My Journey Into B2: Keep on the Borderlands

I'm almost ashamed to admit that up until recently I had never run or played in Gary's B2 module.  I've never been a fan of modules in general other than for idea mining, and growing up, me and the guys never really played in any of them.  We just created our own adventures for the most part unless we were crawling through Undermountain or Night Below. 

I have read B2 over many times, particularly for Gary's advice on how to run an open-ended style game.  To me B2 is perfect for that because it gives you an introductory method on how to run a mini-sandbox.  After some years of playing, however, the generic ho-hum of the content never resulted in me actually playing or running the material within. 

Now, with all that said, my daughter, who is now 10, sees me pouring over my D&D books, and reading things about the game.  She's asked me several times if she could play, and I thought, what better way to introduce her to the game than B2?  After all it has all the classic tropes (goblins, kobolds, ogres, orcs, etc.) and it's pretty much open-ended enough as a site that I could toy with it enough to make it my own.  Plus, it would save me in having to prep for yet another game.

So, with that said, the wife decided she wanted to join in as a player too, and as she is fairly inexperienced with the game herself, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for us all to experience this module.  I don't know, I kind of feel like just as inking your own dice, playing or running through B2 is sort of like a rite of passage into the game that we all should go through at least once, especially those of us with the mindset of an "old school" mentality. 

So, the wife made a human thief named Lornella and the daughter made an elf mage named Aran.  I threw in a NPC fighter (to give them a little muscle) named Crokus, and away we went.  Eventually they met up with a cleric who is trying to retrieve an amulet from the kobold cave, a 0 level guide whom they paid to take them to the caves, and a hireling level 1 Fighter.  We are now about 3 mini-sessions in, and they've been having a blast.  Heading into the first delve into the cave was dangerous for them.  As they went to enter into the kobold lair, they were ambushed.  I decided that the kobolds would use a weighted net strung up in a tree to drop down on them then have a couple of archers in the trees to shoot any that might escape the net when it came down.  Well, Lornella and Aran managed to dodge the net, but couldn't dodge those two arrows, and both got shot, and reduced to negative hit points in their first encounter.

Naturally I start to panic a little, as I really didn't want their very first taste of the game to be a TPK (although had it happened, oh well.)  The cleric was stuck in the net and couldn't seem to get out round after round of trying.  The kobolds jumped down from the trees and attacked Crokus and the other hireling, but eventually the cleric escaped and healed Lornella and Aran. 

Now, they've managed to enter into the kobold lair, but haven't managed to get past the first entry area.  A group of 6 kobolds, then the wandering kobold troops have kept them at bay and they've really had to focus on managing their resources.  They've spent a lot of time in that one area provoking random encounters as they try to heal up and memorize spells.

I was a little concerned about my daughter playing a magic-user at 1st level.  We all know that low level mages are often a liability in a game rather than an asset.  She's gone down a couple of times, but she has never complained.  She's even asked me a time or two "Did I die?" but not in a truly disappointed way, but more of a "I'll roll a new character up" kind of way. 

All in all, it's been a great time.  They've both been enjoying it, and it's a way for us all to experience B2 together.  I'm not sure it will matter to my daughter in a few years, as she will likely grow up into her teens and forget D&D, but maybe one day she'll look back and be able to say, "oh yeah, I played in the original Keep on the Borderlands."

As a side note, I'd like to thank Zak.  I asked if anyone had any legible maps of the caves of chaos on G+ the other night, and he responded linking me to his totally awesome one-page dungeon map he did of the caves.  Really, really handy and has saved me tons of time at the table flipping through the module pages.

Anyway, as they continue to progress through the caves, I'll continue posting updates of their exploits.

What Motivates Your Players?

Sounds like a simple question really, and one that would seem easy to answer.  What kind of rubbish is this?  Players are motivated by killing things and taking their stuff.  And yes ultimately no matter what kind of game you play in, that is at least one of the end goals, but it is often not enough to motivate your players, especially in a sandbox game.

I often hear the question raised, "how can I get new school players into older style or 'old school' gaming?"  I think the key really boils down to one thing; how experience awards are handled.  This one feature sets the tone for a particular style of play.  You see, back in the day, when players sat down around the table, and began to seek adventure, they did so on their own, and the DM facilitated the world for them.  This was because the players had a goal (kill things and take their shit and advance and become more powerful) and the goal was rooted in the process by which they attained it.  Going up in level via experience points.

