Interview With SheDM Blogger, Davena Oaks

Instead of an Episode we have a blogging interview with SheDM Blogger Davena Oaks. Her site is  http://theshedm.com/. She has some great insights on play mechanics and other such knowledge. She is also pretty rad on the whole keeping up with the times thing.  Don't forget to check out our sponsors, DriveThruRPG and dnddice.com. Enjoy

DND Sunday: What made you get into blogging about your experiences as a DM? 
SheDM:I wanted to get into blogging because I was reading great blogs like NewbieDM.com and Critical-Hits.com and I loved their stuff. I wanted to be very out there about the fact that I was a woman gamer. After I started, I quickly found other great women gamer/bloggers online that I didn't know about previously, like Sarah Darkmagic and RPG Lady.

DND Sunday: Do you have a favorite memory as a DM?
SHEDM: Well, one amazing session involved staying up 19 hours straight because the players didn't want to stop while they plotted and carried out their plan to instigate a revolution and overthrow the corrupt rulers of the city - whom had all been secretly kidnapped and replaced by jackal lords. With their success, they turned control of the city back over to the citizens. Exhausted but triumphant, I think we all slept for about two days nonstop after that.


DND Sunday: You started playing 3.5, do you think that 4e takes away any major mechanic that was in 3ed? 
SHEDM: Vancian casting, was of course the main mechanic to fly out the window. But speaking in general terms, 3.5 edition had enormous versatility to its overall system. You could strip away half the system and run a gritty low-fantasy game. Or you could crank up the options and run a super high-fantasy game that pushed the limits of belief. In a lot of ways as long as you were willing to tackle the complexity that came with making that choice. 
I won't lie, I passionately love 4e and I feel its a strong game, but it has and will never have that same flexibility. There is almost nothing you can strip out of the system without risking the entire system. In a lot of ways, the modularity that WotC says they're looking for in D&D Next was just evolving in 3.5 and I imagine we'll see a lot of that show up in the playtest.

DND Sunday: You are a ardent supporter of not being a snob about different versions of the game, why are some people so opposed to different editions?
SHEDM: We love our hobby, we're passionate about it, and we show it. We're also human. To imply or even openly say that your edition is better than my edition implies my decision to play my edition is flawed, essentially that I am inferior to you for choosing it. I don't think most of us even conciously think about it, its a subconcious reaction. Even I get irked by it and it takes self-control to bite my tongue or still my hands over the keyboard. We have to choose to be part of a better community and tell ourselves what someone else plays does not affect how much we enjoy our own game.

DND Sunday: In a post about D&D next you said “how can D&D Next possibly improve upon my greatest memories of playing D&D 4e? I don’t know but I’m diving into the playtest and I’m determined to give it a fair look.” Why is Wizards so set on a “5th” edition when they just released a 4th edition? Does it show a lack of commitment to 4ed?
SHEDM: Some of the first things we saw after the anouncement of D&D Next were lists of things people were wishing for in a new edition, suggestions that have been rattling around the community for quite some time too. If those demands, wishes, and suggestions had never appeared, then a 5th edition of D&D would have been an obviously frivolous and money-driven decision, by existing they prove that there are people ready to embrace a new edition. 
I also acknowledge the time will come when new 4e material will stop being produced but crucial things like the online tools and the databases of articles, art, and maps will need ongoing support to remain present and available to fans of 4e. I hope Wizards will recognize that as long as they respect their older edition fans, they maintain a better chance of keeping those fans and possibly converting them to newer editions. 


DND Sunday: What do you think the fairly new released Fortune cards add or distract from a DND game? Would it be better if the cards worked for the entire game and not just encounters? 
SHEDM: They do work for the entire game, they're just largely encouraged for organized play. The thing is organized play focuses less on roleplay and more on combat - where Fortune Cards are relevant. Home games might not focus on combat as much, so Fortune Cards are less likely to be included.
I feel they serve as a novelty item and they don't actually break the game- they're too limited use for that. As an organized event coordinator, I'm required to allow them at sponsered events, so I've seen almost every card published so far and feel confident saying they're not broken. They don't need to be banned or shunned. Even in a mixed group of card users and non-card users there is no appreciable power difference and some cards help the entire party. That being said, even an entire table using cards gains only a slight advantage against their enemies, I've never felt I had to scale an encounter up because people were using Fortune Cards.
Fortune Cards *can* distract a learning player though. I don't recommend Fortune Cards for new players (which unfortunately is the main scope of Encounters anyway). New players need to focus on learning the game and honing their decision making skills without the distraction of an exterior mechanic like Fortune Cards. I've actually seen more players do poorly than do better because they were too determined to use Fortune Cards instead of focusing on their own tactics.

