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Post by uselesstriviaman on Mar 7, 2012 15:06:59 GMT -8
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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
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Post by HyveMynd on Mar 8, 2012 5:01:00 GMT -8
That was a really good read, uselesstriviaman. Thanks for pointing it out. It is a very different approach to scenario and story design than I usually take though, since I build my scenarios around PC/NPC interactions rather than physical Zones and locations. Still, that 'Schrödinger’s Gun' explanation was a good one, and a technique that I've used many times (though without knowing it's name).
The article is long, but I could see it being really helpful for new GMs or GMs who want to move their games from a railroad to a more sandbox-y style. When I'm a PC, nothing irks me more than having my character's actions amount to nothing and to have the GM just shove me back onto the rails of their story. I want my character's actions to have to have some sort of effect on the game world; I like there to be consequences. Designing Zones with trigger conditions based on actions the PCs take is a great way to show the players that what they do matters.
I really wish some of my previous GMs had read this article.
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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 8, 2012 7:28:29 GMT -8
That was a really good read, uselesstriviaman. Thanks for pointing it out. ... I really wish some of my previous GMs had read this article. Don't we all. It's interesting to me how we have evolved (hopefully) as gamers. I am writing a 1st Edition game to run at GameX in May and that is causing me to review my memories of some of the earliest games that I ran and sometimes I find myself just shaking my head over the crap that I threw out. In my defense I was 12-13 and we must have had fun with it because we all kept playing. Just have to laugh at my silliness sometimes. JiB
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Post by inflatus on Mar 8, 2012 12:57:33 GMT -8
Thanks for the linky UTM. That was cool.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Mar 8, 2012 13:47:22 GMT -8
Quite welcome, gents. I like to contribute! And JiB, I think we ALL have that kinda crap in our collective gaming pasts. I know I pulled some really dumb shit back in the day, and though I sometimes had savvy players that'd call me out on it (thank you Tony!), it's still a bit painful to think back on some of the bad GMing I inflicted on my players...
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Mar 8, 2012 16:14:05 GMT -8
Oh yes, I read that some time ago. Good article...though I still think ALF is fun!
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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
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Post by HyveMynd on Mar 8, 2012 18:00:21 GMT -8
And JiB, I think we ALL have that kinda crap in our collective gaming pasts. For some reason I read that as "we ALL have that kinda crap in our collective gaming pants." It made the use of "shit" in the next sentence really appropriate and absolutely hilarious. But yeah. As JiB said, it's funny to look back at where we were as gamer when we started this hobby as opposed to now. At one time I thought a "good" adventure was just to roll up some randome dungeon rooms, stick some random monsters and treasure in them, and then to send people exploring. Jeeze.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2012 18:43:37 GMT -8
...and though I sometimes had savvy players that'd call me out on it (thank you Tony!)... Um... you're welcome?
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Post by inflatus on Mar 8, 2012 19:22:17 GMT -8
Has anyone made a large dungeon recently? I made one a long time ago with no players in mind. It was not quite as big as the super dungeon. I had fun placing NPC's and stories in certain sections. I wonder if players now would want to delve into the super dungeon.
The article did take me back to my younger days. It was pretty cool to dungeon delve. I would definitely head down again.
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Mar 14, 2012 18:08:54 GMT -8
I can't speak for anyone else here, but I'd certainly enjoy a megadungeon or two. At Winter War last January, I got to participate a bit in Jeff Rients' megadungeon, "The Caves of Myrddin." It was fun and a bit surreal to go past doors that looked as if they'd been sheared in two by lightsabers, knowing that was done by another party in a previous session. Also, a while ago, I bought a solo game/dungeon designer from DriveThruRPG called "For the Love of Dungeons." (IIRC, they were donating the proceeds to relief efforts for the Japan earthquake.) I haven't played a full "session" yet, but basically, you start with a piece of paper, roll on a bunch of tables to determine what happens to the piece of territory represented by the paper, and end up with a dungeon rich in history and treasure. And finally, Gnome Stew (one of my favorite GM'ing blogs) recently posted an interesting article on megadungeons: "Approaching the Megadungeon." Might be worth a look for anyone who's interested!
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Mar 14, 2012 18:13:39 GMT -8
P.S. Just noticed that my first post on this thread sounds a bit snotty. I didn't mean to sound that way! It was just a side effect of posting in a hurry.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Mar 15, 2012 5:06:40 GMT -8
Heh! kaitoujuliet, one of the links at the bottom of that Gnome Stew article leads to the one I firsts posted above. I'm also a Gnome Stew fan.
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Jun 5, 2012 10:15:01 GMT -8
Oops, I just now, after all this time, realized that I posted a link to the wrong product above. The product I meant to recommend was How to Host a Dungeon. (Full version also available on Drivethrurpg, here.) There's also a fabulous series of articles about a sandbox campaign, starting here: arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/The "West Marches" campaign is set in open wilderness, but it's still basically a megadungeon.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Jun 7, 2012 14:13:14 GMT -8
Dude, I would LOVE[/i] to run a West Marches-style campaign. I think I even have enough interested local players to pull it off; I really do need to get back into world-creation mode again.
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Jun 9, 2012 5:30:55 GMT -8
Post about it if you do it! I can't see running West Marches for my group, but I think it's a great idea and would love to follow a campaign vicariously.
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