I think someone at Gnome Stew has hacked my site and is posting content similar to what is in my queue.  Or one of my players is selling my gaming stories.  Or I’m just paranoid.  They are out to get me.  Aren’t they?

As a rule I don’t play a character when I’m DMing.  I already have enough to keep track of and I’m lousy at separating player and character knowledge.  I’m sure some DMs can handle it and are even good at it.  However, it is a fine line and should be avoided when playing with inexperienced players.  In experienced players will tend to put the DM’s character as the leader and then get railroaded.  It isn’t intentional.  The DM wants the plot to unfold and he has characters willing to follow.  A recipie for disaster.

Gnome Stew recently posted a Hot Botton article that talked about this topic.

Now, some of you may ask why this is a hot button question at all. GMPCs are always a bad thing, right? In my experience, not necessarily so. In campaigns that are heavy on the roleplay and investigation, a recurring GMPC can often provide needed support without taking away the glory.

The “recurring GMPC” is nothing more than a NPC and not a GMPC at all.  The difference?  Motivation.  A GMPC is used as a player.  The DM wants to play so he creates a character.  The motivation is character advancement.  Even if it is a place holder PC for an absent player.  For a recurring and involved NPC the motivation is the story and would (or should) be designed as such.  Regardless of how often the NPC appears.

I recently developed a mercenary for one of my campaigns.  The party needed more fighting ability so I created this NPC to help.  Because he was going to be with the party a lot, I wanted to make him interesting.  I pulled out the character’s back story and race descriptions.  I built a dragonborn fighter that plays into one of my player’s tiefling warlock.  This NPC has his own character record sheet in addition to a sheet where I list his motivations, quirks, and such.  He never has any input into the direction the party chooses so he isn’t a railroad device.  It gives me the ability to play a character with a lot of depth without being heavy handed on the plot.  It has the added benefit of getting another player into the party, he could just play this dragonborn.

I have a few stange hobbies that don’t mix together all that well.  I’m a poker player.  I’m in the positive so it is safe to say I am a decent poker player.  If you don’t know, poker revolves around two things: calculating odds and the ability to read people.  One thing that shouldn’t come up, is superstition.  Favorite hands, getting the same hand twice, having a feeling about a hand.  Poker players don’t believe in lucky shirts nor see any signifigance in the order they put their shoes on.

I’m also a hockey goaltender.  We are notorious for having some of the strangest superstitions in all hobbies.  When I dress for a game it is left side then right side.  I have a specific undershirt I wear.  I have a specific ritual I perform while stretching on the rink.  As a goalie I am commonly referred to as swiss cheese.

So when the topic of dice come up, I have a different outlook on it.  I see it all the time.  Players have their dice rituals.  A few I have witnessed:

• players using a specific set
• players “training” their dice by resting them on the table with the highest number up
• players not sharing
• players using dice without painting the numbers
• players throwing away dice that fall of the table.

Me?  My dice are stored in one big bag and become the community dice pool.  If I have a DM screen I’ll pull a set behind the screen but it isn’t the same set.  Heck, it isn’t even a matching set.  I buy dice in three scenarios: at Dragon*Con, when I order books online I’ll throw a set in, and if I need them.  A d20 is a d20!  It has the same odds of rolling a 2 as it does an 18.  See that stoic, poker face there?

Yeah that was until recently.  I’m going back to dressing the left side first.  I’m throwing all my dice out and buying new ones.  They are convinced to roll low in key moments.  Been running Keep on the Shadowfell for a group.  Really good group and I’m enjoying it very much.  The first time they came into the Kobold’s Ambush, TPK.  My first total party kill as a DM.  Initially I though it was poor combat tactics or bad party distribution.  I was new to 4E so I took the blame.  During the week I ran the encounter twice.  Once with the party’s PCs the second time with the pregenerated characters.  Success both times.  Not the most scientific of tests but I was happy.

