[RPG] What's Your Take on Surprises?

I am in the beginning stages of working on an RPG campaign, and the majority of the plot will involve something very dramatic and life-altering happening to the players.

I'm debating how to handle this particular aspect of the plot. I'm torn between "make it a big surprise" and "include the players in the process".

  

Surprises definitely have a place in games, and I'd be stupid not to use SOME elements of the unknown some of the time. This decision is a lot more in-depth than that. It's something that would fundamentally change the character- let's say; he sprouts wings overnight, or becomes 16 fee tall. 

But this wouldn't happen to just ONE character, EVERY character would face something huge, dramatic and honestly challenging within the first few runs of the game. 

I'm currently considering putting a "warning label" on the game before I start it. With enough up front disclosure that SOMETHING BIG would happen, maybe player agency won't be lost. 

There's always the option of letting the players help decide what happens to them, but keep it a surprise as to when or even if it actually happens. 

It's a lot to consider. 

Players: would you want to be involved, be warned, or be totally surprised? What factors might change how you feel about this sort of scenario?

Hold on...SinSynn Might Just Be Happy...

Hey folks, SinSynn here.

Now that the Flames of War 3rd Edition rules are starting to sink in a bit, I have this strange feeling settling over me, and I must admit that for a hot minute, I was unsure of what it was, exactly.

Years of being being kinda kicked around by another company, who shall remain nameless ('no more riffing' rule I plan to stick to), left me feeling like some poor, battered animal, who flinched at the mere mention of new releases.
For many years, not one of those releases ever benefited me, in any way.
They often did quite the opposite- they made my personal hobby less fun.
I never got new models, new rules, or anything like that. I got the pleasure of watching my chosen army reduced to irrelevancy, instead.

So, this bruised and broken Xeno grabbed his dice and paintbrushes, and he made his escape.
Anything's gotta be better than this, I figured, and I'll take my chances out there.
Time to hit the road...

*Dunno where I'll end up, but I'll stop for hitchikers*

Adventures of Boss Lady: When Employees Make Mistakes

Part of my lessons in being a Boss Lady have been delegation and telling people to do things instead of asking (in the "do me a favor tone" rather than "do you mind" tone). A lot of my on-the-job training for being a Boss has boiled down to confidence/and or competence. If I assert it, things seem to go better for me than if I let folks know I "don't know what I am doing".

Maybe not this, yes?

Mistakes are a part of life and will happen. I don't mind this as it is part of my reality at my "day job". I have great coaches/bosses who help me learn through the mistakes and put me on the right path towards learning to do things well next time. It's pretty cool. I'm attempting to model the same thing to my employees when things need correction, but I'm finding it difficult as I don't have a lot of experience in this field. 

I am finding that a lot of things "I just know" because I have done them for so long need to be spelled out so that there are clear expectations and my employees can see the direction I want things to go for the business. I am also finding that very smart people say very dumb things, and I have to help them learn not to do so (in front of customers). 

This Boss Lady process is also full of ME making mistakes, but as the Boss Lady, I have to deal with it differently. And then talk to my employees about how to handle things so my mistakes don't impact them negatively. 

I hope I get better at this, but I am really excited by how much I am learning.

SinSynn- lil' fish, big pond...plenty o' room to swim...

Hey folks, SinSynn here.


Sometimes I get a lil' intimidated by my peers.
In truth, I don't really 'feel' like they're actually my peers, and at times I feel like a small child in a room full of adults, running around annoying everyone, and knocking stuffs over.

*Strippers are wise...heed the strippers*

Loquacious can bandy words about like no one's business, conveys her own thoughts with amazing efficiency, and is somehow humble about it. How the hell is that even possible?

Lauby somehow manages to come across as wise, yet pulls off wry humor and charm with a self-deprecating wink. That's my dude right there, and if anybody ever breathes a bad word about him anywhere, I swear I'll attack like a pit bull on crack.

I devour every word Dethtron writes with relish, and his rapier-like wit and ability to lay out a scathing insult and somehow come away smelling like a rose is da awesome.
I'll admit that I have a writer's crush on him. He's just so damn funny.

