The question was posed on Talislanta FB page regarding how we use music in our gaming sessions.
I understood that this would be a post way to long for FB, so I am putting my reply here.
The questions presented:
1) a) how many of you use music when you run a game? and; b) if you do use music, do you mainly play it in the background, or do you use certain pieces/albums/artists for specific purposes or moments in a game?
2)what CDs/bands/composers do you listen to either while gaming, or for inspiration before gaming?
I have used music in the past at the gaming table. The second part of the question, and question #2 I want to elaborate on.
While running WEG Star Wars the main theme would be used to get the players on track, and while it was playing I would recap previous events, much like the beginning of the movie with the synopsis scroll.
Since 1993, the game I have run the most often was SLA Industries, a gritty sci-fi urban horror game.
For inspiration in SLA Industries I would use anything that brought to mind corruption, rain, city life, dreams of money and fame, etc. Some of the music I had on my driving CD at the time:
Faster Pussycat - Ship Rolls In, City has no Heart
Metallica - Master of Puppets, Disposable Heroes, Damage Inc
Duran Duran - Girls on Film, A View to a Kill, Skin Trade
And many others.
During the sessions I was able to play music for background it was important to match the music with the game.
Star Wars soundtrack while running Star Wars, a given.
While playtesting Midnight Realms for Talislanta, and a few Cannibal Sector missions for SLA Industries, I had the Black Angels CD from Kronos Quartet playing, just at the audible level. Some of the violin strikes were startling, and completely appropriately timed (players and GM alike jumped at one point, lol).
Music definitely brings a new dimension to the gaming table, even if low in the background.
The main problem I ever had with using music for specific scenes was having to stop the game to get the correct track playing, or you might be stuck running a dramatic, dark scene with something upbeat.
Not sure Alien would have had the same feel with the Indiana Jones Soundtrack, lol
Showing posts with label DM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DM. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2014
Monday, September 9, 2013
GM Notes: Omni Table to Difficulty Conversion
For decades, I have loved the simplicity of the Talislanta/Omni resolution system: d20+skill+stat+/-modifiers check table.
After a couple decades of running SLA Industries and D6 almost exclusively it seems that while wonderfully simple, it underwhelms me as a GM.
With SLA Industries and WEG d6, and to an extent almost all the games produced after 1990, the common resolution method has been: roll dice, add/subtract stuff vs a difficulty number.
Difficulty numbers are a very fast and easy method of resolution, so easy in fact, that even with all the different task resolution systems in existence, they almost all follow the same basic setup.
5 Easy
10 Skilled
15 Moderate
20 Difficult
25 Very Difficult
30 Impossible
(for D20 difficulty, basically add 10, some numbers have been averaged/fudged for convenience of illustrating the point over exact definitions)
For Talislanta/Omni resolution, it would basically seem to follow the same difficulty as d20, but what about the Partial, Full and Critical Success, not to mention Mishap ratings of the Omni Table? That is what really brings home variety in a game with static damage.
This is where things can get fun (and this would be easily portable to d20 also from what I have seen).
Raises, or Staging
One of the greatest things found in games like Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Deadlands, etc is the ability to do "extra" stuff depending on how well you roll, Talislanta/Omni reflect this with the Omni Table by having the above levels of success.
Sometimes this can be a bit tricky, or non-intuitive, to interpret. I prefer things to be straight forward and fast, the less time I spend interpreting the rules, the more time we all get to enjoy the game. But, I do love me some critical successes!
In keeping with the scaling above for difficulty, degrees of success would follow the same pattern. For example, if the difficulty of the task is 15 (10+5 for 'easy') and you roll a total of 25, you can see easily that you have 2 'Raises' (25-15=10, 10/5=2).
After that, it is just a matter of telling the story: "You pick the lock with blazing speed, not very many of the simple locks like that one around anymore."
For combat in the Omni system using this rule it still works.
Attacker Rating (skill+stat) = 6
Defender Rating (skill+stat) = 7
Attacker die roll = 15
Normal method: 15+(6-7)=14, a Success, normal damage is done
Difficulty method: 15+6 = 21 vs Defense of 17 (10+defenders rating), still a success, but more intuitively derived.
Okay, so what about higher levels?
Attacker Rating = 12
Defender Rating = 7
Attacker die roll = 20
Standard method, this would work out to a 25 (20+5), and be double damage.
