You can do it!

I love being the GM. Playing is fun, but I would prefer to GM over playing most of the time. There are a lot of reasons for this, but it mostly boils down to a desire to entertain. But that is just me. I understand that there are (probably a lot more) folks who prefer to play. Sometimes, though, that isn't an option.

Recently, I've seen (especially in the VTT circles) many folks who want to play, even some that "have a great idea for a game", but also say, "I don't GM". I've even see some folks who seem angry that the GMs of these communities are not running their favorite game!

This kind of thinking floors me! If you like game X, and nobody is running/playing it... then why don't YOU GM! Maybe you prefer to play, but when that isn't an option, you need to do some work.

To get others to GM your game, the first step is to get people interested in it. You can talk up a game system till the sky falls, but there are not a lot of folks that are going to pick up a new game to start GMing based on that alone. The best way to get folks involved is to run it for them. Show it, demo it, run it. You can't expect the world to simply conform to your desire with no effort on your part!

Maybe you feel that you wouldn't be a great GM? I felt this way often. But trust me, if you are making an effort to entertain others, they typically will be forgiving and even help you out. There are lots of great blogs, books, pod-casts, etc., that are dedicated to giving advice to GM's new and old.

So, give it a shot! Who knows, you may get others excited to run your favorite game!

My New Dungeon Tool: Google Spreadsheets

I've been struggling with how to create dungeons that can: 1) be easy to use, 2) easy to upload to a virtual table top, 3) works with my limited time/space/skill. Jotting down dungeons on graph paper is nice, but doesn't scan very well. Drawing them up in paint can be more of an effort than is worth while. The various software packages that are based on dungeon design tend to have cumbersome UI, and don't always let me export the way I want.

So, I started using Google Spreadsheets. I'm already a big fan of Google Drive and use it for sharing and storing game materials.

Here's how I do it:

First I do still tend to jot down a quick sketch of the dungeon. Just a few square rooms and labels. This gives me a good idea of how I want rooms to relate to each other and what the general purpose of the space is used for.

Then I create a sheet of 35 columns and 42 rows, and resize them to 20x20 pixels.

Now, I like to use "subtractive" design. I find this faster than additive and filling in the null spaces. Your millage may vary. To do this I fill the whole sheet using the Fill Color. I choose black, but dark grey also works (or any other color, you like).

Once this is done, I'll start to carve out rooms by selecting the area and changing the the fill color back to white. Tip: once you have one white space, you can copy/paste. I tend to copy one cell and just select areas to paste into. (Again, this is subtractive design. If you prefer, you can just start to fill in the walls instead of filling the whole space then placing rooms back in.)

Now I use both 5x5 and 10x10 feet maps, depending on what I need. Let's say that this is a 10 foot grid map. Sometimes I don't want to have 10 foot walls, so I use the Grid boarders to create small wall lines. I'll fill in some of the large rooms to make them into sets of smaller rooms.

I might find that I need to add some other walls or halls also to make sure things are working as I designed. For doors I sometimes use the vertical bar, backslash, forward slash, or other characters. For bars I tend to use the broken boarder line.

Then I just need to add any other features. Sometimes I just add a lowercase letter then add a dungeon legend somewhere. I use a filled block with a '$' in it (in white) to show hidden doors. If a room has to have a label, I can also just place that in by merging cells. I use bold U and D for stairs.

And there you have it. I use an image printer to print out the sheet to an image file that I can then upload to a VTT. Remember to hide grid lines when you print!

Another map I made.

How I've Maintained a Weekly Game

I've been gaming since the early 90's, and I've always wanted to play/run more than I was. Even back in my high-school and college days, it seemed that I never got to play on a regular basis. Now, even though I am working full time, have a wife, two kids, and the million other things that go into modern life, I am gaming more than ever!

I run a game online with 5 players across 3 time zones on a weekly basis, and have been running (or playing) in these games since March 14th of 2013. In that time we've only missed 6 weeks! Even before that I was doing fairly good in 2012 with a weekly game.

