How can we increase fun?

[Michiko]

Being in the holiday spirit, I am desirous of positive vibes. What can we do to make the game more fun? Positive suggestions only, no decreasing of anything, only increasing fun.

I will start by suggesting: More silly song parodies. Actually, just more music in general, but silly song parodies are especially needed. This is a huge problem that must be addressed AT ONCE!

More playing of The Game. If you have never played The Game you should seek out someone who has and demand they teach you.

And finally, more appreciation of the game (note: the game is not the same as The Game) in general. We get to dress up and pretend to be the most valiant heroes or the most dastardly villains and everything in between. How cool is that?

 

[Silverharp]

I've found that the occasional roleplpay event/dinner sets a good stage.
Give the PC's a chance to interact with NPC's both major and monir, perhaps throw some nobility into the mix, and you've got a grand time to be had by all

 

[Darkcrescent]

SoMN had it's 2nd annual Banquet event a few weeks back. It was a huge feast in honor of the return of the Prince. There was food, nobles, a keg(rootbeer), Romani entertainers and NPC/PC entertainment and duels. The atmophere was really nice. I do agree there should be more music. It's something we definitely didn't lack that event though.

 

[Michiko]

Let it be known, that Banquets have officially been added to the Official List of Funness.

I would also like to add wigs. I have yet to see a wig IG that did not make things more fun.

 

[phedre]

I have yet to see a wig IG that did not make things more fun.

I second that.

I submit: NPCs who come out to teach or help lowbie characters and/or new players pick up new skills.

Sean Metzler came up with "Teecha," a monstrous-race NPC that brings NPC "pups" to town so they can engage in honor combat with lower level PCs and learn to fight each other better. It's a great early morning thing for the new players to get in game, warmed up, and learn things both IG and OOG. Tab Merkel also came up with teaching golems in the Catskills chapter, you pay them the requested coin, they eat it, and they have one of each weapon skill and spell per life for teaching purposes only.

 

[evi1r0n]

More horror, death and mayhem. That's how I have fun. Come to the Valley of Ghosts some time.

 

[Anazstaizia]

I second more silly song parodies. There are some around SF and they have never failed to make the game more fun and/or cause mayhem!

More chances to wear fancy dresses! I've got such fun court clothes, and nowhere to wear them.

More gypsies. Always more gypsies.

 

[Zen Mallowbrooks]

More gypsies. Always more gypsies.

Seconded. =D

Also, monsters that drop food as loot. In SoMn, I saw a cupcake golem one time and during the October events both Chicago and SoMn had candy loot at times. I recall there was one mod right before logistics where we ran out of nearly everything, so we ended up baiting the monsters with all the candy we had found. Good times

 

[Darkcrescent]

I recall there was one mod right before logistics where we ran out of nearly everything, so we ended up baiting the monsters with all the candy we had found. Good times

This right here. Having PCs come up with crazy out of the box ideas to complete challenging mods and the Marshalls/NPCs rewarding that creativity. Insects love sugar--remember that well!

 

[Vryan]

Roleplay encounters and rewards for roleplay. This is something that seems, unfortunately, pretty rare in the games that I've played.

I once helped run a roleplay module in Connecticut. It lasted somewhere around five hours and went into the wee hours of the morning. Well, the six people who went all had an absolute blast, and there wasn't even treasure originally. Well, the next day we were talking to monster desk (everyone was asleep when we were done) and told them the epic story of the "Quantum Café". We told them that the players definitely earned a really great reward for their hard work. Well, being the awesome people that they are, they obliged and we sent out a ritual catalyst for those players.

That mod really opened my eyes at how favored the game is to combat, especially when it comes to treasure and rewards. Often I've seen events where the staff feel they have to meet a "Wave-battle quota" otherwise people will get bored. I'd like to see them mix it up. I think a shift away from a "Hack-And-Slash-4-Gold" type of game would really benefit it, overall.

