Advice

You are currently browsing the archive for the Advice category.

How do you make module-driven games seem less railroaded?

May 24, 2010 in Advice, GMing, Seeking Feedback by Fitz | No comments

Welcome back!

Hi all…

Yes, it seems that nearly every time I post anything these days, it’s asking a question. But before I ask, let me provide some context…

We have a very small group (currently 2 or 3 players depending on the week and a GM) playing a D&D 3.5e adventure set in one of the Paizo Pathfinder adventures (Second Darkness). The GM (Mike) and I have been discussing the fact that, like every other module-driven adventure either of us has played or run, it seems very linear. And, dare I say it, a bit boring for those of us playing who prefer story and emotional depth over combat.

Sure there are a few mysteries left. We only play once a month or so and sometimes not even that, so getting through significant parts of the adventure is iffy at best. And it probably doesn’t help that the two PCs in our group that are supposed to know and like each other are drifting apart (but that’s a tale for another day), so that’s not helping us move forward much either.

But here’s the issue… if the GM lacks the time to spin off his own ideas to make the setting more lively and engaging for the PCs and the PCs can’t stay together, how do we make the game more enjoyable across the board?

I suspect that if Mike as GM can find some nuggets of creativity in the module to build on, that’s one way to do it. And as a player, I can try and invest myself more in the world as well – perhaps going so far as to define NPC “friends” he may have met during spelunking beneath the city, in the wilds, or while avoiding the less natural parts of town (he’s a druid who’s probably swinging from neutral good to true neutral soon after some experiences he’s had in the campaign).

What do you do, as a player or GM, to make campaigns based around pre-written modules seem more lively? Or what do you do to revive fading campaigns when the enthusiasm starts to die?

Mike and I are both curious what others who have faced similar issues have done to help the situation… And not just what worked, but what didn’t… So we don’t unwittingly step in land mines trying something that probably was a bad idea from the get-go.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. I’ll try and sum it up in a separate post so others can benefit from the combined wisdom.

Thanks!
–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dungeon Dressing – What’s a dungeon anyway?

December 28, 2009 in Advice, GMing, Inspiration by Fitz | No comments

When you see the term “Dungeon” – what comes to mind? I typically think of a few different things…

  1. The great TSR gaming magazine published for from 1986 to 2007.
  2. A board game published in 1975 by TSR to simulate some aspects of Dungeons & Dragons.
  3. A place where people were imprisoned or tortured.
  4. A series of connected rooms containing possible encounters or combat opportunities.
  5. A power metal/thrash band from Sydney, Australia from 1989 to 2005.

Though I still have a few issues of Dungeon magazine squirreled away in boxes and a copy of Dungeon! the board game, I can truthfully say I’ve never heard any music from Dungeon the thrash band. That said, let’s focus on #4 because we can kind of roll #3 into it.

We often encounter dungeons when we play roleplaying games. Adventures like the Temple of Elemental Evil come to mind when I think of dungeons and dungeon crawls where you enter with your friends and try to survive as many levels and encounters as possible to escape with your loot.

But if you look at the general description, a dungeon in gaming terms is just a bunch of rooms connected by corridors. That could describe just about anything, couldn’t it?

A while back, Johnn Four raised the concept of “5 Room Dungeons”, which are awesome. Just enough space to create a unique situation for a group of players. But what I loved was that they weren’t all underground in medieval settings. Sure, some were. But mixed in were temples, swamps, islands, and other locations that didn’t have to be underground. What a concept! (You can download many of the 5 Room Dungeons at Johnn’s Roleplaying Tips site.)

So we know about dungeons in the medieval sense. Usually these were sets of rooms that existed under existing castles, keeps, or other buildings to house criminals, political prisoners, torture devices, and so on.

What about other places? Why can’t a modern building be a dungeon? Think about a modern hospital. Aren’t the floors in a hospital designed in a manner similar to different dungeon levels?

What about…

  • Spaceships or naval vessels?
  • Laboratories?
  • Office buildings?
  • Cave systems used by freedom fighters or terrorists?

Aren’t they all dungeons of a sort? Multiple rooms connected by corridors. Each room may or may not have “stuff” in it. Each room may or may not have guardians or traps.

So as we go through some other topics in this series, keep in mind that dungeons don’t have to be in fantasy settings or historically-based adventures. A dungeon can be any set of rooms connected by corridors.

