[Review] Never Unprepared, The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Session Prep

GMing is often perceived to be an arcane art, whose secrets are passed on via oral tradition, or through hours of experience by running terrible games until they become not quite so bad, to passable then finally pretty good. While some of us had to endure this sort of initiation (I know I did) it doesn’t have to be this way.

One of the most crucial steps in running a game is preparing for it. What’s funny is that so many of us GMs tend to not really give this step any decent amount of thought and attention.

Enter then, Never Unprepared, The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Session Prep from the fine people of Engine Publishing and Gnome Stew. In it, author Phil Vecchione delves into the nature of session prep working his way down from building an understanding (and therefore appreciation) for prep to the necessary tools and finally evolving your own style.

Phil doesn’t waste any time, immediately diving into a discussion of the creative cycle. I feel that this is a great way to start the book as many GMs (myself included) are unaware of how their creative cycle works, and how to get the best of it. Each chapter is overflowing with interesting advice, written in an accessible and engaging language that doesn’t burden one with needless jargon or academic discussions that serve no purpose but to stroke the author’s ego.

What I found great about Never Unprepared is that it’s not just a book that blathers on and on about a topic. Phil adds a few personal anecdotes of his own experiences, and reinforces the learnings of a given section with a Rate Your Skill Level exercise in order to evaluate your proficiency. Furthermore, each chapter also has sections dedicated to spotting when you’ve done too much or too little of a given phase in preparation, handy for finding out your weaknesses.

The second section of the book tackles the tools for GM prep, and discusses the pros and cons of working with the different brainstorming and planning tools available. While I know many GMs that prefer the old pen and paper methods, I rely on notes via Springpad and jotting down phrases on my smartphone when inspiration strikes.

One of the most compelling sections in the book is when Phil details the creation of a creativity heat map, a visual representation of when you are most creative. Ideas flow easily in certain times, and tracking them might give insight on when a GM can take advantage of these moments.

The discussion on personalizing your prep to your own style is very helpful as well. The author doesn’t go about telling you exactly what to do as much as he coaches you through a thinking exercise in order to form a methodology that works for you. The considerations raised were all eye-openers for myself, and I’ve been GMing for quite a while now.

The last part of the book caught me completely by surprise, a section on the Prep-lite approach. This section is one that I feel speaks to me the most. It’s not so much a more efficient means of prep, but one that helps make the most of whatever little time you have while delivering the same level of quality. It’s a nice (and useful) touch for those that don’t have the luxury of free time anymore due to our obligations and responsibilities.

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I wish that I had this kind of book way back when I started GMing in college. Perhaps then I could have had more chances to actually run successful and interesting games that could benefit from more than just me yanking surprise after surprise from the top of my head in hopes that some sort of plot emerges from the mess.

Never Unprepared is a definite must-have for any GM. New GMs can learn a lot from this book, picking up the good habits that will serve them well into their latter years of GMing. I would go as far as to put it on the same level as Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering in terms of usefulness to anyone who takes the art (and science) of GMing seriously and is looking to improve his craft.

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Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer would like to thank Martin Ralya for providing us with a copy of this excellent book.

[D&D Next] Legends and Lore: Bounded Accuracy

Today’s Legends & Lore article from Rodney Thompson goes into detail on something that the design team calls the bonded accuracy system.

I’ll let Rodney’s words do the explaining first:

The basic premise behind the bounded accuracy system is simple: we make no assumptions on the DM’s side of the game that the player’s attack and spell accuracy, or their defenses, increase as a result of gaining levels. Instead, we represent the difference in characters of various levels primarily through their hit points, the amount of damage they deal, and the various new abilities they have gained. Characters can fight tougher monsters not because they can finally hit them, but because their damage is sufficient to take a significant chunk out of the monster’s hit points; likewise, the character can now stand up to a few hits from that monster without being killed easily, thanks to the character’s increased hit points. Furthermore, gaining levels grants the characters new capabilities, which go much farther toward making your character feel different than simple numerical increases.

Now, note that I said that we make no assumptions on the DM’s side of the game about increased accuracy and defenses. This does not mean that the players do not gain bonuses to accuracy and defenses. It does mean, however, that we do not need to make sure that characters advance on a set schedule, and we can let each class advance at its own appropriate pace. Thus, wizards don’t have to gain a +10 bonus to weapon attack rolls just for reaching a higher level in order to keep participating; if wizards never gain an accuracy bonus, they can still contribute just fine to the ongoing play experience.

This extends beyond simple attacks and damage. We also make the same assumptions about character ability modifiers and skill bonuses. Thus, our expected DCs do not scale automatically with level, and instead a DC is left to represent the fixed value of the difficulty of some task, not the difficulty of the task relative to level.

It’s quite a bit to take in all at once, but the concept does merit looking into. I like the idea of having DCs and AC stay static, as opposed to scaling upwards based on the level of the PCs. Having a fixed difficulty for doing something means that those who train at being good at the task are really more likely to succeed, without having to move the goalposts all the time.

This eliminates a weird problem wherein DC values lose their meaning as the players level up in the older systems. It’s easier for a GM to eyeball the difficulty of a given task. Climbing a DC 15 cliff face, for example, remains difficult for most player characters, but less difficult for characters who are proficient at the task.

With regards to monsters, characters no longer outgrow monsters as they remain a credible threat (albeit now in greater numbers) even if the player characters are much higher in levels. Likewise, the idea that weaker level characters can team up to take down a dragon given enough attacks, luck, time and tactics is one that I completely get behind. The dragon can scarf down a Level 1 fighter no problem, but assailing a garrison full of Level 1 soldiers might be a tricky proposition for all but the most devastating of creatures.

