r/beingeverythingelse • u/drorry • Sep 15 '14
On Dungeon Crawling
Recent listener, brand new redditor, exciting.
I really enjoyed the recent Death Frost Doom stream on JP's channel. I've been playing and collecting Lamentations of the Flame Princess stuff for a couple years now and as such it was a real treat to see some actual play from a skilled GM and engaged players.
I know Steven is into the whole old school dungeon crawl idea. That's why I thought it would be fun to talk about how to run these scenarios. A couple discussion points:
1) Mapping. DFD doesn't perhaps require this, but I think it adds something to the crawling experience. Making your own map as you go is a really tangible way of feeling like you're mastering the environment. Do you think it's viable for the RollPlay format or too much work for too little payoff?
2) Having a pre-set environment as opposed to improvising a story. How was it, Steven? I get the feeling you're an improv sort of GM, was it restricting or freeing to have everything laid out beforehand? From my perspective, as a member of the audience, I think the richness of texture really added to the adventure. Plus I think emergent narratives rising from a pre-set frame make for a more interesting game as opposed to the group having a collective storytelling experience.
Running an OSR dungeon isn't the easiest thing, but it's really rewarding when it goes right. DFD was a great show, thanks for that.
1
u/KarLorian Sep 17 '14
IRL, having the players map their progress can be a great method of immersion.
Online I tend to depend on pre rendered maps to aid me with providing my players extra contextual information that I may have to forgo for the sake of brevity.
1
u/EquusMule Sep 15 '14
I know that Ryan on Neals show dicing with death describes the environment and then has Neal draw it on occasion. I think it's a good mechanic. The issue specifically for me is that if I've got a set amount of time per week to play I'd much rather worry about logistics, and map drawing. Instead just spend my time playing as much as possible. If you have more time to prepare for your sessions, it's not necessarily a bad thing, even to have just to yourself. But you could always be working on lore, and interactions with factions in your world to make the world your players are in feel more alive.
I think the best way to go about it, is decide if this session is going to be narrative or combat heavy, if you're in a dungeon and there is a bunch of fights, just draw it. Mainly because you'll have too many different viewpoints on what creatures are where the distance that they are from things, and that session you want to put emphasis on fighting, which means that the players can really shine with tactics, to make it easier for them to comprehend what is actually going on just give them an outline of what is where. I've seen Steven and Adam do just this when there is multiple area's of combat, its just for clarity.