Sunday, January 23, 2011

X is for Killing

Musings on freedom in the sandbox

I have a bit of a confession to make - I used to be a story-focused Game Master.  (We used to play 4E, too, but that's another confession.)  I spent most of the 90's and early 2000's running games for systems like Vampire The Masquerade, super hero systems like Mutants & Masterminds, and horror games like Call of Cthulhu.

What does a story DM do?  He makes up lots of interesting characters, develops an over-arching plot, and lets the players take on the role of characters in the DM's story.  At its best, everyone comes together and tells an epic and memorable story; at its worst, the players feel like their choices don't matter too much - a fixed ending is never in doubt.

The players in the current campaign are still talking about last week's game, and the zombie apocalypse they unleashed on southwest Sterich.  "How could the DM let that happen?", they wonder.  "All those NPCs we've met and befriended in places like Mittleberg, Poignard, and Beggar's Tomb Mine are all dead…"*

This is how I've come to love the sandbox and let go of the story.  No one knows how it's going to turn out.  Various NPCs in the world still have their own goals and agendas, and if left alone, they'll do what they can to move their agendas forward.  For instance, Lord Lennox of Mittleberg was preparing for war in the spring, to punish the pagan mountain folk for beheading a church missionary.  One of the characters, Phat Kobra, was knighted, and expected to be in the vanguard of Lord Lennox's expeditionary force.  Everyone was planning for the war.

Funny how 13,000 hungry undead swarming down the mountain can generate a change of plans.

Which brings me to my new sandbox mantra, X is for Killing.  I saw this list over on Il Male's blog; it made me laugh, and reinforced the direction my campaign is taking: 
  • Gods are for killing;
  • Clerics worship gods, therefore are for killing;
  • If it's not human is for killing;
  • If it's human but a little weird, it's probably for killing;
  • Magic-users are for killing 99.9% of times;
  • Dinosaurs are either to ride or for killing;
  • ...and so on.
What a wonderful set of principles.  No one is safe.  There are no Mary Sue's.  No one has plot immunity.   If the players don't stop the Shadow Demon attacks (Blood Moon Rising) in time, the entire village could be wiped out.  Half of Poignard *was* wiped out, in fact.  If the players awaken the dreaming dead (Death Frost Doom), the world will never be the same.

Nothing is written, no outcome is foreordained.  No one knows how it's going to end, least of all the DM.  Whatever story is there, will emerge or change from the choice and intervention of the players.

I loved the moment in our game last night, where the players gazed over the hex map with all its potential freedom and wondered… "We've just destroyed our world.  Where do we go from here?"


Anywhere you want, fellas, anywhere you want.


*Note:  It's not clear that all the settlements in the valley were destroyed, since the players went the opposite direction into the mountains.  I'll need to wait until they return to that part of the world to reveal what happened.

7 comments:

  1. Music to my ears!

    One thing that I *HATE* with a passion are Mary-Sue-type uber-DMPCs of the Elminster kind (or Immortal Elves in Shadowrun *shudders*). Plot immunity is annoying.

    And a zombie apocalypse just turned the world into a COOL place. Why avoid it? Time for some survival-horror play! :D

    Oh, and this is yet another reason why I love old-school games: the King is not a 20th level Tiefling Fighter/Paladin/Wizard with 20d8 HP, but rather a Normal man with 1d6 HP. And yes, Kings *can die*. It happens. It happened in history; it happened in myth; it can happen in the game.

    And heroes exist to make world-shattering changes to the setting. In myth, heroes defy gods, kill "unkillable" monsters and challenge fate itself. This is what heroes are *supposed* to do.

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  2. What a awesome post! I wish I ever destroyed my world with a zombie apocalypse!!!

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  3. Ah ha! But what do you do with a riding dinosaur god?

