It has been forever since I have last posted, I will try to post more often next year, I promise

Hi there anonymous fans of me if they exist!  I know it has been a while since I have posted on this blog.  It has also been several weeks since our group has even roleplayed since everyone is preoccupied with the holidays.  I am fine with that because I am sure we will go back to what we were doing before the holiday events began.  I promise I will keep writing in this blog so bear with me.
  Lately, I have had ideas to write a hobby novel about a guy that will unwittingly travel the planes, and I am in a Dragonlance campaign that I am a player with a cleric that has a cooking hobby.  I haven't done much with that character though because I had a noble pc character that died from another pc who kept shooting arrows at him on accident using a human bane composite shortbow (the bow was an intelligent racist item that kept wanting to kill humans, so whenever Israel, the player, rolled a 1 the arrow kepted aiming at my character).  I took the pc character death in stride and just quickly drafted another character.  Some people can really feel invested in a character and when they die players can feel quite broken up about their character dying.  However, players should just take it in stride though.
     At the moment, I have an ambition of writing a hobby novel and hopefully I will have plenty to write about the fiction fantasy topic.  However, I will need to show dedication on the subject by continuing to write in this blog as well.

Have you ever made 0th lvl characters?

Yeah, I would imagine the title all by itself would stump any person who has played D&D in any of the editions and ask the question "What in the world are you talking about mr_ritiki?".  All players normally start at level 1 something and then follow a normal class advancement from there.  Even the listed npc classes of expert, commoner, and warrior seems pretty weak in comparison to the regular pc classes.  This idea of making 0th level characters who were wearing nothing but rags with a rope belt, a hood dropped off in the middle of nowhere can put a player to the test.  The experience can be gritty and challenging, but fun nonetheless.  For an experienced player, the experience can really put treasure in perspective when a player feels excited about having 6 silver pieces after gloriously defeating a kobold with a crossbow even with the help of other players.
  A lot of time has passed since I typed on this blog but I will try to keep up with putting new information forward here on this website.  Now I have to design a site based dungeon that is huge.  Maybe on this website I will go ahead and discuss approaches on designing a dungeon later and discuss traps.

So let's look at this from an adventurer's perspective

      I am sorry about not posting a new blog post in a while because it has been a few weeks since I last played D&D and I didn't feel that inspired to type for a while.  I have been playing magic, worried about other concerns in my life, and life just gets in the way of D&D.  The real world isn't as risky or adventurous like the adventurer's life. 
    
      The first thing I always found funny was how adventurers from all walks of life group together to tackle the challenges of a dungeon somehow manage to get along with each other.  A buff fighter trained as a soldier takes the lead.  The suspicious looking halfling thief that is pretending to be a performer follows the fighter, sometimes scouting ahead looking for well concealed traps.  A religious zealot of Pelor acting as the cleric proudly strides behind the thief.  A lucid fresh from the academy wizard, carefully sauntering along while reading a spellbook.  Finally, a nature loving ranger that gaurds the rear with his composite longbow & quiver of arrows ready.  Well, even though it might seem silly wondering how all these people get along, the dynamics of this group works because a balanced group encompasses all of the necessary skills to take on everything. Every character class has their strengths and weaknesses. 
    Then there is the feeling of searching for something after not finding anything in the area.  Or how about the conflict of character knowledge versus player knowledge.  Roleplaying has its hilarious blunders, but what really matters is friends gathering together, having fun and mocking the whole situation.  Life should have fun moments.

The Issue of Plot & Logistics versus Hack & Slash .... finding the balance

  Okay, every group has different ideas about this when it comes to how people run their campaigns.  I believe in roleplayinng, not "roll playing", though not everyone feels the same way about this idea.  Among veteran players, some people just want to do a site based dungeon crawl adventure, set up the miniatures on a mat, and just charge through, killing a bunch of random monsters.  When some DMs set up a dungeon, I don't think they design it in a way where the dungeon is livable from the point of view of the monsters that dwell in the dungeons.  Yes, let's throw in a gargantuan pyro-hydra at the end of a dungeon filled with skeletons, zombies, and other related undead.  In a situation like that, I always wonder what is the hydra eating and how did it get in the dungeon in the first place?  In the grand scheme of looking at the dungeon though, issues like that doesn't matter though as long as the players have fun fighting through the dungeon.  I am sure that issues like that can be laughed off and then the players can move onto the next adventure.

    What the issue really boils down to is the issue of pacing and participation.  I like to throw in an instigating adventure hook, a short time of character prep, an outline of plot, maybe a dungeon crawl, and fight or two.  Generally, I try to find the balance of plot and fighting in an ideal session.  Too much plot and the players can feel pretty bored and they might even wonder why do they even have character sheets at all.  If you play a game with too much hack & slash, the game feels like you are fighting stat blocks of creatures with a bunch of dice rolling sort of like you are "roll playing".  In other words, the roleplaying game needs reasonable combination of all of these elements in order to be interesting enough for all of the players. 

Weird blunders I have encountered while gaming (first example) and avoiding gamer burnout

     So I have written before about my experience in the previous post about how I have made mistakes.  I assure you that they are quite numerous but I will start with just a small samples of blunders.  Let's first talk about overall gaming burnout among the group and how life gets in the way.  A reality that a lot of people have come to accept about doing this hobby is burnout.  Trying to keep things fresh, fun, and unpredictable is a challenging so I would have to say consider taking a break from the game once in a while by doing other activities.  Well, that doesn't make me sound like a normal fan but people's lives get in the way of roleplaying sometimes  and the break is needed.  Another tactic you can use is to change out the frequency of playing, depending on what your work/college schedule allows.  I find that a weekly meeting time should be enough, but whatever works for your group should work.

