Penny Arcade's Gabe on Role Playing by Email

Penny Arcade does focus on video games, a genre of "wasting time" I've had to suppress in my portfolio. However, those guys are lovers of all games, including the world's oldest fantasy roleplaying game, D&D. Several of their comics have spotlighted their own participation. I found the most recent post revelatory to my game mastering sensibilities:

Mailbag
Wednesday, May 19 2010 - 9:45 AM
by: Gabe

A PA reader and medic stationed just outside Baghdad sent me a mail this week asking about how I run my D&D games via Email. It just so happens that with the new baby I have not had time to run a proper game for my crew. What I decided to do instead is take them through a little adventure via Email until I'm able to get back to the table.

Email can be a great way to focus on story elements in your game rather than combat. Personally I like to make my Email adventures more about decisions and less about rolling.

For example my players have accepted a job that involves them transporting a prisoner. The road is obviously fraught with danger and the prisoner happens to be a powerful illusionist. So even trapped inside her cage she still manages to screw with the party. They are hauling the prisoner in a cage on the back of a wagon. Eventually they came to a huge chasm that had cut across the path. Here is what I sent out to them:

"After a few hours of hiking you reach a wide chasm that has cut across the path and blocked your path. It is 50 ft across here at its narrowest point and plunges an unknown distance down into blackness. It stretches out to either side winding around the mountain and out of sight. You can see the path continues on the far side of the chasm.

You stand staring across the gaping maw as the cold rain beats down around you.

From the cage comes the unmistakable sound of laughter."

I did not ask for any checks I just presented them with the problem. Here was one of the responses I got from the Gnoll Rogue:

Gnasc leans towards the cage, narrowing his eyes and fixating on the old crone while slowly smelling the air around her.

"Care to let me in on the joke?" he growls quietly to her, then tilting his head and smiling.

**38 insight check against illusion or charm**

You can easily do skill challenge type encounters this way as well. Maybe during the journey they get caught by a storm or a rock slide. I might ask the entire group to make endurance checks. For something like this we use an online roller but if you trust your group there is no harm in letting them role at home and post their results. Combat can be a bit tricky but it is still manageable. Personally I've run combat via Email a couple different ways. You can manage the movement of the monsters and the characters with rough descriptions and then ask for attack rolls. I've also asked for two rolls from all my characters in advance and then used those rolls to write up the combat in the form of a short story.

I've been using the character of the prisoner to really piss off a few of my players. She's getting into their heads and pulling out some bad memories from their past. I've been so successful at this that I've actually got them arguing amongst themselves. Some of them just want to push the cage with the prisoner in it over a cliff while the others are intent on seeing the job through. This has given them a lot of great opportunities to role play their characters.

Good luck with your Email adventures!

-Gabe out

Like my idiosyncratic aversion to online role-playing games, I've never wanted to invest effort learning the nuances of yet another virtual semblance of the "real thing."  Again, I see my gaming time as precious, and there is precious little of it to be squandered on anything beneath my preferred play style, which is face-to-face, around the table.

However, I've never been one to put on blinders.  I should be at least marginally informed about activities I've disavowed.  Through the tiniest crack of open-mindedness there may still be benefit, perhaps even enlightenment.  While I won't say this particular post from Gabe has thrown me into a whirlwind of self-realization regarding heretofore disillusions toward all manner of online gaming, I liked it enough to repost.  It's a short but satisfactory exposition of how to mess with players, applicable to personal interaction both digitally and within spitting distance.

My First Time as Dungeon Master

Setting aside the recent decision to use GM (game master) when referring to the one running the show, this post comes about as I do a little spring cleaning in the old hard drive.

I know what you're thinking: "Brian, how can you have time to purge files when you're in the midst of moving?"  Well, I'm tired.  And I was home sick today.  And I like the peace of mind that follows ditching refuse.

