Tacos

"Going out for tacos" : action: When players decide to go completely off the rails from a plot hook in order to do their own thing.

Of Course!

So years ago I was in a game that our group tracked down this evil lord across the planes and we finally cornered him at his castle. This was our arch nemesis. We had been commissioned by the great god of nature and magic "Joe-bob" to defeat him. We had stopped his army before and now he was in his home consolidating power. He was going to take over the world.

  We grouped up in the village outside the castle and I remember the DM asking us "Alright so how are you getting into the castle?"

Get into the castle? So soon? Why would we do that? There is a whole village here to explore and get information about!  My character, the alchemist, and his party actually all donned disguises and opened up a small shop selling trinkets. We called it "A-mage-ing stuff'n'things".  

So while the DM had prepared for the big invasion that night, ready to end the whole year long campaign that night or the night after: we squeezed out over a month more of plot by finding a balance between running our little shot and slowly undermining and spying on our enemy.

I told one of my friends in college about this and he said something that immediately stuck within my gaming group: "Oh, they went for tacos."

"Went for tacos? What do you mean?"

¡Yo Quiero Taco Bell!

"My players did something like that. I was prepared to get them to do something, they were already seemingly on board and then I said 'Okay guys, lets do this" and one of my players just said "Nope, forget that, instead we are going to Taco bell! Yep we are going to just relax and order some tacos and maybe a few chalupas! And you know what you are going to do, you are going to have ninjas drop down from the ceiling while we are trying to eat. Cause there is no way we should be able to get away with that."

And thus the term "going for tacos" was born. From his group to mine and now to yours!

Some last things to keep in mind

As a DM: Your players will on occasion go out for tacos. This is one of the reasons why I mentioned that you shouldn't over commit your time on specifics for the game. If you want to shy players away from going out for tacos, there is one little trick I found that keeps the players focused: a time limit. Make sure they realize that yes, they are allowed to explore other places, but the clock is ticking. as soon as players feel like they have an actually limited time frame to work in, they can get focused really quickly.

With that said, not shy away from it all the time. As soon as your players roll up their characters, the rp world is not yours alone. If they show interest in something you originally didn't think they would, try your best to roll with it.

As a PC: Use tacos sparingly. At best they can be used to explore and expand the game worlds, in new and exciting ways that not even the DM foresaw. To use them this way, latch onto a minor detail that the DM threw to you as flavor, and investigate it further (as our group did with that village).

But just like their name-sake, tacos every time gets old very fast. They are a sometimes food. Your DM does do work to plan things out so make sure to make sure that his preparations are not completely wasted.

Until next time Facedowners! May you enjoy the delicious taste of tacos while fighting off ninja.

"You'll take my crunchy tacos over my dead body!"
But seriously, NPH is awesome.

Inside the Mind of a PC

Since I am currently playing in two games currently, one as the DM and one as a PC, I thought I would switch gears a bit and talk about my experiences on the other side of the table. While the "Inside the Mind of a DM" will probably be more informative overall, since I think less people see that side of the game, I think it is easy for DMs to forget what it is like for players sometimes. Also there are certain traps that players can fall into that can cause conflict.

Below is a list of thoughts that I believe should be running through every player's head.

1: "My character makes a difference in the world around him." 

"In roleplaying games in general, the DM will create a world around the players, while the players will interact with said world." This means both sides need to have some responsibilities here. The PCs are the main characters in a story. If the world is so static that nothing the player could do would ever change it in the slightest... why is there a story about this person? On the flip side, as a player, I need to make sure my character is going to go out and try to make a difference. It is one thing to be a reluctant hero that needs to be pushed into it, it is another to constantly be doing nothing. Again, the question should be "why is there a story about this person?"

2: "My character has his own goals and motivations."

The character I play on Saturdays has two simple motivations: protect those weaker then him, and prove his superiority. Because of the interaction of those two simple motivations, he goes out of his way to protect the rest of the party, but he also tends to get on their nerves a bit as well (when having a character with charisma as a dump stat, play it up a bit.) He isn't motivated by money or not even really fame. He believes he is better than the "mind-blinds" for being psionic. That doesn't mean he doesn't like them, and he has already grown a bit as he is forced to see them pulling off things that he couldn't do (150 points of damage from a volley of arrows.)

3: "My character will respect the goals and motivations of the rest of the party."

He might have his own reasons for doing so. Maybe he is going along because he agrees with them or maybe it is just to be helpful. Maybe he is doing it because he wants the other characters to owe him later. Maybe he is just being paid for his time. What ever the alignment, motives, or background of your character, make sure you can justify staying a member of the party and working with them. This does not mean your paladin should be alright with them selling the souls of the innocent for fun and profit, of course. What it does mean is that your paladin will not try smiting them if he catches one of them pickpocketing from a crooked politician.

