Dannager
First Post
That is SO COOL
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Will Google Wave Play a Part in Your Game?
- Thread starter Dannager
- Start date
gamefiend
First Post
The Wave's the Thing
Hi! I am the dude of which Asmor speaks. Both he and Meek are playing in my "Revenge of the Waves" game. I've got a lot of cool conventions that I'm using, which I'm blogging about on At-Will. First post gives you a brief overview on what is amazing about Wave for your gaming, then I drill down to specific techniques (Like the skill tags, color coding, pruning, etc).
Oh, I should also mention that I'll be starting a contest soon. Basically, you tell me what game you want to run on wave, and the best game pitches get wave invites. I'm still gathering a few extra invites for this though, but keep tuned in.
Hi! I am the dude of which Asmor speaks. Both he and Meek are playing in my "Revenge of the Waves" game. I've got a lot of cool conventions that I'm using, which I'm blogging about on At-Will. First post gives you a brief overview on what is amazing about Wave for your gaming, then I drill down to specific techniques (Like the skill tags, color coding, pruning, etc).
Oh, I should also mention that I'll be starting a contest soon. Basically, you tell me what game you want to run on wave, and the best game pitches get wave invites. I'm still gathering a few extra invites for this though, but keep tuned in.
Hawke
Explorer
Running wave side treks during a 2 week hiatus right now. Players are split off into smaller groups (avoids waiting on people as much). Any idea for puzzles/riddles/etc that might work well in a wave?
Anyone have a clever usage of wave gadgets for a puzzle type thing?
Since it's a character side trek for my wednesday night game, we're really focusing heavily on the rp/noncombat nature of the game. While there may be a combat "encounter" (no more than 2 rolls) at some point, we're trying to save that stuff for when we resume and use this to flesh out some backstory. So far, wave has been great for dropping in images and media and telling good stories, but just trying to up it a bit.
Anyone have a clever usage of wave gadgets for a puzzle type thing?
Since it's a character side trek for my wednesday night game, we're really focusing heavily on the rp/noncombat nature of the game. While there may be a combat "encounter" (no more than 2 rolls) at some point, we're trying to save that stuff for when we resume and use this to flesh out some backstory. So far, wave has been great for dropping in images and media and telling good stories, but just trying to up it a bit.
Dannager
First Post
So I'm juggling an idea in my head involving how to best incorporate Wave use into a normal weekly face-to-face game.
The gist of it is that each week, the DM decides on a portion of that week's game session to focus on. This might be a tavern scene, a negotiation with a king, or any number of other scenarios. The trick is, the scenario should be rules-light. The occasional skill check is fine, but it's got to be a scenario in which combat is not expected.
You would then set aside the majority of the interaction in this scene for after the game. This obviously works best if the scene would occur at the very end of the game session, but even if it would take place in the middle, you should resolve it quickly and abstractly, and then move on (making it clear that the scene is that week's "Wave Scene"). The idea would be that in the following week, between games, you would play that scene out in much greater detail in a wave. Players would be encouraged to participate as a way to flesh their character interaction out.
This accomplishes a couple of things. First, it leverages the current strengths of Wave technology without needing to be affected by its current shortcomings - you are playing out an interaction-heavy scene over the course of a week, so players can be as verbose and inquisitive as they'd like, and since combat won't take place in the wave there's no need for troublesome battle map jury-rigging. The DM can freely monitor this wave and call for skill checks (using the "tagging" technique described above by Asmor and gamefiend). By the time the next week's game session rolls around, you can print out a copy of the wave to have handy for those who may have missed out on it.
What's important here isn't necessarily that the scene in question be vital to the plot of the adventure; in fact, if it's relatively inconsequential that's almost a plus. You're doing this to allow your players and yourself the chance to engage in some strong character interaction while away from the game table, satisfying that need in a way that accommodates it well, so that while you're at the game table you can use the limited time available to take part in portions of the game that are better played face-to-face (like dungeon exploring, and combat encounters). Because of this, it's not vital that there be important decision points during this between-game interaction; indeed, this may be impossible if the "Wave Scene" is one that was glossed over during the actual game session (so, in effect, you are simply "filling in the gaps" retroactively).
