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.

Quick Thought - Faster Initiative

Why do we roll for initiative they way we do? It's needlessly slow and dull, even requiring table gimmicks to keep track. But here's a few facts:

 If a player rolls a d20 and the GM rolls a d20, then the player has a 50% chance of beating the GM and gaining initiative. 

After Initiative order is set, who goes first is no longer important after the first round since everyone is taking turns.

How do you speed it up? First, use team initiative. The players will have more flexibility that way and beyond the first round, it's just alternating turns.

The GM is the only one who rolls an Initiative die (d6). If he roll 3 or lower, the enemy goes first. If he rolls 4 or higher, the players go first. Want to spice it up? If the GM rolls a 1, then not only are the monsters aware of the heroes, they've set up an ambush. Their are more monstrous reinforcements waiting to spring on the heroes. If the GM rolls a 6 then the heroes have taken the enemy completely by surprise. Hey, sometimes you don't have to be stealthy to scare the hell out of someone rounding a corner.

Campaign 101: Inspiration!

The well has run dry? If you've read my other posts then you'd know I have been there too. Here's a few things that helped me out of it:

1) The Runehammer Channel on Youtube - If you are stuck in a cyclone of rules, watch these videos. Especially the ones about ICRPG. Hankerin Ferinale snapped me out of my slump and freed my creativity that had been stifled recently (Pathfinder Society did more harm than good to my GM skills, I think). 

2) Online title generators - There are several, I use many different ones. Generate a bunch of titles until one grabs your attention. Treat your campaign like a pulp serial of the 30's. Today's Episode: The Tree of Whispers!

Wait, what does that mean? I don't know but thinking about it gives my mind a target to focus on. Before I was staring at a blank canvas, with nothing there to inspire me. Now I have a title! 

Here's what comes to my mind: An unknown, feral group of forest elves ritually hunt those that wander too deeply in their forest. They give their sacrifices to feed their Great Tree: Annanus.  Annanus has grown old, corrupt, and mad. The tribe and the tree are one. Enter our heroes...

There, now I have the over-arching story. But I need to add dimension to this campaign. What two other problems are there in the area? Are they symptoms of the primary story, or a separate problem that also needs to be addressed immediately?

Side Problem 1) - We can kick off our campaign with this. A lord's son has disappeared (in the elves' forest). Unfortunately he was to be a peace envoy to a nearby kingdom and tensions have reached the boiling point. Since no one is aware of the elves' presence, one side believes the other has captured or killed the prince. Only his return can prevent the war. The heroes may run into scouts of either military force in the forest and neither will want to leave witnesses.

Side Problem 2) - The heroes will be fumbling around for months searching the forest. They need a guide. There is a tribe of Kobolds that have kept themselves hidden from the elves (or the elves didn't find hunting kobolds challenging enough. The heroes stumble across the Kobold, Yatzhee, hanging from a tree snare and panicking. If the heroes free the Kobold and befriend him, he can take the heroes to some of the Prince's company. The Kobolds took pity hid the retinue in their dens. Unfortunately the Prince was taken by the elves. Yatzhee volunteers to guide the heroes to the elf tribe and will tell them all he knows about them.

Let's add one more Side Problem - When the heroes reach Annanus, they see that an entire elf army is preparing to march. If it strikes the two kingdoms while they war with each other, the elves would triumph over both. How can the heroes warn and convince both kingdoms to ally when they must also find and rescue the prince? 

Now I would go about roughly outlining the campaign as I recommended in my post - Campaign 101: Villainy is Afoot!

I hope these ideas help you!

Magic and Technology in the Same Setting...Why?

I'm not saying it can't be done. The premise of Shadowrun is sound, the world embraced technology because magic didn't exist. Magic awoke onto the scene so it makes sense that they would be in conflict.

But let's take your typical D&D Fantasy-Land. Magic is all around. Despite the claimed "rarity" of magic items, the heroes will come across a lot of it, usually in the hands of the villain. Magic has been tamed, identified, and spells can be repeated and taught. Magic is the technology. Given how powerful the idea of magic is (getting something for basically nothing), why would anyone pursue mundane technology? Technology would only advance in areas that magic can't. This is why it's important to know the limits of magic in your setting.

So would there be guns in Fantasy-Land? Traditional guns? Not likely, unless they were developed in a place of no magic and brought into Fantasy-Land. Why invent a gun when Flame Bolt and Eldritch Blast wands are options. A "Gun" developed in Fantasy-Land would likely be magic based, a wand shaped like a modern firearm. In which case, does it matter if you reskin wands as pistols?

Here's another instance of unlikely technology in Fantasy-Land, medical kits. Medical kits take time to use and they suck. However, the dearth of healing potions and low level healing spells are far more efficient and effective and would drive out the medical kit market. Heck, the presence of resurrection magic (if you are rich), throws a huge wrench into the circle of life (see Altered Carbon).

I'm not saying you shouldn't use magic and technology in the same setting, I'm suggesting that you think of them as one and the same. Whatever tech you want in a Fantasy setting, consider a magic-themed item that would do that. The gunfighter in a fantasy setting has been done before. Try adding some new spice to the old trope. If you absolutely want them in the same setting for contrast, make sure they each have limits that only the other can fill. Otherwise the inclusion of both may just feel like cheap fan-service.

Also, consider that if technology is there to make ordinary people as powerful as mages, magic will feel far less amazing in your setting.