Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #485
The Care And Feeding Of Your GM
Tips for players to help their game master enjoy each
session
and keep running adventures for the group
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
The Care And Feeding Of Your GM
- Gaming Is Not The GM Against You
- Satisfy The GM's Needs
- Co-Create The World
- Respect The GM's Artistic Creation
For Your Game: 10 Flavourful Wines
Game Master Tips & Tricks
- Game Up Your Guilds
- Virtual Tabletop Gaming Tips
- Differentiating Multiple Monsters
- Easy Place Names
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Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
Personal Sidequests
I've been playing through Dragon Age again, paying more
attention to my party members. I really like the personal
side quests each have. You have to interact with them quite
a bit to get to the quest, so it's as if the quest itself is
a reward. Sometimes you get good items, but mostly you get
their eternal gratitude.
I think this could be great in a campaign, especially a
location-based one. Pick a couple of NPCs the party
interacts with frequently, and give them personal side
quests.
These aren't "Hey heroes, solve my problems for me!" kinds
of things, but rather, personal matters the NPC won't bring
up without a lot of interaction, and might not even ask the
heroes to intervene in.
This has a number of benefits. It makes your NPCs appear
real. They're not just walking quest-givers; they're people
with personal lives and problems of their own. It encourages
your players to interact with NPCs more once they catch on.
And it gives you more side quests your players can choose to
take, giving them control over their destinies.
The reward could be xp and loot, the NPC's favor, discounts
from a merchant, or better information from a contact.
The key is not to get too attached to any of these side
quests. Since they require personal investment and luck on
the players' part, it's likely not all of them will be
discovered.
Cool Things from the Blogosphere
There are a few things of interest going on right now I
think you should know about.
Thing one: Nevermet Press, the innovative crowd-sourcing
publisher, is gearing up to run their first contest. An
artist draws a monster, people write flavorful descriptions
of it, and the crowd picks who gets to collaborate with the
artist on the final product. This could mean glory, acclaim,
prizes, and seeing your name in print, but at the very least
it'll be fun.
You can find the initial information about it here:
http://nevermetpress.com/how-about-a-contest/
Thing two: Bloggers NewbieDM and Sarah Darkmagic have teamed
up to offer Downloadable Delves, a place to find free D&D 4e
adventures. The offerings are a little scanty right now, so
that's where you come in - make some stuff! And bookmark it
for later, so when it's chock full of awesome adventures,
you can download them.
Here it is.
Finally, a quick shameless plug
I, in my guise as Chaotic
Shiny Productions, have free stuff for you.
The Damager is a small standalone program that rolls damage
dice for you, then describes your attack based on weapon or
power type and amount of damage dealt. It's a great jumping-
off point for creative descriptions, or an easy way to mail
it in on those days when you can't manage better than "He
hits you with his sword." It also has a generic die-roller,
just in case.
Here's the Damager.
And because you like lists of ten things, here are ten maps
for you - five player maps and five DM maps of five unique
regions.
Hannah Lipsky
hannah@roleplayingtips.com
AIM: DemonIllusionist
Website:
chaoticshiny.com
chaoticshinyproductions.com
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The Care And Feeding Of Your GM
The Care And Feeding Of Your GM
By Eric FitzMedrud
There is a lot of material out there about managing gaming
groups, helping players get what they want, helping the
players have fun, and fulfilling players' wishes.
However, I only know of just one article that tells players
how to meet the GM's needs or how to increase the GM's
enjoyment.
To the GMs: I say we try to put more of the responsibility
for a positive gaming experience on the players. I say we
share our needs too. Give this article to your players so
they can think (just a little) about how to serve your needs
at the table.
To the players: It is time to step up. It is your
responsibility to conduct the care and feeding of your GM.
The rewards for that maintenance may include an enjoyable
experience for you, a continuous gaming experience
uninterrupted by GM burnout, and increased dedication by the
GM to the richness of your gaming experience.
