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So, either you are a long-time reader and know that sometimes I disappear... Most of you are recent, however, and find it odd that after tons of people find out about this blog that I just up and vanish. There is a reason why I haven't posted in a few weeks.

I was recently laid off from my job. I was given very little notice and no severence, so I've been busy trying to find a new one. I was fortunate enough, however, to get a little vacation down in Hilton Head, SC, so I'm pretty much recharged (although I got a horrible case of food poisoning while I was there; stay away from the hamburger place - trust me).

I don't think I'm going to get a real post up today, however expect to see posts starting Monday. Until then, have a great weekend, and get some gaming done! I know I will.

I want to take a moment to talk about You. That’s right – You. I’m calling you out. But don’t bother getting out your +4 flaming burst dire flail of annihilation, and just let your scramjet ammo sit in it’s box.

I want to know, how do you feel right now? Go ahead, answer me, out loud. No, I won’t be able to hear it (wish I could, that would be a cool talent), but I want you to say it, right now.

Edit: Sorry, I forgot to link to Brandon's blog, toosigma.com. Apparently I need to job my own memory. :)

All right.
Fine.
Good, thanks.
Great.
Tired.
Bored.
Stressed.
Upset.
Indifferent.

Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say, without knowing you, that there is something about yourself that you could change that would turn your answer to my question into “Excellent, and I hope you feel excellent, too!” I’m not talking about your current situation, or an event that is happening in your life – I’m talking about You.

Before you get all angry towards me, let me tell you where this is going. While pen-and-paper games are a great escape, I believe that if you come to the table a happier person, you will have a better time. Simple idea; common sense, right? Then what I want to suggest to you is that you can improve every gaming session you have simply by making yourself a better person.

Many people, PCs and GMs included, want to better themselves for various reasons. And blogging about self improvement isn’t new. Just look at what Brandon has talked about (speaking of – I hope the reason why he hasn’t updated his blog in a while is because he is too busy getting things done). He is just one RPGer out of many who wants to change themselves, and they can’t help but to have a better game as a result.

Now I’m not trying to change your life – just your game. I could throw lists of tips at you, or some strategies for creating NPCs easier and with more depth, or some neat tips on character optimization, or what-have-you, but I truly believe that to have a lasting affect on your game, you need to go to a more fundamental level. What I’m going to do for you is give you a few links to some great websites that can get you can evaluate for yourself and see if you can carry anything over to your game. If this isn’t your cup of tea, thanks for reading anyway, and I’ll see you next post.

• See what Wikipedia has to say about the “Getting Things Done” routine.
• Although tools don’t always help facilitate change as much as people claim, Lifehacker.com always has some great, usually tech-related, tips on how to do many different things.
• Feel like watching something as opposed to reading? How about the Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun!
• If you feel like you have confidence issues when it comes to leading a party of adventures, or even when you’re sitting on the secret side of the GM screen, maybe something like this essay about leadership may help.
• Get distracted while creating and adventure or character? Try out these tips on how to concentrate on writing.
• Lacking motivation? http://www.motivation-tools.com may help!
• Maybe you want to sharpen your mind? Perhaps just learning more about that gray matter between your ears will help!
• If you really want to dive in, you could always look at a blog dedicated to developing yourself, such as Steve Pavlina’s “Personal Development for Smart People.”

Do you have a link to some advice that has improved yourself, thus your game? Let me, and everyone else, know!

This past weekend my group gathered together for our d20 campaign. The session was mostly an excuse to throw some dice at some big creatures; the group had gone through several role-playing sessions, and it was time to make good on some promises.

The party decided that they could tough it out for just a little bit more before finding a safe place to lick their wounds after a particularly rough battle. They rounded the corner and discovered three large demons. After a few knowledge checks, the party thought they knew what to expect, so they quickly created a plan to take care of the soon-to-be-charging opponents.

The party’s primary fighter (and cleric) went toe-to-toe with the strongest of the demons. Things started looking pretty grim almost immediately. Between a normal attack and an attack of opportunity, the fighter was down to negative hit points (and was very thankful for taking the diehard feat). “We’re dead – TPK” he proclaims. There was silence for 2 seconds when another player looks at me and says “Who’s next on the initiative?”

