on those who manifested interest in tackling the community part of of this project. I will post part 2 of scene 1 over the weekend. Since I need to play test it next Saturday I will also build a draft version of all scenes during next week and share a few sneak peaks. I also would like to post an article over there about the challenges of starting a new business and the importance of your entourage in making this a success. have a great weekend.

Chatty's Question: Losing it, RPG style!

ChattyDM — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:01:53 +0000

There's been a 'nostalgic' revival of anti-D&D material on several blogs lately (Sorry if I don't link, I don't have the time right now). I saw the movie Mazes and Monsters about 20 years ago and like all 15 year old teenager geeks, I scoffed at the plot and snickered at all the ways the screenplay got RPGs wrong. However I did take the movie's core idea seriously. You see, even at 15, I was well aware of humanity's propensity to become obsessed with things. The focus of the obsession is unimportant, be it religion, sex (and jealousy), hatred, guns, video games, RPGs or Heavy Metal music. It's clear to me that a subset of humanity has a trait that makes them latch sociopathically to something and allow it to occupy too large a place it their subjective realities. Aside: That's why I have no respect for the Thomson, Chick and other fearmongers of this world... the activity is not to blame, the mental disease of the 'fan' is. One of the reasons why I learned that lesson so young was because, at 13, I gamed with Fred. Fred was a shy, somewhat tormented teenager. Slight of build and prone to being abused by bullies, he was however a very bright and creative individual. We became friends rapidly and I started playing AD&D every weekend with him. To say that Fred took to RPGs is the mother of all understatements. He ate, drank and breathed RPGs. He thrived on the social interaction of the gaming group we created out of the neighborhood nerds and dorks. I clearly remember, while we were playing one on one through Expedition to the Barrier Peak that Fred was getting over the board with his character (I don't remember what he was playing, probably a Magic-User). He kept freaking out about finding all those laser guns and grenades, and he was talking about the game whenever we were together at school. I recall his grades falling, and him asking me to play on every afternoon of the week. I couldn't comply, because my mother was actively monitoring the impact of my hobby on my grades as I was allowed to play as long as my grades remained good. I started to become worried about Fred. Being armed with almost no social tools at the time (I was a chatty socially inept somewhat arrogant lad.... hey no jokes about things not changing!) I resorted to the only way I thought could address this: I killed Fred's character. I don't recall how, but it was probably a Save or Die or something. Something very sudden and very final. Fred went into shock. He probably stopped talking to me for some time. But when we talked again, I told him that this was just a game, not worth obsessing especially on something as irrelevant as a character... I was ready to start a new game with him, along with a group of friends, provided he relaxed a bit about his character and that we did other activities once in a while. It worked out all right. He became a musician, got girlfriends and probably got laid before I did. All good. What about you? Were you exposed to RPG players who crossed the line (or nearly did)? Did you lose it (or nearly did)? How did you react and/or how did you address this? Have a great weekend!

Keeping up with the Hyperactive & Chatty DM.

ChattyDM — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:29:19 +0000

If you want to keep up with my numerous projects, without having to jump all over my no less numerous websites, I invite you to subscribe to my most excellent (cough) content on your windows bookmarks or your favorite RSS reader (I like Google Reader myself). Please follow these awesome links: Chatty Studios: My new RPG design studio. Featuring all things Kobold Love (New KL post today and another tomorrow) Musings of the Chatty DM: This here blog about my games, thoughts and RPG Rockstar/Overlord antics. The Life of a Suburban Overlord: My Photo webcomic. I'm into my 3rd week and so far I'm proud of the result. All subscribers are automatically made members of the super secret Knighthood of Bacon, so get your spot now, places are unlimited!

New Kobold Love post

ChattyDM — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:04:24 +0000

I posted the last half of Scene one of the Kobold Love project adventure over www.chattystudios.com. In it you'll see a fully stated Gnoll Ranger, complete with awesome Stat Bloc look, thanks to Asmor's 4e.css packaged with his Monster Maker application. You'll also see the attempt by Graham and I to create a D&D 4e Combat Challenege embedded in a combat. It looks good on paper, now I wonder how it will hold up during playtest. See you tomorrow!

1	black	blade	brute
2	blood	blood	creeper
3	bone	bond/bound	delver
4	death	claw	fiend
5	demon	cloak/cloaked	filcher
6	doom	doom	foamer
7	dread	fang	gnasher
8	flame	fiend	horde/hordling
9	ghost	fire	howler
10	grim	gaunt	hulk
11	ice	haunt	lasher
12	iron	horn	leaper
13	night	maw	racer
14	poison	rake	reaver
15	razor	scale	ripper
16	spell	spike	scourge
17	stone	tusk	sneak
18	storm	warp/warped	swarm
19	thunder	wing	titan
20	wind	wrack	wurm