So Many Games, So Many Goals, So Little Time.

Hey there all two of you who read this blog and the other folks that accidentally navigate here!  Welcome back. Man, it's been mooooonths! Entire months since I wrote a blog.  To be honest I took a bit of a break because I found it exhausting attempting to make each post so full of meaning and love, and especially exhausting when I was trying not to, and I only recently remembered this was here.

But, I have kept up with tabletop gaming, and it's been interesting.  Instead of pulling everyone into one group to play one game, there are now three groups.  It's odd, I was always afraid of the consequences of splitting folks up, but this has really worked out.  Let me touch base on a little that has gone on in each game and why I split the groups.

So initially I split my entire gaming group into two teams based mainly on what I perceived to be their goal in table top games.  Having played games with all of these people for a number of years, I think I have a good sense of what these folks enjoy the most about table-top role-playing (thank you trial and error!), and I split groups based on that.  This came (somewhat predictably) to two groups, "The Old Guard" and "The New Guard" .

That's what I call a One-Two Punch.

"The New Guard", my largest group (and growing) chose Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition.  There is much I can say about 4th edition, so much that I started another post about it, based on what I just removed from this post.   It's little wonder that many of "The New Guard" are sports fans.  Of all the systems I've played, 4th edition is by far the most team oriented.  In short it's a game that thrives on the group approach, enforcing group roles at character creation (Defender, Leader, Controller, Striker) and rewarding tactical play styles.  In previous iterations of Dungeons and Dragons, emphasis in character development has been on amassing the means of survival and power individually.  Fourth Edition recognizes that each adventurer is, foremost, a member of the team and one part of a whole, even at the launch of the system, touting the motto "Never Split the Party".  It also happens that 4th edition is the system that many of "The New Guard" cut their teeth on when it comes to table top RPGs.  In this place of comfort, "The New Guard" thrives.

"The Old Guard" is composed mainly of the people I learned to play RPGs with, and for them I run Numenera, a far future Science Fantasy RPG with a minimalist rules system to allow emphasis on story and description of the strange (and boy do I mean "Strange") and exciting "Ninth World".  Perhaps in time I will write a post solely about the Cypher System, and it's merits.  As mentioned "The Old Guard" introduced me to table top gaming, and as such our experience with different systems has been vast.  Three and a half versions of D&D, two versions of Star Wars, Shadowrun, Two versions of Mutants and Masterminds, (Multiple) Old and New World of Darkness, Robotech, Heroes Unlimited, and on and on.  So I knew that introducing them to a new system wouldn't be an issue.  

Both in system and setting, Numenera has been a challenge, and a very welcome one at that.  Again, more about Numenera and the Cypher System in a later Post (the majority of which will be poached from what I just removed here.)

Welcome to Earth. Partying like it's 1,000,002,014.

Aside from the fantastic fantasy and "weird future" elements, Numenera is a game about discovery and rediscovery, with emphasis on "thinking outside the box".  More so then any other system I've played, there is no right or wrong way to solve a problem, but there are many, MANY ways to achieve a goal.  Players are rewarded for ingenuity and (re)discovery.  "The Old Guard" is a mix of players somewhere on the scale of "cautious beyond paranoia" and "too curious for their own good", a perfect mix of future explorers.  In a departure from time honored "Slay Monsters, Acquire Loot", players have been solving puzzles, uncovering mysteries, and exploring facilities, while ancient are also highly advanced, appearing more like a dilapidated Star Wars set, or the structure early on in "Portal 2".  4th Edition forces players to work together (The price of an individual's ego is the suffering of the party).  Numenera does not force players to work together, but the "The Old Guard" does, and to great effect, with little issue.  Maybe because they're seasoned veterans and know the price of hubris in a dangerous fictional world, maybe because they've been friends for decades and know they can trust each other implicitly, possibly because they're literally family whether by blood or marriage.

