Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Forum Games and Roleplaying => Topic started by: TCM on December 16, 2012, 10:55:11 pm
-
Look, we all know the dangers of Mary Sue NPCs and "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies", but this thread is devoteted to all the real situations experienced RPG GM's face. This thread is devoting to sharing and aiding your fellow GMs with your own tounge-in-cheek anecdotes. I'll start.
1. So you have that idea for a game. Well great, but for fuck's sake make sure you make it adaptable so you don't hit writer's block 6 turns in.
2. On that same note, don't try and lay out everything you think the players will do. Because when Zanglos the Cheese Demon decides to take the north gate and not the south, you'll be stuck.
3. Figure out how to deal with inactive players, especially in bigger RPGs.
4. Just because we all like Dwarf Fortess doesn't mean we'll get your obscure reference to that one book only you and George Lucas's hooker read.
5. Good mix of male and female characters? Great! A diverse party is always a good thing. Just be warned: Sexual Tension. SO MUCH SEXUAL TENSION.
Your turn! :3
-
6. This is Bay12. Expect insanity.
7. This is Bay12. Expect derails.
8. This is Bay12. Be aware of major developments and features in Dwarf Fortress.
9. This is Bay12. We're normal, albeit insane, people.
-
6. Decide early on if this is going to be a sandbox game where the players decide what the plot is or a railroad game where the GM decides what the plot is. Tell your players which it's going to be, and stick to it.
-
10. We are insane and depraved, no matter what Gold says.
If anyone tries to prove me wrong, read through the entire Last Night Troll thread AND TELL ME YOUR NOT SCARRED.
-
11. Make sure you reward your players with phat lewtz. If you do not, expect a revolt.
-
12. If you give a player a seemingly completely useless and self-destructive ability, expect them to go to great lengths to turn it into something useful.
-
13. More general statement of the above: All powers, items, abilities, skills, etc. will be used in ways you did not plan for. This is normal, to be expected and what makes the genre great. It is not something to get upset about.
-
14 15. Bookkeeping errors are to be expected. Figure out how to deal with them, but don't let them hold up the game.
-
15. If they do something stupid, PUNISH THEM. I practiced one on a friend, and he ate grass and i took out some health. he put it in a bottle, and it was poison. The moral is, if they do something, ROLL WITH IT.
-
16. Keep it simple or have players that don't mind waiting days for updates.
-
17. If an item is critical for your plans, make sure it is either replaceable or not destructible, or both. You don't want to get stuck when a PC treats that vial of silver dragon spinal fluid as a potion of make the DM cry.
-
17 18. Any Sci-fi game expect long discussion of biology or any hard sciences that are usually 20 plus pages.
-
18. Don't. EVER. MAKE. COOKIE CUTTER RACES!
-
20. Keep things simple enough to keep the players engaged, but complex enough that it's not boring.
21. Always have a wild card up your sleeve. ALWAYS.
22. Keep your players informed - try not to spontaneously drop off the planet without warning.
-
23. Your plot idea won't have as much filler as it needs. Get used to it, because that problem ain't going away.
-
24. Prepare to make your apologies when you have to do something that gives your players less game.
25. Do not begrudge the aforementioned apologies.
26. Just because a dungeon is beautiful in your head and patterned off of real designs doesn't mean it's going to be fun to slog.
27. Killing players makes the survivors more creative.
28. Occasionally it's okay to let a slightly broken mechanic slide instead of reinventing the wheel to fix it.
29. Incorporate player insanity as far as is feasible.
30. Let players screw up horribly.
31. Sandbox areas are fun until the players forget what they were supposed to be doing in the sandbox.
32. Player observance scales inversely to the list of items you want the player to notice.
-
33. No matter how infallible your logic is, some asshole is going to find an error with it.
-
34. If someone finds an error in your logic, try to see their point.
-
35. The amount of effort put into a game scales inversely to the amount of time between turns. Consider your own balance carefully.
36. If the effort isn't fun, it's work. Run something fun.
-
37. Shipping is expected. Don't stamp it out exc-wait wrong RP.
37. Don't overprepare, you'll lose enjoyment.
-
37. Shipping is expected. Don't stamp it out exc-wait wrong RP.
38. Don't overprepare, you'll lose enjoyment.
Fixed that for you
39. Do not underprepare, as details will occurr
-
40. When your rolls start using multiple constants, functions and requires a special program to roll, it might be better to simplify
-
41. Nine hundred dice rolls a turn isn't quite easy. (Looking at adwarf :P)
-
41. Nine hundred dice rolls a turn isn't quite easy. (Looking at adwarf :P)
Heh, reminds me of a crossbow minigun setup I ran in a D&D game. Each bolt split into two with separate attack rolls, threatened critical on natural 15 or higher (and then confirmed a crit automatically), each threat granted a free extra attack (also split) against any target, and each confirm granted an additional free attack (also split) against the same target. Also each confirm granted a stacking +1 hit and damage to subsequent attacks.
