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Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #184
Cool Planning Tool: The Campaign Survey
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
Cool Planning Tool: The Campaign Survey
- Game Rules
- Game Mythos (Grand Strategy)
- Game Mythos (Tactics And The Like)
- Expedition Mechanics
- Decision Making About the New Campaign
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Super Hero Generator Sites
- More on Dealing with Rules Lawyers
Return to Contents
Readers Tips Contest Update - Ends August 16th
If you've entered the Readers' Tips contest that's currently
running, chances are you're going to win something. Summer
vacations and a botched issue delivery last week (see All
For One And Three For All below) have impacted the response
rate.
Currently, I have 25 contest entries in my Inbox from 15
people. There's 15 prizes, so the odds are very good of
winning right now! The ezine is already a winner though, as
we now have more Readers' Tips to put in future issues.
Thanks!
I'm extending the contest deadline to August 16th to give
readers who responded with all those Out Of Office replies
last week some extra time to enter.
Full contest details can be snagged by sending a blank email
to:
contest@roleplayingtips.com
Johnn Four
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
Most Embarrassing Game Moments
Ah, humility is a wonderful thing, and it's so much easier
over the Internet. Several readers have forwarded me their
most embarrassing gaming moments, in response to my "Awful
Green Things From Outer Space" story. I'll be featuring a
few of them from time to time. Thanks to all of you.
This week's guest article is an interesting way to get
everyone thinking about the same concepts before you
actually start gaming. Thanks to Randall Farmer for some
really good thinking on the subject.
John C. Feltz
editor@roleplayingtips.com
"It's a GAME MECHANIC, not reality!"
Return to
Contents
*** Undiscovered Summer Special: Game Master Starter Kit ***
Ever wanted to try out a new RPG with your group, but didn't
want to fork over *that* much cash just to get started?
Well, here at Eilfin, we've got you covered. From now, until
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and game master screen with your purchase. The screen
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information, adventures, short stories, and optional rules!
Visit us at: http://www.eilfin.com/rptw.html
[Comment from Johnn: I own the Undiscovered RPG. It's a well
put together product, and I highly recommend checking out
the free Quickstart Guide and Demo Adventure at the link
above. Maybe this issue's survey will generate a match for
your group and Undiscovered? Support the indy game
publisher.]
Return to
Contents
Cool Planning Tool: The Campaign Survey
A guest article by Randall Farmer
Just by way of introduction, I have been GMing since the
days of Greyhawk. I have always run rather long duration
campaigns. However, about eighteen months ago it became
clear that my 4th campaign was having problems due to a set
of circumstances involving game and real world conflicts,
and I wanted some ideas for what sort of new campaign my
players would be interested in (to prepare for the current
campaign flaming out).
To aid my research, I came up with the following new
campaign survey. Given the subject of Issue #97:
6 Tips For Starting & Planning A Campaign
[ http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue97.asp ]
I thought you might be interested in how I approached the
early stages of planning for my new campaign. The results of
this survey were later tabulated, and later (after a great
many intermediate steps) led to the campaign being designed,
play-tested, and now run. I've got 7 gaming sessions of the
actual campaign under my belt as of this writing.
One important note: I am a rules experimentalist who does
not balk at designing rulesets and house rules for whatever
new campaign I am going to be GMing. Some of the survey
questions assume that some rule tweaks might need to be done
for the campaign pending the survey's results.
Also note that I discovered the Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-
Zine about a couple of years ago and have incorporated many
of its tips into the design and running of my campaign - for
which I greatly thank Johnn and the other participating GMs
for their ideas.
First, some notes on how to fill out and use the survey;
these should be distributed to all the players along with
the actual survey questions themselves.
Note 1: All questions are either answered multiple choice or
with a numeric rating. The numeric ratings are from 1-5,
where:
- 1 means "Fully agree"
- 2 means "Sort of agree"
- 3 means "Neutral"
- 4 means "Sort of disagree"
- 5 means "Fully disagree"
Note 2: The "setting" questions in the survey involve the
campaign tactical style, not the actual campaign mythos. For
instance, one could do a Tolkienish setting (the characters
have insignificant powers compared to the bad guys) in a
Thieves World mythos (you're in a city; there are lots of
city politics and power games going on).
