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00:00:01
Honey! Where Are My Pants? - Flying by the Seat of Your GM Pants
30 Plays25 days ago
Oh...is it time for another episode? We don't have anything planned! Well, yeah...we do. Daryl, Nick, & Robert discuss running sessions with little or no prep and just letting the story go where it goes.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
D20 Radio, your game is rolled.
00:00:17
Speaker
How We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master or player, and share stories of momentous events at our tables.
00:00:29
Speaker
Every game is a new story to
Meet the Hosts
00:00:31
Speaker
tell. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome back to the How We Roll Gaming Podcast, everybody, where yeah we... try to help you out and discuss RPGs that we enjoy, give you some helpful tips and hints.
00:00:58
Speaker
and We're doing that today? Great. yeah Oh, yeah, we're doing that today. Knock, knock, tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on? Oh, it is.
Recent Activities and Inspirations
00:01:10
Speaker
we We've got Robert's apartment on screen, but yeah we don't we don't have Robert. Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap. Sorry, sorry, I'm here. you There he is.
00:01:21
Speaker
May have said that we were doing this. Sorry. but so So have you guys been since we last... I would say since we last saw each other, but that's been like four days.
00:01:34
Speaker
Since we last recorded, how have you been? Doing good. Well... preparing for heists with a certain other GM, and then got some but of some birthday parties that I'm going to do tomorrow and this weekend.
00:01:48
Speaker
Going to fun there. Right on Right on. Nick, how's it going to be? and the alien community fans are feasting because Alien Earth is now out on on where it's available to you.
00:02:05
Speaker
The stream. and And so... ah our Our friends on the Movie Defenders, you they're doing an after show and they posted you know right when it was about to start Tuesday night.
00:02:19
Speaker
And partway through during one of the commercial breaks, I posted and asked one of their co-hosts, Brev, who happens to be the GM who first ran the Alien RPG for both Nick and I at Gamer Nation Con a few years ago, asked him, hey, Brev,
00:02:39
Speaker
are you getting a lot of ideas for the RPG out of this too? And he just replied back to me with, I love this show.
00:02:51
Speaker
That's a good sign. And speaking of our friends at the movie defenders, ah I'm also getting prepared for my time. on Movie defenders debut. Yeah.
00:03:03
Speaker
I had my latest movie Defenders last weekend as we discussed Galaxy Quest and had a blast. And you are getting ready to join them for the first time.
Engagement and Promotion Strategies
00:03:20
Speaker
don't spoil it, but I am getting ready. and Nick, they they've posted on socials what the next episode's going to be. And I'm very sure you've mentioned it once or a hundred times.
00:03:31
Speaker
Yes. This is true, but... Nick's fulfilling Donald's dream and bringing them Xanadu. Yes, very much. You know what? I wouldn't be opposed to that. I can talk about that. Donald would love you forever if you did that.
00:03:48
Speaker
You would make Brev laugh hysterically and Scott would politely bow out of the episode. He'd just close his camera and be like, bye.
00:04:00
Speaker
No, he just set up the recording and let the two of them host and because you know they they have hosting capabilities in Zencaster, which not to get too inside baseball, Nick keeps forgetting to respond to the invitation to be a host for our Zencaster Oh, I can do that?
00:04:21
Speaker
Cool. I've sent you the request like three times, Nick. Well, maybe the fourth time we do I'll do it. We're kind of playing it fast and loose today.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, we are. we are you know i I haven't had a chance to dig much in the last couple of weeks into my my new RPG acquisitions, because I have been barreling through a year's worth of X-Men comics to prepare for the next episode of our sister podcast, Casual Nerdity, where the aforementioned Brev will be joining me and our friend Betsy to discuss the first year of the From the Ashes storyline, ah you soft relaunch of the X-Books.
00:05:13
Speaker
So, In the home stretch, I have ah a few, you know probably you a dozen total issues of several series to go. So I will be done in plenty of time.
00:05:26
Speaker
But oh enough about that.
Preview and Current Topics
00:05:30
Speaker
you know Enough about comics. This isn't the podcast where we talk about comics. This is a podcast where we talk about RPGs. So we've got a little business to get out of the way first. Then we'll dive into the meat of our episode.
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, so before we dive into our topic this time around, we want to point you to one of the other great shows on the D20 Radio Network. On We Fix Games, Laura and Jerika take a look at games focusing on the storytelling aspect, but examining not only what makes them great, but what makes them better, too.
00:06:03
Speaker
And they've been on quite a roll lately. And as we're recording this, their most recent episode takes a look at Little Miss Fortune. So check out We Fix Games wherever you get your podcasts. And they enjoy me a little bit of a story. So definitely watch them if you enjoy storytelling.
00:06:21
Speaker
And I've seen a bit of Little Miss Fortune. It's a beautifully animated game. bit on the dark humor side. Very fun looking.
The Art of Improvisation in RPGs
00:06:30
Speaker
Right on. Right on. Well, um this this time around gi me this time around, we have ah you wait a little bit of a freewheeling episode um because it happens to all of us. So I i just have one question.
00:06:49
Speaker
Honey, where are my pants? So... As a GM, every once in a while, we have to fly by the seat of our pants.
00:07:02
Speaker
In fact, going into another little clip that I have, recently online, I found a video that discusses the six stages of being a GM.
00:07:16
Speaker
I am too anxious to even attempt this. I have a meticulously planned out world and an agenda for the day decided down to the second. The lore primer is in your email. I have a less defined world, but answers to questions I think you'll ask. But I have planned out multiple branching story paths.
00:07:31
Speaker
I have an overarching story concept and a bunch of random encounter tables. We'll fill it out as we play. I have a vague list of notes that will inspire me during the session and a loose story goal for the day. We'll see what happens. I...
00:07:42
Speaker
I forgot we were doing this and figured something out on the drive. Here, let's roll some dice! I feel personally attacked by that entire video. I feel there were some parts that were more spot on than the others.
00:07:57
Speaker
more than I have been all six of those at some point in my GMing life. I've been at least two or three of them within a single session. oh yeah, absolutely.
