Lead Your Players Not Into Temptation

I've been thinking recently that I'd love for a way to tie religion into the Alignment system in my Caliburn setting. The battle between law and chaos in the wake of the King's death is a large setting wide conflict, but on a smaller and more personal scale it is the battle between good and evil that plays a much more important role. Obviously no one, in the real world or a fictional setting, is perfect.  We each have our vices and our virtues.  To emphasis this fact, and to track each for the PCs, I've made a Temptation Mat.

This is kind of a rough draft of the Seraphist version (A religion that blends of several real world faiths and includes many Judeo-Christian beliefs and values) which pits the Seven Deadly Sins against the Seven Heavenly Virtues on a sliding scale.  At the beginning of the game each player will be given thirty five points that they are allowed to assign to one of the seven scales.  Since the starting point for each scale is the -5 spot you could either start with a totally blank slate (all Zeros) or you can have some virtues and some vices. 

During play the scales with shift depending upon the actions of the character.  If a character murdered someone who slighted him his Patience/Wrath would slide a point toward the Wrath side.  If a character gave a poor stranded man his horse his Charity/Greed would slide a point toward Charity.  Only significant events or a multitude of smaller events would result in a shift. 

Contemplating Character Creation

 

I was reading a great article the other day on the Big Ball of No Fun that discussed the idea of GMs making Characters for his players and it really got me contemplating character creation in general.  

The idea of the GM creating characters for his players isn't a new idea.  Pre-Generated characters have been around for quite a while, and are the norm for one shots and convention games.  Still, the idea of a GM making a player's character for an ongoing campaign is something of a taboo one and I'd say the vast majority of players would be fervently against it.  My question is, should they be?

Given how busy people are these days and how little time many of Gamers have to play, should they turn up their nose at the opportunity to have a character tailored made for the campaign and the ability to dive right in and play?  

I can you tell you that had you asked me last year I would have told you that only under very specific circumstances should a GM furnish a play with a pre-made character.  The list of those circumstances would have been very short, likely limited to convention game, one shot, trial players, etc.  That was until my group's last camping trip when we played an Aces & Eights game with some really amazing pre-gens that the Professor, who was running the game, who supplied us with.  Everyone enjoyed their characters so much that it really shifted the way we all viewed pre-gens in general. 

Now these weren't blind pre-gens, each gave the GM an indication of what type of character we wanted to play.  We all wrote a little blurb, no more than a sentence or two, and emailed it to the professor giving a rough outline of characters we were interested in.  As an example, here is what I sent:

1. A bounty hunter with mercenary sensibilities who looks to get the job done  by any means necessary.
2. A hot headed, duel pistol slinging, up and coming, young gunfighter who is looking to carve himself out a place is western lore.
3. A naive law man with a black and white world view, a low tolerances for lawlessness and bullshit, and an itchy trigger finger.

Using these the GM created two pre-generated characters and I was given the option to play either (and to play the other one should the worst happen).  I opted for the first one, a Bounty Hunter named Augustus Bachman.  He had everything I had imagined right down to his double barrel shotgun.  More importantly he had a definite place in the campaign world and the story that was to unfold. 

This added ability on the part of the GM to create a more compact game is a serious mark in the pros column of this issue.  With a firm knowledge of who each of the PCs is, what they can do, where they have come from, and where they want to go, the GM need not worry so much about flexibility and  having  the ability to react to a group of adventurers with widely different motivations.  Still the cons column can't be ignored, and under there you'll find things like stifled player creativity and a lack of player investment in the game.  

So I think the conclusion is that pre-gens can be a great way to go, but they aren't always a great way to go.  Making the right decision on this issue, like so many others when GMing, comes down to knowing one thing... knowing your players.  Maybe some of them would welcome the opportunity to play a tailor made character while others would like the chance to roll and make their own character.  Don't be afraid to offer and you might be surprised, first when your player accepts, and then when they fall in love with the character and everything works out great.  

My plan in the future is to offer three options for PC creation.  My group has a diverse set of preferences so I've found that offering multiple options works fairly well. 

The first option will be to create a character as normal.  They will roll the stats as is normal for the system, make purchases for skills, feats, etc, and finally create a back story for their character.  Creating a written backstory for some players, no matter how short, is a task that makes them moan and shake their fists.  For that reason I'm going to offer two options that don't require one. 

The second option is a tailor made pre-generated character.  I do all the work  (with a sentence or two of guidance from the player as above), roll all the dice, purchase all skills, feats, talents, etc that I feel fit the character.  Finally I supply the player with a backstory and description of their character.  Those who have little to no time prior to the game are the one's likely to take the option and to be grateful for it. 

The final option is a Hybrid option.  I create about 75% of the character, all the base stats, the majority of the skills and other things, but leave some wiggle room for the player to customize the character.  As far as a backstory he will be given more of an outline and allowed to make additions, subtractions, and alterations to it before the start of play.  This method allows for some ownership and creativity form the player while taking a very small amount of time and allowing him to dive right in with a character built for the campaign that are about to enter. 

I think pre-gens are not something to be avoided even by the most experience of groups.  Rather they are a great tool that can allow someone with a limited amount of time an ideal character to plug into a game right away and get to playing and having fun.  Pre-made character can be just to fun to play as those made by a player's own hand.  It just takes a little work from the GM and a little communication from the player.

I'd be eager to hear from anyone out there who has had a memorable experience, either positive or negative, with GM made PCs.  What did you enjoy about it or what would you like to have seen done differently? 

Turning Bad Movies Into Great Games

Some movies are so bad that virtually nothing from them is salvageable for Gaming purposes.  Others are ones, though they are still bad, that are built on a cool premise with loads of potential.  I've recently undertaken designing a game with just such a movie as the inspiration.

The Movie:

The film in question is the 2006 movie, The Covenant.  If you haven't seen it please just take my word for it that it's bad.  If you already have seen it... well what can I say?  I'm sorry.  

To give you an idea of what the movie is about here a partial plot summary from Wikipedia:

In 1692 in the Ipswich Colony in Massachusetts, five families with magical abilities, referred to as "the Power", formed a covenant of silence to protect themselves from persecution. Four of the five bloodlines (Danvers, Parry, Garwin, and Simms) survive to this day; one family (the Putnams), lusting for more power, were banished, their bloodline disappearing without a trace until now.

