Adding Some Color to the Tavern

It's a classic staple of D&D adventuring.  The Tavern.  Whether it's just a stopping place for the night or a stepping stone in your quest to save (or destroy) the world, it's one of the first places you look for once you get back to town.  The second, of course, being the merchant, 'cuz saving the world doesn't always pay well unless you sell your fallen opponents' stuff.

The tavern is a great place for the roleplayers to interact with the other people in the environment; there's always someone at the tavern willing to chat with a group of adventurers.  Sometimes, he's very obviously giving you information to begin/continue your quest.  But sometimes, he's just local color.

For those of you looking to interject a little bit of color to your taverns, whether they are home-brew breweries or established drinking establishments, Alric over at The RPG Athenaeum posted a great list of 100 subjects that might be overheard in a tavern.  This is a great list, and it's a handy DM resource to keep the tavern environment light and entertaining, especially for your roleplayers.

If you're looking for a new tavern-based ways to begin your adventure, Nicholas over at DungeonMastering.com shared a few ideas.  After all, the tavern is the best place to start a campaign.  There are some good ideas here that give you an alternative to the general "you're sitting at the bar... introduce yourselves" kind of tavern-based start.

If you're looking for more ideas, there are a couple of fun articles published in the Open Game Table that have some fun ideas to add flair to your tavern.

Proper Villany Profiles: Watchmen Edition

Last year at Gen Con, I decided to buy a copy of Watchmen by Alan Moore. Despite being an avid reader of comics since childhood, this one had slipped past my radar but all my comic book nerd friends were all ranting that the movie was going to come out and ruin it so I'd better read the real version first.

I read it, and was blown away.

I AM ABOUT TO SPOIL EVERYTHING. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE COMIC OR SEEN THE MOVIE.

NO, SERIOUSLY. DO NOT READ FURTHER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

OK, I trust all of you reading now know the entire plot. Now I can discuss why this story makes me titter (evilly) with excitement like a schoolgirl.

Back in the early 90's when I was in high school, I had an issue of Dragon magazine that featured a little article for DM's on how to play monsters with very high INT scores. The main gist of the article was that you can't really play an ancient demon with an intellect that dwarfs any mere mortal's. You have this limitation called the brain of a mere mortal that keeps you from doing so. It is very troublesome, but these are the limitations imposed upon us until someone develops cheat codes for humans. The way the article suggested to play such characters was kind of a new concept for me: in short, cheat. Roleplay the NPC as if he had access to knowledge he ought not to. It might be as simple as knowing parts of the PCs' plan to stop him (and setting traps accordingly), or something as specific as knowing the fighter's magic shield has a weakness against ice attacks.

While I can appreciate this method in terms of game mechanics, it did strike me that the players might think you're being... well, let's just say the more evil of you DMs out there are probably rubbing their hands together evilly thinking of the possibilities. However, this method feels a bit like being the guy who has a hammer, and to whom everything looks like a nail. It's clumsy, the players are going to call you on it, and your only excuse is going to be "er um he is very smart and figured it out". I bear no responsibility for injuries you receive from blunt PHB2 trauma. (However, we here at Stupid Ranger can assure you that these injuries will be very exciting and no doubt an invaluable companion to your existing PHB wounds.)

Why I Believe Alan Moore To Be A Mind Flayer

I found a much more elegant solution to this problem when I read Watchmen. If you will recall, Ozymandias is referred to as the smartest man on Earth. (I will now also refer to him as my favorite villain.) If you'll recall what you learned in Evil 101, "hero" and "villain" are all relative. Surely he's a bad guy because he mass murders millions of people. Right? Except he's not doing it for money, or power, or glory. He's doing it to distract the nations of the world from nuking each other into the stone age by faking a devastating alien invasion, saving humanity as a whole! My god, the man is basically a masterclass in Proper Villainy. I almost wept.

