I've GMed about three or four times in my life. Should I really give player so much exposition as pic related?
>>43753158
Maybe for, like, the first session when you're establishing things. Or deceiving a new liason for the first time, but even then my eyes glazed over after awhile.
Also - is this comic literally about playing D&D? He couldn't just tell an adventure story, the whole thing is viewed through a layer of abstraction?
If you want to set the theme and plot of the campaign, why not?
On the other hand if you're going to run murderhobo dungeon runs where characters are no more than the bonuses provided by their attributes, you don't need any.
If they like it, sure.
If they're more of the murderhobo justfight types, it would just slow down the gameplay.
On an unrelated note, Val gives me an adamantium boner.
>>43753158
> wearing a hat indoors
Take if off or move to a place you can wear it (that is, out of my door).
>>43753188
>>43753191
I always assumed, that simple plot hooks will string the players along. On the other hand, I always felt that giving such long descriptions before game will be boring and considered raliroading by my players.
>>43753203
Personally, I enjoy a good exposition of the setting I'm about to play in, but I guess it depends on nthe players, as said before
>>43753158
>8 phrases
>long
>>43753218
It wouldn't feel long at the table. As the entirety of a webcomic, a visual medium where readers are used to the "show, don't tell" school, it feels much longer due to its WORDS WORDS WORDS.
>>43753218
>>43753230
Basically this. That amount is perfectly serviceable and if your players can't keep their attention focused for that long you already have problems.
As a personal rule of thumb, I try to keep big descriptions at 20 seconds max, 30 if necessary. Longer than that, I like to break it up by asking players questions, or if exposition needs to happen, have it as a dialog between players or players and npcs, or as a scene of it's own.
>>43753203
Well, I have never equated exposition with railroading, and neither have my players. I usually provide a theme for the campaign and work with players to integrate their characters into it somehow before we start adventuring.
My previous one was a rather standard "in the kingdom there's trouble a-brewing with the southern orc tribes and the neighbouring merchant princes" where players started as a team of king's secret operatives / troubleshooters. Made it easy to throw adventures starting with "your employer the king decrees that..."
>>43753158
I don't think so, not like that anyhow. It works fine for a bookish sort of description, but I don't think it works for an RPG. I start asking 'how do I know that' as a player in a few parts, in others I wonder why do I care. It just covered too much territory without real detail with the justification of being flowery.
That much text as description, can probably be fine. But it needs to be tighter if you don't want to spend the next half hour answering questions.
>>43753203
How the fuck are the players supposed to know what world they play in if you don't tell them this bare minimum?
>>43753158
Go away, Scott, nobody likes your webcomic
>>43753310
Tell them before the game? Or give them notes with basic information that almost everybody should know?
>>43753322
But isn't that exactly what happens in OP?
>>43753158
I don't get it. This is almost nothing. If your players can't sit through a very basic description of what's going on around them, they aren't really suited for .. anything. They may as well break out the xbox and play an FPS or something.
>>43753173
Yeah, the entire comic is the players playing D&D.
>>43753306
I'm guessing that isn't the whole of the exposition as it is missing the Hook, or "how are the characters involved and why should they care" part.
>>43753173
It is based on his own games and experience. Don't hate on it, TT is fun to read.
>>43753158
By the way, is the artist equating him(?)self with the DM or something? For example, in the last panel the zoom into his face is entirely unnecessary except to prop up the character. He's also made to gesticulate rather dramatically to inform the reader that look, I'm an important character.
>>43753614 here, so this >>43753572 suggests they are based on real people, and the artist was their DM?
Personally I try to give a fairly solid descriptor of whats going as my players have specifically requested a fairly detailed exposition for every scene entrance. I do also try to find as much visual media to add in as well to give them some better framework to visual with.
>>43753549
100% correct, it's a few pages worth of setting description and whats going on with the group and the Hook and all that. Since it's a Homebrew setting by a guy from the GM's other group, he wanted a quality GM to test the setting out for him.
>>43753158
Only if they know nothing about the setting, or if the established setting is changed somehow by the story your campaign follows. Your picture is a good example of how to not DM.
>>43753322
if you give notes beforehand to players, they 100% will not read them
>>43753614
He's trying to convey that he DM is going for a dramatic tone you autist.
