Watch Well Games: Issue #32
GM burnout. Moments of Mirth: Vol. 2 design essay. Accounts of Adventure: Tales From the Loop.
Welcome to our RPG community newsletter!
A rare “cold front” came to our area for this time of year. It went from a heat index of 110 F/43C to 85 F/29C. It was great.
Here’s What We’ve Got For Y’all:
Christmas in July Sale Continues
Moments of Mirth: Vol. 2 (a Dragonbane Supplement): How It All Came Together
Guest Writer Warren Davidson Discusses GM Burnout
Accounts of Adventure: Arcade Games in Tales From the Loop
Free Map from Schlau (Light in Darkness Gaming)
I’m K.J. If you’d like to learn more about me, click that lil’ “About K.J.” button below.
Programming Note: Starting in August, the frequency of newsletters will go down to twice a month. Delivery will be 2nd and 4th Fridays. See you August 9th!
Christmas in July Sale Continues
Watch Well Games and Light in Darkness content: Find it all here and here. 🎁
Moments of Mirth: Vol. 2 - Captain Coggins’ Chronometer: How It All Came Together
“Moments of Mirth: Vol. 2 - Captain Coggins’ Chronometer” is my newest Dragonbane supplement. Today, I’ll share a bit about the creation process.
To start, I knew I wanted to practice a bit of worldbuilding for a public audience. Over the years, I’ve kept the majority of my writings to myself and only shared any adventures or worlds/realms with my players.
Initially, I knew I wanted to introduce automatons to Dragonbane. So far, no one else had to my knowledge, and I thought it would be fun to give myself that challenge. It would give me a good bit of practice fleshing out this concept before I tried to do so for a much larger worldbuilding project that’s very near and dear to me (you’ll start to hear more on that at the end of the year, I hope).
To introduce such a idea, I thought it’d be best to create a setting where the automatons could be introduced in a way that wouldn’t feel too intrusive to the main set piece that is the Misty Vale. So I designed Rumbelly Island, a small island within an archipelago off the coast of that mainland. I envisioned a volcanic set of islands that had interesting, native flora and fauna. There is plenty of food and access to clean drinking water, as well as some natural resources that can be useful to adventurers.
Some of these unique elements are:
rumbellies - a fruit that has a delicious citrus-flavor and is used to craft rum (it’s also quite flammable)
elohaunt ears - massively large leaves good for bedding and camouflage (perhaps more should the adventurers ever want to get creative)
glipper - a new kin that is both playable and able to be used for NPCs (very helpful and friendly, but ready to slap you if you upset them)
vimites - glowing insects that thrive in hot conditions (extremely difficult to catch, they possess unknown potential that could provide power to anyone willing to test their limits)
Regarding Captain Ned Coggins, I initially imagined a well-built man like the Brawny paper towel guy, but a bit older due to his overall knowledge and experience. After much searching, I found a stock art photo that would work well within my framework for the captain.
The concept behind the chronometer changed greatly as time (pardon the pun) went on. Initially, I was going to have its chiming simply conjure up something dreadful, until I realized that I was being far too linear and unintentionally reducing the now mini-adventure to the whole “the party goes and fights a big, scary monster - woo.”
Thankfully this revelation came to me in the eleventh hour. I was about to prepare to upload all the content and set up the product page on DriveThruRPG when I realized I had to pause to pivot. I gave myself a bit of space to just let any and all ideas come out, jotted them down, and tidied them up. Thankfully most worked well with the new direction I was taking with Captain Coggins’ timekeeping device.
While I enjoyed writing every part of this second volume of “MoM”, perhaps my favorite section to write was the monster attacks. In Dragonbane, these attacks are named, and I very much used wordplay that related to the monster I created. The Gierig (which means “greedy” in German) has attacks such as Filthy Rich, Money Pit, and Gimmie.
Overall, I tried to leave some things open for more development, whether by me (in future editions of “MoM”) or the GMs who utilize this build-your-own-adventure modular supplement. Giving too many details can restrict creativity and imagination, so I tried to find the sweet spot. I also tossed in a couple of hints for another “Moments of Mirth” concept that is on my project list.
