Evil Machinations

Teaching the Game: August Blog Carnival

Posted on 1 August 2010 | 11 comments

First off, thanks to Mad Brew Labs for hosting the July carnival on Growing the Hobby. It really got some great discussion going. This month’s carnival actually (and inadvertently) extends that discussion. Much of the consensus about growing the hobby focused on how we, as RPG players and GMs, need to teach our games to as many new players as we can. This month, I take that one step further and ask how do we teach them?

I’d originally intended to call this “Passing it Down” and focus on children and roleplaying, but then I realized that was only one type of new RPG player. So this month, I want to focus on the hows and wherefores of teaching RPGs to new players, whether they be adults or children, people just joining their first game or people who’ve been playing for decades learning a new system.

Here’s some possible questions to get you going:

How do you find new players?
How do you help them learn the mechanics of a system (and how much of the system do you require them to learn?)
How do you teach the non-mechanics part of the game?
How do you teach someone to GM?
What’s the best beginner system?
What’s the best system for teaching roleplaying to kids?
How do you run games for kids?
What was your first game like? How could it have been better?
Should roleplaying be taught in the schools?
Do you play with your own kids?
Are all-kid game groups better than adult-kid mixed groups?

And, of course, anything else you can think of.

I’ve always enjoyed teaching games and most of the convention games I’ve run have been designed to introduce new players the whatever system I’m running. Later this month I’ll post my techniques on running a teaching game. I’m looking forward to seeing your posts; just put the URL of your post in the comments section below and at the end of the month, I’ll do a wrap-up post listing everyone’s contributions.

11 Comments

Posted in GMing, Players

Tagged Carnival, kids, new players, teaching

Beyond “Fred”: Anglo-Saxon Names for Characters

Posted on 22 July 2010 | 1 comment

Finding a good name is sometimes the hardest part of designing an NPC. You want something more exotic than “Fred the Fighter”, but “Frewxyque the Grand Thunder Duke” becomes too hard to say with a straight face after the first first time. Baby name books can help, but some of the best names come from real-world sources. Beyond ‘Fred’ is a series that lists names from various sources broken down by region and/or time period.

We’re doing Anglo-Saxon names this time. Some of these names are still in use, but others are as unusual as any gamer-made names. As usual, I’ve separated them out into male and female names.

Name Structure

Historically, Anglo-Saxons had no surnames as we would think of them. Sometimes, a person (usually aristrocracy) would be identified by a trait or play on words (Aethylred the Unready, for example) or by a connection to a famous ancestor. If your game setting requires a character to have more than one name, you can always use a place name (“of Meadowbrook”), a profession name (“Smith” or “the Baker”), or “son/daughter of” and a parent’s name (“Oswynson”).

Note: many Anglo-Saxon names use the letter “eth” (Ð, ð). Since I’m not concerned with historical accuracy here, I’ve substituted “th” for any eth in the names below.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr, ©Snake3yes 2006)

Male Names

Acwellen
Aethelred
Aethelwulf
Aheawan
Badanoth
Baldred
Beornric
Caedmon
Cælin
Cenhelm
Ceolwulf
Cuthen
Delwyn
Denewulf
Eadfrid
Eadric
Eanlac
Elwyn
Fremund
Frithulaf
Godfrith
Grimbald
Guthred
Hardred
Hereric
Horik
Horsa
Idmaer
Ingwulf
Irminric
Leofric
Liudolf
Merewald
Morcar
Ordmaer
Osred
Oswyn
Raedfrid
Rægenhere
Reduald
Romund
Saeward
Selred
Sigeric
Sighere
Stithwulf
Swithun
Theodgar
Thrydwulf
Thunor
Trumwin
Turec
Waldere
Wihtlac
Yric
Wulfhere

Female Names

Aerlene
Aethelthryth
Alduulf
Alodia
Anlienisse
Baldeth
Beadohild
Bregusuid
Burwena
Ceolwynn
Cynethryth
Cynwise
Domneva
Eadwynn
Eanfled
Eanwin
Eoforwine
Frigyth
Godwyna
Golderon
Hendina
Hild (or Hilda)
Hrotsvitha
Mildgyth
Modthryth
Oslafa
Osthryd
Rimilda
Roswitha
Saewynn
Somerild
Sunngifu
Tonild
Tortgith
Turgiua
Wenyld
Winfrith
Wulfrun
Wulfwynn
Wynflead

Sources

Other “Beyond Fred” Posts

1 Comment

Posted in Characters

Tagged anglo saxon, beyond fred, names

Growing the Hobby

Posted on 15 July 2010 | 2 comments

For this month’s blog carnival Mad Brew Labs has posed the question “Challenge: Growing the Hobby”. Since I started playing in 1980, the hobby has grown exponentially and shows no sign of stopping. Sure, in the general population interest flares up, wanes, and fares again but the sheer number of people who play RPGs has grown considerably since its beginning. Do we really need it to grow more?

