A lot of blogs and articles talk about “realism” (or verisimilitude) in RPGs and how to achieve it. Campaign Mastery is no different in this respect, a number of my articles having dealt with the subject. Over the last few weeks, as I write this, I’ve been spending time thinking about a fundamental question that a lot of these articles and opinions take for granted. Just what is “realism”, anyway?

A lot of people seem to assume that “Realism” means a slavish dedication to representing, in-game, a physical reality that is dictated by the best knowledge imparted by modern science and distributed through encyclopedias, textbooks, and the internet.

Opposing this interpretation are an equally-vocal and ideologically-entrenched faction who support an absolute fidelity to the rules as printed – sometimes, as mis-printed – in any official source.

I think they are both wrong.

An Alternative Definition

For my money, “realism” is fidelity to both the genre of the game and a subordinate fidelity to the specifics of the individual campaign, as I have explained in past articles.

That fidelity should extend to *all* facets of the in-game RPG experience and this represents an extension of the philosophy that I have previously outlined.

The truer the game mechanics are to the genre (and possibly the subgenre) in question, the “better” those rules can be adjudged to be. While some compromise may be necessary in terms of game balance or playability, this aspect of “reality” is equally critical to the effectiveness of the game system.

Similarly, the adventures that take place within the campaign should be true to the genre and subgenre, and so should the character types, and the house rules, and the encounter types, and the internal logic running through the plotlines, and, well – everything.

The Implications For Reverse-Engineering Rules

It follows that genre conventions can be used as a key to identifying the intent of the game designer when the game mechanics were designed, to an extent that is directly proportionate to the quality of those rules in terms of simulating the genre in question.

Each time that a rules system or subsystem’s mechanics become understood, a perceptive GM will ask themselves what aspect of the genre those rules are attempting to simulate, because the answer should explain not only why those particular rules are the way they are, it can shed light on the question of why other rules work the way they do, and that in turn can make those rules more comprehensible.

Similarly, if there is a rules system or subsystem that makes no sense after reading and re-reading it, identifying the genre conventions that the subsystem represents can provide a catalyst to comprehension.

The Limitations

This approach doesn’t always work. Game systems are designed by people, and nothing created by people is ever perfect. No game system is ever uniformly excellent at simulating the “realism” of a genre, even before those compromises mentioned earlier are taken into account. So this tachnique is also going to be imperfect, by definition.

However, this imperfection provides a system for measuring the utility of house rules, and that can be the most valuable outcome of this particular analytical tool.

A standard for the assessment of House Rules

If the quality of a rules subsystem is measured apon a triumverate of metrics, as described earlier, then any change in those rules must improve one of the three qualities, and by a greater margin than the cost in the other attributes if it is to be adjudged a universal improvement.

Understandably, this is quite rare. If a rules subsystem is so obviously flawed that it can be so easily improved, that flaw is usually discovered during playtesting and the game mechanic replaced with something more functional.

More commonly, then, a house rule will shift a game mechanic subsystem on one axis at the expense of some sacrifice in one or both of the other attributes. A house rule may make the game system more playable, or it may eliminate an unfair advantage conferred by a particular loophole, or it may more accurately simulate the genre of the campaign. It may even do two of these, at the expense of a massive penalty in the remaining quality.

This is where the artistry of rules design can be found, because clearly there can be no one right answer to the challenge posed by the design of a given game subsystem. Every subsystem is a compromise, and a slightly different compromise may be perfectly acceptable, even preferable, to some GMs.

One GM may be willing to sacrifice a little more playability in exchange for a lot more “realism” or much better game balance, because he has a greater capacity for remembering and interpreting a slew of complicated game mechanics. Another may make the same choice because he has settled for a more abstract subsystem elsewhere in the game mechanics to free up capacity for this more “realistic” variant on the subsystem.

Others may be overwhelmed by the existing game mechanics and need a more abstract, playable substitute for a given subsystem. Or may want to simplify this element of the game system to permit them to place greater emphasis

But here’s the thing that a lot of House Rule designers overlook: not all the rules are in play all the time. Rules on character improvement don’t make any difference to attack rolls, rules on language handling don’t make much difference when adjudicating ranged weapons fire, and so on. It’s not the total complexity that matters, it’s the cumulative moment-to-moment loading on the GM that determines whether they are overwhelmed by a change.

In conclusion

Not everything has to make sense in a game, so long as it makes sense in the context of the genre conventions. And that’s the difference between “Realism” as most GMs define it, and how I apply it to RPG design.

How high do you dream?

Last post I covered 2010 and how I fared against my plans and intentions. This week, I lay out my goals for 2011.

Gamer Lifestyle has a good pair of posts of setting goals for 2011 you might want to check out.

Goal #1: Hit every scheduled Campaign Mastery post

My blogging schedule will probably change in early 2011, but no matter what it is I will hit every deadline. Last year I missed two out of 52 deadlines. This year I aim for zero.

Goal #2: Maintain current series, start new series

More important to you, what will I be writing for this blog? There are several ongoing series I would like to continue. Feedback on them is welcome.

Ongoing series

• Ask the GMs – we have a backlog building up due to some project work and Mike’s recent move to a new home. We hope to start catching up on these in early March.
• Combat Hazards – this treacherous series resumes with more tips on how to entrap PCs and make encounters better with dangerous terrain and environments.
• Hooks – More character and personality hooks for characters and villains.
• Generators – How have you liked the Q-Workshop generators series? Are you finding these themed random tables of value? Any table or generator requests?
• iPad RPG reviews – You requested more, and I will keep writing about the apps I find useful on the iPad for RPG.

New series

• City building – How to design certain background elements of cities you can use to ramp up the adventure. For example, in the first series you will learn about government – a necessary function but too often not tied into fantastic gaming.
• Stat blocks – The Plot Stat Block seemed to be popular. I will reveal more – and get your design help with them – so we can all have better organized games plus some cool design tools.

Goal #3 Books

I am working on one right now with Mike and Michael Tumey. The project got beaten up a bit in 2010, but first draft is nearly complete!

Other books are in the works, but I will keep those top secret until more details can be announced.

Goal #4 More contests and giveaways

Between Campaign Mastery and Roleplaying Tips, I aim to run one contest or giveaway per month. If you are a publisher or product seller, drop me a note if you would like to promote your products through our contests by supplying prizes. http://www.campaignmastery.com/contact/

Goal #5 DM 12 times this year, play 12 times

Riddleport has switched to a monthly game, and a player is stepping up to start a 4E campaign so I can play more. Our group still games every two weeks, but in 2011 I now have a change to play 12 times this year, and GM 12 times this year. Awesome!

Goal #6 Roleplaying Tips Newsletter

Continue to publish this every other week and pack every issue full of GM tips and ideas. I will be revising the content a bit as I am wont to do to try to maintain the sweet spot of good GM advice plus immediately usable tips.

