Well being the responsible person that I am, rather than work on the adventure I have planned in two weeks I'm on here. Go me. I imagine I would have a literary output matching Tolstoy if I didn't have an Internet connection. I sit down to write and then after a few sentences I'm either typing "Screw Flanders" over and over again in frustration because I don't know what to do or I'm looking at pictures of Suicide Girls going, "huh".
Despite my best efforts I usually only work when it's crunch time. The motivation of failing to complete the adventure and having my friends give me silent Lee Trevino-esque shakes of the head over my failure to deliver a good game being the primary force kicking me into motion. I am very much a creature of Newton's First Law; and good luck getting my bloated carcass going when it doesn't want to.
I have nothing but respect for game designers. It's work brotha, and grinding, oh so grinding work at that. Ideas don't flow from you like some sort of divine conduit onto the paper. There is a force of will involved that I have a hard time lassoing, a willingness to hammer through the lack of ideas to get what you want. I hop around from project to project like a methed out squirrel without completing them hoping that some finger of providence will smack me in the head and give me the ability to slap pure nerdy gold onto the table, but I think I'm going to be waiting a long time for that to happen.
It's kind of more of a bummer when you do actually complete something and work up the cojones to send it off in an attempt to get your crap published and it falls flat on its face. Honestly the rejection letters aren't too bad. They're usually at least polite in telling you no. It's the no response that kills, that heavy feeling that you've crapped the tub so bad that you're not even worth sending a bugger off letter to. And then you start reading the stuff that did get accepted and your inner Alex Forrest starts to bubble up to the surface, wondering how the hell that could get the nod while the work of unrivaled genius you rattled off is now wedged between a puke stained shirt and a copy of Chunky Asses in a garbage scow.
Well to be fair I'm probably not cut out to make a living being a writer. I'd just blow the money on a chariot drawn by ten midgets dressed like cowboys or something equally weird. And I'd be spending most of my time rubbing it in certain people's faces, cause I'm classy that way. It's kind a rotten thing to admit to oneself that one of your primary motivations is being a ball of spite and pettiness but there you go. Still though, doesn't mean I can't try.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
It's a Fire Mister, And All Fires Are Bad
There comes a time as a player and a DM you'll run into a disaster game. Sometimes it comes on slow and grinding; the initial rush of the start of a game giving way a sinking feeling that you're watching the wave about to broadside the Poseidon. A quick look around shows that your friends are either starring at cell phones or making phallic symbols with dice piles. This is not a good thing.
Sometimes you'll know right away, and the ominous words of the Grail Knight will echo in your skull, and the game you're about to play is a born dog. It might be that the DM has just waxed poetical about how their campaign world is like Byron meets Yeats meets Stephine Meyer, or perhaps has to explain why they have a plywood box with four eye screws dominating their living room (don't ask). Regardless, you've just stepped into a mine field.
It can be a hard spot to be in. Most of the time the person running the game or playing in it is your friend, and real feelings can be hurt when explaining why you'd rather be pounding drywall screws into your forearm then play at that game. As a DM it can be easier. Talking to your players and finding out why they're bored out of their skulls can be an ego bruiser, but a necessary evil. Sometimes what you have planned and what they want is simply incompatible. If what you want to run isn't what they had in mind then hash it out and see if you can salvage things. If not put the game into the freezer and wait till you have more compatible players for what you have in mind. Sometimes its the brutal truth you simply suck as a DM. This could mean a change of system or needing to go back to the drawing board, or hanging up the shield.
As a player though, things can be trickier. You've agreed to play in this person's game and now you find yourself in a mudpit wasting your valuable time. If you can salvage a glimmer of hope from the game then stick around a few sessions. Everyone has off days and your DM might just be having one. Most of the time simply talking to the DM can resolve a lot of your issues, be it the game or perhaps a fellow player you're not compatible with. And sometimes the only answer is to walk away. Remember: it's a game and meant to be enjoyable. Don't lose your mind over something you're not having fun at.
If nothing else learn from why the game went down in flames. Some of the best lessons I've learned as a RPG player have come from train wrecks. Pay attention and try to avoid the screw ups that you've either committed in the past or what the DM did. If you're starting a game with a group of people that you know prefer a combat heavy game and have seen them get glass eyed and bored when another DM tried to run them through his version of the Age of Innocence, tailor your stuff accordingly. Take advantage of every opportunity to improve yourself as a RPG gamer, even if it's a disaster game.
Sometimes you'll know right away, and the ominous words of the Grail Knight will echo in your skull, and the game you're about to play is a born dog. It might be that the DM has just waxed poetical about how their campaign world is like Byron meets Yeats meets Stephine Meyer, or perhaps has to explain why they have a plywood box with four eye screws dominating their living room (don't ask). Regardless, you've just stepped into a mine field.
