Consequences

Sometimes it becomes hard to focus on the bigger picture in your games, and what would realistically happen, and instead only focus on the party. It can be tricky, because more often than not you're thinking about where they're going, who they'll meet, and other minor things which end up important during your finale.

I feel many GMs almost flat out ignore consequences, and have seen people say, "They killed the entire town! What do I do!?" Well, the players need to see the consequences their actions have brought to life. Perhaps this town supplied weapons to a nearby port town, making adventurers come out and look for the trouble plaguing the land. Perhaps the town supplied silk to a nearby royal family, and now a bounty is on for whomever can find out who killed such a peaceful place.

I have always found it funny that most players ignore consequences to a ridiculous degree, and I think it's because the game is in our heads, making it less real in a sense. Due to this common occurrence, I try to make sure that consequences feel realistic to a degree. If the players want to kill someone living in a town, the guards will notice the body eventually, and may be able to deduce it was them if they say them talking often and suddenly the party left town.

On a much larger scale, I have heard of parties chasing after a villain, and after a time they decided s/he wasn't worth the trouble, said villain destroyed everyone and took over the world. Before I go into this example more, make sure your players care and are still interested in what is going on. It sucks to not care about a campaign, but it's even worse to find something you like as a player in a campaign, and then find out you all die because you didn't go on the DM's wild goose-chase. Don't let your players feel this way, and make sure you communicate with them openly. To continue with the example, this is not the best way to show your players consequences from a storytelling perspective. This doesn't give them time to react and make a final, dramatic battle. This doesn't make for a memorable campaign, all it does is reinforce the GM's will over the group, which isn't fun when it is so heavy-handed.

A better way to handle this would be to show the skies darkening, and foreshadow the coming doom and despair as the players rush to figure it out. If, they don't care even then, then they probably deserve to face the consequences. Although open communication is key here, as it can key you in on why they aren't caring. Maybe they forgot about what happened, and without a reminder they just started dicking around town.

It is, of course, important to know when and where it's appropriate to have nasty consequences and when it is fine for lighter slaps on their hands. Be clear, and talk with them before and after sessions so they can at least understand why such consequences are occurring, and maybe they can weigh in on the matter and help you get better.

May all your old ladies be Ever-Glimmered Mindflayers,

Taylor Shuss

GMing Basics - Keeping Your Players Interested

An issue I see more often that I’d like to is GMs who have a campaign idea, and slowly the players either go off and don’t do what the GM wanted them to do, or just get bored and stop playing, usually switching to a new campaign.

I don’t mind when players go off and do what they want to do - It gives me ideas on what to make important. Maybe my goldpiece-phylactery idea will have to wait, because the party is made up of idealists who don’t believe in money. That’s cool, if not ridiculously far-fetched. Maybe one of them starts, non-comically, hitting on people and begins looking for a date. There is nothing wrong with these, and they can make your campaign much more involved if you play into them.

However, the topic at hand is keeping those PCs interested, and there are a few common problems that need to be addressed.

1. The GM is focusing more on his/her story than the party’s story.
2. The PCs keep tripping over themselves and making no progress.
3. Sometimes your story is just not as exciting as you’d hoped.

The first problem is easily the worst one. The other two aren’t so bad, but this one is not only common, it is also toxic to RPGs in general. I understand that many times you want to tell a certain story and have it mean something big, but sometimes that isn’t the story the party wants to be a part of. If you’re going for a story focused on a dark world with no hope for humanity, and the players all play optimistic people ready to save and spare all wrong-doers, someone has to give way to make for a cohesive game (Although that could be a very interesting game). Many times GMs forget that this is a collaborative story, wherein everyone gets to be part of what happens. Please don’t do this, as railroading GMs can sour RPGs to many newer players, taking away from the new players we need to thrive and grow as a community.

The second issue is a bit awkward, as it is partially GM folly, and partially players just not getting it. It is hard to get out of, although getting out of it can make for interesting scenarios and conflicts. This is common when a GM isn’t flexible (or willing to be flexible) towards something in the game, like an item or information which may need to be acquired in a specific way. This can waste a lot of precious playing time, and I advise that if you ever find yourself in this spot to possibly rethink where and what your players need to do. Perhaps changing the objective, or making to easier to acquire will make them feel accomplished, and interested in where it’s all going? It depends very much on the specific group, so keep that in mind.

The final issue is a tragic tale of sadness and woe, of a GM and his/her perfect story with everything ready and perfect, but then the players just stop caring. The wait for the payoff wasn’t enough to them, whether it was because the GM decided to make all travel-time role-played, or due to his unwillingness to change or edit his special lore because you wanted a certain character concept, eventually getting bored of what you made instead. It is probably the saddest reason, as the players can feel the GM’s excitement, but they slowly get tired of what is happening, or lack of progress, and decide it’s time to ask that they just stop, or even worse stop showing up.

