Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialization: Pilot
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxxx
Willpower: xxx
Resistance: xxxx
Essence: xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Pilot aircraft: xxxx
Repair aircraft: xxx
Persuasive Charm: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Pistol: xx
Brawl: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Strafe: xx
Lose ’em in the clouds: xx
Dive out of the sun: xx
I know some maneuvers: xx
Flying Ace: xx
Land on a dime: xx
Eagle Eye: xx
Thread the needle: xx
Improvised Explosives: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Flight suit
Pistol
Parachute
Compass

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

PILOT AIRCRAFT
Take off, land, and navigate between a departure point and destination in any form of aircraft.
REPAIR AIRCRAFT
Make basic repairs to the engine, wings, rotors, etc. of a damaged aircraft and restore it to useable (if not as-new) status.
PERSUASIVE CHARM
The ability to exude gallantry and charm that makes people want to agree to do whatever the pilot asks.
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, fire, and maintain a pistol.
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
STRAFE
Engage in aerial combat engaging in an attack every phase without taking a penalty to the attack roll.
LOSE ‘EM IN THE CLOUDS
The ability to shake an aerial pursuit by hiding in a bank of clouds.
DIVE OUT OF THE SUN
The ability to get into a pursued aircrafts blindspot and deliver a double damage blast from the aircraft’s guns once per turn.
I KNOW SOME MANEUVERS
The ability to maneuver so effectively that damage received is reduced to 1 wound (once per turn).
FLYING ACE
When activated this ability grants an extra wound of damage on all targeted attacks made by the pilot.
LAND ON A DIME
The ability for a pilot to land on/in (and take off from) a cliff edge, a clearing, or other non-conventional landing areas.
EAGLE EYE
The ability to spot hard to see things from a great height, see to fly in low visibility conditions, fly at night, etc.
THREAD THE NEEDLE
The ability to fly an aircraft through tiny spaces with tiny amounts of clearance (under bridges, through caves and tunnels, etc.).
IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVES
The ability to construct bombs, grenades, and explosive traps from household chemicals.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Pilot – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialization: Sorcerer
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxx
Willpower: xxxx
Resistance: xxx
Essence: xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Esoteric Fire: xxxx
Mystic Shield: xxx
Mystic Sword: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Research (Esoteric Knowledge): xx
Careful observer: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
ShapeShift: xx
Enslave Monster: xx
Summon Monster: xx
Command Familiar: xx
Fly: xx
Phase through walls: xx
Transfigure: xx
Scry: xx
Astral Travel: xx
FLAW
Don’t get out much (slow): -2x
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Wand
Spell book
Cloak

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

ESOTERIC FIRE
The ability to throw a ball of flame at a target. This is an area effect that causes 4 wounds of damage to all targets within 8 feet of the impact point.
MYSTIC SHIELD
Reduces the damage received by a target to a maximum of one wound per phase.
MYSTIC SWORD
While in use this sword does 3 points of cold damage per phase to any target hit in that turn.
RESEARCH (ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE)
The ability to search libraries and ancient tomes in search of specific answers to questions such as “What predators roam the interplanar realm of Thunn?” etc.
CAREFUL OBSERVER
The ability to spot when someone is lying, hiding something, or omitting important information.
SHAPESHIFT
The ability to shift one’s shape into that of a bird or animal of comparable size (for example a giant bat, or a small elephant). The caster gains the benefit of any ability inherent in that shape (eg. flight, claws, bite, trample, etc.). The shape that the caster assumes is fixed by its first use (eg. if the caster turns into a bat the first time they use this ability, they can only turn into a bat thereafter).
ENSLAVE MONSTER
The ability to enslave and command a supernatural creature. This ability places a creature (often over the creature’s strenuous objections) under compulsion to follow a set of commands provided by the caster for the duration of a single combat or the accomplishment of a single task. It also makes the creature available for summoning.
SUMMON MONSTER
The most recently enslaved creature (enslaved by the caster using the Enslave Monster ability) can be summoned to complete a task or fight a combat on the caster’s behalf.
COMMAND FAMILIAR
This ability allows the sorcerer to choose a familiar (animal companion such as a cat, eagle, chimpanzee, etc.) that can be commanded to follow simple instructions. Once chosen, the familiar cannot be changed. It is imbued with 1 point of life from the character and the character will suffer one wound if it dies).
FLY
When activated this ability allows the character to fly and or hover above the ground. They cannot carry more weight when flying than might be contained in a typical backpack.
PHASE THROUGH WALLS
The ability to pass through up to six feet of solid material.
TRANSFIGURE
The ability to turn an individual into an animal, bird or fish of choice. This is a permanent effect but can be reversed by the caster. It can be cast on friend or foe alike.
SCRY
The ability to locate any object or person previously encountered at any distance with absolute precision.
ASTRAL TRAVEL
The ability to take an astral form and visit locations unseen by ordinary mortals. It does not guarantee that the caster will not be seen by individuals with supernatural abilities (such as ghosts, monsters, and mediums). While traveling astrally the physical body is not protected from harm and can be killed (or die of starvation or thirst). The astral form cannot be harmed physically, but damage inflicted in the astral realm reduces the player’s essence.
DOESN’T GET OUT MUCH (FLAW)
This character is very awkward in social situations and always says the wrong thing (either out of cluelessness, or arrogance). They reduce all attempts at persuasion by 2 if they are present, regardless of who is attempting the persuasion.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Sorcerer – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialization: Prize Fighter
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxxx
Willpower: xxx
Resistance: xxxx
Essence: xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Knock out blow: xxxx
8 punch combination: xxx
Counterpunch: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Clinch: xx
Smashing blow: xx
Pistol: xx
Brawl: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Target Weakness: xx
Lightning Reflexes: xx
Roll with the punches: xx
Indomitable Will (Perseverance): xx
Contacts – Bookies: xx
Contacts – Criminal Underworld: xx
Contacts – Sports fans: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Gloves
Pistol
Brass knuckles

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

KNOCK OUT BLOW
The ability to deliver a knock out blow. A successful roll allows the player to roll a consequence dice. On a six the target is rendered unconscious for the duration of the combat.
8 PUNCH COMBINATION
A success allows the player to deal 4 points of damage to a target (with 8 points being delivered if a six is rolled on a followup consequence dice).
COUNTERPUNCH
If the player receives damage from an attacker they may return the equivalent damage plus two wounds during their action phase.
CLINCH
The ability to grapple and immobilize an opponent. The player cannot take any actions while the target is immobilized, but the grapple can be held indefinitely.
SMASHING BLOW
The ability to punch through wooden doors, smash small machines, and put holes in walls with the aid of the fists. No opposed roll is required.
LIGHTNING REFLEXES
When activated, this ability allows the character to land a blow during every phase of combat without taking the usual penalty for being “frenzied”.
CONTACTS (BOOKIES, CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD, SPORTS FANS)
The ability to contact individuals with specialist knowledge among bookies, small-time criminals, and sports fans. They can report on rumors and supply answers to specific questions regarding people and activities involved in the players’ investigations.
INDOMITABLE WILL (PERSEVERANCE)
The ability to continue fighting after taking the usual number of wounds. This ability adds two wounds to the character’s maximum for the duration of the fight. After the fight, if this new maximum is used up, they will need medical attention to stabilize at zero wounds, but they will have been able to continue fighting beyond the normal limit.
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES
When activated this ability allows the character to reduce all damage received to a single wound per phase of combat.
TARGET WEAKNESS
The ability to disable an opponent for the remainder of a battle using a targeted attack. A successful attack is disabling after rolling a six on a consequence dice. This removes the individual from the fight but results in a minor but permanent disability (such as a limp, shaking hand, reduced hearing, blurry vision, etc.).
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, fire, and maintain a pistol.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Prize Fighter – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialization: Occult Detective
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxx
Willpower: xxxx
Resistance: xxx
Essence: xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Research (Occult and Folklore) : xxxx
Ghost Trapping: xxx
Speak with the dead: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Search: xx
Perception: xx
Persuasion: xx
Pistol: xx
Brawl: xx
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Command the dead: xx
Ethereal Energy Disruptor: xx
Indomitable Will (Shield)
Contacts – Journalists xx
Contacts – Police x
Contacts – Esoteric Subculture xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Ghost Trap
Occult Library
Ethereal Energy Disruptor

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

PERCEPTION
A passive ability. The ability to notice things that are out of place, unusual, threatening, or of special interest in the surrounding environment.
RESEARCH (OCCULT AND FOLKLORE)
The ability to search libraries and ancient tomes in search of specific answers to questions such as “What are the weaknesses of the Chupacabra?” etc.
GHOST TRAP
A machine that will trap and hold a ghost until sunrise. It can also be used to transport a ghost from one location to another.
SPEAK WITH THE DEAD
The ability to hear and talk to the dead. It does not compel the dead to answer or guarantee that what is said is true.
COMMAND THE DEAD
The ability to give the dead simple commands that they are compelled to complete. The dead generally resent being commanded in this way and, in some cases, may seek revenge after the set task is completed.
ETHEREAL ENERGY DISRUPTER
A ranged weapon that can inflict damage (3 wounds) upon ghosts, spirits, and beings made out of supernatural energy.
CONTACTS (ESOTERIC SUBCULTURE, POLICE, JOURNALISTS)
The ability to contact individuals with specialist knowledge among the police, journalists, and the esoteric subculture of occultists, mediums, and investigators into the macabre and unusual. They can report on rumors and supply answers to specific questions regarding people and activities involved in the players’ investigations.
INDOMITABLE WILL (SHIELD)
The ability to resist mind control (from the undead, vampires, mystics, mad scientists, mediums, and the like).
SEARCH
The ability to thoroughly search a location for clues, hidden items, secret doors, traps, safes, etc.
PERSUASION
The ability to convince another person that they are telling the truth and gain their cooperation and trust.
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, fire, and maintain a pistol.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Occult Detective – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialization: Noble Savage
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxxx
Willpower: xxx
Resistance: xxxx
Essence: xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00|00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00|00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Wilderness Scrounger: xxxx
Construct Weapons: xxx
Spear combat: xxx
GENERAL SKILLS
Brawl/Hand to hand: xx
Tracking/Guide: xx
Snares: xx
Herbalism: xx
Break bonds: xx
Throw: xx
FLAW
Lack of social grace: -2x
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Athletics (Swim, Run, Jump, Climb): xx
Communicate with animals: xx
Tame Wild Beast: xx
Ride animals: xx
Stealth: xx
Too savage to bleed: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Spear
Animal Hides
Medicine Bag (herbs)