The group gets together for its second session.  After a little retconning, the party walks back to the ambush location.  This time no ambush.  Still TPK.  However, this time I noticed something.  The dice were against the players.  Any time the players needed a roll they got low numbers.  Any time a kobold needed a roll, high numbers.  Frustration set in.

I took a ride over to my friendly, local, gaming store and bought a few new sets of dice.  I didn’t let these dice come in contact with the evil, anti-player dice.  Session 3 and a little more retconning and success!  The party finally had success in a way I would have suspected.

I have seen the light.  You can say a d20 is a d20 and that the chance on a 1 coming up is the same.  I know otherwise.  I know some dice were molded in hell and want only one thing.  Dead players.

I’ve been told by several of my players that I’m a good DM.  I don’t get a lot of opportunity to see other DMs practice the art so my comparison pool is shallow.  I have my strengths and I do what I can to improve my weaknesses.  Today I read something that makes me realize I’m not even close to a good DM.

…I decided to tie in their free resurrections to story arcs proposed by a couple of the other players. The paladin’s destiny may be as savior of his people from their undead overlords—or as an anti-savior who becomes like the creatures he’s sworn to fight. The wizard/ranger quests for arcane knowledge, which may consume her if plumbed without moral guidance. So the wizard got a legendary book, which she was able to use to bring back the rogue and fighter from the dead in unorthodox fashion. These two now register as undead and have acquired a minor allergy to radiant damage. The group now quests to lift the taint of undeath from their comrades.

That’s from Robin D. Laws‘ post called Miller Time.

In all my endeavors, personal or professional, I have examples that I aspire too climb to.  It isn’t hero worship.  I’m a little too old, and jaded, for that.  It is respect for seeing skill that I don’t, and may never, possess.

Of all my personal rules as a Dungeon Master the one that has stuck with me the longest is:

Never say no. Instead say yes but.

This rule actually works miracles with players. Especially new players. When a new player comes to your table he doesn’t have a lot of experience. He probably has heard “you can do anything” touted as reason to play the game. He is excited to try and combine abilities in ways he could only dream on in WoW. How is that player going to feel if every time they try an action they are told no? Odds are that player is going to pull into a shell and become your worst enemy: The Sleeper.

In a lot of instances, it isn’t even logical to say no. In a heated battle a cleric finds himself without weapon. He needs to run in and save a comrade. He eyes a sword from a fallen combatant. He knows his deity will not be proud of him but saving his friend is more important. He decides to run, pick up the sword, and engage in combat in an attempt to save his comrade. DM knows a cleric can’t use a bladed weapon so what happens when he gets to the sword? Does his deity slap it from his hands?

Granted the example above is from an older edition, where player characters were forced into archetypes, but these sort of problems remain. I’m also not suggesting granting the players too much. In one of my two, current Fourth Edition D&D games, I had a player want to do something that he considered cool and I sort of agreed. We had talked about his character’s concept and back story and while I was working on incorporating his character into the upcoming campaign I got an instant message from him.

<drzztXXX>Hey! *
<jx9626>What’s up?
<drxxtXXX>I want to do something with my character and need to know how.

This is when I know I am going to love running this game. We don’t even have our first session scheduled and he is thinking about his character.

<jx9626>What is it. We’ll see what we can do.
<drzztXXX>I want to have a spring loaded dagger up my sleeve. It will be triggered by a a mechanism I had installed after my finger was removed.
<jx9626>Ummm…..hmmm….
<drzztXXX>I even have some back story worked up to cover the finger being removed.

Is that a tear in my eye?  Is this possibly my perfect player?  If I say no I lose him.  He has spent time, imagination, and creativity on this character why shouldn’t I reward him by saying yes?  Time for the use of; Yes.  But,..

