Tone Shifts and Taking Time

So Gray Owls Team 2 (dubbed Team Bug) recently had their Chapter 18 session...and it was a little weird.

First, some build up.  
For those uninitiated, Gray Owls is a dark fantasy electric-punk D&D campaign that I've been running professionally for about 3 years now.  It is a game of secrets, shadows, and danger.  The magical weave is broken, and magic is wild again.  Throughout all the intrigue, however, there is always the looming threat in the North.  Hordes of swarming beasts from the shattered Shadowfell (yep, obliterated) called The Brood.  After 14 Chapters of huge groups parties and split goals, it became apparent to run two smaller groups instead.  A group to fight "the bugs," (Team Bug, the main subject of this post) and another to rebuild the Worldtree, and deal with threats within the city (Team Tree).
  Chapter 15, the first mission on their own, was some of the best D&D I've run, and it was dark, gritty monster action.  And in a campaign where the majority of threats have been the machinations of other people (monsters in different ways), this was a welcome change of pace.  Chapters 16 and 17 had some huge story thread reveals and plot hole filling, permanently adjusting the trajectory of this group.  The focus shifted from "killing the bugs", to reaping vengeance upon the "grand orchestrator" behind it all, probably preventing future cataclysm and saving more lives.
  But Chapter 18 felt...halted.  In the grand scheme of things, we didn't DO a lot.  There was a fair amount of little reveals, setups, unexpected twists (but minor on the action), and then they met a guy.  Now, I really, really dislike looking at sessions like this, because it skips over any sense of depth while you're in the moment and tends to discount the little things that can really add up.  HOWEVER, what it did reveal was a lack of momentum.  You can have sessions where not a lot happened, but there was enough momentum/release/satisfaction that it FELT like you accomplished a lot...because you did!
  Social development is still development, and combat and exploration still play a role.  In truth, though, it doesn't matter which pillar you're in; each can be momentous and satisfying in its own way, which, in turn, also means that each can lose momentum.  This was a curious case of achieving a set out goal...and then not knowing what to do next.  Now, I try to get homework from players about what they're planning for next time so I can better align to their story, but I admit to missing that beat this time around.  And, upon really thinking about it, I used to ask this question with the players in this team before, and would get minimal response or direction...so I stopped.  When, in actuality, this was the BEST time to bring it up.  We're approaching the end game, and though that final set piece is ready to go, GETTING THERE isn't.  I THOUGHT that we were aware of more of our available resources, that we had built up momentum and expectations, but in reality...I'm exhausted.  I'm overwhelmed with trying to build a satisfying experience, barely sleeping, trying to balance my life and my liberties and my activism and my creativity, all while believing in my soul that I'm just letting everyone down.
  This seeming lack of direction, my exhaustion with running games, a missing player, and then, to top it all off, new perceptions from long-time players about the tone of the campaign and its direction...threw me right off.  Even though folks report to having a good time, I was not pleased with myself.  I've run better sessions, and I was sub-par to my own standards, pushing a combat when I felt I was losing them - even though it wasn't quite appropriate.  But there's so much more to consider here beyond beating myself up.

Taking A Step Further Back

The perceptions of one or two players won't paint the whole truth, and can change game to game.
  Many of us are creatures of generalization, a failing in our culture.  Some players with this chip could have 19 sessions of great interplay, storytelling, and voiced extensive satisfaction...then have a difficult time at session 20, and color their entire perception of the game.  They'll boast that they never enjoyed themselves, it was ALWAYS terrible, they never get the spotlight.  ...Then return for session 21, see how 20 fit into it all, and now 21 - and the entire campaign, of course - is brilliant again and they're satisfied.  
  Some players view their story instant by instant, while others see it as an evolving thread.  The former gets the most they can out of each session, while the latter views the full campaign with a patient lens.  Every player can enter either state over the course of a campaign, sometimes instant to instant if they're introspective enough.  Neither is good or bad, they're just paradigms, and often we don't see the external influences in our play - a bad week, a rough night, something that was said that's affecting us in big ways.  We'd like to say we keep our playing separated, but humans are complicated, and sometimes the lines blur.
  And I can be my own worst enemy.  This post alone has taken some time, and while writing these words I have just reinstated my meditation regimen with a dose of primal therapy, and I feel a lot better than when I started this draft a week ago.  My point is that time plays a factor here, and those that have freed themselves to think and change benefit from its existence.  I needed time to process an experience with clarity and patience so I would stop beating myself up about it.  It's alright to take a moment.  It's alright to step back.  And it's definitely alright to consider the other sides, even if you end up keeping your original belief.  
In moving through this and moving forward, there was a lot to unpack.