The older iterations of the game made it quite clear.  You advanced in level and gained experience points primarily in two ways; killing monsters that were challenging to your level and by collecting treasure.  Even up into the 1e DMG, Gygax held this to be true.  In that guide he references the exchange of treasure, or gold pieces, into a converted ratio for experience and specifically pointed out that the treasure must be somehow carried out of the dungeon, not just found.

The change began in 2e, in which the game began to take a shift overall as a whole.  It became less about gaining treasure and fighting monsters and more about that dreaded two-word-phrase "the story."  In the 2e DMG the notion of awarding XP for treasure is resolved to a small blurb, highlighted in light blue, and annotated as an "optional rule for experience."  

"As an option, the DM can award XP for the cash value of non-magical treasures.  One XP can be given per gold piece, or equivalent, found."

As an option?!  Seriously?  So, the new school player (or those whose roots lie in ONLY 2e or editions that followed) have a clear reference on how the game should be.  This is why the new school player will sit around, waiting for the DM's guiding hand to lead him to "the story."  And when the DM doesn't do this (i.e. the old school DM), the game becomes lost in translation and can become a bit awkward.  An example of how a typical adventure may start with an old school DM with new school players:

DM: Okay, you're at the Blazing Drunk Tavern enjoying drinks with your mates.  A minstrel plays a lively  tune in the common room.  Patrons move to and fro eating and enjoying the evening.  What are you doing?
New school player:  Uhh....I have an ale.
DM: Okay, 1 copper.  The keep brings you the ale.  What else are you doing?
New school player: Uhh....*waits for DM to spoon-feed him "the story."*

A very similar exchange with old school DM and players:

DM: Okay, you're at the Blazing Drunk Tavern enjoying drinks with your mates.  A minstrel plays a lively  tune in the common room.  Patrons move to and fro eating and enjoying the evening.  What are you doing?
Old school player: I order an ale, slap the serving wench on the arse, and ask the keep if there are any rumors of this place.
DM: Okay, 1 copper.  The keep brings you the ale.  The serving wench slaps you in the face.  The keep then tells you of some ruins just outside of town which are said to hold a golden jeweled crown worth a fortune.
Old school player: We head out tonight.

You see, the old school player doesn't need any other motivation than the notion of the possibility of fighting some shit and getting a treasure, because the treasure paves the way for the advancement.  It is THE motivation to play.  There is no need for them to sit around and wait for the DM to serve up the one ring to take to Mount Doom.

The key, when starting a new campaign, is to find  the players who fit the style of game you want to run.  There is nothing wrong with storylines in games.  I use them myself.  But make it clear from the on-set on how experience is gained and how level progression works.  So, if you're running an old school style game, make it clear to the players, "hey, you level up by killing shit and taking treasure because each gold piece worth of treasure taken also equals that much in xp."  If they are new school players, they might not get it at first, because it might not come natural to them.  If you have someone more familiar with this style of play at the table it helps because they can guide the new school player, and really, it's so bloody simple they'll feel foolish for not catching on in the beginning once they see how it's done.  The difference is being able to recognize what motivates the new school player vs the old school player.

To put it in a simple analogy, the new school player is all about the destination (the story) while the old school player is all about the journey.

So You Need an Idea for an Adventure

Yesterday one of my friends suggested we play some D&D over skype later in the evening.  So, naturally I agree before thinking and then the "oh shit I need an adventure" hits me.  I created this table a while back, mostly for writing purposes, but thought, what the hell, I'll give it a go.  After a few random rolls I was able to come up with a pretty good adventure for the group.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to play after all, because one of my friends got ill later on that night.

Here is a link to the table (hosted on Google Docs).  Now, the original chart only had the first two tables, which I used last night to make my adventure.  I added a third table on the chart this evening.  Basically all you do is pick up a d100 roll it and consult the first table.  Roll it again, consult the middle, then roll it a 3rd time and consult the 3rd table.  Keep doing this several times.  Write down your results.  If you get something that sounds cool, write it down.  Then go through, pick out the best ones, and you should have some good starting inspiration for an adventure.

