The party I envision consists of the muscle, brain, leader, healer and conscience. For your group GM’s the players are allowed to make any type of character, just stay a bit behind the best. The genre for my characters will be set in Fantasy. Here they are.

The Muscle- He is 5 feet 5 inches tall and yoked out. Hairless and pasty white. He has a “huge” Napoleon Complex. He picks fights with anyone taller than him, which is pretty much anyone older than 12. His gear consists of a club with metal wrapped around the top. The armor is old and incomplete. It is a mix of a child Prince’s armor. There is the left legging, helm, gloves and cloth that covers the rest. He does not feel that anymore armor is needed. Agility is key to fighting and he believes that this armor gives him catlike reflexes.

The Brain- He is 6 foot tall and slightly overweight. He enjoys a good carousing and takes pleasure knowing that he is smarter than most. A weapon choice for him is whatever he can pick up and swing around. He is not skilled with any weapons beyond what he can do by wildly swinging one around. He likes to believe that he can outthink his opponent in combat, which usually means running away. 

The Leader- She is 5 feet 8 inches tall and good looking. She is the best prepared in this group. Her father was a soldier who taught her tactics and how to fight. She is an only child and thinks that she is meant to be a man. She does everything she can to look like a soldier but sometimes “things” slip out. Never use derogatory female terms around her or you will get leveled.

The Healer- He is 5 feet 7 inches tall and quite hairy. He does not groom very well. He is an animal doctor’s assistant. He loves animals and talks incessantly to them. He treats them like humans, to an irritating level. Like the Brain he does not fight. He prefers the hide and cover method of combat. He is able to “patch” up most wounds but his bedside manner towards humans leaves a bit to be desired.

The Conscience- He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and gangly. He is the secret bastard child of a noble who was given everything he wanted. He is well dressed and has many well crafted items. This includes armor and weapons. He is the second smartest of the group. His education is theological and philosophical. He is a superb fighter when the occasion calls for it. This is his combat downfall. He needs to be thoroughly convinced to fight before he raises a finger.

This is my short concept for the B Team. These are characters that have some of what it takes but certain flaws keep them behind. If everything in their life was normal and uneventful they would be unknown. Well, in the next session they are about to get the surprise of their lives.

Wake up group! The world needs you!

It seems that Hasbro requires it’s product lines generate $50 million a year or be cut. D&D has not made that and a new edition is needed to generate more money. Publish or perish is the motto. It looks like there will be a D&D 5th Edition. So where does that leave other RPG companies? I know that Hasbro’s business model may not be theirs’ but does D&D being present affect their sales?

D&D is the quintessential RPG. When a non-gamer asks about an RPG, telling them that it is like D&D almost always makes it into the discussion. Whether you enjoy or hate D&D you have to respect that it brings new gamers into the hobby. It has also been the face for many years. There are other systems that have made their mark over time. The home-brew and the self published RPG’s have taken their place in the hobby. Game companies have stayed, and some have come and gone. Each company has their own business model that they follow.

I believe that if D&D is scrapped and goes away that the hobby will have to fill a void. If that happens then other RPG companies will surely be affected.

The party stayed and participated in the festivities. The thief decided to go into the town and break into homes. I rolled my eyes and said, “typical thief.” So now what does the party do while the GM has to sidebar the thief as he goes into one, two, three, four or more homes? Without being to graphic, we just sat at the table, amused ourselves and sighed passive aggressively every few minutes. I realize this sounds like a childish thing to do but for me I was new to this group and did not know anyone. After about a half an hour of thieving he deicides to head back to the festival, slowly.

In Rise of the Runelords, Goblins attack the festival and terrorize the townsfolk. The party, minus thief, jump into action and combat ensues. The thief asks, “How much does this statue I stole weigh? Can I go into this house, it looks big?” We ignore him the best we can until his questions about who is in this house and that house gets out of control. I stop and say, “Dude you are killing us!” He said, “I am not even there, how can I?”

A bit of background on the thief. He told us he has been playing since the Red Box days. I always love that quote. He has also GM’ed and played every year since. He let us know that he knows all the rules but is not a rules lawyer. All of that was fine but why split the party? Especially right at the beginning. Is there a better way to ease into the thieving? We probably would have helped if he had waited.

