NaNoWriMo 2019 - Or Maybe not...

I'd like to do NaNoWriMo this year.  You are encouraged to write an entire novel in just a month.  Their mark is 50,000 words written in a single story.  That translates to 1,667 words per day, or roughly 7 pages.  In order to be realistic, I'd say only 21 days.  So that'd be closer to 10 pages per day.  That's daunting!  Now that I've done napkin math, I don't know that I want to do this again.

Reflections on Numenera Night, 4th time GMing

Me and a few friends.  I rand a module from the core book, rather than trying to craft something myself.  I also didn't use much wording to set the stage, instead mostly focusing on the "You did this, this happened, what do you want to do?" routine.  I also gave the team nudges when they didn't have a good idea in which way to go.  And I was a bit more deliberate in how I set the stage.  I really didn't give much wiggle room for them to make decisions which didn't fit the story. 

It was interesting that they did as questions that were outside the published adventure.  I had to make some things up on the spot (like that the south side of town is where the criminal element rules). 

I didn't enjoy letting them play in the world I was creating as much as I'd thought.  I wanted them to know more and do more, and they really only explored ~25% of the content because they didn't know about it.  What can you expect when you've prepared for every scenario and they just choose only one option. 

First Time running Game Recommendations - The Angry GM

My friend Matthew sent me a link to a blog that he feels is very helpful, and will give me a good start with GMing.  Some of my takeaways:

Just get out there and do it.  You'll be terrible at first, but you have to learn how to be a good GM.

GM-ing is not easy (but also not hard).  You have to practice to get better at it.  And what you're really looking for out of a first game is a group that will continue to play with you, so you can get better as they do. 

Follow these rules when running your first game. 

1. Keep the first run limited.   The author suggests ~5 hours, which mean 3-5 sessions. 
2. Use pre-gen characters.  
3. Use a published module.  

  And to prepare, he suggests knowing the rules, knowing the module.  And knowing the rules only means you need to pay attention to what is relevant to the characters you have generated.  Also, you should generate your own characters for their use. 

During the game, you control the rule book.  It is important that you being to understand that the rules are tools for adjusticating, and can be set aside if you need them to be in place of your logic. 


Your basic skills during the game are Narration, Adjudication, and Flow. 

Narrate means communicating the details.  Adjudication is determining what happens whenever the players take action.  It also involves using your logic and the rules.  And when deciding whether you need the rules, be sure to ask yourself "Do I really NEED the rules?"

Flow means continue using the basic pattern of the game.  Describe the situation, ask the players what they want to do, determine the result, and describe the new situation. 

"Here's what's happening.... What do you do?... Here's what happens... What do you do?...." etc.

10/4

No sessions, but interacted with some of the cueues. 

Turn head to her name
Sit
Sit Pretty
Follow my fist


I find myself doing the training in the same spot.  I need to vary the spot in the future, so the cat doesn't associate the spot with the action.  I do, at least, change between sitting and standing. 

Modern Principles of Shaping - 10. Quit while you're ahead!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind.

10.   Quit while you’re ahead. End each session with something the learner finds reinforcing. If possible, end a session on a strong behavioral response, but, at any rate, try to end with your learner still eager to go on.

1. Stop the session on a postive note.  Specifically, a situation where the learner gets a C/T.  
2. When ending, make sure to either stop with a C/T where the learner does something good OR manufacture one by going back a step or two, so the learner gets a reward to remember for next time.  
3. Ending with the learner eager to continue is hard.  If the learner is eager to continue, stopping could be interpreted as a punisher.  But it also makes the more likely to come back next time with renewed vigor.  
4. A jackpot doesn't need to come at the end, but it could help if occasionally the jackpots are at the end and distract the learner from the fact that the session is over. 

I'm not really in agreement with this wording.  It is really focused on the goals of the teacher, which make sense because the Principles of Shaping are geared toward putting together a shaping plan with a learner.  But, it is the learner who you need to keep engaged and if engagement drops off you as the teacher have to realize it and stop.  

Modern Principles of Shaping - 9. Stay ahead of your learner!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind.


9.       Stay ahead of your learner. Be prepared to “skip ahead” in your shaping plan if your learner makes a sudden leap.

1. Stay ahead both when progressing on the shaping, but also when reading your learner and knowing when to move in and out of the shaping process.  Both need to be calculated so you can end on a positive note.   
2. Skipping ahead is good, but I'm not confident that I can identify it when it is happening.  You can gauge the learners grasp of something by attempting to solicit a behavior 5 times, and if the learner meets your criteria 4 of the 5 times, you can move on.  But if the learner exhibits something much farther down the path perfectly, be prepared to capture it.  
3. Don't just be prepared for a leap in what you're shaping, but also for things that are not being shaped right now, but will need to be in the future.  At least this is what I'm doing now, and don't know otherwise.  I need to do a little more reading on it. 
4. This will build confidence that you know what you're doing.  This is more important for a human learner, I think, but any animal can lose confidence that you are reliable, and give up the attempt. 

