tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post2800656258723824508..comments2024-03-19T16:24:23.777-07:00Comments on Playing D&D With Porn Stars: A Method For Making A D&D SandboxZak Sabbathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-1954356296239318502011-05-15T19:36:12.422-07:002011-05-15T19:36:12.422-07:00I got it. Thanks.I got it. Thanks.Anathematicianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09690147218442114230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-29078616042211162852011-05-15T15:47:24.884-07:002011-05-15T15:47:24.884-07:00@anathematician
i'm confused about what you;r...@anathematician<br /><br />i'm confused about what you;re saying in about half of that.<br /><br />Anyway, my point:<br /><br />You said:<br /><br />"These scenes move the story along and offer an opportunity to get to know the characters, the situation or the environment better. Why bother with all the stuff in-between. "<br /><br />Why bother? To avoid railroading. A world of detail is a world of choice.Zak Sabbathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-35630416515020402822011-05-15T15:40:41.761-07:002011-05-15T15:40:41.761-07:00Well said. I agree with your 1st paragraph wholeh...Well said. I agree with your 1st paragraph wholeheartedly. <br /><br />Fixed details? Are you implying that the GM makes up or alters already stated facts about the scene on the fly? (e.g. Seems that that pit is 10 ft longer than I said before. Sorry. Or Yeah there are 20 Orcs not 6. Maybe the subtle GM alterations to to hit rolls allowing PC or Mobs to hit or miss, or behind the screen adding of powers or Hps to a mob.) <br /><br />How is a world more complex or challenging? If I read you right you assume the GM in creating his story will fudge encounters so characters will jump through his story hoops to reach his predetermined climax. Railroading his players through scenes without choice. If this your assertion then we are in agreement.<br /><br />I am an advocate of player choice and dislike railroading as then the game is about the GM and not the players - its not a joint creative activity. As you said you are merely a bystander, a voyeur and not a participant.<br /><br />I would still assert that creating scenes or scenic areas such as Mt Doom or the Fanglefarb Forrest or a dungeon room or wilderness encounter, would in no way railroad folks. So on this point I am confuzzeled.<br /><br />I love your last statement. I shared it with a old GM and best friend of mine who smiled mischievously. I think its a keeper.Anathematicianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09690147218442114230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-75186434660717537372011-05-13T21:48:42.657-07:002011-05-13T21:48:42.657-07:00@anathematician
answer to all your questions:
RP...@anathematician<br /><br />answer to all your questions:<br /><br />RPGs aren't just stories, they are stories PLUS the choices that lead to stories. A game is not sitting listening to (or experiencing) a story--it's enmeshing yourself in a weave of action, reaction, choice, and consequence.<br /><br />using probabilities (dice) and fixed world details are both tools that allow players to make genuine choices based on information they have that the GM cannot simply change at will to fit some pre-conceived "story". They allow both the players and the probabilities to shape a world more complex, challenging, and less predictable than if you just let the GM design "scenes".<br /><br />If the dice and pregenerated terrain have a say, then the intellectual challenges of strategy and tactics are -real- intellectual challenges, not merely a set of not-actually-dangerous obstacles that the GM is pretending to send the PCs thtrough ont heir way to a thrilling conclusion.<br /><br />if you might die, and if the landscape is apathetic to your plot, then you have to think to survive, not just show up and enjoy the ride.Zak Sabbathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-35044722536718386762011-05-13T21:32:15.977-07:002011-05-13T21:32:15.977-07:00I was not seeking to be disagreeable. My post was...I was not seeking to be disagreeable. My post was not an argument but a revelation of what I already knew but failed do utilize. I credit you, your campaign group, and the lively discussions concerning sandbox and railroading on these blogs for this parting of the viel.<br /><br />You speak often of not bogging yourself down in details, with Bruce Lee like candor. The whole water and teapot analogy. Keep it fluid. Watching you and the girls play - engaging in memorable scenes - all the while not forcing them down a path jogged my memory of those good old days when we had a bunch of fun in sandbox like worlds.<br /><br />Scene creation is not opposed to player choice as I see it. They are not mutually exclusive. The scene is what is important as it is the stage upon which motivations are portrayed and acted upon. Nothing new here. Sadly, though it is something I forgot, and having lost sight of it I floundered in a sea of minutiae.<br /><br />I was stuck in the corridors of my dungeons and my world building. I was stuck on the how to get there rather that the actual there. Now I am not.<br /><br />I will freely admit, I am not articulate, but I do hope this helps clear things up a bit.