I'll give you an example off the first couple of tables, of what I got.  I rolled several times, but eventually came up with these usable combinations:

Sad Prince
Whorehouse of Decadence
Cathedral of the Fatal
Mute Bride
Charming Demon
Verses of Failure
Servant of Fear

Now, the tables as they are leave out the "of"s and "the"s.  Just mix and match the words and let the imagination take over.  When I began I knew this adventure would be city based, so I took what I thought could be most useful of what I rolled for that.  So, out of those useful combinations I came up with the following notes which I scribbled down in a notebook:

"Sad Prince in disguise approaches PCs about rescuing his bride who is mute (now.)  Tracked her down to Whorehouse of Decadence which is being run by a succubus (charming demon) named Absuroma.  But first the PCs must infiltrate the Cathedral of the Fatal and steal the Verses of Failure which contain banishment ritual to banish her back to her plane."

So, a few rolls on the chart, some inspiration, and I have a couple of adventures to last at least 2 sessions.  I added some more stuff as well once the ball got rolling.  Like the fact that the Cathedral of the Fatal is being overrun by ghouls.  Why?  Because their is a priestess in the halls below the cathedral being held in a sleep like stasis because some BBEG harnessed her soul into a garnet stone and put it in a circlet which the priestess is wearing.  So the ghouls are entering the cathedral through her dreams.  Of course, this leads to even more plot hooks.  Who did this to her and why, etc.

Anyway, the chart and tables are useful for brainstorming when the old adventure writing block demon strikes.

The Ape-Men of Tharr

Deep within the Forest of Tharr dwell the race of ape-men known as the Kuthar.  They make their abodes high among the tree tops in wooden dwellings linked together by rope bridges.  The ape-men are intelligent, but tribal by nature with a distinct warrior caste system.  Fearless and strong in battle, they fashion their own crude weapons of stone and rock, but have developed the keen ability to utilize firearms, laser rifles, and other weapons and armor they have scavenged over the years from civilizations long forgotten as well.

The ape-men are rarely seen outside the Forest of Tharr, and while their pursuits are not those of conquest and glory outside their realm, they are extremely territorial and approach uninvited trespassers with force.

Rare is it to find an ape-man outside of Tharr, but occasionally a select few will end up wandering amongst the realms of men, often met with a combination of fear and distrust.  In most instances, these Kuthar have been exiled from Tharr and cast out of the tribe, cursed to walk among men.  These displaced ape-men often seek out mercenary work as armed caravan guards or, in the rare instance, as adventurers.

Summary of ape-men abilities and restrictions:

Armor: Any
Weapons: Any
Starting age: 17+1d4
Starting gold: 3d4x10
Classes: Fighter, Cleric
Ability score requirements: 12 STR, 12 CON
Stat modifiers: +2 STR, -2 INT and CHR
Bonuses and abilities: Infravision 30', +1 to hit with spears and any firearms, +3 saving throws vs. poison

Hexcrawling and Its Fundamental Use in Old School DnD Part 3

Previous entries: Part 1, Part 2.

In the last entry, I discussed creating the first 7 hexes including the starting location (usually a village or city, but could be any civilized area/feature) which is in the center, and at least 3 interesting locations outside of the starting location to explore.

Our starting map with 3 locations to explore

So, this next step requires a little bit of prep time, but don't spend too much time on any of the 3 locations (unless you have the time to do so, that is).  We know we have some sort of tower in hex 04.05, a ruin in 05.03, and a monster lair of some sort in 04.03.  This is the time for some brainstorming.  If you've already taken the time to think of some places/NPCs your PCs are likely to encounter in the starting village (inns, taverns, local lords, sages, etc.) now is the time to start tying them into the surrounding locations.

Why do the NPCs know about the monster lair?  Perhaps it is the home of an ogre who has been pillaging the farms of Windholm at night?  Maybe the spot of a local group of bandits who have been hijacking merchants passing through, effecting the commerce in the village.  Obviously these are quick and simple ideas, but they are presented to give you an example.  Find some way to tie these locations into your starting location.