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

WILDERNESS SCROUNGER
The ability to find impossibly scarce resources in a wilderness area. Need a spark-plug? It can be found in the wreckage of a long-forgotten jeep or truck at the bottom of a ravine. Gold? Diamonds? Whatever is needed can be found, either on the remains of those who came before, or in the crashed wreckage of missing boats, planes, and land vehicles that came to an unfortunate end in the local area.
CONSTRUCT WEAPONS
The ability to create weapons from raw materials – flint knives, bow and arrow, spear. Any weapon so created that is used adds one to the appropriate combat skill of the user because of its craftsmanship and durability.
SPEAR COMBAT
The ability to fight using a spear in close quarters or throw it with accuracy.
BRAWL/HAND TO HAND
The ability to employ standard blows in combat, in this case inflicting an extra wound of damage due to increased strength.
HERBALISM
The ability to find and create remedies for poisons or heal light wounds (2 points maximum) from local plant life. In an urban environment, this can only be used where a large park or garden is available to provide the raw materials necessary.
STEALTH
The ability to move about without being detected, seen, or heard.
SNARES
The ability to create and conceal traps and snares (that will hoist an unwary victim off their feet and dangle them in the air) from vines, ropes or cables. The materials for the construction must plausibly be available to the character (either carried in a backpack, or hanging from trees, or lying around in the form of electrical cables, etc. within the immediate environment).
HIDE TRAIL OR SCENT
The ability to cover one’s tracks or hide one’s scent when being pursued by human or animal hunters.
TRACKING/GUIDE
The ability to always know where one is (above or below ground/water) and to pick up a trail and follow it (without getting lost).
BREAK BONDS
The ability to use their prodigious strength to break any bonds (snap ropes and cables, break chains and manacles) that are used to restrain the character.
THROW
The ability to throw an object with deadly accuracy.
ATHLETICS (Run, Swim, Climb, Jump)
The ability to engage in all manner of athletic feats at a high level. Jumping up to 15 feet. Climbing at twice normal speed. Remaining underwater for 6 to 8 minutes without suffering harm. Gaining an extra increment per turn during chases
SPEAK WITH ANIMALS
The ability to interrogate animals for information and give them simple commands –only available to Shaman and Noble Savage Characters.
TAME WILD BEAST
The ability to render a (non-sentient) wild beast docile. The animal cannot be given instructions but will stop and be docile while the effect is sustained. It does not work on wounded or mentally damaged animals. Neither does it work on swarms, insects, worms or other creatures of negligible intelligence (eg. below the level of a house cat or bird). At four dots in strength, this ability can permanently render a wild beast docile.
RIDE ANIMAL
The ability to ride, and control while riding, any animal of sufficient size to carry a human being (eg. Elephant, Pterodactyl, Velociraptor, Tiger, and Shark, as well as more traditional mounts such as horses). The animal must first have been tamed (see above if the animal is a normally wild beast).
TOO SAVAGE TO BLEED
When activated (BEFORE combat begins) the player gains the ability to survive an extra two wounds of damage before being killed or rendered unconscious.
LACK OF SOCIAL GRACE
A minus 2 penalty is experienced by anyone trying to engage in persuasion when this character is present in an urban environment due to their uncouth behavior. In primitive villages and wilderness environments, the penalty becomes a plus 2 bonus.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Noble Savage – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialization: Martial Artist
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength: xxx
Willpower: xxxx
Resistance: xxx
Essence: xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Item smash (melee): xxxx
Run up Vertical Surface: xxx
Float on air: xxx
Swordsmanship: xx
GENERAL SKILLS
Brawl/Hand to hand: xx
Herbalism (medicine): xx
Stealth: xx
Calming Flute: xx
Persuasive Wisdom: xx
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Knife hand (piercing): xx
Wind strike (ranged): xx
Improvised weapon: xx
Deflect and return: xx
Disarming blow: xx
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Alms Bowl
Flute
Sword

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

ITEM SMASH
The ability to destroy an item with a single blow. Armor, machinery, and weapons all become inoperable after a single successful strike. This ability can only be used during a targeted attack.
RUN UP VERTICAL SURFACE
The ability to run up (or along) a wall, cliff, tree or light pole, etc. and balance upon its top without the use of ropes or other climbing gear.
FLOAT ON AIR
The ability to leap 50 feet at a jump and find purchase upon a leaf floating in the air (or a stick floating upon water etc.) in order to leap again. It can be used repeatedly to cross canyons, crevices, rivers, etc. A failed roll results in a fall, however, and normal falling damage applies.
SWORDSMANSHIP
The ability to fight using any kind of sword in close quarters.
BRAWL/HAND TO HAND
The ability to employ standard martial arts moves in combat (kicks, open-handed strikes, etc.).
HERBALISM
The ability to find and create remedies for poisons or heal light wounds (2 points maximum) from local plant life. In an urban environment, this can only be used where a large park or garden is available to provide the raw materials necessary.
STEALTH
The ability to move about without being detected, seen, or heard.
CALMING FLUTE
The ability to play the flute and provide a calm and tranquil environment. Dispels fear/panic effects and can provide a +2 bonus to other players who are attempting any academic tasks.
KNIFE HAND
The ability to execute a piercing blow with the hand that will enter the body like a knife wound and does 3 points of piercing damage.
WIND STRIKE
The ability to throw and punch or kick that displaces air as a solid force over short distances and deals 2 points of clubbing damage as if it were a ranged weapon.
IMPROVISED WEAPON
The ability to use any handy item (a bench, a ladder, a saw-horse, a car antenna, a banana, etc.) as a weapon dealing +1 damage over and above its standard use (clubbing, or piercing).
DEFLECT AND RETURN
Redirect and return the kinetic energy of an attack back upon the attacker. The player reduces the damage dealt by half (rounded up) but returns the full damage to the attacker. (Eg. An attacker fires their pistol at the player, the player then uses this ability during their action phase to catch the bullet and return it to the attacker. The player reduces the damage they took by half (rounded up) so that they only take 1 wound, but return the full 3 wounds of damage to the attacker.
DISARMING BLOW
On a success, this attack allows the player to seize a weapon from an opponent’s hands. This ability can only be used during a targeted attack.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Martial Artist – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Adventurer
Specialisation: Spy
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength xxxx
Willpower xxx
Resistance xxxx
Essence xxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Persuasion: xxxx
Pick locks: xxx
Pistol: xxx
Swordsmanship: xx
GENERAL SKILLS
Brawl: xx
Search: xx
Decypher Codes: xx
Stealth: xx
Pick Pockets: xx
Decypher Languages: xx
LANGUAGES (Read/Write/Speak)
Mandarin: x
French: x
German: x
Russian: x
Spanish: x
Arabic: x
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Lock picks
Sword
Pistol
Climbing harness
Sacks and bags

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

PERSUASION
The ability to convince another person that they are telling the truth and gain their cooperation and trust.
PICK LOCKS
The ability to unlock doors, safes, padlocks, strongboxes etc. without the necessary keys.
PISTOL
The ability to load, aim, and maintain a pistol.
SWORDSMANSHIP
The ability to fight using any kind of sword in close quarters.
BRAWL
The ability to fight in close quarters using hands, feet, and any makeshift weapons that might be handy (bottles, chairs, etc.).
SEARCH
The ability to thoroughly search a location for clues, hidden items, secret doors, traps, safes, etc.
DECYPHER CODES
The ability to decypher encryptions, cyphers, pictograms, codes, anagrams and other forms of hidden messages.
STEALTH
The ability to move about without being detected, seen, or heard.
PICK POCKETS
The ability to remove personal possessions and items of clothing carried upon the person without the owner detecting the removal.
DECYPHER LANGUAGES
The ability to decypher, at a rudimentary level, any human language.
LANGUAGES
As well as their native tongue, this character can speak, read, and write the following languages fluently; Mandarin, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Adventurer Spy – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

The Shaman may create up to four magical effects for use during play. These effects can have any flavor preferred by the player.

Example Character

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

CHARACTER NOTES

Archetype: Mystic
Specialisation: Shaman
BASIC STATISTICS
Strength xxx
Willpower xxxx
Resistance xxx
Essence xxxx
Hero Points: 7
Wounds: 00000 00
Piercing Wounds: 00000 00
SPECIALIST SKILLS
Tracking: xxxx
Speak with animals: xxx
Tame wild beast: xxx
Bow and Arrow: xx
GENERAL SKILLS
Herbalism (Medicine): xx
Search: xx
Snares: xx
Hide trail/scent: xx
Ride animal: xx
Climb: xx
MAGIC SKILLS
Chameleon: x
Elemental Dance (Command Element): x
Locate Person/Object: x
Summon Ghost: x
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Medicine Bag (containing healing herbs for treating wounds – not poisons)
Rope
Animal bones for use with the summoning and location ability
Bow and arrows
Hunting knife

[See image gallery at weirdworldstudios.com]

SKILL NOTES

TRACKING
The ability to pick up a trail and follow it (without getting lost).
SPEAK WITH ANIMALS
The ability to interrogate animals for information and give them simple commands – only available to Shaman and Noble Savage Characters.
TAME WILD BEAST
The ability to render a (non-sentient) wild beast docile. The animal cannot be given instructions but will stop and be docile while the effect is sustained. It does not work on wounded or mentally damaged animals. Neither does it work on swarms, insects, worms or other creatures of negligible intelligence (eg. below the level of a house cat or bird). At four dots in strength, this ability can permanently render a wild beast docile.
HERBALISM
The ability to find and create remedies for poisons or heal light wounds (2 points maximum) from local plant life. In an urban environment this can only be used where a large park or garden is available to provide the raw materials necessary.
SNARES
The ability to create and conceal traps and snares (that will hoist an unwary victim off their feet and dangle them in the air) from vines, ropes or cables. The materials for the construction must plausibly be available to the character (either carried in a backpack, or hanging from trees, or lying around in the form of electrical cables, etc. within the immediate environment).
HIDE TRAIL OR SCENT
The ability to cover one’s tracks or hide one’s scent when being pursued by human or animal hunters.
RIDE ANIMAL
The ability to ride, and control while riding, any animal of sufficient size to carry a human being (eg. Elephant, Pterodactyl, Velociraptor, Tiger, and Shark, as well as more traditional mounts such as horses). The animalmsut first have been tamed (see above if the animal is a normally wild beast).
CHAMELEON
The ability to blend into the background, shadows, etc. in order to be effectively invisible. This only works while the character is being perfectly still and will cease to operate if they move, are bumped into or physically touched.
ELEMENTAL DANCE
The ability to command an element in the immediate vicinity of the player to launch itself at a target. Eg. Launch a rock (up to the size of a bowling ball) or a ball of flame, or solid ball of air/wind, or a ball of water at a target. The element being commanded must be in the immediate environment in sufficient quantity to be harnessed.
LOCATE PERSON/OBJECT
The ability to know with certainty the location of any person previously met, or object previously handled.
SUMMON GHOST
The ability to call up and question a ghost. The ghost can only answer questions related to what they have seen and done in life. They cannot provide information about anything that they did not personally witness, or anything that has happened since they died.