If they want to. My group won't shut up long enough for me to do it, so don't stress if they aren't into it.
>>43753200
>It's still the 1930s
At the beginning of a campaign I relay general common knowledge info and the main rumors going around without having the players actively looking for them, because you're bound to have stumbled upon them already. In the same way, the end of a campaign is a wrap up much like additional scenes going with the final credits.
>>43753158
People do not make the Underdark treacherous enough IMO.
>Three days later two of the party are crippled, one has had his brain half-sucked out by mind flayers, one is a captive of the Drow and the last was eaten by mushroom men.
Stop posting this shitty webcomic.
It's cringingly PC without getting into SJW territory, and it has never once proved to be funny. It fucking sucks.
>>43754751
There are no comics /tg/ posts that are good.
>>43753158
>Guys, is it really okay to say like 100 words to my players to establish where they are and what's going on?
Jesus, just kill your group, right now.
>>43754418
>Common sense is way out of style, gramps.
>>43754776
Fuck you.
>>43753158
>Should I really give player so much exposition as pic related?
I had a GM that once did exposition once every 3-4 sessions. He had the right voice and demeanor for it. It was awesome. However. I've also seen plenty of expositions fail miserably.
Basically If you can pull it off yes. If not? No.
>>43753158
That comic really irritates me for some reason.
>>43755139
>Our GM inserted background information into the story once every 3-4 sessions.
How are you people even role-playing?
>>43755264
>>once every 3-4 sessions
>>session probably lasts anywhere from 3 to 4 hours if not more, depending on the group
>>once every 9-12 hours
That's plenty of time for roleplaying.
>>43755053
Post the whole thing or remove thineself.
>>43755303
Yeah but like... That much time without the DM actually giving you any info by telling you stuff or people telling stories about things?
I mean, fuck, an npc going "Oh, them woods have been crawling with orcs since forever" is exposition.
A character picking up a book from a shelf and getting information about the setting is exposition.
>>43753775
A bit wrong, that's the second part, Fallen Veil or something like that, here they are just playing in Faêrun.
![jon-stewart-daily-show[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/8DKbh0K.jpg "jon-stewart-daily-show[1].jpg")
>>43754891
IT'S 2015 COME ON XD
>>43755584
I love whfb
It literally breaks all the modern shit tropes of shit going back to the oldschool but with flavor
SJWs and Nancyboys generally hate it and don't even look at it. Thinking its either "just generic fantastys" or "just grimdark 40k"
>>43756147
I find that people who call it generic only give it a surface glance. It has some elements that you could call derivative, but it gained its own identity over 30 years. It isn't for everyone, but a look and a read never hurt anyone.
>>43756233
My gay friend litterally played depression quest before being willing to even watch Blood Bowl gameplay.
He is convinced its just 40k in fantasy, and asked if Bretts were the space marine equivilant, despite me explaining they were litterally glorious French Catholics
>>43756147
What the shit are you talking about?
WHFB is perfectly fine, but jesus, the "mysterious traveller is more than meets the eye" idea is over 2500 years old.
The "There is a member of our kind/great warrior/ancient king, supposedly immortal, who protects those in need" is nothing new either.
Again, I like Warhammer just fine. Hell, I bought the Mordheim game on Steam mostly in the hope it does well enough to add the races I really like.
But let's not pretend it's something it's not. It's a fine setting, and it has succeeded at fleshing itself out over the past 30 years, while other settings have stumbled, but it's by no means perfect.
>>43756147
>lookit me being so edgy and liking stuff everybody else on the board jerks off to!
>>43756316
>your gay friend is a questfag
>this gay friend is that unfamiliar with any non-quest subjects
It's like a perfectly apt anecdotal example of the types of people quests draw to the board as a whole
>>43756395
But loads of people liked WHFB
It was more popular in Europe than 40k for the longest time
all the age of sigmar rage supports that
>>43756584
…That's exactly the point.
>>43753158
God dammit I hate that comic
I know no one who plays the game "competitively", the dykes are cunts, the "that guy" is hilariously relatable, they are so rude to their GM (if this guy would understand that a gm has a huge amount of work, and if you don't like him don't play with him, then I could believe he really plays), and what the fuck is a "winotaur".
