Give Feedback to your GM… and live! Part 1.
(This post was written in a Coffeehouse in Switzerland, how cool is that?)
On the last day of Gen Con, I was sitting in a Restaurant (The Ram if I recall, I had the Salmon, delicious), surrounded by my friends from Critical-Hits and Stupid Ranger. We were all dead tired, living off our energy reserves and raw geekiness.
We had just finished playing in Stupid Ranger’s Out of the Box Seminar and I was telling Dante how I felt about the parts I liked and those I liked less in his game. I was telling him how I got frustrated at one point and why and how I managed to deal with it. Dante and I had some productive back and forth and the discussion was cordial and constructive.
Once I was done and the table’s discussion moved on to other topic, Dave (The Game) leaned over and told me:
“You have got to write about this!”
“About what again?”
“Giving feedback to a DM the way you just did!”
“Hmmm, did I do it wrong?”
“Not at all! That was good”
“Then I will!
(Actual discussion was far more confused due to extreme fatigue and a pair of colossal glasses of beer)
Having discussed gaming group issues at length with friends and readers over the years, I have come to observe a few related issues around feedback:
- GMs are starved for honest feedback from their players
- However, GMs are overly sensitive about their skills/campaigns and tend to react defensively to player feedback.
- Players aren’t sure what it is that they are looking for in a RPG and have trouble putting this into words.
- When they try, they often focus on negatives and come off as sounding selfish or judgmental.
- Players and GMs are loath to give each other feedback because they fear conflict, stonewalling or recrimination.
Giving good, useful feedback is hard. It is easy to list a series of things we liked, even easier to list what we didn’t. What isn’t easy is identifying and giving feedback on the few, truly significant elements about a RPG session/campaign that the GM can learn from and improve the game with. .
The thing is, many DMs, who have usually invested a lot of time and effort in their game, are not particularity well equipped to distance themselves from the game experience and don’t respond so well to critical feedback.
Based on these observations, I’ll write 2 posts that will explore this very interesting topic from both points of views:
This one will be about giving good, constructive feedback.
Player, know thyself
One of the recurring themes in my discussions with GMs is that their players can’t clearly define what it is they are looking for in a game. They know when they are having fun in a game, but if you ask them up front what it is that they like, they will often not know what to say or ask for very specific things.
For example, a friend of mine asked one of his players what he wanted in his D&D game. The player asked for a gunslinger undead hunter, saying that this was probably the coolest thing possible. The DM managed to meet him partway with a double hand crossbow-built Ranger.
The player then promptly never used his ‘guns’ and went for using 2 hand axes in melee all the time. Go figure.
I think that if a player wants to help his GM provide the best playing experience, they need to understand what motivates them as a player and inform the GM. Armed with that knowledge, the GM will have more tools to tweak the adventures of his gaming group to hit at least those motivations more often.
A good starting point to explore what motivates you as a player is this post I wrote shortly before Gen Con. There’s a good chance you,ll recognize yourself in some of the player motivations listed there.
For instance, the player described a few paragraphs above would likely be someone seeking supercooleness.
Timing and relevance.
Giving feedback is more than listing what was fun or unfun in a game session. To be useful, it needs to go deeper than that.
First, you probably need to wait until some time after the game, so that it allows the emotion of the game to pass so you can review it more objectively. Giving feedback when geeking out or irritated won’t likely lead to the most constructive of discussions, especially with tired players and GMs who aren’t necessarily in the best state to discuss this.
Then, you need to pinpoint the important, relevant part of the game that you especially liked or disliked. You need to do this so you can formulate your feedback around something precise and useful. The more precise your feedback, the more easily the GM can understand it and use it for future games.
Otherwise, you will likely drown the GM with too many, somewhat undefined issues that won’t be as useful.
Avoid the dreaded “You”
Once you have the 2-3 elements you want to give feedback on, you need to share with your GM the ‘why’ of each of your observations about the game. You must avoid being confrontational so you don’t trigger your GM’s defense mechanisms for nothing.
Start your sentences with ‘I’ and avoid using judgments where you assume what the GM was thinking at the time. You need to do this whenever possible. In other words, describe how you felt, how you perceived the game and how you reacted.