I think that before we can really answer the question of how to grow our hobby, we need to define exactly what hobby it is that we’re trying to grow. It’s RPGs, of course. But what, exactly, are RPGs? Tabletop games using traditional rules systems such as D&D, GURPS, Storyteller, Savage Worlds, etc. are obviously RPGs. But tabletop games have grown away from the table or were never there to start with. Are LARPs (live-action roleplaying games) RPGs? I think most of us would answer “yes”, simply because they’re usually based on a tabletop system.

But that being the case then, do the How to Host a Murder games that were popular in the late ’80’s also RPGs? I tend not classify them as RPGs for the simple matter that they involved reading lines from a set script. But what about the murder mystery trains and interactive theatres? How about re-enactment and re-creation such as the Society for Creative Anacronisms and black-powder rendezvous? What makes them different from LARPS?

Moving back to tabletop (in a way), we come to Play by Mail, Play by Email, and Play by Post games. Are they also RPGs? I think most of us would, again, say “yes” because they’re still playing something we recognize as an RPG. But that, then, leads us to open the big can of worms … MMOs. Are MMOs a type of RPG?

My point here isn’t to spark debate about what is or isn’t an RPG. My point is that the hobby may already be more mainstream and wide-spread than we frequently think.

Oh Hey, It’s Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer’s 3rd Birthday! from Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer (philgamer.wordpress.com)
Growing the Hobby from Mad Brew Labs (madbrewlabs.com)
Growing the Hobby? from Whitehall ParaIndustries (whitehall-paraindustries.blogspot.com)
Let’s Make A List: Cool Things People Are Doing In The RPG Hobby (rpgblog2.com)

2 Comments

Posted in Musings

Tagged Carnival

11 GMing Tips I Learned from Being a Parent

Posted on 25 June 2010 | 2 comments

Sometimes running a game feels like herding a group of toddlers through the glassware department of a department store while carrying an armload of wet cats. While most of the time players act like the responsible adults they usually are, there are times that I feel I’ve got a table full of cranky toddlers. On those times, I’ve found the following parenting skills really useful:

Never give your players an option you hate.
Look for ways to say “yes.”
Don’t tell your players what their character thinks, just tell them what they can do.
Don’t give in to whining.
Never be afraid to say “no.”
Limit their choices, if need be, but let the players make their own choices
When everyone’s tired and hungry, take a break
Admit when you’re wrong.
Apologize when you need to.
Let players make their own mistakes
Insist on good manners.

How about you? What parenting (teaching, whatever) tips have you found helpful as a GM?

[Photo courtesy of fiskfisk under the Creative Commons 2 license]

What Do You Need Help With?

Posted on 18 June 2010 | Leave a comment

In addition to the world setting I’m creating, I’m looking at producing a line of products to help GMs run better and more immersive games. To that end, I’ve created a short survey asking for your input. Please help me out by taking a moment to give me your ideas. I’ll post the results here next week.

Click here to take survey

Notable Absence

Posted on 15 June 2010 | Leave a comment

As you’ve all noticed by now, my writing has been rather sporadic recently. It’s not because I’ve run out of ideas or developed a sudden allergy to blogging. No, the reason I’ve been rather absent is because my fiance Jay and I just bought a house and (being a foreclosure), it’s taking a lot of work to make it livable. Since I work from home, this will also be the new office of rpgGM.com.

We’re currently in the middle of ripping out all of the carpet and priming the entire house for repainting. Luckily, most of the work that needs to be done is cosmetic and we saved enough on the purchase price of the house itself that we’ll be able to hire someone to install the bamboo floors we’ve picked out. But meanwhile, there’s a lot of “sweat equity” to be put into it.

I’ve got a couple of “before” pictures — photos of the place before we began work. You can see one of them above; I’ll be posting more on my martial arts blog On My Own Two Feet.