There are some ways roleplaying games can mechanically
become more like the MMORPGs, but there are ways that pen
and paper roleplaying games will always be different from
those computer games. The most important difference is the
interactive narrative gaming algorithm denoted by the title
"GM."
Unlike the MMORPG, for which the minimum required
maintenance is auto-deducted monthly as your subscription
fee, a GM requires slightly more care and feeding.
At a maximum, your full involvement in an MMORPG includes
participation in a guild. Here you might find similarity
with the GM when your guild leader shares the GM's group
functions of planner and arbiter.
However, the GM role is not fully present in the guild
leader role. The GM buys a lot of material and spends a lot
of time in preparation. For every adventure he thinks about
how much players will enjoy the game, how to bring character
skills to the forefront, and how players will meet their
goals.
There is no one at the computer game development company
checking these things for you. Even if your guild leader is
thinking about these things, he or she doesn't have the same
control over the raid content as the GM.
For a GM, even when using a module, he or she is likely to
feel responsible for your enjoyment because:
"I could have changed that."
"I could have left that out."
"I could have put something in to make that section more
fun."
"I should have read that more closely."
"I ran that monster incorrectly."
Here are ways players can help the GM enjoy being on the
other side of the GM screen.
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1. Gaming Is Not The GM Against You
Unless the GM is poor, their first goal is to make you
happy. GMs obsess over making players happy. If you think
the GM's goal is to torture you and your characters, it is
time to leave the game.
If the GM wants to make you happy, and yet something happens
at the table that isn't making you happy, please consider
the following possibilities:
Possibility: The GM is trying to make dramatic tension but
the tension here exceeds my limits of enjoyment.
Resolution: I should tell the GM what it is about this
situation's tension I don't like. For example, I need to
tell the GM that I don't like it if children are harmed in
the game world but otherwise can handle the same things
happening to adults.
Possibility: The GM didn't mean to do this and is going to
fix it ASAP or give me and the other players a chance to fix
it.
Resolution: Wait for the end of the scene, encounter, or
mission for the tide to turn. If things aren't resolved and
your dissatisfaction lingers move to another possibility.
Possibility: The GM made a mistake and doesn't realize it
yet.
Resolution: Ask, nicely. Don't just ask, "Are you sure it
can fly?" Ask instead, "Are you sure it can fly? Because I
don't think there is a thing we can do to defend ourselves
against it if it can fly."
A nice way to ask a GM if they made a mistake is to take the
path of humility. "I'm sorry, I must be missing something
here. I'm sure you mean for us to have some solution to this
puzzle with our skills or information we're supposed to
know, but I just can't think of what it is." Add humility
and optimism for bonus points.
Possibility: My conditions for enjoyment and the GM's
understanding of my goals for enjoyment are different.
Resolution: Ask the GM what they were trying to do with an
encounter or scenario. When you hear something from the GM
that doesn't mesh with what you or another player want,
don't just say that it doesn't bring you gaming enjoyment.
Instead, try to share what does generate enjoyment for you.
If the GM was generating enjoyment in the scenario for
another player and it didn't float your boat, share that,
but also recognize the GM has a balancing act to do and your
turn should come around eventually.
Possibility: I'm missing something or didn't hear something,
and got myself into this mess on my own. Now I want it to
end.
Resolution: This recently happened to one of my players. I
went carefully through the process of describing the
terrain. I said, "Everyone is clear about this right?"
and no one asked any questions and all I saw were nodding
heads.
Once combat started on that terrain, one of my players grew
angry when he started taking actions affected by the terrain
and felt I hadn't adequately described the terrain before
his actions.
Once I explained that everyone else at the table understood
and that I had explained everything, he did a pretty good
job of calming down, getting a new clear description of the
terrain, and then generating ideas for getting out of the
situation.
The key here was that he accepted his mistake, asked for
clarification, and then worked on getting out of the
situation thus increasing his enjoyment.