This character template and associated art is copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.

The post Mystic Shaman – RPG Template appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 7. Getting Feedback

Ok, we all like to get feedback from time to time. We all like to know how we are doing. And the skills we employ as a GM, like all skills, must be learned and developed. As such we like to find out how we are progressing.

Anyone who has been running games for a while will tell you that feedback is essential to helping you grow as a GM. They will then tell you that feedback is impossible to get (it is actually quite hard to come by) and usually not all that helpful (unless you are looking for the right type of feedback). There are two questions that will help you get good feedback; what did you like most about the session?; and what did you like least?

These two questions, asked regularly, and in a positive way (by email is my preferred mode) will get you the best feedback you can find. Player’s want to have fun. The fun they are having is reflected in their answer to the “like most” question. Things that stop your players having fun are identified in the answer to the “like least” question.

Generally, avoid asking “why?” and “what can be done to improve/fix it?” The fact is most of us are actually quite lousy at analyzing why we are having fun and why we are not. It is much better to identify what was and wasn’t fun and then look for ways to maximize one and minimize the other. Collect suggestions, by all means. Just don’t solicit solutions.

And when you gather feedback, NEVER explain, defend, or rationalize your decisions to the feedback provider. Just thank them (ALWAYS thank them) and turn your attention to how to build on the things they like most while minimizing or trying to eliminate the things they like least.

Chapter 8. Conclusions

If you have been working through this book systematically then you will be aware that it has presented the skills of running games in an ordered manner.

It talked about what a GM is and does, what players look for in a game, how to start a game from scratch and how to run your very first session.

It introduced you to the basic interaction of the game (asking players what they want to do and explaining the results – sometimes with the assistance of dice).

Next, it identified, and discussed in general terms, the three major (and essential) skills that the GM employs (narration of the situation, querying the players, and adjudication of the results of player actions).

Finally, it talked in detail about the complex process of running a game; (opening a game, narrating situations, roleplaying the world, querying player actions, adjudicating the results, resolving actions and their consequences, concluding scenes, transitioning between scenes, concluding sessions, and concluding storylines. It also looked at the advanced skills of managing the mini-games, maintaining pace and tone, and improvising in response to unanticipated player actions.

These skills should equip you pretty well for the job of running your own games and providing your players with fun and memorable adventures.

In the next section of this volume, we will explore the design and construction of games, providing you with the tools and skills needed to build your own adventures – from scene to scenario, to sandbox, to campaign.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Getting Feedback and Conclusion to the GM’s Guide – Chapter 7 & 8 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

IMPROVISING RULES

Two kinds of improvisation pop up within games, and always in response to player actions. The first is where a player asks a question about whether they can accomplish a particular task. “Can I use my fire magic to set the pond alight?”. “Can I throw my knife to smash the broach that we now know is being used to inflict mind-control on the countess?” In such cases, where there is no clear rule to apply, you need to improvise to arrive at a ruling. Remember, the rules are all optional. They are tools to help you run a good game. As such, you can make and add your own rules to supplement or even replace the existing rules as written. Just remember that once you decide that the situation should be handled a particular way, you should be bound to continue handling the situation that way until the situation is altered or a story-driven reason to do otherwise emerges.

When you create a new rule to govern your players’ actions you need to assess how often it is likely to be needed, how often the players will want to take advantage of it, and how NPCs and monsters might take advantage of it. You can create major problems for yourself if you introduce a rule that unbalances the game by giving the players (or their enemies) an unfair advantage. If the rule will only be called upon rarely, then it won’t necessarily be a problem.

Likewise, when creating a rule you need to consider how well the rule fits into the world you are playing in. Is the action believable/possible? Does it violate the laws of physics (and/or magic) that apply in this world? Is there a good reason to believe this action would be impossible? Is it prohibitively difficult to accomplish?

Lastly, consider how it feels. Sometimes the action the player wants to undertake is possible (within the framework provided by the world), and doesn’t create unfair outcomes (with regard to the balance of the rules), but is tonally wrong. A player in your realistic police procedural game may decide to attempt to play soccer with the head of an enemy. If that feels wrong to you, then you should probably trust your instincts and veto the action (or warn of some really significant negative consequences that will follow – perhaps being taken into custody for psychological evaluation, for example).

Sometimes these three things will all line up (tone, balance, realism) but sometimes they won’t. Where you encounter a conflict you will have to decide which is most important for yourself.

Tip: Always record your rulings. The ruling you improvise today creates a precedent for your rulings tomorrow. In order to maintain the consistency of your world you need to write down the rules you add to it and keep them for future reference.

IMPROVISING STORY

The second kind of improvisation occurs where the players want to interact with an element of the story that hasn’t been invented (an NPC for whom you don’t have notes, a location or scene that hasn’t yet been defined, an object or prop that was originally just ornamentation but a player suddenly wishes to use).

When you improvise these elements of a story, you are engaged in design. You need to prepare all of the things that the game designer would prepare as part of the design process, only at the table while under extreme time pressure. As such you need to identify the minimum key requirements of the design of each thing.

An NPC must have their own goals and reasons for cooperating/resisting cooperating with the player characters as well as an attitude, look, and any props. The NPC also has to have resources, information, and/or clues that may be useful to the players

A scene must either be a space to explore (with items of interest scattered about it), or it must have a clear goal with an obstacle or obstacles to overcome. All improvised scenes must have exits that lead back into the game. The scene must also contribute something valuable to the rhythm of the narrative (convey information, provide a moment of tension and excitement, or allow an emotional reaction).

A prop or object must have a use/purpose and a means of operation as well as a look/description.

When you improvise, you must make sure that the things you produce have a purpose and contribute something to the story. This means you MUST know your story, and your world, well enough to make a judgment about how to integrate your improvisation into it.

You must also beware of introducing anything to the game that will invalidate or mess with the planned elements of the story. Work to make sure your improvisation will serve the story rather than sabotage it.

Tip: Just as with rulings, record everything you improvise for the story. You never know when this location, character or object may come in handy further down the track. Once you have created a story element it becomes a persistent part of the world and, regardless of whether you would ever have reason to return to it, your players will remember it and will want to know it is still there should they decide they need to access it again.

Tip: Keep tools and aides on hand to help you with things you aren’t good at. If you struggle to come up with names, be sure to have a pre-generated name list on hand for those times when you create a new character for the players to interact with. If you don’t draw maps well on the fly, then have some pre-generated generic maps on hand Likewise, if you need some generic stat blocks and abilities to give some thugs you just created to kick down a door, keep some lists handy.

DONT WORRY ABOUT THE QUALITY OF YOUR IDEAS WHEN IMPROVISING

An improvised scene only becomes necessary where the players have wandered off the edges of the map prescribed by the planned adventure. As such it will rarely be the case that what you are generating on the fly will have more than a minor impact on the plot. As such, don’t obsess over the quality of the ideas you are coming up with. The fact is, when you are improvising, the okay idea you can make use of in-the-moment is more important (and more essential) than the great idea you might come up with next week.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Improvising – Chapter 6 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Unlike film, where the pace is controlled by cutting material together in a carefully chosen order, roleplaying takes place “live” at the table.

Scenes of high action and excitement, scenes with loads of tension and uncertainty, demand fast pace and fast resolution. Scenes that involve exposition, drama, emotion, and emphasis require a slowing of the pace. Unfortunately, the rules of roleplaying games (particularly the rules involved in the mini-games) tend to slam the brakes on right at the point that you, as the GM, want to ramp up the speed at which things are happening. It is actually far quicker to deliver an expositional scene than it is to resolve a combat scene.

The pace in a roleplaying game is controlled by the presentation of choices. Each time the narrative stops so you can ask “what do you do?”, the flow of the narrative is interrupted and the pace is brought to a halt. This is also true of each time a dice is rolled, each time the game is halted to consult a rule-book, each time the players or GM gets distracted, and each time you break into a mini-game within the larger narrative. To keep the illusion of pace going these “breaks” must be kept to a minimum and, ideally, need to occur only at meaningful points in the game where meaningful choices are being made.

The making of meaningful choices within a world while playing a character is the heart and soul of role-playing. As such, the players’ sense of pace is directly tied to how meaningfully they are presented with choices and to what extent meaningless choices are excluded from the game.

The most obvious and easy way to keep the flow of the game going is to skip empty time. Empty time should never be experienced by the players. Choices presented in empty time are not choices at all. They are the role-playing equivalent of “hit this button to continue”. If the players, while in their hotel room, indicate they want to visit the old house at the top of the hill, you want to avoid having an exchange like the following…

GM: You walk out of your hotel room. A corridor leads to other rooms on this floor and some stairs going down. What do you do now?

Player: We take the stairs.

GM: You enter the lobby, the front door leads outside, there are doors leading to the kitchen, and an administrative office, along with a set of stairs leading up to the guest rooms. What do you do now?

