One trap I've seen quite a few GMs fall into that I try my best to avoid is having your players feel as though they can get away with anything without serious repercussions. Of course, there are some game systems and genres that lend themselves to this sort of thing and they can be fun; however, most games are crafted and run with the hope that the players will get excited about the game and even feel some anticipation if not actual fear for their characters from time to time. If the GM is bringing in a deux ex machina every time the characters get into some kind of trouble not only are they unlikely to take even the most dire circumstances seriously but they are also quite likely to lose interest in the game. Who is really interested in playing a game where your character is untouchable?
This isn't limited to combat situations, social interactions and other whatnot can also bring up these issues. So, even if a GM is relatively even-handed with combat situations, if the players know that they will get whatever information they require from some NPC or another regardless of how they act or how poorly they roll then interactions become something far less than thrilling--more of a task that has to be performed to further the plot line in lieu of something enjoyable. Imagine if a noblewoman NPC never got offended by the uncouth tribesman in front of her asking her about some religious artifact her family holds even though the tribesman constantly spits and is wearing barely tanned skins for clothing. How ridiculous is that? That sort of thing happens with relative frequency in games. Perhaps it is only a bit of information and the GM doesn't want to deal with it; perhaps s/he doesn't want to restrict a particular player because they chose a class that doesn't fit in a situation very well; maybe the GM didn't consider that the PCs may fail to get the information from an NPC. Whatever the case is, by not dealing with the very real issues surrounding social interactions the GM is really taking something away from the players by doing this. One of the best ways to facilitate character depth is to have them fail from time to time. Of course, don't overdo this.
It is one thing to have a PC fail every so often and quite another to hamstring them and their character concept by constantly throwing up roadblocks or having whatever they are trying fail. One example of this that I was on the receiving end of was when I was playing a character who I developed as a con artist. I would think about a great way to con someone throughout the week and implement it sometime during the game when it was appropriate. Some were decent ideas, others were long shots and two of them I think should have been almost fool-proof. However, regardless of how I worked them into the game or how naive my NPC mark appeared to be, my cons never worked. Throughout the entirety of that game not one of my ideas worked out. The GM just wouldn't have the NPCs fall for it or some kind of event would happen to make it fail. A frustrating situation to say the least for a character approved by the GM beforehand and designed to do that very kind of thing. I'm fairly certain that particular GM fell into the me-vs-them kind of thinking, but I'll deal with that little pitfall sometime down the line.
So, how then do we GMs add grit to our games to keep them exciting without going overboard? Well, as I eluded to earlier, there are two different aspects to this: combat and social interactions. I dealt quite a bit with combat in my last post--Give Players What They Want--and will deal with it more in depth in a future post as well; however, the essence of it is to make combat exciting by keeping character death a very real threat. Does this mean you should never save characters? Of course not, we're GMs, cheating is in the job description. However, you should never save characters if it would be obvious you are doing so nor should you always save them. In the last game I was running in the very first session the sorceress in the party decided to light a room on fire while trying to make their escape. Of course, a fight ensued with the fire constantly spreading and the party trying desperately to get out of the room prior to getting burned to a crisp. They had to climb a very short distance to get to safety and I made it pretty easy to do as I didn't mind them all getting singed a bit while fighting but I didn't want to kill anyone off the first session. It was a pretty safe situation really being the people attacking were weak and the way to safety was easy to access; however, as sometimes happens in games, the fates were against one of the party. The fighter was rolling horribly and couldn't make the really low roll required to get the heck out of the way of the fire even after five attempts. He died still trying to climb up. In that situation I couldn't really save him even if I had wanted to. I told them what roll they needed (I often do this when it doesn't need to by a mystery just to keep the pace of the game up) and when he couldn't roll it it would have been painfully obvious that the GM saved him...let players know this even once and you've lost credibility. Not that I really mind a player dying every now and then; like the red shirts from Star Trek, it makes the players realize that I will not shy away from character death. Of course, I'm not out to get the characters either.
Social interactions are a bit more tricky. Death isn't usually a possibility when simply talking to some NPCs (though sometimes it is) so that isn't a viable threat. However, there are still repercussions to actions even when talking to people. The tribesman from the first example could have easily ended up stewing in jail for a while or, at the very least, being thrown out of the estate. Even those without any kind of political sway will still refuse to talk with PCs if they aren't treated with respect. Try to keep the outward appearance and history of the characters in mind when they interact with NPCs as well. If a warlock tries to speak with people who know he is a warlock, regardless of the different kinds of pacts in D&D, they may be viewed with a healthy dose of suspicion. Barbarians, tribesmen, savages and such are likely to be viewed as uncouth and uncivilized by pretty much everyone in a city environment so aren't likely to get much out of people except snide remarks. Also, if the game system has something like appearance or charisma, play it up. If a character with a low social score starts talking to someone have the NPC seem obviously uncomfortable or uninterested.