If you must give feedback on something directly related to something your GM said or did. make sure to focus on your reactions and not the GM’s actions.
“When you made the call that I could not do X, I felt that I was not allowed a chance to…’” instead of “That call you made sucked! I couldn’t do anything…”
Shaping your feedback to avoid accusations or apparent judgment on your GM will make discussions a lot more likely to lead to a constructive discussion. (I’ll get to telling DMs to chill out about taking feedback in the next post).
Explain Why!
You also need to explain how you felt in the situations that you are describing and what brought you to the emotional state that makes you recall the event as noteworthy to share with the GM.
What I mean by that is that if you got excited, annoyed or irritated about part of the game, you need to recall what elements of the game brought you to this state so that the GM can understand the precise element that brought the response in you.
Here’s a example from my experience (in which I failed to apply what I’m preaching here BTW). A few months ago, I was playing PC in one of my friend’s game. I was already slightly irritated because we had spent a large part of the evening investigating a mystery and we had failed to make significant headway (I don’t particularly like investigation-type game, but I can tolerate it for some time if others in my group enjoy them).
We were in a very hard fight and I was called away from the game table take care of my children for a few minutes. When I came back, I found out that my character had been knocked unconscious by the bad guys. That made me incredibly angry and I was unable to contain it and discuss it rationally. I simmered for a few minutes and I ended up flaring up at the DM about how I hated investigations and how unacceptable it was to get knocked out like that when I had had no say in how it happened. .
In retrospect, I should have informed the DM that it frustrates me to find my character knocked out based on actions I did not choose while I was away from the table. Had I shared my feelings up front, in a non confrontational manner, I would probably have had a less negative experience and not blurted out anything about the investigation part of the adventure, which was a separate issue to be addressed after the game.
We have since then amended our Social Contract to address the issue of a player who leaves the table by asking him what he wants us to do with his character.
The same goes for positive feedback. You need say something more than “it was cool”. If you can pinpoint the event that made the game more interesting to you, share it and share how you felt at that moment:
“Dude, when that dragon stuck its head in the doorway and asked if we had any Hot Sauce for sautéd Halfings, I was so shocked, I nearly fell off my chair!”
“When you described how the Baron’s men cheered us as heroes when we returned, I felt the like I was really part of the story and I wanted to high-five them all!”
Thus, your GM, happy to have made the game more interesting for you, will be motivated to try to do it again.
Be patient, but make sure you are being catered to
Some players have shorter attention spans. Other get bored easily. That’s a fact of life. Hopefully you are aware of this and you shared this with your GM so that adventures can be planned accordingly (i.e. avoid spitting the party, keep action moving etc).
One core concept about Tabletop RPGs is that players need to compromise on what is fun. Players in a group are likely to be motivated by different things. Since no GMs are skilled enough to hit the motivations of all players in every scene, players will find themselves in situations where their needs are not being catered to… That’s an unavoidable issue and players must recognize that.
However, if the GM consistently fails to meet your motivations over long periods of time, you need to share this with him/her after the game so something can be done about that. Chances are, the GM was unaware of that and will likely try to accommodate you in future sessions.
In conclusion, Feedback is:
- Letting the GM know what motivates you in a RPG game and say when it does and doesn’t.
- Sharing the how you felt and why in regards to a few, key elements of the game
- Avoiding judgment and focusing the feedback on your personal experiences and perceptions, don’t assume your GM’s thoughts or motivations , let him/her do it.
Next: DMs, stop taking things so personally!
Review: "Well of Ascension"
(Note: Spoilers for Mistborn included)
Background: Initially taking up Brandon Sanderson’s novels as a means to gain an insight into the impending finale of Wheel of Time, I found an author with both a fertile imagination and a true appreciation for the craft of storytelling. Having finished The Well of Ascension, his third novel, and the second of the Mistborn trilogy, I can say with confidence that Sanderson is poised to take a place amongst today’s fantasy luminaries. [Read the rest of this article]
DM Chronicle: Session 4, This.Is.Epic! Part 2
See Part 1 here.
Rumble in the Temple!
Now that Dragora had finished saying what she had to say, the PCs attacked. Or maybe she did, I forget, these accounts are not renowned for their journalistic accuracy.