00:08:08
Speaker
I've gotten to three of them so far. Haven't gotten to the the first one just yet. You will be.
00:08:19
Speaker
You will be.
00:08:23
Speaker
So sometimes, whether you do have everything meticulously planned, or you did forget all about the session and thought of something on the drive over there,
00:08:40
Speaker
At some point or another, even if you've meticulously planned, the players are going to zig when everything that you planned out for them meticulously was for them to zag.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yes. Yes, they will. and That could be as simple as missed combat encounter, a a longer shopping trip, a whole new campaign based off of what's supposed to be a single adventure. Where the...
00:09:09
Speaker
Where they say, hmm, you know, everything's pointing us over there. Why don't we go over here, though? This place looks nicer. what What's that? That's a big, shiny, distracting thing over there.
00:09:21
Speaker
And you have to, in the words of Steve Wynwood, roll with it, baby. Yep. You got to take the proverbial sheet and just go. Okay.
00:09:33
Speaker
Okay. Yep. you You have to toss the cards over your shoulder, just like David Letterman used to, to the to the sound effect of breaking glass. Or as they like to say, they're like, it.
00:09:46
Speaker
We'll do it live. Yep. yeah Yep. So everybody has their own different ways ah of winging it, ah of flying by the seat of your pants.
00:09:58
Speaker
And there's There's no real wrong way. Some people's way is just abject panic. Yes. And that is not bad thing. when started out jamming, got a little bit there sometimes.
00:10:12
Speaker
I was like, oh. That is, that say that's not a bad thing. Panic is natural. it's It's built into the human condition. And sometimes yeah that's when you find like the ideas that like we've all, most of us have experienced that moment. It's like, oh no, it's a day before the paper is done.
00:10:35
Speaker
i have to do the paper tonight. And it's like, well, I'm not sleeping tonight. And it's like, yep. It's like, there There are times that you have every good intention of sitting down to at least make yourself some notes to guide the session, and life gets in the way.
00:10:57
Speaker
yeah. yeah And you just don't have the time. And you just have to pull everything you have and then put it together in front of them.
00:11:09
Speaker
And for for that matter, there are times that... So I mentioned this in our last episode, so I'm going to completely yank back the curtain here.
00:11:20
Speaker
um And i feel very safe in doing this. ah Robert has made this a a very safe place for me to say this because he has said that not only is Walking Dead his favorite campaign of what we're playing currently, but the last session was his favorite session of the campaign.
00:11:43
Speaker
I'd say it's my favorite one as well. Yes. It's the one you where you've died the most times. Mm-hmm. I sat down to plot out that session.
00:11:57
Speaker
I had set up in the previous session that, okay, there's this big festival where the characters, you know, the party had been split in the session or two previous.
00:12:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And there was going to be a big set piece festival that would allow them to come back together, even if only briefly, to compare notes before going back their separate ways.
00:12:26
Speaker
That's where everyone was, because the basic factor was we couldn't communicate. Yeah. And based on our characters' skills, we were, like any apocalyptic community, we were put where we were where we would be most useful Or advantageous to the powers that be.
00:12:42
Speaker
It would make sense at a big festival that everyone's best attributes be used and therefore would give that intersection. Yes. And we were like, oh, hey, it's you again. How you doing?
00:12:55
Speaker
Well, i I spent probably a good week trying to plot things out. And the more I thought about it, the more stuck I got.
00:13:11
Speaker
Because the nature of the set piece, well, it's kind of hard to plot out because all of the characters have been split up and have been going through different experiences.
00:13:25
Speaker
Like on paper, it makes sense as to how they could could potentially get together, but actually putting that into motion... The timing is the what what like I was saying. Yeah. yeah Well, that and... It's a very narrative system. um so It only works players work off it.
00:13:48
Speaker
Yeah, and a lot of it... A lot of where the story goes depends on where you as the players take it. And oh boy, did we take it.
00:14:00
Speaker
like So many places. Ultimately, I sat back and i was like, well, there's only two things that for me have to happen this session.
00:14:17
Speaker
Number one is the festival. And that's just that's accomplished by saying the festival is happening and you're all at the festival. And like we we would be we'd also be very upset if there wasn't the festival, because now it's brought up multiple times in the previous session.
00:14:32
Speaker
Just like real life. You say there's an event happening, you get all excited, and they're just like, yep, we gotta cancel. Sorry. The other thing that I knew had to happen was all of your first sighting of the Emperor of Las Vegas.
00:14:51
Speaker
Yep, had to give a speech. Mm-hmm. That's what I wrote. I wrote the speech. It was a good speech. It was a good it was a really good speech. I wrote the speech, and then i i took that and my general notes for the campaign to the session.
00:15:11
Speaker
I set the stage by sending you to the festival, let you mingle a little bit, that the emperor come let the emperor come out and make his speech,
00:15:23
Speaker
and turned you loose in the setting. Oh, and ho, did some characters make choices that were like, oh, okay, okay. yeah i Even Daryl was like, there was a point where Daryl was like, thank you for giving me so much to work with.
00:15:40
Speaker
Yes, the coin because... exs occurred And I was like, had no fault because I was playing the character. And so... ah Fortunately, for some of the things, like yeah we we had two of the PCs decide to go to the Flamingo, which in our setting is run by the mob.
00:16:03
Speaker
yeah Let me rephrase that. In our setting, it's still run by the mob, just like real life. I'm sorry, did I say that out loud? the just You whispered it a little.
00:16:14
Speaker
Daryl, it's lost faith. And what did they decide to do at this place run by dangerous gangsters? Well, it's not so much what they decided to do. Fortunately, because the Flamingo is one of the major factions that I had set up with the overall setting for the campaign, already had stats for the two most prominent people.
00:16:44
Speaker
at the Flamingo. I already had stats and background and personality.
Frameworks and Comparisons
00:16:49
Speaker
So I was able to just, like Hey, I have this that I've already made time to pivot and use it.