My favorite part, though -- and this is where the whole "smartest man on Earth" bit comes back into play -- is HOW he accomplishes his goals. Let's review:

• Step 1: Neutralize those who can expose or stop you.
  The Comedian figured out what he was doing, so he got thrown out a window. Dr. Manhattan, being all superpowerful (and smart, too), needed a bit more special care. Like a decade-long plan to make him feel inhuman and isolated (enough to go hide on Mars) by giving people close to him cancer. He's smart and patient -- a deadly combination!


• Step 2: Clone the brain of a psychic and put it in a giant squid. Wait, what?



• Step 3: Teleport the squid into the middle of NYC, causing it to blow up and send out devastating psychic shockwaves, simulating a catastrophic attack by aliens.
You know, because teleportation works but living creatures blow up without Dr. Manhattan working the controls and NGGGHHHHHAAAA WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT LEAP?

I'll tell you how. You're the smartest guy on Earth, that's how.

Here's the box. And here's outside the box, where Ozymandias is thinking. Farther than that. Keep going. I'll tell you when to stop, just keep going. Five light-years away, and that's how far out of the box this is.

Why is this awesome? Because he's so smart that nobody could have seen this coming. Our poor little normal brains wouldn't have gone there. Sure, we can try to wrap our heads around it once it's there, but I'd be willing to bet 89% of the people who have read Watchmen paused, furrowed their brow, and had to reread that part just to make sure they weren't going mad. (10% of the people skimmed over that part and scratched their heads on the next page when the squid was lying there in the ruins of NYC. The other 1% are supergeniuses like Ozymandias and need to be closely observed by the government.)

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I think Alan Moore is a mind flayer.

How To Be Super-Smart

How, one might ask, is this useful for DM's trying to roleplay superintelligent NPC's? Did I not just mention how we had measly human intelligence and cannot comprehend such plots? Well, you have a secret weapon even Ozymandias did not: you're omnipotent in your little world. You get to make the rules. The supersmart Big Bad in your campaign can make plans that accomplish his goals but seemingly make no sense. You've also got another ace up your sleeve if you're running a fantasy setting -- you've got magic. Magic, especially at ridiculously high levels, is not obligated to make sense. Especially high level magic that the DM handwaves the details. But here's the point. The plot doesn't have to make perfect sense to you or to your players so long as it makes sense to your villain.

I know what you're thinking. Didn't you just talk earlier about having to explain yourself to the players, and having them think you're evil for doing this? Well, yeah. But this lets you roleplay him being smarter instead of the players simply wanting to know how he found something out. I won't lie -- this can be a uniquely frustrating experience for players. Few things make me want to kill a DM more than when "because I said so" is the reason. That's why you use this thing sparingly and only for a purpose.

I see this as great for two purposes -- the first being you've got players who routinely unravel your plots well before it's time. This isn't revenge, it's just to keep things exciting. (Okay, it is revenge too.) The second is when you want to pull an Ozymandias, and by the time you reveal your evil plan to the PC's, it's 35 minutes too late. Use it as a plot device. It may seem a little hamhanded, and can be if misused, but if you plan to use it beforehand and weave it into your storyline, it can be a story-building tool instead of a bulldozer to push your players where you want them.

And The Movie???....

I saw the Watchmen movie last week and thought it was absolutely fantastic and (with one notable exception) very faithful to the book. I give it a 9 out of 10, and that 1 is just because I love the squid so much. The new evil plan that makes more sense is boring by comparison. But what wouldn't be?

Until next time...... <evil laughter of squids>

Split Personality: The Early Days

In honor of the newly received preview copy of the PHB2, I could not resist the urge to try out one of the new classes.  No, I'm not pre-emptively reviewing one of the classes; today's tale is one of split personalities.

Two Personalities

Dante allowed any of us in the group to roll up a new PHB2-class character to be introduced into our Keep of the Shadowfell game.  My first character is an Eladrin Wizard; she's been fun so far, but I was really interested in trying out one of the new classes. So Saturday night, I'm sitting at the table with one new character and one old character, trying to divorce myself from Eaerenel, my wizard, so I could enjoy Rynna, my new character.  Then Dante gives us the good news: we can run one or both of the characters.  

