Pen & Paper RPG 101 - part 3
Nov. 14th, 2011 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ayascytheI know it's been ages since I did the last entry for this, but it just hit me today so I wrote part one of how the gameplay works.
A character
That, we have. We created a Dean Winchester-like demon hunter. Let's call him Jack.
Dice
You need dice, if you want to roll on one of your skills in a situation. Dice are generally named by the number of sides they have, e.g. D-4, D-8, D-10, etc. Which dice is used depends on the game system, but the most common systems either use D-6, D-10 or D-20.
Another basic thing that's good to know: most systems are based on two different principles:
1) You have a pool of dice and need to roll as many successes as possible („success“ here being a certain number you have to reach or surpass, e.g. you have to roll at least a 6 with a D10 to have a success).
2) You have one dice and need to roll onto a certain ability you have and need to roll either higher or lower than what you have. Example: You have 15 points in persuasion and need to roll at least 15 or lower with your D-20 to have success.
A story/adventure/campaign
You can either:
1) invent your own story or characters
or
2) get yourself an already existing one. There are many fan-written adventures on the internet and each RPG system has at least a few books with official adventures you can buy.
Players
Technically, you can roleplay with as many people as you want, the minimum being at least one player and one gamemaster, the maximum being as many persons you can bear and manage to get into a room. Practically, and speaking from experience, two people is nice but a little boring and everything above 6 people is just a mess and a nightmare for any gamemaster to handle.
Actually, you can also do Pen & Paper RPG on your own. There are books for that, working like this:
You stand at a crossroads. Which way do you choose?
I go left (continue at page 123)
I go right (continue at page 22)
It's an easy enough prinicple and it can be fun, but it doesn't really compare to real interaction with other players.
Gamemaster/Storyteller
A gamemaster is director, actor, storyteller and referee all rolled into one. As a gamemaster, you ...
Why would anyone ever want to be the gamemaster if you can be a player instead, you might wonder? Let me ask you another question to that: why would anyone ever want to write a novel or fanfic, if they could simply read it instead? ;)
It can be incredibly rewarding when people are excited about a session you did and are keen to keep playing. Hell, it can already be rewarding to just come up with a story, filling it with characters, background and life, and then see it happening.
RPG is a two-way street: whereas the gamemaster is the one keeping everything together, the players have a responsibility to be active and give their input to the play. A lot of times, stories can take a whole new turn of direction just by the way players and their characters act. And last but not least: someone just has do it.
*Basically, a NPC (German: NSC = Nichtspieler-Charakter) is every character that appears in a story not played by any of the players. Imagine a computer game where you talk to merchants or people on the street – those are NPCs controlled by the game. In a P&P RPG, the gamemaster does that job.
TBC
Coming up next: The gameplay (II)
The Gameplay (I)
First of all: let's check, if we have everything that we need for roleplaying.
A character
That, we have. We created a Dean Winchester-like demon hunter. Let's call him Jack.
Dice
You need dice, if you want to roll on one of your skills in a situation. Dice are generally named by the number of sides they have, e.g. D-4, D-8, D-10, etc. Which dice is used depends on the game system, but the most common systems either use D-6, D-10 or D-20.
Another basic thing that's good to know: most systems are based on two different principles:
1) You have a pool of dice and need to roll as many successes as possible („success“ here being a certain number you have to reach or surpass, e.g. you have to roll at least a 6 with a D10 to have a success).
2) You have one dice and need to roll onto a certain ability you have and need to roll either higher or lower than what you have. Example: You have 15 points in persuasion and need to roll at least 15 or lower with your D-20 to have success.
A story/adventure/campaign
You can either:
1) invent your own story or characters
or
2) get yourself an already existing one. There are many fan-written adventures on the internet and each RPG system has at least a few books with official adventures you can buy.
Players
Technically, you can roleplay with as many people as you want, the minimum being at least one player and one gamemaster, the maximum being as many persons you can bear and manage to get into a room. Practically, and speaking from experience, two people is nice but a little boring and everything above 6 people is just a mess and a nightmare for any gamemaster to handle.
Actually, you can also do Pen & Paper RPG on your own. There are books for that, working like this:
You stand at a crossroads. Which way do you choose?
I go left (continue at page 123)
I go right (continue at page 22)
It's an easy enough prinicple and it can be fun, but it doesn't really compare to real interaction with other players.
Gamemaster/Storyteller
A gamemaster is director, actor, storyteller and referee all rolled into one. As a gamemaster, you ...
- lead the game
- provide the plot
- act out dialogues with Non-Player-Characters (NPC)*
- push people into the right direction when everything is stuck
- let them do their own thing even if it ruins everything you had planned out (and then you need to improvise and you need to do it quickly and well)
- make decisions where rules are unclear or don't apply (you are the highest institution and what you say is law)
- you need to fuck with your players. Never make it too easy or it gets boring, but don't be unnecessarily mean, either – it ruins every bit of fun, when a player knows he doesn't stand a chance.
Why would anyone ever want to be the gamemaster if you can be a player instead, you might wonder? Let me ask you another question to that: why would anyone ever want to write a novel or fanfic, if they could simply read it instead? ;)
It can be incredibly rewarding when people are excited about a session you did and are keen to keep playing. Hell, it can already be rewarding to just come up with a story, filling it with characters, background and life, and then see it happening.
RPG is a two-way street: whereas the gamemaster is the one keeping everything together, the players have a responsibility to be active and give their input to the play. A lot of times, stories can take a whole new turn of direction just by the way players and their characters act. And last but not least: someone just has do it.
*Basically, a NPC (German: NSC = Nichtspieler-Charakter) is every character that appears in a story not played by any of the players. Imagine a computer game where you talk to merchants or people on the street – those are NPCs controlled by the game. In a P&P RPG, the gamemaster does that job.
TBC
Coming up next: The gameplay (II)
