How I Spent My 46th Birthday
Mar 14, 2013 14:51:45 GMT -8
Post by CreativeCowboy on Mar 14, 2013 14:51:45 GMT -8
This blurb successfully attracts new-to-the-hobby people like the two people I met two nights ago on my 46th birthday. I advertise RPGs as an activity for a popular social media for expatriates, where I get a free membership if I organize events:
So I am now working on two characters for new-to-the-hobby players who have only heard of a game called Dungeons & Dragons and want to try out it as a way to meet people. I leave out the pretend to be someone else spiel and suggest players adopt the Author Avatar label of Mary Sue by repeatedly referring to players as their characters and not the munchkin gamer Mary Sue, a message complemented by 3D6 in order. [Actually, the Mary Sue label is meaningless, as I have recently read.]
The two people are an ITALIAN-Woman (ITALIAN-W) and a UKRAINIAN-Man (UKRAINIAN-M). The lady has traveled many countries so the blurb had higher resonance with her than with the gentleman. Prior to the end of World War 2, modern day Ukraine was Polish so the gentleman has that going for him as far as Slavic language and culture will take him.
Our discussion/interview focused on concepts rather than mechanics. I had a bag of assorted dice for show and tell; a pen and pad of paper for utility; and the book I am currently reading: Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England. I drew a representation of alignment along X & Y axis: gregarious to pugnacious on the X, and lawful to anarchic on the Y and explain neutral as a mid-point. They had a very easy time placing their characters on that grid. I drew very rough sketches of weapons when it came to the Cleric making a selection. I explained that ability scores, those that we randomly roll, only serve to inform probability of success or failure of actions taken. We discussed the example from the blurb. I rolled the D100 for them as I discussed probability and I introduced combat as egalitarian turns. Then they rolled two characters.
They had to have one 15 in their ability rolls for the character to survive birth. The UKRAINIAN-M kept his first roll and chose to be an Elf. ITALIAN-W rolled twice, keeping the second and stuck to Human. I told my world’s story about the war between the Demi-Humans and Humans since players were not only human. I also explained that whatever I related was not necessary for the players to adhere to but to understand this is how I will react to them in the character of the world. These were the rolls and the player choice of class based upon the raw talent of their character:
Elf Magic User, Lawful Good: Str 16; Int 15; Wis 9; Dex 11; Con 10; Cha 10.
Human Cleric, Chaotic Good:Str 10; Int 10; Wis 3; Dex 10; Con 15; Cha 12 and Str 6; Int 10; Wis 9; Dex 11; Con 15; Cha 14
We then discussed packing for a 50-kilometer journey by foot, which was exciting. I noted everything like a secretary, and prodded the ITALIAN-W until she thought of bringing a donkey to carry the bulk. I added that this was property from her church (she chose to be theist rather than non-theist). We then designed her holy symbol as I brought up the old Christopher Lee films and the use of the Cross – a symbol her pagan church did not have. So she designed a symbol and, from that, we created the Church of Swirly. We closed with determining birthdays and ages for the characters and languages.
Monday we have a Blue Book and they will see their filled-in character sheets. We will roll the chance to know spells from a list and I will explain the way spells are handled. Then I will launch the game… somehow. I am tempted to have the Human cleric and Elf wizard journey together to meet the old cleric hero and the old wizard hero the other players have already met. If I do, I need to further develop these NPC’s back-story to include the PCs’ contacts.
The concept of story telling is, I think, firmly fixed with dice only informing the result of risk to actions. Knowing the stats of these characters – and the fact they do not yet read HappyJacks forums – I can tell you that I see my job as GM is to describe the risks to the eyes of the cleric (to the player) before she decides to rush a gorilla, for example, and maybe describe that same gorilla a little differently to the magic user.
My only comments on meta-game will be that players must only pass information to each other in character when their characters have a chance to do so. I allow intuition and “godly guidance” (think: Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of Titans) as engrossment reinforcers to active in-game player participation but I have passive rolls done ahead of time by players.
Anyways…. on with the show. I still await Blue Booking for the Ukrainian woman (UKRAINIAN) whom I mentioned days ago but I realize she is busy with finding a place to live at the moment. I thought I might share this as a way to keep me motivated with the possibility for a total of 5 players at my table shortly (including two clerics: one a theist and the other an atheist).