The Covenant tells the story of the Sons of Ipswich, four young students at the elite Spencer Academy who are bound by their sacred ancestry. As descendants of the original families that settled in Ipswich Colony in the 17th century, the boys have all been given amazing supernatural powers. But their ability to shape-shift, defy gravity and perform superhuman feats of strength comes at a terrible cost: every time one of the Sons of Ipswich uses his magical powers, he ages prematurely, and the temptation to abuse the power makes it more addictive than any drug. What's more, life is only going to get harder for the young friends; they are given a taste of the Power at age thirteen. Then at the moment each boy turns eighteen, he will "Ascend", gaining far more potent —and addictive— powers.

Here is a look at the official trailer for the movie




The Cool Stuff:

So now you are probably saying to yourself, "This guy said the movie sucks, I saw the trailer and I really believe him, why is he wasting his time?"  The reason is because this movie is that second type of bad movies that I talked about above.  It has a premise that gave it a chance to be cool, but was torpedoed by nearly every other factor in film making.  The trick to this technique of designing games is identifying what that cool premise is, how to extract it leaving all the crap behind, and turn it into a great game. 

Let's get back to our example, The Covenant.  The core premise of this movie is that these five families (The original settlers of the Ipswich Colony) made some kind of deal with a supernatural power and were given immense power themselves.  The power comes at a price, in the movie it is premature aging but that can easily be changed.  The history of these families are firmly bound to the Salem Witch trials, another awesome thing to take away.  To protect themselves the families joined in a Covenant (hence the name of the movie) of silence to escape the persecution they encountered during the Salem Witch Trails.  This is a cool idea because it puts rules in place that the characters, who wield powerful magic, must adhere to or face serious consequences.  The movie even provides a great idea for a villain, a descendant from the 5th family who was thought to have been killed off who returns seeking power and revenge.

Already I have a really cool idea for a game, taken from a really terrible movie.  From here there is a wealth of information based on historic sources surrounding the Salem Witch Trials.  Since I don't live too far from there I could even take a ride up to Massachusetts and do some research in Salem and Ipswich in the flesh.  

I'm pretty excited about this game which I've decided to call, "The Sons of Ipswich".  It seems like a great fit for the Call of Cthulhu game system and mythology.  I'll keep you posted on my progress designing the game, in the mean time you should consider taking some core concepts that have potential from movies that squandered them and making a kick ass game from them. 

NPC Cards

 I wanted to share something really cool from our currant Call of Cthulhu game.  I'm not running the game, The Professor is.  He, like the rest of us, was new to the system when we began, but that has not impeded his ability to GM.  So far the game is absolutely awesome and part of it is the small things like his NPC Cards.

The concept is simple and certainly not a new one, but there is a reason this has been around for a while... It's a great idea.  The Professor's execution of the concept is flawless.  He lists pertinent information to the character like their name, nickname, and a Fraternity or Sorority if they belong to one.  Then he gives some key biographical notes like where they are from, what their major is, what clubs and/or sports they are involved in, etc.  Finally he lists character traits and events that have become clear as the PCs have interacted with them.  For example, Ruth has proved untrusting of the PCs every time they have met her, Beth has a short temper and constantly yells, and Bobby beat the crap out of Revil's character, Kenneth.  

Perhaps the most important feature of the card is the photo.  Ever one for authenticity, The Professor has gone back into archives of old yearbooks and pulled actual student photos from the late 20s.  It's a great touch that makes each NPC seem that much more real and gives each NPC card a yearbook-ish feel.  That works really well as our characters have gone to old Yearsbooks as important sources of information on various persons around campus.

One person in particular, Reginald St. Birmingham III, has been of particular interest to our characters.  Birmingham is the villain of this chapter of the story and is obviously up to some shenanigans, though our characters aren't sure of exactly what at the present time.  When investigating him we started our research (where else?) in the yearbook.   His entry provided some background information and some important clues on where to look next.    One of the characters, Charles (Doodle's character) is also from Newport and had heard of the affluent St. Birmingham family and knew what kind of business they were in, their general reputation, and where they live.  We proceeded with our investigation by looking into the activities Reggie was involved in, specifically the Bohemian Club and Sigma Phi.  While we haven't cracked the case yet, this information certainly put us on the right track.

NPC cards like this are easy to make and definitely worth the time and effort.  They help yours players connect with the various important NPCs and provide them with a quick reference guide to the pertinent facts about them.  If you are playing a CoC game, particularly one set at Miskatonic University, you will want to also follow the Professor's lead and lean heavily on old yearbooks from the 20s and 30s as a resource of both pictures and great information about the time.

Understanding Fantasy Classes: The Cleric

On my group's recent camping trip, after we had stopped gaming for the night the Professor and I were up just talking about gaming.    I recently read some really eye opening articles on the Ranger posted on other sites that really challenged my notions of what the class really is.  We discussed the issue for a minute and then he posed a very interesting thought, "If the Ranger is bugging you then stop and consider the cleric.  That will really blow your mind."  

I found that a confusing thing to say, the Cleric had always seemed one of the most straightforward classes to me, so I asked him what he meant.  He replied, "Well, he isn't a priest, that's for sure."  I opened my mouth to reply, but then got what he was saying.  A normal priest, even in medieval times, was not a soldier trained extensively in warfare including the use of any number of weapons and all different types of armor and shields.  Why would a run of the mill priest train in the use of plate armor when chances are he could never afford it, and would have little or no use for it?  

So if I accepted that the Cleric wasn't a priest, then what was he?  Well clearly he was more.  He has the piety and devotedness of a priest with much of the same martial training that the Fighter receives.  Knowing that Gygax and Arneson must have drawn their inspiration from somewhere, we discussed possible sources both from history and from the various works of fiction that inspired Dungeons and Dragons.  We had a strong belief that Crusade era catholic priests were the strongest influence on the class, but we had no way of confirming our suspcions. 

As it turns out all we needed was our trusty 2nd edition AD&D Player's Handbooks.  There it specifically states, "The Cleric is similar to certain religious orders of knighthood in the middle ages: the Teutonic Knights, the Knights Templar, and the Hospitalers."  So this confirmed our suspicion that the Crusade era was the the period of time that really defined the Cleric.  Further confirmation of this can be found in the following paragraph where it says, "...Clerics, being reluctant to shed blood...are allowed to use only blunt, bludgeoning weapons."  This is in line with the Catholic church's policy at the time that discouraged the shedding of blood (something of an irony given the time period).

