Posts

How to Run a Game (Part 14c) - Stringing Vignettes together

Image
Let's say I have a plan for a story over a couple of sessions. Think of this like a story arc that goes over a couple of episodes in a TV series. Each session has a "context" act to establish it's events, a "complication" act to build up its tension, a "climax" act to face the issues at hand, and finally a "conclusion" act to resolve the story and pull things back into line. Four vignettes scattered across the episodes can help tie sessions that otherwise seem disconnected into a coherent whole. If we're going with the four act story structure, there are a few ways we can build a long form narrative while allowing a generally freeform approach to the choices made by characters.    Story Act Episode Event Notes E01 Act 1 Context: Let the players explore No predefined vignette E01 Act 2 Complication: Introduce the immediate story Optional Acceleration vignette to prompt na

How to Run a Game (Part 14b) - Sample Vignettes

Alright, so I've indicated that I have this concept called " Vignettes ". These are basically modular scenes that can be plugged into a session wherever they're needed to have specific dramatic effects on the narrative.   Back in the day (2010 and 2011) I developed what I called the " Vector Theory " of gaming. It worked on the metaphor of an imaginary particle of storytelling, the Narraton. Like a photon when discussing light, various tools could be used by the Narrator, the players and the rules to manipulate the particle's trajectory. The general idea is that the same story could be run a thousand different times, and the path of the Narraton would change in subtle ways each and every time. Lenses and mirrors could change it's direction, gravity and density could change its speed. Unlike a photon moving around in 3D space, a narraton might move left and right depending on how happy or sad the story currently sits, it might move up and down based o

How to Run a Game (Part 14) - Vignettes

Image
 When it comes to games, this is a pretty personal one. I don't know how other people run games these days, because it's been a while since I've played in a game run by someone else, and even longer since I've talked game design (and game running) with other folks... but here's a technique I've developed that helps me run semi-structured games that are resilient to players who desperately try to go off the rails. It goes back to a group of gamers on the Sydney game conventions circuit back in the 1990s. It was a team that ran under the name of "Demolition". These guys were hated by organised and structured GMs. They would deliberately push the envelope, and derail their sessions by trying to direct stories in ways that the writer of the convention module hadn't intended. My easy answer at the time was to not have rails that could be derailed. This led to years of running freeform styled games where anything goes, that was basically the late 90s and

How to Run a Game (Part 13) - Maps

Image
I did a massive series on how to draw maps back in the day. It's the most popular part of the blog based on page views, though that's probably because it was picked up by Pinterest, and a whole heap of shares just keep coming through. Here's the link to the page if you're interested (but you can also find a link at the top of the page). Most of the things I think about maps haven't really changed in the time since I wrote (and drew) that sequence, but I have been planning to do a revision of it a number of times over the years.  Maps work really well as a guide to the story, helping to immerse players in the world that their characters are exploring. They also help in establishing some of the boundaries of play, as well as providing hooks for characters to latch onto. The map becomes a part of the rules that govern the story, but I'll clarify the previous points.  Some people are verbal, they use words to establish an imaginary scene (I had this idea reinforced

How to Run a Game (Part 12) - Cooperation

Image
  I didn't write that, and I've saved the image from a post I saw on one of the Non D&D game groups of Facebook. Apparently it's an excerpt from "Fear Itself", a horror-genre game based on the Gumshoe system, but it provides some great advice for all types of gaming groups. Generally my observations regarding this are fairly straightforward. I've already described the three-way tension, and have referenced it multiple times during this sequence. If there is only tension or antagonism between the GM/narrator and the players, there is little scope for the story moving forward.  Instead it stagnates, and both sides get frustrated. Sometimes the players and narrator have to work together to pull the narrative out of a rut, away from the stagnation, or away from the power of the rules. In some cases this might even be the "rule of cool" or "rule zero" which many games have... this rule basically says that if everyone thinks something is  goo

How to Run a Game (Part 11) - What do other people suggest?

Image
It might be the fact that my blog is currently on a similar topic, but Google has started sending me links about things that people can do to improve their TTRPG experience... like this one . Let's consider the points it raises in the context I've described so far. 10. Run a session zero: the right way I've already indicated that communication between the players and the narrator is a key to success in any RPG session or campaign. For a single session game, this usually comes in the form of letting players know what they're in for as a part of the one-shot, but for campaigns (the typical mode of play for D&D) then a session zero is something that's a relatively recent phenomenon. This can really make or break a game.   If we consider the three way tension between narrator, players and rules, a session zero gets everyone on board with how the rules will pull on the story, this happens through the narrator explaining the system or any house rules they might have m

Further addendum to the Aphantasia post

Image
This blog is not called 'Laws of the Fox" or "Decrees of the Fox". I don't claim to know everything, I just try to learn about the world through a bit of observation, some thoughts and theories, then a bit more observation to see if those ideas hold water. If they do, my theories gain a bit more credence, if they don't I look for new ideas. It's basically scientific method, and over the years I've shifted my views on many topics.  I don't get a whole lot of discussion here, but I shared the post in a couple of Facebook groups and got all sorts of insight. My knowledge about aphantasia has expanded somewhat as a result of these new discussions and observations, but one if the key lessons learnt is that the word "aphantasia" seems to describe a few interrelated conditions that are being conflated, and there is still a lot of research to do regarding mental visualisation and the shared imaginary experience of RPGs (or even play in general).