Regular readers of this blog and listeners of Roleplay Rescue will recognise that this weekend is momentous for me as a Dungeon Master. The Friday Night Gamers – which are currently two players – sat down with me and made a series of decisions about what we are going to do. In short, we chose a genre and a set of rules to play. We also agreed that I would build a sandbox. This was the moment that I took up the mantle of Dungeon Master. It’s a moment that fills me with fear and hope all at once.
Where to begin?
Over the past week and a half, or there abouts, I have been reading and thinking about the question I wrote about in my last post. I have been working on three lists:
- A list of my core values as a Game Master; the things that I believe about games.
- A list of the things I understand my players want from the game.
- A long list of ideas brainstormed out until I dried up… for now.
With agreement on the large questions of what we are playing made, I am now ready to begin to pair down my lists to inform a workable design.
From this point forward, as I write this post, please be aware that there are major spoilers for anyone who hasn’t listened to the latest podcast episode, GM’s Journal #11: Decision.
What My Players Want
The chaps want a fantasy. They also chose Castles & Crusades for the rules. That latter choice surprised me, given that I had been pushed by one player for some weeks to return to Mythras Classic Fantasy and that the other seemed amenable. On the night, however, when I stated very clearly that the rules were something I was flexible about, the chaps chose to return to a Dungeons & Dragons flavoured game. They disagreed over playing 5th Edition. They agreed over the 4th and 3rd Edition so we rejected those. We discussed playing AD&D 2nd Edition and AD&D 1st Edition. We talked about Basic/Expert. In the end, the desire for more “crunch” than B/X but less than 3rd Edition got us most of the way there; I think the recent experience with Castles & Crusades won out over AD&D. As it’s easy to steal from AD&D and B/X anyway, I am happy with that choice.
I’ve decided to run a couple of game rule option choices past the guys to make sure they are ok with them. The options I’d like to use are from the Castle Keeper’s Guide and include:
- Spell Points for Arcane magic (pp54-55)
- Spell Slots for Divine magic (p55)
- Advantages (pp322-332) using the by-level table given
- Critical Hits/Failures (Option 4, p303).
In the past, even very recently when I was setting up Whitegrave during the Easter break, I imposed these decisions. I chose them by fiat. This time I am being polite and asking because this is their game too. As Dungeon Master, I aim to serve and provide a game the guys will enjoy. If they are uncomfy with those options, it’s on me to persuade them or drop the options. I do, after all, get to make most of the other choices in the setting up of my game; the rules we play by are, given the early stages of this campaign, something I can be flexible about deciding with the players.
Fresh World Design
Today I am sitting down to embrace and pare down my lists.
I want to incorporate the values that I have into my design from the get-go. For example, “player agency is king” is a belief that I have never really embraced in a conscious way. This world needs to provide players with all three big layers of agency – freedom to choose their goals being at the top – and I need to keep this firmly in mind. In keeping with my belief that, “dice rolls should not be fudged” I am going to ditch my DM’s Screen and work on being transparent at the table. These are the values I hold and they need to make it to the table.
Obviously, the list of player preferences needs to be embraced fully. The design needs to provide for those desires to be fulfilled. For example, one of the guys seem to enjoy exploration while the other expressed a desire to have challenging tactical combats. My world needs places to explore, interesting places to boot, and also opportunities to challenge powerful NPCs and nasty monsters. Treasure-finding is also on that list.
The bigger task at this stage is to pare down my own list of ideas. I need to evaluate each one and decide whether to shelve it or import it. The selection needs to fit in with the overall design – the big picture that is in part suggested by the values I hold and the desires the players have expressed – and be something that I want to deliver. There’s not much point choosing ideas that, in truth, don’t excite me or seem to not fit the design.
That is where I am as I sit here this morning. The work is beginning and I am very excited. I am also afraid: this is the challenge for which all my other gaming experience has prepared me.
Game on!
