Frequently Asked Questions for Prospective Players

In an effort to answer as many questions as expediently as possible, I put this page up. The point is to help you help yourself, at least insofar as the obvious questions people have about a group, campaign and the style of the game.

Note that the content here will likely evolve over time as new questions are asked and I come up with something that sounds reasonable. I can't anticipate everything… can I? (Hmmm…)

If you don't see what you're looking for and should belong here, just contact me and I'll add it when I get around to it.

Access to more resources to acclimate a user to the game can be found linked off of the welcome page of this section.

Every good campaign can be summed up quickly with an elevator pitch, so here goes:

The game is intended to be similar to the famed West Marches campaign that all the cool kids like to emulate these days, albeit with a more narrow initial focus. There's (initially) no regularly scheduled game day, no regular adventure party and no overarching plot for the game driven by the DM.

The players are in charge of scheduling gaming sessions, recruiting others to go on expeditions and setting their own goals. Players in a West Marches game typically pool their knowledge about the setting to help discover secrets and set goals for future exploration.

In short, this is an old-school game, with all that connotates. The game is a sandbox game run beer-and-pretzels style. I treat the game as a game and not some sort of grand storytelling event or realistic simulation. Also, since I have a life I am looking for a minimum of prep time to get to the table and have fun.

You might also be interested in checking out my DMing style.

Foremost, this is a "beer-and-pretzels" game. We're here to have fun and don't take things too seriously. Let's have a few laughs, kill monsters and take their stuff!

In that vein, this is an old-school style game; we're going to part… er, game like it's 1979!… or '82… or something like that. It's a rules-light, rulings-not-rules, DM-fiat, damn-the-splatbooks sort of experience. If your meat and potatoes consists entirely of complex character builds, min-maxing, rules lawyering and perfect character balance while simultaneously taking advantage of power creep then this probably isn't your ideal game; that doesn't mean you can't have fun, though!

The game is a sandbox (albeit a shallow one at first). Players are in charge of setting their goals and balance of risk versus reward. Also, there are events happening in the world, but there's no overarching plot they are expected or required to take part in. Instead, there's just an overarching environment. This isn't story time, it's game time.

Speaking of, a game should be just that: gamey. Players move their characters around, things are measured in turns, there's rules, etc. There's a touch of simulationism in that rules describe the world, we're tracking resources and the like… but narrative be damned. There's no epic story; you are not Big Damn Heroes™. You're a band of ragtag murder hobos that kill monsters and take their stuff then fritter the proceeds away on weird schemes, orgies and mind-altering substances of your choice. (A good way to put it comes from an old-school blog I read: “First, it’s not a story, it’s a game. Second, you don’t win because you’re heroes. You’re heroes if you win.”) Players make their own stories for their characters because it makes it worth so much more than something just handed to you; if you're not into that and just want to explore, roll dice and fight, that's great, too!

Finally, I'm looking for minimal preparation time for sessions. I want a game where I don't spend four or more hours prepping for every hour at the table. I've done that before and it wasn't fun for me. I'll be exercising my creativity by doing a lot of riffing off sparse notes and random tables at the table and playing on what happens during actual play.

The players are in control of when we play. The game is specifically designed to be flexible so that it can fit into the schedule of busy adults. You play as you find time to play, and just because so-and-so can't make it this week it doesn't mean everyone else can't play if everyone else is available. If you can play once a week that's fine, and if you can only play once every few months that's fine too.

Game sessions only happen when the players decide to do something. The players initiate all adventures and it's their job to schedule games and organize an adventuring party once they decide on an objective.

There is a Facebook group for the campaign that players should join to aid in coordinating discussion between players. Players interested in playing on a given day should post to the list and say what they would like to do, looking for others who would like to join them on the expedition. An example message may be something like, “I'd like to play Sunday afternoon, and think we should go check out the ruined monastery that we heard about past the Gloomy Hills. Who's interested?” Players might suggest alternate dates, different objectives or whatever, but it is up to the players to reach consensus and organize the expedition.