00:16:57
Speaker
yeah And it was fun. That is ah a major factor of like, regardless of flying by the seat of your pants is a bit of a, it's a a bit of a misnomer because as a GM, you have stuff somewhat prepared.
00:17:13
Speaker
Regardless of how much of it is, you're just putting what else what you can into play. Yes, and that was the portion called creating a fame a framework can help.
00:17:25
Speaker
Because like Daryl said, he'd already introduced the plays. He knew was going to be important to the setting. So here had some people created. Which is what I also like to try to do as well. I create a place. I have settings. I'm like, okay.
00:17:38
Speaker
I've emphasized these portions of the area. So if they ever go there, at least have one or two people I can have them interact with, if that happens. Definitely, definitely. i had I had already set up the major factions for all of you, and peeling back the curtain further than than you two have seen so far, I have the leadership of all of the factions all set up already.
00:18:03
Speaker
So yeah like they're all set to go, should you... get into any of those factions. Well, okay then. It just so happened to be that this was a session that may have been up planned.
00:18:15
Speaker
This is when you meet this faction. Like, going into, say, Whisper Base. I had a lot of NPCs already planned out and concepts. But because I already had them out, I was okay with you guys in the initial area of Whisperbase being kind of free reigns, just doing what you want. And then when you encountered things, you encountered them.
00:18:38
Speaker
ah and Won't be the first time we bring up Whisperbase in this discussion, because I think that will go back to a glory story we had. Now, over the course of...
00:18:52
Speaker
the next several hours at that last session of walking dead, the five of you sitting there at the table all made choices that I had to, not only did I had to roll with and improvise and I guess flying by the seat of your pants can be kind of a misnomer, but it's kind of like playing improv jazz.
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah. Or in a way you're trying to get out the door, but you're, pants are around your ankles. You still need to pull them up. Honey, where are pants?
00:19:28
Speaker
I'm pretty sure I've had this three before. i don't. Your dreams can stay in your head.
00:19:36
Speaker
But the choices that the five of you at the table made gave me ideas to use for that session and as we go along and without really giving anything away there's gonna be long like long lasting repercussions of the choices made though i very much too big long lasting repercussions yeah in that two of the pcs died yeah and then but it was a great scene because one of the pcs they went to do stuff with the flamingo he was somewhat connected to my character and my character just told him okay
00:20:15
Speaker
We're in this place. You need to calm down. Don't do anything rash. He comes to me, tells me what he did, and it's basically that meme where everyone's just going. And I'm just like, what I just told you this ah literally a day ago.
00:20:29
Speaker
And then I told him right after, okay, calm down. Don't do anything else. Just trust people. And what it that he did, Robert? hey and what was it what was it that he did robert He made an upgraded version of the Walker strain.
00:20:52
Speaker
Yes, he he he created living living walkers. Yes, and i my character was just like, he was basically that another that other me, just going, Chico.
00:21:08
Speaker
And, you know, after that session, ah had time to sit with, with that concept a little bit. it did and one the you Did we get everyone?
00:21:22
Speaker
and I don't know. Did you? Probably not. knowing Knowing our luck, probably not. honestly Is there another big piece of media that came out recently that might influence some of the things that I decide to play with with this concept? Mm-hmm.
00:21:42
Speaker
Daryl, if you bring anything from Aliens, I swear. think what he's talking about. If you have to fight a xenomorph, I'm out. No, that's... the I called dibs already.
00:21:57
Speaker
But I was like, for once, my death wasn't the shocking reveal of... Well, sort of was the shocking reveal. character. Your character was the one that was infected.
00:22:09
Speaker
And on top of which... that That was a big no-win scenario that the choices that both you and the other player were making put you both in a situation where there wasn't much choice.
00:22:30
Speaker
Yeah. there There was someone else. yeah There was an NPC who was looking over everything that yeah the the other player was trying to keep their connection to you under wraps to help you out.
00:22:48
Speaker
But they had someone else saying, oh, well, yeah you have this stuff here? Well... Just do it! t Test it on tested on them over there. i mean, it was ah it was a fast... Again, it really felt like... Even though even though you've given us this peek behind the veil, I'd say that if, say...
00:23:12
Speaker
someone who was watching the session, they might not have seen that it was, just happened naturally. Yes, it was. And like I tell everyone, even during on this show, it was just one of those sessions where in the Walking Dead thing, you could just, it was literally an episode.
00:23:31
Speaker
And when it ended, it was just like, yeah, that's a Walking Dead episode. Yeah. Well, and you full disclosure, Full disclosure, I did not have that concept of the living super walkers, the super strain in mind when I walked in the door to run that session.
00:23:53
Speaker
Oh, I believe I did not think that would happen either. Everything the other player was doing yeah to try to buy time for other circumstances It just all came together.
00:24:10
Speaker
And there was a moment that I was sitting there behind the screen that I said, oh, I know what I'm going to do with this. Yes. And that's another good thing about improvising for a GM. Sometimes your players just do something to where you're just like,
00:24:30
Speaker
I like it. I can work with this. or dead boy Or B, it's just, you know, I was planning to go this way, but But what you just said a much better idea. I'm going to take that.
00:24:42
Speaker
Again, that is a part of it. It's like, as I always mentioned, like, no matter how experienced a GM, it's just like they say about, about like going into a combat zone. and The minute you enter in there, the ah plan falls apart.
00:24:56
Speaker
Once you make contact. No plan survives contact with the enemies. Yes. Or the players. Not that players are enemies, but. Especially our players. That's why I made that distinction.
00:25:08
Speaker
But it's like, you can't predict what they're going to do.
Balancing Prep and Improv
00:25:13
Speaker
You may have created this intricate sandbox. But guess what? Some of them going to be like, I want to play of the anthill.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yes. And in fact, I'll even ask you, Nick, because we just but just did a started a limited campaign where we're doing a heist. we won't I won't reveal many details, but my character is a racer.
