One-shot adventure: A Plague Under All of Your Houses

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

Well, I finally got around to coming back to this adventure post and reading it all.

I was happy to see this thread re-emerge this morning.

There are many suggestions that are left up to GM to implement at the game table. I'm curious if anyone wants to comment to what degree and detail they would present the actual travel and encounters. The range from narrative winging to premeditated structure is wide.
. . . Dalin, would you also care to elaborate any as to how you presented these underground encounters when you ran it?

My default style as a GM is to focus on the details. I can be particularly obsessive about maps and layouts. I like it all to be to scale and I like to have a clear understanding of the three-dimensional layout of any given location. All of this was great in decades past when I had gobs of free time and precious few responsibilities. Indeed, I have only recently resumed gaming to any regular degree after a ten-year hiatus. My life is now short on time and heavy on responsibilities. Thus I am experimenting with different levels of preparation.

The bug scenario was a one-shot with my children and some of their friends. Younger players tend to be more adept at suspending disbelief (often because they simply don't understand physics) so I've found that planning out maps and layouts isn't worth the effort. We do use a hex grid on the table and I draw things out live in play. That becomes the map. If I think I may need to reuse a location, I snap a picture with my phone before erasing it. This seems to work well.

In terms of adventure design, I've even found that having it all prepared can be problematic with younger players. Their attention spans are unpredictable, so they seem to have more fun when I start with a few basic ideas and then riff off of whatever they get excited about. If they are howling with glee about leaping over a crevice, then there will be more crevices to leap over. If they start to zone out, I change things up. When I've got everything laid out in advance, the simulationist in me has trouble cutting corners.

For my adult DFRPG group, I still prefer to do a fair amount of prep, though I never have enough time to even reach my minimum goals. But I've been leaning on published scenarios so I don't have to do all the heavy lifting. (I just like to tinker and change things constantly.) Winging it the way I do with the youngsters isn't as successful, though it's not without occasional merit. I'm still trying to get a feel for what I need in advance (lists of names, NPC personality traits, a basic sense of geography) and what I can improvise successfully (combat stats have proven easy to generate on the fly).

I'm curious to hear how others approach this sort of thing.

[Tom H.]

Originally Posted by Dalin

My default style as a GM is to focus on the details.

Thanks Dalin, that's good to hear. That is my tendency also, but I find a lot of feedback on the forums by some who almost mock that style.

Granted, you have to get to the table at some point, but the other extreme was well portrayed by Kromm in this post.

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I love your portrayal of the play style of children, and I have a short anecdote to share.

My sister has two sons who live within driving distance. A couple of years ago, I was continuing our 3.5 D&D adventure with them and some of their neighbor friends who assumed some roles. At one point my youngest nephew got very silly and desirous of attention. While preparing for their excursion in the Inn, my nephew's character decided to go player vs. player and relieve himself on another PC.

I abandoned my plans for a serious adventure and gave in to simulating the reality of his crazy actions. On the fly, I adjudicated rules for the success of spontaneously inducing a bowel movement and the defensive penalties for his exposure upon the inevitable retaliation. I don't recall all the details other than the fact that he was successful and repercussions were had. But the kids were having a ball with the fact that I was actually playing out the situation seriously.

I recused myself from continuing the game the next day as I was a bit sore at the tone they had imposed on my heroic story. But I was surprised and flattered to have found out that several of the neighbors had returned in the hopes that I would be resuming my DM duties.

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The better news is that the older nephew has been inspired to regularly play and DM Pathfinder and 5.0 with a group of his own friends. Unfortunately, for the time being, he is at an age where he prefers to hang with them than continue our game as earnestly.

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Again, if anyone wants to share their preferences for implementing Dalin's above adventure, especially the underground challenges, they are welcome.