Difficulty method: 20+12=32 vs Defense of 17, 15 higher than needed, so, 2 'Raises.'
Each 'Raise' could then be interpreted as:
a) additional +1 damage per raise (eww...that kinda sucks comparatively)
b) additional +DR of weapon (effectively double weapon damage before STR)
c) -1 Defender Defense per raise
d) a mixture of various effects
Let's look at d, because that sounds fun. The defender would take 2x weapon damage for the first raise, then also be at -2 defense on the next turn as he recovers from the shock of the blow, or is trying to hold his guts in, possibly even from hesitation thinking "Do I really want to stay and fight this guy?"
The good thing is, rolling a total over 20 is now useful, the bad thing though is the inevitable 'Death Spiral' for the defender.
"But what about the ability to successfully Parry/Evade in Omni??" you ask?
Simply a matter of perception.
Normal method is the defender will focus his action on defense and roll d20+rating and if the result is a Full Success or better, the Attacker does not even roll, Partial Success indicates that IF the attacker hits he will only do half damage.
Standard parries (ie passive) are taken into account with Defense Rating (10+ applicable skill), an 'Active Parry/Evade' would work in the following manner:
d20+Defense = opponents difficulty to hit.
Using the above Ratings, if the defender decided to Parry as an action before hand and rolled a 15, the total would have been 32, still would have been a hit, but just barely.
This works great for melee, but what about Ranged attacks?
Remember the #1 rule of ranged combat: take cover!
As mentioned, melee Defense is 10+skill rating, this is fine for fighting face to face and you can (hopefully) semi-predict your attackers moves, but at a distance you cannot tell where your attacker is aiming.
So, my current thought is that Defense against ranged attacks would only be your Evade skill (passive) or d20+Evade Rating for an 'Active Defense.'
Yes, people with guns and bows are a bit more dangerous than people with knives with this setup, but you have nothing to defend yourself with at range, and the attacker still has range penalties.
Just some thoughts going through my head, until next time, enjoy your game!
After a couple decades of running SLA Industries and D6 almost exclusively it seems that while wonderfully simple, it underwhelms me as a GM.
With SLA Industries and WEG d6, and to an extent almost all the games produced after 1990, the common resolution method has been: roll dice, add/subtract stuff vs a difficulty number.
Difficulty numbers are a very fast and easy method of resolution, so easy in fact, that even with all the different task resolution systems in existence, they almost all follow the same basic setup.
5 Easy
10 Skilled
15 Moderate
20 Difficult
25 Very Difficult
30 Impossible
(for D20 difficulty, basically add 10, some numbers have been averaged/fudged for convenience of illustrating the point over exact definitions)
For Talislanta/Omni resolution, it would basically seem to follow the same difficulty as d20, but what about the Partial, Full and Critical Success, not to mention Mishap ratings of the Omni Table? That is what really brings home variety in a game with static damage.
This is where things can get fun (and this would be easily portable to d20 also from what I have seen).
Raises, or Staging
One of the greatest things found in games like Shadowrun, World of Darkness, Deadlands, etc is the ability to do "extra" stuff depending on how well you roll, Talislanta/Omni reflect this with the Omni Table by having the above levels of success.
Sometimes this can be a bit tricky, or non-intuitive, to interpret. I prefer things to be straight forward and fast, the less time I spend interpreting the rules, the more time we all get to enjoy the game. But, I do love me some critical successes!
In keeping with the scaling above for difficulty, degrees of success would follow the same pattern. For example, if the difficulty of the task is 15 (10+5 for 'easy') and you roll a total of 25, you can see easily that you have 2 'Raises' (25-15=10, 10/5=2).
After that, it is just a matter of telling the story: "You pick the lock with blazing speed, not very many of the simple locks like that one around anymore."
For combat in the Omni system using this rule it still works.
Attacker Rating (skill+stat) = 6
Defender Rating (skill+stat) = 7
Attacker die roll = 15
Normal method: 15+(6-7)=14, a Success, normal damage is done
Difficulty method: 15+6 = 21 vs Defense of 17 (10+defenders rating), still a success, but more intuitively derived.
Okay, so what about higher levels?
Attacker Rating = 12
Defender Rating = 7
Attacker die roll = 20
Standard method, this would work out to a 25 (20+5), and be double damage.
Difficulty method: 20+12=32 vs Defense of 17, 15 higher than needed, so, 2 'Raises.'
