Bards and Barrels
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Bards and Barrels
S4 Ep. 14: Being a GM for Candela Obscura
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Ross and Phil discuss the ins and outs of running an assignment in Candela Obscura and the Game Master's role of keeping the tension high in a narrative focused game.
Let's curate some fear as the Game Master. And there's the opening crack. Heck yeah. It is time for another episode of Bards and Barrels. Oh yeah. Candelostyle. Candela style. Yeah, that is right. It is part six of the Candela series. It doesn't feel like we're that far in already. Uh, but part six, we're gonna be talking about uh running the game or make taking a deeper dive into running the game. So hopefully you watched the YouTube video last week uh where we got into like the GM's role in candela and creating that horror tension in a game, which is very different from DD. Um, and then like failing forward, which you're gonna hear that a lot through this series, uh, because that's really what Candela is. But let's kick off tonight, Phil. Um, hi, by the way. Hope you're doing well. Uh let's talk a little bit about um how candela has changed us as game masters in other systems. So, how does it change you as like a DM, perhaps?
SPEAKER_00Um, as a DM. Okay. Well, Candela has made me change my pace, I guess, as a GM or a DM. Um as far as uh even in some of my prepping kind of work for like a DD campaign, I try to approach it more in the Candela aspect of uh I have a couple ideas, and some people already prep this way, but I didn't very well, so I've gotten better at it. Uh I have a couple ideas, and then basically I am gonna let everything that the characters do influence how the rest of it goes and kind of build that together. Um, but that's made me better at that. I feel like I wasn't as strong at that before. Um that's a strength of other people's, I know, but that's helped me um a lot is kind of leaning into that group storytelling experience and truthfully taking, you know, more time to focus on player decisions and maybe less time focusing on the dice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I would agree with that. I I think that's the biggest takeaway from Candela that I've been able to take back to Dungeons and Dragons is being more intentional with the dice rolling. Like there's always gonna be moments where you're gonna roll a lot of dice, but it's like letting the situation dictate that a little bit better, and so it gives the players more room to role play in a lot of ways, and not like let them just have a success every now and then. Like, you don't have to roll every single thing, and I think that's something that that may be more important than other things, uh, taking back to DD. You don't have to roll that they find something on a desk because if they're looking at the desk, they're probably just gonna see it anyway. So you don't need to roll above a 10 to find something that's right in breath in in front of your face. That's right.
SPEAKER_00It's be it's that yes and instead of the oh, you're looking at something. What skill would apply, you know, to you using your eyes? Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Yes. Uh and I think uh yeah, I think I think that's really what's changed for me the most. Uh the other thing is is really leaning into that yes and, which kind of takes us to our next point for tonight, too. Let's let's talk about some examples of nothing happens yet, because I think that's twofold. It's it's it's yes and letting them role-play it, but it's also building that tension that we talk about in candela a lot.
SPEAKER_00I think uh so from the GM side, right? One of the tools that you have in your toolbox when you're playing Candela is being able to utilize this nothing happens yet moment. So uh when you're rolling in candela, uh six is a success, a four and a five is a mixed success, and a one through a three is a failure. So on a four and a five, a mixed success, they're gonna be able to do what they wanted to do, but there's some sort of a consequence or a complication. Sure. That is the perfect opportunity to like let them do something, and then in your notes over here, mark an advancement somewhere down the road, right? Like, sure, okay, well, you know, your adversary, right, is going to get to do this, or you know, they've moved two steps ahead. So that of uh and even just them knowing that they rolled a four or a five means well, something's happening, and then if you don't actually, you know, sure do something at that moment, or you could even say, you know, uh an unintended consequence uh is coming, you know, something along those lines.
