Suggestion Box

[mithrandir138]

Put your suggestions here: Open and honest communication is the goal. I want this to be an awesome game that we all will remember. I need feedback to make sure I am hitting the mark.

* Fear no consequence.
* Be brutally honest.

If you don't fell comfortable posting here, please PM me.

[mithrandir138]

To start some conversation: Here's how I am approaching the tone of game (or, more accurately, what I am aiming for): "Immersive storytelling with realism with a mixture of high-action in combat."

This can sometimes result in a game were it may take longer for "things to happen" if character interaction is low. If this isn't where you think we should be please voice your opinion and make suggestions. If you think this is OK, no response is needed. If you have suggestions on how to make this better, please let me know, as well.

Thanks!

[Blazeguard]

Could you maybe explain a little more exactly what you mean by "immersive storytelling"?
As someone who is relatively new to all of this I'm not sure I know quite what you mean.

For what it's worth I am enjoying the game so far.

[jdluna]

I think when we reach an area where we are not moving it may be good to force our hand. Like right now we seem a bit unsure on how to handle the situation with trying to leave the city without being noticed by the spy or other towns folk for that matter. You don't need to make the decisions for us but maybe narrow down the options and create a fight or flight situation. Does that make sense?

I think once we get a better feel for how the game is progressing and we interact more and the leaders bubble to the top, we'll be more decisive, but to get this game out of the gate without stalling, you may need to light a fire or two.

I think you're doing a bang up job btw, thanks for putting this together.

[mithrandir138]

Could you maybe explain a little more exactly what you mean by "immersive storytelling"?
As someone who is relatively new to all of this I'm not sure I know quite what you mean.

For what it's worth I am enjoying the game so far.

No problem -- below is an excerpt of what "Deep-immersion Storytelling" is from the D&D 3.5 DMG (it's the best example I can think of at the moment). I am glad to hear you like how it is going so far, that's encouraging


DEEP-IMMERSION STORYTELLING
The Free City of Greyhawk is threatened by political turmoil. The PCs must convince the members of the ruling council to resolve their differences, but can only do so after they have come to terms with their own differing outlooks and agendas. This style of gam- ing is deep, complex, and challenging. The focus isn’t on combat but on talking, developing in-depth personas, and character inter- action. A whole game session may pass without a single die roll.

In this style of game, the NPCs should be as complex and richly detailed as the PCs—although the focus should be on motivation and personality, not game statistics. Expect long digressions from each player about what his or her character will do, and why. Going to a store to buy iron rations and rope can be as important an encounter as fighting orcs. (And don’t expect the PCs to fight the orcs at all unless their characters are motivated to do so.) A character will sometimes take actions against his player’s better judgment, because “that’s what the character would do.” Adven- tures in this style of play deal mostly with negotiations, political maneuverings, and character interaction. Players talk about the “story” that they are collectively creating.

Rules become less important in this style. Since combat isn’t the focus, game mechanics take a back seat to character development. Skill modifiers take precedence over combat bonuses, and even then the actual numbers often don’t mean much. Feel free to change rules to fit the player’s roleplaying needs. You may even want to streamline the combat system so that it takes less time away from the story.

[mithrandir138]

I think when we reach an area where we are not moving it may be good to force our hand. Like right now we seem a bit unsure on how to handle the situation with trying to leave the city without being noticed by the spy or other towns folk for that matter. You don't need to make the decisions for us but maybe narrow down the options and create a fight or flight situation. Does that make sense?

I think once we get a better feel for how the game is progressing and we interact more and the leaders bubble to the top, we'll be more decisive, but to get this game out of the gate without stalling, you may need to light a fire or two.

This seems fair enough -- I will copy and paste something that I said in a PM to someone else to make sure the message/my point of view is consistent (so forgive any tense or context problems or anything like that):

I want to keep the group's communication/interaction pretty high.

As far as "what to do next" -- there are a lot of options. I don't want to railroad the group if I don't have to. There are enough things to keep us busy in Malforten and the surrounding area. I want the group to manage what we do, if that's possible. I kinda want people to discuss things (which I have seen a bit of) in the OOC thread amongst themselves and ask questions, and decide what we should do as a group. To me, that would be more fun than me leading the group around by the nose, but I am not sure what type of sessions people like. I am cool with running the game in whatever way people want, as long as I have fun, too

The funnest games I have ever played were ones where I felt immersed in the environment and had a stake in what happened. The worst games I have had are railroaded into doing whatever the GM wanted and were basically prescriptive. But thats MY opinion, and I understand people are different and enjoy different things. I am just trying to figure out how to strike the balance

I am all for making sure that the group has clear options, if that's what you guys need. I can do whatever. I just don't want you guys to be bored in a "choose from this limited list of stuff to do" scenario. My hopes are that we can tell this story together, and you guys surprise me with stuff that I didn't think of -- this helps keep me sharp as a DM and makes for a dynamic game where we all have a hand in how the story is told. However, I have zero problems with "priming the pump" if we need to so that things run smoothly. Like I have said before: I want this game to be awesome and something we all remember. Not something that we forget like it was a video game

I think you're doing a bang up job btw, thanks for putting this together.

I truly wasn't fishing for complements, but I will take them if they jump in the boat Thanks!

[Blazeguard]

DEEP-IMMERSION STORYTELLING
The Free City of Greyhawk is threatened by political turmoil. The PCs must convince the members of the ruling council to resolve their differences, but can only do so after they have come to terms with their own differing outlooks and agendas. This style of gam- ing is deep, complex, and challenging. The focus isn’t on combat but on talking, developing in-depth personas, and character inter- action. A whole game session may pass without a single die roll.

In this style of game, the NPCs should be as complex and richly detailed as the PCs—although the focus should be on motivation and personality, not game statistics. Expect long digressions from each player about what his or her character will do, and why. Going to a store to buy iron rations and rope can be as important an encounter as fighting orcs. (And don’t expect the PCs to fight the orcs at all unless their characters are motivated to do so.) A character will sometimes take actions against his player’s better judgment, because “that’s what the character would do.” Adven- tures in this style of play deal mostly with negotiations, political maneuverings, and character interaction. Players talk about the “story” that they are collectively creating.

Rules become less important in this style. Since combat isn’t the focus, game mechanics take a back seat to character development. Skill modifiers take precedence over combat bonuses, and even then the actual numbers often don’t mean much. Feel free to change rules to fit the player’s roleplaying needs. You may even want to streamline the combat system so that it takes less time away from the story.

Ok, that gives me a better idea of what you're going for. It may take me a bit to get into it as I don't consider myself to be very 'creative' but that's one of the reasons why I wanted to get into role-playing, to kind of flex those creative muscles so to speak. I am definitely up for the challenge.

[mithrandir138]

I am definitely up for the challenge.

Good to hear! I will try to find some resources to help you out.

[mithrandir138]

I am definitely up for the challenge.

Good to hear! I will try to find some resources to help you out.

Ok, it took me some time and discussion to find these videos to help people. This author of these videos is awesome and crazy. Sometimes I feel like some people might find him abrasive and demanding of his players, but he seems to tell it like it is. I like to think that I strive to run games the way he describes (with immersion and feeling instead of just a numbers game.) These videos are somewhat long, but I think they will help people understand the type of game that I want to run and will help people become better roleplayers. Take what you will from the videos, ignore what you don't like -- just know that more often than not, I seem to agree with what he is saying as a DM. Don't take what he is saying as demands from me or anything, they are just helpful resources and I am providing them to you because I care and want this game to be awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx3B33FxKDk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYO2K3mVdMg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbh9Q8ibWr8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51OoiL61N0