Post by Zyraen on Sept 12, 2012 14:40:25 GMT 8
consolidated from 2 parts :
www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=509#tips
www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=510#tips
Best Game Master Tips of 2010
by Johnn Four
I went through all the tips from 2010, RPT#475 to present, and selected these as my favourites.
A couple of items that deserved a place here were entire articles that I could not split up or take a chunk from. I also excluded pure idea generators, such as the For Your Game Column and recent contest content.
A couple tips I wrote. That is cheesy, but I truly felt the tips were some of my faves from the past year, so I hope you forgive the egomaniac in me.
I hope you like these tips. Some read a bit different when taken out of their context, but I think that might enhance this Best Of format. An older idea might strike you in a new way and suddenly you are inspired and off planning.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the newsletter in 2010! Your efforts are helping game masters worldwide have more fun at every game and play more often.
1. Focus Each Encounter On An Idea
From Monte Cook
Every good monster, like every good dungeon room, is based around some idea. A medusa is built around the gaze attack idea, and secondarily about killing PCs without killing them (because that's what petrification really is - it's like being dead, without all the baggage).
So figure out what the idea of the monster is, and focus on that. Another way to look at it is, how will an encounter with this creature potentially be new, interesting, and fun in a way that an encounter with another monster might not.
If a monster doesn't have that kind of hook, you can give it one by placing it in an interesting environment.
An owlbear isn't bad, but it's not the most interesting beast in the world. Put a few in hidden caves on ledges high above the PCs and have them leap down to attack, but not all at once. This is interesting now, because the PCs don't know how many foes they're facing, or where the next one will suddenly appear, roaring and screeching from above. (In my experience, things coming from above the PCs is always scarier than if they're on the same level.) It's a little thing, but it will make that encounter memorable.
2. Quick Encounter Creation
From Johnn
Try this next time you need to create an encounter and have five minutes:
1. Select a foe
2. Give the foe a goal that opposes the PCs
3. Give the foe a weaker friend
4. Select a location
5. Give the location a cool interactive feature
6. Pick a reward
7. Look on the internet for game stats for the foe, his friend, the interactive feature and the reward (if needed)
8. Clone the friend if you need to make the encounter more difficult when it triggers
3. Discuss The Setting With Players
From D.L. Campbell
It might be a good idea to tell your players which world was your starting point. In some cases, you may not think your players have ever heard of the world you'll be using, but you could be surprised as players don't always just read what the DM expects them to.
Someone at the table might be a fan of an author writing fiction in that world, or may have picked up an intriguing- sounding sourcebook from eBay just because it was cheap. It might not have come up because you haven't been playing in that setting, but they could recognize it once you start describing things.
By explaining what setting was your starting point, but that what they know may or may not be true, you can head off misconceptions and assumptions. Don't let anyone insist that the way things are in sourcebooks is the way they're supposed to be.
Make it clear you are departing from the established version as you wish. If players are very familiar with the setting, you can add changes to well-known aspects just to keep everyone on their toes.
For instance, many modern settings feature laser weapons in addition to mechanical ones. Maybe in your version, laser weapon technology hasn't been perfected yet - there are prototypes only a few have, but they're unreliable. The competition to perfect weapon technology and get the jump on everyone else adds an element of an arms race.
Most worlds have some kind of well-known major city; you could alter the details of that. Maybe you could change the stage of development of the city. If it's at its height in the setting, show it just reaching its peak or in the midst of a decline. Maybe you create twin cities out of it, dividing the sourcebook's material between two places and adding touches of your own to flesh them out.
4. Combat Chess Clock
From: Eric Garcia
I'm running a D&D 4th Edition campaign, and because of how tactical combat is I noticed it could drag when someone was trying to coordinate a complex attack or even figuring out which power to use. So, I've come up with a solution - I bought a chess clock.
At the beginning of battle, I give each side a certain amount of time. The PCs start at 15 minutes; the GM's time is based on how many enemies and types of enemies are present. If I'm not sure, I start both with the same time.
Then, combat starts. If your side is up, your clock is running. The clock is only paused at the GM's discretion, typically for rules clarifications. Once either side runs out of time, characters on that "losing" side only get 60 seconds per turn for the rest of the round. The "winning" side gets 90-120 seconds per turn. The winning side then gets a free standard action at the end of the round, usable by any character.
After that action, the clock is reset, modifying the GM's time up or down based on who won and by how much time, as well as what enemies have died. The goal is to have the sides as close as possible in time usage.
It's worked out nicely for our group so far. Everyone is more conscious of who has to act next. Since the time is spread out for the whole party and not just any single player, many player turns end quickly to save up time so when someone does need extra time, they can take it.
And one extra action every 25-30 minutes doesn't unbalance the game all that much. It's just enough to add a dash of urgency to combat without removing the tactical nature of the game system or singling out any one player.
5. Two-Word Culture Labels
From Loz Newman
One trick is mentally tagging an in-game culture with two- word labels to guide your future presentations. For example. Greek Pirates, Viking Merchants, Aztec Duelists, Syndic Knights, Mage Smallholders.
I even once (during a massively multi-cultural world) added the tags into the written recap of the world given to the players to help them swiftly grasp the essence of each culture.
The basic principal I'm trying to illustrate here is a small effort, well spent ahead of time, beats flailing around any day. AKA, Prior Prep Prevents Poor Performance.
6. Don't Block The Path
From Emmett O'Brian
When using standard NPCs, make it obvious they are a threat to get by rather than go through. Avoid putting these NPCs directly in front of where the players have to go, and make it plain there is a way around them.
Do this by having NPCs that are not easily able to give chase to introduce dangers players can attempt to avoid with stealth and speed. For example:
* A guard in a tower is a threat, and is unlikely to chase after the party, but he might summon other guards.
* A character hops on an unmanned vehicle (or removes the driver) and speeds away.
* There is a way to block or slow NPC pursuit once PCs get through a door.
Game masters are afraid of letting players avoid obstacles because they worry players are getting away with something. Truthfully they are but why shouldn't they?
It's because if the game is too easy it stops being an adventure because there is no danger. Clearly then this approach can be used to speed up a game and increase the player's enjoyment because it brings with it an element of the unknown.
7. Location is Everything
From Kate Manchester
Take a fresh look at the adventure. Set it aside for a while (two weeks or more) and then re-read the adventure and re- examine any included materials - maps, handouts, etc. Try to see (or create) potential locations for ambushes and full cover available to both the PCs and their adversaries, along with any potential hazards.
Don't forget about home court advantage. The PCs are usually venturing into unfamiliar territory. Adversaries typically have been living or defending the area for quite some time, so they should be able to find their way around under low light conditions, and know the location of traps, secret passages and potential hiding places.
Use the environment to your advantage. If you're setting your campaign in the desert, don't forget to remind the PCs how hot it can be to wear body armor (or full plate). Watery environments can be hard to move in while encumbered by armor, equipment and treasure, and at times rather difficult to cast spells in. Muddy forest floors can also hamper movement, while the presence of dried fallen leaves can make it hard to use Stealth to sneak up on the party of orcs 50 feet ahead.
8. Make Friends and Win Favors
From Hannah Lipsky
You might not have enough cure spells to get the party up to full health, but that doesn't mean you can't patch up the bandit prisoner before you interrogate him.
A little mundane healing is just the thing for allies who can't afford a physician on their own, captured enemies you wish to sway with your mercy, and random peasants you hope to impress.
9. Watch Your Blind Spots
From Monte Cook
Be aware of your blind spots (the kind of things you never do) and your own cliches (the things you always do).
As a simple example, I seem to always default to ogres. If I need a vaguely humanoid monster, 9 times out of 10, I find myself typing the word "ogre." So I need to check myself in that regard.
Maybe someone else has all of their evil villains be spellcasters. Or the advisor to the king is always the secret bad guy in their stories. Or they never use bards. Or whatever. That's why I think it's always smart for DMs to read adventure material written by others.
Look at an old adventure you have on the shelf. Search the Internet for some DM's campaign logs. Subscribe to dungeonaday.com. It's the kind of thing that will give you ideas you won't have had on your own, and keeps things fresh.
