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Post by robertthebald on May 27, 2019 15:58:57 GMT -5
Hello baldorar and samvandenberg,
I can answer both of you together. I do not deal with damage as a construct of rules, instead I tell the players where they are wounded, how bad the wounds are, and how this limits their actions. Then I keep track of them to see if the wounds worsen, or are healed by a healer. This more closely mirrors real life. Some people are more comfortable with rules than with a freestyle type game like Blackmoor. There is nothing wrong with that. They might become more interested if they try freestyle, or watch that type of game before they try it themselves.
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Post by robertthebald on May 27, 2019 16:01:48 GMT -5
After action report of the Blackmoor game.
I am in recovery from the game, which was yesterday.
The expedition to reestablish Blackmoor sailed in two ships up the coast, to the river to Blackmoor.
Three were planned, but reduced to two because several people who said they would show did not.
They found a longship of Skandaharian women at an island (who call themselves the Shield Maidens) who were out there trying to find food and a missing longship that had set out a month earlier and had not returned.
These were refugees from Skandaharia who fled from a larger village whose leader was embroiled in a dynastic dispute with the Shield Maidens leader.
All of Skandaharia was suffering from starvation because of a decade of bad weather.
The idea was to force an interaction between them and The Expedition.
The Maidens needed food, which the expedition had, and the Expedition needed water from the island.
Also, they could perhaps cooperate on reaching Blackmoor, and saving the rest of the villagers who were hiding elsewhere.
After some intense negotiations, and an incident that heightened suspicion between them, they finally reached an agreement.
They set out to rescue the rest of the villagers first.
Then a longship from the larger victorious village, full of warriors, showed up.
They were also looking for food, and the Maidens leader, so they could eliminate him as a rival to their leader.
The new longship debated hiding, then debated attacking the Maidens longship, then realized the expeditions ships were loaded with supplies and attacked one of their two ships.
When the shield Maidens saw this, they turned and attacked the expeditions other ship.
Then chaos erupted with people yelling back and forth, trying to negotiate, while at the same time shooting arrows and crossbow bolts at each other.
When the ships were close enough, people were jumping onto the others ships, or into the water to either try to board the others ships, or damage them.
Things were looking grim for The Expedition, outnumbered in people two to one, when a dragon appeared under the ships.
Everyone decided to start cooperating then, and fought the dragon until it was killed.
Then they sailed to the shore to repair damaged ships and heal wounded people.
Amazingly, no one was killed.
At that time, I ended the game as it was late, and the players, and especially myself, were showing signs of exhaustion, and players were starting to leave for home.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2019 10:31:49 GMT -5
Nice! Please, keep those reports coming! Maybe you already mentioned it, but how often do you play and how much time has your campaing been ongoing? Have you been playing more or less regularly since 'the days of yore'?
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Post by robertthebald on May 28, 2019 22:38:08 GMT -5
Nice! Please, keep those reports coming! Maybe you already mentioned it, but how often do you play and how much time has your campaing been ongoing? Have you been playing more or less regularly since 'the days of yore'? baldorar, Arneson was running Blackmoor right into 2009. He passed away in April 2009, and several of us that were in Blackmoor from the beginning decided that we wanted to play a game of Blackmoor in his honor that May. Another person set up the day and time, and was planning to run the game. At the last possible moment, something came up and he was unavailable to be at the game. I was asked to run the game instead of him. Everyone at the game enjoyed it so much that the next year they asked me to run another adventure in Blackmoor. This became a yearly event, that I have run once a year, normally in May, since 2009. I was at Garycon this year, where I ran essentially the first scenario that I ran in 2009. The game this year is very different from the adventures I have run in past years. I am contemplating running two games now. One would be run like the games we have done in the past. The other game would be run like the game we just finished. This would accommodate the regular players, and allow me to run a game for the new people, who have been communicating to me that they enjoyed this game and would like to do this again. This would allow me to split up the players so that there are not too many in each game. By my count, there were 25 players and three Gamemasters in this game. I wanted to bring chaos and uncertainty into this game, and the players did not disappoint me. I was worried about how well this would work, but it ran smoothly, considering the number of people and all of the things that I threw into the game.
