Pledge: Be better GM.

For RPG’s I have used thematic stuff… sounds of a rain forest, thunderstorm etc.

When painting and buildings I listen to music if I’m sitting down for a long session.

Occasionally I play solo board games and put music on for that.

Regular programming resumes – huzzah!

PLEDGE: having cleared out a substantial chunk of unfinished projects, my pledge is to continue with my Battletech prep!

MUSIC: I very much enjoy listening to music when doing stuff. Half of my hobby room is guitar space, not that I’m any good, but I love to play and make noise.

@sundancer the game is not going well and although the dice are not being kind to the players, my encounters have been unbalanced which is frustrating us all. More importantly… there is too much roll-playing and not enough role-playing.

Side note… had some of my pension fund and tempted to buy something like this to use in the gaming room.

https://www.libertygames.co.uk/store/multi_games_tables/products/7ft-multi-diner/

It’s big enough for our gaming needs, will serve as dining table plus it has air hockey, pool and table tennis…

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 2 days ago by  pagan8th.

ah … ye olde ‘roll playing’. It’s kind of what stops me from enjoying rpg’s as I just suck at actual ‘role playing’ so I tend to default to rolling dice.

I think it’s an issue that also is caused by the rules/game system itself.
I find that rules heavy games like D&D tend to make it hard as there’s a rule for ‘everything’ so it is easy to say : ‘roll a die and we will know what happens’.

And it’s something that needs both players and DM to want to do. Lead by example is however easier to say than to do.

It sounds so damn easy when I read those ‘play’ examples in rulebooks where Jimmy the player never ever says “I roll my attack dice and target that enemy npc”. Somehow the players in the books are more creative/inventive. Same applies to the DM that’s running the game.

Maybe that’s why I’d rather play wargames where you don’t have to worry about narrative ?

I may just lack the creative genes required to improvise and do the fun things that the folk in Critical Role seem to do without even having to think. It’s the sort of skill that I wish I could learn, but I don’t have any clue as to how to do it.

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy”… that’s very true with RPGs… although the players are not my enemies.

We have a laugh at the table… but sometimes it just gets frustrating when things go wrong. I’m working on my next campaign (and writing my own rules system) and have recently backed Discworld.

One of the players has a campaign ready to run if things go a bit TPK (last time he ran it ended in TPK… my previous One Ring was a TPK… it’s been a rough year for PC’s).

I tried to be more of an ‘improv GM’ and let them choose a path to adventure, but it seems they prefer me to give them them a plot to follow… so I guess we see how how the game goes tonight.

Pledge: interact with the forum more! Finish my enclosure for the resin printers so I can get models printed. Spent the weekend getting all the extractor ducting in place so nearly there!

I use music to get through my workday, so for hobby it tends to be a podcast or audiobook. Been listening to a lot of lore YouTubers lately as well.