-
PTW.
-
42. All questions shall be answered. Be it your riddles or the "how does it work" from your players.
43. If your game involve useless loot and money, put shops every 1,27 dungeons.
44. NPC allies. Players are often glad to have people to interact with. Developped beyond quest givers and shopkeepers that is, but not XP-stealers. Quest givers that actively help from time to time are good.
-
41. Nine hundred dice rolls a turn isn't quite easy. (Looking at adwarf :P)
Reminds me of You Are Islanders. So many dice...
45. Make sure that you can make something up for anything. You know we'll find a way to get through some stone wall or force field eventually.
46. Write that made-up stuff down.
-
46. Write that made-up stuff down.
47. AND DON'T FUCKING LOSE IT.
-
Oh yeah.
48. For the love of God, make and use maps. Decently-made MS paint ones work, flashy drawn ones are nice too. The top things players tend to get confused about: "Where am I? What is this? What can I do?" A properly-made, updating map can answer two or more of these in one fell swoop.
-
I don't have maps though D:
-
These I learned running a comunity fort.
49. Players are malicious. This includes people and things in game as well as outside of the game. Be ready.
50. In large games, players like to form cliques. These often are at odds with each other. This devolves into anything from cold feelings to hot hatred of each other. Catch it early.
51. Players left to roam freely will wander in dark places. Take heed.
52. Players that wander in dark places will wander in darker places you really wish they wouldn't. Sometimes in places that are frowned upon or forbidden on Bay 12. Be vigilant.
53. You can't please everyone, but you can make everyone upset. Consider your actions and words.
These I learned being a player in a PBP game.
54. Play by post games that use pen and paper rules go slower than a broke legged dwarf who hasn't had booze since the turn of the century. Be patient.
55. Play by post games that use GURPS go slower than a glacier melting. Combat is a thing to be avoided at all costs. Be very patient.
-
Oh yeah.
48. For the love of God, make and use maps. Decently-made MS paint ones work, flashy drawn ones are nice too. The top things players tend to get confused about: "Where am I? What is this? What can I do?" A properly-made, updating map can answer two or more of these in one fell swoop.
48a. The simpler they are the easier they are for you to update if your MS Paint / art skills are rudimentary.
Sorry for not keeping mine up to date, freeform.
-
((Hey I ain't complainin', sometimes a decent description can substitute :P))
-
PTW.
56. Most rules which pertain to player morality or the judgemental or logical systems of players (that is to say, personality or abstract aspects) change from person to person. There is no label for a player that a GM must prepare for and there is no rigidity to any game wherein any GM meets a dead end.
When trapped in a one-way road. Make your own route. The walls are only doors without handles.
-
57. We don't need 26831894391760431786127380941897023781502 Goddamn Minimalist RTDs.
-
58. Player actions come always over your plot idea. If you want to force your story idea over the wishes of your players, you get fucked up.
-
59. If it exists, the players will find some perverse use for it. Whether it's a sex-robot, or an arm's length of rope. Expect at least one of the players to try something sick with it at some point.
60. If you deny them this, someone is going to be butthurt.
-
61. It's good to please everyone, but if there's that one roleplayer, especially in a large game, that opposes every other person and fights with the GM, get rid of them. It's harsh, but it's your game, not his/hers.
-
Posting for later reference.
-
62. Maps are good, but they don't need to be works of art. If the game is good, players will have just as much fun with a MSpaint scrawl as they would with the map equivalent of the Mona Lisa.
-
63. Sometimes people need to be killed. It sucks if you know the DM is afraid to kill a PC at times.
-
64. Have backup EVERYTHING. Something WILL happen if you don't.
-
65. When caught without backup, DON'T send a dragon to scare em back on the rails.
-
66. Many times, the only difference between having a short-lived, unremarkable game, and a legendary, unforgettable adventure is dedication.
67. Explaining the plot and setting is important, but it is also something that can be done as the game progresses. It's usually best to avoid writing an opening story the length of a short novel.
-
68: If you have a concept for the main plotline/ability in/of the adventure, PLEASE think it all the way through before you make the concept into a fully fledged thing used in a Adventure. Trust me, I've done that.
69: If you want to make a RTD, try to avoid going minimalistfor a complicated system of calculating damage. Example: Making a Mecha Based RTD, without a easy way to calculate damage done to or by people on foot versus Mechs.
-
70. Necromancy of old threads will almost always get some flack from the peanut gallery, but if you post in your old game to announce a sequel that can be helpful for those that had notifications turned on, and likewise reviving a "list" or useful body of information that is still relevant is really more a service than starting from scratch.