Each 'Raise' could then be interpreted as:
a) additional +1 damage per raise (eww...that kinda sucks comparatively)
b) additional +DR of weapon (effectively double weapon damage before STR)
c) -1 Defender Defense per raise
d) a mixture of various effects
Let's look at d, because that sounds fun. The defender would take 2x weapon damage for the first raise, then also be at -2 defense on the next turn as he recovers from the shock of the blow, or is trying to hold his guts in, possibly even from hesitation thinking "Do I really want to stay and fight this guy?"
The good thing is, rolling a total over 20 is now useful, the bad thing though is the inevitable 'Death Spiral' for the defender.
"But what about the ability to successfully Parry/Evade in Omni??" you ask?
Simply a matter of perception.
Normal method is the defender will focus his action on defense and roll d20+rating and if the result is a Full Success or better, the Attacker does not even roll, Partial Success indicates that IF the attacker hits he will only do half damage.
Standard parries (ie passive) are taken into account with Defense Rating (10+ applicable skill), an 'Active Parry/Evade' would work in the following manner:
d20+Defense = opponents difficulty to hit.
Using the above Ratings, if the defender decided to Parry as an action before hand and rolled a 15, the total would have been 32, still would have been a hit, but just barely.
This works great for melee, but what about Ranged attacks?
Remember the #1 rule of ranged combat: take cover!
As mentioned, melee Defense is 10+skill rating, this is fine for fighting face to face and you can (hopefully) semi-predict your attackers moves, but at a distance you cannot tell where your attacker is aiming.
So, my current thought is that Defense against ranged attacks would only be your Evade skill (passive) or d20+Evade Rating for an 'Active Defense.'
Yes, people with guns and bows are a bit more dangerous than people with knives with this setup, but you have nothing to defend yourself with at range, and the attacker still has range penalties.
Just some thoughts going through my head, until next time, enjoy your game!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
GM Notes: That One Game...
We all have it...that "One Game."
The game that inspires us to creativity, the game that we grabs a hold of us and just will not let go.
That game that reshapes our imaginations, gets our creative juices flowing.
For some, that game is Dungeons and Dragons, for others it is Kult, or Star Wars, or Shadowrun, or Cyberpunk. For me, that game is SLA Industries.
Throughout my game materials, notebooks, supplements, miniatures, props, etc, I have materials relating to my SLA Industries games. Most of the content I have written for games, was written for SLA Industries.
Pages of NPCs, new weapons, new skill packages (classes), equipment lists, fashion styles, new races, pages upon pages, digital and physical, the ideas just keep flowing.
Just searching the internet, looking through the newspaper or merely even talking to people will get me thinking of a new idea, or how to work something into my game.
Back in 1993, I met a fellow gamer at the local shop in a town of around 3k people, in a rural area of Missouri. I forget why we went out to his house, which was in an even more rural area, but while he was gathering his RPG stuff and tuning his paintball marker I found a book on his floor.
I sat there in his room, flipping through the book, entranced by the artwork. Yes, just the ARTWORK.
It was all black, white and grey, some line art, some charcoal, some inked, but it captured me.
When we returned to the gaming store, I immediately put in an order for the book. A week later it was in my hands. I devoured it. Within two weeks I started running the game. Remember, this was 1993, almost 20 years ago.
To put this in perspective, I purchased my first SLA Industries book before Magic: the Gathering was sold at the local shop (granted, only a few weeks before), before the ill-fated Maztica for AD&D 2nd edition was released, before 2nd edition Vampire: The Masquerade came out.
And I am still running the game, still seeing elements of our world that can be used or exploited for my role-playing endeavor.
There have been moments during this time that I have taken a short break and ran AD&D, Talislanta, Star Wars and a couple one-shot games, but I always return to SLA Industries.
The game where a massive company owns almost all of the 'Known Universe,' were if you do not work for the company, you work for a Soft Company (small company with no backing or a direct competitor), a terrorist trying to bring down SLA Industries, or one of the unemployed masses.
The game where serial killers are so prolific they are not even acknowledged until their 13th kill, where violence and sex on the TV are the norm, not the exception.
Maybe the space in my heart for this game is because it is so far fetched, maybe it is the artwork, or maybe it is because of the ease with which I can setup and run a mission.
Maybe it is because, if you think about it, the game is so close to our own world...
Just some thoughts, enjoy your game.
The game that inspires us to creativity, the game that we grabs a hold of us and just will not let go.
