Skills: The Game
Jun. 6th, 2006 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teleribLet's pretend for a minute that your players are all well-socialized people who always get along, never have a bad day, and are infinitely patient and understanding.
Even setting player issues aside for the moment, there are plenty of things to practice when it comes to running a game. We'll assume you've already prepared well, and that you've decided on your approach(es) to organizing the game (Plot, People, Conflict, Setting, or Thing-based).
Flexibility
You already know that your PCs never do what you expect them to do. How well can you cope with that?
Can you roll with the surprises and ad lib the game?
If not, can you bring them back to the plot without an overt Plot Stick?
If not, do you use the Plot Stick sparingly and with good humor?
Can you make it seem like you had it planned this way all along?
PCs don't generally like being railroaded. They like to have some measure of control - or the perception that they do. If all roads lead to the plot, don't show them the map!
If they've totally beat you - if they're about to take the game Over There where you've got no plans and no way to deal with it - step out of character and ask if they'll please play the game you're prepared to run. Appealing to the players as themselves gets them on your side. If they want a game tonight, they need to get on the Plot Wagon. In every group I've been in, that level of GM honestly goes over much much better than beating their characters into submission to your plot.
Where you find flexibility will depend on your style. As a People GM, I try to just drop into character for the NPCs and let them take the plot wherever it wants to go.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hueffmea, a Plot GM, keeps his NPCs' internal states flexible. The NPC is there to do a job - to get the characters into the plot. The NPC is flexible in achieving this, becoming whatever character is needed at the moment to do that. Moe, a Things GM, will add new gizmos to the game to give the PCs more options if they seem stumped.
Focus
Unless your game is just a pretext for a social gathering, you probably want a fair amount of focus on the game itself. As the GM, you go a long way to setting the example. If you stop to digress about the latest movie or Internet meme, the whole table has to stop. If you get caught up in someone else's digression, the whole table has to stop. Pausing to look up rules decreases the focus on the game, too. So does stopping to fiddle with the CD player or props or anything else.
Manage your focus and your players'. If you need a break to think things over, call a break. Do your thinking, then re-start the game with a good, strong focus. If you are doing a long scene with a single player, or a subset of players, consider physically splitting the party if the uninvolved PCs are figety. Take yourself and your player away from the table, or send the other PCs to the couch. (If your PCs are watching the RP with interest, of course don't exile them!) Bored players will digress or make distracting comments in an attempt to involve themselves in something. Let them do it away from the RP.
Pacing
The classic adventure pacing is a series of escalating encounters that culminate in a showdown. Downtime between conflicts is managed according to the dramatic needs of the story. In a tense thriller, downtime is at a minimum, and the characters bounce immediately from one crisis to the next. Too much tension courts burnout, though. Unless your campaign style calls for constant tension, it is good to run some adventures that contain scenes where the characters can let their guards down and relax.
Conflict in an adventure game is often physical but doesn't have to be.giddysinger, a Conflict GM, ran a very successful, very tense episode that had no fighting at all. The PCs had to talk their way around the anger of a very powerful prince. Even once the obvious interrogation was done, the PCs were on edge until they were well away from his castle, despite plenty of smiles and kind treatment.
One important challenge with pacing is balancing what different players like to do. The planny-tactical ones will gladly take a half-hour or longer to debate the next action. This is an intolerably slow pace to the butt-kicking ones, and the method actor-y ones would prefer a heart-to-heart with the NPC rather than planning or attacking. And as a GM, you will have a preference on what kind of scenes you like to run. You cannot make everyone happy all of the time, but you can try and make everyone content over the course of the adventure.
Tone
Much like Focus, you set the standard for the table. If you are taking your game and its characters seriously, your players can, too. If you're light and fluffy about it, they probably will be, too. Some genres - horror in particular - are almost pointless without the right tone.
Meta-talk affects tone. Every reference to your dice or the game mechanics reminds the table that this is a simulation. Every in-character utterance and descriptive passage puts them in the simulation.
Tone is a powerful tool for achieving your gaming goals. If you want a beer-and-pretzels dungeon crawl, you should not use a tone more suited to an epic tale of fated love and tragedy. If you want an epic tale of fated love and tragedy, you should keep the shouts of "Hoody-Hoo!" to a minimum.
What is your natural tone? Sarcastic? Funny? Scary? Businesslike - the neutral referee?
What tone do you want for your game?
Write some "boxed flavor text" in that tone.
Read it out loud. Are you comfortable talking like that?
If not, why not? Does it sound silly? Is it hard to remember the right words?
Practice getting the tone you want. Encourage it in your players.
Check yourself for any "tells" that creep into your language. What phrases do you use to fill dead air while speaking? Are you prone to anachronisms in a historical or fantastic game? How do these things affect your tone and the presentation to your PCs?
Moe has a "like, you know" habit. When the serious, formal, stick-in-the-mud angel of Judgement opens her mouth and says, "I serve, like, you know, Archangel Dominic," she becomes the Valley Girl angel. (This isn't so much a problem in an adventure about cow racing, but might have been a real problem if the adventure had been a serious one about the party on trial, and this was their prosecutor.)
