tushanshu_ooc | Event HMD | Powerdown & Malicant Plot

As before, and for anyone who may have missed it, at the end of every mod-run event in Tu Shanshu, we ~~try to~~ toss up an open dialogue post so that the events can be discussed. This is mostly to see if everybody's as happy as possible with the direction the game is going, whether or not the events could be considered a hit or a miss, that sort of thing.

This particular HMD covers the Meta Power Reduction & Malicant joint event.

What are we looking for?
Feedback of all sorts! Did you like what happened? Did the event run too fast, or too slow? Were you able to feel like your character contributed or made a impact on the event? Would you like to make more of a difference? Has there been too much 'downtime' for the characters, do you have any suggestions to make about future events, etc etc? Did the event run long enough for you? Would you like to see more NPC-driven events, or less? Did you feel that there was enough for combatants and non-combatants alike to participate in?

OBVIOUSLY if you have more comments, questions or concerns than those listed above you can add those as well! This is pretty much just a general list.

Do we already have a focus?
In part, yes. We've identified the following issues with the event and would love to foster discussion on these points:

> Team Structure
There were some players that had multiple characters assigned to a team and others that volunteered and did not make the final teams. This was an oversight on Alex's part and she apologises! That said, do you have any suggestions on how we could avoid such an oversight in the future? Should we limit sign-ups to one character per player?

> Multiple Options
Each team was asked to pick only one option per clue set regardless of their characters' proclivities towards exploring multiple options. This was to reduce administrative workload and tie-in with the reduction of powers. Do you have any suggestions as to how we could make taking multiple options feasible for any future event structured in this way?

Note: Alex here! One option considered and taken off the table would be preparing all of the possible branches off the options and clues before the event starts. This is because I found creating the sets during the event really allowed me to adapt the scenarios to suit the actions of each team in a really organic fashion. In summary, it let the characters further influence the event rather than being stuck on rails (see: swizard). I'd really prefer to find a solution that allowed mid-event creation of the clues without sacrificing the multiple options, tbqh.

> Outcomes
The pre-event survey concluded that players were okay with getting dead-ends for their characters actions and so this was included. Two teams had a major impact on the health of the turtle and a variety had other impacts that lessened Malicant's grip on Keeliai. Do you think we should have included more largescale impacts? Less? More impacts in general? More complete dead ends?

We'd like to emphasize that any and all feedback is welcomed and encouraged! These are merely some areas that we've identified as concerns from our standpoint and would like to hear your thoughts on.

Do we have a form?
Yes, in fact! This time, we're offering a quick text form to help provide some structure to the feedback received. This form addresses some of the concerns we noted on a mod level and tries to give as much freedom as possible to anyone that chooses to use it. Please note that you do NOT have to use this form! It's provided as an option only. :3

Please remember, ANON IS ON for this and IP LOGGING IS OFF so if you have anything you'd like to say but maybe you're more comfortable putting it forth anon that is a-okay! You can also feel free to PM us at this journal, or to toss a private plurk at either of the mod accounts (those being

vonnerdyce or

reignsdown) if that suits your fancy. Any and all comments are welcome, and though participation in this meme isn't required it's definitely encouraged if you're up for it.

Thanks again, guys, and happy turtling!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I wasn't in game for/during the Malicant event, but multiple options for RP games (just usually one shot things) is a thing I've done in the past, and trying to prepare every single possible branch is definitely exhausting.

Instead of immediately preparing all the possible branches and their options and so on, I generally make the stuff -people, items- that's there, existing, and have a list of it all, with descriptive properties, so that I'd know what could happen if someone's character interacted with it, or what that particular thing would do.

So to extremely compress down something I used once to a single situation's list of items:

Players: Need to get information from a witch.

Girl: She looks upset and near tears. She is looking for her mother's- the witch- favorite magical cat.
Tree: An immense tree. It's the tallest remaining tree in the area. There's a cat in its branches about forty feet up from the ground.
Cat: The girl's mother's cat. It is in the tree, winged, and ill tempered.
Abandoned logging camp: It still has ropes and equipment for logging. There's an old firepit lined with rocks, and a tinderbox nearby.