10/3

2 Sessions

Turn her head to her name - good.  treating for this one very seldome. 

Follow my fist - good, but no progress on expanding this to have her jump up or down to follow my fist. 

Pick her up - No problems at all.  I need to start increasing the duration, and also starting to touch her feet. 

Feel her paws - Good, and am getting a little more intense about touching her back feet.   Front feet are still good. 

Sit Pretty - started to put this on a random reinforcement schedule. 


I feel like I'm focusing in on certain tricks to teach her and really get solid.  I think this is going to be my set for a while.  Sit pretty is a nice one to show off.  Follow my fist, too, but it is also a good one to have if I need her to go somewhere. Pick up and feel paws are good so I can move toward clipping her toenails easily. 

I could also add Laying Down, but I'm not sure if that's better than her letting me pick her up, so I can clip her nails. 

Modern Principles of Shaping - 8. Keep your attention on your learner!

I'm writing a 10 part blog post where I discuss the Modern Principles of Shaping by Karen Pryor, to help solidify them in my mind. 

8.       Keep your attention on your learner. Interrupting a training session gratuitously by taking a phone call, chatting, or doing something else that can wait often cause learners to lose momentum and get frustrated by the lack of information. If you need to take a break, give the animal a “goodbye present,” such as a small handful of treats.

1. I'm spending a lot of time making this one happen.  I do get distracted sometimes, but most of the time I feel like I'm watching the learner more than anything else. 
   
2. I don't interrupt a training session.  Instead I end it.  Not sure if this is better, but having a short training session has always been a better choice than having one that in some way is inferior. 
3. The learner can get frustrated in a lot of ways, but not having me pay attention isn't one of them.  I'm glad I'm following this already!
4. Should the goodbye present be a C/T - a jackpot?  That seems like a better idea than just giving out a bunch of treat. 

The 9 Variations on the 5-room dungeon Layout

9 Versions of the 5-room Dungeon at GnomeStew

I like the 9 versions of the dungeon, and but don't really understand the names.  I also like the ways to vary the dungeons. 

The 5-room dungeon can be used for any crawl, and doesn't have to be in a dungeon.  In a forest, warehouse, starship, or any other location this layout would be perfectly alright. 

You can physically move the rooms in the dungeon without changing the layout.  Extra long hallways, rooms immediatley adjacent to each other without a passage in the middle, and veritcal tubes all are acceptable as they don't change the order of the rooms. 

I just noticed that these layouts don't have the accompanying plot items that I discussed in the other article on 5-room dungeons.  This is all about how rooms can be laidd out, starting with the entrance, and showing the other 4 rooms.  Also, the author talks of adding a 6th. 

"One More Thing" approach to making a dungeon (from QuestingBeast)

I read about this method for creating a dungeon in Maze Rats.  I haven't been able to find its like online. 

First, put one simple thing in each room, keeping it pretty vague (a monster, a trap, a prisioner, a library).  Next, look for connections between the things.  How are they connected?  How do they explain one another?  What is their relationship?  Then, go back and add one additional detail to each room based on what you now know.  Repeat this process as many times as you like until you think the dungeon is finished. 

My attempt
A tower is emitting regular waves of thunderstorms.  Get to the top to see what's going on!


Room List:

1. Trap - The stair collapse and cause you to the inside, where you fall towards the bottom. 
2. Monster - Ant-lion type monster in a pit at the bottom. 
3. Encounter - Servant bringing equipment to the top of the tower
4. Treasure with Guardian - A Library/Museum that contains tomes with researched knowledge of the past and works of technological wizardry.  Includes several collections of historical monster tales. 
5. Artwork - Paintings of thunderstorms and the cosmos adorn the walls. 
6. Blank landing with hidden exit. - Door can be activated by tool carried by servant. 
7. Boss - A mad nano trying to coax the secrets of weather control out of a numenera.  But the weather is far from under his control. 
8. Room of Condensation - the weather above is causing massive condensation within this room.  The walls are cold to the touch, as is the air, and mist is forming and raining as you watch. 