Games…Must Have Games…

Posted on 28 May 2010 | 1 comment

I hate gaming dry spells. I think the longest period I’ve gone without gaming was two years, if you’re talking about actually sitting at the table, either as GM or player. If you’re counting game preparation and research, it’s more like, well, 6 months.

How to do I manage? Gaming is a priority for me: right after the important personal relationships in my life and equal to martial arts. Which puts it way ahead of just about everything else, since rpgGM.com is my job as well as my love. It also helps that just about everyone in my immediate family are also gamers. I’ve been very, very blessed, especially with a fiancé who’s actively encouraging me to (and supporting me while) I get my own game publishing company off the ground.

But this is about how to survive the drought. Like everyone else, I’ve had times when I couldn’t get a group together or couldn’t find one I wanted to play in. Here’s what I do when I’m game deprived:

Worldbuilding. Number one top slot. I love worldbuilding, which is why rpgGM.com’s first series of products is the game world, Guang Keshar. But it’s not just building worlds from scratch. I also consider rewriting the background of existing game worlds as worldbuilding.
Reading game systems. I try get my hands on and read as many game books as I can. This helps me keep the creative juices flowing, which leads to…
Campaign creation. I’ll spend a lot of time fleshing out the bare structure of a campaign for a game I’m itching to run. That’s a bit trickier, since I have a very hands-off GMing style and tend to build my games around my PCs. But I can do a fair amount of preparation work so that I’m ready for character creation when it does happen. I often have three or four campaigns I’m working on (but not currently running) simultaneously.
Reading about GMing. I’m always looking for ways to improve my GMing. I like reading game-related blogs, though right now I don’t have time to keep pace with more than a handful of my favorites. I also love reading books like Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering.
Playing RPG computer games. For me, this is something of a last resort. I generally dislike the rigidity of computer RPGs (though they are getting better). I prefer gaming with real people who’re in the same room as me.
Running “Play by Email” (PBEM) campaigns. This is actually one of my old stand-by’s when I can’t get a group together locally and the number one of the reasons my dry spells are so short. They’re still not the same, but I find them a better substitute for a tabletop game than computer games. With the advent of MMOs, I know many people who prefer the other way around, though. To each their own 😉 .
Writing about games (non-worldbuilding). Most of the game stuff I’ve written has happened when I was between game groups.
Painting miniatures and creating game-related art.

What can I say? I’m a game junkie. Gaming is one of the things my family does together and that’s something I’m very grateful for.

[This post is a part of RPG Bloggers‘ May blog carnival].

First Time GM: Job Description (gnomestew.com)
Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’, Keep those links a rollin’… (gnomestew.com)
Ask The GMs: Essential Game Master Skills (campaignmastery.com)

1 Comment

Posted in GMing

Tagged Carnival, GMing, inspiration

27 sure-fire ways to get kicked out of a game

Posted on 21 May 2010 | 5 comments

A while back I did a post on 21 Surefire Ways to Loose Players. With this being Player Month here at Evil Machinations, I thought it was time to do a post for the players. Even the most die-hard GMs will change sides of the table, even if it’s a pick-up game at a con. You’d think we’d make the perfect players, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, all too often GMs-turned-players are the most difficult players in a group. Here’s a tongue-in-cheek list of how exactly not to play.

[Photo courtesy of House of Sims via Flickr Creative Commons 2.0 license]

Repeatedly arrive extremely late to a game session without calling to let people know.
Repeatedly miss a game session after assuring the GM you’d be there.
Refuse to read the rules of the system you’re playing.
Hog the spotlight.
Give long lectures on how the game you run is better than this one; tell the GM what he’s doing wrong and offer frequent unsolicited advice on how to run the way you would.
Recite a Monty Python or Princess Bride quote for everything that happens during the game.
Insist on roleplaying every moment of an extremely boring supply run.
Turn everything said into a sexual innuendo.
Make overt sexual advances to every eligible PC in the party.
Make overt sexual advances to every eligible player in the group.
Argue for every advantage you can squeeze out of the system, even if it takes an hour to win a +1 bonus.
Insist that the GM look up an obscure rule in the middle of combat.
Expect everything to go your way because the GM is your significant other.
Loudly and frequently complain about how your favorite rules system is better than the one the GM is currently using.
Constantly brag about your über-character in another game and how she would wipe the floor in this on.
Refuse to get dice of your own and insist on rolling other people’s favorites.
Continuously forget to bring your character sheet so you can make up numbers on the fly.
Play while drunk (or high)–unless your entire group enjoys drinking to excess while gaming.
Deliberately and/or constantly ignore the rules of the house you’re playing in (such as putting your feet on the coffee table, not using a coaster, etc.)
Torment your host’s pet(s).
Play computer games while you’re in session to point it distracts other players
Repeatedly charm members of your own party.
Repeatedly steal from members of your own party.
Insist on going off on your own on a regular basis.
Claim every useful bit of treasure as your own.

