Planning Adventures - Allotting for Time

I’d like to talk today about planning an adventure. The most important rule to remember when designing an adventure is: However long you think it should take to complete, it will take twice as long.

I’m writing this before my group plays it, but I’d like to use an upcoming encounter in my current campaign as an example. I’ll update the end of this post after they’ve played for an accurate time stamp.

For reference, the group just helped a man fight off a mystical creature attacking the town. He appears to them as a greyish winged man and is a member of the city’s military force called “The Night Guard”.

“The Wounded Night Guardsmen thanks the party for saving him. He is new to this form (and reverts to a normal, pale Human appearance) and thus was not as helpful as he should have been. He explains a little bit about the Night Guard, but admits he hasn't been a member long enough to have memorized their full history. He will foot the bill to the Night Guard Meeting Hall, so long as the party doesn't mind him stopping by the Market District first.”

This single paragraph of text does a few things: 1) It gives the players an option to learn more about the Night Guard if the wish, and they will likely be curious given his appearance. 2) It confirms to them that he is a Vampire, if they weren’t sure yet. 3) It shows the group that the town is fairly generous, as by this point multiple people will have offered to pay the transportation costs around town. 4) It points them toward the city’s defenders, who will help them in an upcoming battle. 5) And it gives the party an excuse to go shopping, even though they are kind of in a hurry.

Looking at the paragraph I often think to myself “I need more content for this adventure.” Then I have to remind myself that this small block of text will take the group 30 minutes and set up two other encounters.

Just the discussion with this guy will end up taking them much longer than it would take me, but that isn’t a bad thing. I like that my players are thorough and spend a lot of time planning. It is a little disappointing when the adventure takes longer than I want, but it means that I have to plan less for each session. It also is very satisfying to see the players “in character” without a lot of prodding by me.

With each adventure I try something different. This is both fun and helps me learn what my players like best. For this one I’m putting a lot of planning into the NPCs and businesses in town, but I’m letting the players dictate the adventure. They have to prepare the town for an invading force, but that is a fair amount of time in the future. Everything they do in the next session (and maybe the one after that) is really up to them.

So the adventure I have written (a mere 2 days before it needs to be done) should take about 2 hours of gameplay if it was a party of 5 of me. I also know that it will at least fill a 4 hour session with my group, both because they don’t all play like me (thank god) and because roleplaying takes extra time. And of course they are now at the Paragon Tier which means combat takes longer should it arise.

And now for a rundown of how long it actually took to play. The sample encounter above ended up taking less than 5 minutes to finish. I was a bit surprised. Of course, another encounter that I expected to be over quickly took well over 20 minutes. The session as a whole only took 2 hours before we stopped for the night, but we had a scheduling conflict.

Metagaming and the DM’s conundrum

            For those who don’t know, Metagaming is a player using his knowledge to dictate his character’s actions. This is usually used in reference to a Tabletop RPG, but actually could be used in any game where you are portraying a character.

Most DMs tell everyone that they have a 0 tolerance policy on metagaming, but that is not true. Even if he swears on his mother’s life, a DM always allows a small bit of metagaming. Sometimes he doesn’t notice it until after it’s happened, sometimes he just doesn’t mind. But it always happens.

I personally don’t mind metagaming between players in order to help someone roleplay. For instance: Player A just received a vital piece of information but didn’t quite grasp how important it was. He learned that a group of assassins is coming to town in a few days. The next session the player has completely forgotten that the coming group is assassins. Shortly after meeting the group, Player B suggests ambushing the assassins as they sleep. His character has no idea who these men are, but the other character does. So it stands to reason that he might come up with this plan, even if his player did not.

My players have a habit of starting metagaming sentences with “Of course I’m not there, so I can’t affect the situation, but…” It reminds the other players that anything they suggest isn’t happening unless someone else’s character makes the connection, but it allows them to be part of scenes that their characters aren’t.

This is the good side of metagaming.

Now for the bad side… And my own desire to reckless metagame.

In my group I am sometimes a player and sometimes a DM. As a player I enjoy splitting the party, my character scouting ahead or falling back to protect the others. As a DM I enjoy splitting the party because it gives the players cool roleplay moments and helps the characters feel more like a team instead of conjoined twins(always stuck together). But the teams of each campaign are so vastly different.

My character (Damasei) has suggested many times that the party split for sound tactical reasons, or in an effort to spare his party having to deal with the Devils he associates with, but he’s always shot down. As a player I’ve only been split from the main party once, and it was a result of them being adamant about sticking together! (DMs love messing with your plans almost as much as you love messing with theirs.)

As a DM my party has split at least 4 or 5 times that I remember. I’ve never asked them to split(though I don’t discourage it) and they always seem to do it out of curiosity about what’s down 2 hallways. This may be my fault for giving too many options as a DM, but the larger issue isn’t that they split… It’s that they only split when I’m not playing!

A huge part of me wants to just have Damasei become a selfish bastard and say “I’m going this way, you guys are on your own” and see what happens. But that isn’t in his character to do so. It also would derail the campaign as Damasei is the current focal point for the next adventure(The DM likes focusing on characters for a time).

Of all the advice I’ve found on DMing, the only piece on splitting the party is: Don’t. The gaming world seems to think it can’t be done without resulting in TPK or something equally as horrible. But I’ve seen it done well many times, and I am tactical enough to know it can end with minimal damage if the party is willing to plan first.

The same goes for metagaming: Don’t. No DM I’ve ever spoken to will admit to metagaming having a place in RPGs.

Why am I the only person to think these things can be good? Why can no one help me with my problem without telling me my whole playstyle is wrong? All I want is advice on getting my players to treat my ideas as sound when I’m a player, instead of playing like my character isn’t all that smart.

I realized long ago that I still need work as a DM, and I understand when my players don’t like something I put together, but as a player I don’t know what else I can do. It is a conundrum.

All of my Tabletop RPG Characters

So I've mentioned my favorite Tabletop RPG character in a past post. And recently I was listening to someone on Youtube describe their memorable characters. So it came to be that I was just sitting around thinking about all of my past characters today. I figured I'd share them with you guys. We'll go in order.