I would love to see an HTML, PDF and mobile-friendly edition this year, but I have not solved those problems yet. Each version would take extra time to generate an publish. I need to figure out a workflow so that all my time is not spent publishing various versions. There must be a solution, and I will keep thinking about it.

Goal #7 Gamer Lifestyle

The RPG publishing and writing membership site continues to thrive. New members joined us in 2010 and we look forward to working with all the gamers who want to start earning an income from RPG in 2011.

This year we have our new Relationist on board to provide support and help for members. Plus we have a lot of new content planned to help those who have worked through the 5 month course take their business to the next exciting stage.

CM reader goals

Last post I ran a short contest. To enter you had to comment on what your 2011 gaming goals were. If you are still laying out your plans for this year, check out these entries pulled from the contest to give you some ideas:

• Continue my weekly DM session with positive feedback from my group for the entire year.
• Improve the integrated world aspect of my campaign. Ensure there are references before they become a relevant to the PCs, including NPCs, legends, sayings etc.
• Include more fantastical events and encounters in the campaign.
• Improve my campaign with a lot of stuff, legends, NPC, sites, etc.
• Keep my blog running, at least with sessions post and campaign information.
• Complete my Doctor Who Campaign by June and have the players say it was the best game I’ve ran.
• Successfully complete a Broomstix campaign for daughters and friends to get them vested into tabletop RPGs.
• Master the sandbox style of game.
• Decrease game prep time by 20%.
• Go to 2 gaming cons.
• Paint at least 12 miniatures this year.
• Take a 3-month break from GMing and be a player.
• Use what I learn as a Player to improve my own games.
• Learn to not rely so heavily on miniatures when I GM.

I hope 2011 is your best year yet. Mike and I thank you very much for reading this blog. We value your time and attention and comments. You inspire us to write every week and your feedback is always highly regarded.

I keep unfinished article ideas in a text document on my computer. When I first started writing Campaign Mastery, I set up a list containing some seventy-odd ideas deriving from material I had produced for my different campaigns. In the past year, that list has, quite obviously, reduced in size – by all of four entries.

In November, I moved apartments, and my computer was the last thing that I packed, and the last thing that I unpacked. I knew that once I let the genie out of the bottle, it would take 80% of my attention and nothing else would get done (and I was right – I still have three boxes to unpack!)

Because I had prepared blog posts in advance, I spent almost four weeks devoting no thought at all to what I was going to post next. So, when the computer was finally unpacked (but my internet connection not yet restored), I had to get myself back up to speed, and that’s when I noticed that only about four items had come off my list.

Naturally enough, I started thinking about why there has been so little movement on the list. A number of reasons came immediately to mind, including (in no particular order):

• New article ideas
• A number of articles that ran longer than expected
• New series: Personality Archetypes, Lessons From The West Wing, Rules Mastery
• Articles inspired by events in-game
• Articles inspired by events out-of-game
• Artciles in response to reader’s questions
• Articles that could be written more quickly than others while under time pressure

Application to Campaigns

At the same time, I was thinking about campaign structure (because that’s something that I do a lot) and I realised that there is an analogy to be made between these circumstances and what happens in my campaigns. I’ve already talked in an ATGMs post, “In It For The Long Haul” about why my campaigns tend to last for so long, and realised that there was more to the story of why this is so, or perhaps a different way of looking at why it is the case that makes my points more accessable to the readers. So, as a sequel to my contribution towards that answer, I now present this article.

When I create a campaign, I set out a list of plot threads that are to get successively ticked off the schedule until they lead to a crescendo. These aren’t plot trains; they are external stimuli that get folded into whatever else is going on in the campaign. Some of these are inspired by the characters that the players have created, some are inspired by the things that the players tell me they want their characters to do, and some are interesting ideas in their own right. Many exist purely to establish foundations for later plotlines.

For example, in my “Fumanor: One Faith” Campaign, the plot threads that have taken place thus far are (in sequence):

1. “Surfaceworld” – Gallas (PC) leaves the Drow Tunnels and makes his way to Fort Sharpfang and is recruited by the Inquisition, a new branch of the Church designed to hunt down and destroy the ideologically corrupt and impure. En route, he discovers that the Elves have been training themselves to ride dragons that they are force-maturing; having obtained the eggs from Goblins in exchange for lessons in Magic.
2. “The Silver Palms” – Gallas receives his first assignment, joins the Silver Palms (an NPC adventuring group deliberately based on the Untouchable Three and Black Hands from KODT), and gets to know them en route to The Grave Of The Prince Of Lies, which they have recently discovered. Sebastion (2nd PC) joins the party. Along the way, they discover that the current high taxes prompt the commons to form rebellions and become bandits and robbers. Law and Order in the outer Kingdom begins to break down.
3. “The Grave Of The Prince Of Lies” – The Silver Palms find the clues leading to Khom (location of the Red Masque) within the icy tomb of the Dwarven Prince seduced by a Drow Priestess, and learn new campaign background material on Elf/Dwarf/Drow relations.
4. “Reap The Whirlwind” – En route to Khom, the Chaos Power imprisoned within the Red Masque seduces one of the Silver Palms by playing on his overconfidence. The Silver Palms pass through a village where it is revealed that the Church has inadvertantly been subverting the economy of Fumanor, which is the root problem that has necessitated the crushing tax rates. The subversion of the party Cleric is discovered by Gallas and Sebastion, but they decide to take no action – yet.
5. “The Burning Sage’s Demense” – Silver Palms reach the Lost City of Khom, which is temporally fragmented as a result of the imprisonment of Dis The Destroyer in the Red Masque. Dis has mastered his imprisonment and turned it to his advantage, giving him free reign throughout time. The Silver Palms disintigrate as a group, torn apart by greed and subversion. Kardles redeems himself, providing the key to restoring the imprisonment.
6. “The Red Masque” – Under constant threat, Sebastian and Gallas transport the Red Masque to safety, undermining a Church-led rebellion against the throne en route. They discover that the Goblins are a bigger threat than anyone realises, but manage to forge an armistace with one of the Goblin tribes.
7. “Brown Heart” – Gallas and Sebastian are assigned to discover the identity of the Assassin who killed Ceriseth (Druid and PC in a former campaign). They discover that the Druids have more power than anyone realises and have been using it to evolve Goblin Society, transforming them into the deadly enemies that they have become. They learn that the other Goblin tribes have wiped out the Goblin tribe with whom they had arranged the armistace, for heresy. The PCs ally with Razel of the Jal-Pur, a desert people independant of the Kingdom, who bears unprecedented diplomatic overtures to the King. They achieve a peaceful settlement with the Druids.

and, currently underway,

8. “Monastry” – Razel, Gallas, and Sebastian are assigned to meet a prickly but honourable Ambassador and escort him safely to the Jal-Pur to complete negotiations for the treaty offer conveyed by Razel, and to ensure the success of the mission at all costs. En route, they discover that someone is manipulating and structuring Wild Magic in the vicinity of the place where they are to meet the Ambassador (a remote monastary), a feat considered impossible to achieve under all the rules of magic that they know about(and that includes the knowledge one of the players has from a former character who became the preeminant mage of her generation and several others).

