Table Top Accssories : Mini Rant

One thing that is not necessarily required, but often fun even if they aren’t used on the table is minis(or miniatures if you prefer)! They help you and other players get an idea of what your character, monster, or any other permeable set piece looks like.  Minis can also help clear up rule arguments in regards to distance (if they are to scale with everything else), location, and what exactly is a viable target in combat.    

The only downside to minis that I have found around the table is Metagaming.  One Players character spots an inbound motorcycle coming down the road so I place the motorcycle on the game map showing where it is.  Another Players turn  comes up and they say. “I scan the motorcycle for military markings.”  I then have to remind the 2^nd player that their character is currently engaged in a fire fight with enemy troops and that the 1^st Player did not let anyone else know what they saw.  This is just one example of a situation that arises in most games where minis are used. . 

Let’s face it, when people think of table top RPG’s it’s always the fantasy games people think of first which seems to be true of companies that make minis as well.  Sure, if you want to play Warhammer or a Star Wars you’ll have plenty of choices at your local game store, but what about older or more fringe games? 

Toy Store!! 

          The awesome thing about Sci-Fi games is that you can find tons of cool space ships, robots, cars, trucks, and anything else you can think of at a toy store.   Need cars? Matchbox and Hotwheels have got you covered.  For both real world, concept, and crazy off the wall things.  The only real issue I’ve had with these little cars for gaming is finding people sized minis to go along next to them. So, I’ll often used flat tokens or coins to show where a character is in relation to the vehicles. 

How big is big? 

     Trying to figure out the scale from one toy to the next is a bit of a hassle when not all of them give a scale ratio.  What I tend to do, especially when trying to keep robots and other strange craft to scale with one another, is look at the cockpits.  Typically a cockpit is meant to hold a 5 to 7 foot pilot with a little bit of wiggle room.  Comparing cockpits and cabins for scale will work with most anything that you can see inside of.

You can also ignore this.  Say you find a robot that is meant to be 50 feet tall, but want to use it for a characters personal power armor.  It’s easy to do as long as you determine how tall it should be.  After all, you’re playing a game of imagination so tap into your inner child and figure out how big it “really” is.   You’ll be surprised at just how many things you can find that are “in scale” with one another once you start looking outside of the hobby shop. 

           

Not on the Table

            Maybe a player finds something that is “exactly” what they are supposed to be using.  Cool, but it’s way to big or small to be in scale with the rest of the figures on the table.  They can still use it but you, or they, will need to find a place holder for the table.  Then use the mini that you or another player might have to help show where damage has occurred and to get a better since of what people will be aiming at. 

Place Holders

            Can’t find a proper mini for the table?  Place Holders. 

Cardboard boxes: They are great for vehicles. You can then put character minis, equipment lists, and even stats sheets in them to help keep track of what they carry.  If you’re feeling really crafty you can always carve those same card board boxes up to make a better representation of what ever craft you’re looking at. 

            Clay and Putty are awesome, malleable, and easily resized to fit your needs in regards to shape and scale.

            Game pieces are great for any setting. Chess pieces, checkers, dominos.  You can often find bags of these loose pieces at thrifts stores. 

            Rocks: Bags of rocks and stones from a craft store, or even a nifty one out of the garden.  Just be careful the game doesn’t become too heated and people start throwing them.  

            And as always, use you’re imagination!

           

I know a lot of this might be common sense to the more seasoned gamers out there. Though, keep in mind,  what we veterans take for granted as common sense might be a revelation for you to pass on to new players.   

Behind the Screen: Mood Music

      Be it a big budget movie or the latest adventure video game you may have noticed the music playing in the background.  Emphasizing tense moments, rousing the blood during action packed scenes, or pulling tears from your eyes during a touching moment; music can help highlight the emotional content of a scene and pull the audience further into the story telling of a given presentation. 