71. Always answer player questions.
-
72. If you say you will update a game at a specific time, failing to do so will cause your players to lose faith in you; even dead silence is preferable to this.
-
73. PTW is good, always trust me I'm a doctor
-
74: When making a game where there's a lot of player freedom, do not craft a number of large highly detailed paths on a story line, instead focus on a bunch of characters connected to points with possibilities and results that are related to eachother that can when put together in a number of ways lead to many many different pictures that one might call a story.
75: If you have a game where they player's can do whatever they like, be sure to make the world have a decent amount of interesting locations and kingdoms/republic's/empires.
76: Be prepared for your players to become merchants instead of mercenaries or adventurers if they have the chance.
77: Make your world feel alive, if your players end up rolling a 1 on an encounter, instead of some nameless monster being thrown at them, throw one that the people from the nearby village were talking about plaguing their lands, or some infamous bandit. In fact feel feee to make whatever you throw at them something that might reoccur in the local area. Additionally make sure that if there is some big bad trying to end the world and everyone knows about it there are more than just the players actually doing things to try and stop it, and that the world changes with time. In fact, feel free to have the players find out that one villain they stopped hunting for a year and a half after going and doing a bunch of side plots and other things was actually defeated by some other group.
78: Give even shopkeepers character, and allow that character to be flexible. In fact don't be surprised when one of your players tries to get the shopkeep to join them.
79: Be flexible with everything, your players likely will do something unexpected, stupid, or even pull out a bunch of minor things they asked if they had earlier that are a part of a master plan to destroy whatever you just threw at them. It will likely be sooner or later that someone will do something that causes a major change of plans. In fact, it's practically inevitable.
-
80. If you realise one of your players is a more experienced GM than you, pay careful attention to their actions and posts, you may learn something.
-
23. Your plot idea won't have as much filler as it needs. Get used to it, because that problem ain't going away.
81. Even if you’ve made lots of filler for your players, remember: If you give them the freedom to do so, they will create their own filler, especially if that means killing things that were important to you, or derailing the plit beyond repair.
82. If they do derail your plot, don’t be afraid to go along with it. Some of the best tales from Games will come from when chaos erupts.
-
83. Don't add so many rules and details that you turn a fun pastime into Spreadsheets: The Game
-
84. Join the General Forum Game Discord Server (https://discord.gg/6pQFtpu) or make your own for your game and have players correct your mistakes or ask rule clarification questions there.
85. A mechanic your game centers around might be good, like resources and their acquisition for my game, Planet War.
-
86:
<SUMMONING THEREDWOLF>
<SUMMONING THEREDWOLF>
<SUMMONING THEREDWOLF>
If you're going to abandon a forum game, at least verbally state it in the thread or just lock it.
<SUMMONING THEREDWOLF>
<SUMMONING THEREDWOLF>
<SUMMONING THEREDWOLF>
-
72. If you say you will update a game at a specific time, failing to do so will cause your players to lose faith in you; even dead silence is preferable to this.
87:If you did say will update at a specific time and fail to update apologize. After that either don't stick to a schedule, or do but don't tell your players.
-
88. Paint.net is an amazing program. (https://www.getpaint.net/)
-
84. Join the General Forum Game Discord Server (https://discord.gg/6pQFtpu) or make your own for your game and have players correct your mistakes or ask rule clarification questions there.
89: This is wrong, do not do this, discord bad, forum better
-
84. Join the General Forum Game Discord Server (https://discord.gg/6pQFtpu) or make your own for your game and have players correct your mistakes or ask rule clarification questions there.
89: This is wrong, do not do this, discord bad, forum better
90. Poll the players to see if they want a discord(only offer a discord if the majority of players want it).
-
91. Or create a Discord anyway, just don't post *really* essential information there if you have a player who doesn't want to use it.
92. Making the waitlisters participate somehow would be good. Maybe have them control characters that would otherwise be NPCs?
-
PTW
-
93. Some of my best works didn't finish, and I do not regret pushing my limits, failure is often the best teacher.
94. I've learned not to take a session for granted just because it's almost over; pat yourself on the back after a game is finished, not before.
95. Sometimes all your meticulous planning is unexpectedly thwarted, it is better to hobble to the finish line if it is in reach, than quit out of spite of an unfair world.
96. Take breaks: Small ones, medium ones, and big ones. Make them part of the plan. Exercise!
97. Make it part of your routine to clean one thing each time you get up, slay goblins to stave off the dragon!
98. Communicate. Be transparent in your intentions and others will respect you for it.
99. You can't make anyone happy but yourself. But happiness is contagious.
100. Your most relentless enemies are your future old friends. They just don't know it yet!
101. That doesn't mean you should let them walk all over you in the here and now...