 

[fyrechild]

Roleplay encounters and rewards for roleplay. This is something that seems, unfortunately, pretty rare in the games that I've played.

I once helped run a roleplay module in Connecticut. It lasted somewhere around five hours and went into the wee hours of the morning. Well, the six people who went all had an absolute blast, and there wasn't even treasure originally. Well, the next day we were talking to monster desk (everyone was asleep when we were done) and told them the epic story of the "Quantum Café". We told them that the players definitely earned a really great reward for their hard work. Well, being the awesome people that they are, they obliged and we sent out a ritual catalyst for those players.

That mod really opened my eyes at how favored the game is to combat, especially when it comes to treasure and rewards. Often I've seen events where the staff feel they have to meet a "Wave-battle quota" otherwise people will get bored. I'd like to see them mix it up. I think a shift away from a "Hack-And-Slash-4-Gold" type of game would really benefit it, overall.

I thoroughly agree! I've been to some events that have lots of RP, and some that have almost none. Both as an NPC (which I've done almost exclusively for the last... 6 years? wow) and as a PC (which I hope to do a LOT more of next year) I've had more fun doing roleplay-heavy stuff than exclusively combat. Some of the most fun I've had ever at games was doing things like learning to belly dance with Michelle and Emily- hey, there's that music thing too!- or entertaining an entire tavern of people with a silly messenger pigeon. Not that I'm saying combat is bad, far from it, I love to beat me up some nerds, but I think more roleplay and more rewards FOR roleplay would be fantastically amazing.

 

[A.mungo]

Again, more gypsies

 

[SkollWolfrun]

less kvetching over who has what & have fun.

 

[Rhys]

That mod really opened my eyes at how favored the game is to combat, especially when it comes to treasure and rewards. Often I've seen events where the staff feel they have to meet a "Wave-battle quota" otherwise people will get bored. I'd like to see them mix it up. I think a shift away from a "Hack-And-Slash-4-Gold" type of game would really benefit it, overall.

Plus, RP mods don't need as much statting, concerns about party balance, etc, and tends to be less physically draining on the NPCs. (And, in some cases, require a lower PC:NPC ratio.) Mind you, it takes a lot more prep-work, and can be emotionally draining to the NPCs, so it's not all win-win. But in my experience, players are more apt to call RP-heavy mods (with or without combat) the more satisfying mods.

And, let's face it - even for the folks who like to swing pipe/chuck packets, there's quite a lot of skill variation. There's folks out there that I know I don't stand a chance against in combat. On an RP encounter, though, the footing is a lot more equal for most everybody.

 

[RavenSis]

Hands down, more RP moments - whether it's fair days, banquets, or awesome RP-only encounters. I love chapters which allow PCs to gather around a fire and sing and dance, who support big RP moments like spirit farewells, and who throw the occasional IG combat-free party. It's moments like that which bond our characters, and for me, it's the most fun thing ever.

Albert mentioned one of my all-time favorite modules: 6 or so players went out to a building and entertained each other for 4-5 hours. Each PC got their chance to be the spotlight, and each PC got to NPC altered versions of reality/their character for all the other PC's turns being center-stage. It was SO much fun that we stayed up until dawn rp'ing. I can say, pretty confidently, that I'd do that again in a heartbeat. Not only did it entertain me quite a bit, but it was a way I could NPC for a while, too, without having to change out of my costume/character - I could hop the fence without a whole lot of detriments.

Similarly, but a bit different - Deadlands let me play a bizarro version of my PC. It's along the same lines as the Caldaria module, but was more a one-on-one way of messing with my IG sibling.

So yes... MORE RP. MORE PARTIES.

 

[Michiko]

It makes me really happy to hear you say that Kate. Perhaps you shall have the opportunity to do so again. I had a blast writing/running that mod too.

On that note, do I have something to actually add to this thread? Hmmmm.... Oh! I know! More "playing along". It is my personal and humble opinion that the game is more fun when we allow plot and plot characters to have the impact they would if the actions were really taking place.