The confirmation that the main inspiration for the Cleric were knightly orders of the middle ages creates another problem the Professor and I had discussed, The Cleric vs. The Paladin.  Because the Cleric is clearly so martial, he is essentially a divine warrior, but then so is the Paladin.  I've always been a proponent of each class having their own Shtick, their own thing that makes them special from all the other classes.  When classes start getting too close together they start stepping on each other toes.  That is what seems to be the case here as both the Cleric and the Paladin are based on Christian Knights.

Obviously I'm not saying that the Cleric and the Paladin are the same.  Even though they are based on Christian Knights, they are not based on the same Knightly order.  Paladins are based on a religious Knight archetype like Galahad and Percival while Clerics are based on the three above mentioned Crusading Orders whose primary job it was to protect and care for pilgrims making their way to the holy land.     Yet still these are Knightly Orders that held similar values and similar motivations.

To compound the problem Clerics and Paladins are given very similar powers.  Now obviously each edition of the game is different but Paladins typically get two of the Clerics principal abilities, albeit in diminished form, Turn Undead, and Divine Spells.  Healing wounds, something of a specialty of the Cleric, is another ability that overlaps into the Paladin's list of skills.  To give a recent example, Pathfinder gives Clerics the ability to use turn undead attempts to burst heal in a radius around him.  The Paladin can use his lay on hands attempts to do the same thing and because his Charisma is far more valuable to him than to a cleric he will likely have a higher score often allowing the Paladin to have more of these "burst heals" than a cleric.

These overlaps in mechanics are as big a problem as the overlap in overall character concepts described above.  So the question is how does one resolve these issues and give each class a its own clear character concept and it's own mechanical advantages.  It seems to me that the key lies in making the Cleric a Priest rather than Warrior Priest.  That isn't to say that the Cleric need to have no warrior skills whatsoever, but certainly they should be scaled back.  Eliminating heavy armor is one step that Pathfinder has already taken to scale back the Cleric's martial power, and though I was somewhat shocked at the same time, I am beginning to think the move was perhaps a good idea.  Clerics in most games have spellpower that rivals arcane spellcasters so even though it may seem unbalancing in many games to scale the Cleric back into a more traditional priestly role, the fact is that in many games the Cleric is an overpowered class.

Certainly we see this is the case in 3rd edition D&D (3.0, 3.5 and even to a lesser extent Pathfinder).  Game developers have said that they went out of their way to make clerics great because few players have traditionally wanted to play them.  Give the fact that their healing magic makes them almost vital, game designers wanted to make sure that players would want to play them.  In other incarnations of D&D, and other games like it such as Hackmaster, the Cleric is always among the best classes that a player has to choose from, and no less vital than in 3rd edition. Hackmaster posses a unique ability among fantasy games that I have played in that it can deliver the changes to the Cleric that I want without a single house rule.  In the new edition of the game Clerics of different gods are almost a different class onto themselves.  Each religious order has its own specific information like armor allowed, weapons allowed, special powers, etc.  Even if one needed house rules to get some separation between the Cleric and the Paladin I think it would be worth it. 

 The pious priest is a classic fantasy paradigm, and one that deserves to stand on its own.  By making small alterations in both the flavor of the class and in its mechanics I believe one could create a Cleric that is far less martial and far more priestly.  This would give the Cleric his own niche separate from the holy warrior Paladin and allow each class to have very different moments in which to shine. 

XD&D: The Grand Experiment

Step 1: What do you want out of your game?:

Dungeons and Dragons and house rules seem to go hand in hand. I’m sure some people have house rules for Monopoly and Candyland, but by and large most people pick up the rules to these games and play them according to the rules. With Dungeons and Dragons, the Dungeon Master tends to start off with a set of rules variations and as he learns the ins and outs of the game often adds more and more house rules. This gives DMs and the group they play with a unique experience. Sometimes these house rules get so comprehensive that they rival the size of the original rules themselves.

Since I’m a RPG Orphan, and having finished running Pathfinder for the time being, I would like to attempt to create my perfect D&D game. Using 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons as my base, I’ll take all the house rules, all the other systems, any source I can think of, in a possibly foolish attempt to create the “perfect D&D game”. Since I plan to draw from many sources and it is a massive undertaking, the first step must be figuring out what I want out of my game.

Put the Role Playing back in RPG: This has got to be the most important consideration. If players are not encouraged to role play their characters, the game can easily deteriorate into XP grinding. I have to assume that if people are sitting down to play a table-top RPG rather than World of Warcraft or another MMO (notice how people don’t even bother calling them MMORPGs anymore?) that they are interested in role playing. Its hard to know from the outset how to promote role playing in the rules, but I feel there were more role playing opportunities before the detailed skill system of third edition D&D. Why role play out how your character intimidates the prisoner when you can just roll a die? This will be the hardest and most important aspect of my re-write. Every addition or subtraction from the game must be preceded by the question “Does this enhance the role playing experience?”

Low Magic & Unique Magic: Magic hasn’t felt special in my weekly games for some time. Magic can solve all problems and magic is by far the most effective means of combat. In Lord of the Rings, Gandalf seldom uses magic, and when he does its not particularly game changing or impressive; Its useful. When my players find a magic item, I want it to be this amazing special event. These days its more like “Another magic dagger?! (dropkick into the pond)”. Magic is an important part of the genre, and it certainly shouldn’t take a back seat to the rest of the game mechanics, but when I see the kind of spells available in most RPG’s, I can only imagine the world they live in as very different from the traditional sword and sorcery world. Why have castles if mages can fly over the walls? Why harvest crops when clerics can create food? Why buy a lantern when you can create light at will? I want magic to be special again, and I will make every effort to change the first night someone casts a fireball into a moment of stunned silence and awe, rather than prompting the question “How many more of those can you do today?”

Dynamic Combat: So often melee combat becomes very static and stale in 3.5. Dungeons and Dragons. You charge in and then just stand there, wailing away at each other. In fencing (something I know a little about) there is a lot of back and forth, waiting for an opening and moving at just the right time. I like the abstract feel of the current combat system in 3.5, as it can go towards good role playing so I’m reluctant to go with full detailed combat, but I want combat to move around more. I want positioning to be more important without worrying about necessarily facing. I want there to be more than tumbling and five foot steps.