10. Realistic NPCs
From Emmett O'Brian
Computer games have taught us that all NPCs are fanatic maniacs that will charge the PCs without regard for the fact that they just marched through hundreds of NPCs exactly like them without a scratch.
In reality, unless the NPC is a robot or the equivalent, after the first ten guys are taken down nobody is going to directly mess with the characters unless they have good reason to think they are better than the rest.
Even if the NPC is a robot, if it is being controlled by anything with any intelligence, after the hundredth robot they better be checking their repair budget.
This might lead to average NPCs fleeing in the sight of the character or spending some time trying to set up a coordinated attack.
11. Write A One Line Idea For Every Area And Region
From Mike Bourke
I like to write a one line idea for every area and region I place on a map, and every culture, just in case I need to improvise because the party has moved in a radical direction (either geographically or in terms of plot).
My players are able to spot the delaying tactics and make a big thing of my being caught short, largely because I've been so successful at using these one line starting points and thinking on my feet that I have a reputation of never being caught.
12. Surprise With Custom Creations
From Brandon Echols
First, it is clear there are no serious threats to the characters as perceived by the players. They're metagaming. The players know their characters are going to live, they know all the traps and monsters, and they know they can roll up a new character if their current one is killed. Thus, out-of-game is knowledge brought into the game.
Easy solution: prompt them to question their own knowledge. If they think they know how to fight trolls and ogres, then make the next group of trolls and ogres different. You are the DM. You are the final arbiter. Challenge what they assume. Craft a new monster, invent a new trap, blast them with a custom spell.
If the world is non-threatening, then make it a lot more hostile. If you think you are too soft, then gradually get tougher with them, and remember that you have to fracture the sense of security of the player, not the character.
13. Alleviate Madness
From Hannah Lipsky
Most fantasy worlds are short on psychiatrists, but full up on the mentally ill. Diplomacy only goes so far when someone is foaming at the mouth or raving about conspiracies. Why not use the Heal skill instead?
A good healer can calm down a madman for long enough to get a few straight answers out of them, and a great healer might even lessen the symptoms permanently. Healing herbs and potions can act as sedatives or perhaps even anti- psychotics.
14. Be Ready To Continue When The PCs Fail
From Tim W. Brown
Finally, I quote one of my GM friends. "Don't make them roll dice if you can't handle their failure." The GM should be prepared to carry on the game if the PCs fail at any point.
It's easy to fall into (or stay stuck in) the idea that each encounter is do-or-die.
The adventure (let alone the campaign) should not come to a screeching halt just because players made bad choices (let alone flubbed a few die rolls).
In a campaign, the GM should be ready to continue when the PCs fail, whether in combat or in skill checks. If the only options are the PCs win or we quit playing, the tension becomes merely tension, rather than creative tension.
If the only consequence of failure is destruction, players lose incentive to take risks and try new things. The game is pushed toward a contest of min-maxing and engineering rather than storytelling and character expression.
While some people may prefer one extreme over the other, I have found my own preferences (and those of most people) lie somewhere between the two.
15. Game Up Your Guilds
From Bryan Howard
I believe guilds get little attention in most games and are only used as a hindrance and a way to lighten the PCs' purses of their hard won gold. Guilds have existed throughout much of history and should have more attention paid to them.
Whether it is a simple potters' guild to a fighter or thieves' guild, PCs and NPCs should want to be in their appropriate guild. Being a member of a guild is a plus, not a punishment.
Make choosing a guild a quandary. "This mage guild teaches you how to cast spells without using material components, but this one teaches gem attuning and how to store spells in gems. Then this other one teaches you how to cast spells with just a focus item. I can't decide which to apply to."
Also, guilds are great for adventure hooks. Requests to steal or retrieve a stolen item, ensure a package arrives to its intended destination, or fight in a guild war.
Just as there are benefits, there should be negatives. Yes, you can learn to cast spells without using components, but your training takes half again as long and you are forbidden to use a magic item that recreates a spell effect.
16. Plan For And Reward Roleplaying
From Maggie Smith
Hey, Johnn. This is a topic especially close to my heart, so I figured I'd weigh in. With a group of almost entirely new tabletop players, I found there was an over-emphasis on ROLL playing in the first couple of sessions.
The players didn't seem as interested in the non-encounter parts of the story. During combat they focused entirely on the powers and numbers. It was especially important to me to flesh this out because my only experienced player is one of those who keeps repeating the mantra that 4th edition is like a video game, and I wanted to prove otherwise.
The first thing I did was plan a session with a lot of ROLEplaying. It was a combination of clean-up from one adventure and exposition from another, and I let them know I wanted more flavor than usual.
I think it's hard to get away from the stereotype of casting magic missile into the darkness, so they had been reluctant to do anything that might be too literal. As a rule, we're not a very serious group. Lots of drinking and metajoking and tomfoolery.
They surprised me with how they embraced it, though. As a somewhat new DM, the players put me through my paces, asking for elaborate descriptions of NPCs' actions (including a raise dead ritual) and making me ad lib a lot more than I'm used to.
They were equally committed, spending a lot of time interacting with the environment and developing their characters. When the session wrapped up, we realized there had been no combat and only one skill challenge in the 8 or so hours we'd been playing. That was a huge change.
The second thing I did was take tips you've published previously and incorporated them into my game. I made a deck of instant reward cards (using godeckyourself.com) with an emphasis on combat roleplaying. An attack bonus for describing the way you line up an arrow, a damage bonus for describing the force with which you swing your axe, combat advantage for the whole party because of the inspiring words you use to rally your allies.
I also have other little bonuses, like if they take time to describe setting up camp and foraging a meal, I might give a small skill bonus for being exceptionally rested and nourished. I have one that gives a diplomacy bonus for the next entire day if a player does something selfless in combat to help another player. I brainstormed situations that might come up and what a logical reward would be, and put it on a card.
I bought color coded popsicle sticks (I wasn't committed enough for the weighted foam tokens) and let them pass those out to reward each other for roleplaying, offering a bonus in the next session to the person with the most sticks at the end. This was a great tip, because it took a lot of the burden off me and empowered the players.
Another tip, that I took from Gabe over at Penny Arcade, ended up having an unexpected bonus for roleplaying. I made a deck of random treasure, including about half wish list items and half trash loot. Things like rat skulls, goblin fingers, exotic feathers, toy wands, etc.
The players took these items and put them to good use. In the last session, the party was fighting a dire rat and the rogue took out the rat skull and crushed it in his hand to intimidate the creature. It was one of those great moments when I realized that they finally figured out that balance, and that you don't have to take yourself too seriously to get into the game.
17. Make Roll Results Cinematic
From Andrew Glenn
How do you use roll-playing to add to the fun of your game?
I use the players to roll for random encounters in dungeons and the wilderness, and once even got someone to roll for the number of wolves that a vampire summoned. That adds to the pressure and makes everyone groan or cheer when the dice stops moving. In the case of the vampire, the player had to roll 3d6 and managed to bring in 15 wolves against the party. They still go on about that dice roll.
Also, although I don't have a formalised fumble system, if a player (or monster) makes an attack roll and gets a 1 or a 2 then they have to roll again. If it's low again, say 1 to 5, then bad things happen. Nothing too serious, just enough to make them shake their heads and give everyone a laugh. We had a barbarian in the party who kept throwing his greatswords away purely because of this. The one he lost in the marsh was my favourite.
18. Issues, Cut-Scenes, and Cliffhangers
From Mark L. Chance
Divide your game sessions into issues. Each issue should focus on a specific, defined story (for one session stories) or one part of a story arc (for multi-session stories).
The 5 Room Dungeon format is great for this sort of plotting. Think of each 5 Room Dungeon as a single issue. Insert subplots and cut-scenes between the "rooms" and then tack on a cliffhanger. www.roleplayingtips.com/5-room-dungeons/
A cut-scene is a break from the main action that advances the story. Don't forget the "Meanwhile..." moments. Work cut-scenes into your adventures.
19. You Are The Director
From Jared Hunt
If there is a single role on a movie set that most perfectly mirrors the job of a GM, it's the director.
A director has to be a good negotiator. The writer definitely had a vision, but the exact details of that vision may or may not actually make the best movie. A good director is able to preserve the vision of the writer without sacrificing the film as a whole.
