So, gamer question. Specifically, GM question....
even more specifically....when, if ever, is it okay to dramatically "cheat"? to preserve your story? how much plot protection do you give your main heroes and villains?
Which wins-- the win of a clever or unexpected victory of the heros or the win of a well-told and detailed storyline?
Say for instance, the villain of your three act play is facing defeat at the end of act one.
Perhaps the players did something you didn't expect. Perhaps its just the dice. In any case, for whatever reason, the villain is about to be defeated or captured. Do you "let" the players defeat him, even though it possibly ruins your story? OR do you decide to give him an out, because the story requires it? or do you let the capture happen, "knowing" he will slip and escape? What do you do?
Also, do you do the same with players? if the villain can be defeated from a bad die roll, do the heroes face the same risk? Having a hero die from a random critical is just as bad for the story as a defeated villain, after all. Do the players get any sort of "plot protection" by being main characters?
Just curious how different storyguides out there run their worlds. :)
This is a touchy subject. In the past (I'm talking 6+ years or more ago) I was strongly of the mind, influenced HEAVILY by the White Wolf school of drama, story and plot. Meaning... FUDGE, CHEAT, do anything to make the story continue on... plan.
Then I met my friend Karl. The biggest thing I "learned" from Karl in gaming was that he loves rolling the dice in front of players. All the time. Period. No plot immunity. No holding back. No fudge.
And... Oh. My. God.
To me... that became a revelation. It actually made me come to enjoy being the Storyteller/Game Master more and more and MORE with every die roll. Let me explain.
But first.
Let me say, there are some game rule systems that prohibit this act of rolling the dice in front of all players. For example - the game I'm GMing now (Star Wars WEG D6 rules) allow players to spend Character Points on their die rolls BEFORE the Difficulty Target/Check is known. So that makes any "contested check" harder to have. I suppose as GM I could just wait and roll the dice after... but I like the kinetic feel of everyone rolling together, so I've taken to rolling behind my hand (on the front table) then revealing the roll after the players say "that's their final answer".
Now... Why is rolling in front of players better (to me)?
I'm a habitual procrastinator... That's a little of the effect that happens with this. But I've found that either through actuality or desperation - the things I procrastinate at ALWAYS seem to come out better than if I meticulously plan. Meaning... anything I design (as a Graphic Designer) or create for the "details" of a story as GM of the game - I actually find I get a more exciting, energetic, fluid CREATION when I create or ad lib on the spot, last minute.
So... in GMing... I tend to build the story in three segments:
1. I build the overall ideas, the general ideas of the story in hooks that I call "road signs" for myself. I have these in mind and noted, so that when my players GET to that crossroads I choose the better of the story (as dictated by the current flow of the game) from the various "road signs" I've envisioned might happen. I find this allows me to have my over-ambitious creative mind have the 3-4 ideas for a situation "ready" in basics, then I choose last minute and then literally ad lib the details in game. And DAMN it's exhilerating - because even I don't know where the story might lead (in detail, because I still know the general direction).
2. No solutions. I never ever ever build solutions to the plots, problems, or questions of my stories. If there is a clear "puzzle" that needs an answer, I will make one (but still be open to interpretation!) but overall... I create the question or problem or threat and never give myself the "benefit" of building an ending to the story. That way I can never "railroad" a plot toward what I *think* is the solution. Because I never have one - anything is a great solution. Sometimes I can see obvious ideas, but other times players surprise me. And DAMN it's exhilerating - because even I don't know where the story might lead (in detail, because I still know the general direction).
3. NPCs tell my story. I tend to build stories with the NPCs and locations as the "plot" of the story. I come up with the general story, then find the NPCs or the location (which brings factions or enviromental parts). With those in mind I stop planning a plot. I actually "ask" those NPCs/Locations what the story is. Sometimes I can't do that until the day of game. But if I know "who" the NPC is, their motivations, the steriotype of personality I begin them with, etc... I can "anticipate" how they react and literally create the plot on the fly.... again. And DAMN it's exhilerating - because even I don't know where the story might lead (in detail, because I still know the general direction).