I know that this incident has a few issues that needed to be resolved. It is not just that thieves always seem to split the party. I wonder if the thief class or concept lends to splitting the party. I have played a few adventures with thieves that were great role players and had a firm grasp of their characters. They also split the party. Splitting the party has led to some interesting out of game stories. There is no doubt about that. If there are any thieves out there, do you split the party? Why? If you don’t, then I will let you know when I am playing my next game so you can be there.

The definition of a random encounter is, an encounter that is not planned during the adventure. The GM rolls the dice and consults a table or just opens a monster book to a level appropriate page. The random encounter was seen as a bump, diversion or action filler for the adventure. Most players that I was acquainted with saw them as filler with no relevance to the story. This was one of the game mechanics that went out the window with encumbrance (another story) in our youth.

The adventure needs story driven NPC’s and monsters. The planned encounter is most certainly the best way to help the story. This is true regardless of the type of adventure being run, whether it is a sandbox, railroad or something in between. As GM I have created encounters before and placed them at appropriate times during the adventure. The appropriate time is when the GM feels that the story dictates their use. I have used them when the players have become complacent or arrogant. These reasons are dictated by the players not the characters. I add the encounter when it suits the story best or maybe to get the players going in a specific direction. With this planned encounter I have more control over the GM side of the story.

With encounters it is best to plan out the NPC. It does not have to be time consuming. The NPC just has to have the minimum stats and background to interact on a basic level. If the GM has this ready to go there is no lapse in game time and the story telling is seamless. This is certainly something that the players should thank you for.

As the GM for most of the adventures, I used a bit of information from the book. The major part I used was the vehicle combat section. There was a bit more crunch during combat than with a fantasy adventure. It was a little more than the players were used to. The cars had their own weapons as well as damage and defense capabilities. The players always created characters that were some sort of grimy type that could shoot and fight. The adventures took place with the characters going from town to town. I am sure that if I could run an adventure now it would have more substance.

I downloaded the 2nd Edition of GURPS Autoduel from e23. I am going to read through it and relive some of my past. It is times like these where this blog and my love for GURPS have brought back find memories of my younger years. I sometimes miss the simpler days where I could shoot a flame thrower out of a speeding vehicle and curse the bandits that stole my gas!

Some time has passed since the Fishing Village and they have seen their share of adventure. The party is now visiting a large town about two weeks travel from the village. They are staying in a small inn at the edge of the town. The weather has been horrible the past few weeks. They have stayed holed up in their beds and the bar. On an especially stormy night a man falls through the front door of the inn and passes out. He is drenched while covered in mud and blood. The inn keeper takes the man to a room and calls for a healer.

The players can roll to see if they recognize the man. On a success they recognize him as one of the elders from the Fishing Village. If unsuccessful they have to piece together random babbling as his fever breaks.

The man speaks of a new evil that has approached from the sea. One of the fishing boats was found destroyed on the shore with the men still inside mutilated beyond recognition. The mutilations look like they were caused by a large clawed animal. The village healer had never seen any wounds like this before.

A few hours pass with the elder falling in and out of consciousness. 

The characters make the decision to visit the Fishing Village. The trek will take a few weeks as the weather is exceptionally poor. The elder makes the trip with the party.

Along the way there should be some clues to what is happening at the sea. The information can come from the elder or maybe a merchant that is coming back from the village.

Once the characters arrive at the village the notice that it seems abandoned. Most of the windows are boarded up and the roads look like they have not been maintained in a while. The characters look around the village for any signs of the residents. They find no one. After a few hours of searching the party makes their way to the sea. As they come over the beach berm they see a black ship anchored off shore. The ship is violently pitching back and forth in the dark storm.

The choice for the group and myself was whether to run a realistic or comedic adventure. At the time Paranoia was my comedic RPG and that was going well. Even though I would have like to Zug Zug Lana, Atouk was busy with that! So the realistic approach was the way to go. I was going to GM the game so I read the world book and came up with an adventure.

I had the players create characters that fit into the setting. They made hunter gathers and a shaman. The premise  of the adventure was that the characters needed to search for a type of magic beyond the known area. The task was given to them by a dying elder. They set out the following morning and headed towards the mountains. They met many creatures in the wilderness. They even met with other villagers. At the time it was hard for me to keep them interested. The adventure was so gritty and realistic that the players lost interest. I tried to bring them back but to no avail. This was the first adventure I abandoned. It was also the only genre that I ran once. I was younger at the time and did not know how to make it work.