One Player

So there I was, with two great characters and permission to enjoy them both.  And that's when things got interesting.  How do you manage two characters engaged in the same battle?

One of the easiest ways to keep my characters separate was something I determined during my second character creation.  My wizard is mostly ranged; Rynna is mostly melee.  This helps keep battle strategies for each character separate.

The second step was to move my wizard personality into the background.  I decided to make Rynna my primary personality, and I made it very clear to the rest of the group that my in-character actions would be from Rynna unless I stated otherwise.  This helped avoid a lot of confusion and didn't leave me trying to maintain two prominent personalities.

The third step, which really helped me maintain what sanity I have, was having notecards prepared with each character's powers with descriptions and bonuses already calculated.  The cards had different colored borders, so they were easy to keep separate.  Overall, these cards really helped me keep each character's abilities separate, and I didn't have to flip between books and pages checking on things.

Sanity Maintained

All in all, my first split-personality session went really well.  I'm looking forward to more adventures with my two characters.  I suspect it will be more difficult as they gain levels and additional powers, but I think these initial steps will help keep things from getting too crazy.

Sir Gawain and the Iron Man, Part 2

In Part 1, I described the classic "arming of the hero" scene in the story of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and in the Iron Man movie, and I described how this scene could be applied to your own roleplaying as an indication of character development.  I hadn't intended to make a Part 2, but our friend, Todd, posted a couple of interesting follow-up questions:

Todd Bradley said...

How does this "Arming the Hero" scene fit in with the classic "Training Montage" of action movies? And where does sit in Joseph Campbell's monomyth ("the hero's journey")?

Sir Gawain and the... Training Montage?

The classic Training Montage is ever so familiar to movie-goers.  In this filmed sequence, we witness the hero in physical preparation for the upcoming battle.  I think that there are a couple of ways to adapt the arming scene to the montage sequence.

First, for the unarmed, the training montage is pretty much the arming scene.  Because there aren't weapons or armor (in most cases), the training is the hero's preparation. You could develop a training montage for your unarmed character as his arming scene; roleplay this by describing what exercises he completes to emphasize what aspects of his training are most important.  You can then describe character development through the introduction of new training exercises.

However, if you still want to implement a classic arming sequence for your unarmed character, or if you want to implement a training montage for your armed character, you can easily include both because they have such a complementary nature.  Describe your character's training regimen, with or without weapons.  Let's face it, those fighters and archers didn't just wake up one morning proficient with their chosen weapon; a training montage can be a great roleplaying technique to describe your character's dedication to perfecting her combat abilities.  Follow-up the training montage with an arming scene: describe what is important for your character to have with her when she enters combat.  Maybe your unarmed character has a charm or a magical ring he carries with him; describing that in specific detail as he prepares for battle would be part of his arming scene.  For your armed character, describe how she prepares her weapon: testing the edge of her blade, or ensuring her bowstring is in good condition.  Character development, such as learning new techniques or acquiring new equipment, can be described in future training exercises and/or arming scenes.

Iron Man-omyth

Joseph Campell, in his introduction for The Hero with a Thousand Faces, summarizes the "hero's journey" monomyth as: 

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. [From the Wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces#Summary]

There are several elements throughout that description that we can recognize has part of our roleplaying stories.  Many campaigns begin with the characters being faced with that call to "venture forth."  This is a prime place for a simple arming scene: what does the character feel is important as he prepares to leave on his journey?

I've always felt that the real power of the arming scene comes from multiple iterations used to describe character development.  That simple opening arming scene is more significant if, later in the adventure, there is a second arming scene to show how the character has grown.  For that purpose, I would recommend placing the next arming scene between encounters with "fabulous forces."  The hero (your character) seldom sees only on encounter in his journey; after one or more encounters, he will gain knowledge leading to personal growth.  When you feel that your character has experienced significant growth, you can craft a second arming scene (possibly with a training montage) to illustrate this growth.

The Arming and the Monomyth Example 

Suppose we have a fighter.  She has received good basic training (insert montage here) from the town guard, and her natural ability with a longsword has caught the attention of the elite weapon-masters in the next town over.  She has been summoned to attend their trials.  Our innocent fighter has been presented with the call to venture forth.

