A good game can always be better or a post game introspection

Last session I thought we had a good game. Although they are on a mission, the players decided to follow the trail of the giant mountain troll they vanquished last session. They rationalized there might be useful information at its lair, but mostly wanted to find whatever treasure it may have hiding after going through all the trouble of killing it. This short side encounter involved a tribe of hill giants who had some dire wolf 'pets' and a final encounter on a stone bridge over lava with giants attempting to knock players off the bridge. Players survived some interesting and exciting encounters, slew the hapless tribe of hill giants and gained the treasure. All is good right? Well, during the evening two other things happened. They were having so much fun that a few too many side conversations were happening and not enough paying attention to the DM was happening; I needed to 'chastise' them and call them back to order. Second, the final encounter over lava was perilous and everyone had an opinion of what was the proper course of action by action on the bridge during combat. There was excitable giving of directions during others turn, and the inevitable rolling of eyes, and associated pointed comments when those directions were roundly ignored. Again as DM I needed to call order; a players turn is their own and not for others meddling comments. After the session there were some posts on our gaming web site (we use a private Yahoo group) discussing these events. Before I go any farther let me give some back ground. I have been playing & DMing 30+ years. Two of the six players in our game have been playing with me for all those years. At no time did any of the excitable discussion become truly uncivilized or hurtful; this is a group of friends. My point is, no matter how experienced the group there are certain undesirable behaviors that one must remain vigilant against to keep the game fun. So the players, with no prompting from me, had a short discussion of events and made suggestions and promises to prevent future occurrences of this behavior. Additionally there was discussion about how to make the game go smoother and faster during combat. I believe they truly mean it. I also know they will lapse again. Heh. Not wanting to feel left out of a good theoretical discussion, I weighed in as the DM after the discussion had run its course. I am also human and cannot leave a deceased equine creature unflogged. The prime directive here for me is - the game should be fun. That is fun for all of us, players and DM alike. So I try not to be too prescriptive if everyone is having fun. If some things take a little longer but everyone is having fun on the way, then there is no problem. I try very hard to make the obstacles challenging but not impossible. make it too hard and you don't feel you can win; make it too easy and the risk factor goes away. when you really believe you cannot die/fail in an adventure then the fun will be gone as well. I want combat to move a little more quickly than it does for two reasons. 1 - if you are allowed unlimited time to decide your action, you will almost certainly rise above the challenge; and I will be forced to make the challenges more difficult. At some point this becomes unworkable, and the balance unmaintainable. 2 - while your are deciding your action the other players are doing nothing. Doing nothing is not fun. The game/rule set/style we are playing makes using grids and minis a requirement. Yes it is very tactical in many respects. I am not open to changing that. A game played in our imaginations only is a very different game. I am not against playing such a game - I am not prepared to DM such a game. Please, when the time comes that I ask you to manage your minis on the board - MOVE YOUR MINIS IF YOU MOVE, otherwise you didn't move. Our game is a team adventure, so collaboration is important and fun. However, during combat it is up to each player to decide their actions without interference from other players. We all have strengths and weaknesses; so there are times when party members will take actions which others disagree. Oh well, IT IS A ROLE PLAYING GAME! Sometimes in the name of role playing we do stupid things. Somethings we just do stupid things. Keep the repercussions of stupid actions in game between the characters, that is more fun and the point of a ROLE PLAYING GAME. Characters arguing among themselves could be fun; players arguing among themselves is never fun. It IS frustrating for a DM to give out information and have players not paying attention. It must be hard for players to be tuned in and interested in every word a DM has to say. I will continue to strive to be interesting enough so you want to listen. Please strive to pay attention when I am speaking as DM. I don't mean to whine, but in order to bring you the best possible game that I can manage it takes much of my attention and effort during the session. Any and every way you can eliminate me managing/tracking/explaining something is more time I can make the world more interesting for you. So in summary, I am always trying to improve the game and am open to suggestions. It is a journey not a one time event. As long as you are having fun and feel like the time was well spent I am happy. However, it you feel we could have gotten in maybe one more combat, or role play or event in our game time... then lets keep figuring out how to eliminate the activities that are not 'fun' to allow more time for those that are 'fun'. A good game can always be better.

Our new family game addition

I received a new card game for Christmas. It is En garde! from Slugfest Games. So far the family enjoys playing it. That covers a diverse group that includes social gamers who abhor complex rules, experienced RPGers, magic the gathering type card game fanatic, and former hex style war gamer. The premise is civilized rapier style combat with two to six players. It does a reasonable job of deploying some basics of fencing though it is certainly not a simulation, nor does it pretend to be. It is fairly fast to learn, plays close to the 30 minutes it advertises, has a limited rule set with lots of variability in the use of the cards. There is a good mix of luck of the cards vs. skill of play. It takes a couple of games to get the hang of it, and I am not sure how long it takes to become a master at it. I do not think the game intends folks to spend so much time at it to achieve mastery. I think the target is to have a thinking game that plays fast but does not require too much thinking. I grant that it is successful at its goal. I give it a thumbs up.

