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Listening to old-timers describe RP in the 70s and 80s
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<blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 9179191" data-attributes="member: 6680772"><p>Moldvay writes that the game can be played with 3 to 8 people (i.e., 2-7 players and a DM), and demonstrates the Caller being used in a party of 4.</p><p></p><p>I personally require a Caller with groups larger than 3 players. I can handle 3 players without a Caller, but find it useful anyway.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Some folks never use Moldvay's Combat Sequence. Why split it up in phases? Just roll group initiative and let everyone say what they are going to do. Personally, I like to use the Combat Sequence. It makes things nice and orderly, and in my XP the game runs quicker and smoother with it.</p><p></p><p>It's the same with the Caller. Is it absolutely necessary? No. Are there other methods that work just as well? Sure. But in my XP the game runs quicker and smoother with it. It fits well in turn-based exploration.</p><p></p><p>Secondary benefits include: while the characters are not forced to work together, or as a team, it provides an explicit opportunity, every turn, for the players to huddle and engage with <em>each other</em>. I once ran a Basic dungeoncrawl for a group that was used to playing 4e. When we played 4e, and there was a battle, these guys shined in their cooperative play. Advice, assists, plans, all sorts of goodness. But when we played the Basic dungeoncrawl (initially three players, so without a Caller), they were unusually passive. Generally they didn't engage until there was something they identified as particularly within their characters' abilities. Or a battle. During exploration, they didn't talk to each other. If they came to a decision point, there'd be a bit of silence until somebody said, "Go left?" or something similar, and then everyone else would just go along with that.</p><p></p><p>After a few hiccups of the "No, wait, I was outside the room!" variety, I instituted the Caller rule. (The Caller rule is very useful for eliminating Schroedinger's PCs.) I was just trying to avoid the hiccups, but what I found was that having the rule brought out their natural inclinations to give ideas, plan, strategize, and work together. Just having another player, not me, asking, "What do you guys want to do?" made a huge difference. They would actually debate decisions, and even (and this was what I was trying to explain to Lanefan) <em>split the party or go off on their own if they didn't agree</em>.</p><p></p><p>By rotating the Caller, everyone gets a chance to contribute, even the quiet players who are happy to just hang in the background. And because they don't have any extra responsibility, other than to tell me the players' actions, they don't feel put on the spot.</p><p></p><p>It's not for every group, or every DM. I'm not trying to proselytize here. I'm just pushing back on the idea that using a Caller meant that players weren't individualistic, or were sheep always moving in lockstep.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 9179191, member: 6680772"] Moldvay writes that the game can be played with 3 to 8 people (i.e., 2-7 players and a DM), and demonstrates the Caller being used in a party of 4. I personally require a Caller with groups larger than 3 players. I can handle 3 players without a Caller, but find it useful anyway. Some folks never use Moldvay's Combat Sequence. Why split it up in phases? Just roll group initiative and let everyone say what they are going to do. Personally, I like to use the Combat Sequence. It makes things nice and orderly, and in my XP the game runs quicker and smoother with it. It's the same with the Caller. Is it absolutely necessary? No. Are there other methods that work just as well? Sure. But in my XP the game runs quicker and smoother with it. It fits well in turn-based exploration. Secondary benefits include: while the characters are not forced to work together, or as a team, it provides an explicit opportunity, every turn, for the players to huddle and engage with [I]each other[/I]. I once ran a Basic dungeoncrawl for a group that was used to playing 4e. When we played 4e, and there was a battle, these guys shined in their cooperative play. Advice, assists, plans, all sorts of goodness. But when we played the Basic dungeoncrawl (initially three players, so without a Caller), they were unusually passive. Generally they didn't engage until there was something they identified as particularly within their characters' abilities. Or a battle. During exploration, they didn't talk to each other. If they came to a decision point, there'd be a bit of silence until somebody said, "Go left?" or something similar, and then everyone else would just go along with that. After a few hiccups of the "No, wait, I was outside the room!" variety, I instituted the Caller rule. (The Caller rule is very useful for eliminating Schroedinger's PCs.) I was just trying to avoid the hiccups, but what I found was that having the rule brought out their natural inclinations to give ideas, plan, strategize, and work together. Just having another player, not me, asking, "What do you guys want to do?" made a huge difference. They would actually debate decisions, and even (and this was what I was trying to explain to Lanefan) [I]split the party or go off on their own if they didn't agree[/I]. By rotating the Caller, everyone gets a chance to contribute, even the quiet players who are happy to just hang in the background. And because they don't have any extra responsibility, other than to tell me the players' actions, they don't feel put on the spot. It's not for every group, or every DM. I'm not trying to proselytize here. I'm just pushing back on the idea that using a Caller meant that players weren't individualistic, or were sheep always moving in lockstep. [/QUOTE]
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