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<blockquote data-quote="Luce" data-source="post: 6063739" data-attributes="member: 29760">Play running-DM using a published adventure to run a game for himself, including creating and running multiple DMPCs. Some parallels to the “Choose your adventure” style&nbsp; gamebooks prevalent in the 80s and 90s.&nbsp; &nbsp;Some reasons in no particular order&nbsp;<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">There is only so much time for gaming, and while RL&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; emergencies should takes precedence when&nbsp; I had set aside a time for&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; rpg I would like to use it one way or another. In other words too&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; long of a break can discourage me from a game or lure me to a new&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; shiny. 
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<li data-xf-list-type="ol">There are too many scenarios/modules out there that I could&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; not possibly use them all in my game. So I play run some. Why do&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; that in the first place? Well... 
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<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Picking tricks&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; and ideas. Each DM eventually develops his unique style, but that&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; style need not be rigid, sampling different different authors&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; adventures (Dungeon magazine was especially good source for that)&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; may not be as good as sitting on their table but still can give you&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; ideas. For example, it may seem very obvious that having 1 level&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; adventure tie in the players into the setting is a very good idea,&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; but it took an adventure about a kidnapped PC elf's uncle (“Visiting&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Tylwyth” Dun 77) to show me that when I first started DM-ing. 
 
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<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Practice. When I usually run a game there can be a lot of&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; distraction so I tend to concentrate on moving the plot and top down&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; description. Play running offers me a non pressure way to&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; concentrate in other aspects such as room description from 1st&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; person point of view. After all there is no problem if it initially&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; takes me more them five minutes to come up with description of a&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; monster layer. With practice that time will be reduced. How is that&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; different regular adventure building? Well, it is supposed to be&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; more active scenario where the DM also tries to emulate the reaction&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; of the established DMPCs while striving for some consistency with&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the existing scenario. 
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<li data-xf-list-type="ol"> Just reading modules can be dull and boring, even the very&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; good ones. Some time back I sat down to re-read some of the my most&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; memorable scenarios. And I realized that while the writing is&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; important what really make them stand out in my memories ware the&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; players' actions and reactions.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 
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<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Sampling settings. Related on #3 above but this time seen&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; through different lens. I have not run a Ravenloft or Dark Sun&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; campaigns, but thanks to Dungeon I do have some exposure to them. 
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<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Experimenting with rules. New rules are often promoted by&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; having a tie in adventure or three. If you are unsure how they will&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; look and feel in play, well you can play run those adventures or you&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; can run an previously play run adventure with the new rules and note&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the differences. Time consuming I know, but sometimes a good balance&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; between banning or accepting new rules whole sale. 
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</ol>Not that there are not some pit falls&nbsp;1. It can be time consuming. However in my experience it is often the case not that we can not spare time, just that scheduling so 5-6 adults' free time overlap can be hard. When I cannot sleep I read a book, other times I play run a side trek or short adventure.&nbsp;2. The self practice can help, but one should not fool themselves to believe that is exactly like the real thing. I alike play running to kill house gun training, mimics better the real conditions then a outside range, but still not the same as when somebodies is actually shooting back a you. Player can and will get creative.&nbsp;Your thoughts?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Luce, post: 6063739, member: 29760"] [B][U]Play running[/U][/B]-DM using a published adventure to run a game for himself, including creating and running multiple DMPCs. Some parallels to the “Choose your adventure” style gamebooks prevalent in the 80s and 90s. Some reasons in no particular order [LIST=1] [*]There is only so much time for gaming, and while RL emergencies should takes precedence when I had set aside a time for rpg I would like to use it one way or another. In other words too long of a break can discourage me from a game or lure me to a new shiny. [*]There are too many scenarios/modules out there that I could not possibly use them all in my game. So I play run some. Why do that in the first place? Well... [*]Picking tricks and ideas. Each DM eventually develops his unique style, but that style need not be rigid, sampling different different authors adventures (Dungeon magazine was especially good source for that) may not be as good as sitting on their table but still can give you ideas. For example, it may seem very obvious that having 1 level adventure tie in the players into the setting is a very good idea, but it took an adventure about a kidnapped PC elf's uncle (“[COLOR=#000080][U]Visiting Tylwyth” Dun 77) [/U][/COLOR]to show me that when I first started DM-ing. [*]Practice. When I usually run a game there can be a lot of distraction so I tend to concentrate on moving the plot and top down description. Play running offers me a non pressure way to concentrate in other aspects such as room description from 1st person point of view. After all there is no problem if it initially takes me more them five minutes to come up with description of a monster layer. With practice that time will be reduced. How is that different regular adventure building? Well, it is supposed to be more active scenario where the DM also tries to emulate the reaction of the established DMPCs while striving for some consistency with the existing scenario. [*] Just reading modules can be dull and boring, even the very good ones. Some time back I sat down to re-read some of the my most memorable scenarios. And I realized that while the writing is important what really make them stand out in my memories ware the players' actions and reactions. [*]Sampling settings. Related on #3 above but this time seen through different lens. I have not run a Ravenloft or Dark Sun campaigns, but thanks to Dungeon I do have some exposure to them. [*]Experimenting with rules. New rules are often promoted by having a tie in adventure or three. If you are unsure how they will look and feel in play, well you can play run those adventures or you can run an previously play run adventure with the new rules and note the differences. Time consuming I know, but sometimes a good balance between banning or accepting new rules whole sale. [/LIST] Not that there are not some pit falls 1. It can be time consuming. However in my experience it is often the case not that we can not spare time, just that scheduling so 5-6 adults' free time overlap can be hard. When I cannot sleep I read a book, other times I play run a side trek or short adventure. 2. The self practice can help, but one should not fool themselves to believe that is exactly like the real thing. I alike play running to kill house gun training, mimics better the real conditions then a outside range, but still not the same as when somebodies is actually shooting back a you. Player can and will get creative. Your thoughts? [/QUOTE]

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