Hello, and welcome back to the Wargate!
We've been running Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay for the last few months and this last Sunday was week number 8. I'll speak more about the campaign we're in at a later time, but if you're interested you can take the Gate to the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay page here on the site to get the general information. My term as GM will be up after a projected total 12 weeks, and I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the logistics of running a game.
We've all heard the words at some point in time about how someone "doesn't have the time" to game, whether it be in the capacity of a player or that of the Gamemaster. While it's true that GM's spend a lot more time preparing for the game than the players, it's truly not much out of anyone's spare time to prepare a good game. Most of the time is spent reading books (which most people do...if you don't read books all the time I wouldn't bother you with nags about how you need to run a game), and if you have the time to re-read Gotrek and Felix's entire line of books then you most definitely have time to prepare and run a game and you can't even argue. It takes me approximately 3 or 4 hours a week to completely prepare an adventure, and that's old school style - making every map, defining every encounter and NPC in depth and all that good jazz. I'll even tell you my secret: I write the overall story before we begin the game, before characters are even made. The story then writes itself, and I just fill in game stat information.
So really all you have to do is read the book and write a story. You know, read and write - most of you out there pride yourself on your ability to do both, right?
"I don't have time" is not an argument I ever want to hear from any of you, ever again in our game club because it's a silly copout that doesn't mean anything. If you have the language skills, write your damn story down and lets get it on the board. So next time you consider running Shadowrun and I tell you to hop on it, don't tell me you don't have time. I will accept "I don't want to" or "Shadowrun sucks, dumbass" - both of which are valid answers. Just don't hit me with that "I don't have the time, I work all the time" because that's not true. You do have time, you just don't want to spend it on game preparation, whatever the real reason.
As an important side, Star Wars is voted off the island - no one will bring it up ever again.
Keeping that diatribe in mind, I'd like to show you what our Sunday night game session looks like at Hacienda Del Bone.
As you can see, we have what most folks would call a "moderate" turnout - that is, we have between 4 and 7 players weekly. Any more than that and the game would have to turn up the danger level! Note that you can't see my beer hidden quite well behind the GM screen. With this game, I wanted to kinda get back to roots as far as adventure gaming goes. We did a modified version of Dark Heresy last year I called Space Marine, which was my version of the upcoming Deathwatch by Fantasy Flight Games. Why'd I do all that work for a 10 week game of Space Marine? Honestly, because my players didn't think that Warhammer 40,000 was a good choice for an RPG. Apparently, Space Marine characters were thought to be autonomous robots with no free will. That couldn't make a good game, could it?
I think I brought that notion down with our game. I think it was awesome, and I think my players will say it was good. Of course I abandoned the ruleset, I don't even think I could dredge it up - basically it was a reworking of the careers in Dark Heresy. Keep in mind I began development on this just after Dark Heresy had been released by Black Industries, back in early 2008 (I know it was released in late 2007).
After that we did the Old World of Darkness for a while, finishing an older campaign. Now, we want to keep the games fresh by rotating systems and GM's - and we have 2-3 of those right now and I'd like to grow a few more. RPG's are back in, and we need to turn out games like Disney turns out innuendo and false dreams. Sunday night is once again the social engagement of the week, and we want to make sure everyone has a good time every Sunday night.
How to accomplish this? Content! That is to say, lots of different stuff, you know? We'll have a New World of Darkness game (which I will now coin as Ghetto Dope) take up where we leave Into the Delve off. This will mean a new character, new system, new world and new GM (though one we've played with before) for a while (probably about 3 or 4 months). It's like when you're waiting on new episodes of Breaking Bad, even though you have to wait for that you can watch the new episodes of True Blood. Thus, we'll be the cable company that keeps giving (every Sunday).
So, anyway...this time I wanted something that reeked of Classic gaming. What's "classic" you ask?
The Dungeon.
I wanted to do something different, however. I wanted to represent the game on the table in miniature, using Warhammer models. What could be more natural? However, looking around at products available I could not find anything I could really sink my teeth into. Most commercial miniature dungeon tiles are ridiculously expensive, or the modularity is compromised by a crap design. Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Tiles really reek, though I did think about grabbing a few sets - they are hideously expensive for what they are. Hydrostone dungeon tiles? Not bad for terrain pieces that go on the wargames board, but really heavy when you consider the number of modular tiles we'd need, and that we have to tackle storage logistics here at the Wargate in an ongoing battle (that we happen to be winning). So, there was only one solution left for me.
Make something.
So I set to work. Behold, my own crappy dungeon tiles for setting up "Action Zones" (more on that in a moment). Note the disembodied hand is not included.
These 3d pieces represent the dungeon walls of the Delve. You can see the big and small doors, and you'll just have to forgive me for not making floors. Expediency and amount of work were factors.
Maybe I should explain what you're looking at there. Those small 1 inch tiles are made in lengths of 2", 4" and 6", with 2" and 4" door sections as well. This design lets me set up an infinite number of what I call "Action Zones" by rearranging the pieces. I can draw the map out beforehand (of course) and add pieces as the players become aware of them. I know, I know...not quite as cool as the Touch-Screen Automated Dungeon Table, but hey - I spend a lot of resources on static miniatures. CPU's tend to ruin the authentic Wargame or RPG experience, I have found.
I came up with this idea after wrestling with designs for river templates for the wargames table. I knew I had to get something, and was even considering spending a lot of money on vintage games like GW's Warhammer Quest and HeroQuest, or TSR's old Dungeon or Dragon Quest, just to get my hands on the boards!
They are made out of foamcore and cardstock. The foamcore provides the piece with some - well - bulk. It makes them easier to pick up and move, and also provides a 3d barrier. I made about 60 pieces with an assistant helping to illustrate the stonework and doors. It took approximately 4 hours to do all this, and we have been gaming with them for the entire run of Into the Delve. I think the audience reaction is fantastic, and I will probably create new sets for new campaigns.
This is a look at what the rest of that "Action Zone" looks like. Action Zones are areas in the Dungeon where something might go down. In smaller dungeons, Action Zones might be adjoining areas...but in others - such as the Delve - it might represent only a small portion of the dungeon, with endless corridors and empty and dank rooms connecting them. The Delve consists of a number of these Action Zones connected by such inconsequential areas, as the dungeon is actually miles and miles of dwarf tunnels and structures. What defines an Action Zone? How big are they? Well, they can be any size - limited only by the number of dungeon pieces I possess.
In closing, let me just say, if you think you want to run a game then DO IT MAN!! We have 2 GM's now, and I'm trying to grow 2 more (you know who you are, Shawn and Joe)! If you don't want to, then don't. It's not a big deal, but if it gives you a chance to lay on the table something you think is cool, why not expend the small amount of time it takes? You already read the books, or you only need to read the newest version. I don't think that anyone in our club would run a lousy game at all, and I'm sure everyone would enjoy it.
It's probably less time than you spend online gaming in a week. Gods forbid you slack off on dungeon grinding for a few hours.
Motivate yourself to create your vision of danger. Write it down.
You've got plenty of ideas, and 3 or 4 hours a week to write it down. Don't be afraid of the rules, you have an awesome group of friends who are absolutely fiends for any game (except Star Wars, 2 time consecutive loser of the Wargate's What Game Next? competition). You have an awesome facility where you can smoke and drink like it was the Holiday Inn.
Why not use all that?
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