Fizzle

We played D&D for the first time in about a month last night due to various family commitments and certain martially artsy activities that required us to be out of town. It was a weird, unproductive session that I'm sure every gaming group sees once in awhile. The DM's (by their own admission) hadn't adequately planned, and it certainly didn't help that we were all so wound up for one reason or another that we mostly just hung out and talked for the majority of the night. This happens a lot when we haven't played for awhile, and it always makes the sessions around the holiday season.... interesting. There was a lot of interrupting important stuff with dumb comments by several people (me included), and nobody was really engaged in the game. It's not that nobody had fun, because we all did. It's just that we didn't play D&D worth a crap the whole night.

After I got home, I realized one reason I think this happens: D&D isn't just something you show up and drop into. (At least, you don't if you don't want last night's kind of session.) I don't think one person at the table, DM or player alike, really had their heart into it. Even if somebody did, they were quickly drowned out by the rest of us. The thought occurs to me that maybe before we game and want to have an exciting session where a lot of "stuff gets done", we need to get into the right mindset and remember why we're there - and act accordingly.

Unless, of course, your group wants to dick around all night and have fun some other way. Which there's nothing wrong with either - but as we have been known to say here there are other people at the table so work it out with everyone. If looking at auctions on Ebay for frightening adult Atari 2600 games sounds like more fun to everyone than playing right then, by all means go for it. But don't let me know about it. I'm still trying to scrub the memories from my cranium from last night.

Get Some of These Skills

Continuing in the spirit of sharing some of my favorites, I thought I'd share some of my favorite skills. My favorites vary by class, of course, because some skills are really more useful for specific classes, such as Perform for Bards or Sleight of Hand for Rogues. The majority of skills can be useful to nearly everyone, if you only have a handful of skill points, here's where I would spend them:
1. Spot & Listen - It's a draw on these... While obviously not the same, they are each so useful it's hard to pick one. Whether Spotting the oncoming enemy or Listening to the sounds of approaching battle, these two skills can help you identify dangerous situations. Of course, they can be used for non-combat situations, like being able to overhear that juicy bit of gossip about the mayor's missing daughter or noticing that shiny coin over in the corner. Even though these are cross-class skills for the majority of classes, I still spend the extra points to have some good ranks in these two.

2. Tumble - a hidden gem all the way down at the bottom of the list. Again, it's cross-classed for the majority of classes, but it's a handy trick to have if you constantly find yourself in the midst of melee but you'd really prefer to be much further away. If you can Tumble successfully, you can maneuver your way out of melee without provoking attacks of opportunity.

3. Knowledge - a little Knowledge never hurt anyone, and depending on your class or backstory, having a little bit may go a long way. My personal favorite is Arcana; I like having that extra insight into those things magical. I don't usually spend a lot of points here, but having one or two gives you a chance to at least roll the dice on that little bit you do know. Of course, so classes benefit from lots of Knowledge, such as Bards, Clerics, Wizards & Sorcerers, so you may want alter your ranks in Knowledge based on your class.

4. Concentration - for me, it's a must for my spellcasters... not because I plan to cast spells in melee, but if I need to, I have a little better chance of success. Anything you might do that would provoke an attack of opportunity will require a Concentration check, and let's face it, you hate being disturbed when trying to cast your big spell.

5. Climb & Swim - I try to take a couple of ranks in these if I'm wearing armor that has a check penalty. There's nothing less frustrating (not to mention embarrassing) than lying sprawled on your back because you couldn't climb up a rope or ending up half-drowned because you got bogged down crossing the river. Armor is great for battles, but to give yourself a fighting chance with these skills, try taking enough ranks to balance out that penalty. If you think you might want to use Balance, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand and Tumble, you should consider taking a couple of ranks, as these skills incur the same armor check penalties.

Shirt of the Week: What You Smell Is Distilled Intelligence!

That's not nerd whiff. It's distilled intelligence.

Check it out!

Behind the Screen: Time Management...

This week has been a series of topics for those who are new to building characters and roleplaying, and I'd like to discuss a topic that I feel is essential for all DM's new and old: time management. Our sessions tend to go from outside boundaries of 6 pm to 1 am, so these recommendations might need to shift based on your situation but the concepts should remain the same.

The Clock As Your Best Friend

Oftentimes at the onset of a gaming session it feels like you have all the time in the world. Do the players want to roleplay their interactions with the shopkeepers? Their down time at the inn? Playing cards with the local barflies? Sure, no problem, we've got all night.

In cases like this, the clock can be your best friend. Oftentimes, I have found that most of the truly excellent roleplaying and character development happens in the first quarter to half of the gaming session. The players are fresh (usually due to a adequate dose of caffeine and pizza) and they are eager to get back into their characters after a hard week of Real Life. They are ready to go, and the DM should be too... I like to plan for some impromptu roleplaying and extended character interaction for this portion of the night.

