tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post2056101360169322853..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: A Calm, Cool, Gentle PresentationAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-21479414555593022132013-03-20T10:53:37.089-06:002013-03-20T10:53:37.089-06:00Hello !
It's my first time posting a comment...Hello ! <br /><br />It's my first time posting a comment, and on an old article at that, but I'm fond of all I have read so far here. You truly offer glimpses of insight into RPGs. <br />Can't say I'm sold on everything, but it's only a question of gaming style; your point is always well made, clear, and devastatingly useful.<br /><br />On to the comment ...<br /><br />I felt enlightened reading your post and feeling it becoming so clear. The oh so common situation of players getting all defensive and ready for everything at the smallest sign of preparation. Full blown paranoïa, or at least getting the wrong mindset for the incoming adventure.<br /><br />And the simple solution proposed, brilliant ! I have a desperate need to try it as soon as I can, it seems to hold lots of promises ...<br /><br />But the most thrilling part of the article ? The end. All the pieces falling into place, and the conclusion with the Nazi "gentleness". That, sir, is what sent shivers down to my spine, and that reaction gives me all the more of an inpulse to try that.<br /><br />Many thanks, for this article, and for your time.Vlad malkavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14287760654547816927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-80609586831971040772010-11-02T06:49:37.255-06:002010-11-02T06:49:37.255-06:00I just ran this module for the second time on Satu...I just ran this module for the second time on Saturday night. It was perfect for Halloween. Some spoilers below!<br /><br />The first time through the players reacted much like yours only in a much, much milder way. Several of them wanted nothing to do with the place. I simply told them that the setting in this world is harsh and grim and that any chance at wealth was worth facing death for. That's why the characters became adventurers in the first place. They continued but were still not very 'in' to exploring the place.<br /><br />After reading your previous post here about your players objecting to continuing the adventure I realized that due to the horrific nature of this adventure you really need a *damn* good reason to be going here. Otherwise you're just flat out insane! And no matter how cool the adventure is, no player will appreciate it when they feel that they are being forced to do something.<br /><br />So I changed the setup for the second group: A person of note went missing 50 years ago and was suspected to have a magical artifact in his possession. He was known to have passed through the area around the cabin. The party bumps into Zeke who mentions the big book of victims. The party enters the cabin and finds the missing person's name in the book. But more importantly, they see the magical artifact resting on the alter in the Painting in the sitting room. And the reward for this artifact was *huge*. As creeped out as they were, they couldn't wait to crawl down that first shaft. Raggi even mentions this option in the text of the adventure in the description of the alter room.<br /><br />Perhaps your players aren't objected to modules, maybe they are just objecting to perceived railroads. As a player saying 'no' should always be an option but if the reward is juicy enough they won't be able to resist...Mousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12629844725723989153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-51285639204054711802010-11-01T18:31:33.120-06:002010-11-01T18:31:33.120-06:00I have all my material on my laptop - both purchas...I have all my material on my laptop - both purchased modules and my own creations. So the players never get that tell-tale clue.redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600098550347299095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-51531536138393825292010-10-30T15:24:48.128-06:002010-10-30T15:24:48.128-06:00Every time I've seen a game in progress were t...Every time I've seen a game in progress were the GM is allowing the book or module to dictate the flow of the session, rarely dose it comes of well. But this is an entirely different topic altogether...<br /><br />In regarding DFD,I think Raggi made a really great module that pays homage to those classic horror films from the 70' and 80's by George Romaro, Sam Raimi, and the late Lucio Fulci. Without giving any spoliers there's quite a few things I would of done differently and underplay some of the antics, but I'm glade their put in as this is a module was made to be tinkered with without drastically altering the inner core of the story.<br /><br />This module works best when you just spring it on your players from out of nowhere and let them decide what they want to do. Even if the PC's don't take the bait and just move on. From a GM's perspective there's something quite amusing seeing that you've shaken up the players and creeped them out and they really don't understand why.<br /><br />In closing, I for one would love to see Raggi do a sequel-- even a trilogy--as some of the descriptions ( especially ONE in particular) hints to the possibilities of one major hell-raising campaign.crowkinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03066821931343968827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-22386769127500268992010-10-30T12:34:35.668-06:002010-10-30T12:34:35.668-06:00I've also never run an adventure "straigh...I've also never run an adventure "straight out of the box". I treat them more like a good story that could use a lot of tweaking.<br /><br />Part of a DM's repertoire should be misdirection. I don't know how many times I placed a copy of S1 Tomb of Horrors or something similar on the table as we gamed something completely different just to freak out the straights (even going so far at times to flip through a copy of Grimtooth's Traps when NO traps of any sort were present in whatever adventure I was running at the time). Paranoia? I love that shit. If a group was weirded out by bartenders offering them bottles of wine, hell, I'd have EVERYONE from the local bartenders to the baker to the friendly farmer offer them free samples and goodies. The party would be starving to death within a week.Badmikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199830751033032585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-72318634934292998312010-10-30T08:13:02.007-06:002010-10-30T08:13:02.007-06:00Would you kindly.Would you kindly.Trent_Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07027231462282970568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-74130972747892581422010-10-30T04:07:24.357-06:002010-10-30T04:07:24.357-06:00>>the party knows I have something planned, ...