Case in point: Several years ago I was playing some sort of chaos imp and attempting to be creepy in order to entertain a set of PCs. Rather than play along one of them said to me "That is a horrible cackle." Before you jump to the conclusion that this was a bad player, I assure you he was not, he just had it in his mind that his character was too cool and too tough to be bothered by what was happening at the time and that was the response he came up with to show that jadedness.

While Fortannis should certainly have room for jaded people, I posit that the game is more fun when the player at least "plays along".

 

[tolgar undershaft]

I have yet to see a wig IG that did not make things more fun.

I second that.

I submit: NPCs who come out to teach or help lowbie characters and/or new players pick up new skills.

Sean Metzler came up with "Teecha," a monstrous-race NPC that brings NPC "pups" to town so they can engage in honor combat with lower level PCs and learn to fight each other better. It's a great early morning thing for the new players to get in game, warmed up, and learn things both IG and OOG. Tab Merkel also came up with teaching golems in the Catskills chapter, you pay them the requested coin, they eat it, and they have one of each weapon skill and spell per life for teaching purposes only.

You have yet to see a certain someone adrone a dress a wig and put very oddly mishaped baloons in their shirt to play a very interesting Ogre.... Not enough amenisa and sleep glass globes to get away from that memory still in my brain.

 

[Wraith]

Making the game more fun for me is almost always a matter of finding ways to make the things we do matter. A little effort on continuity goes a long ways.

For example, don't just whip up throw-away mods. Tie them into the ongoing story of what is going on in your land. Going to run that goblins in the farm field fishbowl? Take a few notes, and keep that farmer as a consistent NPC that will pop up every now and then. A little 'Hey, I remember you, thanks for gettin' those gobbos outa my field!' down the road makes a huge difference in immersion for the players.

It also gives them something other than stuff to strive for. Recognition is fun.

 

[Avaran]

It makes me really happy to hear you say that Kate. Perhaps you shall have the opportunity to do so again. I had a blast writing/running that mod too.

On that note, do I have something to actually add to this thread? Hmmmm.... Oh! I know! More "playing along". It is my personal and humble opinion that the game is more fun when we allow plot and plot characters to have the impact they would if the actions were really taking place.

Case in point: Several years ago I was playing some sort of chaos imp and attempting to be creepy in order to entertain a set of PCs. Rather than play along one of them said to me "That is a horrible cackle." Before you jump to the conclusion that this was a bad player, I assure you he was not, he just had it in his mind that his character was too cool and too tough to be bothered by what was happening at the time and that was the response he came up with to show that jadedness.

While Fortannis should certainly have room for jaded people, I posit that the game is more fun when the player at least "plays along".

Playing along is a good one. Definitely. Probably more important than a lot of people would think.

Making the game more fun for me is almost always a matter of finding ways to make the things we do matter. A little effort on continuity goes a long ways.

For example, don't just whip up throw-away mods. Tie them into the ongoing story of what is going on in your land. Going to run that goblins in the farm field fishbowl? Take a few notes, and keep that farmer as a consistent NPC that will pop up every now and then. A little 'Hey, I remember you, thanks for gettin' those gobbos outa my field!' down the road makes a huge difference in immersion for the players.

It also gives them something other than stuff to strive for. Recognition is fun.

We've made a concerted effort in Oregon to do just this. All of our lair cards and modules are event and story centric. Seattle seems to be going that direction too (they've only run one game thus far in their new campaign, but it's a good one). Good times!

 

[Rhys]

It also gives them something other than stuff to strive for. Recognition is fun.

Absolutely. I mean, these characters are heroes, and not just to the locals. Bards might follow you, ask for more details on your exploits. Young farmhands ask for tips on how to be a better fighter. Some hotshot wants to challenge you to a spell duel. Maybe even a fanboy who thinks you're the coolest person EVAR. Or just the local farmer sending you a thank-you gift months later because you've saved his farm three times this spring alone.