Practice in Olak Hills – Result

I don’t know what to say really…

The session went… okay… almost. If I put it like this, I should have sent you back home as soon as I saw Danne’s yawn – which by the way was the first thing he did. And no way how you put it, I yawn is NO sign of alertness. Not even if you are one of those who “yawn” because you need “air” to your “brain”. That’s total bull. If you yawn, you yawn because you are tired, exhausted, sleepy or in some way less than above optimal state, often quite the opposite. It is a sign that you aren’t alert or at your best. Yes, this post will be filled with criticism, from my viewpoint and I’ll try to include as much concrete examples as I can.

Well, the beginning was the best thing of the session. I had most of it laid out already and when I released the reins I was expecting you to do stuff, take what I’ve pressed the last few hundred thousand posts into consideration and act…

The first thing that met me when I released the game was… silence. You didn’t take initiative, most of you. PB did try, but most of you just sat there, barely saying anything. Well I tried to push it forward, but as the session went forward only more things hinted that I actually should have just thrown in the towel and sent you home. Maybe the session was a bad idea, just because you show an ounce of initiative I shouldn’t reward you and expect that you can do it again so soon.

Well, yesterday it felt like most of you had outright ignored the profiles and much of your characters overall personality and lost a lot of your initiative. Plus you still look too fucking much on values and numbers!!!!!!! What shall I do to take this from you? Completely remove your character sheets? It fucking feels like I should when people are too fucking conservative and always look and think about their fucking numbers in every fucking situation! And yes, it annoys me greatly that you can’t just take the description of something and instead play after that rather than looking and fucking whining over your fucking numbers.

Well, maybe the session could have gone better with more time, but doubtfully it would have been much better since your performance was way off. You need to take initiative and try to make things interesting by yourself and most importantly, keep a steady pace. And you need to do this as a group. So even if you are split, people can act and do something to keep the pace going. You don’t need to go into detail in every situation. Sure it might feel like that is the best choice but experience has shown that it isn’t. It slows down pace a lot and it’s hard to give any kind of perspective in a bigger picture. If we do not know the details or isn’t able to bring results there is always something you can do to stir things up a bit or to actually keep going.

Examples for the ones almost completely left out yesterday (Rasmus and PB). When Rasmus told that he was out hunting he could have summed it up and started to describe – which is something I need to go further into later – his hunt and also his return, no matter if you already could have killed each other by then. Same goes for PB since his character is a bit on the sidelines she needs to move her forward alongside you others. But things take time but a general description of various things is good. Then go BACK to a certain moment later if, for instance the group starts loosing pace. Fill it with anything. Say something like this, taking to alternatives as an example for both Rasmus and PB.

Rasmus:
Rasmus decides to take Eitrid out hunting after choosing to be the hunter for the expedition. Then this makes the WHOLE map his area of play and he has no concerns about the skirmish that’s happening. He can do what he wants, go where he wants, and he can spend time doing precisely what he wants.

When he says that he goes out hunting, he also states that he goes out hunting for a few hours or until dark, or however long he intends to hunt. Whatever fills his criteria. He also might include that he takes it easy, enjoys the forests and try not to disturb lesser animals so he might observe nature too. He might add some more description for how Eitrid feels and how his moods or emotional state is changed by his hunting.

After that, he might roll, he might not roll now. I often wait until results are to be presented. You can ask to roll it now or you can later ask, how did it go for me with my hunting? I can then give you a roll, or several depending on your wishes as well as what I have in mind for difficulty. Say that the rest of the group have grown quiet or mostly just squabble about some meaningless thing (like always) Rasmus decides that he wants a result so he can describe himself going back home. He might already have gone back home also, but to stir up everything plus to make it more realistic (Olak Hills aren’t that big a place) he might even add, by his own accord, that he stumbles upon the group and says hello and wish them good luck before he continues stalking after a prey. Whatever to keep the pace going but also to be able to get a moment to act and not just be an outsider the whole session.

PB:
At the first day there is much to fix and put into place but as Brynhild is up in the cottage with three other NPCs, PB has indirectly control of the whole situation. I do not need to say what everybody there does or does not do if I don’t have a specific task for them so PB can easily just use them to create something to keep the pace or keep himself in the game. Just adding a description here, or a comment there. Not a full out scene, but just a general update and description of what’s happening, or how things develop or what you spend time doing.