Similarly, actors tend to develop strong visions for their characters. A great director allows the actors to delve into their characters and give the best possible performances, but he does it without allowing them to have a negative impact on other characters or on the rest of the story.
Like writers and actors, players have strong opinions on how the world should react to their characters. Sometimes this is expressed by min/maxing. Sometimes it is expressed by trying to monopolize the GM's attention. Other players attempt to mold the game world by arguing the minutiae of how rules should be applied.
None of these tendencies are innately bad. Each tells you the players are committed to the game and their characters.
Thinking of yourself as the director of your campaign is a fantastic mindset, especially during sessions. Directorial responsibilities you might have as a GM include:
* How each decision affects the campaign as a whole.
* How the rules are applied to each game situation.
* Managing relationships between the PCs.
* Managing relationships between the players.
* Ensuring the story the group is telling will be entertaining to the audience, where the audience is you and the players.
Like a director, a GM can't control exactly how the main characters will play their parts; but he can and should make suggestions and reward actions that improve the story.
Now, if only RPGs allowed room for an editor.
20. Create Buckets
From Johnn Four
It's critical to have a place to capture all your information. Your game notes system cannot be part of the problem. You need a simple setup that works for you so when you generate ideas, designs and plans there is a place for everything, and everything is in its place.
Your buckets might be software, GM binders, index cards, Post-It Notes, notebooks or some combination of these options. No matter what, get this figured out before your campaign starts.
If you are mid-campaign and struggle with managing all your game information, stop right now and flesh out your information buckets system, else you will always be hampered by this problem.
21. Deadly Situations
From James Edward Raggi IV
Every adventure must have situations that directly and truly threaten the lives of the characters participating. If there is no true threat, it is not an adventure, it's a tour.
I'll go so far as to say there should be situations designed specifically to kill characters. A monster that's way too tough. A trap that's going to claim a victim. Save or die. These sorts of things. Every. Single. Time. The key is to put these "expected death" situations in places where it isn't necessary to encounter them. The players must choose to engage in these areas and situations.
Teach them that the game world isn't scaled so they can kill everything.
22. Keep A Checklist Of Your Session
From Ronny
Checklists are an amazing way to keep track of your night's session. Write down all the important plot points, new NPCs you need to introduce, and encounters the players should have, and check them off as the session progresses.
Always leave extra space towards the bottom to write campaign notes on unexpected actions the players took. This checklist gives you a quick look back on what happened or didn't happen during that session.
After the session ends, review your checklist and add anything that didn't happen and is still relevant onto your next session's checklist.
I keep old checklists in my campaign binder. They are an amazing resource to use in long-term campaigns.
23. Get Player Agreement On Law Enforcement Up Front
From Johnn
Before the campaign begins and characters are made, have a discussion with your group. Decide how law enforcement will work in the setting and how it will affect gameplay. Let the players help you create this aspect of the game. Hopefully this produces a result the group can live by and play by when the campaign starts.
* What kind of adventures do you want to DM?
* What kind of adventures do they want to play?
* What kind of adventurers do they want to play?
Be sure to represent the world-building point of view, that the players are unlikely to have, where the setting will be full of people who need to live by the decisions the group makes.
Sure, it is fun and easy to want to play heroes who can do what they want without any consequences. But what has stopped others from doing the same in the past, causing strife, misery and tragedy? Surely a society would take actions to prevent this from happening again.
By having this discussion at the beginning of the campaign you can formulate a world around the desires of the group.
For example, the players remain adamant they want to be unhindered by law enforcement. Two options of many come to mind:
* Option #1: Create a warlord environment with an unsophisticated legal system. There are no guards, just agents of the warlord, and the warlord decides punishments. The PCs are safe unless they commit some major crime.
* Option #2: Give the characters law enforcement powers. This solves many small game issues handily, and gives you a handy campaign platform as a bonus.
As you can see, both options have a profound impact on a campaign.
In addition, deciding this up front helps inform players what kind of characters they should create. I think this is where most campaigns fall down in terms of handling guards. The group creates PCs near the beginning of the process, which is like putting the cart before the horse. Or worse, players create characters outside the process, and they just show up to the first session with no idea of your plan, and everyone hopes things magically gel together. Either way, characters will be at odds with the setting, campaign and adventurers the game master has planned.
The solution is to discuss law enforcement before characters are created, as part of campaign planning from the beginning.
If you are mid-campaign there is still hope. If guards are a current headache for you, have a group chat immediately. Discuss the situation to get the group's preferences. Once everyone agrees on the law enforcement style they would like, you need to make some changes.
Start with the characters. Continuing the discussion, ask the players how their characters will adapt to the group decision. This might require character personality tweaking, background changes, and motive changes. Players might need to reframe their character's point of view a bit so they are in sync with what everyone decided they wanted gameplay to be like.
Next, tackle the setting. Make necessary changes so the law enforcement style and presence matches what everyone's new expectations are. With character and setting changes planned out, you will need to update your adventure.
Make quick and seamless changes right away. Make bigger changes that can be done without requiring retroactive gameplay. Players will not care if you change game world history that they have not learned yet, for example, though you might need to update NPC backgrounds and motives as a result.
For changes that are big and visible I suggest running encounters to play them out. For example, the PCs stumble into a deadly fight between guards and the villain's minions. If the PCs help the minions, then the guards who had a grudge, proof, or pending charges against the PCs are slain. Assuming no witnesses, problem solved. If the PCs help the guards, then out of gratitude the guards become friendly to them, drop the charges, and tend to look the other way in the future.
24. Require A Background
From Kate Manchester
Require all characters to have a background story. It can be long or short (preferably long) and in any format they choose. For my own campaigns, I require players to justify some or all of their PC's advantages or flaws in their background. If the PC has a 3 point Enemy, I want to know how they managed to piss someone off that badly.
25. Rewards
From James Edward Raggi IV
There are two standards that adventure rewards must meet: they must be enough, and they must be not enough.
Enough that everyone involved doesn't think that they've completely wasted their time... and not enough to leave anybody really satisfied with what they have. They need more! Where next to plunder?
Note that concealing the rewards well may wind with the players not finding it. Tough. As a referee, just make sure it's there. Don't help the players to actually find it.
26. You're Done
From Hannah Lipsky
Never cancel a game for lack of prep. Sure, prep can make your game better. Prep usually does make your game better. Players appreciate well put together sessions and elaborate props. I'm certainly not discouraging you from pouring hours of prep into your game; if you have the time and it makes you happy, go for it.
But your players would rather you wing a session with bottle caps and scraps than have to miss a game because you were afraid it would be less than perfect.
27. Give City Encounters A Backstory
From Johnn Four
To make an encounter compelling it needs a backstory. Create a layer behind what the players see, which they can peel back and discover if they so choose. This adds depth, exploration and player control to your urban games, while keeping things manageable behind the screen.
28. Make Histories Dynamic
From Kate Manchester
Realize that a character's history is dynamic. It can evolve and become more fleshed out over time as the player spends more time with the PC.
For example, I've had a character history that started out with the vague reasoning of her transfer away from her native Chicago due to a family dispute. I elaborated on it by deciding the dispute was with her mother and sisters over breaking her engagement (she and her fiancee had different ideas about her working outside the home).
29. Low-Level Encounter Ideas
From JShurin
Hi Johnn, I've been reading your newsletter for about a year now, and am really enjoying it. I just finished up a campaign, and thought there might be a few useful encounter seeds in it for others.
The party was powerful (some good dice rolling in character creation), so I wound up racking my mind for ways to make standard encounters into challenges. Here are some of the situations I put my (now slightly twitchy!) party through:
* Trapped in the second-story of a burning inn at night, surrounded by goblin shamans and rogues - firing at party members as they scrambled out the windows.
* On their hands and knees, fighting a zombie hound in the crawl space underneath an abandoned hut.
* Swimming underwater through a sunken room, being grappled by angry zombies. Unarmored, and wearing extremely fragile water-breathing gear, there was a sense of paranoia about sustaining even a single hit.
* Rowing a small boat down a jungle river, whilst goblins leapt from overhanging trees and vines in ambush. Hungry alligators snapped up anyone foolish enough to fall over into the water.
