#RPGaDAY2019: Mystery

Today's topic is Mystery.

I think everyone loves a good mystery, especially in their RPGs.

Building a true sense of mystery though requires work and the subtle use of clues, hints, rumors, and innuendos.   I have found, more times than not, the best way to it is to involve the players right away.

Not in the way of getting them all to pitch in in some shared Game Mastering role.  That certainly works for some games, but not all.  No by this I mean take their speculations and let them run away with them. 

Here are some examples.

In my Come Endless Darkness 5e campaign, I am spreading te greater mystery over three different campaigns.  No one set of characters or players has the full picture.  At least not until I get them (or what's left of them) in a room once they reach 18th level or so.  The mystery right now is so vague as to not even be there. Yet.  Some of the players in the Order of the Platinum Dragon game are beginning to suspect.  Maybe some of the characters in the Second Campaign are as well.  But I know no one in the Into the Nentir Vale suspect the larger mystery.

Of course, each campaign has its own mysteries.
For the Order of the Platinum Dragon, it has been "what has happened to the Sun?" and then "who killed all the Sun Gods?"  And now it is, or soon will be, "there is no way Lolth could do this on her own!"
For the Second Campaign, the mystery has been "why are all these 'gods' of the lizard and scally folk rising up?"  A little less tangible, but it is getting them there.
And finally in Into the Nentir Vale it has been simply, "We know Orcus is rising as a power, but why?"

Clues in each one will add to the other.  Overly complicated?  Maybe.  Fun?  Definitely.

In fact, this is where my players came into it.  Originally I saw the Second Campaign's big mover and shaker to be the Mind Flayers.  THEY were going to be the ones behind the scenes.  BUT as the game went on and it became more distinct from the Order of the Platinum Dragon game and more and more lizardfolk, nagas and Yuan-ti showed up the players began to weave this huge conspiracy theory around them.   IT was so compelling and, really, so out there, that I had to reward them by altering my own plans to fit more of their elements.

I am NOT giving them everything, but I am giving them enough that their own enthusiasm is sending down a trail.  The ending will remain the same, the mystery still comes to the same conclusion, but now we go about it on a different path.

Other little tidbits that keep coming up.  On our "crazy board" above we still have listed "Where is Cynder".  Cynder was an elven elemental fire wizard that just stopped going with the group. We totally forgot about her, well at least I did.  Even though she was only one session of the Order of the Platinum Dragon, she will show up later in Into the Nentir Vale and maybe the Second Campaign.
There is something to her, I just don't know what yet!

Another hook I was going to use was the Ranger Elmo from T1.  He was going to show up in the Abyss when the Order got there (at Gen Con), but the players never really engaged with the guy.  HOWEVER they did engage a lot with this random elf woman that had been following them since the A Series.    They again decided she had to be important even if originally each of those encounters were with different elves.  My players decided she was the same person each time and figured she knew something.  A few quick jots in my notebook and Evelyn, the Princess Escalla was born!  She was an Elven Ranger/Enchanter and was key to the Elven resistance movement in the Underdark.

It has been a glorious set of mysteries and neither the characters nor the players have figured out the ultimate mystery.  That Tharizdûn, through Asmodeus, is manipulating the demons to get what he wants; his resurrection and freedom from his cage.

It's going to be great.

Monstrous Monday: Brass Golems

I am gearing up for a new release.  I am about two weeks behind schedule but hope to make it up here soon.  In the meantime here is one of the monsters that will appear in my new book,  Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch Tradition.

Here is a creature I think many of us know for the Blueholme Journeymanne Rules.

GOLEM, BRASS

	Small	Medium	Large
AC:	7	5	3
HD:	2d8	6d8	10d8
Move:	40	30	20
Attacks:	1 bite	1 fist	1 bash
Damage:	2d4	2d6	2d8
XP:	80	460	1,800
Alignment:	Neutral
Treasure:	0 (0)

Golems are magically created automatons of great power. Constructing one involves the employment of mighty magic. As such, they are created by exceptionally powerful witches and magic-users. All golems are unaffected by ordinary weapons. In addition, golems have no true intelligence and are thus unaffected by hold, charm, or sleep spells. Since they are not truly alive, they are unaffected by poison or gases.


Brass Golem: Taught to her witches by Athena herself these intricately detailed golems are made of brass. They can come in a variety of sizes and shapes since brass is an easier metal to work with. 


Small Brass Golems tend to be animals or fantastic creatures.  They act like the animal they are fashioned after.  They are often given as gifts by Athena or other gods.


Medium Brass Golems are fashioned to appear as examples of human physical perfection.  Often modeled after Apollo, Aphrodite, or even Zeus their perfection gives them a sort of spontaneous life. 


Large Brass Golems can appear as large humans, animals or even monsters.


The secrets of making these golems have been lost but it is believed that artisans and artificers such as Pygmalion and Daedalus have recovered and recorded these secrets.  Others were created by the gods themselves.

#RPGaDAY2019: Friendship

Today's topic is Friendship.

This is a rather easy topic, to be honest, and a story I feel will be repeated many times today.

Some of my earliest and longest friendships have been around gaming.  Some of my current good friends I have met through gaming.

