On Good Gamemastering

[scltspider]

I figure it's been a bit too long since I posted a non-rant, and I'm tired of making constant obfuscated statements of displeasure. It was never my intention to start this blog as a place to emphasize the negative, but rather as a place to speak my mind on a number of subjects in a way that I could hear what others thought. Today's topic:

Comments

[thestormcellar]

I can see your point with Rule #1, but it's not typically the way I will run a game. Yes, the characters are the stars, and yes, they will wandering into places I wasn't expecting and will have to make stuff up on the spot. That goes without saying. But I also like to have some of my world already created with persons in place. Stuff going on in the background that the players may or may not stumble upon that might be wholly unrelated to the current plot they're on. Yes, the characters are the stars, but they are travelling around in this whole world of all kinds of things going on, and I like to have some of that set up in advance so when the party gets to specific location A for whatever reason, they are met with NPC F who happens to be part of subplot R, but the party doesn't know that yet because they haven't found out about subplot R yet, but which will become important later on when they meet NPC T

[scltspider]

I more make the point about the players being the star to counter a class of GM that I've encountered that's more interested in telling the story of their pet NPC rather than allowing the players to accomplish the important tasks. Stories about the GM essentially powergaming a retired character of theirs is one of the leading causes of game death that I've heard of.

Don't discount your NPCs, GMs, but don't make your players feel like they are always in the shadow of your creations.

[foxykarol]

That's a very well thought out and and insightful list, dude. Keeping organized actually does help out when your players go into areas that you might not be totally prepared for them to go into yet. Organized ideas are better to improvise and adapt from than a jumble of concepts (at least for me, anyway.)

Rule adaptation has never really been a big problem for me, because I don't let myself get hung on on game mechanics too much. I really do tend to focus on story and character more than dice and skill vs difficulty tests. If there's a dispute about success and failure, it's nice to have solid math, number, and rules to fall back on, though.

[scltspider]

There are many times where I rely more on the roleplaying abilities of my players rather than the rules, and story is always the first thing in my mind.

But, there are many times I've seen players try to roleplay their way out of a situation that their character just shouldn't be able to handle. The low intelligence barbarian played by the AP classes student shouldn't be able to easily solve a riddle or complex puzzle. The low charisma and social skills street samurai should never be able to sweet-talk his way into a posh corporate ball fully armed.

It is for this reason I usually give a small bonus to rolls such as that for good roleplayers, and penalties to individuals who just try to let the dice talk for them. In this way I maintain the importance of roleplay without letting it be abused.

[acid0philus]

Good points, man!