Gary Gygax in Action

Just a little glimpse of Gygax DM'ing. Nice vid!

Wonderful breakdown on disguise skill by former CIA agent

This is great, albeit with a modern slant but completely applicable to Fantasy (and obviously modern spy) RPG's.

Creating the Campaign Storyline

The task of creating a storyline is likely something you will have to tackle no matter what. In only a couple instances (such as the Adventure Paths of Pathfinder) will this be done entirely for you. Even in the case of prepurchased modules an overarching storyline will have to be devised. And obviously if you’re writing your own campaign from scratch, you need a storyline.

One of the biggest foundational factors is to involve the players in session zero. In a lot of ways, this is all built into session zero. The act of character creation and deciding on campaign setting will naturally and inevitably lead to some degree of laying a foundational framework of storyline.

Whether you want to create a continuous storyline or an episodic serial can be decided at this point. They both have pros and cons. The big epic storyline is exciting, rewarding, satisfying, and resonates within almost everybody in a deep and meaningful way. It’s also very hard to maintain as players will sometimes not make it to individual sessions, not to mention will permanently leave or join the campaign. Episodic serials are useful in the sense that players can jump in and out without losing much fidelity in their motivations and decision making process.

You can push further than this if you wish. Ask questions about tone (horror, apocalyptic, medieval, fantastical, fairylike, etc.) Discuss thematic possibilities at this stage. Some possible themes include wilderness, underdark, political intrigue, all or mostly one class (wizard, fighter, etc). Allow the players to ask questions about the campaign and the world. Don’t overdo it though. Getting too detailed in this stage is probably a waste of work as a lot of it will change as the campaign evolves. Leave room for the story to grow organically at this stage.

Plot points

This is a little more nuts and bolts. A plot point is like a turning point. Something transpires, information is revealed... somehow things change. The adventure turns on its heel and the action goes in a new direction. Figuratively, and perhaps literally. There are usually anywhere from a small handful to ten or so in a big adventure.

Beats

A beat, just like in music, refers to timing and rhythm. In an adventure, a story beat is an event,  decision, or discovery that alters the way the protagonist pursues his or her goal.

Simply put, a story beat is basically when anything important happens. There are probably several for every plot point.

Hero’s journey

A man named Joseph Campbell studied mythological hero stories from around the world and published a book asserting that all these stories have certain traits in common. This book is called “The Hero With 1000 Faces.” He believed in a “monomyth,” meaning that each hero story can be thought of as a retelling of the same myth. In narratology and comparative mythology, the monomyth, or the hero’s journey, is the common template of a broad category of tales and lore that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed. When applied with judgement, wisdom, and flexibility, the Hero’s journey concepts are widely agreed to add unparalleled depth and resonance to your Hero story.

I have watched well meaning but ultimately self-important academics try to pigeonhole many stories into this framework for which it is not appropriate. I’m going to tell you, and this will run contrary to what some would say, that the Hero’s Journey monomyth simply doesn’t work for everything. But it’s perfect for hero mythologies and adventure stories, so for us, it is going to be extremely valuable.

Let us now explore this notion that all hero stories are interconnected by a few universal structural elements we can find in mythology, movies, novels, and epic poetry. I’m going to give here a condensed version of the Hero’s Journey monomythical structure and do my best to keep it easily relatable to playing RPG’s.

The hero’s journey is like a cycle. It begins and ends in the hero’s ordinary world, but in between it passes through some extraordinary, sometimes magical places. The version I am presenting here is slightly altered by Christian Vogler as written in “The Writer’s Journey,” which he wrote for writers. I feel Vogler’s approach applies more directly, and I will be leaning the Vogler text a bit more for citations in this section. With storytelling, and more so with RPG’s, you should not feel constrained by this structure. Moving or removing story beats, changing anything, or ignoring this structure entirely is fine.

Also, this could be either a micro or macro framework—or both. That is to say, the hero(s) can go through this cycle in one adventure, as well as throughout the course of a full length campaign that runs from level one to character retirement.

Spoilers ahead: I’m about to ruin every Disney/adventure/scifi film ever made, book written, or story told, anywhere, ever. Vogler was a close advisor to Disney and crew, and his notes that circulated as memos throughout Disney, which they treat as gospel, became the basis for The Writer’s Journey.

