OD&D/Party Size/Involvement/Immersion
Mar 15, 2018 16:22:05 GMT -5
hengest, bravewolf, and 2 more like this
Post by True Black Raven on Mar 15, 2018 16:22:05 GMT -5
(please note that I will update this first post from time to time)
(from Men & Magic) Number of players: At least one referee and from four to fifty players can be handled in any single campaign, but the referee to player ratio should be about 1:20 or therabouts.
I see a lot of angst and gnashing of teeth about how five or six or seven players is just too many and how some struggle to run a game with as few as four players. I see further angst about everyone being involved and everyone having fun and how quiet or less aggressive people get left out.
I see people complaining how it is just unfair to players to get left out of the action but solutions to this are just not real OD&D.
Now I have only heard about this, but have not really had it to deal with in person and quite frankly I just don't buy into any of it. So I am going to look at some of the things I do IMC and I would like to hear about one) do you have this problem and two) what do you do to overcome this in your campaign.
Responsibily for having fun
That is entirely on you as the player, my job is to give you the opportunity to have fun, but the decisions that will lead to you having fun are the decisions you make, I can't and won't make those for you.
Marching Order
I let the players completely decide what the marching order is going to be and I tell them that it is on them to let me know anytime they are going to change that.
Note: IMC you can not rely on a predictable way that encounters run. Encounters can come from any possible direction not just head on, especially if surprise is involved. Even though you are at the back or middle of the party in the marching order, it does not mean that you will not find yourself on the front lines during an encounter.
Initiative
I tell players up front that if they are surprised they will be at a disadvantage and I explain how that works. I also explain that they are going into someone else's territory and that is why they are more likely to be surprised than those who are on their home turf. All else being equal and no surprise on the table, I don't use initiative per se, I run it that almost everything is essentially simultaneous. I do run it that spells take the whole melee round to cast, so if you shoot an arrow at a magic-user and you hit, that will disrupt the spell, if you miss he still gets the spell off and you will deal with the consequences.
Boredom
As a DM we all like to think we are so good that no one would ever be bored. We all know that not all players have the same attention span and while one player is describing his search for secret doors another player may fade out. I have a hard and fast rule, when I call on you, you have to be ready, you can't take your time to think about it you have to be ready. Now I also keep the game moving and I also try to not let anything drag. Players can learn to be clear and consise and not take forever to get to the point. There are a number of things, including but not limited to rolling for wondering monsters that can train players to not dither, hesitate or have lenghty debates. Player can learn to have instincts and go with them. They learn to have standard actions that the DM is to regard as reflex in a number of situations. This keeps the game from bogging down because you don't have to repeat the same things over and over.
Tactics
Players learn through play what works and what does not. Also a plus if you have playes that have military training and experience. Player can talk about things between games and then can let you know changes they want to make in how they respond to things.
Cheating
Do not cheat on behalf of the players or on behalf of the monsters. But if you make a mistake, then fix it, that is not cheating, but let the players decide if they want it fixed, they may view it as water over the dam. Don't railroad the players, that is cheating. Don't deprive them of the fun and the danger of making choices, that is cheating.
Choices
Telling players to just "tell me what you want to do," can be hard for inexperienced players, especially these days. I tell them leading up to their first game, talk to the other players and ask questions. Talk to me and ask questions. Once your character is rolled up, get a mental picture of your character and think about what he can do. As you gain items, both mundane and magic, know where you carry them and get a mental picture of the character so that when something happens you know what your options are and you grab the sword or the dagger or the bag of trinkets or you use the 10' pole or you do this or that. I am not going to walk you through things in hand holding mode, so don't worry about how things go the first few games. Learn from mistakes and try to avoid dying. If you die, make a new character and work on it as you play. Ask questions. Ask questions. Ask questions.
As long as you don't quit and keep trying you will get better.
Group size
There is no ideal group size. Both large, medium and small groups have their own advantages and disadvantages. Learn to work with what you have and make the most of it. Don't worry about having a "balanced" party. Balance is way over rated.
For the DM if you know your world and have some improvisational ability, then there is no reason you can not run steadily larger groups as you gain in experience as a DM. If you are completely lacking in improvisational ability, then stick to small groups until you get quite a bit of experience and prepare, prepare, prepare and work on learning how to think outside the box, learn to expect the unexpected. Hard to teach, hard to learn but worth the effort.
Survival Tips
Never cause the DM problems, be a team player, make the DM laugh, be humble, don't get mad if something doesn't go your way or if people ignore you ideas. Just keep plugging away and be helpful. Make yourself indispensable to the party by always being the guy who remembers things that save lives, has the small items everyone else forgets to buy, shares things when other characters need it, risk your characters life to save another characters life. Play the long game, collect favors.