Much like this wonderful piece by Fredrik Eriksson,
A good vampire game blends a world with which you're
familiar, with something...darker. Check out his Stuff

Then there's the smaller group, who plays intermittently during the week.  They play Vampire: The Requiem.  You see, the point of this post has been to frame what I've learned from playing multiple different games, and none has illustrated this point to me more, then my week night game of Vampire.  I've been playing table top RPGs since I was eighteen or nineteen years old, and everyone had combat, action, and adventure, especially the ones I've run.  Not only did I want Action and Adventure, I wanted intrigue, and horror, and exploration, etc., etc.  Worst is I always tried to squeeze it out of one game (Usually D&D 4th Edition), whether the game's system supported that style of play or not.  

Now that's not to say you can't splash a bit other genres in your games, but at their core, Dungeons and Dragons (D20 system) was made for high adventure, Numenera (Cypher System) made for discovery and exploration, and World of Darkness (Storyteller System) for brutal Gothic horror.  And while it's good to work a little of adventure into Vampire at times, and discovery into Dungeons and Dragons, letting these games play to their strengths is where they truly shine.  And though my current players are in no way relegated to these games specifically, I found a lot of luck in "playing to the audience" not only in picking their brains at the end of a game ("What was your favorite part? What do you want to see more of?"), but choosing systems that support the play styles they enjoy the most.

There's a lot of systems out there, and it's easy to look at table top gaming from the outside and call all of it "D&D" because of the game's iconic status.  But remember, there's a reason that not everyone refers to Science Fiction Movies as "Star Wars", not everyone refers to famous painters as "Picasso", not everyone refers to books as "Harry Potter".  There's a wealth of creativity and systems knowledge in the world of table top, all you need do is find the one that fits you best...

...though of course, you could always make your own, that's what Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax did.

The two men at the bottom right, only responsible for a large part of
Contemporary Gaming History, that's all.

Kick-Bundles

it's alright to be jealous

So I've got a bit of a problem.  Well, a couple problems.  Those problems are Crowd Funding sites and Bundle sites.  Because really where the hell else should I be spending my money on anything other then necessities and NERF weapons?

But alas, crowd funding provides a brilliant opportunity to sink money into things I want before they're designed for what everyone wants.  Do I want to fund a new Monte Cook game and get a copy when it's done? Hell yes I do!  Do I want to help fund and get a copy of awesome far-future rogue-like, Hyper Light Drifter, or help pay to develop a billboard space turned into topiary, or fund a community owned exploration telescope that will be fired into orbit, or fund a funny science-fiction cartoon or Bee and Puppy Cat so I can continue to watch them on Youtube, or pay for the development of awesome fantasy sound effects, or fund a tongue cleaner that while originally made for people is now being made for pets?

My answer to all these things and more was "Yes", and you know what, it feels good.  I feel like when I support these products, not only am I paying to receive these products, but also to support the culture these products are a part of.  It's like instead being on the other side of the coin as a consumer, instead of telling you what I like when you sell it to me, I'm telling you what you shouldn't bother selling, because I'm not supporting it.  I'm a fan of the process.

whispering:"I support you"

Bundles are another matter, in a previous post you may have seen me mention the "Bundle of Fate".  Since I've been following bundles such as "Bundle of Holding" and "The Humble Bundle", which feature Tabletop gaming products and video game products, respectively.

Bundles are ingenious, you pay what you wish for an amount of content, say a third or half of the products featured, but then if you pay above the community average, you get the rest of the content.  Even better, the money money is split between being able to support future bundles, and charity.  The number of games and books I've acquired via bundles is a bit staggering, especially when I take into account that some of the games I've not finished, and many of the books I've never utilized in play with others.  My buyer's remorse (as if I'd ever have it for books or video games) is soothed though, as I'm able to rationalize that the money spent went to charity.