Player: We go outside.

GM: The street leads north up hill towards an old mansion. To the south it leads down into the centre of town. What do you do?

Player: We head north.

GM: You come to a crossroads. The East and West branches lead over some hills to neighbouring farms. What do you do?

Player: We continue north.

Etc.

As you can see this is boring. None of the decisions are meaningful. The time spent playing this out is “dead” time. The choice to continue in the direction the players have already stated they wish to go is a non-choice.

Far better to say “You walk out of the hotel and up the hill to the mansion. It is long abandoned and surrounded by weeds and tangled shrubbery. You stand on the somewhat rotted front porch. The door appears barred and planks have been nailed over most of the first-floor windows. What do you do?”

If you wish to present a decision before the players’ reach the destination made clear by their stated goal, only do so if they are encountering a meaningful obstacle or interruption.

You could have your players walk straight into Doc Halloway’s consulting rooms if that is where they wish to go, but if the Doctor is out on a house call you might have them stall at the door to the doctor’s office. This would be a (very minor) obstacle to their intention. The road leading to the offices being washed out might be another. Stopping to overcome an obstacle is a meaningful decision point in the narrative. Likewise having Jane West run-up to the characters and beg them to come and help her husband who just broke through and fell into an underground cavern while trying to dig a new well, constitutes a meaningful interruption of the players’ intent.

Unless and obstacle or interruption get’s in the way of the players’ intent, however, the empty time before the presentation of the next meaningful decision should always be skipped.

MANAGING EXITS

We noted that, from time to time, you will need to motivate your players to seek out an exit from the current scene. The most common reason will be to keep the pacing or flow of the story moving. It is far better to provide reasons to exit that pull the characters forward rather than try to push them. Characters who are pushed tend to resist. When chased by a monster, the characters tend to want to stop and fight it. When told that the Prince has a well-guarded secret library containing all the blackmail information he uses to maintain control of his Kingdom, the players tend to want to go and find it.

TIME

There are three kinds of time in a role-playing game; slow time, real-time, and elided time. The most obvious is real time, where decisions are being made and acted upon in the present. Slow time is the time taken to play through a mini-game; the few seconds of real-time that a combat would take broken down into multiple actions and dice rolls. Elided time is time skipped to avoid “dead” time. “Three days later you arrive at…” etc.

Slow time has a very obvious impact on the pace of the game (as the action heats up, the game slows down – a far from ideal situation and one that is unique to role-playing games), but so long as the choices players make are meaningful and interesting, the impact on the pace will not be negative. This is one of the key reasons that transitions between actions in a mini-game are important.

The combat mini-game, for example, is quite dull if it is not narrated.

GM:What do you do?

Player #1: I attack the wolf.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: You do 3 wounds of damage. Player 2, what do you do?

Player #2: I attack the wolf as well.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: You do 3 wounds of damage to the wolf as well. The wolf now attacks player #1.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: And you take 2 wounds of damage. What do you do?

Player #1: I attack the wolf.

<<Dice are rolled>>

GM: You kill the wolf.

Narration helps make the choices in the mini-game become meaningful and therefore gives the mini-game its sense of pace. When the outcome of a mini-game has been determined (it is no longer uncertain) then feel free to end the mini-game at that point. There is never a need to play it through to the end if the outcome is no longer in question.

Real-time is the most unpredictable time in the game. It is the time characters spend taking actions to achieve their goals. This time is highly variable. Again, the time should only be spent on achieving player goals. Once it is known whether or not the players can achieve their objectives, it is time to move on.

Elided time is the mechanism by which time, that would otherwise be spent without meaningful choices arising, is skipped. It is expressed through phrases such as “Two weeks later…”, “You walk into the next room…”, “After a short half hour’s rest…” etc.

When do you pick up the story again after eliding time? Usually, this is obvious. It is always at the next point that presents the players with a meaningful decision. This point is introduced by setting (or resetting) the scene (see Narrating Situations above) and querying the players regarding the actions they wish to take next.

VARYING THE PACE

Pacing is the speed at which things happen within a scene. The GM has a great deal of control over the pace of scenes via the narration, via an appropriate focus on the most urgent and attention-grabbing elements of the scene, via management of external interruptions to the game (dice rolls, distractions, consultation of the rules, etc.), and via the control of time. But the question remains; to what end should this control be exercised?

For a story to be satisfying you will want to vary the pace. Place your fast scenes between slow scenes. Provide relief from the tension created by exciting scenes by alternating them with scenes that focus on information and scenes that focus on emotion.

A useful pattern is to alternate scenes so that an informational scene leads to an action scene that leads to an emotional (reaction scene) that leads to another informational scene and so on.

The information discovered in the first scene should lead to the action in the second. The players then react and explore the emotional consequences of the action prior to going in search of further information. Information scenes, action scenes, and emotional (reaction) scenes tend to take up about one-third of the story each.

Players will become fatigued if all they encounter are action scenes. They need to rest and think and explore and react as well. Slow scenes give them this opportunity. Most players have an intuitive grasp of this. They will themselves stop, regroup, and discuss things if they feel the need for some respite from the action. A drawn-out transition is no substitute for this and you should not try to short-circuit this process if you notice it is happening.

Likewise, if all the scenes are contemplative exploration scenes that provide no sense of jeopardy, the players will become bored and start itching for a fight (even if it’s only with one another). If the players are bogged down in an endless spiral of naval gazing inactivity, feel free to have some ninjas kick down the door in order to get things moving again.

If you are using a pre-published module, it can be hard to vary scenes on the fly. The best solution is to improvise the scenes you need in order to keep the pace varied. The section below on improvising explains how you can do this (but be aware that this is an extremely advanced skill to master and will probably require a fair bit of practice before you have it perfected).

THE IMPACT OF PACE

Fast scenes tend to invite us to disengage our brains, engage our emotions (usually just one strong emotion at a time – fear, anger, joy, etc.), raise our anxiety, excite us, and make our hearts beat faster. Slow scenes, by contrast, engage our brains and invite us to pay attention to the details.

The main way we control the pacing of the scene is through the narration and its focus. If we slow down our exposition, start to get wordy and descriptive, focus on lots of details, and a leisurely sense of urgency (wherein the players feel they have time to explore and think without pressure) we are presenting a slow scene. If our sentences are short, concise, to the point, and care little for extraneous details, with a focus on things that demand the urgent attention of the players (and we impress on the players the time critical nature of their choices such that they realise opportunities to act are slipping through their fingers) we are presenting a fast scene.

By always skipping to interesting and meaningful decisions, recognizing the purpose of the scene (information, action, emotional reaction), adapting the narration to that purpose, and by varying the type of scene that the players encounter, you will maintain an effective pace.

TONE

A game’s tone is established in terms of what does and does not “feel” right within it. It is the emotional comfort the GM (and players) have with the activity taking place in the story. A hard science fiction world has a different tone to a world in which cartoonish physics is commonplace. If you violate the tone of your game it achieves two things. Firstly it breaks your players (and your own) willing suspension of disbelief – immersion is lessened – and it makes it harder for players to predict the consequences of the actions they take within the world. Since decision making is severely impacted by this and meaningful decisions cannot occur where players are unable to predict how their choices will be handled, the second impact is by far the more serious.

The tone of a game can shift to allow comic relief or to increase the drama, but it must do so within fairly narrow limits and in a way that is consistent with the basic rules of the world. Magic must behave the same way today, tomorrow, and forever, and should not vary wildly because you found a way to milk it for a joke in one situation only to treat it like a form of rules-bound trigonometry in another. Likewise, the physics of your world must be tonally consistent. The ability to leap fifty feet into the air and balance on a twig floating on a lake may be appropriate in a Wuxia style story, but it won’t work if suddenly introduced to a gritty hard-boiled detective story. It is important, for pacing reasons, that the tone of your game shift a little from scene to scene, but wild swings in tone are always a bad idea and should not be entertained without a strong story-based justification, one that introduces a consistent change to the way the world works.

It’s part of your job to police the tone of your game. Trust your gut at those times when a player in your gritty detective-noir world decides they want to be known as Jake Poo-Poo-Splat-Bing the Third. Veto those things which mess with the tone.

Improvisation is an advanced GMing skill that you have to learn and develop from the very beginning. This is horribly unfair, but also unavoidable. Regardless of how well constructed a pre-published module (or your own game preparation) might be, at some point in the game you are going to be called on to improvise because, at some point in the game, the players are going to do something you don’t expect. They will try to perform an action that you haven’t considered before and need to figure out if it is possible, or they will go somewhere and talk to someone that the module didn’t anticipate. Sometimes you will find that, for pacing and tonal purposes, you need to insert an action, information, or an emotional (reaction) scene. In any of these cases, you are being called upon to improvise.

Why is improvisation an advanced skill? After all, the GM is just roleplaying the world. In many ways, it differs little from what the players are doing constantly, except that it involves you responding to player choices on the basis of your knowledge of the entire world rather than (as is the case for players) your knowledge of a single character you are playing. Well, while this is true, the added complexity should be obvious and, where you are called upon to create new scenes, you face the pressure of becoming a game designer (with a super-tight deadline and extremely high, in-the-moment, pressure to perform.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking improvisation is simply making things up on the fly. This is a personal observation, but as I approach nearly 40 years of sitting at tables playing in RPGs I shudder to think of how many GMs I’ve known who have taken pride in coming to the table unprepared, and of how many hours of my time have been wasted playing games that were mediocre simply because preparation wasn’t taken seriously. As I get older, time becomes much more precious to me, and the waste of time involved in sitting at the table with a lazy GM who hasn’t prepared adequately and, worse still, takes pride in their lack of preparation (“oh, I never prepare – I just improvise great games”) results in a LOT of resentment on my part – and I’m not alone in feeling that way. Playing an RPG is a time-intensive pursuit. I don’t get to game as often as I once did, and arriving at the table to find the GM hasn’t prepared and that the party spends one third or more of game time wandering around without a goal or focus because the GM “just wants to go with the flow and see what happens” is an insulting waste of my time.

Improvisation (done properly and well) requires all the planning and effort that goes into good module design, only it has to happen in-the-moment, and under great time pressure. As a result, and before we get into how you go about it, we need to talk about when it should happen and the risks that it exposes your game to.

