Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #316
Maintaining Your GM
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
Maintaining Your GM
Tips for encouraging your GM to continue the game
you're currently enjoying.
- Give The GM Something To Work With
- Lend A Hand With The Technical Aspects
- Make Your Own Entertainment
- Acknowledgement
Readers' Tips Summarized
- StandingOrders
From: Leslie Holm
- Secret Rolls to Maintain Mysteries
From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
- Another Tavern Table Idea
From: Mike Bourke
- Bards
From: Jason Lord
- Random Cave Map Creator
From: Chris Brinkley
- RPG Podcasts
From: De Master
- World of Skell Podcast
From: Skell DM Cob#37
- Book Examples
From: Thomas Lundin
Return to Contents
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A Brief Word From Johnn
Cool Book Generator
From: Bill Parrott
After reading your "Generating Books" issue, I was inspired to make
the process a little easier. I created an Excel sheet that uses the
tables from the article. I also found online a full list of the
Dewey Decimal System, which is now pulled from by the spreadsheet.
Feel free to give the link to your users. It won't do everything
(such as coming up with a title or author), but the basic mechanics
can be taken care of.
Here's the link:
www.eternalsecond.com/3
Or, you can get it from the Roleplaying Tips site:
BookGenerator.xls
Cheers,
Johnn Four,
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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Make d20 Magazine Rack one of your favorite websites to
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helpful information for both the player and GM. It is also
known for the selection of quality electronic magazines that
include Beyond the Final Frontier, Critical Hit magazine,
d20Zine!, Hall of Fire, and Super Samurai.
d20zines.com
Return to Contents
Maintaining Your GM
Tips for encouraging your GM to continue the game you're
currently enjoying.
A guest article by Amy Driscoll
With thanks to Colin "Relapse" Morris and Robbie "Head
Wound" Eberhardt for constructive criticism.
A group of friends and fellow gamers asked me last year to
commit to GMing a regular, long-term campaign. Long-term
campaigns hold several attractions for me. There's the
intense character development, the simple plot wrinkles that
snowball into world-shaking events, and the kind of campaign
stories you reminisce about for years afterward. So I said
yes.
After a year real-time of gaming though, I found myself
dreading upcoming sessions. I was leaping upon the
opportunity to postpone sessions and struggling to come up
with the next session plan. In the end, I nominated myself
for a break, and one of the players has taken over as GM for
a few sessions. I still love gaming, I still want the game
to keep going - I just do not want to run a session at the
moment.
I'm not alone. I've discussed the burnout scenario with
other GMs, trying to work out the causes and patterns
leading to my current GMing antipathy. In the course of
that, I've put together a few general pointers for players.
There are already tips out there for burnt out GMs (believe
me, I know), so these are focused on what a player can do to
help their GM maintain enthusiasm and keep the game rolling.
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1. Give The GM Something To Work With
Short test: Which character does the GM prefer to game with?
The GM knows Character A wants to bust up a local drug ring
by finding the source and cutting it off. He also
desperately needs to find the cure to a mystical infection
ravaging his girlfriend, and to return to his village before
his sister is married to the local bully against her wishes.
The GM knows Character B likes horses, wears a trench coat,
and has a wicked left hook.
Answer? A, obviously. Not only is it going to be easier to
plot out an involving session for Character A, it's also
going to be simpler to motivate the PC to get involved with
conflicts. If the GM has to make up something on the fly to
keep the game going, Character A is probably going to get a
lead role because the GM knows what Character A wants.
Character B will have to tag along for the ride or head for
the sideline.
Maybe your character is already a fully realised, well-
developed person with hooks, flaws, and a background full of
loose ends. Does the GM know? While you might have given a
list or summary to your GM at the beginning of the campaign,
you will need to update it every now and then as the plot
and your character develop. If the GM doesn't know about
your character's hooks, they will never appear in the game.
And without those hooks, there's nothing for the GM to use
to attach your character to the plot.
If you can't think of anything, try using a pre-existing
sub-plot. Character A's interest in the drug ring might have
stemmed from a brief brush with them in a previous session.
Now, the player has decided the character is desperate to
bring an end to their perfidy. Great. The GM can flesh out
the NPCs and add more background without too much trouble.
This is significantly easier than coming up with a gripping
new plot from scratch.
Give your character driving goals and motivations, and make
these abundantly clear to the GM. Your GM will be spending
more time on plot lines they know you are interested in,
taking your character places you want to go. In turn, you'll
be making the task of session prep that much easier on the
GM, which cuts down on GM burnout and builds up their
enjoyment and anticipation for each session. They already
know you'll enjoy what they have in store for you.