First up is Kutal: A Human Druid. As a Min/Max choice for the system we were playing, I gave him Amnesia(long story). Doing so meant that he gained 5 more "flaws" that he(and I) was not aware of. As time went on he began to remember bits of his past, like his father and his first adventure, but the kicker was the "flaws". It so turns out that he has Insomnia, and on top of that if he did manage to get some sleep it was filled with Nightmares. I liked to roleplay the Nightmares as fragmented memories of the event that caused his Amnesia. He walked around like a zombie a lot.

I also discovered a few sessions in that he was Allergic to Plants, and Allergic to Animals. This was a source of ridicule from his party members, as he was a Druid. He also had a pet Red-Tailed Hawk named Tobias(Animorphs reference FTW!) which miraculously never set off his allergies. I decided that that's why he chose the pet.

He was terrible at dealing damage, and was easy to hit, but he ended up being a great Controller. He had a lot of really useful status effect spells and immobilizing vines in his arsenal. I only played him for 3 sessions, so I still don't know his last "flaw", but he was a blast to play.

Second was Akara, who I've talked about before.

Next was Shiori Jesra: A Human Jedi. Shiori specialized in healing and tech manipulating powers, but had turned his back on the order. He left of his own volition and no longer carried a lightsaber as a result. Instead he carried a simple vibroblade.

He had some cool moments, which includes the time a fellow Jedi tossed him a spare lightsaber so the group could fight on multiple fronts in the dark, but he was a rather unremarkable character. His most useful ability was force pushing enemies against a wall so others could kill them easily.

Then during an encounter where our party was fighting against Gremlins(from the movie) my friend and I kept adding dialogue to the enemies because it was fun. The group liked it so much that they asked us to make permanent Gremlin party members.

Cletus and Rosco were born! I was Rosco, named for an inside joke my friend and I sometimes used. Nothing too remarkable about the Gremlins except that the group got a kick out of them.

I also made a female Monk that was meant to be my combat oriented character for that game, but I never really got much play time with her. She was a green skinned alien though; that was interesting.

The next character I played was for the Dragon Age RPG by Green Ronin. She was an Elven Cricle Mage on a quest for an artifact stolen by one of her fellow mages turned Blood Mage. She was a support mage by design, specializing in healing and strengthening her allies. She eventually learned a lightning spell, but she wasn't a fighter by any means. I enjoyed her character enough that I plan to write a story about her. She was also an extremely effective healer.

My most recent character is Damasei: A Tiefling Swordmage from Neverwinter. He is a master of Teleportation, and has in fact used his powers to save his allies on many occasions. He reluctantly serves a Devil, who grants him his powers. He hates his father and idolizes his grandfather. He is currently traveling with a group he barely knows on a quest to retrieve his grandfather's lost sword.

The funny thing about Damasei is that his original party are all dead or trapped in another dimension. The Fighter turned out to be a shapeshifting spy, the Archer was left behind on another plane where she was originally born, and the Cleric was slaughtered by his own god for consorting with Damasei. All of these events happened after the group picked up an Orc Fighter as a minion. While I'm assured this was all a coincidence; and Damasei doesn't even consider it an option; I feel it would be a great end to the campaign if the Orc was really working against the party the whole time, orchestrating the deaths of everyone to look like random acts of happenstance.

I have a few more characters I have come up with that I am excited to play, but I'm currently spending my game nights DMing so they'll have to wait.

My favorite Tabletop RPG character

I was recently contemplating which, of my various RPG characters that I've played, is my favorite. And I felt like sharing it with you guys.

Meet Akara. I made him for a Homebrew game in my very first gaming group. After rolling up his stats I found myself with, what veterans call, a "glass cannon". He hit like a mack truck, but his HP was low and his defenses were barely average.

After a few minutes of looking through classes, I decided that the Samurai fit his stat build the best. But I didn't want to just have a generic samurai character, so I set out to make him a happy-go-lucky kind of character. I decided that he would be all about having fun, and less about serious role-playing. Of course that turned into his motto: "I don't do anything that isn't fun."

Once I'd settled on a personality, I needed a Race. After discussing good min/max choices with the DM, I promptly ignored all advice and made him a Gnome. That's right - A Gnome Samurai. I quickly decided that his sword (Katana, which is normally classified under Longsword in most games) was not Gnome sized, but regular size. Everywhere he walked left a trail in the dirt as it dragged behind him. A typical Katana is about 3 ft, he was 2'4".

When an NPC asked him to go on a quest, he promptly replied with "Will it be fun?" If the NPC was smart, they answered "yes". He decided that at least one of them was lying. He decided this as he hid from a group of man-eating Harpies on a cliff.

One of the most memorable sessions with Akara was when a guest Player came to visit. A simple comment of "You look like fun." was taken way out of context and garnered a slap from the warrior woman. Of course, I couldn't help but run with the gag. There were so many innocent phrases turned into bad innuendo that session that the group was just rolling there eyes by the end. And of course Akara took to walking behind her, complimenting the view.

He was slapped so many times by the end of the session that the DM started asking her to roll for damage.

Now I mentioned the near death experience with Harpies, and there was the disheartening moment when he lost in the first round of an arena tournament... to an opponent that was designed as a joke, but no moment in Akara's little Gnome life was as terrifying as when he was almost beheaded by a slap from an "ally".

He had just made yet another comment about the "view". After almost passing out from the pain, he grinned and responded "Fine then, you're ugly." The party's other warrior had to intervene at that point.

Some days, when I'm being nostalgic, I really miss that little guy. I'm a little sad that I wasn't able to stay with that group longer, but it was out of my control. Besides, my current gaming life has allowed me to DM; something I enjoy immensely. So I guess it all works out.

Of course, I'll never stop missing Akara. I wouldn't be surprised if he sneaks his way into one of the campaigns I'm DMing. Wouldn't that be "fun"!

