User blog:SensibleCenobite/Rules for role players.

@page { margin: 0.79in } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }

'''WARNING: Suitable for all Sires and Neonates. Adult humor, so maybe not suitable for Fledglings. Before I finish Princess Star Fire, these are some ideas I came up with over the years. They are observations, conversations, solutions, heuristics, and opinions. They are not algorithms, set in stone [even though I’m a Dwarf], rules, laws, or something to fight over. PLEASE MONITOR YOUR FLEDGLINGS.'''

Rules to role playing and character creation:

0.a). Wake up wanting to show up. Leave wanting to come again. Laughter, humor, intrigue, thinking, puzzle solving, talking, cooking, drawing, costume design, Yadda Yadda. THESE ARE THE THINGS I BELIEVE IN! IT’S ALIVE!

0.aa). Everyone must divide the rules by two. They are there to help facilitate our efforts, not consult a book every five minutes. Take what you like and leave the rest please. White Wolf always does a good job at this in my opinion. Finally, read or listen to one book at a time. Do it three days max before you need it, or you’ll forget ninety percent of it. Cheat by reading fiction novels, fan fiction, forums, whatever. Don’t think you need to be creative to have fun with a group of friends. Tell the joke you know that will make them laugh, not make them think you should be the next AAA comedian.

0.A). Everyone must own the core book. Everyone must own two sets of D10’s. That’s twenty dice total. I like the app, but pseudo random number generators don’t have a spiritual contract in the same fashion as dice. Dice towers can be useful, but don’t go cheap.

0.AA). Vinyl battle maps and wet erase markers are great, but not necessary. I like to put a sheet of acrylic over it for easier clean up. A disposable cardboard sewing board costs about twelve dollars online. Take a pencil to it and draw a map of the city or a multiple story building. Shade in with permanent markers. I got the rainbow pack and will never use all the colors. Cover what you don’t want to see with a white sheet of construction paper and some masking tape. Don’t put too much detail into it.

0.c). Abusive Player’s law of gaming: The more effort you put into something like a map or boss, the more likely it will get blown up with TNT or an oil tanker.

0.cc-1). Take an hour out of your night to create Characters together. Do the Prelude ONLY!

0.d). E-mail is the new wave correspondence. Forums are great. I prefer to write over speaking any day. I’m fast at typing and correct most of my work before I post it. I can also do take backs and edit it. How kind. Also, I got seven billion people I can role play and tell stories with. How cool is that! Eat your heart out industrial age.

0.DDD). Everyone Skype's in proficiently or no one does at all. It’s usually better when everyone is on the same page.

2). Please work with your Story Teller. If they put a lot of effort into a campaign, try to play ball. They are NOT there to be a professional writer or speaker, but you don’t have to be a son of a bitch either. If they say there are no bags of holding, don’t ask “why”, just say “OK. Thank you.” Maybe they’re tired of your Character dumping the contents out all over the place after reading blogs all night. Just saying Sensible [points finger at self]. You can do more damage with a few hundred gallons of water than you can with Zeus's Axe of Butt Fucking any day!

3). My best Players cap themselves at level two and kick the crap out of all the bosses. The power of a good idea can usually beat raw stats. There are exceptions of course.

4). Everyone as a group is either good, evil,neutral, similar in alignment, or has a non competitive attitude. I like how White Wolf has a Coterie system that enforces selfish motives, but also group values at the same time.

5). Choice is what makes for a good story. If you don’t give the Player’s a choice, they are a paper boat going down a river.

6). I try to give my player’s what they want and use the words “yes, but”, or “yes, and.” I like using accountability instead of punishments. You’re supposed to be on the player’s side. For instance, I had some players that buried some people alive because they were not very intelligent or charming. It kind of suited their characters honestly. So, I offered them a deal with Nurgle to go to Raven Loft and shove some nuclear missiles up Tiamat’s ass. She’ll be fine. She kept threatening to come in and disrupt the game. Dumb and Dumber agreed of course, and willing served under Bahamut and Nurgle.

7). A good way to run a campaign is by making three to six important locations. Then the Players can roam around a sandbox environment while trying to figure out about the key locations.

8). Try to get the players to tell 80% of the story. Democracy is great if people are well informed and speak up.

These are some good ones to nibble on first,

Sensible Cenobite