The only hard scheduling rules are:

1. I'd like us to play biweekly if possible, but I'm not above weekly if we can manage it. (That would rock, actually, assuming I could manage it myself.)
2. The DM has to be available that day.
3. The players have to secure a place to play.
4. The players have to tell the DM where they plan on going well in advance (at least five calendar days, but more is always better) so he has a chance to prepare anything that needs to be completed.
5. There must be at least two players in attendance, but no more than six.
6. The DM can veto an idea that sounds completely boring and not worth a game session.

The game is an open table game, drawn from a wide¹⁾ pool of players. There is no regular party and each session may draw on the characters of different members of the pool.

Ideally, we'll have a good sized group of players to draw on in time (tell your friends!). Once the numbers reach a critical mass we'll likely have regulars who play most sessions and some others who make sessions occasionally as they can find the time.

While initially the campaign is meant to be for face-to-face play, there may also be online play. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but if that becomes the case then players who play face-to-face may play their characters in the online sessions, and vice versa (if they can make it to a face-to-face session).

To facilitate the use of a pool of players and supporting unbroken continuity, characters will start and end every session in the taproom of The Orc and the Pie. Characters that do not return by the end of the session will be subject to rolling on a version of Jeff Rients' Triple Secret Random Dungeon Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom. (This also goes for players who must leave the game before the session is ended. They just sort of… wander off or get lost.)

The best way is probably to ask an existing player, but you can read a quick overview about some pertinent and gameable information, or read in more depth about the setting in the gazetteer.

Yes, I said this is an old-school game. Old-school rules, old-school mentality.

In general that means that we're playing rules-light, and that means a lot of DM rulings rather than having 2,500 pages of rules for every possible eventuality. Let's just play, y'know? As eventualities come up, we'll handle them.

Here, fill this form out in triplicate, using black pen…

In all seriousness, I addressed that already. If you have been playing a while and are having trouble with this aspect of old-school gaming, perhaps you should step back and consider the context of the game. Are you being a rules lawyer? Maybe rules-light isn't for you? Are you trying to twist things to get unfair advantages? Could this simply be a very difficult task, opponent or area you are up against?

No. We're playing classic D&D with Basic Fantasy RPG rules.

If you want to put minis or counters on the table in a marching order, that's cool. It helps me pick out logical victims instead of choosing them at random.

You can also put them facing, to show who's watching what flank, who's watching behind, etc. It doesn't actually mean you're walking backwards or sideways (unless… you are, I guess?), it just means you're responsible for watching that direction.

A caller is a bit different. Back in the day we didn't use one, and if the group is small enough I'm cool with just letting everyone declare their own actions.

If things get too chaotic or disorganized I may tell the group to elect a caller for me to interact with. The caller will communicate the party's actions to me. If a player doesn't like the action a caller gives me for their character they should say so at that time.

That's up to you. It's no skin off my nose if you get lost. (Remember that you must end the session in the back in civilization; if you end the session lost or camping in the wild you are probably going to get hosed.)

There's a lot of advantages to mapping, though. A well-done map helps you find what has changed since previous visits to the area, or plan new expeditions. It also tends to help experienced players find hidden areas or work out better routes through dangerous territory that may be overrun with enemies or monsters. It may help you have a strategic advantage as well. A map doesn't have to be an exact representation of the DM's map. It can be anything from boxes for rooms connected with lines to a rough drawing and still be useful. Don't look at mapping as a chore, but an opportunity.

By the way, protect that map in-game! If it's destroyed in-game, the real one will be destroyed too (and you can't use backups unless you have one in-game).

Yes, sorta.

One of the challenges of old-school games is the resource management aspect. To mount a successful expedition into the wild or underworld the party brings men and matériel to bear to survive and overcome obstacles. We need to keep track of the consumables to make that meaningful. Normally, as characters gain power (typically in spells and magic items) this becomes less of an issue, but that's because the focus of the game shifts somewhat from the management of mundane resources to magical ones (which for some reason players have less of an issue with).

Also, it brings a fun aspect to the game when you realize, “hey, when we left the packbearer in that room to be eaten by the owlbear he was carrying all our extra torches!”

Nonetheless… it's a real pain to keep track of every. Little. Thing. Thus, common expendable items will be represented by a die roll.

