A Meta Gaming Blog talking about How to Frame Narrative, Exploiting and Exploring Biases, and Using Work Productivity and Motivation tools in a TRPGs most of the time.
Dachshund, Beagles (Hunting foxes), In the research, someone asked why cats were able to evolve and diverge into 3-7lb varieties to the 310kg (682lbs; Tigers) butut the biggest Canid is the Epicyon at 135kg (300lbs).
So I was distracted about D&D since I invested in the Starter and Essentials Kit. I thought it would be "easy enough" to get my son into. But I was wrong and strangely It took me about 20 hours of reading everything and videos to really grasp how much I was out of my scope.
My brother has the PHB and DMG which I then borrowed to understand more about the rules.
Even with all these reviewing, I still have to check the books because my understanding is really fragmented.
Modifier Inflation
The Modifier Inflation in D&D5e is a BIG change, especially coming from someone who would run Epic level games in 3.5. I largely agree with the decisions to cut the Inflation to 1/5. A +6 to +8 iscan be found in one ability of the PCs and takes considerable character resources.
Maxing out the Magical Bonus to +3 and Focusing on "Qualities" instead of numeric advantages is a great improvement.
The easy-algorithm would be Get the STAT modifier (-1 to +4) plus the Proficiency Level (+2 to +6). With some classes, the Proficiency level for Non-Combat options are doubled (+4 to +12).
They also limited the Actions Per Turn to One Reaction, Max-One Bonus Action, and An Action. No 4 Attacks of Opportunity.
If you find the ACs low, note Cover modifiers SSRB-12, EKRB-36, PHB-196. These come into play a lot. Movement SSRB-10, EKRB-35, PHB-190 is done in a way that you can "displace" - which means 1) Reach weapons automatically provoke opportunity attacks if opponents do not spend the turn to "disengage", 2) Having reach to attack without provoking opportunity attacks, 3) forcing enemies to move to engage creates a very interesting behavior on the Board. ( When I get experience running the combat I'll try to give a Visual Mental Model of tactics).
Heavy Armors removes Dex Penalty to AC. So by implication and it's not definitively stated that Dex penalty lowers AC in light or medium armor. Stumbled on this when Trying to reflect on the Starting Characters and their Optimum play.
Rest Variants: Gritty Realism DMG 267
I cannot help but prefer gritty realism because there seem to be minor "Consequences" for bad decisions or bad planning. All damage is "Recovered" in a Long Rest, is pretty potent. As story telling goes to say "A week passes" and "A night passes" is just a slight change in Mindset and a some of Preparation for the GM (1-2 hours of discussions with other GMs and preparing the options, and forecasting the type of behavior the options will create).
Short Rest is 8 hours.
Non-Spellcasters are able to recover faster.
Long Rest is 7 days.
Resting 16 hours a day.
Able to do Light Activity -
mostly mental tasks with DC no higher than 8 plus modifier,
or Physical Tasks with a difficulty of 3 plus Modifier. So part-time work is 1gp per day.
Healer Feat and Healing Kit are key in Short Rests. PHB 167
1d6+4+HD of the creature. Once per Short Rest.
Healers Kit is 50sp, 10 uses, and 5lbs.
PHB 186 Resting
Each PC has up their Hit Dice + hp modifier of recoverable HP. They can recover these Short-Rest HD after a Long Rest.
PHB 187 Downtime Activities
Practicing a Profession.
Recuperating
Researching
Lifestyle Expenses PHB 157
The notes below are all DM Homebrew Rules.
Wretched --
Potential Encounters
Cannot Rest. Just lets time passes.
Squalid 0.1 gp/day
Potential Encounters
Con Save DC 15 per period or rest is interrupted.
Poor 0.2 gp/day
Potential Encounters
Roll tools proficiencies at DC 10 to fix surroundings to be tolerable for a Period. Margin of Success is number of Periods fixed.
Modest 1 gp/day
Comfortable 2 gp/day
An advantage in Recuperating with Healer visits (1gp/vist)
With Short (8hr) Rests Healer visits healing 1d6+4+HD (1gp/vist).
Or delegate Unskilled Tasks.
Wealthy 4 gp/day
As with Comfortable.
Delegate Tasks to Skilled Professionals.
Hire healing from an “Adept” Healer, able to cast 1st level healing spells.
Aristocratic 10 gp/day
Delegate Tasks to a few of Skilled Professionals.
Hire multiple or better “Adept” Healers .
D&D5e Notes. Of Course Spoilers and all WIP. Planning to run on Feb.
Notice that advancing from 10 to 11 is HARDER than 11 to 12, and out of place when I consider 12 to 13, and 13 to 14
I swapped it out and made them in the order of increasing.
