Great interview. I'm DMing two D&D campaigns right now, so I don't think I can run The Children of Fear, but I'm leaning towards buying it anyways. This info easily applies to any TTRPG, and i think I'll try some of it out in the campaigns I'm currently running that are looking to expand the map a bit. Thank you.
I am a bit puzzled as to why travel is seen as a problem. On a location map; travel has its entry as other locations have, only that it usually does not have a number or letter associated with it. I see it as travel being a "room" with many "doors" leading to many other "rooms". In physics, we learn the classic train experiment. At the train station, you are sitting on a train and can see another train on an adjacent track, then a train starts moving, but! It is difficult to determine if it is the train you are in that is moving or if it is the other train that is moving. Why should that be different in role-playing games? A few weeks ago I saw the "Around the World in 80 Days" TV series. Seen from a role-playing perspective, I think it could have been played out as a campaign. Travel is the foundation of the story. 1:32 "The main thing is to make sure that travel isn't a slog, and it's not just slowing down the whole story". Many campaigns are travel, in the Star Trek sense: "To boldly go where no one has gone before". I do not see travel as slowing down the story, often it is the opposite, travel is where the story moves! The real slog (that most often slows down the story) is combat. 11:19 "but that doesn't mean that everything that your investigators come up against has to be a bandit attack, because, yeah, that's going to get really stale very very quickly and incredibly frustrating for your players". Agreed. However, many travel campaigns are in that category: A long stream of stale, sluggishly slow combats. Which I find "incredibly frustrating". However, it is the way the majority of campaigns are. The term "murder hobos" is not a term for something that happens once in a blue moon, but something very common. I think it is far more important to say: "The main thing is to make sure that combat isn't a slog, and it's not just slowing down the whole story". As said: I find the overuse of combat "incredibly frustrating", especially when I am the GM and I get players used to playing the "murder hobo wargame". Those players often sit catatonic waiting for the combat to start, not knowing what to do in non-combat situations. 2:52 "We know what investigators are like if you don't keep them busy, you know the devil makes work for idle hands" I think that is a really sad statement. - I feel that is what Railroader GMs, Theatre GMs, Steamroller GMs, and similar Disaster Master styles will say. Getting players used to playing under those DM styles, do that I (again) GM for players sitting catatonic waiting for me to entertain them. To look at "Around the World in 80 Days" again: The interesting part of that story is when they are not busy! When they are stuck, the vague goal is figuring out a way to get moving again. Here it is almost the opposite: The interruptions in the journey are where they sit idle! Where we learn to know the characters, we get character development, the story about how they figure out how to get along. And it is what I think should be the core of role-playing: The characters' story!
Great interview.
I'm DMing two D&D campaigns right now, so I don't think I can run The Children of Fear, but I'm leaning towards buying it anyways. This info easily applies to any TTRPG, and i think I'll try some of it out in the campaigns I'm currently running that are looking to expand the map a bit.
Thank you.
great content~ :)
I am a bit puzzled as to why travel is seen as a problem.
On a location map; travel has its entry as other locations have, only that it usually does not have a number or letter associated with it.
I see it as travel being a "room" with many "doors" leading to many other "rooms".
In physics, we learn the classic train experiment.
At the train station, you are sitting on a train and can see another train on an adjacent track, then a train starts moving, but! It is difficult to determine if it is the train you are in that is moving or if it is the other train that is moving.
Why should that be different in role-playing games?
A few weeks ago I saw the "Around the World in 80 Days" TV series.
Seen from a role-playing perspective, I think it could have been played out as a campaign.
Travel is the foundation of the story.
1:32 "The main thing is to make sure that travel isn't a slog, and it's not just slowing down the whole story".
Many campaigns are travel, in the Star Trek sense: "To boldly go where no one has gone before".
I do not see travel as slowing down the story, often it is the opposite, travel is where the story moves!
The real slog (that most often slows down the story) is combat.
11:19 "but that doesn't mean that everything that your investigators come up against has to be a bandit attack, because, yeah, that's going to get really stale very very quickly and incredibly frustrating for your players".
Agreed.
However, many travel campaigns are in that category: A long stream of stale, sluggishly slow combats. Which I find "incredibly frustrating". However, it is the way the majority of campaigns are.
The term "murder hobos" is not a term for something that happens once in a blue moon, but something very common.
I think it is far more important to say:
"The main thing is to make sure that combat isn't a slog, and it's not just slowing down the whole story".
As said: I find the overuse of combat "incredibly frustrating", especially when I am the GM and I get players used to playing the "murder hobo wargame".
Those players often sit catatonic waiting for the combat to start, not knowing what to do in non-combat situations.
2:52 "We know what investigators are like if you don't keep them busy, you know the devil makes work for idle hands"
I think that is a really sad statement. - I feel that is what Railroader GMs, Theatre GMs, Steamroller GMs, and similar Disaster Master styles will say.
Getting players used to playing under those DM styles, do that I (again) GM for players sitting catatonic waiting for me to entertain them.
To look at "Around the World in 80 Days" again: The interesting part of that story is when they are not busy!
When they are stuck, the vague goal is figuring out a way to get moving again.
Here it is almost the opposite: The interruptions in the journey are where they sit idle!
Where we learn to know the characters, we get character development, the story about how they figure out how to get along.
And it is what I think should be the core of role-playing: The characters' story!