Random table design
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- VERY BRIEF thoughts on some aspects of what makes random tables useful. One could talk for hours about this huge topic (but I didn't)!
**Get Geek Gamers' new book, a literary random table, "Wanderings," here: amzn.to/33T7yix
#solorpg #randomtables #rpg - Ігри
I finally caught up and got to watch a video on the day of release! Thank you so much for doing these videos! I've always been intrigued by solo roleplaying but now the coronavirus pandemic and social isolation has given me the impetus to give it a go. I'm putting together a Star Trek solo RPG for myself now using Fate Accelerated and the Mythic GME, and I'm going to run the game and document in Roll20. I live alone and have been furloughed from work so I have a lot of free time on my hands which can be hard to fill with anything but scary thoughts. I can't thank you enough for helping me find some happiness in these trying, uncertain times. Stay safe and healthy!
Joe Bardales Thank you so much for the kind words. This is a scary time and I feel for you with the job furlough. It sounds like you have set yourself up nicely for some great escapist adventures and the solace offered by gaming, particularly this kind where we are creators as well as players, can be great. I wish you all the best and thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts and plans.
How is your documentation in Roll20 going? I debated doing the same but felt like I needed more text entry.
You are just too awesome. Masterful!
Deploribus Rex Thank you, you are too kind. I’m glad you are enjoying the content.
In these times of isolation I really appreciate your solo gameing videos keep up the good work !
@Coyote Minded Thank you so much. It’s good to know the content is appreciated and nice to connect this way through a common love of gaming especially when everything “real” feels so bad.
I really enjoy "random" tables and I've bought systems based on the fascinating tables that are inculded that I find interesting and useful.
Me too! I've shown some of those in various vids--never really look at the rules at all but the random tables were cool enough to make a purchase worthwhile
@@GeekGamers01 Yes, exactly!
Another fantastic video, very useful stuff!
It's been awhile since we looked this closely at the machine. Random tables are a focusing tool. Roll until inspiration takes over.
"No one makes a D4 table." This made me smile as that's exactly what I'm doing with my Roll & Write Legacy Adventure - building up tables to roll on by starting with 4 entrees and then populating it up to 20 (D20) tables.
Really valuable insight into table generation - thanks! I feel that table content can be as disjointed (or thematically unrelated) as an old D&D dungeon. Everything haphazardly thrown together from both sides of the narrative spectrum, so to speak. Or, as you indicated, we can generate tables that are more thematically cohesive (or emotionally bound). I'm thinking, for example, about 'tiered tables' where nested tables narrow down the scope of results (to better hone in on the specifics) while tailoring the language (using emotional adjectives for instance) to create a stronger bond with the overall narrative.
I'll be using these insights with my own game design now.
Marcel the Arcubal Well that’s funny about your d4 table. Glad you enjoyed the content and thanks for the comment and insight into what you’re doing
Great ideas and analysis for us solo players!
Another excellent video, thank you.
Your two step approach is a good idea for a basic environment building for a future adventure path.
For generating a 2D map environment however memoryless dice are not ideal, you need to draw from a bag or something. Otherwise you might end up with say 5 derelict ruins next to each other.
Great video ❤❤
This was really inspirational. I especially liked the Public Service Announcement. 😁
Rory O'Connor Thanks ;) Glad you enjoyed the content.
You are inspiring!
Absolutely brilliant! This bit of *feminine wisdom* (and by that I’m referring to the right-brained feminine aspect within us all) is an immeasurably valuable contribution to the conversation of story design. Way t’ be!
Great topic. Themed and genre based and evocative "random" tables color the campaign or adventure which is a great tool for GM's. Sitting down and building these tables is a great stimulation for creativity. My limited budget when young lead me to purchasing many Judges Guild products which I still own. Thx!
Perkins Dearborn Ahhhh lucky you with the Judges Guild material! I wish I had enough of it to do a whole vid highlighting it. So great. Glad you enjoyed the vid and thanks for writing.
Excellent! Nutrient food for thought!
I found that random tables are an awesome tool for the DM
Excellent topic! RPG tool #1
Thanks. I should clarify this is just the briefest of thoughts about it. One could talk for hours for sure!
I would love to see a flip through on your game notebook that you write on.
I'm curious to see how you fill one
Love that stuff
Great solo gamer channel 😎
I'm not sure my chicken scratch would be of much interest but others have asked too. Perhaps, someday...
Oh wow! Judges Guild. When I got started with D&D in the late 70's JG were the only people doing supplements. Tables, tables, tables - plus some maps. Tegel Manor, that was my first. As a solo player with no internet or anything I really struggled to know what to do with all this "stuff" - JG were great at creating tables, less good at explaining what to do with them. Oddly nowadays I see tables as the real hard core content - I look at a modern D&D rule book and think "too much text, give me more tables". This video is a great take on the philosophy of creating them - it's not just jotting down a lot of lists of things.
John Secker Thanks for the comment and thoughts on the rules now vs. then. It’s a terrific perspective from someone playing so close to the beginning. I think your ideas are so valid and behind many of the reasons I gravitate to older editions/more table-driven material. (plus all that is easier when trying to do this solo thing). I have a limited amount of JG material but agree it’s fantastic. A real treasure trove.