The “One Faith” campaign kicked off in mid-2006, and – if everything had gone according to plan – would have reached its current position (halfway through the 8th scenario) in April 2008. By now, the entire campaign should be wrapping up. What happened?

The Problems and The Delays

Well, part of the story lies with the real world problem of too many campaigns, not enough time, which has meant that for the last 2 years, the “One Faith” campaign has run only 6 months of the year, instead of continuously as it was originally intended. Taking that into account reduces the discrepancy from 32 to about 20 months.

Even when it is running, we can only play once a month, as I explained in
“Clash Of The Timetables” back in January 2009. So that “20 months” is really 20 game sessions.

This makes the campaign more sensitive to the vagarities of real-world interruptions and disruptions – like moving. Not only have I moved recently (a month without gaming and without ‘net access, I was practically climbing the walls), but one of the key players has been looking for a new place of his own – and missing the occasional gaming session as a result.

And it only takes 12 sessions missed for us to be talking about a whole YEAR of gaming opportunities lost.

Balancing this effect has been an attempt to schedule extra sessions outside the regular continuity of the game on Sundays. These have proven to be even more sensitive to real-world pressures, but even so, I can’t really hide behind the excuse of real-world interruptions. It can take a share of the rap, but it’s nowhere near being the whole story.

So why are we 20 game sessions behind where I expected to be?

The answers are not that dissimilar to those I listed earlier for not being farther advanced through my list of articles for Campaign Mastery:

• New plot and subplot ideas
• Plotlines that ran longer than expected
• Two new characters being integrated into the plotline
• Additional Scenes and subplots inspired by events in-game
• Additional Scenes and subplots inspired by events out-of-game – ie, player requests and suggestions
• Additional Scenes and subplots in response to player’s questions
• Drop-in scenes and subplots that could be prepped more quickly than others while under time pressure.

At which point I have to ask myself the question: Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

Well, it’s both. It’s good, in that it is a sign of a vibrant campaign with engaging plots and situations, which has inspired active participation on the part of the players, which in turn has influanced the overall shape of the campaign.

And it’s bad, because what should have been a 4-year campaign now looks like running for eight-to-ten, while other campaign ideas are put on hold. And it’s bad for another reason – because the longer it runs, the more frequently those 6-month intervals are going to get in the way. But it’s good for another reason, one that trumps all the others: eight-to-ten years of fun is better than four years of less fun!

This approach to adventure scheduling is a technique of planning that I have written about before, in “Scenario Sequencing: Structuring Campaign Flow” but I have a new term for it: Directed Sandboxing. It means that while characters are free to move in any direction within the sandbox, they are confined to it – but that I keep changing the shape of the sandbox to accommodate the directions that the characters want to move in. My plotlines are devices to stimulate the characters, and to keep the world around them evolving, and to provide the players with the raw materials from which to determine where they want to go. It’s like giving the characters a detsination on the map to try and reach, without telling them how to get there, or how long to take. The direct route gets there quickly, but ignores all the interesting tourist-traps and compelling vistas and interesting side-trips along the way. It’s just not as much fun.

There are another 14 items on my “set list” of adventures for the One Faith campaign, some shorter than others. Some of them might not happen; some of them have been pre-empted by characters moving in unexpected directions. Some of the losses will no doubt be replaced by new ideas, new inspiration. Those ideas that are not replaced might well evolve with changing play style; I am just a little bit different as a GM now than I was in the year 2000.

No, I take that back; I’m now very different as a GM to what I was in Y2K. The differences are subtle but profound – and result (in part) from the time spent writing this blog every week over the last two years. I have no idea what developments and changes lie ahead in the passage to 2014; I can’t even forecast the key events within my life for the next year, never mind doing so for a significant part of the next decade! But so long as we’re all having fun, what does that matter?

Christmas Tree by Enimal

A few years ago I ran a Christmas-oriented scenario in my superhero campaign, and it was pretty successful on a number of fronts – so much so that I thought it worth taking the time to tell you all about it.

Scenario Premise

The concept of the scenario itself is remarkably simple: I had the characters do their christmas shopping and then give each other the gifts. There were only three rules:

• The gifts had to reflect the personality of the gift-giver;
• The gifts had to be appropriate to the recipient; and,
• The gifts had to reflect the character’s cultural attitudes toward the season.

Each character was to rate which gift was most appropriate, both in terms of the giver and the receiver and the relationship between them; these ratings would be the basis apon which experience for the scenario would be determined.

Along the way, I was able to sneak in some campaign background, and a couple of subplots that would lead into future scenarios, but in essence, that was the heart of the scenario.

But as a scenario structure, and delivered in two parts with a time-gap in between, it hit a lot of sweet spots.

• It gave each player the chance to dig a little deeper into their character’s background, either discovering their native society’s attitudes toward christmas, or – in the case of those which were completely fictitious – the chance to expand the character’s background into perspectives on property, on ownership, on generosity, on religion, on commercialisation, and so on;
• It gave each player the chance to dig a little deeper into their character’s personality and relationships with their team-mates, exploring areas that rarely recieve attention during play;
• It provided an avenue to progress and develop those relationships;
• It captured a sense of ordinary day-to-day life within the campaign without being boring or about mundanities;
• And lastly, by wrapping the gift descriptions at the table and including little christmas tags, it made the scenario itself feel like Christmas. In other words, it was fun, and light-hearted, and filled with a sense of comradeship and friendship, all without being soppy.

This scenario was so successful that early in the new campaign, I intend to run it again. Only two characters remain from that earlier time, out of five, and one of those two has experienced severe shifts in his personality in the intervening period. That won’t happen until Christmas 2011 or 2012, but it will happen.

Variations On A Theme

If you’ve already run something similar, there are a few variations on this theme that you can pull out of the box.

• The Unwanted Gift – in which a gift is recieved that (entirely unintentionally) wreaks havoc on the vicinity;
• With Enemies Like These – in which the characters have to provide an expensive gift for an Enemy for political or social reasons;
• The Department Of Whimsy – in which government regulations collide with the christmas plans of a neighbour or friend and the party has to sort out the problem;
• Scrooge For A Day – in which one of the characters is mistakenly targetted by the three spirits of Christmas as a Scrooge and has to convince them that he’s not
• The Gift That Matters – in which the conflict with an enemy inadvertantly ruins the christmas of a small child, necessitating a cease-fire and the opposing sides coming together to make matters right {nb: humanises an enemy);
• Can’t Buy Me Christmas – in which a PC and a stranger compete for the last gift on the department store shelf (play for laughs or it can get too schmaltzy)

…and so on.