Dragora was a level 7 soldier based on the Fighter Template. I added 3 Zain-Kin minions and one Infiltrator (a skirmisher), rounding the encounter to a level 3-4 encounter.
To make the somewhat classic room (30′x35′ room with a throne) a bit more exciting, I added the poisoned cushions described in the adventure on the battlemap and a pair of “Hellfire Braziers”. I then finished the map with some squares filled with Dragora’s spoils from the Lost City (See picture).
Both cushions and braziers were made into interactive terrain features, I’m reproducing them for you here (Sorry I haven’t taken the time to figure out formatting traps and zones as the 4e books yet):
- Poison Cushions
- Sitting on them: As per adventure (It’s an attack vs Fort, making the target take ongoing poison damage and immobilized (Save ends) and then make the target immobilized.
- Passing through a cushion square: No effect
- Kicking a Cushion in someone’s face:
- Std action, Dex vs Fort attack
- Hit: As per sitting on them
- Hellfire Brazier
- Can be knocked over (Std action, AC 17 if targeted by a ranged attack)
- Blast 3 from brazier’s initial position, +5 vs Reflex, Hit: 1d10+3 fire + 2 ongoing fire damage (Save ends), Miss: 1/2 Damage, no ongoing damage.
The combat started with Dragora trying to kick a cushion on a PC’s face and missing. The players, not yet knowing what those cushions did, were perplexed… until I described how a white powder cloud exploded out of the cushion when it hit the wall.
Then the Infiltrator came in and bloodied Roco in one hit.
All PCs, knowing who was the important target made a beeline for Dragora and managed to make her bloodied (i.e. deal 43 hp) in one round. This, mostly because of the Warlock inflicting his Curse of the Dark dream on her, damaging Dragora’s psyche by making her believe that SHE was responsible for her brother-in-law’s death!
He he he!
On Dragora’s turn, she screamed ‘Rise’ in Draconic and promptly skewered Bjerm the Fighter with her own daily power, dropping him well into negatives. She then Jumped on the now rising throne platform on its way to the Temple’s roof.
The Infiltrator was moving around the map, chasing bloodied characters against whom it scored a ton of bonus damage.
Then someone (PC or the inflitrator) finally tried kicking a cushion and hit! All players went ‘Ohhhh’ and soon enough the fight degenerated into a kicking cushion contest (The effect is just too strong not to use, I recommend stopping the effect at the 1st save).
On the end of round two, Dragora was finally KOed (they elected not to kill her) and was soon to be dragged away from the rising platform. That’s when…
…Enter(ed) the Dragon!
Mouringlar, Wyrmling (i.e medium-sized) Green dragon swooped in the room, trying to save her mistress.
That’s when the players said the magic words that sing to a DM’s ears:
“Man, this is an epic fight!”
So after doing a flyby attack on its first turn, the dragon suffered a few attacks of opportunities by trying to grab Dragora and flee, ending its turn a mere 5′ up from the temple floor.
That’s when players went Cushion Crazy on the dragon, trying to prevent it from leaving, managing to immobilize the dragon for a good 3-4 rounds. It managed a few hits, and one breath, poisoning a few PCs.
Then, when it finally stopped being immobilized, I surveyed the situation. The fighter, healed earlier with the timely use of Takeo’s the Warlord inspiring word (“That pain is in your mind, it’s only a flesh wound!”), was sitting beside the dragon, having marked it.
Yeah, Bjerm with his Combat Superiority class feature was soooo ready to prevent Greenie from leaving .
I re-read the dragon’s flyby attack (it had recharged since) and noticed that it did not provoke AoA, thereby making the fighter’s Combat Superioity moot. I used the power, biting the fighter and leaving the room with the unconscious Dragora.
The crestfallen heroes could only, through an opening between the risen pillar and the Temple’s roof, witness Mouringlar grab a 5-headed dragon key from Dragora’s inert body, place it somewhere, activate a portal and leave the Lost City for good.
They managed to kick the last few cushions in the infiltrator’s face, finished the fight and took a short rest, while outside, a growing clamor of anger and outrage rose.