Think about that the next time you walk through your house, your school, or your office building.

Next time we’ll talk about doors and what you can do with them in various settings.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Friday Links, December 4, 2009

December 4, 2009 in Advice, Articles, Friday Links, Resources by Fitz | No comments

Another week of awesome posts in the gaming blog community means I’m back with a new list of links for Friday!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (if they celebrated) and is looking forward to some happy holidays. Winter has finally arrived in Colorado (with most of this week spent near zero degrees fahrenheit), so even I’m starting to think about Christmas.

Friday Links Banner 150x150But I digress. :)

Here are a few posts to contemplate when winter weather hits in your neck of the woods:

  • In the “Not Necessarily from This Week” category, we have “Fistfull of Lead: All the Monsters on a Budget” from Jonathan Drain over at Kobold Quarterly. The article tells us where to procure a solid collection of miniatures for your gaming pleasure. Everything from humanoids and skeletons to demons and insects is included in this mix and match collection for a bit over $100 US. Not bad!
    http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article3132.php
  • Is Chivalry dead? The RPG Athenaeum offers some suggestions on how to bring knightly orders into your game in “Chivalry doesn’t have to be dead…” The tips on designing a knightly order are very cool – including what to do if a knight fails to live up to the code. As someone who’s designed a few knightly orders, I wish I’d had these tips when I was writing them. :)
    http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/chivalry-doesnt-have-to-be-dead-use-knightly-orders-in-your-game/
  • Also from the RPG Athenaeum, we have “Flesh out your hero with an anecdote or two,” which offers some awesome suggestions on quirks for characters that might not have occurred to you. The article covers things like quirky appearance bits, emotional bits such as memories that surface during certain conditions, or unique phrases from their adventures or where they grew up. Cool stuff to consider for NPCs as well as PCs I think!
    http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/flesh-out-your-hero-with-an-anecdote-or-two/
  • From Abstract XP, we have an article on “Writing effective setting in adventures (part three)”. Weather is one of those things I never get right in campaigns, from what it should be from a seasonal perspective or what it should be from a geographic perspective… So tips and hints for using weather in an adventure is quite welcome. And when you add in tips for avoiding cliche’s and bringing in culture, the article starts overflowing with ideas!
    http://abstractxp.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/writing-effective-setting-in-adventures-part-three/
  • Rob Lang over at The Free RPG Blog brings up some intriguing ideas about making fantasy RPG rules into something that doesn’t fall flat in “How to turn your stock fantasy RPG into a unique delight.” As someone who’s trying to make a generic RPG and start with the fantasy aspects, this was particularly well timed. By not only going back to the source of fantasy ideas – fiction, myth, and folklore – but researching games and other mechanics to borrow ideas here and there to add crunch to otherwise not crunchy bits, I may have enough ideas to finish something soon. :) Thanks Rob!
    http://www.thefreerpgblog.com/2009/12/how-to-turn-your-stock-fantasy-rpg-into.html
  • Ravyn at Exchange of Realities proposes three ways to think about solving problems in “Three Problem-Solving Question Sequences.” And though this was meant for gamers, I might actually suggest it to my daughters as ways to approach many different things in life. It’s hard to argue with “What do I have and how can I use it?”, “What do I want and what do I have that can help me get it?”, and “What could solve this problem and how could I get it?” Although they all pose similar questions, it’s HOW they’re asked that’s the key… Very though provoking!!
    http://exchangeofrealities.today.com/2009/12/01/three-problem-solving-question-sequences/
  • And lastly, we have a throwback to an earlier time for me… This picture of Orcus from the Lord of the Green Dragons just made me smile as I thought back to my youth and the early days of playing D&D. Good times. Does it reflect poorly on me when I think back on a big demon prince as a symbol of my youth? Maybe. :)
    http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/2009/12/old-school-orcus.html

Thanks to everyone who wrote the articles above and to the many more I have yet to read on the various RPG blogs I follow.

Have a great weekend!

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Blog Post: Friday Links for November 20, 2009 (on Sunday, November 22, 2009)

November 22, 2009 in Advice, Articles, Friday Links, Resources by Fitz | 2 comments

Yes, I’m a bit behind. To say that the past couple of weeks have kicked my arse is an understatement. That said, there have been some awesome articles in the gaming blog community that caught my eye when I had time to check ‘em out… So without further adieu, here are a few posts for your reading pleasure.