SPEAKER_01And I think it's like it's like letting that silence linger. Yes. And you we've talked about this, we talked about this briefly in the the the pot the podcast intro several several parts ago, I guess, where we we really focused in on uh for a little bit about how dice rolls can be more consequential. And if you know dice rolls are more consequential, but nothing happens when you roll the dice, like you know you got a success, but you don't, or or let's say you didn't roll the six, and you know there's a consequence, but the consequence isn't shared with you, like that's a heck of a tension builder because you know there's something that should have gone wrong here, but you don't know what that thing is. Yep.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I think that's fantastic. Even just it may be a consequence that happens at that moment, but it's not immediately felt, of like you hear footsteps in the distance, right? Like if you're trying to be sneaky or something like that. You know, it's not immediate, but right imminent now, yeah, and that builds the tension, yes, it which is really the cornerstone of this game.
SPEAKER_01Like you're gonna hear us talk about tension a lot throughout this entire series. Uh, let's talk a little bit about pacing because pacing in a horror setting, again, we're gonna probably talk some about tension here, versus pacing in a DD campaign. And I and I think the the first thing to really like understand here a little bit from like a game running perspective is typically for Dungeons and Dragons, you're probably running multi-sessions long-term campaigns. Like, even if you're doing a pre-written adventure, depending on how often you're playing, it may still take you if you're playing every week, it may take you two months to finish a pre-written campaign. Oh, yeah, like up to word of 10 sessions, right? Whereas Candela is really built for like one-off assignments that you can string together and get like a history of your circle and things like that and all that jazz. But the pacing is very different because of that. Because if you're just playing an assignment, you have to move things along quicker and build that tension faster. Whereas in DD, that could be a long burn. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00And I I think you know, it's one of those scenarios too, where when I think of pacing in DD, a lot of it is, you know, there's a difference in pacing between your role-playing and between your combat. And when you get into combat, everything is, you know, action economy based, and everyone gets a turn. And uh Candela is so much more fluid than that, right? But just uh its pacing is different, yes, but its fluidity is so different too, because you don't have to manage things like action economy, and when you're talking about equipment, right? You don't have to pick that right away. You can pick the three items as you need them while you're on like while your characters are out, so on assignment. Um, but those types of things change, and you know that pacing is important again to build the tension, right? Like that is the purpose. So that is going to change too based on assignment, right? Some are gonna be a little bit slower and you're gonna draw it out a little bit longer because maybe the players just aren't picking up your clues, possibly, right? They might be a little lost. Um, and then there's some that are just gonna escalate quickly, maybe because one of the themes is time, right? Or the the loss of time. So you're actually gonna push hard and you're gonna push fast to make this be hey, you're on a timer, right? Like there's a ticking clock, and if you don't get this done in time, you know, and you're building the tension that way just through time. So you have so much control over pacing, and it's gonna vary depending potentially on an assignment.
SPEAKER_01I think as a GM, like you really want to get the right vibe for pacing, like just go watch horror movies because it's it's the same exact thing, because it's like you want to you start off kind of slow, you're doing the introduction, and you want to build that tension quickly and hold people there before you come to a resolution, right? And and that's that's any good horror film does that. And then in the middle, you the over overarching arc story arc may be a slow burn, but you're gonna have jump scares and things along the way because you want to keep that tension revved up really high, right? The antithesis to that is very much like a fantasy setting because typically in fantasy stories, I'll go back to Lord of the Rings as a prime example. You have a singular BBEG. There may be big, bad, evil guy, there may be like sub-evil people that you're fighting along the way, but there's one person that you're building to, yeah, and so it takes a long time to get to that point. Sauron, you didn't we didn't get to Mount Doom until the end of the series, right? So it's like it takes you a long time to get there, and there's a lot of stuff that happens along the way to kind of fill those gaps. Very similar. So, really, if you want to get a good feel on the the difference, pick a horror movie, go watch a horror movie, and then go watch Lord of the Rings. Yeah, all three movies, really, because that story arc is three movies long, right? Or books. If you want to go legit read the books, that's up to you, too. But you're gonna get the feel for what that pacing means in a lot of ways just by doing that. Yeah, um, let's talk a little bit now about how we handle that tension. Coming back to that again, because we're like, like we said, we're gonna come back to that a lot. How do you handle players' fear, resistance, and balancing that with like not letting them break the tension noise? Like if they want to, sure, certainly, I don't feel like you should discourage it, but that's not really the point here in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a hard one to balance kind of as the GM, I would say. Um you have to be mindful, right, of players' true fears. Um, but as far as you know, being able to build the tension and be able to break through some of that resistance, uh, it's really getting them to connect and be their characters and not be their person, I guess if that makes sense. Yeah, uh, you really need them to buy into the story as their character. So if their character would be fearful, they would be fearful. Now, if their characters, you know, way of coping with fear is by making a wise crack, right? Or something. That's a different situation. Absolutely, that's totally in character. Yeah, but it's different, whereas the they're like sitting and they're kind of making a joke about it, but they're not actually in the mindset of their player.
