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?


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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?


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All Your Characters Talk the Same

Written by Tyson J. Hayes on 2009/12/09 – 08:00 -

Let’s face it as GM, or a player, you only have so many characters in our arsenal. Personally I’m great at playing characters that fly in the face of everyone and are over the top in attitude and flair. This is my go to character, if I’m playing with a new Game Master. It’s easy and it’s like putting on a worn pair of shoes, I know where it’s been and where it’s going. And this bleeds through to my NPCs, they tend to be a bit crazy, powerful, and don’t mind showing it off.

But let’s be clear about something, not every NPC needs to be a beautiful and unique snowflake. Neither I, nor my players have a problem with my style of NPCs, they don’t over shine the players and they tend to be memorable. Take a deep breath and think about this. Quick character descriptions are awesome, general quirks about them are great, but not all of them need to be unique.

Paul is great at running NPCs that are authority figures and buck preconceived notions about authority. They are all personable and easy to relate to and come off as a casual authority. This is great for his style of game. Most encounters with royalty will have a scene were the characters are pulled aside and addressed one on one. The king will casually address the players and drop most of the pomp and circumstance they put on display in their court. His players eat it up. Through this use of his go to character he makes an easy to relate to authority figure that can provide new stories and jumping off points for new adventures. That and it’s down right cool.

Jeff takes the opposite approach with his authority figures; most of them tend to be closed off and impersonal. Then again he is excels at running Shadowrun style games where everyone is distrustful and distant. He sets up stories where every one is double crossing everyone else and distrusts everyone. The noir feel of his games lend to building the distopian worlds in which he is great at creating.

So what type of NPC are you good at? What changes can you make to your game to highlight this? Game Mastering is as much story telling as it is playing, if you are great at a couple of character types and they fit your stories, use them. There is no shame in doing what your good at.

What kind of character types are you good at?


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Introducing a New Player: Be Well Prepared

Written by Jeff Carlsen on 2009/11/10 – 08:00 -

The level of preparation for any given session varies. Sometimes you show up late, or forget your character sheet. Sometimes the adventure isn’t fleshed out. Maybe you haven’t considered what to do about food. These things happen, and to a certain extent are expected. But not today.

When you’re introducing a new player, you want it to look like everyone is on the ball. You want the game to run smoothly. It may be a lie, but you want the newcomer to think that all sessions are as awesome as this one. Let them find out the horrible truth once they’re already addicted. As such, whether as a player or as the Gamemaster, make sure you are prepared.

  • Flesh out the adventure. As gamemaster, you’ll be busy trying to make the game fun for the new player. You want to have the adventure completely ready to go, so you don’t have to waste time on it mid-session, and so that it’s easier to modify on the fly, if the need arises.
  • Know who is going to explain the game. It might be the gamemaster, but it could well be a player who is good at this sort of thing, or the player that invited the newcomer. Whoever it is should take some time before the session to consider and possibly practice explaining the game, so they aren’t fumbling around when the time comes to perform.
  • Have extra dice. Either the gamemaster or a player should have a full set of dice and other gaming gear for the newcomer to use. Pencils, paper, character sheets, miniatures or tokens–make sure you have all of it.
  • Show up on time. As a gamemaster, get in contact with all of your players and ask that they make an extra effort to arrive on time. You want them around for the pre-game conversation, and you don’t want the other players or yourself to start the session frustrated. If you are a player, your duty here is simple: be to the session on time, have all of your things (it’s best to keep them all in one place), and be ready to contribute whatever is needed.
  • Have a food plan. You want the new player to be excited to come back. Make sure you have a plan for snacks, drinks, and meals. The gamemaster doesn’t have to provide all of this, and in fact it’s best if the players split responsibilities. But don’t require anything of the newcomer this first session. It nothing else, free food has a magical effect, and may win you a convert all on it’s own.

What other kinds of preparation should be done before a session?


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Introducing a New Player: Introduction

Written by Jeff Carlsen on 2009/11/03 – 10:00 -

Apathy University: Introducing a New PlayerBringing in a new player to an established group can be a big challenge, especially if the new player has never played an RPG before, but even if not. The truth is, roleplaying is very intimidating. Even as an experienced player, joining a new group or learning a new game can be a source of fear. I recently joined a game of Legend of the Five Rings, and found myself overwhelmed by the depth of an unfamiliar setting and the nuances of a new rule system.

With a completely new player, there are a number of challenges to overcome.

  • Overcoming intimidation.
  • Integrating the player with a new social group.
  • Making the new player comfortable with the concept of roleplaying.
  • Teaching the game, both setting and rules.
  • Making sure the new player has fun.

This series, Apathy Rules for Introducing a New Player, provides a set of rules and tips for game masters and players to help introduce a new player to their group. Here is an overview of the rules, with a brief description of each. A separate article for each rule will give advice for implementing it effectively.

  1. Be well prepared. More than ever, you want to make sure things run smoothly. Have extra dice, paper, and pencils for the newcomer. Know your adventure, what rules will be needed, and how to explain them. And make sure you have all the snacks and drinks your players could want.
  2. Converse before the game starts. Take some time to bring the newcomer into the social group without involving the game, while simultaneously getting to know some of the newcomer’s tastes.
  3. Provide limited character options. The newcomer doesn’t know the game. Give him some choice, but keep his options limited to prevent intimidation.
  4. Introduce only the basics of the game. Teach only the core mechanics and the basics of the setting. Too much will overwhelm the player.
  5. Keep the adventure simple and quintessential. A newcomer’s first adventure should show the standard expectations of the game, and nothing more.
  6. Provide a simple tailored objective. Give the newcomer a sense of success by giving him a task that he is best at achieving.
  7. Engage him gradually. Allow him time to get used to the game, and slowly introduce the characters and new elements, assisting him whenever necessary. Also, at some point during the adventure, each player should interact with the newcomer in an In-Character fashion.
  8. Ask him questions. After you’re finished, ask the new player what he thought of the game, and socialize for a bit more. Hopefully he just had fun.

Please come back next Tuesday for Apathy Rules of Introducing a New Player: Be Well Prepared.

Call to Action: Tell us your horror stories involving new players. Successes are okay too.


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