D&D General Chekhov's Gun and the Hickman Revolution- What Type of Campaign Do You Run?

[payn]

So many problems could be solved if groups would just discuss what everyone wanted from their campaign beforehand. In addition to discussing it, when I first acquired my current group, I gave them all a questionnaire about what they wanted, and for example they all indicated what they wanted from play was me supplying stories for them to interact with, not them supplying the story. Since there were six of them this was probably for the best, since really a low melodrama game for me maxes out at about three players, but if everyone wanted something other than to be part of an epic story I would have run a very different game.

I too find this to be ideal, but players often screw it up. How so? I think its a combo of not being able to articulate what they want out of theme and mechanics. I think some of us folks that really love this stuff, like enough to talk on a forum during the workday about it, take for granted that a lot of gamers simply dont have that level of TTRPG acumen. They dont really know what they want outside of the most general play experience. Worse is many of them just want to play a game with their friends and go along with whatever the GM is enthusiastic about. Then, about half a dozen sessions in they drop the bomb that they just are not really into the game after all the GM's hard work.

Which is why I'm reluctant to sign onto an adventure path with folks I dont know. I need to know you can work within a box and be creative and have fun. More importantly, that you can stick it for the long haul and not abandon the game after a few sessions because now you want to be a chicken farmer instead of an adventurer (long story).

Right now I'm running a Star Wars bounty hunter game because everyone watched The Mandalorian and geeked out (and at the time I was running Call of Cthulhu, which I've basically learned doesn't work with this group because they want to be Big Dang Heroes and chew bubble gum and kick butt at the same time). But my game actually delivers on the bounty hunting experience in a way The Mandalorian just doesn't after about episode 3, because I know with this group a bait and switch where they start out as bounty hunters and end up on a noble heroic quest wouldn't be awesome for this group, since for the most part they also prefer to be amoral anti-heroes that are motivated by money and self-interest and not ideology. Which isn't to say that I haven't got them to double cross the Empire from time to time and work for the "Good Guys", just that mostly the character motivation is more, "How much does the job pay?".

That is why I have taken to actually running one shots, organized play, bespoke experiences as a way to introduce myself and other gamers to each other. After a few sessions and few different games I can get an idea on what folks like and their playstyle. I also been drifting from D&D because its hard to get players who want to be Riddick instead of Conan, or Shaft instead of Nick Fury to work as a group. God forbid you split the party too, which is exactly what anti-hero loner BAMFs are inclined to do.

 

[overgeeked]

I have fully converted to Ben Robbins' West Marches and Gus L's Classic Dungeon Crawling paradigms. That's how RPGs are meant to be played. As a game. With structures that are predictable and allow players to be proactive by seeking out and even creating adventures on their own, not passively consuming a pre-written story.

Who’s Gus L and where can I find his ideas you’re talking about.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

hard to get players who want to be Riddick instead of Conan,

Really? I quickly get bored with fantasy. And really, is there that much difference?

 

[Xamnam]

Looking for the direct quote, which, with such a well worn concept at this point and considering translation, is hard to find, I find two standard forms, attributed to a letter he wrote to a fellow playwright, and the memoirs of an art collector:

“One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” [Sometimes followed by: "It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.” ]
and
"If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on a wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there."

I do think the phrasing of the first is salient. There is a big difference between an empty and loaded rifle. If the rifle starts on stage, there is no knowing the status of it until it is mentioned or fired. Similarly, finding a dragonslaying arrow in the treasure of the last room of a dungeon tells you little about the 'intended' purpose by itself, versus finding it specifically protected, or in the active process of being crafted.

The other aspect worth highlighting is that this is Chekov's Gun, and not Chekov's Whiskey Bottle, though there are certainly situations that could result in that. As much as I love No Exit, plays are a dramatic medium, and the very inclusion of the gun in the limited presentation that a stage allows creates excitement. The characters are going to take action, and a gun generally presents a very high stakes means of doing so. If the only things hanging on the wall are a painting, a coat hook, and a gun, one of these stands out. The audience should absolutely notice these two things, especially if the director and set designer are doing their jobs well. One generally does not see a table in a scene, and assume that it will bear major plot-driving fruit. The location, presentation, and uniqueness of the object in its setting are going to drive how rewarding, or expected, it will be to see it used.

Generally, games should not unfold as plays. They have different motivations and mechanisms and goals, this is so obvious as to almost warrant not saying. But, humans are going to find narrative in both, and so tools for crafting satisfying narratives are worth considering. I myself am not going to make sure there are nothing but guns on the walls, nor would I stop them from melting down the gun into a new pair of daggers, but I absolutely want to provide the opportunities that are the seeds for resolution that feels all the more earned due to the story being, if not neat and tidy, at least more curated than the randomness of real life.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Really? I quickly get bored with fantasy. And really, is there that much difference?

I think the issue here is that Riddick became a hero. Conan became a king.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think the issue here is that Riddick became a hero. Conan became a king.

And neither of them wanted the gig.

 

[Yora]

Who’s Gus L and where can I find his ideas you’re talking about.

All Dead Generations is basically a book on dungeon crawling and exploration play.

 

[overgeeked]

All Dead Generations is basically a book on dungeon crawling and exploration play.

Ah. Yeah, I've read that before. Just had no idea the guy's name was Gus L and didn't recognize the title. Thanks.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Meanwhile .....


Excuse me, sir, do you have a Chekhov's Bun?

 

[Jack Daniel]

I run sandboxes, and I aim for that immersive, lived-in feeling to whatever extent that I can manage. A good sandbox is dynamic, alive, and full of content: a place where stuff happens that doesn't just revolve around the PCs; where if the PCs keep to themselves, bigger stuff will happen anyway; and if the PCs do involve themselves in larger affairs, the world responds appropriately.

A good sandbox is a simulated world that exists even when and where the PCs aren't looking. Blanks off the edge of the map and procedural content-generating shortcuts are necessary evils that follow from referees being mere mortals who don't have all the time and creativity that we should like to have; I long for the day when AI technology reaches the point that it can compensate adequately.

I have nothing nice or respectful to say about linear adventure paths. I've played through Final Fantasy and Mass Effect; I've long since outgrown all desire to replicate such deterministic affairs on the tabletop. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèsse-là.