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2. Satisfy The GM's Needs
What makes a GM happy? Ask your GM to find out for sure.
Here is a top 5 list of things that make me happy when I GM:
- Expressions of thanks, enjoyment, or appreciation from the
players. If it was an adequate session, thank your GM.
If you enjoyed it more than that, tell your GM what you
liked specifically. "I liked that the bad guy got away. Even
though it was frustrating in the moment, it's just going to
make it that much sweeter when we finally get him."
"I liked the chance to roleplay my dedication to my deity."
"I had fun with that negotiation."
The more specific players are, the more that positive
reinforcement will encourage that kind of thing in
subsequent sessions.
- Player investment in the campaign.
- Read the GM's bad writing about the world, remember some details, and ask questions.
- Complete homework assignments on time.
- Turn in lists of new items, character backgrounds or character concepts
- Take notes and send them to the group
- Bring food
- Keep an ongoing loot or clue list, type it up, and send it to the group including the GM
- Be available for sessions
- Maintain player and character cohesion. Some groups might
tolerate character versus character or player versus player
conflict. But in my group it increases my enjoyment when a
player makes an in-character combat decision that is less
than optimal and doesn't get ragged on for it.
If another player makes a mistake that hurts your character,
play up the drama of it, play out a fabulous death or
wounding scene. Congratulate or thank another player for
their contribution to the game.
Help another player get over a frustrating in-game event,
bring them up to speed if they stepped away from the table
for a minute, or help the players stay focused on the goal
in the present instead of blaming for things in the past.
- Honesty and forthrightness. Few things frustrate me more
than when a player points out a GM's mistake that favored
the players and then gets yelled at by the other players.
When everyone is responsible for making sure the rules are
followed, everyone learns, and everyone benefits from the
consistency.
Input from players about rules is important to me because
there are so many rules. I'm not a rules lawyer, I just play
one when I'm behind the GM screen. When a player asks for a
broken feat knowing it is broken to see if I will allow it
that frustrates me.
We're in this together, and the players each bring a
different set of skills to the table. I rely on those skills
to supplement mine. Positive contributions to the game from
a player, such as "I wouldn't allow that feat if I were a
GM," "Just so you know I purchased this magic item and it
has these abilities," or "I don't think that rule works that
way" are vital contributions.
I'm describing not just honesty, but also forthrightness.
Telling the truth and also volunteering information to the
GM to help him manage the multiple dimensions of the game
for everyone.
- Investment in your character. Don't just write on your
character sheet "Loves hot chili peppers" and never bring it
up again, waiting passively for the GM to create a story
hook that includes your beloved chili peppers.
Instead, when you arrive in a new country, tell the GM your
character is going to the market to see if they have any
exotic chili peppers.
When you have a disadvantage, roleplay it even if it hurts
your character. One thing I used to do as a player is bring
a "To Do List" for each session.
For example, talk to contact X, roleplay my quirk today,
don't forget special ability Y.
This helps keep the world dynamic and interesting, gives the
GM a lot of hooks for new stories, and forces the GM to
create NPCs that can match the character depth you are
working with.
Of the things above that make me happy, three of the five
are interpersonal. Only two are gaming related. Roleplaying,
like every other human endeavor, is more about relationships
than anything else.
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3. Co-Create The World
Many players underestimate the power of their influence on
the world. Either they presume the GM has pre-written the
outcome, or they presume the players have to accept things
the way they are.
I've already suggested the first and easiest way to try to
get enjoyment out of the game is to talk to the GM and tell
him what you want. However, there is another way to enhance
enjoyment for all: create what you want in the game. If you
are invested in the campaign and invested in your character,
then you have power in the narrative.
Never assume the NPC cannot be turned, forced, or cajoled to
agree with you. Never assume you have to go into the dark
tunnel that looks like a trap. In an MMORPG those things are
fixed more often than not; but in roleplaying, you never
know what is fixed and what isn't.
