Playtest Results

So, somewhat surprisingly (given that I provided incredibly short notice to people) I had several players show up to last night's playtest.

Vance, Shaina, and Matt were all "older adults" (read: my age, give or take a decade) who were familiar with AD&D. No 5E players sat down at my table but, to be fair, I was a little late getting to the shop and by 6:20 (when I arrived) a lot of tables were already "full up." Matt, bless his heart, was there early waiting with beer in hand for my arrival. As soon as I pulled my 1E tomes from my backpack, he sauntered over to introduce himself.

Vance and Shaina arrived a few minutes later, having just seen my blog post about 20 minutes earlier (!!). I'd actually met them before, at the last DragonFlight convention I attended (2019, I think? Yep)...we'd all sat in on several games together. Anyway, it was both flattering and impressive that they'd show up at the drop of a hat, so I hope I gave them a good game.

[they did say they had a "fun time"]

The adventure was written for six to eight players, as that's the usual number to expect at a Cauldron table, so it was going to be a bit tougher for three. I made adjustments to one or two encounters, but for the most part they handled things in a fairly clever and cautious manner, successfully navigating some 15 out of 24 encounter areas (by "successful" I mean "surviving"). Vance lost two characters over the course of the session, including Bruti the dwarf (a pre-gen from Dwellers of the Forbidden City that I have made a staple of my pre-gens since Cauldron I)...the first time I've seen that character fall in battle. Unfortunately, Bruti was carrying most of the treasure they'd found so when they did decide to retire (being low on hit points and out of healing magic) the party ended up with little to show for their efforts; maybe something like 20,000 gold pieces worth? Out of a potential 500K+.

[due to "circumstances" Bruti's body...and the treasure...were unrecoverable. Mainly because the other party members fled the scene as quickly as possible]

SO...good times. A 40% mortality rate is, perhaps, a little higher than I'm looking for (20-30% is about right) but, again, they were working with a smaller party than expected. Over all, I'd say the group played competently. It will be interesting to compare their results with my own play group (the kids) next Friday; they'll have four players, including one complete newbie (a never-played-before friend of Sofia's). 

Should be fun. Or a bloodbath. Or both.

ANYway...I am slightly (slightly!) disappointed that I didn't get any 5E players at the table; I was expecting to have to give my "conversion spiel" to folks, and missing that opportunity feels, in retrospect, somewhat like...well, like a missed opportunity.  But, yeah, that was my own fault for not giving enough notice (on the shop's discord channel and elsewhere). I was contacted by more than a few people (via email) who had interest in playing but already had other plans for the evening.

I promise that NEXT TIME I'm running a public game (and I hope to run at least three more playtests before the con in October) I'll let people know a couple weeks in advance. 

Now I just need to finish writing those three adventures.

; )

Thank you very much to Matt, Shaina, and Vance. I really appreciate you folks coming out and playing...it made my evening!

Playtest

Tonight I'll be running D&D for (presumably) random strangers.

I've finished writing the tournament module for the 2025 Cauldron convention and need to test it. Around the Table Game Pub in Edmonds has an open table "D&D" night on Wednesdays from 6pm till close, and they've told me there's space for me to run a game. 

We'll see if anyone shows up.

[I am suddenly reminded of the first time I tried to run a B/X game at my...now defunct...local game shop and having no one appear. When was that? Oh, yeah: August 8th, 2010, almost 15 years ago. Perhaps history will repeat itself...at least this time I was able to leave a couple messages on the shop's discord channel]

My own players (my kids) want me to run the game for them next Friday (when we have their friends over for a sleepover) and I will, but as this is the tournament adventure for the con -- and will be run by more DMs than just myself -- I'd like to get it tested as early and often as possible before I release it 'into the wild.' 

One VERY interesting thing: the "open D&D night" is open to all editions of the game but MOST people that show up are running/playing 5E. Taking a 1E adventure to Cauldron (where the people are expecting 1E) or running the game for my players (who know what to expect) is going to be a different experience from having to "re-train" 5E players on the fly. Yeah...I'm very interested to see how this turns out.

Hopefully, people will show up.

Regardless, I'll post a follow-up telling how things went.

; )

"Deat JB" Mailbag #37

Dear JB:

I think I'm going to give up, I'm running a campaign where I made everything really nice, the world map, the cities, stories, dungeons, enemies, but my table doesn't cooperate. The players are my friends, a barbarian, a cleric, a druid and a bard, but they don't collaborate with the campaign, they always make jokes out of character, they make secret metagames, and this all comes from the bard, druid and barbarian, the cleric is the only one who seems to really want to play, I'm thinking about killing their characters in the next session and making a new world from absolute zero, do I do that?

I Will Give Up

Dear IWGU:

Let me see if I have a full understanding here...

