[RPG Stuff] Maintaining the GM
Jun. 20th, 2006 05:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mastergraywolfFrom e-mail.
WARNING: Mostly D&D related.
...
1. Standing Orders
A PBeM, by its very nature, takes a very long time to play,
and GMs are always looking for a way to speed things up. One
way is to use standing orders.
According to Wikipedia, in military usage, a standing order
is a general order of indefinite duration. It remains in
effect until modified or rescinded. Standing orders are
necessarily general and vague since the exact circumstances
for execution occur in the future under unknown conditions.
Some examples of military standing orders are to give the
alarm in case of fire or disaster, to report all violations
of orders, or to be especially watchful at night. Thus, a
soldier knows generally what to do in many situations.
How does this apply to a PBeM? If a player gives the GM
standing orders for his character, it speeds the PBeM up.
For instance, Levin, with a +12 bonus to diplomacy, tells
his GM he wants to talk in any non-threatening encounters.
Thus, when the GM posts that the group meets an old man in
the tavern, he can also post that Levin greets him. Now the
GM can begin a conversation with the old man and Levin.
Without the standing orders Levin gave at the beginning of
the game, this conversation could take 3-4 emails, and over
a week.
Players can also give temporary standing orders for specific
situations. An example would be combat. The group has
encountered four mean minotaurs, and the GM calls for
actions. Baeric might reply that he will cast mage armor on
himself then fireball one of the minotaurs - so long as
conditions remain the same. Obviously, should another
minotaur threaten him or more enemies appear, he would amend
these orders, but generally this will reduce the emails back
and forth.
Following are some examples of common, permanent standing
orders (to be given to the GM when the character is
created). Obviously, some of them are only applicable to
certain classes or genres.
1) The bard will try to speak to any non-threatening beings met.
2) The ranger will choose bow as his weapon of choice unless
in close combat.
3) The priest will try to heal any injured members as soon
as the scene is secure.
4) The barbarian will go into Rage when attacked.
5) The rogue will always check anything for traps before
opening.
6) The paladin will detect evil before picking up any items,
or when engaging newcomers in conversation.
7) The druid will not approve of any nature-destroying
actions, such as cutting down trees for firewood.
8) The ranger will try communication with non-threatening
creatures.
9) The wizard will always cast mage armor before starting
combat.
...
2. Secret Rolls to Maintain Mysteries
In a recent issue of Roleplaying Tips, Dwig offered a tip on
how to avoid a knowledge check roll tipping the players off.
It's good, but it doesn't go far enough.
1) Secret Rolls: The Rationale
There is a whole category of rolls the players should not be
allowed to make for themselves.
Example:
Player: "I check the chest for traps."
GM: "Okay, roll it."
(Player rolls die.)
Player: "Shoot, I critically failed."
GM: "You find a gas trap."
The one thing that this player now knows for certain is that
there is NOT a gas trap on that chest! So, as the GM, I will
roll that check myself to prevent this kind of knowledge
from leaking.
There's actually a whole set of rolls I make for the
players.
Say the party is walking down a corridor with a trap in it.
There's one stone that, if stepped on, sets off an
incendiary bomb. If I tell them all to make luck rolls, they
know something's up; so I just do it myself.
This means I do more dice-rolling than most GMs. That's
okay. It also lets me fudge things to keep the game on
track. If the party's pretty battered already, I'll probably
just decide that nobody sets off the trap; I don't object to
killing a player character now and then, but wiping out
whole parties in meaningless ways is no fun for anyone.
2) Who Rolls What, and When?
The basic answer: if there's something the players could
learn by making a roll then I will make the roll. I don't
tell them what I rolled, or why; I just narrate the result.
DM: "You walk to the end of the corridor without incident."
Or:
Player: "I check the chest for traps."
(DM rolls a die.)
DM: "You find a gas trap."
This means you have to keep a complete set of PC character
sheets. I use a spreadsheet with all the numbers I need for
each PC. For a large party, this can involve a second GM
whose main job is helping with all the mechanical stuff but
who can also help keep things moving when the party splits
for some reason.
Another advantage here is the more dice the DM rolls, the
more the players are kept on their toes. Heck, sometimes I
roll a few dice to no purpose at all, just to make them
wonder what didn't just happen. A nervous party is an alert
party.