Remember, there is no fun in being untouchable, so make your players decidedly uncomfortable in situations and bring in some repercussions for failing.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Give Players What They Want
I really wish I could claim originality here, however, I read this in a gaming magazine some time ago. Be that as it may, it is certainly worth repeating over and over and over again: give the players what they want.
Most players, if asked, would say things like "+34 Bastard Sword of Instant Baddie Destruction" or "100 billion dollars" or other whatnot to boost their power. The reality of the situation is that players don't want those. Sure, it may be fun to be an indestructible juggernaut of destruction for a session or two but it gets to be pretty boring pretty quick when nothing is a challenge. What players really want is almost the exact opposite of this.
Players want to be roughed up, beaten down, bloodied, battered and bruised but then win. They want to win but they don't want to do so easily. They want to win only after it looks like they may not be able to do so and after their GM has drug them through the fire...twice, just to make sure they got burned the first time. Players want to emerge triumphant by the skin of their teeth.
There is a fine line here, however, as if you constantly beat down the players they will soon get frustrated with the game and this is a poor place for a game to be. So, you have to let them have their victories now and then to keep them excited about the game, but let only very few of them come easily. The rest of them should make them cringe at the memory of what they had to go through to get there. And, don't be afraid to do whatever is necessary to accomplish this. Fudge rolls; add more beasties halfway through the battle; throw some resistances to things they use frequently; do whatever it takes to bloody them up, but give them their victory in the end. Of course, you want to keep your screen up during all of this so they don't actually see you "cheating"...it's no fun if they know what you are doing. Along the same lines, you can't use the same kind of tricks all the time or players will come to know what you're doing. You also have to mix it up, let them have a small victory with relative ease from time to time and don't make every battle epic.
Players want epic battles where they aren't assured of victory and they want to be smacked down to just above death, but they still want to be heroes and heroes ultimately win. So, pull out all the nastiness you can muster and start making some players cry!
Most players, if asked, would say things like "+34 Bastard Sword of Instant Baddie Destruction" or "100 billion dollars" or other whatnot to boost their power. The reality of the situation is that players don't want those. Sure, it may be fun to be an indestructible juggernaut of destruction for a session or two but it gets to be pretty boring pretty quick when nothing is a challenge. What players really want is almost the exact opposite of this.
Players want to be roughed up, beaten down, bloodied, battered and bruised but then win. They want to win but they don't want to do so easily. They want to win only after it looks like they may not be able to do so and after their GM has drug them through the fire...twice, just to make sure they got burned the first time. Players want to emerge triumphant by the skin of their teeth.
There is a fine line here, however, as if you constantly beat down the players they will soon get frustrated with the game and this is a poor place for a game to be. So, you have to let them have their victories now and then to keep them excited about the game, but let only very few of them come easily. The rest of them should make them cringe at the memory of what they had to go through to get there. And, don't be afraid to do whatever is necessary to accomplish this. Fudge rolls; add more beasties halfway through the battle; throw some resistances to things they use frequently; do whatever it takes to bloody them up, but give them their victory in the end. Of course, you want to keep your screen up during all of this so they don't actually see you "cheating"...it's no fun if they know what you are doing. Along the same lines, you can't use the same kind of tricks all the time or players will come to know what you're doing. You also have to mix it up, let them have a small victory with relative ease from time to time and don't make every battle epic.
Players want epic battles where they aren't assured of victory and they want to be smacked down to just above death, but they still want to be heroes and heroes ultimately win. So, pull out all the nastiness you can muster and start making some players cry!
The Pregame: New Game Tips
Starting off a new game is a pretty exciting time for both players and GMs alike. Players get to roll up some new persona to adopt and the GM gets to actually build a new story or even a world...good times all around. However, after the initial excitement wears off in a game or two you have to have something good for the players or your game is going to start bogging down. Here are some tips to keep this from happening before your group even begins to start playing your game.
1) Theme! Have some kind of a theme or genre for your game. Whether it is high adventure, comic, horror or whatever, having an idea of what feel or mood you want for your game makes it far easier for you to make decisions about it. We'll talk about how to create a mood for your particular genre later, but just deciding on what you want out of your game is an excellent first step.