<br /><br />What I would love to discuss at some future date is why do gamers enjoy the randomness of dice.Anathematicianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09690147218442114230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-13698393211060606952011-05-13T21:14:28.089-07:002011-05-13T21:14:28.089-07:00I tend to run more "one offs" than campa...I tend to run more "one offs" than campaigns these days. Regardless of which is next, though, the next adventure will totally begin "in the hold of a pirate shop." <br /><br />The question is: will the PCs be the pirates looking for new eye patches and parrots or the shoppers being waited upon by brigands-turned-retailers? <br /><br />Seriously, though, interesting post. I've done a lot of this type of thematic/relational organizing in past games and it does add to the verisimilitude of the setting. One thing I hadn't thought of before was waiting until AFTER the first adventure to further develop backgrounds. That makes a lot of sense, as stuff tends to be improvised and pop up during that first outing, anyway. I would think it'd also give the players (if this is applied to PCs) a sense that they're helping to build the world. Maybe then, they'd be more likely to come to the next session instead of hitting the slightly-more-convenient karaoke bar down the street.Gabriel Harleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16429674024580938218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-14592857375074910542011-05-13T18:59:44.615-07:002011-05-13T18:59:44.615-07:00@anathematician
Either you:
-are unfamiliar with...@anathematician<br /><br />Either you:<br /><br />-are unfamiliar with the very many posts on this subject that appear on this blog concerning gaming styles with and without such "connective tissue". (The old "scene-by-scene" vs. "sandbox" debate.)<br /><br />-read them and failed to understand them, or<br /><br />-read them, understood them, disagreed with them and failed, in the post you just made, to articulate any of the reasons you'd disagree with them.Zak Sabbathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812410680077034917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-59156187056376027912011-05-13T18:55:15.493-07:002011-05-13T18:55:15.493-07:00In stories you move along through scenes, set enco...In stories you move along through scenes, set encounters if you will. These scenes move the story along and offer an opportunity to get to know the characters, the situation or the environment better. Why bother with all the stuff in-between. Worlds without hexes and dungeons without corridors. The important part is an engaging scene, not that the River or Gwar is 103.456 miles long or the Forest of Ni is 24 hexes by 18 hexes at their widest points.<br /><br />These scenes, if constructed well, can evoke images of the general geography and climate. Corridor traps can now be a scene rather than a party with a 10 ft pole prodding every 10 ft and searching every wall for a secret door. White Wolf had it right and the minds over at Hasbro have picked up the ball. World creation is mental masturbation, but why make a chore of it. Too much work and most of it unused. The time spent on making sure your rivers and deserts are geographically correct could be spent making memorable encounters.<br /><br />Nothing much new here, but it seems so many creative GMs waste so much time on this unused stuff. Who really cares? If anything, my recent adventures in reading D&D blogs and watching your campaign have unfettered me from the shackles that sadly I allowed to curb my creativity.<br /><br />I think dungeons without corridors thus sans detailed maps will be the way I construct my next adventure and world. It was a lot easier GMing back in 1978, because as a child I did not make a chore of my gaming. I threw together what my friend and I liked and wanted and ran with it.Anathematicianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09690147218442114230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-54433240779693154302011-05-12T07:45:55.703-07:002011-05-12T07:45:55.703-07:00If you for some strange reason wanted to use a hex...If you for some strange reason wanted to use a hex map but couldn't use hexagons (or just really liked squares) you could use an offset-grid square map like this one:<br />http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/game-programming/grids/square-to-hexagon-1.png<br /><br />The distances between wouldn't be perfect (1:1.1), but better than a regular grid (1:1.4)<br /><br />Btw, great blog Zak! Loving the flailceratops :)Aarneushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04527384361522248571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-42026434434427200922011-05-11T23:30:31.345-07:002011-05-11T23:30:31.345-07:00Awesome, Zak! I'm definitely going to adapt th...Awesome, Zak! I'm definitely going to adapt this to my solo campaign.<br /><br />DaveLDaveLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01837748113498012191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2638993969706011706.post-53576256431392366232011-05-11T23:08:09.781-07:002011-05-11T23:08:09.781-07:00Man, you know what's a great sandbox? Sigil Pr...Man, you know what's a great sandbox? Sigil Prep (sigilprep.com). Basically, a Planescape-based sandbox whose conceit is the in-Sigil existence of a very elite finishing school for all sorts of planars and primes. PCs have hailed from everywhere from Eberron to Rokugan, and have been everything from a snarky Mind Flayer to aschizophrenic metalhead halfling berserker. I don't know what the DM does behind his screen, but he seems to be taking a much more scavenger-style approach than your DIY setup above. Different strokes, I guess. <br /><br />P.S. It's funny how it took stumbling across this blog to find another D&D player who went to Cooper.Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03907412293087878591noreply@blogger.com