Here, we can craft the first arming scene: she dresses with care the morning of her departure.  She checks her blade; it's not new, being a cast-off from the guard, but it is a sound sword and holds a decent edge.  Before she leaves, her mother presents her with a soft blue ribbon.  Our fighter absentmindedly ties back her hair with the new ribbon, not so much out of vanity but as a reminder of her family.  We have described our fighter's personality here: not much attention to her clothes, when compared to her weapon; her weapons are more important than her appearance.  The last detail with the ribbon shows that she is close to her family.

Our fighter ventures out into the great wide world on her way to the trials.  She encounters an outlaw, who engages her in combat.  She receives a few minor injuries, before being disarmed by her opponent.  She manages to regain her weapon, but she receives a nasty cut to her forearm in the process.  In the end, she is victorious against the outlaw, though she is wounded from the encounter.  Here is our first trial: combat outside the careful training activities.  Our fighter has reached a very significant realization that she needs much more training.

She continue on her journey, arriving in good time for the trials.  She succeeds and is invited to join the elites, who present her with a new, better blade.  She has been victorious in her early trials, and she has received a reward.

In her next arming scene, we can focus on describing her new sword: the metallic ring as she pulls it from its scabbard, the way the light reflects off it as she inspects it in the sun.  We might mention less of her appearance and the blue ribbon; right now, those parts of her personality aren't quite as important to her, because she is more concerned with not only the new blade but the new training that comes with it.  For those looking to add a training montage, there is ample opportunity to describe the exercises she practices as she learns the weight and balance of her new blade, and her desire to improve her skills after her near-miss with the outlaw.

As I said last time, the arming scene provides some great roleplaying opportunities, especially to highlight character development.  You can also include the training montage, either in place of or in conjunction with the arming scene.  And both elements work well in Campbell's "hero's journey" monomyth; consider your character's path to determine where he is in the "journey," then plan the appropriate scenes or sequences to showcase your character's development.

Sir Gawain and the Iron Man

The "arming of the hero" scene is a classic literary element that allows us as readers (or viewers) to experience those moments when the hero is preparing for battle.  It allows us a brief look into the hero's mind and a glimpse of the hero's character independent of his actions.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

I was first introduced to the "arming of the hero" scene in college as I was studying "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."  We see a change in Gawain throughout the story; this is highlighted with the differences between the two arming scenes.  In the first, as Gawain sets out on his quest, the arming scene focuses on his shield, a symbol of his faith and belief in the Code of Chivalry.  In the second, when he is facing certain death, the arming scene changes focus to the green girdle; with it, Gawain hopes to avoid death, and in doing so, he has turned away from his Code.  We see Gawain's focus change from faith to fear as he trying to reconcile his mortality.

Iron Man

A couple of weeks ago, Dante & I were watching Iron Man.  We saw the movie a couple of times in the theatre, but at home, I had that light bulb moment as I watched Tony Stark's two arming scenes.

The first, when Tony is escaping from the cave, the cumbersome nature of the suit means Tony must rely on a computer activation sequence as well as Yinsen's assistance; this arming scene ends with Tony witnessing Yinsen's sacrifice as Tony waits for the suit to reach its full power.  The second, Tony has automated the entire arming scene, replacing Yinsen and the computer loading bar with JARVIS.  The first arming of Iron Man preceeded a selfless sacrifice and a dramatic escape; the second begins without a feeling of humanity as Iron Man strives to free an entire village from tyrants.

Arming Your Hero

The arming of the hero is a classic element, and for the storytellers out there, it can be an interesting element to add to your hero.  Your first arming scene will likely occur in the early days of the campaign; at some point -- during your initial character description or in one of your early encounters -- you will likely describe your weaponry, your armor, your spells, your holy symbol... something specific that helps define your character.  But characters change, whether through organic personal growth or story-driven character development.  If your character has undergone a signficant change, you can help showcase this change through a second arming scene.

