Lights, Camera, Action! - A Whole New World

As I mentioned in my last post, a great way to characterize and stylize your world is to add not only a real history to it, but famous places. In this article I am going to discuss how those pieces can help make a beautiful picture out of your campaign.

History, real concrete history, can really attach players to your world. Maybe the world used to be devoid of magic? Maybe a ruler of a specific kingdom just won't die? Facts like this, found in taverns and books, can not only help flesh out your world slowly, but they can reveal important clues you can use in ancient dungeons or old gods the may come across. Not to mention the fact that you can come up with it after they're already in your world (depending on how much your players care, I suppose), and make it as important as you want. Ancient figures and kingdoms can become important areas for adventurers to go to.

Tying in with history, famous areas can add some great themes to otherwise boring areas. Would you rather go to those mountains over there, or the Redcap Mountains, known for being fought over so many times that some say the ice is stained red with blood? Not to mention you can get very creative and pique your player character's curiosity, and get them to care about a city or temple they might get connected to.

When you begin to use both of these resources is when you can do some great foreshadowing for a coming battle, or perhaps an event that happens regularly like a comet passing, or a creature's mating ritual? I know these may not sound the most exciting, but with the right setup I sincerely think anything can be.

I know some GMs want to have the history and such all thought of before-hand, and that's wonderful. It helps to give the players a decent idea of the what the world they're entering is like. I'd rather be a dwarf from Bleakstone Pass, than a dwarf from some random pass you've probably never heard of.

Some GMs, like myself, aren't so keen on such preparations and would rather do them on the spot. It isn't easy to do with consistency, but it can be done, and the more you do it the better you get. 

And to you players, or GMs who also play, reading this - Try to learn about the setting's major players, history, and important areas. Ideally through in-game resources, as that promotes role-playing and can create interesting character interactions. It also shows the GM that you're interested in what's going on, and might cue him to add some more points of interest historically speaking.

So remember to not be afraid to add in historical details. They shouldn't be inconsistent GM-wise, but in-game scholars get things incorrect just like we do, and that can add tension and intrigue to one's "factual racism" or some other misguided intellectual in your party, or main villain.

Remember your world is what you and your players focus on, nothing more!

Taylor Shuss

Lights, Camera, Action! - Background Noise

A great way to give your setting (or someone else's setting you're using) life is by giving it characters out of the character's sphere of knowledge a mention or two, and let those people continue doing their own things and maybe let the party hear about it once in a while.

For example, let's say that the party is on a mission by a local duke, who asks the party to retrieve his daughter. He may mention he hopes it isn't Harkall, the Bandit Warlord who is rumored to be able to seduce any woman, and explains that said man has been on a rampage in the Southern Wastes and is rumored to be approaching the Northern territories.

What's neat is that because this is all hearsay, none of it ever needs to matter much besides a neat aside. But you can make it matter if you wish, or make it a part of your setting's lore and history. Maybe they find the duke's daughter with him, or maybe he isn't heading North at all. Perhaps weeks later they hear of Harkall breaking into a council room at the Gryth Arcanarium, demanding for revenge or else he will destroy them and their precious magic.

In this example, Harkall is acting much like a player does. He is a major character in his own story, and acts out of (usually) self-interest. But to the players, he is a sidenote ideally, which can evolve and eventually lead into a dramatic conflict, considering the war-mages of the Gryth Arcanarium are not to be taken lightly. 

It gets even better when you sprinkle these around, and let the players take interest in others from afar. They may grow to care, hate, or even love these figures (although it's tough) because of their deeds.

An issue with this way of storytelling (within your storytelling) is that players usually want to follow every obvious lead presented, so when a duke mentions a bandit warlord, often times they will run to defeat him even if he should be able to wreck them one-handed. I tend to make the people talked of far away, or of high position and prestige to keep the players away for a time, but it is a tricky path to follow.

This is also a great way to give players ideas on who might be able to help them on their journeys, as they shouldn't be able to do everything on their own. So you can mention a nearby mage who collects trinkets right before they find a powerful artifact that they will need to decipher, and ideally the players will be able to connect the dots on their own, making them feel smart and quite clever.

But in the end, these ideas are all for making your background come to life, and allowing players to learn of the world around them without actually needing to be everywhere. It can really flesh out the important players of any world, and help understand the politics of who the party may need assistance from when you get to epic-levels.

May your background noise be as exciting as your party's antics,

Taylor Shuss

GMing Basics - Gotta Keep'Em Separated

For today's article, I'm going to put out a rule I try my best to use, and explain why I GM by it. I feel it's a very important rule to at least understand for every GM out there.