>>the party knows I have something planned, and they won't trust a damn thing I say.<br /><br />I'm confused a bit, both with this and previous comments you've made.<br /><br />To me, the entire point of my job as GM is to throw the players into bad situations and see how that shakes out.<br /><br />And their job as players is to plan as best they can but basically march into some sticky situation or another.<br /><br />Players show up <i>because</i> I have "something planned." Nothing happens unless the players willingly jump into the pool to find out what's in it.<br /><br />That's the game. There's literally no point in showing up to play if one is going to reject out of hand foolishly dangerous situations. It's a game about adventurers, after all.JimLotFPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02992397707040836366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-68441011689010843602010-10-29T19:59:02.252-06:002010-10-29T19:59:02.252-06:00One thing that all the successful -webcomics- _ser...One thing that all the successful -webcomics- _serials_ i have seen, share in common: they started off as comedy.<br /><br />Goblins. Oots. Erfworld. Looking for Group. Girl Genius. Doonesbury.<br /><br />All started off very light hearted, then gradually walked down the road of character development, into the ville.<br /><br />Cause really, if you want someone to care about you, then you need to make them laugh. (See the recent research on the evolution of laughter among hominids. It kinda begins to explain the preceding truism of narrative craft.)<br /><br />I don't link in posts because if you're interested, you'll find the material yourself. <br /><br />This rambling brought you courtesy of *vidio* - the many-eyed demon of egotistic entertainment. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-90257880454541801292010-10-29T14:08:04.751-06:002010-10-29T14:08:04.751-06:00Sorry, must have deleted a sentence above. What m...Sorry, must have deleted a sentence above. What most seemed to be agreeing with in the Raggi duscussion is that modules really don't work straight out of the box if the party is not complicity being led along. Alexis demonstrated that rather well. I can't remember EVER having run a pre-made adventure as-is, but I've used plenty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-65971355163342871662010-10-29T14:04:05.734-06:002010-10-29T14:04:05.734-06:00Somehting to keep in mind as far as approach goes,...Somehting to keep in mind as far as approach goes, folks: You don't really need to hide anything if your players are used to seeing adventure modules in and out of your hands each and every session, but know you could be taking as little from them as a map or a list of vittles at the inn. <br /><br />I think what your review of the Raggi module chiefly did was to show why and how running a module as-is makes little sense for a regular group unless they choose to or are used to be drug along. That, and your group doesn't seem to like poking and prodding. The latter seemed to me the primary point of difference between you and those defending the module. Play-style.<br /><br />Having read Death Frost Doom and enjoyed the reading, I know exactly how I'd get the players to risk it further and further should it come up. The review reinforced why I needed to do so. If they decide to turn around and go home? No worries. It happens all the time. They up and left and lovingly mapped and detailed region once just to see that city I mentioned in passing. I've got plenty of things on standby ready to go or be "faked" at a moment's notice and two weeks between games to prep. <br /><br />It seemed through all of the noise and uproar around the review, everybody was at least violently agreeing with that.<br /><br />So, what was this post about again? Oh yeah, horror. Couldn't agree more Alexis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-69024365369272585722010-10-29T12:16:04.569-06:002010-10-29T12:16:04.569-06:00That is always my favorite part of Lovecraft stori...That is always my favorite part of Lovecraft stories: When the narrator starts out "I'm a rational man." You just <i>know</i> he's going to end up with an abdomen playing host to something eldritch.<br /><br />But I know that much of the success in CoC games hinges on players being thrust into a world manifestly more horrifying than most of Lovecraft's stories (because he usually avoided double-dipping and giving you, say, Deep Ones and a Dweller in Darkness). Why do you think those games work, but bringing horror into DnD doesn't? Is it the difference between a campaign with horror elements and one, like Ravenloft, utterly dedicated to that atmosphere? I imagine that horror stretched out over multiple campaigns, with enough false-starts, eventually lulls players down from their high alert.Sethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09885180647559392840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-17212933617948919102010-10-29T11:47:10.340-06:002010-10-29T11:47:10.340-06:00I agree with this post - to integrate a module (ef...I agree with this post - to integrate a module (effectively) into an ongoing campaign (especially a sandbox game) is a similar effort to creating the adventure yourself and skipping the integration.<br /><br />One has to spend time covering all those miles of railroad tracks with dirt and debris, camouflaging the warning sides and dressing the NPC's up in local garb and equipping them with proper names. Then there's the hiding of the module books and running off the same notes or computer files as last week's session... players are a perceptive lot. Obfuscation is tiring.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-7582011756709500002010-10-29T10:10:58.234-06:002010-10-29T10:10:58.234-06:00Very interesting. I will try this next week on my ...Very interesting. I will try this next week on my groupJohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08362851153913826825noreply@blogger.com