I hope that these have given you much to consider. The prevention towards players getting bored is simply asking them how they feel after sessions. I know it sounds simple, but if you don’t, the party leaving in-game might catch you off guard and break your heart. Even if the next session was going to be the climax, it doesn’t mean anything if your players didn’t care enough to be a part of it.

I hope you’re all interested in next week’s article,

Taylor Shuss

An Archipelago of Adventure

Last week I discussed how and why being flexible is not only a great skill to have as a GM, but can also be required with some of the stranger scenarios GMs will inevitably encounter. 

Sometimes you're just not prepared for what the players did, and you're not sure exactly what to do. Today's article should help with situations like these, and parties that don't always go where you expect them to.

Some GMs plan very meticulously, and make sure every possible scenario is accounted for. This is, in my opinion, a waste of time. Players are cunning bastards, that often come up with insane ideas that could have only come up in the heat of the moment in-game. Sure, it's possible to plan for these situations, but I feel that time can be much better spent on other things. I like to plan using a method I call Island Planning.

Island Planning is a method of crafting stories that allows the GM to worry less about the minor details and tend to the bigger plot points that need to happen. The way it works is pretty simple - First you set up a few important points the party needs to get to, or an event the group needs to witness. For example, let us say that a party needs to resurrect a dead man for information (or just talk with his ghost), and the last important event was them seeing this man burned alive in a building by a blightress.

Well the plan looks like this - Seeing blightress kill NPC and run away --> Resurrect him/talk to his ghost --> He explains where the Blightress was from and why she killed him. Each point is called an island, and as far as the overall lot is concerned, they are the only things that matter (although the antics of the party and growth is important in other ways).

It doesn't matter how the players get from the first point to the second one. Maybe they hear of a healer in the swamplands who turns out to be a normal non-magical healer, wasting their time. It isn't important how they get from point A to point B, as long as they get there eventually.

This type of planning can be scary for newer GMs, but once you get used to it you can do some fun things with it. I've had occasions where a few islands didn't need to be in any specific order, so I threw them at the party as they got to an area where each event would fit the best. They don't know what story you have planned, or in what order, so you can shape and mold it as you please.

This style of storytelling allows for a lot of freedom on the GM's part, and on the player's part. Because the road is light and not always obvious, newer players tend to be scared making their own decisions without GMs to hold their hand. In an experienced playgroup, it all depends on the expectations on said group.

Basically, this technique allows the GM an amazing tool that can get around the most stunning, outrageous players, all while keeping a consistent and (hopefully) engaging story. It takes a lot of practice, and some experience with improv to pull off well, but when you do it can allow for amazing results.

GM --> Get Mad Bitches --> GM More

Taylor Shuss

GMing Basics - A Key Weapon

If you've been reading this regularly, then you'll remember that I think planning is the most important part of being a GM. Well this next part might not be the most important, but it's up there, somewhere between 2nd and 5th most important, I'd wager.

To my understanding there are GMs who don't use this skill, and that makes me sad. I understand that premades/modules are a good safe route, but stories begin popping to life when you become flexible, when you dance with the players together (metaphorically speaking), when you begin to use a most useful tool - Improv.

To explain, I've heard stories of GMs repeating modules word for word, monotone from the book. That is of course one end of the spectrum, and the other is total improvisation. Most GMs fall, by the time they pack up their books for good and stop, somewhere in the middle leaning towards the improv side, depending on how long the GM for, or at least that's what I've seen.

Now, I understand how it can be scary. Going into a session without knowing what's going to happen? Isn't that for the players to do? Well yes, but if you ever get good enough you can do that too. Remember though, when I say Improv is important, I don't mean "Never plan again," I mean that you can ignore planning all the minor details and come up with those one your own.

Generally speaking, it's always good to have a vague idea, at least, of where things are headed, but what happens, and who they meet, along the way don't need to be planned. It can help, sure, but it won't ruin your campaign if it's irrelevant to your over-arching plot.

Some of you might bemoan how hard it is to get practice with improvisation without looking like a doofus, as experimenting with it in front of players can be scary and discomforting, as it's not the easiest thing to get used to. The best advice I can give here is to try and run a simple, silly, quick RPG that makes you, the GM, think on your feet. Examples of games like these would be Paranoia and Inspectres. These kinds of games trained me to be quick, and it makes a world of difference once you get comfortable with it.

To those of you still worried about the issue, still hesitant on the topic - Remember your players don't know what is going to happen, and they usually assume you do. That means there is no wrong answer, no door that needs to go unexplored as long as you have the imagination and skills ready to explore such an avenue. Don't hesitate, be creative and embrace your role as the storyteller.

I hope those of you who haven't been using such a powerful took in your arsenal begin to use it more commonly, as it can lead to quite a bit of interesting and fun scenarios you couldn't have planned. Not to mention rolling with the player's blows makes for a more dynamic, fluid campaign that can adapt easily.

May you always discover what happens as your players do,

Taylor Shuss