There is one thing that I have reservations with on this article however, and that is the mention of scaling challenges primarily via hitpoints, damage dealing capacity and special abilities. This is something that has to be very carefully implemented. My only worry here is that fights might end up being boring simply by virtue of how long it takes to kill something since it’s been beefed up by a ton of hit points.

Then again, if the Bonded Accuracy discussion is right, then it means that players of the appropriate level can take down big monsters because they have their own special abilities and heightened damage dealing capacity as well.

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Overall I’m very happy with what I’m seeing here. The flatter math is a boon to D&D Next, one that I hope will make it all the way to the finished product.

[Let's Study: Degenesis] Part 2 – The Thirteen Cults

Artwork of the Marshals by Wesley Burt: http://www.wesleyburt.com/

The player characters of Degenesis campaign aren’t only defined by the civilization they grew up in, they’re also very much influenced by which of the Thirteen cults they join. Each “Cult” is a faction or organization of differing agendas and methodologies. Some are content to pursue a particular trade or vocation, while others are religious or political in nature.

The one thing that these cults share is that they’re all very pro-active when it comes to their individual agendas. Each of the cults is given a thorough treatment in the book, going over their beliefs, organizational structure, goals and practices, as well as a short one-page summary of what they think of everyone else (hint: They mostly hate each other).

It’s because of this setup that I feel that Degenesis might work best as a limited or single Cult game. Some Cults work naturally together as in the case of the three African cults, but there are those who despise each other to the point that their standard orders are to kill on sight.

That said, let’s take a look at the Cults of Degenesis:

• Spitalians – A curious organization of trained warrior-medics who know a lot more about the Foulness and the spores than anyone else. Armed with flamethrowers and superior medical knowledge, they travel the world, healing the sick and burning away the Foulness where they can find it.
• Chroniclers – As masters of lost and forgotten technology, the Chroniclers turn their attentions to the recovery and preservation of technology to hopefully uplift themselves (and the rest of humanity) out of this age of ignorance and barbarism.
• Scrappers – Whereas the Chroniclers are busy with tinkering with technology, it’s the Scrappers that are out there in the ruins digging for it. Scrappers are often, cold, hungry and desperate, but few can doubt the fact that they are determined and very dangerous.
• Anabaptists – A strange gnostic offshoot of pre-Eschaton religion, the Anabaptists vow to purify the earth of all evil and herald the coming paradise with fire and faith. While they are merciless to their enemies, the Anabaptists have had surprising luck in coaxing food from barren land, and gaining the faith of many farmers who have joined their ranks to spread the word.
• Anubians – This group takes upon itself the mantle of the seer, the oracle and the shaman. Born of Egypt, this African Cult is one of the most occult-oriented, with a strong affinity for death, and a whole lot of secrets.
• Apocalyptiks – This nomadic cult involves themselves in the tradecraft of vice: drugs, prostitution, gambling, nothing is sacred. Their determination to live large among the ruins of civilization and willingness to do anything for their benefit has made them equally admired and despised.
• The Ashen – Hidden away in enclaves deep under the earth, this cult is a community in itself. Having adapted for centuries to living in darkness, the Ashen are a freakish but intriguing group with its own designs for the surface world.
• Hellvetics – Descended from the swiss military, this cult operates with a strict code of honor. Acting more like Knights of old, the Hellvetics are a largely neutral faction with an unassailable fortress in the Alps.
• Jehammedans – The other strongly religious group of the post-apocalypse are an equally fanatical group dedicated to fulfilling the words of their last prophet to subjugate the world for the Chosen of God.
• Neolibyans – This rich faction of Africans are the beating heart of trade in the affluent African nation. They control trade and handle the administration of the wealthy superpower. Their influence reaches far and wide, though it is no surprise that they are largely seen as gaudy and pampered.
• Marshals – These grim dispensers of instant justice make their home in Borca where they are respected and feared. Cloaked behind a strange code of law and indecipherable legalese, they are feared by the general populace for their methods, but they certainly know how to enforce control.
• Scourgers – An organization of African slavers, the Scourgers see themselves as avengers of the African people who have long suffered from the Europeans even before the Eschaton. They are a proud group of warriors who tame large hyenas to serve as allies in their raids for new slaves.
• Tribals – Not exactly an organization as a demographic, the Tribals represent those who have returned to the purest form of barbarism, starting over in the state where only the strongest have any right to rule.

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It’s not difficult to see that the Cults don’t play well with each other most of the time. This means that GMs really have to start working on ways to set up the game in such a way that the players don’t automatically start killing each other on sight.

The best way is to start clumping them into interesting combinations:

• Lions Ascendant – Neolibyans, Scourgers and Anubians
• Here and Now – Spitalians, Chronicler, Apocalyptiks and Scrappers
• Expedition – Spitalian, Tribal, Chronicler, Scrapper

Most of the others strike me as better for a single-cult game. A Dogs in the Vineyard-style game of traveling Anabaptist Inquisitors for example, or a Jehammedan Rebel squad stuck fighting the Africans in Hybrispania.

Degenesis feels more like a well thought out sandbox game, where your character has all sorts of openings to get into different kinds of adventures and even more kinds of trouble.

Tomorrow we’ll be taking a look at the CatharSys system that Degenesis operates on. Everything looks good Fluff-wise, but will the crunch hold up?