Tabletop Roleplaying Games and Board Games

[Guybrush]

I can't remember anyone getting really fed up. Of course I do remember displeasure with outcomes like death, but sometimes they just got themselves killed even though I was fairly generous with the warnings. You know, like low level characters exploring the dragon's den.

Generally speaking, I like to let the players control a lot of what goes on. Sometimes they do the opposite of what I want them to, but either I try to gently steer them back on the path, just make up something else on the spot or I ditch that idea and try to hook them on another I have ready. I've been writing a little bit today for an upcoming game this easter and, while they're not all fleshed out, I have 19 ideas so far for stories that they could somehow stumble upon. If they fail to get caught up in one story, they may get caught up in another. And as for how each of my hooks ultimately end, the conclusion of each of the stories these ideas may lead to, I'm happy to let the players influence them completely.

edit :

I remember some of my friends used to play under a different GM back in the days, the clichè pretentious GM that gives other roleplayers a bad name. He appearantly had a story which was so good he wouldn't even let his friends play it because he knew they'd just **** it up I have little respect for that sort of stuff, then and now.

[LoathsomePete]

That's the thing that I love about PnP RPG's, you could have an entire story fleshed out in your mind, but after one or two games your entire story could go out the window for a far more engaging one. I think that's what frustrated me so much with Supernatural, I felt like I had to do all the work leading my players from one encounter to another on an incredibly linear path. As I didn't have a full story fleshed out and with my players merely reacting to what was being presented, it really made it hard to have the story write itself, which is often what happens with more expansive games.

[LoathsomePete]

So here's a good question for veteran storytellers, how is the best way to do horror? How much detail do you need to put into your descriptions before you fall off the mark and just start wasting time? Is it preferable to play with the lights dimmed while music plays in the background to exacerbate the creepiness?

[Guybrush]

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

So here's a good question for veteran storytellers, how is the best way to do horror? How much detail do you need to put into your descriptions before you fall off the mark and just start wasting time? Is it preferable to play with the lights dimmed while music plays in the background to exacerbate the creepiness?

I'd say yes, anything that gets a mood going is good

I also think horror is much more effective when its something you can relate to and your characters are not able to deal with every situation they're in. I mentioned earlier in this thread how we'd played kids in a Changeling campaign some years back. That may have been the most effective campaign for me horror-wise. To a large extent, I remembered what it was like to be a kid and so when awful stuff happened, I felt like I could better relate. We were generally vulnerable and in over our heads. If you play a superhero (or D&D fighter or whatever), the dangerous and creepy seems less dangerous and creepy in my experience.

[LoathsomePete]

Yeah, it's a lesson that many indie video games are taking, sending a child into a hostile environment to create a real sense of horror as our natural paternal instincts kick in and we wish to see the child through unscathed.

I actually just got Changeling: The Lost so I may look into that next time I feel like running something with a bit of horror in it. Out of all my Vampire: The Masquerade games, I've never once felt the slightest bit scared with what was around me, more just anxiety whenever a fight had broken out. Although that game is more about personal horror, watching your character and by extension yourself slowly lose their humanity. Even that's hard to do though because it requires you to play a high generation character and that is never a lot of fun.

[hip hop bunny hop]

I did D&D 3.0 for a few years; however, we taught ourselves how to play and developed our own standards as to how the games were supposed to go.... so, our games were atypical.

Our biggest priority was always total freedom of the campaign, the ability to take anything anywhere. This made crafting storylines nearly impossible, but we still had some really, really cool times.

Our two cardinal sins were:

1) The DM altering encounters on the fly so we didn't get massacred/massively **** up.

2) Metagaming.

#1 resulted in us taking any and all encounters very, very seriously. This eventually resulted in us all maximizing survival traits, particularly the mobility related; it got to such a point we ended up having to ban "run" as a feat. This also resulted in us using quasi-guerrilla warfare tactics on a regular basis.

