Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Forked Thread: Logan Bonner has some Questions....
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4502007" data-attributes="member: 40961"><p>I do agree with the basic premises listed by the editorial. And I think that a lot of other people do too, and are just reading waaaay too much into certain specific statements. I mean, advice to the effect that, if something isn't fun, you should avoid spending time on it? That's not really offensive advice. You have to read a fair amount in between the lines to conclude that its an insult to your style of play.</p><p></p><p>But whatever, the questions are fun. So I'll answer.</p><p></p><p><em>1. What types of game do you run?</em></p><p></p><p>Short campaigns with heavy theme. For example, I might run a campaign based on a war between two nations. Players would be expected to show up ready to go, with characters appropriate to the setting as I described it in advance. I would have already told them in advance what the setting was like so that they could make sure they fit into it, and I'd probably have even told them what squad or unit they were in, and to assume that they already knew each other- and possibly to consult while creating PCs so that they had pre existing friendships or rivalries all set for the first day.</p><p></p><p>I wouldn't do this dictatorially. If my players weren't interested in the campaign I described, I'd give it up and write something else.</p><p></p><p>Odds are that the campaign would cover only a few levels. In 4e, maybe I'd expand that to covering the majority of a tier. After the campaign closed, we'd run a different campaign with new characters, and put the characters from the war campaign on ice for a while. If or when we decided to revive them, I'd sit down and come up with something further.</p><p></p><p>The key here is that the world, as a whole, is NOT an organic, living, breathing place. But, because of the focus available to me in planning, the <em>part of the world the PCs interact with</em> is an organic, living, breathing place. I find this to be all that really matters.</p><p></p><p><em>2. What is the overarching goal of your game? What feel do you want and what experience should your players have?</em></p><p> </p><p>To have fun. Exactly what that means varies with the nature of the campaign. Some campaigns are purely experimental- I ran a no-combat campaign in 3e a while back (it was kind of a mystery plotline). Its ok to experiment and mess around if there's less long term investment. No one's stuck in a crappy campaign for years on end, or stuck with the task of repairing a fundamentally ill-thought-out DMing venture.</p><p></p><p>I usually try to use a fair amount of combat. I like to start every session with a fight, just because its easier to get the blood flowing if I do. It also allows me to end sessions on cliff hangers, with a combat about to start. Planning occurs, but it tends to be strategic- "We need to take out the hobgoblin siege weaponry, so here's how we're going to do it..." and usually leads to combat eventually.</p><p></p><p><em>3. Most importantly, what steps do you take to change the way the game plays, and in what way do they contribute to your goal?</em></p><p></p><p>I've basically given up on traps completely. Maybe I'll start using them again with the 4e trap rules, but overall I've found traps very unsatisfying and most of the times I've used them I've immediately realized that I made a mistake. They don't provide for enough opportunity for interaction, and its not as satisfying when they break.</p><p></p><p>I encourage my players to make plans out loud, so that I can hear them and make sure that the game world reacts in a plausible way to their machinations. I hate screwing up because I didn't entirely get what the player was trying to accomplish, and I made the world react in a way that, had I completely understood the plan, I would not have chosen.</p><p></p><p>Sometimes, when my players come up with a really good plan, it might completely negate the upcoming challenge or fight. When that happens, it often turns out that, unbeknownst to them, the challenge or fight was way tougher than they expected- and had they not come up with the awesome plan, they'd have assuredly lost. They don't know how many hobgoblins were going to ambush the supply caravan, so if I have to add two dozen more to make sure that even with their awesome plan there's still some challenge, it doesn't matter. Nothing is written in stone until the PCs have reason to know of it.</p><p></p><p>I'm not too proud to explicitly counter PC abilities, but I try to do it in a way that they'll feel that their ability worked. For example, suppose a 3e cleric has all kinds of investment in turning undead. In a fight against an undead horde of equal CR, he can basically incinerate them with a single standard action. Well, if that's the case then I just pad the encounter with half a dozen zombies. He gets to incinerate half a dozen zombies, then the real fight begins. He feels cool because he trashed all the zombies in one shot, and my fight isn't ruined.</p><p></p><p>I'm all about recurring villains.