No One is Born a Hero: One thing I really miss from my early gaming days was the sense that my character was trying to scrape a living as an adventurer, not that he was born an epic hero on an epic quest. I think there has been a change to the genre, from Sword and Sorcery to Epic Fantasy (but I’m not that good with labels). Most DM’s these days are sending their PC’s on quests that ONLY the PC’s can accomplish. I’m sure this makes for good stories, but what happens if one of the PC’s dies? I think the best heroes are made, not born. In terms of game design, this means a character that starts with a stat above 16 should be rare, not the norm. Recently in Pathfinder there were characters at first level with a 20 or better in some stats! But it’s not only about stats. Many classes also make you epically powerful with only a couple of levels under your belt. Like magic, it takes away some of the mystique if an 18 Dex rogue who starts with sneak attack and a +15 to hide in shadows is ‘garbage’. Any changes I make will be to make the PC’s a little more like the common man, and less like a demigod.

Simple Math = Fast Game Play: If 3.x (and as I understand it 4th edition follows the trend) does anything right over past editions, it’s simplifying the math and cutting down on the tables. Now I love a good table. But once its initiative I want all my players to look at the board and their character sheet and not to be flipping through books. Perhaps in some places the math has been little too streamlined and simplified, but I want to keep things fast. For the player, I don’t want them loosing interest in combat waiting for their turn to come around, and for the DM I don’t want it to take several days to generate a 12th level wizard. This might be the hardest goal to achieve, but I think it’s important.

Core Races & Classes: Up until 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, the core races and classes for D&D came from the same source material. Sure there have been some additions and subtractions along the way, but the basic cast has remained the same. I think one reason why some people are critical of 4th Edition is that the “Core Races & Classes” were incomplete until, what, Players Handbook 3? The house rules I hope to create will not omit a base class or race unless there is an amazing reason for it. I also don’t think I’ll be including anything too exotic. These rules will be meant to be a base Dungeons and Dragons game. So no robot warriors here, just the standard fare of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and the like.

End of Binary Condition: Funny title, simple idea. You know what the coolest thing about mageknight/heroclix is? Your character’s stats change the closer they are to getting knocked out. Up until 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, a character was exactly the same at full hit points and at 1 hit point. Same attacks, same armor class, etc. I think an average character should be impaired in some way the closer they are to getting knocked out. Its high time this kind of thing is added to the game.

Balance Shmalance: I’m not interested in creating game balance. I don’t care if the Monk sucks or if the Druid is overpowered. I am WAY more concerned about all of the above ideas than I am about game balance. After I finish my sweeping rules changes there are sure to be some winners and some loosers and I’m sure there will be a few broken combos before I’m done. I’m of the opinion that those types of issues will be discovered in play testing and shouldn’t be the focus of my rewrite. Second guessing myself all the time wondering if I’m dumping on the Wizard too much or making the Ranger too powerful will only lead to mediocrity when I’m shooting for excellence.

Hopefully these few personal axioms will keep me from wandering too far from my goals. In the end, a game that is fun for all involved is the most important thing. However, it is not the only thing. Too often rules are made or changed to ensure that the players are all having fun. Every time World of Warcraft is patched or a new sourcebook that makes everything before it obsolete is released it seems to be done in the name of making everyone happy. That is no way to create (or even edit) a game! So stick with me over the next few weeks as I go chapter by chapter in my re-write of Dungeons and Dragons. I doubt many of my choices will make everyone happy, but if you stick around for the final product you might really like the end results.

Five Signs of GM Burnout

GMing a tough job.  The strain of running a game for months, or even years, begins to wear on people sooner or later.  When this starts to happen there are warning signs.  Here are the five most easily recognizable.

1. Lack of Enjoyment
Once you no longer look forward to the game you know that action is called for. It is a game afterall and the entire point is to have fun. If you aren't then you are burnt out. This is often times easier to spot in yourself, but if you look closely you can spot it in others as well.

2. Angry
Conversely anger is a sign easier to spot in other people. When I speak of Anger as a sign I mean anger for no apparent reason, or just generally being short tempered. A burnt out GM is often angry and just about anything can set him or her off.

3. Defensive
Simple and honest questions can be taken the wrong way, and offense can be taken where none was meant. Often people who are frustrated with the rules (see below) fall under this category as well. Being the GM can often be a lonely job and can lead to the feeling that the players are ganging up on you. If you feel this way really step back and ask yourself if you rationally think that is the case, if the facts don't support your feelings then you are probably burnt out.


4. Stressed
Dreading the upcoming game? Often put off your prep or blow it off altogether? Wish you were doing anything else but working on your game? These are signs of burnout as well. GMing is a stressful job, people are counting on you to supply them with a game regularly. It's a lot of pressure and a lot of work and can leave you feeling like you have little or no free time. Again, this is a game and is supposed to be fun. Feeling stressed or trapped is anything but.

5. Frustration
This one often pertains to either the actions of the players or to the rules system itself.  For me and my group this usually comes in the form of the latter.  We have played 3rd edition for the most part over the last few years, but the GM usually finds the rules frustrating, even hamstringing, particularly at high levels.


Burnout: A GM's Perspective
Consider me a cautionary tale because I learned the hard way about GM burnout.  In fact, I would say that I burned out about as bad as it is possible to do.  I had been running a game for over a year called Nordis.  It was story driven, with a finite ending. I had done a lot of work on it, and at first it was great. The players were having fun, and so was I.  But as the game dragged on over a year with the players more involved and more interested in side quests than the main plot of the game things started to take a turn for the worse.  What's more the players were reaching the level threshold where Save or Die situations were becoming more and more common.  In the end the game petered out without the completion of the final adventure.  I was crushed, I was disappointed, and I was horribly burnt out.

When the time came to run a new game my group does what it usually does when we are seeking a new game, people make suggestions and list the games they are willing to run.  I had been working on this game for a while at school called Archipelago, sort of a Firefly meets Pirates of the Caribbean campaign.  I loved the idea, felt passionately about it, and the other members of the group were excited about the idea.  I felt really worn down, and the bitter taste of the end of the Nordis campaign hadn't left my mouth yet, but I thought I would be fine.

Mistake.

I will always look back on that campaign as a failure, and more so a disappointment.  Though the game ran for about a year it was a tough year and not as enjoyable as it should have been.  I was burnt out at the beginning and by the end I was a crisp husk.  I would say at one time or another I exhibited all five of the signs above.  The game became a chore that I no longer looked forward to, and that's when I knew it was time to get out from behind the shield.

It wasn't all bad, there were enjoyable memories from the campaign, but I think the best thing I took away from it was a lesson of when enough was enough.  For me, I never plan on running back to back games ever again. For the last few years I've gone back and forth with the Professor and that has worked out well for me.  It allows me to play for a while, get inspired, and recharge the creative juices. 

