This module is intended for a 5th level DM.
I've seen Quick Starts and modules intended for complete newbies, but after their shaky inaugural flight first DM's are treated as identical in gaming products. Aren't they?
I think there's way more granularity possible than just complete newbie and expert, but I'm not sure how that might play out in terms of tools and products. This would depend on understanding how DMs with different levels of experience function differently at the table-- what they need the most help with and what would be a waste for them.
I read Chgowiz, I think, mention that he never rolls up encounter hit points until the creature is actually hit. I think this is elegant in that, if that flock of stirge is dropped with a sleep spell, or the orc party is parlayed with, all the prep time to roll their HP would be extra, unnecessary work. But for myself, not having enough experience to remember, how many hit dice a hill giant has say, and not wanting to have to fumble around during play looking that up and rolling it and recording it, I roll out everything in advance. Here's an example from my last session:
I tried to make it as simple and clean a layout as possible, but I wanted all the info I might need in play at my fingertips. The big numbers are hit points of the creatures present. These were set encounters, I do something similar for random encounters. I was even thinking of producing a template for that. But I realize this may be considered elementary by more experienced DM's.
So here is my question for you to ponder: As you've grown in experience as a DM what tools or techniques have you grown out of? Or, as you've grown in experience as a DM, what tools did you find yourself inventing because your needs as a DM changed with that experience?
Friday, July 31, 2009
Learning to DM
I've spent much of my life thinking about roleplaying games, more than anyone around me. So when I found a community of like minded folks, I came into it quite confident. I mean, I've dwelt in this tuff for years. You can probably tell it in the tone of my earlier posts. Heck, I think my first post to the Swords & Wizardry forum was a suggestion to change the way saving throws work. But after spending time reading the blogs of people who have been playing roleplaying games these thirty years, and especially after getting a chance to DM again, I feel quite humbled.
In play, I realized that some of the most commonly occurring situations- the simplest things- I didn't know how to handle, hadn't ever made rulings about.
Lately I feel reluctant to make any grand proclamations. I feel like listening instead of propounding. Which seems sort of a bad state to be in for a blog.
I think what I've learned in life about learning is that we have steep climbs, where we are learning a lot about a subject, almost faster than we can take it in, and plateaus where we coast along using what we've learned for a while (and subconsciously digesting it all). I think I'm on one of those steep climbs right now, learning tons. So that's cool, and exciting, but it makes me hesitant to make any claims to knowledge the way I was a few weeks ago.
I suppose this could still be useful to others in that you can observe me learning. And I think there are still insights I might offer up. Here's one: it seems there is a finite set of things you need to be able to handle in a roleplaying game, in fact, a very limited set. What I mean is that you will need to resolve who acts first, who hits or doesn't, what happens when the players head off into the wilderness, how will NPCs act, etc. That sounds trivial on writing it out, but it is profound to the student DM.
Once you feel comfortable with a ruling to deal with wilderness travel and encounters, for example, you are set. You may run across more efficient ways to handle this, more elegant or creative ways to handle this (and this is what blogs and forums are great for), but you won't need to worry "What will I ever do, if the players skip my dungeon and head off into the hills." Once you have your way to handle this, you can sit down at any table, with any group of players and feel confident about refereeing play.
Again, this all seems almost too trivial to write, but I remember my very first attempt at DMing, which was horrible, and was so for the very reason that there seemed to be infinite rulings that I might need to handle and infinite information I would need to know.
I think what I am writing is that I am starting to see the parts of being a DM, which is evidence of my learning. The way when you learn about something enough, it starts to click and it isn't all of a sudden a mass of confusing noise, but you can see the patterns and commonalities.
Another idea that just popped into my head is that DMs at different levels of experience will need very different tools. Which sounds obvious too, but I don't remember ever hearing anyone say "This is a great tool for an intermediate DM" or "This tool really shines for a beginner, but isn't worth it for an experienced DM."
So for a post that started as me saying I'm leery of propounding I'm certainly doing a lot of it, haha. But this last idea has caught my interest, so I think I'll move it to a new post so it doesn't get lost in my blah, blah, blah.
In play, I realized that some of the most commonly occurring situations- the simplest things- I didn't know how to handle, hadn't ever made rulings about.
Lately I feel reluctant to make any grand proclamations. I feel like listening instead of propounding. Which seems sort of a bad state to be in for a blog.