As an example of something I may end up using soon in one of my games, imagine that the party fights its way to the bottom of an ancient underground structure where they find a massive library. At the end of the game session, the party decides to spend some time in the forgotten library, researching some of the mysteries of the campaign and discussing their next move. This would be well-handled by a "Wave Scene". The party can discuss their actions and ask questions in detail, and the DM can monitor the goings-on and call for Arcana checks when someone decides to look into a particular magical ritual, for instance. Because the entire party is engaging in the same scene, they can all participate if they wish between games. If one player is unable to devote any time to the "Wave Scene", he or she doesn't miss anything critical; they can always watch the scene unfold later, or read a summary at the next game.
As another example, say the party is invited to a feast in their honor for doing a great service for the town. The DM can gloss over the event, describing it in vague detail, and proceed with the events of the campaign by declaring that the feast will be this week's "Wave Scene". The game can move on that week without needing to resolve the details of the feast, and the feast can be expanded upon during the players' downtime during the rest of the week, as much or as little as they would like.
Thoughts?
The gist of it is that each week, the DM decides on a portion of that week's game session to focus on. This might be a tavern scene, a negotiation with a king, or any number of other scenarios. The trick is, the scenario should be rules-light. The occasional skill check is fine, but it's got to be a scenario in which combat is not expected.
You would then set aside the majority of the interaction in this scene for after the game. This obviously works best if the scene would occur at the very end of the game session, but even if it would take place in the middle, you should resolve it quickly and abstractly, and then move on (making it clear that the scene is that week's "Wave Scene"). The idea would be that in the following week, between games, you would play that scene out in much greater detail in a wave. Players would be encouraged to participate as a way to flesh their character interaction out.
This accomplishes a couple of things. First, it leverages the current strengths of Wave technology without needing to be affected by its current shortcomings - you are playing out an interaction-heavy scene over the course of a week, so players can be as verbose and inquisitive as they'd like, and since combat won't take place in the wave there's no need for troublesome battle map jury-rigging. The DM can freely monitor this wave and call for skill checks (using the "tagging" technique described above by Asmor and gamefiend). By the time the next week's game session rolls around, you can print out a copy of the wave to have handy for those who may have missed out on it.
What's important here isn't necessarily that the scene in question be vital to the plot of the adventure; in fact, if it's relatively inconsequential that's almost a plus. You're doing this to allow your players and yourself the chance to engage in some strong character interaction while away from the game table, satisfying that need in a way that accommodates it well, so that while you're at the game table you can use the limited time available to take part in portions of the game that are better played face-to-face (like dungeon exploring, and combat encounters). Because of this, it's not vital that there be important decision points during this between-game interaction; indeed, this may be impossible if the "Wave Scene" is one that was glossed over during the actual game session (so, in effect, you are simply "filling in the gaps" retroactively).
As an example of something I may end up using soon in one of my games, imagine that the party fights its way to the bottom of an ancient underground structure where they find a massive library. At the end of the game session, the party decides to spend some time in the forgotten library, researching some of the mysteries of the campaign and discussing their next move. This would be well-handled by a "Wave Scene". The party can discuss their actions and ask questions in detail, and the DM can monitor the goings-on and call for Arcana checks when someone decides to look into a particular magical ritual, for instance. Because the entire party is engaging in the same scene, they can all participate if they wish between games. If one player is unable to devote any time to the "Wave Scene", he or she doesn't miss anything critical; they can always watch the scene unfold later, or read a summary at the next game.
As another example, say the party is invited to a feast in their honor for doing a great service for the town. The DM can gloss over the event, describing it in vague detail, and proceed with the events of the campaign by declaring that the feast will be this week's "Wave Scene". The game can move on that week without needing to resolve the details of the feast, and the feast can be expanded upon during the players' downtime during the rest of the week, as much or as little as they would like.
Thoughts?
darjr
I crit!
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