Game Mastery

At the most basic level, RPGs are like playing make believe as a little kid, but with rules such that conflicts can be resolved without cries of “I hit you,” “no, you didn’t,” “did so,” and “my dad can beat up your dad!” This is pretty much agreed upon by most roleplayers.

What I did not realize was that the place of the rules is something that varies from player to player. I’ve always been of the opinion that the characters I play are characters that can be transported from one story to another and are playable in any system. Granted some characters are more effective in certain settings. But by and large, I play a personality and choose to represent him in whatever system is available. This means that I choose whatever actions I want, and then apply the rules at hand to resolve those actions.

What’s been coming up more and more in some forums I read is the idea that the rules exist as an exhaustive list of what actions you can perform with your character. Some players even go so far as to say that their characters are aware of the list of available actions and the mechanics behind them. If a game system doesn’t include rules for pinning a grappled opponent, then you can’t pin (at least until a new splatbook comes out explaining the new pinning rules).

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One of my friends also happens to have set up a game related site.  Where I go into lengths about the answers I’ve found to coming GMing problems, he asks all the questsions a good GM should ask himself.  Check it out.

gonegaming.today.com

So far in this blog I’ve been trying to show my answers to common GMing questions. I’ve come across with a much more elitist tone than usual because of it. I’m sure I could preface each of my sentences with “in my experience” or some such, but these posts have been lengthy enough already.

At any rate, I called this site game mastery, not because I feel I’m a master GM spreading wisdom as a Dunkin Donuts employee spreads delicious low fat veggie cream cheese on my onion bagel every saturday morning. It’s because I want to achieve GM mastery. I think I do some things very well, but others come off extremely poorly. It’s time to examine one of those factors. It’s a biggie. I’m talking about my flat and lifeless non player characters.

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Never expected to link to a slashdot review here, but this seems pretty damn relevant: Quests, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives.

Basically this outlines how quests in games have degenerated from being meaningful to just being filler.  I pretty much agree with everything mentioned in the review and am linking to it so I don’t have to type it up myself later.

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This is a D&D specific post, as it deals with the topic of alignment.

Last night our game ended and it was time to discuss what to run next. The new guy asked what we thinking of evil characters and accidentally triggered a well rehearsed and lengthy rant from yours truly. The topic comes up fairly often. My thoughts on the matter are well refined from rehashing them over and over. Since this blog is a central repository for RPG issues that keep resurfacing, I figured this topic was post worthy.

First off, let’s talk evil. One of my favorite topics. Evil (and chaotic for that matter) often gets misplayed. I’m talking about the sort of evil that wonders off from the rest of the group to go barbecue an orphanage for shits and giggles. Sometimes it’s one character seeing how much carnage he can get away with. Sometimes it’s a whole party taking part in a verbal depravity contest. Characters like that aren’t evil, they’re monstrous. They’re beyond the brink of sanity. You can’t roleplay something like that, you can only perform a freakshow of disgusting acts.

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I’m going to take a little break from “Why Won’t They Roleplay” to go over something that needs going over. Character backstory. I almost always refer to this. It really is one of the most important things in a good RPG. I’ve always believed that you get out what you put in. Backstory is the players’ chance to put in effort.

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Welcome to part 3 of my Why Won’t They Roleplay series. If you’re having trouble with your current game, you may be a little late in reading this post. However if you’re looking for ways to fix your next game, this one’s for you. It’s about setting expectations and inviting players. (continue reading…)

Alright, so last time we discussed players that really, truly do not want to take part in roleplaying. This part of the article isn’t for them. It’s for the players who are potentially interested but don’t know how to roleplay or won’t come out of their shell. The best advice I can give here is to make it personal. The character needs to care about the plot he is involved in. This is why I’m not a big fan of uber save the world quests where the players are the only ones capable of standing up to overwhelming evil forces. Those quests aren’t personal, they’re right place, right time. Whenever I run a game I require a character backstory. No exceptions. Period. End of discussion. Players who object don’t get to play. And in all fairness players who don’t want to write a page or two about their character probably wouldn’t enjoy my style of game anyway.

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This is hopefully the start of a longer series wherein I discuss how to get your players more involved in the roleplay aspects of the game. Many GMs get frustrated by players who don’t bother getting into character and I see a lot of forum posts about the topic. I feel that one of my biggest strengths as a GM is in drawing players out of their shells, and I’d like to share my methods.

Before I begin I need to make clear that you can’t force players to roleplay. RP isn’t fun for everyone. Many have tried it and decided that it’s just not for them. Some of these players show up for a beer ‘n pretzels style hack and slash fest. Others like building and optimizing characters. Some people just show up to game because it’s where all their friends are. (continue reading…)

As someone who has appreciated unique, novel ideas, it makes me incredibly happy when my players tell me my games are original. I put a lot of effort into making sure that my games are something the players have never seen before (and more importantly I as the GM have never seen before either – otherwise I’d get bored while running it). I suppose it shocks people a little when they ask me where I get my ideas, and I tell them, “I steal them.” (continue reading…)