SPEAKER_01It's it's hard. It's above table versus at table. Absolutely. Yeah, yes, absolutely. Because I feel like that does happen a lot in DD, where like you'll get you'll get a pause in a game and you'll go above table to say, man, this is really reminding me. You guys remember that scene in this movie where they did this? It's just like that. And everybody goes, Oh yeah, and then that kind of helps you know set the scene and everything, which is great. But in you're absolutely right, in Candela, you if you're gonna joke, do it as your player, yes, to to kind of maintain the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_00I would say maybe from a GM's perspective, it's trying to make it as immersive, maybe as possible. Yeah, like truly trying to draw your characters into the story where they are characters, you know, they're not who they were or who's driving their character, they are their character.
SPEAKER_01And I think Candela, the game sets up well for that because of assignments being short, like you feel like you can be enveloped for you know a couple hours as a player. Whereas in in DD, when you're facing like longer story arcs, it's hard to like stay in character for long stretches of time, even even if you're playing weekly, like you play a couple hours a week every week, but it's like trying to find that balance in there. It's easier to do a one-time deep dive and really get into it than something you know is a little more drawn out.
SPEAKER_00I also think it's a little bit easier to investigate a mystery than it is to pretend that you're casting Eldritch Blast. That's true. I because it's you can relate to it, right?
SPEAKER_01Because it's it it feels oh, and we didn't really talk about that, but that's as a GM, you can lean on the fact that this is a world that people can relate to more than Fey Rune.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can ask them to start describing items that are real, right? Like, oh, okay, your character has a firearm or your character has a knife, you know, what is it? And they could specifically give you like an example from history of exactly what this thing is, right? Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01So I also think, Phil, this is this is a really good segue because we're talking about like really focusing in on the players and holding them at that high level attention. How does that affect a GM? Because like you're having to come up with this and hold them at that level too, so you're just as much in the story as they are. That's true.
SPEAKER_00Um, oh yeah. I don't know. I I like the challenge of that. Um our group doesn't play every week, right? So, and actually the couple times we've played Candela, it's typically because our someone was out for a normal campaign, right? So we have played. Um, so we've interspersed this out. We're not playing kind of week in, week out. So I think because of its episodic nature, it's okay. You know, I do think that it's a high level of tension during that time, and you are trying to keep your players immersed in it, so it can be exhausting. Um, but I think at the end of the day, you know, remember that this is a a game, a story that you're telling. You know, you have to be able to separate that a little bit from you know what your actual life is. Um, and you know, if you can't play this on a weekly basis, or if it is, you know, just too much work, then substitute it out, right? I mean, don't be afraid to mix it up with another system.
SPEAKER_01So right. And and and I think uh this is an interesting tangent to what we talked about in the video. Because let's let's let's come back around and talk about like your prep load for this is lower because it it you're not having to do as much prep, you're leaning heavier on the player's role play, and as a GM reacting to them versus them reacting to you. So, because of that, especially if you're not playing week to week, I think it it's like you can handle that emotional burden because you don't have like the workload burden in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I would agree with that. Um if you're gonna write your own assignments, that can get heavy if you don't get out of it a little bit. But that's just a headspace thing. By like if you need to step away from that because you're just too enveloped in it, yeah, but know your limits, right? Be cognizant of how you are doing and you know, don't overdo it, which is easier said than done. I understand that, but um, that's just one of those things to be mindful of.
