From: swann@acsu.buffalo.edu (Stephen Swann)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Roleplaying personal stuff (Re: Experience ...)
Date: 19 Aug 92 22:57:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: acsu.Bt96Fs.60M
Organization: UB

In article <1992Aug17.230220.17625@eng.cam.ac.uk> yt1@eng.cam.ac.uk (Y. Tremblay) writes:
>>>>My characters tend to spend time doing what people in the real world
>>>>would do - they visit friends, they fall in love, they read books,
>>
>> Example: the adventurers go to visit their friend and one-time
>>patron, the Baron of Altros.  They are very familar with this part of
>
>   Yes, exactly.  It is the way it's going to be describe in my games too.
>About this length.  We all understand what happen and that it was mainly 
>unimportant.

Actually, it can sometimes be very important.  In fact, this business
of developing a solid "background" for the campaign is what my players
consider the most important part.  You have to have a good "reason"
(from your character's point of view) to fight battles - like, "Your
old friend the Baron has sent you a message.  He says that his
peasants are being terrorized at night by a marauder dressed in black,
wearing an antlered war-helm.  He begs you for your assistance, as his
knights have proved helpless in the matter."

I mean, (to my group) that's what makes fighting these battles an
interesting experience.  Otherwise why not just play boardgames, or
else just make up some characters and have them fight monsters,
without bothering with all this "campaign" stuff?  :-)

>> A lot of times the party just decided to take a month for everybody
>>to do their own thing.  We split the group, and everybody soloes the
>
>   You mean really you regulary play many (a couple of playing session)
>soloes with each of your players.  I could do it once or two but not 
>regulary.  (No wonder why you don't have time to prepare :-))

:-) No, I seldom have a "formal" playing session with dice, character
sheets, maps etc, when roleplaying most "personal" stuff.  We usually
just "talk through" the relevant events and conversations.  Often over
the phone.  (We handle a lot of this kind of stuff, by phone or mail,
when my group are in different parts of the country).

>>Sometimes, even when the group splits, we don't play it out in detail.
>>I do a quick determination of "exceptional events" that might occur
>
>   It is the way I am used to handle the situation.  Most of what happen 
>during this time is not significant so we just say it.  Unless a few 
>significant thing happen...  It is roleplayed really fast.  However, 
>someone (Steve) said that his player spend more time roleplaying that kind
>of stuff than actually "adventuring".  So, I'd like to know how.

Well, a considerable amount of time is spent handling personal
matters, where we'll define "personal matters" as: "anything that
doesn't involve exploration/adventuring/fighting".

p1: I'm going to read that book on Drow religion.
GM: Ok, it mostly describes the cult of Lolth, which is the ...
    [ lengthy description, probably 5 - 10 minutes long ]
p1: So, the Cult of Lolth are basically the traditionalist forces
    within Drowic society?
GM: Well, in a sense.  You see, ...[etc.]

[ the whole group would have listened in on, and taken part in the
previous part, as the character who was reading the book would have
discussed it with his companions. ]

p2: While he's doing that, how's the work coming on my shield?
GM: <roll> They've painted the eagle right, but the background is
    done in these really ugly shades of yellow and pea-green.
p2: Dammit!  I -refuse- to pay until they fix that!  And what's the
    quality of the workmanship?  Is it good, apart from being the
    wrong color?
GM: It's excellent.  The work-boss says the color problem is because the 
    sketch artist who drew your original design marked the colors that
    way.
p2: I ask to look at it.
GM: Ok, you can see that the original color specifications have been 
    rubbed out and replaced with those bogus colors.  The handwriting
    looks sort of familiar...
p2: I'll kill him.
p3: Now, don't lose your temper.  Remember, you dropped my familiar
    down a well...  

-- 
Steve Swann                 |    Speak to me in many voices; make
swann@acsu.buffalo.edu      |      them all sound like one...  -BOC
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd