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[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
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<blockquote data-quote="InfoSponge" data-source="post: 6038808" data-attributes="member: 6701686"><p>I'm running a pre-Halloween game of Dread tonight. This is going to be the second game of Dread I've run (though I am a fairly experienced GM for other systems).</p><p></p><p>My first game... did not go so well. I ran the "Beneath a Metal Sky" adventure from the book, and, bolstered by the constant recommendations of this as a great gateway game/game for newbies, I ran it for a group of 6, only 2 of whom were experienced roleplayers.</p><p></p><p>I found there were really two major problems I encountered — one was that the adventure (or perhaps simply my understanding of it) was too rigid. It reads very well, but I found the actual play of it to be mostly a lot of running back and forth around the ship. Go to the X section on the Y level of the ship, then head to the J section on the K level of the ship... repeat.... My players got bored and restless trying to figure out how to escape this ship full of monsters, and frustrated with what they felt amounted to a wild goose chase.</p><p></p><p>The other was that a lot of the players seemed to have trouble buying into the whole "horror trope" aspect of the game. They all decided to be calm, rational, cautious characters, and they all made cautious, sensible decisions. If you've ever seen a horror film, you know this is anathema! I struggled to find ways to spook them into action without tipping my hand too early. After all, the scariest things are those you don't see.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That was a few months ago, and I've had quite a bit of time to reflect on it and attempt to figure out a way to run the game more smoothly. I was impressed with the mechanics of the game, and felt it had great potential... if only I could make it live up to that.</p><p></p><p>Tonight I'll be running the official adventure "13", about a group of kids in a haunted house. I like this module for several reasons: I think ghosts are really scary, and feel confident in my ability to scare my friends with ghostly happenings; The module is a lot more loosely written, with events happening in locations that are not preset, but in fact, shifting; The characters are all kids, and not hardened, jaded, cautious adults who will avoid danger or panicked responses.</p><p></p><p>I'm also more confident in my group — it's smaller (4 players), and they're all experienced roleplayers.</p><p></p><p>I'm considering doing a full write-up of both sessions, and a comparison of them, after I run this game tonight. Especially if this one goes well. I think a rundown of pitfalls I ran into, and solutions I found for them is something that other GMs (or hosts, whatever) may find useful. </p><p></p><p>A recurring theme I noticed in this thread is "I like this game, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how to be a good Host. Can you help me?" and GMs responding with "Well, it's different. Your players do most of the work." While this is true, it's also not very helpful.</p><p></p><p>GMing a game of Dread IS quite different from running a more traditional game. It requires a lot less concrete planning, and a lot more improvisation and (above all) facilitation. And it's that last aspect I think is really important. Above all, the Host's duty is to facilitate the game and the players' interactions. This means using subtle leadership techniques to guide the players, reduce friction with the system, and (in many cases), with each other (unless dramatically appropriate of course).</p><p></p><p></p><p>Umm... yeah, wow, one long rambling post later, I bring it back to the beginning. I'm running a game of Dread tonight, and I'm running the adventure "13". I really really liked Uenomiac's "Agenda" mod. Only, I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with suitable agendas for the cast (8-10 year olds). I think seeing the filled-out questionnaires will help (I asked them to fill them out ahead of time and email me. Though I have seen some indications that many people prefer having them filled out at-the-table...), but I would love it if anyone had any suggestions for possible agendas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="InfoSponge, post: 6038808, member: 6701686"] I'm running a pre-Halloween game of Dread tonight. This is going to be the second game of Dread I've run (though I am a fairly experienced GM for other systems). My first game... did not go so well. I ran the "Beneath a Metal Sky" adventure from the book, and, bolstered by the constant recommendations of this as a great gateway game/game for newbies, I ran it for a group of 6, only 2 of whom were experienced roleplayers. I found there were really two major problems I encountered — one was that the adventure (or perhaps simply my understanding of it) was too rigid. It reads very well, but I found the actual play of it to be mostly a lot of running back and forth around the ship. Go to the X section on the Y level of the ship, then head to the J section on the K level of the ship... repeat.... My players got bored and restless trying to figure out how to escape this ship full of monsters, and frustrated with what they felt amounted to a wild goose chase. The other was that a lot of the players seemed to have trouble buying into the whole "horror trope" aspect of the game. They all decided to be calm, rational, cautious characters, and they all made cautious, sensible decisions. If you've ever seen a horror film, you know this is anathema! I struggled to find ways to spook them into action without tipping my hand too early. After all, the scariest things are those you don't see. That was a few months ago, and I've had quite a bit of time to reflect on it and attempt to figure out a way to run the game more smoothly. I was impressed with the mechanics of the game, and felt it had great potential... if only I could make it live up to that. Tonight I'll be running the official adventure "13", about a group of kids in a haunted house. I like this module for several reasons: I think ghosts are really scary, and feel confident in my ability to scare my friends with ghostly happenings; The module is a lot more loosely written, with events happening in locations that are not preset, but in fact, shifting; The characters are all kids, and not hardened, jaded, cautious adults who will avoid danger or panicked responses. I'm also more confident in my group — it's smaller (4 players), and they're all experienced roleplayers. I'm considering doing a full write-up of both sessions, and a comparison of them, after I run this game tonight. Especially if this one goes well. I think a rundown of pitfalls I ran into, and solutions I found for them is something that other GMs (or hosts, whatever) may find useful. A recurring theme I noticed in this thread is "I like this game, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how to be a good Host. Can you help me?" and GMs responding with "Well, it's different. Your players do most of the work." While this is true, it's also not very helpful. GMing a game of Dread IS quite different from running a more traditional game. It requires a lot less concrete planning, and a lot more improvisation and (above all) facilitation. And it's that last aspect I think is really important. Above all, the Host's duty is to facilitate the game and the players' interactions. This means using subtle leadership techniques to guide the players, reduce friction with the system, and (in many cases), with each other (unless dramatically appropriate of course). Umm... yeah, wow, one long rambling post later, I bring it back to the beginning. I'm running a game of Dread tonight, and I'm running the adventure "13". I really really liked Uenomiac's "Agenda" mod. Only, I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with suitable agendas for the cast (8-10 year olds). I think seeing the filled-out questionnaires will help (I asked them to fill them out ahead of time and email me. Though I have seen some indications that many people prefer having them filled out at-the-table...), but I would love it if anyone had any suggestions for possible agendas. [/QUOTE]
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[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
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