Note 3: The words "I" and "me" refer to the survey
respondents, not the GM.
Note 4: The purpose of this survey is to find out what
things are agreed upon and which are not. Of course, if
something is not agreed upon, then the chances of it showing
up in a new campaign should be proportionally limited.
Note 5: Just because something is on the survey and agreed
upon does not mean that it is playable - especially when
regards to conflicts between different survey questions (and
their agreed upon answers).
- Game Rules
1. As a player, I want to know as many of the rules involved
with my character as I can, down to the most mundane level.
I don't like things being fuzzy.
2. I want there to be a single ruleset in the campaign. I
don't even want the opposition to use any other rulesets.
3. I want fixed rules I can argue with.
4. I want a ruleset that is expandable.
5. I want a ruleset that can fit on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of
paper.
6. I want the ruleset(s) to be something I've seen before.
If you agree with this, please indicate what ruleset(s) you
would like to see.
7. I want a ruleset with enough scope so that characters can
utilize just one piece of it and have it be simple. It
should also have aspects that are complicated enough to
challenge any of us.
8. I want a ruleset that is fully known to the characters at
the beginning of the campaign
9. I want a ruleset that is complicated enough to make
players think about its use at all times.
10. I want to use a ruleset that has been purchased from a
store.
11. If it does not have dice rolls, it is just 'set up', not
a real FRP ruleset.
12. I want a ruleset that is the same for all characters
(e.g. Magic the Gathering used as a stand-alone ruleset).
13. I want enough rulesets and options so that if I change
my mind, I can change what my character is doing.
14. I want the ruleset tied to the game mythos so tightly it
cannot possibly be used in any other campaign.
15. I want each character to have its own ruleset (or
exclusive special area of a large scope ruleset).
16. Individual powers my character has should have only
fixed results in all situations.
17. I want the ruleset to be 'modern', involving 'cards' and
'card swapping' between characters.
18. I want the ruleset to be simple enough for my cat to run
a character.
19. I want lots and lots of rulesets (enough to keep my head
spinning).
20. A ruleset that involves 'finding powers' one's character
can use as part of 'expeditioning loot' would be
interesting.
21. Individual powers my character has should be fully
delineated in as complete a manner as possible (e.g. a
'verbose' ruleset, such as D&D 2nd or 3rd edition).
22. A ruleset that 'tops out' is not for me.
23. I want to be able to 'self expand' the ruleset.
24. The closer the ruleset is to a 'board game' style
ruleset, the better.
25. If it does not have firearms, I'm not going to like the
ruleset.
26. If it does not involve magic, I'm not going to like the
ruleset.
27. If it does not involve psionics, I'm not going to like
the ruleset.
28. The ruleset should not involve 'making powers' (powers
that design other powers).
29. The ruleset should be stable over the life of the
campaign.
30. A 'profession oriented' ruleset is preferable to one
with 'ad hoc' power gain.
31. The ruleset should not involve ultra-flexible,
programmable, or 'wordable' powers.
32. The ruleset should be based on mundane ability-like
skills (e.g. basic GURPS).
33. The ruleset should involve a large amount of growth in
power from 'beginner' to 'topped out'.
34. After 10 years of the campaign, my character should
still be 'low level'.
35. The capabilities of the character (using the ruleset)
should be tied to the capabilities of the player (gaming the
ruleset).
36. I prefer a numeric ruleset (D&D) over a qualitative
ruleset (FUDGE).
37. Comments?
Return to Contents
- Game Mythos (Grand Strategy)
38. I want a short campaign with a fixed endpoint, and it
should last only a few months or years.
39. I want the characters to grow as the campaign progresses.
40. I want the characters to be (or grow to be) very
powerful.
41. I want a campaign with a lot of infrastructure so the
characters get lots of help.
42. I want the campaign to be 'ruleset irrelevant' (e.g.
would work with any ruleset).
43. I don't want the GM to work within a campaign setting -
continuity between scenarios is not needed (e.g. the D&D
'multiverse').
44. I don't want a GM, I want a Judge (that is, to have no
input past initial campaign design; campaign expansion is by
module purchase only, if allowed at all).
45. Which of the following 5 statements best represents your
view of what you want a GM to do:
- I want the GM to work with fixed scenarios only, doing
no ongoing adjustment to the scenario based on what the
characters are doing.
