Apathy Games

In Defense of the Pre-Built

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/07/13 – 00:00 -

I’ll admit it; I love pre-generated; pre-built; ready to unwrap on Christmas morning and play, games. I get excited to thumb through new settings, leaf through adventures, and muse over character builds. It’s a window into the mind of the designer, a glimpse at the true game they had in mind. What’s not to love about pre-built adventures?

Makes Up For My Faults

I find most pre-built adventures, and characters do a great job of making up for any weakness I might have as a GM. I can read through the adventures and anticipate how my players may avoid the tricks, traps, and boss fights along the way. Most importantly, for me, I can even run it off the cuff, reading as we go along and adjusting bits as I see fit. It’s also a story I want to tell, I want the players to share in the heartache and joy in the adventure. I want them to share in my excitement when I first read the adventure and imagined all the cool encounters that could spawn out of it. It makes my only job in the game to share this with them.

Allows me to Make Memorable NPCs

Creating a rich character background on the fly is downright impossible, so why would I bother if I’m reading from a pre-built adventure? Everything has been laid out neatly in front of me all I need to do is play to my strengths of creating voices, and memorable bits of dialogue. Focusing on breathing life into these people has made some incredibly memorable characters. Meepo was a goblin that the players took a liking too. He spoke in a voice based on a combination of Golum and Dobby from Harry Potter. While he only had a line or two of written dialogue because of the voice and portrayal the players latched on to him and eventually made him king of the Goblins. One of my players even wrote an un-released song about him during for our holiday album Christmas in the Underdark.

Learn the Rules; Know the Setting

Pre-built adventures are hands down the best way to learn a game. With the bulk of the work being taken off the design aspect you can focus on the nitty grity of making sure the rules are enforced correctly and that everyone is having fun. I’ve found adventures are the best way to get into the setting. Adventures such as the Witchfire Trilogy introduced me to Iron Kingdoms and the Slipstream plot point campaign was the best way to get into the right head space of the game. Having something to fall back on to keep your game moving is invaluable.

So much love, and yet, there are so many weakness, join me tomorrow while I come up with a rebuttal to my own argument.

Do you love pre-built adventures or settings, or are you firmly in the world building category?

Tags: christmas, harry potter, iron kingdoms, preparation, privateer press, tyson j. hayes
Categories: Game Masters |
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My Favorite Job: The Holy Man

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/06/29 – 00:00 -

I love playing Clerics; Paladins; anything with a bent towards the higher calling. For me it’s always added depth to characters. It gives them a more rounded depth that I can’t find in other archetypes. My rogues tend to be motivated by greed; fighters the lust for battle; wizards the collection of more power. Any Godsent archetype can be motivated to do any of these things; the only difference is they do it on behalf of someone else.

The Motivations

While I’m sure it’s different for every player I have a hard time not crafting selfish, greedy, characters. I think it’s come from my years of playing Rogues. If I don’t have a shit eating grin on my face with one hand in the party treasure and the other on the dagger hidden up my sleeve I’m just not playing the right kind of rogue. So I’ve run the opposite end of the spectrum, basing them off of Paladin’s I’ve enjoyed reading about. The key for me is to not play them overly rabid but strong simple people who believe strongly in their faith and act accordingly.

Personal Struggle

The fascination of holy men, for me is around the personal struggle with their faith. Even the strongest members of the faith have their doubts, and all of them are challenged by it. The strongest warrior is always worried about the man who will defeat him in battle; a cleric is worried about how they will fall from their faith. Even if these worries are deep rooted and something that would likely never come out into the open, everyone has a deep worry. Clerics just can have theirs openly challenged and battled, roleplaying out this deep struggle has led to some rewarding character developments.

Depth of Material

Almost any setting that has gods in them has lengths of the book describing them. Take the much touted Iron Kingdoms (a personal favorite) they have an entire chapters describing the faith and the ramifications of believing. Not just crunch either, they weave flavor text and story into the reasons, prompting character prospects and GM hooks. For me there is no other section of an RPG book that could be more interesting and more telling about the world then this section. Cultures rituals can be more telling than any history or any oral stories. Consider the act of Christian communion the small act of eating bread and wine can speak volumes about a person’s beliefs as well as indicate more about the faith the person believes in. Understanding how the gods interact with the people of the world can give you a truer insight into the author’s mind that is writing the setting.

Why is the Cleirc/Holy Man/Paladin/Chosen One your favorite class to play? What is the story of your characters calling?

Tags: adventure hooks, character considerations, dresden files, iron kingdoms, tyson j. hayes
Categories: Players |
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Those Warm Nostalgic Feelings

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/05/07 – 00:00 -

Every couple of years I get a hankering, an itch in the base of my brain to replay old games. I’m a huge Chrono Trigger fan; I owned it on the original SNES playing it over and over again. I’ve seen most of the endings and figured out most of its secrets before GameFAQs was even a glint in some ones eye. I love the game, its story and its characters. The music never fails to stir me in a deep way. I just wish you could package up the feelings and love for a game into a tabletop RPG session.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve been playing tabletop games for years; homebrewed; dungeons and dragons; savage worlds; you name it. Yet some adventures and memories still live on fondly in my mind, and I hanker to play them again. It’s just never the same. One story that leaps to mind involved a group which I haven’t seen in years. One of the players had a rather over the top and zany style of play; regularly hogging the spot light. While playing a variation on a supers game he accidently ripped the steering wheel off a baby poop colored van (don’t ask, it was the GM’s “favorite” color). We quickly fished out a monkey wrench and he began steering the car with the wrench; hilarity ensued.