Rule - Keep out-of-character issues out-of-character, and keep in-character issues in-character

This probably sounds simple, possibly you've read or heard it elsewhere before? That's because it's a pretty necessary part of tabletop RPGs that we all need to understand. I recall once two of my players wanted some Gorgon horn or somesuch, and I decided the matter with some saves or skill checks. Well, it seemed that the losing party was still unhappy even after the session, so I asked him. He explained why he felt it was unfair, and that's when I told him...

Losing Party: ...and that's why I don't agree with what went down. I'm just mad about it.

Me: Mad about it? Do you mean in-character (IC) or out-of-character (OOC)? Because if you mean out of character we need to have a talk. It's nice that you're getting invested in our games, but everyone needs to be able to retract themselves from their characters, and let go until they return to playing them.

It's times like these that players need to take a step back, breath a little, and remember 'It's only a game...' I understand that it can be a game that we all work very hard on, one that connects us and helps us express ourselves, but people need to be able to understand and control those feelings, and realize they should remain IC.

A similar issue is keeping biases out of the game entirely. I feel like a game can work if you don't like someone as a person, but you need to be able to stop being biased once you start GMing for them, which is easier said than done. My players know that they can bring me gifts and bribe me all they want, but I won't help them or give them anything in-game because that makes no sense. Granted, I have broken this rule, but only for one game. (Questioning which game it is is TREASON, Citizen! Are you a commie mutant traitor?) And I make that clear to my players, as PARANOIA is a a different experience than most other games in theme, tone, and play-style.

But to continue, I feel like every GM needs to be able to treat all of their players fairly. I don't care if you dislike Suzy but love Jeff, as long as you're the GM and they are your players, the world shouldn't favor either one unless they have earned it with their own actions and cleverness.

On a similar note, this is exactly why having significant others at a gaming table, where the boy/girlfriend is the GM, is usually a bad idea. I've heard stories go both ways, but they seem to usually end poorly.

I think I could handle it, but I don't know, and am very wary of trying it anytime soon. 

So be on guard, and if you think your GM is purposely helping someone or another - talk to him/her. It's hopefully a misunderstanding, as many players don't see things like their GM does, but sometimes a GM does like someone more, and wants to make that person do better, and that needs to stop. As a GM it's hard sometimes, removing yourself to such a degree, but it's better that way. Having a GM who helps someone over others can really ruin the fun of the game, and even kill the hobby for those involved.

Don't be afraid to kill your closest friends and gift your enemies, it's all a game,

Taylor Shuss

Making Evil

So you're writing up ideas for your campaign, thinking about the geography and who governs what and so on when you realize something - I need a driving force for my players. I need to give them a good reason to go on their journey, and not stay at home and watch the world burn.

How can you do this? Well the standard go-to answer most GMs use is something along the lines of villains, however this concept can be very broad, ranging from a specific person to concepts and even ideas, not to mention forces of nature.

Considering any given villain, who is supposed to stick around, needs a lot of work to make memorable and decent. Here are a few tools and ideas on how to help with your villains.

• Make something about them stand out. Perhaps a piece of clothing, how they talk, or how they fight. Either way, it's easier to remember something you can visualize well then another commoner.
• Make them relatable. Unless they are a concept or incarnation of an idea, they will inevitably have feelings, emotions, and everything that comes with that. So having players understand that who they are working against isn't some infallible, all-knowing being can give them courage in their fight, and sometimes even sympathy for the character, and if you're particularly lucky they may try to redeem them.
• Don't hide them, generally speaking. I have tried making my villains more of a "hidden in the shadows, pulling the strings" kind of people before, and it's never worked too well for me. I understand it can be done well, but I think it takes a lot of decent foreshadowing, and proper understanding from the party to really get a worthwhile effect from it all.
• Make them a challenge, in at least one way. By this I mean that villains don't always need to be strong in combat, as long as the players face them in another arena (ex. social situations) and can lose, in a matter of speaking.
• Make sure they're beatable for your party, and if they have a specific weakness or way to defeat them try to let your players figure it out before having an NPC ruining their "Aha!" moment. Don't let an NPC kill them either unless there is an amazingly good reason why s/he should get to final blow. The players are here for their story, their adventure, and their glory, not the story of Dwayne the Ex-Commoner.

One other thing I'd like to note is an idea I ran across a short while back. The idea was that GMs don't need to use villains anymore, they are an archaic ingredient to the GM's gameplan, and can be thrown out.

