(no subject)
Hey, wow. I guess I haven't updated here in a while, so here we go.
Still working on my RPG. Sort of hit a snag insofar as I realized I basically didn't have any core combat rules written down, which is kind of ironic given that those are the only thing I really NEED an RPG system for. Could almost be doing freeform, except freeform is shitty and awful, as some of you may have experineced.
I have a lot of theories about why that is, but I think the most credible is there's no real way to (consistently &) satisfactorily write characters in a situation where there is no cohesive backdrop, or characters that are outside of the player's control.
Simply put, there's no surprise (and thus no conflict) if you're playing all the teams at once.
Additionally, it's important (counter-intuitively, perhaps) to have a force keeping the spotlight off of the players at least some of the time.
I realize that this seems to go against the second Big Dungeon Mastering Rule - which is that under no circumstances should the NPCs overshadow the players or otherwise take the game away from them.
That's a good start, and it is important - but it isn't the whole picture by far. The major problem with DMPCs (Dungeon Master Player-Characters, for the uninitiated) is that they are typically better in combat than the PCs, or otherwise better at some niche job that a player was trying to make his own - which is obviously going to suck.
But if the DMPCs never surpass the players at all, you have interesting problems - like when neither the fighter, cleric or rogue can track the enemy through the wilderness and the DM doesn't want the NPC ranger to show them up by getting the job done himself. This can lead to sloppy solutions - having the PC who tries to track finding the target no matter how bad he rolls on Survival, for instance - and it can lead to breakage of the game.
So the trick is, I believe, to make sure that any NPCs have a niche - and one that doesn't step on too many toes.
Some players will be miffed anyway - I've had fellows in games who were genuinely outraged anytime their character wasn't solving all the problems. But this is, at its core, an attitude problem - and treating the symptom will only really reward the bad behaviour, and at best force the player to whine and feel outraged about something else.
I might not be the right person to consult about this because I have no problem culling my table down until it's two people and keeping it that size for years, but that's really neither here nor there.
Anyway, back to the spotlight issue - I can guarantee you that isn't going to be much fun for anyone to watch the other players strut and hog the attention all the time; and even if it starts out that way, people are going to get burned out and they're going to get tired of succeeding all the time. I'm not suggesting that anyone make turbocharged DMPCs - just that maybe a well-rounded story needs more than four guys solving/defeating everything every chapter.
In other news, this kid at work is being creepy as hell. Follows me around, talks about killing people. Not in a funny way, either - apparently Marc talked to some manager or other, so perhaps that problem'll go away.
I've been playing World of Warcraft lately. It's pretty awesome, and I'd be playing it right now were the current situation less unpleasant - I shall simply mention that not everyone involved in the protection my account have been as forthcoming or trustworthy as would be ideal, and leave it at that.
All fixed now. Alliance forever!
Still working on my RPG. Sort of hit a snag insofar as I realized I basically didn't have any core combat rules written down, which is kind of ironic given that those are the only thing I really NEED an RPG system for. Could almost be doing freeform, except freeform is shitty and awful, as some of you may have experineced.
I have a lot of theories about why that is, but I think the most credible is there's no real way to (consistently &) satisfactorily write characters in a situation where there is no cohesive backdrop, or characters that are outside of the player's control.
Simply put, there's no surprise (and thus no conflict) if you're playing all the teams at once.
Additionally, it's important (counter-intuitively, perhaps) to have a force keeping the spotlight off of the players at least some of the time.
I realize that this seems to go against the second Big Dungeon Mastering Rule - which is that under no circumstances should the NPCs overshadow the players or otherwise take the game away from them.
That's a good start, and it is important - but it isn't the whole picture by far. The major problem with DMPCs (Dungeon Master Player-Characters, for the uninitiated) is that they are typically better in combat than the PCs, or otherwise better at some niche job that a player was trying to make his own - which is obviously going to suck.
But if the DMPCs never surpass the players at all, you have interesting problems - like when neither the fighter, cleric or rogue can track the enemy through the wilderness and the DM doesn't want the NPC ranger to show them up by getting the job done himself. This can lead to sloppy solutions - having the PC who tries to track finding the target no matter how bad he rolls on Survival, for instance - and it can lead to breakage of the game.
So the trick is, I believe, to make sure that any NPCs have a niche - and one that doesn't step on too many toes.
Some players will be miffed anyway - I've had fellows in games who were genuinely outraged anytime their character wasn't solving all the problems. But this is, at its core, an attitude problem - and treating the symptom will only really reward the bad behaviour, and at best force the player to whine and feel outraged about something else.
I might not be the right person to consult about this because I have no problem culling my table down until it's two people and keeping it that size for years, but that's really neither here nor there.
Anyway, back to the spotlight issue - I can guarantee you that isn't going to be much fun for anyone to watch the other players strut and hog the attention all the time; and even if it starts out that way, people are going to get burned out and they're going to get tired of succeeding all the time. I'm not suggesting that anyone make turbocharged DMPCs - just that maybe a well-rounded story needs more than four guys solving/defeating everything every chapter.
In other news, this kid at work is being creepy as hell. Follows me around, talks about killing people. Not in a funny way, either - apparently Marc talked to some manager or other, so perhaps that problem'll go away.
I've been playing World of Warcraft lately. It's pretty awesome, and I'd be playing it right now were the current situation less unpleasant - I shall simply mention that not everyone involved in the protection my account have been as forthcoming or trustworthy as would be ideal, and leave it at that.
All fixed now. Alliance forever!