So this is the tip of the iceberg on a massive topic...
(from Men & Magic) Number of players: At least one referee and from four to fifty players can be handled in any single campaign, but the referee to player ratio should be about 1:20 or therabouts.
I see a lot of angst and gnashing of teeth about how five or six or seven players is just too many and how some struggle to run a game with as few as four players. I see further angst about everyone being involved and everyone having fun and how quiet or less aggressive people get left out.
I see people complaining how it is just unfair to players to get left out of the action but solutions to this are just not real OD&D.
Now I have only heard about this, but have not really had it to deal with in person and quite frankly I just don't buy into any of it. So I am going to look at some of the things I do IMC and I would like to hear about one) do you have this problem and two) what do you do to overcome this in your campaign.
Responsibily for having fun
That is entirely on you as the player, my job is to give you the opportunity to have fun, but the decisions that will lead to you having fun are the decisions you make, I can't and won't make those for you.
Marching Order
I let the players completely decide what the marching order is going to be and I tell them that it is on them to let me know anytime they are going to change that.
Note: IMC you can not rely on a predictable way that encounters run. Encounters can come from any possible direction not just head on, especially if surprise is involved. Even though you are at the back or middle of the party in the marching order, it does not mean that you will not find yourself on the front lines during an encounter.
Initiative
I tell players up front that if they are surprised they will be at a disadvantage and I explain how that works. I also explain that they are going into someone else's territory and that is why they are more likely to be surprised than those who are on their home turf. All else being equal and no surprise on the table, I don't use initiative per se, I run it that almost everything is essentially simultaneous. I do run it that spells take the whole melee round to cast, so if you shoot an arrow at a magic-user and you hit, that will disrupt the spell, if you miss he still gets the spell off and you will deal with the consequences.
Boredom
As a DM we all like to think we are so good that no one would ever be bored. We all know that not all players have the same attention span and while one player is describing his search for secret doors another player may fade out. I have a hard and fast rule, when I call on you, you have to be ready, you can't take your time to think about it you have to be ready. Now I also keep the game moving and I also try to not let anything drag. Players can learn to be clear and consise and not take forever to get to the point. There are a number of things, including but not limited to rolling for wondering monsters that can train players to not dither, hesitate or have lenghty debates. Player can learn to have instincts and go with them. They learn to have standard actions that the DM is to regard as reflex in a number of situations. This keeps the game from bogging down because you don't have to repeat the same things over and over.
Tactics
Players learn through play what works and what does not. Also a plus if you have playes that have military training and experience. Player can talk about things between games and then can let you know changes they want to make in how they respond to things.
Cheating
Do not cheat on behalf of the players or on behalf of the monsters. But if you make a mistake, then fix it, that is not cheating, but let the players decide if they want it fixed, they may view it as water over the dam. Don't railroad the players, that is cheating. Don't deprive them of the fun and the danger of making choices, that is cheating.
Choices
Telling players to just "tell me what you want to do," can be hard for inexperienced players, especially these days. I tell them leading up to their first game, talk to the other players and ask questions. Talk to me and ask questions. Once your character is rolled up, get a mental picture of your character and think about what he can do. As you gain items, both mundane and magic, know where you carry them and get a mental picture of the character so that when something happens you know what your options are and you grab the sword or the dagger or the bag of trinkets or you use the 10' pole or you do this or that. I am not going to walk you through things in hand holding mode, so don't worry about how things go the first few games. Learn from mistakes and try to avoid dying. If you die, make a new character and work on it as you play. Ask questions. Ask questions. Ask questions.
As long as you don't quit and keep trying you will get better.
Group size
There is no ideal group size. Both large, medium and small groups have their own advantages and disadvantages. Learn to work with what you have and make the most of it. Don't worry about having a "balanced" party. Balance is way over rated.
For the DM if you know your world and have some improvisational ability, then there is no reason you can not run steadily larger groups as you gain in experience as a DM. If you are completely lacking in improvisational ability, then stick to small groups until you get quite a bit of experience and prepare, prepare, prepare and work on learning how to think outside the box, learn to expect the unexpected. Hard to teach, hard to learn but worth the effort.
Survival Tips
Never cause the DM problems, be a team player, make the DM laugh, be humble, don't get mad if something doesn't go your way or if people ignore you ideas. Just keep plugging away and be helpful. Make yourself indispensable to the party by always being the guy who remembers things that save lives, has the small items everyone else forgets to buy, shares things when other characters need it, risk your characters life to save another characters life. Play the long game, collect favors.
So this is the tip of the iceberg on a massive topic...