* Hunting down a goblin shaman in mist-shrouded ruins (no darkvision need apply, naturally) while wolves darted in and out from all sides.
* Carrying a fragile glass jar with a rare spell component (to save a girl's life) across a series of slick logs - while angry goblins pelted them with stones.
* Battling an enemy monk on top of a massive dam - a ten- foot-wide, smooth, water-slick stone surface. Naturally, without guard rails or walls -against a nimble enemy with no armor check penalty. As this was the climactic battle, I actually built this set ahead of time (two sheets of styrofoam and some PDF dungeon tiles) to reinforce the tension that came from the height. (Un)Fortunately, no party members fell off - but many wound up prone, clinging on for dear life!
For all of these, relatively low CR beasties suddenly become much more difficult encounters.
30. Four Core Approaches
From Swordgleam
Some players think it is entirely the DM's job to introduce the party to each other and give them a viable reason to stay together. Some DMs think this is entirely the players' job. Players and DMs who feel one way generally feel similarly about who is responsible for creating/finding/following/figuring out the plot.
I've run a few campaigns of varying lengths, starting on either end of the "whose job is this" spectrum. The smoothest startups either way have all involved clear expectations on both sides. Based on what I've experienced, it seems like the core approaches, in rough order of how well they've worked for me, are:
1. Players work together to create characters with interweaving backstories, then present this to the DM.
2. The DM designs a campaign predicated on the PCs cooperating.
3. DM creates a situation that forces the PCs together, and the PCs must go from there.
4. The PCs put their characters in proximity, and the DM gives them a reason to stick together.
31. How Do You Use Dice In Ways Beyond System Rules
From cra2
1. I've got weather dice I roll at the beginning of every in-game day to remind me to set the scene and describe the sights, sounds, smells (and weather) the PCs experience. I even roll a d8 directional die at the same time so I can say what direction the wind's blowing.
2. I have a set of mood dice that show a smiley face, sad face, surprised face, etc. I LOVE to use these to help me improve what random mood the NPC might be in when the PCs walk in.
What the PCs say and do will alter that mood, but having a handful of mood dice helps me instantly create a visual atmosphere. "As you enter, the Mayor seems to be chastising one of his underlings who appears ashamed. Nearby, the sheriff looks scared - an emotion you thought he didn't possess, until now. What do you guys do?"
3. I use dice as mooks in combat. If the party is surrounded by minions with 8 hit points each, I'll put out a swarm of d8s with "8" showing. As the minions take damage, I just flip the die to show the remaining hit points. Instant, visual, paperless tracking the whole table benefits from.
4. I use a variety of dice for in-character gambling games. I always have dice games (of chance) going on in the back of the tavern. And even in the middle of a dungeon, if a couple of players are separated from the party and have to wait while a scene resolves, they might pick up some dice and gamble coppers with each other to kill time.
5. Believe it or not, often I use dice instead of my dry- erase markers on the battle mat. Most combat environments just need a general indication of where the boundaries are. So, if the PCs enter a large, rectangular room, I'll just put four d6's (of the same color) about where the corners of the room are.
Then I'll put a different colored d6 wherever the exit(s) are, and maybe even a third color indicating where the pillars are.
90% of the time, that's all the scene requires and it's 90% faster than drawing/erasing every wall and door on the mat. Even in an irregular environment, like a circular grassy clearing, I just throw some d6's out to indicate the general borders of the clearing and let the players' minds fill in the lines between.
6. I don't know anyone who doesn't keep a couple of d20's set aside as turn counters for spell duration and such. Will the bomb go off in 14 rounds? Set a d20 out in view with the 14 showing. Every turn, flip the die over to the appropriate number. A visual countdown makes things tense for the players.
7. I use some d6's as height indicators for most indoors (and some outdoors) situations. For example, if a PC climbs 20' up the wall, I'll put a large d6 under the miniature, with the '2' facing up. When the PC climbs another 10', we turn the d6 so the 3 is facing up.
My friend has dice that stack well, and he just puts a number of d6's under the mini equal to the height of the PC (divided by 10). So if you're 40' up the wall, he puts you atop four d6's.
32. Create A Conflict
Johnn Four
Some GMs might associate romance in RPGs with roleplaying the interactions and awkward dialogue. Not so. Focus on the conflict. That is where the great encounter and plot opportunities lie.
We have already seen one example above of interesting conflict where a society imposes restrictions, standards and behaviors on relationships. This gives players gameplay opportunities as they try to work within the system, and depending on the relationship, try to work outside the system.
Instead of making the relationship the focus of the gameplay, look at conflicts surrounding it. Focus on those who try to break up the romance versus those who gain by seeing the romance bloom. Then involve the PCs in the faction interplay.
Another awesome source of conflict comes from the background of an NPC involved in a relationship. Keep this background a secret and reveal it in bits and pieces as the game progresses. Then have each revelation change the NPC from sympathetic to pathetic to villain to sympathetic again, back and forth, over and over.
For example, say the PC is in love with the daughter of someone who is far down the line as heir to the throne. Aside from all the courtly political plots you might hatch, you can create a twisted background that keeps the PC guessing whether the love of their life is a wonderful person or jaded pawn of the court.
In one encounter the group learns the daughter, Mariele, saved an orphanage by convincing her father to donate funds to keep it running. But then the PCs discover the orphanage is a cover for a gang of thugs who bully the orphans. They also learn Mariele knew about this the whole time!
When confronted, she tells them she has nothing to do with the thugs and she raised the money truly help the children. Suspicious, the PCs eventually uncover proof that she is telling the truth. But in the course of that investigation, they learn she is secretly betrothed to one of the thugs. When asked to choose, she chooses the thug!
But then the party learns she only chose the thug because the King threatened to call the PCs criminals and throw them in his dungeon.
And on and on it goes, with the group thinking Mariele is a victim one moment, then villain the next.
33. Heist What and Why?
From Joel Fox
The 'what' and 'why' of a heist are tied together, for often the risks and costs associated getting the loot match or outweigh the reward. The risks associated with a bank robbery, for example, are nearly too many to list: risk of injury, death, imprisonment, betrayal, and so forth, not to mention further pursuit by law enforcement, paranoia, and having to leave the country. Therefore, the why of a heist is often more important than the what, even though the what is the goal of the players.
The what is generally easy enough, such as:
* A pile of diamonds
* Money
* Bearer bonds
* Paintings
* The Declaration of Independence
It might not be intrinsically valuable like currency, but rather something of a more personal value:
* Documents showing the heritage of party members (granting them a crown at a later date)
* Blueprints to create an exotic device
* An imprisoned person the party cares about
You might come up with the what somewhere later in the heist creation process, or leave the what a mystery: the party knows something valuable is in a vault, but not exactly what it is.
The why, however, is more of what makes a heist a heist, and not just people stealing stuff. The why is what makes the benefits outweigh the risks, so it has to be pretty big: a party rarely says, "Hey let's steal the Hope Diamond today."
The why is:
* Some advantage or edge the party has over the loot's defenses
* To protect themselves from an even more dire fate
* To prevent a disaster
* To keep the loot safe
* To save a loved one
Here are some specific examples:
* A party member helped design or install one of the more potent security measures guarding a treasure; they know of a bypass.
* A friend, relative, ex-lover, etc. that guards the loot is a friend of the party, and will supply the party with useful information in exchange for a cut.
* The money gained from a heist will be used to pay off a dangerous criminal organization that wants the party's blood.
* The loot is a powerful item or will provide funds that will aid the party considerably in their current quest, whatever that might be.
* The loot is a cure or antidote for a rare and otherwise incurable affliction that one or more party members suffer from; without it, they'll die.
* Similarly, someone has afflicted the party and will exchange the antidote for the loot.
* The loot's owner recently acquired the item themselves, and don't have the full security system installed yet.
* The loot's owner has recently acquired the loot themselves; an object of great power, it spells considerable doom if the party doesn't recover it.
* The loot is dangerous or in danger, and the loot's owner doesn't listen to the party's pleas; it must be stolen to protect it or others.
Making the why a personal and specific element of the heist helps tie elements together.