ACT I

The Ordinary World

The first important detail is that the Hero is reluctant. The hero has to be pushed out of the ordinary world. She or he should be happy and comfortable at their home (referred to in the cycle as “the ordinary world”). The ordinary world in which we begin is a place called “home” to the hero. It is a comfortable and familiar place for the main character, who is about to be the fish-out-of-water. Salvatore turned the ordinary world on its ear for Drizzt Do’Urden, who left his violent and chaotic underground home for the (to him) alien and hostile surface world.

The Call to Adventure (AKA Hook)

Then, something happens that forces them to action. This is also called a “hook.” The PC’s may or may not “bite the hook,” that is up to them. The hero is presented with a problem, a job, a proposition, a cry for help, or any number of calls. This can take many forms in a campaign. Something is out of balance with the “universe,” figuratively or literally, and the quintessential princess must be rescued and returned for balance to be restored. Could be as simple as getting hired, conscripted to an army, or as epic as losing their family to a goblin raid. In revenge stories, there is a wrong that must be righted or avenged. Gathering allies begins if it has not already begun. After this point, the hero can no longer remain in the ordinary world.

The Call establishes what’s at stake for the hero and her or his ordinary world. The stakes could be expressed in the form of a question Will Rowyn survive? How can the princess be rescued? Why has there been an unending storm blotting out the sun and how do we restore sunlight?

The archetypical hero of every myth is an initiate being introduced to the mysteries of life, the universe, and death. The hero’s experience will change them forever.

Refusal of the Call

While a key part of the monomyth, you are not obligated to refuse the call to adventure, and shouldn’t force the PC to make one choice or another. But for completeness sake, the hero will refuse the call to action at this point in the adventure for any number of reasons. Refusal is ultimately about fear. Feelings of inadequacy, obligations preventing her or him from accepting the call, fear, or any other number of internal stonewalling factors creating an obstacle between the hero and the call to action. Sometimes outside influence is required to spur the hero into committing at last to action. This influence can take the form of further harm to the ordinary world or something or someone the hero cares about, putting the natural balance in even further disarray, or the encouragement of a mentor figure. These obstacles will have to be overcome, but not without help. Which brings us to...

Meeting with the Mentor

The hero’s mentor is an elderly parent figure that will give advice and gifts, and generally prepare the hero for their journey. This character in these types of stories is traditionally a wizard (literally or essentially). The character is protective of the hero and prepares the hero to face the unknown by providing gifts, advice, and sometimes magical aid. This character (the most common supporting character) in mythology represents the relationship between parent and child, or God and man. It is a nurturing and caring figure, concerned for the well being of the hero but also wise with the knowledge that the hero must begin, and ultimately complete, her or his own journey.

ACT II

Crossing the First Threshold

This is the moment of departure for the adventure. At this point, the hero crosses over into a world outside of, and completely alien to, their home. Our hero has entered the outside world for the first time. In this magical world the majority of the action of acts 2 and 3 take place. The rules, parameters, inhabitants, and limits of the world beyond this threshold are all unknown. This is a likely milestone for the hero to meet the threshold guardian or gatekeeper. The gatekeeper can take many forms, and does not necessarily need to be killed—or even defeated. But the hero does need to get past him or her, whether the gatekeeper is willing or not. Heimdall is a quintessential gatekeeper, and a perfect example.

Tests, Allies, and Enemies

The hero will now begin learning about the outside world by being tested for worthiness to continue, as the road ahead is perilous and not for the faint of heart. It is common for the hero in these stories to fail one or more of these tests. It is archetypical for tests to come in threes. Any final allies the hero may need to add to the group will be procured by this stage.

Taverns, inns, saloons, and other gathering places for adventurers are a great place for this stage. They are useful for the hero to gather information about the world and their mission, and both enemies and allies may be found at such places.

Approach to the Innermost Cave

The hero, nearing the center of the story and the special magical world, experiences full and final separation from her or his known world and idea of self. Entering this stage of the journey is analogous to undergoing change. This stage can and often does involve enemies, dangers, grief, or other such setbacks. It is also a stage of discovery and power.