While I don’t miss the player stealing the spot light I am a bit nostalgic for that type of zany play. My play tends to be a bit more serious, I think I lead my players to dark places. I mean, one of them has a tendency to torture small children. I doubt I’ll be leading them to sunshine and frolicking meadows anytime soon. Unlike a video game it’s dependent on everyone playing, instead of the passive observance of one player.

Games, like seasons, come and go. While I may be able to rally some of the older group together some of us (me) have moved past the 12 hour marathon D&D sessions. The zaniness has been put to rest, left to the nostalgia moments and reminiscing with old RPG veterans. My games are much cooler anyway with more adult themes, bigger arcs, and deeper characters. They are also not without their nostalgic moments. We’re fresh off of the Witchfire Trilogy and already I’m hankering to get back to those characters and that world; ready to get back to those moments of pure unadulterated awesome.

What are your favorite moments from games past? What games do you hanker to play over again and experience anew?

Tags: chrono trigger, dungeons and dragons, iron kingdoms, nostalgia, tyson j. hayes, witchfire trilogy
Categories: Behind the Bar |
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Magic: The Burning

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/05/04 – 00:00 -

I love magic. I love the fantasy that it brings and the stories that come to mind. Worlds form in my mind with magic seeped into the background, nudging here and there. The only thing I love more is taking it all away:  creating a world losing its magic, with the cold, bitter darkness encroaching in all around the remnants of civilization. My inner GM cackles at the idea of punishing magic users for even thinking of using magic. I think, “how can I torture my players the best?”

Low Powered Magic – High Powered Stakes

My love for the “punishable by death” or “burning from your god” started with the Iron Kingdoms. Privateer Press subscribes to the same thoughts as I do. In the Iron Kingdoms, if you heal too many of your fellow party members, your god may just choose to punish you for it. One god takes it to a level where if both the caster and the target don’t worship him, both characters get burned. Oh, and sorcerers? They tend to get burned as witches. Magic is taken very seriously in this setting.

Glutton for Punishment

I set this up for you to explain the siren’s call I’m hearing. Due to our new Savage Status Reports, we’ve been taking a more in depth look at the games available for Savage Worlds. Hellfrost is on the chopping block this week, and I began to take a good hard look at the game. It’s come to my attention before; Triple Ace Games releases a new adventure every week for one of their games. I’ve just never paid much attention to it; that is, until I noticed the Siphoning.

The Siphoning and You!

Instead of just punishing a few magic users and the clerics, ala Iron Kingdoms, Hellfrost takes a different route. It punishes everyone that uses magic equally. Your magic users will be hard pressed to fire off their spells knowing that the cold gaping maw of the siphoning is looking to take it back. That’s what I love about punishing magic users: the little bit of fear that comes with the casting. Never knowing when they are going to implode or attract the attention of the wrong kind of company. It’s a fine line between power that you wield and power that wields you. That’s the line I like to GM, always one small slip away from never ending darkness.

What kind of magical setting do you like running?

Tags: hellfrost, iron kingdoms, privateer press, triple ace games, tyson j. hayes
Categories: Game Masters |
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Accepting Failure

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/03/10 – 00:00 -

Last Friday I issued a challenge to call comers.  The result of which I would write about anything and relate it to gaming.  I’m going to keep the comments open for a week before closing them down.  So get in and send me whatever you got!

I’m hard pressed to accept failure, especially in a game like D&D. The cost of being a hero in a fantasy game is low. Yes there is a momentary value to failure (death specifically) but it’s offset by the fact that you can come back. In fact one of my most beloved characters died twice, and once came back as the undead, because of opportunity and my inability to accept his failure.

As a GM it’s a bit different. Without the chance of failure what are the odds that players will act in accordance to their characters? In a recent Iron Kingdoms campaign I started out telling the players that I’d be rolling in front of them and the dice would land as they would. I wouldn’t be botching it and I definitely would not be pulling the punches. The result? They were far more careful as adventurers. In the year and a half of play I experienced my first player death. Even I found a hard time watching the character die. Truth is, I probably took it harder than he did. I loved watching the characters grow and interact and it’s hard to watch one of them leave.

Cole of Singular Moments in Adventuring may accept failure as a part of his games, but I’m hard pressed to really accept it myself. As a GM I’m mostly talk. I want to pull my punches, keep the characters safe, but they are adventurers. Without the threat of danger, where is the glory? If at the beginning of the game I handed them all the treasure and experience they would ever receive, what would my players really do? They’d likely quit and roll up new characters.