It also keeps party interest high. A party that decides one day to rob a local complex might lose interest or get discouraged during the planning stages, whereas a party that knows a local complex has valuable items the party can use and several exploitable security holes will stay on task until the job is done.
www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=509#tips
www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=510#tips
Best Game Master Tips of 2010
by Johnn Four
I went through all the tips from 2010, RPT#475 to present, and selected these as my favourites.
A couple of items that deserved a place here were entire articles that I could not split up or take a chunk from. I also excluded pure idea generators, such as the For Your Game Column and recent contest content.
A couple tips I wrote. That is cheesy, but I truly felt the tips were some of my faves from the past year, so I hope you forgive the egomaniac in me.
I hope you like these tips. Some read a bit different when taken out of their context, but I think that might enhance this Best Of format. An older idea might strike you in a new way and suddenly you are inspired and off planning.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the newsletter in 2010! Your efforts are helping game masters worldwide have more fun at every game and play more often.
1. Focus Each Encounter On An Idea
From Monte Cook
Every good monster, like every good dungeon room, is based around some idea. A medusa is built around the gaze attack idea, and secondarily about killing PCs without killing them (because that's what petrification really is - it's like being dead, without all the baggage).
So figure out what the idea of the monster is, and focus on that. Another way to look at it is, how will an encounter with this creature potentially be new, interesting, and fun in a way that an encounter with another monster might not.
If a monster doesn't have that kind of hook, you can give it one by placing it in an interesting environment.
An owlbear isn't bad, but it's not the most interesting beast in the world. Put a few in hidden caves on ledges high above the PCs and have them leap down to attack, but not all at once. This is interesting now, because the PCs don't know how many foes they're facing, or where the next one will suddenly appear, roaring and screeching from above. (In my experience, things coming from above the PCs is always scarier than if they're on the same level.) It's a little thing, but it will make that encounter memorable.
2. Quick Encounter Creation
From Johnn
Try this next time you need to create an encounter and have five minutes:
1. Select a foe
2. Give the foe a goal that opposes the PCs
3. Give the foe a weaker friend
4. Select a location
5. Give the location a cool interactive feature
6. Pick a reward
7. Look on the internet for game stats for the foe, his friend, the interactive feature and the reward (if needed)
8. Clone the friend if you need to make the encounter more difficult when it triggers
3. Discuss The Setting With Players
From D.L. Campbell
It might be a good idea to tell your players which world was your starting point. In some cases, you may not think your players have ever heard of the world you'll be using, but you could be surprised as players don't always just read what the DM expects them to.
Someone at the table might be a fan of an author writing fiction in that world, or may have picked up an intriguing- sounding sourcebook from eBay just because it was cheap. It might not have come up because you haven't been playing in that setting, but they could recognize it once you start describing things.
By explaining what setting was your starting point, but that what they know may or may not be true, you can head off misconceptions and assumptions. Don't let anyone insist that the way things are in sourcebooks is the way they're supposed to be.
Make it clear you are departing from the established version as you wish. If players are very familiar with the setting, you can add changes to well-known aspects just to keep everyone on their toes.
For instance, many modern settings feature laser weapons in addition to mechanical ones. Maybe in your version, laser weapon technology hasn't been perfected yet - there are prototypes only a few have, but they're unreliable. The competition to perfect weapon technology and get the jump on everyone else adds an element of an arms race.
Most worlds have some kind of well-known major city; you could alter the details of that. Maybe you could change the stage of development of the city. If it's at its height in the setting, show it just reaching its peak or in the midst of a decline. Maybe you create twin cities out of it, dividing the sourcebook's material between two places and adding touches of your own to flesh them out.
4. Combat Chess Clock
From: Eric Garcia
I'm running a D&D 4th Edition campaign, and because of how tactical combat is I noticed it could drag when someone was trying to coordinate a complex attack or even figuring out which power to use. So, I've come up with a solution - I bought a chess clock.
At the beginning of battle, I give each side a certain amount of time. The PCs start at 15 minutes; the GM's time is based on how many enemies and types of enemies are present. If I'm not sure, I start both with the same time.
Then, combat starts. If your side is up, your clock is running. The clock is only paused at the GM's discretion, typically for rules clarifications. Once either side runs out of time, characters on that "losing" side only get 60 seconds per turn for the rest of the round. The "winning" side gets 90-120 seconds per turn. The winning side then gets a free standard action at the end of the round, usable by any character.
After that action, the clock is reset, modifying the GM's time up or down based on who won and by how much time, as well as what enemies have died. The goal is to have the sides as close as possible in time usage.
It's worked out nicely for our group so far. Everyone is more conscious of who has to act next. Since the time is spread out for the whole party and not just any single player, many player turns end quickly to save up time so when someone does need extra time, they can take it.
And one extra action every 25-30 minutes doesn't unbalance the game all that much. It's just enough to add a dash of urgency to combat without removing the tactical nature of the game system or singling out any one player.
5. Two-Word Culture Labels
From Loz Newman
One trick is mentally tagging an in-game culture with two- word labels to guide your future presentations. For example. Greek Pirates, Viking Merchants, Aztec Duelists, Syndic Knights, Mage Smallholders.
I even once (during a massively multi-cultural world) added the tags into the written recap of the world given to the players to help them swiftly grasp the essence of each culture.
The basic principal I'm trying to illustrate here is a small effort, well spent ahead of time, beats flailing around any day. AKA, Prior Prep Prevents Poor Performance.
6. Don't Block The Path
From Emmett O'Brian
When using standard NPCs, make it obvious they are a threat to get by rather than go through. Avoid putting these NPCs directly in front of where the players have to go, and make it plain there is a way around them.
Do this by having NPCs that are not easily able to give chase to introduce dangers players can attempt to avoid with stealth and speed. For example:
* A guard in a tower is a threat, and is unlikely to chase after the party, but he might summon other guards.
* A character hops on an unmanned vehicle (or removes the driver) and speeds away.
* There is a way to block or slow NPC pursuit once PCs get through a door.
Game masters are afraid of letting players avoid obstacles because they worry players are getting away with something. Truthfully they are but why shouldn't they?
It's because if the game is too easy it stops being an adventure because there is no danger. Clearly then this approach can be used to speed up a game and increase the player's enjoyment because it brings with it an element of the unknown.
7. Location is Everything
From Kate Manchester
Take a fresh look at the adventure. Set it aside for a while (two weeks or more) and then re-read the adventure and re- examine any included materials - maps, handouts, etc. Try to see (or create) potential locations for ambushes and full cover available to both the PCs and their adversaries, along with any potential hazards.
Don't forget about home court advantage. The PCs are usually venturing into unfamiliar territory. Adversaries typically have been living or defending the area for quite some time, so they should be able to find their way around under low light conditions, and know the location of traps, secret passages and potential hiding places.
Use the environment to your advantage. If you're setting your campaign in the desert, don't forget to remind the PCs how hot it can be to wear body armor (or full plate). Watery environments can be hard to move in while encumbered by armor, equipment and treasure, and at times rather difficult to cast spells in. Muddy forest floors can also hamper movement, while the presence of dried fallen leaves can make it hard to use Stealth to sneak up on the party of orcs 50 feet ahead.
8. Make Friends and Win Favors
From Hannah Lipsky
You might not have enough cure spells to get the party up to full health, but that doesn't mean you can't patch up the bandit prisoner before you interrogate him.
A little mundane healing is just the thing for allies who can't afford a physician on their own, captured enemies you wish to sway with your mercy, and random peasants you hope to impress.
9. Watch Your Blind Spots
From Monte Cook
Be aware of your blind spots (the kind of things you never do) and your own cliches (the things you always do).
As a simple example, I seem to always default to ogres. If I need a vaguely humanoid monster, 9 times out of 10, I find myself typing the word "ogre." So I need to check myself in that regard.
Maybe someone else has all of their evil villains be spellcasters. Or the advisor to the king is always the secret bad guy in their stories. Or they never use bards. Or whatever. That's why I think it's always smart for DMs to read adventure material written by others.
Look at an old adventure you have on the shelf. Search the Internet for some DM's campaign logs. Subscribe to dungeonaday.com. It's the kind of thing that will give you ideas you won't have had on your own, and keeps things fresh.
10. Realistic NPCs
From Emmett O'Brian
Computer games have taught us that all NPCs are fanatic maniacs that will charge the PCs without regard for the fact that they just marched through hundreds of NPCs exactly like them without a scratch.
