Stop Blanket-Blaming the Game Master by Seth Skorkowsky

TL;DW(atch): It's up to both players and the GM (not just the GM) to ensure a great roleplaying experience! I encourage you to watch, Seth does some great videos about the roles and behaviors of players and GMs (warts and all).

Top Ten Proven Strategies for Clearing a Dungeon

Note: This is a guest post from Ted Cory, Chief Adventurer at Skullsplitter Dice

Epic dungeon crawls lie in the heart of many great D&D campaigns. If your DM has created the deadliest dungeon for you, then you’ve got to be prepared! Read on for the top 10 strategies to gain the upper hand in Dungeons and Dragons!

1. Mastering the Rules

Clearing a dungeon in D&D almost always involves killing tons of monsters and surviving countless traps. Depending on the size, you will need a minimum of five to six combat encounters to clear a dungeon, and some dungeons are a lot bigger. For example, the mega-dungeon in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage spans more than twenty layers and will take your character from level five all to way to twenty!

That is why you can’t expect to survive unless you know how the game works. You need to master the difference between saving throws, attack rolls, and ability checks, as well as several other nuances that will give you the upper hand.

This can include things like knowing you get a free action, thinking through things like casting cantrips and bonus action spells together, and actions like “Help.”

2. Mastering your Class

Every class has an arsenal of abilities that allows them to overcome the lethal challenges of a dungeon. Some classes are a lot more complex than others, but all have their own ideal playstyle.

For example, barbarians are some the most robust D&D characters. They have the highest HP pool thanks to their d12 hit die. However, they get limited armor and rely on the damage resistance of their rage feature.

So, to play a barbarian effectively and survive in a dungeon, you will need to reduce incoming damage through raging.

3. Never Split the Party

This somewhat falls into the next tip, but it’s important enough to mention alone. When you’re split you can end up quickly biting off more than you can chew!

4. Cooperate, Cooperate, Cooperate

You can’t clear a dungeon by yourself! Even if you play a self-sufficient class or an abjuration wizard with tons of defensive spells, you will die if you don’t work with your fellow players.

A balanced group will have one full caster, one ranged class, and one bruiser at minimum. More characters give you more flexibility, but you need those three to handle most challenges.

5. Read the Spells

Even if your character knows no spellcasting, you should study the spell list in the Player’s Handbook. There are hundreds of spells in there, and many of these can kill your character in a dungeon.

Most dungeons also have at least one spellcaster enemy who will wield those dangerous spells against you and your party. Thankfully, if you know how a spell works, you may be able to counter it. Most spells rely on vision to be cast, while others have specific conditions that negate them. Certainly you shouldn’t meta game, but if your character is a spell caster, or proficient in Arcana, they’ll potentially know these things.

6. Gear Up Your Character

Going into a dungeon unprepared will kill your character faster than anything else. At minimum, and regardless of healers in the party, you should invest some gold into healing potions. Remember, simple items can sometimes be extremely useful. This includes things like a 10 foot pool, rope, rations, and water. Sure, you could spend spells to cover some of these things, but sometimes the simplest solution is the best.

If you are playing in a high magic campaign and you have the gold, you should also seek out magic shops and buy as many magical items and potions as you can afford. Most dungeons are full of treasure, gold, and gems to cover the costs.

7. Don’t Forget Short Rests

Even if you’re stocked in healing potions and legendary items, your character will die if you don’t take it slow in a dungeon. Short rests give you a much-needed recharge on many of your abilities.

For example, monks and warlocks need short rest to recharge their ki and spell slots respectively. Other classes, like the wizard, have features like arcane recovery that only works with short rests. Neglect the short rest, and your party will be underpowered for the bigger fights.

8. Go High Tech

In addition to pen and paper, you should try some D&D apps and programs like DNDBeyond to supercharge your character. These apps will help you keep track of your abilities and will help you make the right choice in the midst of combat.

9. Don’t Anger Your DM

D&D is not a competitive game. Your DM is there to create a story and keep the game moving forward. He is not your enemy, and you should not go out of your way to anger them. Moreover, angering your DM can be fatal in a dungeon where monsters and traps are so plentiful!

10. Mastering the Core Values of D&D

Finally, you should never lose focus on the core values of D&D. Dungeons and Dragons is above all a roleplaying game where a bunch of friends come together to tell a story and have fun in a fantastic world.

D&D is neither competition nor a string of math calculations. In order to gain the upper hand in D&D, above all, you should aim to have fun!

Gaining the Upper Hand in Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons can give you countless hours of fun, but it’s not always easy. Dungeons are perhaps the hardest part of a D&D campaign, and now you know how to clear them!

At Skullsplitter Dice, we are your one-stop-shop for the most kickass D&D dice and gaming accessories. Whether it’s our acclaimed metal dice, a fancy set of glow-in-the-dark dice, or something even more exotic, we’ve got you covered!

The Campaign is your backstory, and your future...

While perusing my old unpublished posts, I came across some musings that arose from reading a post over at the venerable Beyond the Black Gate. This particular post was entitled "What is a Character?"

One key line in that post reads: "Their backgrounds aren't something I wrote down on a piece of looseleaf paper before rolling up the character - their backgrounds are what happened from 1st level to 10th level, or even higher."

I couldn't agree more.

I think this is part of what old OSR grognards are getting at when they rail against the "storyteller" type of RPGs. Yes, we don't like being railroaded in slavery to a GMs story for their campaign. And yes, we as players don't want to play the part of "frustrated novelist" by writing up a huge backstory for our characters.

There was a time back in my youth that my friends and I did slave away on deep, complicated backstories before/while rolling up characters. But after a time, this became onerous indeed. And restrictive. In RPGs, characters really don't become three-dimensional beings until they're LIVED, so to speak. Or should I say, PLAYED? Really, it's both. For a character to come to life, it MUST be played. 

A cursory character background outline can, and often will, inform what a GM throws at a character, and a good GM will weave some of that cursory player-created background into a campaign. But also, as one play's a character, ideas will occur to the player that can be incorporated into the background, i.e. the character's past.

