My Gm covenant A contract with my players. The Ten.

Preface,

It has come to my attention, that I am not currently running a RPG for anyone and yet I am writing a GM blog. This is kinda strange, and a little unexpected. (not counting my open deadlands game, it runs every saterday) When it comes down to it, all failings that you have as a GM come down to you, and you have to look at yourself and and make some hard chooses, this is what today’s post is about, those personal struggles that you will have to make as a GM, the hard choices. So not only is this a contract with my player base, but it should also be a template of the kind of deals that all GM’s should be willing to make with their players, to enjoy a fun and conducive game. These for other Gm’s are just suggestions, feel free to make up your own, but these are just someones that are good for me and my gaming group. (oh and pathfinder is coming, getting people together right now has been difficult because of the Snow.)

1. I will only go as offensive as the least offend person is willing to go, unless I have a good reason, ie use it to tell a interesting story, and that subject matter is treated fairly.

I don’t want to be the reason people are offended. nuff said.

2. I will not let outside forces stop me from telling a interesting and engaging story.

Politics matter (and I don’t mean Red states V. Blue states) and there are people in every social setting that will play political games with you. I will not let these outside forces( and currently they are all outside) effect how I run my games or current player base.

3. I will listen to all players suggestions, no matter how little or Minor they are.

There is the story of the silent song of silence that I am thinking about. Where in I told a player that he was not silent because he failed a roll, That the song was actually loud. I think I imposed some penalties on him that I should not have imposed. This was my mistate and I own up to to it.

4. I will not single out players, and run my monsters after them.

Ok so I have a reputation, of targeting who ever, especially if the player brags about how they have never been hit ect ect. I will run the monsers like monsers, but I do want to say, that they may learn from their mistakes. Also when I have run monsters aginst people it has never been for personal reasons, and some of my player base may think that, and for that I am sorry, but it just simply isn’t true.

5.I will listen to all criticism and make my games better based on what people say.
this is imporatnt to do with anything you want to get better at, and I want to be the best GM that I can be. One thing that I do, is strive to do everything the absolute best I can, and so criticism is important. Its the cornerstone of how I live and run games, it helps me improve. For players sometimes it can be hard to saything about the GM’s game, don’t feel that way we need to hear how our games can be better and if you did not have fun speak up, The main goal of running/playing games is to have fun.

6.If I am a Gm am doing something to your character that you don’t like or have a problem with speak up!

This hearkens back to a game of deadlands I was running @ Evcc. One player was doing something to a NPC and another player. Well player B had a plan and something she wanted to pull off, I skipped over the scene, because it was inappropriate and i get nervous when games cross over into certain territories. If I had known that character took offence to me fast forwarding over part of the story I would have slowed it down, and done something else.

7. I will be fearless as a GM.

Games go to some pretty stranger places sometimes, and the human psychie is kind of a fun place. As a GM you have to be willing to go to dark, qurikie, and sometimes inaprorate places. But I will give a bit of a warning here, be willing to go does not mean stay and move in. Just because Sex comes up in a game does not mean that your group wants to make it a sextiful adventure. be fearless but use wisdom as well.

8. Trust me I am ok with you making fun of me.

I realize that most ribbing is not at my or any one persons expence. Jokes will happen and as long as they don’t cross a line I will be cool with them.

9. I will make the game challenging.

We’ve said a lot about what GM’s need to do for players, but making the game challenging is the most important thing that GM’s need to be doing. I’ve had players walk through things, I have skimed tactics and misread encounters, these do no service to my players. Players need to feel like they are fighting for their lives. That’s where a lot of enjoyment of games comes in and if things are too easy things just get boring a lot of times.

10. I will listen and try to accomadate any problem you have.

the is the if life sucks here is the phone number and you can call me and tell me whats going on, so I can plan around you at games. Some DM’s are great at this. I think I am pretty good here, but I think I could be better, so this gets included.

So that was my inner scouging and me taking a hard look at my own style and what I need to do better. hopefully this will start a conversation between me and my playerbase, which is what I would like to have happen, and these are all conversations that need to happen. See everyone next week hopefullly with a review of how pathfinder plays. good gaming

5th Explosion, 4th retrospection

5th Ed explosion, 4th retrospection.This is my what is good for the goose is good for the gander article before I get into the meat and potatos of how I feel about pathfinder next week. Also something needs to be said about 5th ed.