That game that reshapes our imaginations, gets our creative juices flowing.
For some, that game is Dungeons and Dragons, for others it is Kult, or Star Wars, or Shadowrun, or Cyberpunk. For me, that game is SLA Industries.
Throughout my game materials, notebooks, supplements, miniatures, props, etc, I have materials relating to my SLA Industries games. Most of the content I have written for games, was written for SLA Industries.
Pages of NPCs, new weapons, new skill packages (classes), equipment lists, fashion styles, new races, pages upon pages, digital and physical, the ideas just keep flowing.
Just searching the internet, looking through the newspaper or merely even talking to people will get me thinking of a new idea, or how to work something into my game.
Back in 1993, I met a fellow gamer at the local shop in a town of around 3k people, in a rural area of Missouri. I forget why we went out to his house, which was in an even more rural area, but while he was gathering his RPG stuff and tuning his paintball marker I found a book on his floor.
I sat there in his room, flipping through the book, entranced by the artwork. Yes, just the ARTWORK.
It was all black, white and grey, some line art, some charcoal, some inked, but it captured me.
When we returned to the gaming store, I immediately put in an order for the book. A week later it was in my hands. I devoured it. Within two weeks I started running the game. Remember, this was 1993, almost 20 years ago.
To put this in perspective, I purchased my first SLA Industries book before Magic: the Gathering was sold at the local shop (granted, only a few weeks before), before the ill-fated Maztica for AD&D 2nd edition was released, before 2nd edition Vampire: The Masquerade came out.
And I am still running the game, still seeing elements of our world that can be used or exploited for my role-playing endeavor.
There have been moments during this time that I have taken a short break and ran AD&D, Talislanta, Star Wars and a couple one-shot games, but I always return to SLA Industries.
The game where a massive company owns almost all of the 'Known Universe,' were if you do not work for the company, you work for a Soft Company (small company with no backing or a direct competitor), a terrorist trying to bring down SLA Industries, or one of the unemployed masses.
The game where serial killers are so prolific they are not even acknowledged until their 13th kill, where violence and sex on the TV are the norm, not the exception.
Maybe the space in my heart for this game is because it is so far fetched, maybe it is the artwork, or maybe it is because of the ease with which I can setup and run a mission.
Maybe it is because, if you think about it, the game is so close to our own world...
Just some thoughts, enjoy your game.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
GM Notes: Random Encounters
A friend recently asked about random encounter tables for Dungeons and Dragons, I posted some suggested places to look according to the best remembrance available to me, then it hit me, I have rarely used random encounters.
This struck me a bit funny, I mean, Dungeons and Dragons is based off of Random Encounters...right?
Absolutely not.
I mulled it over a bit and realized that I never really used random encounters because there was no reason to.
I know where I want my story to be about, why waste time with pointless encounters? If the PCs are fighting against the Thieves Guild and have to go through a nearby forest to get something...why fight random orcs or goblins, when you can fight orcs or goblins that are in league with the guild?
This, of course, takes a little more preparation, but in the end it will fit the story and still seem like a 'random' encounter.
Random encounters are, I believe, meant to show that there is a world outside of the story, to "bring the world to life." I fail to see how this can be accomplished when you roll some dice, check a chart, and put the game on hold while you get all the stats and encounter notes drawn up.
If I am going to pause a game for 5-15 minutes, I am going to take a break as well, not sit at the table gouging my eyes out while getting writers cramp.
Now, I realize that there are reasons for random encounter tables and I am not saying that they should not be used at all. What I am saying is they should not be used during the game because it kills momentum, possibly sends the players on a wild goose chase and has a good chance of putting a player death in the hands of some nobody wolf or catablepas.
The best use of encounter tables I can think of is before the game, while you are still writing the notes for the adventure.
Three days of travel through woodlands? No problem. You know the PCs are going to have to do this, so you grab your d6, roll 4 times for each day (morning, afternoon, evening, overnight), consult your tables and voila! The 'random' encounters have now become regular, planned encounters.
The helps in a couple of different ways:
Party Strength - low to mid level party, and you just rolled an early morning red dragon. Following 'random encounter' usage, your party is now toast (literally). But now, with the 'planned encounter,' you can tailor to the group. Instead of said dragon pouncing out of the forest onto the party for an early morning snack, the party is awakened by a roar and leathery flapping of wings as the dragon flies over the forest. This still provides the feel that there is a world out there unrelated to the story, but has the benefit of not killing the party without a fighting chance or breaking momentum.
