Gear for PCs - Starting Out

Once you've got your character rounded out as far as stats and back story comes the final step: gear. Looking at the starting gold for many characters your options are limited in what you can afford, but there is a lot in the way of gear in the starting book.

There are the standard choices: bedroll, rations, torches, and rope (with or without grappling hook). More specialized options are holy symbols, specific tools and kits, and alchemical items.

But there are more options than just that. If you think outside the box, you can look at the item list and put together some really interesting load outs. Marbles can be used to detect slopes and trip up people; pitons can be used to climb and jam doors open or closed; bells can be decoration/tools for some classes and useful alarms for everyone else; mirrors can be used to signal over distance and look around corners.

Also, random choices can be amusing and character defining. A dwarven paladin in a game carried 10 lbs of soap. Jaws agape, we asked why and he said he liked to be clean. And that was that. He was a dwarf paladin that wanted to be clean, no matter what the situation.

Mundane items can become important to your character. A signet ring on it's own is just used to seal letters (see sealing wax on the item list), but it can also be your father's ring or the ring of your clan, passed to your for safe keeping. Maybe you wear broken manacles, physical reminders of a past you never will return to.

Look over the list and don't look at each item on the page. Look at each item as if you're holding it in your hand and what does it mean to your character? Does your character believe in luck and if so, is that clay tankard your lucky drinking mug? Is that block and tackle tools of a life you wish you could lead? The items themselves aren't necessarily what you should look at. Have an image of your character in mind and see how the item fits that character. Is it useful? Is it meaningful?

Game in Review

So we actually managed to game this past Saturday and overall it was a great success. Sending out a story advancing e-mail allowed me to skip the last bit of the prologue and move the players into the main part of the campaign.

The players rescued the townsfolk from the previous session and returned home. After a month of time has passed the mayor looks rather ill and a "special ops" character from the capital has come to collect the PCs to escort them to the capital. Turns out they weren't the only people in the world that were suddenly granted powers and levels. The players weren't terribly fond of this character as he was all business and little in the way of social skills.

They set out and were ambushed one night the PCs drove off the attacker, but did not notice the assassin that executed the Spec Ops character. This is where my story took a turn off the rails. I had intended the PCs to get captured by this group and in order to facilitate that, I had them all be of a higher level than them. They were supposed to be ordered to surrender so they could be captured. Instead, one of the characters grapples the assassin and ties her up while her goons advance. The dwarf orders her to surrender, she tells him to shove it, and promptly gets beaten by another character.

Had I allowed actions to go where they were headed, the players would have offed the assassin only to be killed by her goons. So I took my plans, threw them away, and started flying by the seat of my pants. As a result, she turned into a rebel agent, trying to overthrow the government of the land so that all races can rule themselves. She was ordered to "rescue" the PCs and escort them to the capital city, to be delivered to the Rebel Organization instead of the Senate to try and find out what happened.

Of course, I then had to set up an encounter that would kill off most of her goons so I don't have to manage 8 npcs at once. So the goons went through threatening level to Red Shirt incompetence and were promptly murdered by hobgoblins, so I have half as many NPCs to deal with now.

Even though the game went a direction I wasn't expected, the spontaneous creation of the Rebellion will lead to a deeper story than what I had intentionally envisioned. So if the players in your game start running in a direction that you're not sure of, just go with it. 9 out of 10 times anything you say during one session won't be fully resolved until later sessions so you have plenty of time to alter the story to fit what has been said and done.

Mash Ups

Apparently, Fridays are difficult for me to post on now. Not sure what is going on, but here it is:

Mash up games can be a lot of fun, but what exactly is a mash up? Mash up games happen when you take two different themes from different systems and put them into one game. For example, Shadowrun and Werewolf. The players can take on the roles of werewolves and/or runners that exclusively infiltrate and sabotage Pentex companies. Or you can flip it, and make characters that work for Pentex that target Werewolf activities.

In this specific example, it can also highlight specific mechanics from the game, such as Essence and Cybernetics. How would a werewolf feel about cybernetic implants? While the concept is completely anathema to them, would there be instances where a werewolf would be willing to compromise their souls to fight the Wyrm better?

Call of Cthulhu and D&D would be another good one. The players can suddenly encounter horrific monsters and magics that previously didn't exist in the world; that attack their sanity more than their bodies. This would be a fairly easy mash up since a d20 Call of Cthulhu was released years ago and there is already a precedent with abberrations.

So how do you mash two games together into one? This requires knowing the rules of both games very well so you can convert one game into the other. The game you choose to convert will also affect how the game plays. If I chose to convert Chaosium's BRP into d20 the game would focus more on combat and adventure, with the characters able to take and deal damage. However, if you choose to go the other way, d20 to BRP, then the game takes on a completely different tenor. The characters suddenly aren't able to receive damage and healing becomes more complicated and the game takes on a more life or death feel.

You have to be willing to put the work in to convert the rules, and that can take a good deal of work, especially if they games are very dissimilar. You have to know what rules need to be added to the new system and what rules can be handled by it without change. Additionally, you can fold both systems into a generic system such as GURPS, HERO, or Savage Worlds.