I’ll spare you the drawn out ‘convention-style’ story. The punch line is the fighter/cleric was saved and his comrades helped him in defeating the brute in addition to fending off the remaining 2 demons.

This was a prime example of teamwork. One player healed, another dealt some damage, one held off the advance of the other opponents… It was everything anyone could expect from a party of adventurers. Well, anyone except the fighter/cleric. I talked to him about it briefly afterwards and he said that he didn’t think that he could get healed in time, or for enough hit points to finish off the demon.

Although healing was part of the solution, it wasn’t the only action the party took. It was then that I remembered several comments that where made throughout other sessions that where tell-tale signs of what was happening:

I thought you could turn invisible at will?
Does anyone have silent image?
Why can’t you cast a healing spell?
You’re a bard – inspire courage or fascinate them, now!

Those and other comments have been spoken multiple times by one player or another repeatedly. The party has no idea what the adventurer to his left and right can do. I have to admit that even I, the GM, don’t know what every player’s total power is. I know enough to plan a fair adventure that features moments where one character or another can shine, but my players surprise me ever few sessions with abilities that are clearly labeled on their character sheets.

I have my own shortcomings in this department, but it is my opinion that the party is lacking in knowing what everyone can do. While I sit around and brainstorm, I came up with the idea of asking each PC to showcase their character to everyone via e-mail (or they could print out what they would have types and send bring it to the next session). This, of course, would give each PC the ability to recognize what everyone can do, so that when the chips are down, they know what cards can be played. Some players may see this as homework, but I don’t think many will – this is one step away from bragging about their character; seriously, who here hasn’t bored someone with a story of what their character can do?

Below lists several questions to have each player answer about their PC. If you are a GM in a game, make your own list and ask the players to share their character with everyone. If you are a player in a game, fill out the list yourself and e-mail it to everyone, encouraging him or her to do the same in return. If you think something is missing from this list, or if you have an alternate way of doing the same thing, say something in the comments section.

• What is your character’s name?
• What race is the PC?
• What are your class/levels?
• Famous quote/tag line?
• What is your PC’s goal? Alternatively, what is the primary principle that your character lives by and strives for?
• What is your primary attack form? What is your current attack bonus and damage with this attack form?
• What two skills have the highest ranks? If multiple, list the two that are the most important to your character.
• What is the highest level of spells you can cast? How many times per day? List your favorite 3 spells you can cast at this level.
• Do you have any immunities or resistances?
• Do you have any special attacks or supernatural abilities you like to use?
• Do you have a special ability or skill that you are good at but haven’t used much that you want everyone to know about?

Metaphors and comparisons are great tools. If you sit down at a table of people playing a card game you’ve never heard of and someone tells you “This game plays like Go Fish,” you know what wto expect.

So metaphors are good, to an extent; I’m sure that same group of people would get pretty aggravated if you tried to turn their current game into a game of Go Fish with the idea that the game they are playing is close enough.

Last time, I talked about comparing RPGs to a book. Now I’m going to talk about comparing them to video games.

It seems natural, doesn’t it? Both are interactive, both allow a decent degree of control over what is going on… The only difference is one has a constant stream of pretty pictures and the other doesn’t, right?

Let me tell you about the time I picked up a copy of Baldur’s Gate for PC. Everyone and their mother loved this game, which was based on the AD&D 2^nd Edition rule set. Some people really liked the story, some really liked the action… I found the whole game lacking. This was by far no substitute for pen-and-paper.

• You had no one to talk strategy with.
• You had no DM, thus you had now way of avoiding some really, really annoying rule circumstances (like receiving a critical hit 9 out of 10 times – seriously, it was ridiculous).
• You have just as much control over the plot as a book – about none.

Games are getting more involved as time moves on. We have games like Grand Theft Auto and the Elder Scrolls, which provide massive environments for you to explore; despite the fact that there is a finite amount to do in these games, there’s a heck of a lot. You can use different playing styles in the game; you can even design an add-on pack, or download and install a modification, if you want the game to behave in a specific manor. Heck, you can even play a game like World of Warcraft and have a massive shared experience. So it would seem that as time goes on, video games become a better and better metaphor.