I find this train of though fascinating, and in a sand-box style of game I'd almost be inclined to agree in a way. There doesn't need to be a big evil guy or girl threatening people, the party should be self-driven, but many groups don't want such a freeform type of game, preferring to see what kinds of plans the GM has next, and how the story will unfold.

What do you think of the idea? Have you ever done a game without a proper villain? How'd it go? And if any of you have questions or suggestions for articles, I am more than happy to see what's on your minds.

I hope your creations lay waste to all who oppose them,

Taylor Shuss

Ending a Campaign - Tips and Tricks (Mostly Tips)

So let’s say you are your group have been meeting for a year, maybe even two, and it’s become clear the game is slowly coming to a close. Before I go any further, that’s amazing! I hear of so many games going downhill that actually managing to finish one is quite the accomplishment! However, it’s not over yet. I find ending a campaign to be a daunting task, and try to keep in mind a few pointers to make sure you don’t royally ruin the ending considering everyone’s (the player’s and GM’s) hard work.

Tip #1 - Try to keep your final note within the theme and mood you’ve setup. This may seem obvious, but it is necessary to remember, lest you overlook it and botch it all by turning your social political intrigue-based game into one of cartoon-like villains and antics.

Tip #2 -  Don’t force the campaign to end haphazardly unless you have the best ending ever ready to go right now. I was recently in a game where this unfortunately happened, and although I understand the GM’s reasons, the closure it gave us wasn’t good enough to merit ending it the way it did. Most players get unhappy, and may even leave if this happens, even if it’s for a perfectly understandable reason.

Tip #3 - Make sure to have a definite ending point - don’t allow the campaign to continue, especially if you don’t have much more material to give your players. It’s understandable to have players who want to continue, however as the GM you know better than most anyone when done is done. I recall doing this many years ago, and it just made the campaign go from “decent story” to “we have no idea what to do now,” and it was all my fault. 

Tip #4 - Remember that sometimes a traditionally bad ending isn’t bad for your campaign. Sometimes everyone getting killed can work, if it’s done well. A GM needs to properly setup everything, make sure you and your players are on the same mindset, but if it’s readied properly, don’t be afraid to try something traditionally seen as inherently bad. The best part is - if it works, you learned you can stray from the beaten path! Good job! If it doesn’t work, then talk to your players, learn what you did poorly, or what you missed, and maybe try something similar in concept later, ideally being cautious of what happened last time.

Tip #5 - Tie up every loose-end you can think of. I recall ending one of my first full campaigns, and one of my players was annoyed that I hadn’t finished a story-arc or two that he wanted to see ended. I was caught off-guard, being somewhat new to ending campaigns, and felt pretty stupid. Since then I’ve tried to really wrap things up, and so should you. A decent way to make sure you have every loose end is to either write them down as they come up, or ask your players what they want to see in your ending. If you ask your players, you also get to see if they’ve forgotten anything, as sometimes you can bring someone back and clean up whatever remained in their story, but make sure it’s actually relevant and not completely unrelated to the ending you have planned.

Tip #6 - Don’t force your ending. It feels much more natural to everyone when they come to the decision to approach such large and meaningful matters, as opposed to having an NPC suggest, or even worse, tell them to do whatever your plan is. I understand that most GMs want to tell a good story with the help of their players, however what a lot of GMs forget is that RPGs are a collaborative story, where both sides move and sway what happens, and removing that kind of free will, in my opinion, basically ruins the entire point of it being a game as opposed to a book or movie.

Don’t get me wrong, magical items and spells can force PCs to do quite a bit, but that should be used sparingly to allow for maximum freedom on the PC’s side of things. And if a player wants to act stupid and go hug the mindflayer, then s/he’s asking for what will inevitably ensue. But in most occasions, don’t force your players into where you want them to be, or what to do, especially in the ending. Such things can really tarnish an amazing campaign’s run in many people’s minds.

Tip # 7 - Try to make it memorable. I’m not saying you should pull every little trick out of your hat and do a dance for your players, but a forgettable ending can be pretty upsetting to players and GMs alike. Right when they think they have the villain down on the ground, have him up the stakes. Suddenly they’re in a do-or-die situation, and in those types of situations the player’s ultimate weapon truly emerges, Player Ingenuity. Players aren’t always the craftiest or quickest, but sometimes they can think up some crazy ideas which can work better than anything most GMs would ever see coming. These solutions can make a character, as well as an ending, very memorable.

May you and your players bask in such Ingenuity,

Taylor Shuss