tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.comments2024-01-11T03:42:14.622-08:00DemogorgonJacob Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01430458989025243478noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-67948619816071005092024-01-11T03:42:14.622-08:002024-01-11T03:42:14.622-08:00beautiful!beautiful!ighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05389416556930522795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-29225436041494600112023-12-01T19:16:03.110-08:002023-12-01T19:16:03.110-08:00Lots of great ways to feel atmosphere, setting, an...Lots of great ways to feel atmosphere, setting, and that good ole weirdness of a magical world. Great post!Bark Madlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12854493708582202471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-70614097693381526672023-11-18T07:55:26.622-08:002023-11-18T07:55:26.622-08:00Honestly, these tips are the rare kind that are fa...Honestly, these tips are the rare kind that are fantastic to both veteran GMs and newbies. Great stuff; feel like I walked away having learnt a lot here!Ewen Macalisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10459978219249467058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-89351353145972079642023-03-03T08:00:46.055-08:002023-03-03T08:00:46.055-08:00I haven't read the adventure, so this could be...I haven't read the adventure, so this could be off-base, but I wonder if the explaination that the goblins keep the toad well-fed is just meant to clarify that the goblins can traverse through that area unharmed. Which is a question the DM might otherwise have ("wait a minute, why doesn't the toad attack the goblins?").RabidHobbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12311851825409118094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-13303273277041983752023-01-28T22:17:17.242-08:002023-01-28T22:17:17.242-08:00Wonderful! Really loving the decadence and agony ...Wonderful! Really loving the decadence and agony vibe you've evoked.trollsmythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-85766808315804349322023-01-07T13:27:02.683-08:002023-01-07T13:27:02.683-08:00The bottom up approach is a neat twist.
Looking ...The bottom up approach is a neat twist. <br /><br />Looking forward to see how this develops upward!Deadtreenoshelterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18109223559705593102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-59454310999031891822022-12-23T10:31:49.473-08:002022-12-23T10:31:49.473-08:00Nice write up! And thank you for the Valley of Thr...Nice write up! And thank you for the Valley of Three Rainbows pointer! Be well!!rredmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17763363624372117238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-65962644475542167522022-05-21T22:13:37.638-07:002022-05-21T22:13:37.638-07:00Solid advice. The above example is not even an out...Solid advice. The above example is not even an outrageous one. Necessary clues and items gated behind mandatory perception tests are what really irk me.Tamás Illéshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11415717108941674663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-85918557997056963062022-05-05T00:41:39.618-07:002022-05-05T00:41:39.618-07:00That makes a lot of sense - it's almost like t...That makes a lot of sense - it's almost like the 'you see...' is an indicator of something that has changed or shifted in the gameworld rather than specifically describing their physical perception.<br /><br />There's something interesting in this whole point as well about how much you lean into the individual players' perspectives. I ran a game where a medieval carpenter was trying to see if a house fire had been started from the outside or inside. Instead of making her roll and then telling her the correct or incorrect answer, I instead asked what she saw when she looked. She told me it had been started from the inside for certain and her and her group began to behave as such. <br /><br />In this way her character's perspective became the truth they were working with, my own as GM wasn't the only "correct" or "objective" perspective in the situation. I sometimes feel this is the default position in a lot of RPGs: there is an objective world somewhere that the players are interacting with; personally I am not sure this is true or at least not fully true.Jonny Denhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00101121244542888326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-11638020699063878642022-05-02T23:24:32.779-07:002022-05-02T23:24:32.779-07:00In instances like that I think it's critical t...In instances like that I think it's critical to do so. To clarify, I said "you can see". It's absolutely going to be "you" because "you" are the conduit between the character and this world.<br /><br />The very important distinction though I think is: This instance of "you can see" is occurring after the characters have interacted with the world. They have wounded the orc. Badly. The situation has changed. The white bone is now visible. <br /><br />The places that sort of control is bad is when it comes as a read-aloud, or the setup of a scene. Where the players enter a room and the DM starts telling them how they feel, or how their characters are responding, or how their characters perceive, judge and then react (in a single chain). That's where it's bad form.<br /><br />Player: "I bang on the door"<br />DM: "You see it open. It makes a horrendously loud creak."<br /><br />That's a good situation/exchange imo. (Also, most of the people I play with use "I" when referring to their character, so I think it's only natural to use "you" in response, now that I think about it). They player did something in the world. The world responded. The DM describes the change.<br /><br />DM: "As you walk into the room you see bones on the floor. It looks like they've been etched with some sort of acid. The smell is over powering and you feel the icy hand of terror creep up your spine."<br /><br />No. That's bad. The DM should just describe the bones/acid/smell. The smell shouldn't be "overpowering" (unless there's some sort of failed roll). The DM shouldn't say the character is scared because that's up to the player. They may be playing a necromancer, who's actually excited to see useful resources lying around.Jacob Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01430458989025243478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-2703491174669750552022-05-02T08:53:38.797-07:002022-05-02T08:53:38.797-07:00Really interesting to see someone thinking about p...Really interesting to see someone thinking about perspective in RPGs as I think it's often overlooked part of the experience. In my own GMing I've been leaning into the "impossibility" aspect, accepting different perspectives as not more or less true than others (including my own). So if I ask a player what they see when I say there is an orc in front of them, and they describe their own vision, that feels valuable to me.<br /><br />In your first example of seeing the orc, you use that very common phrase 'you see' - which is this interesting example of how often when we are running games we take on the ability to control the very perceptions of the characters (not saying you are doing this, just as an interesting feature of gaming). <br /><br />Look forward to seeing any other thoughts!Jonny Denhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00101121244542888326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-842739639586592098.post-5618894585098882672019-03-25T06:01:56.977-07:002019-03-25T06:01:56.977-07:00Herzog's passage on the jungle is something I&...Herzog's passage on the jungle is something I've quoted and shared many times over the years, especially when I was running jungle-set games. It's such amazing eloquence on the horror of life.<br /><br />Also: when I die I want to be eaten and returned to the grinder, as payment for all the grinding I've done. I just don't want to be alive when that payment is made.Jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09648892955926127864noreply@blogger.com