They why is it that every other weekend I get together with about 5 of my friends, sit around a table, roll some dice and talk about dragons, elves, steam-powered transports, gates to other planets, and mutant powers (no, not all at once)? Why not just meet up in Azeroth (the “home land” in World of Warcraft), or play some Baldur’s Gate? Or read a book?

I could give you my answer, but that’s the problem – it’s my answer.

How about you take 5 minutes to think about why you play a pen-and-paper RPG as opposed to replacing it with another activity. You can keep the reasons why to your self, but I’d love to hear what you have to say; post a comment in the comments section.

Today, I want to talk about something that every GM should know and every PC hates. If you are a GM and what you’re about to read doesn’t seem familiar to you, take notes.

The GM is usually pinned as the one responsible for the story of a game. Indeed, he typically throws out the first hook, and most hooks after that. There are plenty of stories out there in the world, from common tales and clichés to complex original plots. Any of these can make a great pen-and-paper game story line when uses correctly. This implies that there is a right way and a wrong way to run a game – and there is. Fortunately for you, the ways to run a game right are nearly infinite. Another blessing is that there are few ways to run a game poorly. The catch? It’s way too easy to present a plot line poorly.

I’m going to make this a two-part topic. Today, I want to talk about comparing a great plot to a novel or book.

People draw similarities between books and RPG campaigns all the time. One of the best resources for story development on the net was spawned to help GMs and story writers: the creation process for a plot, whether it is for a book or a game, is very similar.

That’s where the similarity ends. Unfortunately, many GMs (typically novices) carry the analogy further.

A book is something that you read through page-by-page. You are primarily receiving from the book. If you try to give the book feedback, nothing changes. If a GM takes the book metaphor too seriously, you get this: an RPG plot line/campaign is something that you expose to your players page-by-page. Your players are primarily receiving from the game. If they try to give you feedback, nothing changes.

Please tell me you see how bad this is.

The one-liner to this is RPGs plots are not like books. If you aren’t too keen on the whole thinking thing, or expect me to flesh out my own thought on my own blog, let me explain what this means.

• A book feeds you information, whether it is technical, factual, fantasy, etc. It has no input mechanism. A game session should provide a mechanism for input; it should allow players to tell the game what they want.
• A book never changes, save for revisions or updates (in a tech-heavy book). If a game’s players provide input to the GM, the game should change in accordance with their wishes.
• A book is made to cater to a specific audience, however narrow or broad. A game session should cater to a very specific audience – the players at the table.

Looking at this, it’s easy to see that a book isn’t a great metaphor to use to refer to an entire game session. What can we compare it to then? Perhaps a video game!

I’ll talk about that one next time…

First off, I want to apologize for the lack of updates. Between getting a new web host, starting an exercise routine, and jury duty, I've been pretty busy. I'll try not to let it happen again. :)

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There are times when the players arn't willing to see anything but what they want to see. To illistrate, you introduce an NPC that is down on his luck, being blackmailed, has trained questionable skills to get by. You want to display him as someone who is a little misguided and good at his core - the players want to see him as a waste of space and a greedy back-stabber.

Try and try as you might, your players won't see any redeeming value in the poor guy. To them, he is exactly as they peg him. In cases like these, all of those character perks and thoughts you have about that NPC are wrong. Remember, you have the final say over the exact outcome of things when it has a mechanic (or lack thereof) behind it, but not on what the players think/say/do.

You may think this line of reasoning is wrong, but I would argue that unless you are running a game that is heavy on cloak-and-dagger plots, politics, or other mysteries, the GM and the PCs should have similar (not identical) thoughts about each NPC.

At times like this, there are 2 obvious paths with sometimes not-so-obvious actions behind them.

• The Players Are Right: The NPC is what they think he is. Look at what you have written down or what you think makes the NPC and see where it contradicts what the players think about the NPC. Items that are in the gray can stay in, but items that seem to combat what everyone thinks of the NPC need to go. In the example above there isn't anything wrong with him being down on his luck per say. Being blackmailed and using questionable skills also seem to check fine. He may also be misguided, but if the players see him as a snake in the grass, he is more than a little misguided. Also, the only good that this guy wants should be for himself.
  