The hero will now prepare and at last journey into the inner sanctum of the enemy, the unknown, or whatever form the antagonist has taken. Crossing this threshold and entering the lair is another key part of the monomyth. Many of these throughout human history used underground settings, such as the Labyrinth and the Abyss.

The Ordeal

The hero faces the greatest challenge yet. The hero often meets the villain in this stage if she or he hasn’t already. The hero has the proverbial “darkest hour,” where she or he will face death and come back from the brink. The audience (players) will be in the most suspense, not knowing if their heroes will live or die.

This critical moment in the hero’s journey should be an emotional rollercoaster. This moment requires the hero to die, literally or figuratively, so that she or he can come back again. This is a huge source of energy and punch for the monomyth, and one of the primary driving engines that makes it work and makes it resonate so profoundly with most if not all people.The experiences of the lead up stages have brought us (or should have brought us) to identify, empathize, and invest in the character. The GM and players are now made to experience the brink-of-death moment right along with the hero, and if the storyteller has done a good job, the experience will confer the utmost concern and anxiety to all interested parties. That’s why the investment is so crucial. This is where everything either comes together, or falls apart.

Reward

The hero has survived death, slain the BBEG, and “seized the elixir” (the reward). Players and GM now have cause to celebrate. This is the appropriate point in the monomyth and in any sensible fantasy adventure for the hero to take possession of the reward of the story, be it monetary, material, spiritual, knowledge, magic, or anything else. The hero has risked or sacrificed her or his life on behalf of the community in the ordinary world, and truly earned the title of “hero.”

ACT III

The Road Back

The hero may not be safe just yet. Sometimes, the BBEG is not killed in The Ordeal, and will be in hot pursuit during The Road Back. Some of the greatest chase scenes come in this phase.

The magical special world is being left behind, but the hero is now forever changed.

The Resurrection

The ancient warriors returned to the village with blood on their hands and had to purify themselves before returning to their people. Having faced and overcome the ordeal, the hero comes back, reborn (figuratively or literally in the case of Fantasy RPG’s), having been fully purified and ready to reenter the ordinary world (go home).

Return with the Elixir

The hero receives the final reward for defeating the BBEG, and (again, in the archetypical mythical structure), returns with this gift to improve her or his ordinary world. The journey is meaningless without a reward to bring back. The reward can be experience or knowledge, too. But ultimately this elixir has the power to heal and restore balance to the universe.

The Hero’s Journey is an approximate framework that should guide but not railroad your adventure. Within this framework there should be room for surprises, unexpected decisions, and room for the story to grow organically from player choices. Feel free to experiment with moving or omitting some of these story beats to see how that affects the feel of the adventure.

My philosophy and feelings on roleplaying are that it is a story and a creative outlet as well as a game. An invulnerable (or more often, near or functionally invulnerable) character is not one that participants are as likely to attach to in a story, because most people cannot relate. A character that has weaknesses and uniqueness is more likely to garner an emotional response from the audience.

We are required to get emotionally attached to the characters to have a story. When a participant in a story says, “Gee, I hope my favorite character escapes this danger!”, and that character is up against something that appears more powerful, insurmountable, and so on, tension is created. This dramatic tension is the engine that drives every great hero story.

If that character is superpowered, or in some way seems unkillable, the tension falls like a house of cards. Without the tension, there is no story. Without the tension, there is no adventure or risk. Without any real risk, the rewards are mere participation trophies; the conclusion is foregone; the reward is inevitable. This is something I hope to avoid in many aspects throughout the game, as it is often a campaign killer, or requires some heavy-handed and cheap-feeling contrivance to reduce the players’ equipment or power in order to allow the story to continue.

Problem Players

Sometimes, you have problematic players for various reasons. Rules Gurus become Rules Lawyers, Adventurers become Hack-n-Slash meat grinders, and Roleplayers become self righteous martyrs.

Always remember the A1 rule is have fun. Everyone is there taking time out of their busy schedule to have fun. Exactly zero of your players, and probably you yourself, have come to a session to have it spoiled by an immature jerk throwing a tantrum or bogging the game down with their trivial foibles.

So the first question you should ask is, is it really that trivial? If it is, maybe it’s not worth the fight. If it’s something that won’t break the game, it could be solved in an instant simply by granting the player the requested concession. Doing this periodically also softens hard hearts to future instances of having to be firm and final.

