Venting

[melkathi]

As the title states, I just need to vent.

 

I was aksed to joing a short D&D campaign. The DM will move soon and he wanted one last chance to play this adventure he had written for his own setting, with a group of people who'd be serious about it and give it their best. So I said Hey, why not. If this is that one adventure. I think most of us have one of those. Something we put in a lot of effort but somehow never managed to really play to the end.

 

We met to roll characters. Well, not roll, he just gave us a set of numbers and told us to assign them to the stats we wanted. 18 16 15 14 12 10. Fair enough, whatever. We made characters and met to play.

Of course we disappointed him, the characters had hardly any background as this world he had created... he had a hard trouble describing it.

It was  a flat world, with a large tower in the middle, were it is rumourd the gods dwell. I made a mental note: flat world and gods on Cori Celesti: if I end up in a big city, keep out of any neighbourhood called the Shades. Also don't buy anything from vendors proclaiming that their prices are like cutting their own throat.

The world was small, comprising only one kingdom of five provinces. In one of these there primarily live half-elves. It houses the capital. Another is mostly populated by humans. A third has a big forest and a large elven population. The fourth province has a big mountain range. Noone goes there. Draconians live there, but we don't know that. The final province is strange. Almost in perpetual darkness, it is where the paladins train for the prophesied arrival of great evil.

And that is the info given about the world.

As the sun doesn't rise one morning everyone is worried.

Our characters each go about their business nontheless, when each of them see a glowing light in the sky. Three characters and a glowing light. For a moment I pondered whether I should change my character name to Balthazar, Melchior or Caspar. I also should have learned to do magic and been bearing gifts.

A griffon riding messenger of the gods appears and summons us to come to save the world. I hoped saving the cheerleader would be enough.

As we are flown to the abode of the gods, to the top of the tall spire in the center of the lake, I wondered why I was being taken to Isengard and whether perhaps I should change my name to Merry or Pippin. When we landed I controlled the urge to ask the first person I saw where Gandalf was, for I much desired to speak with him.

Gandalf was not there. Doc Brown though was. He had grave news. We had to travel back in time to save the future. Sadly the delorean had not been invented yet, it being a fantasy setting, so we had to undergo a ritual to travel to the past. We had approximately six days to do what had to be done and come back to the future.

In the past we landed outside the gates of Moria. The dwarves had designed an infuriatingly complex locking mechanism, as dwarves tend to do. It was made harder by the fact that these dwarves had not only been great spellcasters, they also were rather tall for dwarves and had installed the locks 50 feet above ground.

Luckily, unlike Moria, there was no lake or tentacled monster. Unluckily harpies started comming out of the clouds in waves. A screech would give us warning enough to react. I was quite certain that the screech was harpy speak for "Dive!" and that these harpies had mistaken this for the annual reenactment of the battle for the war rocket Ajax. The harpies had gotten the movie wrong though and puked all over us, straight out of the excorcist.

Eventually, nearly dead, we opened the gate and called it a day.

 

 

Thank you for letting me get that out of my system.

[nikolokolus]

Sounds like a colossal wank.

 

EDIT:

P.S. Hey aspiring GM's if you want to tell a specific story, don't run it as a game, write a novel or a short-story.

Edited January 20, 2014 by nikolokolus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Umm.....that is very weak for an original setting.

 

My original setting that I played with included detailed notes on major factions, gods, and nations. And I was 17 then.

[melkathi]

Umm.....that is very weak for an original setting.

 

My original setting that I played with included detailed notes on major factions, gods, and nations. And I was 17 then.

 

That was exactly my comment to one of the other players, after they brought up how unexisting the setting was.

 

This setting now included such highlights as : don't look at the gods in the player's handbook as it is my own setting and it has different gods. Ok. There are three of them. Ok. Which one do you pick? Erm... I know nothing other than that there are three of them? The middle one?

[Walsingham]

Give the guy time.

[melkathi]

He supposeldy is an experienced DM... And time? It is a campaign of a predetermined 5-6 session length. He doesn't have time. He has to be Kirk and Scotty in one: give himself deadlines and then tell himself he can do it in less

[Nonek]

DM boot camp?

 

YOU CALL THAT AN INTRIGUING QUEST HOOK MAGGOT? DROP AND GIVE ME D20!

 

Show me your Waaagh-face maggot.

WAAAGH!

Outstanding!

Edited January 21, 2014 by Nonek

[Amentep]

Umm.....that is very weak for an original setting.

