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Untitled Document
Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #74
7 More Ways You Can Make Travel Interesting Or Important
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
7 More Ways You Can Make Travel Interesting Or Important
- Provide Great Descriptions
- Bring Back Loose Ends
- Create Interesting Maps As Player Hand-Outs
- Use Travel To Relieve Tension
- Use Travel Time For Roleplaying
- Use Travel For Character Development
- Chat With Your Group Before Using Random Encounters
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Use A Character Questionnaire To Develop NPCs
- Ask Why and How
- Character Development Task Examples
- Choose Default Spells To Speed Play & Prevent Arguments
Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
You're Right, Playing Is Great For A Fresh Perspective
Several of you have written in and agreed with a past Reader's Tip of handing
over the GM's chair and playing for a change. I had the fortunate opportunity
to do that last night and it was a lot of fun.
The change of perspective was quite refreshing and inspirational too. My head
is now full of ideas and ways that I can improve my own GMing by watching what
the other GM did well.
I recommend switching roles if you ever get the chance.
Gamefully yours,
Johnn Four johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Return to Contents
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Return to Contents
7 More Ways You Can Make Travel Interesting Or Important
[ See Issue #71 for more
Travel Tips]
- Provide Great Descriptions
The easiest way to make travel interesting is to provide the players with
vivid, colourful mental images of what their characters see and experience
on their journey. Even if you want to make the trip brief so you can move
on with the story, a couple of minutes spent on description prevents it from
becoming just another boring walk, ride or drive.
The best description I ever gave during travel was of a swamp in the D&D module,
Village of Homlet. The party was traveling at night, so I dimmed the lights,
lit a couple of candles and put on some ambient background music. I had the
players sit back in their seats and asked them to close their eyes and relax.
Then, I tried to picture a swamp in my mind as best I could and described
what I envisioned. I used sight, hearing and smell during the description
and tried to tell things from the PCs' point of view rather than from an aerial
or god viewpoint.
The description took a few minutes and set the scene very well for the giant
killer frogs that surprised the characters because they were too busy noticing
the swamp, LOL.
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- Bring Back Loose Ends
Do you have any loose ends in your campaign or story? Unsolved mysteries,
bad guys that got away, NPCs that disappeared, explanations for things not
yet understood?
If so, spice up your travel by bringing back these loose ends in some way,
shape or form. You can choose to tie up the loose end, provide another clue
about it, or just remind the PCs that the loose end is still out there, waiting
to be resolved.
For example, while traveling, the characters enter a village where a minor
enemy of the PCs is hiding out and gathering strength after a disastrous encounter
with them many months ago. The enemy sees the PCs before they spot him and
he flees into the wilderness until they leave. However, the enemy has left
signs of his presence throughout the village and the PCs learn that he has
been staying there.
This turn of events will definitely intrigue them, and it will make the whole
trip memorable for the players and their characters.
Return to Contents
- Create Interesting Maps As Player Hand-Outs
If the area the PCs are traveling in is unfamiliar to them, they might try
to get a map to help them navigate through it. You can use this as an opportunity
to make travel more interesting by having an interesting map ready as a player
handout.
Players love hand-outs and props, and you can do a lot of neat things with
maps. Bill C. gives us a few great examples:
"I used to have people traveling all over the map and wanted
to spice it up in between. What I started doing was handing out maps with
interesting sounding names, pictures, obscure runes and other built-in adventure
leads. I even hid the name of an ancient important historical figure written
in black runes inside of a dark green colored forest on the map. Players
would start finding these things and detouring.
Once or twice I even gave out false maps designed to lead the PCs to the
wrong places where trouble was waiting to find them. After the direction
was chosen, I would write up what was at the end, if I didn't already know.
This meant that they were much more likely to go looking around in detail
every time they traveled."
