StupidRanger.com

Behind the Screen: It may be junk to some...

2008-05-16T00:44:00.003-05:00

I was in the basement tonight moving around some of my gaming stuff and I came across a few oddities:

The Random d30

Also known as the "sling bullet", I got one of these from a random cup of dice from the Chessex booth at GenCon in my earlier years. I don't really know what its good for, but it does have the uncanny ability to appear in all its purple glory in random locations throughout our gaming space. Now that we're in epic levels, maybe it is time to start using it as a damage die.

The Lone Skeleton

I don't know if it was a promo or just a random miniature that fell out of the box away from its fellows, but there's a Skeleton miniature that seems to find its way to the bottom of my bookbag, or he'll occasionally show up to jab me in the foot unexpectedly during gaming sessions.

I should make a t-shirt that says "Danger! Severe Skeleton Damage." That'd be great.

Ancient Documentation of Worlds Past

I have a bad habit of taking notes that make plenty of sense at the time, but end up being strangely arcane snips of text like "three yellow amethysts open the device" or "75 +2 daggers". Occasionally, I will find something that grants some vague context to a certain part of a past campaign but this certainly speaks to a need for more organization on my part.

I've given passing thought to learning a form of shorthand so I can actually keep real notes during a session and not be all distracted writing, so maybe these notes won't lack so much context in the future.

My co-DM does not suffer from this problem, when he documents something I usually get a 10 page story complete with good punctuation, maps, and details. He's just better than me in that regard!

Sharing some "Getting Started" Advice

2008-05-15T00:01:00.001-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks, the D&D Nerd has posted some great articles on D&D for Beginners. Regardless of whether you are introducing new players to 3.5 or waiting for 4E, these are some great articles to help explain the fundamentals and get new players into the game.

I encourage you to check out these articles if you are new to the game, or share them with someone who is.

D&D for Beginnings - Roleplaying 101

D&D for Beginners - Understanding Dice Notation

D&D for Beginners - Player vs. Character Knowledge

Beginner's Guide to Creating a D&D Character

Enjoy!

Another Post About Nothing

2008-05-14T10:45:00.001-05:00

This comic about Seinfeld characters playing D&D (mirror here, it's getting Dugg) reminded me very much of this post on Seinfeldian magic items I did awhile back.

Seinfeld was never my favorite show in the universe, but I did watch it now and then and it did get me thinking a little this morning -- rarely a character shows up on that show that isn't put under a microscope and all their weird little idiosyncrasies examined in detail (and usually poked with a cattle prod, causing hilarity to ensue). I like it when D&D characters enjoy that same kind of character development. I frequently like it much more than I do the main plot of the story, which I'm sure is the source of at least six or seven aneurysms in Dante and the other DMs I've played with.

To wit: my favorite sessions are usually the first two or three, when the crap hasn't hit the fan yet and we're getting to know everyone, followed closely by the "break" sessions in the story where we usually follow one character's personal story (which may or may not be woven into the main story). But barring those weird times when we're all arguing about which direction to go because we can't figure out the clues laid before us, those sessions where we're not doing anything particularly "useful" per se are what I really look forward to, especially with a new character to play.

Making a character that has some strange personal idiosyncrasies, in addition to making everyday roleplay with your character more interesting, may have an impact on everyone's lives (good or bad!) in much the same way that the folks on Seinfeld frequently have misadventures because they're really freaking neurotic. I mean, they devoted half an episode to Kramer trying to defend himself from deadly birthday wishes. And I was enraptured.

I'm a believer in that the small stuff can be every bit as interesting as the epic. Characters should be more than a bunch of combat stat blocks! The difficulty, of course, is that as you get higher in level, the monsters you fight are optimized to be a challenge to people who are prepared to fight them. On several occasions (but especially with Bat Loaf), I've picked spells and items that weren't particularly combat-friendly and it cost me. It's just a fact of life that the vast, vast majority of D&D campaigns revolve around stuff killing other stuff and you need to keep that in mind before you go too overboard. If you don't, you'll quickly find yourself frustrated week after week.

But don't abandon the fact that you have a character to play. DM's -- let them! And try not to dogpile in the end battle on the guy that picked Percussion to give a little atmosphere to his nightly trysts with the barmaids. Dante.

Three Questions: Round 2 (resisting the urge to write "Electric Bugaloo")

2008-05-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

Since the last one of these went so well, I thought we'd have a nearing-midweek Three Questions and see how it does in Prime Time. The rules are the same... treat this like a blog quiz, feel free to redistribute or just answer below by adding a comment.

Please notice: if you do choose to answer these questions on your own blog, drop us a line and let us know... we'll collect the links that arrive, some of the more colorful comment responses, and some of our own insights for a later post to be completed Whenever We Feel Like It (probably soon).

Without further adieu, the three questions:

What is your go-to character class, and why?
Have you ever played a pen and paper RPG remotely via the Internet, and how did that go for you?
Has someone ever been expelled from your gaming group, and why? (Change names to protect the innocent! We will not be held accountable for any skullduggery!)