We're Building Toward Something

...not just tying up loose ends.
​  Everyone is moving simultaneously.  These aren't video game NPCs.  These are faction leaders, detectives, bounty hunters...all with their own goals and schemes.  If the players are moving, they're moving too.
  The lack of information plays a role, too.  The players don't know everything, nor should they, but they need to know enough to act.  And what they know and choose to act on can be completely different.  The players decide through their questions and actions what is important to focus on.  This doesn't mean the other content stops moving, it just doesn't need to be broadcast.
  There was a point in each team where the focus shifted away from reacting to dangers and proactively, as a group, making their own plans.  A new surge of purpose; utilizing resources, information gathered, and connections they've built up to make much more informed decisions.  That change in agency fundamentally changes the course of a campaign, and can act as a release of tension - the point when the characters rise above or past the restrictions of lower class or lower levels.  They clarified what they needed to fight for.
  This was Chapter 12 for the Gray Owls.  After 11 chapters of keeping secrets and distrusting one another, we had a whole 8-hour session of satisfying role-playing and putting everything on the table, identifying a target - a clear villain to crush - and coming together as a team.  Discussing with many of my players, this became the theoretical beginning of Phase II in the grand story.  Which shifts the tone naturally.  But there may be other factors that push the lens in unexpected ways.
  We all remember the first "Iron Man," but it can be hard to look at that film now without the grand timeline of the remaining MCU.  And I'm no Marvel storyteller, but many DMs try to interweave and setup hooks with satisfying payoffs, only possible after their players experience the initial setup.  What I'm getting at here is that the story is not over.  Each session, or Chapter in this case, is a singular event - yes - but it is ALSO one piece of a much larger thread.  The same way that our Chapters 3 and 8 - on their own, arguably two of my weakest sessions - only gained traction and value when sewn into the fabrics of Chapters 4 and 9, and beyond.  And unlike a film, with pre-written dialogue and directions, the players and DM heavily influence the trajectory of this story.
  We must also consider the immediacy of this timeline.  Gray Owls functions differently than my broader audience Knight Owls.  The latter takes place over a year of time, with episodes often weeks apart in game time, while the former...picks up immediately where they left off, give or take a few hours.  Meeting monthly makes the timeline feel a little wonky, (something I address below in the last section) but it's valuable to recognize that all of these crazy events are taking place over the course of a month so far.  Meaning, the impressions of certain organizations, big players in the mix, sweeping counter moves by factions seizing power...are all very quick and decisive.  This isn't normal.  Before was normal, we are now in the Aftermath.  Which also means, undoubtedly, there will be a response to this chaos to help restore order...because that's how governments work.
​
  The information of their actions and consequences may paint a curious picture when compared to the expanded lens of the DM, too.  I might see dark machinations brewing, but if the player lens doesn't look for it, it doesn't exist.  Lately I've been practicing being more liberal in dripping content to players during sessions, predominantly through the Whisper Function on Roll20 - both as an engagement and as a reward for their perceptions.  These additional records aid the players in piecing together the cloaks and daggers, but there's much more that can be done.

Owning The Change

As I reflect on Gray Owls, there's a lot to commend.  The world built, the course of the players and their characters, the freeing of deep roleplaying, and the overall tone - dark and dangerous.  But something happened along the way, and I'd be remised if I didn't reflect on these observations and think critically on how they may have manifested.  The following comments or questions have come from players as they have observed the campaign as a whole.  