For instance, my current character, Eaerenel, is an Eladrin Wizard who loves to use fire spells.  I have described several of her early attacks with firey details.  In the event that something causes her to re-define the nature of her attacks (ie. seeing an entire village and its population destroyed by another wizard's massive fire attacks), Eaerenel might begin to study icy attacks; I could introduce this change by describing specific icy details of her attacks... where once there was fire, there would be ice instead.

As a storytelling element, you can easily craft arming scenes to help detail your character's development.  It's one more creative trick to enhance your roleplaying experience.

The Morality Of Adventuring

The more I play WoW, the more I wonder what kind of character I'm actually playing. You start out playing the game fresh-faced and ready to fight the Scourge, but what you wind up doing is clearing some scorpids out that are threatening travellers. Boring, but innocuous enough. Then, as the game progresses a bit, you'll get some quests where some quilboars are bothering people in the Crossroads, and you need to go thin their numbers. Now we're talking about killing sentient humanoid creatures. Dirty work, for sure, but it's saving the lives of the citizens of the Horde, right? Well, as they say, "War is Hell". You do what you have to.

Just Following Orders

I don't know whether it's just me, or if I'm noticing it more now, but it feels like the further I get in the game, the more morally questionable the things I have to do for quest become. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I seem to remember there being a big controversy brewing about a quest involving torture about the time I bought the WotLK expansion. But I do find myself getting the occasional quest where my gut reaction is "you know, I really want the XP, but I'm not crazy about what's going on here".

There's a quest where you have to steal Wolvar pups and give them to the Kalu'ak walrus people. The walrus dudes want you to do this because they want to raise these pups to be peaceful. I found myself wishing there was a quest for the Wolvar tribe so I could go steal their pups back and maybe kill all the walrus guys in the process (skinning them, of course, and making them into quivers).

This issue is, of course, much more complicated than it initially seems. Yes, the walrus dudes think it'd be great to raise all the wolvar pups in the way they think is right and if they do it enough then everybody gets along, right? Except they're stealing babies (ok, well, technically I guess it's me). A quest that goes with that one also has me murder their parents (because they stole stuff from the walruses). And all that murderin' and stealin' aside, they're still trying to erase the entire Wolvar culture. Sure, I can understand them wanting to get rid of it seeing as they get "chewed on" by "powerful Wolvar jaws" occasionally, but the point is, do they really get to make that call? Well, as history shows us now and then, whoever is stronger frequently does make that call. But is it moral?

Consequences

I am not, of course, worried that America's youth is going to turn to torture and genocide. At least, not because of WoW. (American Idol, maybe.) My interest in the topic is purely for roleplaying purposes (on both sides of the table). As a player, I've got to figure out what to do with myself when presented with that situation. In a game like WoW, the consequences (good or bad) frequently take the form of Reputation. I must say I'm happy they sometimes make your actions affect one faction positively and another negatively. While it makes it hard to do everything in the game (at least on one character), I think it makes a vaguely realistic stab as to how your actions affect the opinions of those you interact with.

In D&D, of course, how your character is perceived is up to the capricious whim of real people. I see the most effect from this between players. Especially if there's a Dudley Do-Right in the group, a character stealing a bunch of kids (even with the best of intentions) may find himself at swordpoint if another player disagrees. DM's can set morally questionable situations up in advance to stir up some roleplaying -- but be aware of the above effect of doing so on your players. You want to make things fun, try not to make the powderkeg too large.

Look Both Ways Before You Justify

The largest question in my mind about all this is, "how would my character deal with all this?". People do some crazy things under duress, and under the influence of powerful leadership. There's enough cognitive dissonance floating around in an entire world torn apart by war to rationalize goddamn near anything. So while I, as a pasty white Perl coder with a doughy middle and big screen TV, think these things are questionably moral -- my shaman might feel differently. Before you draw a line in the sand with your character about something, take a few seconds to consider how they might see it. And keep an eye on the paladin when you tell the party what you've decided in case you need to duck.

