Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jacob W. Michaels 11-15-03, 03:29 PM	Has nayone had any success (or disasters) with experimental DMing? I just got the season 4 "Buffy" DVDs and am getting ready to watch "Hush." It occurred to me that this could be a really fun experiment to try for a session -- not just having the characters not be able to talk, but not have anyone (including myself) say anything. Now obviously, I'll check with my players first to see if they're willing to try something kind of experimental, but I think they'll be up for it. (And able to handle it, since they're a good group.) I still need to think of what circumstances would cause the effect. I'm thinking some ancient magic on a holiday (I'm big on running holidays, even though I struggle to do it), or a ceremony gone bad. I figure I also need to limit the adventure -- the idea could be fun once, but I don't want to have it go more than one session, so I'm wary of saying, for example, everything is silenced until they do something. Jacob
chris7476 11-15-03, 05:08 PM	Making the players themselves have to remain silent is an exercise in futility. What do you hope to accomplish by doing this? It is just going to frustrate everyone. And how can the game even be conducted if the DM is silent as well? Will you write notes for everything? That will be excrutiating. On the other hand, the characters could become silenced for some reason. Give penalties to players that try to verbally coordinate their actions with one another. The players have to talk of course to tell you their actions but they won't really be able to talk to one another. That could be quite fun.
Jacob W. Michaels 11-16-03, 05:05 PM	Making the players themselves have to remain silent is an exercise in futility. What do you hope to accomplish by doing this? It is just going to frustrate everyone. And how can the game even be conducted if the DM is silent as well? Will you write notes for everything? That will be excrutiating. I thought it might be interesting for a single session. I imagine I'd have several index cards prepared for some basic actions, die requests and numbers. I don't know if it would work (and if it's a disaster, we could just start talking again), but I thought it might challenge the players to think a bit more about how they play. Obviously, there might have to be some extra notes, but I think a lot can be done without it. Ideally, it would enhance the silence effect by making the players, instead of just the characters, experience it. My challenge would be to set up a scenario under which it can be done, meaning limited lengthy explanations would be required. Don't know if I'm up for it, honestly, and thought I'd see if anyone had done anything like it. Jacob
Vanigo 11-16-03, 10:33 PM	I don't know. This just screams "Horrible Idea!" Really, impairing communication between the DM and the players is just asking for trouble.
Vaalingrade Ashland 11-16-03, 10:36 PM	Ya, silent game world = :cool: Silent session = :confused: I wouldn't recommend it, even if they agree because it'll break down really quickly. Still, you can blame it on them if they agree.