So the most recent Bundle of Holding contained a number of books not just playing games, but inspiration for world building and running games as well.  So now I'll share with you some of the random creatures I've been able to create from the "Tome of Adventure Design"

The Anurasphinx has the body of a frog, the head of a man, and the wings of a bat.  It reproduces by dropping it's eggs into a rushing stream, where they are eaten by fish.  After a brief gestation cycle where the egg absorbs nutrients from the fish, the "Tadsphinx" breaks it's egg, releasing a foul tasting enzyme that causes the fish to regurgitate the young, it then moves to the waterside to work blood into it's wings.  The Anurasphinx spends its time stalking travelers, especially musicians, as it's main source of sustenance is the sound of Music.

The Urchin Wyrm is a large reptilian creature that lives on both salt and fresh water coasts.  When at rest, it is difficult to decipher what part of the dragon is what because each of its scales elongate into quills that cover its body.  Only when the dragon attacks is it easy to decipher that the spiky mass is actually a creature of any kind.  Some say the Urchin Wyrm isn't a dragon at all as it lacks a dangerous breath attack, the truth is that the dragon's maw houses an organic gravitational mass generator, allowing it to use its "breath" to push, pull, lift, and even teleport objects in its range.  The Urchin Wyrm also has a keen intellect and a love of dungeons, giving it a working knowledge of dungeon type areas, stories and myths surrounding magic items and legends.  Urchin Wyrms are usually loath to share this information as they see most other life as beneath them, but once it has been suitably terrified, it begins spewing this information out indiscriminately in an attempt to placate or confuse what threatens it.

Soon...

The Euthanasia-Porpoise is an Elemental Monster from the Plane of Death, specifically the Quietus Ocean.  It travels between worlds only when a sacrifice is made in its name, and when it manifests into the material realm, it glides about, instilling the living with a sense of exhaustion and dread.  It's siren call drives mortal
creatures to end their own lives in the most peaceful way they can imagine.  Those who summon this terrible grampus do so at their own peril, as the Euthanasia-Porpoise does not care for wealth, power, or gifts, it seeks only to spread it's morbid influence.

So, three creatures later, and I'm pretty sure this book has paid for itself.

Immersion, living the dream, and getting Old

April 6th I turned a year older.  I'm now 29 and a year a way from three decades of life provides a great oppotunity to look back on one's life and accomplishments and say "Who am I now, and how did I get here?"

Instead of doing that I took a week off work to play Assassin's Creed 2, buy a Dremel Tool to modify Nerf guns with my girlfriend, and purchased small bits or wood, fake plastic trees, and modeling clay from hobby shops to contruct sets for my table top gaming sessions.  Do I need fantastic hand scuplted statues and personalized game pieces to get my players involved in the game? Of course not! And it's a good thing too, because my hand has never been the steadiest, my brother's the artist, I am the...well...something else equally creative and amazing I'm sure.  But it did make me think, though I was making these pieces mostly because they were great opportunity to do something with my hands other then typing on a keyboard or clicking a mouse, what was so important about small custom made corridors and wooden hand-painted figures?  The answer is simple.  Immersion.

If your character is here, your mind should be too.
(Link to Original Piece)

Immersion in a table top role playing game comes in many different forms.  In a previous blog I'd mentioned the root of said games being fireside tales of high adventure, providing a great atmosphere with crackling fire wood smoke smells, and (usually) tastey food, players may get the sense that they aren't too much unlike their character counterparts, sitting around a cozy fire between perilous dungeons, regailing eachother with stories of adventure and excitment.  Sadly, fireside adverturing games are hard to come by, given the space needed to both play the game combined to with space needed to safely manage an open flame.  It can be done, in fact there's a hundred things that can be done to make a game more special when you're commited to it, but it gets expensive.  And after so much time your relationship with your players is like your relationship with a significant other, you want to find exciting locals and neat experiences to share together, but as time passes and you're more comfortable with each other, just doing it on the kitchen table is fine...

When your player's characters look
like this, your players should feel
like this.

...Aside from the the obvious memorable experience, immersion serves a very utilitarian purpose.  If your group is at all like mine, they have been friends for years, and their Saturday night game is their night to catch up with said friends, talking about news and goings on throughout the week.  "Non-game related" talk can be disruptive and distracting, and when you only have so much time in an evening to weave a tale of high adventure, all involved can shoot themselves in the feet by taking the time to sing Guy on a Buffalo in four part accapella (Though a resourcful storyteller would capitalize on such events by forcing encounters on players where they have to sing or recite epic tales).  This can be mitigated through time management, and immersion.  An immersed player is focused, in character, and ready to play.  So let's look at some immersion techniques.