So...
Why talk about all that???
Because rolling the dice, in front of the players as much as I possibly can. Does all of the above - on the fly. It literally FORCES me (and the group) to deal with the fickle fate that is the luck of the die roll. And once that is embraced. Once you're willing to let go and let the die help you tell the story - rather the DETAILS of the story... then you aren't dealing with a one person's whims of what "might" be the best story. You get to interpret the BEST story on the spot.
And most of all.... players also become sharper - because they can "know" that in the end, it's not their GM that's determining their character's fate (good or bad) it's literally fate! As in what the dice (or rule engine) was always intended to DO in RPGs = be the simulation of luck/fate/karma, etc...
Then again...
I've often "shaved" a few hit points off of villains in fun battles to SURPRISE the player (after they just described an awesome action) and tell them the villain falls (even if that villain has 2,5,10, etc... "hit points" left. THAT, in my humble opinion, is more an action of PACING by a good GM than it is fudging the numbers - since it would be obvious that the PCs WILL be taking the villains down in 1-2 rounds. Why slog through more and waste time to get the technical when the dramatic pace is much better served?!!!
So...
Do I fudge die rolls or rules, in favor or against? Rarely. I'd rather let "fate" help me be inspired to adjust the story to the roll of the dice!
Do my player characters have "plot immunity"? Yes and no. As Game Master, I am the arbiter of the rules - so I let the rules play. I am also a "director" to set the pacing of the story, so I will guide the use of the rules to build the story. But I am also a game player at the table as well as an audience member. Meaning... I am a FAN of the "heroes" of the story - the player characters ARE the main characters! So in the end I CAN play the most evil and powerful dragon they've ever faced as players in any RPG (and characters in the story) and I will fight tooth and nail, using every evil power I can to help that dragon WIN! But still be able to CHEER when a hero rolls a NATURAL 20!! to hit the Big Bad! (hehe, actually sometimes I grown or complain, yell explanatories, etc... etc..! all to give the player fun satisfaction of BEATING the dragon - and me as GM, cause sometimes players like that!!)
But in the end - I'm on the side of the best story, generally that's the best success of the PCs. Sometimes it's not.
Either way - why "cheat", "fudge" or do anything that takes away from the AWESOME UNKNOWN of the fate in the dice?!?!!!
Afterall, I don't want to KNOW the end of the story, I want to be as excited at the "end" as the OTHER (stressing the idea of "other") players!
To do otherwise would be cheating myself!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Plot Immunity?
Another gaming question for you all.
In several genre of games (D&D, super heros, white wolf, Ars magica), the players are sometimes clearly head and shoulders above most other people. Sometimes its the nature of the genre (supers, white wolf, etc) and other times its a gradual thing where the players become powerful over time (D&D, Ars).
In these settings and genres, the "reality" of the world is that the player is a complete bad*ss and can wipe the floor with most challengers. Either he's a super hero or a vampire or an ancient cranky wizard that throws fire. Whatever reason...he's going to stomp 90% of the world around him.
My question is this:
How often do you let that reality actually get reflected at the gaming table? How often do you have encounters that let the *player* be that bad*ss?
For example: You have a supers game where one player is Amazing Man, a brick that can take fire from a battleship and not flinch. How often do you have an actual (possibly comical, possible serious) scene where Amazing man is faced with something that isn't a threat, but isn't even close to the same weight class?
Say...a scene where Amazing man is faced against a local biker gang. yeah. There are 20 of them. But not one of them can hurt him. You know it. The player knows it. but you play it out anyhow, knowing its not going to be a threat of any kind...just a superhero...being...well...a superhero. It is so not a threat it turns into a RP scene more than anything else. but It gives the player a chance to ham it up and bend a motorcycle in two and throw out some good one-liners...
