I have been woefully behind on WISHes lately. I blame travel, and apologize. However, I’m home now, and WISH 82 (original) rocks: Sum up one or more games that you GM or play in 10 words or less. (Three is best, but not everybody is that pithy.) Don’t restrict yourself to current games if you have great ones in the past. DoSS: Dreams of heroism. (Chris is scratching his head right about now.) ...
In this week’s WISH, Ginger asks: What do you think the value of contributions to a game is? Do you think it’s fair for the GM to give out experience or character points for contributions? If so, what qualifies? What about the informal value of contributions? Do they balance or unbalance a game? I think contributions can add a lot to a game (he said modestly). They’re not essential, but they can really help set tone and feel and they definitely make players feel more of a stake in the world. That’s not always a desired effect, but it’s an effect I happen to like, so I’m all for it. It takes a certain willingness for the GM to let go control, but that’s OK. ...
WISH 79 (original) asks: What do you think is the best cast size for the games you’ve played? What are the factors that go into your answer: genre, play group, gaming system, etc.? Well, once upon a time I would have said “three, maybe four.” But the Unknown USA campaign had, what, six regular players and worked like a charm. Not all of ‘em showed up every time, of course. ...
WISH 78 (original) asks: Do you think allowing one player to play more than one character in a game is a good or bad idea? Does the style of the game make any difference? What about the format (FTF, PBeM, etc.)? Well, you wouldn’t want multiple characters in a LARP, I imagine. (I joke!) I think that playing two equal characters face to face is generally a bad idea. I was in a game recently in which everyone had two players, and while I enjoyed the game, I gotta say I would have enjoyed it more if I’d been able to focus on one PC. If you’re playing in a purely tactical game, it perhaps makes more sense, but I like exploring personalities. ...
WISH 76 (original) asks: A lot is made of the role of the GM in a game, but what is the role of the player? I’m not really sure if I can answer that one, since so much depends on the game. The single most important trick to master can be summarized as “support interaction,” which covers a lot — sharing spotlight time, making your character sticky, and so on. Most other stuff depends on the game, I think. ...
WISH 74 (original) is all about dreams and hopes: Name three or more supplements (or core books, for that matter) for existing game systems that you’d like to see. Why? What inspires your interest in these supplement? What existing supplements or materials are you using instead? I’m not an Amber player anymore, but I’d still kind of like to see Rebma… no? OK, I’ll come up with three others. First off is a two in one, since the reasons I want them are similar. I would like to see the promised HeresyRPG. The background was cool and the card art was superb and I like games that use the Christian mythos quite a bit. Heretical cyberpunk hit all my buttons. I want Anoch’s MystickRPG for similar reasons; the cards hinted at a dense intricate background which played to my love for conspiracy. ...
Happily, Game WISH (original) is back. Today’s question: Talk about a few characters you had to stop playing before their stories felt finished. Where do you think they would have gone? It’s kind of a hard question, because I don’t tend to think of characters in those terms — so when I say I’d like to play Paul or Clarice more, it’s not because I think their stories were unfinished per se. It’s because I want to find out what happens next. In Paul’s case, I’d like to see him leading an adult superhero team. I’d like to find out if he can continue to be the force for good he thinks he could be. And I like playing him. In Clarice’s case, well, she’s just fun to play. I guess her story is about done; I like thinking of her hanging out in 1850 training a bunch of little genetically engineered Ascended ninjas. ...
WISH 69: Non-RPG Games for Gamers (original) asks about the other side of the gaming world: Recommend three non-RPG games for RPGers. Why do you recommend these three? Well, blackjack is lots of fun — no? Oh, got it. Diplomacy, first off. It takes a while to play, and some RPG groups are used to those six to eight hour sessions. Plus you can roleplay the countries. Plus it’s a sneaky introduction to the idea of diceless gaming. ...
WISH 68 (original) wants to know about something I don’t have a lot of experience with: Have you ever played in or GMed a game with more than one GM? What was your experience with it? What were the strengths and weaknesses of having multiple GMs? Was it positive or negative? Would you do it again? If you’ve never tried it as a GM or player, would you like to? Why or why not? ...
WISH 67 is all about the story: How do you tell stories in your games? Are there character stories, overarching stories, and/or other kinds of stories? Could you tell a coherent story from games you’ve GMed or played in? Does it matter to you? Why or why not? I don’t ever strive to tell stories, but it’s nice when it happens. I’m really more interested in exploring the story space than I am in setting out to tell a story. I like it when things happen to my characters and I like it when my characters do things, but I find plotting for a story to be restrictive. ...