Typical, the first week back at work and now blog posts from me as I scramble on articles for CYBR 7, and chip away at other freelance work.
With the Iron Kingdoms streamed game starting tomorrow (Saturday at 8pm GMT) I thought I would do something fairly quick. My top GM tips.
Deputise - It's pretty normal you will have a player that knows the game rules as well as yourself. Get them to help out while you focus on the narrative.
Not "No" or "Yes" - A simple no or yes to a player question or request shutdowns down the feeling of agency that players have in forging the narrative. Instead offer those responses but with the addition of and "but...", or "and...". These are always opportunities to expand the plot, the drama and the world-building. "You can't do that, but...". "You can try that this time, and..."
The plans of mice and men... don't survive players. You may have a great plot, setting, and host of characters and narrative planned. But things never go that simple, and if you adhere too hard to your plans it can make it feel like a railroad. So plan, but keep some parts of your plans open and flexible. You know the start, and the end, perhaps even a middle part of the plot you want to pass through. But the how, when, and why with respect to the middle and end and how your players get there should be left open. Sure, accommodate some of the most likely routes, but don't be rigid. Also, let your NPCs respond to your players doing things. Let them react to the player insight or ignorance of the plot.
Use a Group Template! Some games use this concept under whatever term they have for it. Adventuring company, Coterie, Framework. These are all the same. Using these creates a focus on what the party of characters do, and what unifies them. It also creates some limits on what character types are allowed, which for you the GM, it reduces some complexity because it means some options, and thus powers, will come up less frequently in game.
Not If, But Quality Clues. You might think investigation rolls should be the source of the clues the players require to move them onto the next phase of the plot. However, this can quite often mean that players are left rolling dice to find clues. It can feel like an unnecessary hurdle to the plot progression when the real challenge is if the players will know how to use those clues. So a better approach is not to make rolls to find clues, but to find out the quality of clues discovered. We can then assume that the act of investigating a scene always reveals some cursory information. The quality of the clues then will offer more or less options to the players.
Kill your Darlings. Don't be protective of your NPCs for the sake of maintaining the plot and the progression according to your plans. It also robs the players of a sense of agency if they can't kill your favourite bad guys. Instead meet the challenge. If they kill a NPC, then great. Reward them. And then up the ante, as there is always some other villain ready to step into the power vacuum.
See you tomorrow for Iron Kingdoms RPG.
- Chris
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