The Clock As Your Worst Enemy

The scenario depicted above has only one problem: roleplaying takes time, and often not everyone is engaged if only part of your group has "taken point" in the character interactions.

Roleplaying is never a bad thing, but there has been several times when one or two players have wrested control of the spotlight and the rest of the group is sitting there, looking bored, and wondering when we'll start moving along with the plot.

In fact, there are several good indicators that some of the group is involved in the session and others aren't: exasperated sighs, off-topic discussion, and unscheduled breaks by your players. If these things start to happen, it's time to wrap up whatever is going on and continue progressing the plot for the night.

As I mentioned before, roleplay like this takes time. Often, if left unchecked, this will leave more plot oriented or universally interesting elements until later in the session. I have considered the last quarter of the night "The Doomed Section" where very little good can be accomplished aside from getting to a good stopping point. If you plan to hatch any major plot points, shoot for launching them by the end of the third quarter of the evening. (Note for full disclosure: I am still bad at this, but I'm working on it!)

We have a few people in our group that have very clear expiration dates on how long they can play before they are physically done for the night, and once one player starts to fall victim to The Clock the engagement of the rest of the group soon follows.

The Almighty Break

I know many of the other blogs on GameMastering have covered this, and we have touched upon it here several times but it bears repeating: the five minute break is your best friend. I tend to get quite excited when my players are having the positive and engaging roleplay experiences in the first part of the night, however often The Break is necessary in order to get the plot progressing again.

In order to best utilize the most fertile section of the gaming session, I recommend plunking down an artificial five minute break around the two-thirds to halfway point of your session. The group will come back still energized from their good roleplaying experiences, and you can pull elements of this into the plot elements that will progress through the back half of the evening.

I can't stress this enough: most of us DMs love the artistic flourish of the surprise ending to put a cliffhanging capper on the gaming session, however be very cautious not to wait too long or else it will lose most of its impact. No one remembers the Elder Dragon showing up when half of the group is in the post-caffeine coma and the other half has fallen asleep, so make sure to drop that early enough that they will remember it the next session!

Introducing Roleplaying to New Players

A few years back, the Stupid Ranger crew was about to start our very first campaign together (in what would later be known as the Evensbrook campaign), and my wife Efreak was interested in playing D&D with us. She knew what D&D was, but didn't really know how to play. The thing I found interesting was that she didn't have too much trouble with all the tables and stats and whatnot (which isn't surprising since Stupid Ranger was on the scene helping her understand all that stuff). The part she didn't quite get was how to roleplay.

Limited Pretend

I decided to show her how to roleplay just by doing something very simple. No rules or anything, just pretend you're a person in a hotel room. She then tells me something I'd heard before, and oddly enough I'd heard it before from oldschool dungeon crawlers. The DM describes your surroundings and says "What do you do now?" and the player says "I don't know, what am I supposed to do?". It was a valid question, especially since there really wasn't any objective. I just wanted her to interact with her environment, maybe talk to the bellhop or something.

My first mistake came by telling her "well, you can do whatever you want". She thought about it a minute, and then said "I pull out my magic broom and start sweeping the floor".

"You can't do that, you don't have a magic broom."

"I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted?"

She had another good point. So then I explained to her she could do whatever she wanted with certain limitations. Roleplaying is like telling a story, whether you're the DM or a player -- whatever you're doing has to make sense. In D&D and other tabletop fantasy games, an additional part of whether or not a character's actions make sense or not depends on whether the rules say what they're doing is possible.

That helped her understand how things worked a bit better, and soon she was stabbing evil in the back as Goudy.

Hey, Can I Drive?

A few months later in the campaign, we ran into another unexpected roleplaying issue. We had a blog set up for the campaign, and in her post for the week, Efreak posted about mysterious things happening to Goudy during the night. (I would love to tell you about them, but it would ruin the comic!)

It was cool, but when I asked her about it she hadn't cleared it with Dante (who was DMing). Since we blogged all the time about our characters' experiences and frequently made up stuff about character interactions that happened out of game, it was easy to see how she blurred the line detailing who was in charge of writing the story. To make a long story short, Dante decided to just run with it and it ended up becoming an integral part of the story. (One that I can't wait to draw!)

These days, the players usually run off-the-track things like this past the DM first, but we also love it when this happens. We've had several stalled-out characters receive new life when the player is allowed to take the wheel for a second.

So What Have We Learned?