"Is magic broken or not?"
  This one irks me a bit.  Yes.  It has been demonstrated as such; many spells do not behave as intended, some in cataclysmic ways - this fact has never changed.  This discourages magic usage, AND, depending on your socio-economic class, can get you taken by the Vertigo Caste (the world's secret police).  This was demonstrated in Chapter 1.
  HOWEVER, and this is where trajectory and party composition plays a role, some players haven't seen much of those consequences.  In Chapter 2, the party traded two characters out (one would return later, and the cast would continue to rotate, complicating matters and perspectives) for two characters from the noble houses that rule the city.  As established and discussed in Session 0, the rich have access to magic in ways the rest of the city doesn't, and we got to witness the immensely wide gap between the noble houses and the lower terraces of Stormwrack. For the urchins and wanted of the group, this was a safe haven for the first time in their lives, and would become a huge motivator in maintaining that sanction and safety.  In fact, an entire session was devoted to changing their "ownership" from one member of the house to another, so that they could stay for a few more days.  This "headquarters", though, was not my original intention.  Gray Owls was supposed to feel grittier - scraping by on the will of their wits and cut of their blade (reinforcement for campaign 2).  But this became a main focus from the party.  Something sought after enough that it shifted the campaign's focus.  ...But that doesn't mean that magic isn't still a problem for everyone else.
  In fact, on numerous occasions, the party has witnessed the consequences of casting magic in the open, even if the players failed to take note of it.  Characters they've interacted with are now missing.  In fact, people continue to disappear every day.  Just because the players are in their high towers, safe from that scrutiny, doesn't mean it isn't still happening.  But again, the player lens is the view of the campaign.  I can TELL them it's happening, or I can SHOW them.  
Lesson For Self: More Show, Less Tell.  
Next to ponder - how to show if they aren't looking.  ;)

"Just how bad is the Brood anyway?"
In the first campaign of Gray Owls, dubbed Book 1, there has been the looming threat of The Brood in the North.  With all the cloak and dagger politics of the main city, we only hear about these devastating creatures through trickling news reels and shreds of propaganda here and there.  It is known among most people that these "bug-like" creatures move in accordance with a Queen, and are very difficult to kill - for this reason, the city produces through one of its noble houses an elite line of nigh-immortal warrior shapeshifters called Broodhunters.  These hunters come from the Ironwood Family, one of the ruling families of the high court and people with little tolerance for the BS found among other nobles - it wins them respect from the people.
  The Brood were intended to be mysterious.  In fact, there was a chance early campaign that we would never have encountered them.  But then a player made a character from the North - so now there's a vendetta arc - and in maintaining that noble protection, they aligned themselves with the Ironwoods almost without question.  Soon, more and more decisions became influenced by that looming threat, until the invariable beginning of Phase III with the party splitting up core objectives.  One stays in the city, and the other heads North to fight the Brood.
  What we discover, though, is two-fold.  
1) The Brood is coordinated, making moves as strike points, not occupations.  They aren't behaving like a swarm suddenly.  Someone is controlling them.  Most recently revealed: one of the three airship captains of the city is calling them somehow, becoming the Orchestrator of not only that player-character's tribe nearly getting wiped out, but responsible for hundreds if not thousands of other deaths.  

2) The other creatures of the North have been corrupted by the Brood's presence.  Though not under the same control, a rising "infection" in the North continues to spread from even the shadows of a Brood.  
    This second fact -  by the way - has only been hinted at.  It was something I forgot about until I consolidated my notes and went back to the cave for deep prep.  That affliction might have further cemented the danger of the Brood, even if they're being manipulated.  That's an oops for me.

"Choices used to have tragic consequences."
I would argue that they still do.  I have been trying to strike a better balance between appropriate danger to power level, erring on the side of danger *most* of the time.  However, Team Bug's players try to be monster slaying heroes - which isn't really what the campaign was built for initially - and I DO want to give them some measure of that success.  And harder choices are coming...we're just in a low point.  This is also where we have to consider player lens and DM lens - I know what's coming and how certain choices have sent ripples in terrible, delicious directions.  The players won't see that immediately - nor should they.  Yet, I can still think on and plan for ways to show this still to be true.  To show glimpses of it through the player POV.
  The other variable to consider is the other Team in the city.  A common sentiment among the players - happily, by the way - is that although they are high level, they don't always feel as powerful as their character sheet says.  This was a consistent tone.  You might know some cool spells and have great hit points, but you may still lack the resources of your enemy.  Your level and features can be potentially powerful, but you also need to gather information and plan your attack.  Play smarter, not harder.
  Somewhere along the way, that vulnerability left Team Bug.  The moment they left the intimacy of the city, something shifted in the dynamic.  They stopped being in danger, and started becoming superheroes.  And, to them, their choices stopped mattering.  In a way, they lost their sense of mortality.  I will seek to get it back.