- I want the GM to work with a relatively fixed 'future
history', treating the world as static save for what the
characters do and change.
- I want the GM to work within a very loose structure,
based on only a few known guide posts, working just ahead
of the characters.
- I want the GM to work with an extremely minimal
structure (e.g. the proverbial 10 page mythos), judging
character interactions with the outside universe based
on what 'seems right' and lots of ad hoc dice rolling.
- I want the GM to work with no structure, basing
everything on ad hoc die rolling and perhaps a '1 page
mythos'.
46. Characters should be as 'human' as possible.
47. The campaign universe should be as Earth-like as
possible.
48. I want the campaign to be a continuation of one of my
recent campaigns (and their mythos) in some fashion or
other.
49. I want the campaign to be a continuation of one of the
campaigns I ran over a decade ago.
50. I would like to see the next campaign be in an existing
fictional setting (if you agree, place several interesting
fictional settings in the 'comment' line below).
51. I would like to see lots of 'nonsense' and 'fantasy' in
the campaign.
52. I would like to see lots of 'magic' in the campaign.
53. I would like to see lots of 'psionics' in the campaign.
54. I would like to see lots of 'machine tech' in the
campaign.
55. I would like to see lots of 'high fantasy themes' in the
campaign.
56. I would like to see lots of 'cartoon themes' in the
campaign.
57. I would like to see lots of 'low fantasy hack and slash
themes' in the campaign.
58. I would like to see lots of 'religion themes' in the
campaign.
59. I would like to see lots of 'horror themes' in the
campaign.
60. I would like to see lots of 'comic book themes' in the
campaign.
61. I would like to see lots of 'romance novel themes' in
the campaign.
62. I would like to see lots of 'political themes' in the
campaign.
63. I would like to see lots of 'military themes' in the
campaign.
64. I would like to see lots of 'political /military
thriller themes' in the campaign.
65. I would like to see lots of 'economic themes' in the
campaign.
66. I would like to see lots of 'cute fuzzy wuzzy fantasy
themes' in the campaign.
67. I would like to see lots of 'science fiction themes' in
the campaign.
68. I would like to see lots of 'mysteries and mysticism' in
the campaign.
69. I would like to see lots of 'really obscure creative
things' in the campaign.
70. I would like to see no themes in the campaign -
inconsistency is more enjoyable.
71. Comments?
Return to Contents
- Game Mythos (Tactics And The Like)
72. Which one of the following 8 options best describes
your desired 'game morality':
- I want us to be 'saints' who never do violence.
- I want us to be 'good guys' that resort to violence only
as a 'last resort'.
- I want us to be 'greedy neutrals' that do whatever it
takes, whenever we need to.
- I want us to be 'benevolent despots' that believe that
the ends justify the means.
- I want us to be 'evil thugs' (with the proverbial
'hearts of gold').
- I want us to be 'really dark and evil creatures of
horror' with no redeeming social value, just in it for the
power.
- I want us to be morally inconsistent (e.g. 'utter good
guys' who rape, maim, and kill without regards to any
ongoing consequences).
- Other - please explain.
73. Which one of the following 5 options best describes how
you would want the characters to match up to the 'bad guys':
- I'd like a Tolkienish setting where PCs had insignificant
powers compared to the bad guys.
- I'd like a 'Nine Princes in Amber' setting where the
PCs are essentially Gods and nearly everyone else is
powerless.
- I'd like to see a 'Thieves World' setting with little
difference between top and bottom powers that be.
- I'd like to see a David Eddings 'Belgariad' setting
where the only people with 'real powers' are the PCs, a
few NPCs and the (small number) of enemies.
- Other. Please explain.
74. Which of the following 5 options best describes the way
you would like to see the campaign run:
- I would like to see the campaign run with miniatures at
the individual character level.
- I would like to see the campaign run with miniatures at
the army level.
- I would like to see the campaign run 'imagination style'
at the high level but with detailed melee combat.
- I would like to see the campaign run 'imagination style'
at a higher level (and without melee details).
- Other. Please explain.
75. Which of the following 5 options best describes the way
you would like expedition time to run:
- I would like to see expeditions take up mere hours of
game time when adventuring.