Take whatever space you want to answer... the intertubes are large and wide and can withstand the extra kilobytes of text.

Remember, with answers come insight!

Ode to the Roleplaying Mom...

2008-05-12T01:40:00.003-05:00

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought it best to say a few words about your character's mother. (No, this isn't going to be a series of "your character's momma is so fat" jokes...)

Sometimes nurturing, sometimes gone...

Often, your character's mother will fall into two categories: the nurturing type that readily awaits any update from their all-grown-up child, or sadly, she is dead and gone. Very rarely will she have some sort of mental illness or be the cold standoffish type.

This is where this post could diverge into a valuable discussion on how to give your character's mother some interesting characteristics, but I think I'll leave that one for when I'm in a less irreverent mood.

Another interesting thing about your character's mother: your arch-rival always knows where she is, and given the opportunity will capture her and hold her hostage. For this reason, I recommend your character giving ol' Mom a very valuable gift, if she is still among the living.

A necklace of fireballs, when you love her enough to give her the ability to do 10d6 damage. You know... to keep her safe from interlopers. Also, a few lessons on how to use it might not hurt so she doesn't incinerate her sewing circle showing it off. And sending her a letter from time to time wouldn't kill you, would it?

I'm Totally an Awesome Dragon

2008-05-09T00:15:00.000-05:00

I found this way-cool quiz to tell which dragon you are over at DungeonMastering:

Sun Dragon

In the war between good and evil, types take the side of the noble and good.
When it comes to the powers of Chaos vs. those of Law and Order, your inner dragon walks a fine line between Law and Chaos.
As far as magical tendancies, Your inner dragon has the ability to conquer the world of magic, but it will not be easy.
During combat situations, whether by spells or by claw, your inner dragon will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Dragon Description:

During its adolescent stages, a Sun Dragon's body begins to excrete an oily substance through it's skin which burns slowly over time, like napalm. When it reaches this age, the Dragon is ignited by it's elders. Sun Dragons are totally immune to fire.

After it is ignited, the Sun Dragon's flames will continue to blaze for the whole of the dragon's natural life span. Sun Dragons are extremely fierce in combat. The Sun Dragon is among the noblest breed of dragonkind.They are revered both for their ferocity in combat and their great wisdom.

Behind the Screen: The End-Game Party...

2008-05-08T01:44:00.003-05:00

I wish I could cite the specific source on this one (chime in if anyone recognizes it), but I remember reading a very interesting idea that suggested throwing a actual party with cake and general non-gaming merriment to denote the end of a campaign.

I like this idea for a lot of reasons (I mean, who doesn't like a party?), however I have the good fortune of having a tight-knit group of gamers in our squadron. We regularly get together on non-gaming nights to play Rock Band and hang out, however the non-roleplaying "partying" tends to peak when we've actively not roleplayed for awhile.

As Stupid Ranger has previously noted, we are in the middle of one of the more pronounced gaming droughts that we've had lately due to busy schedules and the dreaded Real Life, which happens to be at least a CR 30 these days for most of us. That means our next "session" will probably consist of vast amounts of pizza, music, and hilarity but likely very little actual plot progression.

Situations like this leave me a little dry on the whole end-of-campaign party front... we'd likely have to do something akin to a destination resort to muster up more of a party than we're likely to have when our group gets back together! I'm exaggerating a lot there, but it will be fairly difficult to differentiate an end-of-campaign event from our standard fare.

If anyone has any clever ideas for putting the big red bow on a major plotline, I'd love to hear it! For those of you that regularly host the end-game party, tell us your story! What do you normally do to make it special?

Behind the Screen: Inspiration from an unlikely source...

2008-05-07T00:48:00.003-05:00

A thousand apologies for the lack of a meaningful post yesterday. With the ISP troubles, Stupid Ranger being on the road, and Vanir still taking care of junior we were somewhat out of options. Ah well, water under the bridge as they say...

Throw up the horns?

Well, probably not. Tonight I want to talk again about unlikely sources for roleplaying ideas, this time my topic will be classic rock. More directly, classic rock involving The Eagles. You see, the origin for this post comes largely from the alcohol that fueled our Cinco de Mayo celebrations around Stupid Ranger Central and my cousin, who exhibited wisdom beyond his years by recommending that we put some Eagles on to pass the time.

Several hours go by, and the mixture of beer and Don Henley vocals started to formulate into notions about Witchy Women, what lies along Seven Bridges Road, and whether or not love can truly keep us alive. I think the colorful vocals are what lent me toward campaign ideas, most notably during Witchy Woman and Hotel California... the portrait that is painted by these lyrics beg to find their way into a one-shot campaign for me.

Who knows, sometime soon these ideas may come into fruition... the only other artist that immediately springs to mind as one that constantly emits campaign ideas is Meat Loaf, but I'm sure Vanir will be along any time to explain how Meat Loaf is more of a characters icon than he is a DM's icon.