For example, a quiver of arrows may be represented by a d6; roll a 1 on a d6 after firing arrows during a combat and your quiver may be exhausted. This way, there's a bit of randomness to the amount of arrows, which can be accounted for in recovery of arrows, etc. It's an abstraction, but it works.

Adjust for new rules for exhausting ammo

Yep.

Fortunately, we're using a simplified system. Players who don't keep track of their character's encumbrance accurately will suffer the wrath of a vengeful DM.

Somebody dies.

Seriously, though, splitting the party is dangerous at best, foolish at worst. Depending on the action, I may ask people not present to leave the game table, or take those who are currently acting aside.

Sometimes it just doesn't matter. We can all agree not to metagame the situation, right? (Right?)

I won't consider “standard operating procedures” outside of marching orders marked with minis or on paper. You're a rowdy band of tomb robbers (that probably varies from delve to delve), not an elite SEAL team with incredible knowledge of your target and its composition given to you by an immense intelligence apparatus.

You tell me what you're doing as you're doing it, or you're not doing it.

See here for further thoughts on this.

To me, a character's story begins when he's rolled up. A backstory should be a one-line description and a one-line background (“Conan is a long-haired, swarthy barbarian with oiled muscles. He seeks revenge on the sorcerer that destroyed his village and killed his parents”). Everything that happens after that is your character's life.

Some players aren't happy if their characters don't have big, elaborate backstories. If you're one of those, feel free, but I am free to use, use against or totally ignore any part of it. If you insist that you are truly a member of the royal court of Zelbar then you may get arrested for impersonating royalty, or people may keep asking you where this mythical land of “Zelbar” is because it doesn't even exist! NPCs may just think you're a bit off and have bad reactions to you because you obviously live in a fantasy world of your own making (pun intended).

This isn't improv drama class, but funny voices are okay, I guess. I guess. I'm not wired like that, so if you're not either, that's okay.

Asking “what's my motivation” or “why should my character go along with this” will probably be met with, “fine, stay in town, the rest of us are going to the dungeon for loot.” What else is there besides gold and glory, anyway?

No.

I'm not really down with FLAILSNAILS. Sure, I could translate the character on the fly and limit things as I want, but it's more trouble than I want to deal with having to translate magic items, spell descriptions, special powers or skills, etc. I'd rather just have characters for the campaign from the campaign and not have to worry about all the extra work.

Refer to the answer here.

The base rule set is Basic Fantasy RPG, which heavily based on the old Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons boxed sets from '81 along with some changes. To mix that up, there is a slate of house rules, which was pretty much always the case when I played as a kid, plus some stuff I just dig or think would be fun. (I'm an inveterate rules tinkerer.)

When the rules differ, we will defer to house rules first, and BFRPG second.

Yep. I like race as class. It makes the character races a bit more “foreign” or “alien.” However, a racially-classed character can (sometimes) take a second class in the special multiclassing rules, so it helps differentiate some characters a bit.

If you look at the multiclassing rules, you can probably build what you want. A paladin is essentially a combination of fighter and cleric that serves the right sort of deity (or… whatever); a bard is likely an expert, potentially mixed with just about whatever other class you want to specialize as. (Rough-and-tumble? Go with a side of figher. Student of arcane lore and legend? Mix in some magic user.)

Even classes for nonhuman races could be defined; if we had ratmen, they'd be their own class, but a rat man cultist would likely be a rat man with a secondary class of cleric or magic-user, say. However, not all nonhuman races can be mixed with all classes.

We're all here to have fun and play a game, but for some reason we all know D&D can attract people who take it to be their way to explore their more… antisocial tendencies (whether or not they explore them in their own life). For some, it's not fun to have someone else in the party who is edgy and brooding just to be edgy and brooding, or going around stealing from party members, attacking them or causing trouble because “they're acting in character.”

I know you're supposed to roleplay, but having to watch your back against the world and also your compatriots or suffer the consequences of someone who is random for no purpose but their own edification is just… exhausting. It's also not fun. At the table, let's agree that the party are all allies and we hunt the monsters, not be the monsters.

I have that covered already here.