You never know what secret motives the minion might have, so
instead of just turning her over to the police, why not try
chatting. What would happen if you just waited at the mouth
of the cave instead of charging into a dungeon crawl? What
happens if you ask the minion how she got into a life of
crime?
I don't know what happens, and your GM may not know what
happens either, but if you try to breathe life into the
world by responding with depth, you will co-create the world
with your GM.
This will help your GM feel like the world building and
maintenance work was worth it, and they will want to keep
GMing for you. In that sense, you should view the world as a
toy the GM created for you to play with.
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4. Respect The GM's Artistic Creation
You don't have to like the creation, but be nice about it.
Players in my games have sometimes casually commented that
"GM created race X sucks." Subjectively, that might be true,
but there might be more tactful ways to say it.
All the hours I spent writing up that race, their
background, history, and motives, and weaving them into the
world mean that I'm a little attached to them. With negative
player feedback I'm going to minimize that race's role in
the world because the players aren't responding to them
well.
That's fine. I tell myself during world creation I need to
maintain some non-attachment about it because the world will
be different once the players touch it. On the other hand, I
don't like it when my creation is outright insulted.
The positive side of this is to share with the GM when
something goes well or when something in the world is cool.
One of my players called me after my last session and said,
"That was straight up *&^%-ery," which was his way of
saying, "That was very dramatic, unexpected, and I enjoyed
myself." Maybe that loses something in the translation but
you get the idea.
Ultimately, player, it is your job to make sure the GM stays
where he or she is, safely behind the GM screen. If you
don't consider the GM's enjoyment (a little bit), and how
you contribute to it, you may one day find yourself without
a GM, and the other players may nominate you for the GM
seat.
And wouldn't that be scary?
* * *
Related links and tips:
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How to Craft Awesome Game Holidays
Holidays Essentials offers advice and tips for creating
compelling events for your game world. It offers step-by-
step design, and shows you how to make holidays give you
endless encounter, adventure, and campaign hooks.
Chapter 1: How To Design Compelling Holidays
Chapter 2: Holiday Design Elements
Chapter 3: GM & Campaign Advice
How to Craft Awesome Game Holidays (66 pages) at RPG Now
Return to Contents
For Your Game: 10 Flavourful Wines
By Magus from Strolen's Citadel with permission
Some Thoughts on Race and Wine
Humans are likely to be the most prodigious producers of
wine, being the race most commonly associated with mass
agriculture. Most of the wine for sale or in circulation
will be human made.
Elves would make better wines, having greater experience and
delicate senses, but would always fall behind humans in that
their wine is produced via horticulture rather than
agriculture. They let the grapes grow where they will,
rather than creating vineyards.
Dwarves, long time ale and beer drinkers, would remain so.
Grapes don't grow well in mountainous terrain. Orcs and
goblins would likely have wine as well, but rather than
organized efforts, each clan, tribe, or band would have a
few members who know how to make some stout home-brew.
1) Ermengarde
This is a popular wine, foremost coming from the Ermengarde
valley in Nahalast prefecture. It is a ripe and full bodied
wine that is best served chilled. This wine is a status
symbol among the gentry and the nobility, and serves as the
baseline of what is acceptable in polite company and what is
plebian wine.
2) Ferginwaithe
The elves cultivate grapes in the open meadows of the
Ferginwaithe forest, and ferment a potent wine from it. The
entire process is handled, from picking to bottling, by the
elfin women of the forest. The grapes, renowned for their
dusky color, produce a sweet and slightly musky pink wine.
3) Turhin Red
Turhin is cheap, made from whatever grapes are left from the
pickings in the Turhino river vineyards. This includes
grapes rejected for other wines and wild grapes.
Given the size of the region, a large amount of this wine is
made every year and sold only in wooden casks to taverns,
brothels, and slum hostels. It is of uniformly poor quality.