Jot down some starting notes on each location based on their hex:

04.03 - Lair of Hedgemog the Ogre (stats here in parenthesis)  Has a group of hobgoblins working for him (stats for hobgoblins in parenthesis).  At night Hedgemog wanders countryside (50% chance the PCs might catch him in his lair at night).  During the day he sleeps in his lair and the hobgoblins protect him.

Now, if you have the time, you might want to draw out a quick map of the lair, key it with monsters, traps, etc.  And you'll need to do this for at least the first level of each of the 3 locations, but no more than the first level of each location (if it has multiple levels).  If you're pressed for time, try any number of free dungeon generator tools out there to get a layout for each location quickly, then key it up yourself.

The idea in the sandbox and/or hexcrawl is that the players have freedom of choice to go where they want and basically do what they want (and suffer the consequences therein), so you're going to want to ensure there is incentive for your PCs to want to explore at least one of the areas you've prepared.  There are any number of ways to get your PCs going.  Often most campaigns kick off in the common room of a tavern.  How will the PCs know of these locations or learn of them?  Why should they want to go there?  Perhaps they are approached by an NPC offering payment to retrieve a MacGuffin from one of these locations.  Or perhaps they just hear about one or more of them as prime unexplored locations ripe for plundering via rumors in the town.

Rumors are a great way to get the ball rolling in a sandbox, and in my opinion, offers the PCs the most flexible freedom of choice in what they choose to do.  I would start off with 10-12 rumors with half of them being either completely false or only half-true, while the other half are completely true.  Place them on a chart, and roll for one while they are in the tavern in the first night.  If they actively seek out rumors, roll a die (d4 or d6, subtract reaction adjustment but no less than 0) to determine how many rumors they hear from various occupants of the town.  Roleplaying these out can be great fun as well, and really bring the world alive for the PCs.

The key here is making them WANT to explore places you've prepared.  If you don't make them appealing, chances are your PCs can wander off into areas you haven't really prepped yet, and then you're completely flying by the seat of your pants.  Sometimes this can prove to be just as fun, and to be sure, there will always be a certain level of improvisation that goes into a sandbox or hexcrawl game anyway.

In the next post, I'll discuss topics relating to getting the PCs there (i.e. the actual crawl) from constructing random encounter tables, determining movement, weather, etc.

Hexcrawling and its Fundamental Use in Old School DnD Part 2

Second in my series on the hexcrawl campaign in DnD.  See the first post here.

So, most people know that the premise of the hexcrawl is pretty much a central and fundamental factor in a "sandbox" style campaign.  The sandbox being, a world within which your PCs are free to explore, plunder, and do with as they wish at their own discretion.  Now, I could go on in another entire direction here discussing the elements of the sandbox as a whole, but right now I'm just focusing on the fundamentals of a hexcrawl and the basic elements to start one.

There are hundreds of posts on forums and blogs that go into much greater detail into the fine art of designing a hexcrawl and world building than what I will offer up here.  Rob Conley, for example, has a fantastic series of posts going in depth on world building and designing your hexcrawl campaign worlds.  Even if you don't plan on using his method, I'd still highly recommend having a read through because there is a ton of valuable information in those posts.  There are others as well to be sure, and chances are if you're reading this, you have your own ideas of the best ways to go about designing a hexcrawl.  By no means is the method I am suggesting, or the advice I am offering the ONLY way to design such, it's just MY way of doing so.  It works for me.  Maybe it will work for you as well.

As I noted in my first entry, the first step is to draw a map.  Sounds pretty simple.  If you're like me, however, designing great maps can be frustrating.  I've drawn hundreds over the years, and never seem satisfied with the results.  There are all sorts of theories that go behind world building and terrain placement relative to regions, etc.  I'm just going to keep things simple for this exercise.  You might opt to sketch out a rough drawing of your map on a scrap piece of paper beforehand, or maybe you just want to wing it.  Both have their advantages and disadvantages.  I'm going to focus on designing the hexcrawl using the least amount of effort initially.  If you're like me, you already have a busy life, and while designing campaign worlds is a great way to spend your time as a hobby, you don't want to spend countless hours on world building and writing up histories and details about far away and distant lands your PCs might never encounter.  One basic rule of campaign design for me: focus on the immediate areas/regions my PCs will be engaged in prior to each session.