Never improvise when you don’t have to. Snap decisions have a tendency to result in unpredictable consequences. These consequences can break the predictability of your world by accidentally introducing anachronistic and inconsistent elements to your game. The world you plan is more likely to be consistent and predictable (and players require predictability/consistency in order to make meaningful choices) than the world you construct on the fly. Anachronism has a tendency to break the willing suspension of disbelief your players bring to the table and you really don’t want the players to start questioning how much the world makes sense. You can guarantee that if they are, they have pretty much stopped having fun.

Secondly, if you do have to improvise, do so as minimally as possible. That is, do the minimum of improvisation necessary to respond to the players’ actions while continuing with the game as planned.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Maintaining Pace and Tone – Chapter 5 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

We’re going to digress for a moment to let you in on one of the best-kept secrets in gaming; the rules of the mini-games (such as combat, chases, social conflict, and vehicular combat) within a roleplaying game are all completely optional. They provide a helpful way to keep score and determine when certain types of interaction have ended, but they aren’t essential and should be dropped whenever you have a good reason to do so.

Combat, a chase, a social conflict, or a bi-plane dogfight high in the sky are all simply means used by the players to achieve an objective. Combat etc. occurs when the players (or the NPCs) attempt to achieve their goals through violence. You can always resolve the situations dealt with in the mini-games by using the standard query, adjudicate, resolve pattern above. The mini-games themselves could, in this way, be dispensed with entirely.

So why are the mini-games included? They provide a scoring mechanism and a means to model certain actions at a higher level of abstraction. In short, they provide a useful administrative tool for the GM, one that identifies the conditions of success and failure in a way that is seen to be both clear and fair by most players.

The mini-games also, however, represent a speed-bump in your game. They slow things down substantially, usually breaking what would, in real-world terms, be a fairly quick exchange into something that takes considerably longer to play out at the table.

For this reason you, want to ensure that you are always aware of the following; even within a mini-game players are simply declaring and resolving actions, the rules are optional, and reference to the rules should be avoided wherever possible (don’t slow things down further by opening the rulebook to look things up unless you absolutely have to).

Further, you want to ensure that you transition into and out of each player’s turn with narration while you are in the mini-game.

Because narrative is what drives the game forward, you need to ensure that each player’s turn in the mini-game begins and ends with narrative. You need to move the focus of attention from player to player, turn by turn, using short narrative transitions.

These transitions should only be about a sentence long but should accomplish the same things that they do when moving between player actions within a scene.

The narration at the beginning of a players turn must locate the player in relation to what is happening around them (either establishing the situation or recapping the current circumstances) and acquaint them with those things that are clamoring for their attention with the greatest urgency.

“To your left and right your companions are locked in desperate hand to hand combat with the pirates. One large, burly pirate with a red sash is charging towards you swinging his cutlass, and it appears that another is attempting to swing one of the cannons around to point at your group. What do you do?”

“The mayor appears to be considering your arguments carefully, but there is still doubt in his eyes, and you can also see the growing impatience of his secretary as she watches the clock tick ever closer to his next appointment. What do you do?”

After the action has been declared (remember that even in the mini-games you need to identify both what the player wants to do and how they want to do it) and resolved, you need to reset the scene and narrate the outcome and consequences.

“You stab the charging pirate in the stomach, neatly sidestepping his lunge and sending him, lifeless, to the deck. Your companions are all still occupied with attacking pirates, and the cannon is now aimed directly at you. Worse, it looks like one of the pirates, not currently engaged in the fight, is about to touch off the powder.”

“Commenting on how the bandits have negatively affected the tourist trade, causes the mayor’s brow to furrow with frustration. He has heard this many times from different townsfolk. He’s not interested further analysis. He needs solutions.”

Lastly, you need to transition to the next player’s turn.

“Sally, you see all this but are currently grappling with a swarthy pirate of your own – one who is pressing in and trying to grapple with you for control of your pistol. What do you do?”

“Sally, you see the mayor’s increased frustration and sense his need for a solution. What do you do?”

This process of transitioning into and out of each turn within the mini-games (whether the game concerns combat, social interaction, or a chase etc.) is one of the keys to keeping the game flowing.

You create a sense of urgency by emphasizing the greatest threats within the current location and by demanding that players state their actions quickly in order to avoid losing their actions because they are being indecisive.

Chases

Chases, like combat and other scenes, can be improved with planning. In a pinch, rolling obstacles on a randomized table will work fine, but a little bit of preparation will go a long way towards increasing the enjoyment provided by the scene.

To begin with, determine what sparks the chase. What prompts the chasers to pursue the chasee? Are they looking to assassinate their quarry? Did the quarry take something they want? Have they been given a grievous insult? Be sure of what the chase is trying to achieve. In most cases, the chaser is trying to catch or kill the chasee, but in some, the chase is about recovering an object from the chasee or something else. As for the chasee, they are usually trying to escape. But ask yourself where to, and whether they are leading the chasers into a trap or away from something else etc. Be clear what the objective is for both parties and what, if anything, would cause them to abandon the chase.

Specify the conditions that end the chase. The combat board has a chase track on it. Perhaps your chase ends with the quarry being lost after 8 spaces on the board have been traversed. Perhaps you need to make the track shorter. Perhaps another circumstance triggers the end (such as discarding the golden idol the heroes are carrying). Be clear about when the chase will finish.

Okay, now treat it as a scene where obstacles arise in series to interfere with the players’ chances of achieving their goals. As noted before, you can randomly determine the obstacles, but if you have time it is almost always better to plan them out to suit your specific scene.

Lastly, prepare your resolution. What happens if the heroes are caught? What if they escape? What if the bad guy escapes? What happens if the police get involved, etc.? If you know the answers to these questions you won’t have any trouble running your chase scene.

Combat

Designing a fun combat experience is an art form. The key to it lies in the design of the environment. Wherever possible populate the environment with things the players can use. If the battlefield is a garden, then make sure there are abandoned rakes, pruning shears, wheelbarrows, sacks of horse manure etc. around that the combatants might make use of. If it’s a cave fill the space with dangling roots, stalagmites, and stalactites, mud pools, shards of crystal etc. Add obstacles that both hinder and help the heroes. Be creative. You can even impact the mood of a scene by your placement of objects and enemies. If the heroes are standing on a ridge looking down at the enemy, the mood is quite different from one in which they stand at a low elevation looking up at a cliff wall bristling with spears.

Your selection of opponents is the next thing to consider after the environment. In order to keep things balanced, we have some general guidelines to apply when throwing opponents at your heroes.

Henchmen are the weakest level of opponent. They are usually intended to function as the hapless fools who rush our heroes guns and get mowed down in droves. Essentially they make our heroes feel heroic and competent.by not providing too great a challenge. They tend to be used exclusively in the first half of any given adventure.

Henchmen are represented by a wound pool. Don’t think of them as a group of individuals so much as a swarm that tries to lay some smack down on each of the heroes every turn. Every successful attack by the heroes results in a kill (or a bad guy being put out of the fight if the heroes are trying to be non-lethal). When the pool of wound points reaches zero the bad guys have fled or died.

Henchmen need not be humans. They can be anything that the plot calls for (alligators, psychic squid monsters from another dimension, gangsters, mutated chimpanzees, etc.). The important point to note is that they are relatively weak but plentiful.

Give them a generic description (one that will bring them to life) but don’t bother differentiating them from one another too much (or at all).

If you want a balanced fight, give the henchman a pool of wounds equal to the total wounds belonging to your group of heroes. This will keep things pretty even during the fight. But, DO NOT FOR A MINUTE THINK YOU MUST BALANCE FIGHTS. It is perfectly acceptable, in a world full of obstacles of varying strength, to hit your heroes with an occasional bunch of weak opponents.

Set the NPC modifier to novice (-2) or standard (0). Generally, henchmen do not undertake targeted attacks. They either fight using standard or frenzied attacks.

Named Servants are significantly tougher (and fewer) than henchmen. They tend to appear in the second half of an adventure when the stakes are starting to rise. When adding Named Servants your descriptions will want to be more personalized. Differentiate them from each other, the henchmen and the boss villain.

Let’s say you are throwing a tribe of intelligent alligators at your heroes. The general horde (of henchmen) should be virtually indistinguishable “green, scaly, ranging in length from 5 to 9 feet, with sharp claws and gleaming teeth through which they huff their fetid breath”. The lieutenants of the horde (named servant) are three in number. All are 15 feet long. One has a large scar over one eye, another has a hump, and the last is unmarked but unusually quick.

To give them wounds, take the total of the heroes’ wounds and divide them in half. Apply the number to each of the named villains in the adventure. Each of the named villains gets that many wound points each. Because this generally puts a lone named villain at a disadvantage, field them in groups or singly but in combination with a horde of henchmen.

A well-armed group of heroes will usually make short work of a lone villain, regardless of how strong, unless the villain can do multiple attacks each phase. By adding more villains or giving the villain more attacks you even the odds.

Named servants should be given NPC modifiers of skilled (+2) or expert (+5) and, don’t forget, they can earn action points by using the environment in their actions just like the heroes can. They can also use targeted attacks, trying to strategically damage weapons or disable characters.

Villains are the big bosses of the adventure. There is usually only one (though there is no reason the villain could not be a cabal of sorcerers if you so choose). Be sure to give the boss extra attacks (or supporting numbers) to keep the fight a challenge. Your villain should have wounds equal to twice the total of your team of heroes. Give your villain the best description you can. “The chief of the alligator tribe is twice the size of the others. and 6 feet wide. It is old (possibly one thousand years) and shares more in common with its dinosaur ancestors than its more recent offspring. One eye gleams redly with predatory intelligence while the other is milky. Its bellow is enough to cause rockslides on the distant hills and cause flocks of birds to take to the air. Armored hide and foot long razor sharp teeth grin wickedly at you as it positions itself for combat with frightening speed.”

Villains should always have expert NPC modifiers (+5) applied, can make targeted actions, and can earn action points by making use of the environment in their actions.