It happens that one of the files I decided to retain was named "BB-Magic Gate."  BB indicated it was material of personal design amongst the assorted gaming documents I had accumulated.  For clarity, I have renamed it "BB-Cape Sanvel Scenario" and dragged it into my new folder, "Old Material."  I really intend not to keep the quantity of half-conceived gaming miscellany I once hoarded on 5¼-inch plastic coasters known previously as floppy disks.  This particular file's creation date is November 17th, 2003, when USB drives were still counted in megabytes and cost $100+.

Anyhoo, what I have for you is a snippet of my attempts to be an organized DM.  This scenario ("CAMPAIGN STARTING POINT" - Ha!) lasted a single evening.  It's doom was spelled by my own amateurish notions of the PC-NPC relationship, and one player's pointed resistance to a suggestion I made regarding his elf character.  The last set of parenthesis should clue you to our resolution.

STORY DETAILS
CAMPAIGN STARTING POINT

Cape Sanvel

Tues. 09/16/03:

P     Any elves just arrived on a ship from the north on a diplomatic trade mission.  A high level diplomat heads the venture and is imprisoned for attempting to enter the city with a magical amulet (magical items are banned in the city without explicit permission).  The captain of their ship neglected to inform them of the law.

Ordinarily, anyone with magic items attempting entry would only have them confiscated, but given the relative power of the amulet and the prejudice against his race, the diplomat is being held without bail.  His attendants are left without their superior in a hostile environment, subsequent to questioning and release.

P     Unknown to the PCs, the wizard (Urin Alfgain) in charge of magical item control who confiscated Darwin’s potent holy symbol is actually the elves’ contact in Cape Sanvel.  He was unable to warn Humovust not to bring enchanted items into the city.

P     A human NPC (Nikolai) in the city to learn a trade has made a friend (Argyle the Gnome; Erik) but is preparing to head home (Perkwal) after word of Orc attacks.

P     One of the elves (Darwin; Matt) will leave the city, instructed to continue the quest for trade alliances with the region, having no success in the release of their superior.

P     Nikolai and Arygle offer to lead Darwin to Perkwal in exchange for aid they were denied by the sheriff of Cape Sanvel.

P     (Orikalcaum; Carl) has been traveling many months, and while near Perkwal is attacked by orcs.  The travelers from Cape Sanvel soon come upon the fracas.  The whole PC group should now be together and able to make decisions after the conflict.

Tues. 10/??/03:

P     Left Perkwal after defeating orc chief w/tainted magic vest.

P     Found 2 retreating orc groups; killed them.

P     Caught unawares by bandits.  Killed all the bandits but a Halfling (named ____________) who said the group had been hired by an orc tribe to the north, but knew not which.  An orc had been sent to accompany the group, but among the dead.  Halfling promises under Zone of Truth to begin life of a thatcher.

Tues. 11/18/03:

P     Ivelios arrives after searching for Darwin.  He tells him that  Himovust bids him return north with the ranger to the city of Cheresmar.  The links they hoped to establish with the southern populace have been foiled by unforeseen deeds of evil.   Ivellios does not have the details, but the two elves are to embark at once, with the involvement of no one else.  (This will allow Matt to change characters.)

P 

First Adventure of the Summer: Kingmaker

I'm pretty excited about this.  I've always run home-brewed games, due to a combination of creative independence and a thrifty hobby budget.  After seeing a lot of positive feedback, I finally broke down and subscribed to the most recent Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Role Playing Game produced by Paizo.  Boy, am I glad I did.  After struggling to put together all the components of a campaign world in my own games, it's relieving and enjoyable to see it done professionally.

