DM Discussion

[Musicman247]

As a DM I like to leave things as open as possible, to a fault sometimes. Not many people like to come up with their own motivation to do something, or maybe haven't seriously considered why their character is in the RP and so don't have anything planned for them to do.

Edit: to me a roleplay is all about the character and how they would react in the situation they find themselves in.

[p-sto]

To Kerr's comment, in team situations the preferences of a character who could go either way become less relevant. To Musicman's comment, in my short time here two of my three characters have turned out substantially different due to unanticipated events. It can be hard to hold on to motivations.

[JVElEven]

So...

What do you do if you have to solve a situation coming up without jumping the shark? Give hints to the players or something?

[MARS]

Try to tailor everything you do to how the players play. Like, go along with their flow as much as possible, while retaining your original concept.

[The-Shadow-One]

Or just make it up as you go along with only certain rigid points in the roleplay.
Adaptation and alteration.

[Kerr]

Improvisation really is one of the most important skills for a GM.

[unokitsune]

I have to rebirth Zeyelden somehow.

[Kerr]

I think in my RPs I should make combat and other stuff more "realistic" I suppose the term could be. But that isn't really it. I'm not sure how to describe it. I already do it but I want to do more of it. For example I had an RP going where the enemy NPCs were outnumbered and lost morale. Players assumed it was a trap or that they were lied to because the foes were bricking it as massively outnumbered rookies may well do. I want my NPCs to act like people. They get scared and panic. They'll give up, not everyone is going to fight to the death. Sure a zombie has no intelligence would but a common bandit probably would surrender if he clearly was going to die otherwise. I also want to use more tactics. Have intelligent foes actually work against the characters. Like in another RP, the NPC knew it would be an obvious trap if they just walked through the doors in front of them. For that reason they went around, attacked the PC from behind and caught him off guard. You know if I have a dragon in an RP it would probably mess the players up if they tried to fight it. It would be a damn hard fight that's for sure. I kind of just want to take it from an approach of "If I was this person/creature with the knowledge that I have, what would I do?" Also you shouldn't fight an insane amount of people like you do in most games. I'll do it with other things too. If you murder someone you better take steps to ensure you don't get caught. You really think nobody would notice a dead police officer and investigate it? And overall there are ways to solve things that don't involve killing.

[Imp]

Realism is almost always good, in my opinion. Although, there are a few times where realism makes things less fun, in my opinion. For example, has anyone ready "The Old Man and the Sea"? It was very realistic, but got boring very quickly. I'm just saying, be careful with 'super realism."

I would like to stress that this is just my opinion, with my lack of experience of rping.

[Musicman247]

Realistic time progression is interesting and unrealistic at the same time. In less than a day people in Hope Falls had meaningful relationships with people they had only met the previous day. In real life time would be wasted doing all sorts of things, but in an RP every minute is filled with something. It's probably not something I would do again unless the plot mandated it.

[Eltee]

The best way to circumvent that, I find, is to have episodes separated by considerable intervals of travel.

[JVElEven]

So as to cause months to pass so that people know each other, I'd wager?

[Musicman247]

Unfortunately the plot in Hope Falls does not allow for that kind of experience.

[MARS]

As long as it's fun to read and play, who cares. Just do whatever works.

[Kerr]

Right, so I wanted to talk about GMing stuff and what you guys do. This is the GM discussion after all. Hopefully I don't end up as a GM committing the things I say I dislike. Also, prepare for a lot of text.

First, GMPCs. They are almost always a bad idea The GM doesn't need a PC, they have every single NPC. And trust me, NPCs are great. Having an NPC tagging along with the PCs is fine. But it shouldn't be a situation where the GM basically has a lead player character. Because they tend to end up as the main character and stuff revolves around them. I understand why you want to do it. You run a game because you really want to play it and nobody else is running it. I would love to play in a Cyberpunk RP. But I can't, I'm the GM, not a PC. The PCs should always be the main characters, not just side characters who tag along with the people the GM controls who are the real heroes and the only ones who move the plot. If they aren't the main characters than something is probably going wrong. RPGs (and video games) allow for a freedom that other types of story telling don't allow. Players are going to not do what you wanted them to do, do what you didn't want them to do, try to kill who you don't want to die and flip over the world's rocks and ask loads of questions about how it works that you might not have thought of the answer to. In short they will lay waste to a lot of your plans, so you need to be able to adapt. It's going to happen anyway, so you may as well embrace it when you are running stuff.