Decription:
Description is the easiest and most basic form of immersion because it's going to happen some way or another.  If you tell your players "The man you are speaking to is middle-aged, just under 6 feet tall,  completely bald and below sparkling dark eyes and a large nose is a thick handlebar moustache and a crooked grin. Broad shoulders and a barrel chest fill his fine silk clothing, which is a deep green simple and elegant in design.  He greets you warmly, introducing himself as Edgar Belmont, the man soon to become Baron of the city of Saxon and it's surrounding lands." you give them a pretty clear picture of what their looking at.

The alternative is to say, "A middle aged man approaches you, you note he is bald and has a large handlebar mustache. "I am Edgar Belmont" he says, the name familiar to you as you know he is soon to be baron of Saxon, a community known for it's export of fine silk. "Allow me to welcome you to Saxon and thank you for attending my coronation.  I understand you're from York?"

Where the second gives less detail of the man, it does hint at enough to let the players for their own picture in their heads, they know he's probably wealthy given his position and are able to come up with their own "look" with limited features and indication of lifestyle, the important part of this description though is the way he speaks.  Folks have a bias when hear about someone, which is different from when they see them, which is different from when they speak to them.  The moment you open your mouth in chracter to your players, they will make their measure of the "person speaking"  and decide whether they are a threat or an asset.  Aside from interaction, very little description is needed for your players to fill in the blanks, and so immerse themselves.

Though this is the easiest way to immerse your players, long bouts of description turn into lecture (and soon to interuption).  Describe away, but be prepared for your players to interupt and interact.  Don't get angry when they interupt you to say "I'll take a closer look at that!" either ask them to let you finish or indulge them.  If their interuption relavent to what you're describing you have them hooked! If not, ask them to save it for later.

Atmosphere:

If your house looks like this, a little
atmosphere shouldn't be hard to create.

Ambiance is a tricky thing, since most times you're looking at playing at a kitchen table, in a living room, or in a basement.  Depending on what you're trying to convey with the feel of your adventure, you can stick with clever lighting tricks.  A Dungeon crawl of an adventure could take place in a basement with no windows, and candle light.  Stories of court intrigue could be hosted in well lit rooms with plenty of food and drink.  A Kitchen lit (and stocked) properly could have a Taverny feel.  I personally prefer a patio in fair weather.  Fresh air does wonders for a party's ability to think, sounds of bugs and birds does well to lend to a frontier or wilderness motiffs.  The few times I've been able to host on a patio, It's been very well received!

A word about lighting, dice and sheets are hard to read in dim light, make sure your playing space is well lit for players.  Losing pencils, dice, and not reading abilites on a sheet is a problem.  Your ambience should not get in the way of your game.


Tools:

When it comes to tabletop gaming, your experienced players have obviously taken their love of the game to the next level.  First they did this by purchasing all the suppliment books that their game's publisher released to make money, then they started buying tools.  Gaming tools can actually be split into two catagories, Playing Tools and Props.

The Sultan, Lords and Ladies is it pricey, but if you're serious
about tabletop gaming, there is no finer table, until you go
with a touch screen.

Playing Tools are hardware you may associate more with the storyteller, these are things that help the game at it's most basic levels.  Truthfully, a group of gamers with the proper mental capabilities can run a game without paper, but it makes it easier when you have your character sheet, and some graph paper with a map drawn out, or instead a Vinyl Mat with one inch squares, Wet Erase Markers, and Minitures of your specific player's characters.  That second part probably sounds pricey. It is.  But when you start to seriously consider these games as a hobby, spending a money on objects that define your character (as a player) is a personal touch that is worth it.  As a storyteller, being able to use tools to shape a large map is quick, fun, and gives your players a very real image of dangers their facing and the situation their in.  Sure your player's O's can be surround by X's on grid paper, or they could be hand painted figurines, with the likness of each specific character standing in a molded plastic dungeon, surrounded by wicked looking, die-cast lizard people with barbed spears. If you can afford it and you're commited, designing sets can be very rewarding for players and storytellers.   There's also a large amount of free software available to allow you to run a digital game board, most of these are oriented to playing over the internet though, and few port well to a "T.V. based table top map".

