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Post by garethl on Apr 4, 2012 9:36:41 GMT
Hello everyone, As you might know, I've GMed a disastrous one shot a few weeks ago. Please note it was my fault, that it was a complete failure. The good thing that has come out of it is that I now know what my weaknesses as a GM are. I wanted to improve, so I started reading things like the three-clue rule. I still have some questions, I would like to ask this community. The first of which: How do you handle the transitions between encounters?
For example the characters/players want go to the other side of the city. Nothing special happens, no chases or anything. How do you narrate the trip? Do you narrate the trip?
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Post by doctorflea on Apr 4, 2012 14:45:44 GMT
Depending on time and the nature of the scenario, it varies for me.
If time is an issue and I want to move the adventure on I tend to hand-wave travel and just say "so, you arrive at..." but in my current (Dungeons & Dragons) campaign the journey is part of the adventure and so, after three sessions, the characters still haven't gotten to the final location (the dungeon) - but are having fun with the encounters along the way as they explore the environment.
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stahlman
3rd Incarnation
Doctor, stop wasting my time, will you?
Posts: 222
Favourite Doctors: second,third,fourth
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Post by stahlman on Apr 4, 2012 18:38:53 GMT
Well now that is a very good question and it can particulalrly strike in my games as I run them on Fantasy Grounds 2 online -its all chat based and can be two to three times slower than live gaming. You don't want to be so linear of course that people think they are on rails but sometimes things can drag out. On transitions I let everyone have enough time to react and then I'll just move it on with some narrative. Remember to use SPs to drop hints as in-'Hey guys I don't know if anyone wants to use a story point to get a clue from the GM?'
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stahlman
3rd Incarnation
Doctor, stop wasting my time, will you?
Posts: 222
Favourite Doctors: second,third,fourth
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Post by stahlman on Apr 4, 2012 18:42:37 GMT
Also:don't beat yourself up-I've been doing this for thirty plus years and am still too generous to my players-no one's keeping tabs and its just about having fun.
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Post by brainsnaffler on Apr 5, 2012 7:00:41 GMT
I agree with the comments below. The imoirtant thing is that you've looked back and identified what could better. As for transitions, Dr flea is right. If its not important to the plot, I would just say "are you wanting to do anything special, or are you setting off to the...". That way people feel like they have a choice of where they go, and most times people will take the option to just set off.
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Post by garethl on Apr 5, 2012 19:01:20 GMT
The main reason I ask is, because in The Failure, there was some driving between the main locations:
Me: What are you going to do? Player: I think I'll drive back to the hotel and (.....) Me: Ok, nothing happens on your way there. You are now at the hotel. Player: .....
How should I put it? I felt there was some sort of tension created by giving the player the choice what to do and then somehow making the choice meaningless by telling the player basically nothing except that they have arrived at the destination.
So I tried the following:
Me: What are you going to do? Player: I think I'll drive back to the hotel and (.....) Me: Ok, you take Baker Street, there isn't a lot of traffic and you see an advert for perfume. After ten minutes you arrive at the hotel. Player: .....
Which was worse. The details add almost nothing, the player has no input, possible red herrings.
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Post by brainsnaffler on Apr 6, 2012 5:23:53 GMT
Both options are prettty much the same and perfectly acceptable to me. The only other way would have been to say "is there anything you want to do on your way to the hotel or are you driving straight there?". Ultimately that leads to the same conclusion, or worse: the player may have felt like they HAD to do something else.
Nope. Seems perfect to me. If there was tension there, its possible that the player thought there wasnt enough action in the game up to that point. Was that the case?
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Post by Pertwee on Apr 18, 2012 14:13:57 GMT
Honestly, this all depends on the type/genre of game you're playing. An old school D&D game, where exploration of every nook and cranny is a part of the fun, requires more description and careful mapping of every hallway in order to provide the players with info that drives the game.
Doctor Who is an entirely different creature altogether, however. It is based on a television show with a highly dramatic, some would say cinematic, quality. As such, your transitions should be as close to the transitions you see in the show as possible, to whit, it is the scene itself that is important, not necessarily how they get there, unless that too comprises a full scene.
Think of each 'encounter' as a television set on a soundstage or on location. Once the action has been played out in the set, and the characters move on to another, your transition is as simple as 'minutes.hours/days later, you arrive at The Location.' The only exception to this would be if an exciting chase scene is planned, the players are ambushed or the abilities of the PCs to navigate to the destination is important, in which case, you simply create another scene with another set and link it between the last scene and the destination.
As for scenes containing chases, remember that in Doctor Who, the default set is a series of corridors that the players run about and duck around in, so there is no need to create a detailed map of the area. Simply break out the Chase Grid and describe it on the fly. Example: '[Players roll a Good Success] The Daleks are pursuing close behind, but you manage to double back down a side corridor, and they momentarily lose you [moves chase pawn one space towards Escape'.
Navigation would be done similarly, except, you could throw in exciting encounters if the players take too long to navigate the area. Example: '[player rolls a failure] All these corridors look the same and you seem to be going in circles [drops the pawn back one space on the grid] and as you realize this, you hear the sounds of a Dalek patrol, their cries of 'SEEK! LO-CATE! EX-TERM-I-NATE!' echoing down the corridor and alerting you to the fact that they are hunting you!'