Some mapping tips can be found here: http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue60.html
What do you think of the idea of a Tips issue about the different types of
clues you can put into maps? Bill gave us a great start, and I bet there's
more clue ideas out there. If you have any tips, ideas or suggestions on the
kinds of clues you can put in wilderness, city, space or other kinds of maps
(or how you can add them in, disguise them, etc.) please write in: johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Return to Contents
- Use Travel To Relieve Tension
Many travel trips take place after the climax of the story, "the journey back".
There's usually a lot of built up tension at this point in the game, having
been only somewhat relieved by the climax resolution. In these cases, travel
might be a good way to relieve all tension, renew the players' energy and
get ready for the next adventure.
You could have:
- The PCs meet some comical NPC travellers
- A funny event occur
- A warm and friendly village stop-over
- An easy and fun victory by way of a minor encounter
- A beautiful, natural wonder along with a relaxing description
Return to Contents
- Use Travel Time For Roleplaying
Travel might be an excellent opportunity for your players to roleplay in-character.
Encourage them to start chatting and let them go until a natural pause in
the conversation occurs, at which point you can introduce your next planned
encounter, or announce that the journey is over. If the discussion is taking
a long time (which is perfectly ok, though dependant on the meta-game situation,
such as time remaining in the session) then you can interject every once in
awhile with a status report to help the players feel like they are on a journey:
"The road narrows to a well-worn path."
<5 minutes real-time pass, PCs are deep in discussion>
"You pass many farms and then the path eventually ends. You're in the open
country now."
<5 minutes real-time pass, PCs are deep in discussion>
"You make camp and wake up to a cloudless, beautiful day."
<5 minutes real-time pass, PCs are deep in discussion>
"The Black Forest is up ahead and you find a game trail that takes you safely
through the edge of it."
<5 minutes real-time pass, PCs are deep in discussion>
"The sun will be setting in a hour. You have left the dark forest and make
camp"
And so on. Though the characters wouldn't actually be deep in discussion the
whole time, your brief updates help create the illusion of travel and a more
satisfying experience for your players. Also, some conscientious players worry
about getting on with the game rather than spending a long time in in-character
conversations, and your updates will help them feel the game is progressing
while they talk.
Another aspect of this tip is to use travel to work out party differences.
Use an NPC, if possible, to start a conversation about a sensitive issue between
the characters. Perhaps some PCs are upset about one of their fellow party
members torturing a prisoner for information. Let the players and their characters
work things out through roleplaying. And travel is a great time to do this
because there's no pressure on the PCs to react or do anything-- they're traveling,
that's it.
Return to Contents
- Use Travel For Character Development
While character development will certainly take place in tip #4, you can use
travel in other ways to help the players change and grow their PCs.
For example, Amir P. sent in this snippet:
"...you can deal with a character's aquaphobia by presenting
them a lake to cross..."
Another example would be asking a thought provoking question, GM to players,
for the players to answer (preferably in-character). For example, "what do
you want your life to be like in five years?" You can explain that this conversation
sprang up during the journey to kill the time.
I use a version of this technique called "Campfire Chats". We make a game
out of it by me asking a question and having the players try to guess each
others' answers. It's fun, takes about 15 minutes, develops the characters
and gives me a few minutes' break to plan or whatever while the players chat
in-character about the question and their responses.
Return to Contents
- Chat With Your Group Before Using Random Encounters
You might be tempted to throw in some random encounters during travel. For
example, I often try to impress on my players the fact that the game world
is a dangerous place. But, if the PCs travel to and fro without incident again
and again, they will definitely not feel that the wilderness is perilous to
the unwary. So, I throw in lots of beasts and monster encounters whenever
the party wanders off the beaten track.
However, I know that my players enjoy these kinds of encounters in my current
D&D campaign, so there are no problems--but your players may strongly dislike
this type of play. Have a discussion by email, or before the session, and
ask them how they feel about random encounters.
During my random encounters, I try to throw in some clues, or a world development,
PC development or NPC development type of thing and then chalk it up to good
fortune and coincidence on the heroes' part. This might ruin the mood of your
game though, or wreck certain players' sense of disbelief, so please do discuss
this meta-gaming issue with your group beforehand.