- I would like to see expedition take up days to weeks of
game time when adventuring.
- I would like to see the campaign run without any concept
of game time.
- I would like to see the expedition take up months of
game time when adventuring.
- Other. Please explain.
76. I would like to see characters die and be replaced upon
occasion, such that after two years of the campaign, the
likelihood of any starting character surviving would be nil.
77. I would like to have a sheaf of characters to choose
from, deciding which one I am going to run on a scenario by
scenario basis.
78. I want everyone to have just one character, and for that
character to essentially be unkillable (with the GM
intervening to make sure there are always ways out).
79. I love having lots of 'guilds' and 'organizations' of
peers around to interact with.
80. I despise 'enchantments' and 'items of power'.
81. I would rather utilize a complex multi-option power
(with results that need to be interpreted) in a melee than a
numerical attribute.
82. I love quests.
83. Having other player characters as enemies is just fine.
84. I really like the characters being on their own, without
any guidance, or any idea about what to do or what should be
being done.
85. Roleplaying detracts from running a character and
campaign enjoyment.
86. I want the campaign to end soon after it starts.
87. I want the campaign to be disjointed sets of scenarios
in the same mythos, with different characters in each.
88. I love 'dungeon trashing'.
89. I want the GM to provide us with characters.
90. No exploration. The universe should be given to us to
start with, fully developed. I would rather the
'opposition', whatever that may be, comes to me.
91. I like having numerous low to medium powered bad guys
("cannon fodder", like orcs) to kill.
92. I want the campaign to hand out loot so infrequently
that you see it only once every half dozen 'adventures' at
best.
93. Interactions with Greater Beings and Gods should only be
on an adversarial level.
94. Anything that allows any aspect of 'foretelling the
future', even 'possible futures' is wrong.
95. I despise the idea of 'multiple universes' in a
campaign.
96. Having 'new things' show up in the campaign detracts
from character development.
97. I despise the idea of 'time travel' in a campaign.
98. Enhanced physical combat should be a very rare
capability.
99. I don't want to ever have to make any decisions, other
than at the melee-tactical level.
100. 'Action at a distance' powers (e.g. psionics) are not
fair, and should not be in a campaign.
101. I have no problems with having to 'discover the
ruleset' (or rulesets) as we go along.
102. I like having 'alternate timelines', 'planes' and other
strange aspects of reality to explore in the campaign.
103. I would rather put my mental effort into dealing with
'the opposition' as opposed to dealing with 'ruleset
issues'.
104. Spell casters should be common if not ubiquitous.
105. The more 'world', the better.
106. Healing and resurrection should be extremely difficult
to come by at all times.
107. The GM should be the 'evil enemy' (as opposed to having
an 'in game' enemy).
108. I just love dealing with questions like "how many
liters of water, to the deciliter, do I need to take with me
on this wilderness trek to ensure my survival?"
109. Movement should be very difficult, avoiding things like
fast flying, teleportation, and the like.
110. The opposition should win regularly, killing
characters, and forcing players to start over.
111. I would rather see lots of 'tactical melees' rather
than 'projects requiring strategic thought'.
112. NPCs should be enemy types only.
113. 'Thieves' should not be specifically superpowered (or
as rare as possible).
114. Comments?
Return to Contents
- Expedition Mechanics
115. Expeditions should run with all of the players
involved.
116. If I have to pay attention to the expedition as it goes
along, it is 'too demanding' for me.
117. If I can't roll dice, it isn't worth it.
118. The campaign should involve intense player creativity,
including things like art, music, writing, etc.
119. I would like to see more logic problems and thought in
the campaign (and fewer 'luck activities').
120. Expeditions should run with an individual character
(mine); anyone else present should be just a kibitzer.
121. I want the campaign to run itself, such that the GM can
basically sleep through expeditions.
122. GMs who have to leaf through reference materials
detract from the expedition.
123. If it is not pre-rolled or computer generated, it is
not fair.
124. Players should only run one character.
125. I want the capability of handing in question sets for
answering, when I need to.
126. Which of the following 7 responses best describes your
feelings toward 'game conflict':
- I win when my character slaughters lots of enemies.
- I win when my character thwarts an enemy utilizing
whatever works for my character.
- I win when I beat the opponent and the other characters
don't.