Simultaneously, as suggested in the Beyond the Black Gate post, the player is creating the story, the LEGEND as it were, of their character as they progress through levels.

Backstory doesn't have to be dreamed up whole-cloth before playing a character. Yes, you can come up with an outline for what your character was up to before a campaign starts. But the real meat of a character comes from the exploits that evolve through play. Those experiences are always going to be more tangible, more meaningful, than the story you make up for a character's background. Because you LIVED it!

What do you think? Agree, disagree? How do you use background/backstory in your roleplaying?

Game Session Report 10/21/16 (Part 2 - Fragmentary): Descent into the Depths of the Earth

I know, I know...I said in my first post of 2017 that I didn't want to finish blogging about my two sessions of RPG action with the neighborhood newbs...but I started a post and dammit, I want to publish it! 

Specifically, I want to post it because of my inane...observations. And because I have no time to blog here usually, so wasting my precious words is a crime to my sensibilities. 

See below for the fragment I wrote up before despair overtook me and my will to write on...

Let's return to the recap of my newbie players and their first RPG session, shall we?

So, a gang of goblins (probably the same that attacked the priests of Libra) came running out of the excavated barrow and attacked the party. The group made decently short work of the creatures, but player Laura (aka Noo the cleric of Leo) had the presence of mind to consider capturing one of the goblins in order to interrogate it.

Now, this brings me to an interesting observation: these folks, being newbs, have actually displayed a lot of aspects of more experienced players. Specifically, from the very first battle, they decided it would be a good idea to have a captive to interrogate.

And, if it came down to it, they wouldn't balk at a bit of torture to get information.

Now, does this say something about human nature? Granted, we're talking about an imaginary torture situation of a non-human creature, so there's really no need to be disturbed by the players decision. But I find it really interesting that no matter who I've gamed with, no matter the experience level of the players, they usually see the need to get captives and glean information, and consider torture a necessary evil.

Again, human nature? Or is there too much torture on the TV and Internet to learn from? Too much waterboarding and Gitmo Bay news footage to teach them what to do?

Oh my god, I'm Tipper Gore!

Anyway, they did indeed capture a goblin and started to interrogate, and of course threatened it with torture. The goblin told them it was a part of a tribe that moved into tunnels below the barrowlands. When the archaeology team ventured into their tunnels, the goblins reacted, attacking the humans and capturing them. 

The goblin offered to take them to the captives in exchange for its freedom. They decided to take a chance and believe that the goblin was sufficiently cowed to guide them truthfully and accurately.

That's all folks! Little did I know at the time of the writings above that the newbs would also resort to the good old lamp oil Molotov cocktail tactic in the dungeons they entered! It was instinctual, I tell you! They just came up with it out of nowhere! No prompting from me at all!

Am I way too excited about this? Let me know, please!

Game Session Report 10/21/16 (Part 1): Hello Dorkness My Old Friend...

...or maybe for a few hours on Friday!

...it's good to game with you again!

Yes, On Friday night (October 21st) we had "roleplaying with the newbs" night! Over the last few weeks my wife and I had heard through the grapevine that some folks in town were curious about D&D. My wife leaked the word that I am a veteran roleplayer, and...Boom! A game night was scheduled!

I expected people to be a bit shy and tentative about the experience. I expected some of them to be nervous about word getting out that they were playing D&D. All very normal and valid concerns for the casual gamer, given the stereotyping and ridicule of gamers that still exists in the world.

I assured them I'm a discreet game master! No need to fret, folks, your secret is safe with me!

Everyone arrived at our place, and introductions were made as needed. We had a good supply of food and drink to share. I called everyone to the kitchen table, where I had my DMing gear already set up.

There was much joking and rib-poking as the players went through the pile of pregens I provided. I made a short speech about the rules and gave them a tour of their character sheets, but I could tell they just wanted to play.

"We'll get the hang of it as we go along," they insisted. "Let's get started!" Eager, they were, indeed!

So, I set the mood and the stage: Castle Westguard, a wilderness outpost of the Great Kingdom in Southland (thanks Rob Conley, for the setting). The lord of the walled settlement, Lord Griff, needs hearty adventurers to explore the barrowlands to the northeast. Why? Because an archaeological dig seeking artifacts from ancient kingdoms has gone missing, of course!

Lord Griff needs those willing to sacrifice life and limb for the promise of treasure. "Go, find the lost archaeologists," he decreed, "and you'll be rewarded 10 gold pieces each!" The party was ready for adventure, indeed, and they set out without hesitation!

Our party of first and second level pregens (created via Wizardawn) consists of:

• Matt, playing the wizard Magic Mike (of course).
• Laura, playing the cleric of Leo named Noo.

(note, I made the on-the-fly decision that the gods of this world are the twelve gods of the zodiac, based on the suggestion of one of the players...)

• Jennell, playing the female dwarf Elvira.
• Ed, playing the fighter Donald.
• Lesley, playing the male dwarf Tases the Archaic.

 As they marched through the barrowlands, they came upon a grizzly scene: three dead bodies of priests (of the god Libra) laying outside the excavated entrance to one of the barrows.

The party decided to investigate, and discovered one of the priests was still alive. He was badly wounded, so Noo the cleric decided to heal him. Once he recovered enough to speak, the priest introduced himself as Brother Thomas, and he thanked the party profusely before telling them that he had been part of a group of ten people sent by Lord Griff to excavate barrows. The ten were a mix of scholars, priests, and guards.

The scholars had been following an ancient text that pointed to this particular barrow as having deep significance to a long-dead civilization. They had broken open the entrance and entered the circular chamber within, the walls of which were lined with niches that contained mummified bodies wrapped in linens.

One of the scholars had walked onto an elaborate mosaic of colored stones in the center of the chamber. The floor had given way underneath the man, who had plunged a hundred feet or so to his death. The majority of the group decided to descend the shaft to recover the body and explore what was below.

Thomas and the other two Libran priests had remained on the surface. They waited for hours for the return of their fellows, and even engaged in some prayer to pass the time. It was during their prayers that they were attacked by a group of small, horrible green-skinned creatures bearing rusted swords and shields that looked as if they were made of stretched skins.