1. You've create a world map, cities, dungeons, "stories" (I'll assume you mean adventure situations), and enemies for your campaign. 
2. You're so annoyed by your players that you've all but decided to chuck it all in the bin and start over from scratch (after "killing their characters").

Why on earth would you do something so idiotic? 

I'll get to your "annoying" players in a second, but the only reason to bin a campaign world is because you are dissatisfied with the campaign world. You can ALWAYS find new players...why throw away the work and effort you've already expended? You should be expanding and developing your world, making it deeper and richer, not re-booting. Even if there are things you dislike about your game world, you fix them, you modify, you make adjustments. Why O why would you burn everything down? Are you a child craving attention that you must throw a self-destructive tantrum? Are you going to start cutting on yourself next? 

Dude: grow up. 

Your complaint is that your players "don't collaborate with the campaign" which, frankly, is nonsensical. D&D is NOT a collaborative game. YOU are the Dungeon Master: you create the world, you manage the campaign. Their is no "collaboration." Let's be clear: the definition of collaborate is

"to work jointly on an an activity, especially to produce or create something"

No. You are the Dungeon Master. YOU are the one who does the work with regard to producing/creating the campaign.

If you are laboring under the misapprehension that D&D is somehow a game of "collaborative storytelling," let me burst that bubble right now. It's not. Regardless of what the marketing says. You can TRY to make it that, but you will fail and be miserable more often than not, because it is POORLY DESIGNED for that style of play, mainly because it still bears the fruit of the seeds sown by the original designers and it was never the intention of the original designers to create a collaborative storytelling game. There are other RPGs one can buy that are designed that way, and that function well for that purpose, but D&D isn't one of them, period, end of story.

You want collaborative storytelling? Join a writing club.

You complain that your players "make jokes out of character" and "make secret metagames" (not so secret if you know about it) and imply this is evidence that three of the four don't "really want to play." Are you kidding me? The fact that they metagame implicitly signals that they are engaged with the game as a game...they absolutely want to play! One can only engage with the game in a "meta" fashion by knowing and understanding the game's rules and systems...do you not read all the complaints from DMs about players incapable of grasping or understanding game rules, even after YEARS of play?

And to make jokes is human. You will find all players do this at one time or another. If you're going to let that bug you to the point of quitting, than you're probably not cut out for the job of being a DM.

SO, to sum up: your complaint is nonsensical and your proposed response is childish. You ask the question "do I do that?" referring to killing the player characters and starting the campaign from scratch, and my answer to you is: this would accomplish nothing. 

Presumably, your players would still continue to be humans who are interested in engaging with and playing D&D, so how would re-building the (imaginary) world change that? What...do you think they are so attached to their PCs that this action would be punitive in the extreme and "teach them a lesson" in how to play the way you want them to play? If that's what you think, you're a jackass who doesn't understand the first thing about Dungeons & Dragons. 

Rather than waste your time and effort accomplishing nothing, I'd strongly recommend quitting D&D altogether and finding a creative outlet more suitable to what you want to do. Become a playwright, or start an improvisational theater troupe, or write your fantasy fiction serial using all the "nice" content material you originally hoped to purpose for your D&D campaign. Keep your friends as friends and enjoy their company around board games or video games where (hopefully) their natural human behaviors with regard to game playing won't annoy you.

But stop playing D&D. You're doing it wrong anyway.

Sincerely,

JB

"Dear JB" Mailbag #36

This one's from last week; just a little too busy to wrap up my response till now...

Dear JB:

Ok forgive me this is my first post, I was recently in a game with a player I had been the DM for before, he was always a little off and had apparently left multiple Discord Servers because of problem DMs (im now starting to think he was the problem). So for Context we were in a battle and I had cast a spell that had a lingering damage effect and the DM had a magic book that had fallen open that had a Wild Magic effect that would go off every round. Well I forgot once about my lingering damage and brought it up (prob a bit later than I should have i admit) and the damage caused an enemy that had been put to sleep to wake up, which upset said problem player, then without thinking I also reminded the DM about his wild magic effect when he forgot (my mind was ooh maybe we will get one of the funny effects). Problem player proceeded to "whisper under his breath" I hate you. We ended up winning the battle.

A few days later I get a two paragraph message of problem player going off on me saying I was purposely trying to sabotage the party, and its the players job to call out the DM on things because all DMs cheat and try to kill the players because they get tired of their NPCs dying. I didnt know how to respond so I screen shotted the message to ask a friend of mine and he sent be a bunch of stuff that when I read it was what I was basically trying to say. I sent him that and he proceeded to tell me my friend was toxic for saying that the Players and DM should work together to make the game fun because all DMs are against the players, and its our jobs as players to be antagonistic towards the DM and call them out on everything. So I told everyone in the server we were in that I was leaving and why, and that apparently upset him even more.