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2. Lend A Hand With The Technical Aspects
The less peripheral paperwork a GM must track in a session,
the more they can concentrate on the game itself.
That's pretty straightforward. If your GM is answering
questions from other players, looking up references,
checking their session notes, making up a new NPC, and
trying to describe the scene before you, the plot is going
to get continuity errors and the action will start to lag as
they hurry to catch up. Performing some of these tasks for
the GM is only going to improve the game for you, especially
when the alternative is sitting around waiting for the GM to
catch up.
- Is the GM constantly handing over a source copy reference
to the players? Get a second copy.
- Does the GM keep referencing the same pages for specific
information? Build cue cards with all that information, such
as for your spells or combat specialties, and give a set to
the GM to keep.
- Can you help a player with a question? If the GM can avoid
breaking off to help someone go over a technical aspect, the
game is going to run more smoothly.
- Offer to role-play an NPC in an encounter.
- Start a game journal to keep detailed notes.
One of the best tasks a player ever performed for me was
starting a gaming journal. The player kept a relatively
detailed journal and published it in a Word document sent to
myself and the other players later that week, so I only
needed to take light notes in-session. Everything - NPC
names, locations visited, what the players did and when -
could be checked against the journal later. The journal also
gave me a player's eye view of the game. Was that last clue
too oblique? Do I need to spend more time describing NPCs?
What do the players think is really going on?
Bear in mind that simply asking, "Can I help?" is not
practical. People will instantly react with, "No, I'm fine,
thanks," whether or not this is true. Come up with real
solutions and implement them.
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3. Make Your Own Entertainment
It's a lull in the game - for you. The GM left the room with
Bob to run a scene. You can wait for them to get back, check
through resources, or talk about what's good on TV.
Alternatively, you could turn to Jess on your left and start
up an in-character conversation. It might not be about
what's happening. It might be the general kind of
conversation you could have already had somewhere on the
road, or it could be about Bob's character's toe-nail
polish. The point is you aren't depending on the GM for your
gaming entertainment. You're building your own characters,
practicing basic improvisation skills, entertaining each
other, and maintaining the tone and flow of the game. And -
gasp! - the GM didn't have to be there for you to do it.
You could also:
- Pass notes to other players
- Write letters home
- Pull small, in-game pranks
- Play sports
- Flirt
- Mock each other
- Lay some bets
- Improvise a game of invisible cards
Try anything that doesn't affect the basic plot but is
reasonable to do when stuck with a wait. Make sure it's in-
game, in-character entertainment so it keeps everyone in the
game zone. This should also have the side benefit of
distracting attention seekers - the players that disrupt the
scene the GM is currently running in an attempt to get more
spotlight time.
Some GMs hate this. It's moving parts of the story out of
their control, or they feel it's disrupting other players.
Some love it. It can be a great relief when the GM realises
they aren't the sole source of all entertainment for the
game, and the players are able to entertain themselves when
the GM has to concentrate on another player. Find out which
GM you have and run with it.
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4. Acknowledgement
Players get XP, treasure, sidekicks, and subplots. GMs get
to see their carefully plotted groundwork twisted into
destruction three minutes into the session. So when they do
something well, tell them they did good!
Try to cite a specific example, and share your enthusiasm
with them. "I was just stunned when it turned out the hot
dog vendor was behind the blackmailing plot!" "I really
liked the combat against the Jawa Flea Circus!"
Even if you've just had a less then stellar session, find
something good about the game and mention it to the GM. They
already know the session wasn't as good as it could have
been, and they need you to let them know you enjoyed it
anyway.
Your enjoyment is one of the reasons they do this, after
all. Like Pavlov's dog, if your GM feels good when you game,
they're going to want to keep gaming with you.
* * *
Try using these tips to support your GM to help develop a
long-lasting campaign and better sessions. Remember, a good
GM is hard to find, and maintaining your own is the best way
to make sure you always have one on hand.
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Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss
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demons in a campaign.
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Readers' Tips Of The Week:
1. Standing Orders
From: Leslie Holm
A PBeM, by its very nature, takes a very long time to play,
and GMs are always looking for a way to speed things up. One
way is to use standing orders.
According to Wikipedia, in military usage, a standing order
is a general order of indefinite duration. It remains in
effect until modified or rescinded. Standing orders are
necessarily general and vague since the exact circumstances
for execution occur in the future under unknown conditions.
