Category Archives: GM Advice

I was going to do the Winning card next, but when I wrote it I found that I needed to introduce the GM card next. I’m a little bummed at that. I was hoping to have the cards independent of each other so they could just be handed around a table randomly. Next in the Basics series, the Game Master card.

Game Master

The Game Master (or GM for short) is a special type of player. There is usually only one in a group of players. The GM has the job of getting a game ready to play by making up things that might happen to the player’s characters.

When you want your character to do something, you tell the GM what you want to do. The GM will then decide if that is something that the character can just do or if there are rules that could be used to test if character can do. Walking around is not normally difficult and it’s something your character can just do, a backflip is much harder so the GM may want to use the rules to test if it can be done.

The GM will also control everyone that is not a player’s character. For example, if the players go into a city, anyone they interact with is controlled by the GM. The GM will speak for them and tell you what they’re doing. The players decide how they interact with other people.

Next in the Basics series, the Character card.

Character

When playing the game, you make and control a character. This will be your character and no one else’s. If you’ve played or even seen a video game in the last twenty years, you’re already familiar with playing a character. The person, monster or whatever it was you controlled was a character. In an RPG you have more control over that character.

Most players treat their character something like you would a pet, you take care of it, teach it new tricks and get it toys to play with. Your character will ‘live’ on their Character Sheet. A piece of paper that keeps all the information your character can use to do things in the game. There is a lot packed in the character sheet because your character can do a lot. The good thing is, that once you get the hang of the character sheet, you’ll understand almost all of how the game is played.

The character sheet will help you remember what your character is like, what they’re good at and what they have so you don’t have to.

Wednesday I posted about trying to ease a new player into a new game or setting by giving them the basics on a few 3×5 cards so they don’t get overwhelmed. I figured I’d post my 3×5 card text here starting with the ‘Setting’ card. This would be different for each game and could even be different for each campaign. Mine here is generic for The Artifact RPG.

Setting

Earth is in trouble and humanity’s only option is a strange manufactured planet. While the builders of this huge planet seem to have abandoned it, there are already humans living there when Earth forces arrive, and most of them are not friendly.

This Science Fiction setting pulls it’s tone from the ideas of colonization of the 15th to 19th century but updated to a near future setting. The game is intended to play slightly to the heroic side of realism, meaning that the characters are regular humans but the system allows them to be slightly larger than life.

The majority of the action is under the surface of the planet in gigantic structures. Dinosaur like animals roam the planet. Technology in game includes teleportation, piloted robots called Environmental Suits or commonly E-Suits, nanotech augmented humans, anti-gravity engines and plenty more.

Sometimes when you’ve played RPGs for a while you forget how daunting it is to face that first game. I’m convinced that a lot of people that look at an RPG imagine they have to be a mental giant to learn a book full of rules. To a new player that’s what the book is, an impenetrable block of instructions. To someone that’s played, the book breaks up into concepts that categorize the rules and that makes it a little easier to digest the whole. As for me, I get a foothold on a basic concept and work my way out. In some books it’s understanding character creation, in others it’s event resolution. Even then, I know that I’ve had players that get the basics and they’re not going to get any further. They’re a functional player and that’s okay, not everyone needs to explore every nook and cranny of a world or system.

So how can a GM get a player to that foothold? Only introduce the basics. If you could put each concept on a 3×5 card it would probably be best. the less paper they see at any one time makes it easier for them not to get overwhelmed. Here’s a list of subjects for those cards.

Basic Setting

Just a quick blurb on the setting and what to expect as far as tone and feel of the game.

What is a character?

Explain what a character is in contemporary terms. It’s easier now with most video games using a character. You just have to translate their video game experience into how they’ll play a character in a table top game. As a player how do they control the character? Explaining the character sheet might be a good idea too.

How do you win?

I’m thinking to include something of my earlier post on this but also a very quick explanation of event resolution.

What does a Game Master do?

This is standard boilerplate but can also explain how much control the GM will have in this game.

Don’t Panic!

Maybe that’s not the official title of the card. This card is there to reassure the new player that while there is more, they don’t need to know it immediately. If they need help don’t be afraid to ask.

Number 6?

I was trying to come up with six cards but I can’t think of any other subject’s you would need. I may be missing something obvious. Let me know if I forgot something vital. I’ll be working on a PDF with these subjects that can be printed and cut into flash cards in the next few days and I’ll make them available for download.