Lastly, I pushed myself to experiment a bit more with some different layout formats. I really enjoy doing layouts, and I hope Affinity continues to improve their products. The Table of Contents is still rather frustrating to work with, as one example.
I’d love for you to check out both “Moments of Mirth” volumes. The first one is free, while I charge for the second one out of respect for my own time, energy, and creative thoughts being used to produce this.
Grab up a copy on itch.io, where I along with all other creatives earn 100% of what they list on the site:
DTRPG takes 35% of my earnings, but if you feel more comfortable using it to make purchases, you can find it here:
Still haven’t tried Dragonbane? Now is your chance, as the Dragonbane Core Set (PDF) is deeply discounted as part of the Christmas in July sale, so now is a great time to pick up your own copy!
Wazza’s Whimsical Wanderings Part Five: GM Burnout
by guest writer Warren Davidson
I have something to say: It’s not better to burn out.
Something a bit different this time, and something every GM will eventually experience and have read about, the dreaded GM burnout! Is it that bad and can it be avoided? Read on! Do you like chocolate? I do. Do I want chocolate every day? No and like everything in life you can have too much of a good thing. The reason good experiences are enjoyable is that they intersperse our lives and don’t dominate them. There will eventually come a time when your enthusiasm for GMing will diminish and you won’t feel like running your usual weekly session, why? For a variety of reasons: you’ve had a long day at work and are tired, you’re feeling under the weather or maybe you’re worrying about something. Perhaps your campaign has hit a lull or has dragged on for too long. We’re all human and every one of us will go through this but it’s nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. You won’t be letting down your players or yourself. The trick is to accept it and do something about it.
Here are my thoughts:
GMing requires dedication and commitment. You have a lot of responsibilities such as game preparation, rules interpretations and rulings, improvisation, ensuring a sense of fairness and player supervision. I always think of it as being a film director, producer and writer all in one. Without you there would be no game and that is a daunting thought. And then you must maintain it week-on-week. So, it’s now become a TV series, with stars, co-stars and dozens of extras. But just like TV series you’ll need to take a break in between seasons to create fresh ideas and take a breather! How do you know when GM burnout hits? A good question, and one that’s entirely personal, though there are signs. You may feel lethargic and not up to your usual energy levels or feel like you’re just going through the motions. You may notice your players aren’t as attentive or seem bored. The answer is, take a break. This can be in-game for 5-10 minutes where everyone can grab a coffee and relax. I always take a 10-minute break half-way through a game to gather my thoughts and go for a short walk. It’s amazing what a few minutes of fresh air can achieve. It also gives you the opportunity to review what’s about to come up in the adventure or change some things around. One sneaky online tip, during the break your players may have a chat, so listen in to what they’re saying it may surprise you and give you some ideas of your own! They may be discussing an NPC or prepping for a fight so give it to them. Now that’s improvisation!
If the feeling doesn’t go away, then take an extended break from your GMing duties for a few weeks. Be honest with your players and tell them you need a break to recharge your batteries, they’ll understand, trust me. Recommend that someone else runs a game, most players want to try their hand at GMing so give them the opportunity to cut their teeth on a short adventure for a few weeks. This way they have their wish, and you experience the game from the other side. If you need a break from role-playing games, why not try a board game? It’s less preparation and many can now be played on-line.
If you feel it’s the game itself that has grown stale, then consider a new one. But be careful here as your players will have invested considerable time in the campaign and may not want to stop prematurely. So why not run a side-quest with secondary characters? It’s still the same world just from a different perspective. But if you really need a change then discuss it with them and ask for their suggestions as to what your next game should be. It could be they are dying to try out a hot new system or perhaps a genre change from fantasy to science-fiction. The more systems you run the more experienced a GM you become. I love reading rules books to broaden my knowledge and to mine them for ideas. There’s nothing stopping you adapting a Call of Cthulhu adventure for D&D or vice versa. Also, each system will have a chapter on GMing. Read them to pick up new tips and tricks.