10/2

1 Session

Sit Pretty - Accidentally C/T her for mouthing my hand when she was on her hind legs.  Also, not sure how to extend the length of time she's rearing up to paw my fingers. 
Follow my Fist - Same as before.  Need to determine how to get her to follow my fist to other levels (on a box, jump to couch, etc.)
Pick her up - No problem.  And when I was holding her, I started playing with her feet a little.  I think she's more comfortable with that. 

I noticed that she was very hungry this morning, because I didn't train her last night.  Instead I trained her this morning.

5 Room Dungeon with Story Elements

1. The Entrance that typically has a guardian of some type.
2. The Puzzle or a roleplaying challenge.
3. The Setback or a trick of some sort that impedes the heroes.
4. The Boss Fight room that provides a climax to the delve.
5. The Reward, which could be an antechamber that provides some loot or a potential revelation that ties the story together satisfactorily.

I really like this site for examples for the different types of rooms:  5-Room Dungeon Model Tips

And I really like this one for advice on keeping it short and sweet:  5-Room Dungeon Model on the Fly

Short Adventure 1 - Find me a tentacle!

A Numenera dungeon.  Can be entered by anyone who finds a "Mirror Ball." Wants to bring back a a tentacle from a hoarding jungle dweller. 

As you move around the dungeon, a thin red line, originating from your body, floats in the air behind you, slowly fading.  (Oldest line takes 1 hour to fade to nothing)

Encounters

• Chirog Family (4), Climbs as 7. p. 235 Core Book.
• Gazer (1) Perception at 5, Speed Defense 2.  p56 Bestiary
• Chance Moth (1).  p30, Bestiary
• Llaric Scropion (5), Climb as 6, Perception as 7.  p76 Bestiary
• Quotien (7), p103 Bestiary
• (Boss) Golu (5) with baby golu spawn (1).  Swarm join can attack for 3 total.  Floating mushroom top, with tentacles dangling.  Tentacles generate different energies - heat, electricity, light,  radiation, inert.  Those in its presence take 1 each turn in combat, or 1 step on the damage track each hour it is carried, due to radiation poisoning.  Golu will float away, at slow speed, upwards. 

Weird Room Descriptions:

• (Entrance) Behind you, a reflective sphere that ripples as things enter/leave its surface.  The room's walls have the shape on the outside of stacked bubbles.  There is one square portal on the floor (to room __) and two that are several meters off the floor.
• A pool of milky-white liquid that, if drunk, will turn the drinker red for 1 hour.  
• V-shaped room, with the point at the bottom, where you can walk.  Toward the top are posts sticking horizontally out of the wall.  
• An octagonal hallway with treads on the floor and each wall.  
• A dead wooden "tree" that emits gentle chimes when a breeze floats past.  
• A vast room - the far walls can't be seen - with a ceiling that barely tops 2 meters.  What can only be described as a gash opens one wall to darkness, and jungle growth has long pushed its way inside.   
• "The passage ends in a ‘T’. The right looks well-travelled and the corridor is unremarkable. The left looks untouched, smells faintly of cinnamon, and there’s a mysterious orange glow that can barely be seen at the end. Which way to do you go?" The left passage leads to the red herring.
• Piles of blinking, clicking, whirring machinery, being constantly rearranged by tiny flying squid-like tentacle monsters.
• A haunting, fluting sound drifts from a distance.  Intellect defense roll.  (5)

Story Hook: I need a tentacle from a jungle monster (Golu) to power my newest device.  I've heard you can find one through a Mirror Ball.  They appear randomly, but are generally too small. Rumor has it that Miliar has cobbled together a machine to draw them together and fuse them into a workable gateway. 

1. Entrance/Guardian: Find and convince Miliar (4, 5 with Numenera) to activate a numenera that attracts spheres and coalesces at the point of an antenna. 
2. Puzzle/Roleplay Challenge: "Control" (3).  Incorporeal Voice that can control the environment.  Can be reasoned with. Wants to be free.  Provides access to the rest of the facility and long distance transport options. 
3. Red Herring: Quotien (7), who will answer one question in exchange for a children's tale. Can provide you with a device that clicks the closer it gets to the Golu lair. 
4. Climax/Big Battle or Conflict: Kill/Capture Golu parent.
5. Plot Twist: Damage track begins to harm the PCs as they begin to make their way out. 

10/1

2 Sessions

Sit - Next progression is to the action with no click.  
Sit Pretty - Next progression is to the action with no click. 
Lay Down (in prep for Clipping Nails) - She can be playful.  I think that's not what I want to teach her, though. 


Complete/Maintain:

Next: Other intonation versions of "Jazz", Spot she can sit in (Bell she can push?) if she wants attention. Sit wherever she is, rather than walking over to me then sitting. 

Future: Touching her paws (toward clipping her nails), Handshake