Does anyone really read this or is it just spammed here?
And why don't we post Oglaf anymore? It was good, even after the main story was discontinued (bring back Ivan plz)
>>43756803
Ivan ded. Also this hasn't been the "main story" for a fucking huge while.
Also you can consider the vampire doctor chick (I can't be arsed to remember all the names) the continuation of that storyline. I mean, she met Ivan.
Still, more Oglaf is always a good thing.
>>43756917
>Ivan ded.
Still agured
Just sleeping most agree. Also I can't stand Grehari and there hasn't been a continus story for some time. It even feels that its kinda gone down in humor quality sadly.
Still titty rogue will always be my waifu
>>43756947
Well, at least he was the most shit tier character. The only thing he had going for him was him being "relatable" for primary 4chan contingent.
Wouldn't mind seeing more palace dickery, however.
>>43757010
>Well, at least he was the most shit tier character
Go fuck yourself with a rusty knife brah
>>43756457
I'm an rpg/homebrew/war game fag who thought that, doesn't play any GW, and still isn't entirely convinced, to be fair.
>>43753158
Exposition is usually a good thing.
But the universal answer to these things is that it's different for every group. One GM style does not fit all.
That's not a lot of fucking exposition.
>>43754891
Your house is fucking cold, I'm keeping cozy
Rule #1 of DMing: If you have to exposit the setting right out of the gate, dumping a ton of information on players about who they are, what the world around them is, and things you hope they remember the name of and care about right in the first session, you've already failed.
Players should ALWAYS know the setting before the game starts. Period. No excuses. They should be building their characters based on a setting document that outlines the important information they need to know, and what they should consider when constructing a character designed to fit the world. They should know this all BEFORE the game starts, not in the first 5 fucking minutes.
Anyone who is not doing this, is failing. No, this is not 'lol ur playing badwrongfun', you are literally failing at the job of being a DM.
>>43757431
This. Infodumping will never, ever, ever work for the purpose of delivering information in a casual atmosphere to fairly neutral parties. Ever.
You get two sentences to explain the world at the table, tops. After that, people just start tuning out increasingly hard, or none of it sticks as well, usually to the point where you wonder why you info dumped at all.
Don't fucking infodump.
>>43757512
>You get two sentences to explain the world at the table, three tops.
Important word to remember to add
>>43753367
No, they've already written their characters and had the introductory encounter.
>>43757543
>>43757512
It's not about how many sentences you get before people tune out.
The setting, the where and why of the first session, that's not information that you should be giving players when the game starts, because if you're doing that it means you were so fucking retarded that you didn't explain anything beforehand and just had players build completely random characters independent of any setting information and with no connection to what the actual story is. Which is, I say again, literally the worst thing a DM can ever do.
When players show up to to the first session, their characters should already be built knowing where the game takes place and why they're there, because that's the only way you can possibly have players that actually give a shit about what's going on around them.
>>43753158
I dont get the players do this whole "reputation to keep" thing.
>>43755486
A bit wrong too, Fallen Veil is the third.
>>43754776
oglaf can be pretty good
>>43754776
>he doesn't like Steve Lichman
fite me fgt
>>43754776
>Implying Fell's Five doesn't exist.
>>43753158
At like, the beginning, to provide them with some crucial setting information, informing them about where they are, what they're doing, and why.
>>43759294
Why don't they know that when they're making their characters?
"lol im a wandering adventurer here to help whatever" is not how you let players operate.
>>43753546
I might have read it if I had seen it elsewhere, and not been introduced to it by these shitty, obvious viral marketing attempts.
>>43754776
I heard Ratqueens is good
>>43761097
It's SJW garbage.
>>43761174
Is there anything on the internet today that isn't?
>>43754776
>Implying Dungeon Meshi and OPM aren't good
>>43753203
one day I hope to have a non-murderhobo party who enjoys exposition and worldbuilding as much as I do.
>>43754776
U wot m8? Deff Skwadron sez yer wrong.
>>43754776
You clearly missed the Erma dump the other day.
>>43762434
There should be aDeff Skwadron game.
>>43753218
People is eager to muderhobo.
