Referee's Field Guide #1 - Introduction

Hi. This is my attempt at writing a guide - to run adventure fantasy games in what may or may not be called FKR style. It is also technically what I used to call the OSR, although the term has changed meaning so much that a lot of OSR fans nowadays might be confused as to why I’d use the term for the playstyle I’m about to describe, but I digress. Which is going to happen quite often as I’m aiming for a conversational tone and am known for being a bit of a rambler at times - thus Wizard - or a know-it-all. Lizard cause reptiles are cool.

Who’s this for?
Anyone! No, really. I’m going to explain what an adventure fantasy game is, how it is played in a few common modes of play, guide you through steps of world generation as well as character generation, move on to procedures of play - both free play and “mechanics” though this is a near-diceless game (you will, in fact, need a pair of regular dice - or an online generator - and stuff to take notes with, like a pen, eraser, notebook, or a laptop. And an IMAGINATION.) I do hope this will be useful to people who already know what adventure fantasy games, as I somehow doubt that this will be anyone’s first delve into tabletop gaming, but who knows? As well as the aforementioned procedures, I will provide with anecdotes, examples of play, adventure prompts, NPCs (that can be used as pregens), the occasional rant about why X or Y thing I’m talking about is good and fun and why you should try it. You may treat the session reports posted earlier on this blog as well as the ones to come as samples/examples of play, though there are many other ways to do adventure games.

What’s an Adventure Fantasy Game?
In this context, adventure means a dangerous journey, expedition or undertaking. Adventurers are people who get in trouble and face dire circumstances - whether they prevail or perish (or somewhere in between) is dependent on the players’ abilities to creatively solve problems in the game. Fantasy in the old-fahsioned sense: anything from science-fiction to space opera to sword & sorcery tales and alternate history is fantasy. There is no one predefinite setting of play for this game, although I will provide examples. I now realize it has been nearly 400 words and you might still be confused as to what even IS an adventure game. So here goes:

An adventure game, also known as tabletop roleplaying game, is a consensual hallucination shared through conversation by two or more players, one of which is usually taking the role of referee or game master: the referee described the world and its inhabitants, and is the final authority on how events and actions unfold, following real-world logic as well as any agreed-upon genre conventions. The players take the role of one (or more, sometimes) characters in that fictional world and strive to achieve their goals, usually succeeding in perilous adventures. There is no board or mat - everything happens through description, like a shared storytelling experience or improv theater. Except that in this case, the story is a by-product of play, and the referee’s job is merely to maintain the illusion of realism: there are no expectations of how the game will unfold, nobody knows what will happen next, and that makes for heavy stakes as the players’ actions have “real” consequences, unimpaired by an overlying narrative like in other interactive media which are limited by programming or pre-determined paths.

Still with me? Good. There are three modes of play I want to talk about, often glossed over:

1. Solitaire Play - where one player switches cap between referee and players, or simply takes time day-dreaming, taking notes about the world, making up characters, locales, etc. They might do that before a session, or they might do it on their own as a fun experiment - it’s not that hard to set up an open-ended situation requiring problem-solving with no obvious solutions, and then trying to run through it, perhaps asking an oracle (like a pair of regular dice) in case of doubts or when one wants to inject randomness and uncertainty. It’s a mode of play, not a chore or a job. If doing prep is not fun, you’re doing too much of it, or this is not the right time.

2. One-Shot - where a referee offers a more-or-less obvious adventure hook (depending on how much time the group has) and the players go and do that thing to see how it unfolds and when the game’s over, that’s it. Maybe the characters can be re-used later, maybe not, but the assumption is that we’re playing for quits, which means you can go all out and really experiment without worrying about long-term stuff. Do crazy stuff, experiment with technique if you’re a referee or with a different approach to playing your character is you’re a player.

3. Campaign - a series of one-shots tied together in a persistent world, with returning characters (although the exact cast might change as characters die or retire - think Game of Thrones or better: old pulp fantasy novella compilations and zines). The more you play in a persistent world with returning characters, the more real and immersive it usually feels. You’ll end up with memories of fictional places and people you’ve met, adventures you went on with your friends (or friendly internet strangers). It’s awesome! Don’t worry about how long it’ll last - most campaigns don’t last for a very long time. My advice is: assume the 2nd mode of play by default, and if the stars aligned, you might end up with a campaign if you get regulars and enough time and energy. For reference, I’ve run campaigns that lasted: three years, ten months, six months. The longest game I’ve been a player in lasted for about three years also. Typically, I run short campaigns of 3-5 stringed-together one-shots. Don’t worry too much about it.

Most people (including tabletop gamers) assume the campaign as the default mode of play. Yes, a successful and long-running campaign provides a very rich and memorable experience for everyone involved. Yes, in the 70s, people usually played in very long running campaign. No, it is not essential to have fun playing tRPGs. Yes, you can play tRPGs on your own, and it is a good practice for learning how to improvise details like NPCs or locations, as well as coming up with open-ended problems with no obvious solutions (which are the bread and butter of your adventures, I’ll explain that in more details when we get there).