Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (shadowrun)
Subject: Re roleplaying or the lack thereof
Date: Wed Nov 21 13:55:10 2001
i know most of us go thru sessions almost to formula
we plan the adventure give the pc's the sitrep and lead em
thru

wrong move involve your pc's more , the pc can only roleplay
if you provide opportunity for them to do so , think
carefully about each player and see what you are doing for
them in story

then i am trying something new ,
at one stage i ran runs in the usual way ,
1) give the pc's the run
2) let them do legwork
3) planning
4) actualising
5) getting away
6) surviving the backlash
7) rewards and end of story

in most places in the world roleplayers tend to be
technically orientated people , ( for the maths averages
etc ) and have e-mail or at least access every so often
so what i am trying is a change of pattern

at the end of the session i give the runners the new hook ,
this means they contact me thru email ( or don't ) and tell
me what they do , not only does this save game time but
actually people get more involved ( unless work is hectic )
in their down time ( as it is actually downtime ) and it
gives them time to think , responses can be done thru mail
to legwork , and you can test enemy reaction , or fof
without wasting valuable time , come to session everbody is
up to date ( i hope) and ready do a bit of extras tell
people what they found out ( now that you have prepped ) in
appropriate npc lingo etc , if you rp they will be dragged
in eventually , feeling odd that they are the only one not
behaving like a weirdo

so instead your event schedule looks like this
1) finalise planning and legwork
2) actualising
3)getting away
4) surviving the backlash
5) rewards
6) new hook

it also give the story more continuety (sp?) if time passes

just an experiment i am running give it a try you might find
a better way

Kanniemeernie korperaal
" one ring to rule them all
one ring to find them
one ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them "
tolkein , out this season on flatvid
Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Lars Wagner Hansen)
Subject: Re roleplaying or the lack thereof
Date: Wed Nov 21 15:50:01 2001
From: "shadowrun" <shadowrun@********.absa.co.za>


<Snip>
> at the end of the session i give the runners the new hook ,
> this means they contact me thru email ( or don't ) and tell
> me what they do , not only does this save game time but
> actually people get more involved ( unless work is hectic )
> in their down time ( as it is actually downtime ) and it
> gives them time to think , responses can be done thru mail
> to legwork , and you can test enemy reaction , or fof
> without wasting valuable time , come to session everbody is
> up to date ( i hope) and ready do a bit of extras tell
> people what they found out ( now that you have prepped ) in
> appropriate npc lingo etc , if you rp they will be dragged
> in eventually , feeling odd that they are the only one not
> behaving like a weirdo

But this tends to make the information gathering a bit boring.

It becomes:
1) Send your request for information to the GM
2) GM rolls a few dice.
3) GM consults tables.
4) GM sends result of information request to player

Pretty boring, and not much roleplaying.

Usually when we played, the information gathering was the part where most of the
roleplaying took place.

Lars
--
Lars Wagner Hansen, Jagtvej 11, 4180 Sorø
l-hansen@*****.tele.dk http://home4.inet.tele.dk/l-hansen
--
SRGC v0.22 SR1 SR2++ SR3+++ h+ b+++ B--- UB++ IE+ RN LST W++ dk sa++ ma+
sh++ ad++++ ri mc rk-- m- (e-- o t-- d-) gm+ M- P-
--
Main Rule of Usenet: Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to
their level, then beat you with experience.
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (david lowe-rogstad)
Subject: Re roleplaying or the lack thereof
Date: Wed Nov 21 19:15:01 2001
At 9:47 PM +0100 11/21/01, Lars Wagner Hansen wrote:
><Snip>
>> at the end of the session i give the runners the new hook ,
> > this means they contact me thru email ( or don't ) and tell
> > me what they do
><and snip again>
>
>But this tends to make the information gathering a bit boring.
>
>It becomes:
>1) Send your request for information to the GM
>2) GM rolls a few dice.
>3) GM consults tables.
>4) GM sends result of information request to player
>
>Pretty boring, and not much roleplaying.
>

i disagree. i think that some of my most creative work as a gm has
been when i put together these kinds of emails. i tend to pass the
information along in a narrative style, rather than "just the facts,
ma'am". it's fun to hit players with dream sequences or other out of
game time episodes that don't involve the other characters. plus, you
can keep it between the player (or any other players who might tag
along) and the gm. then it's up to the player whether or not the
other characters learn anything from your exchange.

plus, i question the "roll some dice and consult a table". i wouldn't
do that if the player was sitting across from me, why would i do it
via email? i figure if the character asks the right people the right
questions (and - gasp! - it moves my story along), they are going to
find it out.

d.
--
david lowe-rogstad
flash designer + developer
dlowe@****.com

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Re roleplaying or the lack thereof, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!