Ever wish there was something more to talk about than the problems of Poland for a change? Or monologuing about yourself? (Or listening to a monologue from someone who has repeated the same phrases month-after-month and year-after-year?) That seems to be the default for many strangers when they first meet. It is called Common Ground and it is a technique used by people who wish to avoid becoming a boor. But these talks never really tell you anything about the person speaking except what they want you to know. It's like advertising: I am single; I have a good job; I am looking to change job; I came to Poland for the waters, etc. But what are these strangers really like? Here is a game that will answer that question as you play. You and a few other people are on a boat adrift in the ocean, 500 KM from the nearest port. You have one wooden paddle, a bedsheet, a box of matches, a compass, an iron frying pan and a tin pot... what do you do? How do you resolve that situation? When the heat is on you get to see how peole respond and what is their thinking. When you are in a foreign country, this is a good way to meet other people and quickly form a social network with like-minded persons. So let's meet and see where this group travels from here. No experience required.
So I am now working on two characters for new-to-the-hobby players who have only heard of a game called Dungeons & Dragons and want to try out it as a way to meet people. I leave out the pretend to be someone else spiel and suggest players adopt the Author Avatar label of Mary Sue by repeatedly referring to players as their characters and not the munchkin gamer Mary Sue, a message complemented by 3D6 in order. [Actually, the Mary Sue label is meaningless, as I have recently read.]
The two people are an ITALIAN-Woman (ITALIAN-W) and a UKRAINIAN-Man (UKRAINIAN-M). The lady has traveled many countries so the blurb had higher resonance with her than with the gentleman. Prior to the end of World War 2, modern day Ukraine was Polish so the gentleman has that going for him as far as Slavic language and culture will take him.
Our discussion/interview focused on concepts rather than mechanics. I had a bag of assorted dice for show and tell; a pen and pad of paper for utility; and the book I am currently reading: Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England. I drew a representation of alignment along X & Y axis: gregarious to pugnacious on the X, and lawful to anarchic on the Y and explain neutral as a mid-point. They had a very easy time placing their characters on that grid. I drew very rough sketches of weapons when it came to the Cleric making a selection. I explained that ability scores, those that we randomly roll, only serve to inform probability of success or failure of actions taken. We discussed the example from the blurb. I rolled the D100 for them as I discussed probability and I introduced combat as egalitarian turns. Then they rolled two characters.
They had to have one 15 in their ability rolls for the character to survive birth. The UKRAINIAN-M kept his first roll and chose to be an Elf. ITALIAN-W rolled twice, keeping the second and stuck to Human. I told my world’s story about the war between the Demi-Humans and Humans since players were not only human. I also explained that whatever I related was not necessary for the players to adhere to but to understand this is how I will react to them in the character of the world. These were the rolls and the player choice of class based upon the raw talent of their character:
Elf Magic User, Lawful Good: Str 16; Int 15; Wis 9; Dex 11; Con 10; Cha 10.
Human Cleric, Chaotic Good:
We then discussed packing for a 50-kilometer journey by foot, which was exciting. I noted everything like a secretary, and prodded the ITALIAN-W until she thought of bringing a donkey to carry the bulk. I added that this was property from her church (she chose to be theist rather than non-theist). We then designed her holy symbol as I brought up the old Christopher Lee films and the use of the Cross – a symbol her pagan church did not have. So she designed a symbol and, from that, we created the Church of Swirly. We closed with determining birthdays and ages for the characters and languages.
Monday we have a Blue Book and they will see their filled-in character sheets. We will roll the chance to know spells from a list and I will explain the way spells are handled. Then I will launch the game… somehow. I am tempted to have the Human cleric and Elf wizard journey together to meet the old cleric hero and the old wizard hero the other players have already met. If I do, I need to further develop these NPC’s back-story to include the PCs’ contacts.
The concept of story telling is, I think, firmly fixed with dice only informing the result of risk to actions. Knowing the stats of these characters – and the fact they do not yet read HappyJacks forums – I can tell you that I see my job as GM is to describe the risks to the eyes of the cleric (to the player) before she decides to rush a gorilla, for example, and maybe describe that same gorilla a little differently to the magic user.
My only comments on meta-game will be that players must only pass information to each other in character when their characters have a chance to do so. I allow intuition and “godly guidance” (think: Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of Titans) as engrossment reinforcers to active in-game player participation but I have passive rolls done ahead of time by players.
Anyways…. on with the show. I still await Blue Booking for the Ukrainian woman (UKRAINIAN) whom I mentioned days ago but I realize she is busy with finding a place to live at the moment. I thought I might share this as a way to keep me motivated with the possibility for a total of 5 players at my table shortly (including two clerics: one a theist and the other an atheist).