2) Story arcs. I've played in many games that just kind of meandered around without a serious purpose or goal--one side adventure after another. While this is fine for a session or two, players really want to be moving toward something. There's nothing wrong with having an overarching goal that is the ultimate direction the game is going toward (throwing a magic ring into a volcano, for example); however, there is a lot of ground to cover prior to getting there and simply floating along this general storyline isn't going to stay very exciting. So, storyarcs are a great way to go even from the get-go. Smaller goals that take somewhere between three and five sessions to accomplish keep the players moving toward your overall goal while still giving them a sense of accomplishment somewhat frequently.
3) Too much work. I once had a GM who calculated the exact altitude of the landscape in the world he put us in, decided what kind of gems were located in which set of mountains determined by the geology of the area, figured out what the wind patterns and ocean currents were and other minute details...nope, not kidding. The amount of detail he would put into games was incredible to say the least. Of course, the real issue came in when he decided that we all would actually need to know any of this to play. As a player, I was completely uninterested in what kind of rocks a mountain range on the other side of the world primarily consisted of and all of that kind of thing was included in the reams of information he would give us prior to playing.
Keep things simple. Just focus on where your players will begin play, what they would know and what you need to know in order to run the game--figure out the rest on the fly. Coming up with things off the cuff has some hidden benefits: it tends to be more organic and often leads you in directions you didn't think to go down. So, certainly, do the work you need to do but don't go too much beyond that as it tends to bog down your game.
4) Not enough work. The reverse of the above is that you don't do enough background work and end up with a game in which you don't know what is going on in the grand scheme of things or even right where your players are. So, figure out enough to keep yourself from floundering around and trying to figure out every single detail as you go along. This does the exact same thing that you wanted to avoid by not overly detailing things.
Although these are pretty self-evident tips, they are certainly still worth keeping in mind before you start crafting your new game.
1) Theme! Have some kind of a theme or genre for your game. Whether it is high adventure, comic, horror or whatever, having an idea of what feel or mood you want for your game makes it far easier for you to make decisions about it. We'll talk about how to create a mood for your particular genre later, but just deciding on what you want out of your game is an excellent first step.
2) Story arcs. I've played in many games that just kind of meandered around without a serious purpose or goal--one side adventure after another. While this is fine for a session or two, players really want to be moving toward something. There's nothing wrong with having an overarching goal that is the ultimate direction the game is going toward (throwing a magic ring into a volcano, for example); however, there is a lot of ground to cover prior to getting there and simply floating along this general storyline isn't going to stay very exciting. So, storyarcs are a great way to go even from the get-go. Smaller goals that take somewhere between three and five sessions to accomplish keep the players moving toward your overall goal while still giving them a sense of accomplishment somewhat frequently.
3) Too much work. I once had a GM who calculated the exact altitude of the landscape in the world he put us in, decided what kind of gems were located in which set of mountains determined by the geology of the area, figured out what the wind patterns and ocean currents were and other minute details...nope, not kidding. The amount of detail he would put into games was incredible to say the least. Of course, the real issue came in when he decided that we all would actually need to know any of this to play. As a player, I was completely uninterested in what kind of rocks a mountain range on the other side of the world primarily consisted of and all of that kind of thing was included in the reams of information he would give us prior to playing.
Keep things simple. Just focus on where your players will begin play, what they would know and what you need to know in order to run the game--figure out the rest on the fly. Coming up with things off the cuff has some hidden benefits: it tends to be more organic and often leads you in directions you didn't think to go down. So, certainly, do the work you need to do but don't go too much beyond that as it tends to bog down your game.
4) Not enough work. The reverse of the above is that you don't do enough background work and end up with a game in which you don't know what is going on in the grand scheme of things or even right where your players are. So, figure out enough to keep yourself from floundering around and trying to figure out every single detail as you go along. This does the exact same thing that you wanted to avoid by not overly detailing things.
Although these are pretty self-evident tips, they are certainly still worth keeping in mind before you start crafting your new game.
It's the GM's fault!
I figure this should be my first post as it deals with the one thing that everything else in a game hinges upon: it's your fault. Things seldom go perfectly as planned in any table top game and that is one of the wonderful things about this hobby we all enjoy; I love it when my players come up with some creative and ingenuous way to thwart my carefully planned out trap of some kind or another. Just a few weeks ago I had my poor players in the depths of a demonically possessed ship. They had to get to the other side of one of the ballast rooms which, I thought, would mean they would have to swim through the water which I had conveniently placed some nastiness in just to make their lives more interesting. Of course, a bilge room was directly above so they simply pumped out the water in this particular ballast tank and walked through the flopping fish with sharp teeth and sludge. Not quite as interesting as if they had to walk through it, but it was awesome watching them try to figure out something so they didn't have to actually get into the water.