I’ve tried many other christmas scenarios over the years, some based around the theme of hope, some based around the theme of three wise men, and so on; none of them have proven to work as well as gift-oriented scenarios, perhaps because there is too much baggage and too much scope for schmaltz with anything else. (I do have one more scenario up my sleeve, but I can’t talk about that one until I run it…)

And if there is no Christmas in your campaign?

…invent one. It might be a local celebration that the party just happen to be in the vicinity of. It might be a long-lost ritual that is being brought back for some reason. It might even be completely out-of-continuity, having zero impact on the campaign – the rewards it offers still make it worth running.

If you want more ideas on how to integrate real holidays into your campaign, you can read this post on the subject: “Holiday Hell – Rec-creating real holidays for RPGs”. If you would like more info on how to put a holiday together within a campaign, I recommend Johnn’s post “How to design a cool holiday for your game”. You might also find “With An Evil Gleam: Giving Treasure A Personality” to be useful.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

How high do you dream?

Today I go over my 2010 goals to see how I graded. In part two, in an upcoming post, I talk about my 2011 goals and let you know what kind of posts and products you’ll see from me next year.

I believe goals make you more effective, whether you are aiming to improve your game mastering or running a business. Focus is key, and that was my achilles heel in 2010.

In past years I have discussed my goals in the Roleplaying Tips newsletter. Last year I moved that discussion to the Campaign Mastery blog.

This type of post is helpful for me, but it feels like a bit of public navel gazing. However, I do feel this post provides you examples of the kinds of goals to make and their brief assessment, so you can either feel inspired, or go off better informed, to make your own goals for 2011.

People quote studies done how people who make goals are more successful. “Successful at what?” I ask. And that is my point. Without a direction to aim for, how do you know if you are lost? How do you know where to spend your limited free if you do not do a bit of initial dreaming, organizing and planning?

How do you know what you want out of GMing or your business or your life if you do not take a few minutes to put it on paper. When it is on paper, you can hold it up to the light and see if the picture it forms sits ok with you. If it does not, change it. And change it now, before you spend time going down the wrong path.

Being a “better GM” or “better blogger” are great goals, but too vague. Goals must be specific. What, exactly, do you want to learn or improve or do differently than last year?

Goals must be measurable. How do you know if you are making progress? How do you know if you have finally achieved success? You need specific items to measure so you can keep track. Plus, tracking something measurable is motivational.

With the pleas for you to set goals out of the way, I challenge you to set a few simple goals for yourself for 2011. Read this post then write down some goals. Need incentive? I will offer a prize to a random commenter who writes what their 2011 goals are below.

I gave myself a B+ for 2009. Let’s see how I fared in 2010.

Goal #1: Publish an ebook

I ended up self-publishing two ebooks, but not the one I planned, lol. The first ebook was Filling the Empty Chair, a product that helps you uncover nearby gamers using simple online or offline methods.

Sales and reviews were tepid, but those who were actually looking for new players instead of looking for a gaming book to just read found it comprehensive and effective. And just about everybody who purchased the book signed up for the free updates list, which is awesome.

The second ebook was 650 City Fantasy Seeds & Hooks. This one flew off the shelves. Based on contest entries from a Roleplaying Tips contest, this valuable GM aid is still popular with daily downloads. The good news is you can get it free right now by subscribing to the Roleplaying Tips newsletter.

Getting those two ebooks out taught me a lot about publishing and the work required to build and make such things available to gamers. It was fun and I plan on doing more ebooks in the future. News on that in my upcoming 2011 goals post.

Grade: B+. Marks docked for not getting the book I wanted to publish done – a collaborative effort with Mike Bourke of Campaign Mastery and Michael K. Tumey of gamer-printshop.com.

Goal #2: Publish 52 posts

According to my records, I missed one week this year (Mike, correct me if I’m wrong). Lots of different types of posts this year included in the mix as a bonus, including lists, contests, reviews, GM advice, and tools and aids.

Grade: A

Goal #3: DM my D&D campaign every other week

My record this year was 16/26. On the surface that is terrible. However, we took the summer off and Christmas this year off. My dad passing away knocked me out pretty much all of January and February. It also seemed to wick away a lot of my personal energy, and it was not until June did I feel like I had my normal energy levels back.

So, given the remaining window of time in 2010, we did fairly well. Long-term, I would like to game weekly. To make that happen I need to at least game bi-weekly consistently. Therefore, still lots of work to go here.

Grade: C because I am over 50% but still far off the mark.

Goal #4: Roleplaying Tips Newsletter

Success. Roleplaying Tips had n0 unscheduled missed weeks in 2010, which is awesome. The newsletter did switch from weekly to bi-weekly in August, in part because of reduced free time available. However, it did not miss any planned publication dates.

The newsletter also receives very few unsubscribes. I track why people leave the newsletter when they offer me the feedback. Top answers in 2010 were:

• Not gaming anymore (this saddens me – how to help gamers keeping gaming?!)
• Too long / not enough time to read it
• Switched to the RSS feed
• Looking for World of Warcraft / MMO tips

Thanks to everyone who sends in positive feedback about the newsletter. Critical feedback is always welcome too – I especially love ideas for improvement, or ideas that would help the newsletter help you become an even better GM. Name calling is not so welcome, but I can at least use that to help me name some NPCs. :)

Grade: A+.

Goal #5: Contests and giveaways

A record number in 2010. More coming in 2011. This year, Campaign Mastery and Roleplaying Tips gave away over 50 products including dice, minis, books, ebooks, memberships and software. Thanks very much to prize sponsors:

• Gator Games
• Open Design and Kobold Quarterly
• NBOS
• Q-Workshop
• DungeonADay.com
• Paizo.com
• Expeditious Retreat Press
• Level 99 Games
• ENWorld
• GM Mastery books
• Left Hand of God novel
• The Dark Fate RPG

Did I miss anyone?

Contests consume a ton of my time. If I can make running them more efficient and run the same amount next year, that would be worth an A+. However, this year there was considerable lag time between contest closures, prize winner picks or content making it back into the Roleplaying Tips newsletter.

Grade: B+.

Goal #6: A great year for Gamer Lifestyle

And it was. A bunch of new members. Members cranking out websites, growing their communities and publishing gaming products. We launched an ebook about the pitfalls of RPG publishing. We’ve just added public RPG business forums so everyone can discuss RPG product creation and publishing together. And we hired a Relationist to help serve members and grow our audience.

After helping gamers get their RPG work published, we noticed the biggest reported obstacle was lack of free time. However, those who succeeded in launching were able to simply corral their time, be a bit more organized and focused, and work a bit more efficiently than those who struggle.

This is the secret truth behind time management all the gurus and coaches teach: be focused, goal oriented, efficient and consistent. No matter how busy you are, there is always 15-30 minutes each day available for your goals if you structure things right. RPG revenue is possible for everyone, you just need to follow these practices.

Gamer Lifestyle teaches the tricks and techniques of time management, and we will continue to do so through our blog and forums in 2011.

Grade: A. Not A+ because some members are still having productivity and time management issues.