I strongly encourage everyone who is going to join me this summer to log into Paizo (you do have to create an account, but that's quick and harmless) and download your own free copy of the player's guide we'll be using.  This supplement to the adventure is very nice, as are most of the Paizo products.  Taken from the introductory page of the Kingmaker's Player's Guide, below is a taste of the story we'll be entering:

Brevoy is a proud land, known throughout Golarion for producing able warriors, regal nobles, and clever rogues. Yet Brevoy’s two regions, Issia and Rostland, have long held one another in contempt and now stand on the verge of civil war. Both Issia and Rostland were independent nations until Choral the Conqueror’s barbarian armies and red dragon servitors united the regions into a single kingdom two centuries ago. Until recently, the iron rule of House Rogarvia maintained a fragile peace between the two regions. But a decade ago, House Rogarvia mysteriously disappeared, and the conniving leaders of Issia’s House Surtova supplanted them as Brevoy’s rulers.Now a labyrinthine political landscape plagues the nation, full of secret alliances, provincial loyalties, and nefarious plots; civil war seems inevitable. In Rostland to the south, the swordlords see in many of Issia’s recent political moves the swift approach of such a war. They rightly fear such an event, for Rostland is smaller than Issia, it has fewer armies, and its rolling hills and grasslands offer very little in the way of natural defenses. Worse, unlike Issia, whose northern border stretches along the Lake of Mists and Veils, which offers some defense, Rostland’s southern border lies along a stretch of wilderness infested with bandits and monsters. If Brevoy falls into civil war, it won’t be long at all before the violent, opportunistic vultures to the south move to take advantage of Rostland’s problems. 

This southern region of wilderness is called the Stolen Lands. While these lands are technically a part of the River Kingdoms, several of which have advanced claims in the past, Rostland has long viewed them as “stolen” from it by bandits and monsters. Many attempts have been made to settle the Stolen Lands, but to date, none have succeeded, making these 33,000 square miles of unclaimed wilderness the largest swath of unclaimed land in the entire River Kingdoms. As tensions mount in Brevoy, some of Rostland’s swordlords hope to change that fact; they have issued charters to several groups of adventurers, sending them south into the Stolen Lands. These initial charters are simple enough: re-open the old trade routes along the rivers and scatter or defeat the bandits who have made them too dangerous to use. Beyond that, it seems apparent that Rostland wants to encourage new nations to grow in this region—and believes that by supporting these nascent kingdoms as allies, it’ll gain loyal support in any coming conflict with Issia. It’s a bold and brilliant political move—for if Rostland turned its own resources to the task, not only would such a move weaken its defenses against the north, but the blatant power grab would certainly force Issia’s hand. By sending free agents south, the swordlords of Rostland hope to create new allies without sacrificing their own position of power in Brevoy. Yet as with most complex and brilliant plans, there are plenty of opportunities for disaster.

The Kingmaker PCs

Your group of characters begins the Kingmaker Adventure Path as one of four groups sent south into the Stolen Lands to defeat bandits and, hopefully, to establish one of four new nations in the River Kingdoms. It certainly won’t be an easy task. Before any such settlement can even begin, the bandits and monsters must be dealt with—and once that initial task is done, the danger will only increase. As you struggle to foster a fledgling kingdom, build up its cities, and expand its farmlands, your group is destined to face rival warlords, ferocious beasts, strange cults, invading barbarian hordes, and even the mysterious fey denizens of the near-mythical First World. Can you tame the Stolen Lands and forge a lasting settlement amid such opposition? Who will survive to rule your kingdom? Who among you possesses the makings of a king?

The Weekly Game

I miss the old days of the weekly game session.  It is my enthusiastic intention to reestablish such frequency, to be hosted at our new house, once we're all settled in.  The plan is to meet on Saturday or Sunday with at least a week's notice of the details (posted on the calendar at the bottom of this blog).

The issue of the game room is again called forth.  After the move, but before this new schedule, I will need to map out the space, collect design ideas, and make it a reality.  Below are a few of the places I've found inspiration.  If you have any to add, please do so!

Geek Chic
http://www.geekchichq.com/index.html

Agyris Game Table
http://www.agyris.net/v3/ugt/default.asp

Tabletop Projection
http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tutorials/tabletopprojection/

The Organized Game Room
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/articles/the_organized_game_room.php

The "D&D ROOM"
http://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8714

The Chaotic Good Game Room
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/articles/the_chaotic_good_game_room.php