DM Tony and I have had several wonderfully reminiscent conversations about the great TTRPG that TSR produced in 1984 at the height of D&D’s popularity – entitled, Marvel Super Heroes (MSHRPG). We’ll dive deeper into the eponymous FASERIP system in future episodes and articles (maybe even a 3WD One-Shot!), but I’m bringing attention to this game because of the term I used in the title: kit-bashing.
Kit-bashing is a term in the MSHRPG that deals with how a character like Tony Stark or Reed Richards could manage to “MacGyver” the needed weapon at just the right time, with only seconds to spare. From the MSH Advanced Player’s Book: “All of the above is very good when you have the time to work on a device, or have others work on it for you. What happens when Terminus pops up and you need that device to help you defeat him? You start kit-bashing – taking what is available and working with it to get something that will save the day.”
The idea of “Homebrew” dates back to the earliest days of D&D with Arneson’s “Blackmoor” setting and Gygax’s “Greyhawk” campaign world. The ability to create your own fantastic locations, frightening monsters and dangerous dungeons is one of the most attractive features of RPG’s. Not long after the original D&D, though, the developers began to produce content for players. Content in the form of published modules, Dragon magazine articles and full campaign settings.
There now exists nearly fifty years of published content that spans five editions of the game, the Dragon articles, third-party published material, supplementary campaign guides and complete systems themselves – such as Pathfinder from Paizo. This doesn’t even include the material produced for all the other TTRRPG’s out there. Do we just throw all that away to homebrew our own world? Must we accept the scorn of “homebrewers” that we would dare use (gasp!) published material? What about MY ideas?!?
Couldn’t we meet in the middle? Can’t we be creative AND utilize existing material? YouTuber Matt Colville (@mattcolville) has an excellent series for aspiring and experienced DM’s alike entitled “Running the Game.” One of his secrets is that he reskins villages and cities from existing material: For instance, his starting town of Villane in all his adventures is nothing more than the Village of Hommlet, one of the original modules produced for AD&D. Like I said, kit-bashing.
We live in a fast-paced world with school, jobs, relationships, kids, etc. Our time is valuable and, as GM’s, want to use it wisely. That’s where kit-bashing comes in. Now, how to we get the biggest bang for our buck?
Step 1: Decide what YOU want to do
This seems self-explanatory, but you’re the one running the game. You’re doing all the prep. It’s your world. There’s nothing wrong with completely homebrewing your entire campaign, from start to finish. There’s also nothing wrong with running a published adventure. So, for those in the back, THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY TO PLAY!
For newer GM’s, I often recommend playing through at least a published one-shot within your game system to get a basic sense for mechanics, encounter building, flow, story beats, etc. But, even for experienced GM’s, published adventures played as-is can be extremely gratifying (like the Storm King’s Thunder campaign that DM Tony is running for DM Thorin and me!)
Step 2: Use your time to build YOUR world
Like Matt Colville’s town of VIllane being a reskinned Village of Hommlet – use your time to develop your world and your story. Mine your player’s backstories for plot points and villains. Think about the motives and schemes of your big bad. Develop the history of the ancient Temple of The Flying Spaghetti Monster. The dungeons, maps, monsters and traps are already there for you, all you have to do is plug and play.
For all the homebrewers that scoff at this idea, I would as … are you using the Monster Manual for creatures and the Dungeon Master’s Guide for magic items? Reskinning them perhaps? Ahem … I rest my case.
As put forth by Mike Shea at SlyFlourish.com and his excellent book, Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, use what time you have wisely. Don’t spend hours crafting parts of your world that your players might never get to … focus on the next session.
Step 3: Kit-Bash
In the current campaign that I’m running (DM Thorin is a player, so NO SPOILERS!), the PC’s all began as slaves fighting in the gladiatorial pits. My city of Zaprora within the Kingdom of Aurelia was based, initially, off of a kingdom from Golarion, the world that Pathfinder is based in. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and overall schemes and motives are different, but it served as a starting point. Following that first session, the entire first tier of play has been built off of one classic module from AD&D. One (and, no, it’s not The Village of Hommlet!)
I alter the villains, the towns, the random encounters. The decisions that the PC’s make color and help create the world – but the overall mystery, the big bad, the town? Kit-bashed. I’m set for several sessions of play (it’s already taken them to level 5.)
But what if they go off the wonderfully invisible rails you’ve set, DM Dave? What about when (or if?) they kill the big bad?
Fear not, true believers, I would like to welcome you to the two most wonderful resources for the kit-bashing GM: Dungeon Master’s Guild (www.dmsguild.com) and Adventure Lookup (www.adventurelookup.com). Grab an adventure, tear it apart … like Bruce Lee said about martial arts, “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own.”
Building your own world, your own reasons for how magic works, your own deep history, your own villains is, arguably, the best part about running a game. But, you don’t have to do all the work. There’s tons of information out there … use it! No one says Bruce Springsteen isn’t amazing even though he’s using the same chords as everyone else. Artistry is all about how YOU fit this stuff together.
Until next time, heroes… LIVE THE ADVENTURE!
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