• Assume Nothing - D&D is some seriously abstract stuff to some people, and stuff that seems like common sense to a seasoned gamer might not to a new player.
• Players Like To Steer - and sometimes they have really good ideas too. We've run into this a couple times with a couple different players in the last few years. It's the DM's job to make sure everybody has fun, so if you have a player who wants to steer the story a little and it seems like it'd be fun for everyone, go for it! Nobody says you have to follow the script to the letter. Nobody says you have to let these things completely derail your campaign, either. Make a call, and do whatever you think will be the most awesome for everyone.
• My Wife Plays A Great Gnome - She totally does. For real. But she's way cuter in real life!

Anybody Else?

We'd love to hear your experiences introducing new players to gaming, good or bad.

That's all for me today. Until next time!

Essentials for Gaming

I've noticed a trend recently of DMs posting about the various tools they use when running a campaign, so I decided to share the tools I use as a player for gaming.
#1: My Character Sheet. While my character does live in my imagination, and I can roleplay her without a character sheet, I still consider it one of the top requirements for playing from a mechanics point of view. Skill checks, saves, combat rolls all require those numbers on that wonderful sheet. I also record goals for my character development, such as what feat I want to take next, or how many skill points I need to meet the prereq's for the prestige class.

#2: My PHB. I could survive without a Player's Handbook, but I would always prefer my copy at hand. To me, my PHB is an extention of my character sheet because I write notes in the margins. When I play a cleric, I'll mark which spells I have for the day. I marked the equipment I commonly buy when I roll-up a new character. I have all the important pages for my character are already tabbed with sticky-notes. And, of course, as a rules lawyer, I need my PHB handy to settle any disputes.

#3. Dice. Another requirement for game mechanics... but regardless of their necessity, I need dice when I play just because they make me happy. Hello, I'm Stupid Ranger, and I'm addicted to Gamer's Crack.

#4. Pencil. Not pen. Pencil... 'cuz life changes as you play, and you have to record those events as they happen. Loss (or gain) of hit points, new skill points, new treasure... all much easier to record (and un-record when you sell stuff) when you can erase.

#5. Notebook. I'm one of the note-takers for the group, so I keep a notebook beginning at the onset of the campaign. I keep track of main quests, side quests, small towns where we got supplies, colorful innkeepers who impart some random bit of wisdom. I keep track of the loot acquired before it is divvied up among the rest of the party.

#6. Additional Supplements. If I'm using a supplemental book, I make sure it is with me.

#7. Sugar & Caffeine. Gotta have 'em both.

For the other players lurking out there... what kind of tools do you need?

Behind the Screen: Handling Victory...

Today I'd like to explore a topic that I feel very strongly about: handling victory in your campaigns. In this case, I'd like to look at the Big Victories that encompass the major plot lines that make up a game.

The Written Endgame

For me, it doesn't exist. In my mind, the least engaging possible end story takes place when the players are forced to listen to a derived dissertation on what happens to their characters after the main objective is reach.

Instead of writing a long speech to deliver, I often opt for a few bullet points that contain the main talking points as they relate to the NPCs or the plot elements within my control. I make NO effort to assume anything about how the player characters will react to attaining their goal, because I have found that 95% of attempts made by the GM to fill in the rest of the storyline for the player characters leave the players themselves dismally unfulfilled.


The Collaborative Endgame

My process usually involves explaining the victory scenario: the evil wizard dies, the horrible army of the damned gets turned away, the ominous clouds part and light returns, etc. After that point, I set a general expectation about how the rest of the world will react to the bad things being eliminated and let the players tell me what will happen with their characters.

If the campaign itself is at a close, I usually roleplay some of the celebratory steps such as the homecoming, any lingering NPC interactions, and I let the players tell me a little about what will happen to their characters in the next months and years. In my most successful campaign, we adjourned after the characters returned home and I had them give a week's worth of thought to what happened to their characters and we reconvened the following week and went around the table sharing what became of their hero.

If the campaign is to continue, I usually do most of the same steps however I ensure that they have some time to spend adjusting to being a hero. They may be allowed to spend any reward they may have received, collect their accolades and kudos, and outfit themselves in a state befitting their heroism. Barring that, everything else happens as naturally as possible and the game continues.

Make sure it is all about your players and their characters

My final advice to you on how to handle victory is simply that: make sure its all about the PCs and their players. Let them feel the victory for what they have completed.

Don't make it about the city they saved or the royal family whose daughter the party just rescued. Make the characters and their players feel special for having survived the Terrible Onslaught.

If you do this right, the first question you will have to field after closing your books for the night will be an excited "when can we play again?" That is one of many ways I measure my own victory as a DM.

Evensbrook #13

New Evensbrook comic every Monday!