So, let's get right down to business then.  The first step is to get the initial hex map ready for where you're going to start the campaign.  You can either print a blank one out and draw in the details yourself, or use a program like hexographer to do it on the computer. In this exercise I'm going to just use hexographer.  Now, mind you, it will take some time playing around with this to get the full use of the program, but the free version is an excellent utility for mapmaking and comes highly recommended.

In the first step, we'll start out very basic here.  Enough to get your wheels turning and start getting you ready for that first session.  Whether you printed off a map, or are using hexographer, or any other utility, you always want to start your mapping for the campaign from the center most hex.  This way, as your players explore in whatever directions they might choose, you have plenty of room to go in and add features to your already existing map.

To make things simple, let's simply start out with 7 hexes, with each hex equal to 6 miles.  One center hex, and 6 surrounding hexes.

7 starting hexes

 In the above picture we have the central hex with the 6 surrounding hexes with grassland hills, a light forest, and a forested hills, with a river, which forks, running down the center.  Now, that we've placed our basic terrain features we need to determine what exactly are in these hexes that our adventurers are going to want to explore?  So, let's start by adding 4 basic features to the map.  A starting village (in the center hex), a ruin, a tower, and a monster lair.  Fairly basic components just to give you the idea.

Our original hexes with some areas for the PCs to explore

In the center hex, we have the village of Windholm, which sits along the river, as well as a set of ruins not far away, a monster lair in the forested hills, and a tower of some sort in the grassy hills to the south.  So already you have 4 areas for your PCs to explore, although they'll certainly focus on the 3 areas most ripe for adventure outside the starting village.  Jot down the hex number on a piece of paper, or word document and write a brief description of that hex's details.  For example:

04.04 Windholm - Small fishing village located along the Southling River.  Population 80.  Ruled by a town council of elders led by Sumerus Halfhand (LG hf9)

Of course, the above is simply an example.  You want to write out as much detail as possible in your notes.  You might want to consider drawing a map of the village, or just doing a short write-up of the major locations your PCs are likely to encounter (inns, taverns, etc.) and the NPCs they are likely to interact with.  No need to get too crazy with the details though.  It doesn't matter if Farmer Goldenwheat has a bag of 10 silver pieces hidden under a hay pile in the barn.  These things are simply filler and can be made up in the game as you go.  Focus on the important stuff, and go from there.

In the next post, I'll talk about fleshing out the areas for your party to explore, getting them to learn about the areas, and a bit about traveling to them.

Hexcrawling and its Fundamental Use in Old School D&D Part 1

The first in a series of posts whereby I discuss the merits of the old school hexcrawl.

In new school era games (3e, 3.5, 4e, etc.) when PCs are expected to travel long distances to get to their next destination, it might be typical for a DM to say "after a week long travel you all arrive at 'destination x,' subtract a week's rations," for the sake of "moving the story along."  That's fine and dandy and all, and maybe the players want that at times, but let's face it, in a world of medieval/weird/apocalyptic fantasy, "getting there" is half the battle.  That's the difference between the old school game and the new school era, video game centric scaled "encounters" in modern RPGs.  In the old school, it's not always about the destination, but more about the journey.  After all, in a fantastic setting peopled with monsters and magic, all kind of things can happen when the PCs are moving through the wilderness, even if they take a populated and well traveled road.

In my present game, it won't be long before the party gets a clue to what will likely be their next destination, should they follow that path of course.  They could certainly choose to ignore it, but most likely they won't.  As such, the journey will take them almost a month, on horseback, even if they take the main road.  In a world of fantasy, a lot can happen in a month's time.  So, in essence, they'll be doing some hexcrawling for a while.  Maybe even a few entire game sessions.  A lot can happen on the way to town.

Hexcrawling has been covered in great detail all over the OSR blogging world.  There is already a wealth of information on the subject.  While some may argue semantics, at its heart hexcrawling is similar to dungeon crawling, except the "crawl" takes place above ground, often in wild, and relative uncivilized lands where lots of interesting things might happen.  It becomes even more dangerous at times than the dungeon crawl, with the probability of getting lost, running out of food, or encountering creatures and people well above the level of the party.