Random encounters often go hand-in-hand with travel, but they might not be
everyone's cup of tea.
Return to Contents
Tips Request For Issue #75: "Plot Twists" & "Travel
Encounter Ideas"
What are some examples of how you've twisted a plot or story, either in a planned
way or on the spur of the moment? Send your campaign stories in and I'll try to
post them as examples of twists for other GMs to use in their own games.
Travel Encounter Examples Needed
Would a list of travel encounter examples be useful to you? You could print it
out for idea generation when planning, or you could perhaps stick the list in
your GM binder for inspiration during play.
If you have any travel encounter ideas, please send them on in!
Examples:
- Bandits
- Wild animal(s)
- Gypsies
- ...
Also, genre-specific encounters are welcome too. Space, modern day, etc. I'll
post the lists separately so GMs of different games can easily grab the encounter
list they need.
Thanks!
Send your plot twist stories and travel encounters to: johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Return to Contents
Readers' Tips Of The Week:
- Use A Character Questionnaire To Develop NPCs
From: Jens
[Johnn: Issues #67
& #68 were all about
character questionnaires, and there was a free 300+ question character questionnaire
available for download (it still is). In response, Jens sent in this follow-up
tip.]
Hi Johnn,
I just finished setting up a questionnaire for my upcoming campaign and ran
one of the main villains through it. That proved to be a very good idea. Just
as the questionnaire can provide new depth to PCs it can be used to polish
up NPCs as well!
Furthermore it's an excellent test to see if you've got a well-defined personality
for the NPC.
- Ask Why and How
From: Alex J.
First off, I want to say how much I enjoy this mailing list. I read your tips
every week, and never once have they failed to help my game (my players constantly
wonder how I make so many improvements to my GM style). Considering that I
have been GMing less than two months, and roleplaying less than six, you have
been very helpful.
Now on to my own advice. I got into GMing through my other favorite fantasy
activity: writing. In writing, the two most important words are "why?" and
"how?" Always ask these words when writing an adventure.
Don't just have the barkeep send two thugs to ambush the PCs in the alley,
ask why he only sends two, or why those two, and so on.
Don't just have the prince assemble an army to intercept the goblin invasion,
ask why and how. Why doesn't he have a standing army? Because the taxes won't
support it. Why don't the taxes support the army? Because he needs the approval
of the assembly or lords to levy such taxes. How is he able to pay for this
army, then? And so forth.
Return to Contents
- Character Development Task Examples
From: Dan H.
[Johnn: Dan has a great system for getting his players involved in his campaign
and then rewarding them for it. Do other GMs do anything similar?]
Johnn,
I sent you some tasks before, but now they've grown somewhat, so I thought
I'd send them your way again.
Shamelessly cut and pasted from my website....
Character background
Create a convincing character background and email it to me. You will receive
1 experience point for every two words written (that's every two words which
make sense and are not judged by me to be padding - so no typing "haddock"
700 times) up to a maximum of 350 points.
Character Picture
Draw a picture of your character using whatever medium you want.
There will be an experience points bonus of 250 points, plus and additional
100 points for extra effort (maybe a written description too, or a number
of pictures from different angles, or whatever)
Create an NPC
Create a detailed description of somebody your character has very strong feelings
about. Perhaps an enemy, a long lost love, a family member, etc. NPC's already
encountered in the game are not allowed. Come on, do my job for me!
As usual there will be a reward of 1 experience point for every two words
written., but this time there will be a bonus of 50 experience points just
for bothering to submit something. So a base of 50 exp, plus 1 for each two
words you write. Bargain!
Map
Create a map of your home country. Include details like names of towns, major
rivers and mountains. Landmarks of interest, any local history. Outline how
the country is run - is it a democracy, monarchy? Do as much detail as you
want but be aware that a future challenge is likely to be to plan the country's
capital.
