Old School gaming isn't dead as long as there are Old School DMs. I had 10 players last night, a personal record. Two were relatively new to gaming.
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| Why are those two dudes over there eating instead of excitedly taking part, Telecanter?! |
These youngsters and their technology, videos were on Facebook and receiving comments before our session was even over (There were dramatic morality play distractions involved in the session).
Of course, there were several things I could have done better. I don't feel like writing it all up now. I'll just give you one clear example: reconnaissance should probably be a session of its own. Thinking about it now, many heist movies start with the crew knowing all the info they need already, Ocean's 11, for example.
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| My heist map and record sheet in a report cover |
Jenga didn't get used, prisoners were saved, but the 12,000 in silver was left behind. With that, I think I'm taking a little blogging vacation folks. Take care.
Looks really cool. We'll see you when you get back! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe recon issue you brought up is one our DM struggles with. I've tried to tell him, "Start a scene as late as you can"
ReplyDeleteToo many times he gets caught up in, "A man wants to hire you for a job. What do you do?" "Um, we go see him." "Okay, it's on the other side of town. How do you get there?"
Instead, I wish he'd say, "You stand on the steps of the haunted house you've been hired to investigate. What do you do?"
Basically, start play just a few moments before the PCs start making meaningful decisions.
Whoa, that came off as some kind of crazy DMing lecture. Eff that. It looks like you had a hell of a good time. It's cool that you can get so many eager players together. Whatever you are doing, keep at it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jim.
ReplyDeleteNo worries, Christian. I want to get better as a DM and just because we had fun doesn't mean couldn't have had more. So thanks.
For example, my players wasted an hour finding out a heist was even possible. They weren't asking what I would consider the most basic of questions "If someone is burned at the stake in this city where does it happen? Where are they held? If money is confiscated from a ship where is it held?"
I wish I could have bypassed all that, but what I was worried about was taking away player choice-- "Here is the place you are going to break the prisoners out of."
I think next time I would split the difference-- just give them all the information I thought they would know to ask about and then let them decide a course of action. Something like: "Since you've been released from jail you've heard the big buzz around town is that the crew of your ship is set to be burned at the stake. All their cargo was confiscated and is with them. They are all up at the shrine of St Letholdus. The burning will take place in a week."
You could give them all the casing details too, but my players seemed to enjoy gathering that. It took a while though, so next time I would either just give them all that too-- "My mother is being burned with your crew. I know that place like the back of my hand." Or, plan on a session of casing the place and then the next session of pulling the heist.
Those offering plates are just wicked. Envy!
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you think about your craft so much. I do, too. Sadly there are a lot of dudes who just don't care. I am playing under a guy right now who is just not listening to us players. We are pretty much telling him what we want to see and he ignores it.
ReplyDeleteI'm with ze. Those plates are awesome!
Looks like a great time to me! I look forward to a fuller debriefing, especially regarding the new mechanic experiment.
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