Help me like GMing, please.
stefoid:
Quote from: Ron Edwards on November 27, 2011, 01:39:03 PM
2. You need to play using a different game. One which actually has a reward system instead of a bzz-bzz hamster wheel like FATE.
Ron, what does that mean?
stefoid:
Josh,
Im far from an expert, but I can detail what I am currently trying to do:
move towards a style of GMing where I concentrate on NPCs motivations and wing the 'plot'. Im thinking of it more like - each of the players gets to roleplay one character, whereas the GM gets to roleplay many. But its the same basic thing going on - reacting to the ongoing situation with plans and actions.
Try to shift the emphasis from making sure the group is having fun and being entertained, to investing in your own NPCs.
Start with cliffhanger situations
Make sure your players characters have one or more long term goals - self driven characters that dont have the time or inclination to to just hang out at the local watering hole. The flipside to that, though, is you have to honor their goals by focusing on them - if you crap on their goals by glossing over them or forbidding them, then the players will abandon self-initiative and wait to be told what to do.
David Berg:
Quote from: Josh Porter on November 27, 2011, 05:18:11 PM
I'm running Caterpillar (the one with a GM) right now, and it's fucking fun as shit. Both process and product.
Josh, are you playing Caterpillar with the DFRPG group?
If so, I'm not sure what you need help on. "But I made it for me" doesn't strike me as any kind of a caveat. We're all trying to make the game we'd wanna play, man.
If not, why not? Is that what you need help on? "How can I get what I love about Caterpillar but also play with this crew?"
Josh Porter:
Hey stefoid (if that is your real name),
I like your style, sir. It sounds a lot like mine, and that's why I like it. There are a couple of differences in there, but they're pretty subtle. I am almost as "plot-less" as the spectrum gets most of the time. I do one plot plan at the beginning of a campaign and never again. I decide who the big bad guy is and what he's up to. I decide how I want to spotlight each character and challenge their beliefs. All of this is fairly nebulous. And then I start the campaign with a James-Bond-esque action beginning, during which something mysterious is revealed to the characters. And from there on out: no more plot.
I know what the bad guys are up to in the vaguest possible sense, but I make up all specifics in the moment, purely based on what the characters do. I know I want to offer Pix the chance to become a fairy queen, for instance, but I have no idea how I'll do it until it happens. (It happened when she decided to look for a secret door. She rolled high enough to declare that one was there. So I made it lead to a magical fey tree where her dad told her she was really a changeling. And on from there.) Basically, I try to give the character's actions extra consequence by letting them unknowingly create the plot. That way they have personal investment in every aspect of the unfolding tale.
But as far as NPCs go, I only make up a few. And they may never show up. I make up all NPCs off the top of my head, mostly. And I flip through a blank composition book to "look up" their stats. (Shhhhhh...) But I never cheat (fudging die rolls is cheating). I choose stats and stick to them. And I give no shits if my NPCs die. I am, as Vincent Baker says, a huge fan of the players' characters. I care about them, not my NPCs that took 20 seconds to make up.
Now, the long-term goals thing is the tricky part. I tried having a session where everyone wrote down their goals, but it was really tough. Most goals were either too long-term or too trivial to make any impact on the game. My group of friends aren't quite up to the Narrativist level of going straight for the story's jugular, so if the goals weren't immediate, they would tend to be overlooked. This is probably the big thing I'll want to engender when I get back to GMing someone else's game eventually.
***
David: good point. I guess I don't really consider it GMing to run my own game. I don't know why not. It's with two of the same gang as Dresden, and two other folks. Now I have something to really think on... I'll get back to you on that.
stefoid:
So maybe try investing more prep in your NPCs, particularly giving them motives and behavioral quirks. Stats arent that important, but it would be nice to have a handle on your NPCs general capabilities and personal style.
I read somewhere that when you need to improvise an NPC, basing it on a fictional character helps to fill in the blanks quickly.
But better to prep them - that way you can build all sorts of complications and conflicts into them. Oh, and dont restrict NPC prep to 'bad guys'. Prep good guys and in-between as well. Try to get beyond one-note characters.
My theory is all this helps make interesting, 'realistic' characters for your players to interact with, and makes it a lot easier for you as GM to react to what is going on if you know your NPCs well. And I would say if you want to have more fun as the GM, root for your NPCs (in a fair way).
Really, NPCs should be called GMCs!
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