On The Shoulders Of Dwarves

**The first episode of Forging Ahead with Aviv Manoach, a show about tabletop roleplaying games where Aviv discusses the shenanigans of his home group and prepare their next adventures.** You can join live each week on [twitch.tv/iceldotme](http://www.twitch.tv/iceldotme), or subscribe to the podcast's audio on [dwarfcast.net](http://www.dwarfcast.net). ## Who Am I? I’m Aviv, you may have heard me before on our main On the Shoulders of Dwarves show, as I’m the technical producer of the website and sometimes guest host. I've been gaming for about 15 years and for the past decade have been working in media production: internet videos, livestream, podcasts, and of course - tabletop games. ## What Are We Playing? Wonders! Heroes of Tomorrow, an adaptation and Hebrew translation of Magpie Games' amazing Masks: a New Generation, with some new systems design to allow your group to create cool and interesting urban environments for your heroes. In the world of Wonders, people with superpowers were not known to

### From the GM's perspective (11:25) [Personal Plotlines](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/361e1967b5d5c4/) ### Unexpected transitions (14:20) With mechanical implementations. [City of Mist](http://cityofmist.co) [Dungeon World](http://www.dungeon-world.com/) [Masks](http://www.magpiegames.com/masks/) ### Zamlofia (20:12) The moment wasn’t concrete, it was conceptual. ### Our new song (25:55) By the [Cliches Duo](https://www.facebook.com/klishaot/)! ----- Email us at show@dwarfcast.net with questions, topic suggestions, and comments on this episode. [We have a Patreon page](https://www.patreon.com/dwarfcast), in case you'd like to support us in a monetary fashion. [Our Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast) (Most links to [DriveThruRPG are affiliate](http://drivethrurpg.com/?affiliate_id=29668), which means we get a bit of money if you buy through them, with no added cost to you) Intro and outro based on On the Shoulders of Dwarves by the Cliches Duo. On the Shoulders of

### The danger of preparing too little or too much (1:20) Unless you are a both a very veteran GM and a professional improviser, you should prepare, and even if you are - preparing things will help you raise the level of your game. ### General advice (4:10) Always be ready to throw everything away at a moment notice. GM prep is like a battle plan, it rarely survives an encounter with the players. Done is better than perfect (AKA perfect is the enemy of done). Prep contributes only a certain percent to the experience. The prep you THINK matters most might not be the best use of your time. The players don’t know what was planned. After a game, the GM is usually the only one who remembers their GM ‘mistakes’. Players usually only remember the general experience. So take it easy, eh? ### How Uri prepare (11:00) Is this a campaign or a one shot? What is the mechanic? (high crunch or low crunch and GM build vs collaborative build) Is there a specific meaning/theme/idea I wish to convey? One-shots are l

### The simplest solution: cancel the game We are here to have fun as a group and if the group can’t make it then it’s no fun. You can play a different one-shot game, switch to board games, watch a movie or go throw rocks at the absent player's house. One Shot of another game you like to try (may we suggest [Good Society - the Jane Austen RPG](https://storybrewersroleplaying.com/good-society/)) ### When do we play and when do we cancel? (2:30) The “leave no players behind” rule The “GM + X” rule. ### If you decide to play the game (6:45) Here are a few things to consider. What to do with the missing player character: The character "fades to the background" and we don't acknowledge her unless needed The character is removed from the game for the duration of this session (sent to some other location on their own mission). The character is played by the GM as an NPC The character is shared between the other players ### What to play? Play a different kind of session (13:05) You can use this opportun

### PC names (2:15) Use another languages. Nicknames. Use honorifics and addendum ### NPC names (14:05) Have a naming theme for each country/ethnicity/cultural group, to allow for familiarity, and help you come up with new names. "The Captain”, using just a surname, “The Greek”, The Elf. Have a list ready / random generators Turn to players [Cypher System](http://cypher-system.com/) ### Locations & organizations (23:35) Adjective + noun - Sunken Swamps, Forlorn Hills, Castle of Agony It’s not Rhubarb, it’s fort Rhubarb, or Robarb-dale or Robarb-vile, or Port Rhubarb or the City of Rhubarb. ### Changing a name (28:45) [Earthdawn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthdawn) ### Summary (32:32) ### Taking the load off [MCM Comic Con](https://www.mcmcomiccon.com/london/) [Crystal Heart Kickstarter](http://uptofourplayers.com/crystalheart) coming on November 20th! ----- Email us at show@dwarfcast.net with questions, topic suggestions, and comments on this episode. [We have a Patreon page](https