            I know for some of the more experienced gamers out there this is not a new concept and everyone knows the old stereo type of the pimple faced kids playing D&D and listening to Led Zeppelin in their mom’s basement.  But in this post we’ll talk about some do’s and don’ts as well as some things that have helped players and GM’s become just a little more immersed in the game.

Soundtrack v.s. Score

            This one is both a pet peeve for me as an audiophile and something that will hopefully help you find the music you’re looking for the next time you run a game. 

~Score:

The music composed for a movie, television show or game that is used as mood setting for a scene.  Characters on screen, unless the 4^th wall is being broken, are not aware of the score.
 

~Soundtrack:

All of the music, sound effects, and dialogue that you hear in a movie or game. The Score is PART of the sound track

~Motion Picture, Video Game, and Television Sound Tracks found at the store:

            These are typically composed of tie in and publicity songs for a movie, game, or show. Sometimes you might hear one of these songs on the radio in the background of a movie or game.  Every now and then a song on a “Sound Track”, usually for the credits, an opening, or montage, is legitimately part of the Score.  Though more often than not A Sound Track you buy is part of the advertising scheme and many of the songs are never heard in association with the film or game except for on the Sound Track

Now that that rant is out of the way on to more relevant topics.

Plan Ahead

            Just like when putting together encounters, NPC’s, fights, and locations for a game before hand it is always a good idea to plan the music.  Either by building a single play list or several it will help maintain the mood you might be going for.  There’s nothing more distracting than being in the middle of a tense situation and having weird all Yankovich pop on and blowing the carefully crafted mood. 
            Another solid reason to have a play list built ahead of time is for pacing.  Maybe you only have a certain amount of time for a game session and want to make sure you work in certain events.  With a pre built play list you can give yourself audio cues for when to start an important encounter or when it’s time to start wrapping up.   

Known v.s. Unkown

            When picking your music conscience of how musically aware your players might be.  Having a well known theme song like Vaders Imperial March come on when your bad guy enters the arena could incite laughter and a slew of jokes, star wars references, and tangents.  If it’s the comedic effect you’re going for, by all means, but be aware of how your players might react.  Usually, however, you want your music to blend into the background and help set the mood of a moment not over shadow it.  In this regard if you are using songs or tracks from well known sources then try to stick to the more obscure, or B-Sides of an album.

Where to find music

            Music as a whole is rich with sources and songs that can help set the mood you’re looking for.  Classical music is always good for background playing, as are movie scores.  But where do you find this stuff?  Music stores work for the more contemporary and mainstream, websites like YouTube for the more obscure and public domain.  The best place I’ve found though is the Library.  Most places that have a public library, and more importantly a library with an AV section will find it rich with little known music that can help transform your game into something deep and immersive. Which, for a gamer looking to find a musical score or stirring concerto that isn’t from the latest Hollywood blockbuster or publicized video game release, this is usually the place to go. 

Don’t be afraid to Loop

            Maybe combat is running a little longer than expected or that quick shopping trip for supplies has turned into a full on Macy’s shopping spree.  What ever the reason you might have to stall before letting your play list roll into the combat or creepy dungeon music, looping isn’t a necessarily a bad thing.  Yeah, it’s annoying if you have the latest pop hit playing over and over in the back ground, but some of the best video games have looping music.  MMO’s and other video game RPG’s have music specifically designed for looping so that it blends smoothly from finish to start and is constructed so that listeners do not readily notice that they’ve been listening to the same minute and 30 second song for the past 3 hours.  RPG games from the 90’s are a treasure trove for music of just this music.  Just be cautious with some of the Final Fantasy fanfares or suffer the wrath of tangent talk. 

           

Think outside the Genre

            In regards to fantasy movie music there are a lot of very epic, very well known fantasy scores floating around out there.   Lord of the Rings music and Harry Potter being two of the most recognizable.  Fans of the genre will with out fail pick out the music from these films and others like them.  Granted, there are some groups out there, like “the Midnight Syndicate” who make music just for role playing games. 
          Rousing battle music?  Try music from a movie about the American Civil War.  Somber and dreary?  Try the Dramas.  If you’re trying to set a mood, find movies that set the tone you’re looking for and see if it has a score available.
          Finding music to set a certain tone is especially easy to do if you’re trying to emulate a specific time.  It’s reasonably easy to find original recordings from the 1920’s thru current times.  And often, modern recordings of older, historical, music can be found under the labels of classical or folk.    