Goal #7: Have more fun

This is a goal I have every year. I did not measure it in 2010. However, I’d say 16 game sessions this year marks a lot of fun. Blogging 51 times in 2010 was a lot of fun. Dozens of Roleplaying Tips newsletters written, edited and published was a lot of fun. And doing my first two self-published ebooks was awesome too.

Aside from family issues, I would say 2010 was chock full of fun!

Grade: A

Overall rating

Last year I scored a B+. This year….

A A B+ A+ C A B+ = A-

That is great! Mind you, the goal is not to improve the letter grade each year. The goal is to figure out what you want out of life, including having fun and playing games. If you are like me, then you also consider GMing a worthwhile craft you can always improve at, so that factors into what I want out of life and needs its own deserved attention in the big picture too.

Rather than aiming for A+, my overall goal is to make sure all my individual goals are getting attention – that what is important to me is what gets my deliberate attention and time. I have personal goals too for family, exercise, food, career and so on. I won’t bore you with those as this is a gaming blog.

The point is, get off the couch and live your life with deliberateness and purpose instead of living vicariously each day and getting frustrated that you are not getting what you want.

Next post: I reveal my gaming-related plans for 2011.

Remember the prize. Leave a comment with your 2011 goals below (point form or link back to a post on your blog post on the topic is fine). A random commenter, which I’ll announce in my 2011 goals post, gets some Q-Workshop dice!

Back when I was first given a copy of the Champions Game System, it was only the third genre of game that I had ever been exposed to: The first was FRP (In the form of AD&D) and the second was Science Fiction (in the form of Space Opera). As a comics fan from way back, I was immediatly super-enthusisastic, which made learning the rules a breeze.

For the next week, I did nothing but learn the rules, and in the process created a campaign background. But most people can’t game 24/7 and certainly can’t do it for six days straight.

Nevertheless, the fact that I ran myself through 32 scenarios of solo play in the course of that week means that a more manageable version of the same approach should be within the reach of most people. I’ve divided the process into 18 key sessions, which represent what I did in the first 24 hours or so of my Champions marathon; some will take half-an-hour or so, some will take a couple of hours, but most will be complete in minutes. You don’t have to do these back-to-back, but I would try not to let more than a couple of days pass between completing one and starting the next. If you can manage that schedule, then you can learn an entire game system in a month.

Session One: Create A Character

The first interaction that most of the players will have with the game system is character creation. So you, as GM, should go there first. This character should have something that he’s good at, something that he’s bad at, should be capable of the different ways of getting around within the system, and should otherwise be modelled on some character that the GM knows well. For my superhero game, I chose Superman, because I wanted to be able to run scenarios with that sort of power level. For a fantasy game, I might have chosen to do a psuedo-Aragorn – knows how to ride a horse, knows how to handle a boat, but spends most of his time on foot; good in a fight, but not weighed down with a lot of armour and weaponry. For an SF campaign, I might have chosen Ripley from Alien, or Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, or Luke Skywalker. These are characters that I wouldn’t have to think about very deeply because I already knew them pretty well.

The first “session” was spent on character construction, following my nose while making no real attempt to understand more than isolated snippets of the rules – My Superman-analogue had to be strong, so I had to know what “Strong” was in terms of the character stats, and so on.

Session Two: Getting from A to B

The second step is to figure out the rules covering movement. Slopes, slippery surfaces, rough surfaces, unstable ground, how fast can you run, climbing, swinging from chandeliers, swimming, flight, and animal handling. Once you’ve looked at those – and we’re generally talking 4 pages of rules or less – add in how much you can lift, and how that affects movement.

Session Three: Hitting A Target

Next up, start figuring out what you’re likely to want to do in most RPGs after you finish moving – hitting something! Start with a generic punch, then a knife, then a length of 2×4, then some sort of ray blast or gunshot, and so on. Get used to how the combat system works. Once you’ve done those things, start looking at how environmental conditions and other adverse factors affect combat.

Session Four: Using Your Head

For the fourth session, it’s time to learn how the skill resolution system works. One of the best ways of doing so that I’ve found is to lead your character through the process of making a cup of tea or coffee. That’s looking for a cup or mug, locating the sugar (and not getting mixed up with the salt), making a fire (operation of a gas burner or stove), adding the right amount of sugar, locating and adding the right amount of milk, adding the boiling water, stirring, checking for how good a cup you’ve made, then trying to convince someone else that the coffee is better than it actually is, or worse. Yes, all of these are trivial tests – but at the end of them, you will know how the skill system works. Then you can look at how much harder it might be in, say, lunar gravity – which will quickly give you both a baseline and some feel for how more difficult tasks are different in their handling.

Session Five: Exotic Powers

Next up, pick one or two exotic powers and learn the game mechanics of using them. It might be turning undead, or firing a blaster, or using a teleport, or programming a computer, or setting a starship course – whatever is appropriate to the game genre.

Sessions Six-to-Ten: Create an Adversary

Now it’s time to get more serious. Create an adversary so that you can have a couple of one-on-one fights with them. Give the adversary one ability that is opposed by a strength of the original character and one ability that targets a weakness. Otherwise, make the two as opposite as possible.

Session Eleven: An Off-The-Cuff Encounter

Next, Referee a casual encounter between the two. No context, no preliminaries – someone goes first and the other person responds. This will give you a basic understanding of the initiative subsystem and a preliminary feeling for how characters interact, as well as the damage handling and recovery subsystems.

Session Twelve: Revenge Is Sweet

Follow this up with a second encounter, in which whoever lost the first encounter either goes looking for the winner for a rematch, or lays a trap for them. This gives you your first taste of how characters interact with the world around them.

Session Thirteen: Make Some Notes

Okay, so now you’ve developed some notion of how the different rules systems work. It’s time to start analyzing the results. Look for commonalities – do you always have to roll low in order to achieve something? Or have the designers hedged against biased dice by requiring some rolls to be low and some high? Are there any quirks to the system that you’ve noticed? Does +1 or +2 seem to make a huge difference, or is this a fairly small change? Is there anything that seems to have a disproportionately large effect?

Session Fourteen: Redo The Character

You will also almost-certainly have noticed a difference between the character you intended to create and the one you actually ended up with. With some experience under your belt, it’s time to redesign the character with the benefit of a little hindsight. Once you’ve finished doing so, make some more notes – every change that you’ve made to the character encapsulates some lesson in the way the system really works. It might be that some characteristics are more, or perhaps less, important than you thought, or something is less effective.

Session Fifteen: Revise The Adversary

And the same will be true of the adversary, as well. So redesign him using the lessons learned from redoing your test character.

Session Sixteen: A proper plotline

The two quick encounters, and the character redesigns, should give you enough ammunition to run yourself through a proper adventure, with beginning, middle, and ending. At the end of which, you need to assess the performance of the combatants and reward them just as you would if they were PCs being run by someone else.