Probably the most important kind of roll for the DM to make
is perception-type rolls. There's something the players
might or might not notice in their environment. If I tell
them to roll to see if they notice it, you've alerted them
that there's something to be noticed. If I roll it for them,
they just know that I rolled a bunch of dice. It might be to
see if they noticed the hostile natives hiding in the
bushes; it might be to see if the weather turns nasty; it
might be just to upset them. They don't know.
3) "But It's _My_ Character!"
I had a player who objected to this practice. He made the
reasonable complaint that, as it was his character, he ought
to be allowed to make the rolls. I decided this was fair,
and had him sit close to my side of the table. When the time
came for a roll, and sometimes for no reason at all, I would
tell him, "Roll XdY behind the screen." He performed the
roll, but didn't know why. (I sometimes even had him roll
for another character, though he never knew that.)
From this I learned the GM doesn't need to make all the
secret rolls all the time. You can use a second kind of
secret roll--the players make their own rolls but you do not
tell them what they're rolling.
This works as long as there isn't something they can learn
just by rolling dice, and you can prevent that by having
them roll meaningless dice at random intervals.
The D20 system has been a real blessing for this technique,
by the way. Since almost everything the players might roll
is on a D20, they can't figure out anything from the type of
dice they're asked to toss.
...
3. Another Tavern Table Idea
Another "Bar Corner" idea: the players head for the corner
to find it occupied by someone big, mean, and nasty who they
don't want to sit with in case they take offence. Hill
Giants, Titans, a Mind Flayer, or whatever.
4. Bards
Bards are a great backup character and help round out a
party, but they never shine on their own. The challenge has
been to give the bard in my campaign a situation, every once
in a while, a chance to do something no-one else can.
Idea #1 Eisteddford (Welsh word that means something like
musical competition, I think). Have the bard get challenged
to a musical competition by another bard. Money or prestige
could be on the line, or even a magical item. Make several
perform checks each with the highest result total winning
the event.
Idea #2 Musical traps. There was an online article about a
composer from Scotland who believes the markings on the roof
of the Rosslyn Chapel - of Da Vinci Code fame - could be a
music sheet of sorts to sonically activate a secret door
somewhere in the chapel. Should be a bardic knowledge check,
then a perform check, to open; maybe a set number of
consecutive successful perform checks instead?
Now how to convert something nutty as this into a novel? non D&D RPG? Fanfiction?
WARNING: Mostly D&D related.
...
1. Standing Orders
A PBeM, by its very nature, takes a very long time to play,
and GMs are always looking for a way to speed things up. One
way is to use standing orders.
According to Wikipedia, in military usage, a standing order
is a general order of indefinite duration. It remains in
effect until modified or rescinded. Standing orders are
necessarily general and vague since the exact circumstances
for execution occur in the future under unknown conditions.
Some examples of military standing orders are to give the
alarm in case of fire or disaster, to report all violations
of orders, or to be especially watchful at night. Thus, a
soldier knows generally what to do in many situations.
How does this apply to a PBeM? If a player gives the GM
standing orders for his character, it speeds the PBeM up.
For instance, Levin, with a +12 bonus to diplomacy, tells
his GM he wants to talk in any non-threatening encounters.
Thus, when the GM posts that the group meets an old man in
the tavern, he can also post that Levin greets him. Now the
GM can begin a conversation with the old man and Levin.
Without the standing orders Levin gave at the beginning of
the game, this conversation could take 3-4 emails, and over
a week.
Players can also give temporary standing orders for specific
situations. An example would be combat. The group has
encountered four mean minotaurs, and the GM calls for
actions. Baeric might reply that he will cast mage armor on
himself then fireball one of the minotaurs - so long as
conditions remain the same. Obviously, should another
minotaur threaten him or more enemies appear, he would amend
these orders, but generally this will reduce the emails back
and forth.
Following are some examples of common, permanent standing
orders (to be given to the GM when the character is
created). Obviously, some of them are only applicable to
certain classes or genres.
1) The bard will try to speak to any non-threatening beings met.
2) The ranger will choose bow as his weapon of choice unless
in close combat.
3) The priest will try to heal any injured members as soon
as the scene is secure.
4) The barbarian will go into Rage when attacked.
5) The rogue will always check anything for traps before
opening.
6) The paladin will detect evil before picking up any items,
or when engaging newcomers in conversation.
7) The druid will not approve of any nature-destroying
actions, such as cutting down trees for firewood.
8) The ranger will try communication with non-threatening
creatures.