### Aspects of being a cleric (1:45) What makes a cleric, a cleric? Social role in society, the conduit between the mortal and the divine. Personal connection to the divine. Expected role in a party. ### What’s fun about playing a cleric (7:05) A cleric is probably somewhere on a personal journey, exploring their connection with the divine. [Abadar](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Abadar), from Pathfinder Having precepts, seeing the world through god-coloured glasses, and finding ways to accommodate or clash with the world. ### Religion as part of the world (12:00) Is this a common religion? Is this a banned religion? Does this religion clash with other religions? [Dragonlance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance) ### History of religion (16:05) ### Clerics are not necessarily emissaries of the gods (20:05) Clerics can gain their access to magic from other sources. Buddhist clerics may get their magic from the great balance, Jedi get theirs from the Force. [Star Wars RPG](https://www.fantas

> I really like your show, it gave me some really good advice as a GM. Do you plan on doing an episode on "realistic" traps? What I mean is that some of the traps found in dungeons seem really illogical to me. Who resets / reloads them all the time? Why is it worth preparing them? Are there any interesting articles about this topic? > Regards, > Peter Adamek ### What’s a trap? (1:20 ) [Pathfinder Adventure Card Game](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/23234/pathfinder-adventure-card-game) ### Uses for traps (3:20) ### A rationale for having traps in a dungeon (5:20) [Lethal Legacies: Traps of the World Before](https://drivethrurpg.com/product/2559/Lethal-Legacies-Traps-of-the-World-Before?affiliate_id=29668) ### Maintenance (21:50) [Spells, Swords and Stealth](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/SpellsSwordsAndStealth) ### Hidden vs obvious (25:12) ### Summary (29:27) [Book of Challenges](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/3736/Book-of-Challenges-Dungeon-Rooms-Puzzles-and-Traps-3e?aff

> I want to be able play characters who don’t match my personality. > Is there a way to play a calculated character, and still propel forward? > Do you have any tips about playing someone who’s very different from me? > And even if I can’t play someone who’s completely different, how can I mix it up a little and at least behave somewhat less like myself? ### Why and how to propel (2:10) [Propelling as a GM](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35d6a449eb83ba/) [Propelling as a player](https://www.uptofourplayers.com/2017/06/propelling-game-forward-weekly-podcast/) ### Propelling in this situation (4:05) [Express your character in play](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35dc2e1458f9c0/) Strong emotional choices, retroactive justification ### Playing someone different from yourself (8:12) ### Character work (11:20) 1. What is it that our character wants, what are the character’s goal? 2. What is stopping our character from getting it? 3. What are the primary “problem solving method” for the character? 4. Push to

### What’s good about diseases? In the real world, nothing. But in the fictional world, they’re good for several reasons. Long term injuries force a new perspective on the character, who now needs to overcome a difficulty. It's also an unusual type of “damage”, that’s rarely used. ### Levels of afflictions (3:48) Three levels of afflictions: Until the end of the scene, until the end of the adventure, until you take care of it (if possible) [Tomb of Annihilation](https://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/tomb-annihilation) ### Disease as another resource drainer (5:30) You now have to spend another X amount of resources to solve this/keep this in check. ### Disease as a timer (10:20) There is a cure, but the disease will break out in X amount of time. Get the cure or die. ### Disease as an adventure hook (12:10) You have caught a disease and need to find the blue flower of Flowerinium to get well. The town of Plantsville is plague by the illness of Suddenus-Diamus-No-Plotus and the p

### Why conflict? The basis for drama, having to overcome, having to decide, bringing change. ### No conflict (2:23) One of the first things that newbie improvisers and GM do when they feel there isn't enough excitement is to add a conflict to create drama. Do not be afraid to let an encounter play out without a conflict. Let the heroes be pleasantly surprised by the old count that is happy to cooperate and offer them tea and biscuits. A session of polite and engaging conversation is an excellent chance for character development, world building and ideas generation. ["When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChandlersLaw) Our episode on [Pacing](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35d6a449eb83ba/). ### Social conflict (5:25) In [Fate](https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core/) there is no difference between a brawl and a social conflict. In both you roll attacks and deal damage. The only difference is that a social attack can be a snide rem