"The structure of the session has changed."
I agree.  And that's on me.  The mission doesn't seem clear anymore, despite everything put in place.  Chapter to Chapter, session to session, I've had a much harder time keeping everything straight, even with my notes sitting under my nose.  The pressure of it all became too much, and I started making missteps in preparation and presentation.  This is where I see the most introspective growth and planning moving forward.  I am thankful for the observations surrounding this point in particular, and welcome the focus it brings to the table.

And these observations shouldn't be taken as a twisting of the knife.  
  I'm pretty damn good at what I do, which means anything voiced at this point is actually minor in the long haul, AND if I can pivot and correct THOSE, how much more elevated will all of this be?  But in exploring this path, I "unearthed" something painful.  If you'll entertain me the tangent, I'd like to share a perspective with you.

Abundance Over Scarcity

It isn't something I talk about much, but my greatest fear is theft.  I've had credit card numbers stolen, bank accounts hacked, and my car broken into.  I make sure to be as safe as possible when web browsing and using my information.  And still it's happened.  Multiple times.  It's almost like a running joke now.
  Every time it happened it was smaller, but it didn't hurt any less.  And when you try to live your life honestly and do right by others, it hurts so much to know that to someone else...you're just a credit card number.  The kind of person that thinks that way...I have very extreme responses to.  They hurt me in deep, personal ways that I can only begin to describe and it would be silly of me not to acknowledge that I still seek vengeance and justice over those wrongs, only to be told that the "crime is too small to pursue."  That if I ever met one of these garbage humans that robbed me of my livelihood and thought it was no big deal...I want to hurt them.  I want them to understand the pain that they put me through and how they invaded my life; shattered my sense of self security.  I know that's a visceral reaction.  And I know it pales in comparison to the events and perspectives of today, but it does not invalidate how wrong this act was, and how unsatisfying that lack of justice was.  My pain didn't matter.  That invasion of my soul wasn't valid.  And that erosion of humanity wasn't important enough to seek retribution.
  Last Christmas was the first year where something like that hadn't happened, and it was a bittersweet feeling.  Like somehow that curse had finally skipped me, at least temporarily, but it has been such a stain that now it just looms.  Forever in the background.  So that in my moments of weakness, when I am in a state less than my best, I can have challenging "knee-jerk" reactions to certain stimuli - like other GMs finding success where I struggled.  It is rooted in fear, and stoked by envy.

​I am not a perfect human.  
​And though I do a decent job of mitigating those defense mechanisms before they come out in real life, they are still there and I still deal with them.  It is getting better, and I've thought more and more about why.  There are really two ways I can approach a few recent events.  Through Scarcity and Fear - a belief that we are all competing in our various lanes, threads, and niches for the same acclamation and clientele, there only being room for one at the top of this pedestal.  OR.  Through Abundance and Community - recognition that we all benefit from the accomplishments and accolades of each other in our individual and shared threads, and that their successes augment our own.  There is plenty of room for all of us to lead, follow, create, and thrive.
For some real life examples:

Seeing a fellow GM record sessions and rewrite them as stories, and receive wonderful accolades for that.
Scarcity: Well, I did that with the Knight Owls archive and people complained about "required reading"!  How come when he does it, it's the best thing ever?
Abundance: I have my style and he has his.  We're both growing and learning from each other's journeys.  Everyone has a different presentation, and maybe I can learn something from his success to help breathe new life into my own Adventure Archive.  Good for him, and both still have value.

Opening up the GM's Corner to include other perspectives.
Scarcity: It's my blog and I want my content to be featured!  What if they become more popular than me?  What if they produce more than me when I get really busy?
Abundance: It is still my blog, and it's always been our mission to continue to grow through other perspectives.  A rising tide lifts all ships.  And how beautiful would it be if for every voice we raise up, another player comes to love this game and the value it can add to their lives.  This is a yes/and, and it can only make the site and its mission stronger.

Receiving kind, constructive feedback for your cool campaign.
Scarcity: I ruined the game for them and I don't know how to recover...
Abundance: Every session we run is a rep.  Instead think on how you can pivot to make the next one better, because there will be a next one.  Also, taking space to recharge is not giving up; you haven't failed anyone, you're just growing.