So, of course, things like that happen and you have to be willing to roll with them; however, that isn't really what we're worried about here. The point I'd like to make with this post is if something is going wrong in your game it is your fault. Is a player obviously not paying enough attention to the game? Your fault. Someone bored? Your fault. Game bogged down for some reason? You guessed it, it is your fault. Even when players are being disruptive despite your best efforts it is still your responsibility to cease the disruption. As the GM, you are the captain of the gaming ship and, as such, are ultimately responsible for everything that happens during your game--both the good and the bad. We won't worry about the good being that when stuff like that happens you don't want to change a thing. The steps you should be taking are pretty commonsense, but worth noting anyway.
1) The first thing you need to do is realize when a problem is happening. Although that may sound simplistic ("Of course I'm going to know when something bad is happening in my game!") but sometimes it isn't so easy to detect. In my last game I got caught off guard by a problem that I never even noticed was going on and it very nearly doomed the game. It was the same game I mentioned above; the game had a very dark feel to it and may have even been classified as borderline horror. It was going wonderfully well, I was able to really draw the players into the game and have them concerned about their characters (something every GM looks to do). There were numerous ways they could have gone about tackling the situations I presented them with but their default was to rely heavily upon the cleric in the party and her ties with the divine. This is what I didn't notice and should have. The group was heavily reliant upon the cleric to do quite a bit of the heavy lifting when it came to what was going on with the demons and such. So, when the cleric died the other players played their characters well and simply gave up on the demonic aspects and focused instead on just getting the hell off of this big creepy ship. The feel of the game changed drastically and the hard work I put into the game was ultimately for nothing as we switched gears completely.
The point here is to pay very close attention to what is going on in your game. If the players are having fun, that's great, but are there underlying issues that you should be aware of and dealing with as well? After each game just take a couple of minutes to go over what is happening in the game and try to detect hidden perils that may come up to bite you.
2) Don't ignore the problem in hopes it goes away. Of course, if the issue is a player who is distracted you can--and should--give them a bit of time to correct it themselves; however, if it is continuing then you need to step up and address it. It isn't up to your players to correct problems even if it is them who are creating the problem. Take responsibility for your game and act to make it right.
One of the most difficult things a GM has to deal with is problems with players themselves. It's never comfortable to confront someone about their actions. Several years ago the group I was gaming with moved to one of our player's apartments to play. The problem came about almost immediately after we moved into our new spot. This player's wife doesn't play RPGs but enjoys listening to the game. While this wouldn't bother me at all, the issue was that she was also somewhat vocal about what was going on. If something intense was happening she would let out exclamations of concern and whatnot or if the group was interacting with an NPC she would let out commentary on what the party should do. Not only that but she would also play video games with the sound quite loud and interrupt the game to talk to her husband. It was incredibly distracting both for myself and the players and made it almost impossible to create a mood of any kind. I took the player aside at first and spoke to him about it being I knew him better than his wife. The next session she was better but soon reverted back to disrupting the game so I spoke with her about it after one of our sessions. I suggested putting on earphones for the video games and trying to wait until one of our breaks to speak with her husband (which came at fairly regular intervals being there were a couple of smokers in the group). She got better but then worse again. Finally, I had to talk to the group about finding a different place to play. All in all it took a couple of months to finally work out but I was trying to address the problem in different ways throughout. I should also mention that the player and his wife became very close friends over time and there were no hard feelings--that's important when dealing with things like this, make certain to be polite and take other people's feelings into consideration when addressing tricky situations.
3) Do what needs to be done. I usually start addressing an issue by looking at how I could fix it by changing something about the game itself. If someone isn't as interested as I'd like them to be what do I need to do as a GM to get them into the game? If the game is moving somewhat slowly I'm looking to inject it with some urgency somehow. Of course, it the issue is with a player it isn't really feasible to do this; however, for most issues the GM faces changes in the game can correct the problem. Essentially, try the easiest method and keep escalating the fix until you find something that works. No matter how severe the fix may be, if it has to be done to make the game fun for everyone then it is what needs to happen.
I once had a player who absolutely refused to quit interrupting people and telling them how to play their characters. I'm sure you've all gamed with the same sort of person. They simply must have their voices heard at all times and in all situations regardless of how it interferes with the game. Games usually ended with that player taking off and the others complaining about him. I spoke with him a few times about it but he simply couldn't seem to put any kind of censor on his mouth. Eventually I had to ask him to leave the group.
In a nutshell, make sure that disruptions or other problems in your game don't go unnoticed or unaddressed. Be polite, be constructive if possible but also be firm. It is your game and don't let anything take away from the fun you all should be having. Remember, if something is going wrong, it is your fault!
