sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
|
Post by sbloyd on Jul 20, 2013 15:51:00 GMT -8
In the spirit of Jackercon, I'd love to hear some more discussion on the prep for con games, particularly y'all's methods for developing the pregen player characters, as well as any new insights on investigative games. I came up with an idea about a week ago that I might want to try running online, if only my life weren't so hectic right now... Guess I will need to hold out for jackercon 2...
|
|
|
Post by jazzisblues on Jul 21, 2013 7:32:03 GMT -8
I learned so much about setting up and running an online game, mostly by doing it wrong in setting up my game for Jackercon.
JiB
|
|
|
Post by Houndin on Jul 21, 2013 8:01:08 GMT -8
I learned so much about setting up and running an online game, mostly by doing it wrong in setting up my game for Jackercon. JiB You gonna share with the class? Personally when I'm prepping for an online game, after doing all the regular prep, scenes, plot lines, npcs etc. I then go to images.google.com and pintrest.com and start typing in keywords that fit the genre and scene. Looking for evocative photos or drawings to show the players. For my Standard Oil game, I prefaced nearly ever search with 1930s to get the proper feel. (i.e. 1930s Portrait, 1930s Seaplane, etc) I find that it really helps the players look at something, especially if you don't use a tactical map, and takes some of the onus off the GM for descriptions, which helps to also reduce the amount of monologue-ing the GM does. The biggest concern I've found in online play is that only one person can talk at a time, so the less amount of talking I, as a GM can do, the better.
|
|
D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
|
Post by D.T. Pints on Jul 22, 2013 11:37:01 GMT -8
I found that I had to as GM moderate player input by going down the line...what do you do/say? And then the next person. A bit clunky but it makes sure all get their time to shine without a cacophony of players trying to talk over one another or crickets from drunken polite Europeans and Brits...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2013 4:32:22 GMT -8
I found that I had to as GM moderate player input by going down the line...what do you do/say? And then the next person. A bit clunky but it makes sure all get their time to shine without a cacophony of players trying to talk over one another or crickets from drunken polite Europeans and Brits... Yeah for online G+ games this really is a necessity, it's too easy for one or two players to accidentally dominate the game otherwise (especially if there is any lag present).
|
|
HyveMynd
Supporter
Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
Currently Playing: Monsterhearts 2
Currently Running: The Sprawl
Favorite Species of Monkey: None
|
Post by HyveMynd on Jul 24, 2013 16:15:43 GMT -8
It's interesting to see that some people had to adapt their GMing styles and methods. I didn't really have to modify anything when running my game for JackerCon, but I suspect that is because of the system I ran. Dungeon World runs pretty much the same way in person as it does online, in my opinion. Having video turned on did help, as I could easily identify who was not currently engaged.
|
|
maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
|
Post by maxinstuff on Jul 24, 2013 17:14:09 GMT -8
Did anyone play-test their con games before jackercon??
I didn't hear about ANY playtesting like the hosts always seem to do before a flesh-space convention.
EDIT: Yeah - so I am wondering how much a play-test of the adventure is considered a part of people's prep for a con game.
|
|
sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
|
Post by sbloyd on Jul 24, 2013 17:26:41 GMT -8
I have been thinking the same thing. Purely supposition here, but I would think the relatively limited, closed pool of possible players might factor in there - excepting those with groups in their local areas.
|
|
maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
|
Post by maxinstuff on Jul 24, 2013 17:37:54 GMT -8
I have been thinking the same thing. Purely supposition here, but I would think the relatively limited, closed pool of possible players might factor in there - excepting those with groups in their local areas. That occurred to me also - the forums are kind of like a group of friends (which I love) so maybe people just didn't feel the need to play-test??? How is this different from a con game with 'randoms'? *FUCK IT - I'M GOIN' IN DRY!!!!*
|
|
HyveMynd
Supporter
Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
Currently Playing: Monsterhearts 2
Currently Running: The Sprawl
Favorite Species of Monkey: None
|
Post by HyveMynd on Jul 24, 2013 17:37:55 GMT -8
Playtest? What's that? I'm a lazy hippie bastard who purposefully runs games that "run themselves". Preparation is a foreign word to me. Seriously though, if I hadn't procrastinated so much and if I had a more frequently meeting playgroup, I would have playtested my game. As it stands, JackerCon was an opportunity for me to playtest the scenario before running it at Gateway.