For those of you that enjoy morals to the story, we'll go with "don't hesitate to look for campaign ideas in unlikely places" and leave it at that.

ISP acting up...

2008-05-06T01:39:00.002-05:00

This is just a notice that our local internet service provider is acting up, and due to the spotty service today's post will be delayed a bit.

Check back in several hours and we will attempt something a bit more complete and topical, until then please bear with us!

Behind the Screen: Spring Cleaning Your Campaign...

2008-05-05T00:17:00.002-05:00

Stupid Ranger and I took a bit of a weekend getaway this weekend, and on our return trip I got bitten by the need to Spring Clean and get some of those tasks done that I've been putting over during the colder months (including previous cold months that have occurred years ago).

Out with the old...

As the weather gets warm (at least, in our part of the world) this year, take the opportunity to spruce up your own campaign. Got some old, tired plot point cluttering up your guest bedroom? Chuck it out, replace it with something interesting or at the very least different.

Being a fairly analytical nerd, I prefer to make lists. If you are similarly inclined, I highly recommend the classic "Pros and Cons" list focused on elements of your campaign. Is your story going well, everyone engaged? Pro. Too many powerful magic items or cohorts cramping your style? Con.

After you've got a prioritized list, take the top two items from your Con list and come up with some ideas how to bring them back toward the other side of the list. I actually like to propose a handful of in-game ideas how to rectify my Cons and then break them out into their own list to try to "crash" the idea, figuring out ways that my players could likely sidestep or derail my provided fixes.

I have previously explored this concept in my Failure Mode and Effects Analysis post, but it bears repeating as I feel this is a very good tool to use when breaking new campaign ground.

Take advantage of the nice weather as an excuse to start sprucing up your gaming sessions!!

The number of the questions shall be three...

2008-05-02T01:15:00.000-05:00

Today we're going to try something new. You've all seen those blog quizzes that ask you a few questions and you can copy and paste your results into your own blog and feel happy about it.

Today, I'm going to ask some questions and everyone is free to either blog your answers and tag someone else on your own blog (a link back would be nice) or you can do it via a comment below.

Have you ever selected a character class purely for the fun of it?
Have you ever picked a weapon or spell for the fun of it instead of the amount of damage it did?
Does your character have any special, non-magical mementos? If so, what are they and how did they get them? If not, why not?

With answers come insight, so feel free to explain your answers as fully as you want. Hopefully as people pile on their answers you might find one or two neat ideas to incorporate into your character or your campaign, depending upon which side of the screen you are on!

A Girl's Best Friend

2008-05-01T01:31:00.000-05:00

With a nod to Vanir for his D&D diaper bag, I'm totally stealing his idea to bring you this: the D&D Special Occasion Purse. This isn't just any purse, it's one of those cute, tiny little purses you only use for special occasions. So, for all the ladies out there, and for those guys who always wondered why even bother with such a tiny little purse, here's my take on things, D&D-style.

Since this is a tiny little purse, and there's a lot of stuff to cram in there, it goes without saying that this is actually a bag of holding; it appears pretty small, but there's plenty of room in there for all kinds of things:

Scroll, Transportation: when that date goes horribly wrong, every girl needs an escape plan.

Wand, Light: because you never want to be stuck in the dark, digging out your keys from the bottom of your purse.

Disguise kit: for touching up your disguise, I mean, make-up.

Goggles of Minute Seeing: because you would never wear your glasses during your date, but you might need them later.

Scroll, Eagle's Spendor: to improve your appearance to impress your date, or improve your date's appearance if he doesn't quite match up to the profile he gave you.

Scroll, Silence: if he talks too much, you can easily shut him up with this.

Scroll, Expeditious Retreat: this one is reserved for those extra special occasions, like weddings, where you didn't really want to be there in the first place so you can get out quickly.

Ten Words can win it all!

2008-04-30T01:35:00.003-05:00

Today our good buddy Phil made us aware of his most current contest, which compels the succinct inner-DM in all of us to conjure ten words to create a campaign plot idea.

Ten short words can give you a great impetus to run a game, a great diversion for fifteen minutes of your workday, or even some fabulous cash-like prizes! Check out the link above for further details, and if you really want to stare into the maw of madness check out the comments, where you will find at least two contest entries by yours truly.

Thanks to Phil for alerting us of this excellent contest, everyone should head over there right now and throw down a few entries!

A Rogue's Guide to Alternagaming...

2008-04-29T01:57:00.003-05:00

Stupid Ranger's post on the recent gaming drought that is plaguing various corners of the Internet seems to have struck a chord.

Lack of Gaming and your local DM

From a DM perspective, the lack of frequency can almost be a blessing because it earns you some precious time to actually plan upcoming sessions or take stock of the good and bad storytelling aspects that have crept into your world.