Despite how satisfying these scenes can be for the player, I've noticed there's not a lot of these scenes.
and I was wondering why.
I think it comes down to time management. a given session has only so many hours (usually not enough) and usually have a lot of players for the GM to juggle and entertain....so usually theres some plot or common threat that involves everyone....and often ends up in some dramatic high tension challenging battle.
So essentially ever session ends up being like a TV episode. plot. build up. climax. resolution. Sometimes it spills over to a couple sessions....but theres rarely any "day in the life" scenes to contrast this "threat of the week" dynamic. The easy victorys and such are assumed to happen offcamera, just like all the easy boring missions on the Enterprise arn't worth an episode.
Why is that a problem? Well, I think that it denies the player a chance to feel the reality that, yes, most of the time, he wins. That the supervillians that give him pause and a real fight really *are* few and far between. If every week, Amazing Man fights something thats not only a challenge, but cleans his clock, the character has lost his feel, because he's *not* the unstoppable brick he was made to be. the reality is...the last 10 sessions, he's gotten his butt kicked. a lot. which isn't the world reality...but its definitely the game table reality.
Does Amazing man win every single battle? No. but does he win most of them? Yes. And sometimes it shouldn't even be a contest. Heck, it might even be a fun way to start a scene....in media res..setting up the hero in the middle of stopping some completely trivial crime. sort of like a james bond teaser intro...with capes.
So, when you run a a game, how often do you have a "throwaway" random encounter or the easy win victory?
When was the last time you had one as a player?
It's funny, as a GM that's so interested in planning great stories and also so excited to *show* those great stories (and neat NPCs/threats) sometimes ...I get bogged down in the details of having it play out... Even in D&D games with minor threats (that I know are minor threats) end up BEING "encounters". And "encounters" end up taking hour(s), even the ones that aren't threats.
Then... combine the many many plots, events, NPCs, etc... mix all that in and sometimes there's not "time" to wedge in the moments YOU mention. Rather, more correctly, a GM forgets to include those moments. Which stinks.
That said.
I laughed out loud (above) because I literally JUST did something like this in my last episode of my new Star Wars campaign. Star Wars characters are as bigger than life as your "Amazing Man" but they're meant to be cinematic - and that's what (I believe) you're talking about here.
In my last episode "OF SPICE & MEN" our fringers (think Star Wars meets Firefly campaign!) were dealing with a couple different things at the same time. One group was conning + gambling, while the other was scrounging in the underbelly of the Cantina/Shadowport. The two in the underbelly (a Duros pilot & his Battle-Droid) found a large crate, behind the crate slowly rose one, then two alien beings - the sentient plant-like Revweyen. The droid, paranoid for his owner, couldn't hear the mental communication effect talking to the pilot ... and after some negotiation determined the best method of discussion would be to ZAP the two aliens with stun blasts. To the point. After 20-30 minutes of fun role-play with the group... The droid determined this action and the player was ready to roll initiative. THEN ... nope. ZAP! they're down!
Here's the thing... while I agree in theory that system doesn't completely dictate the way we can role-play. I do know that my players (and I) have been SO accustomed to the "roll initiative" and 5' squares of D20 based games for so many years, we forgot that role-playing games don't need to be that. These aliens were clearly peaceful and in a way naive, not really understanding the violent ways these PCs were talking to them in! And they surely couldn't/wouldn't be any sort of threat.
So ZAP! and they fell. The player was almost shocked.
And so opens the reminder that some "foes" and situations can be handled through fun role-play.
The thing I hate hate hate most (and have done as a GM it unintentionally as many times as I've witnessed it as a player) is having an (group of) NPC in a battle that still has a handful of hit points, and the ONLY reason the GM is having the battle drawn out 3-4 more round (which could be 10-40 minutes of game-time!!) is either:
a. just because...
b. to whittle away resources (ammo, PC hit points, etc..)