During that rest, Masaru the Warlock had an insight. He took a few drops of blood of Dragora and dropped them in the Scrying pool found on the temple’s previous level.
They were able to see a wounded Dragora aboard a huge Airship guarded by a no less huge Red Dragon! She had a smirk on her face, telling someone outside of scrying range that the plan worked perfectly! The players were also able to get a glimpse of a bound and gagged, very much alive Brandobaris.
Simian City Blues
Once rested, the party reactivated the rising platform to reach the temple’s roof and witnessed a few thousand raging simians spread around the pyramid, going all Planet of the Apes on them.
On the platform were 2 features I had added to spice things up:
The Pool (10′X5′X5′):
This pool is filled with a divinely charged fluid whose elemental properties change every few seconds or so. Each round, when necessary, roll on the table below to determine the composition of the pool’s content.
- Fire (2d6+3)
- Acid (2d6+3)
- Cold (2d6 +3)
- Electricity (2d6+3)
- Poison (1d6+3 + 5 ongoing, save ends)
- Unholy Water (-2 to all d20 rolls Until end of Next Turn)
And
The Dragon Turrets
4 Colored Dragon head shapes turrets stand, one in each corner of the Temple’s Roof. There’ s one red, black, Green and Blue head (The white one is destroyed and stands over the stairs)
A mechanism of tubes and controls is visible behind each head. These were ancient mechanism used to spew blasts of elemental energies during sacrifice ceremonies. A DC 15 thievery check allows to push one more use out of each of them: + 7 vs Ref, Blast 4, 2d10+3 Damage of the appropriate type.
A 20+ result on the DC check pumps out more juice and allows to deals 3d8+4 damage.
A Dungeoneering/History DC 17 check reveals the use of theses contraptions.
Followed a skill challenege of my creation, since at this stage, the adventure assumes that all bloodlusted apes charge the PCs, which have no other choice but to activate a portal and flee.
Instead, I had each of the 4 factions of the city (Unaligned, House Military, House Mages and House Assassins) be arranged around the temple, ready to storm it.
Then, 4 voices shouted in unison all around the pyramid and all apes stoped screaming as one.
Baffled, players rolled perception checks and noticed one calm, expectant ape standing arms crossed within each factions of temporarily frozen apes. One of them gestured toward the PCs, indicating that they had a chance to address the whole city.
Turns out I had decided to create a fifth, hidden faction of free-willed apes that wanted to see what it was the Heroes wanted of them all before deciding to kill them, let them live or become a potential ally. These hidden leaders knew the proper incantations and verbal orders to control all others.
Using bluff and History, the Heroes were able to appease most factions by describing how cowardly and without honor Dragora was and how she had manipulated everyone here in making them believe Moringlar was an Avatar of Tiamat. All factions but one, the Military house, stopped being hostile.
They even got that last faction to stand down when they challenged its leader to a duel. The Military leader, only too happy to oblige, brought his retinue of 8 minions, 4 legionnaires and one wizard to face the tired, out of daily powers PCs.
Do you see a problem with that picture? Yeah, somewhat of a brainfart on the part of the DM here… as within 3-4 rounds, all PCs were either dying or had surrendered. At least the Rogue got to trigger one of the Dragon turrets and fry a few minions.
Yeah, players were kinda bummed at that point…
That’s when apes from all other factions moved in on the triumphant military leader and took him down before he collected his “kills”. All PCs were stabilized and were politely but firmly asked to leave the Lost City by the portal over the Temple.
A scroll, destined to the leaders of the Surface world was entrusted to them. It announced that the Lost City of Parhok was a sovereign state and was under the control of the peaceful Zain-Kin.
Our Heroes found themselves by the crevice where their whole underground adventure started. While resting, they were found by some Griffin mounted elven rangers out looking for them.
They were informed of Brandobaris’ kidnapping and that the heroes were being summoned to Hobble’s Point, where Brandobaris’ half-Elven lieutenant awaited them to confirm the rapt and the ludicrous ransom demanded by the Pirates.
The Heroes agreed to mount a rescue mission and tracked the airship down to its home port, near the Dragonborn Island kingdom of the south and free Brandobaris.
Takeo knew exactly where that was… opening a new storyline about the link between the human pirates and the proud, militaristic dragonborns.
