D&D Encounters as Weekly Gaming Fix

J. C. Lira once described the Castle Ravenloft board game as diet D&D.  Of course, when everybody has a busy schedule, a diet dungeon crawl might be just enough to act as your weekly dose of roleplaying.  D&D Encounters fills that void.

D&D Encounters is an ongoing Wednesday night D&D game, run in game stores across America.  Each session encompasses a little bit of story and a single combat encounter (fourth edition combat encounters typically take about an hour), forming a mini-campaign of thirteen sessions.  Though it's a glorified D&D commercial — the plot of the campaign usually ties in with a recent Wizards of the Coast release — it's actually pretty fun.  The typical two-hour runtime also works well with a busy schedule, and the fact that it attracts a rotating cast of players from week to week doesn't really detract at all (though this is usually handwaved, our DM typically tried to work in the roster changes).  The tales are hardly epic fantasy, but sometimes you just need a taste.  The last one even had a bit of an old-school bonus as The Dark Legacy of Evard refers to the powerful shadow magician Evard, the product of author Jack Vance who heavily influenced D&D's early development (as noted in this article).

I'm also intrigued by the D&D Encounter structure itself.  It's a great way to bring new players into the game, and would probably just be a good campaign structure generally, particularly in a public place such as a game shop.  Also, for Game Masters who are used to crafting tales that are epic in scope, the limitations of a handful of two-hour sessions is an excellent exercise in restraint. 

If you're looking to fulfill that weekly gaming fix, you could do worse than checking out D&D Encounters.  Even if it doesn't sound interesting, perhaps you would consider the Encounters format as an exercise for your next game?

Sharpened Hooks: The Keepers of Hodmimir's Forest

This was an occult group for a game that has come and gone.  Maybe it will serve you.  Though made for a modern occult conspiracy game, it could be used in fantasy or science fiction.

The Keepers of Hodmimir's Forest are a splinter faction of the old Thule Gesellschaft, or Thule Society.  A society of German occultists, the Thule Society influenced some of the ideas of the early Nazi party until the Society disbanded in the 1920s.  Despite a brief revival in the 1930s, Nazi policies acting against esoteric societies finally destroyed the Thule Society by the mid-1930s.

Still, old habits die hard, and the truth gets distorted over time.  Some occultists did stay with the Nazis in an attempt to use the party's meteoric rise to power as cover for their own activities, and some misguided occultists continue to describe the Third Reich in occult terms.

The origins of the Keepers of Hodmimir's Forest are somewhat unclear, but it is known that the leadership of the cult draws inspiration from the old Thule Society, assuming the cult cannot trace its lineage to the classic Thule Society.  The Keepers of Hodmimir's Forest seek nothing less than finding Hodmimir's Forest of Norse myth, and using it as a staging ground to preserve the Aryan race while Ragnarök rages.  Some merely believe that Fimbulvetr and Ragnarök are imminent, while others seek to somehow cause these events in true batshit Charles Manson tradition.

Whatever the case, the Keepers seek legends regarding pristine locations for humans to weather the coming apocalypse, and then to populate those areas with neo-Nazi loyalists.  Just as the cult cannot agree whether it is supposed to trigger the apocalypse or merely meant to wait for it, the cult also cannot agree on the nature of Hodmimir's Forest.  Some believe that it is a place already in existence — like the forest itself, or Eden, or the Hollow Earth — while other cultists believe that it is a place the cult needs to build for itself, such as a bunker or moonbase.

Ultimately, it is these arguments which prevent the cult from being anything more than a minor threat, but the group's fanaticism (and ability to rally its neo-Nazi allies in a pinch) makes up for its lack of organization and dogmatic unity.

The Keepers in Other Genres: So maybe you're not running a game set in the 20th century.  No problem!  In history, the Keepers could always be a weird Nordic cult, or even a group with a different origin but similar theme (maybe they're fanatical Christians seeking Eden assuming that it will be untouched by Armageddon).  In fantasy, the group could easily be a cult looking for the Promised Land (in whatever form that takes).  In science fiction, maybe the group is looking for a pristine planet or hoping to build an impenetrable space station.

For an interesting twist, the group is just a group of fanatics with no occult power at all.

The Great Retrogaming Debate

Though retrogaming typically refers to computer consoles, I also use the term to refer to roleplaying games (though I saw the Chatty DM refer to it as the "Old School Renaissance" on this post).  Bear with me for a second while explain some meta-nerdosity.

