Calling

I'll get more into what I'm up to soon, For now, I'm pushing this out in a really raw state, just to get it out there.

Calls, or Calling is a house rule that can be applied to pretty much any RPG out there.  It's meant to improve narrative involvement for all players.  Too often in modern RPGs, especially ones with a strong skill system, players wait for the GM to describe the scene, then start to request dice rolls to do some action.

"Can I roll to search for traps?"
"Can I roll Diplomacy for a better price?"
"Can I roll Animal Handling to tame the wild boar?"

Well, as GM, I'll say, no, you can't.

Instead I'll ask for a Call.  That is, i want you to tell me, in character terms, what you want to try to do. Describe your action. then, depending on what you say, I'll decide, as GM, which skill is appropriate, if a die roll is even needed, and if you get any Advantage or Disadvantage.

Don't ask me for a die roll, tell me what you want to do.
Call your action.
No Call, no roll.

Remember, as GM, this needs to go for you too. Yes, some rolls might need to be done in secret, but you can't have a monster or NPC do something without Calling it either.

I promise I won't take a year for me to post again.

About the term, "grognard",  it's French. It basically means, "grumbler". It comes from Napoleon's old guard officers who disagreed with him and complained about his strategies.  Since I speak a little French, I pronounce it the French way: Groan-Yard.  Thus, the title of the blog rhymes.

Hey, look! Years after I set this account up, here's my first post! HI, if you don't know me, I'm Steven, and I'm a first generation RPG Gamer. That is, sitting around a table with friends, junk food, books, papers, and lots of (usually funny shaped) dice. Indulge me a bit with a little pedantic rant.  Where I came from, and when I came up, "gaming" had nothing to do with computers and less to do with gambling. "Gaming", to me, includes tabletop games, but especially the hobby games: tabletop wargames (chits or minis) pen and paper role-playing games (though laptops and tablets are used for reference), and collectible card games. those three types of games are what interest me most, and what I plan to focus on, especially RPGs.

Those of you in the know, probably can tell by the title of this blog, that I have been playing RPGs for a long time.  1980, to be precise, with the Pink box Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set.  So I don't go back as far as some, into the earliest days of wargaming, but I hope at least a few of those guys consider kids like me a kindred spirit. Likewise, though I don't really any collectible card gaming anymore, I do understand them, and consider them, "part of the family", so to speak.