Ludonarrative Dissonance

So I've found a new term that describes a problem that pretty much every gamer has ever encountered, anywhere: ludonarrative dissonance. It satisfies my logophile tendencies (I mean, my blog's name is Aggregate Cognizance) and it pretty much hits the phenomenon on the head.

In short, as you can see from the TV Tropes entry, it describes those moments when the game doesn't really fit the narrative. Most everyone who have played video games know this phenomenon well. It happens a lot in tabletop rpgs too, which I'm sure isn't a big surprise to anyone. Whether it's from a character build that doesn't perform as advertised, or a die roll that contradicts what's going on in the narrative, or when the rules actively get in the way and stop the action, it's like the game hits a speed bump that launches it into a brick wall. It stops. Hard.

It looks like a problem without an easy solution. But while I was poking around the Internet, I came across this blog post discussing the combat example from Basic D&D - an example I remember really well. The first thing I take from actual example is how different the designers show the game being played from how I remember the DMs in my area actually running it. Even me (especially me). Our games didn't flow anywhere near as naturally as the combat described there.

The blogger does a good job of doing a play by play of the combat example. Of interest to me in terms of ludonarrative dissonance is how the archer fires her bow out of initiative order. I may be wrong, but I chalk it up to the DM trying to avoid a situation that doesn't make sense given the unfolding situation. If the archer already has her bow readied, there's no reason she can't just fire an arrow regardless of the timing. Classic DM call, considering that there appear to be no rules in BD&D that specifically cover it.

In the end, the interface between what's going on in the player's imaginations and the rules system is highly imperfect. Strict adherence to the rules in spite of what's going on around the table is always going to create those hard stop moments - resulting in ludonarrative dissonance. The best that we can do, as GMs and players, is recognize when we need to disconnect from strict by-the-book interpretations wing it a little bit in the name of keeping the game going.

I Don't Fudge Die Rolls

And it's not likely for exactly the reason you might think.

I'm not part of the "let the dice fall where they may" crowd. I have not seen roleplaying games as physics simulators for quite a long time. I'm actually one of those GMs who always rolled behind the screen, explicitly so I could fudge rolls in the best interest of the "story" or to make sure things went the way I wanted them to. Sure, most of the time it was to the players' benefit but there were times when the monster missed and I flipped it to a hit, or when a random encounter didn't yield an interesting result so I made it interesting. My players always trusted me, and thought I was a good GM.

But I always felt like a sham, knowing that so many times I kicked down rolling all 10s on damage dice to 5s, or I bumped the enemy's hit to a critical because the PCs were defeating it too easily. So gradually, and without quantifying the technique, I started moving toward rolling everything out in the open. If the dice were rolled, everyone around the table would be bound by those rolls. Dice were used to resolve uncertainty, when no one wanted to (or felt they could) take responsibility for the results.

Fudging rolls makes me feel something like this

Once I got around to reading Fate Core, I already had a pretty good grasp on the play style I was comfortable with - it just put the cherry on top. Only roll when it's important. Because while I was mostly on board with not using the dice when it wasn't necessary, I was still rolling for pretty trivial stuff. Random things on scavenging tables, NPC reactions, that sort of thing.

Knowing when to roll is a skill that I'm constantly working on improving. It's what I actually want the players to trust me for. I want them to trust that I know when it's the best time to let the dice decide, when it's the best time to make a declaration sans randomizer, and when it's the best time to get a consensus. Just trusting that I'm an impartial die roller isn't enough.

Starting In Media Res

Currently I'm planning for a Fate Core Tribe 8 game. As usual, all of the players are new to Tribe 8. On top of that, Fate Core is a little bit different than what they are used to system-wise. After some pondering, I've decided to fall back on a tried and true technique for getting the players invested and their characters involved: start the campaign in media res. I've used it a number of times to help jumpstart a campaign, especially in games where the setting is detailed or the system is new.  My first Tribe 8 game used in media res with a very similar scenario to the game I'm planning. Here are a few tricks I've learned to make this work.