Failure maybe a part of our games, maybe even our lives, but what fun is riches, fame, and immortality when it’s just handed to you? However, it was once said by a wise man, “Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways.” So much like our characters before us, we only have so many rolls of the dice left in us. One day we’ll roll snake eyes and accept failure like so many of those before us.

Tags: accepting failure, iron kingdoms, privateer press, snake eyes, tyson j. hayes, writing challenge
Categories: Game Masters |
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You Want Me to Run When!?

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2010/01/29 – 00:00 -

We’ve all been there.  It’s an hour till game time and you realize you’ve completely forgotten to prep anything.  You can’t cancel now that everyone is already on their way, so what do you do?

Break out a Savage Worlds One Sheet

One of the best things about Savage Worlds is the community and fan support.  While there are plenty of free settings to choose from, there are many more one sheet adventures for almost all of the official settings.  Go to Pinnacle, Triple Ace Games, or Tabletop Armory, find one that suits your fancy, and quickly throw together a game in the amount of time it takes to print it off your computer.

Create a Monster Hunt

It’s no secret that we’re fans of Privateer Press. Beyond their detailed settings and gorgeous art, they give more flavor in a single page than any other setting we’ve ever played in.  They also give some of the best examples of a monster hunt.  In their Monsternomicon, each monster is detailed with an adventure hook.  They tend to be as simple as, “A Collector wants you to go out and find the creature and collect rare gland/sac” to the slightly more complex, “Creature is harassing town–go kill it.”  However, when you’re out stomping the creature beneath your boot, your players won’t mind.

Pre-Prepped Adventure Hooks

While it does require a bit of forethought on your part, keeping a file filled with adventure hooks for your campaign is useful for situations like this.  While an entire post can be devoted to how to manage such ideas in a nice and searchable way, for now it can suffice to say that drawing upon your idea bin may prove to be more satisfying then looking for anyone else to help you.  After all, you know your players better than anyone else.  If you need some help building your adventure hooks, consider Rocks Fall Everyone Dies and their Sunday Hooks, or post some of your own in the comments!

What tricks do you use to prep at the last minute? What kind of success have you had?

Tags: encounter design, iron kingdoms, one sheets, pinnacle entertainment group, preparation, privateer press, session planning, tabletop armory, triple ace games, tyson j. hayes
Categories: Game Masters |
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Using Holidays in Your Game

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2009/12/24 – 08:00 -


Tags: capitalism day, christmas, hanukkah, holidays, iron kingdoms, kwanza, privateer press, tyson j. hayes, witchfire trilogy
Categories: Game Masters |
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Introducing a New Player: Introduce Only the Basics of the Game

Written by Jeff Carlsen on 2009/12/08 – 08:00 -

There are three parts of the game that must be introduced to a new player: the setting, what the players do, and the rules. The first two have to be discussed with the new player before they make character choices. The rules, though shouldn’t be discussed until afterward. Remember, your goal is to give them what they absolutely need to know, but not overwhelm them. There is a lot to learn.

What the Players Do

This is more fundamental to the game than either the setting or the rules, but sometimes relies on the setting for context. If possible, explain what the players do first, but if you must, it can wait until after you’ve described the setting.

Make sure the new player has an idea of what the player characters are trying to accomplish in this campaign, and how they’re going about it. In some games, this is simple. For example, in Shadowrun, you are a professional criminal doing jobs for giant corporations who want to compete illegally without getting caught. You use stealth, planning, and skill to accomplish goals and try to stay alive.

In a fantasy game, you might discuss how the players have taken it upon themselves to protect a small village from an orc invasion, and are seeking out the leader to kill him before he can attack the village.

The Setting

Keep to the very basics when describing the setting. If it’s based off of something that the newcomer will we familiar with, say so first. For example, D&D is a basic sword and sorcery fantasy setting with elves and dwarves, like Lord of the Rings. Legend of the Five Rings is based on feudal Japan. Mention some movies or shows that are similar, if there are any.

After you’ve established a baseline that the new player is familiar with, mention the important differences. For example, the Iron Kingdoms, by Privateer Press, is based on a classic fantasy setting, but it’s been moved forward to the industrial revolution. Magic has been industrialized, and steam engines power mechanikal creatures called steamjacks that do heavy labor and wage war.

You can then mention any details that are of importance to the current campaign, like a necromancer raising an army, or a dragon running for president of the United States.

Lastly, The Rules

It’s best to give the new player a character first. Then show him the core mechanic of the game by using one of his character’s skills as an example. You’ll probably want to do this a few times so that they’re comfortable with this. Go through the character sheet, explaining what things are, and letting the player ask questions. Don’t go into too much detail, he doesn’t need to know all the possible modifiers. Just make sure he understands his character sheet.

You’ll probably want to go over combat. Explaining initiative, actions, attacks, damage, and the like. Give examples and have the player make rolls. Of course, if the system is simple enough, like with Savage Worlds, you can just wait until combat happens in the game to describe these rules.

Tags: Apathy University, character considerations, characters, introducing, iron kingdoms, jeff carlsen, legend of the five rings, Players, privateer press, shadowrun
Categories: Introducing a New Player |
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