Lately, my co-DM Kanati and I have been discussing the abject pain and suffering that has been caused by our unseemly ascent into the Epic Levels, and discussing what we would do different if we could turn back time. This is mostly just lamenting and gnashing of teeth, luckily we are within a few short sessions of Campaign's End which (at least to me) is quite welcome.

Musings to pass the time...

In addition to the standard fare of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I've found myself starting to think of some other nerdly pursuits to fill in the gaps where gaming used to go. Developing software for fun (yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am a True Nerd), exploring some other gaming systems/extensions (Mage and the Three Dragon Ante spring to mind), and enjoying the glorious first person high definition violence of my Xbox 360 have all been employed to while away our spare Friday and Saturday nights.

Unfortunately, for me the grind of running the campaign can become a chore. It's usually when nearing this "beg for mercy" stage of plot development that I truly take stock to determine when the best time is to finish up, and I am certain that time is near.

I have some topics to round out the week dealing with further alterna-gaming and some ideas for ending a campaign that I hope you'll like. In the meantime, I'd love to hear how some of you while away your non-roleplaying time and how you know when the point to stop running a campaign has drawn near.

The Great Gaming Drought

2008-04-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

It's been several weeks since we last played, and I'm suffering through the drought of no-gaming. It's a sad, sad state of affairs.

So with all the time I've had on my hands lately, I've found some other diversions:

Wizard of Oz - I am a huge fan of the Sci-Fi Channel's "Tin Man" mini-series, and it has rejuvenated my love of the Oz stories. So I have found (thanks to Amazon) the 15-in-one volume of Oz book. They are good books that make it so easy to escape for a while.
Xanth - I'm also reading through the Xanth novels. A friend of my was telling me that he had recently started reading them, and again, I was reminded of happy days reading those books. So I dug out the few that I had, and starting acquiring more. Oh, so much happiness...
Rock Band - Because, of course, once you've rocked, there's no life without Rock Band. Life is better with the Band.

And, until the drought of gaming ends, I'll be looking for things to keep me occupied and allow me to escape briefly from the crazy world.

Once the drought ends, of course, I'll have new gaming-stuff to post! ;)

The D&D Diaper Bag

2008-04-25T09:45:00.000-05:00

Since recently becoming the father of a rather large and excellent baby boy, I have not had much time to write D&D stuff. Or play D&D. Or play anything aside from "wipe the butt". The first weeks were not easy and took a lot of adjustment. And since I was doing a lot of sitting in a dark nursery burping a newborn trying to figure out how to cope, it wasn't a real surprise when I started to wonder how people in a D&D setting would do things in my position. Thusly, I present to you the fruits of my sleep-deprived brain:

The contents of (the dreaded) D&D DIAPER BAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diapers (of Holding)

Not so much absorbent as they are simply incredibly roomy, these should be changed at least daily lest the baby be tipped in an unfortunate direction rendering one's residence a good likeness of the Augean Stables.

Much like the difference between brands of disposable diapers, Diapers of Disintegration may also be purchased for a premium. Parents who can afford these are reportedly considerably happier.

Scroll - Sleep

As many of these are purchased as one can afford, and they are used on both baby and parents alike.

At least until the FDA (Fantasy Drug Administration) determines whether Sleep spells are habit-forming or have harmful developmental effects on infants. (But they'll just turn around and decide something different two years later anyway.)

Scroll - Unseen Servant

Perfect for when kobolds attack, you specialize in the two-handed sword, and you really need someone to burp the baby.

Scroll - Silence, 10' Radius

Almost as much of a staple as the Sleep spell, this lowers the DC of successfully letting your baby cry himself to sleep by 25. It also temporarily eases the heavy INT,WIS, and Diplomacy penalties on both exhausted parents resulting from bouts of incessant screaming.

Breast Milk Golem

Available only to the very wealthy, this golem has magnificent breasts that lactate upon utterance of a command word. Shrinks to pocket sized when not in use. Tirelessly feeds and burps babies through the night, allowing the parents to sleep. Frequently kept even after children are weaned by adventurers who are single fathers for "sentimental" reasons, though their full functionality is not typically utilized at this point.

Also, I just wanted to say "Breast Milk Golem".

Cloak of Invisibility

Advanced Peek-A-Boo. 'Nuff Said.

DEAR FRIEND...

2008-04-24T01:35:00.002-05:00

My friend Floyd at work has a wife named Tara. She's a stay at home mom, and apparently has a great deal of time on her hands because one of her favorite things to do is to send prank responses to Nigerian email scammers. Every week or so, Floyd comes in with a new story about something completely ridiculous Tara has sent to some poor bastard in a third world country attempting to relieve them of all their money.