I think what I've learned in life about learning is that we have steep climbs, where we are learning a lot about a subject, almost faster than we can take it in, and plateaus where we coast along using what we've learned for a while (and subconsciously digesting it all). I think I'm on one of those steep climbs right now, learning tons. So that's cool, and exciting, but it makes me hesitant to make any claims to knowledge the way I was a few weeks ago.
I suppose this could still be useful to others in that you can observe me learning. And I think there are still insights I might offer up. Here's one: it seems there is a finite set of things you need to be able to handle in a roleplaying game, in fact, a very limited set. What I mean is that you will need to resolve who acts first, who hits or doesn't, what happens when the players head off into the wilderness, how will NPCs act, etc. That sounds trivial on writing it out, but it is profound to the student DM.
Once you feel comfortable with a ruling to deal with wilderness travel and encounters, for example, you are set. You may run across more efficient ways to handle this, more elegant or creative ways to handle this (and this is what blogs and forums are great for), but you won't need to worry "What will I ever do, if the players skip my dungeon and head off into the hills." Once you have your way to handle this, you can sit down at any table, with any group of players and feel confident about refereeing play.
Again, this all seems almost too trivial to write, but I remember my very first attempt at DMing, which was horrible, and was so for the very reason that there seemed to be infinite rulings that I might need to handle and infinite information I would need to know.
I think what I am writing is that I am starting to see the parts of being a DM, which is evidence of my learning. The way when you learn about something enough, it starts to click and it isn't all of a sudden a mass of confusing noise, but you can see the patterns and commonalities.
Another idea that just popped into my head is that DMs at different levels of experience will need very different tools. Which sounds obvious too, but I don't remember ever hearing anyone say "This is a great tool for an intermediate DM" or "This tool really shines for a beginner, but isn't worth it for an experienced DM."
So for a post that started as me saying I'm leery of propounding I'm certainly doing a lot of it, haha. But this last idea has caught my interest, so I think I'll move it to a new post so it doesn't get lost in my blah, blah, blah.
Session Post Mortem
I get so stressed out wanting to be utterly prepared and do everything right and then go play and . . . just have so much fun. I had two players. I decided to roll up an NPC mage to add to their firepower because I was really worried about them surviving.
Well, I rolled on my Hireling Traits Spur for my NPC Ciranil the mage and found out he was a drunk with big feet from a distant land. So I made him come from Asile, my campaigns version of France and gave him my version of a French accent. My players were laughing constantly, not because of my accent but because of my bawdy comments. My friend suggested I record and transcribe my crazy dialog.
I did use the NPC to discourage the players from investigating my unfinished megadungeon. I feel kind of tacky about it, but even if the ground level had been finished, the way I imagine it, it would have been too dangerous for this party.
So the party pressed on to the end of the map where, presumably, the remains of St. Cecily lie. At the end of three long days of hiking with no random encounters (!), they reached a rock face filled with cave entrances.
The first they chose was the easiest to enter. A crude stone sarcophagus surrounded by the skeletons of four monks. The party was wary and on attempting to behead one of the skeletons they awoke them all. Only one of the hirelings, the hated Odric, was felled. And he was back in action after Kira the Cleric cast cure light wounds on him. He immediately continued his rant about not being paid enough for the danger of the work.
They found some rare perfume and a brittle, old cloth roll of beautiful feathers in the tomb. The next cave they decided to examine was filled with furry yellow mold. Thankfully, they decided against venturing in (I really am rooting for the party).
The next cave entrance was harder to reach and required either shimmying along a ledge or climbing a rope attached to a grapnel. They chose the latter and the fighter Anselm, lone survivor of last weeks carnage clambered up to be bit on the face by a giant spider and failed his save versus poison. As I was describing it to him, my friend said you know I'm arachnophobic, you don't have to do that. !! I didn't know. What a horrible way to die.
The other player decided to head back to town. I feel bad about them losing characters. And I certainly don't set out to try to kill them. I told my friend, "I try to think of what might live there and then put it there. You have to kind of expect a sort of naturalism". Or something of that sort. But they both seemed to have great fun and want to play again. I think it will be such an event when someone reaches 2nd level we'll need to have a cake.
Well, I rolled on my Hireling Traits Spur for my NPC Ciranil the mage and found out he was a drunk with big feet from a distant land. So I made him come from Asile, my campaigns version of France and gave him my version of a French accent. My players were laughing constantly, not because of my accent but because of my bawdy comments. My friend suggested I record and transcribe my crazy dialog.