Req XP
Level
XP
0
1
300
2
300
600
3
900
1800
4
2,700
3800
5
6,500
7500
6
14,000
9000
7
23,000
11000
8
34,000
14000
9
48,000
15000
10
63,000
16000
11
79,000
20000
12
99,000
20000
13
119,000
21000
14
140,000
25000
15
165,000
30000
16
195,000
30000
17
225,000
40000
18
265,000
40000
19
305,000
50000
20
355,000
Years of Adventuring.
For very Upwardly Mobile NPC/PCs or Retired NPCs. Based on the Speed by which Starter Adventure will conclude in Game Time.
Years of Experience
Using 3.5 Race Ages. Adventurers or Upwardly Mobile Characters are a "Meta Game Construct". The GM and the Players can say who is an "Adventuring" NPC/PC. Non-Adventuring NPCs are characters who just want a LIFE.
Race
Years of Experience
Human
x1
Dwarf
x3
Elf
x10
Gnome
x3
Half-elf
x1.5
Half-orc
x1
Halfling
x1.25
Cashless Incomes
Incomes are a challenge. Particularly changing the Rewards in "CASH" to Favors, Holdings, and Prestige. If the designers Didn't want a lot of Modifier Inflation, creating a Cashless set of rewards would have been the natural progression of course, that would have nerfed selling more "WOTC" approved options.
I'm trying to Check out Strongholds and Followers but I plan to just Draw from GURPS and HARN and follow the D&D5e model and simplify. Like at work: Simplify and make a Detailed Breakdown of Assumptions (which I learned in PMBOK its called an Assumptions Log).
It was when I was catching up with old friends where my problem with running games came about. My first instinct is to look for a simple algorithm.
Example - "Nothing Exists in a Vacuum" or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_vacui_(physics) this means if there is a group of people, there is a tendency for people to jockey for position. It also means people will have an economy of sorts to meet their needs. It implies an Individual cannot Lose a Vice without Replacing that Vice, and fail to factor the needs it serves.
In Games Horror-Vacui or "Nothing Exists in a Vacuum" is one of the critical checklist elements A World Builder has to set out to fix or else Players have some bothersome "Why."
It appears that my limitations and fears are that I cannot produce all the data or sufficiently entertain, and so I need a simple algorithm to work with. Algorithms like 2-second Pitch (one breath long), 20-sec extrapolation (the length of time I didn't take a breath to speak), to listen 2x more than talk (to have many breaths of listening), repeat back what I just heard to confirm, etc...
The Skills I maintain requires me to practice them when I go into a Pedantic discussion, I realize from my Anki studies that I naturally gravitate towards these details because it strengthens the memory. It reinforces the Behavior.
Now many Interlocking Systems, for example, the breathing and Active Listening techniques I elaborated, are part of a much larger and Complex Activity - like Consensus and Storytelling - that happens while playing. These algorithms make it that I know what to do next, even if I'm not conscious about it, there is that conditioned response that makes me do what comes naturally because of a system of feedback loops that signal me to do a practiced action next.
In a System, I'm not alone, isolated, disconnected, and vulnerable. In a system, I know what to do, and get feedback if I'm helping or harming, or contributing.
I move through the Imagination as though I'm immersed in it. I mentally rehearse and play the details of getting up, my morning ritual, and encountering the problems. I mentally rehearse all the complications and difficulties I have in life - the messiness of Individual Perspectives to a Problem, and the Big Gaping Unknown of "Objectivity." There are details that I have to carefully note - because verbally, it will be lost in between the for the finite FPS of Attention of other people.
History has the familiarity of being able to take my limitations: my weak immune system, my terrible sleeping habits, my inadequate attention, my limited skills, etc... and put it into the context of a situation that existed in the real world. To put into context how I would have fared in such situations and the gruesome fate I would have suffered. It makes me aware of the changes from the recent history of current events to those of an Alien world of hundreds or thousands of years ago when the climate and erosion have changed the shape of the land.
That Awe - that triggers Gratitude and sense of Connectedness in Mindfulness, I find experiencing it more when I immerse in a historical setting. Remembering trees and mountain faces only live for hundreds of years and that river paths change in a few centuries carving out many different channels and ecologies.
Systems Thinking and how Historical Settings make me feel more Interconnected and Grateful are ODD reasons to play TRPGS. It's odd to the point of sad because that's a really really narrow audience (good thing I recorded those games).
