I'm not sure if it's a "western European focus" or a "late 20th to early 21st century urban focus." Though we didn't have a rain barrel I certainly knew what one was by the time I was five or six, and the house I grew up in had a rainwater cistern though it wasn't used.
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I tend to restrict the players to no younger than 18, but that's not for legal reasons. It just makes it easier for the players to relate to each otherOriginally Posted by chirine ba kal
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And yeah, you do live in a somewhat odd place, if you'll forgive me for saying so!
Thank you, this helps a lot!Usually, I took general notes, and then did what little mapping that we did as a party - mostly because I always had a graph paper pad in my gaming bag, and lots of pencils as well. I'd have to duplicate the map that resulted so Phil could have a copy, and I also had to make copies of anything he generated during a game.
Phil hated to show us anything; we got to see the full Jakalla underworld map a few times, but he's whisk the thing way from you if you tried to make notes. Everything had to be done by direct exploration; if you sent some people down there, all you'd get back were verbal descriptions, which was nothing we'd care to risk our lives on. Phil would say "the corridor is about so-and-so long, branches to the left and right at the end" and that's what you'd get unless you asked pointed questions. We never knew the general layout of anything, unless we'd been there, and we know what was in a room because we had been in them and took notes. So, my maps and notes got to be pretty important; Phil was also - like all the local GMs of that day - intellectually honest, so any 'changes' between out maps and his were either our errors or the result of third-party actions. Phil, like Dave Arneson, used to get a lot of laughs over the major mistakes people would make mapping and get a little cranky when I was there to do it - my maps always tended to be very reliable and detailed.
I do think, though, that this was because I always approached mapping like I was going to make a model of the place being explored; we did that a few times, with my collection of wooden blocks, and some very fun games resulted. I still game this way, using the generic tiles that I made; I lay out the tiles, and when done I make the map of the place and game off the map until the players actually go into the room or corridor.
This kinds of hearkens back to the debate about using miniatures in RPGs; we did, quite often, but we never let 'the perfect set-up' get in the way of fast and furious game play. We'd use dice to mark doors, imagine the walls in our heads, and place the figures so that we had a 'tactical display; of where everybody was in the situation. No rulers, no templates, no micro-measuring, just playing the game. Did it 'ruin immersion'? No, not for us, as a lot of what we did was all 'theater of the mind'. The figures were just fun to have - "That's me!"
Does this help?
BTW, did theatre of the mind come naturally to your wargamer players?
Did he start doing so later, Glorious General?
It's the time focus. I knew the same thing at an early age, despite being born in the 80ies in a major city centre.
Admittedly, I knew it from reading, but still
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward." - Rocky
Normally, we did not, and I normally still do not show 'the map' to players, even when doing the game in miniature - I cover the rooms with black cloth or paper to hide them from the players until they get explored.
However, once I got the digital version of the Jakalla underworld map, I started showing players that first level map just to save time. In my experience, mapping these days seems to dramatically slow down the game play, as the GM and the players seem to be really worried about 'getting it right'. I watched a GM at Gary Con struggling to help his players do their map, and finally just drew it out for them on their pad of paper. I think this 'getting it right' issue may stem from D&D 4E, where you seem to need almost boardgame accuracy to play the game. I don't play that way, and we didn't back in the day, either.
You're welcome! I still have to get ready for a stint at the local game convention, where I promised Bill Hoyt that I'd let him use one of my trade show booth Skyline displays for his 'History of Twin Cities Gaming' display in the hotel lobby. He's had some stuff fall through, and I have to take up the slack for the show.
I had a female version of Chirine for while, due to yet another of the Undying Wizards getting meddlesome, and a Priest of the One of Light from Saa Alliqui for when we went off on an adventure with Vrisa to her homeland.
Last edited by chirine ba kal; 02-06-2017 at 04:38 PM. Reason: line issue
Yep; that was the custom, back in the day. We knew the map existed, from seeing it lying on the shelf, but he'd make sure to hide it when we looked at it...
Agreed, I think; people don't seem to know much about other cultures, and what their own ancestors could do. Whereas Phil, and some of us in the group, were very avid readers of history and would spend hours looking at the plumbing...
True. My stepfather was born in a sod house, and I've had to explain what that was to more then a few people - including some of his relatives...
From AsenRG:
I tend to restrict the players to no younger than 18, but that's not for legal reasons. It just makes it easier for the players to relate to each other
And yeah, you do live in a somewhat odd place, if you'll forgive me for saying so
Understood. I agree with your point of view, based on experience.
Thank you, this helps a lot!
BTW, did theatre of the mind come naturally to your wargamer players
Oh, yes, very much so! Because of the time and budget limitations, we tended to imagine quite a lot in our games, of all kinds. Keep in mind that we operated on a one-week cycle between games, so the build time was short and sweet - we had to think outside the lines, and imagine that the drawing on the table was the Mos Eisley cantina...
Did he start doing so later, Glorious General?
Not really, for me.
It's the time focus. I knew the same thing at an early age, despite being born in the 80ies in a major city centre.
Admittedly, I knew it from reading, but still
Agreed; but you did read!!!
Cool.
Did Phil observe you DM, or did he play in your campaign? If so, do you remember what character type he played?
Shemek
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
We also had a rain barrel when I was a kid, before it became the "Green" thing to do, as my dad's hobby was planting a massive vegetable garden every spring. He had quite an elaborate set up, as I recall, and would putter around out there for hours during the summer.
Shemek
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
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