External Links: 10 Humorous Articles and Webcomics

(It's been a busy week for me so far, so in place of a more detailed article, please enjoy these tabletop humorous articles, reviews, and webcomics that I have found amusing.)

Funny articles about Dungeons and Dragons and other RPGs:

The Most Metal Deaths in Middle Earth, Ranked

The 24 Most Embarrassing Dungeons & Dragons Character Classes

​The 20 Most WTF Magical Items in Dungeons & Dragons

20 of the Most Useless Dungeons & Dragons Spells Ever

1001+ Things the Worst Party in Eberron is Forbidden From Doing.

Snarky Reviews:

"WTF, D&D?!" Archives Via Something Awful

World of Synnibar Review

Ten Things I Hate About Shadowrun

Web Comics:

DM of the Rings: A Web Comic

The Order of the Stick

Until next week, happy ventures!

Character Creation: Background Notes

When you get a group of adventurers gathered round the table for a new pen and paper escapade, it pays to establish some details about their characters' history and defining features. However, it is very easy to make the mistake of under-preparing or over-preparing when producing this information, which can result in some problems later in your campaign. That's why today I'd like to share my best advice for devising concise, useful notes that describe a PCs background and defining characteristics.

First off: I strongly recommend that all players are given an opportunity to prepare these notes before the game begins. Take a little time at the first session to walk the players through a few questions about their characters. These questions pertain to the basics of their new character's identity. You may ask two or three, something along the lines of: 

What was your character's childhood like? Why did they choose their current career? What motivates them to adventure with this group?

If they simply answer these questions with a single statement, that's enough to get them started. If they are inexperienced, or short on ideas, they could draw inspiration from their favorite character from books, movies, or television. And if you want to make things even easier to coordinate, you might even invite the players to gather and create their characters cooperatively, in a sort of prologue session before the game begins. That way the players can familiarize themselves with each other's backgrounds and integrate their storylines and roles in the party.

This brings me to my next point... keep the backstory light. I highly discourage players bringing extensive notes on their character's history and personal details. There is rarely enough time for every player to read pages of exposition, and it puts the group in the uncomfortable position of becoming an audience for your own narrative, or setting aside your detailed synopsis with a "Too long, didn't read."

One or two paragraphs, tops. That's all that is needed to establish the basics of a character. The rest is far more interesting when presented through role play in the campaign itself. Encourage the players to follow the old creative writing standby of "show, don't tell." Instead of learning that the wizard started out a pauper from exposition, give her the opportunity to reveal more when she meets an urchin in need. Instead of hearing about the death of the gunslinger's parents in a tedious monologue, see what happens when he finds out their killer has been seen in a nearby township. Let the party learn more and more about each other organically as the campaign progresses. 

Speaking of which, there is another trick that will help all of this go smoothly... leave lots of blanks to fill in later. There will be so many opportunities to add details to a character's backstory during the campaign, so don't waste your chance by telling their whole story right away. Especially when they can find ways to tie their story in with the other characters and the setting itself. They might ask for their character to be in the same thieves' guild as another player, or a former student of a prestigous military academy that their team is now visiting. Better to leave some options open than to remove the possibility of adding these elements at a later point.

You want the characters to think about their characters' backgrounds enough that they have a starting point for playing out their motivations and behaviors. But you also want the flexibility for them to develop a backstory over time, the ability to collaborate with the group, and to convey their character concept clearly and concisely. If you follow these basic guidelines, your players should have a head start when it comes to understanding their new character. Keep it light, keep it simple, and keep it fun!

Happy ventures!

Free Form Fever: When Players Run Wild

Via Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson

I want to take some time to talk about a strange anomaly I have noticed crop up when a player is brand new to tabletop RPGs. Some, but not all, players will fall prey to this condition when presented with the freedom of choice and action found in pen and paper gaming. I call this phenomenon Free Form Fever.

F.F.F. occurs when a player who is used to video games or other media is presented with the total freedom that comes with the tabletop. Their first instinct is to test those boundaries. This often results in them making a series of seemingly nonsensical decisions right off the bat. "I can do ANYTHING?" they muse. Then they test that idea out. The most common way I have seen players do this is by acting out. They will play their character as belligerent or corrupt. They will pick a fight with an NPC for no reason. They will choose to take blatantly evil actions for no good reason. 

Another category of Free Form Fever results in players trying to deliberately de-rail a game or purposely playing to lose. These players want to test the resilience of the DM, out of sheer curiosity. What if I choose not to save the princess? What if I refuse to leave the safety of the town? Such players might choose to turn the game into a farce, gawping and guffawing while they fail to accomplish anything useful. 

Why does this happen? Most often it is because they have never imagined a game that is so unrestricted and subject to the whims of their own imagination, so their first instinct is to try things that they wouldn't normally be allowed to do. (These players will often be initially drawn to evil or nefarious characters for this reason.)

Fortunately, this doesn't mean that they will keep playing like this forever. I have seen a lot of players start out this way and mellow out over time. They just need to come to the inevitable realization: This style of play just isn't that much fun. There is much more enjoyment to be gained by facing and overcoming the challenges of the campaign, by playing a character with complex motives and behaviors, and by engaging personally with their fellow players. It's just up to the group to help them realize this.