The creatures, of course, were goblins. They attacked the priests and slaughtered them...except for Thomas. Once they had finished their bloody work, the goblins disappeared back into the barrow, and presumably went back down the shaft to the depths from whence they came. And, of course, it seems none of the others on the archaeological dig team had ever come back up from below...

His story complete, Thomas then asked that one of the party escort him back to Castle Westguard. The party, as a whole, told him that wasn't going to happen, because they needed to find the rest of the archaeological team. Thomas balked at that, but before he could continue to argue, the gibbering voices of goblins once again boiled out of the dark entrance to the barrow...

TO BE CONTINUED...

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 10: Craziest Thing(s) I've Seen

Imagine this with a lot of treasure piled in it.

 

Back in spring and summer 2011, I played my half-elf paladin Drance in a City State of the Invincible Overlord campaign (via Castles & Crusades rules). There were some pretty fun times during that campaign!

 

I have to say, though, that there wasn't just one craziest thing/moment from that campaign (which was basically the first continuous fantasy RPG campaign I've played in for...decades!). No, indeed there were many memorable moments that perhaps did stray into the "crazy" realm.

 

I think there were several factors behind why we got up to so many wacky hijinks during that campaign. One reason was the incredible GM we had in a fellow blogger named Rich, who was as creative and open-minded a GM as I've ever seen.

 

The other reason was that, at the time, our group of regular gamers was just getting together, just getting to know each other. That always seems to be a heady time, because you're testing the boundaries of what other gamers are open to doing during an adventure.

 

Also with regard to meeting new gamers, there's the simple, joyous feeling of encountering people that are kindred spirits, with which you click and can have a good time. People you can relax around and just have fun. That can be a rarity in the table-top RPG world, and we're pretty lucky.

 

Anyway, onto the hijinks. Perhaps the following things won't be crazy to some of you maniacs out there, but hey, it's all a matter of perspective, right?

 

So, here are some moments I cherish from that campaign: 

• Setting everything we could on fire. If we thought it could burn, we torched it. I think the first thing we burned down was a tannery. Probably covering up evidence of some misdeed of ours.
• Inciting a feud between two noble houses, which worked out much better than expected... perhaps a bit too well...given that we threw most of the city into chaos for a while!
• Seeing what happens when 1st level NPCs get level-drained. In Rich's world, they burst into purple smoke.
• Beating a "big bad," which was some sort of powerful undead (who turned the above-mentioned NPCs to purple smoke) and stealing what was, apparently, a funereal boat/barge from his hideout. Said barge was loaded with treasure. So, of course, our group wound up wheeling the boat as sneakily as possible (as sneaky as you can be wheeling an entire boat around) through the streets of the City State at night.

There are other moments, but right now Perhaps some of my fellow Wednesday-Nighters can chime in with other tales? Some have been know to frequent this here blog from time to time. 

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 8: Favorite Character

"Hi."

Well, I have to say, I've mostly been a GM over the majority of my roleplaying career. So, there aren't a lot of characters that I've played for me to choose from. If I have to pick one, though, it might just be a character I played very recently; i.e. a character I've played since I've come back to gaming. The character in question? A half-elf paladin called Drance! He was a bit grittier and world-weary than your stereotypical paladin. I played him in a City State of the Invincible Overlord campaign (using Castles & Crusades). Drance had a bit of a sarcastic relationship with the party's mage, and the two shared barbed exchanges most of the time. Good times!

The Player's Responsibilities in the GM-Player Relationship

I know this may seem to be an already well-trod topic in the RPG blogosphere, but I feel compelled to add my own thoughts into the mixture. Prepare to be amazed! ;-)

 

So, the straw that broke the back of my silence on the subject of the GM-player relationship was a post over at Raven Crowking's Nest. It seems he recently had players object to some rulings he made during a game session. 

 

I got to thinking: you know, much is made of the many responsibilities of the GM. But what about the responsibilities of the player? For the most part, I mostly see bloggers simply stating that players "should not be dicks." That's it? I beg to differ.

 

Of course, when it comes GMing, there is much more besides "avoiding dickishness" that GMs must do. We all know that it is incumbent upon the GM to neither favor or disfavor the players. The GM needs to be, as much as possible, unbiased. He should not favor the players or favor his precious campaign. He should be the force in the fictional universe of the campaign that takes the player's actions and uses them to create effects/consequences that affect the game world.

Heavy is the head that runs the campaign, as the GM must put in prep work between sessions AND be all the senses for the players as they experience the game world AND portray every NPC and monster in the game AND be flexible in the face of player decisions AND not stifle "player agency" AND on and on and on.

 

With all the duties that a GM must attend to, the last thing he/she needs is players who think all they need to do is "show up."

 

Sorry. Nope. Wrong. I'm not one to tell people that they're "doing it wrong" when it comes to roleplaying. But if you come to a game session as a player and think all you need to do sit back and be entertained, you ARE doing it wrong.

 

Look, I'm not one to say that every gaming group needs to have a hardcopy "social contract" that they must adhere to before a campaign starts. But I think it's common sense for people to have enough awareness that, when you agree to roleplay together, you should cut everyone at the table some slack. If you're sitting at a GM's table, whether you know it or not you've made an unspoken statement: "I am trusting you, GM, to do your best to run a good game. That means I'm not going to sit here and assume that you're trying to 'screw me over' when it comes to events in the game."

Who is the GM not trying to "screw over"? The player. A GM might indeed screw over a player's CHARACTER by, you know, inflicting severe harm or even killing them. But a good GM will make it worth your while even while they're killing your character. So, if you don't trust your GM enough to believe that they have your best interest in mind when it comes to running a good game, then who's fault is that?

It's YOUR fault, as a player, if you distrust your GM even though he/she has not given you any concrete reason not to trust them. It's different if the GM is being a dick.

 

Let me put it another way: everyone at the table is responsible for the health of the campaign. Not just the GM.

 

A player should not be passive. A player should take an active role in being engaged with a game session. Of course, this includes responding to the GM's eternal question, "What do you do?" But it's more than just reacting to what the GM throws at you. Besides running your character, you as the player should also be an active force giving the GM some respect.