Just as it is perfectly acceptable to hit the heroes with a weak opponent from time to time, it doesn’t hurt to remind them that the world is full of things far stronger than they are as well. If you do throw certain death at them, however, make sure you telegraph that the fight will not be survivable. Players are often poor judges of when it is time to run away so be sure to give them plenty of warning (coming across the corpses of the uber-marines who kicked their butts in the practice ring yesterday or something similar is a good signal).

If you do construct your own opponents then give a little bit of thought to how they might coordinate (or not). A team of soldiers might try to hold the entrance while runners go for reinforcements or raise the alarm. A group of sandworms might strike and attempt to down and drag away victims to eat leaving their compatriots to the fight.

When vehicles are involved don’t forget to apply the damage to the vehicle’s armor before applying it to any occupants. The occupants can only be hit after the armor has been dealt with. Likewise, targeted actions cannot be used to blow the gas-tank while armor still protects the vehicle.

Are social actions different?

The simple answer is no. Player actions and GM adjudication is no different when a social interaction takes place than when any other interaction is occurring. The player wants to achieve something, they attempt to achieve it in a particular way, and the GM is called upon to adjudicate the outcome.

A character may wish to get information from the witness to a brutal murder. That is the thing they wish to achieve. They then may choose a number of means of achieving that end. They may threaten, persuade, bribe, etc.

The complicating factor with regard to social actions is that, unlike a door or wall, the acted upon can react in a broader number of ways in return. Determining whether the action is likely to achieve a desired result, figuring out whether to roll the dice and adjudicating the outcome can seem complicated as a result… but they aren’t.

To adjudicate this kind of action you need to know whether the NPC is favourably disposed towards the player characters, whether there is a reason for them to withhold their aid, and what that reason is, whether they can be influenced one way or the other, and what sorts of actions will likely move them in one direction or the other, and, significantly from a dramatic point of view, what’s at stake in the outcome.

Armed with this knowledge you are able to adjudicate the situation easily.

For example, in the case of our murder witness, if we decide he or she is basically an upstanding citizen who sees the players positively and wants to do the right thing but is terrified that by speaking out his/her loved ones will be put at risk, you can more or less adjudicate the outcome fairly easily. All the elements for an interesting scene are present.

The characters have an aim: they wish to gather information from the witness.

There is a conflict: The witness is afraid and does not wish to provide that information.

There is an obstacle: The level of fear the witness has regarding the safety of his/her family.

If the players approach with threats, the NPC might respond by stubbornly clamming up, or maybe they are timid enough to capitulate (that’s up to you), but the threat will need to be pretty strong if it is going to overcome the fear they are already experiencing. The NPC may be extreme enough in their responses to make the outcome an easy decision (no dice rolls), or you may call for a skill test (intimidate perhaps). Regardless of how you choose to respond, the NPC is likely to no longer be positively disposed towards the characters.

If the players approach with persuasion, the NPC might be won over (no dice roll required) or maybe it doesn’t seem so clear (roll the dice). Perhaps the NPC is persuaded but still won’t help until the characters provide some guarantees regarding the safety of the NPCs loved ones.

If the players approach with the offer of a reward, or witness protection, etc. it may be that these will entice the NPC into providing the information they are looking for.

With or without a dice roll (and whether to roll depends on how certain you feel the NPCs response will be) you can tell fairly easily whether a player’s actions are likely to overcome or strengthen the obstacle between them and cooperation. It may take some teasing out to uncover the player’s aim in an interaction (don’t be afraid to ask) and see what is taking place. It may be helpful to think of the action as being encapsulated in the conversation fragment that reveals the aim and method of the action.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Managing the Mini-Games – Chapter 4 – HYOOTRD RPG Game Master’s Guide appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

QUERYING YOUR PLAYERS

When you have presented the scene to the players it is time to find out what they want to do next (query them). The easiest way is to simply ask. “What do you want to do?” is a perfectly satisfactory way to begin eliciting the actions your players want to carry out. You are interested in two things in particular and, until you have them, you may need to ask a few clarifying questions.

Firstly you are interested in what the player wants to achieve – “get over the fence” – “convince the mayor to release the prisoners” – “smash the mind control device”.

Secondly, you are interested in how the player aims to achieve this – “using a rope and grappling hook” – “using threats and intimidation” – “hitting it with a hammer”.

Without both of these bits of information, it is impossible to adjudicate the outcome. Without both pieces of information, you will not be able to determine how to adjudicate the outcome.

You have to know how the player is going to attempt to get over a fence before you can call for the appropriate dice roll (or even decide if a dice roll is necessary). You have to know what the player is going to use the hammer for before you can decide whether the action is successful or not.

If the player is being ambiguous, keep asking questions until you are confident you know what they want to do and how they are going to go about doing it.

Don’t allow players to simply call for a skill check (e.g. “I want to roll my psychology skill”). Always explore further and determine what they hope to achieve and how they hope to achieve (e.g. “I want to determine if the Mayor is lying by closely watching his body language”). The players tell you what it is they want to do and how, but it is up to you to determine what skill check(s) may be involved.

There’s no hard and fast rule about who gets to go first declaring their actions in a game. You can simply go round the circle asking players to state their actions one at a time, or you can ask them according to some kind of marching order. You can deal with one group of players first, and then another. You can let players volunteer their actions on a first come – first served basis. In combat, the order is determined on the basis of an initiative roll. So long as everyone gets their say, it really doesn’t matter.

Don’t worry if players start to modify their actions in light of what the other players are doing, even after they have told you what they wish to do. No action is ever really set in concrete until the dice are rolled or you declare a result. Just keep going until everyone is satisfied that what they wish to achieve and how they wish to achieve it has been communicated and understood.

Generally speaking, you will want to resolve actions as soon as they are clearly identified rather than waiting for everyone at the table to state their actions before beginning adjudication.

ADJUDICATING ACTIONS

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Is the outcome that the player is looking for possible? The first thing to work out is whether, given the result of your query, the constraints of the world you are playing in, the action the player wishes to undertake is even possible. A lot of things impact this. Generally, you will want to err on the side of treating most actions as possible. The world of radio drama is (and I am aware of the irony of using this term) cinematic. This means that the action is heightened for greater excitement. Players can crash through glass windows without being cut to ribbons. They can swing on chandeliers without the apparatus giving way under their weight. They can smash a chair or bottle over the head of an opponent. All these things are actually fairly implausible in the real world but are commonplace in cinema and radio drama. Be careful to be consistent in the way you bring your world to life. If you decide magical fire can be put out, be consistent and don’t arbitrarily decide on another occasion that magical fire is magical and therefore can’t be put out.

Next, determine whether the method the player wishes to use could actually work. It might be possible to get across the chasm, but it may not be possible to simply jump it (a rope, bridge or other means may be required). If it is clear that the action being attempted, or the method the player chooses to use to attempt it, can’t possibly succeed then the action fails.

When an action the player is attempting is impossible, there is good reason to believe that a misunderstanding has occurred.

“I want to leap over the edge and attack the spear throwers in the riverbed.”

“You leap over the edge and are killed by the fall”.

“Wait, what? How big a drop is it?”

“Two hundred feet”.

“But I thought it was just a low embankment”.

Don’t let situations like the above happen. If a player attempts an impossible action, probe a bit further to make sure they understand why the situation is impossible.

“I want to leap over the edge and attack the spear throwers in the riverbed.”

“The embankment you are standing on is nearly 200 feet above them. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?

“What, no. I thought it was just a low embankment. I get my rifle out and sight it at one of the spear throwers who looks in charge”.

Sometimes a simple clarification is enough.

“I try to jump the chasm.”

“You can see that the chasm is too wide for that to be possible. You’ll need to find another way over”.

Sometimes the player doesn’t know an action is impossible because they have encountered something new. In such cases it is fine to play out the consequences, just make sure you explain the reason to the player.

“I try to put out the magical fire by smothering it with a blanket”.

“You try to smother the fire, but, try as you might, it keeps burning. The magical nature of the fire makes it impossible to smother.”

Regardless, if the goal or the method used to achieve it are impossible then the action fails.

CAN IT FAIL WITH CONSEQUENCE?

If the action that the player wishes to undertake (the result of your query) is possible, then you need to decide if there is a chance it can fail or not. Actions that are possible without any chance of failure just happen.

Actions which can be repeated indefinitely until they succeed (even if there is a chance of failure in any given attempt) also just happen. The exception to this is where the action that is repeated is likely to draw attention that will interrupt further attempts or where there is a specific time limit (ticking clock) in place.

For example, there is no reason you should ask players to continually attempt to open a door if there is nothing to stop them from eventually succeeding in opening it after repeated tries. In such a case the attempt should simply succeed. If however, a regular guard patrol is likely to interrupt them if they don’t succeed quickly, or if their chosen method of opening the door (say, breaking it down with an axe) is likely to attract unwanted attention, then there is a good reason to treat the attempt at the action (opening the door) as uncertain.

Once you know whether the action is uncertain and failure could occur, you need to determine whether there are significant consequences that follow from the failure. For example, leaping a pit that opens onto a 30-foot drop onto razor-sharp spikes has a significant consequence if the player fails. A leap across a pit that is only two feet deep and can be simply climbed out of on the other side with ease, has no significant consequence attached to it, even if the leap itself might prove unsuccessful.

Don’t call for a dice roll where there is no chance of failure, where repeated attempts can be undertaken freely without interruption, or where the failure is inconsequential. In any of these cases, the action should automatically succeed.

CONSEQUENCES

It’s only worth calling for a dice roll when there are consequences, so it is essential you have a clear idea of what those consequences will be before you call for a roll.

Sometimes the consequences of success and failure are obvious. “You negotiate for a good price on the shotgun and manage to get it for way under cost.” “You fire your rifle at the villain and miss”.

At other times you will want to have consequences that are dependent on the extent of the success or failure. In this game, this is determined by the use of a consequence roll. The consequence roll for a success is the difference between uncovering all the information you were looking for and getting some nice hints. The consequence of a failure is the difference between simply being unable to open the door, and tripping the silent alarm, or bringing the automated countermeasures online. Beware, however, of ridiculous consequences. Remember that, in as much as the guideline is important for player actions and reactions, it is equally important when considering the behavior of a piece of the world (a non-player character, item, or element within your world) that you determine whether the action being taken is possible. You may be tempted to treat a catastrophic consequence roll in such a way that it results in a particularly humorous or ludicrous result, but, if the result you determine is impossible, it will break the verisimilitude of your world. Don’t do this.