Skill Challenges: A Second Look

A while back I wrote a post about Skill Challenges. I gave examples of Skill Challenges the way they had always been presented to me, and reasons why I disliked them. Okay, let's be honest - I hated them. But I think that has changed recently.

To begin; I still hold my opinion that Skill Challenges the way they are normally presented are not great. I still hold that running them without notifying the players that they are happening is the best way to run those. But now there's another way... Or to be more accurate, now I've discovered the other way.

At the bottom of this post is a Skill Challenge presented in a D&D 4e Adventure titled Menace of the Icy Spire. I plan on using a modified version of this adventure for my gaming group soon, so they probably shouldn't read it until after they make it through. But it is a great example of what a Skill Challenge was meant to be. It gives good explanations of the Skills used and what they are meant for. It gives both the DM and the Players a chance (and a reason) to stretch their storytelling muscles while doing something semi-repetitive.

This example Skill Challenge was written by a D&D veteran by the name of Sean Molley. I don't know if he came up with the idea or just put his own spin on it, but he did an excellent job. Combine that with listening to Chris Perkins (another veteran) DM and give tips on DMing, and I have found a new respect for Skill Challenges.

Sean gave me the well thought out tool to make this dreaded mechanic enjoyable, and Chris gave me the idea to make it more than just a mechanic. If you haven't seen or heard Wil Wheaton spend 2 minutes describing how he escapes an acid pit IN GAME, you should. Not only is it hilarious, but it got me thinking. Skill Challenges generally explain what each Skill gets you in game, but what if wasn't an explanation? What if it is an example to build on.

I don't know why it never dawned on me before, but if I set up the example then the Players can come up with the details. And the whole group can pitch in. You don't need to be a master storyteller all by yourself in a Roleplaying Game. You are one of many writers telling a cooperative story. Throw in an idea about how you Athletics roll involved you pulling someone away from danger, and the group will chime in with how the other person screamed like a girl or how you really just pulled them into more danger.

I personally would like to see my gaming group be a little more descriptive and a little less prepared to roll for success; and I think that this method of Skill Challenge meets storytelling will allow for that. I've already begun implementing this kind of Skill Challenge in several adventures I'm writing. Here's to hoping for the best!


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I also removed the DCs of the Checks in case my players do read it. Gotta keep a few secrets. ;)

The PCs find themselves in a snowstorm. The storm’s intensity continues to rise minute by minute until the PCs are caught in the middle of a full-on blizzard. To find their way through the driving snow, they must succeed on a skill challenge.
The PCs must survive the harsh conditions while staying on the right path to reach the tower. They use their skills and knowledge to choose the right direction and protect themselves against the storm’s hazards.

The Blizzard
Skill Challenge

The snow comes at you so fast that it both blocks sight and somehow threatens to mesmerize you with its chaotic patterns. A deep chill pervades the area, as well. Can you find your way through this storm to your destination?

Complexity 3 (requires 8 successes before 3 failures).

Primary Skills Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, History, Insight,
Nature, Perception.
Other Skill Endurance, Heal.

Victory - If the PCs succeed, they find their way through the storm, losing no additional healing surges.
Defeat - If the PCs fail, they still survive the storm, but each character loses 2 healing surges to represent the beating they take from the blizzard.
*Acrobatics DC ?? (1 success, no maximum). A failure with this skill costs the character 1 healing surge. The PC helps guide the party over hazards such as icy patches of ground and through sudden gusts of wind that would otherwise knock party members off their feet.
*Arcana DC ?? (1 success, no maximum). The first time a character earns a success with this skill, he or she also recognizes the fey nature of the magic, which opens up the use of the Insight skill (see below). The PC senses the direction from which the arcane energy powering the storm flow and can work backward from the flows of magic to get a sense of the tower’s location.
*Athletics DC ?? (1 success, no maximum). A failure with this skill costs the character 1 healing surge. The PC helps force a way through the storm using brute strength—breaking a path through a snow drift, moving fallen trees or jumping over them, and so forth.
*History DC ?? (1 success maximum). The PC recalls a specific detail about the location of Draigdurroch Tower or discovers a unique landmark that helps orient the group to its location and guides them along the right track.
*Insight DC ?? (1 success, no maximum). This skill cannot be used until it has been unlocked by a successful Arcana check. Because this storm is partially the result of fey magic, some of its effects are illusory. A PC who succeeds on an Insight check recognizes some of these illusions and can help the group avoid traveling in circles, prevent them from choosing paths that look safe but are dangerous, and so forth.
*Nature DC ?? (1 success, no maximum). The PC relies on knowledge of the area, an ability to study terrain, an innate sense of direction, and wilderness survival skills to help lead the group through the blizzard.
*Perception DC ?? (1 success, no maximum). The PC relies on keen senses to look for safe paths, avoid hazards, spot gaps in the swirling storm, and otherwise help guide the group through the storm.
*Endurance DC ?? (0 successes, all characters must attempt). Every character must attempt an Endurance check every turn (representing 1 hour of exposure to the storm) to resist the chill winds and other hazards of the blizzard. Failure means the character loses a healing surge, but it does not count as a failure on the overall challenge. Characters who are protected by the Endure Elements ritual or who have innate cold resistance gain a +5 bonus to these checks (they are not immune, because some of the cold is magical). The PC tolerates the weather conditions.
*Heal DC ?? (0 successes, but can restore a healing surge). A character who has not attempted to use another skill (other than Endurance) during a turn can attempt a Heal check if another character fails a skill check that would cause the loss of a healing surge. If the Heal check is successful, the other character does not lose a healing surge, but that character’s failure still counts against the overall skill challenge. The Heal check does not count as either a success or a failure against the challenge. The PC helps another deal with the extreme weather conditions.

Skill Challenges

Today we talk about a PnP player's worst enemy: Skill Challenges.

At worst a Skill Challenge is someone rolling his D20(or equivalent  multiple times in order to perform a single action. At best a Skill Challenge is run silently in the background of the game without the player's knowledge.