Outside and in costume, sure.
But crowded around a table in a kitchen,
foam swords quickly become
why we can't have nice things.

Props are...tricky. Like a personalized figurine, perhaps your player arrives holding something relevent to his character.  This sort of tool is neat because it begins breaching the realms between "gaming experience" and "performance art", unfortunatly it is also very dangerous.  At best case scenario you have people sitting in cloaks with elf ears spirit glued on, worst case scenario one of your players shows up with a freshly sharpened German Bastard Sword. Props to get your players into character are very cool, until your players get bored with sitting and decide to start swinging them at one another.  You can try to tell them "act like adults!", but they did just show up for a glorified playdate.  If you invite props to your game, keep them non-weapon oriented, or have your players sign a waiver.

Again, KEEP IT SIMPLE.  Having extravagent game sets or costumes can be very awesome, but remember that your players are here to play a game.  If set peices and costumes gets in the way of playing, either throw the idea out...or instead of running the game have a costume party!

Media:
At it's simplest incarnation, media enters your game as the player character's pictures, but using visuals and sounds can add more ambience to an adventure.  Visual queues such as pictures of exotic locations might do well to put your characters in the mind set of the area their exploring.  Having a slide show running on a near by Television might be a nice touch.

Amazing Lanscapse like this one can not only give you
Players a great image of the lands they roam, but can also
give you inspiration on what sorts of lands to
base your game around (Link to Original Piece)

Sound can also be a huge boon.  Having background music playing can be a nice touch.  Though you want to tailor the music towards the game your playing, don't work too hard to match it.  Background music in my experience has been as much a distraction as anything, prompting players to pull out their smart phones and decide which music they believe is better for the scene.  Sound effects, though they seem like a good idea are just another thing to keep track of and somewhat cheapen the mood.  When a player fails at something really important in game, having the Price is Right buzzer to punctuate it is funny only once.

Music proves for great inspiration outside the game though, I usually put together an unofficial soundtrack when I'm piecing games together, just something to inspire me while I'm creating encounters and story work.  And for players, there's no reason why a character shouldn't have their own theme song!

Again, media like images and sound can be a one of your greatest tools for immersion, but just as easily become your greatest distraction.  External media is also just another thing to keep track of outside the normal details you have to remember for your game (especially if you're the host!)

Ultimatly, immersion comes down to your players.  You can enforce rules and add tools to help get folks into character, but if they feel like chatting about work and topics other then goblin slaying to blow off steam, there's not alot you can do to stop them. Again, the best thing to do is to let them get it out of their system, don't fight them to lead them back to the game.  After a few minutes, everyone will remember what they're there for and want to get rolling.  Frequent breaks and giving your players time to chat before getting started also helps to alleviate non-game related banter.  Listeners recognize a great tale when they are free to, not when it's forced upon them, then it becomes a lecture.

In closing, truely authentic immersion is the greatest gift a storyteller can give to one of their listeners and vice  versa.  Imagine someone telling you the tale of Henry of York, a young Sword for Hire with a shadowy past, or Mika the Bard searching the world for ancient tales and lessons past, or Wren the Sorcerer, seeking fame, fortune, and most of all, a good time.  Imagine being told their tales and when the tale is done you remember them like you were there, "like it was a dream, but it seemed so real".  These memories and the lessons contained within are the gifts we storytellers share with the world.  Humanity's most potent legacy is The Story, and every last man, woman, and child has a tale to tell.

Share your stories, but remember that when others are sharing to listen and let yourself be swept up in it, you might just learn something.