On The Shoulders Of Dwarves

### Grammatical person (2:45) Point of view: First person vs Third person. There is no right way/wrong way to describe your character's actions using first person/third person. But each creates a different effect: I draw my sword/He draws his sword/Kriger draws his sword. ### Internal action vs external action (5:50) In order to show, instead of telling. Manifest the internal emotion using an external action. ### Make strong emotional choices and express them (10:34) Backstories and internal monologues mean nothing if they are not expressed. (Also see point #2 [here](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35dc2e1458f9c0/)) ### Relate to the world around (15:22) Objects, colours, people in the scene. Don’t worry about mistakes, if the GM need to correct any mistakes she will do so. ### Address other characters (16:55) Your character is not alone, use other PCs in your actions. ### Use the lore (19:13) The lore is everything we know about the world. Create and use idioms, fables, metaphors. Invent on the spo

Slaps and bennies are a type of external motivation. In that, they're less effective than playing on intrinsic motivation, but we’ll keep that one for the big motivation episode in the future. As the GM, they are tools that can help you encourage the players toward certain experiences, and away from certain other experiences. If we’re playing fast-paced action with “movie-rules”, award the player who jumps on the chandelier. If we’re in the middle of a horror scene and someone makes an inappropriate humorous action that threatens to ruin the mood, a slap can encourage them to stop that. ### Wisdom from Paranoia XP (2:15) Trust the Computer. [Paranoia XP](http://drivethrurpg.com/product/1937/Paranoia-Service-Pack-1?affiliate_id=29668). > Attend, Gamemaster, to this wisdom. If you reward players for doing something you like, they will do more of that. If you punish players for doing something you don’t like, they will do less of that. Truly, within these simple words lies Gamemaster enlightenment. > Enc

### Why do we need mechanics for it? If it doesn’t exist in the mechanics, it’s not part of the game. Without rules, it’s all make-believe and agreements (the rules are an agreement as well, but one that is external to us). ### Use the old mechanics in new and novel ways (3:45) You want to make meeting a new monster more exciting? Add the template "unknown" to every encounter with a new creature. Eran used the chase sub-system from [Savage Worlds](http://drivethrurpg.com/product/102528/Savage-Worlds-Deluxe-Explorers-Edition?affiliate_id=29668) to simulate a search of a haunted fort (there's also a chase in [Curse of the Crimson Throne](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Curse_of_the_Crimson_Throne)) For pathfinder or D&D: Add new feats/conditions and bonuses, or reasons to gain advantages and disadvantages. A necromancer who walks around with her zombie dad; techincally a Warlock with the Ranger Beastmaster archetype. ### Add new sub-mechanics to support new narrative concepts (9:50) In [PbtA](https:/

This episode is based [on this post](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dwarfpodcast/permalink/589048171456103/) from our Facebook group. Jessica has perviously sent us an email, on episode 12, [Setting Difficulty Levels](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35e1a9ae37c204/). ### What are some tips for dealing with very short sessions? > I am a pretty new player and very new GM but I am really pretty passionate about growing the community (because RPing is amazing!). So when a friend of mine expressed interest (after some minor evangelising) I immediately said I'll run a game! Happily everyone really enjoyed themselves and wanted to continue but since it was a group of young, working, Jewish mums with very young children scheduling was ridiculously difficult (because days, early evenings, fri/sat all out) Some people I mentioned this to said "oh no! Don't play with parents it will never work!" But I was undeterred and experimentally am trying with weekly one hour sessions. > Obviously there are HUGE concerns! Very sh

### Narrowing the topic 1:14 When someone does something inspiring, they encourage the other people in the group to invest in the game. Eran wrote about [The Cycle of Inspiration and Investment](http://www.uptofourplayers.com/2017/09/cycle-inspiration-investment/). We focus on small scale here; We’ll discuss large scale in a future episode - campaign creation, developing an idea into an adventure, etc. ### Sources of inspiration 3:34 Pretty much anything you encounter can be a source of inspiration: buildings, people, fictional characters from TV series/Anime/Movies/books [Shadowrun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun) Write down your ideas in Google Keep. You won’t be using all of them, and that's fine. Uri has a file called Bits and Pieces in which he writes down random stuff that seemed interesting at the time. He sometimes delve into it for no reason than be inspired. Uri and his family took a trip to [Ashkelon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkelon) (Fire and disgrace!). The important thing