Recently, Tara got really sick. And so it was that my sleep-deprived brain concocted a fitting get well card for her to try to make her feel better:

-----------

DEAR FRIEND,

I AM A HIGH PRIEST OF ODIN, THE ALL-FATHER. AS YOU KNOW, THE ALL-FATHER IS VERY DISPLEASED WITH THE DIRECTION THE SONS OF MIDGARD HAVE BEEN TAKING. THERE HAVE BEEN AN UNUSUAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE ARRIVING AT HEL'S DOORSTEP, NEVER HAVING EVEN ENGAGED IN COMBAT WITH THE ENEMY, AND THUSLY COMPLETELY DEVOID OF HONOR AND UNWORTHY TO ENTER VALHALLA. I WRITE THIS TO YOU BECAUSE I AM CERTAIN OF SEVERAL THINGS ABOUT YOU. ONE IS THAT YOU ARE YET UNWORTHY AS WELL AND THIS BOTHERS YOU AS IT WOULD ANY SON OF THE ALL-FATHER. TWO IS THAT YOU, AS A TRUE SON OF THE ALL-FATHER, COULD NEVER ALLOW THE SONS OF MIDGARD TO LANGUISH IN HEL'S FROZEN WASTES FOR ETERNITY.

I COME TO YOU AT THE TURN OF THE TIDE WITH AN OFFER OF FRIENDSHIP AND REDEMPTION. AT THE BASE OF THE TREE OF YGGDRASIL, WE BEGAN CONSTRUCTION OF A GLORIOUS SCHOOL OF BATTLE SO THAT THE SONS OF MIDGARD MIGHT LEARN THE WAYS OF HONORABLE COMBAT AND FIND THEIR WAY TO GLORIOUS VALHALLA WHERE THEY WILL AWAIT GLORIOUS SERVICE TO THE ALL-FATHER DURING RAGNAROK AGAINST THE LOATHSOME VANIR. DAILY THEY WILL ENGAGE IN HONORABLE COMBAT ON THE PLAINS OF ASGARD, PICK UP THEIR SEVERED LIMBS, AND REATTACH THEM BEFORE THE FEAST OF WARRIORS. IT IS THE BEST LIFE FOR A SON OF ODIN. AND NOW YOU CAN HELP.

OUR RECORDS INDICATE THAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY INFIRM AND WOULD NOT BE A SUITABLE CANDIDATE FOR THE BATTLE AGAINST THE FROST-GIANTS. HOWEVER THERE IS STILL SOMETHING YOU CAN DO, AND THE FATE OF MIDGARD DEPENDS ON YOUR COOPERATION SO IN ODIN'S NAME I BEG YOU TO CONSIDER MY WORDS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU MAKE A DECISION. DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ALL-FATHER'S SCHOOL OF BATTLE, A GROUP OF TROLLS CALLING THEMSELVES THE "POLICE" (AGENTS OF LOKI THE TRICKSTER, NO DOUBT!) CAPTURED MANY OF OUR CONSTRUCTION WORKERS AND THROUGH VILE SORCERY WE ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO ACCESS OUR BANK ACCOUNTS.

I HAVE PRAYED FIERCELY TO ODIN EVERY FOURTEEN MINUTES FOR GUIDANCE AND ON THE SEVENTEENTH NIGHT I RECEIVED A VISION OF ODIN RIDING ACROSS THE RAINBOW BRIDGE BIFROST ON HIS 7 LEGGED HORSE SLEIPNR. AS THE ALL-FATHER STREAKED PAST MY UNWORTHY FORM AS SPEEDS NO MORTAL COULD COMPREHEND, HE BELLOWED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO ME IN THE VOICE OF TEN THOUSAND LIONS. IN THIS VISION THE ALL-FATHER ALSO TOLD ME THAT YOU (AND YOUR SIXTEEN MILLION AMERICAN DOLLARS) WOULD BE MIDGARD'S LAST HOPE.

PLEASE RESPOND AS SOON AS YOU CAN AS THE FATE OF ALL MIDGARD RESTS UPON YOUR SHOULDERS. WE WILL DISCUSS THE TERMS OF THIS TRANSACTION, WHICH I AM CERTAIN YOU WILL FIND FAVORABLE AS I HAVE GREAT FAITH IN THE ALL-FATHER'S GRATITUDE AND YOU MAY YET FIND YOURSELF AT THE FEASTING TABLE IN GLORIOUS VALHALLA. I HOPE THE COMING DAYS FIND YOU IN GOOD HEALTH, FOR YOU ARE OF COURSE WELCOME TO ATTEND OUR SCHOOL OF BATTLE (WHICH WILL BE NAMED AFTER YOU) FREE OF CHARGE.

YOURS IN ODIN,

GRISHNAK BUTTERFANG
HIGH PRIEST OF THE ALMIGHTY ALL-FATHER ODIN
HEADMASTER OF THE TARA <name omitted> SCHOOL OF BATTLE REDEMPTION

P.S. GET WELL SOON!!!

----------

Not exactly D&D today, per se, but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway. I really didn't think this was all that weird but Dante is apparently convinced that I've been drinking paint thinner. It's not paint thinner, I have a 1 month old and I haven't been getting much sleep. Same effect, I guess!

Anyway, I hope you feel better soon, Tara.

Funny->Story...