So, of course, things like that happen and you have to be willing to roll with them; however, that isn't really what we're worried about here. The point I'd like to make with this post is if something is going wrong in your game it is your fault. Is a player obviously not paying enough attention to the game? Your fault. Someone bored? Your fault. Game bogged down for some reason? You guessed it, it is your fault. Even when players are being disruptive despite your best efforts it is still your responsibility to cease the disruption. As the GM, you are the captain of the gaming ship and, as such, are ultimately responsible for everything that happens during your game--both the good and the bad. We won't worry about the good being that when stuff like that happens you don't want to change a thing. The steps you should be taking are pretty commonsense, but worth noting anyway.
1) The first thing you need to do is realize when a problem is happening. Although that may sound simplistic ("Of course I'm going to know when something bad is happening in my game!") but sometimes it isn't so easy to detect. In my last game I got caught off guard by a problem that I never even noticed was going on and it very nearly doomed the game. It was the same game I mentioned above; the game had a very dark feel to it and may have even been classified as borderline horror. It was going wonderfully well, I was able to really draw the players into the game and have them concerned about their characters (something every GM looks to do). There were numerous ways they could have gone about tackling the situations I presented them with but their default was to rely heavily upon the cleric in the party and her ties with the divine. This is what I didn't notice and should have. The group was heavily reliant upon the cleric to do quite a bit of the heavy lifting when it came to what was going on with the demons and such. So, when the cleric died the other players played their characters well and simply gave up on the demonic aspects and focused instead on just getting the hell off of this big creepy ship. The feel of the game changed drastically and the hard work I put into the game was ultimately for nothing as we switched gears completely.
The point here is to pay very close attention to what is going on in your game. If the players are having fun, that's great, but are there underlying issues that you should be aware of and dealing with as well? After each game just take a couple of minutes to go over what is happening in the game and try to detect hidden perils that may come up to bite you.
2) Don't ignore the problem in hopes it goes away. Of course, if the issue is a player who is distracted you can--and should--give them a bit of time to correct it themselves; however, if it is continuing then you need to step up and address it. It isn't up to your players to correct problems even if it is them who are creating the problem. Take responsibility for your game and act to make it right.
One of the most difficult things a GM has to deal with is problems with players themselves. It's never comfortable to confront someone about their actions. Several years ago the group I was gaming with moved to one of our player's apartments to play. The problem came about almost immediately after we moved into our new spot. This player's wife doesn't play RPGs but enjoys listening to the game. While this wouldn't bother me at all, the issue was that she was also somewhat vocal about what was going on. If something intense was happening she would let out exclamations of concern and whatnot or if the group was interacting with an NPC she would let out commentary on what the party should do. Not only that but she would also play video games with the sound quite loud and interrupt the game to talk to her husband. It was incredibly distracting both for myself and the players and made it almost impossible to create a mood of any kind. I took the player aside at first and spoke to him about it being I knew him better than his wife. The next session she was better but soon reverted back to disrupting the game so I spoke with her about it after one of our sessions. I suggested putting on earphones for the video games and trying to wait until one of our breaks to speak with her husband (which came at fairly regular intervals being there were a couple of smokers in the group). She got better but then worse again. Finally, I had to talk to the group about finding a different place to play. All in all it took a couple of months to finally work out but I was trying to address the problem in different ways throughout. I should also mention that the player and his wife became very close friends over time and there were no hard feelings--that's important when dealing with things like this, make certain to be polite and take other people's feelings into consideration when addressing tricky situations.
3) Do what needs to be done. I usually start addressing an issue by looking at how I could fix it by changing something about the game itself. If someone isn't as interested as I'd like them to be what do I need to do as a GM to get them into the game? If the game is moving somewhat slowly I'm looking to inject it with some urgency somehow. Of course, it the issue is with a player it isn't really feasible to do this; however, for most issues the GM faces changes in the game can correct the problem. Essentially, try the easiest method and keep escalating the fix until you find something that works. No matter how severe the fix may be, if it has to be done to make the game fun for everyone then it is what needs to happen.
I once had a player who absolutely refused to quit interrupting people and telling them how to play their characters. I'm sure you've all gamed with the same sort of person. They simply must have their voices heard at all times and in all situations regardless of how it interferes with the game. Games usually ended with that player taking off and the others complaining about him. I spoke with him a few times about it but he simply couldn't seem to put any kind of censor on his mouth. Eventually I had to ask him to leave the group.
In a nutshell, make sure that disruptions or other problems in your game don't go unnoticed or unaddressed. Be polite, be constructive if possible but also be firm. It is your game and don't let anything take away from the fun you all should be having. Remember, if something is going wrong, it is your fault!
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