00:25:33
Speaker
he likes to He likes to drive cars. And... Part of the heist is we need to get entry there, so I need to run a race. Someone from an opposing crime lord approached me recently and offered me more money to maybe throw the race and get second place.
00:25:51
Speaker
So I just said, okay, I'm going to roll a discipline check. Okay. And then I just had my players like, you told me to go slow. And I killed him.
00:26:02
Speaker
And I just got asked, did you expect that person to die? i Well, did you? I know. In fact, that's going to have consequences. I don't doubt it.
00:26:13
Speaker
But it's just like, yeah, my character doesn't like going slow. He's an adrenaline junkie. Don't tell him to slow. Not to peek behind the veil, but it is based off of a limit a written adventure for the ED's FFZ Star Wars role-playing game system.
00:26:36
Speaker
It has been adjusted with several different subplots and characters and motivations that I'm adding in. But in terms of like that character, yeah, that character was not supposed to die, so there's going to be consequences.
00:26:49
Speaker
But I'm allowing it because that's what your character would do. And then that character oh like and that character was going there to try and bribe you, as they would have attended anyways.
00:27:06
Speaker
all You just reacted with the with a more direct answer than most players would. Yes. And just goes to show in any event, whether it's just one action or actions that spilled off on top of each other, you can never truly know what your players will do.
00:27:25
Speaker
But you can definitely choose how you respond to them. I could have just really said that this is bad, but it's like, no, this is a new opportunity, a new wrinkle in the plan.
00:27:37
Speaker
Yes, or in some cases, and I've been guilty of this when I started out, is that when they would zig, i would double down and try to railroad them railroad then back to the zag.
00:27:50
Speaker
And that's that is a natural response, because at the heart, GMs are storytellers, and We kind of have that grand vision of that like how we want the story to go.
00:28:04
Speaker
Yes, but we yeah also can't treat our players like an audience to the story. They're in the story and they help make the story. They're not just sitting there while we read a book out to them. Right. you know It's natural to try to get them back to the Zag.
00:28:18
Speaker
And the easiest way to do that is if the Zag isn't... super dependent on a specific location or time frame. It's like, so they they zig, you let them have their fun over there, and after they do that, then plop what you had expected them to do or kind of wanted or hoped that that they would do, however you want to put it, you just then put in their path after they have their little divergent.
00:28:49
Speaker
Or sort of an amending how we talked about like the hook. It's like, if they don't take the hook initially, just bait the hook a little bit later down the line. Right. or Or, you it depending on the type of campaign that you're running, when that happens...
00:29:07
Speaker
Like, let's let's say they were being asked to rescue a child or ah you sit save somebody.
Creating a Living Game World
00:29:17
Speaker
I won't go super dark, so we'll say they're being asked to save a farm from some invaders.
00:29:24
Speaker
Yeah. But they zig instead. Yeah, they're just like, well, what if we, I know, to save the farm, we'll burn it down. Or they don't even say that. They're like, well, to save the farm, let's go do this elaborate convoluted thing and then go over to the farm.
00:29:44
Speaker
So you have them do yeah let them do the big elaborate convoluted thing. Then they go to the farm, and the farm's in flames. Yeah. yeah right There's consequences.
00:29:55
Speaker
again like Because what one of the big... Some would argue that it is railroading, but it isn't. It's serving consequences in a living world. Yeah, consequences the living world and not punishing your players. It's just consequences. Like, I let you do that thing, but time still moves forward, and you took too long.
00:30:16
Speaker
Right. there's There's a piece of advice that i I have seen many, many times, and sometimes I abide by it, sometimes I don't, sometimes it's just plain hard to, but you have your big bad who has their plan of what they want to do,
00:30:35
Speaker
And you have to remember, okay, what is going on with the big bad while the players are doing whatever they're doing?
00:30:48
Speaker
The big bad isn't just going to sit there reading a book, waiting for the players to catch up with the appropriate point in their plan to throw a monkey wrench into it.
00:31:00
Speaker
No, that is a nice image. Yeah. I'm just thinking of an evil sorcerer while the party's doing things just going. that's ah there is kind of house um That could be a fun in a more like lighthearted campaign, but like if they're if you're playing quote-unquote serious D&D, but it's like quote-unquote super serious D&D. It's like, yeah, the player characters...
00:31:30
Speaker
Beat the initial force of the bad guy. They know that the villain's there. they they They do that big pose in front of him, in front of his, like, scrying eye. and And they're like, all right, we're going to do, like, several shopping adventures and beach episodes.
00:31:46
Speaker
Um... Yeah, there there's a couple of examples. The bad guy is still going to be like making the plan. he's still going to be going forward with it. Now, a scene like that could work if part of the plan accounts for and relies on your heroes getting involved and being against their there will, more or less, utilized as part of the plan.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yes, it's the whole, you fool, you just furthered my planned. But at the same time, you know there there's always, we want to pull an example out of media, they always run the risk if they're off doing a shopping thing or whatever on their way to the big climax of walking into Ozymandias' base for him to say, i did it 30 minutes ago.
00:32:47
Speaker
Yep, that's what i was exactly what I was thinking. ye it's like it's that role of It's that rule of storytelling. It's like, your characters live in the world, but the world also lives around your characters.
00:33:00
Speaker
It's going to go on, even if they're not there. Depending on how the story goes, you could have some more comedic beats, some dramatic beats. They could all be the same beat. A great example is ah using like the...
00:33:14
Speaker
the The Infinity Saga of the MCU. Thanos is constantly doing things in the background to get the Infinity Sons.
00:33:26
Speaker
We don't see him actually do a whole lot until Infinity War, but that's because he's put everything else in front of that. Yeah, we actually... I still have no idea how he got the Purple Stone.
00:33:38
Speaker
ah He just has it. but where There was a deleted scene. It's a deleted scene. scene idea. But not an official scene. Yeah. But the idea was like in the background.
00:33:51
Speaker
Even to get to that point for him to get that stuff. He's been working in the background since before the first movies. It's like it all was building up to that. It's like they're made when the it's sort of like if like, OK, all the characters have been doing like little individual stuff.