2008-04-23T00:26:00.002-05:00

Our good buddy Phil over at ChattyDM.net posted this great story about how a joke essentially helped shape the story, with the players essentially driving the whole production. This whole tale reminds me of so many memorable moments from our campaigns... I believe that it speaks to what makes roleplaying fundamentally great.

What's funny to you is often funny to everyone else.

People like participating in events that other people value, and funny events are no exception to this rule. If the initial notion of (in this case) a Microwave Ogre gets a laugh around the table, there is usually one or two people within the group that naturally want to carry on that shared experience by perpetuating the joke or heightening it in some way.

In my experience, it usually takes a "plot focused" person at the table in order for that gag to make the leap into campaign material. It usually manifests by the straight man (or woman) saying something to the effect of: "Hey... will any of the townspeople listen if I start telling the story of the Microwave Ogre?" then the bard of the group offers to make a supporting Perform check to influence the crowd.

Behold, shaping of the plot has begun, and that is awesome.

Support this stuff, people!!

Too often, a serious DM will attempt to squash this irreverent behavior. I am usually thrilled when things like this happen because a.) fun stuff rules and b.) I don't have to write stuff the players come up with on their own!

Maybe I should change my handle to Dante, The Lazy DM...

"I'm Missing the Chili Cook-Off!"

2008-04-22T00:01:00.002-05:00

One of my all-time favorite Simpson's episodes, "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer)", was on recently. Watching Homer crazed out on the Merciless Peppers of Quetzaltenango reminded me of some of those crazy times in a campaign when you're not sure what to do, but you're sure it's not what you actually are doing.

"To Make Yourself Complete, You Must Find Your Soulmate"

Sometimes it feels as if the DM has set a seemingly simple but deceptively difficult quest, like Homer's quest to find his soulmate. And often times, we feel unequipped to complete our quest once we learn the true depth of it.

As we embark on this quest, the DM may provide a spirit guide, like Homer's Space Coyote. It might not be a guide, per se, but some sort of help: a rumor, a prophecy, a random bit of knowledge. So while the quest may seem difficult, at least we have a bread crumb trail to get started.

"This Is Just Your Memory, I Can't Give You Any New Information"

The biggest obstacle to be overcome in these types of quests is the Great Doubt. This is the time when you're sure you've missed something, and you don't know what, but you refuse to move forward until you figure out the "missing piece."

There are two reasons I feel this is the biggest obstacle. First, it is easy to be blinded from that missing piece because you are focused on what you already know. For instance, we recently were quested to save the world, and we had figured out that meant we had to overcome the evil goddess. It wasn't until much later that we realized (via a Bardic Knowledge check) that the goddess could be killed through a specific ritual. All along, we had known that we had to stop her, but we hadn't thought specifically about how that could be accomplished. By sitting down and discussing the goal as a group, you're more likely to figure out that missing bit of information and overcome this obstacle.

The second reason this can be a big obstacle is much more devious; sometimes there isn't a missing piece to be found. This is a difficult situation because of the mental agony associated with it. You don't know what to do, and you don't know how to figure out what to do. You've interviewed everyone you can find, you've researched every old tome in every library you can find, you've even tried consulting with the gods. And now you're stuck... because there's no new information to find... there is no "missing piece." Well, that's the devious part: this piece isn't missing, it's misplaced. The DM is being devious and wanting you to piece together all the obscure bits of information from back to the beginning of the campaign into some coherent, usable body of knowledge. To overcome this particular obstacle, make friends with the historian in the group and review everything that has happened to you since you all met in that tavern.

"The Mind Is Always Chattering Away With A Thousand Thoughts At Once"

To succeed in your quest, you have to overcome the Great Doubt. You have to calm your mind and divorce yourself from the emotional entanglement that comes with your quest. You'll successfully reach the end of your quest if you take a few minutes of quiet reflection on your goal, and lay off the insanity peppers.

Of Castles and Keeps...

2008-04-21T01:01:00.003-05:00

I began conceiving this post as a means to discuss the different living arrangements that your characters can undertake throughout the course of a campaign. Our campaigns have varied from purely nomadic "going where the action is" style living arrangements all the way to having a "home base" city where our characters would return to in between episodes.

This got me thinking about taverns, castles, keeps, and the like... and unfortunately I couldn't come up with something interesting to discuss relative to D&D or roleplaying.

So instead, its time for a confession.

I've always wanted to live in a castle. Ever since I was adult enough to have to contemplate home-ownership, this desire has existed. I've even gone so far as to research floor plans, building techniques, and actual ways to make this dream into a reality.

Interestingly, I'm not the only one that has this desire. In fact, a couple of SCA enthusiasts put up a website detailing the construction of their residential castle, from digging of the foundation all the way to the day they moved in. I have to appreciate their dedication to their dream and actually hatching it into reality, I hope someday that SR and I will be able to follow suit.

