Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
I always make sure I know exactly what my character can do, what his feats do, what his skills do at his level of skillfulness. It's pretty much the best way I know to enjoy the game.
Game Prep - For Players?
- Thread starter Ostler
- Start date
Rel
Liquid Awesome
When I GM, I make sure the players understand "The Deal". The Deal is thus:
1) My world is complex and there will be complex plots and sub-plots. If you take notes and think about the game outside the actual game session from time to time, you'll probably figure out more stuff than you otherwise would. There is XP to be garnered in this process.
2) If you don't show up to the session with your character already "leveled" then you get to play him at his previous level.
3) Things you create outside the session that aid you or others in effectively running your characters are encouraged. Making templates for spell areas of effect, making index cards to keep track of spells, spreadsheets that help you organize treasure, etc. all qualify for this. There is XP to be garnered in this process.
4) Keeping a character journal contributes both to good roleplaying and good record keeping and is encouraged. There is XP to be garnered in this process.
5) Painting miniatures helps make our battlemat pretty and more interesting to look at. This is encouraged and (you guessed it) there is XP to be garnered in this process.
6) None of the above is required, ever. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. Your enjoyment of the game might suffer a bit and your character's XP total might suffer a bit. But it isn't required.
7) If you don't like The Deal, you don't have to play.
In short, I do a good deal of prep work as a GM and as a player. I don't require everyone else to do the same, but I reward those who do.
1) My world is complex and there will be complex plots and sub-plots. If you take notes and think about the game outside the actual game session from time to time, you'll probably figure out more stuff than you otherwise would. There is XP to be garnered in this process.
2) If you don't show up to the session with your character already "leveled" then you get to play him at his previous level.
3) Things you create outside the session that aid you or others in effectively running your characters are encouraged. Making templates for spell areas of effect, making index cards to keep track of spells, spreadsheets that help you organize treasure, etc. all qualify for this. There is XP to be garnered in this process.
4) Keeping a character journal contributes both to good roleplaying and good record keeping and is encouraged. There is XP to be garnered in this process.
5) Painting miniatures helps make our battlemat pretty and more interesting to look at. This is encouraged and (you guessed it) there is XP to be garnered in this process.
6) None of the above is required, ever. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. Your enjoyment of the game might suffer a bit and your character's XP total might suffer a bit. But it isn't required.
7) If you don't like The Deal, you don't have to play.
In short, I do a good deal of prep work as a GM and as a player. I don't require everyone else to do the same, but I reward those who do.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
BardStephenFox said:
Well, BSF, that's the beauty of the system: It's optional.
I'm not looking to force anybody to do anything more than they want. Not everybody in my group does that stuff either and those who do don't do it every week. But when they make the extra effort, they get the extra XP.
Kannik
Legend
Chime of agreement
As a recent DM (of a high-level campaign, no less) let me jump in with agreement and say I wish I had told everyone up front "please spend the time to know your character and their abilities before the game. Actually, drop the please." It's my own fault -- given it took the players some two or three months to actually get me their characters to begin with I shouldn't have been surprised, but the number of times the first few combats slowed to a crawl (and they do still) as someone looks up a spell, decides what to do, or whines that's not how they thought it worked is/was staggering. Of course, one player not knowing the _basic mechanics_ of the game didn't help either.
Indeed 30 minutes, once, is about all it would've taken. Read up on your character's abilities, your spells, know how things work for your character, mark your book, photocopy the relevant pages maybe, whatever. Seems fair to me.
Of course, I'm coming from the perspective when I play of doing many a thing to help the DM, so... I'm a bit biased in that regard.
Kannik
-part of the "Make an Effort" campaign
As a recent DM (of a high-level campaign, no less) let me jump in with agreement and say I wish I had told everyone up front "please spend the time to know your character and their abilities before the game. Actually, drop the please." It's my own fault -- given it took the players some two or three months to actually get me their characters to begin with I shouldn't have been surprised, but the number of times the first few combats slowed to a crawl (and they do still) as someone looks up a spell, decides what to do, or whines that's not how they thought it worked is/was staggering. Of course, one player not knowing the _basic mechanics_ of the game didn't help either.
Indeed 30 minutes, once, is about all it would've taken. Read up on your character's abilities, your spells, know how things work for your character, mark your book, photocopy the relevant pages maybe, whatever. Seems fair to me.