00:34:10
Speaker
Now they have to take on a bigger threat, but they've been working for this. it Behind the scenes. Gathering stuff. Gathering material. Gathering forces.
00:34:22
Speaker
And now they're just going all up. It's like, makes it a much more terrifying foe. It's like, oh, I just thought that we stopped your little raid. It's like, yeah, that was just like a small part of my operation. My whole operation is this thing. And now I have all this power.
00:34:41
Speaker
It's like a spider web. Okay, you've got this one strand, but it's connected so much more stuff. And so that respect... Yeah. i was going to say, in that respect, you that that goes back to, yeah, you do have some preparation that you've made in the background for the overall campaign, but the session that you're sitting down to...
00:35:05
Speaker
you're walking in just saying, okay, let, let's see what these guys give me to play with. Yep. If, if there's like, I feel like going back to the idea of the infinity song, it's like, uh, no one expected like Avengers to be like that. The, the Tesseract is, this is the space stone, Thor, the dark world. That's, that's the reality stone.
00:35:28
Speaker
That wasn't clarified until guardians of the galaxy. Like, Small, disparate adventures could be like, oh, here's a point of interest. Here's a point of interest. But guess what?
00:35:39
Speaker
Those are important going later on into the storyline. It was building, building, building, building until the big ones, Infinity War. And so you can do that with sort of seat of your pants adventures. Like, as you said, like, here's the thing, especially with what you said with ah Walking Dead. It's like, here's the thing I want to happen.
00:36:02
Speaker
This has to happen in this session, and that'll be important ah later on. Yeah, or like, for example, in the first session of Walking Dead, we had to go by the dam, and we killed the people guarding it to get through.
00:36:18
Speaker
We don't know what's going to happen. I'm sure those people weren't alone. I'm sure they're part of a longer faction. They're probably not going to be happy with us if we ever meet them again. It's like, oh, yeah, didn't you kill, like, 12 of our guys at the dam?
00:36:30
Speaker
oh Oh, I know exactly what the guys out at Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are doing, especially after sitting down and having a nice long chat with my dad and over the holidays who lives in the Las Vegas area.
00:36:51
Speaker
we that that has proven to be invaluable to me and is one of the things that does let me kind of you do improv jazz riffs in Walking Dead very effectively in that I kind of know the area because we've been going there since I was seven because I have family there.
00:37:16
Speaker
Well, my dad lives there now and has lived there for, know, 20 years at this point, I believe. And he's seen the aliens at Area 51.
00:37:29
Speaker
and No, that would be my uncle.
00:37:33
Speaker
That would be my uncle who lives there. and Now I'm just thinking, for Aliens Earth, are they going to use Area 51?
Incorporating Real-World Elements
00:37:39
Speaker
I don't think so. I kind of like it. It'd be cheesy, but it'd be fun. a good callback.
00:37:47
Speaker
But I sat down with my dad, and I... rolled out the campaign map that I had printed up of the area. And he just sat there looking at it and he would point to different spots and say, well, here's this, which is this. And here's the, oh, and a little bit ah of background and lore about this area over here. and And I just sat there with my laptop, with my notes document for the campaign open, just avidly taking notes. It's like, I can use that and I can use that and I can use that.
00:38:21
Speaker
and I think that's a good point that not all improv comes from your players or yourself. Sometimes it's by third parties you know that you've just talked the campaign with. Maybe they shoot out some ideas and you're just like, oh yeah, that's a good idea. oh that Oh, that's an interesting thing. I could use that. Oh, yeah. the The entire setup of the Flamingo.
00:38:43
Speaker
I mean, I knew I wanted the Flamingo to be the mob. Well, obviously, it it's classic mob territory. The entire setup of the former mayor being there in residence and his goals comes from my dad providing me background about the real former mayor of Las Vegas.
00:39:04
Speaker
Oh yeah, like, and then sometimes, like, sometimes campaigns can be seat your pants. Entire ideas. Like, not to delve too much, but I've come up with campaign with an individual in this group, in this room, technically room, where we just opened up a map and just talked.
00:39:30
Speaker
And things kind of just spiraled into an idea. is like It was just a snowball on the hill that just got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.
00:39:42
Speaker
But they it's also what happens with ah players. Like... And I meant a classic, sick, uh, glory story was them going to a planet for like a specific purpose, a woodlands planet.
Player Influence on Game Direction
00:39:58
Speaker
where They need like take care of like, uh, some, some Imperial resin that was being turned into explosives and stuff like that.
00:40:06
Speaker
And well, one thing turned into another and another, and they cast her the grand Admiral and a tank. But,
00:40:17
Speaker
Well, and I think one thing to to keep in mind is that there's there's a little bit, at least I know I have i have had this before. When I'm walking into a session with low or no pre-prep, a lot of times I feel guilty.
00:40:38
Speaker
I feel like I am shortchanging you as the players. Yeah, totally get that feeling too. I've had that feeling so many times. I owe you the experience of having actually put in the work to prepare something for you to enjoy and participate in rather than me just sitting back and going, yeah, go wild and I'll figure crap out.
00:41:08
Speaker
Yeah, 100% you. i As you all know, when I'm a player, I'm a note taker. So it kind of translates over to when I'm a GM, I try to make a... like my skeleton, my outline of what's going to happen.
00:41:21
Speaker
You like your table. Because I feel like even though I'm going to Nick's house, I'm the host. I'm bringing everyone there. so I need them to have a good time. So I need to give them the best experience. And when they zig or when i just am on like brain freeze and I can't think of anything throughout the week while I'm prepping up for it, I'm just like, oh, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? ah I'm going to go there with nothing. yeah And they're just not have any fun.
00:41:49
Speaker
I get that feeling. Honestly, I admit, hide it a lot. i I play with the Persona, but like in truth, like if I don't have something well planned, or like even if I don't have like a good like battle map or something like that, but mind or encounter, I am like shaking in and my boots before you guys get there. I am...