In reality, unless the NPC is a robot or the equivalent, after the first ten guys are taken down nobody is going to directly mess with the characters unless they have good reason to think they are better than the rest.
Even if the NPC is a robot, if it is being controlled by anything with any intelligence, after the hundredth robot they better be checking their repair budget.
This might lead to average NPCs fleeing in the sight of the character or spending some time trying to set up a coordinated attack.
11. Write A One Line Idea For Every Area And Region
From Mike Bourke
I like to write a one line idea for every area and region I place on a map, and every culture, just in case I need to improvise because the party has moved in a radical direction (either geographically or in terms of plot).
My players are able to spot the delaying tactics and make a big thing of my being caught short, largely because I've been so successful at using these one line starting points and thinking on my feet that I have a reputation of never being caught.
12. Surprise With Custom Creations
From Brandon Echols
First, it is clear there are no serious threats to the characters as perceived by the players. They're metagaming. The players know their characters are going to live, they know all the traps and monsters, and they know they can roll up a new character if their current one is killed. Thus, out-of-game is knowledge brought into the game.
Easy solution: prompt them to question their own knowledge. If they think they know how to fight trolls and ogres, then make the next group of trolls and ogres different. You are the DM. You are the final arbiter. Challenge what they assume. Craft a new monster, invent a new trap, blast them with a custom spell.
If the world is non-threatening, then make it a lot more hostile. If you think you are too soft, then gradually get tougher with them, and remember that you have to fracture the sense of security of the player, not the character.
13. Alleviate Madness
From Hannah Lipsky
Most fantasy worlds are short on psychiatrists, but full up on the mentally ill. Diplomacy only goes so far when someone is foaming at the mouth or raving about conspiracies. Why not use the Heal skill instead?
A good healer can calm down a madman for long enough to get a few straight answers out of them, and a great healer might even lessen the symptoms permanently. Healing herbs and potions can act as sedatives or perhaps even anti- psychotics.
14. Be Ready To Continue When The PCs Fail
From Tim W. Brown
Finally, I quote one of my GM friends. "Don't make them roll dice if you can't handle their failure." The GM should be prepared to carry on the game if the PCs fail at any point.
It's easy to fall into (or stay stuck in) the idea that each encounter is do-or-die.
The adventure (let alone the campaign) should not come to a screeching halt just because players made bad choices (let alone flubbed a few die rolls).
In a campaign, the GM should be ready to continue when the PCs fail, whether in combat or in skill checks. If the only options are the PCs win or we quit playing, the tension becomes merely tension, rather than creative tension.
If the only consequence of failure is destruction, players lose incentive to take risks and try new things. The game is pushed toward a contest of min-maxing and engineering rather than storytelling and character expression.
While some people may prefer one extreme over the other, I have found my own preferences (and those of most people) lie somewhere between the two.
15. Game Up Your Guilds
From Bryan Howard
I believe guilds get little attention in most games and are only used as a hindrance and a way to lighten the PCs' purses of their hard won gold. Guilds have existed throughout much of history and should have more attention paid to them.
Whether it is a simple potters' guild to a fighter or thieves' guild, PCs and NPCs should want to be in their appropriate guild. Being a member of a guild is a plus, not a punishment.
Make choosing a guild a quandary. "This mage guild teaches you how to cast spells without using material components, but this one teaches gem attuning and how to store spells in gems. Then this other one teaches you how to cast spells with just a focus item. I can't decide which to apply to."
Also, guilds are great for adventure hooks. Requests to steal or retrieve a stolen item, ensure a package arrives to its intended destination, or fight in a guild war.
Just as there are benefits, there should be negatives. Yes, you can learn to cast spells without using components, but your training takes half again as long and you are forbidden to use a magic item that recreates a spell effect.
16. Plan For And Reward Roleplaying
From Maggie Smith
Hey, Johnn. This is a topic especially close to my heart, so I figured I'd weigh in. With a group of almost entirely new tabletop players, I found there was an over-emphasis on ROLL playing in the first couple of sessions.
The players didn't seem as interested in the non-encounter parts of the story. During combat they focused entirely on the powers and numbers. It was especially important to me to flesh this out because my only experienced player is one of those who keeps repeating the mantra that 4th edition is like a video game, and I wanted to prove otherwise.
The first thing I did was plan a session with a lot of ROLEplaying. It was a combination of clean-up from one adventure and exposition from another, and I let them know I wanted more flavor than usual.
I think it's hard to get away from the stereotype of casting magic missile into the darkness, so they had been reluctant to do anything that might be too literal. As a rule, we're not a very serious group. Lots of drinking and metajoking and tomfoolery.
They surprised me with how they embraced it, though. As a somewhat new DM, the players put me through my paces, asking for elaborate descriptions of NPCs' actions (including a raise dead ritual) and making me ad lib a lot more than I'm used to.
They were equally committed, spending a lot of time interacting with the environment and developing their characters. When the session wrapped up, we realized there had been no combat and only one skill challenge in the 8 or so hours we'd been playing. That was a huge change.
The second thing I did was take tips you've published previously and incorporated them into my game. I made a deck of instant reward cards (using godeckyourself.com) with an emphasis on combat roleplaying. An attack bonus for describing the way you line up an arrow, a damage bonus for describing the force with which you swing your axe, combat advantage for the whole party because of the inspiring words you use to rally your allies.
I also have other little bonuses, like if they take time to describe setting up camp and foraging a meal, I might give a small skill bonus for being exceptionally rested and nourished. I have one that gives a diplomacy bonus for the next entire day if a player does something selfless in combat to help another player. I brainstormed situations that might come up and what a logical reward would be, and put it on a card.
I bought color coded popsicle sticks (I wasn't committed enough for the weighted foam tokens) and let them pass those out to reward each other for roleplaying, offering a bonus in the next session to the person with the most sticks at the end. This was a great tip, because it took a lot of the burden off me and empowered the players.
Another tip, that I took from Gabe over at Penny Arcade, ended up having an unexpected bonus for roleplaying. I made a deck of random treasure, including about half wish list items and half trash loot. Things like rat skulls, goblin fingers, exotic feathers, toy wands, etc.
The players took these items and put them to good use. In the last session, the party was fighting a dire rat and the rogue took out the rat skull and crushed it in his hand to intimidate the creature. It was one of those great moments when I realized that they finally figured out that balance, and that you don't have to take yourself too seriously to get into the game.
17. Make Roll Results Cinematic
From Andrew Glenn
How do you use roll-playing to add to the fun of your game?
I use the players to roll for random encounters in dungeons and the wilderness, and once even got someone to roll for the number of wolves that a vampire summoned. That adds to the pressure and makes everyone groan or cheer when the dice stops moving. In the case of the vampire, the player had to roll 3d6 and managed to bring in 15 wolves against the party. They still go on about that dice roll.
Also, although I don't have a formalised fumble system, if a player (or monster) makes an attack roll and gets a 1 or a 2 then they have to roll again. If it's low again, say 1 to 5, then bad things happen. Nothing too serious, just enough to make them shake their heads and give everyone a laugh. We had a barbarian in the party who kept throwing his greatswords away purely because of this. The one he lost in the marsh was my favourite.
18. Issues, Cut-Scenes, and Cliffhangers
From Mark L. Chance
Divide your game sessions into issues. Each issue should focus on a specific, defined story (for one session stories) or one part of a story arc (for multi-session stories).
The 5 Room Dungeon format is great for this sort of plotting. Think of each 5 Room Dungeon as a single issue. Insert subplots and cut-scenes between the "rooms" and then tack on a cliffhanger. www.roleplayingtips.com/5-room-dungeons/
A cut-scene is a break from the main action that advances the story. Don't forget the "Meanwhile..." moments. Work cut-scenes into your adventures.
19. You Are The Director
From Jared Hunt
If there is a single role on a movie set that most perfectly mirrors the job of a GM, it's the director.
A director has to be a good negotiator. The writer definitely had a vision, but the exact details of that vision may or may not actually make the best movie. A good director is able to preserve the vision of the writer without sacrificing the film as a whole.