The second one doesn't sound too bad, but it has a major flaw: The player will eventually be upset at having a single dice roll seem to unravel an entire session of play. Not knowing it's a Skill Challenge makes him think he's just making normal Skill Checks and thus doesn't understand when the Baron randomly decides to not pay him.

I personally run constant hidden Skill Challenges during my games. But I don't do them the way the various guides tell me to. Instead I forego the arbitrary numbers and set a mood instead. I'll explain this in more detail in a bit. But first...

How a Skill Challenge Works:
The DM(or adventure writer) decides that the task being handled is too complicated for a single dice roll. So multiple are required. Usually it is listed as something along the lines of - Each turn you may roll the dice once. A DC/TN(Difficulty Class/Target Number) is set. If you roll high enough to succeed 5 times before failing 3 times then you pass the Skill Challenge.

In a combat situation this works great. It gives you a sense of urgency and possible failure in your task and still allows you to heal or defend yourself during the activity. Out of combat it just feels like you're rolling the dice way too much to be useful.

Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine have a series of articles about making Skill Challenges more effective and fun(they are in 2010 issues). Unfortunately they don't address the fundamental flaw in Skill Challenges. The player feels like he has to roll the dice 10 times to complete a task that could have been delegated to a single roll. In D&D 3.0 this wasn't a huge issue as the entire system was overly complicated, but in most systems it feels out of place.

The best tip out there for dealing with the big flaw is to not tell the players it is a Skill Challenge. Just have them roll as the encounter or in-game day goes on. This makes them more tolerable and adds a sense of mystery to the game. But then the arbitrary numbers get in the way.

Using the earlier example of 5 successes before 3 failures, what if the PC has been sweet talking a few guards. Let's say he has successfully rolled over the DC 4 times and under 2 times. The next roll will determine if the guards let him in the castle or send him away. What if the PC decides to try and convince the guards to meet him for drinks later. A task that has nothing to do with his mission, but still follows under the rules of the Skill Challenge. If he fails to convince the guards to go for drinks, should he be denied entry into the castle?

The short answer is: No. The long answer is: Does the guard feel he's being bribed with the drinks?

When I run a Skill Challenge, I don't tell the players that it's happening unless it is during combat. I set a general mood for success and a general mood for failure. In the previous example: Success = the guard feels like the PC is both trustworthy and a decent guy. Failure = the guard feels he is being bribed or the PC is a shady character.

This seems a bit abstract, but it isn't arbitrary. Deciding that 5 successful dice rolls is more important than 4 in the grand scheme of things has no meaning. It just ratchets up the chance of failure. So rather than having to successfully roll a 15 on 5 separate Diplomacy Checks while talking to this guard, I now only have to roll as many as it takes to convince him I'm not a bad guy. Which, if I word it right, could be as little as 1 roll.

Of course I'm a big fan of the "Natural Rule". In which a Natural 1 or Natural 20 in the D20 system makes something incredible happen. This also works for Natural 3 and Natural 18 for the AGE System.

In talking to the guard for the first time, a Natural 1 basically means I looked or acted nervous and it was obvious that I was lying. He might believe me to be a spy or an assassin and attack right then. A Natural 20 on the other hand would be akin to being temporarily the world's greatest actor. The guard doesn't just let me in, he escorts me where I'm going.

All this allows me as DM to allocate a Skill Challenge without telling the players or upsetting them. And the game runs smoothly. It takes a lot of improvisation, but that is one of the great DM tips anyway.

Review - Ghost Rider: Spirit of Crank

So, I just finished watching Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Now I'll start by saying that it wasn't a bad movie. I enjoyed it for what it was: a quirky action movie, with more attention payed to the visual effects and over the top acting than actual plot. And that isn't a bad thing.

Nicholas Cage was, as he always is, awesomely goofy. I've seen the man be serious before, but the movie played to his strengths. Not to say that I like when an actor is cast to play himself in a movie (rather than cast to play the character), but it works for good ol' Nick.

The character of Johnny Blaze felt off though. I have no real Ghost Rider knowledge (he isn't a favorite of mine), but it felt like Johnny Blaze transformed from one movie to the next. It wasn't a massive transformation, mind you, but it was still evident throughout the movie. Which brngs me to my biggest problem with this movie...

I felt like I was watching Crank. Don't get me wrong, I liked Crank, but that isn't what I signed on for in a Superhero movie. I could tell while watching that the plot was trying to be darker and more character driven, but the director just kept getting in the way. I imagine the director responding to every argument with "But I want to make Crank!" in a childish whine. It just had that super-hyper, pack-as-much-pointless-action-as-you-can feel to it.

On the note of the supporting cast: They did well. The woman, whose name I never even learned(most likely due to the fact that I didn't care), played her part exactly how it felt it was written. The boy, Danny, felt believable as a boy who was (pardon the pun) more than meets the eye. Moreau, the priest, was entertaining. He felt like a drunk Nicholas D Wolfwood (give yourself a cookie if you get the reference). And the Roarke was a good devil. I've seen a few people play the devil in various movies, and I have to say, this guy was one of the better ones.

I wasn't happy with the character of Carrigan. I wasn't exactly disappointed with the actor, he played the part that was written okay, but I was felt like the character didn't fit in the movie. I will point out that he meshed well with the feeling of Crank, but he felt out of place in the writing of the movie.

I also enjoyed seeing a few familiar actors from older supernatural fiction. I'm mentioning specifically Anthony Head and Cristopher Lambert. I haven't seen either one in quite some time, so it was nice to remember why I liked them again.

One other cast member I'd like to mention is Youtuber Tejbz (www.youtube.com/user/tejbz): He had about half a scene to shine, which is exactly what I expected when he mentioned that he was going to be in the movie. And he did about as well as you'd expect from the role limitations and his own experience being an actor (which I'm told is almost none). Hat's off to him.

On the note of sound design: I was saddened that Ghost Rider sounded like Transformers and Predator had a baby. It sucked me out of the moment every time I heard those noises.