I can’t say that I’m that supprised about this. I mean 3rd ed was out for a lot longer before they decided to drop the hammer. I guess that the D and D essentials were just the 4.5 version of the game. I guess the writing was on the wall. not to say the 5th ed is a bad thing 4th ed has some problems. I gotta say that I do like 4th ed over pathfinder over all, but there are things that 4th ed. does not do well: like Role play, like cinematic scenes, like engaging characters(sometimes). Other games do this better like World of Darkness, shadow run, savage worlds, ect ect, and last but not least pathfinder.

The pathfinder books, have stupid rules that can be treacherous for PCs and if you and can bog down the game and game mechanics. But what they do have over the D and D books, is personality( btw the gamma world books are pretty good reads, full of humor and personality, I would give them a look if you want to see a case where Wizards of the coast hit a product out of the park.) And what i mean by personality is the writing inside the pathfinder books generally has mover flavor. (the monster vaults are places where Wizards got it right.) A little bit of writing in the text blocks of the books gives GM’s and Players a sense of how these monster behave. For example The Pathfinder core rule book says that mimics (creatures that hang out in dungeons and look like treasure chests.) do not hunt because they need to, they mostly hunt for fun. This tells you that they think about what they do, the are sociopathic in nature and just out and out basteredly. The most I could find written by Wizards for the object mimic, granted I don’t have a copy of monster manual 3 just access to the rules compendium, was a stat block.

Mimics are asexual, and reproduce via spores. When a mimic controls enough food and territory, it undergoes an involuntary internal change called spatter-spawning, laying out a large, thick glue-carpet of spore-rich protoplasm 30 or more feet in diameter. Having marked the walls and floor of a particular cavern or ruin with this stinking graffiti, it departs, never to return. Immature mimics bud out of the whitish glue-carpet, forming multi-hued, chitin-plated plasmoids the size of housecats; immediately ambulatory and capable of camouflage, these miniature mimics feed upon the glue-carpet, each other, and those helpless scavengers attracted by the stench and subsequently trapped by the glue.[2]
A mimic can assume the general shape of any object that fills roughly 150 cubic feet (5 feet by 5 feet by 6 feet), such as a massive chest, a stout bed, or a wide door frame. The creature cannot substantially alter its size, though. A mimic’s body is hard and has a rough texture, no matter what appearance it might present. Anyone who examines the mimic closely can detect the ruse. Of course, by this time it is generally far too late

When I went to the pathfinder wiki, that is upkept by Paizo this is what I found. Even more that is in the rules compendium, and Lots of things that tell you how this monster behaves. This is one of harder things to get across in 4th Ed is that the monsters have personality. Paizo does this well.
The products that they put out are generally better the pathfinder beginner box is designed better than the D and D red box. its more visually appealing and out lines things in a clear step by step manor. The only thing the 4th ed redbox has is the awesome inclusion of making your character as you go through a story, even the the story doesn’t give you everything that your character can do. But over all most of the products that Paizo puts out are better, its just Wizards understands that most people do not want complicated rules and just want something that is simple and understandable. Simplicity is where Wizards out shines the competition.

I played 3.5 for a long time, and I never quite got what was going on (this might change stay tuned). With in a few minutes of sitting down at the table I understood the basic concept of what was going on with 4th ed. It’s simple and understandable and that is its greatest feature. Also probably the worst thing about it too, because it can degenerate into combat monkeys taking forever with encounters, because combat can take forever in 4th ed if you play them as written, if you don’t give the party the option of sitting out. Most good DM’s give their players outs in combat. Pacing is important and cinimatics are not written into the system, and so most DM’s will run the system as writtne, ( and i know a lot of ones that do cool things with 4th ed.) this boils down to the Milgram experiment.

I don’t want to explain this here, but the Milgram experiment was mostly about control and obidiance, google it if you want to know more about it (also I know that when they changed the primaters of the experiment to written word it changed the results drastically, that has been taken into account here.) There will always be some people that won’t deviate from the path, and for people that are used to more free flowing game systems this can be a bit of a drag. But I do have to say that the more successful games of 4th ed. that I have played in had a good mix of cinematic story, moments interactive NPC’s, tactical combat, illusion of control, and good world sense. Most of these things have to come right from the DM. and most of it has to be made by the DM. 4th Ed does not give you story seeds, and even the best storyteller sometimes needs something else to riff off of.