Similarly, actors tend to develop strong visions for their characters. A great director allows the actors to delve into their characters and give the best possible performances, but he does it without allowing them to have a negative impact on other characters or on the rest of the story.
Like writers and actors, players have strong opinions on how the world should react to their characters. Sometimes this is expressed by min/maxing. Sometimes it is expressed by trying to monopolize the GM's attention. Other players attempt to mold the game world by arguing the minutiae of how rules should be applied.
None of these tendencies are innately bad. Each tells you the players are committed to the game and their characters.
Thinking of yourself as the director of your campaign is a fantastic mindset, especially during sessions. Directorial responsibilities you might have as a GM include:
* How each decision affects the campaign as a whole.
* How the rules are applied to each game situation.
* Managing relationships between the PCs.
* Managing relationships between the players.
* Ensuring the story the group is telling will be entertaining to the audience, where the audience is you and the players.
Like a director, a GM can't control exactly how the main characters will play their parts; but he can and should make suggestions and reward actions that improve the story.
Now, if only RPGs allowed room for an editor.
20. Create Buckets
From Johnn Four
It's critical to have a place to capture all your information. Your game notes system cannot be part of the problem. You need a simple setup that works for you so when you generate ideas, designs and plans there is a place for everything, and everything is in its place.
Your buckets might be software, GM binders, index cards, Post-It Notes, notebooks or some combination of these options. No matter what, get this figured out before your campaign starts.
If you are mid-campaign and struggle with managing all your game information, stop right now and flesh out your information buckets system, else you will always be hampered by this problem.
21. Deadly Situations
From James Edward Raggi IV
Every adventure must have situations that directly and truly threaten the lives of the characters participating. If there is no true threat, it is not an adventure, it's a tour.
I'll go so far as to say there should be situations designed specifically to kill characters. A monster that's way too tough. A trap that's going to claim a victim. Save or die. These sorts of things. Every. Single. Time. The key is to put these "expected death" situations in places where it isn't necessary to encounter them. The players must choose to engage in these areas and situations.
Teach them that the game world isn't scaled so they can kill everything.
22. Keep A Checklist Of Your Session
From Ronny
Checklists are an amazing way to keep track of your night's session. Write down all the important plot points, new NPCs you need to introduce, and encounters the players should have, and check them off as the session progresses.
Always leave extra space towards the bottom to write campaign notes on unexpected actions the players took. This checklist gives you a quick look back on what happened or didn't happen during that session.
After the session ends, review your checklist and add anything that didn't happen and is still relevant onto your next session's checklist.
I keep old checklists in my campaign binder. They are an amazing resource to use in long-term campaigns.
23. Get Player Agreement On Law Enforcement Up Front
From Johnn
Before the campaign begins and characters are made, have a discussion with your group. Decide how law enforcement will work in the setting and how it will affect gameplay. Let the players help you create this aspect of the game. Hopefully this produces a result the group can live by and play by when the campaign starts.
* What kind of adventures do you want to DM?
* What kind of adventures do they want to play?
* What kind of adventurers do they want to play?
Be sure to represent the world-building point of view, that the players are unlikely to have, where the setting will be full of people who need to live by the decisions the group makes.
Sure, it is fun and easy to want to play heroes who can do what they want without any consequences. But what has stopped others from doing the same in the past, causing strife, misery and tragedy? Surely a society would take actions to prevent this from happening again.
By having this discussion at the beginning of the campaign you can formulate a world around the desires of the group.
For example, the players remain adamant they want to be unhindered by law enforcement. Two options of many come to mind:
* Option #1: Create a warlord environment with an unsophisticated legal system. There are no guards, just agents of the warlord, and the warlord decides punishments. The PCs are safe unless they commit some major crime.
* Option #2: Give the characters law enforcement powers. This solves many small game issues handily, and gives you a handy campaign platform as a bonus.
As you can see, both options have a profound impact on a campaign.
In addition, deciding this up front helps inform players what kind of characters they should create. I think this is where most campaigns fall down in terms of handling guards. The group creates PCs near the beginning of the process, which is like putting the cart before the horse. Or worse, players create characters outside the process, and they just show up to the first session with no idea of your plan, and everyone hopes things magically gel together. Either way, characters will be at odds with the setting, campaign and adventurers the game master has planned.
The solution is to discuss law enforcement before characters are created, as part of campaign planning from the beginning.
If you are mid-campaign there is still hope. If guards are a current headache for you, have a group chat immediately. Discuss the situation to get the group's preferences. Once everyone agrees on the law enforcement style they would like, you need to make some changes.
Start with the characters. Continuing the discussion, ask the players how their characters will adapt to the group decision. This might require character personality tweaking, background changes, and motive changes. Players might need to reframe their character's point of view a bit so they are in sync with what everyone decided they wanted gameplay to be like.
Next, tackle the setting. Make necessary changes so the law enforcement style and presence matches what everyone's new expectations are. With character and setting changes planned out, you will need to update your adventure.
Make quick and seamless changes right away. Make bigger changes that can be done without requiring retroactive gameplay. Players will not care if you change game world history that they have not learned yet, for example, though you might need to update NPC backgrounds and motives as a result.
For changes that are big and visible I suggest running encounters to play them out. For example, the PCs stumble into a deadly fight between guards and the villain's minions. If the PCs help the minions, then the guards who had a grudge, proof, or pending charges against the PCs are slain. Assuming no witnesses, problem solved. If the PCs help the guards, then out of gratitude the guards become friendly to them, drop the charges, and tend to look the other way in the future.
24. Require A Background
From Kate Manchester
Require all characters to have a background story. It can be long or short (preferably long) and in any format they choose. For my own campaigns, I require players to justify some or all of their PC's advantages or flaws in their background. If the PC has a 3 point Enemy, I want to know how they managed to piss someone off that badly.
25. Rewards
From James Edward Raggi IV
There are two standards that adventure rewards must meet: they must be enough, and they must be not enough.
Enough that everyone involved doesn't think that they've completely wasted their time... and not enough to leave anybody really satisfied with what they have. They need more! Where next to plunder?
Note that concealing the rewards well may wind with the players not finding it. Tough. As a referee, just make sure it's there. Don't help the players to actually find it.
26. You're Done
From Hannah Lipsky
Never cancel a game for lack of prep. Sure, prep can make your game better. Prep usually does make your game better. Players appreciate well put together sessions and elaborate props. I'm certainly not discouraging you from pouring hours of prep into your game; if you have the time and it makes you happy, go for it.
But your players would rather you wing a session with bottle caps and scraps than have to miss a game because you were afraid it would be less than perfect.
27. Give City Encounters A Backstory
From Johnn Four
To make an encounter compelling it needs a backstory. Create a layer behind what the players see, which they can peel back and discover if they so choose. This adds depth, exploration and player control to your urban games, while keeping things manageable behind the screen.
28. Make Histories Dynamic
From Kate Manchester
Realize that a character's history is dynamic. It can evolve and become more fleshed out over time as the player spends more time with the PC.
For example, I've had a character history that started out with the vague reasoning of her transfer away from her native Chicago due to a family dispute. I elaborated on it by deciding the dispute was with her mother and sisters over breaking her engagement (she and her fiancee had different ideas about her working outside the home).
29. Low-Level Encounter Ideas
From JShurin
Hi Johnn, I've been reading your newsletter for about a year now, and am really enjoying it. I just finished up a campaign, and thought there might be a few useful encounter seeds in it for others.
The party was powerful (some good dice rolling in character creation), so I wound up racking my mind for ways to make standard encounters into challenges. Here are some of the situations I put my (now slightly twitchy!) party through:
* Trapped in the second-story of a burning inn at night, surrounded by goblin shamans and rogues - firing at party members as they scrambled out the windows.
* On their hands and knees, fighting a zombie hound in the crawl space underneath an abandoned hut.
* Swimming underwater through a sunken room, being grappled by angry zombies. Unarmored, and wearing extremely fragile water-breathing gear, there was a sense of paranoia about sustaining even a single hit.
* Rowing a small boat down a jungle river, whilst goblins leapt from overhanging trees and vines in ambush. Hungry alligators snapped up anyone foolish enough to fall over into the water.
* Hunting down a goblin shaman in mist-shrouded ruins (no darkvision need apply, naturally) while wolves darted in and out from all sides.