These are things two different groups I ran this with suggested to get the cat out of the tree:

Use the ropes to climb the tree and rescue the cat.
Wait the cat out.
Use rocks from the firepit to knock the cat out of the tree.
Cut the tree down.
Set the tree on fire.

One group decided to climb the tree and rescue the cat. The other group set the tree on fire.

The first group's cat rescuer got scratched up, but they were able to get information and help from the girl's mom.

The second group got the cat, but didn't get any willing help or information, and continued making Poor Life Choices.

It makes things element based, rather than sequence based, so players can choose, but on my end I don't have to rush around trying to figure out what'd follow after because it's a loose web of connected things.

Dunno how much this apply here, but I hope it might give you some ideas there?

This is how pretty much every tabletop RPG system encourages you to run things, because No Plan Survives Contact With the Players.

Rule of thumb: in running a game, "what" is up to you, but "how" is something you should leave largely to the players. They'll surprise you, generally in a good way.

Yeah. It doesn't seem to get used too much for written or prose-based RP even when there's someone running the thing, however, which is a shame.

And it usually is a good surprise! When it is not it is still amazing, just in a horrifying way.

There's more lag associated with written RP, which has the potential to make things unwieldy, but that can be worked around with well-considered box text.

I once ran a murder mystery at a con where I didn't actually plan anything beyond "hey there's a dead guy and you're investigating" and just let the players decide what was important--one of them was big into horses, so okay, sure, there was a coach with a distinctive team seen around the inn at about the right time, etc. etc. The players loved it, and didn't know they were the ones who'd written the session until I told them at the end.

ETA: Whoops, gamer slang. "Box text" means the descriptions given to players in tabletop games. In published adventures, things they're supposed to know are generally printed inside a box so you don't accidentally read off stuff that should stay secret.

Edited 2013-07-21 07:26 (UTC)

Can I ask for some clarification on how we could phrase "well-considered box text" if we implemented this kind of event in the future? I think the suggestion has great merit, just need to better understand how I could prepare for it.

Sorry, I was writing at like 3:30 am. Not conducive to clarity.

Anyway, I just wrote this long-ass post and realized it was rambling and redundant.

So the principle involved: You want to set the limits for what people can do--either physically or socially possible, or on a meta-level ("we need to you to not break the game")--and make it clear that you're okay with however they decide to solve the puzzle within those limits. Your goal as a mod is usually to 1. resolve an NPC conflict or 2. get some information out to the game at large. How the players do that isn't as important as that it gets done. In this RP format, people are more interested in narrative than in Winning All the Things, so trusting them to work with you is the way to go.

Okay, I can definitely see the merits involved there. Should we run an event like this in the future, we'll keep it in mind.

Thanks so much for the clarification!

These feedback is fantastic and much appreciated.

My question would be how to form up teams and avoid the lag of multi-player input. Should the teams be smaller? Only player-created to raise comfort levels on interations? Could we still set a deadline on providing the mods with the options and applications? And then come up with them ourselves if they failed to make deadline?

I'll be honest in saying that I put down actions and options with greater detail to help form up my next set of options. Many players feel uncomfortable with too many freedoms in that regard, which is one reason why the cluesets and options were so detailed -- to try and avoid discomfort in making a choice. I've table-topped before (reference to Carolyn's feedback) and understand some of the open-ended concept, but it's how to apply it to DWRP that I'd like to better comprehend.

Smaller teams are always an option to decrease the lag. Player created teams would also make it easier in respects. However, having the option of mod-RNG'd groups is not always a bad one, especially if players are interested in the opportunity to create CR they would not normally consider themselves. Deadlines are important, because otherwise things can and will grind to a halt, as is keeping things moving.

What would be possible in combination with working through elements is maybe a sort of permissions check of what players would and wouldn't be okay with in terms of what'd result for their group- it limits it being infinitely open-ended for them, and puts in safety checks as far as choice goes: Whatever happens is something they don't have to worry about.

At the same time though, when I set games up, what the players see looks very much like the cluesets that were involved here, as are the apparent options. It's just structured differently behind stage, as it were.

Event HMD | Powerdown & Malicant Plot | June 16th - July 13th

Thoughts on multiple option type stuff?

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