9) The wizard will always cast mage armor before starting
combat.
...
2. Secret Rolls to Maintain Mysteries
In a recent issue of Roleplaying Tips, Dwig offered a tip on
how to avoid a knowledge check roll tipping the players off.
It's good, but it doesn't go far enough.
1) Secret Rolls: The Rationale
There is a whole category of rolls the players should not be
allowed to make for themselves.
Example:
Player: "I check the chest for traps."
GM: "Okay, roll it."
(Player rolls die.)
Player: "Shoot, I critically failed."
GM: "You find a gas trap."
The one thing that this player now knows for certain is that
there is NOT a gas trap on that chest! So, as the GM, I will
roll that check myself to prevent this kind of knowledge
from leaking.
There's actually a whole set of rolls I make for the
players.
Say the party is walking down a corridor with a trap in it.
There's one stone that, if stepped on, sets off an
incendiary bomb. If I tell them all to make luck rolls, they
know something's up; so I just do it myself.
This means I do more dice-rolling than most GMs. That's
okay. It also lets me fudge things to keep the game on
track. If the party's pretty battered already, I'll probably
just decide that nobody sets off the trap; I don't object to
killing a player character now and then, but wiping out
whole parties in meaningless ways is no fun for anyone.
2) Who Rolls What, and When?
The basic answer: if there's something the players could
learn by making a roll then I will make the roll. I don't
tell them what I rolled, or why; I just narrate the result.
DM: "You walk to the end of the corridor without incident."
Or:
Player: "I check the chest for traps."
(DM rolls a die.)
DM: "You find a gas trap."
This means you have to keep a complete set of PC character
sheets. I use a spreadsheet with all the numbers I need for
each PC. For a large party, this can involve a second GM
whose main job is helping with all the mechanical stuff but
who can also help keep things moving when the party splits
for some reason.
Another advantage here is the more dice the DM rolls, the
more the players are kept on their toes. Heck, sometimes I
roll a few dice to no purpose at all, just to make them
wonder what didn't just happen. A nervous party is an alert
party.
Probably the most important kind of roll for the DM to make
is perception-type rolls. There's something the players
might or might not notice in their environment. If I tell
them to roll to see if they notice it, you've alerted them
that there's something to be noticed. If I roll it for them,
they just know that I rolled a bunch of dice. It might be to
see if they noticed the hostile natives hiding in the
bushes; it might be to see if the weather turns nasty; it
might be just to upset them. They don't know.
3) "But It's _My_ Character!"
I had a player who objected to this practice. He made the
reasonable complaint that, as it was his character, he ought
to be allowed to make the rolls. I decided this was fair,
and had him sit close to my side of the table. When the time
came for a roll, and sometimes for no reason at all, I would
tell him, "Roll XdY behind the screen." He performed the
roll, but didn't know why. (I sometimes even had him roll
for another character, though he never knew that.)
From this I learned the GM doesn't need to make all the
secret rolls all the time. You can use a second kind of
secret roll--the players make their own rolls but you do not
tell them what they're rolling.
This works as long as there isn't something they can learn
just by rolling dice, and you can prevent that by having
them roll meaningless dice at random intervals.
The D20 system has been a real blessing for this technique,
by the way. Since almost everything the players might roll
is on a D20, they can't figure out anything from the type of
dice they're asked to toss.
...
3. Another Tavern Table Idea
Another "Bar Corner" idea: the players head for the corner
to find it occupied by someone big, mean, and nasty who they
don't want to sit with in case they take offence. Hill
Giants, Titans, a Mind Flayer, or whatever.
4. Bards
Bards are a great backup character and help round out a
party, but they never shine on their own. The challenge has
been to give the bard in my campaign a situation, every once
in a while, a chance to do something no-one else can.
Idea #1 Eisteddford (Welsh word that means something like
musical competition, I think). Have the bard get challenged
to a musical competition by another bard. Money or prestige
could be on the line, or even a magical item. Make several
perform checks each with the highest result total winning
the event.
Idea #2 Musical traps. There was an online article about a
composer from Scotland who believes the markings on the roof
of the Rosslyn Chapel - of Da Vinci Code fame - could be a
music sheet of sorts to sonically activate a secret door
somewhere in the chapel. Should be a bardic knowledge check,
then a perform check, to open; maybe a set number of
consecutive successful perform checks instead?
Now how to convert something nutty as this into a novel? non D&D RPG? Fanfiction?
