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.