The Misinformed

For that reason, one of the things we'd like to do here at Stupid Ranger is to help people understand what it is to play in a roleplaying game. How it's a good social activity, how it builds good teamwork skills, how it's just a lot of fun. We know most of our audience probably already plays D&D, but we're hoping if one of you would like to enlighten someone else a little about roleplaying games (either to soothe their fears or to get them interested in gaming), we'll have some good stuff for you to pass their way. We'll be doing more articles for new gamers and more about gaming itself - because the only thing more fun than playing D&D is sharing it with another friend.

Campfire Stories
When I was growing up, there was a lot of controvery surrounding D&D, what with people associating it with the occult, the Devil, teen suicide, people casting real spells (WTF?), and God only knows what else. Clearly, I was playing wrong or I'd have accidentally barbequed my little sister with a Fireball by the time I was twelve. Perhaps I just didn't blaspheme hard enough to get that kind of dark power.

Thankfully, my parents were reasonable people and let my brother get the purple D&D Basic Set when I was pretty young, which I read quite a bit long before I ever played. In fact, I was already quite familiar with the source material when I heard anybody was scared of it. I was fortunate enough never to have encountered anybody who was outright opposed to D&D on "moral grounds" until high school. I was working in the media lab, and one of the perks of working there was that I got to make free photocopies for myself. I'd been playing AD&D 1st Edition for a little while, and I was convinced I could create a better player character sheet than TSR so I was frequently copying off some design I'd made. The secretary working there didn't know what it was for until I brought in a copy of the Wilderness Survival Guide to make a copy of some page with something or other I wanted on my PC sheet, and when she saw the cover said "DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS" she flipped out.

"I can't let you copy stuff like that in here, it's Satanist and you shouldn't play those kind of games!"

I knew the WSG pretty well, so being the smartassed 13 year old that I was, I decided to shut her up the best way I could. I turned to a page in the book and handed it to her. Well, I should say tried to hand it to her, she acted like it was made of acid and wouldn't touch it, so I just shoved it in front of her face.

"This page is nothing but tables about how long it will take you to build a campfire. OOOOH SCARY!!!"

At the time, I didn't realize exactly how hilarious it was that I was using 1E's incredible capacity for ridiculous anal minutiae in its own defense. The thing that really amazed me, though, was that it worked. The secretary's forehead wrinkled and her eyebrows drew close together as if she was a caveman looking at a disco ball for the first time, and then she grunted and said "well, I'm just saying". She probably still was afraid of D&D and I can't honestly remember if she ever spoke to me again, but she never bothered me about my D&D books ever again.

The Age of Reason

These days, it's a lot easier for us gamers than it used to be. I don't know if I'd call us "mainstream" (nor am I sure I'd like to!), but more and more I think the average joe knows D&D isn't about sacrificing goats and little children to the Ancient Ones for the Blood Harvest, and I haven't personally been hassled about anything D&D related in many years. However, there are still those out there with some really odd misconceptions about what we do, and their reactions range from the blind fear of the early 1980's to just thinking its creepy and weird and never knowing what they're missing.

Dealing With People who Just Don't Get It

Up to this point I've been really sarcastic about this whole business, but if you ever DO meet someone who has some radical misconceptions about D&D and is causing you problems, that isn't a good idea. Here's some tips:

• Don't Be A Jerk
  Nothing takes the wind out of a judgmental person like their opponent being a really nice guy. Scared people take the slightest thing and tack it on to their negative impression of you, so be very nice,very polite, and very respectful. You won't regret doing this, even if they never come around to seeing it your way.
  


• Their Opinion is Valid Too
  Even though you think they're completely insane, everybody's got a right to their opinion. It's a lot easier to convince someone that you're not a cultist whackjob if you're not up on your high horse. Talk to them as a person and let them know you understand where they're coming from -- and that you disagree and are open to discussion about things if it would make them feel better about things.
  


• Don't Expect Instant Results
  Some people have really strong beliefs about things, and are afraid enough that they think they have to save you from yourself. You're not magically going to change their mind by talking to them for five minutes. Be cool and stay open to dialogue, even if it happens over and over again.
  


• Just The Facts
  The Escapist is a fantastic resource for how to soothe people's fears about roleplaying and dispelling a lot of the old strange misconceptions. I highly recommend you go there. It's a good read, and it will arm you with what you need most when you meet someone who's scared of D&D -- the plain, boring, incredibly nonthreatening truth. Nobody who's ever seen a real game of D&D could possibly think we're up to anything diabolical, other than the sacrifice of several pizzas on our convenient countertop altar. Just ask the Dead Alewives.
  


• Be Excellent To Each Other
  You represent gamers in your misinformed friend's eyes, so if you're nice it'll start to chip away at the idea that you and everything that you stand for are awful. Make us proud, soldier!
  

Anybody here have stories about your dealings with the Misinformed? We'd love to hear them -- especially ones with positive outcomes. Until next time!