Running an April 1st Hustle
24 March 2010 in Articles by Iain M NormanLast year our regular D&D game fell on April 1st, so I decided to try and see if I could con my player’s characters out of some gold.
I’d been reading Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, a worthwhile read which features a number of con tricks. The book inspired me to head off to the internet and research the art of hustling. This is what I came up with, I hope it inspires you to do something similar this year!
Missing, One Glass Eye
The Glim Dropper is similar to the more famous Pigeon Drop, or Fiddle Game cons, and relies on the mark being convinced that something of no value has much greater value. In this case a glass eye.
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Musical Lairs
6 January 2010 in Articles by Iain M Norman(This is an article that I recently wrote for Obsidian Portal.)
Should I use music in my game?
Can you imagine watching your favorite movies without a soundtrack? Film directors use music to control audience expectation and trigger emotional responses. As a GM, you too can make use of these techniques at your gaming table.
How do I add music and sound effects to my game?
The simplest plan is to put an album on to play. Slip in a CD, get your iPod out, and press play. I once ran a Sci-Fi campaign with just two soundtrack albums: The Matrix and Ghost in the Shell.
Keep the volume low and the music acts as a backdrop. During battles and other exciting moments pump up the volume and select a more upbeat track. At little more volume can wake up your players, make them fight a little to be heard, and raise their heart rates!
Take it further by using playlists, on your iPod or laptop. Playlists can be much longer than a album and less repetitive. Set up playlists for various situations, and leave them to run through on repeat. As the mood of the game changes, simply switch to another playlist.
To add sound effects such as explosions, spells, or battle sounds you could explore soundboards. Soundboards are simple online flash applications that trigger different sounds at the click of a button. A search online will turn up soundboards with effects that interest you.
For the deepest experience, there are applications available for GMs that combine music and sound effects. The best are RPG Soundmixerand Softrope, they both allow you to build complex soundscapes from small loops of sound. These combine into larger, less repetitive combinations. If you want complete control over sound effects and music at your table then both applications are worth exploring further.
Softrope in action
What music can I play?
Find a movie or game that matches the genre of your current RPG and buy the soundtrack. You can often lift soundtracks from a computer game’s install. Baldur’s Gate and all of its sequels, for example, are a great source of background music.
When selecting music, try to avoid anything too distracting. Usually it is best to stick to instrumental tracks, as vocals can be very off-putting. There are exceptions, the last time I used a vocal track was to add atmosphere to a seedy retro jazz bar on a backwater space station.
It is well worth choosing a theme tune for your campaign, it helps focus the player’s attention. Play your theme tune after the players have had their weekly catch up and it unconsciously signals that it is time to start. Signature themes also work well for your reoccurring villains.
One final tip: Keep your finger near the volume control. Volume is a key tool for reacting to your table. Read the table carefully and lower the volume when you can see it is detracting from the experience, then raise it again as the players are reacting positively and having fun!
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We Build Worlds
18 November 2009 in Articles by Iain M NormanThe work of building a world is usually left to the DM. DMs can spend large chunks of their life building the perfect world for their players to play in. They create maps, histories, classes, races, continents, nations, power groups, and plots.
It’s a lot of work, and often thankless as well. Even once you’ve handed out the condensed campaign introduction document, the players will never be as deeply immersed in your personal world as you, as writer of it, is.
Build a bare-bones world
In our last campaign I tried something different. I wrote a very quick bare bones history of the world. Here’s the original entry from my design notes. This campaign was following from a failed Shackled City campaign, where a gate to hell was opened at the end of the campaign.
The Great Gate opened and Demons enslaved The World That Was. The powers of the Astral Sea won the millennia long war, at great cost: The world was catastrophically flooded, and the population decimated. Now, a few generations later, the people of the New World are recovering, spreading out across the vast archipelago that The World That Was has become.
This led to a map, upon which I slapped some hurriedly invented names. I then presented this to my players as a post apocalyptic pirate infested archipelago.
A quickly imagined archipelago
Now it was time to get the players to join in…
Continue reading…
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Do DMs make bad players?
4 November 2009 in Articles by Iain M NormanMaking the Switch
I’ve recently switched from being DM to running a PC. After many years of DMing this is the first time I’ve had a chance to really spend a couple of weeks playing, attempting to get into character, and drawing character portraits.
Apart from a couple of sessions here and there I’ve not played a PC for any length of time since 1992, that was at university where I also DMed more than I played. It could be said that I’m not a very experienced player of RPGs, particularly in this latest case where it’s the first time playing D&D 4e for me.
Learning the ways of a PC
I’m struggling to be a good PC, and I’m convinced being a DM makes me a bad player. I’m constantly second guessing our DM, questioning the need for dice rolls, adding up encounter budgets, and other annoying habits. I hasten to add I’m not doing this out loud at the table.
It’s detracting from me concentrating on my character somewhat.
And then there’s the points where my inner rules lawyer raises his hackles…
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The Problem with Sunrods?
2 November 2009 in Articles by Iain M NormanHow the problem arose
In a game of 4e D&D recently, the topic of sunrods brightly burned in our groups close scrutiny for a short while.
We’ve just started a new campaign with a new DM. The first time someone used a sunrod the DM seemed suddenly taken aback by it, we guessed he was a little bit worried that it was ruining whatever he had prepared to surprise us with.
In 4e sunrods burn for 4 hours and shine out with a bright light to a radius of 20 squares. Potentially that’s lighting up 1,681 squares!
“How many squares!”, he did quoth.
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