"Heroes Encapsulated. It now comes in more munchable bits!"

Hey all,

One chapter. Three months. Twelve sessions.

That is the format that I will be aiming for my ongoing Caen campaign next year. It will allow me to pace the action properly and move the storyline along a definite path, littered with several sidequests.

For my current chapter, it has lasted about half a year and the time is ripe for a conclusion. The players themselves have grown considerably, and experienced the DnD system first-hand.
They now have a better grasp of the rules and how/what they might want to play in the years to come.

My players will be able to continue with their original characters next summer (with their items and where they left off). They also have the option to make totally new characters who will be buffed up to a certain control level, and given stock magical items to compensate for the loss of their original custom items.

Update
In the current Caen chapter, our party of six have now tailed Nate all the way to the village of Greenich-a collection of repressed villagers protected by their local "hero" Mib Tranor. Mib let slip that Nate had dealed with him a few days before. He allowed Nate access to his private dungeon, and has no idea where he was down there.
The party climbed down a deep hole in the ground as directed by Chriss- the architect, and were appalled by the conditions of the cramped and hastily built underground mudwalk. And being only able to walk in a single file, and running the risk of hurting allies with their ranged attacks added to their frustations. And everyone know that in small packages lies great surprises. (or something along that line.)

Can the party survive this wooden underground coffin of a place and find the pesky banker? Check out this space for more.

"Okay. Let's have a recap..." - xoxo, Gossip Girl. (1.06)

I have to admit that I am a fan of drama serials, even those crappy-ish ones, e.g. Gossip Girl, One Three Hill. I also love Laguna Beach when it first came out on MtV and its later editions. Who can resist LC, Jason the jerk etc. ( I draw the line at The Hills though, which sucks royally to the core.)

And my adventures, hooks and inherent pacing and cliff-hangers, yes, are of course influenced in a way or other, by all these drama-mama stuff.
That is why I ended one of my recent sessions at the start of a fight involving a bunch of "woodcutters". The players will be left hanging on a thread for a week or so wondering what they are up to, or at least have the opportunity to wonder why things happen the way it is.

I like to start my sessions with a lengthy recap. As we play once a week, it is good to re-tune the party's thoughts back to Caen. And of course, reminding the players of exactly what had happened a week ago, is not exactly a bad thing to do. Everybody has a life outside of the game and they may forget or not remember everything in its entirety. A recap is just good for everyone, and so is Robotech. (But that is another story altogether.)

As our chapter draws to a conclusion, I realized that I have learnt a lot from my first attempt as a 4th Edition DM. These are but some of the little "life" gems that I will take along with me for the upcoming rides.
(Do remember: This is not a jibe at any of my players. I value their participation above all else, and we have to recall that this is our first try at a new game. In all fairness, this is a first-child experiment to help our other adventures in the future.)

• First and foremost, I learn that in future, to play with people that I will enjoy DMing, and not just because I want a certain number of players in a campaign etc. Bad vibes from certain players who are not enjoying the game will sour the experience of those who are genuinely trying to enjoy the game. Now that I have seen things in a clearer light, I am wiser on sending invitations for a run in my future adventures. "Yes, Freddy! I am looking at you! Get a good shift job or something so you can start rolling!" (A similar analogy is likened to a choice between a bright but sulky/bad-attitude student or a dimmer but happy/willing-to-learn student. Give me the latter anytime.*)
  

• I see real-life personalities on the gaming table, and sometimes, they can be downright ugly. There is no "must-d0-or-you-are-stupid" because you are playing in the skin of another character. He/she might be that stupid. Thus, it should not be treated as a race to uberness. It is more about developing a strong party bond with different character types and forging ahead together at the expense of the unlucky baddies. Learning together. Sometimes, even dying together. But ultimately, having fun together. Something that I cannot stress hard enough. A general rule of thumb: Have fun, play fun. Fun is infectious, and goes a long way.
  