 

What are the traits of a good player? What are the responsibilities of a good player, beyond bringing their character to life?

 

A good player knows that it's not their job to exploit "weaknesses" displayed by a GM during any given session. To clarify, this includes giving them your patience and understanding when they, inevitably, stumble a bit now and then. For example, don't get on the GM's case if he/she forgot that your character no longer had that cursed dagger.

 

A good player knows that they shouldn't be questioning a GM's rulings, descriptions, or interpretations of the rules in a confrontational manner during a session.

 

A good player will try to be politely persuasive with the GM, gently probing for possible courses of action, testing to see what they can get the GM to agree to when it comes to the game world.

 

If a player trusts a GM enough to devote precious roleplaying time to said GM's campaign, then the player should fulfill the promise of that trust by helping to nurture the health of the campaign. Part of this is taking time to care about the welfare of your GM. The GM has a lot going on. Give them a break. 

 

If a player does not like how the GM operates, then that player should consider finding another campaign. It doesn't matter who is at fault. It's just time to move on.

OK, to recap: if players have a GM worth their trust, they should be willing to accept that the GM is the final arbiter of the rules. This means they should be able to trust their GM to interpret the rules in an unbiased way. Now, some GMs no doubt are guilty of breaking said trust and make all sorts of outlandish rulings that impinge on their players' ability to flex their agency. However, I'd wager there are a goodly number of players who don't truly understand that they need to give the GM the benefit of the doubt, or the unspoken social contract between GM and players becomes broken. Good players don't come to the table thinking they have no responsibility to keep the game flowing, to keep things civil between themselves and the GM, and to foster mutual trust and respect.

There's always talk of "killer GMs" but what about "killer players." What do killer players kill? Campaigns!

Mr. Curtis Goes to South Jersey

The requisite table of various and sundry gaming goodies!

So I've finally found the time to get pics off my new phone and write this post! On Sunday November 4th, I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Curtis, the man behind the Society of Torch, Pole and Rope blog and the creator of OSR staples such as Stonehell Dungeon and the Dungeon Alphabet. Despite the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, he drove many hours from New York to New Jersey, South Jersey to be exact (we Jerseyites consider North and South Jersey to be almost separate realms, but that's a discussion for another time).

When I arrived at the incredible All Things Fun in West Berlin, I had a chance to talk to Michael about gaming, the OSR, and the havoc of Sandy before a couple other gamers arrived: Rich of Circle of Dar Janix fame, and Mike from Swords of Legend. Once these fine fellows joined us, we got down to the business of gaming!

The calm before the proverbial gaming storm...

Michael gave us the following choice: he could run us through his Emirikol was Framed! DCC RPG module, or he could run us through one of two unpublished modules. My fellows and I leaped at the chance to playtest something for him! So Michael handed out some 1st-level DCC characters (we decided to take two each) and gave us a quick overview of the system before starting the session. 

I think he's trying to scare me with his GM screen (the "evil" dice bag is mine)...

I thought it was rather hilarious that one of my character's Lucky Rolls (part of the DCC RPG character creation process) was "Conceived on Horseback." I thought such a feat of agility on the part of the character's parents would confer some sort of bonus for the offspring, but alas that is not the case.

My two characters' sheets and associated spell page print-outs.

I don't want to give away anything about the module we playtested, but suffice to say it definitely had a strong old-school feel, with what I thought was a nod to at least one Basic D&D module from back in the day. I'll leave it at that.

I picked up a copy of the revised Dungeon Alphabet signed by the author himself, as well as some other swag that Michael brought along. Bottom line: it was cool to finally meet a prominent member of the old-school RPG community to talk about gaming and get down to some actual play!

This should have at least given me a Dex bonus, thanks to very agile parents...

'Nuff said.

What about the Consequences?

I'm just riffing here, so bear with me. This post may be a bit on the short side, but I hope to get my point across despite my need for brevity. Mostly, I want to get the crowd's thoughts on what I'm thinking about at the moment.

It occurred to me: there's lots of talk about the vaunted sandbox campaign and its virtues. I'm a believer in giving players lots of plot hooks to follow and freedom of choice, etc. I do believe in the idea of the sandbox and all the "player agency" goodness that is supposed to come with it.

But as far as I can see, there's not a lot of talk on the RPG blogosphere about the consequences of player actions. There's a lot of talk about letting players do what they want, but I haven't read much in the way of follow-through when it comes to the repercussions of player actions. Of course, I don't have my eye on every single RPG blog, and at least one of the most respected RPG blogs out there has included mention of consequences with regard to player actions (UPDATE: -C over at Hack & Slash actually posted about consequences as a result of my post).

Now, granted, any GM worth his/her salt should rightly see player actions as a chance to create resultant plot twists. But I dare to surmise that there are many sandbox games that occur in a consequence-free vacuum. That is, players wreak havoc in town, wilderness, and dungeon and the only thing they might face as a result is trouble with the city guard (and once those guards are "dealt with" by running away from them, bribing them, or even killing them, the problem is usually over).

If players cast a charm on a city official and convince him to grant them a pile of gold from the city coffers, he'll probably be pretty pissed when the charm wears off...not to mention that any of the official's underlings present during said "charm-and-grab" will be fully aware of what's going on. The players should expect to be hunted by the authorities, complete with wanted posters going up around town and a bounty on their heads. This is especially true depending on the ruler of the city in question. If said ruler is a hard-ass, players should think twice about pulling off flamboyant and highly-visible hijinks, lest they draw unwanted attention.

This is just one example of what form in-game consequences can take. Skilled players will take advantage of positive consequences of their actions and will adapt and work to overcome the negative consequences. Of course, the style of play for a specific campaign or group of gamers may call for purposeful disregard for consequences. I'm talking about what I might call the more "default" mode of roleplaying, where some aspect of cause and effect is considered an unspoken agreement.

So, my questions to you are:

What do you think of player agency/sandbox play and consequences?

Do you have any examples of such cause and effect in your own gaming experiences?

Have you ever roleplayed where you found yourself in a consequence-free environment?

Have I missed other blogs that talk about consequences stemming from player agency/sandbox play?

