Door?
Maybe it's Challenge Fatigue, maybe it's my busy Real Life and offline Gaming Life, but I am finding the last few words less than inspiring. As I am trying to write posts based on the first thing the prompt word brings to mind I am stymied. Nothing immediately comes to mind with Guide, Door, and a few of the next ones.
Personally I think my first posts for this year's RPGaDay event were darn good. I apologize if the next few are not up to par. I'm trying to do my best. I'm sure one I get past the week I'll be back on track.
The only thing that pops into my head when I see the word Door is my old Door Test.
In a nutshell, I used to think that I could tell whether or not a potential player would fit with my group and my GMing style just by giving them a little test. It went something like this...
I would say, "You walk down the rough, stone corridor of an ancient, underground dungeon. You come to a wooden door on the left side wall that is open just a tiny crack. From out in the corridor you can see a large, armored person in a long cloak looking at a glowing gem. The gem is about twice the size of a Human fist. It is floating five feet off the ground. It glows with a violet light, crackling periodically with pale pink electricity.
What do you do?"
If the participant asks how big the door is, how far the door is open, what they themselves are carrying, what they can do, or anything like that, I am going to answer but mark a mental X. If they're first question is followed by yet another similar question, more strikes are marked until the buzzer sounds and the person is politely informed we're going a different way.
Worse yet would be anyone who asks the same questions but needing exacting measurements or questioning what type of door it is. This people are excused immediately and likely security will be summoned to see them out.
So what passes? Not only will I tell you, I'll tell you what passed with flying colors...
"I kick open the door, level my long sword at the armored fiend and call out, 'Foul Villain! Release the Heart of Vel'Var'Vos or be destroyed!"
"I draw my sword, pull up my hood to hide my face, and open the door. I say in a deep voice, "M'Lord! Thieves have entered the dungeon. Get to safety. I will protect the gem. I swear to guard it with my life!' (guy's eyes dart back and forth suspiciously)"
"Um...Can I take it? (said in a cute, upbeat voice)" Are you asking me or...the armored person? "I...I just take it. He won't mind." LOL
Basically, if you can fall right into it, invest, commit, get creative, yet also work with what you're given, you are very likely gonna fit right it.
I haven't used this 'test' in a long time. It isn't scientific by any means and doesn't take a lot of other factors into consideration that might give someone who seems otherwise incompatible a fighting chance.
Still and all, it worked. It never steered me wrong. Not once.
If you had a similar test let know. If you had a different approach to vetting new players, what was it? I am eager to find out. My Door is always open.
AD
Barking Alien
Approaching this one as I have the others so far, 'Word Prompt via Word Association', is proving to be tricky. Nothing in really comes to mind. I wish I had someone or something, like a more experienced blogger or a manual, that could lead me in a particular direction. You know like a...wait a minute...
A Guide is a generally a person or book that directs you to a place or through a task. A Guide helps you accomplish something that would otherwise be difficult to do on your own. A model kit's painting Guide tells you the correct colors to use and where they go on the model. A tour Guide takes you along a path and shows you all the famous sites of a city or other famous location.
These are great if you want to paint the model 'accurately' to match it's real world appearance or see the parts of a place you're visiting that you know already know from the brochures.
What if you want a custom paint job? What if you want to eat where the locals eat in the cool neighborhoods the tourists done know about? Is there a Guide for that? If so, that's the Guide I want to hire.
I am not much for Guides you see. Not really. I prefer to figure things out on my own. Give me the tools, maybe some suggestions, and I will figure it out. I don't mind help, it's not about pride or ego but rather I learn better by doing. I want to develop my own view points, my own opinions, and my own style.
The rulebooks give you the rules and tell you how to play, and sure my first GM helped but he was younger than me and just as new at the hobby. His first game was mine as well. His older brother helped him understand the rules but didn't really 'Guide' him. We, he, the other players, and I developed our comprehension of the RPGing together. This is why, to this day, my style in the little different from the norm.
My Guidance to others is this, let your conscience, creativity, and dedication be your Guide.
AD
Barking Alien
For me it's all about the Mystery.
I view a good Mystery as the key to a solid Role Playing Game experience, which can be problematic, as I don't think many gamers are great at Mysteries.
The result of this unfortunate situation is frustration as both a GM and player; running a game for a group of people who aren't great with deductive reasoning or being a player in a session where the GM has made the conundrum completely inscrutable.
Mysteries really aren't hard to construct but they can be hard to solve if you forget the number one, most important thing about them - you want them to be solved. The player wants to solve it so they can feel a sense of accomplishment. The GM wants it solved so their campaign and progress and the story can continue forward. Most importantly, think about what happens if it isn't solved. Often the answer is nothing. Nothing happens. The game can grind to a halt.