Oh I had also mentioned to him I "Cheated" as he called it when I DM were I fudge the rolls occasionally so I dont kill the players because Id rather they live and have fun then a total party wipe, which upset him even more. Next thing I know hes on Roll20 posting on my LFG posts telling players they should not join or leave my game because I cheat. I Deleted his posts and blocked him on everything.

Player Believes All Games Are DM Vs Player

Dear PBAG:

All D&D games ARE "DM versus player." That's part of the gig.

Look: the player you're talking about sounds like a reactionary, paranoid asshole (though, to be fair, I'm only hearing your side of the story). But just because he's semi-delusional and a bit of a misanthrope doesn't mean he's not speaking some truth here.

For instance, if you "fudge" dice rolls as a DM, you ARE a cheater with no respect for the game you're playing...no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But we've all sinned at one time or another and you can certainly STOP doing that, and you can (in the future) be a fine and upstanding Dungeon Master who understands the disservice such cheating is. 

But leave all that aside; let's talk about your actions as a player. Reminding the DM of a particular rule or effect that happens to benefit the opposition facing the players isn't "sabotaging" the party...rather, it's just you trying to win under the parameters of the game you're playing (some might call that "winning the right way"). 

If you're playing poker and the dealer accidentally gives you an extra card, the proper recourse is to say "um, you dealt me too many cards." Choosing to instead use the mistake to your advantage is a form of cheating. Calling attention to the misdeal isn't "sabotaging" yourself...it's saying, whoa, let's get this right, rather than have a hiccup call into question everything that comes after (like who wins the money in the pot, who gets forced from the table, how that affects future deals, etc.).

On the other hand, it's not unusual for a referee in a sporting event to "miss a call" here or there, and the prevailing attitude of most players is simply let's play on, regardless of whether or not the call went their way or not. In a fast-paced game (which can include D&D, especially during combat) mistakes occur on occasion...and yet, over the course of the match such errors USUALLY aren't the difference between victory and defeat.  Usually.

That being said, D&D is very different from a football match. While the players could certainly be Team A on the pitch, the DM would be Team B and the referee and the league commissioner all at the same time...hardly a "fair" contest that!  But that's the game, and that's the job, and the thing that helps make it "fair" is that the rules provides some explicit instruction about how to arbitrate the game in an impartial manner, and the game has systems in place that provide the means for DMs to gauge the scale of challenges in relation to the players' ability. 

Plus: characters can always get raised or wished back to life.

So while the player you're complaining about was a little nutso to call your friend "toxic," I would still have called your friend woefully misguided if he truly believed that "the Players and DM should work together to make the game fun." No, this is inaccurate (or, more specifically, only accurate in the broadest sense of, sure, every human should be working to make the world a better place). No...that's not how D&D works.

Should players be "antagonistic" towards a DM and "call them out on everything?" No! Heavens, no! If the players are having to "call them out" that implies a deep mistrust of the DM's authority and capability...and D&D only functions when that trust exists!  

I repeat (because it's important): D&D only functions when trust in a DM's authority and capability exists. 

But the reason that trust is necessary for a functioning game is specifically because ALL D&D games are "DM versus Player." The DM is the opposition. The DM is the adversary. The DM is the provocateur and antagonist. The DM is the challenge. Each and every game of D&D pits the players against the DM...because the DM isn't just the league commissioner and referee, they are also the other team on the field.

Every game.

The crazy player that you blocked is correct in this regard. But, unfortunately, he appears to have no trust is DM's capabilities to DM in the manner they're supposed to (i.e. with fairness and impartiality). Why this is...who can say? Perhaps he's had DMs in the past that abused him, or that abused their authority; perhaps he has experienced abuse from other authority figures and now projects that distrust on all such individuals, including Dungeon Masters. Perhaps he's just played in too many "rigged" games with DMs inclined to "fudge" (cheat) in an arbitrary manner as they feel best befits the outcome they prefer, dice be damned.

Regardless, he seems to be suffering from some sort of PTSD, which is very sad. Sad because it is very hard to ever find contentment or joy when you lack trust. Distrust is a fast road to fear, and fear is a blockade, not just to action and creativity, but to feelings of security and satisfaction. Hopefully. the player in question has managed to compartmentalize his distrust, and only applies it in the gaming realm. Hopefully.

Now, back to you, PBAG. You wrote:

"So I told everyone in the server we were in that I was leaving and why, and that apparently upset him even more."

Huh? What?

You quit your game? Because a player expressed a belief that you tried to "sabotage" the party (false) and that your friend's everyone-works-together-for-fun attitude is "toxic" (also false)? You just detailed all this misanthropic behavior from a player that you clearly seem to disagree with, and then instead of standing up for you convictions you fold like a paper cup? What kind of lily-liver coward are you?

Seriously: why the hell are you even writing this letter? You just quit? 

Jesus. Go play CandyCrush or something. You don't have the stomach for D&D.

Sincerely, 

JB