### What do we mean (1:20) In D&D, there’s nothing wrong with a barbarian that uses reckless attack. But you can also be a barbarian that uses Bring in the Hurt. In Savage Worlds, there’s nothing wrong with a fighter having a Fighting d8 and Combat Reflexes. But you can also have Fencing d8, and Quick on His Feet. ### Inside the mechanics and outside the mechanics (8:10) Some gaming mechanics allow you to do a lot of personalisation, taking the appropriate feats and skills etc. Some don’t or are not as flexible. In Pathfinder, having your fighter also be an awesome tailor takes away skill points that might make your character less effective in his role. And so you might opt to perform some personalisation outside the system by using specific colours, phrases etc . Complete reinterpretation of the fluff attached to the mechanics - possible, but not necessary. A barbarian that enters Zen Mode instead or rage. Different reinterpretation of the kung fu master: Kung fu panda: https://www.imdb.com/title/

A passive player is one who sits around the table and does very little. Is this a problem? And if so how can we solve it? Passivity comes in several forms: individual, collective, temporary, ongoing. ### Is this even a problem? (1:00) Having a player that does nothing most of the time is not an inherently negative experience. It is only a problem if it bothers someone - the player themselves, th GM, or the rest of the players. Temporary passivity - when a player doesn’t act much during a specific session (maybe they're tired?) and prefer to “sit this one out”. ### Motivators (4:45) Character development. Something you run from, something you run toward; inner struggle, [personal plotlines](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/361e1967b5d5c4/) (ep 21) ### Possible courses of action (7:20) These are all things that the player or GM can do, or that the player can do with the active encouragement of the GM: - BOTH - Have a one-on-one meeting between the player and the GM. Ask questions, “what does your cha

Personal plotlines are a way to make every character interesting. Most of this advice is relevant to campaigns. In short adventures characters usually have some internal desires that's meant to flash them out and to help the players propel the game forward (“I need to keep going to save my vampire bride from being killed by those evil villagers”). Uri's plotline formula: let X be the number of player characters, then the number of plot lines should be X+1. One for each PC and one for the party to keep them together and give a common goal. ### Critical role provided the inspiration (2:37) [The episode in question, around 3:00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3JWNPcspoM). ### The purpose of personal plotlines (5:30) * Character background & development * Player interest in types of stories (the rise and fall of the paladin Zamlophia) * Hooking the PCs: On the campaign level, subtle railroading toward a purpose. On the adventure level, a not so subtle a arrow pointing the way. * A way to signal t

Sean Patrick Fannon sits with us to discuss the new [Freedom Squadron Savage Worlds setting, currently on Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/supermouse/freedom-squadron-a-savage-worlds-setting). Sean's full bibliography [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Patrick_Fannon) [Shaintar](http://drivethrurpg.com/product/115010/Shaintar-Legends-Arise?affiliate_id=29668) on DriveThruRPG (affiliate link) [Savage RIFTS](http://drivethrurpg.com/product/186210/Savage-Rifts-The-Tomorrow-Legion-Players-Guide?affiliate_id=29668) on DriveThruRPG (affiliate link) ### Short history of generic systems (4:00) [Basic Role-Playing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Role-Playing) (BRP) [Hero System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_System) [GURPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GURPS) ### What’s cool about Savage Worlds (6:37) What’s the shtick, why should we play it? Light, while still being crunchy. Pulpy cinematic action adventure. Easy to get into. Easy to design for. Learn Savage Worl

We focus on published adventures, but most of what we say is also viable for homebrew games. Both customising for the players, and TO them - to fit them. Their playing style and gaming motivations. Players, explain what you enjoy (4:04) What genres do you enjoy? What are you looking for, in a game? Test yourself out, in one-shots. When creating the character, give hooks, things that the character care about. Step 0 - Choosing the right campaign/adventure (5:30) Make it easier for yourself, pick the right adventures for your party. Uri thinks of adventures as movies that he wants to act in. If you pick a movie from a genre that you don’t enjoy - you’ll probably won’t enjoy watching it. The Dresden Files. Fate. Pick an established canon to play in, or at least to compare to. The advice we gave here is also in Odyssey: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Campaign Management, a highly recommended book. Step 1 - Ground the adventure in your world/setting (9:52) One Page Dungeon contest. Eran's winning adenture. Wh