It can be a hard spot to be in. Most of the time the person running the game or playing in it is your friend, and real feelings can be hurt when explaining why you'd rather be pounding drywall screws into your forearm then play at that game. As a DM it can be easier. Talking to your players and finding out why they're bored out of their skulls can be an ego bruiser, but a necessary evil. Sometimes what you have planned and what they want is simply incompatible. If what you want to run isn't what they had in mind then hash it out and see if you can salvage things. If not put the game into the freezer and wait till you have more compatible players for what you have in mind. Sometimes its the brutal truth you simply suck as a DM. This could mean a change of system or needing to go back to the drawing board, or hanging up the shield.
As a player though, things can be trickier. You've agreed to play in this person's game and now you find yourself in a mudpit wasting your valuable time. If you can salvage a glimmer of hope from the game then stick around a few sessions. Everyone has off days and your DM might just be having one. Most of the time simply talking to the DM can resolve a lot of your issues, be it the game or perhaps a fellow player you're not compatible with. And sometimes the only answer is to walk away. Remember: it's a game and meant to be enjoyable. Don't lose your mind over something you're not having fun at.
If nothing else learn from why the game went down in flames. Some of the best lessons I've learned as a RPG player have come from train wrecks. Pay attention and try to avoid the screw ups that you've either committed in the past or what the DM did. If you're starting a game with a group of people that you know prefer a combat heavy game and have seen them get glass eyed and bored when another DM tried to run them through his version of the Age of Innocence, tailor your stuff accordingly. Take advantage of every opportunity to improve yourself as a RPG gamer, even if it's a disaster game.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Though It Be But Small, It is Fierce
Well my usual track record of poorly maintaining any sort of blog continues. Ah well. Saturday we had a smaller group of players than usual meaning the meat grinder, ass destroying dungeon I had been working on for the past few weeks was probably going to be a bad idea. So after an afternoon of hellish, neurotic introspection I quickly slapped together a two hour adventure. And hey, the players really seemed to enjoy themselves.
The tendency exists, especially when you have a group as cat-herdingly likely to get together as ours, to try and get a five to six hour game in. But such a game can also lead to boredom, which in the world of hand held wireless internet, can lead to looking at cat pictures and porn at the gaming table, which leads to the ADD, porn addicted DM to stop to look, which force feeds the Ouroboros of suck that you find yourself in. The quick pickup game can be an enthusiasm shot to the arm your game needs. It's a chance to try little quirky ideas that you might not be able to shoe horn into a large adventure. It can also be a chance to work out your free-form muscles, especially if you tend to be a DM that over plots things.
I myself use them for this. I tend to over plan and overwrite when prepping an adventure, which leads to the infrequency I run games. It's a good exercise to say, "OK. This is the situation. Let the players work through this and I'll respond in kind." While I don't endorse loosey-goosey games all the time since they can lead to players milling around confused, its at times better to run that then nothing.
For example, the last game the party was given the task by Dwarven Mr Miyagi as voiced by Scruffy the Janitor to retrieve a crystal that is needed to open a door into the dungeon I had planned. It was being used as a bit of bling by an ice oni that had taken over a tribe of frost giants. Now what I did was work out a few set pieces and design the giant camp and think to myself a few ideas of what the players *might* do to get in and get the gem key so I wasn't completely unprepared.
It went well. The party managed to negotiate with one of the giants for entry, who as a whole weren't real thrilled with the sadistic oni running things. Now the party could have attacked the giants, they could have tried to hide from them and try to sneak into the camp, they could have done any number of things I didn't anticipate. But the cool thing is the party got to work things out themselves rather then have it rammed down their throats. It lead to a fun, challenging fight with the oni and a couple of his goons and some fun role playing moments that might not have happened with a larger group.
You don't have to have a smaller game be free form. I simply prefer my more free form games to be smaller since the shorter the time the less chances of you doing a royal pooch screw. Free form games are fun, but are a juggling session. The longer you have those balls in the air the better chance you have of dropping them. You can run a very fine, well prepared shorter game and I have done so many many times. But don't be afraid of improvisation.
Running a game with little prep is great exercise every now and then and will help your DMing in the long run. Thinking on your feet is an acquired trait and has little to do with how smart you are. Some of the smartest people I know are horrible at it. It's something you're only going to learn by putting yourself out there. It's the nature of the beast and it's best to get used to it. Now before we get ahead of ourselves let me caution don't step out cold into the game. Even the best comedians have a lot of their material pre-memorized. Sitting and thinking through as to what you think your players might do is a very good idea so you're not caught completely flat footed. Understand though that nine times out of ten they're going to do something you didn't think of, and a lot of times the best thing you can respond with is, "Yes."