SPEAKER_01Hey, and I think this game, like like any TTRPG, the GM, Dungeon Master, whatever your label is, lead game leader, like there's always a chance for burnout. Like if you're never able to get out of that role and you're unless it's something that you absolutely love doing constantly, week in and week out, there's gonna come a time where you're like, gosh, I just want to step back and play. Like, I just want to unload that burden and not have to worry about it. And that's okay too. Like, always feel like I think the biggest thing is like communicate with your players. Yeah, say something. Yes, yes, and I and I think that's where where our group, just as a as a good example, has has been, at least since we've all been playing together, has been really good about recognizing that yes, you're our forever DM, Phil, but also like we're all pretty dang good at DMing too. So it's like you know you can step back and take a break, and the story is still gonna be a lot of fun and really good because we're all pretty good at it. Yes. It's it's and I really love the fact that like we've taken our standard campaign and like we've done like these little offshoots because now it's gone from being like your baby to like it's all of our baby, because like we're also now influencing from the behind the screen side of it too. But kind of coming back around to what's to candela, it's like we do that to not let you burn out, yeah. Because at the end of the day, we want you to go back in that role because that the story is yours, the big, big story, pitcher story is still yours, and we want you to come back to that. So it's like communicate with your players, know that there's a limit, and then like try to be proactive. Like, if you can tell there's a little bit of burnout and they're telling you that there's some burnout, find an that's an opportunity to have somebody swap into that place, even if it's just for a couple of sessions.
SPEAKER_00Anything helps in that situation, and on the GM side too, maybe you're not the one that's feeling burnt out, but pay attention to your players because there may come a limit too, where like they can only live in that tension for so long as well. Yes. So try to be mindful of that. Maybe even check in after sessions, right? If you're like, hey, how's everyone doing? You know, do we want to continue with the next assignment next time we get together? You know, is your circle gonna go into hiatus for a couple months, right? There's no reason that you couldn't. Your players couldn't like go their separate ways, and then two years down the road, hey, you know, your light keeper called and your circle is being reassembled, you know, and you could just pick it back up where you were. So it's designed to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I love I love that about this game, and that and that's what, like you said, like it's designed to be. So that's those assignments, like it's not this long-running thing. Like, you can string them together, absolutely, yeah. But it doesn't have to be a long-running thing, which is fantastic. But I I think I think you're absolutely right. Like, just recognize and check in with your players. Yeah, I think as long as you do that, it's gonna be fine. It is a little bit unique to horror style games. Like, I don't feel like we've ever had to like check in and make sure everybody's okay when we're running DD because you can kind of tell based on how they're playing if it's something they want to keep doing or they don't want to keep doing, right? But this, it's like it's just a different feeling, different atmosphere, and it puts you in a different headspace where it's worth the check in just to make sure.
SPEAKER_00And we talk so much about how you know this game really pulls you into it, right? It's meant to be immersive, so some of that too is just checking to make sure, like, okay, we're done. Like, is everyone good? You know, like or is someone like stuck in that character's headspace, you know? Do we need to talk some things through? So just it because it is, it's a different kind of game, and we just need to make sure that everyone is good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I think uh just just as a side note here before we get out of here, uh, a way you can help that. And it's I think we do it without meaning to do it, but like before and after your game time, like allow a little bit of space to just talk about things. Like, talk about real life. Like, how are you doing? How are the kids doing? How's your wife? Is everything going okay? Like, have that conversation at the beginning as you go in, and then as you come out, like take the moment to say, Hey, when do you want to play again? Let's schedule a time. Hey, are you still going to the concert next week? Like, just have those little conversations because it's it's very clear boundaries when the story starts and when the story ends. That's a great suggestion. Yeah, absolutely. I I I love that we do it really well, and I think that just helps bring me back to where out of the story, essentially, when you've been role-playing pretty hard for a few hours, you know? So uh okay, that's gonna do it for this episode of Bards and Barrels. You can listen to the past episodes of the podcast anywhere you listen. Uh, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, threads, TikTok at Bards and Barrels. Be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss any of this fantastic Candela obscure series. Uh, but until next time, we'll see you soon.