4: "I want to be able to do my character's trick."
When most characters are made, the player making them will have something in mind that they want that character to be good at.  Maybe he is a damage dealing machine, or maybe he can take more damage then the rest of your mind-blind party members put together. Even if your character doesn't have one specific trick and is more jack-of-all-trades useful guess what: that is her trick! DMs shouldn't have to know every little thing that the PC can do (that is the players job to be informed of that) but should have a good knowledge of what each character's trick is. If that player is really good at social situations make sure there is a chance once in awhile for social situations or that player is going to feel useless. Don't baby them and give them everything they want, but still they should at least have a chance to shine once in a while (see thought #1)

5: "NPCs are friends not food."

Or maybe call him "Nemo"...

If you treat npcs like throwaway chunks of XP, then that is all they will be... to you. It is far more rewarding to have your character treat them like they were actual people. This is especially true to those no-named NPCs that the DM may or may not have made any actual plans for. These are the times that the player gets to do a little world building for the DM. That no named guard? Ask him if his name is Sven and if he was a member of the old sell swords guild, since he looks familiar. The DM says yes: then your character reunites with an old long loss friend... or the guy who borrowed 20 gold and never paid you back. In short, if  you want a more rich and rewarding world for your character to play in: treat it as such.


Stay tuned Facedown-fans. Next time, we're going for tacos!

What Makes a Great Game: Immersion

In this series I hope to share with you the aspects that make a great game. Each article will be about a trait that I find highly important in game design and game playing.

Immersion

Like many other forms of entertainment, games can be considered an art form (this is debatable but we will work with that assumption for now). They can tell a story. Unlike most other forms of entertainment, the story can largely be dependent on the player/viewer. While movies and TV shows  will occasionally leave events open to interpretation,  games are actually made and thrive on the interaction with the player. The point of view is not from the character in the show, and not from the director or writer; but instead the point of view is from the player herself. Chances are if you played a game, and it felt like you were just going through the motions of what the game creator made... it wasn't a good game. What makes a game art is immersion; how easy is it to forget that you are playing a game and instead are acting the role in the game itself?

To my fellow book readers out there, it should come as no surprise that immersion is a trait that I value so highly. One does not read through A Song of Ice and Fire  series without enjoying the feeling of being part of a rich and complex world. You slowly forget that you are laying in bed and reading a book series. Instead you are living vicariously through your favorite characters: celebrating their triumphs, feeling the pain of their defeat, and hoping that they make it until the end. 

Even happy endings feel a little
depressing, because it is over.

No other words in the English language have metaphorically ripped the heart out from a reader. When we read those words, the illusion is over. The immersion is gone and we are back in our own little lives. It is a "dropping" feeling. Time catches up to you and you realize what you thought was maybe an hour was really six. Immersion always seems strongest while reading. Maybe it is how much time we invest in them, or how personal of an experience it is; but immersion always seems strongest while reading.

Immersion, however, is not unique to reading; which brings us back to why immersion is great for games. If we can get to the point that we partially forget that we are playing a game, and instead feel like we are a pirate sailing the 7 seas for treasure, building a rail-road, or even running an electric company ; the game has succeeded on a very fundamental level.

Losing yourself in the game is the bread and butter of roleplaying games, which the players take the role of a particular hero (often a term used very loosely) in a different world. Just like reading, the player can really connect to the world and feel invested in it. 

Immersion has to come naturally out of a game: it isn't something you can really force. There are several things that can take a player "out" of feeling immersed. Most of these are things good games try to do anyways.

1. Don't have overly complicated rules: Nothing takes people out of a game more than having to stop and double check the rule book again, or worse: online for an FAQ. Having robust rules that allow for different strategies is good, but remember there is such thing as "too much game."
2. Have a clear role for the players: The game should be clear on what role it has the players in and keep with it. If the game has them being a hero going against the forces of darkness, it is a little disjointed having them do things as the forces of darkness. 
3. Make the role for the players entertaining: Alright so very few of us have probably thought that we wanted to be the president of an electrical company when we grow up, but if that is going to be the focus of your game, make sure that the game is also fun. If you make a game that makes people really feel like they are on a crowed train, waiting for the ride to be over, then I suppose you technically succeed in making it immersive... just not sure if you succeeded in making a game.

Artwork, theme, mechanics all have to come together for a game to be truly immersive. It can not be forced. If it is done correctly, the players probably won't even be able to say why they like the game, they will just say that they do. It is one of the most subtle and overlooked attributes on what makes a great game.

Inside the Mind of a DM: Redux

My friends after a long sabbatical it is time I start putting pen to paper again and share with you all what goes on in my mind while I'm DMing. I can of course only speak from my own experience but I hope that my self-discoveries and observations will give you an idea of how to run your game, or why DMs do what they do. While this does focus on gaming obviously I hope there will be tidbits in here that my non-gamer friends (I have a few...) can pick up and enjoy.