On the note of special effects: They were done well, by which I mean they looked nice. A lot of the effects during fight scenes felt tacked on though. Do I really need the background to go black every time Carrigan is on screen? Does Ghost Rider actually see everything emobossed like that? The movie would have been just as good, and cost less, had they stuck with good camera work instead of pointless animation effects.

Overall: The movie was an enjoyable way to waste an afternoon, but the first one was much better.

Every Story is Different

I've spent a good many years of my life trying to figure out how people have the time, or energy, or money to do things that I couldn't dream of. What possesses people to sit on their porch for hours at a time telling the same tired stories? How on Earth could someone my age, who grew up in my town, not have ever heard of Megaman?

I'll forever attempt to unravel the mysteries of life (that's the type of person I am), but after a string of recent situations I'm willing to spend less waking hours on these things.

Recently, I went on a trip to see my Grandmother. Her husband died recently and we were worried about her. Her and my mother talked about loss, grief, and remembering lost loved ones at odd times. I sat in the other room reading a book. (Most of those close to me see me as cold and callous toward death)

My mind works faster than most and allows me to focus on more than one conversation at a time (something that could come in handy if I were a spy) so I listened as they talked, ready to chime in if I felt I could help. I wasn't needed, but I realized as they spoke that there reactions to lost loved ones were drastically different than mine.

Most people who know me well see my calm demeanor toward death as a lack of caring. I'll admit that if I've never met the person I feel no pain at their death unless I witness it, but I do care. My mother talked about walking into a store and feeling pain mixed with fond memories of my father(who died several years ago) and it sounded off to me. Every memory I have of my father is a pleasant one. I know there are memories locked in my mind of things he did that I didn't like, but I can't access them. I also never feel the pain of loss when I think of him.

He is still very much alive to me. Don't get me wrong; I don't see him around me or hear his voice, but I think of him as someone I just haven't spoken to in a while. This may well have something to do with the way I treat people who actually are alive. I enjoy your company, I'll help you out or hang out with you when asked, but I enjoy every second of "me time" I can get. Yeah I'm lonely, I wish I had someone special to spend my life with, but I like being alone too. So when some calls me and asks why I haven't sent them mail or called in 3 months, I inwardly chuckle: I probably forgot they existed for a time.

I guess that sounds mean and heartless... I'm not. I care very much for those closest to me (even when they're being an ass), but my mind doesn't sit still. Every second of the day I'm focused on something; a fictional universe, song lyrics, a friend. I am completely unable to sit and "veg" (which sucks because I would like to meditate). I can not "clear the storm of my mind" as I've been instructed in the past.

So I thought about what my mother said, while reading a book in which the main character discovers his mother has died, and it hit me: Everyone has different reactions to loss. A simple notion that maybe I should have picked up on years ago, but there it is.

And I realized that notion carries to life in general.

My brother is an excellent storyteller. When he gives me something he wrote, my only complaints upon first reading are technical complaints(spelling errors, grammar, etc.). It's not that he's the best author I've read, but he pulls me in; he weaves a world that I want to be a part of.

A friend of his, who is also a writer, mentioned to me how he'd been trying to get his authoring career off the ground for 10 years with limited success. He told me once (upon a request for his input on one of my works) of a website where I could get honest unbiased feedback for my writing. He told me of how the two guys he was sending me to ripped his work apart, and made him a better writer for it.

I write the previous 2 paragraphs to say this: I entered a writing contest and one 1st place out of 40 entries (1 of whom was my brother). I was paid and the work was published. I entered the story feeling like it was mediocre at best, but with a solid idea. I didn't expect to get mentioned, let alone win. And my brother wasn't even a top 3 winner. The event confused me and made me feel bad. I had just received accolades for doing something well, that I felt my brother was better at.

And the website for reviews? One of the two reviewers praised me, giving me tips on how better to draw a reader in, and telling me how much he loved the story. The other guy told me how he could tell that I was confused about who the story was really about, and that it made the story harder to like. But there was no ripping, no harsh criticisms.

I have been blessed with a great gift of Technical Writing (I'm good with the stuff editors hate to deal with), but I don't feel like I'm a great storyteller yet. And I've been so lucky in just the few months that I've begun putting my work out there for the world.

But two writers that work harder, and I feel should be praised harder, have had to struggle and work for their places in the writing community.

I have no big head, and don't expect any success in the future (though I of course HOPE for it). I'm not saying that you'll see my novels lining the shelves at some book store soon. But I have finally experienced the other side of life. I usually struggle for every inch I get in anything, wondering how come that guy gets it so easy, or why does she not have to try? But I finally see myself as the lucky one, the one someone is cursing for being in the right place at the right time.

This drove it home for me. These two seemingly separate events have forever marked me. People are different, yes; but the events surrounding them, shaping them are also different. My life, my odd way of thinking, makes me who I am. And though I've never felt the need to change myself, I now aspire to stop trying to change others.

Because your story isn't mine. I don't write it, I don't even likely have a starring role in it. I'm just a reader... And I want to hear your story.

Improvisation: Make S*#t up!

The best advice a DM will ever hear:

Improvise!

I can fondly remember a session of The Alliance(My home-brew Superhero game) in which I introduced a guy on death row to the party. When they met him they didn't know who he was, but they saved him from an explosion. Once they found out who he was, his purpose in the adventure was to stand between them and a monster so the party could escape. One of my players decided he couldn't allow that; even a serial killer didn't deserve to die at the hands of an alien monster.

The party had met at a gas station earlier in the session so the player asked me "Would it be acceptable if I had bought a bottle of water while I was there?" I said sure. The monster chasing them was on fire. He said "I take some of my extra bow string and tie the water bottle to one of my arrows." Green Arrow wannabe looks at me expectantly. "Will this even work?"

Rookie DM moment. I froze. Nothing in the rules covered water bottles tied to arrows, or spraying water on this particular monster. I hadn't specifically given the monster a weakness to water, but I could see the logic in it slowing him down. I shrugged my shoulders "Roll to see if you hit." As he totaled up his numbers, I panic planned. What do I do if it hits? What do I do if it misses? I obviously didn't want one of the party members to die just yet, but I couldn't let him truly damage this thing until the time was right.

