Observations of the Fox

That's basically it for the folder, except for a couple of key things that I do include, but forgot to add at the beginning of the series. One of the things I like to do is prepare for the unexpected to a limited extent. I've already mentioned that I do this with fragments of maps, and story hooks, but I also do this with random encounters, monsters and NPCs. If I'm playing a heavy game like D&D, Pathfinder, Rolemaster or Warhammer FRP, I'll find a random character generator, or visit one of the SRD websites for the game and download some potential folks and critters for the characters to possibly encounter in the area. For creatures I  might use one of the card sleeve sheets and file away nine typical creatures in the area. I'd roll a pair of d10s and use the lower of the two results to determine what might be encountered in the area when things in the story are getting slow or monotonous (this way I can assign common creatures/encounters to low numbers and rar...

I'm doing two parts with this post because we're getting to the end, and there isn't really a lot to say here. I figure a quick game is a good game, as long as things are fast flowing, you can get away with a lot of hand-waves and plot holes, and it's only later that players will ask "What about this bit?" or "What happened there?" Sometimes the players will forget things, and we can just skip over them, sometimes those things can be addressed as a plot hook to be picked up in a later session. As long as enough storylines see closure at the end of a session, there's an overall feeling of a satisfying story. However, this often means making sure plenty lof quick notes are taken along the way...a few scrawls here, a modification to the relationship map, a word or two describing a sigil or sign that might make a useful plot device later. For tyhese reasons I'll try to make sure there's half a dozen lined sheets, half a dozen plain sheets,...

In the time since I've started this sequence of posts, there's a few interesting things I'd like to observe and critique (like this , which I've been waiting 30 years for). But to avoid disrupting the sequence I'll get to those developments once I've finished this run... ...so, for the moment, back to part 7.

I've got a thing for maps ...all of the top few posts I've created over the years have been about helping people to draw better maps and understand how maps can be better incorporated into their games (for examples, see here , here , and here ).  Sure, there are heaps of Virtual Table-Tops (VTs or VTTs) around these days, but this series is analogue, and I like the feel of making marks on a page with a pen or pencil in my hand.  When I include maps in my gaming folders, I like to make sure to start with things that are immediately relevant for the players. The immediate buildings and landscape around the point where they start, the local region including places they might be able to travel to in the first session, then maybe a wider map of the country/continent/world. If it's a sci-fi game, this might be swapped out for a star system chart and possibly a sector chart. Half a dozen maps to start things off usually covers the "needed" preparations.  Once a map hits ...

Here's where things might go a bit differently to what other people would put in their folders. I've discussed relationship maps on the blog before (also here and here ), because they're a really useful tool for quickly seeing how different factions and individuals react to one another. Relationship maps can really help to establish the structure and politics of a setting. Vast factional maps can give ideas of what different kingdoms/countries/empires/corporations think of each other openly. Detailed maps can provide the specific favours and grudges that might drive the motivations of specific characters. I like the consider them to be working documents that are subject to change depending on how the actions of the characters impact the world around them. If player characters are included in the relation ship maps in some way, I'll only include the reactions and attitudes of the NPC/Supporting-Characters on the map, because the player will need to decide their attitud...

As a teacher, I'm used to students leaving their workbooks at home, the same applies to players in a game campaign...not as often, because players usually want to be a part of the session's activities, but it still happens.  A player without their character sheet is problematic, especially in complex systems, or  if there's a lot of moving parts in the game. Over the years (decades) I've been playing and running games, I can think of several times where different players have come to a session without their character sheets, and inevitably the player says "I know my character so well that I don't need my sheet" . The first few times, I figured that this was reasonable, but invariably every time something would come up in the narrative, and the player without the character sheet would mysteriously have just the right skill or piece of equipment that would quickly overcome the issue. "No, honestly, that's on my sheet at home. I'll make sure I br...

I'm a very visual person. I like to start things off with an image to set the tone for a campaign, this isn't necessarily a spoiler for storylines, but often an overview shot to help introduce things. Sometimes I'll dig through clip art, find a photo, an illustration of the typical types of character I'd expect to see in the story, or sometimes I'll just use the cover illustration of the game rules we're using (but this is very rarely the case...I think I've only done this once or twice). If I've got a really specific idea in mind, or just can't find anything that fits my ideas I might create my own artwork for the front cover. I'll also try to include an evocative title for the campaign as a part of the cover. I typically consider the image on the front cover to be a touchstone for the stories. For example... I used this image by HR Giger almost 20 years ago when I ran a campaign I called "No Eyes. Big Mouth". It was a game set in the ...