If handled properly, a wilderness hexcrawl can be an exciting and engaging part of your campaign that will be just as enjoyable (maybe even moreso) than the "story" you have presented them with.  So, here is my take on the hexcrawl, some pointers on how to make it engaging, and keep your players' interest in the game.

First, the basic elements of what you need for a hexcrawl are pretty much considered universal.

- A numbered hexmap of the area (preferably with hexes representing 5 or 6 miles...I like to use 6 miles) with various land and terrain features like hills, plains, scrublands, marshes, forests, mountains, radioactive volcanoes, or whatever suits your flavor.

- Populate the hexmap with some interesting locations/events the PCs will discover if they enter the hex.  Basically you're creating a key corresponding to the number of the hex you want the feature to be located in.  Obviously, at first you want to focus on the immediate areas around the hex your party will start from.  There is no need to fully flesh out some ancient ruin 20 hexes away which your PCs might never encounter.  Keep focused on what's immediately ahead of you for the time being, as it will save you hours of unnecessary prep time.  When you're initially doing this, just make small notes about the features, and worry about fleshing out major details, drawing dungeon maps, etc. until later on.  In some cases, you're just going to have to wing it.

- Create random encounter tables.  Depending on the terrain or area, you might roll for an encounter 3 times a day or 6 times.  This is usually up to the DM to determine, although there are guides for such.  The 2e DMG has a table which gives the encounter chance, number of encounters to roll per day and what not based on the terrain type the PCs are passing through.  Random encounter tables can be simple with say only 6 options if triggered, or as complex as 100.  This is up to you.  Obviously the less time you spend on the encounter tables, the less diverse the random encounters will be.

Traveling over long distances for PCs can be tedious.  It's up to the DM to keep things entertaining and engaging for the players.  Random encounters or hex features designed for your party to find should be engaging for some reason.  Perhaps the PCs will discover a village in the next hex they travel to.  But let's say that village is cursed, and its citizens can't leave the village.  The PCs can investigate and maybe find the source of the curse lies in a barrow just outside of town.  Perhaps they'll be led to free the village from the curse at the rumor of some hidden treasure in the barrow.

These types of encounters can lead to little mini-adventures on their own, and can make the hexcrawl something the players will remember and actually WANT to be engaged in.  What you want to avoid is dragging out a pointless journey with uninteresting events i.e. "you travel for half a day, you're attacked by goblins (roll out stupid pointless combat), you take up watch for the night, you encounter some wolves (roll out stupid combat), you wake up and head out again," wash, rinse and repeat...boring.  Make the journey count, and make it interesting.

Tavern Game: Rot Grub Roulette

Within the lower quarters of Blackspire it is not uncommon to find patrons of the local taverns engaged in one of the more strange of games, and one of the most dangerous; rot grub roulette.  Two players sit opposite one another, blindfolded, their left forearms exposed, with their right arm tied to the chair behind their backs.  The mediator takes 6 small wooden cylindrical containers and shuffles them back and forth on the table.  Within 5 of the small wooden containers are pairs of harmless maggots.  One of them, however, contains a pair of burrowing rot grubs. 

Each round the two men place bets and the mediator dumps the contents of one container onto one player's forearm.  The player, not knowing if he has been exposed to the rot grub or not, must wait 5 full minutes with onlookers jeering and howling along.  This process is repeated between the players with the stakes getting higher each round as one more wooden container with harmless maggots is taken away making the probability of being exposed to a grub even higher.

No onlooker may attempt to prevent a rot grub from burrowing if exposed, nor douse the player's arm with fire.  If a player manages to free his right arm and do this himself, he is immediately taken outside, beaten and cast aside as a useless craven (if the beating he suffers does not kill him.)  Indeed it is often said that it is better to die from the rot grub than to feel the merciless beating of an angry drunk Blackspire mob.

The game ends when one man decides to quit, losing all his earnings, or one man dies. 

On Building a Better GM

I happened to notice several other bloggers taking up ckutalik's challenge on building a better GM, which was inspired by a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Beedo.

Ckutalik asks us to elaborate on 3 essential elements as follows:

1. Name three “best practices” you possess as a GM. What techniques do you think you excel at?
2. What makes those techniques work? Why do they “pop”?
3. How do you do it? What are the tricks you use? What replicable, nuts-and-bolts tips can you share?

