What I learn playing a GM.

[David Blue]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I would love to add thie to my web page. Nice idea Dust Raven.

Does anyone have a problem with me adding your wisdom to an edited list on my web page? Full credit will be given.

Go ahead.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I would love to add thie to my web page. Nice idea Dust Raven.

Does anyone have a problem with me adding your wisdom to an edited list on my web page? Full credit will be given.

 

 

I have no probleam with it. Just post your URL when your done.

 

TRI

[Dust Raven]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I would love to add thie to my web page. Nice idea Dust Raven.

Does anyone have a problem with me adding your wisdom to an edited list on my web page? Full credit will be given.

 

Edited wisdom... how public education of you.

 

Sure, I don't mind.

[radioKAOS]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I think it's a great idea.

[Korvar]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

Sounds good to me.

[Alibear]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

Make it so, number one.

[Guyon]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

OK all copied to this point. Going to reformat and put into HTML, then I have to change my menu system. I will post when it is ready. Probably Monday 26th. As we are still doing 6am ballet.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

As we are still doing 6am ballet.

 

It is obviously just me but that sounds like a euphemism for something rude...

 

 

Doc

[Guyon]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

It is obviously just me but that sounds like a euphemism for something rude...

Doc

 

LOL

Yeah we are up at 6AM to drive an hour for a 2 week set of classes. My daughter is preparing for Checcetti ballet testing. The classes are 3-1/2 hours and then back to home where she studies for an additional 2-3 hours.

 

Checcetti ballet is what Martial Arts should be. In Checcetti a hand full of people test the entire country in a very strict fashion. So if you are a Level 4 in Ohio. You are level for in New York, London, Russia, etc. With Martial Arts you can have an 6 year old black belt running around, with little more than basic skills.

 

Anyway I even had my god daughter come in for a week to help prep my daughter for this test. It is this Saturday, and then back to normal life. *whew*

 

BTW Today is Checcetti's birthday! Anyone want cake?

[digital_lorax]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

Regardless of how smart your players are, they become stupid and paranoid once they start playing. Remember this... (as a player too!

 

This also leads into, sometimes a clue is obvious to you as a GM, but the players just. don't. get. it. Throw the clue at them three times just to be sure. And it it's really important, just hit them on the head with it.

 

If you _want_ the players to see something, don't have them make perception rolls, just have them see it.

[Alibear]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

Checcetti ballet is what Martial Arts should be. In Checcetti a hand full of people test the entire country in a very strict fashion. So if you are a Level 4 in Ohio. You are level for in New York, London, Russia, etc. With Martial Arts you can have an 6 year old black belt running around, with little more than basic skills.

 

That would depend on the school, there ain't no 6 yer old dan grades in my club. Ours is run as a non profit making organisation so people are not pushed through grading just to make the teacher a few €€€

[Phil]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

Awarding an extra point of XP each game to the player voted 'best roleplayer' increases the likelyhood of better roleplaying.

 

Although in most of the groups I've played in, awarding XP to the player voted 'best roleplayer' increases the likelihood of one player getting consistently more XP than any others.

 

However, when we modified it to 'best contribution'.....

[Guyon]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

That would depend on the school' date=' there ain't no 6 yer old dan grades in my club. Ours is run as a non profit making organisation so people are not pushed through grading just to make the teacher a few €€€[/quote']

 

Nice Alibear. Good for your school! In my opinion you should not be able to be a Black Belt before 16 anyway. But my point still stands as you know there are 6 year old BB and 8 year old 2nd degrees out there. Which is horrible for the rep of Martial Arts. Some places are like factories that just push people though.

 

Checcetti ballet is hard, trust me. They hate it at our Taekwondo place when my wife said that I am take Taekwondo because ballet is to hard for me to do anymore.''

 

*****

 

To stay on topic the new addtions have been added to my list.

[Cancer]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

When all your players use their XPs to develop the same power/defense/attribute/skill in all their characters, independent of defined persona, character traits, etc., not only have you become predictable, not only have you become boring, you have become the snotty older sibling who always picks on the kid brother in the same way.

 

Go get some real flies and pull the wings off them instead if you really need that rush of power gratification.

 

When a player tells you on a private note or in a private conversation that you can kill his character if it'd enhance or further the story, he's really saying he wants an in-game reason to drop out and he wants you to put him out of his -- the player's, not the character's -- misery.

 

(This comment assumes that an actual player character death is an extraordinary event in your campaign, which seems to be the usual situation.) If this happens, see if you can get to the root of the player's dissatisfaction in private. Doing it in front of the whole group is likely to turn into a whining session or shouting match.

 

Barring Mary Sues, no matter what it is, a group of player characters can bring down one opponent, independent of its magnitude.

 

That's in the nature of fights. Concentrating your creativity on building a lone Ubervillain and expecting her to provide a long-term persistent challenge is a mistake. Lesser bosses with multiple layers of minions last much longer and are a far greater threat.

[Alibear]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

In my opinion you should not be able to be a Black Belt before 16 anyway. .

 

I agree generally, but there are a few exceptions which I think may prove your rule. When I was in Japan last year, I met the Shotokan Schoolboy Kata champion. He was totally amazing, trains nearly every day and worth every bit of his dan grade. He passed his Dan grading at 14 IIRC.

[Guyon]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I agree generally' date=' but there are a few exceptions which I think may prove your rule...[/quote']

 

I can see that. Sorry I was talking mostly about the US. Also I should revise my age to 14 for exceptional cases, as some of the 14 year old Olympic athletes are also amazing. I was just tired of all the Black belt factories and how casually they are just given out. Which total takes away the meaning of what it should be.

Or closer to the ballet equivalent.