1: Never Over-Plan.

I've learned this one the hardway, and this is the rule that allows me to keep being a DM when my life is being pulled in several different directions. Plan as a DM will work great, up until the point you sit down at the table to play. Forcing the players into a direction will come off as forced. They will frequently go in directions that you don't expect. Of course you should have an idea of what your players will probably do (we'll cover this later,) but don't depend on being right.

Last time we played my players discovered an NPC they had met was actually an old enemy in disguise. Not knowing who the real enemy is that attacked them, they started getting ready to go off and fight him. Cut to last night where they remembered there was strong evidance to support a different foe. had I spent all my time preparing for that fight I would have wasted a LOT of time. I simply got some generalizations down was ready to make up the rest on the spot. Since it didn't happen I didn't lose much time and was able to "role" with the punches that much easier.

2: Know your Players.

In an about face to my previous observation, you have to know about what motivates your players. Why do they game? Most of mine are really into exploring the world I set before them as a whole, some of them are really looking to advance their own characters identities, some are trying to beat the challenges I put out. Knowing what they are after will give you a better idea how they will react and what twists they might throw at you... and what twists you should throw right back. If your player is suspicious in nature (and most of them are) give them some things to be suspicious about. 

3:The DM is not the only one creating a story.

If they start investigating areas that you didn't think of, don't just tell them "no, nothing is to be found there" see if you can work it in. See what is important to them and reward them for thinking of it. It won't always work out and you should maintain some level of order and reason ("No you can not use mildly reflective rocks as an impromptu mirror maze... at least not effectively")

Our dear valet Mr. Barker, a PC who was the highest non-noble in the Beryl household, discovered some information that there were traitors in his employment  I was expecting him to interrogate them and find out where their alleys were meeting . I did NOT expect him to start looking for a common reference on how they got the jobs. I thought it made sense so BOOM, new NPC created. he went even further and started looking into any more people that NPC referenced. While I could have created a whole preexisting web of traitors and red herrings before hand,  that would have taken much more time and effort than just seeing what he used to search for them, decide how effective it would be, and reward the player for doing that.

4: The Players are not the only ones with characters.

Just as you know your players, you should know your NPCs. Do not think of them as tools to create the plot you want, and instead think of them as characters with their own goals and motives. If they are smart don't make them stupid just so players can solve their problems. If they are calm don't make them angry just to make them fight your players. Treat each one with the effort you treat your own PC. Make sure they are not influenced by things they wouldn't realistically know (don't metagame them... DMs need to avoid that too) This is really meant for important and major NPCs, but if you are able to whip out tidbits of personalty and depth in all of your NPCs, it might surprise you which ones the players bond with.

2013 Game Preview

"Are the preparations almost ready? Her birthday is less than a week away," Terrance asked as he sat down in the chair. The tall slender man with the pleasant smile put an apron over him and applied warm cream to his face.
"My Lord Regent, every single request you have made in regards to Brianna's birthday has been carried out, checked and triple checked. Each of her uncles and their families will be attending to see her crowned.
"ALL of her uncles, Barker? Terrance raises an eye at his valet  who only chuckled as he reached for an onyx box.
"Oh I certainly hope not, my Lord. Forgive me I have misspoke. Cigam will not be attending, of course."
Terrance sighed; it had only been four years since his adoptive mother and father had disappeared. If his uncles or the old general, Gorien, knew where they were; they have never shared. Still they made sure that the throne was ready for them. Negus had stopped it's quest for power when his father took over the throne, ending hundreds of years of war. A few years later Gorien had found Terrance, just a young boy in the woods, and the still new king and queen adopted him. Even after his sister was born, he was never treated as anything less than their own son.
Still when it came time to announce an heir, Terrance's younger sister was selected. There was no end to the questioning that caused. Some people said it was because only a true-blooded beryl should rule... others simply stated that the crown had typically passed from Mother to Daughter, Drakin and his four brothers being the first male Beryls born in hundreds of years. Still others simply think that the young princess was more loved by her father.
When Barker opened the small onyx box, Terrance's mind stopped wandering. Barker was his father's last gift to him. A talented servant, a fierce protector, with a dreadful secret. The pale thin fingers of Barker reached into the dark onyx box, and took out a simple looking razor out from it. Terrance's eyes focused on the blade as it was opened.
"Since this is such an important event, " Barker started, "and you have to look your best, do you want..."
"No Barker, no just YOUR talents will do." Terrance cut him off tilting back his head.
Barker just nodded and smiled as he brought the razor up to the Lord Regent's neck. "Very good, sir."