Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Tomorrow is Game Day

After about 6 weeks of planning, we will finally get to play Spiderweb in the Corner. This was longer than anticipated but the game will be better for it. In the extra 3 weeks I was able to reach several goals that I would not have if we had started when originally planned. I was able to complete a much larger Rumor Mill. I added quite a few monsters to the Monster Files. I was able to stock an additional level and a half in the dungeon.

Today is crunch time. I still have quite a bit to finish before the game can start.

  •  I am building the characters for a several of the players. I have at least one done for each of them. I prefer that each player has three characters to choose from.  Usually each of these is from the same template, but with some variations like different weapons or spell choices. For example the player wanting the cleric will have the choice of three spell lists. The player wanting a super strong dwarf fighter, is only getting one character, he was pretty specific about what he wanted. I still need to build 3 or 4 characters, but that should go pretty quickly using GCA.


  • Along those same lines I need to build a couple of hirelings for the PCs.  None of the characters has any allies so this will also be a quick romp through GCA.


  • My printer will be working overtime.  I need to print out all of the PCs character sheets, quite a bit of the room descriptions and stats, and a bunch of the monster cards.
  • I need to firm up how I want to take notes. I have never taken notes with the intent of using them to write a game report.


The list of things I would like to finish is a bit longer


  • I need to finish filling out the Random monster encounter chart. The chart is big, 108 entries. If its not done before the game starts it won't have a huge impact on the game, but I will be a bit disappointing.


  • Another level of the dungeon stocked would make me a lot more comfortable. It is doubtful the players will get further than is prepared, but more is better in this case.


  • More Monsters. There are never enough monsters.


  • A playlist of background music.  I haven't done this in a long time, but in the past it has been a great addition to a campaign.
  • I use a homemade GM screen. I would like to find some suitable art to post on the outside.
  • Assemble some paper miniatures.  I am a huge fan of paper miniatures. I would like to have a miniature for each of the PCs and all of the encounters. This is extreme low priority because the player's house we meet at is chock full of miniatures.
  • I want to brush up on some of the rules, mostly around combat, injury, and magic. I feel pretty confident about getting it right, and knowing where to look, but the review wont hurt and I would hate for a PC to get shorted because I missed something.


Thankfully I have today and tomorrow off from work, and other than 2 meetings, all day tomorrow is free. So with some diligence and perseverance, I should be able to finish all of the must be done items, and several of the want to finish items.

On a completely unrelated note, Steve Martin's album "The Crow" is pretty good, maybe better than "Rare Bird Alert"

3 comments:

  1. Re: Taking notes for After-Action Reports. I don't know what your style is, but I don't record game mechanical effects at all. It doesn't matter that your player took down a giant in a a critical hit if you say he took it down with a single blow. Readers will get the idea. That said, make notes when "big things" happen and it'll help keep a mental log as you go. It's sort of like a mnemonic device. So if STRONG DWARF GUY killed the giant in one hit you are going to remember that FAST ELF GIRL picked the lock to the door after that and almost got darted with a blowgun trap. Don't try to record everything - just the cool and important stuff.

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  2. Game Day kick off was a sucess. Like the new format. Tried to play the role of leader and main fighter of the group. This charater is a little different from my normal syle of play. Hope it was enjoyable for the GM as well.

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