Organisations are among the most useful fictional entities you can have in your game. They have reputation, history, motivations, style - all of which can be easily passed to each of the members. ### What’s an organisation (1:30) Actually when we say “organization” we may not mean what you think. What i mean is “support system”. Anyone who seek to go on a great endeavour need a support system and that support system have some sort of a structure. A leader of a magician guild have the resources of the guild behind them but don’t limit yourself to the obvious: a politician may have a party behind him, or a mafia boss that he gets bribes from or a cult or a secret drug cartel that he meneges. Each of these is a different organization with a different structure, history, code of conduct etc. CGP Grey’s [Rules for Rulers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs) ### Forming organisations (4:25) Who decides? [Syn, from Crystal Heart](http://www.uptofourplayers.com/comic/1-campaign-pitch/) How are they str

The Enemy Within campaign for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Defining “Mystery” (3:10) We’re not discussing Ontological Mysteries. In a mystery campaign you’re trying to solve a case, in order to uncover a piece of information. Whodunit? One-shots are usually set in a closed location, like a ship or a museum. Mystery-enabling systems: Gumshoe, Fate, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowrun One player should be a note taker. The sort of person who *loooooves* taking notes. The player characters should be related to what’s going on. Have a stake in it. Play by the rules of the setting (8:10) In Shadowrun, it’s a dragon that wants to take over a corporation. In Cthulhu, it’s someone trying to summon an ancient god. In modern times, it’s anchored in realism. Maintain the internal consistency of the world. Subversions are important, because we’re all genre savvy these days. But subversions shouldn’t exist for subversion sake - make sure the revelation is dramatically satisfying. The malleability of facts (11:50) If the players cam

If you don't like "Railroading", think instead about tour guides, or theme park rides.  Is this a form of manipulation? Definitely. So it should be done by consent. “Guys, I’m going to be using all sorts of subtle techniques to help guide the story, a bit like a director, but only on occasions when I think a specific direction will be more entertaining to all of us. If you trust me to do what's best for our game - which is what most players trust their GMs to do anyway, and see every other episode we did on details of why and how - then everything will be great.” The point of this (5:17) Encouraging players to make a specific choice, without imposing the choice on them. Brute force railroading (6:40) AKA: Fast Forward, cutscene, Walkthrough or Statement Setting the scene.  Negative reinforcement (9:30)  Positive reinforcement (10:45) Consultation / delay (11:25) Consult the rule books. Try to remember/pretend to try and remember a specific detail. Schrodinger's Dungeon (14:30) Extra Credit, the illusion of ch

### What’s interesting about taking away the obvious?(1:30) The interesting question is what happens when one of those things are gone. On a global scale - the gods disappear, no divine magic. Scarcities - things that you need, yet you don't have. [The Quiet Year](https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-year) [Legacy 2nd Edition](http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/237393/Legacy-Life-Among-the-Ruins-2nd-Edition?affiliate_id=29668) [Honey Heist](https://gshowitt.itch.io/honey-heist) On a small scale - one-off problem, in a session or an encounter. ### What do we usually take for granted (7:07) Environmental conditions: Gravity - stronger/lighter? An adventure in total darkness? Changing the climate. Athas or Dune are deserts, Hoth is an ice planet, why not have an adventure on Mars? Underwater? In the air? On the moon? The key here is not to cancel out the difficulty but use it in novel ways. ### Tools and weapons Material components or special oils for regular powers. Can also become a

### Eran and Uri have different KPIs (1:45) KPI stands for Key Performance Indexes and it literally means how do you measure if you have done something well or not. Or “what is the key by which you determine how well you performed”. ### Uri’s method (7:00) The full article: [How Uri runs an Introduction Game](https://dwarves.podiant.co/how-uri-run-intro-games/) ### Designing your own format (23:10) [Eran's full article](https://www.eranaviram.me/introducing-new-people-to-our-hobby/). Dig dipper: [Running an Inclusive Game (episode 16)](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35f7c8624a1e54/)