Via Animaniacs, Warner Bros.

Patience is key. I implore DMs not to give up on players who start out poorly. Allow them to work through these early stumbling blocks. Show them that their character's actions have consequences, and keep presenting them with the opportunity to move on and progress, Of course there may be some cases in which a problem player might not work in your group (which is why I encourage screening players for compatibility with your group before inviting them in) but in many cases, it's just a simple case of The Fever.

The biggest challenge of facing this issue is to not take it personally. The player is simply making a rookie mistake and following a style of play that they think will be the most fun for them. Their fellow players may or may not feel the same way. You may have to devise ways for them to work around the feverish player's antics. Keep in mind that the majority of the party may choose to veto a rambunctious players' antics if it is not in the party's best interest. In this case, your main goal should be to make sure it is all fun and games without hurt feelings or emotional distress. You may just have to play baby-sitter for a bit.

Above all, don't punish the players out of spite. Allow them to suffer consequences for poor or reckless action, but don't put yourself in an adversarial position against them. If they cross any boundaries that you feel will cause your play group to feel uncomfortable, it is time to take a time out and handle the problem outside the game. Otherwise, just keep patiently working with the player until they are ready to settle into the game.

Not everybody starts out with a knack for playing and interacting with a tabletop gaming group. Don't dismiss anybody out of hand because of it. Watch and wait, and these players just might surprise you. Yesterday's yokel might just become tomorrow's heroic adventurer. And that would be a satisfying journey for both player and DM alike!

Happy ventures!

The Path Not Taken: Highlighting Alternate Roles in Your Game

It's always important to include challenges and obstacles in your tabletop campaigns that the player characters are specifically outfitted to overcome. If there is a rogue or spy in the party, you should include some traps in the game. If there is a diplomat, there should be opportunities for social encounters.

But the inverse of this rule is also true. It is important to include the occasional obstacle that the group may not have specialized tools to deal with. Why? Because the fun of role playing games come partly from the diverse and unique approaches of the different archetypes. There are talkers, fighters, sneakers, healers, and all sorts of other roles to be filled. It's fun to be the character that addresses a particular niche in their own unique fashion. It makes a player vital to the team. By bringing a certain type of situation into play, you highlight the potential utility of having a character that is specialized to handle them. 

There are two ways that players can explore these avenues of gameplay in the future... either by creating a new character for a future game, or by training their existing character in the apropriate skills. Either way, they have little motivation to explore alternate means of solving problems if those alternatives don't ever show up in the game. 

So don't be afraid to have a lot of easily accessible computer systems hanging around your cyberpunk setting... If the group has no hacker, that is a strong motivation to have one in a future session. It would certainly make it easier to circumvent those pesky security systems!

There are a few caveats to this approach that are worth noting... first, it should never be impossible to proceed without a certain specialization or character class. There's nothing to be gained by forcing the game to a halt simply because the party doesn't have a certain role filled. There needs to be an alternative means to accomplish the same goal.  Maybe the soldier needs to trigger the trap and absorb its damage, or the mage needs to use flight to find another route... the point is to showcase alternate means of approaching a problem, not to force players into certain roles. 

Secondly, these alternatives should not be used to shame or punish players into taking certain roles. They should showcase the techniques that could be undertaken by different character types. The players may choose to explore different character types in the future, but should not feel forced or obligated to do so. It's all about new experiences and having fun.

Include these occasional elements into your campaign and you will not only add a layer of realism to the atmosphere, but a tinge of curiosity. What would it be like if the players had a face character who could talk them out of a situation? What if they could have de-actived the alarm? Or been strong enough to climb right over the fence? When a player wonders about the path not taken it is likely they will explore other gameplay options in the future. It's a neat way to keep things interesting.

Happy ventures!

Adventuring Gear: Index Cards

Let me share one of the most simple and amazingly useful tools I keep behind the DM screen... Index cards! These bad boys may seem like nothing more than note-sized pieces of cardstock, but don't be fooled. They are great to have around in general, and I'm always finding ways to use them to enhance a game. The fact that they are compact and easy to manage makes them the perfect format for recording all sorts of game information including:

• Powers and abilities
• Gear and equipment
• NPC statistics
• Vehicle statistics
• Special status effects

They make great handouts for players, who can just attach them to their character sheet with a paper clip (another useful supply to have around) and trade the cards with other PCs if needed. They make nice inconspicuous notes to pass around when a player personally discovers a secret.

I also find that they make for quick and easy cheat sheets for the DM. I usually have one with a list of every type of skill and ability attached to my DM screen, for any game I run. I have also used them as very simple map tiles... By labeling each card with the name of a different room, they can be laid out to represent a very simple map or floorplan. And a lot of these cards are sold in a variety of different colors, so you can clearly distinguish and categorize them. The possibilities are endless.

