How little can a DM get away with using at the table?
Dec 10, 2018 16:31:47 GMT -5
hengest, mormonyoyoman, and 2 more like this
Post by ripx187 on Dec 10, 2018 16:31:47 GMT -5
It never fails to amaze me just how simple that we DMs can go when it comes to books on the table. The last weekend we finally got to sit down and have a game, I had nothing but my shirt cuff and an idea. Playing AD&D I am just so used to referencing books at the table, you just keep them there next to you and bookmark what you'll think that you'll need. I always hated that I had so many different piles of notes to go through during play, stuff was always getting buried and I was always just one weird question away from having to look for that random table again, or where I put that monster description, or where did my map key go? It was just here!
I always strived to keep things to a minimum at the game, but it takes a while to get to. It's like that stubborn caveman that lives in our head and tells us that we need to bring the entire toolbox into the room with us whenever we fix anything. We know that we don't need all of those tools, but we do it anyway. This time I just wasn't into it. The only thing that I had on the table was my Dungeon map notebook, a screen to hide it from the players, and a copy of "Men & Magic" opened up to the combat tables. That's it. No key, no monster descriptions or treasure tables. Not even a random encounter list!
I also took the old school approach of Real-time = Game time passed, it had been 3 months since we were able to play, and I had the characters imprisoned by goblins the whole time. It actually worked really well! They had to escape and make do with just the stuff that they could find until they managed to locate their stuff.
We had fun, it got silly but that's okay. Somebody had mentioned a goblin breakroom so I went with that and had a birthday party going on with just the cool goblins and the others were upset because they had to work or didn't get invited. When the PCs burst into the room the goblins sternly informed them that they weren't allowed there unless they are employees. They didn't even want to fight because they were clearly on a break and trying to celebrate Captain Skullmashers birthday. The players took an odd delight in slaughtering them.
The stuff they found along the way, I made up. There was lots of hack and slash and I barely rolled anything. We had one fatality to the party due to a charge that went wrong and I just had the player rename the character and popped them right back into the game at the top of the stairs so they could attack again LOL. I wanted a game that was stress-free and fun and that was what I got, and it never fails to surprise me!
I get it now. Why folks play without many rules and just adapt to things during play. I don't know if I'll remember the room descriptions, or if the tone of the game will stay with the dungeon level, but since it's in a mad wizard's tower, who cares! I have never played with so little. It was nice! I don't know why I resist it so much. Habit? Expectations? Insecurity?
I always strived to keep things to a minimum at the game, but it takes a while to get to. It's like that stubborn caveman that lives in our head and tells us that we need to bring the entire toolbox into the room with us whenever we fix anything. We know that we don't need all of those tools, but we do it anyway. This time I just wasn't into it. The only thing that I had on the table was my Dungeon map notebook, a screen to hide it from the players, and a copy of "Men & Magic" opened up to the combat tables. That's it. No key, no monster descriptions or treasure tables. Not even a random encounter list!
I also took the old school approach of Real-time = Game time passed, it had been 3 months since we were able to play, and I had the characters imprisoned by goblins the whole time. It actually worked really well! They had to escape and make do with just the stuff that they could find until they managed to locate their stuff.
We had fun, it got silly but that's okay. Somebody had mentioned a goblin breakroom so I went with that and had a birthday party going on with just the cool goblins and the others were upset because they had to work or didn't get invited. When the PCs burst into the room the goblins sternly informed them that they weren't allowed there unless they are employees. They didn't even want to fight because they were clearly on a break and trying to celebrate Captain Skullmashers birthday. The players took an odd delight in slaughtering them.
The stuff they found along the way, I made up. There was lots of hack and slash and I barely rolled anything. We had one fatality to the party due to a charge that went wrong and I just had the player rename the character and popped them right back into the game at the top of the stairs so they could attack again LOL. I wanted a game that was stress-free and fun and that was what I got, and it never fails to surprise me!
I get it now. Why folks play without many rules and just adapt to things during play. I don't know if I'll remember the room descriptions, or if the tone of the game will stay with the dungeon level, but since it's in a mad wizard's tower, who cares! I have never played with so little. It was nice! I don't know why I resist it so much. Habit? Expectations? Insecurity?