00:42:16
Speaker
I know that we're all friends. we We all expect a little bit of like comfort. retail But like every session I'm always like, oh, I need to deliver. I need to deliver 110%. I need to, it's like it do I know how to describe this? Do I know how to that? It's like,
00:42:33
Speaker
Not to make you guys feel bad, but every time you guys enter that door, i before then, I am like affirmations in the mirror, just sort of like pumping myself up and also calling myself a fraud. and Like, you you need to do more. It's like, you can do more. It's like, ah.
00:42:49
Speaker
Yeah, and I myself behind the curtain a little bit. When it's my time to host, I do ah my have a prayer before I go there because I just want to be in the right mindset, the right arc to just be like, okay.
00:43:01
Speaker
They're here for fun. They're here to enjoy Don't let any of your anything that's happening in your life bring the place down. Just go there. Have fun with them. Give them a good time and just go get them.
00:43:14
Speaker
And that's kind of the point of flying at the seat of your pants at times. its like There's no such thing as like, yeah, there's some glossy like online YouTube stuff and like fancy online stuff. But I feel that they probably have the same like anxiety.
00:43:32
Speaker
Like, I gotta deliver. It's like, people are here, they to have fun. And the minute you guys sit down and I say, welcome to X and so game, it's like, that's when I get back into the real mindset.
00:43:47
Speaker
We're here to have fun. And but there are also times that you might end up flying by the seat of your pants despite having planned a session.
00:43:59
Speaker
Because i it's happened relatively recently in my Rebel Yell campaign in that I had everything all set to go to the next big set piece session where they were going to perform a big number.
00:44:18
Speaker
I had planned out that session, but just circumstances got in the way I only had two of my five players show up.
00:44:30
Speaker
Accurate with me. So it's already a trouble. So you you can't really do that big set piece session that calls for all of the characters.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, or in my experience, definitely when I was still doing matches of an Empire campaign, there would be times where I was like, okay, in this session...
00:44:56
Speaker
going to focus on the characters, specifically one of them. And we're going to kind of flesh out their story, grow their character a little bit. I had had one player who I won't name him, but we all know he likes to arbitrarily decide when he wants to show up for a session.
00:45:15
Speaker
He leans mostly on chronically not coming. so there So I never remember there was a time was preparing for a session. It's like, OK. This is literally his character's home
Handling Player Absences
00:45:25
Speaker
world. His family's here.
00:45:27
Speaker
and i And I saw he was coming, but I literally messaged him a few times like, dude, I'm serious. Please. This is part of your character. is your planet. We've built up to this.
00:45:38
Speaker
Please come. Luckily, he came that time. But if he had hadn't come, I'd be like, I built this entire place for him. ah what do I do now?
00:45:50
Speaker
a think yeah darl have I had that happen once with the campaign that I was running from home, not from Nix, that I had to turn two of but the two players who were showing up that day away because they didn't get my message quickly enough.
00:46:15
Speaker
And I had centered the camp that session around one around one of the other PCs who just wasn't feeling it that day and was not going to participate.
00:46:33
Speaker
And there was no way to rework it. Yeah. And I had to turn them away at the door. Like, I am so sorry.
00:46:43
Speaker
ah you know, so-and-so is sick today. I have to say, like, sometimes flying at the seat your pants is great, but there are limits. Like, if you have prepared for...
00:47:00
Speaker
A specific situation. And you can risk it. On certain cases. If it's like the ideal. Scenario is not written. Such as a missing main character. Or a missing.
00:47:13
Speaker
Or not having a full team. There is a risk to that. And sometimes the. Better choice of wisdom. Is to just say. Yeah I can't do it. It's not.
00:47:25
Speaker
I can't make it work. Yeah. Without those characters. But that's not that gets out of the feat that it's just acknowledging the fact that like that's how your story works.
00:47:37
Speaker
Yeah, for example, it's like, if you're Whisperbase, we had to reschedule like three times because... For the finale. I couldn't come, or I couldn't come, and you were like, no, we need pretty much everyone for this finale. We cannot do it without everyone.
00:47:51
Speaker
And it only worked when we... Yes, it was two months late, but... Damn, was it a damn good two-part finale. Glory story.
00:48:04
Speaker
it It really was. That session that I only had two players show up for Rebel Yell, I did make
Character Decisions and Consequences
00:48:13
Speaker
it work. I just, on the spot, came up with a little ah little side quest for those two characters. That now going to be a part of the greater campaign.
00:48:25
Speaker
i remember when we were doing the... Well, we're blank on, but basically when you were doing a campaign version of like ah the Kyle Katarn video game, yeah have Dark Forces, and I remember in one of the sessions, Jeff had pretty much helped us skip an entire session, and then one of the others, and then a new session came, only Betsy and I showed up, and we didn't have enough for everyone, so we just so she sort out, hey Nick, that session we skipped, why don't Betsy and I just play that?
00:48:54
Speaker
yeah Yeah, the The one that I came up with for the two players ended up, it it does have a lasting consequence on the entire campaign because they they ended up facing off against a character that I just made up on the fly.
00:49:17
Speaker
And because of the way left things... I'm sorry? I'm sorry. fit in with the the setting and the themes that you made. Yeah. They now, because of the way they left things with that character, the whole band owes him, what is it, 20%? 20%. Oh, wow. 20% of their take of every gig for the next five years.
00:49:45
Speaker
Hey, Nick, were you in that session? Yes. Were one the two people? And was Betsy there? No. No, she was not. Her manager character is going to kill you. Oh, yeah, she's... Oh, I'm on an incredibly short lease now.
00:49:59
Speaker
Probably an actual lease at some point.
The Role of Player Dynamics
00:50:02
Speaker
yeah Not in a fun way. She has already had words.
00:50:10
Speaker
She has had words. But again, speaking on what you said, like, yeah, that was like, that was during the COVID time. So only two of you were able to come back to to a the Dark Forces campaign for that one. So we did a sort of, ah sort of what what I call the sort alternate universe moment where you guys got to play through a little bit of that, of that, that lost adventure.