The D&D Love/Hate Goes On...

I love D&D. And I hate it.

Ok, hate is really too strong a word. I guess what I'm feeling is a lot of mixed emotions, plus a big dash of my old foe Gamer ADD stalking me from the dark depths of my subconscious.

I'm really a D&D man, above all. Of course, like many, it was my first RPG. I've played other RPGs and have really like other systems, but something calls me back to D&D. I know that there's a lot of nostalgia in this whole mix, but I don't want it to become the bad sort of nostalgia that makes me lose sight of my current gaming potential. D&D will always have pride of place in my gamer's heart.

I really am tempted to play games like Savage Worlds, Dragon Age RPG, and Barbarians of Lemuria. These games have no mechanical relationship to D&D, and that is very appealing. Why? Because I've played the hell out of D&D-like games, so I've spent a lot of time with variations of D&D mechanics. And familiarity breeds contempt, my friends. This familiarity, I think, gives me an uncontrollable urge to tinker and tinker and tinker with those old D&D mechanics.

I'm getting tired of the tinkering. I just don't know if I can play D&D rules as written ever again...at least, the rules as they exist in the out-of-print editions. Granted, I've done a decent job of keeping my D&D house rules limited, but I seem to be constantly fine tuning even those few house rules. I don't like tormenting players with new house rule sheets every couple weeks.

BUT...the thought of not playing D&D is simultaneously intriguing and saddening. As if it would be a "betrayal" on my part. At least when it comes to me running a game. I've played Savage Worlds recently and that's a fun system. But to spend, say, a year running a non-D&D game? It seems out of reach for me.

I think a lot of this is, of course, related to the fact that I have limited time as an adult. I want to experience as much gaming as possible with my limited time, and this causes a problem when I start feeling like I want to play every game I am interested in. So, with limited time, there's a feeling that I need to be sure I'm playing/running a game worthy of my precious time.

On a side note, I would really love to PLAY in a D&D-like game again. I haven't done so since last summer, when GM Rich was running us through City State of the Invincible Overlord using C&C rules. I've  been playing in my friend Bill's Savage Worlds game, and it's really cool. But I would really like to play a D&D character again.

All this brings me to D&D 5th Edition/Next. I can't help it, but I have a lot of desire for the next D&D edition to do really well. I have all the playtest stuff and I really want to run it, and I am feeling like I want to give my feedback. Call it some latent desire to be a game designer, whatever. But I want D&D to live on. I'm trying to be positive and believe that Wizards of the Coast can make good on promises of tapping back into the roots of the game. Heck, at Gen Con today they apparently said they're going to make the old editions available (in what format remains to be seen).

I've read the 5E playtest rules a bit, and I like a lot of what I see. I've had issues with Vancian magic again of late, and the tweaks to Vancian magic in D&D Next are interesting to me. Yes, I understand the concept of "a player playing a magic-user needs to be more than just dependant on spells per day." But there's room for change in the old rules we know and love. And I know I'm not alone when it comes to old school gamers. Old school gaming is not just about a set of mechanics. It's about a creative, open-ended style of play, an attitude of problem solving, fun and immersion in shared imagination and adventure.

I don't think the OSR needs to be so opposed to the current iteration of in-print D&D. I think that we have a chance to have our voices heard and try to help cement the old school mentality in a modern product. Other modern games like Dragon Age RPG claim such a pedigree. If that upstart RPG can claim that, then D&D can as well.

Ok, I've rambled enough for now. More thoughts to come, of course...

A Savage Evening with Solomon Kane

Last night was game night at All Things Fun, and I was ready to run the next session of my Paragons of Waterdeep campaign. However, a couple of my players couldn't make it. The campaign is in a critical spot at the moment, so I felt it would be unfair for half the group to not be in on the action. So, luckily, Player Bill had brought some goodies: some of his Savage Worlds books.

Now, both Bill and Player Jamie are big into Savage Worlds, and have played it a lot. So they were able to school me pretty well. I've been trying to read up on the system, but I feel like this old dog can't learn new game systems very easily just by reading the books. I have to learn by playing, it seems. Anyway, I've been dying to learn how to play Savage Worlds, as the guys have been talking about it a lot since we all started gaming together.

Bill's big into the Solomon Kane setting. I've read some things about the setting, and I checked out the recent Del Rey collection of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane stories a while back. The setting has interested me, and I was able to look past the racism eventually (it seemed even more prevalent than in the Conan stories). I've always liked the time period of the late 1600's/early 1700's. Throw in some of the supernatural, and I'm in!

Jamie and I created some characters, and Bill agreed to run us through a quick adventure. It was a bit of an adjustment to get into a skill-based game, versus a class-based game like C&C. And then there's the whole point-buy system versus rolling up stats, etc. But it was pretty cool, with attributes and skill ability being represented by different dice (d4 up through d12). It was pretty interesting to use some of the other dice more often, but a bit strange to not be rolling a d20 at all!

I created a brash and arrogant English swordsman named Benedict Zane. I took what's called a Hindrance with regard to arrogance, as well as a delusion Hindrance. Thus, not only is he a braggart, but Benedict also believes he gets advice and wisdom from the voice of St. George, that only he can hear (he sort of keeps this to himself, however).

Jamie created a magician-type of character by the name of Nicholas Margrave (I think that's the name). He has an Italian man-servant (whose name escapes me at the moment), and they are apparently on the run from a vengeful Italian merchant family. Our characters, of course, bumped into each other in an inn (some things never change), and we proceeded to head out into the night across some desolate English moors! There we encountered some wolves, who we fought off successfully.

It was all-in-all a great night! I was glad to finally get into Savage Worlds to see what all the fuss was about. I was pleasantly surprised with the system, and I am definitely interested in Bill running some more Solomon Kane when we need to take a break (or are forced to take a break) from my campaign.

Pics from Wednesday Night C&C

Well, the old timer (me) decided to try his hand again at downloading some pics from his cellphone's camera. I know how to do it, but I don't do it often enough. I snapped a couple of photos last Wednesday night at the weekly game I'm in at All Things Fun.  Here's a shot of the table, including C&C Castle Keeper's screen, a map of the City State of the Invincible Overlord, and a can of Dr. Pepper, the official drink of C&C.