Strangely, I can honestly say that all of this doesn't come from the part of my being that enjoys roleplaying. For a long while, I wanted to be an architect and I have a great appreciation for interesting architecture, and I think that this drives this passion more than wanting to pretend in some recess of my brain that I am some duke or lord ruling over his land.

The couple that I linked above are into the SCA, and for that reason desired some level of historical period accuracy. That doesn't necessarily trip my trigger, as I have found from a few other hobbies that detail oriented things quickly pass into the "not fun" category. I just want something that looks and feels like a castle, but has as many of the amenities of a finished modern day home.

I suppose I should relate this in some way to roleplaying.

About the only thing that I can do to relate this whole post to any type of roleplaying is this: embrace the things that motivate you creatively. If that's wanting to live in a modern-day castle, or dressing up and attending a SCA event, or roleplaying or LARPing... go for it. Don't be ashamed of it, don't let criticism or naysayers dampen your spirits. From a roleplaying/campaign perspective, try something that falls in line with your creative passion and you may find a fertile ground for new and exciting material.

Just go for it!

A Bad Day In the Life of a Rogue, Part 2

2008-04-18T00:01:00.004-05:00

Hiding back in the shadows of the cell, propped as comfortably as possible in a corner with my legs stretched out in front of me, I contemplated my toes and tried to imagine how the day could get worse. My best lock pick had been confiscated and was currently locked in the "illicit items" drawer. And I was trapped in this cell with no idea how long I would be here.

I heard the quiet jangle of his keys, and I knew the constable, settled at his desk, was snoozing in the calm of the afternoon. Great. I was locked away, and the only person who knew was taking a nap. If only that urchin hadn't found my lock pick...

I must have dozed off too in the peace of the afternoon because the next thing I remember was being awoken by the deputy as he brought a basket to my cell. "Complements of the mayor. She didn't want ya to be hungry." The mayor? I couldn't recall ever hearing of the mayor sending dinner to anyone in jail, but I wasn't going to ask questions; the mayor's cook made the best bread. Seated on the floor with the bounty of my basket dinner spread out on a blanket around me, it was almost possible to forget the miserable events of the day.

If I used my imagination, it was like a nighttime picnic. But my pleasant alternate reality lasted only as long as my meal, and then I was reminded of how bitterly lonely I was.

Around this time every evening, the town's residents gathered in the main square to enjoy a concert. If I sat quietly and focused, I could hear strains of the music. Of course, with the mayor out of town, the music wasn't quite as spectacular, but the other musically-inclined residents were still entertaining. Even without the mayor and her lute, the show went on. Without the mayor.....

A thought sparked in the back of my mind. How would the mayor have known I was in jail to send me a basket dinner... when she was supposedly out of town visiting her family. It had been a set-up!

This day just kept getting better and better.

Choose Your Own Adventure...

2008-04-17T01:35:00.004-05:00

Our good buddy Yax over at DungeonMastering posted up a whopping 83 free D&D Adventures. I don't know whether it was the boldly advertised "adventures" in the title or the massive amounts of caffeine that I have ingested tonight, but it got me to thinking about the old school "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series.

I remember that one such book named "Space Vampire" (by Edward Packard) used to scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. It wasn't the storyline, per se, but there were several "failure" illustrations that showed your gaunt dessicated corpse after the Space Vampire did his thing. Judith Mitchell certainly had the "creepy enough to seep into my dreams" illustration thing down.

Write your own adventure, or use a stock adventure?

This is one of the eternal questions, and it comes down to matter of preference. Personally, I find it generally easier for me to invest myself in a storyline or plot point if I create it from the ground up. I tend to either forget (I'm not much of a note-taker) or fail miserably at adapting the stock adventure elements to my own storyline, so I tend to prefer hand-rolling my own modular adventures.

There was a small part of me that was somewhat compelled to write my own "Choose Your Own Adventure" book when I was a kid, and I have to believe that was some of my proto-DM tendencies wanting to be released to the world.

Has anyone else been otherwise inspired by these books, or am I just particularly insane for keeping a special place in my heart for them?

The Trivial Pursuit of Spell Selection

2008-04-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend, Dante & I participated in a trivia contest for charity. On teams of eight, we answered questions (or attempted to, anyway) from 8 different categories. In our post-game discussions, it occurred to me that preparing for a trivia contest is a lot like selecting your spells.

Prepare for the Unknown

For trivia or for spells, there's usually two schools of thought that prevail. One, specialize. Two, jack of all trades. Specializing, you take as many spells of the same type; if you're a cleric, you might take several offensive spells, or you might take several healing/restoration spells. Option two, play the jack of all trades: take a little bit of every kind of spell and hope that the ones you pick are ones that will be useful.

The Power of a Team

When you have multiple trivia players, or multiple spell casters, you may have better opportunities to cover the requirements. Pretty obvious, huh? The more people you have, the more chances that someone will know that obscure bit of knowledge or the spell that will make the difference in that battle.