00:50:40
Speaker
but At the end of the day, I think that the big thing is, yes, the ability to improv and riff like that when you have to.
00:50:51
Speaker
Everyone's going to have their own strengths and weaknesses in doing it. Some people are going to be horribly uncomfortable doing it and will choose not to. And that is absolutely fine.
00:51:03
Speaker
It's absolutely fine. Nick and I said a few minutes ago to, if you need to say, hey, you know what? It's just not happening this session.
00:51:13
Speaker
Let's do something else. I can't work. you because ah It's true. like It's a collaborative storytelling effort. And sometimes you do need certain voices to... i have a lot of faith when Daryl is in a group because he can he can riff off of me a lot.
00:51:33
Speaker
Are you saying that my my high school years in theater class and and having to learn to improv are actually having a semi-practical use? Yes.
00:51:44
Speaker
because Yes, i feel it like you are. Because you could help riff off of like my less strong ideas. and I will say that it's kind of a I know that if I have certain characters or players in my in that team, if I have enough of them, I could cobble together a session.
00:52:04
Speaker
But if there's something like important, I'll be like, I'll try to be as quick as possible to I need the whole team or least a specific amount of the team to make a story work.
00:52:17
Speaker
Yes, and I'll be honest with myself, when I'm running campaigns, I like when Dante's a player because I can definitely riff with him We have these good scenes, and it's just like, he gives me so much to work with that I didn't even think of. and Honestly, see i mean you and seeing you and him in our legacy of the Force, like I could definitely see like if i need to if I was like down for a session, you could run it and it with Dante. He could definitely help with that.
00:52:50
Speaker
we I didn't mention him by name. None of us mentioned him by name, but Dante is the player who opened up the box, gave me the gift of these Super Strain Walkers. yeah And he was the player my player kept talking to, kept trying to be like, hey, just calm down, stop, just think for a minute.
00:53:11
Speaker
And every time it's just like, you did this, oh you did that, and until the point where, spoiler alert, at the end, my character just had to go just through his own, through his own confliction, through his own... yeah like ideals, he just went, I'm
Driving Narrative Twists
00:53:28
Speaker
sorry.
00:53:28
Speaker
It killed him. honestly with Honestly, I will say, like without putting on the spot, we'd probably get Dante on one of these at some point.
00:53:40
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. And once he starts his one-shot possible campaign, maybe he can come on to think when he's not busy with school because he is PhD-ing right now, and we all know how much that takes out of anybody.
00:53:56
Speaker
But the other thing, too, along the lines of you know knowing the times that you that you just plain can't riff, because just like you guys, when I was running that limited Star Wars Les Miserables campaign, as we kept getting closer and closer to the barricade, anyone who's familiar with Les Miserables knows the significance of the barricade. It's a big moment.
00:54:26
Speaker
And the the barricade had to happen at some point. But everybody had to be there for the barricade because it's such a big moment. And so I did have to keep postponing the barricade.
00:54:41
Speaker
But it was worth postponing it to have everyone there. But at the same time, if you can't pull the plug or don't want to pull the plug on a session because for whatever reason you're going to have to to riff and improv,
00:54:57
Speaker
Don't feel, and we've already established that it will be hard to do this. It's hard for all three of us to do this. It's going to be hard for a lot of people to do this. Don't feel guilty about it. Don't feel like you're shortchanging the players.
00:55:12
Speaker
Because if you have a good group, GMM players, you have... I would say an unspoken pact, but in most cases, if it's even if it starts unspoken, it becomes spoken just through conversation and discussion.
00:55:31
Speaker
And like kind of understand it. pack You have a mutual understanding that we are going to work together and bounce off of one another, and there are going to be times...
00:55:46
Speaker
if If everyone walks into an RPG session expecting everything to be written out like a pre-written adventure for a game, they have incorrect expectations.
00:56:00
Speaker
Yeah, they're either at a convention or have wrong expectations. There are these things called novels that they could read. and you're going to have to work off of one another. You're going to have to bounce off of one another.
00:56:14
Speaker
And there will be times that that GM is just taking what you're giving them in that session and running with it.
Embracing Player Agency
00:56:26
Speaker
Let them and GMs, let your players give you those beats, those ideas to take and run with.
00:56:37
Speaker
Let them take your story and beat it up. Because as we've shown with our Walking Dead, sometimes through that, you just run something beautiful and great and just everyone has the greatest time.
00:56:51
Speaker
and like yeah what i like I took the time. like I had players that were waiting a long time for the end of Whisper Base.
00:57:02
Speaker
Not that they wanted it, but because I told them it was coming. And they gave They're all, every single bit, every, like, and it was worth the fact that we did have to, like, separate part one and part two by a about a month.
00:57:21
Speaker
Because when they came back together, together it was proper ending. I think that you know it's just yeah have to get over that stigma. when i was When I first started GMing back in high school.
Evolving GMing Styles
00:57:39
Speaker
Back when the dinosaurs were alive? Joking. Yes, there there was no meteor that hit. That was all my graduating class's fault that killed off the dinosaurs.
00:57:51
Speaker
We're to blame. I was GMing the DC hero's harpg Well, I was co-GMing. There were two or three of us who would GM games, and then we also had player characters.
00:58:05
Speaker
But when I would GM, I sat down and I took the adventure modules that Mayfair Games had published and off of the shelf.
00:58:17
Speaker
And I used those as the basis for writing and outlining my adventure. And I was expecting everything to go as written and it doesn't.
00:58:31
Speaker
And then when I, you years later, when I was one of the rotating GMs in the first Star Wars RPG campaign that I was part of, I didn't plan out as meticulously, but I still did that kind of thing.
00:58:46
Speaker
It wasn't until I started playing the FFG Star Wars system and the way it leans much more into the narrative than the crunch, because um a lot of the older games relied much heavier on crunch.
00:59:03
Speaker
yeah on the mechanics than the narrative. So I would have a have a hard time when I started GMing for the FFG system.
00:59:16
Speaker
At first, it just wasn't clicking for me until I learned to not plan as much. That's something they always...