This question has tripped me up when introducing RPGs to new players. My normal answer is something along the lines  of “Well you don’t really win, you progress. . . ” and then I explain getting more stuff and experience. Almost every time, as soon as I get to “Well you don’t” there’s a bit of a shock on their face and that blank stare that says “I’ve lost interest.”

As you may have noticed, I think that introducing RPGs is an art that we as a community are routinely under skilled in (a.k.a. we stink at it). This is just one aspect of the process of that introduction. Getting new people into RPGs is a sales process. I’m not a natural salesman so I really have to think about what I’m doing to get it right. One important concept of selling is solving a problem. If you can offer a product that solves a problem you have a sale. “You don’t win” doesn’t solve a problem it introduces one and that’s how they’re interpreting it. One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes you can solve a problem that the person didn’t know they had, you just have to convince them that they had a problem in the first place.

So how can you solve the potential player’s problem? I’m not interested in making up some random reason, I enjoy playing so there has to be something that it does for me. That something is winning. It’s a different kind of winning than a board game but each session is something like winning a video game. There’s a problem, a challenge and then a resolution (hopefully) in most sessions. Yes there are sessions and maybe even whole games that don’t follow that but it’s the default for RPGs. But that’s not good enough. Saying it’s like a video game means to the prospective player that they might as well stick to their video games because it’s what they know. They already have a solution to the problem, there’s no reason to have two tools that do the same thing.

Most RPG players will agree, playing an RPG is not the same as playing a video game. So how do you explain that difference? One point is that it’s because an RPG is a collaborative game. Instead of playing against each other you’re working together. But . . .

MMOs can be collaborative too and with voice chat you get to “hang out” with your friends, so why not just leave all the reading and the math and stick with the shiny graphics and sound? There has to be something else that separates table top and MMO. You could say that in a table top RPG you really get to know your friends but that would more than likely scare off people. Why? People are afraid that their friends will really get to know them, and because you know how the game is played you’ll have the upper hand.

I can only give an illustration to explain the difference between table top and MMOs and it goes like this. “When you want to talk to a friend, talking over the phone is okay but you’d rather be hanging out face to face. That’s the difference between table top and MMO. Even if you’re in the same room on the computer, you lose that personal connection.” Maybe connection is the right word then? Yes there is the aspect of the Game Master making the game more interesting but they’re not going to understand that, not really.

Put it all together

So when a prospective player asks how they win I’m going to say something like “You win by working together with the other players to beat a situation that the Game Master presents. It can be almost anything so it’s exiting to find out what it will be. Because you’re working with the other players, you get to connect with them and be a team so most of the time they’ll be helping you win. It’s challenging, social and fun.”

How will you tell a new player how they can win? Sound off in the comments.

Contest started on June 29 and will run through August 4th (Gen Con Indy starts then). The challenge is to come up with a new 10 second pitch to get someone interested in RPGs. We feel this is a great way to promote the hobby. We already have some great entries from the philanthropists at 1KM1KT. The way they jumped in, you can tell these guys really love RPGs. Here are their entries.

John Michael Crovis

“Movies, Video Games, Television, Books – what do these have in common? They are all multibillion dollar industries that tell stories – and we pay a premium price for them. There is an alternative, more interactive than video games, for pocket change! Let me tell you about role playing games…”

Bubba Brown

FLAC: http://www.bestwithstuff.com/YoureRolePlayingNow.flac
WAV: http://www.bestwithstuff.com/YoureRolePlayingNow.wav

Chainsaw Aardvark

* A book, a few friends, a handful of dice, and limitless possibility.

* Some people play for a couple of points and bragging rights. Others gamble for a few dollars. When we play, we save worlds.

* You take the blue book – the story begins, you wake up in an unknown star-ship, and believe you’re near Centauri Prime. You take the red book – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the Labyrinth goes. (Yes, this paraphrased from “The Matrix”)

* Because you can’t put “last of their kind transhuman space-pirate destined to topple the empire” on your actual resume.

* Batteries, lag, network outages, our style of role-playing has none of that.

* Sixty dollars spent on videogames grants you twenty hours of staring at a screen, shouting at people you’ve never met. Sixty dollars spent on RPG materials means months of adventures with your best friends.

Wanna throw your hat in the ring? Comment your entry HERE.

Bubba Brown has been having fun recording the entries in audio. You can hear them on the 1KM1KT thread. Let’s give him some more material to record! Submit your entry today, multiple entries are allowed.

