Resurrecting the Dungeon Index?

Up until September of 2005, I maintained an up-to-date index of Dungeon Magazine. It was hosted on 3d6.org, which was then my main gaming site (and is now my photo site). When I stopped running the campaign that I used the index for, and after my Dungeon subscription lapsed, I stopped updating the index, too.

In the past few weeks, though, I’ve gotten several emails out of the blue from folks asking where the index went. And the more I think about it, the more it sounds like a pretty good fit for TT. Even though it’s game-specific, it would be useful to a lot of GMs.

Should I bring back the Dungeon index?

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Stealing the Flashlight

This is a guest post by TT reader Nick Bell (who goes by lebkin in the comments). It’s brilliantly simple, and it speaks for itself.
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Because being a GM is like using a 150 watt bulb, it is easy to get lost in your self-created sea of knowledge where everything seems perfectly clear. To counter this, one needs to build up a set of tools in order to understand the players’ views on what is going on in-game. The best tool is actually the players themselves. Simply put, you can find out what the players remember by stealing their flashlight.

In order to do this, simply wait a few days after a gaming session, and then ask your players what they remember from the prior session. This will tell you where their flashlight is pointed. They will remember the elements that are important to them, and forget the boring ones. Take the things they remember and focus on them in the next session.
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Sound advice — thanks, Nick!

Who Describes the Action?

I’ve seen and used two different approaches to describing PC actions, most often in combat or when using skills. One approach is for the player to describe how they perform the action, the other is for the GM to describe it. (Which approach you use can even be a social contract issue.)

They generally have similar end results: It doesn’t matter who says “Swinging his axe overhand, Aragos lops off the barbarian’s head,” the barbarian is still dead.

Or does it matter? Are some GMs worried that players will make their PC sound “too cool,” or otherwise muck things up? Or do some players not put the same effort into those kinds of descriptions as GMs tend to?

(I’m back from GenCon, but I gave myself a day to recover before doing an after-action report. Stay tuned!)

Making NPCs Your Players Will Love to Hate

There are few ways to make players less interested in an NPC villain than saying “You hate this guy.”

The best kind of hate has to be earned, and it burns with the heat of a thousand suns. Here are four ways to earn that hate.

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Overloaded: Stuff and Info

The game I’m currently playing in (Trinity: Al Sadima) is very background-heavy, and we’ve gotten lost in the sea of information several times. This can be frustrating, although it’s a very fun game overall.

Similarly, years ago when I played through part of D&D’s Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, we actually had to use a quartermaster, several pages of notes (referencing module page numbers) and waaaay too much time to keep track of all the stuff we picked up. This was one of the reasons we stopped playing the game.

In both cases, things that are generally good — game information and cool gear — became problems. How can you prevent information and stuff overload?

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Decoy Books

Sometimes it can be a lot of fun to keep your players guessing, particularly if they’re veterans of the game you’re playing.

If this sounds like your group, bring a couple of extra books (for the same game) to every session — and choose them more or less at random.

Between those random choices (”The Big Book of Doom and Gloom? What’s that doing here?”) and the extras you bring with a purpose (as in, “Hmmm, they might take the right fork and head to Mordor”), your players won’t know what to expect.

And best of all? It’s fairly subtle until they catch on — and once they catch on, that still won’t help.

(TT is in GenCon mode from August 9th-13th. I won’t be able to respond to comments or email, but there will be a new post every day, just like always.)

Measure Twice, Cut Somewhere Else

Have you heard the proverb “Measure twice, cut once“?

It’s a good message for everyday life: A bit of planning can save you some grief down the road, more or less.

Unfortunately, that proverb doesn’t really apply to GMing.

In terms of prep, I equate “measure twice” with “prep more stuff, or more details for the stuff you have.” And as every GM knows, few plans survive contact with the players — which means some (although probably not all) of that prep may not be necessary.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve spent hours drawing a map that didn’t get used that night, instead of spending more time on something I knew was going to come up in play. I’ve learned to watch out for these prep sinkholes (and maps are just one example), but it’s often counterintuitive. More is always better, right?

Not necessarily. More is fine and dandy, and you can always use that spare map some other time — but if your time is limited (and really, whose time isn’t limited?), there are often better ways to spend it.

In GMing terms, I’d retool that proverb as:

“Measure once, and be prepared to wing it.”

Measuring twice will only get you so far. Sometimes, you just have to wing it, even if it’s outside of your GMing comfort zone.

(TT is in GenCon mode from August 9th-13th. I won’t be able to respond to comments or email, but there will be a new post every day, just like always.))

If You Got Hit by a Bus Tomorrow…

If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, what would your players remember most about your campaign?

And what does that answer say about your game, good or bad?

(TT is in GenCon mode from August 9th-13th. I won’t be able to respond to comments or email, but there will be a new post every day, just like always.))

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