• I cannot point a finger at the players for not enjoying the game. My campaign is not everybody's cup of tea, and I respect that. And of course, I am not expecting everyone to think of Caen or Maya every day, every minute of their real-life week. I do feel that for the session's length at least, the players should try to get more involved in the proceedings , let go of their inhibitions in real-life, and play freely and happily in another skin. Players should at least know the gist of their skills/powers, remember to bring their own character sheets/dice/figurines, or just act interested for the few hours. It is not about basic courtesy for the DM or the game. Just think of it as indirectly smoothening the session for everyone there. (Likewise on the DM's side, if he is ill-prepared for the week, or is in a generally frustrated or disinterested mood, he will also adversely affect the session.)
  

• Everyone plays a part in helping the experience. Even Neekor. Be it noting down the initiative of the combat, helping with the book-keeping, tracking the gold, taking note of the hooks and clues that an important NPC gives instead of treating it like "Bah, another thing to note down, you do it then...". Players also play a part in shaping the world by developing the background of the character (discussing which part of Caen do they come from etc. They can even come up with their own names etc and check with the DM if it fits the campaign.) In many aspects, both the DM and the players play a part in making DnD an enjoyable experience.

• Sometimes, we must take a step back, and actually remember that I, the DM, am essentially just trying to tell a story, with my players as the focal point. We have fun on the journey, together. It is not supposed to be something whereby, the players sit around a table and expect everything to fall from the sky, with the DM as a separate entity. It does not work that way. Maybe I am equating a player's fun to how involved he/she is in the campaign, as there are many types of players in the world, as shown in the DmG. But think about it. If you enjoy something and is directly related to the storyline itself, won't you do a little bit extra to help make the experience better for everyone involved?
  

• You may think that "Damn if it is all gloom and doom as mentioned, why in the name of Black Zenith's arse are these guys still running the game?". Simple answer. It is not always like that. In fact, we have loads of fun most of the time, goofing about and role-playing serious stuff too. Many hours have been spent with them discussing amongst themselves on whether to partake certain quests/lines due to their differences in alignment. And better things are yet to come. --------->
  

• Shihao's upcoming campaign will be our group's new revised foray into DnD 4th Edition. Discussions are on the way. Shihao and me were discussing time-limit checks (2 minutes for the whole party to decide on their actions, to cut down on combat time). A bag with individual tiles numbering 1-20 for skill checks is in the mix too. It will be a brilliant hybrid between letting the player choose his own fate, but yet not knowing if what he chose is good enough to successfully finish the intended action. He will also be doing detailed encounters with much terrain in the mix, which is something my battlemap lacks at times. More power to him, and I look forward to playing my Mind Flayer.
  

By the way, this is me voicing out my thoughts and calling the situation as I see it. From a DM's point of view. I like to think that improvement is always possible and that nothing is perfect. So with these points in mind, we can make future DnD runs even more enjoyable.

Okay, okay. Enough of thoughts and on to something non-humane and cowabunga-ly cool.

*cups hand to mouth and whispers*

I have managed to get my hands on a Palladium System "TmnT" Core Rules RPG in pdf. form. ( Thanks to Kizul from the US of A!) A TmnT campaign can be set in a ancient/modern/post-nuclear world; whereby the players are actually mutated animal-heroes/villains in every form imaginable. -------->

(Think mongeese Ninjas, owl scholar-scientists in a genetics-engineering lab, or Elephant Yakuza gang-members touting AK-47s. You get the idea.)

The character-rolling process is brilliant and TmnT is actually one of the rare games I do not mind making a character with the random generator. I will be able to bio-modify it to my tastes in the end, after finding out what the creature the system has picked for me. You will never play the same way twice and adds to a lot of replayability.

Pongtau is nice enough to help me print and bind it (Thanks man!), and I dare say that it might be one of the best books he will ever bind in his lifetime. *chuckles* Do give it a go when you guys have the time. You will not regret it.**

'Til we meet again next time, and remember- "The grass is always greener on the other side only if there is no shit on it."



* No, Freddy. You are not any of the students that I mentioned.

**If you are a fan of the Fallout series, TmnT, Wasteland, post-aplocalyptic stuff, Freeway Fighter, steampunk etc.