Anyway 5th ed looks to to do most of these tings and allows DM’s to customize the system, I hope that they find one of the systems that is highly praised in the industry for DM, and player instruction, and use that voice to talk to the would-be DM’s and players constructively with heart and a little bit of humor. For most of 4th ed there has been a lack of a voice hears to hoping that changes.

next time I will write about my experience running pathfinder. see you then.

Pathfinder, and D and D nerd fight taken seriously.

Alright, this month i am going to focus on pathfinder, we are going to start this month out by getting my own person biases and hang ups about the system. D and D 3.5 was the second system that I ever played in any RPG. And lets just say that if that was the only RPG system that I played I would have quit gaming right then and there.

This is not a slam on my GM’s. A good GM makes the system chalanging and difficult for the party in new and interesting ways. A more cinematic system can add inner party conflict and external forces to make a interesting and most times insightful story, this is not something that D and D does particularly well as written, and i felt that 3.5 in some was more constrictive than 4.0. One thing is that I can make a character for 4.0 that is not min maxed and still plays relativity well, in 3.5/ Pathfinder that shit will most likely get you killed. also I don’t like the ability to attack characters levels and ability scores. I guess this is supposed to represent a set back and a dramatic development and hardship that the character should overcome, but I think its a bit too much to mess with the over all essence of the character, because that’s what those numbers are the very being of your character. so me as a GM attacking certain stats, and levels seems wrong, there are a lot of ways to throw rocks at players and sending them for cover, but attacking who they are seems a bit much.

This was a change that they made for 4th edition. And yes most people I talk to say that their GM’s did not have things that did that in their games, like Sturges(these monsters attacked Con directly), but some of the best GMs I know did this to players, and they viewed useing these things a mistake. But these mechanics prissiest into pathfinder.

I will address that most peoples fondest memories of 3.5 and Pathfinder do not have these play mechanics tied into them. Most GM’s ignore these play mechanics when running their own personal games. this is a very good tactic for successfully running this system. This post is not a jab at GM’s, it more a jab at developers who think that this is a good mechanic and makes for a enjoyable experience for players. I am ok at math, but I don’t like having to re figure out hp totals because I lost con or a a few levels on the fly at the table. This mechanic left the game in 4th ed. and the game is the better for it. 4th Ed is accessible and a lot of the hard core of the hard core see this as dumbing down the system, i don’t see it like that: it makes the system more accessible for everyone.

Now I can eat my words as I get into this system, and I fully expect to as a matter of fact. but these are my preconceived opinions as I go into this month of trying to figure the pathfinder system out, it’s appeal to the average gamer, and why there seems to be such a divide between people who like 4th ed. and Pathfinder. Sure there are many people who like 4th ed and Pathfinder, but there are also many people who stand divided. And I just wonder why, maybe its that 3.5 holds a special place with them, as many people 1st role playing game, but I don’t hear this from the people who played/liked 1st and 2nd edition, just recently with players that are newer to D and D and games in general. This not a attack on pathfinder but more me just scratching my head over a philosophical fight, that in the long run probably dosnet really matter. Also will I hate D and D when it comes out with 5th edition? who knows? hopefully these questions will have some sort of answer but there will probably just be more questions at the end of this. So join me on this journey where there are no right answers and just more questions.

Rules Arguments

Ehello, This is GM Central.

So today I’m going to address arguments, mostly because we had a big one not too recently, and they can be a good thing to talk about on their own aside from Nerd Rage. Arguments in games generally fall into two categories; Role play, and Rules.

Role play arguments are mostly OK, they can tend to be devices that the GM can use to great effect. They can from time to time split the party but this can be handled well, and used to further plot lines. I would say about 10% of the time role-play arguments are not very good, and that’s only because there is a personality conflict going on, and that will spill over into role-play. This can be defused by talking it out, with the player(s), and using, like statements to get to a peaceful agreement. A like statements is a statement that usually includes the following, “ When you do (Blank) I feel like (Blank), how can we get past this?” This is just basic problem solving and communication, and there are people out there that do this better than I do, So if you need more help, I would probably Google it, There are a ton of resources out there.  That in a nutshell is Role Play arguments.