One of the reason for this is that we game on-line. While there are plenty of drawbacks to online gaming and VTTs, they also remove issues of location, travel, etc. The game is always at the same place... at our computer desks. No traffic, no dealing with the need to host, none of that. Just sit and log in.

And it is almost always on the same day at the same time: Thursday's 8:30 pm (eastern). With few exceptions, we have kept to that day and time for over a year. This makes it easy for everyone to plan around the game night and try as best as we can to keep that night free. Making it a week-day and not a week-end also means fewer things "come up" out of the blue to mess with the schedule.

I have to give props to our group at being pretty dedicated and doing what they can to free up this night for our games. It isn't perfect, but everyone had done what they can and it has been working.

The last thing is that while we try to keep everything stable, we are also flexible with folks coming in late, or needing to cut out early. It is better to have a game where someone can't make it or where someone left early, than to not have the game at all. Things keep moving, the story advances, and interest in the game grows. This helps me (and I hope the others) stay motivated to keep playing and having fun.

A few other things that have helped are: Google+, I created a Group where we can post game related information or questions. All our games are scheduled using the Events system, and we run the games using Google Hangouts (with Roll20). Roll20 is another thing that has help a lot. It is hands down the best VTT I've ever used!

NWN, VTT, and the Future

Many years ago, a little PC game came out called Neverwinter Nights. While I wasn't a big fan of D&D, I loved that this game allowed user created content and a sort of GM-ing within that game. This was the first time I saw a computer RPG move closer toward the table top experience. My hope was that this would just be the first attempt of a new genre of CRPGs that blurred the line between the Tabletop and Computer. Games with easier to use tools, more GM options, creating of custom rule sets, etc.

But no others came. Sure there are other games that had mod tools, and allowed the creating of custom levels, quests, etc., but they didn't allow for GMing. [I never played with the NWN2 editor, so I can't speak to that.]

Later I found a new tool for gaming, the Virtual Table Top. The early VTTs I tried were often buggy and very limited. These were usually passion projects from gamers who knew how to code, but not what you would call a professional project.

As time when on they got better and better. New VTTs came out that offered more features, better support, and fewer bugs. They were no longer just chat programs with built in dice rollers. They had maps, tokens, HEX GRIDS!

But now I am seeing something even more exciting happening. My dream of a Video Game that can function like the table top may come from a Virtual Table Top that works like a video game!

I currently use Roll20 for my weekly GURPS game, and while this is simply the best VTT I've ever used, there is still a lot of features that I want that it doesn't deliver ... yet. Still, it works well, and has some neat features (subs get the dynamic lighting which is very cool).

Even more exciting for me is Tabletop Connect, which I supported the Kickstarter for. Actual 3d models in a 3d environment, dynamic lighting, physics based dice, easy to create fill-able character sheets, and more! It is still early in development, but getting better all the time. Unfortunately, it isn't usable for me right now (even though as a backer I have access to the dev build), due to it not having support for hex grid, but that is coming.

And then there is Tabletop Simulator, which is basically a physics sandbox for paying board games, but also has support for RPGs. I haven't had a chance to check this one out, but it looks promising.

My hope is that these sorts of projects will just continue to get better and better. None are perfect, but they are moving in the right direction. I also hope that some of the RPG publishers out there are taking notice of these and maybe looking at creating their own or supporting what is out there.

Let's face it, tabletop RPGs are not a great way to make money (that's a whole other post about how lucky we are that anyone bothers to support this hobby at all). But VTT would be a great way for companies to expand their revenue streams. Selling adventure packs with maps, minis, etc. Selling character and monster figures/tokens. GM and player game aides, character sheet imports, etc. I would happily invest in this sort of thing. It is also a great way to allow the community to contribute. Let others build levels and models then sell them through the VTT (and everyone taking their cut).

And it doesn't have to just be for the on-line gamers such as myself. Tools to manage virtual avatars, options to 3d print your custom character. GM and player tablet apps that interact and integrate rules (and upgrade packs that add new supplemental options).

This is where I want to see TTRPGs going, embracing technology and offering new ways to play. Maybe it is just a dream... but it is one that is getting closer every day.