I. Dear Reader,
I’ve started three campaigns recently with three different games. But the thing I want to talk about is how they’ve each demanded three different kinds of prep. That isn’t something I’ve really thought about in the past. Prep is prep, you know. Names, places, animals, things, we’ve all done it, we get it. But starting these three games so close to each other, I’ve realized I’m going through completely different processes. Let me lay out the bones on the table for you:
The first game is Impossible Landscapes, the award-winning Delta Green module. Now, this is a big trad horror adventure. It’s got lush production with some excellent writing. My prep to run this game is straightforward: I read the adventure. Each section is basically one big location with the first being the Macallistar Building, which will be familiar to Delta Green fans. For those who haven’t seen its previous avatars, it’s basically a big ol’ haunted house. Like a lot of big trad modules, the skill is working with the text. My friend, Layla Adelman, calls this ‘editing’. You have to figure out what to keep, what to cut, what to use and when. The information design of this module isn’t amazing: there’s a whole supplement for this adventure that is basically an index. But it’s still relatively clear what I have to do before every session. I reread a section of it and figure out which parts will make me look cool in front of my players.
The second game I started was Blades in ’68 which is an in-playtest hack of Blades in the Dark from Evil Hat. Now these games have a default campaign frame: you’re a criminal gang, you start from the bottom, and get to the top. But my group isn’t geared for that kind of expansive campaign. I wanted to run something that would be 6-10 sessions and so I came up with my own frame. It’s a suicide squad setup that involves the assassination of five criminal masterminds in four days. Apart from coming up with the frame itself, this involves inventing the targets and their locations: the scenarios basically. I don’t have to figure it all out upfront but I need some details nailed down as well as a sense of how the whole thing hangs together. I used the factions from the setting as my starting point and some random tables and oracles to flesh out the targets themselves. Turns out one of them has found a way to hide their lab in a pocket dimension, neat.
The last game is another work-in-progress: Apocalypse World: Burned Over. This is a long-time reworking of AW 2e from the Bakers. Here, I didn’t come up with a campaign frame. After the players choose their playbooks, I follow the game’s procedure and come up with threats for each of the characters based on what they possess and what they want. It’s not the easiest process to understand but it’s fun: one of the threats for the biker gang is their own bikes. This sounds weird but the bikes are an asset but also a danger. They break down, sure. But I can also go one step further and say they have ‘intentions’. In a world with a big psychic maelstrom, why wouldn’t they? It has to be played just right but it’s a fun idea.
Stepping back a moment, what is prep? It’s a kind of interpretive labour. In the first instance, I’m editing this big pre-written trad adventure. In the second instance, I’m working with the setting to construct my own adventure. In the third instance, I’m following the process in the text to populate the world with threats that reflect the characters. Each of these are related but different kinds of interpretation. Why is it interpretation? As the GM, I’m looking at what the game is giving me and figuring out how to make play happen.
People tend to have clear preferences for what kind of interpretive labour they find fun or rewarding (often to the exclusion of other kinds). Some people find it fun to spend a couple hours divining a setting from random tables. Other GMs might enjoy digesting a big setting book and figuring out the entire campaign on their own, starting with “what are the players even meant to do here”. Others might prefer to interpret oracles in play for more in-the-moment improvisation.
I thought I knew what kind of prep I liked to do (none) but starting these three games has shown me that’s not really true. Running from a module has been pretty easy and pleasant. It doesn’t feel like it’s particularly “me” but improvising on top of a solid foundation is definitely easier. The Blades in ’68 campaign is the most “me”, it has the most of my own ideas in it. But it’s also the most creatively risky because of that! I’m always worried that the heist doesn’t have enough cool stuff in it and the only person to blame is me! Clearly, I’m still figuring it out.
Yours interpretively,
Thomas
II. Media of the Week
- On Yes Indie’d, I speak to award-winning game designer Paul Czege about his career, his insight into immersive journalling games, and his latest game, The Balsam Lake Unmurders. Paul is someone I’ve admired for a long time so it was nice to chat. His approach to games is key to how I talk about games today.
- On the Design Doc podcast, there’s another really sweet episode called Don’t Stop Making Art about Hannah’s challenges with doing game design while having a full-time job.
- Panel about the state of the OSR from Gary Con featuring Yochai Gal and Brad Kerr from Between Two Cairns, Kelysey Dionne of Shadowdark, and more.
- You too can support the newsletter on patreon!
- If you’ve released a new game on itch.io this month, let me know through this form so I can potentially include it in the end of the month round-up.
III. Links of the Week
- Vincent Baker writes about GNS, a piece of theory from the Forge. It’s a great article not only because he defines “narrativism” in a useful way and but also because he throws up his hands on the other two terms, gamism and simulationism.
- Shannon Applecline lists out the top 10 RPG industry magazines with the venerable Space Gamer coming in at number 1.
- Rob Donoghue (FATE) talks about playing Ironsworn and the initial opacity of its core mechanic and how that might be a good thing.
- Dr Emily Friedman is doing another survey on how and why people make or watch actual play. She does great work so if you’re interested, check it out.
- On RPG Cauldron, a post for people might be using LateX for layout. It’s about switching to Typst.
- IGDN and Metatopia are offering online mentorship and sponsorship to marginalized designers. Learn more here.
- Bannerless Games is giving 5 micro-grants to game designers setting up their business or new projects.
- Tom Bloom, designer of Lancer, is making all of his self-published games available for free from April 11th to 13th, including CAIN and Magnagothica Maleghast.
- There’s a charity bundle on itch.io raising funds for the Baltimore Street Medic Collective. It’s got Yazeba’s, Godkiller, Dawn of the Orcs and more.
IV. Small Ads
All links in the newsletter are completely based on my own interest. But to help support my work, this section contains sponsored links and advertisements. If you’d like your products to appear here, read the submission form.
- The designers of Dread and World Wide Wrestling are joining forces to create a collection of system-adventurous TTRPG scenarios, maps and more. Join the Unwritten Earths Symposium on Kickstarter now!
This newsletter is sponsored by the the wonderful Bundle of Holding.
- Between Clouds, a fantastical monster-protecting rpg based on the Year Zero engine.
- Green Ronin’s fantasy supplements for D&D all bundled up.
Hello, dear readers. This newsletter is written by me, Thomas Manuel. If you’d like to support this newsletter, share it with a friend or buy one of my games from my itch store. If you’d like to say something to me, you can reply to this email or click below!
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