Second, getting the PCs together and to actually do stuff in the RP. I pretty much always like to start with my PCs all in the same place. A lot of this falls on PCs, as I said it isn't hard, it is just as simple as having character motivation. Not to blow my own trumpet, but To blow my own trumpet I think I did it okay in S&S. PCs all have a reason to do stuff. Might be to save people, get money or receive a pardon for crimes. I'm fine with how I'm planning on getting the PCs together and to start the plot in World of Darkness. But the Fallout thing I'm doing I'm a lot more iffy on. I need the PCs to:
1. Be new to the area and not know what is going on.
2. Have a reason to go there in the winter when conditions would start to be harsh.
3. Have a reason to be together at the start.
4. Not have too much stuff. In World of Darkness and Fallout I'm actually planning on counting ammo and items and all that stuff. In S&S infinite ammo is fine, but in some other stuff I want to limit it. I don't want players being overpowered but I don't want to limit stuff either. If I said go nuts then in theory somebody could justify in character a guy with power armour, a bozar and loads of other stuff. If that is the case than survival isn't really hard. I really don't like to limit character creation, but if everyone else has more basic stuff and can advance while you start already at the top then what do I do as a GM?

I'm thinking starting it with the PCs going to the place with a caravan. That they will then be planning to deliver stuff and stay there over the winter. But it gets attacked, everything is stolen and the PCs are left for dead. But that might just feel like I'm cheating the players.

Lastly PCs Vs. PCs. If you haven't noticed yet, I love giving players freedom. Part of this is letting the PCs finish the RP without killing anyone. But it also means I'm fine with PCs killing people if they so wish. This includes other PCs. Just remember, choices have consequences.

[Archer]

As for the first point, I myself was guilty of that in RS *cough*O'Farley*cough*, which is something I hope to correct in its reincarnation.

And a question relating to the second, what is the best way to have the majority of the players be gathered in the same spot at the start of an RP? My problem with how I did it, is I felt as if I was forcing it too hard which, in my eyes, set up the downfall of the whole thing.

[Justice knight]

Give them a reason for being there.
It can be anything from they just wandered into the place or they heard rumors about someone offering a job with huge pay, hell you can even give each person a different reason depending on their character.

The easiest way I did it was in the original Blacklight (not day of the wolf) where I just had everyone riding the same train home.

[Kerr]

Yeah, you can do it with them all coming to sign up for the same job. Or they just happen to be in the same place at the same time. Plenty of ways to do it. All happen to be on the same train, all happen to be chosen or volunteered for a task, going to the same get together, live in the same apartment building, all in the same cafe, going to sign up for the same job. All those example were from RPs I was in or ran. Of course you can also allow for characters to already know each other. Have them be friends, or foes, or lovers or family members. That can be really good.

The way I'm planning on doing it for World of Darkness is you just happened to be walking the streets of Dublin alone one particular night and got knocked out and kidnapped. Plenty of reasons to be there. Might be going home, going to meet friends, going to a hotel because you are a tourist, going to get the bus back to your hometown, going to work, going to a concert, maybe you are homeless. Leaves it pretty open.

For your pirate RP they could all meet in a den of iniquity. Just some bar/brothel/hotel combo in a port town. "You all meet in an Inn" might be overused, but it works. Could be patron drinking there, could be someone working there, could be looking for someone who is known to hang out there. If you want you could have something happen there to set them off on adventure. Maybe there are people recruiting for some job, maybe someone runs in to say the port in under attack, maybe a old man wanders in bleeding to death and before he dies tells the PCs where they can find treasure or something, maybe they just hear a rumour. It leaves it open for plenty of plot hooks. It can be whatever you want really.