Here's a shot of my copy of the C&C PHB, and my character sheet and dice:

This Wednesday night I debut my Dragonlance campaign! Can't wait!

Yes Virginia, there ARE giant spiders…

Well, at least CAT-SIZED spiders. That’s what my half-elf paladin and my fellow gamers ran into at the start of our latest Wednesday Night C&C game at All Things Fun! Rich the GM (I need to get used to using the term Castle Keeper/CK, I guess!) took a cue from a bit of text on his map of the sewers that read “spider god.”

Quick disclaimer: the old memory these days isn’t what it used to be, so I am probably not getting every single cool detail down. If anyone from Wednesday night reads this and sees I missed something glaring, please chime in and comment!

Anyway, Sefa the Druid cast her calm animals spell, and that stopped, oh, about eight spiders in their tracks. That left, oh, about 20 more that were still approaching. So we got ready for a fight. For the foppish illusionist in our party, Struan, that meant dumping wine out of his wineskin and filling it with lantern oil. You know, so he could use it as a flame thrower. Of course. Guess how that turned out.

So, while Struan wasted his time, the rest of us managed to kill off the spiders, then we got out of there fast. Once back at our base of operations, the Silver Eel Inn, we discussed our next move. The druid and barbarian (with his awesome bearded axe that does 3d4 damage, for the love of Torm) proceeded to talk to their rescued tribeswomen. They told us that the scumbag who once owned them didn’t have many guards at his home. Just a handful of some very weasel-looking and scrawny guys with silly hats.

Encouraged by that news, we decided to use the following day to go out into the city and gather some intel on the slave trade as well as how things were faring with the city guard and the abolitionists, not to mention the rioting citizenry in the City State of the Invincible Overlord.

The illusionist and I have very good Charisma scores (and mine, at least, is also a primary attribute for me, in C&C parlance…meaning it’s much easier for me to succeed at charisma-based checks). So I gathered up info on the city guard, and to see if our shenanigans had caused any more discord between the city’s two major houses now jockeying to put their respective candidates on the Overlord’s seat. As it turns out, there was some scuttlebutt among the guardsmen that there was some tension, but no indication if any nobles were getting their panties in a bunch.

Meanwhile, Struan decided to make himself look like my paladin, thanks to his magic. And he got some good intel on the slavers as well as the jerk who once owned the tribeswomen (and who still held a good number of additional female slaves). We learned that the jerk’s wimpy-looking guards hung out at a tavern not far from his house. So we went there to check them out, test their mettle, and generally cause trouble and knock some skulls together (I guess Drance the paladin is not your stereotypical holy warrior, as he’s into the bashing heads as often as possible…as long as those heads belong to evil types).

We went to the tavern that night, after Sefa and Struan rested and regenerated their spells. Struan actually took the time to make himself less useless, and picked a different spread of spells. About time. The tavern we went to was pretty much a haven for evil types, so for me it was clobberin’ time. We spotted three of the weasel-looking guards easily in the crowd. They wore floppy hats and garish clothes, and all of them carried rapiers. Yeah, they looked pretty lame to us.

Struan actually did some good spellwork and convinced an ogre bouncer that one of the wimps said something about his mom. That started the melee. We sort of watched for a while, letting the ogre do as much damage as possible before we waded in to combat. Eventually, I just got tired of waiting and charged in with longsword swinging. It didn’t take too long to discover that these guys were more capable than they looked. They were hard to hit, but were hitting us pretty easily. Especially me. Even with my benefit to armor class that I get from fighting evil types. Ouch. Thanks to Sefa the druid’s abundant supply of healing goodberries that she kindly conjured up, I didn’t bite the dust.

Towards the end of the fight, one of the weasel wimps whipped out some weird weapon and pointed it at us, and there was a deafening boom. Yes, firearms made an appearance. The guard with the arquebus, or whatever it was, went down before he took more than one shot (I think). Struan was good enough to scoop that little oddity up. As we were beating down the last guard, his features started to shift and become more rat-like. Yep, were-rats. Hate those things.

After making the three “were-rat musketeers” dead and stuff, we decided to head right over to the jerk’s house and take him and the rest of the rat-men out ASAP. But not before we gathered up all of our NPC buddies at the Silver Eel. So we were “rollin’ thick” as the kids say these days. We barged our way into the jerk’s house. Said jerk was rumored to have a very bizarre nose, and rumors were true. It looked like a pear hanging off his face. And he was playing with little silver miniatures when we came in. Alrighty then…

More fighting, spelling, and general stabbing-type stuff ensued. I was getting my ass handed to me not long into the melee, as one of the were-rats took me down to one hit point. But eventually we won the day, thanks to Wulfgar the barbarian’s mighty axe cutting a swath through the enemy. We killed the baddies and freed the rest of the slaves. And of course, gathered up whatever loot we could find (that’s Struan’s specialty). Yours truly actually got ahold of a nice longsword +1, gods bless the CK! That’s about where we wrapped it up for the evening.

In summation, this campaign that Rich is running gets better every week. We all get along well, and we have lots of hearty laughs while also having time for some serious challenges in the realms of combat and intrigue.

More Wednesday Night C&C Goodness!

Just wanted to pop in quick before my work day starts in earnest. I went to my second session of Wednesday Night C&C at All Things Fun! You can check out some pics here and here.

We had a couple more players come, a husband and wife duo. She played a druid and he a barbarian. They were very welcome to our little band of merry pranksters. I call us pranksters because we've been trapsing around a little town you might have heard of, the City State of the Invincible Overlord, causing all sorts of trouble since the current Overlord was assassinated.

So far we've tried to keep the city destabilized and in chaos by trying to pit the two ruling noble houses against each other. In the course of this we've stolen some uniforms from one house's soldiers (and in the process burned down what was basically a medieval laundromat ;-) and wore them to raid (and yes, burn) a warehouse belonging to the other house. We're not yet sure if our plan worked.