It's hard to narrow it down to just 3 "best practices" really. In surveying my own thoughts on the issue, dozens of best practices come to mind, however I'll try to stick to what I believe are the 3 most important.

1. The game is not about you, it's about your players

It's a hard truth to accept for many GMs. We all have our own philosophies on how the game should be played, but ultimately, the only ones you really need to worry about impressing are your players. That is not to say that you fudge dice rolls, or give into unreasonable player demands at the table. Rather it means keeping your focus on what the players want to do in the game as opposed to what you would like to see them do.

This especially rings true in preparation. There have been countless times when a GM has sat down with his players, having prepared a nice little adventure for them, only to have them do something completely off the wall which derails all that preparation. We hear about these things happening at the table all the time, and true enough, they happen at my own. It's part of the game. You have to learn to roll with it, because it's never going to change as long as you believe in not restricting player control over their characters.

This is where the sandbox style really shines, however, because you are providing a world with which the players interact, and the choices they make should always matter. Resist the urge to railroad players into certain situations. Present the adventure hooks for them, and let them take it in the direction they choose. This is going to require improvisation on your part as a GM, but if you're remotely considering sandbox style play, you must accept the fact that you will likely be improvising...a lot.

Make the world around your players a living and breathing thing. There are NPC motivations outside of what your players are involved in at a given time. Their characters can't be everywhere all the time. Maybe they have a few options in the beginning, but they won't know the results of their actions until things are played out. For example, they have option 1, which is to raid a nearby set of ruins overrun with undead, or option 2, which after some investigation by the players, results in their foil of an assassination attempt. If they pick option 1, don't forget about option 2, and let the consequences of their choices take place. Let that major NPC get assassinated because the players didn't take that hook.

Know your world, and write down notes on events surrounding it. These don't have to be detailed pages and tomes of useless information that may never come up in play. Just a series of simple bullet style notes, preferably keeping it in line with your campaign world calendar. Those particular events in which your players actively chose not to participate in, should happen. The ones in which your players took the bait of a hook should be saved and the results determined by their actions in the game. Doing this, they will quickly realize that their actions have consequences, and will respond accordingly.

Ultimately you want your players to have fun, and have a strong desire to return to the gaming table and continue. That's what it's all about. If your players prefer detailed railroady storyline games over an open-ended sandbox style, then give them what they want, or find a group of players whose play style fits more in line with your own. Don't force players down a path they don't want to take in play style, because the results will often be complacency at best, or downright apathy at worst.

2. Stay Organized

I am the most unorganized person you'll ever meet really. My organization skills in general entail trying to remember if I laid that notebook under the bag of Doritos I've been working over, or with a bunch of other notebooks piled on top of my printer. Still yet, I try my best to keep things organized when it comes to the RPGs I run.

I can't stress enough how important it is to have a campaign notebook. For me, this typically means a traditional 3 ring binder with dividers, document protectors, and various useful in-game documents. That said, your campaign notebook can entail a number of different options. Find whatever is best for you, and run with it. If you can keep things organized on a laptop, or on a site like Obsidian Portal, use those methods, but try your best to stay organized.

So, how do I do it? As I said, I have a 3 ring binder I use, tabbed with document protectors. I have a section for maps, random tables and charts specific to the area the players are in, and a section of notes for the game.

I have stated above how important improvisation is in sandbox gameplay. I tend to use a lot of tables and charts which I can quickly refer to in a jam. These include NPC name generator tables, inn and tavern name tables, random trap and trick generators, etc. These are particularly handy because they allow you to focus your creative energies into important stuff, like the game, rather than having to spend mental energy to find a clever name off the top of your head for a NPC or location, which may end up sounding stupid (we've all been guilty.)

In my maps section, I usually keep a handful of maps I have either made, or found online. There's usually a mixture of both. Some of these mini-dungeon areas are keyed, while others aren't, but the idea is to whip one out in a jam when the PCs go off the beaten path. This way I'm not completely caught off guard. I know, for example, in general where my players are on my hex map before each session. I will then prepare a few maps and encounters for various locales in and around those hexes. Nothing too fancy, just enough to give me something should they wander off from what I perceive to be their goal at the time. Best of all, I can always use those maps in other areas later if need be.