"16?" He looks to me. I check the stat block. "Hit." Improvise mode engaged. "As the arrow hits, the plastic bottle melts and water sprays across his face. He stumbles back. You should probably run before he recovers."

I also remember him saving the convict 2 more times in the same session. He wouldn't let me kill him. Which leads to another tip. Even if he's meant to die in one encounter, give all friendly NPCs at least a simple background and personality. Because your players are going to do everything in their power to screw you over.

A truly harsh DM might have let the hero die right there. In fact had it been a Dark Fantasy I might have. But it was a superhero game, and superheroes do extraordinary things all the time.

An example from the player's side. Recently in our 4e game we faced a Lich. I was planning to take the Ritual Caster Feat and when we beat the Lich an idea struck. Lich Dust could be used for some powerful rituals if the DM is willing to use his imagination. So I scooped up a handful of the dust and put in one of my empty coin purses. The DM looked at me like I had 2 heads. What did I think I could do with it? I respectfully explained that I had an idea I would tell him later and maybe having the dust would mean the Lich couldn't raise itself or would raise with a piece missing. I wasn't sure how Lich raising worked so why not give it a shot.

I also happen to be a bit of a backstory whore. I can't make a character without coming up with how his grandparents met and why he doesn't like the taste of fish. The backstory I had come up with for my 4e character left me with a lot of things I threw at the DM for possible use in the campaign. I don't expect him to use it, but I love when my players give me a way to incorporate their characters into the campaign. So its there if he needs it, and I'll play as if it was happening if he doesn't.

For instance Damasei(My Tiefling Swordmage) serves a Devil. An intelligent Pit Fiend named Medja. He didn't make a pact with this Devil, he was forced into it by a pact his father had made. Damasei learned of the pact when he was a teen and has been using the power he recieved ever since. He aims to destroy the Devil and his contract someday. Medja, however, knows and expects this. So he sent a lesser Devil to keep watch over the Tiefling and make sure he continued to follow orders. This lesser Devil comes in the form of my Arcane Familiar. And now that I've hit level 4 I've gained a new Feat in which I transform into a creature of evil similar to a Devil for one encounter per day. I asked the DM if I could absorb the lesser Devil into me in order to activate the transformation. It sounded cool, and I found I don't really like keeping track of my Familiar in the heat of battle as much as having him around during conversations. So absorbing him keeps him out of my mind for the fight.

DM incorporated the absorbing thing a couple sessions ago, before I even hit level 4. I nearly jumped for joy.

Improvisation is fun, and neccessary, for the DM to be good at what he does. It also makes the game feel more alive.

D&D Next Thoughts

My thoughts on the D&D Next 05/24/12 Playtest:

I will post my thoughts on D&D Next, as I experienced it, in several sections. Each section will focus on a different aspect of the playtest material(magic, non-magical characters, monster creation, character creation, skill tests/challenges, simplicity vs expansive rules, and a summary of changes I'd like to see made).


Magic:
My first thought was how annoying Vancian Magic is. For those who don't know, Vancian Magic is a gameplay feature that limits a mage's spells to a small number per day. For instance: In D&D Next, a level 1 Wizard can cast 3 spells per day... and nothing can grant him more.
Now I understand the goal of semi-realism(No amount of training can grant you infinite usage of magic), but this style of magic usage detracts from the only good point of being a Wizard outside of pure role-playing.
In combat a magic wielding character is useless without magic, and outside of combat there are a variety of situations in which magic makes the game more enjoyable. By limiting me to a few spells per day, I am forced to sit in the back and hurl insults while my friends actually play the game.

To be fair, let me point out the GOOD and the BAD points of different magic types in Tabletop RPGs: Vancian Magic(D&D 3.0, Next Playtest), Magic Points(Dragon Age), Power Cards(D&D 4e)

Vancian Magic - Good
There is a feel of semi-realism. In a "Dungeon Crawl" session you feel good when you unleash a powerful spell against a mini-boss, only to have your spells back next session.
Vancian Magic - Bad
Most adventures span multiple encounters during a single day, leaving the mage as useless dead weight for most of the adventure. You feel like a fresh-off-the-bus magic student ready to learn how to light a candle with your magic, when in fact you're supposed to be a well trained apprentice ready to set out into the world. You have to judge which spells are going to be most effective at the start of each day, predicting the future.

Magic Points - Good
You can decide which spells are more important in the middle of encounters. Magic Points can be regained, through the use of potions or even a quick 30 minute nap in some systems.
Magic Points - Bad
Math. Extra Micro-management(always a drawback for new players). Depending upon how brazen you are when selecting spells, can lead to less spells per day than Vancian Magic at early levels.

Power Cards - Good
Minor spells can be cast mutiple times throughout the day, while powerful spells are limited to 1 time use. Spells are easy to read and remember. A level 1 Wizard actually feels like a real Wizard.
Power Cards - Bad
High Fantasy feel(not always bad). Brings a staleness to the group when used for things non-magical, such as a Fighter's Martial abilites.

As you can see, the magic systems that I have used each have strong and weak points. In keeping with the Vancian Magic feel that D&D Next is shooting for(to appeal to old-school gamers), I offer this suggestion:
Keep the Vancian Magic with a twist. Allow each magical class(Wizard, Cleric, etc...) to gain a single Encounter Spell(4e style) at level 2 or 3. There can be a set of 3 or so Encounter spells to choose from at first which grows every five or so levels. Having a single Encounter Spell makes the magic class feel useful during most encounters, but does not take away the Vancian feel for the most part.

Since D&D Next is supposed to bring old-school gamers and 4e gamers together in compromise, I feel that this magic approach may do exactly that; compromise.