1. Have Them All In The Same Situation

It might sound great to try to entangle a bunch of vastly different character backgrounds and have them all coincidentally meet up at a specific place and time, but it often feels contrived and sometimes doesn't work out. It's better if the scenario starts with them all in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing. The PCs can be on the same train, running from the same death machine, all imprisoned in the same cell, etc.

2. Start Them Out Doing Something, Or About To Do Something

Start the PCS off in the middle of the action. Sitting on the same train isn't in media res unless the PCs are about to do something, like take the train over.  It could be in the middle of a fight, running down the street, about to choose which wire to cut to defuse the bomb, just after a major faux pas in front of the Prince. The situation doesn't need to be dangerous, but it should be dynamic.

3. Don't Sweat the Details

Some players are going to want a detailed accounting of how their character got there and why. You don't want to describe how characters started out at the tavern, then the King's Guard burst in, and the characters fled and had to jump into the river to get away. A long lead-in deflates the tension. Start with them about to make the decision to jump into the river. How and why they got there can be established later. However, the various elements do need to be made clear. The players should at least know that getting caught by the King's Guard would mean imprisonment or death, or the dude with the long dark hair is working for their arch nemesis. It's a balancing act between the players having enough information and not too much.

4. Be Flexible

In an in media res scenario, the players shouldn't have to pixelbitch to find the only secret door standing between them and an orc horde. A lot of good in media res scenarios revolve around having to make a choice, and there should be not only more than one path - those paths should be simple and obvious. This goes for choices the players have made regarding their characters. If the campaign is opening in media res, it's a good opportunity for the players to stretch their character's muscles and figure out if the character suits them. Allow for the player to make modifications to their character based on the session experience. This can be easier with some systems than others. The first session of my Tribe 8 game is going to be both the campaign intro and character creation rolled up into one, but Fate Core implicitly supports "fill in the blank" character creation during play.

5. Give The PCs a Chance

Starting in media res relies on a level of trust between the players and GM. The players need to know they won't be left hanging, and the situation can be resolved with information they already have. In many ways, in media res situations are a prime opportunity for player input regarding the scene and how to resolve it. Some players may not be as comfortable with this, or may not know what action to take without more exposition/situational awareness. Take this into consideration when crafting the scenario.

6. A Helping Hand Is Sometimes Needed

This applies more to when the player characters are trapped behind enemy lines, escaped from a chain gang, shipwrecked, etc. Having a GMPC of some sort who can provide assistance - whether it be information, supplies, shelter, etc - may help out if the players need a little push in the right direction. This GMPC should be a transition to engaging the scenario in more depth and should never overshadow the PCs. Instead of the GMPC jumping in to fight off a pack of wolves, the PCs should encounter the character after they've done it themselves.

7. Play Some Catch Up

After the opening scene is resolved, the players are going to want to take stock of what happened, why it happened and decide what to do next. This can be in the form of describing or talking about what led up to the previous scene, or it could be flashback scenes that are roleplayed through. This depends on the game and the goal of the scenario. Sometimes flashback scenes can take up the entire remainder of the scenario, ending where the players started. Otherwise, maybe after a scene of catching up the scenario  just continues to move forward normally.

Software for RPGs

I've been looking around at various Windows applications or web services to help out with organizing or running rpgs. Once I sit back and look at all of the options available it's mind-boggling. We're in a virtual golden age (no pun intended). Here are some of the tools I've used or have found that help me out a ton when it comes to planning and running RPGs (this isn't including smartphone or tablet apps, because for gaming I use my laptop).

Organization

Google Drive should be a no brainer here - it gives access to everything a GM could need without having to invest in an office suite. It's been invaluable to me. The one drawback to using Google is they do have a track record of discontinuing services people actually use (or, at least, those people really like). I think, however, that Google Docs is likely going to stick around for a while. Dropbox is the obvious non-Google alternative (I use both, but nothing on Dropbox is shared publicly).

