Goodman Games

Although I don't have a ton of experience with DCC and have never run a public game before, I want to try joining the Road Crew and run the low-level modules I'm familiar with at my FLGSs.

What's some advice for someone who's never run a public game before? I'm mostly concerned with managing maps/players in a way that keeps things moving. I tend to just draw on a grid map but then I either
a) Have the problem of players getting to see everything from the beginning
b) Deal with a clunky solution like covering portions of the map with paper
c) Draw as the game progresses, which slows things down quite a bit

One of my home players has aphantasia so I've always needed a map for almost everything, even outside of combat.

If anyone has advice for anything else that would be welcome too!

I wrote a couple of blog posts that might be of use:

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2018 ... games.html

Less useful perhaps:

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2019 ... udges.html

Map-wise, I'm a draw -as-you-go guy. Never had much problem with it. My maps end up kind of sucking, but that's OK, they just need to be more or less to scale and represent the world to the PCs for positioning. I've got pretty fast with it so I don't use minis..I just quick-rease PCs and monsters as I go through combat. Using some minis, or tokens, pennies, etc. would speed stuff even more. You can also use tokens for furniture/objects/magic items etc so that you really only have to draw the main shape & features of a room and slap some stuff down.

Raven_Crowking wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:33 am I wrote a couple of blog posts that might be of use:

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2018 ... games.html

Less useful perhaps:

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2019 ... udges.html

Both these are very helpful, thank you!

In the first blog its mentioned that the players should have a winning goal in mind, how would you incorporate that into Portal Under the Stars? As written, the funnel's only goal is for the players to get rich, so what would drive them to face the clay warriors?

The Disgruntled Poet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:24 pm Map-wise, I'm a draw -as-you-go guy. Never had much problem with it. My maps end up kind of sucking, but that's OK, they just need to be more or less to scale and represent the world to the PCs for positioning. I've got pretty fast with it so I don't use minis..I just quick-rease PCs and monsters as I go through combat. Using some minis, or tokens, pennies, etc. would speed stuff even more. You can also use tokens for furniture/objects/magic items etc so that you really only have to draw the main shape & features of a room and slap some stuff down.

I used to make some really bad hand-drawn maps as the adventures progressed, but I was worried that in a more time-sensitive environment it would take too long and/or people would get bored if the map is too big. Sounds like that shouldn't be as big of a deal as I thought though!

andalite5 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:09 pm

Raven_Crowking wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:33 am I wrote a couple of blog posts that might be of use:

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2018 ... games.html

Less useful perhaps:

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2019 ... udges.html

Both these are very helpful, thank you!

In the first blog its mentioned that the players should have a winning goal in mind, how would you incorporate that into Portal Under the Stars? As written, the funnel's only goal is for the players to get rich, so what would drive them to face the clay warriors?

Knowing what will happen to their village if they do not.

But remember that a funnel is really the story of why these particular people couldn't go back to a life of tax collection and gongfarming. Letting their village be destroyed by a clay army fits the bill.

andalite5 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:12 pm

I used to make some really bad hand-drawn maps as the adventures progressed, but I was worried that in a more time-sensitive environment it would take too long and/or people would get bored if the map is too big. Sounds like that shouldn't be as big of a deal as I thought though!

I only draw out the current area they're in, and I erase when they move on. So I never have to worry about running out of space, and parties rarely backtrack much. If it's relevant to give a bigger map at the beginning of the area, a really high level sketch on paper or the dry-erase map I use is fine too. These "maps" basically suck, they are the equivalent of a whiteboard you would do for a work meeting or something, but they get the job done.

Thank you again for all your advice! I'm looking forward to running some public games once the pandemic is over

Try these from Roll 4 Initiative https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Erase-inch-D ... B016H0TNFY, you can pre-draw stuff ahead of time and add them to the map as needed. And they can of course be drawn on the fly.