Non-magical characters:
As with most Tabletop RPG systems, the Warrior and Rogue become generic cardboard cut-outs. The Warrior hits things and gets little else to do the entire game. The Rogue is good at stealing things and picking locks, and DPS fighting to an extent.
Now I'm aware of some things (like themes and backgrounds) that add some flavor and usefulness to these classes, but I'll cover that in the Character Creation post. As for now, I'd like to point out my favorite thing about D&D 4e: Non-combat powers.
If D&D Next does one thing for the non-magical classes, let it be the inclusion of varied powers for them. For instance: Things like Endure Pain(From 4e) or a special Intimidate option just for Martial characters. I understand the desire to distance the Martial characters from the feeling of "spells" that 4e had, but keeping the Utility Powers around in some manner would greatly benefit them. One of the reasons I never play a Warrior is that all they are good for is swinging their weapon. I like a bit of variety in my gameplay.
I also like my rogues to be less thief and more acrobat. It's a personal preference, but it is a valid request. As stated previously, the Themes and Background options in Next seem like they might make this available to me. I'll just have to wait until the next playtest to see.

All that being said; I think Next is headed in an acceptible direction for Non-magical characters. I just hope that they look at all the options before slapping a cookie-cutter class at me.


Monster Creation:
Nothing is given on the monster creation process, but I thought I'd give my thoughts on monsters in general. So far it seems like we've gone back to old school monsters. Now for me this isn't a problem, as I have been creating my own monsters for years and have an easy system in place regardless of the game. Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky, or driven to devise their own monster creation system.
Monster creation was one of the main aspects of 4e that they put a lot of effort into. While I wasn't super impressed with 4e's way of monster creation either, it was nice that they worked so hard on it. I hope that as time goes by, they put as much effort into Next's monster creation system as well. I will be sorely disappointed if they just slap a bunch of monsters together and expect us to use them, like in older versions of the game.
One of my biggest complaints about pre-generated monsters in Tabletop RPGs is the lack of explanations. The monster stat block might go into super detail about where the monster comes from and how many languages it speaks, but offer no reason for why it gets a random +2 to its attack roll. A good example is the Bugbear in the Next playtest: The page mentions what it looks like, what it sounds like, what languages it speaks, its combat strategies, its society and culture, specialized lore... but no explanation for why it recieves a +4 to attack rolls with a javelin when it only has +2 DEX modifier. As a veteren player, I assume it has proficiency with the javelins, granting it extra attack. Unfortunately, my assumptions can not be proven to someone who asks for an explanation. If I were a new DM I might never understand how to create my own monsters if I'm never told why certain stats exist.
Using the Bugbears as an example again, let's take a look at something odd. Take the following sentence straight from the Tactics section of the page: Often, they send scouts ahead to gain information about their prey and then coordinate an attack using sound, if not brilliant, tactics.
Keyword "brilliant". So why does a Bugbear have an Intelligence of 8(-1 modifier)? Maybe military tactics fall under Wisdom? 10(0 modifer). Nope, they still don't seem "brilliant". Sometimes looking at monster stats, in a multitude of games, it just seems like someone threw together random numbers and assigned a name to those numbers. Balanced stats is one thing, but forgoing continuity in an effort to keep the monster low-leveled is just inexcusable.


Character Creation:
I'm more than a little excited for the next playtest, if only to see some character creation options. At least I hope they include them. They claim that the reason character creation was excluded from the first playtest is because they want to be sure that the core rules are working. Character creation is part of the core rules. Without it, the rules mean nothing.
I spend more time creating characters than most, and I can assure you that pouring over the different abilities and powers and themes and weapons and whatever else is the best way to test most rules. Yes I need to enter a battle at some point, and yes I need to interact with an NPC; but those are only part of it. And without having selected what character I'm using, combat and role-playing are pointless and not fun.
What sounds good about character creation in Next is the Background and Theme options. I'm not sure if Backgrounds are going to be optional like in previous editions, but the Themes seem to fill a void I never noticed was empty before. In a previous edition I might have decided to make a Warrior who acts as a wall between his allies and the enemies, or a Warrior who kills things fast. The choice was usually a role-playing one, and had little effect on how the character performed in battle: All Warriors were basically the same. 4e took a good step in seperating different playstyles, but fell a bit short with the generic "Role" system (Defender, Striker, Controller, etc.). It seems that Next is taking that generic system and allowing you to choose for yourself.
I have yet to see; but it looks like I may be able to create a Wizard who acts as a Defender Role, or a Warrior who acts as a Controller Role. While the Themes are a bit more advanced than that, you get the idea. How much fun does it sound like to have you frontline fighter dictating where and when the enemies can move. (4e's Warlord and Swordmage could pull this off to an extent if you built them right.)


Skill tests/challenges:
Not much has changed in this department for as long as I've been playing. I still like Skill Checks and dislike Skill Challenges. For more on my feelings toward Skill Challenges, see my future Blog post about them specifically.
As far as I'm concerned, unless they decide to copy my idea for how to resolve Skill Challenges that I'll mention another day, there isn't anything more they can do for this gameplay mechanic.


Simplicity vs Expansive Rules:
4e was a simplistic rule set. 3.0/3.5 was an expansive rule set. Each system had its own strengths and weakness, but they shared a core experience that was fun for the players. 4e was very newbie friendly and very new DM friendly. As far as I'm concerned this is the best system for people who want to try it, but don't want to micro-manage. As a DM I hate micro-managing, but as a player I don't mind so much. So I am good with almost every Tabletop system I've ever tried, including a few broken ones. 3.0 was overly complicated in my opinion, but it was a lot of fun as a player. 3.5 supposedly fixed a lot of issues, but it still felt like the same game to me. If you ask me, the choice to make 4e was a good one, even if gamers weren't super happy with it.
Sometimes you want complicated, expansive gameplay. Sometimes you want simple. Having both available to you is a good thing. I personally think that Next should attempt one last time to make the perfect system. And when it fails(because "perfect" doesn't exist) they should focus on producing adventures and miniatures for the three biggest systems in their franchise. Lord knows there aren't nearly enough official miniatures for 4e; and 3.0, 4e, and Next gamers will always want more adventures. How about working on adventure seeds (the likes of the time traveling party in the 4e DM guide, or the Blood in Ferelden book for Dragon Age). I could get behind buying a book of adventures and seeds for multiple systems, some old and some new. Creating adventures for the newest system and converting them to the more popular ones would make Wizard money for decades. And reprinting the core books once in a while.