Gamemasters, please don't lock yourself in to one and only one possibly outcome of an investigation unless you are going to leave ample clues as to what is going on, how it's happening, and why.
Players, be sure to investigate. Don't just roll your 'Detective' skill or similar ability and hope the GM hands you all the answers. Be inquisitive. Have your PC look around, check inside desks, in closets, behind furniture. Have them talk to witnesses, locals, and experts in the appropriate field. Become involved in the Mystery and active in the solving of it.
You can click on the label/tag 'Mystery' attached to this post to see my previous discussions on the subject. I am pretty happy with those so I don't feel I need to go over the whole thing again here. Suffice to say, most Action/Adventure books, movies, TV shows, and the like have Mysteries, and your game should as well. Like the sources it draws from, the best part of the Mystery is the reveal. Do what you can to make that possible.
Why you would do it any other way is...A Mystery.
AD
Barking Alien
Gaming spawns Friendships. It builds Friendships. It keeps Friendships going.
Practically all of the Friendships I currently have I have through gaming.
Even with those people whom I met or knew before I gamed with them, gaming factored in in some way.
Some of those Friendships are with 'Gaming Friends'; friends I only see or have contact with at games. We don't necessarily hang out outside of our gaming group or get together except around a gaming table. At the same token, I see some of them rather often since we have regular, weekly games. That's more often than I see other friends I once had a stronger Friendship with but who I see less often due to time, distance, and responsibilities.
Some of the Friendships were forged in grade school and while we don't game together any longer (as a matter of fact, they don't game at all any more), we share fond memories of all those great games of the past.
I have Friendships from high school that have managed to overcome distance and time and every once in a while we get together for game for old times sake and because we love to game with each other.
My current groups are a mix of very old friends, friends from the last 5-10 years, and a new one now and then. It is a common phenomenon that as we get older we make fewer new friends. Judging only from myself I would say gamers skew this a bit. We are always discovering new friends and new Friendships through gaming.
Friend: "Hey Adam, this is my friend and his friend. I just met his friend, but my friend and I go way back. She's a gamer!"
Friend's Friend: "My friend is a gamer too!"
Friend's Friend's Friend: "I love gaming. My favorite game is one you really like!"
Me: "Wow! I just met two new gamers whom I didn't know this morning. We both really like at least one game in common! Let's be friends!"
I didn't meet my ex-wife through gaming (that was the result of Anime!) but I taught her to play and now she loves it. I believe she still owns more dice than I do (or possibly ever did).
I met my girlfriend through gaming when a mutual friend suggested she try it. The first time we met was the first RPG she ever played. She is no where near as serious about it as I am but she appreciates how important it is to me. That's beyond Friendship. That's Love.
Make some Friendships. Spread the Love.
AD
Barking Alien
Hmmm. Let's Examine 'Examine', shall we?
When one Examines something (or someone) they 'inspect it in detail to determine its nature or condition'. Examine means to 'investigate thoroughly'.
I think one of the things that makes my games (and some have said this blog) special and different is the way I Examine my campaigns, my players, and myself.
After over 40 years of gaming, primarily as a GM, I still take nothing for granted. I firmly believe that every game I run or play that works, or doesn't, has reasons why. If I can figure out what those reasons are I can, at least theoretically, improve my craft. To that end I put a lot of thought into my sessions before them and afterward.
I Examine the plot, pacing, art used, likely player choices and the outcomes of PCs actions before going in, running the scenarios' particulars over and over in my mind. I never read from a script or 'box text' of any kind, but I will practice how I am going to open an adventure many times before game day.
For example, for the second session of my new ongoing Science Fiction/Horror campaign FRONTIER I memorized the first few verses of the song Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. I noticed the words matched the situation and conditions at the end of our first session and decided to sing the song to begin the second one, the lines interspersed with a minor recap of how the 'pilot episode' ended.
After the session was over I thanked everyone for participating and listened as they discussed, with me and with each other, their favorite moments. When I mentioned my surprise at one PC's decision to forego direct action in favor of being 'the guy in the chair', he explained his reasoning and how this character was not the same as some of his previous, more dynamic PCs. Absorbing all of this and processing it I now know what worked and what might need a different approach in the future.
If Gamemastering is both an art and a science I will say that I surely apply the Scientific Method to my games. I ask myself the question of what a scenario or session needs to make it work. I then do my research on anything related to making it happen. Finally I construct a hypothetically model of how it will go, keeping in mind numerous alternative options should things not go as I foresee. Then I run the game, which serves as the experiment. When it's over I gather data on the experiment, analyze the data, and troubleshoot the process.
Remember that I listed myself among the components that need to be Examined for a game to be successful. I certainly do.
AD
Barking Alien