When... in reality the GM could simply see, then say... "rest fall after a few exchanges" and end the grind... I've even said "they fall, but to show the battle continued please take 1d4 more HPs of damage and remove 1d4 ammo" if I really feel it's necessary for resource loss to the campaign/story. Because sometimes it IS, depending on the world setting or scenario.
That's my most recent story! Last Saturday! LOL
In several genre of games (D&D, super heros, white wolf, Ars magica), the players are sometimes clearly head and shoulders above most other people. Sometimes its the nature of the genre (supers, white wolf, etc) and other times its a gradual thing where the players become powerful over time (D&D, Ars).
In these settings and genres, the "reality" of the world is that the player is a complete bad*ss and can wipe the floor with most challengers. Either he's a super hero or a vampire or an ancient cranky wizard that throws fire. Whatever reason...he's going to stomp 90% of the world around him.
My question is this:
How often do you let that reality actually get reflected at the gaming table? How often do you have encounters that let the *player* be that bad*ss?
For example: You have a supers game where one player is Amazing Man, a brick that can take fire from a battleship and not flinch. How often do you have an actual (possibly comical, possible serious) scene where Amazing man is faced with something that isn't a threat, but isn't even close to the same weight class?
Say...a scene where Amazing man is faced against a local biker gang. yeah. There are 20 of them. But not one of them can hurt him. You know it. The player knows it. but you play it out anyhow, knowing its not going to be a threat of any kind...just a superhero...being...well...a superhero. It is so not a threat it turns into a RP scene more than anything else. but It gives the player a chance to ham it up and bend a motorcycle in two and throw out some good one-liners...
Despite how satisfying these scenes can be for the player, I've noticed there's not a lot of these scenes.
and I was wondering why.
I think it comes down to time management. a given session has only so many hours (usually not enough) and usually have a lot of players for the GM to juggle and entertain....so usually theres some plot or common threat that involves everyone....and often ends up in some dramatic high tension challenging battle.
So essentially ever session ends up being like a TV episode. plot. build up. climax. resolution. Sometimes it spills over to a couple sessions....but theres rarely any "day in the life" scenes to contrast this "threat of the week" dynamic. The easy victorys and such are assumed to happen offcamera, just like all the easy boring missions on the Enterprise arn't worth an episode.
Why is that a problem? Well, I think that it denies the player a chance to feel the reality that, yes, most of the time, he wins. That the supervillians that give him pause and a real fight really *are* few and far between. If every week, Amazing Man fights something thats not only a challenge, but cleans his clock, the character has lost his feel, because he's *not* the unstoppable brick he was made to be. the reality is...the last 10 sessions, he's gotten his butt kicked. a lot. which isn't the world reality...but its definitely the game table reality.
Does Amazing man win every single battle? No. but does he win most of them? Yes. And sometimes it shouldn't even be a contest. Heck, it might even be a fun way to start a scene....in media res..setting up the hero in the middle of stopping some completely trivial crime. sort of like a james bond teaser intro...with capes.
So, when you run a a game, how often do you have a "throwaway" random encounter or the easy win victory?
When was the last time you had one as a player?
It's funny, as a GM that's so interested in planning great stories and also so excited to *show* those great stories (and neat NPCs/threats) sometimes ...I get bogged down in the details of having it play out... Even in D&D games with minor threats (that I know are minor threats) end up BEING "encounters". And "encounters" end up taking hour(s), even the ones that aren't threats.
Then... combine the many many plots, events, NPCs, etc... mix all that in and sometimes there's not "time" to wedge in the moments YOU mention. Rather, more correctly, a GM forgets to include those moments. Which stinks.
That said.
I laughed out loud (above) because I literally JUST did something like this in my last episode of my new Star Wars campaign. Star Wars characters are as bigger than life as your "Amazing Man" but they're meant to be cinematic - and that's what (I believe) you're talking about here.
