Session 7 was a blur! I had a super busy week between sessions 6 and 7 so I spent most of my time on real life things, not game prep. I was actually really glad things stayed so within expectations during this session. Almost all of my prep had taken place 2 weeks back and anything could have happened.
This was a more fun, spontaneous session. It really had a 'Friday night' feeling. The players were relaxed, I tried some new sounds on the sound board, we generally just had fun playing the game.
Even with that. there was tension.
The players got some money and immediately lost it.
The party tried to fight a money-eating monster but it kept running away.
There's an unresolved riddle that keeps the players from progressing into the next stage of the adventure.
I think all of those things come with the territory. 2 things stand out as DM problems: metagaming and riddles.
Metagaming was an issue when the party faced an ochre jelly. We have 4 players, none of whom are new to D&D. They've seen monsters before. Sean, who plays Theophraxus (sp), regularly DMs. So he was concerned that when he identified the creature and wanted to warn people against slashing at it that he would be metagaming.
I worry about that less then players telling each other what rules to exploit. We had a quick skill check to see if Theo, familiar with tunnels and the underground, could ID the monster. Problem resolved.
It's harder when you have players that want the information one player, far away in game, shared with the rest of the party immediately. We could go to a text message/DM whisper/piece of paper system, but I prefer to trust people to play the game well. Those were our only metagame issues this session.
Riddles. I love them personally but don't want them to weigh down a session. I think riddles are worse than bloated fight scenes. Most players don't plan for them and most characters don't get to use their strengths to deal with them. So, this session we had an unresolved riddle. It should come together well in the next session, but I don't subscribe to the idea that dungeon design needs to follow video game level design. I'm OK with players having to backtrack and sacrifice time to decipher a riddle, provided they are still having fun.
So we'll see if that happens next game.
Final DM note: I love interacting with people that have thoughts about the game and the way we play it. That's one of the best parts of the whole streaming/online presence. Anyone who wants to talk about the game or give comments, please do. Just be respectful of the fact that we're all people too.
This was a more fun, spontaneous session. It really had a 'Friday night' feeling. The players were relaxed, I tried some new sounds on the sound board, we generally just had fun playing the game.
Even with that. there was tension.
The players got some money and immediately lost it.
The party tried to fight a money-eating monster but it kept running away.
There's an unresolved riddle that keeps the players from progressing into the next stage of the adventure.
I think all of those things come with the territory. 2 things stand out as DM problems: metagaming and riddles.
Metagaming was an issue when the party faced an ochre jelly. We have 4 players, none of whom are new to D&D. They've seen monsters before. Sean, who plays Theophraxus (sp), regularly DMs. So he was concerned that when he identified the creature and wanted to warn people against slashing at it that he would be metagaming.
I worry about that less then players telling each other what rules to exploit. We had a quick skill check to see if Theo, familiar with tunnels and the underground, could ID the monster. Problem resolved.
It's harder when you have players that want the information one player, far away in game, shared with the rest of the party immediately. We could go to a text message/DM whisper/piece of paper system, but I prefer to trust people to play the game well. Those were our only metagame issues this session.
Riddles. I love them personally but don't want them to weigh down a session. I think riddles are worse than bloated fight scenes. Most players don't plan for them and most characters don't get to use their strengths to deal with them. So, this session we had an unresolved riddle. It should come together well in the next session, but I don't subscribe to the idea that dungeon design needs to follow video game level design. I'm OK with players having to backtrack and sacrifice time to decipher a riddle, provided they are still having fun.
So we'll see if that happens next game.
Final DM note: I love interacting with people that have thoughts about the game and the way we play it. That's one of the best parts of the whole streaming/online presence. Anyone who wants to talk about the game or give comments, please do. Just be respectful of the fact that we're all people too.
Riddles are tough! I love them, but it takes a special type of player to really enjoy solving them, and not every DM is lucky enough to have those players.
ReplyDeleteSkill check to allow/disallow metagaming is a great way to handle that situation. A lot of skills can find themselves rarely/never used, so that's a great way to let a player use some of their character's strengths for advantage or blunder.
Always appreciate the comments!
DeleteRiddles. Someday I'll solve how to use them.