Last Bit

            If you are indeed running a Star Wars game or a Lord of the Rings game then don’t be afraid to use the music.  After all, the Imperial March is very appropriate if a squad of Storm Troopers is chasing your players through the dusty streets of Mos Eisly.

            Don’t be afraid to experiment with what works best for you and the group that you’re running games for , and most importantly: Have fun.

The Anatomy of Combat: Alternate Initiative Part 1

A big question in any role playing combat situation is: “When is it my turn?” 

     Classically this is decided by a die roll of some fashion.  Typically with a d20 where the highest roll goes first, then the next highest, and so on.  This works when dealing with an adventuring party of 3 or 4 adventurers and a GM or DM with a single monster or a small group of similar monsters.  This system, though still viable finds itself falling apart from time to time when dealing with larger groups of both baddies and players.  Today I’ll focus on one method I use with particularly rowdy groups and larger groups of players.

~The round table method

     Who goes first can be figured out with the die roll appropriate for the system taking into account all applicable bonuses. But rather than going in what ever random order the dice might determine I’ll go around the table starting with the highest role. To the left or right it’s up to the person running the game.
     As the person running the game you will often find yourself rolling for both allies and adversaries to the players.  Roll for each character or monster then determine if your highest roll was for an NPC working with the party or an adversary.  If an Adversary ends up with the highest roll then have all adversaries go first and then the party, then the ally.  Reverse it if the ally ended up with higher roll

Pros:

            Each player knows who they will be following in combat as each round passes and the stall in a game that comes from a player saying “I didn’t know it was my turn” is essentially removed. 
            From the standpoint of running the game it gives you the opportunity to plan coordinated surprise attacks.  Sometimes players might assume that one of the baddies has not held their action and will walk right into a trap.  You, running the game, can simply turn to the next person and save time that would be needed to list each persons turn.

Cons:

            Moving enemies in mass can alert players to your plans more easily than moving them in intervals.   
            If a player is sitting on the wrong side of a player with high initiative bonuses they could be consistently going last.

Looking Forward

To give this blog a bit of structure, and to make it easy to reference for both myself and those that might find these rantings useful, I’ll be posting articles under headings that will deal with different aspects of running and playing a table top rpg.  One thing that I’ve learned over the years is that no mater the game system or setting there are similarities across the board.   

~The Anatomy of Combat

Whether you use miniatures, spoken word, hand drawn maps, or a combination of these and other methods to figure out the intricacies combat in your game, combat in an RPG is almost always a given.  These mini articles will focus on different aspects of combat that are fairly universal in most game systems. 

~Magic and You

Magic: Probably one of the most convoluted, subjective, and controversial issues on or off the table. Convoluted because there are so many different rule sets from system to system.  Different types of magic within the same system or setting.  Subjective: because each system and setting present magic from varying perspectives. Controversial: because of all of the superstitions idiology that can surround magic and anything to do with the word.

                                                                  *Disclaimer* 

Please keep in mind that when I speak of magic in this blog or anywhere else within the context of Role Playing I am viewing it as vehicle for fantastical and FICTIONAL story telling.   

~Technobable

Most things under this heading will deal with Science Fiction, technology, and how to apply it and handle it in the table top arena.  Granted most Sci-Fi game systems have rules for how everything works. Many of those same rpg systems may be out of date in terms of what “future technology” is or might be.  Expect Tech notes on current tech and science, as well as tips on adapting technologies from one system to another and answering questions like “How many d6 damage will and exploding star do to an imperial class star cruiser?” 

~Behind the Screen

Anecdotes about some of the far out things that might happen when running a game, addressing house rules, and ideas for making a game more immersive. 