Rules arguments however are almost never good, but they are important to have. Having a good understanding of the rules is good, and having that understanding challenged is good. Almost no one however likes to be challenged. That is a important thing to remember when having a rules argument. It’s important to keep the energy down, so both points get across and both people can make points, if don’t it can lead to chaos very quickly and it can be kind of painful. You can find yourself having a heated debate with someone that you would normally never find yourself getting angry at, rules arguments can creep up at the most un likely and unwanted of times.

-Its all in the timing.

When you have the rules arguments is a big part of running a game! You do not want to have the argument in the middle of a game; Its quite literally the worst time to have the argument. It derails the plot, takes all of the players out of the moment, and only the most hard core of the hard core (deranged) seem to enjoy the rules arguments that crop up in middle of a game, the rest of us are either board or pissed off that we are wasting our free time having this stupid argument for three hours( I have seen them last that long) as a GM you have to be strong here and not tolerate the rules debates that can happen in game. The only real addendum here would be something where the game is sanctioned. in that case the GM needs to be able to quickly and accurately pull up the rule in writing and show the player base what the rule is, players should do this too. The GM in a sanctioned game is not God, and while they do have leeway to do things, the things that are written in the book are there at the designers bequest and you have to go with it. Also you may know things about the spirit of the rules and how things are supposed to work, and that is nice that you know that, but you have to go down with what is written in the interest of fairness, even if it does break the game. Its what the designers of the game gave you to work with, and if you run rough shot over players you may not get them back next week. And the main goal of any sanctioned event is to get a player base back into your LGS.

-My common sense is tingling.

In a personal game however you should feel free and encouraged to use your own judgement and discretion. Otherwise known as the rare and often sought after common sense. Common sense is key, especially if you can get everyone to agree to it. It’s important to keep the Common Sense rule in the game world and in the bounds of reality. GM job number one is to make sure everyone is having fun, and making unrealistic rulings takes people out of the game game. So keep your whims under control and don’t drop the GM school bus on players. Its kinda messed up when you are walking along and a school bus just falls from the sky crushing you. Life isn’t fair, but that dose not mean that games don’t have to be. That a big part of why people play games, is to get a sense of enjoyment and fairness, because lets face it life often times is not fair or enjoyable.

-Resolution

I have seen games where someone at the table is being spiteful, weather its a player, or GM, or passerby. Usually this is quickly remedied, with a joke or story or whatever. But there has been and will be the case where peoples personal issues will leak in and make them spiteful. I honestly believe in two things when it comes to conflict resolution.

1. Don’t play games out of spite.

Its kinda weird to think about, but people don’t always hang out with people the like 100% of the time. Mostly this kinda thing comes from peoples jobs, but this can also come from the gaming group as well. There might be that guy who you like ok, but he says that thing that drives you crazy every so often. There was a man in my LGS who said some very offencive things not too long ago and they had to pull him aside and explain why we don’t say those things.

2. Open and honest communication will save the world.

You need to be able to talk to people and address issues with out string up Drama. This is easier said that done, And I have failed at this as much as I have succeeded. This is a skill that comes with time and great patients. One thing I would recommend is try to be as emotionless and open as possible.

3. Be willing to let it all go.

Nerds are fighters. You may not think it because most of us are not physically intimidating, but we are. We will fight tooth and nail over some of the most inane things in the world; most times to our own detriment . Letting these petty little fights go is a huge skill to develop and one that only the best of GM’s have. Sometimes that means talking, sometimes that means not playing with someone that really drives you up a wall ( no one likes to think or say say that to someone, but you are there to have fun, and the cold hard truth is people sometimes get in the way of that and need to take a break.)

So that’s almost all that I can think about rules arguments at the moment, I’m sure there is more out there, but I’m tired of being so serious all the time, so next time there will be something a bit lighter on here, A review, something with the appropriate amount of snark, just something that isn’t so preachy. Thanks for reading.

Characterization: the hidden life.

So Today I would like to talk about characterization in RPGs.