Problem Players

Every group will go through an "experience" where someone's personality will conflict with another person's. There are multiple avenues of recourse to this besides "Kicking them out of the group."

These types of situations can arise over a variety of means. Perhaps one person has made comments, observations, or jokes that you find incredibly objectionable. Maybe they have a different play style that is interfering with the fun of the whole group. It might even be something as simple as simple as a conflict of personalities.

There are a few ways to avoid coming to this point though. The first, and simplest rule, is to be an adult and deal with a conflict of interest or personality as an adult. No matter what the situation or environment you are int, conflicts will arise and you need to be able to handle them as ana adult or else your life will end up being rather difficult.

Be somewhat selective in who you game with as well. Just like any other social group, there are rules and expectations of behavior. If someone is behaving in a way that makes you uncomfortable (drug use, inappropriate comments, etc) don't game with them. If you are uncomfortable to start with, things will most likely only get worse, not magically better.

Even if someone behaves acceptably, it doesn't mean that they'll get along with you. In the event personalities or perspectives change, see the first rule.

Have a one on one talk with the person. There isn't a need to drag the entire group into an argument that doesn't involve them. Chances are that the individual may not be aware of what they're doing, be it inappropriate comments or behavior. Most people will attempt to modify their behavior once they realize that they're behaving inappropriately.

If they don't, then the next step is to involve the group and see if they're having similar experiences. If they are, you can come together as a group and speak with the person to try and address the issue. If they aren't, you may need to evaluate how well you fit into the group, or perhaps not take things so personally. Sometimes the issue is with you.

Only after you've spoken with the person individually and as a group, should you look at the option of removing them from the group. If you do have to take this course of action, be upfront about it. Don't cancel the game and then start again and "forget" to invite the person back. Chances are that the people you game with are your friends and are deserving of at least a modicum of respect. Even if they're not, they still deserve some level of respect and should be treated like adults.

Suggestions

So, as some people may have noticed, I missed my posting on Friday. Part of this was due to exhaustion, part of this was due to not having a good idea for what to blog about. I've got some half formed ideas in my head, but nothing solid enough yet to write a full post about. To help curtail this, I've created a suggestions page, link at the top of the page. If you have ideas for something you want to see posted, either singly or as a series, go ahead and comment on that page and I'll get an e-mail as soon as you do.

I've done fairly well so far, but I'm getting to a point where I think I need some help with the ideas, so post away up there and keep this project going!

Introducing Players into a Group

Adding players to a group is a great way to mix things up. New players bring new viewpoints and ideas on how things should be done, perhaps injecting new life into your group. I'm not going to go over how you meet people to game with, that's a topic all on its own; I'm going to be discussing how to introduce them into your game without disrupting the flow.

The first step, before you even consider how to bring them into your game, is to consider the others players. You can't just insert someone into a group without notice or consent; you need to let the group know that someone is interested in joining and make sure everyone is ok with it. If they're not, you won't be able to do the following.

So once everyone is ok with the idea of adding a new person, check where you are in the story of the game. If you're a few sessions away from ending, it would probably be better to wait until the next campaign starts; otherwise the story may become disjointed at the climax.

If you're at a point in the story where adding someone is worth it, you need to look at what the party has done so far. If they've already had a few adventures they most likely have some ties with NPCs they've encountered in your world. One option is to have the new player play one of the NPCs; that way they already have a tie and relationship to the party. The downside to this is the new player may not get to play something they're interested in. Alternatively, they could have a tie to that NPC somehow and be introduced into the party that way. 

Having the current and new players cross paths with similar goals is another good plan. If the PCs are investigating a murder, the new player could have a tie to the victim or someone unrelated but interested in bringing down the villain.

Depending on the setting, you can present the players with a problem that they aren't equipped to handle, and present the new player as someone that the party can hire or work with to solve their problem.

If you work in the player as an aspect of the story, everything will flow together much better. The characters will have a reason to interact with each other in a meaningful fashion and they'll have reasons to bond beyond that adventure.

The key thing to consider is to try and make the introduction in game as organic as possible. Otherwise the players will suffer a disconnect from the story and you will lose some momentum. For an excellent example of how not to introduce a new character or player, see The Gamers.

Game in Review

So this should be a post about a game review, since we gamed on Saturday. Sadly, we ran into insurmountable technical difficulties. Construction workers cut the cable line going into my neighborhood so there was nothing to do about that.

No matter how much I like technology, sometimes there is something to be said for face to face gaming; you don't need to worry about random events like that getting in the way. We work through what we can, when we can, sometimes there is nothing to do.

So if you're considering doing a game via video/teleconference, be mindful that sometimes no amount of creativity with technology can make it work if the connection just isn't there.

However, I decided that in the interest of moving the story forward (since we game twice a month) I was going to dictate what I had planned, with input from the players on their character's actions. This way I can maintain the pace of the game, even when things go sour.

Don't be afraid to wrest narrative control from your players when you have to. You can use it to speed up downtime within the game, expedite travel, and even keep the game moving when it start to stagnate.