  • Friday Links Banner 150x150In the “not in the gaming community” category we have Philip Palmer from the Orbit Books Blog considering the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. We all know the answer is 42, but Palmer goes deeper into the numerological aspects of the answer and… the fourty-two texts of Hermes Trismegistus! (If you haven’t heard of Orbit Books, be sure to check out their website. They deal in some wonderful urban fantasy, fantasy, and science fiction materials that are full of story and campaign ideas!)
    http://www.orbitbooks.net/2009/11/19/the-meaning-of-life-you-read-it-here-first/
  • Next, in the “bad news for small publishers” category, we have bad news from Outlaw Press with their Tunnels and Trolls products. According to Andreas at the Omnipotent Eye, there are some questions regarding the use of artwork without permission among other things. I’m hoping it’s just rumor, but we’ll see how it all plays out…
    http://theomnipotenteye.blogspot.com/2009/11/latest-bad-news.html
  • Over at the RPG Athenaeum blog, we’re reminded to consider tactics in our D&D battles, not only as players, but as GMs. Using your opponents’ weaknesses presupposes a bit of knowledge on the part of those in the combat and some D&D critters, such as the kobolds used in one example in the article, should have enough brainpower to put 2+2 together to get 4. However, the trick is gaining enough knowledge of the battleground and your opponents before the battle to take advantage of such information… Looking forward to parts 2 & 3 of this three part series.
    http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/let-slip-the-dogs-of-war-part-i/
  • It seems RPGNow is having an extended Black Friday event between November 27 & 30, according to the Gaming Brouhaha. Next weekend will be a great time to find some awesome materials on sale!
    http://rpg.brouhaha.us/?p=1988
  • Brent Newhall has released a year of his earnings and web traffic for the two RPG PDF products he released about a year ago. I’m enthusiastic about such information as a self-publisher. It means people are making at least a little money with their hobby, which encourages other folks like myself to try to do the same. Thanks Brent and good luck with all your endeavors!
    http://brentnewhall.com/blogs/role-playing/21-Nov-09-one-year-of-tabletop.php
  • Zzarchov over at Unofficial Games pointed at a great article comparing DMing and software development concepts. As a software developer, I have to admit I’d not thought about gaming in those terms but will strive to do so in the future. Having the right bits that you can rearrange to suit particular needs in a just-in-time environment is a great way to view running a game.
    http://trollandflame.blogspot.com/2009/11/dm-and-sd-parrellels.html
  • And lastly, over at Gnome Stew, DNAPhil has encouraged us to properly care for and feed our creativity. Mine’s been starving a bit lately, so his advice is well received by yours truly. I love the idea of creating a new NPC, location description, or plot idea every day or every few days. It’s something I hope to put into practice soon!
    http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/the-proper-care-and-feeding-of-your-creativity

This isn’t a complete list of all the articles I’ve noted over the last couple of weeks, but a representative sample at least. I’ve been trying to share these out in Google Reader when I see them, which makes it easier to find them again in the future and keeps them available for others to find if they so desire.

If you’re in the U.S., I wish you a happy Thanksgiving. And no matter where you are, I hope you’re enjoying yourself!

Until next time…

MFJAHXWUHDX6

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday Links for November 6, 2009

November 6, 2009 in Advice, Articles, Friday Links, Resources by Fitz | No comments

Hi all!

While my own efforts have been bashed in the head with the baseball bat that is reality… I have to show the work of a few other folks whose creativity makes me realize that even if my brain has a dent, I should keep plowing on – because how can you not be inspired by these people??