You have ten seconds. That’s it. Take any longer and they’re gone. It’s true of nearly anything now a days. If someone is going to read your blog, play your game or listen to your podcast.

People generally make some snap decisions based on what they can see to evaluate if something is worth their time. The decisions they make aren’t always logical ones either. For books and board games one of the things people subconsciously do is to weigh the book or box. They don’t even know they’re doing it. Board game makers will tell you, if they pick it up and the box feels too light, the person will decide that the game is not worth their money as if the bulk of a game defines how fun it will be. I’ve noticed people do this with books. A heavy book impresses people.

Online, people can’t weigh your blog but they still use some illogical measurements to evaluate it. For one, color is a big factor. While there is the readability factor, even when that isn’t an issue people will reject a site with a color scheme they don’t like. It’s like a person’s preference for color defines the merit of their writing.

What this means for GMs

Thankfully, if a person already plays RPGs, a lot of the work of grabbing their attention is in those three little letters R P and G. They know what you’re talking about and all you need to do is tack on a few more words “Star Wars”, “Mouseguard” or “The Artifact” (okay, not in the same league) to grab their attention. But what about someone who hasn’t played before? How do you grab their attention? I think this is one of the most difficult sales pitches out there. You have to deliver why RPGs are fun in ten seconds or they’re not sold.

Sometimes if someone hangs around for an hour (usually more) they start to pick up on the fun but getting that initial sales pitch right is viciously hard. Usually pictures are good for conveying larger amounts of information in short amounts of time. After all a picture is worth a thousand words (try saying a thousand words in ten seconds). This is exactly why board games have pictures on the box and books have pictures on the cover. They’re part of that ten second sales pitch. Flipping through a book with pictures can help but there’s a hang up. Hit a picture the person doesn’t like and you may loose the pitch. If they see one flaw that bothers them, you’ve lost them.

We’ve all heard the “It’s like being the people in the book/movie.” pitch. I don’t think I’ve ever had someone say “Ooh yeah, that sounds like fun!” to that pitch. Almost universally that pitch doesn’t work. Added to that, playing an RPG is a slow and often complex process. Explaining how to play as a sales pitch is guaranteed to confuse a potential player.

So what is to be done?

Be enthusiastic, not overly so, just enough that you convey that you enjoy playing. Knowing the person you’re introducing to Role Playing helps because you’ll know what they like but can also be a pitfall because they likely won’t link what they like with the game until they’ve played it.

Role Playing is a social game and is probably best explained that way. It’s a time to really enjoy being with your friends. Sure there are people that play with strangers but most of the time players are introduced by friends.

Role Playing is also a time to be creative. You have to be careful with that thought because a lot of people don’t think of themselves as creative and may mentally shut themselves out of being able to play.

RPGs are also a very deep rabbit hole and I think that people can sense that. They also seem to be afraid of doing it “wrong”, not realizing that most of us do it wrong in some sense or another. I think it’s important to reassure them that a big part of a successful game is when the players work together which makes everyone at the table want them to do well.

How would you explain it?

In the comments, give it a shot! See if you can explain role playing in a new and exciting way. It has to fit within 10 seconds! The answer that is judged to be the best will get a free copy of The Artifact RPG Economy (the B&W version) mailed to them!

Deadline is by Gen Con Indy. Multiple entries by the same person are allowed.

You want to game? Right now? Okay give me ten minutes and I’ll have a game for you.

I’ve never used a pre-made game despite GMing for probably more than twenty years. I’ve purchased them because they had interesting stats or maps but never ran them. The other GMs I know didn’t either, for some reason it was never our thing. I don’t know where most GMs today fall on the subject of pre-made games, only that I see a lot of them so someone is using them.

I’m also not sure who spends hours and hours setting up a game. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve prepped for games before and on occasion I have spent several hours on the prep, usually drawing maps but it’s not usually how I set up a game.

So if you GM the same way maybe I’ll say something here useful to you but if you’ve wanted to be able to make up a session at a few minute’s notice, hopefully this will be what you’ve been looking for.

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I just got done with a mystery game. Traditionally my record for mystery games is not a good one. My players either guess the mystery right away or never make progress. Both results are no fun for me or the players. That’s why I’m really happy about our last game and I’d like to share a bit of what worked and getting over things that have held me back. The type of mystery is pretty universal, a missing person. There are some elements to the game that won’t make a lot of sense until Tortuga is released that I’ll gloss over because the details matter less than the method.

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