Thog Thoughts: A Chasing Rhyme

"Roses are Red,

All covered in Goo.

If I catch you and eat you,

you'll turn into poo.

'Dis has been Thog Thoughts"

Thog Thoughts: Thinking

"Thog one day understand, in battle of wits, first brain to hit the floor looses. 

Be careful or Thog out-smart you too.

'Dis has been Thog Thoughts."

Mentats and Dreamers

 Today's post will talk about two different types of playstyles and analysis using my thoroughly uneducated pop psychology. These are personal opinions based on my experiences and should not be taken as gospel. Also, individual players can fall anywhere on the spectrum between these two extremes.

First up, Mentats. Others call them Munchkins, but I don't like that term. It's meant to be derogatory and imply that these players are having BadWrongFun. I think Mentat is a better description, and not insulting.

A Mentat gamer is one that derives joy from navigating the mathematics of a game, find the loopholes, and seeing just how strong they can make a character. This is fun to them. These players tend toward complex and crunchy RPGs as they gave a solid framework for the calculations. These players want to know the odds of success before they roll so they can make the most potent choice available. If you understand that, then you as a gm should focus your energies on making interesting and challenging encounters for these players to test their engines of destruction. I have noticed that Mentats are also more likely to be a part of the miniature wargaming hobby as well.

Mentats prefer games like Hero System, Pathfinder, etc. They might play a rules-lite game as a one-shot, but it likely won't hold their interest for a long campaign.

A Dreamer gamer is one that derives no joy from the complex maths and find them a distraction to the narrative. These players are just as happy playing Theater of the Mind as they are using a battlemat and minis. They carry their character in their head more than on their character sheet. They wonder why they can't have a Spear with all the same properties as a Rapier instead if they are proficient with both. Can't it just look like a spear? Would that break the game?

These players want the freedom to be imaginative without being penalized by the rules. They tend more toward Rules Lite systems like Tiny D6, ICRPG, Fiasco, Fate, or Quest. If your player is a Dreamer, then you need compelling adventures, dire stakes, fantastic locations. Also, these are the players that want you to mine their backstory for adventures. 

Where do I fall? I'm leaving mid-Mentat and leaping into Dreamer. I just find more creative freedom with these games, and I can take it with me to introduce new people to the hobby. I love helping players make the character they want instead of the one that gives them the best options. And lastly, I just need to know what your hero is supposed to be good at, okay at, and suck at. All the degrees in between just don't interest me anymore.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid or endorsed by any of the game companies linked in this post.

Mr. Exposition

 It's just an idea that popped into my head one cold and windy eve. The idea was "why not put a GMPC with the party?"

WAIT! Hear me out!

The Storyteller

This character travels with the heroes and fulfils the roll of telling players what they don't know. Typically this is left to the players - the one's who don't know yet. Result? The GM distributes the exposition and the player/ bard replies "Yeah, I say that".

Well, let's get rid of the middleman? The GMPC should be the bard of the group. He's a total non-combatant, and is just tagging-along to write the heroes' saga. So what can he do?

1) Speak in character while extolling pertinent information.

2) Be used as an adventure seed. A player might mention "I wish I had a magic shield that I could throw and have return." Then the musty old Tenku bard fixes a bleary eye on the character. "You mean like the mighty shield of Kappn M'rika? Perhaps I shall tell you the tale when we have less important work to do." Then, when you've figured out the side quest for the Shield of Kappn M'rika, the bard can tell the tale (of where it is and how well it is guarded).

Now this bard provides no other support. He's just there to give that juicy backstory you worked all night on that the players wouldn't encounter otherwise. He isn't there to talk the party's way passed the guards, gather information, cast magic of any kind. He's just an encyclopedia for your heroes.

You could also make Mr. Exposition an exceptionally well informed Henchling (the one who carries the luggage).

Oh yes, remember you can always kill him if the heroes become too fond of him.

Keep on the Borderlands (ICRPG)

While waiting for a new game to start, I decided to make a party of four adventurers in my ICRPG setting WORLD OF ARYN and run through the original Basic D&D adventure Keep on the Borderlands. I haven't been through since I was 10 years old. I'm adapting the monsters to ICRPG as I encounter them.

The Party:

Vahn  - A Humani Ranger (Forager)

Rook - A Nomini (halfling/gnome) Shadow (Spy)

Torkka - An Ograni (ogre) Warrior (Rager)

Windwalker - A Salvari (elf) Priest (Healer)

I started with Cave Entrance D. The Goblins gave a good fight but fell to our mighty swords... but they had children with them. I don't remember any children! I decided to lock them up with some food. 

Next rooms had Hobgoblins and prisoners. I took out the hobs and freed the prisoners. Torkka had gone down three times. Next room, a lot of Hobgoblins (9) and their children. WTF! I lost the fight so the hobs tied up the party. Fortunately Rook is a master of lockpicking. He got a semi-conscious Torkka free just as a pair of hobs came to check the prisoners. Torkka took out her frustration on their crunchy heads.

Okay, things are getting dicey. The party decides to camp in the woods and have Vahn forage for healing herbs. He crits. He decides that he also needs to feed the party so he forages 4 meals and 3 herbal poultices.

We go back in and fight what I hope is the last of the goblins. Guess what, MORE KIDS!!!

It's quite horrific. Do I leave the kids to starve or put them down? They'll never make it alone since I broke into their home and murdered their families in front of them. In fact, this whole cave network is like a monstrous Melrose Place.

I think I may be the baddies...

Setting 101: The Fluid Setting

I'm trying to break my habit of prep, prep, prep, and never play. I'm looking for a more holistic approach. Imagine having a game world that can be everything you want it to be, where you aren't pigeon-holed by pre-generated content. Imagine a world that holds as many surprises for you as for your players!

I'm talking about a fluid setting: Basically a name, a high concept, and a sample starting location. Everything else is generated by the GMs imagination only when they need it. 

It's still just a rough idea, but this is what I got so far...

Zen Campaign World Design

Thou shalt not make a world map!

Once you make a world map, the world becomes finite. There's nothing left to explore if it's all been decided ahead of time. As long as there is no map, the world is infinite. Anything, or anywhere can be in it. 

Thou shalt teach the players of thy setting through their adventures!

The only meaningful way your players will get to know your setting is by experiencing it through an adventure. Therefore, don't start making maps, make adventures and let the adventure dictate what it needs. Just keep track of what you create in case your players want to return to that location. Through the adventures, the world will begin to coalesce.

Thou shalt think like an 80's toy executive!

You have an idea for a cool location, villain, creature, or item? You need to put it in an episode before the kids will buy it. Use an adventure to showcase the new content. 

Thou shalt give the players the freedom to add to the world!

By not spelling out every detail in the world, you give the player the opportunity to add things they would like to see in your world. Players that have the freedom to create their own character concepts will be more invested in them than a player whose has just randomly rolled some background items that will never come up in game. If a player decides that they want to be a Witch Hunter, that feeds the gm information about what that player would like to see in the adventure.

You see, you'll be discovering things about your world you never even considered. If you start a game with new players and decide you don't want witch hunters, you can pluck them out since they aren't "hard-coded" into the setting, only the previous game.

That's the beauty of a Fluid setting, it can be completely different depending on the group playing. It will always be fresh and new to the GM with each new group. You can keep what works and toss what doesn't.

Just remember:

 If the players don't experience it in the game, it doesn't exist.