Sessions Seventeen & Eighteen: A larger adventure

And with that under your belt, you should be ready to tackle a larger adventure. Grab one off the net or use an old pre=-packaged module if you have one handy – the practice at converting characters on the fly will help reinforce the understanding of the system that you’ve gained.

The Key To The Process

…is to not go cover-to-cover (which I have already described as the worst way to learn rules), but to learn by having your ‘character’ DO things. Learn the game by making small, practical steps. Ten minutes a day is enough for most of them. By keeping your attention focussed, and having an immediate gain from each session, you can divert attacks of the yawns. And before you know it, you’ll be well on the way to mastering the rules of your game.

There will be more of this series in 2011, but for the moment it’s time to switch into “Holiday Season” mode for me, since my next post is due to go out on December 23rd and the following one on the 30th…

Dungeon Master Toolkit is an RPG iPad app aimed at game masters of any game system. It is my favourite dedicated RPG app, and my review will explain why. I am using version 1.21 of DM Toolkit. Level 99 Games has promised a 1.3 update soon that offers some interesting new features.

Level 99 also produced the RPG Cartographer iPad app, which was reviewed in the fall here at Campaign Mastery.

DM Toolkit is the only iPad RPG app I have found that gives you the ability to set software up according to how you run games and organize your information. While there are many RPG information applications for Mac and Windows, and a couple for iPad, none that I am aware of let you customize the software itself so it works the way you think.

For example, I blogged about my Plot Stat Block awhile ago. In DM Toolkit, I created a Template based on this and can now enter as many plot stat blocks in the software as I like based on the Template.

Another example: I organize my NPC flavour information differently than others. Various RPG software forces you to enter such information according to the software’s design. If a field is missing, you put it in a dump field, like Notes. If you do not like the field order, too bad, that is the way you enter it (though, many software titles let you customize reports, so at least you can customize how you reference your data once it’s in the system).

With DM Toolkit, I created a new Template for my NPC flavour information, and now I enter and reference NPC personalities and campaign information how I like it.

This feature is what initially caught my attention when browsing the app store. “A customisable database?! I’m in.” That’s what makes this app usable by GMs of any game system. Just create the Templates you need and you are ready to roll.

A downside to this function is changes you make to the Template after data entry do not take effect on existing entries. For example, I forgot to add a field called Relationships to my NPC flavour template. I added it to the Template, but that change did not appear in existing NPC entries – I needed to make that change manually to each one. Every new NPC entry I made had this new update, so it just affected existing records.

This means, for optimum efficiency, you need to figure out what Templates you want and how you want them set up before you start managing a new campaign. A small price to pay (with a lot of added benefits if you have time to do this, regardless of choice of software and tools).

To summarize, because in my opinion this functionality makes DM Toolkit the most powerful dedicated DMing app out right now, you can customize how you enter and view your campaign information. You create Templates for everything, including plots, NPCs, monsters, session logs, equipment, treasure, locations and so on.

The app also comes with a whack of pre-made Templates for a variety of games if you want to dive in right away.

Other cool features

Combat Manager

DM Toolkit comes with a combat and initiative manager. I use a Google Spreadsheet to do this for various reasons, so have not played with this feature at all.

Dice Box

I prefer to have physical dice in-hand, but if you do not mind digital dice, DM Toolkit has you covered.

Scratch Pad

Put your temporary notes here. It toggles on and off with a touch of the finger, taking advantage of the iPad’s killer usability.

Crib Sheets

Awesome feature. Think of it as your very own customizable digital GM screen. You can have 8, and they allow HTML and CSS, plus offline editing so you can use your favourite markup software to create them.

Use Crib Sheets to create most-frequent game rules and charts, campaign specific cheat sheets, game world specific cheat sheets and per-session cheet sheets. I would love to hear how others have used Crib Sheets – these are worth exploring to make GMing easier and faster.

Bookmarks

Over time you will have a ton of information in this app – all your NPCs, setting trivia, plots and so on. Bookmarks help you find stuff fast, like a browser or other software bookmark would.

Recent

This offers you quick links to entries you viewed recently, newest first. Another great way to find stuff quick.

Multiple Campaigns

The app allows you to create data sets for more than one campaign. This makes it easy to manage and isolate data for specific campaigns and game systems.

Online library

You can download and trade data in the app if you have an online connection. You can also upload your creations to help the community of DM Toolkit users via the Level99 Games website.

Conclusion

Get this app if you are a digital data DM. Its customisability makes this a fairly robust solution for your needs.

iPad = portability, so it is perfect as an in-game tool whether you wander around during sessions or stay put.

Disclaimer

I purchased this app because it looked perfect. My dirty little secret here is I have not used it extensively at the game table yet. I was already using MyInfo for campaign preparation, notes and in-game management for my Pathfinder game when I purchased DM Toolkit. I started to port stuff over, but it became too much to do that and create new stuff before each session.

I might still use DM Toolkit for Riddleport, but I suspect I will have it ready for next campaign. I might also use it as a portable GM screen for Riddleport, but need to sort out my Templates and what else I’d use DM Toolkit for first.

DM Toolkit Giveaway

Level 99 Games has generously offered five copies of DM Toolkit. To win a copy, leave a comment on what your favourite iPad RPG or Productivity apps are to date. Unfortunately, due to iTunes limitations, only US residents can receive a free copy. The free codes will not work for Canadians like me and gamers elsewhere.

Update December 15

Level 99 Games emailed me after I sent them a link to this review. They had two comments to add:

• There’s a free version of just the initiative tracker in the app store

• DM Toolkit works on both iPhone and iPad, but you state that it is an iPad app in the first line of the review. This might be a little misleading.
• Promotional codes are now good worldwide, so anybody can use one. I haven’t tried it yet personally, but that’s the news from Apple, at least.

Last time around, Johnn described (via exerpted email) his difficulty in getting enthusiastic about reading rules.

Johnn has been making a common mistake, and it’s one that I have been guilty of myself in the past.

When reading rules becomes tiresome, we avoid reading and re-reading the rules because we have the impression that we have to read them in one solid block, from cover to cover.

Because we avoid reading and re-reading them, the nuances fade from memory – if they were ever known to begin with; if learning a new game system, even that might be going too far.

Cover-to-cover is the worst possible way to read rules, in my opinion.

A far better approach, and one that can quickly overcome any aversion to the reading of rules, is to take a lead from what players do: they don’t read the whole rulebook, they read the parts that are relevant to their characters. And reread those sections. They look for any advantage or capability that they can take advantage of in those rules. Everything they read is taken from the perspective, “how can I use this to benefit my character?”

For a GM, the equivalent question should be, “How can I use this in my game?”

There are two approaches: the directed and the random.

Directed Rules Search

When you know that something is likely to come up, take a good hard look (in advance, preferably) at the game rules that deal with that event or condition.

You don’t need the grappling rules most of the time. But if you seed an encounter with a creature that has to grapple in order to use it’s special abilities, or if a PC has a bout in a wrestling match coming up, that’s when it’s time to bone up.

