@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Craigp

@Craigp@mastodon.social

Green energy day job, game dev / design talks & tutorials at night.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFL6-QAPmuin1iXUY1MEe0g

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Craigp, to random
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Discovered a glut of videos about cool villains for D&D games.

One thing people don't seem to realize is that if your villain goes past a certain pretty low power level, they ARE the setting.

People talk about "making a good villain", but in a game revolving around tactical combat, any significant villain will distort the setting to the point where it drives the setting.

Which means your villain design IS world design.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

For example, if you make an ancient villain dragon that runs the kingdom of Plurpelurple, your setting is now

a world

where a dragon runs a country.

This instantly changes every dynamic. It changes how everyone lives, it changes what other countries are concerned about and who runs them, it changes how nobility and succession work, it changes what backgrounds, classes, and abilities are frowned on or smiled on by which groups...

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

But more importantly, this is a world where a king can be an ancient dragon.

This creates a vibe that sets it apart from The Standard Book Settings, and allows you to easily spin up a whole bevy of related themes.

For example, how does wealth work? How do people feel about wealth?

How does ethnocentrism work? How do people feel about nonhumanoid sentient creatures?

You can decide in any direction you like, all anchored in "dragon king".

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Now, technically the dragon king doesn't have to be a villain to have this effect on the setting... but villains are extremely useful because they bring the setting to the players.

If there's a dragon king, uh... over there, nice to meet you, I guess... hey dragon king, sure we'll kill a necromancer bothering your people, sure-

The aspects of the setting that the dragon king drives fall into the background. The players have no reason to care about or be affected by them.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Coming up with a cool setting is a fun exercise, but in a tabletop game, a huge part of that is making the players care.

And the number one way to make the players care is to give them something to engage with.

In a D&D-style game, that means... yup. Enemies. Both in terms of what they can do and in terms of how the setting responds to what they can do.

Enemies are how your setting communicates and attaches to the players.

And villains are the biggest enemies.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

To be frank, anyone capable of being an ongoing threat to a band of murder hobos is definitely government-grade. At least town-sheriff grade, even for level ones.

Dropping in villains that seem to have no particular authority is very weird, because anything that can threaten five rampaging monster slayers is by definition more dangerous and more notable than them.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I was thinking more about the discussion about different kinds of TTRPG players. You know, a lot of GMs complain about minmaxers and such.

I think the discussion on this, both for and against, is generally pretty shallow.

A big point of a TTRPG is that each player engages in their own way. Some players focus more on mechanics than others.

This becomes a problem only if you get blindsided by it. It's extremely useful if you know it's coming.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Yeah, you can be blindsided by a player that uses an unexpected optimization.

But you can be blindsided by a player making an unexpected acting choice, too.

They're not any different. Both players have decided to engage with the game in a very personal way, and that's great.

The question is how well the GM can funnel these behaviors into a useful multiplayer experience that's fun for everyone.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

So let me propose the opposite: the problem isn't a minmaxer. The problem is someone that DOESN'T engage with the mechanics at all.

The problem isn't an unreliable theater nerd driving things off the rails. The problem is someone that DOESN'T engage with the storytelling at all.

My proposal is when a GM complains about "a minmaxer", they either mean "someone that doesn't care about the storytelling" or "someone I can't keep up with", and those are two very different complaints.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

And I propose we can simply use one to help with the other.

If a player is engaging with the rules and not the narrative, simply create narrative rules. Specifically, reward player interactions with other players, to create a good synergy with the players that DO care about the narrative and would like to connect with the munchkin.

Similarly, if a player is refusing to do more than the absolute bare minimum of statwangle, create mechanics that interact with the munchkin!

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Stats and mechanics are a major way the game organizes itself and creates flow.

If someone isn't engaging with the rules, I judge that as just as major a game failing as someone not engaging with the story.

It means they're not actually playing. They're just drifting along.

Not everyone has to obsess over it, but if someone isn't happy when they earn a statistical reward... then you aren't properly engaging them.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Maybe most of this discussion comes from people that play Only D&D.

D&D is so widespread that there's a lot of tables using it with completely different priorities.

"I'm here to role play, not to wargame!"

Well, do I have news for you. There's 10,000 systems that can actively help you with that, rather than requiring you to expect players to ignore 98% of the system you chose to play the game the way you want.

Craigp,
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There are systems where minmaxers minmaxxing makes more role play opportunities.

Use a system that actually helps create the experience you want. Why are you trying to hammer in a screw?

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Every player is an opportunity.

The things they like to do, want to do - those are things you, as a GM, can use to create a better experience for all your players.

The players aren't guests and they aren't actors you hired to play out your skits. They're the bones your narrative is built on.

The things they want to do are the things your narrative should do. Your job as GM is to make that experience interesting and coherent.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Well, more specifically, I think your job is to create specific refined situations and threads that they can get invested in.

But those threads must be descended from what they want to do rather than expecting players to get interested in a thread because you say so.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I watched a few tabletop RPG videos - none of the super popular ones - and I'm really struck at how most of them are populated by actors there to act, rather than players there to play.

There's nothing wrong with this. But it's interesting how the structure of these games is often one that would drive normal players up the wall.

They frequently have lonnnnng scenes with less than half of their players, and of course the other actors are calmly, patiently waiting. Because they're actors.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

"Look how good and compelling this GM is-"

For shows, yeah. If you were playing, you'd be looking at your phone because you only exist in the story maybe 1/3 of the time.

Not that everyone always needs to be active, but they all need to, you know. Be involved. As much as possible.

Half the things these GMs do on camera surrounded by players I'd do in a pre- or post-session with just the one or two involved. Or during a break.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Every player does need to be a fan of every other player character and their activities. That's ideal, it keeps things vibrant.

But players become fans by INTERACTING.

Not by listening to them do independent scenes nobody else can even see.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

BUT.

I don't think that works well for video.

After all, the audience - which is paying the bills, presumably - can't interact. They can only watch.

So you have to structure things so that the people watching can become fans.

Which is what actors excel at. It's literally their main job.

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

I'm really not a fan of how you search for a very specific string of nonsense and instead of returning hits for it, it returns hits for vaguely similar and much more common strings.

This is an AI-driven thing that is just the dumbest shit.

"Clearly they meant to search for this more common thing, and there will be no option to find what they are looking for. In fact, we won't even bring up that we're returning the wrong thing."

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@TerryHancock 100%

Craigp, to random
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Apparently it's the summer of crop tops.

I wonder how this gets started. I'm absolutely sure this isn't a bunch of women going "oh, yes, let's all buy crop tops".

Presumably the big clothing stores just flood the shelves with crop tops to try and convince people to buy new clothes, since obviously they won't have any crop tops in their closet. None newer than fifteen fucking years old, anyway.

It's fascinating to watch largely harmless fads like these.

Craigp,
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I need you to understand how hard you have to pull to get this door open.

It was DEADBOLTED.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

Tomorrow I'll hike down to the hardware store and get some metal "NO ENTRY, FUCK OFF" signs and nail them up. This is ridiculous.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

My apartment is not a belly button and does not need to be on display.

Craigp,
@Craigp@mastodon.social avatar

@charlesrandall There's a noticeable gap in the door where the main vertical brace has ripped away from the main plywood panel.

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