<jx9626>You know it will cost you.
<drzztXXX>How much?
<jx9626>I don’t mean gold pieces, well that too, but the mechanism will give you a hindrance as well.
<drzztXXX>That doesn’t seem fair!
<jx9626>Really?  You get a free minor action when drawing the dagger. You don’t think it should come at a cost?
<drzztXXX> Oh I just thought it was cool.  I didn’t think of it as a benefit.
<jx9626> That’s my job.
<jx9626>How about the cost of that particular dagger is 175% of a normal dagger and you have to confirm criticals?
<drzztXXX>Confirm criticals

I took a moment to explain critical hits and what I meant by confirming them.  Once we agreed, I wrote it up in my file of house rules and it was done.  I don’t think I gave away to much.  He got what he wanted and I think it keeps things balanced.

Couple of tips when using the “Yes.  But,..”:

1. Remember the but.  Don’t give anything away.
2. Make sure there is agreement between you and the player.  Draw pictures if you must.
3. Document it.  Write a stat block for it and give a copy to the player.

Oh and one more thing:

<jx9626>you need to do one other thing with this.
<drzztXXX>what’s that?
<jx9626>Talk about it while metagaming.  I want to encourage this sort of thinking in the other players.

*drzztXXX is not a real instant messenger handle. Changed for privacy reasons.

I started this blog for two reasons.  First, I wanted to pay homage to my favorite BBS.   I’m using all their old graphics so I have accomplished that goal.  The other thing I wanted to do was put out my thoughts and advice on the D&D (and role-playing) game in general.   I didn’t want to start posting entries until I had a couple in the can.  This part I have not accomplished yet.

I started of strong.  I have 6 articles in the can.  The problem is, they almost look like they are plagiarized.  There are a lot of really good blogs for RPGs.  Gnome Stew is one of the best.  The topic of every one of my entires has been covered over there.  I want my blog to offer something unique.  So I am taking a little time to find a new voice.  I have an idea, I just need to find the best way to implement it.

I am a dirty, no good, thief. I, maybe, have a 3% in pick pockets but I have a laptop of thieving +97% so it got away with it. Wait a second! If I got away with it why am I posting about it and admitting guilt? Told you I’m not a good thief.

In case you haven’t heard, and I seriously doubt you would be reading this if you hadn’t, Dungeons and Dragons, 4th Edition, Core Rule Books were leaked on the Internet. I fought the urge for about 30 minutes and then had to download them. I will justify my download with the fact that I’ve had my 4E books on pre-order for a long time. I, like Chatty DM, prefer books over PDFs so my pre-order still stands. Oh, and I have no doubt these are the actual books.

WotC’s is partially to blame as well. How can you sell me a module with Quick Start Rules that don’t cover the things you KNOW your players are going to ask for?  What’s a respectable Dungeon Master (no good thief) supposed to do?  There was a module I bought for a game I am dying to play.  It doesn’t provide rules for everything I know I will need when I run the game. Then, there is an opportunity to get the rules.  I need to use all resources at my disposal when DMing. [1]

When looking at 4E, I’m wearing the glasses of a jaded, old, Second Edition player.   I never owned a 3.X book.  To me, THAC0 is modern gaming.  When comparing my first look at 4E to the trusty 2E, man is it ever different.  Let me pick an area where things are different: death and healing.

Second Edition AD&D was brutal on its players.  Characters have a set number of hit points and when you hit 0, death.  Lots of DMs have a house rule for negative hit points but the rules state when you reach 0 you are dead.  4th edition things are different.  When you hit 0 hit points you are unconscious.  Each round, at the end of your turn, you make a saving throw.  If you should obtain damage equal to the negative amount of your character’s “bloodied value”, your character dies.  Death in 4E appears to be pretty rare.  More so when you look at the new healing.

Second Edition offered two types of healing: natural and magical.  Natural healing is achieved via rest at a maximum rate of 3 hit points a day[2].  Magic healing is from items, such as potion of healing, or spells.   It is magical so it works better and used as a more immediate form of healing.  4th Edition offers second wind.  Once per encounter, unless you rest for 5 minutes during the encounter, a character can spend a healing surge and restore some hit points.  There are a limited amount of healing surges.  Oh yeah, and you restore to full hit points after a night of rest.

