Will tabletop RPGs of the future look more like Lady Blackbird?

Here’s what Ryan Dancy said on this topic at Enworld:

I think that commercially successful TRPGs of the future will be constructed more like a family game – something that can be unpacked, learned quickly, and played with little prep work. These games will give people a lot of the same joy of “roleplaying” and narrative control that they get from today’s Hobby Game TRPGs but with a fraction of the time investment. Wizards is already experimenting with this format, as is Fantasy Flight Games. It seems like a good bet that there is a substantially profitable business down this line of evolution.

Sounds a lot like a Lady Blackbird style game to me.

I think it can be a nice touch to set player expectations (especially if it is a multi-session campaign you are planning) about the nature and tone of the game you’ll be running. One nice tool for this is GM Merit Badges which serve as a great check list of things to consider telling your players about your GM’ing style.

Here is my GM’ing style (at least, when running Savage Worlds, my system de jour) as defined by GM Merit Badges:

 My games will tell an interesting Story

 My games focus on interesting Characters and Drama

 Characters in my games are Destined for greatness, not random death [1. Which is not to say I won’t let characters die, but if won’t be a ‘rocks fall, everyone dies’ event which feels outside player control when it happens.]

My games use a pre-made Map and pre-scripted content

My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre-scripted content [2. I use what seem to be self-contradictory methods — “pre-scripted content” and “Improvisation”. I use both — pre-scripted content which forms the backbone of a larger plot, but about 25-50% of gameplay is Sandbox improvisation — characters go off the rails and take the story in new directions, have character-initiated sub-quests and the like. I use essentially the Mouseguard-style Players Turn and GM’s Turn with both methods in play.]

I roll Dice in the open and don’t fudge the results in my games

My game has Shared GMing responsibility with the other players [3. By this I mean a house rule where players “nominate” other players for bennies (though not themselves.)]

My games are more of the Social, Fun and “Beer & Pretzels” style

Here is my take on a typical ‘Old School DM’ approach for example (which is different than how I’m running Savage Worlds at the moment):

• I frequently Tinker with the rules of the game
• Players in my game should be prepared to Run when the odds are against them
• My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre scripted content 
• Players characters Death is a likely event in my games
• My games are more of the Social, Fun and “Beer & Pretzels” style
• The GM is In Charge in my games and “rule-zero” is in effect

Here is a full listing of the ‘GM Merit Badge’ attributes which you can tell players about (in addition to system rules and house rules):

• Tactics are an important part of my games
• My games will tell an interesting Story
• My games will be Scary
• My games focuses on Exploration & Mystery
• There will be Player vs Player combat allowed in my games
• My games are Safe and you don’t need to worry about content or character death 
• I will Mirror back player ideas I think are interesting in the game
• My games use a pre-made Map and pre scripted content 
• My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre scripted content 
• My games are Gonzo and can include a lot of strangeness
• Characters in my games are Destined for greatness, not random death
• I roll Dice in the open and don’t fudge the results in my games
• My games include Disturbing content
• My games focus on interesting Characters and Drama 
• Players characters Death is a likely event in my games
• I play By-The-Book and “rule-zero” is not being used to alter existing rules
• My games are more of the Social, Fun and “Beer & Pretzels” style
• My game is primarily Non-Combat in nature
• Players in my game should be prepared to Run when the odds are against them
• My game has Shared GMing responsibility with the other players
• I frequently Tinker with the rules of the game
• My game focuses on Player Skill rather than character abilities

What elements are present in an ideal roleplaying game session? The answer will vary of course, depending on the particular game and (more importantly) the interests of those playing the game. Given that many groups have players with different interests, it’s important to understand different player motivations.

Based on this industry study of roleplayers, there are four main categories of players:

• Thinkers are players who enjoy games with a Strategic/Combat Focus. These players enjoy min-maxing a character and finding every conceivable advantage available in the system, even if the min-maxing is illogical. These players want to solve puzzles and track facts and clues.
• Power Gamers are players who enjoy games with a Tactical/Combat Focus. These players enjoy short, intense gaming experiences and don’t mind character death or care much about storyline implications of their character’s action.
• Character Actors are players who enjoy a Tactical/Story Focus. They like the act of theater (using voice, posture and props). They focus on character’s motivations, ethics, and knowledge.
• Storytellers are players enjoy a Strategic/Story Focus. They enjoy the logical progression of the story’s narrative looking for a beginning, a middle and end to the narrative.

There is a fifth type of player, a “basic roleplayer”, who enjoys strategy, tactics, combat and story in rough equilibrium.

It seems to me that a perfect RPG game, if you have players with each of these motivations, will cater to all these play styles to ensure player groups with mixed playstyles will allow each player to have an experience in each session doing what they like best.

So what does this mean?

In my opinion, it means that each adventure session will contain:

• Puzzles, facts and clues.
• Set-piece battles and other complex conflicts to allow strategy and tactics (may involve a battlemat or boss-fight)
• Intense gaming experiences with drama, rising tension, and excitement.
• Visuals, props, and handouts.
• Integrating character motivations, ethics, and knowledge into the drama.
• Move a meta-plot / campaign arc forward (even if only a little).
• Structure sessions or campaigns to have a story with beginning, a middle and end.
• Player-drive narrative control with sandbox-style roleplaying allowing players to go anywhere and do anything.

The design team at Wizards of the Coast speak about three pillars of the roleplaying experience they are focusing on for the next iteration of the world’s oldest RPG, namely:

• Combat
• Exploration
• Interaction

Mapping this to playstyle elements, you see these aspects at play:

• Combat (Set-piece battles )
• Exploration (Puzzles, Visuals, props, and handouts)
• Interaction (Story, character motivations, ethics, and knowledge; meta-plot / campaign arc, sandbox-style Player-drive narrative control)

Refactoring this into a design checklist for GM’s, target using some or all of the following to create game sessions with appeal to multiple player styles:

• Storyline (Scripting a story or backstory with beginning, middle and end)
• Mystery (Giving puzzles with clues)
• Props (Showing visuals and handouts)
• Character Tie-ins (Integrating character backstory, old enemies, or character edges, flaws or hindrances into the story)
• Meta-plot (Moving the campaign arc forward)
• Boss Fight (Providing set-piece battle with terrain elements and possibly multiple enemy combatants or groups)
• Sandbox (Allowing for player-drive narrative control)

In future posts I’ll have some concrete suggestions about using a structured design and elements such as a GM’s phase and Player’s phase to allow you to hit each of these game elements in each and every session.

I’ve used the virtual tabletop Fantasy Grounds as played with out VTTs (virtual tabletops) such as RPTools. I really like them, but the hurdle to get people to install software, open network ports, and deal with cross-platform limitations can really dampen VTT adoption.

Enter Tabletop Forge. It is in Beta, and will work as an add-on to Google+ Hangouts (which is a nifty video chat room that works really well — many tabletop gamers are using Google+ Hangouts already to host games, and Tabletop Forge will make that experience even better).

Here is a list of features, and here are some video tutorials that give you a feel for the power of the tool.

Google+ Hangout apps are still not released as a public product, so there are some hoops you have to jump through to get the tools running (see below), but still, if you’re an early adopter, I strongly encourage you to check it out and give feedback.

Now, on to my notes and to some feature wishes (I’ll also be posting this to the Google+ Tabletop Forge discussion which is the best place to track news on the development of this tool). Continue reading