What is the goal of my role?
I'm seeking to provide entertainment for both you and I.
I'm building a web of stories as a story, and having my fun along the way because that's the deal: Everyone gets to be a part of the story, me especially.
(S)He who runs the game, sets the tone and plays the role of the world, but the world has to be consistent and make sense.
In short, it may be bullshit, but it's my bullshit, and it's consistent.
Polished Turds.
DM bullshit is as time honoured as player fuckery and as long as ying and yang chase one another, so to does a team of players romp upon whatever story a DM has in store.
My responsibility as DM is to provide cohesiveness, and direction. I choose to add a slew of NPCs and political stuff to make things "interesting" while some players would decry it as unnecessary or over utilized..but with less eloquence.
Likewise, the players, in their own right, get to fashion the framework provided them into a ..whatever they can come up with.
You really get the whole range of expectations and intentions if you play long enough.
From the power player who is running a numbers game to the point they're border line cheating the system, to the power player who wants the world from level 1 (I'm a savant!) with little to (usually) zero role playing (although they usually tout being the best role player evarr, in the history of role players, evarr).
Okay, so I'm ranting; but here's my point:
Titular Article Title is Titular.
I could have caged Mitch's character Helbrim.
I could have attacked him with the robo dudes, or swarmed him with insects, spiders, etc; I could have had a single giant spider chasing his bat form until he fucked a roll and was found out.
I could have.
Should I have?
Put it all on fuckery.
It's a gamble, but sometimes, you just let the players have it.
Instead of a sensible wall (the elevator was riveted shut, remember that?), I decided, fuck it, let's let Mitch through to scout the area.
Y'know why that is? I trust Mitch.
I trust Mitch to get through the tunnel, get out the other side, and go tell the party about it. That's what Mitch excels at, and knowing my players is one of the important facets of my role.
Lack of Detail.
He's a bat, bats have good vision. Better then people at night. Y'might say they have darkvision. Say to 60 feet? 120 feet? Still not going to see the bottom of the cave.
The Camp and the Metal Men.
One thing that bugged me, in reviewing the session, is the disjointed detail. I know part of it is based on character context, and me wanting to (hamfistedly) deliver the point of their existence, and making them a thing is a basic story telling strategy.
Thunder came across a pile of parts and Kale encountered a chair load of half assembled metal man parts in the smithy, and Helbrim tracked the influence they had across the camp.
Helbrim had a natural 20 and is a druid, Thunder has an insanely high perception score as a rogue, and finally Kale rolled decently, and is a decent mage who dabbles in a lot of bizarre stuff.
So why am I delivering the way I am.
Let's talk about that.
Helbrim as a druid is tracking for whatever influence, especially the magical side of things.
Thunder is tracking for the physical presence of interlopers.
Kale is looking specifically for his own interests.
There is nothing right or wrong about anyones direction, but the point is this:
Everyone, despite score, is going to encounter contextually appropriate things.
Rolling a natural 20 doesn't mean you discover ALL THE THINGS, it means you absolutely do not miss anything within your tests context. The room, the lock, the tree, the whatever.
If you're rolling to eat pussy, you're going to eat THAT pussy really well. You're not going to eat EVERY pussy really well. Likewise it doesn't mean you'll eat the same pussy really well the second time.
Pussy is organic. If it were a lock, maybe I'd let it go.
Did I mention I run an adult game?
Dooley, you're ranting.
Right, so my point in all this is that I know what I'm doing and blah blah blah?
No, I'm providing context to my decisions. I'm clunky sometimes, but I trust my players.
There's a mixed bag at play here and I loved the directions from all sides, and I mean that. If it weren't the table it is, the chemistry wouldn't be the same, and for a guy like me, the chemistry is what it's all about.
Viewership and Injections
I like the injections for what they provide, and I have not forgotten the bees.
The honey storyline has fallen to history now, along with the Brightwoods, and etc; I intend to resurrect the bee influence, but right now I want to focus on providing everyone a nice, and simple dungeon crawl.
The bees, as a tool, are Pauls to command (and remember to command for that matter). I don't want to overtake Paul and his character with injections, but everyone paid for a thing and I believe that it should be a thing.
For now, they're just makin' honey, until such time I deem that the Queen Bee needs something.
The viewership is through the floor; and as a small D&D stream, what is typically in the high teens (seriously, if I break 20 it's a red letter day) is in the low tens.
I equate that to better weather (hence why most of my Cali crowd has disappeared).
It sucks, but it is the way of it every year and it'll pick back up as it gets too damn hot to do shit outside.
I will say this: I keep wondering if injections are a thing I should even bother with or if my viewership is too jaded to use them.
The Wile E. Coyote syndrome is real. Let's consider: WEC would use every ACME product in the catalogue to catch the RoadRunner. He would only ever use each thing once. He never used anything more then once and he never mixed it up. There was never a rocket sled leading to a -- oh whatever, you get the idea.
I have to go make dinner.
Folks, don't get disheartened cause I shot down your injection. Don't get butt hurt like it's personal. If I'm being dumb, just explain it in chat and try injecting again.
Anyhow; good talk everyone.