Roleplaying ramblings
When I was a new GM I fell into the trap of doing too much at once. I ran my first game about a month after I started roleplaying and I ran a game that I had only played a couple of times (AD&D 2nd Ed) whose system was completely different than the one game that I had played enough to learn (TMNT by Palladium). My players, munchkins from birth, overwhelmed me with their advanced knowledge of the game, the story grew out of my control, and the characters ended up as gods waging a war against each other and all the other gods.
While my players thought this was great fun, I thought it was lame, stupid, childish, and boring. Munchkinism and Monty Haul gaming at its worst.
I did learn a lot from that game though. I learned what a level is and that the difference between 3rd level and 30th level is HUGE! I learned that constantly throwing magical items at characters makes those magical items worthless. I learned that the GM must control the players and their characters in order to prevent the game from getting out of control. And I learned that high powered characters had no fear, which means that there is no tension in the game. Without tension in the game, concern for the character’s well being, the game becomes boring, stagnant, like the story that Dr. Malcolm Crow told Cole in the hospital during the movie the 6th sense.
I learned from the same players when they GMed that while the GM must control the players and their characters, they can’t be obvious about it. The GM must be subtle and discreet, guiding the characters rather than bludgeoning them with a script. The goal of the GM is to guide the characters in the direction that the GM wants without the players knowing that they are being guided.
I don’t usually have the time nor the inclination to create a fully detailed and rich world that I can run games in forever. My world changes with the story that I want to run.
I create the story first, and then I design a world to fit that story. I create one main story, complete with a timeline, characters, and main events. Once I have the world built for that story I craft about a dozen overlapping smaller stories that fit into the world. I start the campaign with the small adventures, gradually introducing elements of the larger storyline over time. Sooner or later the characters get swallowed up into the main story without realizing it.
When I do write adventures and campaigns, I tend to write them as a story. I use Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey concept as a guide and then I let my imagination soar. Once I have the major components of the story in place and a world created, I have the players make their characters within the world’s guidelines (no gunslingers in a fantasy world, here are the cultures/races, etc). Then I write up the short adventures and fine tune the main campaign to fit the characters and their backgrounds.
I continuously fine tune the main story and NPCs to fit more with the PCs as the game progresses. I set up traps, pitfalls, and distractions based on the PCs background stories and chance encounters, and I show no mercy in the obstacles that I throw at them.
I tend to throw what seems to the players to be overwhelming odds, but I always leave them a way out. I never excuse the PCs behavior. If the PC mouths off to the King and gets whipped for it, then that’s the player’s fault for being stupid. However, if the PC tries something that is in character and fails, then I’m a bit more lenient.
While my players thought this was great fun, I thought it was lame, stupid, childish, and boring. Munchkinism and Monty Haul gaming at its worst.
I did learn a lot from that game though. I learned what a level is and that the difference between 3rd level and 30th level is HUGE! I learned that constantly throwing magical items at characters makes those magical items worthless. I learned that the GM must control the players and their characters in order to prevent the game from getting out of control. And I learned that high powered characters had no fear, which means that there is no tension in the game. Without tension in the game, concern for the character’s well being, the game becomes boring, stagnant, like the story that Dr. Malcolm Crow told Cole in the hospital during the movie the 6th sense.
I learned from the same players when they GMed that while the GM must control the players and their characters, they can’t be obvious about it. The GM must be subtle and discreet, guiding the characters rather than bludgeoning them with a script. The goal of the GM is to guide the characters in the direction that the GM wants without the players knowing that they are being guided.
I don’t usually have the time nor the inclination to create a fully detailed and rich world that I can run games in forever. My world changes with the story that I want to run.
I create the story first, and then I design a world to fit that story. I create one main story, complete with a timeline, characters, and main events. Once I have the world built for that story I craft about a dozen overlapping smaller stories that fit into the world. I start the campaign with the small adventures, gradually introducing elements of the larger storyline over time. Sooner or later the characters get swallowed up into the main story without realizing it.
When I do write adventures and campaigns, I tend to write them as a story. I use Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey concept as a guide and then I let my imagination soar. Once I have the major components of the story in place and a world created, I have the players make their characters within the world’s guidelines (no gunslingers in a fantasy world, here are the cultures/races, etc). Then I write up the short adventures and fine tune the main campaign to fit the characters and their backgrounds.
I continuously fine tune the main story and NPCs to fit more with the PCs as the game progresses. I set up traps, pitfalls, and distractions based on the PCs background stories and chance encounters, and I show no mercy in the obstacles that I throw at them.
I tend to throw what seems to the players to be overwhelming odds, but I always leave them a way out. I never excuse the PCs behavior. If the PC mouths off to the King and gets whipped for it, then that’s the player’s fault for being stupid. However, if the PC tries something that is in character and fails, then I’m a bit more lenient.
posted by Keko at 08:47
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