NP Comic for Saturday, Dec 31, 2022

[Darth Fluffy 338]

NP Comic for Saturday, Dec 31, 2022

"I've been working on the railroad, all the live long day ..." To be fair, it is supposed to be a quick game. It needs to stay on the rails.

[mlooney 3,594]

The important thing about being a good GM is keeping the party on the rails, without it feeling like you are on the rails.

[Don Edwards 561]

Moving the planned adventure from where you expected it to occur, to where the PCs go, is a very common DM trick. In a long-running campaign, though, the DM may have to keep notes - once some geography is established, it shouldn't be rearranged. Which is why many long-running campaigns involve a lot of travel: the established geography is left behind, and the DM can resume moving things to match what the PCs do.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,619]

You don't need to keep the party on the rails if you have a plot vehicle that can be steered.

I just had the characters pile into a 1970 blue Plymouth station wagon with bucket seats and shag carpeting while the Best of the Bee Gees played in the 8-track.

[mlooney 3,594]

3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Moving the planned adventure from where you expected it to occur, to where the PCs go, is a very common DM trick. In a long-running campaign, though, the DM may have to keep notes - once some geography is established, it shouldn't be rearranged. Which is why many long-running campaigns involve a lot of travel: the established geography is left behind, and the DM can resume moving things to match what the PCs do.

Of course my preferred RPG is Traveller, where you have a sandbox to play in.  When I generate a sub-sector or sector I include a few plot hooks per system so I am ready for the player to do any thing. 

[Darth Fluffy 338]

Ellen made it clear that whatever the characters choose to do, whatever they enter, is going to be the dungeon in the module, so she is in effect moving the tracks to keep them on the rails. So what we have is a tank, not a train.

[mlooney 3,594]

I'm wondering what Rich thinks of Ellen's GM style so far.