• Show the Players what You See: Chances are, if your players point at someone and say "lying evil cheat", it's because the actions that NPC display are concurrent with what the PCs and players expect a lying evil cheat to act like. If you really want to hold onto the NPC as you have him, you need to show the players the side of him that you see. So the first thee items are obviously all the players see. Since they see them so much, use them to show his good-hearted nature! Have him give to some street urchins, show his conflict between stealing what is needed and stealing for profit... anything that uses what traits the players see to illuminate what you want them to see. I don't really find move quotes credible, but from the film Batman Begins: it's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you.

It's worth noting that you shouldn't give up on each NPC with the first label placed on them. Everyone has stereotypes. If he dresses like a scoundrel and talks like a scoundrel, then the players will think he's a scoundrel even before they talk to him. It's when he also acts like a scoundrel but you think he's a real stand-up guy that crossed signals get sent.

 

Until next time, friends, don't let your friends summon outsiders drunk.

 

Sometimes when you speak, the universe is listening. Either that, or it's a total coincidence.

I got my answer as to when the next version of D&D will be out - not until after 2008, and probably later than that.

The source of this? Abyssal Maul did a live-blogging of a D&D Experience presentation (use to be Winter Fantasy) saying:

The 4th Edition Question gets a lot of laughter.

"I'm surprised it took this long for someone to ask that"

"Its going to come at some point. It's a long ways away. You'll get an announcement when that happens, but it's a long ways away. We have a lot of good stuff coming out through 2008"

The journaling happened in a thread on theRPGSite.com.

I hate to admit it, but those 4th Edition nuts may be right.

First, there was lots of talk about a 4th Edition brewing a year ago at Winter Fantasy (which has been renamed for this year). Even ENWorld made an unofficial 4th Edition news log. Ok, I can see that - it keeps the nuts going to the site while keeping the forums relatively span-free.

Then there where books like Dragon Magic, Tome of Magic, and Tome of Battle that introduced entirely new systems of magic (while ToB isn't magic, it sure has that feel) to spice up the game play - as if the game had gotten stale. (While I agree that it might of needed a spritzer of something, it wasn't stale).

Monte Cook, the writer of the DMG 3.0, expressed his concern about a 4th Edition. While he admits that he isn't in the loop anymore, the original plan for the fanchise was to release new editions more often (as in, 3.5 was planned before 3.0 was finished). He also comments that he has been around a while and knows what kind of products a company releases towards the end of a game's life cycle. (Link or it didn't happen?  Here you go. - search for "The OGL and the Future")

Then game the compendiums. The Spell Compendium was great - a huge collection of spells all in one book is awesome. The Magic Item Compendium is being published in March 2007. They add some neat stuff to it, but otherwise, why do you need a magic item compendium?

Now, in October of this year, Wizards of the Coast is publishing the Rules Compendium.

I could be reading in between the lines, but didn't they release a Companion CD for 2nd Edition with a truck load of source books on it about a year before they announced 3rd Edition? (That's rhetorical - I have the original and the 2.0 version)

So, should we all be saving some extra $$$ to see what the next incarnation of D&D has in store for us? Or is WotC honestly trying to be helpful by producing a meaningful rules cyclopedia?

The Complete Scoundrel introduces things called "skill tricks". Skill tricks are purchased with skill points (2 each) and allow a character "... to perform such cinematic effects as swinging across a chasm hanging from a whip, leaping off a warhorse while swinging a sword, jumping and running up a wall, and other similar actions popular in movies but until now unsupported in the D&D rules."

I have 2 issues with skill tricks.

What Can't a Fantasy Game Support?

I've had players swing Indiana-Jones style before. I've had one lunge from one horse to another. It's no strain on the imagination that a nimble PC or NPC could use a side-wall as leverage for a jump. Why do we need to spend 2 skill points for things we can already do?

We Don't Even use Everything Current Skills Give Us!

Did you know that to hop up onto a table, it is a DC 5 Jump check?
Speaking of Jump, if you have no ranks in Jump and don't beat the DC by 5, you fall prone.
If you have less than 5 ranks of the Balance skill, any time you are in a situation that merits one, you are flat-footed.
Ever climbed over an overhang? Neither have I; That's a CD 25 check.
Ever use Escape Artist for something other than getting out of ropes?
Survival can help you predict the weather. You know, that always-summer-day that exists in DnD will be even less of a surprize!