This how ever is not just DM advice as it is general player advice, and something for everyone to pay attention to, not because you have to, but because it will generally make for a more enjoyable game. Having strong PC characters is important, and I understand being new to gaming and just starting out it can be difficult to balance having a effective character, and a enjoyable character, in fact I think if you are a new player you should not even worry about having a effective character and play something that you want to play, this is a game and you are there to have fun, don’t worry about what your character can or can not do, and just have a good time with it.  But I digress this is about making good believable characters that are fun to play, we can get into the pitfalls of party dynamics at a latter time.

1. The CROW of the matter.

So I used to do a lot of improv and I kinda want to do more, and RPGS are very close to improv in a lot of ways, (lets face it the best games usually have everyone at the tabel in stitches.) So here is a improv formaula that can use when crating your characrter. this is the CROW formaula by the way.

CHARACTER

Who is your character? Where did S/he come from? What are his/her beliefs? What are their secrets? What is going on in their mind, even what do they like to think about is a good questions? There are a lot of things that make a good character, and its very subjective, this is the thing that you as a player have probably the most of the control over, put a lot of effort into it and usually you get something good out of it. Though I have seen people just make a character (archetype) and develop more durring the game. This method can be used to good effect too, especially for new players. I guess the main thing to keep in mind here, and I’m already hearing my inner troll shouting at about how cheesy I am going, the more you put into character the more fun you are going to have with the game.

RELATIONSHIP

This can be what is your characters relationship with the party, or other NPC’s. Relationships to People, places, things, robots, cathluhu… What ever, are important and make up who we are and how we react to those around us, and tell us a lot about who are characters are.  Brothers and sister dynamic is often used between players/ and maybe over used and sometimes and kinda feels incestuous at times in games. Husband/wife relationship works ok and is pretty cool if it comes up in game. But I would caution using any of those. Sometimes being just friends or strangers, or someone the DM has lumped together is just as fun. Part of the fun of games is letting relationships develop between party members. There is this guy named Brad that I game with currently and it is slowly in game becoming very much a business relationship. We did not have that planed out at all, one day we just said we’re going into business and off we went. But this is not just interparty relationships( do make sure those develop in game.) This is NPC relationships as well. Who is your family? What is your relationship to, towns people, friends, teachers, public figgures, Gods, ect. ect. These are all things to keep in mind when flushing out relationships.

Objective.

What does your character want and who will s/he go about getting it? Don’t worry too much about obstacles, Thats the GM’s job. But what does your character want? This can be simple and easily remedied, when you get want you want though, try to come up with something new, that makes game more interesting and fun. The more complex the objective the more fun you will have with the game. The Journey of the game is the part where you will have fun any way so you should make the objective of what you want Big and fun, and if you have a good GM s/he will take that idea to heart when designing the layout of the adventure. Objectives move us though life, and are important in games.

Where

This is the one that requires collaboration on the part of the GM. Becouse the GM is in charge of setting. If its published thats cool you can do lots of research on it, but you should still ask the GM what is going on, its important and usually the GM changes things about the setting to make it a more personable game. where we come from though again effects who we are and what we do so its not something we should take lightly, and this is the place where I like to get a bit personal with my character and do a bit of nesting. Its difficult to imagine being apart of a dragon-born enclave, or tribe, or group of big stupid people with swords. So I like to take things that I have seen experienced or felt and put them here, because I can relate to those things. This helps me play my character better and there is just a little bit of me in there and so I can play it stronger because there are feelings and emotions that I have in my character.  good characters have in depth back storys great characters have players that care about them. And yes you can make a character that has nothing that really relates to you, and you can put him on like a skin, but what does that say about you? Where you come from effects how you interact with people and what kind of things you do with them. And its something to at least keep in mind. (sorry if that got preachy)

2. Wheaton’s rule.

For those of you who don’t know this one its “Don’t be a dick” Now your character can be a dick. sometimes that’s a lot of fun for me and the DM, but I never target anyone in the party with anything that I do if I’m playing that character. In fact I go out of my way to, hopefully, make sure that they don’t get too caught up in my shenanigans. that happens sometimes too(no thanks to DM’s), but thats more a narrative structure thing, which is ok. What I am talking about here is starting trouble in game between other PC’s like one character saying “hey I’m evil and I’m going to be evil” and the and the game is a good light hearted game. The creates a lot of conflict and not the kind of conflict that most players want to deal with. If I wanted drama I would go hang out with high schoolers and not adults at a game store (cough cough, not that this ever happens at one of those or could not happen anywhere else), Don’t be evil in a game that is not set up for that, and don’t fight with other people because you did something stupid and don’t want to fess up ( I may be guilty of this one or both of them) Games are about having fun and causing drama with interparty conflict that the GM is not involved in is not fun!