But enough of my cautionary tale.  Here are some solutions to GM burnout...

1. Take a Break
The nuclear option to rectify GM burnout is to step away from the game altogether. This could mean playing board games for a while or it could mean going fishing with your extra time. Whatever the case you are far from the table pursuing other interests.


2. Change Sides of the Screen
This is, in my opinion, the best option available.  You are burned out running the game, so let someone else take a turn behind the shield.  Not only does this give you a break, but it gives you a chance to see how someone else runs things.  A great GM will make you a better one, so learn as you go.  You can also take notes on the great things they do and incorporate it into your games when you go back to GMing.

3. Double Up
It may seem strange to suggest adding another game to your schedule, and indeed if you find yourself stressed because of lack of time and too many responsibilities this probably isn't for you.   But if you do have the time and you are just burned out because of lack of ideas or inspiration picking up a second game in the role of a player can be a great thing.  It provides you with all the benefits I mentioned above with the added bonus of being able to implement them as you go. 

4. Change it Up
Maybe it's time for a new campaign or some serious shake up in the one that you are currently running.  Give the game a fresh feel somehow and you may find yourself with renewed interest.  Be careful though, you may find this is only a temporary fix.

5. Keep yourself Happy
GMs focus on making their players happy, but they must also learn to make themselves happy too.  If you aren't having fun and enjoying the game you are going to burn out, no matter how happy your players are.  Take some time to consider what elements of the game you like.

The Adversarial GM

Bad GM's can fall into a lot of different categories.  There are those who are disorganized, bad story tellers, and even those who just don't know the rules well enough to run a game. However, in my experience the Adversarial GM is the absolute worst.  

Some Games (I'm looking at you HM4!) actually encourage this sort of adversarial GM role, though perhaps some are more serious than others.  Yet other people seem to fall into the role with no coaxing what-so-ever from the authors of the system they run.  Perhaps it is part of their personalities that comes out while they run a game.

A highly competitive person may slip easily into the role of an Adversarial GM.  That person, always striving to win, will be happy when the PCs have been crushed under foot and disappointed when they vanquish his monsters.  This is not as it should be.  It is indeed the GMs job to challenge his players, but not to seek to destroy them.

At its heart the role of GM is not unlike the judge of a courtroom, it is imperative that he stay impartial.  Though the responsibility of running the monsters and other NPCs falls to him they are not his characters, as PC belong to a player.  Again, this does not mean that a GM should fail to play NPCs to the full of their potential, that is part of his job, but he should not take a special interest in their well being.  Nor should he play them beyond their capabilities so as to "beat" the players.  

I'm not going to get into fudging die rolls or breaking rules because people should already know that cheating is never a good idea.  I don't hold with fudging die rolls for any reason, not to save a character's life, and not to take it.  There is a tentative trust at a gaming table when rolling behind the shield.  If you violate that trust you may find your players no longer as interested in your game.   Fudging a die roll so your villain can live to fight another day is going to frustrate your players and make them feel they lack the ability to affect the world around them.  As for rules, if you want to make your own custom rules that is fine, but fudging them or ignoring them all together is not.  I once had a GM who allowed a minor globe of invulnerability to last for hours instead of rounds.  When we told him it was a rounds per level spell he disagreed so we looked it up .  When he found out I was right all he said was, "oh." When I asked if my spell went through he said, "uh, no" and continued on with his little farce.  That was the last night of that game. 

Even those GMs who play it by the book but seek to create a "You vs. Me" are failing.  The game isn't about the Players vs. the GM, it is about the Player Characters overcoming challenges.  Making it a player vs GM game can foster a lot of ill will around the gaming table leading players to think that the GM is "out to get them."  RPGs are a group storytelling game.  Everyone around the table is needed for it to work and if one side decided to get up and leave the game would be over just like that. 

In the end the Adversarial GM loses site of one of the major tenets of GMing, being impartial.  Yes you have to control the enemies and make sure they act as well as they are capable, but it isn't your job to alter rules on the fly or fudge die rolls to ensure their victory.  Let's face it, if it was a competition the GM would always win.  All one would have to do is send waves upon waves of monsters at the PCs until they were all dead. But if you attack the PCs with 25 Red Dragons and burn them to cinders you don't "win."  The game has become a joke and everyone loses.

A Gamer's Bibliography

"Cite your sources!!!" Mrs. Marsh, my 10th grade English teacher, shouted at us over and over again.  While I'm not doing a paper on Mark Twain anymore that doesn't mean that I'm done with research.  In fact I find myself doing more research for Gaming than I ever did in school, and enjoying it far more.

Research can add depth and a sense of stark reality to your games.  It provides rich details, and insights you wouldn't otherwise have to the setting in which the game's adventures take place.  For my current Caliburn game I've found myself doing a host of research on everything from Knights to the Black Plague.

We are fortunate to live in the information age.  The amount of information we have access to is simply mind blowing if one stops to think about it.  Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is a perfect example of this.  In just a few seconds one can search about nearly anything they want from astrophysics to pistachio nuts. It is a great tool for getting general information and finding refence material to continue your research.  Google books is another great research, with over 10 millions books scanned. 

Here is a list of books I am using for research for my Caliburn game, while they are by no means all equally useful sources they have all had some important information to offer.

Armies and Warefare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience

Sword in Hand

The Archeology of Weapons

The Politics of Enchantment

Medieval England

The Landscape of Britain

Archeology of Medieval English Monarchy

Medieval Castles

Woman in Early Britain

Early Metallurgy

Food in Medieval England

The Norse Colonization of the North Atlantic

Ancient Europe

the Archeology of Medieval Ireland Armies

For those with less time or inclination for in depth research you may find some shortcuts.  For example TSR did some really great historical setting books during 2nd Edition's reign.  I've found some very good information in the Celtic Campaign Sourcebook as well as the one for Vikings, Romans, and Crusaders.  Books such as these have done a good deal of the research for you and help save a lot of time. 

A Hidden Gem

I played Hackmaster 4th edition, but I never served as GM.  HM4 is something of a bitter sweet memory to me, one that I haven't discussed to date.  I do plan on discussing some of my group's experience with the game, and the horror stories of our time in the trenches, but not today.  Today I want to talk about something I've only recently become unaware of.

How Amazing the Hackmaster 4th Edition GameMaster Guide is.