  • Friday Links Banner 150x150Over at the Free RPG Blog, Rob Lang has done a review of… the Nevermeet Press website?? Yes, that’s right – he’s reviewing the website as a source of great, free, system-generic resources for roleplaying games. This has to be one of the best breakdowns of what a particular site provides that I’ve seen. Jonathan and Michael have done amazing work and Rob is just letting us all know we should pay more attention. :)
    http://thefreerpgblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/illuminate-your-tired-grey-matter-with.html
  • At Game in the Brain, Nikolas has provided a list of great free open source resources you can use to create your game materials. Everything from OpenOffice to create the textual content to GIMP for the graphics to Scribus for the desktop publishing. As someone who has been working in open source for the last 4 years or so, it brings tears of joy to see open source applications heralded outside the software industry! I’d also add FreeMind, an open source mind mapping tool, to his list as a great resource.
    http://gameinthebrain.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-open-source-tools-for-game.html
  • From The RPG Athenaeum we have a wonderful list of 100 street scenes for Medieval settlements – otherwise known as “adding crunch” to what might otherwise be a static world. I know that I will soon be leveraging any number of these simple prompts in a game to spawn some creativity when things go stagnant. Why don’t you roll 2d10 and see what you end up with? Ah… #50 “While walking past a temple, a hero is struck in the back with rotten fruit (in warmer months) or a snowball (in winter). The only person visible when the hero looks behind him is an elderly woman, ambling about nonchalantly.” Happens to me all the time!!
    http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/one-hundred-street-scenes-for-medieval-settlements/
  • Wimwick at Dungeon’s Master.com has some thoughts on getting players engaged. Starting with a little, tantalizing bit of information sometimes gets the imagination going into overdrive and causes players to… ask questions, get involved, and generally dive into the world and adventure to find answers to the questions that they have to answer or else go insane… :)
    http://dungeonsmaster.com/2009/11/engaging-your-players/
  • And Yax over at Dungeon Mastering has come up with 30 fiction writing tips to make us all better GMs… And, like Wimwick’s thoughts about engaging players, Yax’s #1 tip is to focus on the well crafted detail or NPC to help tell a great story. How can anybody really argue with that?? This is the first 10 tips… more are coming in the next couple of days!
    http://www.dungeonmastering.com/tools-resources/30-fiction-writing-tips-that-will-make-you-a-better-dm-part-1

Hope everybody has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!! And if you feel like providing some feedback, take a look at my Design Question of the Week and throw your $0.02 into the mix. I’d love some more input!

–Fitz

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Small Press Week Links for Friday, October 23, 2009

October 23, 2009 in Advice, Friday Links, Inspiration, Reviews by Fitz | No comments

Hi all…

Instead of my usual Friday links post today, I’d like to focus on entries in the Small Press Week effort for the RPG Blog Network. There were some great games covered, including my own.

Printing PressCheck ‘em out!

I think this was a GREAT effort from the RPG blog community to focus on some of these products from little publishers. There are a TON of great designers out there producing some amazing work that gets overshadowed by the big boys far too often. Check out the little guys!

Hopefully this will be a more regular effort from the RPG community to spotlight these products we’d otherwise miss.

Thanks go to Zachary for organizing the event!

Have a great weekend everybody!

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Friday Links for October 16, 2009

October 16, 2009 in Advice, Friday Links, Inspiration by Fitz | 5 comments

Hi all…

Once again, the RPG community presents not only creative ideas, but thought-provoking material that crosses genres and systems. I’m always impressed by the collective knowledge in the RPG blogosphere and this week was no different.

Friday Links

Hopefully I can finish a couple of posts over the weekend about my own take on morality in RPGs, as we had a bit different perspective for the Moebius Adventures system.

But here’s what you came for… the Friday Links!

