an update on RPGs (now with more llamas)
Nov. 29th, 2012 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bonny_kateJoel and I have been co-GM-ing the Exalted campaign for a bit now. It only works out to meet twice a month or so, which has resulted in three sessions thus far. It's been going quite well. The first two sessions were a bit rockier, because we're still figuring out how to GM together (because I've never GM-ed and Joel has never GM-ed with someone else). But I think we're getting into the swing of things. It's fun, but it's also crazy amounts of work. It is also a ridiculous amount of improvising, especially since we have a bit of structure but are mostly trying to set up interesting situations to see how the players respond (tricky situations in which there are multiple ways of solving a problem and there is no single right answer of how to deal with things). So far, it feels like players are relaxing and enjoying being creative (there have been some interesting and creative solutions to problems outside our expectations; we had a best case scenario for the second session, but they came up with and implemented a plan that gave them even better results than our best case scenario). Anyway, all this improvising means not just responding on the spot to players (which I'm getting better at), but also coming up with characters on the spot (which I'm not very good at).
I'm helping Joel, too, because while we aren't building all the characters ahead of time (something I would be inclined to do if I was running it by myself), we are doing some basic world building to set the scene (he has always done less world building before, and more making things up on the spot). The last session took place at a village in a desert-y area (many foxtails, stickers, tumbleweeds, and rolling hills). But rather than just go with a stereotypical village, we decided that they needed a livelihood, and that it would be raising goats (very hardy) and llamas (just amusing). Then we further decided that rather than having everyone just wander about the village, there would be a celebration, and the main sources of alcohol would be fermented llamas milk (the beer equivalent) and fermented cactus (the hard alcohol). It was hilarious, and the players thought it was hilarious. We probably couldn't have come up with something that awesome spontaneously during the session. The conversation went something like this:
me: You're near a village. There is a cluster of clay houses, and you can hear fiddling and general merriment. A llama wanders across the street.
player: A llama? The animal or the monk?
me: The animal.
player (laughing): Does it see us?
Joel: (rolls a die) No.
The GM-ing is fun, but I think I'd want more experience playing and at least improvising my character's reaction before I try GM-ing anything on my own.
I'm helping Joel, too, because while we aren't building all the characters ahead of time (something I would be inclined to do if I was running it by myself), we are doing some basic world building to set the scene (he has always done less world building before, and more making things up on the spot). The last session took place at a village in a desert-y area (many foxtails, stickers, tumbleweeds, and rolling hills). But rather than just go with a stereotypical village, we decided that they needed a livelihood, and that it would be raising goats (very hardy) and llamas (just amusing). Then we further decided that rather than having everyone just wander about the village, there would be a celebration, and the main sources of alcohol would be fermented llamas milk (the beer equivalent) and fermented cactus (the hard alcohol). It was hilarious, and the players thought it was hilarious. We probably couldn't have come up with something that awesome spontaneously during the session. The conversation went something like this:
me: You're near a village. There is a cluster of clay houses, and you can hear fiddling and general merriment. A llama wanders across the street.
player: A llama? The animal or the monk?
me: The animal.
player (laughing): Does it see us?
Joel: (rolls a die) No.
The GM-ing is fun, but I think I'd want more experience playing and at least improvising my character's reaction before I try GM-ing anything on my own.