The reason I didn't know is because, as I mentioned above I never GMed.  Unlike D&D where we all had a copy of all 3 books (much to my chagrin) the GM forbade us to bring or even own a copy of the GMG of any of the HoBs (Hackolepdia of Beasts).  That was one of the few decisions I can say I was really in line with for that campaign.  By ensuring that none of us had access to those books it really helped maintain and air of mystery about the game, something I really enjoyed.  But years removed from the game I happen to stumble on my copy of the GMG that I had purchased when Kenzerco ran their bundle deals and decided to give it a look. I was very glad I did.

The GMG has so much information packed into it that I couldn't help but be blown away.  This is a book I think I'll keep on hand any time I am running a game, regardless of the system.  Aside from mining info from their HM4 specific rules like spells and training, there are numerous charts such as their expansive critical hit and critical miss tables to be taken advantage of.  On top of that already valuable information they have generic information about everything ranging from Horses, to forms of government, to types of punishment used in medieval societies. The treasure chapter goes outside the confines of HM4 and talks generally of currency, taxes, and types of merchants.  I think my favorite might be chapter 10: GameMaster Procedures.  This chapter deals generally with being a GM and all the pitfalls and difficulties one might face from record keeping to arguments and complaints.

Because their deal with WoTC expired Kenzerco can no longer sell the vast majority of their 4th edition material.  However, you can still purchase the GMG and other Hackmaster products through Amazon vendors.  Prices at the moment start at $13.08 used and $34.90 new.  I recommend GMs of all systems pick up a copy, there is great information for everyone in there. 

  

Quality Rating

I have been giving weapons and armor a great deal of thought latley.  Specifically I have been thinking of new ways to make weapons stand out from one another.  You'll remember that I discussed the issue in length here, but now I am considering more how to create a mechanic to respresent item quality without giving combat bonuses as a result and I think I have an idea.


Quality Rating -   Quality Ratings are a measure of both the quality of craftsmenship and the quality of the materials that go into a weapon or piece of armor.  The Rating becomes inportant in any situation where the the item is about to break, whether it be because of critical fumble or any similar mishap.  This rating would give the item a save against breaking, the better the item, the better the rating, the less likely it is to break.  Using the Hackmaster skill system this rating would essentially be a percentage.  The percentage would be the Weaponsmith or Armorsmiths skill total modified by the quality of the materials he is working with.  A sword made by Hattori Hanzō using Adamantine would have a score of like 130 (100 for his skill +30 for the Adamantine) making all but unbreakable.  However, some situations would result in a penalty to the roll.  For example; Hanzō was walking through a mountain path to deliver his new blade to a great warrior on the other side.  On his way he was buried by a great avalanche.  Though he is killed his masterly crafted sword is not necessarily destroyed.  It’s rating is 130 but it suffers a -50 for a massive bolder falling on it.  The GM rolls a d100 to see if it is destroyed.  130 - 50 = 80, so If the GM rolls a 1-80 he knows that the sword survives even the avalanche that killed its creator!  

For an added level of variance I am having the craftmanship quality rating be based on the average of the craftsman skill AND his skill roll when creating the item.  So Hanzo has 100 in weaponsmithing and rolls a 50 on his skill check.  That would be mean the swords rating would be 75 (105 with the +30 bonus from the adamantine as above).  This is just an idea... not sure I need the extra level of complexity, but it is worth considering.  


Overall I like the quality rating.  I may need to flesh it out a bit more, but I definetly think I'll be using it in my upcoming Hackmaster game.

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

Joss Whedon, a writer for who I have the highest respect, once stated that in a way having a show that could be canceled at any time actually helps a writer. "It doesn't help your marriage.  It doesn't help your digestion, but one thing it does help is your story telling."  The reason being that it forces you to consider the most important story you have to tell and focus on that because there may not be a tomorrow.  That was the case for Whedon's short lived SciFi series Firefly, one of the best written shows I have ever seen.

I bring this up because games can be a similar writing environment.  People move, players lose interest, and gamers want to try new games.  All of these things can cut your campaign short.  So if you have a great idea one that you are sure your players will absolutely love then don't wait.  Think of your game as a show that could be canceled at any time, and act accordingly.  What is the most important story aspect of your game?  Focus on that because you never know if you'll have time to do so later.

Ironically it was a lack of following this advice that doomed Whedon's current series, Dollhouse.  A very cool concept that got bogged down with trifles and filler episodes in the first season.  The second season on the other hand (and really this starts with the 13 unaired episode which featured Felicia Day from the Guild) has no real throw away episodes but instead focuses hard on the most important story.  I am convinced that had Dollhouse started off as strong as it is now it never would have been canceled, but hey it's FOX so it probably would have gotten the boot anyway.

Dollhouse had a long set up, and I'm not saying that a steady build up can't be a good thing.  But getting off topic with a series of unrelated, and unimportant, meaningless tasks and distractions doesn't add to the overall story of the game.  When designing an adventure think about how you can tie it in with the overall story arc.  Stay focused and I promise you your players will thanks you. 

Let the Dice Fall Where They May?

"Let the Dice Fall Where They May" is a popular saying among some gamers.  It is often said by characters in Knight's of the Dinner Table and can also be found numerous times in the 4th edition Hackmaster books.

But I ask you, should we let the dice fall where they may?

What if it means the life of a beloved character?  Two characters?  The whole party?  The Whole campaign?  Is there a line, and if so where is it?  I don't consider any of these easy questions to answer and I don't know that there is any one answer.

Making Weapons Stand Out

                                  

Of the reward that characters receive during the course of their adventuring days few save a level can compare with getting their hands on a great new weapon.   Yet the weapon is only as great as it is special.  A fighter wielding a battle axe won't be impressed by simply giving him another.  Unless his first one breaks what would be the point?  But if the second axe were special in some way then that would be a different story.

There are many ways for a weapon to be special.  Let's examine some of the more common ones...

The GM's Classroom

I firmly believe that a GM never learns so much as when he isn't GMing.  Certainly you learn things when running a game, especially when things fall apart, but you learn so much more when playing.  That is why I consider the other side of the screen the GM's Classroom.

The key to learning is to experience a game in the role of a player.  Learning what you like and don't like as a player, paying attention to how the person running the game approaches things, and often just taking a break from the strain of GMing are all crucial. 

Gamemaster's Corner: Sage Wisdom

I recently was cleaning out my storage unit (my parent's attic) and there I came across a ton of my old gaming stuff.  Old notes, adventures, GM Binders, Character sheets, and my Dragon Magazine collection.  Of Dragon, I have a fairly large collection.  I even bought the first 50 issues, which ran before I started gaming, on ebay several years ago. 