With our new wilderness friends, we decided to take on the slave trade, since the druid and barbarian had come to town looking for some of their tribes people who had been taken as slaves. We managed to free two women from their tribe. Then the session ended on a cliffhanger, because we decided to use the city's sewers to move in secret. Unfortunately, we finally got unlucky on the GM's random encounter roll, and the last thing he described before the end of the game was the clicking of many little legs, coming toward us...

Oh yeah, it was a good time!

P.S. One of the NPCs is a real treasure, BTW. He's a large man named Mustapha who wears, of course, a fez with a long tassle. The GM, Rich, rolled a couple 1's I think during a combat, because he kept laughing and describing how Mustapha's tassle would fall into his eyes, causing the giant hammer he wields to swing wildly and smash cobblestones and such.

Dungeons and Pattons?

I love it when celebrities publicly admit to playing D&D. Imagine my pleasure when tough guy Vin Diesel said he played.

Patton Oswalt (who I think is awesome) is apparently into Dungeons and Dragons. I haven't watched all of this yet, but I'm sure its great. Enjoy!

As for my gaming situation, I hope to be able to make it to my second session of C&C at All Things Fun! in West Berlin, NJ tonight! I want to keep my character Drance (of course!) going. He's a half-elf paladin of Torm, and he's been paired up so far with a smarmy illusionist. I sense a buddy comedy developing...

Happy gaming to one and all!

Reversal of Fortune?

So, after my recent bout of downishness, I decided to go to Wednesday Night Castles & Crusades at All Things Fun! in West Berlin, NJ.

I live rather far from this great store, as I've no doubt lamented on this blog in the past. However, my new place of employment is not too far from ATF, so it's no longer a stretch for me to get to the store! My new circumstances have put the "L" back into FLGS!

The mastermind behind the Circle of Dar Janix blog, Rich, is running a great C&C game there on Wednesday nights, I have to say! I met Rich and another player, Wesley, at TrollCon East. I was glad to be reunited with them, to say the least!

All in all, the three of us had a blast! I look forward to gaming with them again soon! It was great to be a player again, since I'm usually running games instead. I whipped up a half-elf paladin for the occasion, and Rich led Wesley's illusionist Struan and my character (named Drance, of course!) through the latter-day version of City State of the Invincible Overlord for about three hours!

If anyone else in the realms around ATF wants to get into a great game, I suggest you stop by on a Wednesday night and check things out!

Pathfinder Session: 7/25/10

So, I sat at my first table-top game in many many years on Saturday. I'm a new player in a group playing the Pathfinder Council of Thieves Adventure Path.

We played for about five hours, from about 1 PM to 6 PM. I haven't roleplayed at a table-top game in the early-to-late afternoon time period on a Saturday for about a decade! It's weird, and sort of depressing, each time something like that occurs to me.

For starters, it's a good group of people that I met! They accepted me very readily to the table for the most part. Of course there was some awkwardness, but that's to be expected in any kind of first-time human interaction, right? Most of them, I think, are around my age (30s). We didn't do too much sharing of our personal information, but I think more of that will happen as time goes on. There was a total of seven of us, six players and the GM. That's a bit of a bigger group than I have ever gamed with. My gaming groups in the past usually consisted of a GM and four players (though we often had only three players).

I never really played a game using the D&D 3.0-3.5 rules, even though I bought the three core books for that edition a few years after they came out (mostly out of curiosity). Now, Pathfinder is considered "3.75" because it sort of continues on with the 3.5 rules, with some tweaks. I find the rules a bit overwhelming, and I know I would never want to run a game using them. But I am willing to learn enough to be a player in such a game.

But it's going to take some time to become a bit more familiar with the rules. There's definitely a lot more going on than I like. I think there's too many esoteric rules during combat, for instance (I think this is where I have my biggest problem with 3.5/Pathfinder). Stuff like attacks of opportunity, Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, etc. Don't ask me to explain any of this stuff...at least not yet. But my gut reaction is that things seem needlessly complicated. Again, if I were to run a game, I would never go near this stuff. Give me old D&D combat any day!

Everyone seemed very willing to be patient with my lack of understanding of the mechanics. They were willing to guide me and give me suggestions for the most part. But my inexperience with the rules definitely detracted from my effectiveness in the one big combat we had during the game (in which I was reduced to negative hit points and barely saved from death by the party cleric).

Plus, due to the general busy-ness of life recently (on the part of myself and the GM), and the fact that I don't own the Pathfinder core rule book, my character Arvandos was only partially complete on my character sheet. I was missing many of my stats, and only had a partial list of equipment. In addition, my character started at 8th level, so I was also overwhelmed with all of the skills, spells, and feats that he has. I don't know quite yet what they all do, and I don't know when and how to use them!

I think my roleplaying skills were not as rusty as I thought they would be. My character is a sorcerer named Arvandos who has an infernal bloodline (sorcerers basically derive their power from a bloodline in Pathfinder, and these bloodlines include infernal, abyssal, celestial, etc). One of the group plays a dwarven cleric, and he plays his character as something of a lawful good zealot! I've decided that my character aspires to be Chaotic Good, so he and I sort of bumped heads. I tried to play Arvandos as something of a witty, handsome rogue (Charisma of 18!) and I seemed to manage to charm the group with my repartee...except for the dwarf, who only got more and more frustrated with my verbal fencing. But I guess we eventually got over most of our squabbling, since he's the cleric that saved me from dying!

The GM had us meet in a tavern (go figure!) where the group was looking to hook up with some more help in their endeavors. They definitely were looking for an arcane caster to add to the group. Their last sorcerer was turned into a vampire, they informed me. Hey, well, sign me up!

Of course, I joined them, and we went on our merry way about the city of Westcrown (the setting for Council of Thieves), seeking to...well, I'm not quite sure what we were seeking to accomplish! I have to admit, the plotline that I have jumped into is pretty complicated, and I don't know the world of Golarion (the default setting for Pathfinder) very well, and that goes double for the city of Westcrown. There's really a lot going on. All in all, the GM seems to be content with throwing me into the mix with minimal guidance, and I think I'm OK with that for the most part!

