Mythos Saga A TRPG
DarkHawkPro:
Thank you, I'm excited to see you excited.
Number 2 was actually one of the big feelings I was going for.
The feeling of the video game but the freedoms of a PnP-RPG.
Just let me know if there needs to be any further explanation on any of the sections.
Callan S.:
Hi DHP,
I was looking at the GM section and was wondering, have you played in a game where the principles behind it were "So, in essence, for them to win, you have to lose." and "Scripting a good adventure is like writing good book/Running an adventure is like producing and directing a play."?
If you did play under those principles (rather than GM via those principles), what did you find enjoyable about those elements? I suppose for myself I might find them nice to GM by, but not really enjoyable as a player. So from my own experience, maybe there is an inconsistancy there, or maybe you enjoy them in some way I currently don't (and there isn't an inconsistancy).
DarkHawkPro:
Well, in all essence i've always played in games under those principles.
-"So, in essence, for them to win, you have to lose."
Basically, that statement means that as a GM, with control over the desires and drive of the NPCs, you have to lose encounters with the players to further the players stories. For example. The players are attacking a small group of slavers to save a group of kidnapped children.
If the players win. Kids go back to village and everyone is happy.
If the GM wins, kids are taken into slavery and players are killed.
so.. For the players to "win" the GM has to lose and be ok with that as part of the story.
"Scripting a good adventure is like writing a good book" "...running and adventure is like directing a play..."
First off.. i doubled up there and the should have stuck with one analogy, not sure why i jumped around there but i'll fix that.
Otherwise I wanted to put into the minds of the potential GM (assuming they have never played) that they have control over the world and they have the ability to create a story arc of things happening in the world and that all the important NPCS have a "Who, What and Why" just like the players do. I went with the best example I knew personally and that was theater. The following section go into detail breaking that down further.
the "Overall Story Arc" has been a basic concept that i've always played under and run under and never had any complaints so i figured i'd promote, again, What i know.
Callan S.:
Righto - but just with the first part, it seems a 'legacy' issue - like, did you decide a party that loses to the slaver (as an example) must die? I mean your reasons for having the PC's win is only because of you deciding they must die if they lose? Maybe your just used to the idea of losing only occuring with them all dying and have never thought about other design options before?
I mean, off the top of my head, the group is beaten back and retreats through a prearranged escape route (who knows? The old run through the valley then set the detonators so the valley fills with rubble, cutting off pursuers trick? Or similar?). The kids are taken into slavery, but there is still hope - yet those kids will see things they otherwise wouldn't, so at an emotional level this is a result (even if the PC's rescue them the very next session).
It seems losing could contribute uncertainty to the story? If it seems compatable with your design goals, anyway.
DarkHawkPro:
As a GM i've had many situations where the players have lost and not been killed.
In that section I'm mostly stating that the Gm must be willing to accept that he will lose an encounter or lose in the long run, as the players are the focus of the adventure. It's not how much damage the GM can do to the players, not if the GM can kill a player or how complicated the GM can make the players lives.
Death, also is not the best example i could have used, being an extreme example.
Think about reading that section as a NEW GM. Someone who has never played an PnP RPG ever before and you are picked to run the story.
Thats who that section is written for.
Now, any new GM will have the "I can do cool stuff too" complex after a while of running a game. If that Newbie Gm wants to be a good GM they first need to accept that fact that it's a story for the players and their big GMPCs will lose in the end.
Again, my example was poor.
the type of situation you are talking about is just as likely, the GM wins and captures the players to sell as slaves themselves, etc... and the story goes on in that direction without a hitch. That is a ROLEPLAY thing and a STORY element and entirely upto the GM. Thats part of the "things don't always go as planned" stuff.
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