The notes section is probably the most important section of the notebook. I have a campaign log which I keep, an item spreadsheet which lists who has what item, where they got it, if it's been identified and the items known and unknown properties. I also keep a small chart to document xp to help me calculate everything at the end of a session.

My campaign notebook is like my GM bible for the game. A good, well kept campaign notebook, will bail you out of sticky situations, and just make life easier for you as a GM, which in turn, will make things better and more enjoyable for the players.

3. Don't over-prepare

Don't spend too much time in preparation, and stick to things that will directly involve your PCs. Do you really need to write up 3 or 4 paragraphs of notes on a temple or inn your players may never visit? Improvise many of these things. Stick to what's important for the upcoming sessions. Yes, this can be, more or less, a fly by the seat of your pants method, but that's the fun of the sandbox. You're discovering your world along with the players.

When I start a new campaign, I like to take a hex map, key out several locations of interest, without detailing them too much, a brief set of notes on major NPCs in the area, and their motivations, various secret groups and organizations, a very brief overview of the political climate of the area, etc. These don't have to entail hours upon hours of needless preparation. Just a few notes, allowing you to focus on really preparing the important stuff, like areas your players might explore. Throwing up a few one page dungeons to get things going is a good idea.

It's very easy to find yourself spending hours preparing for scenarios your players may never encounter. I've done it myself, and in many ways, it's simply unavoidable, but try to limit the time and energy you spend on your campaign into what directly involves your players in the current session. Trust me, some of the best moments at your table will come through improvisation and just winging it. Just ensure you take good notes (or keep a campaign log as I mentioned in point 2), so you can keep things organized.

Some of these methods may work for you, some may not, and many of you are probably already implementing these methods in some form in your own games anyway. There simply is no absolute best way to GM. It would be a pretty boring world if that were the case. Still yet, we all have techniques and experiences to draw upon, which can make the job of GMing easier if we actually take the time to read and learn from others.

Grognardia or How I Discovered I Wasn't Alone in the Universe

This is a story which I really haven't shared yet here on BHD, but in honor of the fact that James over at Grognardia just surpassed 1,000 followers, and others are paying homage to him, I felt it was time I told this story. 

 

Back in the late 1990's, life began to change drastically for me.  After spending most of my young adolescent days in that decade playing D&D, starting with 1e then moving on to 2e, towards the end of the decade, I began college, started working to pay my way through, and gaming fell on the back-burner.  Eventually I got married and joined the Air Force in 1999, and by that time, gaming for me had completely fallen off the map.  It was, I believe, the following year when Wizards of the Coast took over TSR and revealed 3rd edition.  I recall being in a book store somewhere, picking it up and having a read through, and putting it down on the shelf.  It was strange really.  I had moved on away from the game of D&D, and after seeing the new version I felt the game had moved away from me as well.  The glory days of 2e were behind me, and the whole d20 thing just wasn't my cup of tea at all.

 

Here and there throughout the 2000's I played on occasion, when I got out of the military and returned home, but always we played 2e.  Eventually even that began to subside.  There just wasn't much material out there, and there didn't seem to be much of a niche for older editions online.  I suppose most of the old 2e players either moved on to 3e, or simply gave up on the game completely.  I discovered the Knights and Knaves forum some years ago, back when it was a ProBoards message board, but their utter hatred for 2e turned me away.  So, in many ways I felt alone in my love for the older incarnations of the game.  While most of my playing experience came from 2e, I got my introduction to the game through playing 1e, and always held a fondness for that version.

 

It was late last year, I believe, I was surfing through my feeds and noticed that one of the large sci-fi blogs, io9.com, linked an article James had written on Grognardia about Robert E. Howard.  Being a big Conan fan, I followed the link over, and from there it opened a whole new world up for me.  There was this thing they were calling an "old school renaissance?"  1e had been restored through OSRIC to allow for new material, and best of all, there was not only James, but hundreds of others who were just like me; fans of the older versions and styles of play.  This discovery ignited a fire within me again, and soon I started blogging myself about the games we all love.

 

So, congratulations on reaching 1,000 followers, James, although we know your reach in the community goes far beyond that.  Had it not been for your blog, I never would have discovered the OSR, and all the great people I've had the pleasure to meet over the past few months.