With just those tools, it's perfectly possible to organize and run a campaign. There are a couple more useful tools: Google Sites is somehow a wiki, but I haven't quite figured it out yet (it is a "simple wiki" and documentation is non-existent for it other than saying, "It's a wiki!"). Otherwise, I've found Wikia to be a reasonably good free wiki. There are also options like Obsidian Portal (which I haven't used yet although I did register).

One thing I really like are mindmaps. I've used both The Brain or Mindjet MindManager extensively, but I prefer Mindjet. The Brain does have an awesome feature that exports the map to a website structure. They are very good at creating relationship maps, and I actually once did a campaign map solely with a mind map. The one complaint I have with these types of software are kind of limited in how elements can be structured, and I wind up spending too much time fiddling with arranging things. The other drawback is they don't print well (as in at all), so you pretty much have to have a screen to display the map. There is an open source mindmap application called Freemind. I've played around with several mindmapping extensions in Google Drive, but they just don't work as well as a stand alone app.

Preparation
Two words: the Internet.

Aside from that, I've found just learning the basics with GIMP and Inkscape have worked wonders in preparing for games. I can edit images, create small graphics, do character sheets, maps, handouts, etc. I think any GM should at least know the basics of with these two applications (or something like them). For maps I'm not a huge fan of Campaign Cartographer, but I have used Dundjinni for both small and large scale maps and really liked it. It's too bad it is defunct from a development perspective.

The last one is the true treasure: YWriter. It's similar to Scrivener, but free. I have yet to fully delve into the program, but it allows for setting up characters, scenes, locations, items, and notes. All of these things can be cross-referenced and repositioned within the structure as needed. It also has a storyboard feature. The biggest drawback is it is a standalone Windows application with no Internet connectivity.

Play
I don't have much new for actual play, particularly because I don't use character generators or any kind of system software. I've toyed with creating an Access database for helping with various things, but I think my noggin, a rulebook and paper probably work just fine. One application that does look useful for play has been right under my nose, probably for years: StickyNotes in Windows (I understand that Mac OS has something similar). You can create any number of notes, change the colors, adjust the size, and as I recently found out you can even cut and paste spreadsheet cells or tables into them. I think that from a perspective as a Fate Core GM, I'll be able to use it and save a ton on Post-It Notes.

This probably doesn't scratch the surface of what's available to help with games. If there are any other awesome tools out there I'd love to hear about them. I'd definitely like to see web-based solutions geared specifically toward RPGs. Something like Obsidian Portal, but with a YWriter like scenario manager and possibly integration with Google Drive, Hangouts (or Roll20) and possibly Blogger.

Humorous (and Horrible) Gaming Experiences

I haven't had many truly crummy gaming experiences. Certainly not on the level of others I've read about. The same goes for funny experiences, at least beyond the silliness that ensues (I assume) in most game groups.

Among the bad experiences, but not the worst, were a couple of convention games many years ago. One was a Palladium Fantasy game that was, for all intents and purposes, a continuation of a regular game. Nearly all of the players were the regular players, and everybody else was handed the PC of a player that wasn't present. I received a female healer (I didn't have a choice) who was in a relationship with another PC (awkward). I was constantly having my actions countermanded by the GM as "That's not what she would do." I came up with an excuse to be somewhere else pretty quick.

The second game was a Champions game. Apparently the GM ran the same scenario, with the same characters, every time. The character sheets he handed out were stained, marked and falling apart. The scenario was like a railroad on a conveyor belt, bundled up and frozen to absolute zero. Predictably, after the game the GM asked for the character sheets back.

The last one was a GURPS game where the GM made everyone sign what amounted to an NDA promising not to reveal any of the contents of the scenario. He had some kind of prizes, but I never got around to figuring out what they were because the game was so mind-numbingly boring.

