No Games = Time Well Spent?

Last week I had a game scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  None of them worked out.  As we did not get to game.  However, I got to hangout with some cool folks and talk a lot about gaming.  Monday night I had the pleasure to speak with +Rob Conley and +Daniel McEntee.  My local gaming crew.  Then on Wednesday night +Chris C. and I got to hangout and discuss a lot about gaming philosophies.  We will always disagree about anime and Supertramp, but it's always a pleasure talkoing with Chris.  And on Friday night it was +Peter V. Dell'Orto and +Douglas Cole.  I got to pay my respects to Peter, I often forget how much fantastic writing he's done for GURPS that I have read and use.  And Doug with his Technical Grappling system that we published in Manor #8.

While we didn't get to game it was great just talking about gaming.  Something I don't do very often.  While we share a lot on blogs and Google+, there is rarely a conversation.  I think Chris and I were talking about the virtues of monochrome covers of the old TSR modules.

Doug and Peter were talking about GURPS Thursday and that made me want to dig out some of my old stuff and participate.  I might not have my GURPS chops any more, but I still got some gas in the tank and I'm not afraid to go back to 3rd edition GURPS.

Rob, Dan and I were discussing a joint project.  It's cool to sit down face-to-face with friends and go over ideas and progress made and see how it all fits together.

While no games were played, time was well spent.

Pits & Perils, The Wolves of Inwood Conclusion

+Chris C. concluded his adventure, The Wolves of Inwood, tonight.  I continued playing my fighter, Chevor, accompanied by Juliette and William, two footmen who are much better at hitting than me.  +Ken H played his mage Phrandor with his archer, Elizabeth, and his footman, Hogarth.

We stood in front of the cave's mouth knowing the wolves lie within.  We made our way into the first cavern and heard several dozen wolves growling from every direction.  We concocted a plan to build a fire near the cave's mouth in case we needed to escape then seal the way out. 

As we explored the cave we discovered that the acoustics in the cavern had played on our fears, making a single wolf sound like several.  We edge through the cavern and spotted our first wolf.  It charged us and I took a might swing...and critically failed and fell on my face!  After a few more rounds the wolf was killed by our faithful henchmen.  The head worth 5gp and the skin grabbing 3gp, we  headed deeper into the cavern.

To the north we spotted a dim light, so we slowly made our way into the cavern.  Within we found a man dressed in a hooded robe accompanied by a pair of large wolves.  Upon the ground an evil looking magic symbol was etched into the stone floor.  The man demanded to know who we were.  Phandor responded with a bolt of magic.  This is when I realized how potent magic could be.  The bolt hit the man in the center of the chest throwing him back against the wall.  "Kill them," he gasped and his wolves charged.

Chevor and the three footman formed a wall as Elizabeth the archer and Phandor struck with their arrows and magics.  I did NOT roll a critical failure this time, I just missed normally.  The man in black rose up and cast a fear spell upon Juliette who ran through the cavern in mindless terror.  Phandor and Elizabeth both struck the black robed man and he crumpled to the ground.

It was then we heard shouting from the cavern to the east.  A woman, screaming for help.  We finished off the wolves a couple of rounds later.  We went east and I found what I expected, the red haired Rose from town.  She was sobbing.  This man, Romulus, was deformed and wanted her to submit to a transmorphication (I forgot what the spell is called).  It would only work if she did it willingly.  It was his tactic to send his wolves out to kill the people of Inswood so she would submit.  Phandor burned the scroll with the ceremony to banish that evil.

We returned to Inwood with Rose, who explained what had happened to the others and that Fenric had been innocent after all.  

So concluded Chris's adventure.

The After Game Discussion
This is sometimes my favorite part of the night.  We discussed different GM techniques.  Mainly focusing on the aspect of provoking a sense of urgency in game.  It was an interesting discussion.

The other decision we made was to begin out rotating GM duties.  First we decided to keep with the Pits & Perils system.  It's an easy system that fades into the background.  Which suits or way of playing the best.  The second thing we decided was we would continue playing our same characters.  Next week when Ken starts I'll have Chevor falling into the mud somewhere on Ken's world.  And each of us will take turns GMing what we want for a few sessions.  It gives each of us a chance the play and GM. 

By the end of the night I decided that if we are going to run Pits & Perils I'm going to need more than the PDF, so I ordered a print copy.

Adventurers as Celebrities (or in this case, Rock Stars)

This is a repost from April of 2010.  I sometimes go back through posts and see what I liked and what I've changed.  This post I think still resonates with my attitude toward adventuring parties in my game.  So here it is again.  Coming up on 5 years man.  Who knew?

In most campaign worlds the adventurer would be the rock star. It's not the nobles, they are busy with bullying the populace with their soldiers and knights taking away their food, money and time. It's not the guildmasters because those s.o.b.'s control how much this or that can be sold for. Merchants, not a chance. They are only a half a step above a thief. An adventurer does not take anything from the common man and adventurers do what most wish they could do.

An adventurer is not tethered to any one location. The travel is frequent and sometimes into lands that locals can only imagine. Adventurers go to these places knowing they may have to battle some of the worst creatures ever to exist. The power adventurers demonstrate in skill of arms, the power of the arcane and the connection they may have with a deity. The wealth they amass. The possessions they collect. But the main reason is an adventurer's complete lack of fear to stand up against anything or anyone.

Commoners and nobles alike follow the tales of this adventuring party or another. How that common farmer would love to be Thandor the Lich Slayer for just a day so he could punch that little weasel of a baron right in the nose. How that little weasel of the baron wishes he was Hydril the Fire Master so he could expand his power and claim his own kingdom. Adventurers are outside the social system in many ways because of the freedom of travel, power and money they possess.

