Cha'alt Session Report [roll20 interlude]

 

We made it to eleven... seems like every single session is a wonderful new milestone.  But wait!  I've got another session to report on first.

A couple days prior to session 11 of our Crystals of Chaos campaign, I ran a virtual one-shot on Roll20 for 4 players (one of whom had to leave early because of his work/sleep schedule).

The details of that 90-minute game aren't that consequential.  However, while I was running it, I took notes of moments that were worth remembering from a Game Mastering standpoint.  What to do, what not to do, gut insights from the mind of a vocational GM, called to do this sort of thing by a higher power!

If you like books on GMing advice, my latest is called Advanced Game Mastering Like A Fucking Boss.  Let's go (in no particular order)!

The shorter your time-frame, the greater your coincidences can be...

The PCs were trying to find a strip club.  So, after hours of wandering the desert, they find someone who had actually been to one before!  He led them a few more hours over the S'kbah wasteland, and then the PCs happened to hear a man screaming as he was being sucked into a zarla'ac pit.  And that guy they saved (by killing the creature) had just stepped outside the Gamma Incel Cantina to take a piss.  

Coincidences, yes... many in a row, but, you see, we only had an hour and a half to play, so... it's fine.  Call it narrative logic or dramatic pacing or just laugh at how it all unfolds.  The alternative is actual fucking realism where you just keep trekking over sand dunes until Willy Wonka appears (as a mirage), saying "You get nothing.  You lose.  Good day, sir!"

Encouragement...

Some of these players were noobs.  I'm not sure why, maybe the friendly hand-wavy atmosphere I suggest in my synopsis of the sessions, but I almost always get one or more players who are either brand new to roleplaying or new to Roll20 in general.  

Anyway, I try to softly, imperceptibly educate players while we play.  I told the players that their characters were walking a great distance and for them to let me know what they were talking about on their journey.  

One PC chimed in, starting the conversation, and then another said something... there was a few seconds (this was text-only, BTW) of nothing, so I interjected some encouragement.  I said something like, "This is good stuff.  Yeah, keep it going.  I'll be back in a minute, just going to pee," or whatever.  And they did.  Having in-character conversations during the game is, in my opinion, something every GM should actively encourage.

Don't wait if you don't have to...

It might seem rude to describe stuff in a way that paints a picture and tells a story for everyone while one player is still figuring out how to tie his character's shoes, but the show must go on.  

By that I mean, let's say the adventuring party just entered a wild and perverted space tavern in the middle of the deep desert.  One player says he wants to get the bartender's attention so he can order a drink.  Another player wants to hang around the bar, trying to listen to people's conversations covertly.  Let's say a third PC bumps into a mysterious dark figure and a fight ensues.  

As a GM, you might say, "You all can hear fighting words being spoken, loud enough over the mellow tones of zita'ar music.  A scuffle is about to start between a black clad stranger and Korath.  What do you do?"  

If the PC trying to order a drink doesn't respond right away (which frequently happens in a text-only game) or isn't interested for whatever reason - "I'm still trying to get a frothy glass of Purple Prizm." -  don't hold up the game.  Something exciting is happening - follow through.  Don't wait for everyone to be on board!

Focus on primordial details...

Instead of getting real specific or using "accurate" details based on how something was described in a book or how it appeared in that one episode of a TV show, use words that paint a deeper, primordial picture in one's mind.  

Instead of trying to get the surface image just right, go for the essence that lays beneath that surface... imagery that pre-dates whatever you're attempting to reference.  For example, I described a patron of the Gamma Incel Cantina as "a cloaked figure with glowing red eyes and a scaly, scarred visage."  Did I give a super-accurate description, detailing his exact race or class or where he buys his clothes?  No, I simply gave a vague impression based on the mood I was trying to invoke.  

Remember, kids, the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear... and the oldest and strongest fear is fear of the unknown!  That's from H.P. Lovecraft, if you didn't know.  By employing primordial imagery, we're tapping into that ancient emotional template.

Go in the direction the PCs point you...

This one is so obvious, I almost didn't mention it.  There's a distinction between doing whatever your players or the PCs want you to do, and picking-up on their desires.  It's like buying whatever your kids ask for while you're shopping at the mall versus responding to a casual conversation your children are having in a separate room about what they really want for Christmas this year.

Earlier in the adventure, I had planned on the PCs stumbling onto a cave filled with cool weirdness, perils, and treasure.  However, multiple PCs had mentioned wanting to locate a "strip club" multiple times.  So, it seemed a shame not to change gears and go in that direction.  Remember, this doesn't mean you have to bend to whatever your players want.  Just be open to their influence.  Let them inspire you as EVERYBODY has a hand (or tentacle) in creating the story.

Narrate stuff that happened earlier...

I've got two examples of this.  First, a thief tried to do some thieving.  I even gave him Advantage due to favorable circumstances.  He failed miserably (this wasn't his first failed attempt at thieving, either), which led me to say, "Yeah, you suck as a thief. Maybe that's why your friends back home said you should have been a warrior."  

I was also playing on the fact that the player had chosen his thief's race as a half-orc.  Which led to the player replying with, "Mom wanted me to be a thief.  I wanted to be a dancer."  A quick-witted and funny response that actually adds a lot of character depth, which is just one form of immersion.  

Second example!  Along the way, the PCs picked-up a couple of NPCs.  The first was a fellow traveler who led them to Gamma Incel Cantina.  The second was the guy they rescued, Garsh. 

As things started heating up at the climax of the session, I neglected to mention what the NPCs were doing, which is pretty standard.  When the shit hits the fan, it's got to be up to the PCs first and foremost.  NPCs should always remain side-characters.  

The adventurers were making their getaway, and one player asked about the NPCs.  I told him the one (I'm not going to use his name, because I recycled it for something else I'm publishing very soon) stayed but that Garsh "decided to stay behind, but he high-fived everyone before you left."  

I created a detail that they could visualize of something that happened earlier in the game that didn't get mentioned until now.  Who cares, someone might say, sounds like a throwaway line?  Well yeah, but they're almost all throwaway lines... add up enough throwaway lines and you've actually got something amazing that's more than the sum of its parts.

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Ok, so, this blog post got out of hand!  I didn't expect to write so much.  The actual session report for Crystals of Chaos will have to wait a day or two.

Hope some of this was entertaining and/or enlightening.  If you have any questions, let me know.  And if you want to "talk shop" in-person before a game, immediately after, while we're sitting across from each other eating a chicken sandwich, or drinking a beer at the hotel bar... come on down to VENGER CON II: Electric Boogaloo, my Madison, WI convention happening next month (July 21st - 23rd).  Weekend badges still available!

VS

p.s.  I have signed and numbered hardcover Cha'alt books available, as well.  And they're on sale, hoss!  Get 'em right over here!!!