As noted previously, I came to gaming in the late nineties, and started on the Storyteller system by White Wolf.  I came to Call of Cthulhu and the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and now my collection is so bloated that I'd be hard-pressed to unravel that tangled skein.  Regardless, by the time I assembled a group that wanted to play fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons, I had read a lot about gaming.  I was well-acquainted with the flak Wizards of the Coast received for D&D 4e, and even some of the arguments about it (namely that it attempts to emulate the styles of MMOs and computer RPGs in an ironic bout of recursion).  However, it wasn't until I started looking around for D&D stuff that I became better versed in the debate.

In planning the aforementioned 4e game, I had several players who were new to the hobby, and all but one are new to D&D.  They showed interest in dungeon crawls, and I decided that I wanted to include some classic references and classic dungeons to help the new players score a little geek cred.  Of course, this led me in search of the aforementioned classic dungeons (and I'm now amassing a weird little library of first and second edition AD&D books, and even a few basic/expert D&D books), which brings me to the present.

I came across this post about the Hickman revolution on the blog Grognardia (which I would be inclined to recommend, particularly if you want to know about the history and early traditions of D&D, as well as RPG retrogaming in general).  Go ahead and take a little time to read it.  I'll wait.

If you didn't read it, it's basically about how Tracy and Laura Hickman saved D&D by introducing heavy, story-laden modules (they're probably best known for the Ravenloft module and the Dragonlance setting).  Before this time, modules were comparatively simple, generally just being wargaming scenarios with little pretense as to why the characters are doing what they do, only that they are facing the dangers of what might possibly be a dungeon that possibly contains a dragon.  This in the hope that they become richer and more capable.

However, he then says that the Hickmans' meddling is what splintered the hobby into the various factions today, and that the hobby lost something through the introduction of this imposed story (it is now pretty much assumed that story elements will be included in any published adventure).

It's a valid argument, but I'm not certain I agree.  Admittedly, I'm biased; I went through the trouble of giving you a synopsis of my gaming background to so that you would know that I started gaming in the post-Hickman era.  However, I'm still not sure I can even objectively agree with the argument.  The hobby has people who want to play a game vs. the people who want to tell a story (I daresay this has been true since the beginning), and they still have that option.  Though the inclusion of story as an innate function of RPGs has occurred since AD&D second edition, and most games have a section on running the game that focuses more on storytelling techniques than charts and tables, it's still out there, and it's still talked about.  Most games suggest against it, but ultimately concede that there's nothing wrong with pure hack-and-slash gameplay if that's what your group wants to play.  D&D still has a section (albeit a small one anymore) about running the game as a pure game; you spend an evening running the monsters in the dungeon against the adventurers in a dungeon, and that's it.

Ultimately, I'm not certain the Hickmans depleted the roleplaying hobby by emphasizing story elements, as that's still largely the purview of individual Game Masters.  Though there's some debate about it, I hold to the GNS Theory, and suggest that there's a game for every type of player.  The game is still whatever you make of it.

P.S. If you want to make your brain bleed, feel free to follow up your visit to Grognardia to this post on Wax Banks, just to get a feel for the debate.  Like Grognardia, it makes some good points, but also features arguing on the internet (although, unlike Grognardia, a lot of the venom comes from the author).

Oh, the Places You'll Go

As noted, there are several places that do a better job writing about roleplaying games than myself.  This list will probably become more organized as time proceeds, but for now, here is a list of places I like to go.

Gabe's D&D Corner: Gabe (t/n Mike Krahulik) of Penny Arcade fame got into D&D around the time fourth edition was released.  He posted some stuff there, I believe primarily in connection with his campaign featured on Obsidian Portal.

Playing D&D With Porn Stars: A gaming blog by Zak Smith, also known as Zak Sabbath, from the online reality show I Hit It With My Axe.  He writes heavily about retrogaming and typically has good ideas for improvising game sessions.  He also has a giant listing of gaming blogs, so you can spend the rest of your life reading about gaming.  Word of warning, though: he is a porn star, and he plays D&D with other porn stars.  So it's not just a clever name.

Roleplaying Tips: You should subscribe to it and peruse the archives.  Every few weeks, they send a newsletter to your inbox.  There's some good stuff there, and it's worth getting a subscription (also, it's free, and they don't sell your email address so far as I can tell).

Unknown Armies: The site for my favorite game, Unknown Armies.  Though it focuses on that game, it's good for plot ideas for any modern/occult/horror/conspiracy roleplaying game.  Pretty much entirely fan-submitted, though it's hosted by one of the game designers.  It doesn't see much traffic these days, but the archives reach to the beginning of the site.