In my last episode "OF SPICE & MEN" our fringers (think Star Wars meets Firefly campaign!) were dealing with a couple different things at the same time. One group was conning + gambling, while the other was scrounging in the underbelly of the Cantina/Shadowport. The two in the underbelly (a Duros pilot & his Battle-Droid) found a large crate, behind the crate slowly rose one, then two alien beings - the sentient plant-like Revweyen. The droid, paranoid for his owner, couldn't hear the mental communication effect talking to the pilot ... and after some negotiation determined the best method of discussion would be to ZAP the two aliens with stun blasts. To the point. After 20-30 minutes of fun role-play with the group... The droid determined this action and the player was ready to roll initiative. THEN ... nope. ZAP! they're down!
Here's the thing... while I agree in theory that system doesn't completely dictate the way we can role-play. I do know that my players (and I) have been SO accustomed to the "roll initiative" and 5' squares of D20 based games for so many years, we forgot that role-playing games don't need to be that. These aliens were clearly peaceful and in a way naive, not really understanding the violent ways these PCs were talking to them in! And they surely couldn't/wouldn't be any sort of threat.
So ZAP! and they fell. The player was almost shocked.
And so opens the reminder that some "foes" and situations can be handled through fun role-play.
The thing I hate hate hate most (and have done as a GM it unintentionally as many times as I've witnessed it as a player) is having an (group of) NPC in a battle that still has a handful of hit points, and the ONLY reason the GM is having the battle drawn out 3-4 more round (which could be 10-40 minutes of game-time!!) is either:
a. just because...
b. to whittle away resources (ammo, PC hit points, etc..)
When... in reality the GM could simply see, then say... "rest fall after a few exchanges" and end the grind... I've even said "they fall, but to show the battle continued please take 1d4 more HPs of damage and remove 1d4 ammo" if I really feel it's necessary for resource loss to the campaign/story. Because sometimes it IS, depending on the world setting or scenario.
That's my most recent story! Last Saturday! LOL
Monday, February 7, 2011
Game Props
Did you just fry your opponent with a Force Blast? Drop a ZAP or a BLAST next to your hero for some added coolness. Energy Explosion? Take your pick from Boom, KaBoom, and the ever cool Kraka Whoom!
Fight with your brain, not your brawn? You should enjoy Dominate, Brainwave, and the always annoying Ha! Ha! Ha!.
BAM! set contains: Bif, Bam, Pow, Boom, Fwoosh, Sploorp, Thwak, Yowtch, Wham, Sniff Sniff, Bang, Poof, Thwip, Can't...Move, Ha Ha Ha.
POW! set contains: Bif, Bam, Pow, Smack, Zap, Sproing, Dominate, Choke, Swipe, Klaaang, Kraka Whoom, KerPlunk, Brainwave, Blam Blam, Kaf Kaf, Drain
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Galactus ideas
Cosmic level Vampire...
Braniac's first appearance had him as a marauder from space who stole cities from worlds, and who was (according to a prophetic tale in an LSH story) eventually going to graduate to stealing whole worlds. That's not all that different from eating them, really. For the sympathetic Galactus who sometimes appears, you could have this Anamalgam stealing worlds and preserving them somehow, and being fated to give back more than he's ever taken by reintroducing the worlds to the universe at some later date after a great catastrophe. For a Galactus/Braniac fusion who favors the more evil android, take the animated series version of Braniac, whose motivation is a desire to have all the data in the universe, and give him Galactus' hunger. He's not saving the data, he's eating it.
Braniac's first appearance had him as a marauder from space who stole cities from worlds, and who was (according to a prophetic tale in an LSH story) eventually going to graduate to stealing whole worlds. That's not all that different from eating them, really. For the sympathetic Galactus who sometimes appears, you could have this Anamalgam stealing worlds and preserving them somehow, and being fated to give back more than he's ever taken by reintroducing the worlds to the universe at some later date after a great catastrophe. For a Galactus/Braniac fusion who favors the more evil android, take the animated series version of Braniac, whose motivation is a desire to have all the data in the universe, and give him Galactus' hunger. He's not saving the data, he's eating it.
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