Happy New Year: 2009 goes out with tequila

Happy New Year to all out there. Although we have plenty of choices to drink tonight, it appears like we are going out featuring tequila. Got some Anejos for sipping: Cabo, Espolon & Milagro. Got some Jose Cuervo Traditional (reposado) and 1800 (white) limited edition for the margaritas. Notice the interesting bottle artwork on the 1800. If I remember anything tomorrow I may post about it. Don't hold your breath. Have a happy, safe & prosperous new year. Update Jan 1: For those of you against my advice are holding your breath, here is the scoop. Milagro slightly preferred as the sipping tequila by some of the group. After a pitcher of each tequilas mentioned above for magaritas, the group preferred the Traditional which then became the staple for the rest of the evening. Good tequila = minimal hangover.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (blogger version)

the bloggers version with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, on the 'net and in the house, Not a blogger was posting, motionless their mouse
The FRPG musings were posted on blogspot with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas would be reading there
The characters were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of treasure hoards danced in their heads
And mamma with her handbook, and I with my map, Had just nodded off for a short gamer's nap
When from the game room there arose such a clatter, I fell from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away down the stairs I tumbled with fright, Tore open the door and threw on the lights.
The rays from tree lights on the hexgrid below Gave an erie lustre of magic to objects that glow,
When, what to my bloodshot eyes should appear, But miniatures, a sleigh, and eight pewter reindeer
With a little old driver, so red and waist thick, I knew it was painted to look like St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles on hastes spells they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name; "Now, Mialee! now, Redgar! now, Tordek and Jozan! On, Lidda! on Krusk! on, Gimble and Nebin!
To the top of the castle! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As wizards, who at fifth level take the spell fly, those figures they flew just missing my eye.
So up to the Mantel-top the miniature reindeer they flew, the tiny sleigh full of games, and St. Nicholas too. And then, in a twinkling, I heard as they stood, prancing and pawing of metal on wood.
As I drew up my hand, and was uttering a sound, off the mantel St. Nicholas enlarged with a bound. He was dressed in fake fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes looked tarnished with faux ashes and soot
A bundle of boxes fell on the floor with his growth, like at Gencon, a marketer just opening his booth.
His red eyes -- how they twinkled! it was really quite scary!
His lips were bright red, more like blood than a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a shortbow, his beard braided dwarf like was as white as the snow
In his teeth was a pipe the color of bones, the smoke it encircled his head like ioun stones
He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook, when he laughed like gelatinous cube jelly.
He was chubby and plump, who though him an elf? He is more like a 1E gnome, I thought to myself
A wink of his eye, and my reactions had trailed, I was immobile, my save it had failed
He spoke not a word, but went straight to my snacks, and stuffed his mouth full and mumbled, 'relax'.
And laying his finger aside of his nose, getting quite small, up the mantel he rose
He sprang to his sleigh, said 'teleport' to his team, and vanished all like they were a dream.
But I heard him exclaim, from the ether out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, back to posting 'morrow night."

Imagination vs. Antiseptic Standard Descriptions

In my previous post about Vancian magic someone commented that "Part of my like for it stems from the weird names of the old spells ("Otto's Irresistable Dance," etc.)" I also enjoyed Gary's creative and odd naming of things. Rather than bemoan the passing of that creativity, we should rather be spurred on to continue in that tradition. You have undoubtedly read before that instead of just saying, "I attack", you could say, "I draw back and give a tremendous overhead chop with my bloody falchion attempting to cut the foul creature in two!" No news here, that is fairly standard advice. So why are we limited to the antiseptic spell names and descriptions? I say that you are only limited by your imagination and the effort you spend. You could cast color spray. Instead you could weave arcane symbols in the air and speak the difficult words of power and release Marigus Coruscating Assault. At the completion of casting a myriad of sparkles of red, green and blue light spray forth from the casters eyes and growing quickly in size to become recognizable as twirling knives, axes and scythes which fill the area of the cone as a brief assault against all in the area. You could cast Cause Fear. Instead the wizard casts Fear the Mage. The target of the spell suddenly has a flash of understanding of the dark power of the mage who cast the spell. You could cast Burning Hands. Instead the wizard casts Icy Breath (like burning hands but cold). At the completion of casting the mage blows forth an icy breath in a cone. Lastly, there is no reason the DM has the sole responsibility for creative descriptions in the game. I challenge the players to stand up and be counted. If you miss 'old school' D&D for the descriptions, then I say there is nothing to miss. Let the spirit of Gary flow regardless of what version of the game you play.

Vancian Magic vs. greater spell flexibility

I have always despised the Vancian magic system of D&D. During our play of Basic, AD&D, and 3rd edition we tried RAW in every case but over time they left us feeling unsatisfied. We gave up basic for AD&D. House ruled AD&D for spell points. House ruled 3rd edition for spell slots. Vancian magic never felt 'right' in our campaigns and we did not like the side effects on the game. Those who do not like the Vancian magic have written tomes on what is wrong with it. For us it was: 1. Takes too long to select spells 2. Spells other than standard never selected 3. The short adventure day: Forced to respell after a small number of encounters – come back next day (to be fair this is not entirely a Vancian magic problem) 4. Cleric has to save spells to cure characters and/or party needs to purchase curing power (wands, potions, scrolls) to use between encounters. So we devised house rules to change the game. (what a shock, huh) For us it works. It does require some machinations on the part of the DM; the game is just not designed for the power boost granted the players by that flexibility. I say so what. The magic system seemed alien to us and there was always a sense of something not quite right in the game. We are much happier with the change, and with careful DMing and some other house rules the spell casters do NOT overshadow the other characters. So my questions to you all: (regardless of edition you play pre 4th): If you could easily house rule the game balance, would you change to a more flexible spell learning/using system or do you prefer the flavor of the Vancian spell system? If you are a fan of the flavor of the Vancian spell system, is it because you are a fan of the Vance novels or a fan of the original flavor as you learned in the game?

Stuck for a fantasy name? Comment on a blog

You are working on your adventure, and you are stuck for a fantasy name for an NPC. No worries, just make a comment on one of your favorite gaming blogs. Word verification comes up and presto! Here is your NPC name. Try some yourself. I just got these four myself. Oddlente - he can be a merchant Califo - she sounds like a minstrel Caliblyt - definitely a priestess of some obscure goddess Prescals - a mercenary by trade Thank you Blogspot for this RPG tool! Silly Sarcasm alert is now over, you are free to return to your normal programming.