Some examples of military standing orders are to give the
alarm in case of fire or disaster, to report all violations
of orders, or to be especially watchful at night. Thus, a
soldier knows generally what to do in many situations.
How does this apply to a PBeM? If a player gives the GM
standing orders for his character, it speeds the PBeM up.
For instance, Levin, with a +12 bonus to diplomacy, tells
his GM he wants to talk in any non-threatening encounters.
Thus, when the GM posts that the group meets an old man in
the tavern, he can also post that Levin greets him. Now the
GM can begin a conversation with the old man and Levin.
Without the standing orders Levin gave at the beginning of
the game, this conversation could take 3-4 emails, and over
a week.
Players can also give temporary standing orders for specific
situations. An example would be combat. The group has
encountered four mean minotaurs, and the GM calls for
actions. Baeric might reply that he will cast mage armor on
himself then fireball one of the minotaurs - so long as
conditions remain the same. Obviously, should another
minotaur threaten him or more enemies appear, he would amend
these orders, but generally this will reduce the emails back
and forth.
Following are some examples of common, permanent standing
orders (to be given to the GM when the character is
created). Obviously, some of them are only applicable to
certain classes or genres.
- The bard will try to speak to any non-threatening beings met.
- The ranger will choose bow as his weapon of choice unless
in close combat.
- The priest will try to heal any injured members as soon
as the scene is secure.
- The barbarian will go into Rage when attacked.
- The rogue will always check anything for traps before
opening.
- The paladin will detect evil before picking up any items,
or when engaging newcomers in conversation.
- The druid will not approve of any nature-destroying
actions, such as cutting down trees for firewood.
- The ranger will try communication with non-threatening
creatures.
- The wizard will always cast mage armor before starting
combat.
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2. Secret Rolls to Maintain Mysteries
From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
In a recent issue of Roleplaying Tips, Dwig offered a tip on
how to avoid a knowledge check roll tipping the players off.
It's good, but it doesn't go far enough.
- Secret Rolls: The Rationale
There is a whole category of rolls the players should not be
allowed to make for themselves.
Example:
Player: "I check the chest for traps."
GM: "Okay, roll it."
(Player rolls die.)
Player: "Shoot, I critically failed."
GM: "You find a gas trap."
The one thing that this player now knows for certain is that
there is NOT a gas trap on that chest! So, as the GM, I will
roll that check myself to prevent this kind of knowledge
from leaking.
There's actually a whole set of rolls I make for the
players.
Say the party is walking down a corridor with a trap in it.
There's one stone that, if stepped on, sets off an
incendiary bomb. If I tell them all to make luck rolls, they
know something's up; so I just do it myself.
This means I do more dice-rolling than most GMs. That's
okay. It also lets me fudge things to keep the game on
track. If the party's pretty battered already, I'll probably
just decide that nobody sets off the trap; I don't object to
killing a player character now and then, but wiping out
whole parties in meaningless ways is no fun for anyone.
- Who Rolls What, and When?
The basic answer: if there's something the players could
learn by making a roll then I will make the roll. I don't
tell them what I rolled, or why; I just narrate the result.
DM: "You walk to the end of the corridor without incident."
Or:
Player: "I check the chest for traps."
(DM rolls a die.)
DM: "You find a gas trap."
This means you have to keep a complete set of PC character
sheets. I use a spreadsheet with all the numbers I need for
each PC. For a large party, this can involve a second GM
whose main job is helping with all the mechanical stuff but
who can also help keep things moving when the party splits
for some reason.
Another advantage here is the more dice the DM rolls, the
more the players are kept on their toes. Heck, sometimes I
roll a few dice to no purpose at all, just to make them
wonder what didn't just happen. A nervous party is an alert
party.
Probably the most important kind of roll for the DM to make
is perception-type rolls. There's something the players
might or might not notice in their environment. If I tell
them to roll to see if they notice it, you've alerted them
that there's something to be noticed. If I roll it for them,
they just know that I rolled a bunch of dice. It might be to
see if they noticed the hostile natives hiding in the
bushes; it might be to see if the weather turns nasty; it
might be just to upset them. They don't know.
- "But It's _My_ Character!"
I had a player who objected to this practice. He made the
reasonable complaint that, as it was his character, he ought
to be allowed to make the rolls. I decided this was fair,
and had him sit close to my side of the table. When the time
came for a roll, and sometimes for no reason at all, I would
tell him, "Roll XdY behind the screen." He performed the
roll, but didn't know why. (I sometimes even had him roll
for another character, though he never knew that.)