But, other times you cannot budge. You have made your decision and should not let any player talk you out of it—even if that decision is wrong, save it for the post game discussion. But dealing with problem personalities isn’t all about GM rulings. There are other nuances of interaction, body language, and vocalization that must be read and assessed at the game table. You probably do it without thinking about it—most people do. When things are starting to heat up, maybe call a break, grab some pizza, or call it a night if it’s an opportune time to do so.

General assholery can really break a game. I’ve had one person break an entire group to pieces on more than one occasion. In one case recently, I banned the offender from the group with no hesitation, kicked him off the roll20 game, and blocked him from contacting me without a second thought. This is the correct way to handle it. That group continued without him, but had it gone unchecked the group would likely have disbanded.

In 2000, I had a fellow player and former friend blow a gasket, throw a championship level fit on the group forum (which I never should have allowed the posts to go through to begin with), and singlehandedly shatter the group.

This was a "One Campaign with Multiple GM’s" game, and was basically the worst experience of my gaming life (so far). On a day that the GM on deck didn’t show, or call, anyone, another picked up and ran so a game could happen. Upon hearing this, GM on deck throws himself a screaming hissy fit on the group forum, doesn’t return the materials he borrowed, and unfriends himself with everyone in the group.

My game and group was utterly devastated and took years before I was able to rebuild any semblance of a campaign. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have handled him the way I handle the same situation now.

Such players are figuratively like cancer, and should be cut from your campaign (and truthfully your life) like the tumors that they are. Their poison infects, and it spreads if you allow it to. Like vampires they drain you your energy. It starts so innocuous but it creeps on you. Suddenly your entire group is dismayed, demoralized, disinterested, disengaged, and absent. This case was so extreme that after the incident some of us ceased to be friends not just with the offending GM but with one another.

There is no quick and simple formula to explain this. You just have to develop the judgement to, to quote an ancient eastern philosopher, “Know when to hold ‘em, Know when to fold ‘em, Know when to walk away, and know when to run.”

Standard Operating Procedures

Standard operating procedures may be declared for your character/the group. A standard operating procedure can not be any action which requires a die roll (e.g. failure causes a penalty)—so it is not possible to enter a dungeon and say your characters will search or detect traps at all times, because failure causes a penalty. Furthermore, you may not declare as standard procedure the use of any feat. race, or class-related ability, or any action that takes more than 10 minutes of active participation to complete (in other words, night watch rotations apply to an 8-hour period but can still be standardized, while daily foraging for water while taking a monthlong trek through the desert cannot). Finally, it is not possible to declare a standard procedure that pertains to a specific location; it must be a generalized statement that can apply to all situations and locales. Exception: SP's specific to terrain type can be declared, i.e. when your character enters a forest, he will always pick up a handful of moss for his spell components.

What you can declare as a standard procedure is any common task, chore, or search that can be completed in less than 10 minutes (you can’t take 20). Several common standard procedures would be marching order, camp habits, hailing procedures when encountering NPC's, combat formations, and so on. Also small character quirks and habits can be declared as standard procedure.

Fighting characters and rogues can practice drills, (it is already assumed that they do), whether the player declares it or not. Priests may declare that they pray to their deity once a day, again, this is instantly assumed even if it is not declared. (Although the priest's church may still disapprove of long absences--since obviously no standard procedure supersedes the fact that the priest is away from his place of worship). Rogues can choose to pick up every small or interesting/shiny object they see (like Kender). No guarantees as to what they end up with, though.

A standard operating procedure for collecting cost-free spell components is completely allowable, but the component must have no cost whatsoever, and must be obtainable with less than 10 minutes of foraging. Whenever the spellcaster passes through an area abundant in a needed spell component, the player may raise that component by 10 pieces/applications. If an animal or monster must be captured and/or killed to obtain the spell component, you cannot standardize it, but if you pass an already dead creature the standard procedure works normally. It is recommended that the player be aware of his or her own components, and do not expect me to know every time a substance in the area is in fact a needed component. However if you pass an abundant area and don't remember right away, it is allowable to bring it up later and still receive the components.