Lessons Learned:
- Adding interactive elements to a battle encounter is good way to make combat more interesting. The goal is to make theses elements at least as attractive as at-will powers (i.e. have a good risk to benefit ratio).
- That Ape encounter was too strong for the PCs, next time check the level of an encounter if tackled by a party with less than full resources.
What players liked:
- The Epic battle!
- The Skill challenge pitting them against thousands of opponents
What players disliked:
- The pace being broken by the DM’s frantic Twitter typing on his keyboard, this will not occur again.
- Defeat, no one likes that… Although they took it stoically, lending a certain air of seriousness to the whole campaign.
May The DPS Be With You
IGN calls it “one of the worst kept secrets in the industry“, but the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO was announced at a huge event yesterday.
Details are still scarce, but like any number of other MMOs, you can join the Good Guys or the Bad Guys, with some potential moral grays. (“For the Sith!”) Yes, there was a previous Star Wars MMO that didn’t work out so well (despite some fun touches), but if they can learn from the mistakes of the other company and make it anywhere close to the awesomeness that was KOTOR, I might have to break my MMO boycott.
As I was discussing with NukeTown yesterday, Star Wars is one of the properties that makes me want to play an MMO. Star Trek is the other, but there’s already some things that I don’t like about it (gimme Romulans!)
In either case, I’ll be watching the reviews closely, but not holding my breath.
The end of "fully randomized" D&D Miniatures
All my scoop sources just lit up with this announcement: D&D Miniatures, after the next set, will no longer be sold in completely random boosters.
According to the release, there will be “D&D Heroes” sets that will be sold in packaging that makes all the figures visible, so you already know what you’re getting. Each one contains 2 Male and 1 Female models. Two worrisome pieces: one, getting only 3 figures for $11 (back when they started you could get a full booster for that much, darnkidsgetoffmylawn), and two, each one contains:
3 unique power cards featuring brand new class powers.
Yeah, as much as I love 4e, that seems to fall into the criticism that it’s like Magic: The Gathering. I assume that these powers will show up in the D&DI Compendium, but it’s still a fairly dirty pull to have powers only available through these packs.
The other product announced is for just monsters. Each pack of the Monster Manual: Dangerous Delves contains:
5 minis: 1 visible figure, 1 rare figure, 1 uncommon figure and 2 common figures
for $15 (again, fewer minis than the current packs for the same price.) How the visible figure is determined, and what this means for Huge critters, is yet to be revealed.
YouTube Tuesday: Your Game is Important to Us Edition
Spotted in several places lately, here’s the GM Hold Music.
DM Chronicle: Session 4, This.is.Epic! Part 1
(You know what I miss in this blog? Me being chatty like hell… time to change that!)
Previously in Chatty’s Game:
Our heroes discovered an ancient Serpent Temple where lost magic was recovered from the coils of spectral ophidian guardians. Following sinuous caverns, they came upon an opening high over the ruins of a Lost City inhabited by Ape Men.
Through a series of strangely choregraphed dealings with some Ape Mages, the party was brought to a temple of Tiamat, only to be ambushed by hundreds of Apes and a Green Dragon Wyrmling.
Seeing only one possible escape route, our railroaded heroes entered the temple, barred the only way in, dodged yet another fiendish trap and finally came face to face with the engineer of this cavalcade: Dragora, Pirate Scholar soldier of the Dreaded Crimson Fleet…
Fixing a broken PC
This week, we had 2 missing players: Math (playing Naquist, Elven Cleric of Bahamut) and Eric (Fizban, Eladrin Wizard) had family-related activities to attend to. As usual, the PCs faded off camera and I planned the scenes accordingly.
Mike (playing Takeo, the dragonborn tactical Warlord) arrived first and we played some Rockband. Then I asked him to show me his character sheet (and power cards). I had noticed in the last three games that his character was under performing when compared to all other classes in the group. He kept missing crucial attacks and wasting daily and encounter left and right. While I initially chalked it up to a bad luck streak, I started suspecting that something was amiss.
I mean D&D 4e has been meticulously designed to be balanced right?