### Before the death (1:35) Should we allow death? Under which circumstances should we allow death? Set expectations. Personal example: Uri don’t allow random deaths, except on critical moments or on player decision. What can the player whose character just died do for the rest of the session? [Dungeon Crawl Classics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Crawl_Classics) [Dusk Barrens after-death rules](https://dusk-barrens.obsidianportal.com/wikis/advancing-your-character) for D&D. [Fate](https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core/) ### At the moment (13:20) Didn’t feel resentment toward the GM. “That’s on us” - meaning, we agreed to that. Ask yourself: Was it a good death? Was it significant? Give the moment room to expand. Don’t rush forward, don’t metagame, don’t think about how to fix this. In a way, that’s why we play with dice, to be surprised. Make a big deal out of it, respect it. [The Death and Return of Superman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PlwDbSYicM) ### After the death (3

We talk about [Aviv](https://twitter.com/AvivOr) and [Ev](https://twitter.com/evyatron) behind their backs! HOHOHOH Actually we just regerutate some advice that they gave us. ### Player's perspective (3:00) Choose a character class/playbook/concept that can stand on its own - has enough power to influence the story/combat, can survive alone, has some ability with communications. Avoid min-maxing, go broad. Play to whatever strengths the system, and world, call for. Talk a lot with your GM - if they’re not into doing matrix runs in a cyberpunk game, there’s no point in aiming for a hacker. [The Sprawl](http://www.ardens.org/games/the-sprawl/) Player motivations - [Why We Play](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/365abc29b5e3c2/) ### GM's perspective (9:10) Re-plan everything for one. Everything is personal, there’s nothing else. Avoid balance, it’s a harmful concept. Give lots of useful items, favours, blessings. Go wild. You can do the type of things they have in movies and books - throw him to jail, hav

### The obvious (1:40) Official rulebooks and expansions. Miniatures and boards, and other paraphernalia. Dice, dice holder, dice bags, dice towers, rounder dice, dice of unusual size/material or shape. Personalised dice trays; foldable or wooden. [Crystal Heart's foldable dice trays](https://leisuregames.com/products/crystal-heart-up-to-4-players-dice-folding-dice-tray-all-rolled-up?variant=12102479118409). ### Enhancing your game experience (2:30) Special software: [Hero Lab](http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=hero_lab) for character sheets, different map making tools. (for PC or mobile device). [Syrinscape](https://syrinscape.com/), [Tabletop Audio](https://tabletopaudio.com/) Campaign documentation tools like [The Obsidian Portal](https://www.obsidianportal.com/), [WorldAnvil](https://www.worldanvil.com/) [D&D Beyond](https://www.dndbeyond.com/) Record your sessions: Audio recorder, video camera. [Uri’s new article explains it](https://dwarves.podiant.co/how-uri-records-his-sessions/

What is this and why it matters The reasons people come to play - why we should be able to recognize them, and what to do with this info. Your own motivations can change between sessions. Ars Magica GNS Theory Historic overview (6:20) Glenn Blacow’s “Aspects of Adventure Gaming” (1980) - read here Power Gamers vs. Role Players vs. War Gamers vs. Storytellers. Robin D. Laws’ Player Types (2001) - read here As above ,plus Specialist, Butt-kicker and Casual Player. Roger Caillois “Man, Play and Games” (1961) Agon, Alea, Mimesis, Ilinx; Paidia vs. Ludus Models of roleplaying game theory The list (18:30) The "what I like" glossary Agon (20:00) - Enjoying winning against another person at the table. Alea (21:50) - The fun of taking a big risk, the tension that comes with it, and the release of the tension. Catharsis (24:40) - The feeling of release following an intense or overwhelming experience. Asabiyyah (27:00) - The enjoyment of working as a team toward a shared goal. Closure (28:55) - The satisfaction of havin

"Matching players to the game? Don't you mean the other way around?" Not today; And we've already discussed [customising the campaign to the players](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/36082ec3b14f62/). ### Eran Arbel's email (1:13) > Hello good Dwarves. Long time listener, first time writer. > I'm going to start a new campaign soon (in about three months, so swift answers are appreciated, thanks). I know there are a lot of people out there who want to play and probably a lot who would like to play this (the new D&D season) so I can probably pick and choose. I have a certain style I like and I already have an idea of how I would like the game to be (challenging combat but lots of social interaction, characters who think things through and not just rush in, and players who aren't turned off with just role playing for its own sake). How do I get my wants across while not turning away potential good players and also getting the perfect group I want to play the game with? [D&D Adventurers League](http://dnd