I haven’t played a single session of  4th Edition yet.  I want to but I have yet to get enough players together.  But, after a reading, healing and death really change the feel of the game.  If people from the forum I had this discussion with read this they will crucify me.  Crucification aside, it does change the feel of the game.  Gone are the extended role-playing session while a character needs to heal.  Gone are the problem solving ways to deal with combat.  Why not just run into combat when you can heal and run nearly at will?

There are also a lot of good things I have seen in these PDFs that I’ll cover in future posts.  It is just easier to point out the negative differences without playing the game.  I don’t think the 4th Edition rules will make me change my style of game and I am dying to get a group together to play Keep on the Shadowfell with.

[1] For the record: I don’t think it is WotC’s fault.

[2] There is also the healing/herbalism proficiency

One thing I want to do with this blog is log my sessions as Dungeon Master. It will serve two purposes. First, to have a record of how my games progress. When I dusted off the old, DM’s hat, one of the things that really motivated me was reading old text files I recorded of my older sessions and reading other people’s accounts of their games. Second is to grade myself. In the future I will be offering a lot of advice think of it as me putting my money where my mouth is. I will also be keeping a campaign log here but those will be in separate posts.

Sunday, April 27th 2008 was my return to DMing. The game had already suffered several scheduling interruptions but come hell or high water, we were rolling dice that day. I was nervous. I had performance anxiety. Three of my players canceled. Two last minute and one of which removed himself from the campaign. That left me with three players. I would rate my DMing of this session a C+.

I made three major mistakes. I didn’t have the necessary NPCs prepared. Sitting down and writing the session plot points I thought I could get away without details on certain NPCs. I was wrong. The primary mage to my story was sought out. While I know what he is in respect to the larger plot, I hadn’t worked out his motivations and personality. I had to improvise. I knew enough but now the mage has more of an interest in city politics.

Here’s a bit of advice for Dungeon Masters. When creating NPC’s names, say them out loud. If you can, give them to someone else to read. I may have to go back and change my primary mage’s name. The first time I heard a character say Fhakahn out loud I softly chuckled.

My second major mistake was my lack of organization. I had everything with me but it wasn’t in an order I could easily find everything. I spent entirely too much time fumbling through my printed notes looking for a needed bit of information. I even ruined a players great role-play moment. I attribute this to being rusty. Future sessions will help me get things in an order that I can manage. I have already adjusted a few things in my notes.

My final mistake was not getting in character with my NPCs. I am not an actor of any sort but I do like getting in character with my NPCs. It brings my players out of their shell so they will start get in character. This was a first session with people I have never met before. I think I was shy. Regardless, next session,…accents!

I’ve been spending a lot of my free time lately on a game that is dear to my heart, Dungeons and Dragons.  When I stopped playing D&D about 11 years ago I never really left.  I was always thinking about gaming sessions, how to improve them, plot ideas, and just general role-playing topics.  In the time away, I bounced around to a few tabletop games as well as other role-playing games.  I have also grown older.  I have matured a great deal.  The gaming community seems more vibrant now then it has at any point in my life.  There are a lot of really good RPG blogs on the Internet right now.  However, I still feel like my experiences, knowledge, and advice can add a little bit as well.  So welcome to The Goblin’s Reach.  Here’s to learning together.

Quick note.  The Goblin’s Reach was a BBS specializing in Dungeons and Dragons that I was a member off.  It was a great place and we eventually grew into a club called The Goblin’s Reach Adventure Guild which I was the founding President of.  My life being what it was, I lost contact with everyone from that club.  It has gone away.  I have registered the domain, will be borrowing the logo, and mimicking the color scheme as a tribute to that great organization.

As of right now I still have some work required on the template.  I hope to have that done in a night or two.