It turns out that he’s using power cards that don’t have spaces to mark the total attack bonus. His cards only mention things like Str vs AC and whatnot. Not having yet fully mastered his 4e-Fu, whenever Mike made an attack roll, he only used his actual Str bonus and nothing else! Since he’s level 2 (+1) and has a Longsword (+3), he was depriving himself of half of his allowed Bonus! So we corrected that and Mike was happy!
FYI: It showed in the game!
“Inter-review” with a 4e scholar!
Around that time, Yan (playing Bjerm the Elven fighter) arrived. Yan is by far our most accomplished 4e Scholar. In fact, earlier that week, I received a review copy of Goodman Games’ Forgotten Heroes, a 4e compatible sourcebook with the Barbarian, Bard, Druid and Monk class. Since Yan is more versed in class analysis than yours truly, I had asked him to read it. Shortly after he arrived, we spent a few minutes doing a recorded interview where I asked him his thoughts on the product.
We both liked doing this a lot and I’ll post the ‘Inter-Review’ of that in the coming week. I think this could be a recurring feature if people like them.
The finer points of 4e team battle tactics
Stef (Roco, Halfling Rogue) arrived shortly after that and we discussed group battle tactics since all three players control the melee-built PCs. We agreed that the best strategy was for the Fighter, Warlord and Rogue to form a triangle, with monsters in the middle whenever possible. That way, the Warlord can help the other two in shifting and setting up effective strikes. The Fighter can then control key opponents with his battle challenge and combat superiority features while the rogue sets up vicious backstabbing attacks.
I told them that as a DM, my job was to disrupt this strategy by breaking the triangle, or controlling it with minor opponents while I was going for the cleric and Warlock hanging in the back.
Dude, were you planning to start playing at one point?
Franky (Masaru, Eladrin Warlock) finally arrived and we were all here. It was around 5h15 PM (i.e. earlier than usual) so we agreed to start playing before ordering some food.
Since my laptop was set up at the gaming table, I decided to start Twittering about the game. It was a fun experiment, but it did end up being too distracting to me as I was not always paying full attention to the game, writing Twitters and reading the reader’s responses. (It does make writing this report a LOT easier though).
As the group was settling into ‘playing D&D’ mode, the players started sharing who had what skills and how they’d handle non-combat situations. This was a very interesting piece of team building. After a few minutes, I finally pointed the battlemap where I drew the Temple’s throne room (why do temples have thrones BTW? Fridge Logic moment!) and we started the…
Obligatory NPC-that-PCs-fail-to-take-seriously scene.
Dragora, a Dwarven Scale-clad human warrior was lazily waiting for them. Proudly wearing the colors of the pirates of the Crimson Fleet, she tried to invite the PCs to sit down on cushions and sip some wine while they discussed why she brought them here. Of course, our genre Savyy heroes (not-so) politely refused the offer of hospitality, preferring to stay standing while trading barbs with her.
I’ve long since abandoned the idea that I should expect Players to respect NPCs, especially villains. I long since learned to resist the very predictable “NPC attacks when DM starts being frustrated” reflex. In fact it doesn’t bother me anymore. That scene had one goal: Tie in the adventure to the PC’s background and convey a few pieces of Info.
For the rest, NPCs with battlestats are just props to be exploded all over the walls.
So Dragora starts by apologizing for the horrendous acting skills of her Ape Men, saying it’s really hard to choreograph those slave-mentality minions in a semblance of sentience. (Cynics would say I was doing some CYA, I call this self-derision, he he he). She said that getting the heroes in the temple was her goal all along.
“Why did you try to slice us into lunchmeat then”
“Oh come now, We can’t have this too easy!”
She then started her Villain Monologue®. She discovered this lost city a few weeks ago… right after the PCs killed her brother-in-law during a Pirate raid of a halfling Venture Fort (I love that term! I need to flesh this out one day). When she discovered the Scrying Pool she hatched a plan to lure the PCs away from Hobble Port so the Crimson Fleet could exact its vengeance against Brandobaris the Fat! (i.e the PCs current patron)
She then said that Bradobaris was dead and that the city lay in ruins. For a seconds, some of the players made a “ah shoot’ face… which was worth the whole scene.