With this admiration comes the negative aspect. Those who worship the adventurer, devoting their time and thoughts, expect something in return. Mainly this will come in the form of inclusion, attention, confirmation of their devotion. A slight or insult could cause this same person to turn from devotee to enemy. While this may not seem a threat an unsuspecting enemy can be more dangerous than an awaken dragon. Adventurers need most of their everyday needs taken care of by others, so there are many opportunities for one of these slighted fans to become a problem.

Local authorities don't like adventurers because of their entitlement state of mind. Adventurers often come into places believing they are above the law and should be allowed to do whatever they wish, even if includes burning down a tavern or two. Adventurers prove to be a challenge to keep in check and many resources need to be used to 'watch' them. There are entire graveyards filled with the corpses of city guards who tried to protect their homes from angry adventurers.

Nobles like the stories, but don't like them coming into their realm because adventurers stir up the passions of the common man. How many times has a party of adventurers seen a noble as the cruel master when all they demand is that the people do the work they have promised to do?

Even local villagers can be hesitant by allowing a group of meatheads to stay. They may be the kindest adventurers who are generous and helpful, but then they go traipsing into the countryside, stir up a shit storm and once they get what they came for are off to the next location. Meanwhile Ma and Pa Kettle need to deal with the aftermath.

Whether your campaign sees adventurers as rock stars or not, there will always be a variety of different groups. You have the garage band variety, where they have some talent, but keep their day jobs. These guys usually stay local and rarely travel too far out. They are content with being a farmer or craftsman, but need a little excitement. Once the wife and children come along they usually retire from such activities.

Then you have the filler bands. They are out on the road with the big boys, but never seem to get the big score. They tend to hit known areas close to civilization. They don't have the talent or money to do any extensive adventuring, but do well enough to keep up their lifestyle.

The one-hit wonders are adventurers that don't have that much talent and lucked out with a situation, but because of their lack of talent or ambition they don't do much afterwards. Often these one-hit wonders buy taverns or sponsor other adventurers. Or can be found half in the bag boring everyone around them with the retelling of their only adventure.

The steady adventurers are calculating and methodical. They plan each adventure figuring out the risk and reward ratio. They are not afraid to bail out from a situation that seems too difficult. They are not the most glamorous of the groups, but they provide results.

Lastly you have the superstars. They have the talent, luck and ambition to do it all and do it in style. Sometimes they will sacrifice a sure paying gig for one that has the possibility of being glamorous. Sure they could take down the tribe of trolls that has been bashing caravans for the past three months. All that money and supplies sitting there, but trolls are not sexy. There is a rumor going around about a blood god cult in the mountains sacrificing people and monsters to their god to gain enough power to bring their god into this realm. Not much of a pay off, but sexy as hell.

After Game Discussion: Adventure Paths

I thought I would start a new series of blogs called, The After Game Discussion.  I realized how much good gaming stuff was discussed after the game.  This last week we discussed Adventure Paths or Adventure Series which ever you prefer.

At the beginning of the summer Rusty started a C&C campaign and he decided to use an adventure series for the foundation.  It was short lived.  I think about three sessions (real life took Rusty away for a few months).  He discussed how he thought running a canned series would be easier on him, but found out it wasn't.  He said that if the players didn't do certain things the entire adventure came to a halt.  That some of the things that needed to be done were no in the players best interest or even of interest.

Campaigns and character development are more sophisticated even with the stripped down rules of the basic systems.  GMs are creating elaborate worlds.  And because of this there are fewer pick up games.  In the early 80s I carried around a folder of characters in case I found a game, those days are gone.  Back then I didn't worry about my character other than the equipment he had and his level.  The GM would usually run a canned module and everyone was in.  No need to explain our motivation.  We would usually skip the long reading introductions and get right to the meat.  The only motivation needed at that time was there was a game and we were about to roll dice.

Today, I don't do pick up games anymore (unless at a con).  I like having a period of time to run my guy and see what what happens.  When I first make a character I have certain personality marks determined.  Maybe a short backstory.  Then I am ready to dive into some adventure and see what happens.  If the GM tells me ahead of time we will be playing a certain adventure series I will try to gear my guy to make that transition as easy as possible.  But even when I do this there a certain things that come up in an adventure series that if you do not do it comes to a halt.  And in the case the adventure series Rusty was running there were a couple of times when what the players needed to do was...well, a bit stupid.  After playing through the first of the adventure series I am positive they did not playtest it.

The whole point of getting the adventure series was to save time.  But after reading through the adventure Rusty said it would have taken almost as much time to go redo the parts than to have done his own thing.  I found this true of Pathfinder's King Maker adventure path.  Where it had a lot of great stuff to mine from, running it would have been difficult if you had players who liked to explore and were not playing within the limitations of the AP.  It is set up to be a sandbox and it is to a point, but should they party stray to far this way or that then they go into an area where everything is set for higher levels or there is nothing.

Those damn players, like myself, like freewill.  I want to go where I want when I want and let me suffer the consequences.  Don't restrict my movement because I failed to be interested in your village quest.  That's what they do in video games.  That stupid north gate won't open until you gather seven more hogs and deliver them to Herman the Half-Wit.  Once you gather the pigs the gate opens.  Adventure Paths/Series kind of do this also.

I guess what it boils down to for me is these canned adventure series don't save time for me unless I mine them for bits and pieces I can use during the running of my own world.  In this way I think it saves time, but trying to run it as is I've found to be frustrating.