What are the responsibilities of the GM, and do they really NEED to be her responsibility? ### Scheduling (2:11) Setting a date for the meetings, making sure everyone can make it or inform us if they can’t. We discussed using a WhatsApp group on [Too Tired to Play (episode 17)](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35fd4bfdbc4c5e/) ### Hosting (3:55) ### Food! (6:07) Ordering the pizza. In the Purple Orange, Aviv Or was in charge of the food ordering. In Uri's current Pathfinder game, one of the players is in charge of handling the food (either making it or ordering it). ### Recapping (7:30) We talked about this in episode 4 - [Recap](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35b5aaeaa2ea42/) ### Knowing the rules (8:10) Someone else can know the rules; the GM just needs to make a rulling. ### Entertaining the players (10:14) The GM is not the entertainer, and the players are not the audience. As a player, Know what you enjoy, make it known to others, and strive for it. Be a good player, use the tips we’ve reviewed at [Ep

We’ve all been there: It’s game night and you can’t be bothered with playing. Maybe you’re exhausted, maybe you’ve had a hard day, maybe you just can’t find the energy. There is always the option to cancel. That is totally valid option often but it still sucks. ### Getting some energy (2:30) Uri teaches “Improv for GMs” and “Improv for Roleplayers” workshops. Improv and GMing have a lot in common. Here are a few basic tips from the workshops: - Warming up to a session. Both physical and mental warm ups. It's amazing how much it help to clear your head when you’ve done some warm up. [Here are some activities](http://improvencyclopedia.org/categories/Warm-up.html). - Psyching yourself toward the session. Think about the fun you’re going to have and the experience you wish to create. - If you are feeling a genuine emotion - use it. If you are tired - play tired characters, run the next session when it’s night time in the game and all the NPCs are dead tired. This can be a catalyst that will give you energy. ###

*The following are the shownotes, meant as quick summaries of the topics discussed and links to games and concept that we mentioned. This is not a transcript!* We have a guest: Amy! [@Goonwuff](https://twitter.com/Goonwuff) [The Old Spice D&D class](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mqawllBh142wrtTUuKtR5zpKHo0as6Ik/view). ### Disclaimers (1:45) This is a very sensitive subject. We are aware that English is our second language. So if we mis-speak or use the wrong phrase (e.g. confuse female with woman) please assume that this is due to our language skills and not due to any intended disrespect. Amy: I’ll be talking from my experience but it’s not necessarily representative of everyone. ### Steve Kent (3:38) > Hey guys, > This is Steve Kent in Utah, USA. > I started playing RPGs a couple of years ago as a GM for a few friends and family members. There's a lot to learn when you're just starting out, and I try to help new gamers on Reddit. > An issue that seems to come up every once in a while is being inclusi

### Yehuda Halfon (2:00) How can you describe creatures in such a way, that the party understands they shouldn’t attack everyone all the time? Where’s the line between hinting, and putting out the neon sign? Venture Captain of the [Pathfinder Society](http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety). Find them in Israel, [here](https://www.facebook.com/groups/PFSisrael/). ### Type of game (3:40 ) The type of game that we’re playing determines our outlook on danger in general. In a sandbox game - the players know there are unproportional encounters. In a plot-driven game there usually isn’t an element of fear for the lives of the PCs. [Apocalypse World](http://apocalypse-world.com/) [Monsterhearts](https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/monsterhearts) The game you’re playing comes with some assumptions, which will be shared by the people who play it. If you’re planning on deviating from these assumptions - talk with the other players. In D&D, combat is the expected way to solve most conflicts; if the GM wants to go in a dif

The Dwarven Forge concept is directly inspired by [NPC Cast’s Campaign Crucibles](https://npccast.wordpress.com/tag/campaign-crucible/). Aviv is on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Icel), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/IcelDotMe/) and [Vanor Games](http://vanorgames.com/). ### The Three Elements (1:23) Aviv: Invasion Eran: A lucky wheel spin Dassi: Inter-generational conflict ### Themes (2:03) Aviv: A foreign foe, completely beyond our understanding. Eran: We spin the item again and again, to get one of several available outcomes. Dassi: An older generation is stuck in their ways while the new generation try to bring about change. ### What Are the Players Doing? (5:10) [Torg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torg), [Previous dwarven forge](https://dwarves.podiant.co/e/35bb4716dadefc/) Eran: We’re the next generation after the original invasion, when the old guard managed to save our world. We’re teenagers that do not understand this technologies and the whole situation. Aviv: We’re using a reversed engineered