</p><p></p><p>That's about it. None of these things are crazy, new ideas, but they get me through the day.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4502007, member: 40961"] I do agree with the basic premises listed by the editorial. And I think that a lot of other people do too, and are just reading waaaay too much into certain specific statements. I mean, advice to the effect that, if something isn't fun, you should avoid spending time on it? That's not really offensive advice. You have to read a fair amount in between the lines to conclude that its an insult to your style of play. But whatever, the questions are fun. So I'll answer. [I]1. What types of game do you run?[/I] Short campaigns with heavy theme. For example, I might run a campaign based on a war between two nations. Players would be expected to show up ready to go, with characters appropriate to the setting as I described it in advance. I would have already told them in advance what the setting was like so that they could make sure they fit into it, and I'd probably have even told them what squad or unit they were in, and to assume that they already knew each other- and possibly to consult while creating PCs so that they had pre existing friendships or rivalries all set for the first day. I wouldn't do this dictatorially. If my players weren't interested in the campaign I described, I'd give it up and write something else. Odds are that the campaign would cover only a few levels. In 4e, maybe I'd expand that to covering the majority of a tier. After the campaign closed, we'd run a different campaign with new characters, and put the characters from the war campaign on ice for a while. If or when we decided to revive them, I'd sit down and come up with something further. The key here is that the world, as a whole, is NOT an organic, living, breathing place. But, because of the focus available to me in planning, the [I]part of the world the PCs interact with[/I] is an organic, living, breathing place. I find this to be all that really matters. [I]2. What is the overarching goal of your game? What feel do you want and what experience should your players have?[/I] To have fun. Exactly what that means varies with the nature of the campaign. Some campaigns are purely experimental- I ran a no-combat campaign in 3e a while back (it was kind of a mystery plotline). Its ok to experiment and mess around if there's less long term investment. No one's stuck in a crappy campaign for years on end, or stuck with the task of repairing a fundamentally ill-thought-out DMing venture. I usually try to use a fair amount of combat. I like to start every session with a fight, just because its easier to get the blood flowing if I do. It also allows me to end sessions on cliff hangers, with a combat about to start. Planning occurs, but it tends to be strategic- "We need to take out the hobgoblin siege weaponry, so here's how we're going to do it..." and usually leads to combat eventually. [I]3. Most importantly, what steps do you take to change the way the game plays, and in what way do they contribute to your goal?[/I] I've basically given up on traps completely. Maybe I'll start using them again with the 4e trap rules, but overall I've found traps very unsatisfying and most of the times I've used them I've immediately realized that I made a mistake. They don't provide for enough opportunity for interaction, and its not as satisfying when they break. I encourage my players to make plans out loud, so that I can hear them and make sure that the game world reacts in a plausible way to their machinations. I hate screwing up because I didn't entirely get what the player was trying to accomplish, and I made the world react in a way that, had I completely understood the plan, I would not have chosen. Sometimes, when my players come up with a really good plan, it might completely negate the upcoming challenge or fight. When that happens, it often turns out that, unbeknownst to them, the challenge or fight was way tougher than they expected- and had they not come up with the awesome plan, they'd have assuredly lost. They don't know how many hobgoblins were going to ambush the supply caravan, so if I have to add two dozen more to make sure that even with their awesome plan there's still some challenge, it doesn't matter. Nothing is written in stone until the PCs have reason to know of it. I'm not too proud to explicitly counter PC abilities, but I try to do it in a way that they'll feel that their ability worked. For example, suppose a 3e cleric has all kinds of investment in turning undead. In a fight against an undead horde of equal CR, he can basically incinerate them with a single standard action. Well, if that's the case then I just pad the encounter with half a dozen zombies. He gets to incinerate half a dozen zombies, then the real fight begins. He feels cool because he trashed all the zombies in one shot, and my fight isn't ruined. I'm all about recurring villains. That's about it. None of these things are crazy, new ideas, but they get me through the day. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Forked Thread: Logan Bonner has some Questions....
Top