Top Tweets for #BookControl
Feeling this this morning. Spent a lot of time page flipping last night as DM.
It seems to me the solution is #BookControl
Lately I’ve been thinking about how strange this is.
Time is a real commodity. Most adults are negotiating schedules just to get a few hours at a table.
And yet some RPG publishing keeps making bigger books, deeper systems, and constant expansion. On paper, that looks like value.
But at the table, every added layer costs time. More to read. More to prep. More to remember. More friction if a game night gets canceled. The heavier the system, the more fragile the campaign.
A model built like that ends up shrinking the very thing it depends on: actual play.
@memeslich You prep your mind constantly so you can improvise at will. Read Appendix N, make world maps and jot down shower thoughts. Read the rules until you have #BookControl. Then follow the players fascination wherever it takes them.
No analogy is airtight. For example, solo play grants one #bookcontrol, or a familiarity with the tables in the appendices of the DMG. This makes one better at DMming in-person (ie less page flipping and whatnot). You can get better at team sports by conditioning and running drills. Shooting hoops is an example.
Self-abuse makes somebody worse at sex, and worse at relationships with their creator and other humans.
#BookControl is the secret to #ZeroPrepSupremacy.
And as a necessary step to achieving Book Control, you must read, read, read.
You must learn what inspired Appendixes A, B, and C, so that when you get results from the random tables, you can tap into their full potential.
No-prep GMs; are you basically reading a ton of source material then doing what the spirit tells you as you play?
Just learned the random treasure determination tables show magic item restrictions. This has always been a section of the 1e DMG I skipped over. I've been playing wrong for years and I never knew it. Thank you @dm_serious for challenging me to get better. Iron sharpens iron.
Appendix N maxxing is important. And each game should have a body of work that it is seeking to simulate, like the Bingo Card for Mothership for example.
But what I take #BookControl to mean is that, if I need to roll up a random dungeon as the players are exploring it. I already know the page numbers and how the tables work so that my players don't have to wait for me to flip and roll flip and roll. It should be natural and they should barely have time to get their own plans together while I'm doing it.
I’d take this point even further @DunderMoose and say that if your going to play a game that isn’t centered in a Euro-Gygaxian context. #BookControl requires Finding and constructing your own #AppendixN with which to pull:
-encounters
-Magic items
-etc
#BookControl is the GOAT
@bkgibsonwrites @Crossface02 It still requires preparation in the form of BookControl, and a head full of Appendix N fiction so you can riff on the emerging situations in a way that fits D&D’s oeuvre.
@Vomitronz IIRC
Krafty gave us #BookControl
Crossface gave us #ZeroPrepSupremacy
(And I'm here for both)
https://t.co/8KyHgQT8Sc
Zero prep DM supremacy
@bkgibsonwrites You need to learn the books, and where the correct tables are and how to use them efficiently, hence the hashtag #BookControl that @Crossface02 coined.
Zero Prep is key prep for becoming the full-bodied DM you were meant to be. Once you have #BookControl, you will be unstoppable. Do not move past Zero Prep until you have mastered it. #ThankYouCrossface
Zero prep DM supremacy
Rock on Loup! My no-prep is the appendices in the 1e DMG. I’m not a Zero Prep purist, but I think every DM should play that way for a while to master the random tables so they can follow player passion wherever it drives them. @Crossface02 called this #BookControl and it gives your players agency and yourself confidence.
Once you’ve mastered it, you should master Appendix N so you can prep the kinds of thing the game was designed to simulate.
This is the way. If you’ve never done it, you should run no-prep for a few sessions. Builds confidence and #bookcontrol. #ThankYouCrossface. Once you can do it, do the things that make it easy and smooth. Then you are bulletproof!
I ran "no prep" campaigns for a few years.
It was not great; the players had to wait several times while I rolled random encounters etc.
But I didn't wanna go "full prep" either, so I prepared several dice rolls (and a list of names) in advance.
It works better IMO.
1/2
@EricDiaz_RPG That’s right. Zero prep takes a lot of work. You need a head full of Appendix N. You need what @Crossface02 has dubbed #BookControl and you need good supports like overland, dungeon and encounter generation tables.
@TheBasicExpert1 "2 dozen books/manuals"
...This guy needs #BookControl to use that Yard of Books he's bought but never played.
There has been many times that I have spearheaded an intellectual pursuit in gaming, only to be forgotten as someone else took it on for themselves.
@FolderBloat This is why #BookControl came into existence.
Similar issue but in person with too many booklets.
Severe lack of Book Control and Book Mastery.
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