In both of the above cases, you add a scene called 'The Chase' or 'The Search' or something in between the scene the characters have just left and the one that they are heading for and create a 'set' that allows them to wander as long as needed, describing whatever set dressing or characters are needed to keep the scene going for a while.
This is totally unnecessary for quick uneventful trips which should take place in the manner of a television series, and you should simply use a 'cut' or 'wipe' or some other means of moving from one scene to another. Think of the episode 'The Beast Below' for a good example, as the Scene in which Amy saves the Star Whale transitions, via a Star Wars like wipe effect, to a scene of the Doctor standing, looking melancholy out the window of Starship UK. What happened between the saving of the whale and then is important, but not dramatically so, so that we just go to the next scene with a bit of exposition thrown in for the benefit of wrapping up the story. A GM would say something like this: 'After the Whale is saved, things change on Starship UK [the GM describes the changes in brief]. A few days later, you, Amy, find the Doctor alone and looking wistfully out at the stars in one of the large viewing bays of the Starship.'
If your players really aren't getting the gist of the 'television' atmosphere, then try and use directorial terms when running the game. Fo instance, if you the characters are forced to wait the night out in an old house while waiting for an attack that you know will never come, a transition could work like this: 'You're defenses prepared, you tensely await the coming of the enemy in the night. Fade to black. [Dramatic Pause] 'As the morning sun rises, your exhausted crew is simultaneously relieved and irritated at the sleepless night spent waiting in tense anticipation. Make a Resolve Roll for me. [Craig fails his roll]. They are especially irritated with Craig, who dozed off during the night...'
So, in summary, build your adventure like a series of scenes and sets and treat transitions like a television director. That's the ideal way to run a Doctor Who RPG (IMO, of course)...
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Post by Craig Oxbrow on Apr 18, 2012 21:44:07 GMT
Y'know, the new edition isn't even printed yet and I'm already looking forward to the next one because it won't have an incompetent example character called Craig...
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Post by Pertwee on Apr 23, 2012 23:52:54 GMT
Incompetent characters are a part of Doctor Who in specific and drama in general. Their errors tend to create situations that create suspense or move the story along.
If this were the Tom Baker era, we'd be saying 'Harry' or 'Adric' as examples instead of Craig, but as this is the eleventh Doctor era, we use 'Craig,' as he is shorthand for that type of character.
And character's like Craig make games interesting, IMO. It's easy to play someone who is uber-competent, like Captain Jack, but a lot more challenging to play someone like Craig...
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Post by Craig Oxbrow on Apr 24, 2012 13:56:49 GMT
Well, that joke's safely dead now. Well done!
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Post by thecaptain on Aug 26, 2012 21:37:55 GMT
Back to the topic at hand: No matter what I'm doing for an episode ( Head Writing-- that's GMing-- or playing a character I look for a few things. First, is pacing. You need to have slow and fast points to the session. It's like a DJ- if they only play slow songs you can't get your groove on and visa versa. If things have just been slow, move to the next bit ASAP. If you just came from an encounter, let the story breath an all people involved ( head writer included) take a breather.
Second, I look for content. If the Head writer is quickly explaining ("so you drove back to the hotel and ....") that tells me instinctively as a player that there isn't any further clues or whatnots to be had during this point. If; however, the Head Writer is starting to give me something ("you are driving back to the hotel and there is traffic. You see a perfume ad billboard. ") that tells me as a player that I might need to do something here. An awareness check would be in order.
Thirdly, when I'm head Writer I get my basic structure down and then leave room to play. If you have players that just like to "shop" allow them their spree but maybe something strange happens to them there. If you have players who only like the running chase-y scenes, ask yourself how long it's been since you had one of those.
But above all, YOU are the GM. You are telling the story. How do you want your episode to sound? Whatever answer you have for that question, is ( in my opinion ) the right one. STAY CONFiDENT.
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zarohk
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 31
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Post by zarohk on Sept 2, 2013 21:25:43 GMT
Quick question first: are you still doing the 1-on-1 session with a single player? If you are, and don't have a PC of your own, then skip this.
Otherwise… In terms of transitions, I often find that you make them better by not making them feel like transitions. Include something that happens during the drive, whether it's the Doctor arguing with a companion about which of them is the better driver (on one hand the Doctor has no sense of direction, on the other hand the companion has no sense of speed limits), people talking over the clues they've found for a mystery, social interaction, or a character spotting an advert for perfume and talking with someone else about how life is so much better for models in the UK versus what they've heard about those poor girls in America. This will sound like generic fluff, but don't think of it as "the characters are driving back to the hotel", think of it as "the characters are in a car together for a bit" and use it as a break from the plot for socialization. Or, if you're using the TARDIS or a Vortex manipulator, "character(s) marvel at the strange device and ask its owner about it. In response, they get: an indepth lecture on temporal mechanics / a short reply that tells them nothing / a brush-off Leading the character to: get excited or bored with the response / feel annoyed at the other person / feel even more curious, and make up for it by looking more deeply into other mysteries
At the risk of being cliche, you should consider transitions an opportunity to have characters step out of the rush of action for a minute, not just a time to kill while getting from A to B.
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