It's a tendency of DMs to panic when an idea comes up they didn't think of. I'm as guilty of this as anybody. But I've learned if the idea isn't hand roasting hot dogs stupid ("I wanna hug this clearly trapped statue! Pass the Buffalo Sauce! Woogadity WOO!") go with it. Stop a second and think it through when you're shooting an idea down. Are you doing it because it's a moronic idea or because you didn't think of it and your knee-jerk reaction is shooting it down? Trust me; going with it leads to much better free-form games that your players will like a heck of a lot more.
Well this post kind of drifted off subject but ah well. As a final note I am currently working on a story, which a lot of my wanting to write mojo has gone into. If there is any interest outside of the people that have already seen it I'll post some of it here to see what people think. As always please feel free to leave comments so that the black hole is my ego can be fed. I'm telling you, when this sucker gets a 100 views I'm going to post a video of my polypy self dancing a jitterbug. Just cause.
The tendency exists, especially when you have a group as cat-herdingly likely to get together as ours, to try and get a five to six hour game in. But such a game can also lead to boredom, which in the world of hand held wireless internet, can lead to looking at cat pictures and porn at the gaming table, which leads to the ADD, porn addicted DM to stop to look, which force feeds the Ouroboros of suck that you find yourself in. The quick pickup game can be an enthusiasm shot to the arm your game needs. It's a chance to try little quirky ideas that you might not be able to shoe horn into a large adventure. It can also be a chance to work out your free-form muscles, especially if you tend to be a DM that over plots things.
I myself use them for this. I tend to over plan and overwrite when prepping an adventure, which leads to the infrequency I run games. It's a good exercise to say, "OK. This is the situation. Let the players work through this and I'll respond in kind." While I don't endorse loosey-goosey games all the time since they can lead to players milling around confused, its at times better to run that then nothing.
For example, the last game the party was given the task by Dwarven Mr Miyagi as voiced by Scruffy the Janitor to retrieve a crystal that is needed to open a door into the dungeon I had planned. It was being used as a bit of bling by an ice oni that had taken over a tribe of frost giants. Now what I did was work out a few set pieces and design the giant camp and think to myself a few ideas of what the players *might* do to get in and get the gem key so I wasn't completely unprepared.
It went well. The party managed to negotiate with one of the giants for entry, who as a whole weren't real thrilled with the sadistic oni running things. Now the party could have attacked the giants, they could have tried to hide from them and try to sneak into the camp, they could have done any number of things I didn't anticipate. But the cool thing is the party got to work things out themselves rather then have it rammed down their throats. It lead to a fun, challenging fight with the oni and a couple of his goons and some fun role playing moments that might not have happened with a larger group.
You don't have to have a smaller game be free form. I simply prefer my more free form games to be smaller since the shorter the time the less chances of you doing a royal pooch screw. Free form games are fun, but are a juggling session. The longer you have those balls in the air the better chance you have of dropping them. You can run a very fine, well prepared shorter game and I have done so many many times. But don't be afraid of improvisation.
Running a game with little prep is great exercise every now and then and will help your DMing in the long run. Thinking on your feet is an acquired trait and has little to do with how smart you are. Some of the smartest people I know are horrible at it. It's something you're only going to learn by putting yourself out there. It's the nature of the beast and it's best to get used to it. Now before we get ahead of ourselves let me caution don't step out cold into the game. Even the best comedians have a lot of their material pre-memorized. Sitting and thinking through as to what you think your players might do is a very good idea so you're not caught completely flat footed. Understand though that nine times out of ten they're going to do something you didn't think of, and a lot of times the best thing you can respond with is, "Yes."
It's a tendency of DMs to panic when an idea comes up they didn't think of. I'm as guilty of this as anybody. But I've learned if the idea isn't hand roasting hot dogs stupid ("I wanna hug this clearly trapped statue! Pass the Buffalo Sauce! Woogadity WOO!") go with it. Stop a second and think it through when you're shooting an idea down. Are you doing it because it's a moronic idea or because you didn't think of it and your knee-jerk reaction is shooting it down? Trust me; going with it leads to much better free-form games that your players will like a heck of a lot more.
Well this post kind of drifted off subject but ah well. As a final note I am currently working on a story, which a lot of my wanting to write mojo has gone into. If there is any interest outside of the people that have already seen it I'll post some of it here to see what people think. As always please feel free to leave comments so that the black hole is my ego can be fed. I'm telling you, when this sucker gets a 100 views I'm going to post a video of my polypy self dancing a jitterbug. Just cause.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)