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2019 13:24:57 GMT -5
Mr. Meyer, I see you have the players play as "themselves" instead of fantasy personas. I believe this was also done by Arneson in early Blackmoor. Any thoughts about this, and its benefits?
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Post by robertthebald on May 30, 2019 15:06:54 GMT -5
Mr. Meyer, I see you have the players play as "themselves" instead of fantasy personas. I believe this was also done by Arneson in early Blackmoor. Any thoughts about this, and its benefits? The players can take on any personalities that they wish to have. The Shield Maidens actually dressed up for their personalities, and played the part. The personality picked by one player was that of a nine year old bratty child. Her character discovered one of the expedition people snooping around, and bit him until she could be pried off. Later during the ship fight, she boarded one of the expedition's ships, and discovered the same person on board and bit him again. It took the combined efforts of his character and two other people to try to pry her off. In the end he had to stab her, causing her to lose blood and pass out. The character who was bit, then climbed a mast to be away from the nine year old character. Another player chose to be an old hag, who ended up doing most of the talking with The Expedition. In addition, I had a player who volunteered to play the encounters (half men, cave bear, whatever), but they did not go that far in this game. As you can see, the players really get into character in the game. This makes the game more realistic, and introduces more possibilities for unusual and/or funny events.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2019 13:28:27 GMT -5
Wow. That behavior of the person playing the 9-year-old character certainly forced some unpleasant choices upon the other players. How do you handle problem players?
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Post by robertthebald on May 31, 2019 22:32:17 GMT -5
Wow. That behavior of the person playing the 9-year-old character certainly forced some unpleasant choices upon the other players. How do you handle problem players? Her actions were justified within the play of the game. The character who was bit was snooping where he did not belong. When she found him again, it was in the middle of a full blown battle. He was lucky that she was his only problem, the other Shield Maidens ignored him in the battle because he was kept busy the whole time. I have been very lucky in not really having problems with players. If a player misunderstands what is happening, or tries to assume they can do more than they are allowed, then I explain the situation to them. Since I determine abilities and situations within the game, they accept whatever I tell them. I am reasonable in whatever happens, and the players normally enjoy the action and the adventure.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2019 23:27:09 GMT -5
Considerations of the free-form approach aside, to encourage an obnoxious player is a problem. Forcing other players to imagine injuring a child is a problem. How often are child combatants featured in your games?
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Post by robertthebald on Jun 1, 2019 11:37:28 GMT -5
Considerations of the free-form approach aside, to encourage an obnoxious player is a problem. Forcing other players to imagine injuring a child is a problem. How often are child combatants featured in your games? This was the first time that someone played a child, or an old woman for all that it matters. The players understand that these are fictional characters in the games, and that death is always a possibility; but so far no characters have died in my campaign. There was a healer on board the ship that immediately attended to the child to heal it. No one in the game seemed to have a problem with what happened. I did not consider anyone in the game to be acting in an obnoxious manner, and everyone took it to be in the spirit of the game. After all, the Shield Maidens were not warriors, they were a group of women out looking for their missing relatives, and trying to find food to bring back to the village.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2019 14:16:20 GMT -5
Well, I’m very impressed. I believe the free-form approach you demonstrate addresses quite elegantly major problems I and many GM’s deal with. Thank you! I’m changing the way I run games already. I wonder however, if you‘re in a unique situation. Those of us who aren’t the GM of Blackmoor, and play more frequently than once or twice-a-year have a constant challenge to find and keep good players. You’ve mentioned how Jeff Berry has a similar approach to your own. How much influence has your approach had on other GM’s? GM’s without such notoriety?
