tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post2263073530306003537..comments2024-03-12T22:45:16.936+01:00Comments on The Disoriented Ranger: Oh DM Tools, Where Art Thou?Jens D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-52853431330958858272018-12-16T20:58:44.109+01:002018-12-16T20:58:44.109+01:00Yes, of course. I have ACKS, and I think the '...Yes, of course. I have ACKS, and I think the 'domain' stuff in particular is very well-written. And I've loved Pendragon (only from afar, never played it) since about 1990.<br /><br />And indeed there's some amazing things on blogs (several of them built by you)... Welsh Piper's tools for building hexcrawls have been inspiring me recently, but I'm trying to slim them down to be faster and tighter. And I'm still looking for a way to build page B51 of Moldvay into a generator that will produce both quests and settings...<br />Red Orchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07015582577046093985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-3182508561346847772018-12-16T14:42:30.186+01:002018-12-16T14:42:30.186+01:00That's a tall order :) I think D&D pre-3e ...That's a tall order :) I think D&D pre-3e is a good way to start, especially the DMGs of AD&D 1e/2e and HackMaster 4e, but also the D&D RC (naturally). In a way they are experimenting with what a DM would need to run a proper campaign and you could argue that it is a discussion still going on (one of the reasons, imho, that the "OSR" was so popular in the beginning, all those years ago). There's tons of blogs out there around the 2010s that explored a little further that way (mostly searching for tools to help DMs create proper content on the fly, which is partly what I'm talking about). Results of those experiments are games like Hulks & Horrors, Arcane Rising, Renegade (and Renegade - Corruption), Machinations of the Space Princess, Adventurer Conqueror King and Stars Without Number, to name but a few. I think Runequest did a rather decent job integrating culture into rules, indirectly helping the DM that way (2nd or 3rd edition, not sure which one they translated). Pendragon is another prime example for offering the DM some proper tools to facilitate a game ... I hope that helps a bit? I'm sure there is more (maybe even better?) examples for games like that. Torchbearer might lean heavily in that direction, but I haven't read it. I think a good way to find out if a game is wired that way is looking at its DM-section. If there's nothing, it's probably a bad sign.Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-70249184842729193082018-12-15T18:06:24.676+01:002018-12-15T18:06:24.676+01:00Sort of! I was hoping for some concrete examples e...Sort of! I was hoping for some concrete examples either from systems where it does work or where you've identified specific things missing. But, perhaps everything is system-dependent. Or system-setting-interplay dependent.<br /><br />As you know, I'm a fan of your narrative generator; also, a fan of the fact that you, as it were, had a look under the bonnet and decided 'what we need is...'. The way you link character backgrounds in LSotN is really interesting too. I can't remember now whose blog I saw this on, but someone was suggesting using something like the Reaction Table for rumours to simulate a changing world - I asked my PCs for some bit of background information and I'm using the table to track their relationship to that information. All of these systems can be built, often using tools that already exist ('what can the rolls for stats mean?' for example) or extrapolating from one system to another ('can Reactions be repurposed for other interactions?')<br /><br />But these are Rumsfeldian 'known unknows' I guess. I'm always interested in new and exciting mechanics to generate the kind of stuff that I think is 'missing' from B/X, and I wondered if you had come across any interesting systems in your travels that I could repurpose...Red Orchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07015582577046093985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-22716365126270881292018-12-11T16:28:44.587+01:002018-12-11T16:28:44.587+01:00Good question, Red. It is somewhat hard to pin dow...Good question, Red. It is somewhat hard to pin down, actually, since it might differ greatly from system to system. I'll try: take a very basic system, say enough information to have bare bones characters and all the rules necessarily to resolve actions those chararcters attempt. Nothing more. Now imagine using that system with a setting or genre you don't know anything about. The only way to make it work im that situation, would be to accumulate enough knowledge about setting and genre to be ableb to fulfill all expectations the game could manifest in that regard. Only if a DM is able to reach that point in his research, he could extrapolate tools to make the systems interactions with setting and genre. You either know or you have tools producing output equivalent to said knowledge. Does that help answering your question?Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-19463988626572391812018-12-11T12:28:28.076+01:002018-12-11T12:28:28.076+01:00Food for thought as always, Jens.
Are there game...Food for thought as always, Jens. <br /><br />Are there games that you think do have the right tools? You mention the Reaction Table and Morale rules from Basic/RC being missing in S&S, and you say that there are things missing in Castle Falkenstein... what is it that you think is missing? What are the tools that you think are needed? If they don't exist and you (and other DMs) need to write them, what are the tasks you need to accomplish (or at least make easier) with these tools?<br />Red Orchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07015582577046093985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-28772218552675434482018-12-03T10:57:41.786+01:002018-12-03T10:57:41.786+01:00John is one of the more underappreciated creatives...John is one of the more underappreciated creatives of the scene. He's been churning out gaming materials very consistently (albeit he slowed down a little recently).Ynas Midgardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14972628887096890642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-72212779263230829412018-12-03T07:05:41.004+01:002018-12-03T07:05:41.004+01:00Thanks for commenting! Yes, there's definitely...Thanks for commenting! Yes, there's definitely some great stuff out there and Stater is out there with it. Crawford comes to mind as well (Stars Without Numbers and all that). Good call. Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-42453521988492946942018-12-02T17:09:01.068+01:002018-12-02T17:09:01.068+01:00This is one of the reasons I like John Stater'...This is one of the reasons I like John Stater's zine Nod; for his hexcrawl he produces exstensive worked examples using the random encounter tables from (originally AD&D) Swords & Wizardry and later his game Blood & Treasure. It is an excellent deminstrationof DM tools at workGwythainthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05184355400691527355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-78300015531787388822018-12-02T15:17:01.920+01:002018-12-02T15:17:01.920+01:00Building it from the DM side first ... that's ...Building it from the DM side first ... that's a brilliant idea, Mark. Thanks for commenting! That should have been in the post :PJens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-20566548806099060652018-12-02T15:14:59.673+01:002018-12-02T15:14:59.673+01:00Bonus round: That is, incidentally, why the develo...Bonus round: That is, incidentally, why the development of a new roleplaying game will take years instead of months. It just takes a lot of testing and tinkering to get it done right. Coming up with new ways to make it work isn't easy, either.Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-71667573204327878442018-12-02T15:13:14.510+01:002018-12-02T15:13:14.510+01:00For my bit , this makes me want to pull apart my ...For my bit , this makes me want to pull apart my explorers game then rebuild it starting with the GM' side (Because that's where the meat of the game is anyway) Working "backwards" to the player experience. Mostly as a thought experiment. <br />Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793781986788315513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6617677799085549365.post-21023077354159632372018-12-02T14:54:05.164+01:002018-12-02T14:54:05.164+01:00Just a couple of observations after the fact: modu...Just a couple of observations after the fact: modules and adventures are a good way to introduce even more specific rules to games. I think seeing it this way on the one hand shows how much role playing games actually rely on DM Tools to work, and on the other that the level of resolution (or detail) can vary a huge deal beyond what a game should offer (not that there are any norms about it).<br /><br />I'd also like to explore that idea a little bit more that the DM has to do all the heavy lifting if the game doesn't provide it and what that means. In CF it means that I have to be fluent in the setting and the Weird Wild West in general or at least well enough informed to make ad hoc decisions about anything random the players can come up with. That's why the level of preparation doesn't match the potential output: you have to know a lot to be able to use little parts of it at any given time (works for writing fiction, though, since you don't have the players as random agents in the narrative, which means, nothing has to go to waste). Anyway, just a little bit more food for thought ... Jens D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18394303166081684904noreply@blogger.com