Now onto some serious issues which can have unfortunate repercussions for your game:
Never, and I mean never, run a game when you’re in a bad mood. If your emotions are running high, then a throw away comment can trigger a response you’ll regret. I have experienced this when a GM lashes out at a player quite uncharacteristically as they had something else on their mind. The Result? One less player and bad feelings all round. And yes, the group fell apart soon afterwards, and the GM never ran a game again. So, if you’re in a bad mood please take a break that week. Tell your players you’ve a previous engagement or are sick. They’ll understand. Don’t argue a ruling during the game to the point where everyone remembers this and nothing else. Make an on-the-spot ruling and discuss it afterwards. Nothing breaks in-game immersion like an argument and can lead to ill-feelings and resentment. I know everyone says it’s just a game, but we all invest time and energy on a regular basis so don’t let a small disagreement become a squabble. Take a break and move on.
Are you feeling unappreciated? Do your players take you for granted? The truth is without you there would be no game, so they do appreciate your efforts even if they don’t say it. Ask them if they enjoyed themselves after the session. If you feel uncomfortable saying this then take a few moments to gather your thoughts and write them an email. Ask them for feedback on what went well and what didn’t. I guarantee their responses will be overwhelmingly positive. One last thing, make sure you get plenty of sleep, and spend time with loved ones and pets. Animals have a remarkable ability to calm you down and reset your brain. Go for walks to give your subconscious time to come up with new ideas. Most of my adventures have come during a walk in nature. I hope my suggestions helped. Don’t worry about GM burnout. It’s a sign that you take your game seriously and want to improve. And remember, unlike what the Kurgan said in Highlander, it’s not better to burn out. Until next time.
Accounts of Adventure: Arcade Video Games in Tales From the Loop
In last week’s newsletter, I shared Driving Skills that I made for the Kids in my group’s ongoing Tales From the Loop adventure.
In this week’s session, I conducted another experiment. (I plan to create more detailed mechanics for this, but for now I wanted to see if everyone would even enjoy “a game within a game”—they did—before fleshing more of this out). The Kids--Gary, Jerker, and Chuck--played arcade games to try and defeat their nemesis. How did it come to this point? They were tracking down Professor Oggsteeler, their adversary who previously attempted to steal their beloved dogs. After they located his secret laboratory in a wooded area outside their town, the Kids ventured inside and eventually discovered a solitary phone set on a desk, positioned squarely in a small, dark room. Its ring broke the silence and startled the group. It was the professor. He challenged them to play his games. If they win, they can keep their dogs. If not, he gets their beloved pets.
The Kids accepted the challenge. They advanced further into the laboratory and saw that every one of the six rooms had three arcade machines (the stand-up kind that was commonplace in a 1980s arcade). A small table with a pile of tokens stood nearby. What was Professor Oggsteeler up to?
The Kids played the games. I won’t go into the finer details of this part; however, I will share that the Kids teleported into the games they played. Narrating this part and collectively building up the narrative before calling for the crucial dice rolls was incredibly fun for all of us. There was plenty of excitement and moments of uncertainty. It was great.
The results:
Pitfall: Gary won for the group (after Chuck and Jerker both fell into a pit)
Tron: All the Kids lost
Pole Position: Chuck won
Tennis: Gary won
Karate Champ: Jerker won
The session ended on a cliffhanger (something I very much prefer with ongoing adventures until they are completed). Chuck and Jerker have just pried open one of the arcade machine’s side panels and found inside tubes filled with a bluish-white substance flowing through them. Gary is poised with two tokens in his hand, ready to insert them simultaneously into the machine.
Will it be Game Over--and if so, who will win and who will lose?
Free Map from Schlau (Light in Darkness Gaming)
Here’s this issue’s free map.
Schalu says:
“This 7x21 map at 300 dpi is a gambling car on a train. Just what the high rollers want and what the western adventure path needs.
This is the first in a full train of adventure being published in the near future for my fabulous Patreon subscribers.”
Grab this one and any others you’ve missed via this Dropbox link:
Light in Darkness Gaming’s Patreon is currently in soft launch mode. Join for free today, or go ahead and subscribe now to support a human creator.
That’s all for this week, folks. Remember:
Support indie game creators by purchasing, playing, and positively reviewing the games (assuming you enjoyed them!).
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