RPGaDAY 2020 Days 16 through 24: Playing Catch Up

 

I got behind quickly. Let's see...

Day 16 Dramatic.Some of favorite moments during a game are when someone comes up with a solution to a problem that involves a sacrifice of some kind for their character.

Day 17 Comfort.  When I am playing I want comfortable chairs, a table large enough for a map with miniatures, some snacks, and a soda.

Day 18: Meet. I was always the Group Mom, the person who reminded everyone where and when we were meeting that week and what we were playing, and I did it for decades. I'd like to say that you'd think if we met on the same night each week people wouldn't forget, but they did. These days I'm not the Group Mom and our group DOES remember we meet. Its very, very refreshing.

Day 19: Tower. I have a huge tower of RPG books. It is massive and what is worse is that these days I prefer PDFs so they sit there. My eyesight is such that it is much harder to read a printed book than on a screen.

Day 20: Investigate. I love investigations as a DM. I think I do a good job of using clues and moving things along. My players don't complain. Also, I would never have let a mystery reach a dead end because of a failed roll long before Gumshoe addressed it. I've always felt that regardless of my plot the story is about the Players and their Characters not about my story.

Day 21: Push. We use Inspiration in 5E to allow a reroll or to let you do something cool. We start each session with the Characters having 1-2 Inspiration. I have been known to bribe players with Inspiration to get them to do something. It's rarely for the story, though I have handed out Inspiration and said, "For story reasons, your characters have been knocked out and captured, none of you will die, but here is a bribe."

While FATE is not a game I enjoy I do like the idea of a metacurrency.

Day 22: Rare. It is rare for our group to miss a session even if the GM can't make it. We'll fill that session with a one-shot or board game, but most of us don't want to miss the chance to laugh and blow off steam.

Day 23: Edge. I didn't grow up watching horror films or reading horror but many of my games are a bare minimum on the edge of horror. As an adult, I like horror films and books and I think it is a way I deal with Heroic Fantasy. The Characters might not die but they will be pushed to the edge to win.

Day 24: Humor. As a GM my games our full of it. Whether it is a goofy NPC or just all of us having a good time I really thrive in a group that laughs a lot. It is just how I am wired.