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Post by robertthebald on Jun 1, 2019 16:00:49 GMT -5
Well, I’m very impressed. I believe the free-form approach you demonstrate addresses quite elegantly major problems I and many GM’s deal with. Thank you! I’m changing the way I run games already. I wonder however, if you‘re in a unique situation. Those of us who aren’t the GM of Blackmoor, and play more frequently than once or twice-a-year have a constant challenge to find and keep good players. You’ve mentioned how Jeff Berry has a similar approach to your own. How much influence has your approach had on other GM’s? GM’s without such notoriety? I am in a unique situation. Not only do I rarely run a game, but up until this year I have had players who either had gamed with David, or eased into our style of play by playing alongside the the players who had gamed with him. Actually there is another category of gamer (now that I think about it), and that is the people who were in the games I ran at Garycon. I started the games by asking first why they showed up to play in my game of Blackmoor. All of them had not only heard of Blackmoor, but some of them were already using some of that style of play in their games back home. Several of them are Gamemasters, and they said they would incorporate everything I showed them in their games. I am in correspondence with three of them (two of them flew in to participate in this game), and I like the ideas they (and their players) have already come up with. I have been thinking about what you had to say about the character of the child, and I think you are right that this could have been handled better. This was a failure on my part, not the players. My only contact with the Shield Maidens before then was watching them in a game being run by Jeff. They were in a new situation in that game, and instead of drawing swords and attacking, they felt their way around and made an attempt to understand what was happening. Since they were technically not warriors in my game (although as Skandaharians they were expected to be able to fight), I expected negotiations between them and the expedition. This is exactly what happened initially, and they ended up with a very good deal that would benefit everyone. It would be an understatement to say that I was surprised (even astonished) when they decided to join the second longship in their attack. I should have done better in controlling the character of the child, and will do better in the future. My apologies for being dismissive about your concerns, and my thanks for bringing something to my attention that I should have thought of myself.
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Post by El Borak on Jun 1, 2019 18:45:27 GMT -5
Hello baldorar and samvandenberg, I can answer both of you together. I do not deal with damage as a construct of rules, instead I tell the players where they are wounded, how bad the wounds are, and how this limits their actions. Then I keep track of them to see if the wounds worsen, or are healed by a healer. This more closely mirrors real life. Some people are more comfortable with rules than with a freestyle type game like Blackmoor. There is nothing wrong with that. They might become more interested if they try freestyle, or watch that type of game before they try it themselves. robertthebald, I find it very interesting how you handle damage. I have played in games where a player will throw a fireball into a room where a fighter is in melee, because he knows the fighter has enough "hit points" to survive even if he misses his saving throw. I am curious how you would handle that. I have felt that players should not know how many "hit points" their characters have to lessen this type of thinking.
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Post by El Borak on Jun 1, 2019 18:54:52 GMT -5
After action report of the Blackmoor game. I am in recovery from the game, which was yesterday. The expedition to reestablish Blackmoor sailed in two ships up the coast, to the river to Blackmoor. Three were planned, but reduced to two because several people who said they would show did not. They found a longship of Skandaharian women at an island (who call themselves the Shield Maidens) who were out there trying to find food and a missing longship that had set out a month earlier and had not returned. Exciting stuff!
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Post by El Borak on Jun 1, 2019 19:14:12 GMT -5
Wow. That behavior of the person playing the 9-year-old character certainly forced some unpleasant choices upon the other players. How do you handle problem players? Her actions were justified within the play of the game. The character who was bit was snooping where he did not belong. When she found him again, it was in the middle of a full blown battle. He was lucky that she was his only problem, the other Shield Maidens ignored him in the battle because he was kept busy the whole time. I have been very lucky in not really having problems with players. If a player misunderstands what is happening, or tries to assume they can do more than they are allowed, then I explain the situation to them. Since I determine abilities and situations within the game, they accept whatever I tell them. I am reasonable in whatever happens, and the players normally enjoy the action and the adventure. Was the mother of the 9 year old character present? How did they react to the child being stabbed?
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Post by El Borak on Jun 1, 2019 19:40:29 GMT -5
@samvandenberg and robertthebald, the 9 year old character presents an interesting scenario. I have never had anyone adults or children play a child in a game, everyone always plays adults. Thinking about it, it comes down to are the other players comfortable with taking a child character into possible dangerous situations? If the other player don't speak up and object when one players choose a child character, then I would assume they are up for what might happen given that they are all experienced players. Also with the scenario as presented it makes sense for children to be present in the Shield Maiden party. What I am surprised about is that stabbing the child did not turn out really bad immediately for the adult character.
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Post by robertthebald on Jun 2, 2019 0:11:32 GMT -5
I would handle fireballs the same way I would handle someone being burned in a fire.
