I've got a little story for you today, it came from my last game session and it centers around the kinds of rewards we, as GMs, give to players. Sure there are rewards of straight in-game currency, there are rewards of items that boost the characters' stats and abilities, and there are rewards of plot relevant items or information that help move the story along. There are also ...
A lot of my gaming friends and I are into gaming as a storytelling experience. I tend to talk about improving games and focusing on the story at the table. That is how a lot of my games go. However, some of the recent books I’ve been reading, some of the movies I’ve recently seen, and some of the games I’ve run in and played ...
I often find myself walking a fine line when it comes to the level of detail in a game. As both a Game Master and a player, I sometimes enjoy and sometimes hate the level of detail that a game setting provides. Sometimes I loathe being told the exact rights and duties of a particular cleric to a particular god and sometimes I love knowing how the ...
No form of entertainment is entirely realistic. Movies, video games, books, and pretty much any other form of media cut a lot of corners when portraying the world. If they didn’t, they would be bogged down with boring minutia and detail. However, a lot of gamers like the complexity and detail of “realistic” gaming. Without the challenged presented by these small challenges a tabletop game might not feel ...
I run very improv heavy game sessions. I also do a lot of sandbox style game. Because of this, there are a lot of nights around my gaming table where I’m picking at the players for some direction for the story. Sometimes the players know exactly where they wan to go, sometimes the players really just want to do “stuff” and want someone to tell them what that ...
Do you ever step back from being the Game Master for a second, look at what is going on in the game, and imagine the action at the table as if it were a TV show or a movie. Even the most boring combat I recently ran has been brought up by the players in their stories because of the cinematic qualities it had. Role-playing games, movies, and ...
As gamers we tend to think of high mechanical difficulties as bearing more drama and action. The less likely it is for us to make a roll or succeed at an action, the more exciting and tense the gaming will be. Sometimes this is true. Pulling off an incredible feat by rolling the natural 20, watching 10s explode to push you over the edge of the required number ...
I recently ran a game that had a far too long and not fun combat in it. The party size is a little bloated, and I had planned out a combat with lots of combatants (mostly mooks who got taken out very easily, but a few actual threats) that became very un-fun. The mooks didn't get creamed like I expected, one character decided he wasn't going to participate ...
A few days ago, after running a session, a thought struck me. It’s one of the most important things that I think can be asked by any Game Master: What do my players really want out of the game? While it’s a simple question, and something that doesn’t seem like it would be hard to figure out, a lot of groups get into the groove of playing a ...
Scarecrow dropped this little nugget into the Gnome Stew Suggestion Pot, and it’s a great topic. Someplace I think we’ve all been as GMs. "Last night I finally ran my first game of Star Wars Saga. Everything was in place. I knew the rules, I knew the scenario. I was ready for them to fail as well as succeed. I was prepared to ...
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of non-linear plots and story structures. However, as the Game Master, you are responsible for making sure the story progresses and certain things happen. Sometimes the players just aren’t picking up what you’re putting down. Here are a few things that you can do to help your players stay on track, without having to railroad them. 1. Make ...
Recently, a friend of mine said they were tired of “righteous paladins, knights in armor that have dragons on them, mentally tortured vampires, orphaned revenge seeking samurai, the “chosen ones” or every lone wolf character EVAR in role playing games”. Yeah, those are pretty standard characters in a lot of games, and as stereotypes go they are pretty cliché. But then I got thinking, what is so wrong ...
So you’re running late to game. The only thing you need is a map, and you need to do it fast. Here are 5 quick mapping options. 1. Dry Erase Board Dry erase markers and a whiteboard make for great mapping options. The only problem, for the tactically combat inclined, is their lack of gridlines. Some places sell dry erase boards with ...
Based on Nojo’s comment, which alerted me to the idea of player wish lists, and Matthew’s excellent article, Improve Your Game Guaranteed, talking about treasure and loot, I got to thinking about 4e’s use of player wish lists. Though I’ve never run a 4e game, and I’ve only played in a game or two at conventions, there are a lot of fun elements to it. One of those ...
This is part of a Gnome Stew double header. Click here to check out Walt's article "Methods of Collaborative Game Mastering" for a look at collaborative GMing from a more experienced perspective.
The Game Master for one of the games that I’m currently playing in has decided he wants to step down. The group wants to see the game go on, but the GM is done. No one ...
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