A summary of changes I'd like to see made to D&D Next for the next playtest:
 - Keep the Vancian Magic with a twist. Allow each magical class(Wizard, Cleric, etc...) to gain a single Encounter Spell(4e style) at level 2 or 3.
 - If D&D Next does one thing for the non-magical classes, let it be the inclusion of varied powers for them.
 - Give more detailed explanations for monster stats and why they exist.


Most of the issue with 4e was sales, caused by bad marketing stategy and stubborn gamers. You can't do anything about the latter except call them stupid for being narrow-minded, but the marketing can be fixed easily. With what they learned from 4e, I have full faith that Next can be the next big thing in Tabletop gaming, as long as they get the right rule system in place.
Here's to hoping they get it right.

My journey to becoming a Hands-On Deity.

Everyone has a story. Not every journey is long; I have a friend who began playing D&D simply because the whole school viewed him as a nerd and assumed he already played, so he gave it a shot.

Me? I looked down on D&D when I was young. I thought PnP RPGs and TCGs were stupid because they required that one spend obscene amounts of money buying stuff to even be able to play. Until my brother brought home the Star Wars TCG Starter Set. That was when I first learned of how easy it was to get into... and cheap. All the extra stuff turned out to be unneccessary to play, just to expand. So I spent months bugging him to let me play with him. He thought I was too young to understand the complexities of the game, but I couldn't wait to try my hand. In the end he eventually taught me how to play the Pokemon TCG, which was simpler, as my first card game.

I had been bitten by the bug. I knew from the beginning that Pokemon wasn't an awesome card game, but it taught me something about myself: I am a tactician. By this point I had been playing Final Fantasy for a couple years and I already knew that I was a Power Gamer. And I had been playing games in general for most of my life, and I knew I cared more for fun than winning. But deck building was an art form, an art form I was good at.

I spent days building the best deck I could with the hundred or so cards my brother had given me. Not an easy task when the deck had to be 60 cards. That tradition kept throughout the years as I gained more cards and got into Yu-Gi-Oh!. Now I had a good card game with a lot of options to work with... And I finally had the money to expand. I went to the Yu-Gi-Oh! League at the local mall and participated in tournaments. I developed a reputation there as a Rules Lawyer and a master Deck Builder. People knew(even older kids) that I could make a winning deck out of any amount of cards. And I reveled in the challenge.

As more time went by I got into Magic: The Gathering - An even more detailed and good game than I had been playing. And by this point I was obsessed with a PS1 gem called Final Fantasy Tactics. My favorite non-numbered Final Fantasy. The story was kind of hokey and the translation was sub-par, but the combat! The combat system was incredible. Not only had they perfected the Job system from previous games as best as they probably ever would, but the grid style movement and tactical fights were so awesome.

Then one day, several years later, I moved up north with a friend of mine. He and his friends played PnP RPGs every week. Sure it was mostly home-brew systems(they weren't happy with D&D 3.0 and I don't blame them), but they had 3 games going at once so there would always be one to play. So he invited me to come and I did. I mean, I loved the combat style already, and I was aware that FFT had its roots in PnP.

And I fell in love all over again. The two home-brew games were awesome and open ended in the amount of character classes(if we could think it up, the DM would make it work). And the D&D 3.0 game was fun too, if overly complicated in my opinion. I immediately went home after session 2 and began writing up my own universe to play in. I started modifying rules to work the way I thought they should, and changing races and classes. To this day I've never played in that world, but it sits on my external hard drive ready to be thrown into action when I feel the time is right.

So that was my first official foray into PnP RPGs. But what about my first time as a DM?

When Green Ronin released the Dragon Age PnP RPG as a companion piece to Bioware's video games, my brother was right there with the starter set. He said: "It looked interesting and we both like Dragon Age. You wanna play?" I said hell yes. So we grabbed his two sons and rolled up some characters. We fought some Blight Wolves(which we had almost no difficulty with, despite how hard the gaming community thinks that fight is), saved a dying elf, and made our way to town. A good first session considering most of the party hadn't played PnP before.

It took us a few months to finish that adventure due to work and school schedules, but by then my brother had decided he liked being the DM. When it came time for the next session, we didn't have anything ready just yet. Fortunately for us, I had come across a copy of White Plume Mountain for D&D 3.0 and loved what I had read. So I converted the monsters and loot to the AGE System and our party ran through 2/3 of it. Being that I had already read the whole adventure, I was temporary DM; and I loved it. The rush of knowing that you control the whole world, the power of sending enemies after your friends. And the ability to play multiple characters at once.

By this point in my PnP career, I was well aware of my desire to play every class/race combination in every game. So being DM made that really easy. And, like my brother, I found the ability to be creative with the story a great thing. We are both writers and writing stories for PnP games lets us do what we love, even when we are stuck with our novels.

Currently: I am DM for a Dragon Age game with my regular Sunday night group and a home-brew superhero game with the family group; and a player in our original family Dragon Age game as well as a D&D 4e game with our regular Sunday group.

As a player I control an Elven Circle Mage(Support magic) named Liandra(Female) and a Human Apostate posing as a Warrior(Male) in Dragon Age. In 4e I play a Tiefling Swordmage named Damasei(Male) who focuses on teleportation powers. In the games I played while I lived up north I played a Gnome Samurai(Akara/Male), a Wind Magic Monk(name escapes me/Female), a Mugwai/Gremlin(Rosco/Male), a Human Jedi(Shiori Jesra/Male), and a Human Druid(Kutal/Male).

So there you have it: This blog is called Advice from a Hands-On Deity because I am both the Voice in the Sky and a lowly Adventurer. And I plan on dispensing all the knowledge I have gained in these roles, some of which I had to learn on my own.