I met my first AD&D DM, outside of my brother and I, in my 7th grade band class.  We both played saxophones.  We are still friends and I just bought his son a whole collection of 1st AD&D books.

I met my high school DM via our Theatre classes and working on the student newspaper.  We are still friends.

I met the guy who runs games for me and my oldest son sometimes through the same daycare our kids were in.  He recognized my name from my work at Eden Studios.  We are still good friends and our oldest boys are really great friends.

I have a bunch of friends I have met online that I like to see at Gen Con too.

It's funny that a game labeled as "anti-social" back it's golden age requires so much interaction with other people.

This is also a good time to remember the tale of Carlos the Dwarf.

#RPGaDAY2019: Examine

Today's topic is Examine.

ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ"
"The unexamined life is not worth living"  - attributed to Socrates

Gen Con is a great time.  I get to run different kinds of games and I get to play different kinds of games.  But I also get a chance to reflect on my own style of Game Mastering.

I played in a Call of Cthulhu game that my son ran and I was really impressed on how he had come since the last time he had run a game for me.  Really, really impressed.  Now he is young and has more to master than a 50-year-old like me.  But I could not help but think how much he had improved his own game over how much I had, or had not, improved my own.

I also got the chance to play in Jess Ross' Blue Rose game.
Jess is an amazing GM and she also has an actual play podcast for Blue Rose at: http://bitchesandliches.com/

Jess also runs her games a little different than I do and it was also quite a lot of fun.

Both of these events got me thinking more and more about my own style and what I need to do to push it up a notch.

I have not quite figured it all yet, but I am certainly examining what I liked about these other play styles.  I think I want to go back to my notes of when I was running Ghosts of Albion all the time.  Those were some great games and I'd like to recapture some of that for my D&D games.

Zatannurday: Superhero Girls Ad Blockers

Lauren Faust's DC Super Hero Girls continues to entertain.

So when a new one comes out with Zatanna, well you know I am paying attention.

Zee and Oliver Queen have shows at different theaters the same night.  Yeah, that can't be good.


So I know I am not the target audience here, but I don't care. Lauren Faust is fantastic. This show is fun and I get a huge kick out of it.

#RPGaDAY2019: Focus

Today's topic is Focus.

Interestingly enough this is the topic that struggled with the most even though I knew roughly what I wanted to say.

Interesting because it is not "focus", but rather a lack of focus I want to talk about.

The actual view from my chair in my game room

Presently I have about dozen to dozen and a half on going Works In Progress (WIPs).
That's insane.

I really need to focus to get them done. I also have two exams I need to review and edit for a Social Justice in Social Work course I am working on that need to be done for my day job.

We joke and laugh and call it "Gamer ADHD", but there is a serious side effect to this.

One completed project gets more use than 20 incomplete ones.

My hobgoblin, my nemesis, is the constant flow of ideas, some good others not as good (ok bad), that I have to jot down.  I have "Children of the Gods" that is now about three weeks behind schedule to get to you all.  I am still picking at various game ideas. Oh and there are editors online reading this thinking "yeah that is great and all, but when are YOU getting ME the work you owe me??"

Meanwhile that Midterm and Final are staring at me and I have less than an hour to read them, edit them and have something intelligent to say in a meeting.

I have tried various project management techniques, but I then spend time on the process and not on the project.  So that's not ideal either.

--

On the flip side.  I also see how prepping for three weekly D&D games has improved my oldest son's focus.

He struggled in school but had topics he excelled in.  Now since he has been running D&D games and dealing with a wide variety of issues in those games I have noticed a sharp increase in his organizational skills and focus.  This has been reflected in his grades where he was asked to join an honor society his Freshman year in college.

--

Of course, Focus also makes me think of this.

#RPGaDAY2019: Critical

Today's topic is Critical.

Yes. Today I am going to talk about Critical Role.

For the one or two people out there that don't know, Critical Role is a Web-based show that covers a group of professional voice actors and TV actors as they play D&D.  The first season they played Pathfinder and now they play D&D 5th edition.

You can find them on the web here: https://critrole.com/

They have a HUGE fan base as evidenced by their ridiculously successful Kickstarter ($11.3 Million), 135k+ unique views on YouTube and Twitch and the winner of two Webby Awards.

Both of my sons watch it and nearly everyone in their various game groups do as well.

I know that many gamers around my age don't like it and have a lot of negative things to say about it.  To that I say.

Boo Fucking Hoo.

Obviously, they are not hurting for your lack of interest and understanding.  And for all the talk of how "that's not how D&D is supposed to be played" well no one died and made you the fucking Gestapo of D&D.  Even back in the day no two groups in my tiny ass, mid-west, deeply Christian town played it the same way and I know players today won't and don't give two shits about what a bunch old fuck Grognards have to say either.

Some people complain about the so-called "Mercer Effect" after Matt Mercer the DM for the group.  You know what Mercer Effect I see?  People coming to me and saying "Hey my kids listen/watch Critical Role and now they want to play D&D. What do I need to get them?"

That's the Mercer Effect.  Sorry, he has done more for the game than any 100 of us old fucks have done. Actually no. I am not sorry.  I am glad Matt is out there doing his thing and having a blast.

And obviously laughing all the way to the bank too.