|
|
D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
|
Post by D.T. Pints on Jul 24, 2013 17:49:45 GMT -8
Playtest? What's that? I'm a lazy hippie bastard who purposefully runs games that "run themselves". Preparation is a foreign word to me. Seriously though, if I hadn't procrastinated so much and if I had a more frequently meeting playgroup, I would have playtested my game. As it stands, JackerCon was an opportunity for me to playtest the scenario before running it at Gateway. And therein lies another personal motivation for wanting to get together with all you loonies. By the way 'flesh-space' con is the most disturbing thing I have heard since..."Do you want a cheeseburger?" HJackers are truly a great group to bounce a game off of. You get quality input, invested players, great feedback and contrary to it being the people of "Douchebaggia" everyone is so FUCKING nice! I have a gaming horror story that if I can; (in the words of Blood Sparrow) 'get my shit together'; I will actually send in to the show. It is a pretty good indication of why I have a slight apprehension regarding cons. With Happy Jacker's I don't really even consider it a playtest of a scenario but a playtest of some ideas that I used to create the game. What was fun ? What worked ? What didn't. I do think it is pretty amazing when you can really draw the players in and pace the game well enough so that at the 3:30 mark shit is sweaty and crazy. Then at the end if its really good there's a "Oh Shit!" moment. Not easy to do, but really rewarding if you can make it happen.
|
|
|
Post by Houndin on Jul 25, 2013 6:01:23 GMT -8
Did anyone play-test their con games before jackercon?? I didn't hear about ANY playtesting like the hosts always seem to do before a flesh-space convention. EDIT:Yeah - so I am wondering how much a play-test of the adventure is considered a part of people's prep for a con game. I did a playtest of my Fate Accel game a week before JackerCon. That video is up on youtube as well. I had non-HJ players in both games and I have to say it was noticeable. I'm not normally one to playtest so I'm not sure how much it helped and how much it hurt. I ended up changing a lot of the game around to keep it fresh for myself. But I did notice a few points/clues that were hard for the players to find that I had to turn into clue-by-fours in both games because I failed to prod/display them well enough for the players to find on their own. That's something I need to work on. Now, I haven't run a "Con" game in 20 years, but I have run a bunch of one/two-shots in that time, and I never play tested so I wouldn't call it part of my prep. I tend to be more 'seat of the pants' than planned in my GMing anyway.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 6:53:47 GMT -8
It's interesting to see that some people had to adapt their GMing styles and methods. I didn't really have to modify anything when running my game for JackerCon, but I suspect that is because of the system I ran. Dungeon World runs pretty much the same way in person as it does online, in my opinion. Having video turned on did help, as I could easily identify who was not currently engaged. Why do you think it was the system? (I don't know much about the mechanics of Dungeon World) The reason I had to shift my GM style slightly was the technical limitations of G+, namely that you can't have multiple people talking at once and therefore quieter people or those with a bit of lag can get drowned out. As for playtesting the characters for my game have been extensively playtested and the scenario had been run once before so I didn't need to do any specific playtesting for Jackercon.
|
|
|
Post by Stu Venable on Jul 25, 2013 7:42:43 GMT -8
The biggest difference I've noted is the time limit, and the need to tell some sort of complete story in that time.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 8:49:58 GMT -8
The biggest difference I've noted is the time limit, and the need to tell some sort of complete story in that time. As far as I'm aware the time limit is only for on air hangouts and there's nothing to stop you immediatley creating a second one to carry the game on in.
|
|