My Appendix N: the Exorcist

While definitely an obvious influence, the film and the book (mainly the book, if you haven't read it, you should) are both a master class in horror.  Adding elements of horror to games is hard.  The Exorcist makes it bleak, claustrophobic, and personal.  While the actual plot isn't something extremely noteworthy, certain aspects of it are.  

The first, is that the "experts" don't even really believe what is happening.  That doubt plays into the fear of the unknown, and just overall hopelessness.  This is something you can copy and past into any session, because the lack of belief and available help is literally deteriorating several people in the story.  Making NPCs doubt, particularly NPCs who should have a handle or knowledge of something supernatural or an aberration in a game is an easy way to keep doors closed for player characters, which is a great way to add tension.  Player frustration at in game events has been something I use again and again, and you don't want it always to be the same.  The Exorcist is a great source of a variety of that you can throw into an arch in a campaign.  

A second great source, is how exactly would a fiend behave towards players?  The only real example, at least in possession, would be from the Exorcist.  It is basically the standard that every similar film has tried (and I would say failed) to recreate.  There is more going on though, as part of the story is about a detective looking into a murder.  This is way more obvious in the book, because the film is so over the top at times, I think some people miss it.  An unlikely person being used by a being for a murder or other serious crime is a perfect storyline in nearly any RPG.  Make that person someone that isn't accessible because of their condition, and you now have a (chef's kiss) easy plot that you can use and adapt, and most of the time players will not even see it coming.  This is right out of the Exorcist, and unless you really screw it up as a Game Master, it will work most of the time, and is hard to derail.

The final point about this, is particularly about the film.  The movie is extremely atmospheric.  The limited set, the creepy subliminal face, the iconic music.  Horror in RPGs should be atmospheric.  The theme Tubular Bells causes anxiety still for millions of people when they hear it, nearly 50 years later.  While you probably won't manage to land something like that for your players, I have pulled off sessions where I really thought about weaving these elements in, and players still talk about it a few years later.  I play a lot of games, so I am pretty proud of that myself.

One last thing about the Exorcist, is something more apparent in the book, and that is hinting that some kind of occult activity or a cult of devil worshipers may have had a hand in the happenings of the story.  This is something as a GM you can and should jump on, if you feel that you pulled off a successful session.  It opens up options down the road if you are planning a long term homebrew campaign--it is always nice to have a few threads available to give you some breathing room planning for sessions.

So yeah, this influence in my gaming is something out of left field, and really goes against what I think of when I think of the place of Appendix N.  That is a good thing, because predictable gets boring, especially as years go on and people see the same things over and over again.  

I want to make this a regular thing on the blog for awhile, because influences need more love, and people new to the hobby, especially GMs are looking to soak up as much as they can.  I started working on a Spotify playlist of Appendix N songs you can find here.  As always, emails and comments are welcome.  

Travel as a Narrative?

Travel is perhaps one of the biggest parts of most games that I run.  Apart from combat, it seems that travel is probably the most utilized part of a game.  It is also something I tend to put the least amount of thought into.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this--many games I've played in have had lack luster travel sessions at best, but something that comes as rather obvious in many games, is that you often spend an enormous amount of time going from point to point.  Improving travel will definitely improve the quality of sessions, and fix something that sometimes can become one of the more tedious parts of a TTRPG for both the player and the GM.  

I find that the biggest problem, is lack of diverse encounters.  Travel often takes days, if not weeks in game, and you can only fight so many level appropriate bands of gnolls or orcs before you just feel uninspired as a player or a GM.  While it sounds rather obvious, the best way to immerse and world build, is by showing, or describing, the world to the players.  A perfect opportunity to do this is from going from point A to point B.  I want to look at a few things that should and probably are a part of your game, but are probably under utilized.  

Weather.  I try to roll for weather every day in game, but I usually fail doing that.  Weather is an easy way to have an encounter that isn't combat, and can throw players who tend to build just for a specific purpose.  It is also a great way to allow rangers to shine, because if we are being honest about 5e, they get few chances.  The new Wilderness DM screen from Wizards of the Coast is perfect for this, if you don't already have it.  I don't really intend to use this space to pitch products, but it is something I've already began using in my games, and it's fantastic because it puts things that can fill out your game right in front of you so you can't overlook it.  

Weird locales.  There are plenty of tables for this, and I would recommend taking from and using as many as you can find that make sense.  Like weather, it seems fairly obvious, but again, it's something I don't see as often as I would like.  One tip I also have for new game masters, is use as many of these as you can find to flesh out your world, and make a note of it on a "master" world map.  I use a dry erase hex sheet now and then transfer anything I think should be noted into a notebook with a world map in it.  

Dead magic zones.  Dead magic zones aren't something I see often in 5e.  Dead magic zones should be used not exactly to nerf the party, but force them to be resourceful and think outside of the box.  RPG games in general allow for characters to be able to do pretty much whatever is allowed within the rules, but it tends to come down to combat or abilities to just go through the same sequences again and again.  This will burn you out, and make your games boring.  All of a sudden, there is a five mile area where magic simply doesn't work, now the characters have to rely more on diplomacy.  Sometimes just getting players to talk in encounters works miracles for opening up role play.  

A final thing I would like to add about travel, is it is a perfect way to show major events in the world, without having to shoehorn the party into it.  I've played in plenty of games that have been ruined by DMs trying to create battles or some kind of major world events that just couldn't be pulled off.  As a DM, it's also way more work to try to do this, and as a storyteller, it is just lazy.  Everything should build in a game.  Players should walk into the aftermath of a battle, or some kind of major event more than seeing it first hand, at least at lower levels.  This is an easy way to push the story forward without having to force things, plus it is significantly easier to draw out events and prep for upcoming sessions as a DM then it is to just make something up on the fly.  

I hope this is helpful to someone.  After playing with many people I don't know over the past year because of Covid, I will say that travel seems to be one of the weaker parts of a lot of games.  It's also something that is almost certain to happen in most games.