  • Gnome Stew’s Matthew Neagley has increased the paranoia tenfold against the little races of fantasy roleplaying games. Gnomes are being called out as sneaky, dangerous, and effective enemies under the right conditions and damn if they don’t have some great ideas in the comments too – Gnometroopers and Gnome-jas are now going to be added to my own repertoire of evil!
    http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gnomes-do-really-bad-really-good
  • In the “Why don’t I have one of these in my dungeon” category, we have the Obelisk of Undeath from the RPG Dumping Ground. I will definitely be investing in some necromancer swag and hiring some undead guardians soon!
    http://rpgdump.blogspot.com/2009/10/obelisk-of-undeath.html
  • As a fan of the old MechWarrior RPG (1st ed), I was shocked and surprised to see a simplified version of the rules boiled down to 6 pages. Amazing. Chgowiz of Chgowiz’s Old Guy RPG Blog has done a great job pulling these together. I’d be curious to see how they play. Luckily I have a friend moving nearby in a few months that was my old MW GM in College. We might have to give them a shot!
    http://oldguyrpg.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-micromw.html
  • Taichara over at A Hamster Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons has a handful of NPCs for our GMing pleasure – extras if you will to populate your world with some people with character. I love the little touches. Great post!
    http://hamsterhoard.blogspot.com/2009/10/handful-of-npcs.html
  • I’m just getting back to GMing after a long dry spell and it’s good to know what to avoid as I get started again… So seeing the Top Ten Ways to Know Your Campaign Sucks is a good refresher course from Rule of the Dice. When the only thing the players remember is the pizza, something has to be wrong…
    http://www.ruleofthedice.com/2009/10/top-ten-ways-to-know-your-campaign.html
  • In the “bizarre, but strangely compelling” category we have Spenser Idahl’s adventure hook “Sunday Hooks – Beetle Juice Edition” from Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. Reminds me a bit of The Mummy with Brendan Frazer, but I have to say it’s always creepy when an NPC dissolves into a swarm of bugs! Ack!
    http://www.rocksfallblog.com/2009/10/sunday-hooks-beetle-juice-edition.html
  • From Troll and Flame, we have a well thought out revamping of a magic system. I too have been obsessed lately with magic systems, so this is a timely post for me. And the author came up with a similar pattern to what I’m probably going to do with Moebius Adventures – each type of magic user has a slightly different bent. There are similarities and commonalities, but one mage doesn’t have to be the same as every other. I like the division between Mage, Sorcerer, Wyrd (Runes), Staff wizards, etc. Great food for thought.
    http://trollandflame.blogspot.com/2009/10/magical-monday-magic-yeah-we-got-some.html
  • From allgeektout, we have a thought that I’m not sure why didn’t occur to me until now… Using top ten lists to shape expectations for a project and deciding what to emphasize… Oh duh! The author provides a sample for his Six Seas setting, listing 10 things you need to know about the six seas… http://allgeektout.com/2009/10/12/10-things-you-need-to-know-part-1/
  • In the current RPG Blog Carnival on morality in games, Jade on Evil Machinations brings up some interesting crunch to consider for ourselves and our characters. We can’t purge our dark sides, but we can be aware of them. And as Jade says, RPGs provide an outlet for our shadow selves to assert themselves safely.
    http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2009/10/12/dancing-with-the-dark/

Awesome posts and I’m sure there were many more this past week!

Have a great weekend!

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Friday Links for October 9, 2009 (a day early)

October 8, 2009 in Advice, Design, Friday Links, GMing by Fitz | 2 comments

Hi all!

I’m going to be gone tomorrow, so I thought I’d post my Friday Links a day early. Yes, it might warp the time-space continuum, but oh well. No worse than the large hadron collider. :)

  • Friday LinksUnique Tavern Encounters from the Bard of Valiant. You know when you read the first thing in a list of 11 and laugh out loud, it’s probably going to be a good list. This one is. I absolutely love the visual of having a bunch of burly tavern-goers drinking their grog though a straw!
    http://www.bardofvaliant.com/2009/10/unique-tavern-encounters/
  • From Held Action, we have a brief description of Spirit Mimics, such as the woman behind the counter in a diner that may never have existed. To me this is a great idea to use sparingly. The idea of a magic shop that moves around isn’t new, but maybe a phantom tavern that shifts from location to location with a unique set of NPCs. Would the PCs want to try and find it again?
    http://heldaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/phantom-diners/
  • Bigtime food for thought from the Emergence Design Weblog about making magic more mysterious. This is something I’m currently tinkering with in my own system and wondering about, so the timing is perfect. How do you balance the factors of game balance, rules, and knowledge to come up with something worth the PC’s time investigating?
    http://ruscumag.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/rpg-design-making-magic-mysterious/
  • In the “Things I Could Have Used a Few Years Ago” category (for a campaign based loosely on ancient Rome), Evil Machinations provides us with Roman names beyond Fred…
    http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2009/10/05/beyond-fred-roman-names-for-characters/
  • From Gnome Stew and John Arcadian comes “Johnny’s Five – Five Things About Your Game That Will Never Beat the Reality Test,” which really puts a damper on the “reality factor” of dungeon diving and adventuring in general. I think reality and the fun factor have to peacefully coexist, but there are aspects of the five things mentioned that I like to bring in now and then myself… such as having to drop a PC’s pack before going into a dungeon because the entrance is caved in and too small to get in. But who wants to have to deal with the eating and waste management portions during a game? Bring on the encounters and combat!
    http://www.gnomestew.com/johnnys-five/johnnys-five-five-things-about-your-game-that-will-never-beat-the-reality-test
  • From Akratic Wizardry, we have “The Duchy of Briz: Overview and Map,” which proves that you don’t have to have a huge setting location to find some adventure or story ideas. I love the fact that he worked in not only the history of the place, but provided hooks, such as the rumors of treasure in the cairns of Solan and the few who ever return from the hidden mounds of the dead. Great stuff!
    http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/10/duchy-of-briz-overview-and-map-revised.html
  • From Gothridge Manor, we have some ideas on how to make Villages a bit more crunchy. Providing a bit of a skeleton for each village (max 4-5 sentences), makes a lot of sense to give you some ideas when the players get restless and want to stop in the next village for a drink… :)
    http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2009/10/villages.html
  • From Bard of Valiant and Viriatha, we have some great things to consider for new characters. I especially like the idea of coming up with secrets for the character and passing one to the GM to pass to another player and coming up with the list of character traits!
    http://www.bardofvaliant.com/2009/10/8-new-character-tips/
  • In the wow category we have “Iconic Elements in Campaign Setting Design” from Badelaire at Tankards and Broadswords. I’m going to have to reconsider my own Immortals’ Wake and Phaedrus campaign settings with these iconic elements in mind. Great ideas.
    http://tankardsandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2009/10/iconic-elements-in-campaign-setting.html