 

 

Back on topic. I have tomorrow scheduled for rebuilding my web page menu's so I can add this data.

[prestidigitator]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I agree completely. Most U.S. martial arts are a joke. They talk big but really just teach people to punch and kick. That has nothing to do with martial arts at all. Rank should be as much if not more a measure of one's wisdom and self-control as one's ability to spar. And with few exceptions it really does take some age to gain the necessary perspective.

 

I too was fortunate enough to find a dojo in which martial arts philosophy as well as physical training was taught and respect was given for true achievement. My life would have been much poorer without it.

[Dust Raven]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

Checcetti ballet is what Martial Arts should be. In Checcetti a hand full of people test the entire country in a very strict fashion. So if you are a Level 4 in Ohio. You are level for in New York, London, Russia, etc. With Martial Arts you can have an 6 year old black belt running around, with little more than basic skills.

 

Within any given school, this is true and how it's actually done. A practicioner of aikido who is rank X in Japan is also rank X in LA, but not necessarily rank X if judged by a practicioner of Karate anywhere.

[Dust Raven]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

I agree completely. Most U.S. martial arts are a joke. They talk big but really just teach people to punch and kick. That has nothing to do with martial arts at all. Rank should be as much if not more a measure of one's wisdom and self-control as one's ability to spar. And with few exceptions it really does take some age to gain the necessary perspective.

 

I too was fortunate enough to find a dojo in which martial arts philosophy as well as physical training was taught and respect was given for true achievement. My life would have been much poorer without it.

 

The U.S. doesn't have much in the way of martial arts, but we do have a lot of fighting schools.

[Guyon]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

You guys are lucky. I got involved with a World chain Black Belt factory thats primany goal is to promote and make money on over priced testing. I have since learned my lesson on what to look for.

 

 

 

Dust Raven Posted: A practicioner of aikido who is rank X in Japan is also rank X in LA,

@Dust Raven - So all aikido belts of the same rank are just about the same skill level anywhere around the world? You do not have any 12 year old Balck Belts?

[Basil]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

You are NOT god, you are the set designer for an improvisational acting troupe.

[Phil]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

You are NOT god' date=' you are the set designer for an improvisational acting troupe.[/b']

 

That is sooooo not true! A beneficial god, whose sole aim should be to test, reward and ultimately entertain his subjects, but god you are! Just don't go getting any silly ideas about sacrificial virgins, ok?

[Basil]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

That is sooooo not true! A beneficial god' date=' whose sole aim should be to test, reward and ultimately entertain his subjects, but god you are! [/quote']

I guess we'l have to agree to disagree on this. IMO and IME, the best GMs are those that leave as much as possible in the hands of the players, only acting to "flesh out" the setting, and enforce the requirements thereof.

 

I've found the whole "you're god" attitude, no matter how beneficial a "god" one is supposed to be, tends to lead to abuse, and to considering "the story" to be more important than the PCs. Good people who GM but see themselves as "god" as less prone to those problems than bad people who GM, but the lure seems irresistable.

 

OTOH, seeing oneself as set designer (and casting director--I forgot that requirement, sorry), tends to lead to a "characters (especially PCs) first, story dead last" attitude, which IMO is much, much more condusive to a good time being had by all.

 

Just don't go getting any silly ideas about sacrificial virgins' date=' ok? [/quote']

That I can agree with.

[Robyn]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

OTOH' date=' seeing oneself as set designer (and casting director--I forgot that requirement, sorry), tends to lead to a "characters (especially PCs) first, story dead last" attitude, which IMO is much, [i']much[/i] more condusive to a good time being had by all.

 

Why bother with the "especially PC's" part? If the players want to run around brutalizing every NPC in the game world, and all count that as a good time, does it really matter where NPC's go in the hierarchy when the story is dead last? Their importance to the story won't matter since story is trumped by characters, and in any case, how could NPC's matter since there aren't any real people behind them with real feelings who can really be hurt?

[radioKAOS]

Re: What I learn playing a GM.

 

At it's highest level, a game is art - it is a novel with you as the writer, and your troupe as the characters. As in any great novel, the story is important. The plot needs to be intriguing and well thought out. Always remember, however, that the players are playing the stars of the story. Always remember that you cannot write a great story without involving the characters in new, interesting, and challenging ways.

 

The characters should drive the story as much as you do - make sure to set up scenarios that are challenging to the character (not just to his stats!) in ways that will elicit a response that will help drive the plot. Action on the GM's part should bring forth a reaction on the player's parts, which will then allow for a reaction on the GM's part....

 

A great story is a hero's journey. Ideally you can work multiple story arcs within the framework of the game, allowing for character arcs for each player.

 

In this journey, each character should go through some sort of strife, usually because of a personal weakness of some sort. By going through this strife and conflict, he should learn to overcome his weakness and at the climax of the arc, be able to make a decision and take action according to his newfound knowledge.

 

In example: A certain surly comic book artist character in my game stayed in the background and sulked and griped (which was in character). Through the course of a few adventures he began to stick up for himself more as he was challenged by NPCs in ways that would stimulate response, and therefore growth within him. In a climactic battle with a she-ghost who couldn't be affected by the party, he found a Katana (which he alone was proficient in) and realized that he needed to stand up for himself and his friends and face down the she-ghost. He did, realizing multiple things like: that he needed to pull his weight, that he could actually make a difference in something, that he cared for these others in the group, and that he could actually 'take the spotlight.' The character finally sending the she-ghost back to where she belonged was a climactic ending to the scene that all players enjoyed. It was hard fought, and deservedly won.

 

Moments like that make a game great, not just fun.

 

Of course if all you want is a comedic game that satisfies in the here and now, go for it. It's not the style I prefer, but I'm sure lots of people have fun doing just that.