4) Creustold Red
This wine is made from the fermented juices of the creuse, a
fist sized red citrus fruit. It is known for strong citrus
taste and palate cleansing ability. It cuts through the most
persistent fish oils, overly spiced cuisines, and the like.
It is seldom consumed by itself, but is popular on fish,
served with runny cheeses, or taken as an eye-opener first
thing in the morning.
5) Daidaugh Wildwine
An expensive wine with a complex taste, Daidaugh is made
only from wild grapes found growing around the druidic copse
at Daidaugh Hill. Very few bottles are made and most are
consumed by the druids themselves. The few that are sold
command a hefty price on the market due to scarcity.
6) d'lil Auflaque
Elves are not known for making cheap wines, and d'lil
Auflaque is as close as they get. This wine is a mixture of
whatever is left from the casking and bottling for the year.
It is blended, usually spiced with a blend of aromatic
herbs, and bottled. It isn't a bad wine, but is considered
sub-par, even when compared to some human vintages.
7) Chahon-Rhoh
This is reviled by elves and friends of the forest as it is
aged in oaken barrels made from treefolk. The wine itself is
mellow and nutty. It is an expensive wine, since the winery
only has a few barrels that can properly age it. The rest of
the wine, which is similar in taste, sells much cheaper as
simple Rhoh Red.
8) Adat
Adat is a blood red wine made by the orcs of the Lynnian
steppe from the fruit of the Ada tree, a fruit much like a
pomegranate, but larger. The wine is syrupy and slightly
adhesive. Orcs drink it in large amounts, and sometimes use
it as a flammable weapon, throwing burning bladders of the
wine at wooden defenses and squads of human infantry. If cut
with water, Adat makes a palatable beverage.
9) Queuthpol
This wine is grown along the Pol river in the Keethian
highlands, an area of fog and damp mornings. The vintners
are mostly half-elven, and have preserved a blend of human
industry and elfin pragmatism to produce several dozen
acres of vineyard.
The large pearl red grapes make for a delicate and savory
wine, and bottled in a round-shaped bottle, a distinctive
vintage. The wine commands a high price, but is generally
considered a top vintage that isn't among the super-rare
varieties.
10) Rast-Apple Cider
Ciders are made from apples or pears, but are essentially
still wines. Rast-Apple cider, made from a peculiar golden
apple, is a popular if expensive beverage. It is good for
easing illness of the stomach and gut as well as never
leaving a hangover. To ensure the cider is legitimate, a
single seed is left in the bottom of the bottle.
Want more wines? Read 30 Wines at Strolen's Citadel.
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Game Master Tips & Tricks
Have some GM advice you'd like to share? E-mail it to johnn@roleplayingtips.com - thanks!
1. Game Up Your Guilds
From Bryan Howard
I believe guilds get little attention in most games and are
only used as a hindrance and a way to lighten the PCs'
purses of their hard won gold. Guilds have existed
throughout much of history and should have more attention
paid to them.
Whether it is a simple potters' guild to a fighter or
thieves' guild, PCs and NPCs should want to be in their
appropriate guild. Being a member of a guild is a plus, not
a punishment.
Make choosing a guild a quandary. "This mage guild teaches
you how to cast spells without using material components,
but this one teaches gem attuning and how to store spells in
gems. Then this other one teaches you how to cast spells
with just a focus item. I can't decide which to apply to."
Also, guilds are great for adventure hooks. Requests to
steal or retrieve a stolen item, ensure a package arrives to
its intended destination, or fight in a guild war.
Just as there are benefits, there should be negatives. Yes,
you can learn to cast spells without using components, but
your training takes half again as long and you are forbidden
to use a magic item that recreates a spell effect.
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2. Virtual Tabletop Gaming Tips
From Killian
Some people run a virtual tabletop as just a
mapping tool to know where players and enemies are in a
real game. Others use them just to have a map for an
online game, while the actual playing is done over a
voice chat software like Skype or Ventrilo.