There are a whole slue of uses for skills. Some of these are trivial, while others are interesting. Some require the DM to present, while others the player can just use.

I'm not saying that skill tricks are bad - some are pretty interesting in their own right. But I haven't used all of the skills we have yet, and I've been running 3.0/3.5 since day one. It wasn't that hard to figure out the effects of a swinging PC, or a lunging PC, or even a sliding PC (that was quite interesting). PCs can use rat bones to pick locks and flirt their way into peoples homes just fine without having to spend 2 more skill points.

Once in a while I will hear or read about a DM questioning the rules of the search skill. This always tied to an experience where someone playing a rogue ends up searching every 5-foot square in a room or hallway multiple times during a session for the sole reason of avoiding traps. I myself have been in a few games where the rogue pointed out several places in a room, rolled a handful of d20s and asked if he found any traps.

This can be frustrating for some groups. So frustrating that some DMs do what I did for years - remove traps from the game almost completely. For years, I ran a campaign that has almost no traps. Actually, there where 4, and I remember each one well, because traps where THAT rare in my game. This, however, is a very poor solution to this issue:

• This mitigates one (or more) player's class ability. Traps are so rare that trapfinding is a useless class ability.
• This is an indirect solution to the problem, not a fix to the problem itself.

Another thing I tried was to introduce traps, but in very limited ways. I would trap "important" doors and chests, closets, and what-not. This was nice, because it brought a certain bit of logic back to the game; who wouldn't protect their valuables? This was still just as poor of a solution, however:

• Players sometimes look at the cleric and see a band-aid, which I know all clerics are over-joyed about. This make them look at the rogue and see a treasure-opener.
• This still doesn't directly solve any problems.

What is the problem? The issue is the 5-foot searching radius of the Search skill. Why is it a problem? Because a PC will think that they have to search every 5-foot-square in your dungeon or other environment just to keep the party safe. For every other application, in my opinion, the 5-foot search radius of the skill is fine.

How do we solve the problem directly?

One option is to increase the search radius. Back in the day of old-school D&D, the 5-foot search radius was fine. But in the world of 3.5, it's just annoying. Give the search skill a 10-foot search radius. This requires changing how search works in one instance, which is a little inconsistent with the rules, but is otherwise not a very big change. You could even turn this into a feat; give the PC a +2 bonus to search checks while looking for traps to boot and you have yourself a new feat! The problem with this is that unless your player has been seriously burned by traps before, they arn't going to see this feat as worth it. Additionally, altering the rules for one scenario in this fashion may seem disjointed to you.

Another way to extend search is by allowing the search check to apply to a whole room, wall, or other large object for all skill checks. A rogue walks into a room, rolls a 24, and 6 game seconds later you tell him he finds a secret door, a stash of gems, and a trap. This goes even further than the last solution, however now you enter into a realm of disbelief. How, exactly, did the rogue find the trap that is on the other side of the 50-foot room? Additionally, this method is still incompatible with other uses of the search skill (yes, there are other uses of the search skill other than finding secret doors and traps). With a little common sense, however, this method works out fairly well. I've used this approach liberally in-game for about a year and a half without any major issues. It does ruin some of the fun for the rogue, however.

One final way to combat this problem that I haven't investigated fully is taken from a president that has a long history in D&D - an automatic search check. Just like elves get an automatic search check to detect secret doors, allow characters with the trapfinding class ability to get a search check to automatically notice traps that they are 5 feet away from. It is not a stretch to think that someone who knows how to dismantle mechanical and magical traps would also have a strong intuitive sense of where they would be placed. The DM would make the roll secretly, unless the DM doesn't even do the elven secret door check secretly. Impose a -4 penalty to the skill roll, and you have added a game mechanic that will speed-up play while keeping the search skill (and the time it takes to search for things) relevant.

• The rogue won't feel so compelled to search every 5-foot square just to avoid 1d8 damage.
• The -4 penalty keeps larger traps in an area where the rogue must actively search for it, while putting "annoyance traps" more into a range of auto-detection.

Do you have a different way of resolving traps in d20? Have you tried something similar to what has been outlined above? Leave your experiences in the comments section.