Looking through my collection I found one issue that I don't ever remember reading, issue 307 from May 2003.  The issue (the cover of which can be seen to the right) dealt largley with GRRM's setting of Westeros, something that I obviously have a great interest in.  I flipped though the pages remembering everything great (Gygax's up on a Soapbox!) and terrible (unbalanced game material) about Dragon. 

Finally I came to Westeros material.  The first article was more a recap of ASIF than anything else.  The second article dealt with the Night's Watch.  It included things like the Night's Watch Ranger prestige class.  The Third article discusses translating some of the characters from Westeros to D&D and also has an interesting side bar on how to deal with the low level of Magic in Westeros should you choose to use it as a setting for your game.  The fourth and final article is the one I want to discuss today, it is an article about the author of ASIF, George R. R. Martin, and includes excerpts from an interview conducted by Dave Gross. 

The Camping Trip - Part 3: Day Two

Day two of the trip started with a hearty breakfast! Once that was out of the way we moved almost immediately back to the game. We retrieved our materials from our cars where we left them overnight to prevent them getting wet, and were good to go.

When we left our adventures in the last segment they had just returned to town having saved Sir William and his squire, Kelvin. When they returned to town they summoned the local priest, Father Joseph Ellis. Father Ellis, being like most priests of the world, wielded no magic, but relied on herbs and ointments to aid the healing process. After he had done what he could for the two he informed Farley that his "fiance" who he had got together with during the feast at the start of game, had fallen very ill.

The following day Doran, the group's cleric, used his magic to revive the two unconscious warriors, though neither of them recalled what had caused them to lose their mounts and fall unconscious. While pondering that mystery the group was faced with another problem. The affliction that had befallen Farley's "fiance" seemed to be spreading. Over the next few days the disease spread like wildfire though the town, growing at an alarming pace. Following the advice of Father Ellis the group left the village of Ashvale and headed south for the Greenfield Abbey, where the monks there were legendary for their (non-magical)healing arts.

The group made good time to the Abbey and were given leave to search the records for information on the disease. Doran was the only one who knew the holy language that the records were recorded in so he alone was able to aid the monks in their search through the dusty tombs. Eventually he found a records of something called the, "Morbus Arcanus" which translated to the Sorcerer's Plague.

Armed with this alarming news the group hurried back to town, stopping only to visit the local Baron and garner some men from him to conduct their witch hunt back in Ashvale. Upon their return the group wasted no time in informing the local leaders of the situation and beginning to search homes for evidence of Sorcery. This part of the game, the mystery part, didn't go as well as I would have liked. The players seemed determined to go their own way rather than work as a group to reach a conclusion. They took a good deal of time to reach a conclusion, and that came only when they finally agreed to systematically search the entire town by going door to door and doing a thorough search (i.e. ripping up floorboards and destroying things when necessary).

Eventually they caught and burned a man for the crime of demon worship and sorcery. With this death the disease seemed to stop and those those infected began to get getter. Adding to this good news was word that Lady Enna, the Duke's niece and a reputed healer, had heard of the town's plight and was coming to due all she could to alleviate the suffering of the people.

Unfortunately, she never made it to the town. A lone soldier emerged from the forest, badly beaten and telling tales of monsters attacking their caravan and taking the lady captive. For the last time the group sprung into action and entered the forest, tracking the soldier and his horse back to the site of the ambush. There they too were set upon by demonic little green beasts with razor sharp claws. They fought their way through them and found the trail of the Lady Enna who had been dragged forcibly through the wilderness.

The group found their lair, but it was guarded by an enormous creature wielding a cruel looking club. Farley used his talent for distraction to get the creature to chase him while the others lie in wait. When the entire group surrounded him even the hulking mass didn't stand a chance. The group then wasted no time in entering the cave. They came upon an archway that lead to a large open chamber where a man in dark robes was chanting and wielding a silver dagger over a woman bound to a stone slab. Attempts to sneak were met with extreme failures and the wizard turned and lowered his hood to reveal (don don don) a women. Specifically, this woman was Sir William's lady wife, Eire.

Both sides screamed at the other to surrender, and soon people were drawing steel and casting spells. The evil Enchantress was joined by her vile Goblin minions and the group was hard pressed to win access to the room beyond the arch so as to confront the Sorceress. Eventually Lou, got a running start and charged in, blowing one of the creatures aside. Eire fought until the bitter end, but once her minions had failed her she followed close behind.

From there the group freed Lady Enna, collected Eire's treasures, and returned to the relative safety of the town. They explained the entire situation to Sir William who rewarded them hansom for returning his Liege Lord's niece, though he lamented his wife's dark path. He allowed the group to keep what they had found in Eire's lair including her Grimoire, her dark book filled with powerful secrets. Father Ellis suggested that the group destroy the book, but admitted it would be no easy task. The group agreed, but like the end of Conan, "That is a tale for another day." The Grimoire played a vital role in the game behind the scenes, but it was also in setting up a followup adventure should the players ever want to pick up these characters.

Next sement will have some out of game questions the players had in the wake of the game, and the third day of our trip which was mostly spent at King Richard's Faire!

The Camping Trip - Part 2: Day One

Day one saw most of us arriving late. James, Mike, Josh and myself all drove up together but didn't get there until after 8pm. Once there we spent the first hour augmenting the camp that Christian and his friend Nathaniel (who joined us on the trip) had already set up. Soon after Josh's tent went up Bryan arrived. Minus some problems with traffic and general lateness, the entire group made it without much problem.

We spent some time just catching up and hanging out before busting out our gear and getting down to the real reason we were there, Gaming. Everyone's characters were done, save Nathaniel's who still had some work to do. He and I finalized his fighter while the others laid out there gear and got cozy around the fire.

We opened the game during a small feast celebration in the character's home town of Ashvale. Sir William, the Knight who lived in the keep at the town's center had killed a wild boar and brought it back to roast for the townsfolk as a last hurah before winter. This celebration was mostly for the PCs to begin interacting with one another and with the NPCs in the town in a casual manner. Each sort of did their own thing. Christian's character Doran spent most of the celebration bemoaning the sinful way that everyone was spending their time. Josh's character, Farley, spent his time wooing one of the town's buxom young women in scandalise fashion. The other PC's action fell somewhere in between, and overall it was a good introduction.