- I win when I outsmart the GM.
- I win when my character is more 'powerful' than the
other characters.
- I win when lots of NPCs bow and scrape to me as a
powerful adventurer or whatever.
- Other. Please explain.
127. I don't want to use Email for anything involving the
campaign.
128. I don't want anyone else using Email for anything
involving the campaign.
129. Handouts and GM generated 'mythos' documents aid the
campaign.
130. Maps and the like from the GM aid the campaign.
131. If we can't 'map dungeons', it isn't a campaign.
132. Campaigns that require 'callers' or 'expedition
leaders' should be avoided.
133. There should be no discussion of mythos during an
expedition. All mythos information (if any) should be
through handouts or email.
134. Melees should be computer moderated, making the
tactical level be as much like a computer game as possible.
135. A campaign set up such that my hard-won campaign
knowledge is useful at the strategic and tactical level is a
good thing.
136. Expeditions should require no rules discussions.
137. Guidance from friendly NPCs (for various reasons) is a
positive thing.
138. Melees should be run as fast in real time as they are
in game time, forcing players to make split second decisions
about their characters.
139. The GM must decide things by logic, avoiding the use of
dice at all costs.
140. Comments?
Return to Contents
- Decision Making About the New Campaign
141. Which section of this survey, 1 through 4, is most
important to me?
142. The GM should consider this survey of utmost importance
when designing the new campaign.
143. Fooey! I would rather be playing Settlers (et al.), not
another FRP campaign.
144. All in all, I would rather see 'totally new things' in
a new campaign, not things seen in previous campaigns.
145. Any new campaign should be an utter surprise to me.
146. Comments?
* * *
Comments from Johnn:
Surveys can sometimes be dry and awful things, but I found
this one to be very interesting! Maybe the first question
should be 'I hate surveys' if you think your players would
be squeamish? LOL.
Anyway, just reading it reminded me about all the options
and styles that are possible in our little hobby. A GM
shouldn't take his players' opinions and preferences for
granted.
I can see some great uses for a survey like this:
- Starting a new campaign with a group of strangers. This
would let you know their preferences up front and reduce the
sometimes uncomfortable trial and error period.
- New player. Have new players joining your group fill the
survey out to give you a fairly detailed profile of their
expectations.
- Crucible. Have new players read the other players' surveys
so they can quickly learn who they're playing with.
- Mid-campaign check-in. Is your game currently serving the
needs of its players? Use this survey to find out.
- Road map. Use this survey right now to create a
preferences list of your players. Consult it often to see if
you're on course.
- Post-campaign analysis. Have players fill the survey out
at the beginning of the campaign and, once the campaign
ends, see how close the game actually came to meeting the
groups' preferences. Where did the game deviate? Why?
- Passport. Gaming with a new group? Fill out this survey
and hand it to the GM so s/he can get to know your gaming
better.
Thanks for the great survey Randall!
Return to
Contents
Readers' Tips Of The Week:
- Super Hero Generator Sites
From: Michael
While searching the web for things to use in my own Super
Heroes game, I came across this site. It is a character
generator that will help in creating some interesting
twists in super heroes.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/herogen/
I came across another site that actually has a program you
can download that will draw the character you want. It's
pretty cool and it's free.
http://www.heromachine.com/
Return to Contents
- More on Dealing with Rules Lawyers
From: Agis Silverfish
re:
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue177.asp
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue179.asp
Yes, Rules Lawyers can be very annoying, but a number of
them can become decent Gamemasters. Sometimes, the thing to
do is tell them to run their own game with their own rules!
Some Rule Lawyers will rise up to the challenge and create
their own campaign, with a plus: they have something to
prove. On top of that, they will know what it feels like on
the other side of the screen. That will probably make him or
her a more collaborative player in the future.
On the other hand, for some of them there is no greater
horror than GMing, and that will keep them quiet - at least
for a little while.
Hope this helps.
P.S. Great newsletter! Keep it up!
Return to Contents
GMs! Tired of missing players in games?
Looking for alternative communication for traveling players?
Thinking about broadening your player base?
Email not fast enough? Sick of message boards?
Try the next big step in -your- games.
Enjoy the flexibility of the IRC medium. It's free!
http://www.darkmyst.org
We're everything you need, and more!
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