My worst experience, however, was playing Tribe 8. Prior to this game, my buddy and I had an awesome group that, unfortunately, split up due to a number of factors. We searched for a replacement group online and after talking to a few people thought we had found good matches. Showing up at their apartment, I finally knew the true meaning of "Cat Piss Man". The place was disgusting, reeked of cat piss and cat vomit and who knows what else. They let their cats rampantly jump up on people, knock things over, etc. There were some excuses given about illness (cat or human, I'm not sure), but we still cut the session pretty short. Granted, I'm the type that busts my ass to clean our house up even when people I know well who won't judge me are coming over. Near strangers? I have to fight back the urge to repaint the walls and scrub things that they'll never even see, like the underside of the refrigerator (yes, I said underside).

On the way home, my friend was pretty disgusted by the whole thing, plus being in the apartment caused a bad asthma attack (he had deadly asthma and a heart condition). I called the people and explained my friend had asthma and a bad heart, and their place wasn't fit for him to be in for long periods of time. The cats would need to be relocated or contained, and the place thoroughly cleaned. They seemed like all right people, so Anthony offered for us to play at his place (he did have the most awesome geek bachelor pad), but they had transportation issues. They promised it had just been a bad patch and that things were getting cleaned up. We went back for a second session, and it hadn't happened - on top of that, they were turning out not to be so all right, in terms of personality and appropriateness (which I was starting to get in email conversations). We made up a crisis, bailed and afterward I called the game off, citing our honest inability to function in that environment.

As for hilarious experiences, there were a couple good convention games. One was a Mekton Zeta game I was running, where the players totally got into their characters. A player rolled a "pet" on their Lifepath and decided it was a reptile-like creature named "Commander Mander", who he gave a little helmet proceeded to talk to the entire session. The second game was a Cybergeneration game that was supposed to involve the characters being trapped in a mall after dark, where we would have to fend off vampires or zombies or something. Instead, we never got around to that, instead running around the mall doing crazy things, getting into teen age drama, and then getting into a massive paintball fight that ended with one character getting accidentally shot with a real gun (one of the maxims of Cybergeneration was that the children of the Cyberpunk Edgerunners hated firearms). The GM just rolled with it, and it was awesome.

Right after high school I ran an unintentionally hilarious Mekton game set during a Kargan invasion of Elara. Two of the players, who were dating at the time, played the pilot and sensor operator of a recon mech. We established there was an access tunnel connecting the two cockpits, and the girl's character was in the top cockpit. Their in-character arguments in the middle of combat were true comedy, especially when she decided to drop wrenches on his head because he decided to go melee with another mecha (she had no piloting control over the suit). When he shut the hatches, she hacked them and dumped the whole tool bag on him. The game turned out to be a strange combination of Red Dawn, Stripes and M*A*S*H. To make things even more colorful, that game was typically hosted at my friend's house. His mom was remarkably...friendly. Nowadays she would probably be classified as a cougar. The bonus is she did make snacks and whatnot for game night.

Then there was the game - I think also Mekton, but perhaps Shadow World or Champions  - that broke out into a fist fight. Or, at least, a "throw a punch and the other guy runs away screaming" fight. All of the players had gone to high school together (or even junior high) except for me (I was introduced to the group by a mutual friend while I was in high school myself). Two of them had a running animosity, but one was extremely passive aggressive about it. After a few sarcastic remarks, the other one had enough, jumped up, and took a swing at him from across the table. What ensued was a bunch of running throughout the house with yelling, screaming, possibly crying, hiding, jumping over couches, and the host desperately trying to restore order before his grandparents were woken up.  Also, a wiener dog chasing everyone, barking and nipping at their ankles.

Similarly, a Cyberpunk game when I was in the Marines resulted in one of the players - a very short Filipino guy - throwing such a gigantic temper tantrum over something or other that we actually put him in a wall locker until he settled down.

I'm sure that there are a decent number of groups out there that have even more horrific or funnier stories. What are yours?