Party Gear/Abilities - especially important in low-level or low-magic campaigns. Using the random encounter method you may end up pitting the PC's against something they have no means to damage and then the monster just trounces them back to character generation. Never fun, players prefer to die by adversaries, not random stuff.
Storyline - here is where it gets good. So, lets say the random encounter is 5-10 orcs, you roll your trusty player-killers and get a total of 7. Since this is before the game starts, you jot down that 1 of the orcs is bigger and stronger than the rest, the leader. Another is his second-in-command, and the rest are just scabs breaking union lines because the rest of the orcs are on strike.
Taking it a step further, the main orc is written in as a hireling of the Thieves Guild and his small band of bandits bandies about preying on merchants and passerby's for the guild as well as scouting the area protecting the forest hideout.
Due to them actually being in the guild, they may even be better equipped than the standard orc. Maybe a couple low level magic items, a few healing potions, a map to the hideout or a letter of reference including basic instructions from the Lord Mayor.
And that is how it works, the 'random encounter' of the orcs has now become a 'planned encounter' that actually moves the story forward instead of breaking momentum, and as a bonus even provides more threads in the story to follow.
Enjoy your game.
This struck me a bit funny, I mean, Dungeons and Dragons is based off of Random Encounters...right?
Absolutely not.
I mulled it over a bit and realized that I never really used random encounters because there was no reason to.
I know where I want my story to be about, why waste time with pointless encounters? If the PCs are fighting against the Thieves Guild and have to go through a nearby forest to get something...why fight random orcs or goblins, when you can fight orcs or goblins that are in league with the guild?
This, of course, takes a little more preparation, but in the end it will fit the story and still seem like a 'random' encounter.
Random encounters are, I believe, meant to show that there is a world outside of the story, to "bring the world to life." I fail to see how this can be accomplished when you roll some dice, check a chart, and put the game on hold while you get all the stats and encounter notes drawn up.
If I am going to pause a game for 5-15 minutes, I am going to take a break as well, not sit at the table gouging my eyes out while getting writers cramp.
Now, I realize that there are reasons for random encounter tables and I am not saying that they should not be used at all. What I am saying is they should not be used during the game because it kills momentum, possibly sends the players on a wild goose chase and has a good chance of putting a player death in the hands of some nobody wolf or catablepas.
The best use of encounter tables I can think of is before the game, while you are still writing the notes for the adventure.
Three days of travel through woodlands? No problem. You know the PCs are going to have to do this, so you grab your d6, roll 4 times for each day (morning, afternoon, evening, overnight), consult your tables and voila! The 'random' encounters have now become regular, planned encounters.
The helps in a couple of different ways:
Party Strength - low to mid level party, and you just rolled an early morning red dragon. Following 'random encounter' usage, your party is now toast (literally). But now, with the 'planned encounter,' you can tailor to the group. Instead of said dragon pouncing out of the forest onto the party for an early morning snack, the party is awakened by a roar and leathery flapping of wings as the dragon flies over the forest. This still provides the feel that there is a world out there unrelated to the story, but has the benefit of not killing the party without a fighting chance or breaking momentum.
Party Gear/Abilities - especially important in low-level or low-magic campaigns. Using the random encounter method you may end up pitting the PC's against something they have no means to damage and then the monster just trounces them back to character generation. Never fun, players prefer to die by adversaries, not random stuff.
Storyline - here is where it gets good. So, lets say the random encounter is 5-10 orcs, you roll your trusty player-killers and get a total of 7. Since this is before the game starts, you jot down that 1 of the orcs is bigger and stronger than the rest, the leader. Another is his second-in-command, and the rest are just scabs breaking union lines because the rest of the orcs are on strike.
Taking it a step further, the main orc is written in as a hireling of the Thieves Guild and his small band of bandits bandies about preying on merchants and passerby's for the guild as well as scouting the area protecting the forest hideout.
Due to them actually being in the guild, they may even be better equipped than the standard orc. Maybe a couple low level magic items, a few healing potions, a map to the hideout or a letter of reference including basic instructions from the Lord Mayor.
And that is how it works, the 'random encounter' of the orcs has now become a 'planned encounter' that actually moves the story forward instead of breaking momentum, and as a bonus even provides more threads in the story to follow.
Enjoy your game.
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