#1 also resulted in random encounters throwing us all off track. The best example I can think of is when we were sincerely trying to play a group of Good characters; we'd a good monk, a paladin, good cleric, barbarian, etc. The Paladin got pickpocketed, and realized it, so he quick drew and landed a throwing axe with a critical into the back of the thief. So, naturally, we went to withdraw the axe & money from the corpse.... but the thief turned out to be a child, and all the townsfolk saw was some random guy kill and then loot the corpse of a child. We then ended up destroying the town,

#2 meant we would only be given vague directions as to how the DM would take the campaign, e.g. "you can't be evil, and you will mostly be outside", "you're evil mercenaries", etc. So we didn't develop our characters in concert... so, you'd roll your stats with only the DM in the room, commit to a race/class/alignment, and then go make your character, without talking to anyone else about what they were making. This meant we had parties that were majority magic users, or - my personal favorite - when we had all monks, rogues & barbarians.

[mr dave]

Originally Posted by LoathsomePete

So here's a good question for veteran storytellers, how is the best way to do horror? How much detail do you need to put into your descriptions before you fall off the mark and just start wasting time? Is it preferable to play with the lights dimmed while music plays in the background to exacerbate the creepiness?

I think the biggest factor is the group itself. It only takes one knob to derail the whole thing and destroy whatever mood or ambiance that's been established.

Dimmed lights are great so long as it the game remains within it's more social aspects but having to roll for combat in a dim room is a pain. Though a focused light on a small area of the table could suffice as well.

Ultimately I think the main trick is to give just enough details to the players to get their own minds racing. Let them flesh out the specifics with whatever details they subconsciously provide when talking about the situations they find their characters in; then build on those ancillary details in later descriptions. Basically, play on the real world fears of the actual players to tweak the experience their characters have within your game. Obviously be subtle about it, listen to the random things they say, if a player says they hate spiders in passing... well, guess who's character might have an 8 legged surprise waiting on their face next time they rest.

I'd recommend against the music though, I found there's always one person who wants to show off their music nerdniess and hearing "OH! OH! This next tune is gonna be AWESOME!" kind of kills the mood... or even better getting up from the table with, "This tune is crap, I'm gonna skip it".

[Guybrush]

For horror, I'd also suggest to cut down on the dice rolling as rolling is simply not a scary thing to do and will only distract from whatever it is which is creepy. How much you need to roll depends a lot on which game you're playing (D&D vs. Innocents f.ex), but generally rolling only when you think it should be necessary may be a good tip.

Getting the players in the right frame of mind where none of them screw up the mood with jokes or whatever is also necessary and difficult. Sometimes you can just tell that it's not the right time and perhaps place for horror. But that's why I think that dimmed lights and perhaps even some subtle music is a good thing - if it puts players in the right mood. If it distracts, then it's obviously not a good thing.

[LoathsomePete]

I've decided to incorporate the topic of board games into the thread, I hope nobody minds.

Besides some of the mainstays like Monopoly and Clue, what are some peoples favourite board games? The group I usually play RPGs with has decided to take a break and wants to play good old fashioned board games. They have quite the collection so it's been a lot of fun. We played Talisman which is pretty much a D&D RPG but without all the work and they even got me to enjoy a game of RISK which is probably my least favourite board game of all time. On Friday we played an updated version of Arkham Horror which was fun but fucking confusing. The amount of pieces that make up the board makes Mouse Trap look conservative, and the rule book is so big you could beat someone to death with it. Still if you're into Lovecraft then the game is definitely worth a look.

What are some board games you like?

[The Batlord]

I got an old copy of Axis and Allies that's pretty epic. Unfortunately I haven't had anyone to play with in forever, but every now and again I'll break it out and play by myself with no rules. You know, "The Great and Glorious USSR defects from the Allied dogs to support Germany and strike at the heart of British Africa!" for several days until only one nation remains from the carnage and confusion.