The consequences of an action, whether successful or not, alter the world in some significant way. They can be immediate or long term with regard to how the players experience them.

Consequences are usually attendant on the method used by the players to achieve the goal. Smashing a door down, rather than picking the lock, is noisy and may alert guards or the inhabitants of the room being entered etc. (an immediate consequence). Threatening a well-liked shopkeeper to get information might result in the animosity of the town’s entire Chamber of Commerce, making future interactions very difficult (a longer term consequence).

Successful actions can have negative consequences and failures can be beneficial. Threatening the shopkeeper can gather the information being sought but makes it more difficult to gain cooperation elsewhere in town. Failing to pick the lock may mean the guards remain unaware of the players’ presence in the complex.

The important thing is that you have decided on the consequences and that they flow from the method used by the players to achieve their goals.

Tip: It can be useful to think of outcomes in terms of, what some people refer to as, a hierarchy of consequences;

• Yes, and: the action succeeds and a positive consequence applies.
• Yes, but: the action succeeds and a negative consequence applies.
• No, and : the action fails and a negative consequence applies.
• No, but : the action fails and a positive consequence applies.

DOES THE ACTION NEED TO BE BROKEN DOWN INTO SUB-ACTIONS?

Actions are generally simple – fire a gun, jump a crevice, climb a wall, throw a punch. As such they don’t take much time. In combat, this is built into the system. Sometimes, however, it is tempting to break the action down into a number of dice rolls. While this is perfectly allowable, I would recommend against it most of the time. If the player expresses what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it, you should only need a single dice roll to resolve it. However, if you feel the action being attempted is complex you can break it down into multiple actions.

For example, the player might say they wish to fire on the enemy from the cover of a nearby cliff. It would be perfectly reasonable to ask how they wish to reach that cover (as an action) before resolving the shot (in the next round if reaching the cliff is successful).

When a declared action is more of a process made up of smaller actions, work backward from the goal to arrive at each of the steps;

Fire on the enemy <— Get behind cover <— Climb to the ledge <— Run to the cliff wall.

Clearly communicate the steps you believe must be completed to achieve the goal to the player. It is possible they expected the action to be much simpler and may wish to alter their declaration accordingly. That is fine and the player should be allowed to change their action. No action is set in stone until the dice are rolled. And no player should ever be forced to undertake an action that was not genuinely their intent.

Successes here count as progress towards the goal. Failures interrupt that progress and demand that the player adjust either the method they are using or the goal itself.

Remember there should be consequences attendant on success or failure, otherwise, the step should be treated as an automatic success (or possibly shouldn’t exist at all).

If the player who wishes to do fire from the cliff-face is setting up an ambush and there are no opponents or other reasons why they are likely to be interrupted, then the process of getting into position on the ledge should probably be treated as a simple action with an automatic success. If, however, there are obstacles in the way or the scene is dynamic and changing in such a way that new factors are constantly intruding upon the action (lava is flowing across the floor, or a pitched battle is occurring in the space the player must cross), or the enemy is approaching such that getting into position is a race against time, then treating the action as a process requiring multiple dice rolls with consequences attendant on each success or failure is totally appropriate.

HOW HARD IS THE ACTION?

Generally speaking, most attempted actions can be assumed to be easy. That is, while it is possible to fail at them, they can be attempted and completed by anyone.

Player characters within the world of radio are considered to be exceptional by default and so they attempt most actions with their action-bonuses unaffected.

Despite this, even actions deemed possible by the GM can vary in terms of their difficulty. Difficult actions are harder to complete and attract a penalty to dice rolls (applied after any other bonuses have been added).

There are a total of 11 grades of difficulty that can be applied to actions. Most of the time, actions are standard and require little effort to identify, but sometimes you may want to think a bit more deeply about the level of challenge that the action your players wish to undertake presents.

Below is a chart that can be used as a guide to the penalties to be applied for different levels of challenge.

The chart isn’t exhaustive, but merely a guide. You will have to estimate the amount of challenge that different activities present – BUT if you define the majority of challenges as easy, then you won’t go too far wrong.

Easy: This action can be completed by anyone (running, playing chess etc.): no penalty.

Standard: A typical physical or mental challenge (outrunning pursuit, solving a logic puzzle): – 1 to dice rolls.

Difficult: All difficult physical or mental challenges (winning a championship sprint, beating a chess champion): -2 to dice rolls.

Challenging: Some very difficult physical or mental challenges (placing in an Olympic sprint, achieving grandmaster rank in chess) : -3 to dice rolls.

Very Difficult (levels 1 to 3): All very difficult physical or mental challenges (winning an Olympic sprint, beating the world champion at chess): from -4 to -6 to dice rolls.

Extreme (levels 1 to 3): Some extreme physical or mental challenges (winning an Olympic sprint by half the length of the field, beating the world champion at chess in the minimum possible moves while blindfolded): from -7 to -9 to dice rolls.

Titanic: All extreme physical or mental challenges (outrunning, on foot, a car full of Tommy-gun wielding gangsters while snatching bullets out of the air with your bare hands, beating 5 grandmasters at chess while blindfolded and at the same time deciphering an alien language): -10 to dice rolls.

PASSIVE SKILLS

One class of skills requires some special explanation. These have come to be known as passive skills and relate to things the characters passively know already rather than actively learn. The characters that the players assume for the purposes of the game often know things the players themselves do not. A player might play a chemist with a grasp of six languages and the ability to differentiate seventeen different types of tobacco ash even though in the real world he or she never engages in science, can barely speak the mother tongue, and doesn’t smoke. When such a player encounters a letter written in French it is typical to ask for a skill roll to determine if it can be read. However, you might want to handle it quite differently. You wouldn’t ask players to roll the dice to determine if they can read their mother tongue (it is assumed they can), neither does it make sense to call for a roll of the dice to determine whether they know things they have already learned as part and parcel of gaining a particular skill – and a dice roll always impedes the flow of the story. Instead, you might rather assign the knowledge a specific difficulty (from 0 to 10 based on how common or archaic the dialect etc.). On the basis of the character’s skill in French, as represented by the number of dots they have put into the skill, you can determine whether they can read the letter simply be comparing their skill with that of the difficulty you have assigned to it. So long as you have the characters’ ability scores written down in front of you, there is no need to roll the dice.

Likewise, on entering a location, you could call for a perception roll to uncover anything the players notice that is out of the ordinary. Alternatively, you could simply compare the players’ perception skill to a predetermined difficulty score in order to determine what they see. What they see could then be incorporated into the scene setting exposition without the need for a dice roll.

WHAT SKILL WILL THE PLAYER NEED TO EMPLOY TO COMPLETE THE ACTION?

You should make sure you have a list of the players’ skills and abilities in front of you throughout the game. Because players invent their own skills (if you are not using pre-generated characters) it is essential you know what they are and how they work. It is also important that you have discussed them (and their limitations) with your players prior to play.

Most of the time, the skill needed to accomplish an action will be fairly obvious. In fact, characters in a game set in the world of radio drama are assumed to be able to do most things unless they require specialist training, even if they haven’t listed those things as specific skills. All characters can, for example, try to pick a lock, hot-wire a car, or improvise a bow and arrow. If they haven’t listed such a skill then simply assume they can attempt it as if they have a single dot in it.

Skills that require specific and lengthy training need to be listed specifically if they are to be attempted. While anyone can be expected to know how to maintain a car, and while heroes in the world of radio drama can be expected to be able to conduct basic repairs (at one dot), they probably can’t build a car from the ground up using parts found at the scrap yard without a suitable skill being explicitly listed on their character sheet.

Part of determining whether the action is possible is figuring out whether the character wanting to take the action actually has the skill to accomplish it. You should already know if the action is possible, if the skill is one the character can use, and, where the skill is not part of the character’s explicit skill list, how difficult it is.

But what if there is more than one relevant skill to choose from? In this case, choose the skill that will give the player the highest chance of success. In deciding to call for a dice roll you should always err in the character’s favor.

Sometimes a player will suggest a skill they wish to use. This is okay, in so far as it goes, but ultimately it is your role as the GM to decide which skill is the most appropriate to be used to achieve a specific goal via a specific method. If the player says “can I make a perception check to see if there are any hidden compartments in the cupboard?” they’ve indicated the goal (find hidden compartments) but not really a method of achieving the goal. By asking what method the player wants to use (“I smash it open with an ax”) you can assess whether the dice roll they wish to use is appropriate or not – “Okay, I don’t think perception is what you want here, roll the dice using your ax-manship skill”.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post Advanced Play – Part 2 – Chapter 3 – HYOOTRD RPG GM’s GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

Chapter 1: The Job of the GM

The primary responsibility and characteristics of the GM

In the introduction to our player’s guide (an essential resource that you should read before attempting this volume), we mentioned that Role Playing Games are a form of dialog. Remember the fundamental exchange we quoted;

GM: What do you want to do?

Player: I want to do X.

GM: When you attempt that <<often requiring dice rolls>>, this happens… What do you want to do?

Well, where our player’s guide was aimed at helping players understand and engage in the player portion of the conversation, this GM’s guide is intended as a guide to Game Masters.

What is a game master, you ask?

A game master is responsible for everything that happens in response to player actions. Where players are responsible for the characters they play, the GM is responsible for everyone else the players encounter, as well as being responsible for bringing the world to life for the players, and adjudicating the rules and dice rolls that make the game possible.

But even beyond these things, the GM has one MAJOR responsibility, and that is to ensure everyone at the table has fun.

Understood in this way, the GM’s role is utterly pivotal to the success of the game. Not only is the GM responsible for bringing the story to life, but also acts as referee, guardian of fairness, smoother-over of ruffled player feelings, and maintainer of a positive table.

Daunting isn’t it?

Still, it is also incredibly rewarding. Seeing your group of players have fun and leave the table talking about the great game they had (possibly for years to come if you “knock one out of the park”), watching your idea for a story come to life, or seeing that off-the-cuff character you invented to meet an unexpected game circumstance take on flesh and blood, all these things are hugely rewarding and creative endeavours.