I remember trying to run a Modern-Day African game using a fictional African country just to give me the allowance of having a poor understanding of Africa. How I studied so much about African history during those days and how I would have made an Anki Deck and memorized the countries and used Pictures to remember all the interesting details about them. If life took a different path - I would have studied Elevation, Climate, Peoples, Languages, economic conditions, etc... and explored the different Accents. Being able to account for the 168 hours of the week and what it takes to maintain my Cost of Living, all this is just a dream and fancy I cannot afford to do in real life. I'm too busy raising my family and helping out in the Family business. It's nice that I can afford to go to Constantinople, Nigeria, Xi-an, Different Parts of the Philippines, etc.. in my Imagination - just like when my brothers and I had nothing else but this to keep us entertained.
one of the early legs of the Anabasis plotted using Gmaps. Its a lot of weaving routes because of the terrain of Turkey. The next leg goes east through the mountains to Iconia/Konya then plunges south Silicia/Cilicia.
I think the problem is that LIMITS are not taught to the GMs. They imagine skills are like physical Abilities - at a certain point they can deadlift 600lbs*, and Influence people (Influence skills ) can influence people who are hard set. They forget that Social and Mental challenges are different from Physical skills - Someone Hard Set on something is not building up to have the Influence skill to change someone's mind.
Real-life has plenty of examples of being unable to convince anyone even if you have Evidence, Incentives, Rationality, and Awesome Communication skills. We have people who give false statements under torture and never break under torture, so as to make torture not an effective means of extracting information. Heck, the problem with the Internet Age is that we see the Best SCIENCE and Data doesn't Influence PEOPLE to change their behavior.
Suffice to say Influence or social Skills do not work that way. A bad model or mechanic of Social Skills and Interaction doesn't mean having such mechanics is all bad. In Project Management and Office Politics in General - we use these same social skills every day. Even if we are very Gamer about it and create a mental model for us to guide us adjudicating Social situations.
Example. I need to propose a dedicated Industrial Engineer group to create Production Targets because we are a Job Order Type, Manufacturing Plant (we do a lot of custom configuration to furniture). The company has no tradition of Evidence-Based Decision Making, Data Analysis, Cost Benefit Analysis. Everything is in the "Arbitrary World" of My Credibility vs the Mindset.
I Know I have to get a
1) Salary Analysis and get the previous Consultants numbers of how much we lost to inefficiency, (this will help create a foundation for Tangible Benefits).
2) I need to point out the number of people we have in retirement age as well as it effects how we will be getting less productive over time,
3) I need to look at the "Manpower slots" - like QA has not filled its slot, delayed because of the Payroll cutting policy even if the Cost of Lost Quality = greater Rework (no good IT system no DATA, every Claim is Hearsay, even if you have data you have is useless if the audience is not Data Literate OR will never have the time to Validate your claims or doesnt know how to Validate your claims).
4) I need to spend 4 weeks Telling a STORY of the Company and its Challenges, and Anecdotes of the Inefficiencies.
5) If I can, I have to look out for other Capitalists Dynasts (Rich people who own companies and have such dedicated people do such), who use such dedicated Production Target that would let me Show the Management their system.
6) I have to have a Project Management Plan and a Criteria for Success or Failure. I budget, the contract for Temporary work, realistic achievable that have TANGIBLE BENEFITS.
7) I have to do a Time and Motion/Analysis of why currently the current QA with QC cannot perform the duties of a Dedicated Production Target Setter.
Even if I do all this I have a 30% chance to Fail. All it takes as a STAIN on my credibility, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy, the data by itself is never sufficient. It can be some time I said in a different interaction, my staff and any distrust of them, a competing project with their own resource needs (and note they argue by the strength of their relationship and not the DATA).
Certain organizations with a VERY LOW trust environment cannot apply Evidence-Based Decision making because - low trust will always attribute failure to People and not Systems or allow for the Reality that you can fail in life even when doing everything right.
Same thing Goes for me Proposing a BASIC KANBAN to identify waiting and Idle time.
One of the things I'm passionate about in RPGs is a GOOD system (Called System Based thinking in TPS, Demming, Lean, Agile Schools of thought) has good outcomes. A system that communicates well the main drivers/factors of many situations and gives people a Go-to framework when faced with Uncertainty and Ambiguity is better than nothing and guessing. A good system lets you know if the system doesnt work.
Lolz. GURPS prepared me for Real-life because Real life has a complicated set of Mechanics. If I can understand GURPS I can see how some aspects of real life are like a Complicated Game System. If I can improve on GURPS I can improve on my understanding of certain real-life systems. If I can try and see other game systems, I can see the Perspectives of other Peoples, Beliefs, World View, and Conditions.
In the chapter of how kids play, I learned that my son (currently 8) has a long way to go before he can play along with other kids in the kind of structure of an TRPG.
This reworks my entire mental narrative of how we learned to game as a kid. The reason why my younger brother at 7 was able to play TRPGs was that I was 11 and younger kids would adopt the maturity of the kids they would be more around.