 

My original setting that I played with included detailed notes on major factions, gods, and nations. And I was 17 then.

When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps?

 

The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there."

 

Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that.

 

Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there.

[Gfted1]

You're an excellent DM Tep. Some day you should resurrect A Dangerous Game.

[Malcador]

And a good DM will always let you torture an elderly married couple for information.  It was a 40K RPG, after all. 

[BruceVC]

 

Umm.....that is very weak for an original setting.

 

My original setting that I played with included detailed notes on major factions, gods, and nations. And I was 17 then.

When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps?

 

The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there."

 

Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that.

 

Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there.

 

 

That's a cute story

I commend your 10 year old effort

[Amentep]

You're an excellent DM Tep. Some day you should resurrect A Dangerous Game.

 

Awww, thanks. I like to think I learned something over the years. But just that one thing.

 

 

 

Umm.....that is very weak for an original setting.

 

My original setting that I played with included detailed notes on major factions, gods, and nations. And I was 17 then.

When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps?

 

The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there."

 

Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that.

 

Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there.

 

 

That's a cute story

I commend your 10 year old effort

 

I drew a map too! I wish I still had it.

[melkathi]

1) you were 10. And what Bruce said

2) You actually had an explanation on how the elephant got in there and there was proper cause and effect - the fact it dropped through the ceiling resulting in reduced HP.

 

That said. Sometimes running through a dungeon for the fun of it, without any other reason is all that is needed. Usually people do not pretend that it is more than that when they do. When I expressed to the specific DM though the worry we might derail his plot a bit, so he should let us know to reign it in, seeing how it would only be for a limited number of session, he told me not to worry because he had considered the danger and had that covered. When I would see the plot I would know.

That had left me with a bit of expectation. I was looking forward to how another DM handled this. Especially when he has stated that he had put thought into that. "You are chosen by God and transported to a location with only one exit" was a bit of a let down...

 

 

And I didn't even get into gameplay...

[Malcador]

Wonder if one could work QTEs into a PnP game. You could recreate modern gaming!

[JayDGee]

Creating worlds is something I have often been guilty of as a DM and it is easy to get carried away.

 

I'm guessing your DM spent a lot of time creating areas and adventures but perhaps never put as much time into the start of the game.

 

The intro can be everything to a game if your players are bored before you've even gotten to the plot something went very wrong.

 

I always try to only create the starting area. Let my players loose on it, try desperately to keep up with them and then tailor the rest of the world around their lunacy. When I think to far ahead I can lose track of the start.

[Amentep]

That said. Sometimes running through a dungeon for the fun of it, without any other reason is all that is needed. Usually people do not pretend that it is more than that when they do. When I expressed to the specific DM though the worry we might derail his plot a bit, so he should let us know to reign it in, seeing how it would only be for a limited number of session, he told me not to worry because he had considered the danger and had that covered. When I would see the plot I would know.

That had left me with a bit of expectation. I was looking forward to how another DM handled this. Especially when he has stated that he had put thought into that. "You are chosen by God and transported to a location with only one exit" was a bit of a let down...

 

 

And I didn't even get into gameplay...

The basic idea of putting you in the situation by fiat of god could work - except it sounds like he made it something you were forced to accept rather than being forced on you (like, say, having your characters and some NPCs awaken in the past with no clue how to get there and a magic scroll explaining what had to be done that you could then argue over).

 

Or your DM could have briefed you prior to character creation about what you know of the situation (the sun never rose) and knowing that your character has accepted a summon by the gods and started in the tower. Why you accepted the summon could be left to the player. Then the characters could be given the non-choice and all sent whether they agree or not.

 

It seems to me he's having a hard time getting the ideas from his head and across to his players (same thing I had with that darn elephant; I just didn't sell it in the right way).

[melkathi]

JayDGee, reread my post, the few lines I wrote about the world. That truly is all the information he gave us, even though people were trying to get more info out of him. The one sole city in the world had no name. The emperor of the one empire had no name (neither did the empire).

He may have put a lot of effort into building the dungeon for this adventure. But he threw together a landmass around it and a semblence of a quest into which no discernable effort was put.