As I summarized on Twitter: Players exchange banter with Boss. They point out how dumb she is, she answers being smart was not a prerequisite to lure them away.
Up next: An Epic Battle and the PCs taste defeat for the first time.
Credits: Clyde Caldwell (Image)
Little Big Planet's Delay Has a Fortunate Side Effect
I don’t even have a PS3 but I heard the news (via kotaku, joystiq, slashdot, and every other gaming publication) about Little Big Planet‘s delay. What was strange was the reason – for a song. I’m not going to bother getting into the silliness of the whole thing but it has spawned a side effect which I think is great.
This guy and his band are getting tons of press. Instead of being some obscure song on Little Big Planet this guy just got massive exposure and tons of plays of his music. I personally think it’s pretty good stuff, but then again I’ve been told I’m a “consarned hippy!”. I’ve also never heard of a “kora” but it’s a very beautiful instrument and Toumani Diabate is apparently the world virtuoso of it.
So, the end result is that this particular song is being played many times over out of curiosity and I hope out of sheer pleasure for the enjoyment of the music.
I urge everyone to check it out.
I wonder if it was all just a cunning publicity stunt by the band…
Inq. of the Week: Favorite Undead?
Last week, since they started charging for it, we asked how many of you were planning on buying D&D Insider. Surprisingly (to me), the highest group was among those who would be paying the fee to get Dragon and Dungeon back (in digital form) and who play D&D 4e. A close second, however, was those who play 4e but aren’t planning on buying. Third place a tie between those of you who don’t play 4e and those of you who aren’t sure. 4 of you voted that you don’t play 4e but will buy D&DI, presumably because you’re looking for inspiration or you just wanted to spite Reverend Mike.
Since it’s close enough to Halloween, and I just ran an adventure about a Ghost Tower, I ask:
Loading ...The New Gamemaster: Friends and Ressources
One of the things I love doing online is bringing people together.
I love to see new communities prosper and people meeting new people. That’s why I was so excited to co-Create the RPG bloggers project.
I also love to gently push people to become more, to try scary, unsure things.
I say that success is not crucial, trying is.
In that vein, I’m happy to notice a new breed of Gamemasters and Dungeonmasters emerging from the blogging scene.
I know many of you are thinking about making the big jump. Others have tried it and considered the experience a failure for whatever reason. That’s okay, you should think about trying again!
That’s why I want to share the following with you.
In the last weeks week, two new DMs stood out for me (partly because they linked to my site, a blogger always likes that):
- Geek Dreamgirl ‘E’ made the jump and started posting her Virgin DM monologues, have a look.
- Eric Maziade discovered my blog not too long ago. While not a new DM per say, he hasn’t done it in 12 years. He started again for a group of his friend’s kids. Have a look.
Now there are a ton of GMing resources out there, as many of you know. My own blog being one of them.
I’d encourage starting DMs to start hunting around Forums, Wikis and blogs to start exploring what’s been said and done about GMing.
My personal picks for starters would be:
Martin Ralya’s Treasure Tables: While not updated anymore, it’s got more than 750 short, well written posts about GMing. My favorite of all is this one.
Then head on to Gnome Stew, the spiritual successor to Treasure Tables, a full team of GMs write some of the best tips and observations on GMing yet.
If you like forums but are daunted by the volume or the somewhat negative tone of the bigger ones, I invite you to check Patrick Benson’s You all meet in a Tavern. In fact, I was told that there’s a contest going on right now.
My forum is also a good place to check if you have questions. We are a small bunch, but the atmosphere is friendly and helpful.
As for my own stuff? I suggest you start with my Tropes Series, then check my 5 stages series and finally look at my unfinished ‘Robin’s laws of Gamemastering revisited‘ posts. I’ll finish it one day, I swear!
Once you feel ready to explore more, go and see the RPGblogger Network. There are more than 100 RPG blogs in there!
Fell free to post other resources you suggest to new GMs/DMs in the comments, including your own blogs.
If you are a starting GM/DM yourself and are blogging about it, let us know and provide us with some links.
For those unversed in posting links in comments, here’s the formula you must copy/paste into the comment form:
<a href="url">Text to be displayed</a>
Where url = the web address you want to link to.