And I still feel those pangs of protective guards rising up around the things I built or pioneered in my little circles, but part of our development as human beings is to become awake to those elements, and open yourself to the hard work of self-improvement.  It is one thing to acknowledge our lack of skill in an area and do nothing about it - or at worse, look for collective affirmation in our ineptitude - and to pursue consistent growth.  ESPECIALLY in our current social and economic climate, a Growth Mindset will be the key skill every human must cultivate entering the new age.

A partially finished map of the Ionian Shadowfell, Illcrest Region - Adamus Drake 

Taking July To Revisit Phase III, and Prepare The Next Campaign

I'm taking my space for the month of July on running big games.  I've been running games almost non-stop for 3 years now.  I need some time to get my head right, and, to take a page from one of my fellow GMs, to "go back in the cave."  I want to do my deep prep in these worlds I've built, instead of feeling like I MUST keep going or everything will fall apart.  
  And when I return, we'll have the best close to a campaign yet and a fine start to the next.

To aid in this, I want to produce a few items.  These will help EVERYONE in immersion, memory, agency, and direction.  They'll also help me tremendously in my development as a GM as I upgrade my consistency, world-building, and custom content (I keep pretty good books for myself, but I need to expand what my players have access to).
And in case it wasn't clear, this is for every campaign moving forward.  That's the goal, and I need time to go deep.

A GLOSSARY OF PLACES, PEOPLE, AND TERMS
It keeps coming up in conversation.  A glossary helps more than a summary.  The players need to know who's who between and during play, and an active document that has this available to everyone at every session is a "no duh" to me for a cloak and dagger campaign.  I have one for myself every session, it's just wicked messy.  It's actually painful that it's taken me this long to compile what I have.  Time to clean it all up, and get back to basics.  I can add and subtract things from the "living document" as players discover things - which is also neat - and that way there's no worry of revealing secrets too early.  This has the added bonus of never requiring notes; there are still players that do that and love it, and still will, but in this case redundancy is fine.  And!  If I misspoke or messed up a term, I can fix that in the running doc.  It ensures that everyone has the same access to information, and removes our initial resistance to immersion.

CHAPTERS AS STORIES or CHAPTERS AS RECAP
This one I'm on the fence about, because our shift to Roll20 changed how we consumed and ran the campaign for both groups.  Some form of recap, either as fiction or summary, is definitely needed, but I need to experiment with what is going to be A) Efficient and B) Creatively freeing.  Before quarantine mode, I recorded the audio of my various games for study and internal consistency, and when I did that I would AT LEAST try to recap Knight Owls sessions here and there.  However, the process was insane.  I'd have to comb through meticulously 6-9 hours of audio every time, and it just wasn't conducive to a consistent workflow.  If I follow it like a fiction, it might be freeing enough to provide a more energizing experience for myself, my readers, and my players, both current and future.

MAPS
I have gone all-in on a map-making software subscription and am designing professional maps for ALL of my campaigns.  It's a blast.  Again, how nice would it be if you actually knew WHERE you were beyond a few sketches.

​WORLD-BUILDING FICTION
For a time there, I was producing 1-3 short stories a month.  Then it became 0-1.  Then 1 every two months.  I had originally planned for 60 entries by Chapter 19, and I'm sitting at 30 at the moment.  
  Writing the fiction grounds the world in my own head.  Remember how I mentioned that the NPCs are always moving?  That's the fiction sometimes.  Other times, it's just lore; stories and news written by other creatures in the setting.  It allows me to shift focus momentarily elsewhere as an act of immersion, and it's fun for me!  So I'm going to go have some fun, and help set the stage for a climactic close for those reading along with the snippets.  :)  

And looking at some of these, I can already see some other GMs shaking their head going "why didn't you have these at the start?"  And to that I meet you with:
Scarcity: ...Mean things to tell myself about missed opportunities...
​Abundance: Players have consistently returned to my table for the last five years for a good reason.  I am good at what I do.  And now I'll be even better.  

See you at the table.
Get ready to rock.
​-Adamus

PS: Feywild and Shadowfell campaigns will continue through July, but on a more limited schedule.