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  4. Everybody's got a target, as far as I'm concerned. Though I would say you're using real gods(Odin All Father, Jesus of the Legions, Yog-Sothoth, Crom, Buddha, The Queen of Shadows, Your Campaign's GM Generated Deities Names Here, etc...) in the campaign they wouldn't be 'killed', but 'dispelled', returning for revenge later.(or not. YMMV) I personally just establish something or other as a god, like say a Giant Tick, and it gets more powerful as its worship grows, , i.e. a little god, if you will. It provides a lot of variety, and players seem to be able to rationalize slaying them more easily. 'It's just a big worm...(Or is IT? MWA-HA!)'

    See the tricks and traps section of Supplement I: Greyhawk for a REAL doozy, Mars(yes, that one!) RIDING Talos(also the one you're thinking of!)!!!!

    And of course, no matter what Supplement II: Eldricth Wizardry says, Druids are for killing!(They're a monster, see supplement 1!) ;-)

    @Omer Golan:
    Elminster:
    Sad thing is, in the original Grey Box(1987), he was too busy help(or even talk to) PCs in any way, they had to leave a message with his scribe Lhaeo.(The text insinuated he would ignore them unless there was a LOT at stake. He's not your errand boy, or bestest buddy, or your daddy, he's a very busy Archmage!) I didn't keep track of FR past that, so I don't know what happened to change the situation. There were a lot of high level NPCs(and whole adventuring companies!) in the setting, which didn't bother me, as they were fair game just like the players.

    Plot immunity:
    As long as this includes PCS, I'm game!

    Heroes:
    The PCS might not be 'heroes'. They might just be doing their own thing, regardless of codes of conduct. 'Conan' shouldn't have script armor, imo. Heroes die, too. Or should, ihink; They're on my 'list'. :-)

    old-school games: the King is not a 20th level Tiefling Fighter/Paladin/Wizard with 20d8 HP:
    See Greyhawk Folio and later Box Set. Many are pretty badass.

    @Beedo:
    Thanx for the link!

    'Various NPCs in the world still have their own goals and agendas, and if left alone, they'll do what they can to move their agendas forward':
    Amazing how this generates adventures organically, isn't it?

    'Funny how 13,000 hungry undead swarming down the mountain can generate a change of plans.':
    You're not joking. I love stuff like this, everybody has to be on their toes, status quo can change in the blink of an eye!

    These Undead...
    They wouldn't happen to be a Skeleton Army, would they? (Our Bear Cavalry, They're useless!) :-D

    'Nothing is written, no outcome is foreordained. No one knows how it's going to end, least of all the DM. Whatever story is there, will emerge or change from the choice and intervention of the players.':
    I want the T-shirt! This is how our group rolls. Very apt. Old School at its finest, imo.

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  5. Ah ha! But what do you do with a riding dinosaur god?

    These are the kinds of moral and ethical questions I feel D&D handles best.

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  6. Kings and rulers are definitely for killing.

    I do think it's an interesting thought exercise to decide in your setting whether rulers are bad-asses (like the 1E World of Greyhawk) listing, or normal (0-level) humans.

    Either way, if they get bumped off, it's fine with me.

    Druids are definitely for killing.

    A god riding a dinosaur, or a dinosaur riding a god, might be too cool to die, though.

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  7. Kings can either be high-level or zero-level. I mean, badass fantasy heroes such as Conan or Aragorn were kings, but I don't think that the spoiled brat who've inherited a throne would be anything more than a 0-level NPC in most cases. And either way, you COULD kill them.

    One thing that annoys me is the "rank equals skill" trope that some fantasy games and adventures follow. I mean, most sergeants and many captains would be quite experienced soldiers, but many higher ranked officers might have inherited their rank or otherwise given it by virtue of their social standing, especially in a quasi-medieval world.

    And if you manage to slip past the elite guards and stick a dagger in the heart of the spoiled boy-emperor, all power to you! NO PLOT IMMUNITY!

    Regarding Elminster, I was under the impression that in later Forgotten Realms books he ended up stealing some of the spotlight from the PCs. Which is bad.

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