Aegis' General guide to GMing/playing a game for newbies
Feb 18, 2014 21:24:50 GMT
Asherian Command likes this
Post by AegisFate on Feb 18, 2014 21:24:50 GMT
Alright, here is a list of the things I've learned, determined and figured to be the general gist of how to make a game work, either as a GM or as a player.
For GMs
1. Avoid Deus ex Machina like a plague. The plot may be going in a weird direction or the game might be stalling, but don't do something big and epic to make it jumpstart it. It will generally be seen as a groan fest. I suggest nudging it, stabbing it, ripping into it, poking it with a stick, but nothing like what happened to Infernal Designs II on the old site. The GMs, blessedly they were trying to keep it running had to resort to a full on goblin siege of a city with dragons helping the goblins, but it finally hit death.
2. Keep to time scales. If you say you're going to start a game at a certain date, work towards getting it started. Too many games have floundered with rolling start dates, and when they do start, sometimes the players are either gone or no longer interested, and you have a dead game. Dancing Corpses original iteration was a month late, and it suffered for it. In cases like the old site, it might be lost when some idiot does the wrong thing.
3. Make it rich, delicious and creamy. I don't mean baking a cake, I mean making it a world that people want to be in, regardless of how bleak it is. Describe things, create things, build a world like no other. Since everyone has inspirations for something, take a new spin on it. Corpses is based off of STALKER, Metro and a smidgeon of Homeworld: Shipbreakers (Awesome they got the rights for it.) Even if you're doing it in an established universe, make it feel and look like new, even if its all there as is.
4. Ensure that each character has equal focus and each player has the capability to do things. Referring to ID2 on the old site again, a single character often did a lot of things that directly impacted how the party ended up, causing all sorts of chaos and pretty much requiring significant writing to keep alive when he got into trouble so he could rejoin the party. Also there was the dragon riding thing, but that was just a deathknell sort of thing.
5. Ensure players know what they're getting into. Some games explore darker or more realistic themes and that can cause unease amongst players. If you're doing detailed grape scenes (or as detailed as the rules allow, which is not very detailed in the actual coitus part), make sure your players are on the same track. If you're going to have children murdered in game, ensure players know that its a possibility and make sure they're alright with it being used as a literary device.
For Players
1. Don't commit when you don't have the time. Players sometimes join a game, turn out they don't have the time, sometimes because school, sometimes because work gets in the way or sometimes for bullshit reasons like writing a novel(something of which adding variety to material is a good idea). Sometimes its really bad, where as a player, you have a major role and have to leave, making the rest of the players suffer.
2. Keep to the universe' consistent themes. I mean don't do weird shit that doesn't make sense in game. I know from stories some player didn't say anything about it during character creation, but had the character remove its helmet and show its a furry. In 40k. Where fire is the solution to mutants. If a game has a lot of grit in its themes, don't make something that flies in the face of it all. A naive character in a dark world can be fun if done correctly, but one who stays naive isn't.
3. Power Level. This is a big problem with some games, the sliding scale of power that turns it into a fuster cluck of confusion, where one player makes a character that can do everything at once without needing the other characters. Characters work better when they have weaknesses, faults, problems and depend on other characters. Don't put too many things into the character stew, or it'll end up looking like a bloated, confusing and twisted monstrosity that kills the game. This is also known as a Mary Sue, and if you feel like checking if your character is one, I suggest this link.
4. Be original. Sometimes, using an existing character makes sense, say a same universe RP where you made an original character already and wanted to continue his/her/its aspirations and such, but taking a character and only altering it slightly because you like it does not work. The same character being used over and over and over and over will get people displeased and possibly groaning at your idiocy and incapability. Sometimes variations on existing characters are fine, if they're modified correctly, but it really depends on the writer, but if you see you're remaking a character for something not related, just stop.
I will add to this if I ever think of something else, but for now, here's the grand poobah.
For GMs
1. Avoid Deus ex Machina like a plague. The plot may be going in a weird direction or the game might be stalling, but don't do something big and epic to make it jumpstart it. It will generally be seen as a groan fest. I suggest nudging it, stabbing it, ripping into it, poking it with a stick, but nothing like what happened to Infernal Designs II on the old site. The GMs, blessedly they were trying to keep it running had to resort to a full on goblin siege of a city with dragons helping the goblins, but it finally hit death.
2. Keep to time scales. If you say you're going to start a game at a certain date, work towards getting it started. Too many games have floundered with rolling start dates, and when they do start, sometimes the players are either gone or no longer interested, and you have a dead game. Dancing Corpses original iteration was a month late, and it suffered for it. In cases like the old site, it might be lost when some idiot does the wrong thing.
3. Make it rich, delicious and creamy. I don't mean baking a cake, I mean making it a world that people want to be in, regardless of how bleak it is. Describe things, create things, build a world like no other. Since everyone has inspirations for something, take a new spin on it. Corpses is based off of STALKER, Metro and a smidgeon of Homeworld: Shipbreakers (Awesome they got the rights for it.) Even if you're doing it in an established universe, make it feel and look like new, even if its all there as is.
4. Ensure that each character has equal focus and each player has the capability to do things. Referring to ID2 on the old site again, a single character often did a lot of things that directly impacted how the party ended up, causing all sorts of chaos and pretty much requiring significant writing to keep alive when he got into trouble so he could rejoin the party. Also there was the dragon riding thing, but that was just a deathknell sort of thing.
5. Ensure players know what they're getting into. Some games explore darker or more realistic themes and that can cause unease amongst players. If you're doing detailed grape scenes (or as detailed as the rules allow, which is not very detailed in the actual coitus part), make sure your players are on the same track. If you're going to have children murdered in game, ensure players know that its a possibility and make sure they're alright with it being used as a literary device.
For Players
1. Don't commit when you don't have the time. Players sometimes join a game, turn out they don't have the time, sometimes because school, sometimes because work gets in the way or sometimes for bullshit reasons like writing a novel(something of which adding variety to material is a good idea). Sometimes its really bad, where as a player, you have a major role and have to leave, making the rest of the players suffer.
2. Keep to the universe' consistent themes. I mean don't do weird shit that doesn't make sense in game. I know from stories some player didn't say anything about it during character creation, but had the character remove its helmet and show its a furry. In 40k. Where fire is the solution to mutants. If a game has a lot of grit in its themes, don't make something that flies in the face of it all. A naive character in a dark world can be fun if done correctly, but one who stays naive isn't.
3. Power Level. This is a big problem with some games, the sliding scale of power that turns it into a fuster cluck of confusion, where one player makes a character that can do everything at once without needing the other characters. Characters work better when they have weaknesses, faults, problems and depend on other characters. Don't put too many things into the character stew, or it'll end up looking like a bloated, confusing and twisted monstrosity that kills the game. This is also known as a Mary Sue, and if you feel like checking if your character is one, I suggest this link.
4. Be original. Sometimes, using an existing character makes sense, say a same universe RP where you made an original character already and wanted to continue his/her/its aspirations and such, but taking a character and only altering it slightly because you like it does not work. The same character being used over and over and over and over will get people displeased and possibly groaning at your idiocy and incapability. Sometimes variations on existing characters are fine, if they're modified correctly, but it really depends on the writer, but if you see you're remaking a character for something not related, just stop.
I will add to this if I ever think of something else, but for now, here's the grand poobah.