00:59:28
Speaker
like There are some amazing free versions out there, and we can definitely think about that in the future. But like definitely, like just as we talked about in Homebrew, everything is like your version.
00:59:42
Speaker
and Exactly. Yeah. So preparing for that is always a part of that, but there's definitely like, it's there's core rule books, there's pre-written adventure modules, there's plenty of material to build off of.
00:59:57
Speaker
But it's like, ultimately, once you sit down at a table, it's you and your players and how much you prepared and how they interact with what you prepared with or how little you prepared with. It's it's still a collaborative storytelling vehicle.
01:00:14
Speaker
I mean, heck, there are so many games that there are so many games that just rely um the entire thing being improv. Best example is whenever we go to the convention, Steve is probably running some type of version of Habit Brigade, where it's literally once in and you build off it.
01:00:34
Speaker
Or even more than that. every Everyone is John. yeah Yes. Everyone's John. And I, I need to play a Havoc game.
01:00:46
Speaker
Brigade game. I am... Next game, Renรฉ Scott. Yes, you do. being one Yes, you do. Havoc Brigade is oh so much fun. I have the PDF downloaded. I can send it to you.
01:01:00
Speaker
Oh, no, no, no. I want to play it as a player because I think that's the optimal experience. Yes, and maybe this time you won't continually break a shop's door because you just want to get that one hat One belt and one boot.
01:01:18
Speaker
Well, there's not that same kind of thing in Havoc Brigade as there is in every everyone was work one. though he was working the narrative He was working the narrative to reach his simple goal.
01:01:32
Speaker
Over and over and over again to score points. And one boot. yeah and he And he kept breaking that poor door.
01:01:44
Speaker
But... i I have told GM Dave, or put but the idea in his ear, that you at the Lord of the Rings, Gamer Nation Con, instead of everyone is John, herein everyone is Gollum.
01:02:02
Speaker
Since next year is Star Trek themed, is it going to be everyone is KON!
01:02:11
Speaker
I like that. I like it. I'm scared of what YouTube will do if that's the case. yeah Oh, my no, i need to get a six-pack for that. well All you can have is a six-pack of soda, Nick, because there are minors present.
01:02:28
Speaker
Gamer NationCon After Dark is no longer a thing.
Conclusion and Host Banter
01:02:32
Speaker
Aw, man! So you better behave, or maybe I'll just drive up to A&M and bring back some friendly squirrels. so Oh, that's a threat.
01:02:42
Speaker
That's a threat! wait Wait a second. Wait a second. Are we bullying Nick? Are we? I guess we are. Does that mean we're done? i guess I'm done. We hit the thing.
01:02:56
Speaker
But, you know, i I was going to mention, you know, my use for pre-written adventures, but, you know, that that sounds like a pretty good idea for our next episode.
01:03:10
Speaker
I think it sounds great. I think it makes for a nice companion piece with first talking about homebrew and now talking about improv to go on into talking about using pre-written adventures.
01:03:25
Speaker
Because there's plenty to talk about them as jumping off points, running them, modifying them. fact, we're actually going through one of them right now. Using it to build a campaign? Mm-hmm.
01:03:37
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I'm sure that there are pre-written adventures out there that feature many, many squirrels. I know there's one that features all the raccoons. I'm sure one's not that far off. but You could risk those to be squirrels.
01:03:51
Speaker
Raccoons have more honor. Or dogs of Chernobyl can be squirrels of Chernobyl. Or heckin' good doggos. where you're talking you Oh, we can play heckin' good doggos and Nick can be a heckin' good doggos tormented by a squirrel.
01:04:07
Speaker
A big bad he could work with. Yes. Oh, a squirrel who's had an energy drink. oh no if They'd be unstoppable.
01:04:20
Speaker
ah prove The truth, because you've seen Over the Hedge, right? oh yeah. Where everything just stops. Where Hammy gets so buzzed that just time seems to stop.
01:04:34
Speaker
Barry Allen ain't got nothing on Hammy with an energy drink. And that's why I say you didn't see the new Superman film. It's squirrel propaganda. Yeah. You know, I remember you saying that was a great movie, Nick.
01:04:49
Speaker
I saw it a second time and I cheered when he saved the squirrel. Yeah, we warned Nick. You can't go after the squirrels anymore. Superman will just come and save them from you.
01:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, it' so Superman's got their back. ah but I'm still waiting on my delivery of kryptonite. The movie established that all the kryptonite was gone.
01:05:14
Speaker
no man. see Have we bullied Nick enough about squirrels now, Robert? I think we've hit our quota. Alright, so then I will move on to the part where I say check out our website HowWeRollGaming.com and there you'll find information about our current campaigns, our podcast archive, and links to our merch store, and all of our social media, our Facebook, our threads, our Blue Sky, our Twitter.
01:05:49
Speaker
Yes, I still call it Twitter and I refuse to call it X, but All of that good stuff you will find at HowWeRollGaming.com. You can also directly support the show through Patreon. Just go to Patreon.com slash HowWeRollGaming and you'll see our different membership tiers starting at just $2 a month with special recognition on our Discord server and higher tiers giving you un-air credit and discounts on said merch store.
01:06:13
Speaker
Finally, if you have any questions you'd like us to answer, tops you'd like us to cover, or even submit your own RPG glory story, or the fact that squirrels are really bad and they they don't deserve to be supported by Superman, but shoot us an email at podcasthowrerollgaming.com.
01:06:33
Speaker
And we will see you next time when we discuss pre-written adventures. And we want to thank you all for listening or watching. If you do happen to be watching on YouTube, but we will be a cliche right now and ask you to do all the YouTube sco stuff, like, subscribe, all that jazz. Hit the bell. that Yeah, the so something about the bell for notifications, ding, ding, whatever. Just do do all the cliched YouTube stuff if you're watching us on YouTube.
01:07:04
Speaker
But until then, i have been Daryl. I'm Nick. And I'm still Robert. And this is How We Roll.
01:07:17
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2025, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyright their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.