    "Look, the drawing is a penis", "It is not a penis, it is a drawing of the top view of an island" , "no that is a penis", "here, I added trees and buildings", "now it looks like a diseased penis"....... While running a Ravenloft campaign as a DM in a custom designed realm, I had the PCs travel to an island.  I had to demonstrate what the island looked like in a drawing.  I drew trees on picture, some house symbols on it, and caves, but it still looked like a penis from other people's point of view.  What else can I say to my defense?  Well, that is about it really, I wasn't thinking about anything perverted.  I guess I am going to have to avoid any type of drawing anything that looks elongated.  However, humor adds levity to any situation.  If you are running a campaign and a lot of humor occurs in gameplay while you are running the session, consider that to be a good omen and that you are doing a good job as a DM.

     So where does the side topics end and the actual roleplaying begin?  Well, that depends on the group and how much time you have for roleplaying.  I like getting caught up on all sorts of stuff that is happening in the lives of my friends so it seems okay to let in a few bits of unrelated talk and gossip into the conversation.  Also, hilarious analogies and quips can be inserted about your campaign in general.  This is okay in my opinion because other less serious perspectives on the situation can lighten the situation, like how I fall asleep during major dragon fights as a player (this has happened a few times).  "Crap, the wizard is sleeping and we are gettimg fire breathed on us". Yeah ...... The negative side of irrelevent conversation during roleplaying is that this form of talking bogs down gameplay and This is usually when arguements can occur, which I will discuss in a future post called rules lawyering.

Anyway, I will try to enjoy my day off by having fun and maybe I will draw some dungeon maps later and write up statistics for custom monsters.  For all of you future roleplayers, have fun!!! :)

So Let's start a beginning discussion, Life & Roleplaying discussion 1

     Hi there, you are probably wondering where my authority comes on this subject.  I have played D&D as well as other genres of table top roleplaying games since 1993.  Yeah, that means more than a decade.  True, I was a child when I started but I am an adult now who still likes tabletop roleplaying after all of this time with his friends.  So, I have some experience in the field.  I am not the sharpest tool in the toolshed, so you can rightly assume that I have made all kinds of mistakes while roleplaying.  As a player, I have done all sorts of dumb things.  As a DM/GM (whatever acronym you wish to use), I have put players in dumb situations and done some debatable stuff.  By the way, I use the acronym DM & GM interchangably but they are the same thing in my mind (gamemaster versus dungeonmaster).  So I am seasoned enough to say "been there, done that, & wearing the convention t-shirts", but I have some fun campaign stories to tell under my belt of experience that just might be good enough to become short stories.  Maybe someone can read this and learn from my dumb mistakes before making them and join in on my hobby.  I might even include a few short stories of what those campaigns were like in future blogs, but I will try to pace myself with this blog for now.
   
     Today is 09/01/11 and today is another thursday game night at a friend's house and I am currently running a campaign as a DM.  The current campaign is Planar Airship campaign using rules from 3.5 books, planscape books from 2nd ed for backup reference, the 3.5 neverwhen book, and a little online information regarding 2nd ed information from spelljammer.  Yeah, plenty of information there ...... Okay, I need to say this as rule one  ..... Being a DM/GM means YOU NEED TO READ BOOKS OR EBOOKS.  Start with the core roleplaying books trio of the edition you like; Player's Handbook, Dungeonmaster's Guide, & Monster Manual.  With the exception of the highly rare boxed set first marketed in the 1970's, (by the way, if you even have those very first beginning pamphlets, you are holding onto something worth auctioning) every set of roleplaying books has these as core books.  Everything else is supplemental and you can improv as you go along.  As your collection of books grows, you will gather together quite the library.  I converted this information into ebooks for reference on a laptop with the information on USB flashdrives so that I don't have to lug around a large pile of books.  Yeah, I hurt my back carrying around lots of books.  It is 2011 people, ...... books are not the only form of storage medium for information so GET A LAPTOP PC OR TABLET PC and store the information there as ebooks if possible.  Books are nice to have and I like books, but for a real fun roleplaying experience, carrying around a large pile of supplemental & core books is hindering since packing away that stuff takes a while after the session ends.  If you need to bring the actual books, try instead having a couple copies of the main core roleplaying books, then one or two supplemental books, (plus the current adventure module packet if you are using those preconstructed modules).  That will be more than enough since you will have paper, dice, & pencils with you as well (or you can be extra fancy and bring miniatures, wet erase markers, and the battlegrid map, but the issue of too much stuff comes to mind).  Keep in mind how much stuff you have and try to keep it simple with how much stuff you are bringing in general.  Another point I would like to make about supplemental books in general is that they are for reference so try to read the information, remember the information the best you can, and if you can't remember the information, just remember that being the DM means you can improvise & bluff your way.  Improv & Bluff works because of the golden rule of being DM, what you say goes .......

     So you noticed I am borrowing information for all sorts of sources.  So how does that work?  Bluff & Improvisation ....... Please don't misunderstand that phrase.  I have read information from those sources, read conversion rules from the neverwhen book & core books, and wrote down a bunch of stuff relating to the current campaign session, but bluffing goes a long way so put on that default poker face.  Okay, so now brings up core issue # 1 I have to deal with as DM: preparation versus improvisation.  Believe me, that is one juggling act all by itself.  Being prepared is important, but a person can't prepare for every single contingency.  Players should have some freedom of self expression for travel, but have a main outline of what the players will encounter, then let the creativity flow.  Roleplaying is a hobby that is about creativity, players interacting with a story the DM made up.

   So now I will have to prepare for later by drawing a map, outlining a few things they will encounter in the dungeon, and see how the evening plays out from there.