I don't like starting with my PCs spread out. Because until they meet up it will just be the GM and then small groups of 1 or 2 PCs. Also it makes things crawl as PCs take forever to get together. Never mind it is really hard to get them together naturally, probably going to result in railroading. So you could go through that mess or alternatively just start with them in the same place. Easier to start them together and let them branch off and go their own ways if they want than it is to have them all branched off and making them get together.

Note the above is just for the starting PCs getting together. Things tend to be different for adding in PCs once it starts.

[The-Shadow-One]

I think the idea of how I got people in TNG was okayish. It would of brought interest. And people are curious or interested could go to just see what it was about, others might of came due to the gravitas behind Apollo's names. Or something. I don't know.

I support the feeling about GMPC's.

[philfredobob]

I don't like starting with my PCs spread out. Because until they meet up it will just be the GM and then small groups of 1 or 2 PCs.

Ya, this happened to me. My original plan was to open up my world so that folks could have varied characters from completely different walks of life, and then when they come together it could be all the more interesting. However it is definitely taking a while. In my head, I didn't realise just how long connecting people takes.

[Kerr]

You did it fine in TNG TSO. But yeah, I do recommend starting with the PCs together.

[BetaB17]

So have a rather simple question in regards to RP's >_> when dealing with popular and a certain well loved NPC, and in some cases even a PC, I understand that in most other forms of entertainment the need of misfortune events to draw upon strong emotion can be a grand addition. What I wanna ask is: the more beloved the character, the worse their death should be if fate demands it. I mean.. we've all had that one character we just wished suffered the worse.. and in some cases it's given as a treat, others it's purposely denied or merely undeserved mercy.. however in contrast there is always someone we would hate to see go>_> and if so at least a quick or honorable death

Speaking from inexperience, how would one go about this?

[Unionhack]

It depends on how you want the death to have impact, you know? Heroic impact versus tragic, unwarranted impact.

For example, beloved character is holding a bridge with the player characters. It doesn't look good, but with enough perseverance and caution, they day may still be won.

If we're going to go with a more heroic route, perhaps the character takes a blow and keeps on kicking, taking down enemy after enemy until he is finally chopped down; think Boromir from Lord of the Rings. In this case, the character usually has some breath left to let out some final words before finally dying.

The other route is the sudden tragic route; the character turns his head as he hears his name being called, and it is this moment of distraction that makes him prey to a lethal arrow to the neck, killing him instantly. It happens fast and he has no time for last words, and is almost like a wake-up slap to the face to those participating. It reminds them that mortality is real and that no one is safe.

Of course, these aren't the only ways to go about it, and death doesn't even have to involve combat at all.

However you do it, don't make it something lame, like choking on his dinner or something. Make it have impact in some way. That's what poetic death in storytelling is all about; impact.

[Musicman247]

Yep, it all comes down to personal preference. What kind of a storyteller are you? How do you want your players to feel? What mood are you trying to set? Answering those questions should help set your path in regards to major events.

[Kerr]

I think the possibility of death and failure are one of the best things about RPGs, it adds a lot of tension and drama. Nobody is safe, PC or NPC. Doesn't matter how well liked they are, how "severe" their death is also has nothing to do with how liked they are. The protagonists aren't going to win for being the protagonists, things don't work that way. They could lose, all their struggles end up being in vain as the person they were struggling against emerges victorious. Everyone's favourite PC who they basically see as the leader of the group? Nothing stopping them being betrayed and murdered when going to meet with people they thought were their friends or taking a bullet to the face in the middle of a fight. Like real life there is no guarantee that the "good guys" will win or that if they do die that their death won't be in vain. And you should have it like that. I'm not saying kill people every five seconds but if people are in situations where they might die, then they might die.

As mentioned by Winter there are tonnes of ways to do it, really it is up to you.

A thing you should do in general is have NPCs act like people. They're not just going to mindlessly fight to the death, they might run away or surrender. They're people too. They'll use tactics and they'll lie and trick you. If you [&@%!] them off they won't like you.

Choices should have consequences and failure is a consequence. GMs should remember that.