In any situation where there is no die roll or ability use involved, and the action in question takes less than 10 minutes of active participation, the character is assumed to be doing what is most favorable, even if no standard procedure is officially declared. For example, if you do not declare that you’re taking off your full plate armor when you go to sleep, you still are, because if you didn’t you’d have penalties when you woke up in the morning. However, as a player it’s always best to err on the side of explicitness rather than assume I’m thinking the same things you are.

Intro to Mastering the Dungeon

The RPG is an open-ended game of limitless possibilities, setting it starkly apart from any other kind of game. In most games you get one board, or play area, and a short list of actions you can perform. After a relatively simple condition or conditions have been met, someone wins. RPG’s, by contrast, allow you to go any direction you want, turn around, eventually gaining the ability to go through walls and teleport. You can slay your enemies, flee, or try to talk to them and befriend them. Sometimes you might not even know who the enemies are.

It is equally a game and a story. Within a framework of a defined ruleset, which typically provides varying degrees of probability of success that any given character action will succeed or fail, a story is told collaboratively between the GM and the players.

Your job, as the Game Master, is to facilitate the play area, which is a world unto itself. Indeed an entire multiverse! You will play every character encountered by your players, know every secret, and act as the all powerful judge of this universe. You control aspect of gameplay that the players do not control.

There is an endless amount of fun to be had as a GM, but it’s also very easy to burn one’s self out on the task. You must be cautious and follow a few fundamental guidelines for optimal results.

The road that lies ahead is not easy, but the rewards are great, and the thrills are glorious.

How To De-Objectify Women in Comics: A Guide

How To De-Objectify Women in Comics: A Guide

I posted this on a couple of gaming groups recently. Unlike here, I said nothing at all, merely shared the link. It was a hoot. The thought that anybody could get so worked up about something as simple as respecting another's human dignity doesn't shock me anymore, but it does speak to our era.

If you've been living under a rock for the last 15 years, the responses it generated might come as a shock to you. It ranged from "that's bait," to, "good point, atta boy," to, "this is off topic." (Which it's not, but I did not strongly argue with almost anyone who posted their parrotings).

The most common response though was from men who flew off the handle in a rage.

More than one individual became so excited that, after my post got deleted (the administration of all 3 groups deleted this post), sought out other, unrelated posts I had made in the group to let me know how they felt about it. For instance, I had posted a call for players for an online campaign a few days prior, and somebody felt they just had to let me know that I was too woke to play with. Me, woke, that's hilarious.

Before you lose hope, on the other end of the spectrum, there was one individual that actually had real questions and engaged with me sincerely. He expressed that the refined, de-sexied image excites him more than the one on the left, so how does that work? My response was that to my mind, this isn't about what makes him happy so much as it is about how women want to be portrayed.

Anyway, here's the link. This is how I feel and will not be apologizing for it anytime soon—but this will not dominate my blog either. Feel free to conveniently out yourself as someone who I do not wish to associate with so I can add you to my block list if this enrages you, but for goodness sake, don't give yourself a heart attack.

Introduction

Greetings adventurers, and welcome to my blog. My name is Thorin Teague, commonly called "Thor." (It got shortened in 4th grade and stuck for my whole life.)I am a Dungeon Master, avid fantasy RPG fan, and writer/designer. I have been G/DM'ing for 30 years, playing RPG's for more. I love painting miniatures as well as design and art.

Right now I teach Art History at Jackson College, an experience that has enriched and fulfilled me to boundless proportions. I also teach Animation at Lansing Community College which is one of my Alma Maters and near and dear to my heart.

The purpose of this blog is to continue giving form to the Realm of Syseria, my homebrew world. Also, there are a number of books I'm working on as we speak, one for G/DM'ing advice, one for Wargame/Tactical style scenarios dropped into a fantasy RPG adventure, one for my house rules, and one for my world. I probably have in the ballpark of 200,000 words at this point, none of which amounts to a finished product.

Other than wanting to touch that finished product, not for profit per se but just to feel it completed, I also want a record of my writings as having been copyrighted. Furthermore, feedback on Facebook can only take you so far. Some are helpful, others not so much. Some mean well, and others are just mean.

For those of us who get our kicks above the waistline, enjoy reading, gaming, art, or anything else I'm going to be blabbering about here, I hope you enjoy my letters and words.

Have fun and don't let the man get you down.

~Thor(in)