Greetings

1. Greetings

   #1

   I guess I should have introduced myself here a while ago, but once I saw this site had a thread called "setting forge" I jumped right in.
   
   I am a 31 year old high school science teacher in Indiana. Besides gaming, I love to read science fiction, playing volleyball, spend time at my church, and enjoy the presence of my beautiful gamer girl-friend.
   
   I am rather inexperienced with roleplaying in general, but I am learning fast. So far I have played one character for an extended period of time (level 4 to level 18). Other characers have been one shots, or only used for a few weeks. I play D&D 3.5 mainly, but I also play Vampire:requiem a little and a couple other games. I really enjoy Warhammer fantasy and Mordheim also.
   
   I began playing D&D about two years ago, but I loved the idea of being a GM. I enjoy designing workshops and lab exercises for my teaching job, so it was a natural that I would like to be a GM. I've been working on my setting for about one and half years, but now I have a place that can give me feedback. If you have time, please read the material I have posted out of my setting. It is called "The Kingdom of Orentia."
   
   Thanks for a great site!!

2. Greetings

   #2

   Hey tal, glad you found us!!
   
   I browsed (lack of time, not interest :!: )Orentia and have heard good things about it from others! Hope you find some help and inspiration in the site.
   
   Thanks for sharing your World with us!!!
   
   PS, took the liberty of adding a link directly to your thread.

3. Greetings

   #3

   How's it going?
   Any questions?

4. Greetings

   #4

   Thanks Captain, right now I don't have any general questions. I have lots of specific questions concerning my setting, but I will ask a few of them at a time in my setting's thread.

5. I do have a question

   #5

   I am looking for material to help my players think about roleplaying differently. They have always played the "kick the door down and kill" type of games. I am the first GM they have played with that actually puts time and thought into their campaign. They are also getting used to having NPC's with personality, motivations, emotions, and reasons not to kill them. Could someone point to threads that have examples of good roleplaying techniques? I am having a difficult time explaining and showing the difference between acting and roleplaying. Lately, I think I have been acting myself, so these posts would be good for me also.

6. Greetings

   #6

   I guess you mean good roleplaying techniques for players, right? As for GM stuff, you can find lots of that in the "articles and essays" section and some in the "flesh it out" section. When it comes to players, it is a different thing altogether.
   
   Some "MoonHunter" articles describe the different types of players that exist, and some gives GM advice (If that was what you wanted). As for tutorials on enhancing your players skill I do not know of any.
   
   Use common sense I guess; reward them for good roleplaying (through experience points or some such) and give them situations where talking or other non-combat solutions are the only things that will suffice. If they really need to enter that city prison, they should understand that an assault on the prison will be met by guards, more guards and even more guards. Make them learn that violence is not the only solution and definitely a bad solution in some cases. (Give them a proper beating by prison guards firing volleys of arrows through windows and slits in the walls. Prison guards who then call to the city guard which will arrive in force shortly thereafter). Make them understand that there is a time for fight, a time for talk, a time for subterfuge and a time for bribery. Hey, there might even be a time to think =).
   
   Just don't throw it all into their laps. Some habits die hard you know, and some things need to be presented gently. (I once threw a whole dungeon consisting of 200% problemsolving at a group of hard core hack'n slashers... They were NOT pleased with the result (Another group of players LOVED it though, and still remember that game weekend fondly, even though we played it about 8 years ago))

7. Thanks and clarification

   #7

   Thanks Ancient Gamer.
   
   I would also like to have a short concise hand-out to give my group for a discussion. Where could I find a short scene showing how the players and the GM could better descrive their actions. I have things to learn from this also. How much desciption is good and how much is overkill? I would like to find a scene of about five replies from the GM and a small group, to serve as an example for us to learn from. Are there some games online here or other sites that would serve as a good example? Or maybe someone who is more experienced than I could write a 'fake' example for us?

8. Greetings

   #8

   Examples of gameplay, eh? Well, most RPG books have examples of play on one of the first pages, though the examples are usually mediocre at best. As for execution of the game, the methods differ widely. There are some members of this forum that have alloted a great deal of time to issues such as these. I'd recommend Kinslayer or MoonHunter (Kinslayer has, among other things, a novel approach to actually roleplaying combat, while MoonHunter has articles about pretty much everything.)
   
   Some articles that might help:
   General advice to gms... I imagine that Color of Adventure part X, XI and XII might suit you (Burningvoid.com)
   6 ways to help your players... (Roleplayingtips.com)
   Roleplayingtips.com is an excellent resource... (Roleplayingtips.com)
   
   And... I have begun writing an example for you, the way I usually GM and the way many of my players play. I can do the short version (without dialogue and detail) right now:
   When in combat I keep conversation and explanation short and effective, highlighting combat and combat dialogue. I sometimes try to create a little confusion while in combat, especially when the battle is large and chaotic. (confusion= an arrow from an unknowns source, a warrior suddenly charging from the side, a corpse suddenly underfoot, etc...).
   
   When appropriate and the players have time I let them study everything into as much detail as they want. If they want to study a stylus, they might discover that it, for instance, is aged and made of bone. That it is curved and that on the broad end a grinning raven has been carved. The tip might be broken a quarter of an inch from the or there might be stains of blood on the needle-like tip.
   
   In regards to conversation, I let the players own skill and ingenuity count. If they are clever, they might gain more information than if they are economic with words and charm. Of course their appearance also have a say in this matter. The length of a conversation is entirely up to the NPC and the talking player. (Which can be bothersome if the player is an attention hog)

9. Greetings

   #9

   Hallo, tal.
   
   I rarely show up in these welcoming parts, and let mostly other people do the welcoming. But it is a very interesting event that intelligent talk starts right in the Greetings thread! So make yourself comfortable, and provoke us to more activity. Citadel needs you!
   
   
   As a side note, the Citadel could really handle more about playing RPGs from the player's perspective.

10. Greetings

    #10

    Hi tal!!
    Welcome to the site! Hope you find it as great as i have!!
    
    D&D and vampire are some of my favs as well - have been playing (GM'ing) for over 6 years now. If you have any questions you want to ask, don't hesitate!!
    Will have a read through your setting when i have time and post my comments.
    
    Unfortunately i've found that a lot of people on this site don't like D&D that much, so D&D specific questions don't get the best replies. (maybe i've just been speaking to the wrong people - who knows..)
    I've found it works best to keep your questions vague and then just interpret the answers into D&D format.
    
    Good luck and hope to chat to you soon!

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