I did use the NPC to discourage the players from investigating my unfinished megadungeon. I feel kind of tacky about it, but even if the ground level had been finished, the way I imagine it, it would have been too dangerous for this party.
So the party pressed on to the end of the map where, presumably, the remains of St. Cecily lie. At the end of three long days of hiking with no random encounters (!), they reached a rock face filled with cave entrances.
The first they chose was the easiest to enter. A crude stone sarcophagus surrounded by the skeletons of four monks. The party was wary and on attempting to behead one of the skeletons they awoke them all. Only one of the hirelings, the hated Odric, was felled. And he was back in action after Kira the Cleric cast cure light wounds on him. He immediately continued his rant about not being paid enough for the danger of the work.
They found some rare perfume and a brittle, old cloth roll of beautiful feathers in the tomb. The next cave they decided to examine was filled with furry yellow mold. Thankfully, they decided against venturing in (I really am rooting for the party).
The next cave entrance was harder to reach and required either shimmying along a ledge or climbing a rope attached to a grapnel. They chose the latter and the fighter Anselm, lone survivor of last weeks carnage clambered up to be bit on the face by a giant spider and failed his save versus poison. As I was describing it to him, my friend said you know I'm arachnophobic, you don't have to do that. !! I didn't know. What a horrible way to die.
The other player decided to head back to town. I feel bad about them losing characters. And I certainly don't set out to try to kill them. I told my friend, "I try to think of what might live there and then put it there. You have to kind of expect a sort of naturalism". Or something of that sort. But they both seemed to have great fun and want to play again. I think it will be such an event when someone reaches 2nd level we'll need to have a cake.
Pre-Session
Well, knock-on-wood, I'll be playing Swords & Wizardry with at least 2 players in 5 hours. It's been a two week hiatus since the party successfully cracked the secret of the ruined convent.
At this moment I am not prepared. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my brain, but I have no idea where play will take the party today. They have a map pointing to the tomb of St. Cecily (they don't know that's the destination), but that is a three days ride through inhospitable terrain.
Following the path the map presents should also take them by my embryonic megadungeon. It is the ruins of an ancient city built by a mad, Caligula-esque Emperor. I only have a vague idea of what they would find there if they decide to leave the trail to explore.
Anyway, I plan to firm up my ideas on random encounters for the hills they'll be riding through. I will rough out the caves at the end of the map, assuming they plow through the wilderness and make them. I'll also prepare some specific encounters for a hill giant and a patrol of a tough, pony-riding, hill people I have in mind.
One thing I'm realizing about wilderness travel: it's hard to give players choices without specific landscape details. I'm wondering about the legendary Western Marches campaign, how specific did the DM get in his descriptions of the land they were travelling over? Because if you don't have something like a crude topographic map, it is all a hazy, vague area to be moved through where ambushes can spring from anywhere. Maybe this is why wilderness travel is often handwaved to get the party to, and into the dungeon.
I want to give the same sense of adventure and danger that the party gets exploring dark, underground passages for their journey through the wilderness though. I'll see what I can come up with and pay close attention to how it plays out.
At this moment I am not prepared. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my brain, but I have no idea where play will take the party today. They have a map pointing to the tomb of St. Cecily (they don't know that's the destination), but that is a three days ride through inhospitable terrain.
Following the path the map presents should also take them by my embryonic megadungeon. It is the ruins of an ancient city built by a mad, Caligula-esque Emperor. I only have a vague idea of what they would find there if they decide to leave the trail to explore.
Anyway, I plan to firm up my ideas on random encounters for the hills they'll be riding through. I will rough out the caves at the end of the map, assuming they plow through the wilderness and make them. I'll also prepare some specific encounters for a hill giant and a patrol of a tough, pony-riding, hill people I have in mind.
One thing I'm realizing about wilderness travel: it's hard to give players choices without specific landscape details. I'm wondering about the legendary Western Marches campaign, how specific did the DM get in his descriptions of the land they were travelling over? Because if you don't have something like a crude topographic map, it is all a hazy, vague area to be moved through where ambushes can spring from anywhere. Maybe this is why wilderness travel is often handwaved to get the party to, and into the dungeon.
I want to give the same sense of adventure and danger that the party gets exploring dark, underground passages for their journey through the wilderness though. I'll see what I can come up with and pay close attention to how it plays out.
Magical Portals - The Plain
This door was intended to contain reliefs of scenes of a legendary tale in each panel, but I never finished. I suppose the upside is that you could fill them in with your own story now. I am fond of that lock- who says door have to have only one key?
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