Even though it was abandoned I never forgot how I ran the adventure. In time I learned that it was paramount to get the players to buy into the character creation and genre. At the time I had neither. I never gave up on the genre and hope to run an adventure in the future. I think that some genres require a degree of experience in trying to GM. All of us should consider what genres are easy to run and those that may require effort. Try to run the ones that require that effort. You may learn a bit about your group and yourself.

Playing in the Prehistoric World can be a fun experience. I know that if I was playing in or running one I could make it work. There are many roleplaying opportunities to be had by all. If your group is thinking about a change run a one shot in the Prehistoric World.

When I plan an adventure I now incorporate a fast paced beginning. I give the players little to no chance to breath. I throw them into a situation and describe it quickly. In my last GURPS adventure, the players were waking up from being drugged in the back of a fast moving truck. There was shooting and explosions. I would describe all the details and overload them with information. At one point I would ask them if they wanted to do something. Most would stare and try to formulate a question. One or two asked something menial. I would answer the question quickly, then continue on with the action. I wanted to give the characters a sense that they were in an uncontrollable situation in which anything was possible and the end was unknown.

The action then stops a few minutes later. The characters are thrown into story instead of being eased from the tavern doors. The characters also have a few things to think about. They have to get their bearings, discuss what happened and figure out what to do next. At this point I would continue on with the adventure at a normal pace. During the fast paced action the beginning I will give clues and false clues to characters. They now have much information to work with and will have to communicate with each other to figure it out. This type of opening is a great one to get the role playing started. It also gives the GM a chance to get ready for the next section of the adventure while the characters are figuring out what to do next. Once the adventure is over I ask the players to give a critique of the opening sequence. With that information I endeavor to make it a better experience next time.

First the other players tried their best to get him to role play. They talked to him in character, asked for advice and even tried a bit of peer pressure. The answer he gave for not participating was that he took the Quirk of shyness. The other two players looked to me for guidance and help.

This has on occasion happened in previous adventures with other players. I learned a long time ago to move the adventure along and ensure fun was being had by the majority of players. The GM should not focus for too long with this type of player. Though I will not ignore the player and play around them. As the GM I try to feature the character’s skills, advantages or disadvantages in the story. I do this at least twice. If that does not get the player involved, I insert some conflict within the party. This is to make the players role play and possibly start some conversation. The last major attempt to get the player to participate is having a talk during the break. In this recent case I explained that the Quirk shyness was not a reason to not talk or stand in the corner. I want to find out what is the cause of the player not participating. There are usually no issues that I cannot accommodate, except one. That one exception is refusal. Once the adventure starts back up, I will try a few more times to include the character. I will not sacrifice the story or fun of the others to placate those that refuse to participate.

In the last GURPS adventure the player refused to participate. I would have to say that he had little to no fun during the adventure. This did not bother me or the others as we continued the adventure and had fun. The other two were able to complete the adventure and did so while dragging him along. I wanted to share this experience to show that when a player refuses to do anything the GM can continue without too much disruption in the adventure. Just make an effort in the beginning to bring them along. After that feature the other characters.

There are a few things to consider before diving in. The system you have to play cannot have mechanics that rely on multiple players. An example that jumps to mind is 4th Edition D&D. This has heavy tactical combats and require more than a couple of players. There is a way to still use that type of system and play. A solution would be to remove combat for the adventure. If your system is like D&D, it may be easier to let the player role play the whole time.

Having the player role play the whole session can be beneficial. If the player is new to RPG’s you can treat this as a learning experience. The more savvy player can use this opportunity to hone the character and gain a few rewards. So, the players are another thing to consider. Make sure that you understand what the player needs for their character and what they are capable of doing. There is no need to run the player through situations that would not benefit them.

All of my adventures were using the GURPS system. I always had the player role play and sometimes threw in a fight. One way to look at this type of adventure is to treat it as a sidebar. As GM you should have done this before with players in the group. Just drag out the situation. When you do the sidebars with a large party you try to get done quickly so the other players do not get complacent. With this adventure you can take your time. I went out of my way to be descriptive and role play the NPC’s. The players always felt comfortable and reciprocated.

Regardless of the system and player, the GM should be able to come up with something for the player to do. Maybe they can investigate a lead, learn a new skill, try out a new character or wander. Just do something at the table or rekindle that bromance.