I understand the concern about the child character, but understand that this was one action in a game that would take a book to explain to anyone that was not there. Most of the people were far too busy to even know this was happening. One of the people was playing the mother, but I did not notice her reaction at the time.
I am sure that the fact that a healer immediately attended to her will make a difference in what will happen next. The women portrayed a range of women in the game, as might be found in a village. They are all experienced gamers, so what happens next will be up to them. I stopped the game after the dragon was slain and everyone agreed to stop fighting. They headed to shore to repair the ships and heal their wounds. The game will continue at the next session from this point. I would imagine there will be a reaction among the players for everything that has happened in this game.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jun 6, 2019 22:53:41 GMT -5
Who is Kevin and where is he found on Facebook? Kevin McColl, and his facebook page is www.facebook.com/BlackmoorCastle/. This is the same page has has videos and pictures of the Secrets of Blackmoor premier and of Garycon, including some of the games I ran at that convention. Thanks for that information, that is a great!
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jun 19, 2019 12:21:26 GMT -5
I would handle fireballs the same way I would handle someone being burned in a fire. I understand the concern about the child character, but understand that this was one action in a game that would take a book to explain to anyone that was not there. Most of the people were far too busy to even know this was happening. One of the people was playing the mother, but I did not notice her reaction at the time. I am sure that the fact that a healer immediately attended to her will make a difference in what will happen next. The women portrayed a range of women in the game, as might be found in a village. They are all experienced gamers, so what happens next will be up to them. I stopped the game after the dragon was slain and everyone agreed to stop fighting. They headed to shore to repair the ships and heal their wounds. The game will continue at the next session from this point. I would imagine there will be a reaction among the players for everything that has happened in this game. I have always loved having women IMC, it brings things to the game and widens the horizons. Women, I have found often have a better grasp of tactics and strategy than men. More practical and more pragmatic. I look forward to hearing more about this and it is a shame you all cannot do this several times a year or even better be able to run at least a monthly game. That is what I really miss about college, being able to play twice a week, every week with a minimum of 12 or more players every game.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2019 0:58:56 GMT -5
I would handle fireballs the same way I would handle someone being burned in a fire. I understand the concern about the child character, but understand that this was one action in a game that would take a book to explain to anyone that was not there. Most of the people were far too busy to even know this was happening. One of the people was playing the mother, but I did not notice her reaction at the time. I am sure that the fact that a healer immediately attended to her will make a difference in what will happen next. The women portrayed a range of women in the game, as might be found in a village. They are all experienced gamers, so what happens next will be up to them. I stopped the game after the dragon was slain and everyone agreed to stop fighting. They headed to shore to repair the ships and heal their wounds. The game will continue at the next session from this point. I would imagine there will be a reaction among the players for everything that has happened in this game. I have always loved having women IMC, it brings things to the game and widens the horizons. Women, I have found often have a better grasp of tactics and strategy than men. More practical and more pragmatic. I look forward to hearing more about this and it is a shame you all cannot do this several times a year or even better be able to run at least a monthly game. That is what I really miss about college, being able to play twice a week, every week with a minimum of 12 or more players every game. Exactly my thought. Now I'm a player in a campaign that just started and there are two female players, so I can't tell. But every time I've run games with my girlfriend as one of the players, she came up always with good strategies. My other players might be spoiled by videogames too.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jun 30, 2019 20:00:35 GMT -5
If all of you, like me, were wondering about robertthebald, he writes that he had surgery on June 4th and that he had unexpected complications. Nothing life threatening or permanent and he expects a full or nearly so recovery, but it may take months. Right now he has not much interest in anything, even Blackmoor. He wanted to let us know what was going on. I responded that I (we) would be praying for him and not to worry about us, just get well.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2019 21:33:23 GMT -5
If all of you, like me, were wondering about robertthebald , he writes that he had surgery on June 4th and that he had unexpected complications. Nothing life threatening or permanent and he expects a full or nearly so recovery, but it may take months. Right now he has not much interest in anything, even Blackmoor. He wanted to let us know what was going on. I responded that I (we) would be praying for him and not to worry about us, just get well.
I agree. I send healing vibrations and energy to the Robert the follicly-challenged.
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