So there you have it… Some wisdom from the blogosphere on all things roleplaying. :)

Have an awesome weekend!

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Five (Plus One) Questions for Players to Answer for a Character

October 1, 2009 in Advice, Inspiration, Resources by Fitz | 3 comments

All of this discussion of finding that emotional bond with a character in a campaign brought up something I was discussing a while back with Mike (forged). There are questionnaires all over the ‘net for fleshing out a character, but that only gets you so far.

drama_masksI was reading an issue of SciFi Magazine a couple of months ago and found an interview with actor Joe Morton (Eureka, Terminator 2). He was talking about how he prepares for a role. And he said he tries to answer five basic questions when he works on any particular story.

1. Who am I?
2. Where am I going?
3. Who do I expect to meet?
4. What do I want?
5. What extent am I willing to go to get it?

These questions work just as well for characters in a roleplaying game as they do for an actor or actress in a feature film, television, or other kind of performance project.

I’ll add another question to this list also… because we as roleplayers don’t have a props department or costume designer at our beck and call.

6. What does my outward appearance tell others?

This may not help me create a character I can emotionally engage with right away, but it might help me gain some perspective before gaming. Looking at these before a session may prepare me in ways I can’t immediately see.

For example, in our current gaming group we only get together once a month or so. Answering these questions would reacquaint me with my character and what we were doing during the last session, as well as reconnecting me with my fellow PCs – all of which would hopefully get me engaged more quickly than I have been in my current campaign. I might even go so far as to write down answers to these questions at the end of a session so I might quickly refresh my memory at the beginning of the next.

What do you think? Six simple questions to help get back into the swing of things.

–Fitz

p.s. If you’re interested in some ideas to answer question #6, check out the freebie PDF that you get if you subscribe to the Moebius Adventures News – 7 Areas to Consider to Make Magic Users Unique!

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , , ,

Player-Character Bonds… How do YOU find an emotional bond with your character?

September 29, 2009 in Advice, Seeking Feedback by Fitz | 7 comments

Funny little story…

This past weekend, the gaming group I’ve been playing with decided it was time to put the sandbox campaign we’d been playing on hold and start something new in November. At the heart of the decision was the fact that the campaign just never “clicked” for everybody involved (two players and the GM). And I have to say that some of that lack of “clicking” was definitely my own problem.

Question MarksThe issue was that I just never bonded with the character. Whether it was my understanding of the setting, or the background I’d chosen, or some other hidden factor, I really don’t know. But the emotional bond just wasn’t there.

What was funny to me was that the GM had created a story early in the campaign that I really attached myself to. My emotional bond was to that story – not to my character or the world – but this small thread that even the GM mentioned he had no idea what he was going to do with.

For the next campaign with this group, I not only have to find a solid character concept that works in a party setting – but I really have to focus on finding an emotional bond with the character. Without that connection, I might as well be simply playing a board game and moving a piece around on a game board.

So here’s my question… What are the different ways YOU find to bond with a character? If you don’t find that bond immediately, what do you do? I’m curious and would love to learn from the collective wisdom of the community. :)

–Fitz

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Technorati FavoritesFacebookTwitterDiggDeliciousShare

Tags: , , , , ,

« Older entries