Yog-Sothoth: A fansite for Call of Cthulhu.  Once again, this focuses on that game.  Once again, it has things that might be useful for any modern/occult/horror/conspiracy roleplaying game.  Also features a wealth of information on the Jazz Age, the "default" Call of Cthulhu setting.

Project NEMESIS: I leave this here as a grave marker, a memorial.  This site went down sometime in the summer of 2011, but it's possible you might click the link and find it has been resurrected.  If you can find it or a mirror, it had lots of good stuff for One Roll Engine games as well as Call of Cthulhu (I wasted more time than I'd care to admit on the Green Box Generator, which is basically answers the question, "What messed-up thing do the player characters find in this storage unit?").

That's all for now.  Expect better organization sometime in the future.

Also, if you're having trouble finding a game, check out Constantcon over on D&D With Porn Stars.  They schedule Google+ games all the time.

Provoking and Maintaining Horror

I've seen a lot of things about how horror is hard to create and maintain, especially in certain settings.  And that's true.  However, most of the advice about running horror doesn't focus on those challenges.  It caters to horror's strengths.  That's not bad, but it misses out on some opportunities.

Even if you don't play horror games, most gamers have experienced horror.  It might be very slight — sure, everyone is laughing and rattling dice in a well-lit room, but there is a sinking feeling of dread when it looks like everything is about to go badly.  From the Game Master's perspective, you see it when things start accelerating.  Suddenly, the players are talking at once, as if screaming actions the loudest will somehow save them.

Chances are good that this wasn't a horror game.

A couple of weeks ago, I was running Seekers of the Ashen Crown when the players came upon a trap.  They're pretty well prepared for this dungeon, but they didn't necessarily know that.  All they knew was that the trap would attack every round until it reset, and they didn't know how long that would be.  While the party escaped more depleted than when they entered, they left the trap alive and without any long-term dismemberment.

That's a big part of horror gaming: as the GM, you know what's happening.  The players don't.  Even if they are experienced with the setting at hand, they don't have to feel comfortable.  Rely on description rather than identification.  Maybe the characters have seen (and defeated) eighty goblins, but in a darkened, shadowy hallway, it's "a small, loping shape, half-hidden in the shadows on the walls.  You think it's humanoid, but it's hard to tell.  What do you do?"

Another important technique is to use the characters' strengths against them.  This isn't something I would recommend all the time — players tend to get annoyed when they can't play the character they signed up to play — but it's sometimes effective to show characters in a fantasy or science fiction setting that their abilities may not be enough to save them.  This is particularly effective if their abilities are useful, but not as useful as they would normally be.  Maybe a race of beetle-things has taken up residence on their ship; the beetle-things' armor isn't impervious to their bullets, but they can take enough hits that one beetle-thing could probably take out one fully-armed space marine.  This forces everyone to conserve resources and plan the attack a little more carefully.

Basically, if the outcome is in doubt, but everyone feels reasonably confident, it's action.  If the characters and/or players aren't confident, it's horror.  Use that to your advantage.

Start

After careful consideration, I have decided to start a blog about roleplaying games.  I say, "careful consideration," because I do not think that my voice is terribly interesting or unique.  However, I have been doing this for a while, and may be able to offer some unique words on the subject that may help someone.  Maybe.

First, the obligatory question: "Who is this jackass and why am I wasting one more second of my time on his blog?"

I have been acting as a Game Master for thirteen years from the start of this blog, ever since I first obtained a copy of Vampire: the Masquerade, second edition.  My friends had not yet entered the hobby, but several were familiar, or at least intrigued when I explained it.

I have run two successful long-term campaigns, and am in the middle of a third.  The first, Imperial City, was a high-fantasy Mage: the Ascension game set in the modern day.  It lasted about eight years.

The second, False in Some Sense (which has its own blog on Obsidian Portal), was a Hunter: the Vigil campaign featuring several normal people battling the horrors of the (fictional) small town of Terra Lake, Indiana.

Presently, I am running a Dungeons & Dragons game (fourth edition, if you care about that sort of thing) called Crux of Eternity.  So far, I have used two published adventures (The Slaying Stone and Seekers of the Ashen Crown), but they have been altered slightly to fit into the larger campaign.

In addition to those, I have run six Cthulhu LIVE events.  I act as a player in live-action roleplaying games more frequently than I act as Game Master.

I am not precisely certain if any of that proves that I know what I am doing, but there you have it.  In addition to whatever thing pops into my head, I will probably also recommend other materials that seem noteworthy.  Hopefully it will be worth your time.