Thats about all I have to say about characters for the moment. I may have another blurb on them coming up latter.

Thanks guys for your support.

Nerd Rage and the pitfalls thereof

Today I would like to talk about Nerd Rage. Nerd Rage is something that any GM worth his or her salt has to deal with. It ugly its dark and it is something that if not handled in the right way will suck a session down a black hole of doom and gloom. So lets get into the nitty gritty here and try to shed some light on some of the causes of nerd rage in gaming.

 

“Nerdus Ragus” or nerd rage is when someone freeks out about something that means absolutely nothing. I will sight a time I remember having a argument with my friend Greg Berret over John Luke Picard and how he acted totally diffrent in the TNG movies than he did in the series and I how I wanted to see a true TNG movie that was not a hyped up action movie.” This argument had the chance to throw the fun time I was having with Greg into disarray. We quickly saw where this nerd argument or nerdgument was going and took action to avoid the black hole of nerd that would consume us both. (If you know me and Greg we have had plenty of nerdguments and probably will have more to come.) But these things can drag a game session down if you are running a game, and while nerdguments can be fun and frustrating they have no place in a group setting such as a game.

 

Rules arguments for D and D are something that qualify as nerdguments, and can ruin games. And generally they do from Lair assault to Encounters to Home Brew Rules arguments during games brings out the green eyed meta gamer in us all. And for those it doesn’t effect, well they just get disengaged from the game. And that is the ultimate failure that you can have as a DM.

 

So here are some quick tips you can use to over come some of the worst cases of Nerd Rage.

 

1. “I’m the DM and its my world and my rules”

 

This one is a good choice for home brew as this is very true. But you run the risk of alienation, if everyone is your buddy there than it will useually work, but don’t over use. This one under no circumstance should be used for any official sanctioned event. Not only do the game companies write these rule books as wonky as they are sometimes, you are dealing with a bigger community and you need to treat the rules some respect because you will get in a nerdgument and it could be with someone you do not know and that is the worst. Also the public desplay of nerd rage (PDSR), is never attractive and when you are running a public game you want players. Push them yes, Rage at them no. The option is one that is probably the most voitial. Use with cation, and circumstatually.

 

2. “I’m not really sure but this makes common sense, so lets go with this”

 

This can be a good, and a bad one agian. Its nicer than my world my rules, and it shows thoughtfulness on the part of the DM, which even when players complan they also tend to  appreciate, It also as a DM can let you make up some cool stuff (like Brad being able to throw people around), This one can be great and make memerable adventrues, but you need to temper it with something else. DM’s are suppose to throw plot rocks and adventures not the otherway around, If you use this option make sure you up the stakes some how for the party members.

 

3.  “sure you can do that”

 

This is my fave. Agreement leeds to some wonderful adventures, it works for encounters it works for Delves (sometimes…..) and works well for home brew games. This gives players a sense of adventure and control. Players love the illusion of control, and do wonderfully creative things for the most part. Power Gamers will abuse this one, but if you give this type of player just enough rope to hang themselves you should be fine. This is the one where you get the most out of your players and for official events you might need to make things up on the fly, Don’t be afraid of this its not as hard as it looks.  For me this is the most satisfying option, but if you are unsure of yourself Option 2 or 1 may work better, but you can always combine this option into those options as well. for example “ This makes commen sense to me, why does that make sense for you?…..Oh ok lets go with that for now then.”  The thing you want your players to feel over all with this option is the illusion of control. And this option serves that up.

 

Final thoughts

 

Sometimes the Nerd Rage will be great and you will not be able to over come it, that is the point when you need to step up as the DM and ask the player or person causing the disruption to leave the table. You may be the bad guy for this, but your players will understand and thank you for this eventually. I hoped this helped anyone intrested in being a DM or just people in general.

 

Thanks guys for your time

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