All I know is, toward the end of the session the group was trying to get into a certain well-guarded location that was protected by a large "force field." We bought a scroll with a teleport spell with the intention of using it to teleport through the force field. And of course, being the only arcane spellcaster, it was up to me to use the damned thing. I cast the spell, and due to the nature of the barrier we were trying to bypass, I had to role percentage dice in order to determine if we wound up where we want to be. I rolled too high, and the scroll teleported us to HELL! Needless to say, I really heard it after that!

In the end, I'm really just happy to be gaming at all, so at the moment I'm willing to put up with complex mechanics, a convoluted plot that the rest of the party is already well into, etc. I had fun, I like the people I met, and I am definitely willing to go back and see how things progress.

The group lent me one of their copies of the massive core rulebook, and I'm determined to have my character whipped into tip-top shape before the next session. On top of that, I'll be studying the mechanics and the setting as much as I can to improve there as well.

Sorry if this post is really long and redundant. I wrote this up pretty quickly (I started writing this post on Sunday but I'm finishing it up on a typical busy Monday at work), so I am sure I missed a lot of detail. Let me know if any of you out there have any specific questions. I'll also take hints and advice if anyone is willing to offer!

P.S. The sessions are every other week between 12 PM and 6 PM, and that should be fine even for a "30-something husband/father of two with mortgage" kind of guy like me ;-)

P.P.S. Just for giggles, I asked everyone if they knew about the OSR and retro-clones and the like...and they stared at me like I had two heads! No one had any idea what I was talking about! Only a couple of them knew what Castles & Crusades was. We on the blogosphere spend so much time talking about the OSR that sometimes we start to think everyone in the RPG world knows about the "movement." But it seems we are mistaken...

Status Report: 7/23/10

"Me as Player" Status: Well, tomorrow is the big day! I'm going to my first session of the Pathfinder campaign (Council of Thieves Adventure Path) in which I was invited to play! I'm almost done my sorcerer Arvandos (he's 8th level...which is where the campaign's existing PC's are at...I have to say I'm a bit intimidated by starting out at such a high level, in a system that I'm not quite familiar with, after years of not playing in a table-top game...but sometimes the best way to get into something is to jump right in, eh?).

I'm also trying to cram for the occasion, learning as much as I can about the Pathfinder setting so that I can at least inject some "local flavor" into my character's portrayal. I don't want him to seem like a "generic" character by not making any references to the setting's history, locales, gods, etc.

I'm nervous and excited. I'll be meeting most of the people at the table for the first time. It should be quite an experience no matter how it shakes out! Wish me luck!

"Me as Gamemaster" Status: I'm waiting for my copy of Lamentations of the Flame Princess to arrive (it will probably be a few more weeks). In the meantime, I am trying to take it easy on myself, so I am leisurely looking over gamemastery advice on the Web. I am also slowly looking through old Dragon Magazine issues (for nostalgia's sake as well as campaign ideas and advice). I've put my reading of the Castles & Crusades PHB on hold for the time being.

Once I get LotFP I will read that in its entirety. Then I will read Castles & Crusades (Troll Lord Games is working on a Castle Keeper's Guide but there's no word at the moment of when it will hit the streets). I actually have a copy of the D&D 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide, and I think I will read that as well (shocked, anyone?). I've also got a copy of Keep on the Borderlands coming, so I will peruse that as well. Then I'll take another look through my other RPGs on my shelf to see if there's any other stuff I might want to read.

All in all, I am taking my sweet time and not stressing out about a campaign. I'll get to it when I'm ready. I'm just studying up and enjoying the process.

Status Report: 7/16/10

Now that I've told my life story as it pertains to gaming, I thought it might be good to start thinking about my current status, with regard to where I am in the gaming flux in which I find myself.

"Me as Player" Status: As I stated in the third part of my testimonial, I reached out through the Internets and came across a friend of a friend who is, in all appearances, a gamemastering superman! Seriously, this fellow runs three games, and plays in several others. He's gaming several times a week! I am very, VERY jealous. Anyway, I had a sit-down with him within the last week in order to see if I was a good fit for one of his games, a Pathfinder game using the Council of Thieves adventure path, and I think we hit it off very well. So, the next step is character creation. We talked about possibilities (I think I'm leaning toward a sorceror) and determined the next step would be another meeting (probably over phone, actually) in order to create my character.

As a player, Pathfinder wasn't my first choice of games to get into. I never really played 3rd Edition/3.5; I just collected the core rule books. But at this point I am just eager to get into a group with good people and start building up my roleplaying chops again, as well as grow a network of potential players, so that when I do start a campaign, I might have a good pool of people to mine.

Pathfinder might be a bit more complex of a game system than I like, but I think I'll be fine as a player. On the other hand, I definitely know that I would have NO interest in running a Pathfinder game. I couldn't handle it, with regard to rules.

At any rate, there's a game session on July 24th, and that might be my first session! Can't wait! I'm nervous and excited. I feel like a little schoolgirl.

"Me as Gamemaster" Status: Check out my post from last night. It pretty much sums up where I'm at with gamemastering at the moment. In summary: I know my gamemastering skills are rusty as heck, so I am holding off on starting a campaign of my own indefinitely. Realistically, I probably won't start a campaign until 2011, but you never know. It sort of depends on how things go with the Pathfinder game I am trying to get into. I pretty much can't run a game and play in one at the same time. That's just the reality of my life right now. So, I figure I'll play in a game, see how long that lasts, and let that help shake off some of the rust. Then, when it comes time to move on from that game, I'll turn my attention to gamemastering.

In the meantime, I am still very relieved that the furious months I spent this year vacillating between potential game systems, specifically the retro-clones (Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy, etc.) and went into a vicious circle of failed house rule attempts. Then I checked out Castles & Crusades and liked what I saw, determined that it had the rules set that appealed to me the most, and started buying. I'm still reading the C&C PHB at this point, but I'd like to give a review here before too long.

But again, along came James Raggi and his cursedly enchanting product! Now I'm second guessing myself, and I haven't even gotten my boxed set from him yet! I can be so fickle sometimes...at any rate, I'll try to keep reading my C&C while I wait for LotFP to arrive.

That's it for now! As always, happy gaming!