~Character Building

Notes, ideas, and tips on developing characters and their back-stories.  Help addressing balance issues in regards to story, party, and game system.   And of course things that players do that both help and hinder games sessions and the people that run them.


If you have questions on these or other topics feel free to post them in the comments section or e-mail me and I'll try to address them in future posts.

Pre Game Warmups

One of the biggest things that can turn a good table top game into a great game is the pre game.

Ways to do this are simple yet effective.  Give the players time to work out the jitters, engaging them in conversation about their characters and getting them looking over their character sheets. As the DM you've probably been planning for the better part of the week, sometimes longer, but usually when game time rolls around you've been immersed in the plot and are mentally prepared for the coming game.  The players may not be.  Often time players show up and they haven’t given the game much thought beyond “Tuesday at 6”.

            In an ideal situation I’ll have about an hour before I start my games to do just that.  Let everyone get the “how was your week” and “Did you hear about…” conversations out of the way.  Also get the players to start thinking about the game, about their characters.  Start with talking about what happened last time you played, reminding them of things their characters may need to know for the current game and ask questions about what they plan on doing with their characters when they get to the next level or what new abilities they might have learned at the end of last session.   As it gets closer to game time try to steer conversation towards the game its self. 

            By easing everyone back into the world of the game and the mindset of play it can make a much smoother and more immersive game over all. 

             One side note for DM’s that often have new players or players that do not play very often:

  Have an experienced gamer and new player share a Player’s Handbook or reference book so that when questions like “How do I make an attack role…” or  any of the other millions of situations that DM's and expeirenced gamers take for granted come up the more experienced partner can field the question or help them look up the answer to the question while you, as the DM, can keep the game moving forward. This can save a little headspace on your part and also help the newer players feel less singled out and more a part of the group. 

The hardest part first: Title

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone asks you to give a formless blog a title? 

The first question that should be asked is; “What is the blog about”.  Mostly it will be about role playing.   I’ve been playing various table top, pen and paper role playing games since I was about 12.  That was, at the time of this writing, about 17 years ago.  I’ve read cover to cover more role playing books from varying publishers and game systems than I’d really care to admit, some more than once, and somewhere along the way I’d like to think that I picked up some small amount of proficiency at creating and running enjoyable games.  Be they one shot adventures or long lived campaigns spanning months and years. 

             Over the years I’ve played under various DMs, GMs, and Storytellers some of which have done so at conventions and professional gaming events.  I’ve dabbled in the LARP world and have, myself, ran games for players of all ages. The point of it all is that I’ve picked up a few tricks here and there. Mostly I find myself wanting to write down these thoughts…and then it hit me.

 Jack’s Dialogical Self (Look up Dialogical Self Theory if you’re curious)

 These articles will most likely only be read only by me and the bored few who happen upon this blog after all.

     Back to the question: What is this blog about?  Again, at its heart, it is about role playing.  But what is role playing?  To me it’s simply a form of shared story telling.  The same sort of story telling that cavemen were doing with shadow puppets around a fire many moons ago.    So aside from my own longwinded, often circular, musings I’ll throw in the odd review here in there.  About a book, video game, movie, or comic that I might have read that I feel has, or will impact my games and/or story telling abilities.  Coming up with stories requires pulling information from somewhere and presenting it with the story tellers own perspective.  Imagination, personal experience, adapting an older story, or in some cases blatantly ripping off an idea.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

            The last little bit I’d like to ad before posting up my very first “blog entry” would be this: Grammar Nazi’s beware.  I’m a bit rusty in the world of writing and often times with internet posts, especially musings, tend not to edit too closely before posting.  It’s particularly awful within the social media landscape but I’ll make an effort to do a little bit of fixing and such before posting.  Oh, and if you notice anything too horrendous don’t be afraid to point it out, I’m sure you won’t anyways, Grammar Nazi’s rarely do.  This blog, aside from musings and trying to sound like I know what I’m talking about, is an exercise in writing and creativity.