First off, thank you very much for the detailed feedback. I appreciate the time you have put into this.
VTT Medium
Thank you for the feedback! Very detailed and helpful - I look forward to more games.
VTT Medium
- I am very happy with Discord as a gaming medium. Solid audio/video, chat, dice rolling capability. I am a bit surprised and very happy that even over the extreme distance between us, the A/V was solid.
- My vast experience with group size has been with 4-5 players, which works well for the combat heavy and roleplay light style of my local group.
- I agree with you that a group size of 3, perhaps 4 would provide us with a better rounded experience for campaign play.
- I did however very much enjoy the 2 player dynamic, with the great interactions between your two characters. This is something lacking in my local games, I think a result of a combination of player styles, large group (5), and focus on mechanics/combat.
- I found that both you and Jessica were asking very interesting questions during play, which I really enjoyed. It made me feel like you were invested in the game, and what was happening.
- The module/adventure/operation we are playing through is sparse on detail, so there were a number of items that were introduced on the fly. I am trying to get away from very intensive prep work as I have done in the past, as I feel that it becomes more restrictive.
- I did leave out a potential NPC encounter at Baughman's apartment due to time constraints. I agree that more NPC interaction would have been fun.
- I think that having connections between PCs is very important from the start. I have had some poor experiences otherwise - a PC I was running was killed within 10 minutes of introduction (this was DnD 3.5).
- This is a big one, the mystery/horror genre is new for me, and I did feel things were slow moving. The adventure as written seems to assume that the PCs will gloss over the apartment, something to the effect of "We search the apartment!", and the GM provides an info dump.
- The structure overall is a very mundane start, ramping up quickly towards the end. The intent as written is for the entire operation to be resolved in one session, solving the pacing problem.
- All that being said, I do feel that pacing is one of my shortcomings. Something I need to work on.
- I like your suggestions a lot, thank you.
- I completely agree with your assessment. This is a part of gaming that I am missing, that I am looking for to experience. My play experience has been dominated by "mechanical" play, with emotional content being delivered mainly through combat. I don't think this is inherently bad, as that is how my local gaming group enjoys play, but after running Blades in the Dark I see that there is a whole world of gaming that I am missing.
- This is an aspect of GMing that I need to work on. I feel that this and Pacing are two of my weakest areas.
- I have always had trouble with hard framing and cutting scenes. I enjoy following the characters through a scene and allowing things to progress organically, but I admit that is not always the best method.
- Moving away from the modes of gameplay I am entrenched with, this is another skill I need to cultivate.
- The lack of horror in the first session is my fault, definitely. Were I able to pace the operation to fit into one session as intended, there would have been a strong progression from mundane to terrible.
- I think the bathroom area where Mr. Baughman perished might have been an opportunity, to push on the feeling of isolation and despair (SAN check vs Helplessness), but I did not think of it until after the fact.
- This was an interesting case. The rules want us to not roll unless failure is interesting, and suggest particularly that while investigating, to illustrate the high level of training agents have by providing information without rolling where PCs have high scores.
- This falls into my belief that players should always get the clues, otherwise things grind to a halt. I have played in a game like this where the entire game ended, due to being unable to find the clues needed to proceed.
- On the other hand, rolling dice is really fun.
- After some thought and some reading, I think a better method may be to prompt for rolls, but instead of not getting the information on a failure, have the result be success with a price. You find the clue but in the process attract attention, leave behind incriminating evidence, something of that nature. More tools to add to my toolbox.
- I agree with your assessment, we have not engaged with the system thus far.
- I am thinking that perhaps the starter adventure is a bit too truncated to really experience the whole depth of the system. We could look at playing a second operation, something more fully realized to get a better feel for the Delta Green system.
Thank you for the feedback! Very detailed and helpful - I look forward to more games.