 

My approach personally is very similar to yours. Probably the reason why now I have a very rich starting area and little else When playing my own setting(s) I always seem to have one truly problematic player in the group. The guy who, while being targeted at point blank range with crossbows, walks up to the local leader of the biggest criminal organization in three kingdoms and says "We were send to kill you. What do you have to say about that, tough guy?" (the npc had nothing to say. He did pull the trigger though)

[melkathi]

 

The basic idea of putting you in the situation by fiat of god could work - except it sounds like he made it something you were forced to accept rather than being forced on you (like, say, having your characters and some NPCs awaken in the past with no clue how to get there and a magic scroll explaining what had to be done that you could then argue over).

 

Or your DM could have briefed you prior to character creation about what you know of the situation (the sun never rose) and knowing that your character has accepted a summon by the gods and started in the tower. Why you accepted the summon could be left to the player. Then the characters could be given the non-choice and all sent whether they agree or not.

 

It seems to me he's having a hard time getting the ideas from his head and across to his players (same thing I had with that darn elephant; I just didn't sell it in the right way).

 

 

True.

But things went downhill from there in every other aspect as well, so...

 

Rogue: "Guys, I can see more harpies comming towards us. We better find a place to hide, so climb that wall there is cover above."

One hour of climbing later:

DM "You all see the large group of harpies now as they are getting closer. You better hurry!"

"Damn! How much time do we have 'till they reach us?" (expecting to hear a number in rounds)

DM "Hmm, approximately 2 hours?"

 

That is some awesome eyesight.

I think I should have renamed my character to Bravestarr

Melchior "Bravestarr" Brandybuck.

[Nonek]

 

Umm.....that is very weak for an original setting.

 

My original setting that I played with included detailed notes on major factions, gods, and nations. And I was 17 then.

When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps?

 

The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there."

 

Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that.

 

Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there.

 

 

It worked for Robert E Howard, classic.

 

Personally I too found myself as an unproven and ambitious GM crafting great worlds, mythologies, pantheons and constellations. However my campaigns slimmed down over time, becoming smaller, far more detailed and reactive with the players being known and having a background within the settings. My last really great campaign was set in a small crumbling rural barony, with an idyllic village as the players home, slumbering under the half ruined remains of an ancient watchtower, and all about a great sea of swaying golden wheat ripening in the sun.

 

I used a lot of Vaughan William's and Elgar to enhance the mood of the setting, and changed to more Wagnerian and Orff themes for when the players were involved in more dramatic passtimes, visiting the Watchwall Hills nearby where the ancient dead slumbered uneasily, the lonely wind whistling Ironmoor an accursed and barren battlefield of antiquity, the cool and dusty virgin forests of the Canthawud or the Ten Tall Men henge that arose in the midst of the great Goodmeadow Plains.

 

It was an attempt to make a setting of massive detail that the players felt responsible for, that they felt was worth fighting to preserve, and by and large it succeeded. There was literally no end to the detail one could cram into that setting, and yet it only covered a few leagues of land.

[Tale]

So were the harpies the first encounter? The big problem I see there is him wasting time if that's the case. He takes you through this explanation of a setting, all these details about the inhabitants, the city, the sun, and then promptly shifts you elsewhere that it doesn't matter.

 

The setting is not inspired, but that's forgivable. It just needs to be on track.

 

I've only been part of three tabletop games. The first one annoyed me when it kept devolving into purile humor about pee, poop, and sex toys. I don't know if that's a recurring thing in RIFTS, but everytime someone failed a roll they ended up interacting with one of those three.

 

The second one showed that I have no patience for arbitrary critical failures or DMNPCs. The game started with rolling a 0 meaning you dropped your weapon. The last session I attended had me roll a 0 causing me to instead hit a tree, which then promptly fell on me. And then there was the big bad we couldn't do any damage to until the Paladin NPC showed up and dispersed his shield, tanked the fight, and did the most damage. My character protested in the most mature fashion possible, by sitting down in a fire.

[melkathi]

So were the harpies the first encounter? The big problem I see there is him wasting time if that's the case. He takes you through this explanation of a setting, all these details about the inhabitants, the city, the sun, and then promptly shifts you elsewhere that it doesn't matter.

 

What details?

[darthdraken]

Venting is always good. Back story, actual ethoes, and solid character base is always important to me.

You can always tell a rushed job by flagging things from many other stories and places..

 

But if it was the GM picked one location. Merp, SW, earth, even a city and you slowly use places objects and names from that one ethos then discovering where you are can be fun as you get to relate to it and start to understand how that world works.

For me i dont mind if a GM uses any setting as long as its all of that setting so i know how the world works what laws are used, how people talk and who is whos enemy.

 

But a strong back story is the foundation of a strong adventure.