Brynhild might when the both groups leave decide to clean up, I mean there was a fucking pile of stuff left outside the cottage and do you think they put it back into the wagon before they went to find a campsite? I don’t think so, no. But PB decides that Brynhild is the kind of character that in this moment is more excited about her forging task she got from Styrk and instead starts setting up the stuff somewhere (this you did do but after that much went stale) and there an easy comment to include could have just been how Brynhild leave the stuff on the ground and only clears the area she needs and will take care of the rest later.

Here PB also leaves an opportunity to make an input when the other squabble about some meaningless thing (like always) and puts in that while Brynhild is fixing with the anvil and the things for the smithy Arna and Silja take care of the pile the boys left. Say that I’ve already included once that they are outside on a bench knitting or just relaxing, PB might add that they grew tired of that or that after doing that they settle down on the bench to enjoy the quiet forest while talking to each other and sometimes throw some friendly taunts towards Brynhild for her manliness or something like that.

So in other words it’s up to you to keep your otherwise passive stance in the session active for yourself. But the important thing is to try to not use the same situation twice. I try to give you stones for every initiative you take by yourself without me pushing but you seldom seem to do that or I’m just blind or something.

As for the combatants… to begin with I felt that Ankan was completely out of character. Too much “Anka” and too little “Snorred” the crudeish twin of a druid. It’s like the complete profile just dropped out and the standard template of Ankan was activated. Danne wasn’t that bad, but that’s only because Danne’s default template is closer to Ragnar than Ankan to Snorred. The first thing that Danne didn’t get was this with Karled. Danne has stated that Ragnar is a normal, but ambitious Debian boy who seems to be interested in Knighthood. Thus, a suggestion to do something is an initiative and in the Fortress initiative of the good kind is rewarded by ranks. If someone makes a suggestion to what to do more concretely, it doesn’t make it their initiative. Only their advice, which is worthy of being second or an advisor on the subject. It’s your initiative and thus you are the captain. But now, Ragnar submitted… which was not according to either the profile nor Dannes own description of his character. I said it in the beginning but the humble, not ambitious, non caring Danne in the real world backed down on my description since he himself tries to avoid conflict of that sort since he often sees it as unnecessary. Okay… should I change this then? Ragnar is Boknol, Ragnar is a normal Debian who wants to live a good life, serve his Warlord and become an honoured Debian in the Fortress and make his family proud and to one day have a family of his own? The difference is no ambitions, no aspiration for faster advancement or knighthood or anything of the like. Just a normal Debian footman that starts at the bottom and slowly advances. Maybe you could be an officer at the age of 45, about 2 years before Ragnar dies due to a stiff back and several battle injuries that makes themselves known when you are cornered by a battalion of enemies and they manage to kill you just because you’ve started to decline as a warrior?

And the player challenge… almost thrown into the wind! I’ve seen very few signs of you doing something about it, and it’s been tooooooo slow. If you have problems, you bring them up. Want advice, I’ll give you advice. Just post your thoughts and questions in your profile, as earlier stated, and we’ll discuss it. But just dropping them? You could have acted out your challenge several times and I didn’t see it at all.

And as for descriptions and proceedings it’s the same as above. You don’t need to go into detail what you do in scenes all the time, but if you are completely lacking anything and just leave everything to me, I take it out on your characters by leaving the group absent-minded or just giving them the penalties of inexperienced youths. Deliberate mistakes of someone young without experience but with sound ideas that only shows their budding skills. And still, some things can just be added with emotional descriptions as well as some general notes about the situation. If I’ve been Ragnar I would have taken a lot more initiative, plus included small hints here and there of my challenge.

And well… you ask too much questions too. Most of you do. When it comes if an ambush is something Debians would do, just think. Is that something one would do if they are chivalry-like people? Is it good, sound, honest and fair to do it? Well, the answer is always yes and no. There are always many ways to do something, and some ways are honourable and others aren’t. Plus that Chivalry is not defined by a law, or a codex, it’s also something personal that fits to the characters view on what is good, sound, honest and fair. Is it right too do, from your characters perspective. Is it something that wouldn’t bee seen as a kick below the belt? No, it’s easy to just feel it, rather than always asking when questions like that, always shrouds it for players to play their characters in a realistic way that brings everybody the feel of the character intended. So try to understand rather than just asking all the time.

We’ll continue, but the rewards that might have been given to your characters, will not be given now. See the following post.