It also sets the expectations that in the "Median" 50% of kids would be more likely to be able to grasp TRPG play at 11+ and up. Any earlier or later would have contributing factors.
So until my son is 11 I'll be rolling that Roll d20 against DC10 every year, or every time I get a chance to be able to offer him the opportunity to play.
Lately, we've been playing Minecraft together via home ubuntu server. Wondering what would allow him to immerse in a storytelling. Its strange that he would listen to all these YouTubers and when it's his dad, me, can't have the patience for my storytelling and cringes when I emulate the YouTubers.
There was a part of the lecture that talks about gently exerting dominance during play, which I dont understand how (because this was mentioned off-hand, and there was a not a full lecture of how parent dominance dynamics works). Maybe raising him I never did this appropriately and thus created this circumstance whereas the dad I'm the "old uncool guy" against the YouTubers that populate his mental stage.
With my 3 year old, I got to see the very big difference in developmental stages between the two. its having first hand experience with the concepts of the lecture. Which definitely would have been different if I never had the first-hand experience. A concept explained and how it manifests has some distinct differences that the lecture doesn't really communicate because it would be endless to go into that level of detail.
How my son at 8 will progress to 11+ in a play-along would be a curious thing - I remember how I progressed to TRPG. I remember it as Wanting to play "imagination games" and wanting more structure so that the fun doesn't end with disputes or issues with other kids. The idea is "why cant we fight monsters and go on adventures" with just imagination, and immediately visualizing the places and challenges with pretend.
As GMs go, I am strong in remembering immersion details - the system the world works*. Empathy, Storytelling, Emoting, and Theatrics are my less developed areas. Those areas are more important to kids. Although even with all my Technical Storytelling practice, kids require the ability most with the natural talent exhibit - being able to catch people's attention with a "story's hook". That "unknown" posed by the first seconds of the storytellers' pitch.
When I analyze my son's youtube clickbait history its really the Minecraft game's hacks and experiments. As to making an "engineered" Hook for him, taken out of minecraft would be something I would need to figure out.
Sadly there is a risk my son will never learn the fun of TRPGS because its are really not for everyone. Its a different world as the one i grew up in, where there was very little IP to access. Now there is so much IP and some are engineered to capture his attention far better than my GMing skills can possibly reach given that its a hobby (even its a lifelong hobby).
My Dungeon Fantasy Box Set Arrived.
I bought D&D starter set and essentials for my son and myself.
I have more Material as a GURPS GM to Run Mines of Phandelver (D&D5E Starter Set) and Dragon of Ice Spire Peak (D&D5E Essentials Set) as Dungeon Fantasy Game. I bought this out of Curiosity than the Intent to Play. The problem is that I don't know what to expect till I have it in my hands and able to directly observe the contents and the challenges.
It's Not Really immediately ready to Play. I'm sure a GM with more practice and ready materials has enough already prepared material to quickly get people to play.
I would say that assuming I'm talking to D&D Players, it would take about 5+ hours for me to prepare. This would include the following:
Studying the Sample Adventure.1 hour. This include notes, where I typically try to predict my players and imagine how I'm going to introduce or execute the scene.
Writing the Action list for Character Gen.1 hour. I need to do for creating Preparation for the Players and Imagining or having a "flashback" of all the problems typical of Character Creation. Including the Decisions Paralysis, a lot of Options would generate.
Reviewing all the Options wholistically, budgeting for a 4-hour game. 1 hour. Mentally rehearsing all the things that will happen in the game, and then writing my assumptions so the "me" in the next day will see how stupid and short-sighted that was.
(Next Day). Executing the Action List and the Adventure Notes. 4 hours (2-3 nights of free time). Prioritizing the 20/80 Pareto and Know what to prioritize.
Keep to "essential" Professions. Wizard, Rogue, Cleric, and Warrior.
Options, Actions, and Rolls. Using my old GURPS lite notes, about 1.5 hours.
The checklist would be Physical, Mental, Technical and Social Rolls.
Basic Combat. (good thing I have a lot of Material). (Note the number of Processes in GURPS is staggering, but its internal logic and pattern to realism makes its learnable. Its just such a high upfront cost. ). 2-3 hours or 2 nights.
Pregenerated Characters based on Mines of Phandelver Pregen.
List of Skills. 30 mins. (easier now that I have a Google Sheet I can pivot and Filter).
List of Equipment. (Using my Old Notes and Material) 30 mins. (GURPS Stuff in GSHEETS to pivotable and filterable would be so
Currently, my Strategy would be Fantasy Trip and when the Players want more immersion to creep towards GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.
Realistically, Scheduling such a Game would happen in about Late Feb. Because of taking a leave to study on Dec means I have a lot of Catch-up Work on Jan.