Surviving the Crazy Times: Beginning Again

So we're finally getting boxes unpacked, stuff put away and generally settling into life in Colorado.  I've been working on setting up the smallest bedroom as an office/library, which has lead me to the realization that I have a lot of books.  The disappointing thing is that after unpacking the obvious boxes, I still have gaps on the bookcases where I various books are missing.  Ah, well, they'll turn it eventually.

Beginning Again

Dante is coordinating with some of his new co-workers on getting a group together.  It's been a long time since I've sat down at the gaming table with my books and my dice spread out before me, so I'm pretty excited to get the new group together and see how well we all play together.

Of course, this is the "beginning again": finding a group, getting to know new people and figuring out how to play in a the group.  Prior to this, I have always been part of a group where I knew at least one person (other than Dante).  This will be the first time I'll be in a group composed of people I've only met once or twice at after-work get-togethers where spouses were invited.

Hello, My Name Is

So, how do you integrate a bunch of individuals into a group?  I figure we will need to start out getting to know each other a little bit before we try to get a game going.  To me, roleplaying seems to be a more natural process when you're not facing a bunch of strangers.  Of course, that may be partly due to the fact that I'm a little shy.  Just like your characters need to meet each other before setting out to save the world, you need to know your fellow players before you begin playing those characters.

It's all starting to come together now...

Stupid Ranger and I are finally getting settled into our new home! Fortuitously, as if by some divine plan, I received a sales email from the guys over at Geek Chic lauding their new demi-Sultan table that will be released to the masses on November 23rd.

Cursed Consumerism!

This just threw a healthy splash of gasoline on the fire for me to plan my new gaming sanctuary at my new home. While I might not be able to afford the Sultan (unless their big reveal is more economical models!), I certainly would like some sort of a custom gaming area to inhabit with my motley band of adventurers.

The space itself needs some finishing, so once that is done I am looking ahead for some good multi-purpose ideas for using that space as a gaming/recreation area. I'm thinking a big, home-rolled whiteboard would be nice both for drawing encounters or keeping score for the ol' dart board. A more high tech solution might come along depending on how my research into multitouch surface technology goes... that may take a back burner until warmer months when I can comfortably build things outdoors again.

Other necessary components, aside from a place to rest one's butt:

• A food/drink/alcohol dispensary of some kind.
• One to many book containment units
• One to many miniature containment units
• Some sort of music system to provide some mad roleplaying tunes
• The all-important ambiance factor, meaning a place to display the ample Lord of the Rings prop/sword collection
• Some sort of glorified display for my autographed OD&D sourcebooks, perhaps with mini Gygaxian Shrine (seriously not a joke here people, I want this!)
  

I will provide updates as they develop... or when the guys at Geek Chic finally get the hint and drop ship me their newest model for... uh... review and testing purposes. Heck, I'll even take their slightly loved used equipment off their hands!

As I return from dreamland, feel free to shout out whatever random stuff that comes to mind when you think about your ideal gaming space. Coolest ideas I haven't thought of already will likely get you hugged if we ever meet IRL, and have a distinct possibility of being implemented in the final Roleplaying Dungeon!

Does video game facilitated roleplaying actually exist?

I've had a precious few extended jags in World of Warcraft over the past few weeks as we prepare for our move, and as I played the game by myself I found that it was pretty easy to engage in the storyline. A few times, in fact, I actually felt invested that my character would want to actually help the world and it mattered.

Then I got the opportunity to run through an instance of Ragefire Chasm with some more experienced players. I understand that each person plays the game in their own way, and often the raids are about efficiency. My experience of actually engaging in the storyline was pretty well shattered by "talk to this guy, get this quest, then get back down there and more killing."

So I ask you, loyal readers... has anyone had a satisfactory roleplay experience using a packaged video game (such as WoW, Neverwinter, etc) as a medium? Granted, we weren't trying to replicate D&D style roleplay in our World of Warcraft efforts, but it was a bit amazing how quickly things devolved into hack and slash, efficiency gaming once a group came into the mix.

So let's hear it from you... does video game facilitated roleplay actually exist? Can it be done?