Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: AD&D - A few questions from a newbie
From: hcraig@mischief.ksc.nasa.gov ()
Date: 10 Apr 92 12:57:16 EST
Distribution: rec.games.frp
Organization: NASA, Kennedy Space Center, FL

In article <MISHAE.92Apr9204843@sandman.hut.fi>, mishae@niksula.hut.fi (Mikael Eriksson) writes:
|> 
|>  Hello folks,
|> 
|>  I started playing AD&D with some friends a few months ago.
|> Unfortunately none of us has experience with this game, nor with any
|> roleplaying game at all...! We are sort of learning by doing, having a
|> great time, but naturally it tends to get a bit awkward once in a
|> while.
|> 
|>  I'm the DM, and believe me, it's not easy running a game you never
|> played before! So far I think I've managed fairly well, I'm no master
|> at it, but gaining experience all the time. The crew I'm playing with
|> prefers roleplaying and puzzle solving to the traditional
|> hack-and-slash, which suits me just fine, it's more fun for me that way.
|> 
|>  Now, there are a few practical questions that have come up during our
|> sessions. They can probably not be answered in a straightforward
|> manner, but a small discussion about the subject would be most
|> appreciated!
|> 
|>  First of all, I'd like to hear some advice on how to keep track of
|> the time during the game, when I should run the game in realtime, and
|> when it should be run in "slowmotion" or in "fastforward". So far I've
|> kept track of the group's movement every ten minutes, that is, assumed
|> that most of the basic movements and actions take ten minutes. When in
|> battle I use one minute as unit time measurement - works quite fine.
|> The problem is, when should I "demand" a realtime respones from the
|> players. Naturally this is needed while negotiating with an NPC, or
|> when something unsuspected is happening - a character is attacked by a
|> monster jumping out of the shadows, a net falls down on the group or
|> an avalanche rumbles down when the little dwarf sneezes... It doesn't
|> always seem to work, though, so some general advice would be nice.
|>
 
 In general when I have a situation that requires a real time response
I let them know what they are hearing, seeing, ect  and then take all their
responses as realtime until the present situation or encounter is over.  I don't
keep down to the minuete records of time.  The DM has much better things to worry
about.  Instead I estimate time spent in days and keep track of that.  I only 
keep track of rounds when it is needed such as for spell effects, combat, ect.
One thing to watch out for is when your party becomes physically seperated.  It
is possible that the two halves can become seperated in time.  for example one
half of the party takes a trip of several days while the other half spends the
night in an inn.   
 
|>  Slowmotion and fastforward is not always easy, either. Fastforward is
|> the natural way to referee when traveling, isn't it - "The party goes
|> round the world and back again, wow, you're all nine years older".
|> Slowmotion is fairly natural when fighting, there's a lot of
|> diceshooting and propability calculating, etc. But somehow I feel that
|> there's more to it than that - I just can't put my finger on it.
|> 
 How fast time passes while traveling depends on any encounters the party may
have, planned or otherwise.  Using random encounters while traveling makes the
game more interesting and the players learn they may not end up where the
thought they were going.

|> While on the subject of time I could ask you when I can allow my
|> character to interact, when can it be considered impossible? Of course
|> they can chat when walking down the old path to the wizard's castle,
|> but can they communicate while fighting? Can Keenslayer scream: "I
|> will poke out it's eye while you burn it's tail with a fireball", will
|> the rest of the crew hear it or will they be too occupied fighting?
|> Will the monster understand what the characters are saying, and get a
|> bonus on the save rolls? (This of course depends on the language the
|> monster is speaking).


 Just imagine what the real life situation would be like.  Can they hear or see
what is happening.  Is it possible to shout over the noise of combat.  
|> 
|>  What about capturing characters? I remember reading somewhere that
|> the characters should explicitly state that they intend to capture,
|> and hit with the flat of the sword to accomplish this. This would
|> cause half the normal damage, and render the victim unconscious when
|> his hitpoints run out. This is the way I've done it, seems to be
|> working, but is there a better way?
|> 
 This sounds alot like the discription of how to subdue a dragon without killing
it.  If your PC's whant to capture someone or thing  make them device a plan and
you decide on its workability.  Its easy to hit someone over the head and knock
them out. But what if that person is gaurded spells or some other nasty suprise?

|> Well, that's all for now, hopefully somebody can provide me with some
|> interesting information around these subjects. Thanks in advance and
|> happy gaming!
|> --
|> 
|> 
|> Cheers,
|> 
|>          

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* craig@titan.ksc.nasa.gov                                *
*                                                         *
* My opinions are not my employers, they are not even     *
* my own...........but thats marriage.                    *
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