Make A Simple Procedure Checklist

Whenever you’re learning a new procedure, it’s a great idea to make yourself a bullet-point summary of that procedure. Make sure to include the page number where that step is discussed in detail.

If the procedure is not something that comes up very often, you can then file the summary away in a binder somewhere until the next time you need it; if you find yourself referring to the card frequently, you will soon learn the ins and outs of that rule.

Random Rules Search

Another favorite technique is to flip through the rules book until something catches your eye – then read that in detail, asking yourself the question, “How can I use this in my next game session?”

For example, your eye might fall on a particular spell. Learning the mechanics of that spell will not only give you a nice little plot element that was completely unpredictable, it will offer a refresher on spell use in general.

Keep A Page Log

Another technique that is often useful is to keep a page log. Each time you have to look something up in the course of play, jot down the page. At the end of the session, add them to a text document and sort it numerically from low to high. You’ll soon find that there are certain sections that seem to be consulted all the time, either because that game mechanic is complicated, or because of a recurring usage pattern.

The frequency of occurrance on the list is exactly the same as the reward for making more intensive study of that particular game rule section.

Look For Patterns

Game designers aren’t lazy, but when they develop a game mechanic that works, they will tend to repeat variations of it all over the place. The procedure for making a saving throw is usually very similar to the process of making a skill check. Whenever a game mechanic comes up in the course of play, try and associate the rules regarding that mechanic with something similar. If a player is using a certain part of the rules that you don’t know well because the mechanic is related to their shtickh, get them to show you where it is in the rulebook so that you can follow along as they trumpet their expertise – this makes it easier for you to learn those rules.

The Common Theme

The common theme to all of these is to make your study of the rules immediately useful, and hence immediatly rewarding, instead of studying the rules for the sake of studying the rules. Besides the immediate benefits of having studied the rules in question, the reward means that ‘rules burnout’ is not a problem; your enthusiasm is maintained and even reinvigorated.

What new GMing knowledge would you like to master next?

It is time for you to get selfish here and get some GM advice customized just for you. What ebook would you like me to write next that you would use to make your GMing better, easier, more fun?

I am wrapping up the editing on my latest product. It’ll be released in 2011, though I cannot tell you about it just yet. It’s a killer, though, if I do say so myself. Mike Bourke and Michael K. Tumey co-wrote it, so you know it is going to be detailed and have a gorgeous map.

Now I am looking at my text file of ebook ideas, wondering what to write next, and thought I would put it out there to you. How can I help take your GMing to the next level? What would you like to learn so you become an even better GM?

For example, Brad at Level 99 Games requested a book on villains. How to design, plan and run them. That seems like a potentially interesting topic.

I also received a request from a GM looking for help running large groups of players. That is a challenge! Would an ebook on that topic interest you?

Maybe you need a few Pathfinder NPCs, complete with crunch and flavour for instant use in your games?

I have several books on GMing sitting on my bookshelf. They cover an overview of the role quite well. I find they do not do the deep dives on many topics, however. That’s where I think I can help you best. If you can describe specific problems or areas you would like to see more techniques or tips detailed for, I think that would help you much better than developing yet another overview type book.

What are your GMing pain points? The more specific, the better, so I know what context, content and advice you need that would solve your exact problem.

Drop a comment below with your request, or email me. Your feedback and requests are appreciated!

In October, my co-author and partner here at CM contacted me to ask,

(Extensively Paraphrased:) Something that has slipped away from me this past decade is a solid knowledge of the rules I game with. This lack of foundation has a number of serious consequences. Good thing I trust my players so much.

Not having rules expertise undermines my position as GM and expert. I don’t think I need to master knowledge of rules and rulescraft to be effective serve RPTx well, but I should at least be conversant. Part of the problem is I do not have a strong desire to read a lot of rules. I used to consume rules with great avidness. Now, my head starts to bob after a few paragraphs.

For my campaigns, I would like to be on top of the rules again, especially when GMing impromptu and creating crunchy stuff on the fly.

Do you have any advice?

• How to get enthused about reading and consuming rules.
• How to approach getting an understanding of the core principles and rules sub-systems of your chosen game rules;
• How are things tied together;
• How to get an understanding of the design of a game.
• Methods of consuming rules for understanding them. Surely there are some tricks to grasping rules other than just reading the rulebook from start to finish!
• How do you read the minds of the designers? What things do they consider, that I should also consider?
• Basically, how do I analyse the rules for any given game system I’m using?

Rules have become a weak spot for me. I don’t like reading rule books much anymore, and I don’t have a solid knowledge of how to analyze rules. But I would like to.

I’m sure Johnn is not alone in all this. I have found that I can rarely read rule books all the way through anymore, myself. All this sounded like fertile ground for (yet another) major series of articles, and hence this post, which is designed to act as an introduction to that series.

Each of the above topics deserves, and will get, one or more articles of their own. I also have a couple of articles from a previous blog that I used to have at Yahoo (before they shut their blogging infrastructure down) on house rules that are relevant, and should be publicly available somewhere.

So Next time, I’ll start delivering on Johnn’s request…

Win these dice!

You can win a set of the dice that appear in this blog post. Details at the end. Thanks for Q-Workshop for supplying dice to give away!

A gamer recently mentioned a disappointing lack of detail when his GM handed out a “pouch of gems.” The player wanted more flavour. It is difficult detailing every little thing found in a campaign, so I thought a small generator would help flesh out looting and shopping a bit.

You can use a single table below to make a bit of treasure more interesting, or use a combination of tables to make an item especially notable.

	Name Generation*
Method 1:	NPC name + item (e.g. Akbar’s Inkwell)
Method 2:	Adjective/Verb + Item (e.g. A Running Inkwell)
Method 3:	Product Line Name (indicating a notable product line with its own special properties that give an item reputation, such as An Aqua Inkwell)
Method 4:	Source’s Name + Item (source could be a notable crafter, company, distributor, supplier or retailer, such as an inkwell from Akbar & Company’s Fine Goods)

* Here are 40 great name generators you can tap.

	Value Added
1	Bejeweled
2	Filigreed
3	Enameled
4	Plated
5	Inlaid
6	Gilded
7	Decorated
8	Carved/Special Shape
9	Exotic material (mithril, adamantium, residuum, meteorite, obsidian)
10	Engraved
11	Precision crafting, a master work
12	Special container

	Special container
1	Velvet pouch with gold drawstrings
2	Small hollow statue
3	Metal case
4	Hollow book
5	Inside a bottle
6	Encased in resin

	Rough Condition
1	Dirty
2	Stained (e.g. blood, salt water, ink)
3	Charred
4	Acid burns
5	Bite marks
6	Magical markings
7	Cracked or bent
8	Scratched

	Quirk
1	Emits a hum when lightly struck
2	Is aligned, and repels touch of opposite alignment
3	Is designed to be a children’s toy
4	Is designed to be a pet’s toy
5	Its age is impossible to divine
6	Tends to point in a certain direction when laid on stone
7	Animals fear it or get agressive around it
8	Removes body odour
9	Attracts insects
10	Changes colour (i.e. mood ring, pressure change, humidity change)

	History
1	Was used to kill someone
2	Belonged to an impoverished child who lost it
3	Created as part of a marriage proposal but the lady said no
4	Previous owner was an adventurer killed in a dungeon
5	Famous crafter with reputation for art or quality
6	Was thought to be destroyed
7	Infamous crafter who often used fake materials
8	Rumoured to be cursed because of bad luck it brings
9	Worn or used publicly by a villain
10	Used as part of a betrayal and thought lost
11	Belonged to a cult
12	Belonged to someone who committed suicide
13	Found in a mass grave
14	Was a madman’s object of obsession
15	Said to have been created during a rare celestial event
16	Was cast out to sea by grieving former owner
17	Thought to be sold to a caravan who took it to a faraway land
18	Found in the gut of a terrible monster
19	Buried in the tomb of a great warrior
20	Featured prominently in a common bar song

Win a set of Green Dragon Dice

Comment below with d6 more Item Quirks or d6 more Item History ideas. Feel free to enter multiple times – each helps fellow GMs detail their loot better.

I’ll draw a random entry December 5. Enter now:

This week I thought I would describe a tool that I came up with to help me create quick and easy NPCs, called The Ubercharacter Wimp, or TUW.

Three into TUW

The concept is really simple: in a document of some kind, I list the highest and lowest PC scores for each of the stats, as well as the group’s average. I follow that with an alphabetical listing of all the skills known in the game, and again list the low, high, and average totals for each. I make no allowance for magic or feats or anything else – I’m only interested in the total scores.

The document could be on a computer, or it could be hand-written. The first is always more legible and more quickly updated, but since I don’t have a laptop I can use at the gaming table, it’s not as much use to me.

Colour-Code for quick referance

I will typically use different text colours and/or fonts for each of these scores so that they are immediately distinct. Each text colour identifies a different character as the source of the score.

Using TUW for ad-hoc NPCs

When the PCs encounter a generic NPC, all I have to decide is where this character’s abilities will fall, numerically, with respect to the scores PCs. I do this for each skill as necessary, and jot the results down on a sheet of paper dedicated to that NPC.

• If the NPC character is to be poor in comparison to the PCs, I give the NPC the low score for that ability or skill from the TUW. If the ability in question is a defining one for the character, then I may add or subtract 5 from the total to reflect that.
• If the NPC character is to be at the same standard overall as the PCs, I give the NPC the average score for that ability or skill, again with plus-or-minus 5 if the ability or skill is defining for the character.
• If the NPC character is to be at the same standard as the best the team can manage, I use the high score. For defining skills or abilities, I’ll add 5.
• If the character is to be superior to the PCs, I’ll add a further +5 or +10 to the score determined as being “of the same standard”.
• If the NPC character is to be exceptional I will take the highest value shown in any skill category and use that, with the modifiers described above, possibly plus another 5 or 10 for good measure.

You can see how the TUW makes it possible to set a score relative to the overall standard of the PCs on-the-fly, with barely any thought at all.

An Example TUW (abbreviated)

Using a couple of characters I had lying around, here’s an example. Let’s start by looking at the four source characters:

Note that I normally wouldn’t write everything out the way it is shown above – I would do a color-key at the top of the sheet and then write only what is shown in the TUW column. Oh, and for the record, the asterisk next to a skill means that it is being used unskilled.

It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t matter if there are 3 party members or 33 – the middle value is an average not a median or middle value. Calculating this is usually the slowest part of the process, to be honest!

An example of use

Okay, so let’s take the partial TUW above and see how it works.

The PCs meet a merchant on the road. He claims to have been attacked by bandits and his cart stolen. He has been left pennyless except for some gems that he kept hidden on his person; he was going to attempt to sell them in the nearby town, but doesn’t think that they have enough cash in the town to be able to pay him a fair price. He needs hard currency to purchase a new wagon and stock; can these fine adventurers, so obviously prosperous, help a poor merchant who has lost it all begin to rebuild his life?

This NPC is obviously laying it on fairly thick. You would have to be a lot less suspicious than my players are to take this hard luck story at face value. But I give the character a Bluff skill appropriate to the professional fence that he really is, by looking at the Bluff scores on the TUW. I select the highest Bluff (12) and add 5 to get a skill of 17. So it’s my roll of 17+d20 against the PCs Sense Motive checks.

One quick set of rolls later, there is nothing obviously wrong with the tale that the characters can put their fingers on. When the NPC produces the gems in question and offers to sell them – a matched set of rubies – for 500gp each, the rogue makes an appraise check to determine their true worth. He finds that they are worth about 1000gp each, so the price is appropriate to someone who is desperate to sell.

When the rogue attempts to bargain the “merchant” down, I confuse the issue by suggesting to the Paladin’s player that it might be wrong to take advantage of an honest merchant who was down on his luck and offering a fair price. The player decides to play along with this suggestion for his own merriment, and takes the merchant’s side in the bargaining, eventually settling on a price of 600gp each for the gems.

Notice that I’ve been able to make up this entire encounter off the cuff, and have spent all my time roleplaying and steering the encounter, and virtually none thinking about the NPCs stats, description, etc. – in other words, having fun.

Because this was an improv encounter, I have no idea at this point where it will lead. The most obvious possibility is that the Gems are stolen; a close second is that they are fakes. A third option might be for them to be cursed, and the only way to get rid of them is to persuade someone else to take them willingly. Or perhaps they are partially-enchanted magical foci – something the PCs wouldn’t recognise as they have no Mage in the party.

Or maybe the “merchant” was a real merchant after all, and every word of his story is true!

I have plenty of time to make up my mind as the adventure continues. If the Cleric is a little underutilised on the day, I might go with the “cursed” option just to give his character something to do. Or, I might go with that choice if the Rogue starts getting a bit too cocky.

The Secret Of TUW

TUW works because it has a really obvious secret: It combines all the best ability & skill scores that the party can bring to bear into a Ubercharacter who is their equal in all things; it combines all the worst ability and skill scores into a Wimp who is equal to their worst in all things; and it offers a middle ground for run-of-the-mill encounters.

I can use the middle number and add 10 to quickly get a DC for a skill check. I can use the high values for any encounter that is intended to stand a reasonable chance against the PCs, and the low values for any encounter that is intended to target a soft spot in the PC’s armoury. I can tell at a glance which characters are vulnerable to certain skill check requirements, and use that information to create encounters that test that characters. And, finally, I can use it to get some notion of the overall capabilities of the party.

The ultimate secret of TUW is that it’s all useful. Give it a try, and you’ll be amazed at how much improvisational flexibility it gives, and how much it frees you to concentrate on running the game.