Flexibility, Focus, Pacing, Tone. Did I miss anything?
Even setting player issues aside for the moment, there are plenty of things to practice when it comes to running a game. We'll assume you've already prepared well, and that you've decided on your approach(es) to organizing the game (Plot, People, Conflict, Setting, or Thing-based).
Flexibility
You already know that your PCs never do what you expect them to do. How well can you cope with that?
Can you roll with the surprises and ad lib the game?
If not, can you bring them back to the plot without an overt Plot Stick?
If not, do you use the Plot Stick sparingly and with good humor?
Can you make it seem like you had it planned this way all along?
PCs don't generally like being railroaded. They like to have some measure of control - or the perception that they do. If all roads lead to the plot, don't show them the map!
If they've totally beat you - if they're about to take the game Over There where you've got no plans and no way to deal with it - step out of character and ask if they'll please play the game you're prepared to run. Appealing to the players as themselves gets them on your side. If they want a game tonight, they need to get on the Plot Wagon. In every group I've been in, that level of GM honestly goes over much much better than beating their characters into submission to your plot.
Where you find flexibility will depend on your style. As a People GM, I try to just drop into character for the NPCs and let them take the plot wherever it wants to go.
hueffmea, a Plot GM, keeps his NPCs' internal states flexible. The NPC is there to do a job - to get the characters into the plot. The NPC is flexible in achieving this, becoming whatever character is needed at the moment to do that. Moe, a Things GM, will add new gizmos to the game to give the PCs more options if they seem stumped.Focus
Unless your game is just a pretext for a social gathering, you probably want a fair amount of focus on the game itself. As the GM, you go a long way to setting the example. If you stop to digress about the latest movie or Internet meme, the whole table has to stop. If you get caught up in someone else's digression, the whole table has to stop. Pausing to look up rules decreases the focus on the game, too. So does stopping to fiddle with the CD player or props or anything else.
Manage your focus and your players'. If you need a break to think things over, call a break. Do your thinking, then re-start the game with a good, strong focus. If you are doing a long scene with a single player, or a subset of players, consider physically splitting the party if the uninvolved PCs are figety. Take yourself and your player away from the table, or send the other PCs to the couch. (If your PCs are watching the RP with interest, of course don't exile them!) Bored players will digress or make distracting comments in an attempt to involve themselves in something. Let them do it away from the RP.
Pacing
The classic adventure pacing is a series of escalating encounters that culminate in a showdown. Downtime between conflicts is managed according to the dramatic needs of the story. In a tense thriller, downtime is at a minimum, and the characters bounce immediately from one crisis to the next. Too much tension courts burnout, though. Unless your campaign style calls for constant tension, it is good to run some adventures that contain scenes where the characters can let their guards down and relax.
Conflict in an adventure game is often physical but doesn't have to be.
giddysinger, a Conflict GM, ran a very successful, very tense episode that had no fighting at all. The PCs had to talk their way around the anger of a very powerful prince. Even once the obvious interrogation was done, the PCs were on edge until they were well away from his castle, despite plenty of smiles and kind treatment.One important challenge with pacing is balancing what different players like to do. The planny-tactical ones will gladly take a half-hour or longer to debate the next action. This is an intolerably slow pace to the butt-kicking ones, and the method actor-y ones would prefer a heart-to-heart with the NPC rather than planning or attacking. And as a GM, you will have a preference on what kind of scenes you like to run. You cannot make everyone happy all of the time, but you can try and make everyone content over the course of the adventure.
Tone
Much like Focus, you set the standard for the table. If you are taking your game and its characters seriously, your players can, too. If you're light and fluffy about it, they probably will be, too. Some genres - horror in particular - are almost pointless without the right tone.
Meta-talk affects tone. Every reference to your dice or the game mechanics reminds the table that this is a simulation. Every in-character utterance and descriptive passage puts them in the simulation.
Tone is a powerful tool for achieving your gaming goals. If you want a beer-and-pretzels dungeon crawl, you should not use a tone more suited to an epic tale of fated love and tragedy. If you want an epic tale of fated love and tragedy, you should keep the shouts of "Hoody-Hoo!" to a minimum.
What is your natural tone? Sarcastic? Funny? Scary? Businesslike - the neutral referee?
What tone do you want for your game?
Write some "boxed flavor text" in that tone.
Read it out loud. Are you comfortable talking like that?
If not, why not? Does it sound silly? Is it hard to remember the right words?
Practice getting the tone you want. Encourage it in your players.
Check yourself for any "tells" that creep into your language. What phrases do you use to fill dead air while speaking? Are you prone to anachronisms in a historical or fantastic game? How do these things affect your tone and the presentation to your PCs?
Moe has a "like, you know" habit. When the serious, formal, stick-in-the-mud angel of Judgement opens her mouth and says, "I serve, like, you know, Archangel Dominic," she becomes the Valley Girl angel. (This isn't so much a problem in an adventure about cow racing, but might have been a real problem if the adventure had been a serious one about the party on trial, and this was their prosecutor.)
Flexibility, Focus, Pacing, Tone. Did I miss anything?