How can I NOT love Von? He's simultaneously incredibly smart and smug, and so very British (from my perspective), but it's hard to not laugh at this pompous knucklehead when he shows up wearing something crazy on his head. Curse his beard...even his beard is smug, I swear.

I can tell you straight away that I've patterned much of my 'internet personality' after Brent.
I suppose I subconsciously created 'the Hamster' as a sort of foil for myself in the way he has 'Not-Brent' lurking about with the infamous green marker.
Reading his posts taught me the value of being reasonable and tolerant, and has served me well.

GMort says things that need saying, is unapologetic about it, and strikes me as the kinda guy who would gleefully throw stones in his own glass house if it suited his mood.
If only I could have a lil' bit of that 'don't give a damn-ness.'

That's just the HoP writers, there are many more wonderful folks who do what we do, and inspire me.
Frontline Gamer, Sorrowshard, the guys at the Back 40k, James S from Warp Signal, Panzar from Whelp Slayer (Who has like, the greatest website banner ever, IMO), Kirby (the Mighty Pink One) and Abuse Puppy from 3++, and my boy Purgatus from Best Overall, of course...

A compliment from Porky over at Porky's Expanse! had my head all swollen for days. I couldn't wear a hat, in fact, and it's wintertime...

That's just the tip of the iceberg, as far as the links in my favorites are concerned.

The trick, I suppose, if there is such a thing as 'tricks' when it comes to blogging, is not to be just another voice amongst the din, but to blaze your own path. I find it odd that I could somehow be considered an 'authority' on anything involving our hobby, for clearly in my mind, I'm not.
I did nothing to deserve being 'elevated' above my fellow gamers, and I'll probably go to my grave having NO IDEA why Lauby decided to pluck me from the ranks of overly vocal commenters out there in our hobby blog-o-sphere.


All I know is I wanna take the ball he handed me and run with it, as fast and as far as I can.

In real life, I'm a hyper-active crazy person. If you think I'm a lil' nutty when you read my vaguely coherent posts, you can just multiply the random wackiness by ten, and you'll have an idea why people have a hard time living with me.
Writing regularly has proven to be an excellent mental 'strain relief' valve, and I'm sure my erstwhile family is grateful for the time I spend clacking away on my keyboard, as they are afforded a bit of peace and quiet while I do so.


I often wonder if some of the things I do in my posts strike people as odd- slang terms, catch phrases, tiny animals living in my head, and always putting my name in the title of my posts, for example....
Each and every one of these idiosyncrasies was a calculated decision on my part, though- an attempt to separate, to differentiate myself from  writers who are often flat out better than me.


It's a truly bizarre turn of events that's seen me reach this side of the velvet rope (eesh- horrible metaphor), but here I am.
There have been many helping hands along the way, beginning with a comment from Lauby over at Strictly Average asking me to e-mail him, which led to...all of this.

Imagine my slight embarrassment when I arrived at the House of Paincakes in time for the HoP Idol competition, to watch well-established bloggers duke it out over a position that was somehow, through some act of truly divine comedy...gifted to me.
Go friggin' figure.

I have nothing of value to offer anyone out here but the words I type, and the value of those is dubious at best. However, it is my sincere hope that I can connect with the tolerant folks who click on the link that brings them to my head, and we can have that time together, and maybe share a laugh, or something.
I genuinely believe there's a niche here for me, and I'll carve it out with my keyboard and a Hamster.
:)

To all of my friends out there- thank you SO MUCH for putting up with me, and sharing this time.
That means YOU, specifically.
*Xenos Hugs*

Until next time, folks- exit with catchphrase (cuz dat's how I do)!

-SinSynn

Birthday Break

Last year about this time, I was celebrating my birthday by hosting a contest and giving stuff away.

I had a blast- it was wonderful. I truly enjoyed giving goodies to folks that were inspiring me and causing me to think in new and creative ways. I gave away over $100 worth of models, which made OTHER people happy, and I sort of live to make people happy.

This year has taken a very introspective turn, and for my birthday, I am giving myself a little break. I will be back after the weekend- and it's possible that the crazy Xeno and his Hamster will be causing trouble over here while I give myself a rest.