Of course, I'm coming from the perspective when I play of doing many a thing to help the DM, so... I'm a bit biased in that regard.
Kannik
-part of the "Make an Effort" campaign
Ostler said:
Not really, but you have to adjust your expectations- the expert players will take care of this themselves, since we enjoy it, and the guys who are just playing to have a good time, and have a less-than-complete grasp of the rules, will need a bit of help.
Last session, we levelled. Since then, I have adjusted my character sheet, written an IC journal entry, come up with a proposal for a prestige class for my character based on stuff he's been doing in-game, had it shot down, revised, hashed it out with the DM, finalized it, typed it up in a pretty format, worked on an excel sheet that will handle the alternate forms this class will give my character (it's a shapshifting class for monks), and am making up a specialized character sheet that can hold my most commonly used forms. This has all been a fun mental exercise for me, and I'm a programmer anyway so it's not like it's hard work.
One of our other players levelled up his guy before he left the DM's house so he could get clarifications on rules and stuff, and probably hasn't given the game two thoughts since then except to remember to show up next sunday.
We're both having fun, so why worry?
Okay, dismissive and insulting things like the "Chutes and Ladders" comment aren't constructive.
The fact is, not all players are rules-monkeys who can get all they need from reading and reviewing rulebooks and character sheets. Some folks learn and remember by doing. And if they don't get to do the thing very often, they don't learn and remember it so well.
Now, one is tempted to say, "Such plaeyrs should not play mechanically complicated characters". In some cases that may be the best choice. But I'll note that it doesn't help either the DM or the player grow. It can also lead to a dissatisfied player - a player can be good and enthusiastic about playing the personality and role of a high-level wizard, but simply not be too apt with the game mechanics. There are a lot of things the DM can do to help such a player.
Some folks do well with quick-reference sheets. A 20th level character usually has a huge number of options availbale to them. They appear on the character sheet in very short form. They appear in the rulebook in long form, mixed with lots of other stuff. An intermediary set of papers can be useful and keep down book-reference time at the table. List out the spell names and one-sentence descriptions, another page with spell range, casting times, components, and saves. Another with the character's feats spelled out, and so on.
Also, if it is a spellcasting character who has taken Spellcraft and/or Knowledge (Arcana), you can use that to help out. Those skills exist specifically to represent knowledge the character has that the player doesn't, after all. So, if the character can pass checks, you can give them hints on effective tactics.
The fact is, not all players are rules-monkeys who can get all they need from reading and reviewing rulebooks and character sheets. Some folks learn and remember by doing. And if they don't get to do the thing very often, they don't learn and remember it so well.
Now, one is tempted to say, "Such plaeyrs should not play mechanically complicated characters". In some cases that may be the best choice. But I'll note that it doesn't help either the DM or the player grow. It can also lead to a dissatisfied player - a player can be good and enthusiastic about playing the personality and role of a high-level wizard, but simply not be too apt with the game mechanics. There are a lot of things the DM can do to help such a player.
Some folks do well with quick-reference sheets. A 20th level character usually has a huge number of options availbale to them. They appear on the character sheet in very short form. They appear in the rulebook in long form, mixed with lots of other stuff. An intermediary set of papers can be useful and keep down book-reference time at the table. List out the spell names and one-sentence descriptions, another page with spell range, casting times, components, and saves. Another with the character's feats spelled out, and so on.
Also, if it is a spellcasting character who has taken Spellcraft and/or Knowledge (Arcana), you can use that to help out. Those skills exist specifically to represent knowledge the character has that the player doesn't, after all. So, if the character can pass checks, you can give them hints on effective tactics.
diaglo
Adventurer
EricNoah said:Ayup, some players have to learn the hard way that not being prepared or knowing how their character "works" has negative consequences...
The most effort I put into my prep as a player is right after the game is done. All of my hand-written scribbles with new inventory, used/lost inventory, etc. get inputted into the character's file in eTools and I immediately post a new version of my character sheet online. If I wait too long I'll forget something. Then in a couple of weeks when I need it again, I can be reasonably sure I took care of my recordkeeping and can just print off a new sheet if necessary.
I spend more time with spellcaster PCs than non-spellcasters (learning how the spells work).
me too. i keep a player's journal. i go back over it and make sure while my memory is fresh that i got all the important stuff down. like NPC names, loot we took, monsters we fought, spells we used, who framed roger rabbit? etc... my journal is 25 years old.