DND Sunday: Modules have become an increasing part of the game, what do you find as the pros and cons of running a module? Do you find you can use as much imagination as you can in a home brew? 
SHEDM: Certainly a lot of great modules have been published, but my only experience is with organized play. The greatest thing about running modules is the prepwork is abolished. I generally take time to read the entire module through once, and then 20-15 minutes before each session to review and refresh my memory. My worst issues with modules involve blantant railroading and poor organization. If a module is poorly organized, it means taking more prep time, or worse: stopping mid-game to search for information not in the right place at the right time. Railroading isn't really fixable in organized play, but in a home game I could be much more flexible. 
I try to bring modules to life by making sure key NPCs are especially lively and memorable. When I read a module I make sure to identify the important NPCs and their characteristics and I come up with something to roleplay that will make them distinctive - a voice or a trait.

DND Sunday: How do you see the new wave of social media... like twitter, facebook, etc.. influencing the Dungeons and Dragons brand? or has it already happened?  

SHEDM: It has already happened, and a lot of us already take it for granted. The forums have been around for so long, we don't even think about them as social media but truthfully they were early social media. Wizards has been listening to digital conversations for a long time, but only recently have they started talking back in a meaningful way. The D&D Next playtest is a huge example of this, a playtest like this would have never happened in a world without social media like what we have now.

DND Sunday: A lot of players use Minatures and map to play nowadays, do you find the RPing suffering a little bit because of that? How do you interject RP heavy moments into your campaign?
SHEDM: Absolutely not. They are tools and everyone chooses the tools that suite them best. I'm a visually-focused person and I enjoy the solid and undisputable reference that map and minis gives me. I run combat quickly and decisively - something I would never be able to do if I had to rely on keeping it all in my head. 
I drive a lot of roleplay in my campaign with collaborative roleplaying (DMG2) and by asking my players questions constantly and always accepting their answers as canon. Players feel invested that way, because what they told me mattered, it changed their world in a way they controlled.

DND Sunday: As a DM what is the most challenging aspect of running a campaign?
SHEDM: Momentum is my hardest challenge. If my interest wanes, if something new distracts me, I have to work hard to keep myself on track. Sometimes if there's fear that my players aren't as invested in the game as I hoped they would be because its hard to judge how much someone cares about anything. If you meet once a week or once a month, maybe you don't know that player spends the rest of the time looking forward to your session? Maybe they don't? Players: please tell your DM what they're doing thats great and tell them often! It helps, it really does. 

DND Sunday: Back in 3rd E, you had alignment, now there is no alignments in the 4e iteration, has this hurt the game or improved it? why? 
SHEDM: I feel this has strongly improved the game for the sake of every gamer that has ever had less-than-stellar companions. I've seen strife about alignment mechanics in my own games and it leaves a bad atmosphere where ever that particular conflict crops up. We've all witnessed the old forum post complaining about cruel DMs and jerk players hiding behind the rules of the alignment system. Morals and alignments should be a roleplaying element. Multiple attempts to fix it prove: it can't be fixed. Its not going to go away because there will always be jerks among us, so lets take away the shield they hide behind and leave it plain: jerks will always act like jerks and real players can roleplay lawful good/chaotic neutral/crazy awesome without any help from the rules.


DND Sunday: What do you think other games like Vampire the Masquerade, Warhammer, and BESM contribute to the industry and to DND as a whole? 
SHE DM: Other RPGs can challenge D&D to evolve and avoid becomeing stale by looking beyond its own genre. A great cook explores other cuisines not just for flavor but also for techniques. 
Designers should also seek inspiration in other RPGs outside the scope of swords and sorcery as well as beyond the current d20 system. Besides the industry, other RPGs bring in players that would not otherwise consider trying D&D. Vampire or BESM appeals to people that like those genres, and as they grow into their hobby they might consider trying other RPGs. True story, I had a roommate that played BESM and I convinced her to try D&D, in exchange I tried BESM. It was mutually beneficial!

Thanks for reading. Tune in next week for part 2 of the Adventure's Vault Guide