Leisure Games: 100 Ballards Lane, Finchley, London N3 2DN. [Website](https://leisuregames.com/), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/LeisureGames/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/leisuregames_uk) [Up to Four Players](http://www.uptofourplayers.com/); rules-explaining comics are [now available through Leisure Games](https://leisuregames.com/collections/rpg/publisher_up-to-4-players)! ### Who is James? (2:40) [Mouse Guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Guard_Roleplaying_Game) Masks: A New Generation ([on Leisure Games](https://leisuregames.com/products/masks-a-new-generation?variant=38237134282); [PDF](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/193258/Masks-A-New-Generation?affiliate_id=29668)) [London Indie RPG Meetup Group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/londonindierpg/) [Fiasco](http://bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/) Microscope ([on Leisure Games](https://leisuregames.com/products/microscope); [PDF](http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/91183/Microscope?affiliate_id=29668)) ### What is Leisure Games? (5:2

Full disclosure, I ran [City of Mist](https://www.cityofmist.co/) for her, and now we’re both mice. ### 2:10 Email from Jessica Gao > Dear Dwarves, > As a new GM one of my biggest problems that I am running into is setting difficulty levels for encounters. Very often I make them too easy and the tasks are trivial and boring or I set it too hard and I kill my whole party (=( ultra sad face). I am running into this problem even when running pre-made scenarios as often time the pre-gen NPCs don't have all the stats filled in and I have to make some up. And I do hope to one day write my own adventures (which I am really looking forward to!) but am finding this aspect particularly tricky. > I'm really hoping there is a magical Uri formula...(=) ultra hopeful face) > Your humble pupil, Jessica First of all, don't feel bad. Balancing combat is more of an art than science. However since this is a known issue there are some tools for it. Use the tools provided in the system. Learn from published adventures or premade

The episode and article are based on a post by Grant Howitt, that he wrote way back in June 2013, titled “[11 ways to be a better roleplayer](http://lookrobot.co.uk/2013/06/20/11-ways-to-be-a-better-roleplayer/)”. We changed some of it, but the main things remain the same, and we reuse entire sentences. Thank you for the permission, Grant! A bit about [Grant Howitt](https://twitter.com/gshowitt): * [Unbound](http://rowanrookanddecard.com/product/unbound/) - Already released, disregard what we said in the episode! * [Honey Heist](https://geekandsundry.com/critical-role-one-shot-trinkets-honey-heist/) played by Critical Role. * [His Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/gshowitt), new game every month. This article hopes to serve as a collection of basic guidelines that every player should be familiar with, new and experienced alike. Unlike many RPG guides, which aim to improve your in-game experience, these guidelines hope to help a player become better at the *social activity* of the game, that is happening around

**1:20 The importance of pacing** **3:40 What IS pacing?** Timing scenes vs. timing within scenes. A player’s responsibility as well - be aware, things need to end. **6:35 The basic structure** Opening , complication, climax and denouement. More on dramatic structures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure **10:15 Planning ahead** Uri’s example of planning by pace: * Slow opening scene for character introduction * Quick action scene to make everyone work together * Slow horror scene of exploration * Dramatic scene of revealing the villain * Quick action scene of life and death battle * Slow scene of repercussions and closing loose ends. Notice that this plan has nothing to do with the mechanics, setting, and in some cases, the genre of the game. There is an excellent improv exercise called "a story in 7 steps". This is a narrative exercise that helps us create logical stories. 1. There once was a… 2. Everyday it would… 3. Until one day… 4. As a result… 5. As a result… 6. As a result… 7. And ever si

This episode is not about villains. Villians can (and should) be hated by the party, but villains are a whole other story that we will tackle in some other time. **3:15 Annoying NPCs should have some power** Because otherwise the PC will simply kill them or avoid them. The PCs should always have a reason to go to the hated NPCs. e.g. they are the counsellor for the throne and present at every meeting, they are a tradesman that have something the PC want, or they are related to someone in power. How to give instant power in two steps: Place an NPC in the way, make them part of a bigger organization. **6:20 Why should we have annoying NPCs?** They are great motivators. You can make entire campaigns based on proving them wrong. They push the players to behave in certain ways. Revealing Rivals article: [Cheliax](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Cheliax), [Hellknights](https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Hellknight) Some players have “interesting relationships” as their motivation for coming to the game at all. Even i