* Carrying a fragile glass jar with a rare spell component (to save a girl's life) across a series of slick logs - while angry goblins pelted them with stones.
* Battling an enemy monk on top of a massive dam - a ten- foot-wide, smooth, water-slick stone surface. Naturally, without guard rails or walls -against a nimble enemy with no armor check penalty. As this was the climactic battle, I actually built this set ahead of time (two sheets of styrofoam and some PDF dungeon tiles) to reinforce the tension that came from the height. (Un)Fortunately, no party members fell off - but many wound up prone, clinging on for dear life!
For all of these, relatively low CR beasties suddenly become much more difficult encounters.
30. Four Core Approaches
From Swordgleam
Some players think it is entirely the DM's job to introduce the party to each other and give them a viable reason to stay together. Some DMs think this is entirely the players' job. Players and DMs who feel one way generally feel similarly about who is responsible for creating/finding/following/figuring out the plot.
I've run a few campaigns of varying lengths, starting on either end of the "whose job is this" spectrum. The smoothest startups either way have all involved clear expectations on both sides. Based on what I've experienced, it seems like the core approaches, in rough order of how well they've worked for me, are:
1. Players work together to create characters with interweaving backstories, then present this to the DM.
2. The DM designs a campaign predicated on the PCs cooperating.
3. DM creates a situation that forces the PCs together, and the PCs must go from there.
4. The PCs put their characters in proximity, and the DM gives them a reason to stick together.
31. How Do You Use Dice In Ways Beyond System Rules
From cra2
1. I've got weather dice I roll at the beginning of every in-game day to remind me to set the scene and describe the sights, sounds, smells (and weather) the PCs experience. I even roll a d8 directional die at the same time so I can say what direction the wind's blowing.
2. I have a set of mood dice that show a smiley face, sad face, surprised face, etc. I LOVE to use these to help me improve what random mood the NPC might be in when the PCs walk in.
What the PCs say and do will alter that mood, but having a handful of mood dice helps me instantly create a visual atmosphere. "As you enter, the Mayor seems to be chastising one of his underlings who appears ashamed. Nearby, the sheriff looks scared - an emotion you thought he didn't possess, until now. What do you guys do?"
3. I use dice as mooks in combat. If the party is surrounded by minions with 8 hit points each, I'll put out a swarm of d8s with "8" showing. As the minions take damage, I just flip the die to show the remaining hit points. Instant, visual, paperless tracking the whole table benefits from.
4. I use a variety of dice for in-character gambling games. I always have dice games (of chance) going on in the back of the tavern. And even in the middle of a dungeon, if a couple of players are separated from the party and have to wait while a scene resolves, they might pick up some dice and gamble coppers with each other to kill time.
5. Believe it or not, often I use dice instead of my dry- erase markers on the battle mat. Most combat environments just need a general indication of where the boundaries are. So, if the PCs enter a large, rectangular room, I'll just put four d6's (of the same color) about where the corners of the room are.
Then I'll put a different colored d6 wherever the exit(s) are, and maybe even a third color indicating where the pillars are.
90% of the time, that's all the scene requires and it's 90% faster than drawing/erasing every wall and door on the mat. Even in an irregular environment, like a circular grassy clearing, I just throw some d6's out to indicate the general borders of the clearing and let the players' minds fill in the lines between.
6. I don't know anyone who doesn't keep a couple of d20's set aside as turn counters for spell duration and such. Will the bomb go off in 14 rounds? Set a d20 out in view with the 14 showing. Every turn, flip the die over to the appropriate number. A visual countdown makes things tense for the players.
7. I use some d6's as height indicators for most indoors (and some outdoors) situations. For example, if a PC climbs 20' up the wall, I'll put a large d6 under the miniature, with the '2' facing up. When the PC climbs another 10', we turn the d6 so the 3 is facing up.
My friend has dice that stack well, and he just puts a number of d6's under the mini equal to the height of the PC (divided by 10). So if you're 40' up the wall, he puts you atop four d6's.
32. Create A Conflict
Johnn Four
Some GMs might associate romance in RPGs with roleplaying the interactions and awkward dialogue. Not so. Focus on the conflict. That is where the great encounter and plot opportunities lie.
We have already seen one example above of interesting conflict where a society imposes restrictions, standards and behaviors on relationships. This gives players gameplay opportunities as they try to work within the system, and depending on the relationship, try to work outside the system.
Instead of making the relationship the focus of the gameplay, look at conflicts surrounding it. Focus on those who try to break up the romance versus those who gain by seeing the romance bloom. Then involve the PCs in the faction interplay.
Another awesome source of conflict comes from the background of an NPC involved in a relationship. Keep this background a secret and reveal it in bits and pieces as the game progresses. Then have each revelation change the NPC from sympathetic to pathetic to villain to sympathetic again, back and forth, over and over.
For example, say the PC is in love with the daughter of someone who is far down the line as heir to the throne. Aside from all the courtly political plots you might hatch, you can create a twisted background that keeps the PC guessing whether the love of their life is a wonderful person or jaded pawn of the court.
In one encounter the group learns the daughter, Mariele, saved an orphanage by convincing her father to donate funds to keep it running. But then the PCs discover the orphanage is a cover for a gang of thugs who bully the orphans. They also learn Mariele knew about this the whole time!
When confronted, she tells them she has nothing to do with the thugs and she raised the money truly help the children. Suspicious, the PCs eventually uncover proof that she is telling the truth. But in the course of that investigation, they learn she is secretly betrothed to one of the thugs. When asked to choose, she chooses the thug!
But then the party learns she only chose the thug because the King threatened to call the PCs criminals and throw them in his dungeon.
And on and on it goes, with the group thinking Mariele is a victim one moment, then villain the next.
33. Heist What and Why?
From Joel Fox
The 'what' and 'why' of a heist are tied together, for often the risks and costs associated getting the loot match or outweigh the reward. The risks associated with a bank robbery, for example, are nearly too many to list: risk of injury, death, imprisonment, betrayal, and so forth, not to mention further pursuit by law enforcement, paranoia, and having to leave the country. Therefore, the why of a heist is often more important than the what, even though the what is the goal of the players.
The what is generally easy enough, such as:
* A pile of diamonds
* Money
* Bearer bonds
* Paintings
* The Declaration of Independence
It might not be intrinsically valuable like currency, but rather something of a more personal value:
* Documents showing the heritage of party members (granting them a crown at a later date)
* Blueprints to create an exotic device
* An imprisoned person the party cares about
You might come up with the what somewhere later in the heist creation process, or leave the what a mystery: the party knows something valuable is in a vault, but not exactly what it is.
The why, however, is more of what makes a heist a heist, and not just people stealing stuff. The why is what makes the benefits outweigh the risks, so it has to be pretty big: a party rarely says, "Hey let's steal the Hope Diamond today."
The why is:
* Some advantage or edge the party has over the loot's defenses
* To protect themselves from an even more dire fate
* To prevent a disaster
* To keep the loot safe
* To save a loved one
Here are some specific examples:
* A party member helped design or install one of the more potent security measures guarding a treasure; they know of a bypass.
* A friend, relative, ex-lover, etc. that guards the loot is a friend of the party, and will supply the party with useful information in exchange for a cut.
* The money gained from a heist will be used to pay off a dangerous criminal organization that wants the party's blood.
* The loot is a powerful item or will provide funds that will aid the party considerably in their current quest, whatever that might be.
* The loot is a cure or antidote for a rare and otherwise incurable affliction that one or more party members suffer from; without it, they'll die.
* Similarly, someone has afflicted the party and will exchange the antidote for the loot.
* The loot's owner recently acquired the item themselves, and don't have the full security system installed yet.
* The loot's owner has recently acquired the loot themselves; an object of great power, it spells considerable doom if the party doesn't recover it.
* The loot is dangerous or in danger, and the loot's owner doesn't listen to the party's pleas; it must be stolen to protect it or others.
Making the why a personal and specific element of the heist helps tie elements together.
It also keeps party interest high. A party that decides one day to rob a local complex might lose interest or get discouraged during the planning stages, whereas a party that knows a local complex has valuable items the party can use and several exploitable security holes will stay on task until the job is done.