Posts Tagged by player input

8
Controlling How Much Detail is Needed for the Game
June 10, 2012 Posted by
GMingAdvice03

Details. I have such a love/hate relationship with details as a GM. Adding details to your game is like cooking with a powerful spice. If you add too little it is a waste, and if you add too much it overpowers the dish. You need to get the amount of the spice right for not just the dish as a whole, but for every single bite. It gets even worse though, because you have to get the amount of spice right for every single bite…

13
The True Secret of Improvising: You Are Reacting to the Players, & They Are Reacting to a Kickoff Event
June 14, 2011 Posted by

This is written as a response to Quieo’s Suggestion Pot comment. But before we get into the nitty-gritty of this article I suggest checking out two of my other articles on improvising: Preparing to Improvise is all about the fundamentals of improvising as a GM. Improvising? Don’t Worry About Beginnings & Endings, Focus On Transitions gives you an easy to follow formula to follow when running an improvised session that you can use to get through the entire session with. Those along with this article…

14
You Asked for Player Input for a Reason
October 8, 2010 Posted by

Years ago I played in a game where the GM asked us to help creating the area around our starting town. We brainstormed landmarks, terrain types, enemies, allies, secret societies, and treasures. Sure, our starting area was a little rough, but it was full of cool stuff, and everyone had at least a few things they were excited to explore. Then we showed up to play. The GM started the session by explaining that he “didn’t like” what everyone had come up with, and instead…

20
Your Expectations Lose To Player Participation
November 3, 2009 Posted by
GMingAdvice04

As a player I recently experienced two opposite approaches to how a game master can react to the players’ input during a session. One GM made sure to incorporate what the PCs did into the game, and the other made sure to keep the plot on track with what he had prepared. I am not going to go into the details, but guess which game sucked? Game Master, Not Script Writer A lot of GMs plot their sessions along a story arc which is fine.…