Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5386285" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 212: December 1994part 2/6Hitting the books: Hello again, Eric Noah. Nice to see you. We've touched upon trying to make your campaign work like a novel or other work of fiction, but this is one of the longer and more detailed attempts at this we've seen in a while. So here's a step by step guide to how stories work, how you combine characters, plots, themes, events to make a coherent story. As a writing guide, it's pretty good, and has quite a bit of stuff that hasn't been covered in the magazine before. Unfortunately, it completely neglects the mechanical side of a role-playing GAME, and the opportunities and obstacles the rules present to telling a story in the literary mould. Apart from a reminder that the players choices should remain meaningful, there's a real danger that this could encourage DM railroading, by making them think they ought to craft a detailed story which has a definite beginning, progression and ending, rather than a world which can be interacted with in all kinds of ways. It does point out the standard D&D tropes of being a sociopathic mass murderer and thief, and encourages you to go against them, but doesn't say how, when the XP system is still built largely around violence. So as creative writing advice, this would be excellent. As DM'ing advice, it falls into the classic problems of 2nd edition, trying to change our playstyle without changing the rules to accommodate and reward what they want us to do. This is a big problem. Lofty ambitions need the right tools to fulfil them if you don't want to wind up just a frustrated dreamer. Adventures that improve with age: After the relatively new high fantasy advice, it's back to the dungeon. Dig up your old modules. Can it ever be as good as the first time? Actually, that's a very good question. I'm glad you asked. If you do it right, it can be even better! Obviously you can't expect it to be the same, but if you run it with a different party, or at least after a few years have passed to dull people's memories, then the thrill of seeing how they do things differently (and possibly worse) can make it even more amusing as a DM. That's the spirit. Make the most of what you already have, instead of constantly searching for novelty that won't really satisfy you anyway. Of course, there's always customising the adventure, but even without that, there's plenty you can do. If the randomness from changing players isn't enough, you could get sidekicks in to play the bad guys as well, removing the pressure to be both omnipotent neutral adjudicator and adversary. Yeah, I like this one, and it does have some very valuable lessons that we haven't seen before. We're not quite at the nostalgia boom yet, but articles like this are laying in the groundwork for it. Consider the consequences: Ah yes, this pattern again. Having led with some cool ideas, the third article isn't nearly as impressive. Things following on logically from previous events is just the way the world works. Well, as often as not, they don't, they just peter out because people are lazy. But a good adventure changes the world, or hopefully at least saves it in such a way that people know you did so and will be suitably grateful. (shyear, right <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />  ) The reset button should not be pressed, instead creating a new status quo with further plot hooks for future adventures. Technological advancements should change the economy, keeping the characters from getting complacent or pulling the same exploits over and over again without others developing counters. Unless you were raised on a diet of 80's cartoons where metaplot and character development were anathema, this isn't too controversial or surprising. Another one it's nice to remind the newbies of, but doesn't change my world in the slightest.  Bug city! Shadowrun metaplot at it's finest. This is the 90's, remember. We're still feeling the fallout from that series of adventures today. Tricks of the trade: A little more very 2nd edition gamemastering advice. It's not so much about the locations, it's about the characters, plot and story. Continuity is important, an in depth campaign has more than one plot element running simultaneously. Don't be afraid to lie to the players, at least IC, as after all, why should villains tell the whole truth? Once again this is system free roleplaying advice that does nothing to make the game better accommodate the playstyle. After 4 articles in a row, I'm a little tired of that. This stuff manages to be both crunch free and very dated seeming at the same time, which is not an easy feat, or a pleasing one to see accomplished. This collection does not feel like a good editorial decision.</blockquote>

Verification