They are also a lot of work, and being a good GM requires commitment and lots of practice.

But, right now, we want to focus on some fundamentals. The primary characteristic of a good GM, beyond creativity, and a willingness to work hard, is… unselfishness.  If you are primarily concerned with how the GM’s role meets your own needs, you are going to fail to run an effective game at the table.  Below are some common mistakes, beginning GMs make by misunderstanding this key point.

If you see the role of the GM as a competition between yourself and the players, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. It’s an easy trap to fall into, particularly if you are a competitive sort- seeing yourself as being in competition with the team of players at the table and seeing it as your job to “beat” them – but the GM’s job is not to “beat” the players.  It is to be the facilitator and impartial referee of an unfolding story.  If you turn the game into a competition in which you set out to be the winner, then you might be thoroughly enjoying yourself, but no-one else will be.  The power to shape events inherent in the GM’s role far outweighs that of any group of players.  If the GM is adversarial in his/her approach then the players don’t have a chance (and will find the experience miserable).

Creative types can be selfish too.  If you see the role of GM as a means of showing off your creativity by telling your carefully crafted stories in such a way that you corral your player’s choices to the point they are merely the passive audience for your genius, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. Players want to take part in the story, shaping it through their actions and making it their own via their own choices.  If you are determined to be the sole creative force in the game, then you will stifle and limit the choices made by your players for the sake of your own vision of what direction the events should follow.  This will frustrate your players (who will feel like they are not contributing anything meaningful to the experience and, regardless of how good a story you are telling, will feel (rightly) that they are not being allowed to participate.  A roleplaying game is a game and not a book.  Interaction and participation is key.  If you limit interaction for the sake of your vision of the story, you might be thoroughly enjoying yourself but no one else will be.

Watch out for the desire to be in charge as well.  Being a GM does require a fair degree of people management skill.  You are responsible for getting the game happening, keeping the players focused, etc.  It can be a heady feeling to be in charge.  But if you indulge in the role just to be in charge and fail to put in the work necessary to entertain your players, you will quickly gain a reputation for running a joyless table.  If you see the role of GM as primarily one of being in charge, and you are unwilling to put in the work necessary to provide a great experience for your players, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. You might be thoroughly enjoying yourself but no one else will be.

If however, you look beyond yourself and see the role of the GM as hard work, true, but a creatively rewarding task aimed at ensuring everyone at the table has fun, then your players will love coming to your table, and you will have met your primary responsibility… and by choosing the path of unselfish GMing you will have found the key to your own enjoyment as well.

If you want to help your players enjoy themselves at your table, then this book is for you.

Getting a game together

Old hands at role-playing games generally have an established network of players to draw from (and should feel free to skip over this section) but if you are new to RPGs this section may be helpful in gathering your first table.

Typically role-players are awful at explaining their hobby to others without sounding like they are from Mars. You’ll want to avoid doing a bad job of this, if at all possible.

Let’s assume you have some friends that you want to invite to your table for a game (four to six players works best). There are definitely some things you want to avoid doing.  Don’t start explaining the rules (your listeners will be lost after 10 seconds), don’t explain why it’s fun (people can figure that out for themselves), and don’t monologue (whatever their interest level you will turn them off with a monologue). Instead, following the advice of Scott Rehm (the Angry GM – who developed these questions) present a really quick pitch and give them the opportunity to ask questions.

“Hey, I’ve got this great new game I want to try out. In it, you are like Indiana Jones or those folks from the Mummy movies and you have a mystery/adventure to solve or quest to complete (like “find the kidnapped heiress” or “prevent the sacrifice from going ahead on Skull Island” or “discover the lost treasure of Ubar”). Are you interested?”

Then allow them to ask questions.

Make sure your answers are short and to the point (avoid explaining the rules in detail, explaining why it’s fun, and monologuing as before) and say just enough to prompt more questions.

Q: So how do you play?

A: It’s pretty straightforward. All the players (except one) choose or create a heroic character that they are going to represent. The remaining player is the game master and takes responsibility for running the game. The game master will explain where you are and what’s happening. For example, the game master might say “You’ve entered a wide cavern which is dotted with the mud huts of a colony of lizard people. There are plenty of stalagmites around the edge of the cavern that could provide cover and you can see a tunnel that leads out the other side. Suddenly a scaly lizard creature steps in front of you brandishing a spear, what do you do?” You then explain how you respond. Maybe you run for it, maybe you draw your gun and shoot the creature, or maybe you try to talk to it. The options and variations are up to your imagination. The game master will then determine how that works out (usually with the help of dice) and explain how the situation has changed giving you a new opportunity to act.

Q: So what’s the point of the game?

A: To complete the adventure (you know, explore the caverns, rescue the fair maiden, defeat the bad guy, find the missing treasure, or solve the mystery).

Q: How do you win?

A: If you complete the adventure you win, if you die or the villain gets away, etc. you don’t.

Q: How do you die?

A: At the start of the game you have a number of wound points. Every time you are injured you lose some. If they go below zero you die. You can heal them back up during the game as well.

Q: How do I know what I can do?

A: You can do anything you think of (that fits with your character). If you’re a pilot, for example, you can fly a plane. You can also do any ordinary things you can think of (run, jump, fight, swim etc.). Often you have a specific set of skills that you are good at and you roll a dice to see if you succeed at them.

Q: Is it complicated to play?

A: There are a lot of rules, but players don’t have to know many of them. It’s the game master’s job to know the rules and figure out what is happening. Players just need to use their imaginations and work together to accomplish the goal of the game.

Q: How does the Game Master know what happens?

A: The game master has a set of notes to guide the story (telling him or her what challenges are that you will face etc) and the game master also has a set of rules to use to determine how your attempted actions will work out (usually by rolling dice).

Q: Is the Game Master the bad guy?

A: No. The game master is responsible for the details of the game, creating the challenges etc. But the game master isn’t the bad guy. He ensures everyone has fun and that the challenges are fair, but doesn’t try to kill you.

Q: That sounds fun. When can I play?

A: How about coming over Thursday for a game, say around seven o’clock.

Don’t feel you have to answer all those questions. They are just examples. Just remember to be short and to the point, and the moment the person you’re talking with indicates the idea might be fun, give them the invitation.

Understanding player needs

Believe it or not, different types of players get different things out of role-playing. If you are just starting out, you may not have much of an idea what kinds of gamers you have in your group. They may be a homogenous bunch or they may be really diverse. Regardless, over time you will need to get to know what drives them and what you need to do in order to ensure the game is enjoyable for them.

Here are some typical player types (from a list developed by Robin Laws in his book “Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering”)…

Soldiers: Some players love combat, dice rolls, and stats. They need at least one good fight in every game in order to stay engaged.

Treasure Hunters: Other gamers are all about “really good loot”. If they don’t feel like they are building up their personal stockpile of wealth and cool gadgets, they feel the game is somehow flawed.

Specialists: Some players are all about building the most awesome character they can, specializing in the powers and abilities of their archetype and specialization in order to become (in game terms) famous and world-renowned. If they can’t increase their abilities they feel thwarted.

Character Actors: Some players play in order to get inside their character’s heads. They want to live the adventure, feel the drama, face choices that have significance for them personally and spend some time in the spotlight with regard to the plot (having it connect directly with their character’s lives).

Tacticians: Still other players look for tactical challenges, a chance to sneak their way through things and outwit their opponents. If they never have the chance to feel clever, they find little else to satisfy them in a game.

Storytellers: Some players are at your table for the story. They want a beginning, middle and end (even if it is only on an episode by episode basis) and grow bored with long meandering “open worlds” and “sandboxes”. They love twists and sub-plots and intriguing characters. They love huge story arcs and intimate little subtexts.

Social gamers: Then there are some for whom the game is actually secondary and the game is just an excuse to get together with friends. For these folks, the pre and post-game catch-up is the most rewarding part of gaming.

There are probably more than these few types and they certainly overlap to an extent. You probably fit into one or more of these broad categories yourself and some of them have a tendency to conflict.

Players who are into story and character tend to feel irritated by players who are focused on the mechanics of character building and loot acquisition (and vice versa). Players who love a good fight tend to find themselves irritating the players who like to get tactical and sneak around the combat opportunities. And the social player is just there to chat and laugh (irritating the more serious players who want to just get on with things).

As the GM it is your job to see that everyone has fun. This means, when designing games, that you need to share the spotlight around, focusing on the story here, a character there, having a good fight here, beating a tactical challenge there, presenting a puzzle here, providing opportunities to increase abilities there, and find cool loot here, while making it a fun social occasion to play.

It sounds pretty complicated, but in practice, most games will deliver this variety without too much effort.

Gamers also differ with regard to the kinds of things they enjoy in games.

Some gamers enjoy having access to really nice playing materials and props, others enjoy the sense of immersion the game provides, some enjoy the story the game creates, others enjoy overcoming obstacles, while still others enjoy the social opportunities the game provides. Some players enjoy learning new things (about the world, their characters etc., sometimes even the rules), others like the chance to be creative (in expressing the character they are playing and solving problems), while still others enjoy playing for the distraction it provides from everyday life.

None of these sources of enjoyment are necessarily exclusive either. They all overlap and can appear to different degrees in different people. It is helpful to know this, both for understanding the needs of your players and for helping to recognize that there are lots of reasons a particular game may not be delivering the specific brand of “fun” that a player is looking for. Not everyone wants what a role-playing game delivers and so there is no reason to necessarily decide that their departure from a game is your fault.

Remember the most important part of being a GM. You are there to try to ensure everyone at the table has fun. Knowing your player’s preferences will help you. Try to run a well-rounded game with lots of general appeal, but don’t beat yourself up too much if your game doesn’t deliver for everyone equally.

This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.

This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game

• Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
• Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
• Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
• Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
• Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
• Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
• Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)

HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games

• Chapter 9: Scene Design
• Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
• Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
• Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
• Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
• Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
• Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
• Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
• Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign

The post THE JOB OF THE GM: PROVIDE FUN – CHAPTER 1 – HYOOTRD RPG GM’s GUIDE appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.