From this I learned the GM doesn't need to make all the
secret rolls all the time. You can use a second kind of
secret roll--the players make their own rolls but you do not
tell them what they're rolling.
This works as long as there isn't something they can learn
just by rolling dice, and you can prevent that by having
them roll meaningless dice at random intervals.
The D20 system has been a real blessing for this technique,
by the way. Since almost everything the players might roll
is on a D20, they can't figure out anything from the type of
dice they're asked to toss.
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3. Another Tavern Table Idea
From: Mike Bourke
re: Roleplaying Tips Issue #315
Another "Bar Corner" idea: the players head for the corner
to find it occupied by someone big, mean, and nasty who they
don't want to sit with in case they take offence. Hill
Giants, Titans, a Mind Flayer, or whatever.
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4. Bards
From: Jason Lord
Bards are a great backup character and help round out a
party, but they never shine on their own. The challenge has
been to give the bard in my campaign a situation, every once
in a while, a chance to do something no-one else can.
Idea #1 Eisteddford (Welsh word that means something like
musical competition, I think). Have the bard get challenged
to a musical competition by another bard. Money or prestige
could be on the line, or even a magical item. Make several
perform checks each with the highest result total winning
the event.
Idea #2 Musical traps. There was an online article about a
composer from Scotland who believes the markings on the roof
of the Rosslyn Chapel - of Da Vinci Code fame - could be a
music sheet of sorts to sonically activate a secret door
somewhere in the chapel. Should be a bardic knowledge check,
then a perform check, to open; maybe a set number of
consecutive successful perform checks instead?
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5. Random Cave Map Creator
From: Chris Brinkley
While not editable, this map generator sure is handy. The
author is working on new additions as we speak, such as
support for multiple cave entrances.
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6. RPG Podcasts
From: De Master
Hi Johnn,
First, I'd just like to say that your e-zine has, for the
past few years, made me a much better GM and a much better
player. Keep up the great work!
Recently I discovered the wonder of RPG podcasts. For those
unfamiliar with the term, here's the definition:
The following podcast (Dragon's Landing Inn), has lots of
great tips, as well as interviews with people in the
industry, reviews on new gaming products, ways to save money
and still GM, and more:
http://www.dragonslanding.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
I've heard that the following podcasts are worth listening
to, but I haven't had time to check them out yet:
I know there are many more RPG related podcasts out there
(mostly for GMs). It would be nice to see what other good
podcasts people have found.
Have a great gaming week.
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7. World of Skell Podcast
From: Skell DM Cob#37
Hey Johnn,
Just wanted to drop a line saying how great the e-zine is
and let you and anyone else who might enjoy podcasts know
that we podcast our D&D sessions. If someone can't find a
game to participate in they can listen to ours. Here's the World of Skell
feed. or they can go to
www.worldofskell.com and find each game session audio in the
POV section. Hey, it's free!
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8. Book Examples
From: Thomas Lundin
Hi Johnn!
Thanks for a great e-zine. I liked the tips on books from
issue #314, and I would like to give some more examples.
Instead of books providing a permanent skill boost, try
having them give a temporary competence bonus when
consulted.
- "The black tomes of Vazalo": (Spellcraft Necromantic)
These books are necromantic in nature and give spellcraft
bonus when doing research on necromantic spells up to lvl 2
(there are more volumes in the series for higher levels).
- "Blades of legend": (Knowledge History +2 on swords)
Helps the party identify certain magic swords.
- "The conjurers ABC" (Spellcraft) and "Creatures of the
planes" (Knowledge the planes).
Gives a wizard the knowledge and ability to choose any
neutral conjured animal or beasts to have either Fiendish or
Celestial template when casting Summon Monster spells.
- "Poisonous vermin and weeds"
This book gives the reader the ability to recognize a
poisonous plant or vermin (Knowledge nature +2), treat a
poisoned wound (Heal +2) or make poison (Alchemy +2).
- Knowledge history/local books give clues about the
family/clan/buildings/sites.
- Not every knowledge book is correct either--it can raise
the difficulty check for tasks ahead as well.
- There is another use for "useless" books (i.e. ones that
don't raise skill checks). I've a quest for my players to
find a logbook that the merchants' guild is looking for. The
book-maker is accused of dabbling with the numbers of the
goods coming into town. The players are not the only ones
who are looking for the book. Guards and the thieves' are as
well, for different reasons of course. :)
Keep up the good work. I always seem to find an answer to my
problems from the weekly tips.
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