There will be a base exp reward of 150 points, and another bonus up to an
additional 250 points for added detail.
Party Relationships
Write a paragraph or two on what your character feels about each of the other
individuals in the group. So for example Brother Arlon should talk about Daro,
Ralin, and William: what he likes and dislikes about them, what events coloured
his perception of them, does he trust them? and any other relevant issues
you wish to disclose.
The reward for this challenge will be an experience bonus of 1 point for every
two words written, you lucky people you.
Questionnaire
Complete a questionnaire on behalf of your character. Give as short/long answers
as you wish. The base experience point award will be 150pts, there will also
be bonuses available to the value of 200pts for imaginative, amusing, and
particularly insightful answers.
- Who is the most important person in your life?
- Where do you want to be in 20 years time?
- What are you most scared of?
- What makes you happy?
- What is your idea of a good evening's entertainment?
- If you were not an adventurer, what would you be?
- What item could you not live without?
- When was the last time you cried?
- Do you want to have children?
- If you were an animal, what would you be?
- What is your favourite bard song?
- Do you prefer the town or the country? Why?
- What was the last thing that made you laugh?
- If made to decide, would you rather be deaf or blind? Why?
- What is the worst thing you've ever done?
- If you had to describe yourself in five adjectives, what would they
be?
- How do you want to die?
- What is the worst thing someone has done to you?
- Who do you admire?
- How much is a pint of mead?
Recent History
Each player is to write about their character's thoughts about the last two
months. You should describe their feelings of the current situation and what
positive and negative things they feel have happened to them. Maybe you would
like to comment on how your character feels about being whisked off to a far
off land?
Players who haven't attended many of the sessions can write about whatever
they think has happened in recent history - i.e. Ralins trip to Dragons Gape
and Alius' time in Dos Delnock.
There will be an exp bonus of 50 points just for attempting it, and 1 point
per two words written to a maximum of 400 points.
Write a Journal entry
It can be as descriptive and lengthy or as short and to the point as you wish,
just make it in character. You can write it for any session you wish, it doesn't
have to be the most recent. In fact it would perhaps be better if we could
co- ordinate it so that we don't have three entries saying virtually the same
thing (four if you count Randolf Fine!)
There is an initial 250 point bonus, plus 100 points for extra effort available
for this challenge. Plus, if you wish to continue with your journal there
will be a 150 point bonus for each reasonably length entry.
As usual, all challenges are purely optional.
Return to Contents
- Choose Default Spells To Speed Play & Prevent Arguments
From: Matthew G.
I've found that, as a player with absolutely no memory whatsoever, I always
seem to remember to choose spells for an adventure about five minutes from
the end of the session. You could say it's the DM's responsibility to remind
me before the session, but in our particular game the DM is often more busy
trying to locate the players. So, after messing around with a Sorcerer character
the other day, I came up with the rather simple idea of choosing default spells
for all of my characters.
This actually has a couple of nice side benefits. First off, from a character
standpoint, it makes sense for a person to have a set of spells they use on
a regular basis, kind of like a specialization. Second, it prevents a forgetful
player from saying 'I want this plot critical spell' if they end up choosing
spells in the middle of a session. And third, it prevents other players from
having to sit around in the middle of a fight while you look through the rulebook
to pick spells.
[Johnn: this is a great tip for D&Ders and gamers of spell or powers-based
rules systems. I make default lists for my characters when I play for different
situations: dungeon, wilderness, urban.
I have also started creating default lists for NPC mages, especially for town
and city NPCs. I feel that most people with magic powers would choose spells
to make day-to-day living easier, with perhaps, a couple of offensive or defensive
spells just in case, rather than loading up on fireballs and lightning bolts.
I don't know about you, but if I had a choice of magically keeping myself
pleasantly warm no matter the actual temperature, being able to conjure a
sumptuous feast, and summoning a magical servant to do my bidding, I'd choose
those powers over death and destruction any day. :) ]
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