Some times you just want to get rollin’ on into a game. Some times the challenge of random missions, and making them work can be great fun. Other times, you just don’t have time to plan out tihngs.
I thought it might be interesting if we came up with several charts that a GM could use to craft a mission on the fly.
I think the mission charts should use d6’s. To keep the dice the same.
I don’t have time at the moment to create any charts, perhaps over the weekend, but I thought I would throw the idea out to see what ideas folks might have…
I love random charts as much as the next guy, but how much planning are you really doing for this game? We designed this game to keep planning to an absolute minimum.
If you’re doing more than, “Beavers have damned the river above Grasslake, go figure it out,”* then you’re doing too much.
Anything more indepth should be born from playing out twists.
*That’s Animal and Wilderness for the folks following along at home.
Thats one of the things I like best about this game, it takes the thinking out of the job of being a GM. Aside from an initial idea, the game does the work for you.
I disagree with the notion that the system makes game planning easier. I think I spend way more time thinking about missions before game (which is kind of fun) for MG than other games. I think that the potential for a game to splinter off in an infinite possibility of directions is more prevalent in this game than any other. I find myself planning for way more different twists in this than I do for a game like d&d.
That’s cool, but you know that you’re not supposed to, right? You know that you’re supposed to come up with 90% of your material spur of the moment based on the failed test and the players’ Beliefs, Instincts and Goals.
Your job as the GM is not to think of cool missions. Your job is to give the players a shot at becoming heroes. You do that in this system by placing obstacles in front of them that challenge their Beliefs, Instincts and Goals.
Yeah, I’ve found MG practically runs itself. Between the seasons chapter, the mice/animals/weather/wilderness stuff, the complications and the animals chapter, I’m never at a loss for things to throw at the players. That said, I wonder how much of that is because I’m already accustomed to the built-in expectation of improvisation already baked into BW?
I think what Luke is trying to tell you Levi is that your playing the game wrong. The game really runs itself. In fact I find this game a godsend because I can come up with a quick initial idea and it just builds off of itself and the players.
Maybe not wrong, because after all everyone is entitled to play their own games anyway they please. But what Luke probably was trying to say is that Levi isn’t making the most of the options presented in the game. Just wanted to pop in and prevent any hard feelings about Fox’s use of the “w” word…
Yeah that was what I was pretty much saying. I however took a more blunt approach. And yes everyone can (of course)play the game how they want but the game played as is and with the rules as is works. I think the problem is most who seem to have problems with the game are thinking about it and approaching it like a standard D&D style rpg. When it clearly is not.
The less folks were to over think this game the better their sessions and their gaming experiences with it will be. Just saying and of course not trying to discourage anyone because ultimately how “your” game is run and the fun folks have around the table is the most important part. But playing the game as written and understanding the beauty of the system makes for a better gaming experience.