Cause the Hamster doesn't get any love...

Be back soon!

SinSynn thinks about tanks

Hey folks, SinSynn here.

So I realize this might totally be a guy thing, but...
How cool are tanks?
...pretty cool, amirite?

I dinna care whether they're like, sci-fi floating tanks...

*Somewhat useless, but still hella kewl. Yes, I have a buncha magnetized Skyray turrets, too*

They can be conventional style, but still sci-fi, and I'll probably still like them.

*I like to see these with Railgun holes in 'em, or covered in Genestealers*

Heck, we can even jump back in the past, and you'll still find me going 'wow, that's friggin' cool.'

*Micheal Wittman, in his Tiger 1E, from Flames of War. He was da man*

Tell ya what- you can take the treads off, give a tank legs of some sort, and call it a 'mech,' or some silly word that basically means the same thing (like, I dunno...how 'bout 'warjack'?), and I'll probably dig that, too.
I'm not sure if it's genetically encoded into all male creatures in the universe, but I'm pretty sure we all think massive machines of war are friggin' cool.

*shrug*

Waddayagonnado?
Embrace it, I say.
:)

Adventures of Boss Lady : Convention Report

You may have heard from around the web that there was a gaming convention in my neck of the woods this past weekend.

For a game store owner, going to a con is a whole different experience than that of the average attendee. Whether it's in your home town or far away, there's a lot of work that goes into 'doing the con'.

Attending a convention as a vendor requires stock, staff, transportation, food and lodging. At this particular con, we have an advantage over other vendors because we live less than 10 minutes from the convention location, so lodging is covered gratis.

Stock, transportation and food were stuff TheDude and/or HiSign (our employee) took care of in one fashion or another. My job was to take care of the "staff".

Our store has a very distinct advantage - we have an incredibly loyal base of customers. It's honestly almost criminal to call these folks customers, due to how passionate and dedicated they are to our business and our community.

My title is HR Director- that means I manage people. Every year at convention time, I put out the call for volunteers to help TheDude and I pack all our stock into boxes.
I usually "plan" for 5 or so people to show up based on in person, email or FaceBook replies, and I almost always get closer to 10-12. I roll with it, and get people working very quickly.

At the beginning of the process.

In the middle of the insanity that is the packing process...

In the van, ready to go to the convention hall.

Packing it only part of the process for our store. We also have to set everything up at the convention site. The convention provides us with tables, and that's all. We're "smarter than the average bear", and we bring shelves with us. Then, we fill them with stuff to sell. 

We bring it on on carts, first.

A volunteer fills the shelves while I direct traffic.

Almost done!

Once we're set up, it's time to sell. And talk to people. TheDude and I have been around for a long time, and we know many of the attendees of this con personally, so this is kind of like a "family reunion" for us.  We usually walk the room a few times, give a few hugs, chat with some friends and so on. 

I usually see great games and have a fabulous time with a big crowd of people I know and like. This year, I saw one of the best sights I've seen in a LONG time. 

She's walking! This was the highlight of the con for me.

Well, that's the people. But what about the GAMES, you ask??

There were the usual "conquer the X" board games. Lots of those. 

There were also a fair number of resource management games. Agricola, the one featured above, is very popular. 

And there were more than a fair share of reasons to play with little toy soldiers. 

A little bit of roleplaying, too. 

And last but not least, a wonderful time with friends- a chance to BS, chit-chat, talk a little hobby, and be around people that 'get' playing with little toy soldiers.

After the con is over, vendors get to do the whole process all over again- in reverse. The pack up and move out happens again, due almost entirely because of volunteers (and HiSign, our effing awesome employee)- and I am in charge of them for the breakdown, too.

It went just as well as setup- so much so that TheDude and I took everyone out for dinner and went to bed at a somewhat decent hour.

I never in a million years imagined I would be a good manager. But I am really, really getting to be excellent at delegating jobs,  giving direction, praising, and motivating people-in a game store related setting.

I am glad it's over, but always look forward to the next year.