The one downside? They are easy to misplace. If your workspace gets more cluttered over the course of the game, like mine, you need to be extra careful that you don't lose one of your important notes in the shuffle. But this is a small concern overall, when you consider the sheer utility you get out of this simple but essential tool. 

Happy ventures!

Game Mastering vs. Authorship

In my tabletop gaming experience, I have noticed that a lot of game masters also happen to be aspiring writers. They will take their  passion for creativity and focus it into the craft of building and running adventures. And yet there is a distinction between game mastery and typical creative writing that needs to be recognized in order to avoid some major pitfalls in your campaign.

Game mastering is not intended to produce stories worthy of publication, nor should it be used as a means to do so. It is a participatory creative writing exercise. It is ideas shouted out by friends around a table. It develops and changes at a whim, and the entertainment comes from the act of playing and experiencing the narrative.

Novels, movies, and other media don't work like this. They are crafted with time and care before they even reach the point of publication. Like a sculptor working a marble slab, parts are cut away and molded until they are just right. These stories are the result of outlines, revisions, rewrites, and planning in order to convey some very specific themes and ideas. You won't get a great novel out of a roll of the dice. Luke Skywalker's encounter with Darth Vader isn't contingent on either party scoring a critical hit. You'll never have total creative control over dice or players' actions. Nor should you! Someone who is trying to play author at the game table can be disruptive and creatively stifling to their fellow players.

Tabletop RPGs are a great creative exercise, but they are not a means for producing creative content worthy of publication. So don't try to force it into that. If you find that too much of your creative energy is monopolized by gaming, it is okay to take a break and work on your novels or short stories. Find the time to enjoy the freedom of creative control and free time to weave the kind of tale that you want to tell. You might even collaborate with someone. You will have the ability to incorporate specific themes and establish a beginning, middle, and end as you see fit. It's healthy, fun, and mentally stimulating!

But I have seen too many players and GMs try to apply these methods to the tabletop. They try to 'author' their campaign, and become frustrated when things don't work out like they planned... The players start burning down the world a GM tailored for a specific story, and they take it too personally. Or a player gets frustrated because the GM isn't focusing enough on his quest to find his long-lost parents. They need to take a step back and reconsider how they are approaching the game.

It's really fun to listen to a tabletop campaign featuring creative players, and there are many podcasts that give you the opportunity for just that... there are also places where you can watch creative people play video games with fun commentary. These are forms of entertainment that can be fun, emotional, or dramatic. But it's not authorship, and it doesn't need to be. 

So don't try to turn your boat into a car. If you find yourself running or playing a game with a specific story in mind, or hoping to publish the events of a Dungeons and Dragons adventure as a short story or novel I encourage you to consider it carefully. Because you'll find that authorship and role playing work cross-purpose. Instead simply use RP as an outlet to stimulate your imagination, and channel that energy into other creative endeavors away from the tabletop. The Dragonlance books and Steven Erikson's Malazan series were both inspired by the worlds and characters of the authors' RPG days. They used elements from their games and turned them into something they could work into a narrative. If you do the same, you can still be a good author as well as a good player. Both your campaign and fellow players will benefit greatly from it.

Happy ventures!

Asking the Right Questions

When you are a player at the game table, it is important to engage with your DM. Clear and open communication within a gaming group is one of the best qualities it can have. And there are certain kinds of questions that will serve to enhance your campaign when asked, just as there are certain unproductive questions that might slow things down.

The kind of questions that game master wants to hear are those that engage with the setting and help to define the details of the game. If the player is asking questions to clarify certain aspects of the game, that's great! What does the door in front of us look like? Can you remind me what the squire's name is? Sometimes the DM might even have failed to communicate an important detail, and it might be brought out because the players asked the right question. If there is a give and take between players and the person behind the screen, the game will run much smoother as a result.

At the same time, you will want to avoid questions that the DM is obliged to not answer. The DM's job is not making decisions for you, or providing obvious hints to guide your actions.

The DM is not supposed to answer questions like "Is this a good idea?" or "Can we win this fight?" Instead, ask contextual questions that will give you the means to make the decision yourself. So instead of asking "Can I roll to climb this cliff face?" you want to ask "Are there handholds in the rocks?" Instead of "Can we win?" ask "What are the bad guys armed with?" Try to draw out details about the game world. Make sure you know what the facts are so you can act upon them. Then declare the action once you are prepared to undertake it: "I begin to climb the cliff." If the DM decides you can't do something for some reason, they will let you know. As a game-runner, let me say that I prefer when players proactively attempt something than when they wait and play "Simon says" to get my permission. (If it is a particularly misinformed decision, the DM may provide a brief warning just to be fair.)

You also want to avoid too many tangents and divergences. Your teammates won't be thrilled if you spend a half hour asking about the menu at the local tavern, or gathering details on the whereabouts of your favorite NPC for no reason.

A good game runner will welcome questions that suggest immersion in the game. They will welcome the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the player and extend their creativity. So remember to ask questions about the game without prying the game master for meta-knowledge or suggestions for what to do next. Turn your game into a creatively fueled conversation and enjoy the benefits of the cooperative environment.

Happy ventures!