I use them as a surrogate game table, with myself DMing from
the midwest United States, and other players ranging from
tornado alley out to the east coast. All functions are kept
in-game, except the character sheets, which are put together
on the site Mythweavers. Rolls, scene descriptions, in-
character turns, and everything else is done using the
program functions.
Text doesn't fade. You can take advantage of that. If you
need to hop away from the computer to do something that
won't take long, it's not something the game needs to be
paused, or even distracted, for.
As long as you communicate through the in-program chat,
whatever your group has said will still be there on the
screen waiting for you. With proper timing, nobody even
needs to know you were gone.
In Maptool there's a chatlog save function. If you have a
problem keeping things straight or remembering to take
notes, as long as you save the log at the end of every game,
you have an adventure transcript right there.
Forgot who the NPC the party is working for? No problem.
Just open the appropriate log and find his name. As a
player, forgot to write down what that awesome magical item
the DM gave you did? No problem, open the log, skim back
through, and no need to distract anyone about it.
As an roleplaying-heavy DM, this is an extremely useful way
to make sure every little adlib and new story idea doesn't
contradict anything. A quick skim through old sessions and
you can be sure that the new ideas you have fit with the old
stuff you've put into play.
If it comes down to needing to retcon something, as horrible
as that can be for a campaign, the sting is lessened by
making it clear exactly what changed, virtually to the
letter.
Keep an out of character room, be it through an instant
messenger program or a free chatroom service. Half the fun
of a game is the social aspect, but it's easy to get bogged
down and off track if your party's joke cracking has pushed
the last relevant character post off the game screen.
Players can end up not even knowing it's their turn to act.
The ability to keep in-character and out of
character talk separate means a lot less distraction.
While it seems like it would be awesome to hand create every
minute detail of a map, it's unnecessary. The ability to
build custom maps is wonderful, but keep it simple, and keep
reuse in mind for at least a few areas.
My players have been heading up and down the same river for
several sessions, and it's simply a river with a pebbly
bank, trees on one side, and a road and a bunch of bushes on
the other. This little map has been reused every time
they're traveling, and no one's batted an eye. There's no
reason to recreate a new river map every time, and by
keeping it simple and uncustomized, it can be used over and
over.
If you're planning a special encounter, then it would be
best to customize a map, but the simpler and more reusable a
map, the less lag from so many different areas, and the less
setup time you have to use mapping.
Vision blocking layers when properly executed are awesome.
Stick to straight and simple lines though, unless you want
your entire map to die in horror and lag.
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3. Differentiating Multiple Monsters
From Mike Bourke
In response to the question about distinguishing multiple
creatures of the same type, the simplest answer would seem
to be using a poker chip as a stand, and sandwiching a small
strip of Post-It Note between so just a small stub is
showing. Write the monster number on the stub.
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4. Easy Place Names
From Mark L. Chance
Peruse the telephone directory for easy place names. Lots of
street names can be used for any given genre.
For example, a quick look at Houston's directory turns up
these streets: Timberside, Mellowgrove, Horse Cave, Shadow
Lake, and Jade Cove.
To me, those sound like great names for a hamlet of
lumberjacks, a druid commune, a bandit hideout, a haunted
lake, and the site of the pagoda housing a school for evil
monks.
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Johnn Four's GM Guide Books
In addition to writing and publishing this e-zine, I have
written several GM tips and advice books to inspire your
games and to make GMing easier and fun:
How to design, map, and GM fresh encounters for RPG's most
popular locales. Includes campaign and NPC advice as well,
plus several generators and tables
Advice and tips for designing compelling holidays that not
only expand your game world but provide endless natural
encounter, adventure, and campaign hooks.
Critically acclaimed and multiple award-winning guide to
crafting, roleplaying, and GMing three dimensional NPCs for
any game system and genre. This book will make a difference
to your GMing.
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