How about you? What have I forgotten that really raises your hackles? Please share!

The Downside of Awesome (critical-hits.com)
Ask The GMs: How do you GM Player Characters as Spectators? (campaignmastery.com)
How Common Is Common knowledge? (gnomestew.com)
How To Handle Awkward Moments In Gaming (dungeonmastering.com)

5 Comments

Posted in Players

Tagged PCs, Players, problem players

What’s My Motivation?

Posted on 14 May 2010 | Leave a comment

motivation-chart Your GM picked out the adventure, did all of the background work, fleshed out the NPCs, balanced treasure and other rewards. Now it’s finally time to run the adventure, it’s up to the GM to find a way to motivate your character. Right?

[Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/philippeboukobza/ / CC BY 2.0]

Wrong.

True, the GM will most likely provide you a motivation for going on the adventure, but you can help by providing your own motivation for your character.

While “My character wouldn’t do that” can be a legitimate concern (I’m a “method actor”-style player, myself), it’s not helpful. If you try hard enough, there’s usually some way you can provide your character with a motivation to undertake the adventure.

Character History

Even if you don’t have a detailed backstory for your character, you can find a way to work something about this adventure into your character’s history. In fact, it’s probably easier to do it without a detailed history. But even if you’ve written down information for every month of your character’s life, you can still usually find a way to work a motivation for the adventure in there.

Perhaps you stumbled across this dungeon when you were growing up and always wondered what was down there that was so dangerous your parents wouldn’t let you explore it. Or your now-deceased mother had been an adventurer but had fled from this dungeon before exploring it thoroughly and you want to find out what could make a generally fearless woman flee in terror.

These are simply suggestions; you’ll do much better to find some reason yourself. The point is, that it doesn’t have to be a driving passion to provide motivation. Simple curiosity can be enough. Maybe the owner owes you some money and if you can’t get the money, you’re going to take payment in goods of equal value. Or perhaps you want to prove yourself a better adventurer than your mother who’s shadow you’ve been in since you started your career.

Character Relationships

That brings us to our next type of motivation: other people and the relationships your character has with them. It could be your favorite uncle asked you to check out the city sewers to find proof of the giant cybernetic rats and cockroaches he’s always said live down there. Maybe your familiar or a favorite pet wandered into the Mayor’s Mansion and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Or maybe, just maybe, your brother dared you to go into the spooky cave.

Again, the reasons don’t have to be deep of life-changing or part of The Big Picture. It can be petty concerns. The important thing is to have a reason that will motivate you to undertake the adventure. It could even be something simply as the party’s cleric said “Please” when he asked you to come along. Of course, if you want to have this adventure affect your character deeply, go for it.

Character Goals

This brings us to our last set of motivations: your character’s goals. Maybe you want to collect one of every type of potion in the world. Or maybe you need some scrapings from the wall to to mix the exact shade of grey paint to finish your current project. See, even here you don’t need grandiose ideas — simple ones will do as long as it gets your character moving.

Of course, you’ll want to clear your motivation with your GM. If he hears, for instance, that you think there may be potions for your collection, then he’ll most likely go out of his way to put one in there as a reward. Maybe you just want to complete your rock collection and the last type of rock you need is said to exist in this lich-controlled forest. placed in there.

Brainstorming or “Mind-Mapping” can help you find a reason. You can get special software for that, but I find good ol’ pen and paper work great for the job. If you’re really stuck, you might try having the GM other person you trust over for a brainstorming party. If something doesn’t come to you immediately, keep trying until you come up with something you can play. You’ll find the game much more enjoyable.

Upgrading Issues

Posted on 6 May 2010 | 1 comment

Please bear with me as I finish upgrading the theme for this site. I had technical difficulties installing the new theme and upgrading to the most recent version of WordPress (which for several reasons on my end, most of which come down to RTFM).

I’ll be finishing the set-up on the new theme over the course of the next few days. Everything’s there and you should be able to access it without difficulty. It just doesn’t look pretty yet.

Thanks for your patience.

1 Comment

Posted in Musings

Teaching the Game: August Blog Carnival