A timely topic. As I prepare for my own solo adventure, I find myself working quite a bit on random tables I think I might need. My interest is in a science fiction rather than a fantasy setting and there are few resources in this genre.
Thanks for the great information.
@DeepBlueSka While I don’t know sci fi as well as fantasy, I’d agree that there are fewer resources making it even more important to generate your own, as you are. Good luck. Some day I will do some more sci fi vids.
@@GeekGamers01 I look forward to that.
A video on how you deal with NPCs and character interactions would be neat too.
DeepBlueSka Already made ;)
m.ua-cam.com/video/SQzBJ3oLIxQ/v-deo.html
Useful thoughts. Thank you.
Also I noted great efforts lately in presentation. Simply but nicely done! /-D
G.W. Waelkens Thanks for noticing!:) Glad you enjoyed the vid.
I think I am going to get a copy of Scarlet Heroes. I like that they have solo rules in the book.
I'm such a fan of listening to you talk about the solo gaming experience. I was wondering what your favorite outside of the box random tables examples are?
Bushcraft Baking Thank you so much. Have you watched my vid in Easy Ways to be Your Own GM? I go thru the TOME OF ADVENTURE DESIGN which is a wonderful random table companion.
This is great stuff! Does an oracle fit into this model? They seem to be typically implemented as random tables. As far as being measured by proximity to story, perhaps the wandering monster is on one end of the spectrum and the oracle on the other, with your thematic terrain somewhere in the middle?
@agentmirv Great point! Wish I had made that analysis myself in the vid. Thanks for the comment and I’m glad you enjoyed the content.
@@GeekGamers01 do you have any guidance on rolling your own oracle?
I didn't know that the concept word "chicken scratch" existed outside of Greece.....WOW...!
Getting older learning new things indeed....😆
Oh, indeed it does! :)
@@GeekGamers01 nice to now that... 😆
17:40 the first question is
Why is there an adventure here?
How did the hero get here?
And then yes what happens next
have you tried using Mythic by wordmiordmill ? its great for solo and has lots of opportunity for random events Id love to know your thoughts on it!
Coyote Minded Yes some of those tables are in some of my vids. I find the concepts of the fate chart really great.
Well one aspect of it is that while playing solo there needs to be a surprise effect to generate excitement that the presence of other players and GM make up for. But narratives cannot be conpletely random all the time. For example, while exploring a jungle you probably wont see a creature from a desert. So you might have to reroll if such creature comes up on the dice. The "encounter" word used in games like D&D truly diminishes the narrative of the game in my opinion and many systems borrow that idea to help add content to the sessions.
I was wondering if you had put any thought into using horoscopes for these types of prompts? Grab a newspaper and a d12 and get told to ask out your crush, quit your job or get back in touch with an old friend perhaps?
I had not thought of that because I rarely read horoscopes but I think that is a great idea!
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Thank you for bothering to make these videos. I am about to embark on a DIY GURPS Steampunk campaign. There is going to be 2 Players with 3 Characters each. But, I don't want to have to be GM... I WANT TO BE A PLAYER! So, we are going to treat it as a solo RPG. And these tips and tricks help. LOL! NPC should be interesting. Just saying.
Ah that's interesting--a multiplayer, solo RPG. Hope it works and glad you are enjoying my content. Thanks for commenting.
yes……a fellow “south paw :-)
i’m also a firm believer in using sub-tables not just to set the conditions, but also to set up tables that “force” particular situations governing behavior of NPCs.
Great point
Call me nobody, I guess, because I make 1d4 random tables.
I'm a fan of your vids, but as a piece of constructive criticism, I feel I need to say that this has been your worst video to date. It's hard to discuss what makes for truly great table designs without going into at least a layman's discussion of probability and statistics. Without getting too much into the weeds of standard deviations, permutations and combinations, etc. at the very least mentioning that all combinations of random results tables that require multiple rolls need to make sense (I hate when I roll for a random item and get a "flaming cauldron of ice"). That and the REALLY good stuff should always be hard to roll for. Most people take this as "Oh, I need to roll high to get that" when that's not really the case. The probability of rolling any given number is the same as any other number on a die. It's the RANGE of possible outcomes that need to be constrained in a random table. Most of the results should be ok, a few either better or worse than average, and maybe one or two need to be either exceptional or outright worthless. You can get a LITTLE bit away from making your results follow a normal distribution (as they occasionally are in reality), but I wouldn't stray too far if you want to keep them sensible.
Just my $0.02. Like I said, you don't need to break out a calculator and mention a bunch of technical terms to demonstrate the gist of this to the average person looking to design their own tables. I think a comparison of some tables that get the above two mentioned ideas right contrasted with those that get them laughably wrong would've been more effective.
Zak Hoskins Points taken and you are right insofar as randomness is concerned. That’s why I spent so much time in the vid talking about why the random tables we talk about aren’t really random at all. I intentionally glossed over the mathematical reasons why and instead focused on the narrative reasons why and how RPGers could use and understand those concepts to make more interesting “random” tables.