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.  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 starting 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 the meat and potatoes of your gaming 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, take their stuff then fritter the proceeds away on weird schemes, questionable social attachments and mind-altering substances of your choice.  (A good way to put it comes from an old-school D&D blog I used 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 they're 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 Google group 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. The DM has to be available that day.
2. The players have to secure a place to play.
3. The players have to tell me the DM where they plan for their characters to go well in advance (at least five calendar days, but more is always better) so he has a chance to prepare if necessary.
4. There must be at least two players in attendance, but no more than six.
5. The DM can veto an idea that sounds like it's 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, especially given that as of this writing we're in the second year of a global pandemic.  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 online players can make it to a face-to-face session).

To facilitate the use of a pool of players and supporting unbroken continuity, characters must start and end every session in the taproom of The Orc and Pie.  Characters that do not return by the end of the session cannot be played until the same group gets of players together to finish getting the same group of characters back to civilization.  (For players who must leave the game before the session is ended, another player can run your character only in that instance, and only until returning to the safety of town.  Players who leave prematurely forfeit experience points from the session, and it's up to whoever is left if you get any loot or not, so pick your friends wisely…)

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 DM rulings and table negotiation 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, I just want us all to have some fun!

Here, fill this form out in triplicate using black pen only and submit it to…

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 approaching this from the mindset of a rules lawyer?  Are you trying to twist everything to get an unfair advantage?  Could this simply be a very difficult task, opponent or area you are up against (in old-school gaming there is no encounter balance)?  I guess if you still have problems, maybe rules-light gaming or this campaign isn't for you?

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. 

There's a lot of advantages to mapping.  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 riddled with enemies, traps 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).

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.

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 materiel 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 usage die check.

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 gets eaten. 

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 a highly-trained 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 story.

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 are obviously insane.

In short… not interested.

This isn't improv drama class but funny voices are 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 like the idea of open table gaming, but not taking characters from one DM's game to another FLAILSNAILS-style.  DMs give out differing amount of treasure, magic items, spells, etc.  Someone might be looking to run a lower-powered game, or simply don't want to have to nerf or buff a bunch of stuff that you're packing around.

You're welcome to make a similar character (starting from first level, of course).

See here for more information.

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.)

Where the rules differ, we will defer to house rules first, and Basic Fantasy RPG second.

At this table we're playing classic D&D powered by Basic Fantasy RPG and some house rules.

If you look at the quasi-classing option you can probably build what you want.  A paladin is essentially a combination of fighter and cleric; 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 fighter.  Student of arcane lore and legend?  Mix in some magic-user.)

I am running a game with an old-school vibe and these don't make the cut.  Also, if I wanted to run a game centered on a party of monsters I would do so.

Okay.  If your definition of "inclusive" requires including furries and monsters as playable races then we're going to have to agree to disagree.

Also, remember this.

Nope.  Classes are limited by race and/or culture.  You're lucky we're not playing race-as-class.