Harness the Team Mentality

If you're trying to conquer the trivia challenge or the Undead Lord, it helps to be coordinated with your other spell casters. Try to all follow the same preparation method; there is usually greater success if you are all specialists or all jacks of all trade. Try to coordinate your spells so they span the greatest range of possibilities. If you plan it right (and the other teams are not as smart as you), you might win that trophy!

Is True Dungeon LARPing? My answer: no, but close!

2008-04-15T00:23:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I covered a topic that had been burning in my brain for quite some time: a discussion on Live Action Roleplaying and its place in our hobby. I feel somewhat vindicated in my stance on the matter after hearing the articulate commentary provided by you all out there in the blogosphere, however there is often another tangent to this discussion that always seems to come up when I talk about this with members of our group.

True Dungeon: The LARP Grey Market

I have had the good fortune to play most (if not all) of the incarnations of True Dungeon over the years. Often, when I discuss the topic of LARPing Vanir readily points out this fact to me and tries to make the argument that True Dungeon is essentially normalized LARPing for the masses.

I respectfully choose to disagree with my good friend on this point, and here's why. LARPing, by its very definition requires some aspect of roleplaying. Hopefully those of you that have been through True Dungeon can back me up on this point; there is little to no actual roleplaying taking place within the Marriott Ballroom walls by the players.

The non-player staff does a pretty good job of roleplaying, but due to time constraints roleplaying is usually a luxury that dies the moment the sounding carillon chimes to usher you down to the Pits of Doom. Do you get to act out character roles? Yes, but there is a distinct difference between this and actual roleplaying. Actual roleplaying would dictate that you have given your assigned character a background, personality, and motivation... none of this exists in the incarnations of True Dungeon that I have played.

The closest you get to any real personality for the players is when the bard of the group is forced to sing in order to maintain their bardsong effects, and strains of off-key (sorry SR) "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" doesn't qualify in the range of effective roleplay.

Why I classified this a Grey Market

When you buy your True Dungeon ticket, you are purchasing a dungeon crawling experience. The tavern that they make available and the in-character staff that serves drinks, provides orientation, and adds flavor is very adept at evoking the feeling of Greyhawk and in some cases are very good at playing the roles that they have been assigned (or created, I don't know how that works).

This makes it a very realistic D&D style experience, and honestly its why I love True Dungeon. I love the look and feel of actually being within a game, as if I am a life sized miniature with stats (please, withhold jokes there guys). It's like being on the edge of LARPing with a set of opera glasses watching the show, but with this show audience participation in the midst of the Dungeon isn't possible.

To me, its an in-between experience for us pencil and paper roleplayers and the world of LARP.

A frank discussion about LARPing...

2008-04-14T02:54:00.005-05:00

Today I'd like to discuss one of the more interesting areas of the nerdly arts, the world of Live Action Roleplaying (or LARPing). I must admit, the strangeness of costumed folk at conventions that claim very fervently to be some character that only they and their friends know about is considerably unsettling to me. The level of passion that LARPers bring to their hobby isn't the only thing that bothers me...

Disclaimer: I have never LARPed before. It frightens me, and I apologize in advance if you are offended by the following.

Those of you that know me or have been paying even the slightest bit of attention to some of my posts know that I enjoy high quality props (both relating to films and relating to my campaigns). Unfortunately, the examples of craftsmanship in costuming and propwork have run the range from hilarious to extremely unsettling (most seem to be executed using Wal-Mart bargain rack fabric in roughly 36 minutes). That, and the penchant for tights and ill-fitting bosom supporting devices is intolerable, and don't lie to me and tell me you don't wear them, I've seen them with my own eyes at GenCon!

Heavan help you if you actually stop to ask someone who LARPs what the giant sword that they are carrying is supposed to be, or what (incorrectly assumed movie) character they are dressed as... because you're going to get a dissertation on the providence of said item that the person or someone they knew made up and nobody else knows about. This is usually followed by the Nerd Sound, usually a "nyahh" vocalization to indicate extreme satisfaction. I make it too (about other topics), so I'm not throwing stones... simply pointing out a fact. That sound is often used as punctuation when fulfilling ones nerdly genetic imperative.

I tend to lump LARPing in the upper echelon of what society assumes when it thinks of roleplaying "nerds." It is clearly within my personality to be mortally embarrassed if I was ever photographed LARPing and said photos were shown to my family/coworkers/dog. It is simply past my threshold of acceptable levels of nerding out.

That being said...

The rest of my disdainful perspective comes from ignorance. If there are any LARPers in our midst, I would love a few words about why you love your hobby and if it can be related to a classic roleplaying experience I would love to understand your point of view more.

Many stories exist on the Internet regarding LARPing and some of the unique characters (both real-world and created) that have existed in this genre, and I am curious what segment of our readership have experienced this type of roleplaying first hand.

Educate me! Share your stories!

If you agree with my general perspective, lets hear from you too!

(NOTE: I would prefer this not become an "is True Dungeon LARPing" thread. We will save *that* topic for later on this week.)