The next few days passed fairly uneventfully as the PCs went about aiding the town in bringing in the critical fall harvest before winter. The first big event was when Sir William unexpectedly returned to the forest for another hunt. Several more days passed without his return, but eventually his horse did return to town. The PCs gathered their gear and entered the woods to find him. Lou, Nathaniel's character, thankfully took tracking and was able to follow the horses trail back to the clearing where the Knight and his squire still lay on the ground. A black bear was investigating the two men when the party entered and though they attempted to drive it off the bear attacked them.

The fight against the bear was very easy for the PCs. There were seven of them and only one bear, so they were able to quickly surround it and pummel it to the ground. I want to make some notes on the mechanics of HMB here. First, it is obvious to me that the mechanics of the game are at their very best when the party is opposed by a single foe. This fight took no time at all, and was amazingly fluid because everyone, including me, was controlling a single combatant. I'm sure that an experienced HMB GM can juggle many monsters at a time, but this being my first time I found it difficult. The second observation I would like to make is that some of the rules are just hard in general for new players to swallow. They were hard for me, and they were hard for Nathaniel whose first HMB game this was. I mention it in connection with this fight because one thing that was hard for Nathaniel to grasp was that he could be hit even on a miss because he was using a shield. There is a great side bar on page 111 that I pointed him to and I think it helped clear things up for him a bit, but I don't know that he ever really appreciated the rule. Shields in general were hard to him to handle since they are handled so differently in HMB than in other games that he is used to playing. For my part I love the shield rules. We use the AHM rule that a miss by more than 10 is a miss even if one is wielding a shield, so there are times that a miss is truly a miss even against a shield opponent. For me Hackmaster is the first game to really give the shield its due. Shields were by all account absolutely vital in combat yet D&D they are only worth a +2 (as much as leather armor) and in HM4 they were even worse. So like I said, I really like the rules, they just take some getting used to.

Back to the game.

After the party dragged Sir William and his squire back to town (along with the bear carcass) they did everything they could to revive them. They summoned Father Ellis who ran the town's church but he was unable to do anything. They were not able to revive the Knight until the following day when Doran's magic did what herbs and ointments could not. The Knight claimed he had no recollection of how he had fallen or anything leading up to it. Though Father Ellis suggested that the blow to the head could have caused him to forget the party remained suspicious.

We broke there with it being almost 3am and bitterly cold. My sleeping bag was warm, but my nose was freezing!

Fireside Gaming Part 2

So my group's camping trip is a week away. Based on the low number of posts over the last week or two I'm sure people have realized that I've been busy working on my game. Did I go overboard? Yes. Could I have gotten away with far less work? Yes. But as I've said, I plan on running a longer game in this setting later. So it isn't as though all my work is for this particular game.

At this week's game we decided to do character creation so we can jump right into playing next Friday. I started by asking if there were any questions about the setting, house rules, or anything else. I cleared up a few minor questions, and the players broke out their dice. I had the players roll their stats round robin style, with each stat being rolled by each player before moving on to the next. Here were the results...

	Mike	Christian	Josh	James	Bryan
Str	7	11	6	6	10
Int	11	14	10	10	10
Wis	13	7	7	8	10
Dex	10	11	13	13	12
Con	13	18	12	9	14
Lks	8	15	12	8	13
Cha	13	13	14	11	11

Everyone, save Bryan made changes to their stats. Josh and James swapped two, while Christian and Mike rearranged everything. So Bryan got +50BP, Josh and James got +25BP and Christian and Mike got +0BP. Completely rearranging stats proved to be a very limiting decision for Christian, as I'll explain in a moment.

Choosing a race went very quickly as the player's only choice was human. This was a hard decision when designing the campaign, but adding non-human races just didn't seem to fit.

Next came the finalizing of stats. Bryan spent some BP to boost his Intelligence and Wisdom, James Boosted his Strength, Josh boosted his Wisdom and Dexterity, Mike boosted his Constitution, and Christian left his alone. Overall everyone's stats look pretty good. Chritian has the best stats overall, with his 18 looming large. Even his 15 is superior to the stats rolled by the other players.

Then it was time for the players to choose their class. This is where I should note that campaign factors caused me to modify the BP cost for some classes. Fighter and Thief cost the normal amount for the human (25) but Clerics and Mages are far more rare. While priests are quite common in the campaign world, priests who wield divine magic are quite rare. To reflect this Clerics have a BP cost of 50. Mages are feared, hunted, and killed throughout the world. As a result they are extremely rare and have a BP cost of 75. So Christian's decision to rearrange his stats completely meant that it required all of his 50BP just to purchase his Cleric Class. James, Bryan and Mike decided to play Fighters. Finally Josh decided to play a bow toting theif.

For Priors and Particulars I had several charts for things like social class that the players had to roll on. By the time they all finished rolling they each had an idea of who their character was and how they wanted to play them. Overall this part was a lot of fun for them and me.

Next up was quirks and flaws. I offered an option to pay 5BP to get out of one or 10BP to get out of both. No one wanted to pay the BP so they all rolled. I offered rerolls for duplicate quirks or flaws so each person got something different.

Starting honor took some time to calculate because we only had one calculator at the table and no one wanted to do it by hand. In the end honor varied from a low of 9 for Mike to a high of 14 for Josh and Bryan.

Skills, talents and proficiencies were next. Christian had almost no BP left (he picked up four for having two loving parents) and used it to buy a single weapon proficiency. Luckily Clerics get a number of free skills, so he didn't have to go completely without. James bought mostly weapon specialization with what he had left. Mike and Bryan bought a number of trade skills, specifically Blacksmithing and Leatherworking.

Money was hard on the group. Most were lower class and received very little money. This problem was compounded with inflated prices, especially for weapons and armor. A great deal of leather armor was purchased, as well as varied kinds of weapons.

After the characters were finalized we did some story stuff to jump start the character's backstories. We started with a round robin story. Essentially the first person begins a tale about the characters and passes it around to the next person. The tale, begun by Josh, centered a round a day of celebration six years prior to the start of the campaign. We went around the table twice with the story before finishing up the exercise. We then moved on to a very short story about how the PCs rescued a young girl who was lost in the forest from some starving wolves. We played out the majority of the story, which only took about a half an hour. It was fun and a good little introduction to running the game for me.

Overall making characters was a lot of fun and got me even more excited for the upcoming trip. I can't post too much about what I have planned for campaign because my players read this blog, but rest assured I'll post the play by play when I get back!