Dust Raven Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. @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? If you can find a 12 year old black belt in aikido, you can rest assued he's of the same skill level as any 20 year old black belt, 30 year old black belt or 90 year old black belt. Greater age is does not determine/grant skill, experience or capability, it only provides greater opportunity. (actually, I don't think aikido uses "black belts" but has a different ranking system, but I might be wrong; I nevered practiced aikido, just studied it as a matter of interest a long time ago). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted June 24, 2006 Report Share Posted June 24, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. You are NOT god' date=' you are the set designer for an improvisational acting troupe.[/b'] I'm also the primary casting director, set director, writer*, producer and agent to all the "actors". While one of these thing make me a god, the fact that I have an UNLIMITED BUDGET and access to an ENTIRE UNIVERSE of my own design does. *only in the sense of limiting/assigning roles for the troupe members and scripting background events. 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. In my opinion and experience, the best gods have those same traits 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. I'll have to agree and disagree with this. Anyone who views their status as a godlike entity in the campaign their running as being a puppeteer for the players is no longer a GM, but a puppetmaster god. That part is abusive and I agree it's bad. But as a GM who considers him self the god of his campaign world myself, I never cross than line. There are a number of characters/people in my universe I've given complete free will to and they keep it unconditionally. I call these people player characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted June 25, 2006 Report Share Posted June 25, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. To me, there are two stories in a campaign. The World Story, and the Focused Story. The Focused Story fitsw within the World Story, and focuses on the players and their actions. They are the most important parts of this story in terms of narration, although they might not be the most important "characters" from an internal perspective. The World Story is everything else. It is difficult for the players to register as anything more than a blip on this level, but it should be a satisfying thing when they do so. Typically, the climax of the campaign leads to a meaningful contribution to the World Story. To me, I think it is important to keep the World Story and Focused Story in perspective. The players are very important in the latter, but not so much in the former. I'm not making much sense. I blame it on the stomach bug I caught at Ragnarok. The players are important, but if they sit on their butts, the world WILL pass them by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lxndr Posted June 25, 2006 Report Share Posted June 25, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. You are not God. You just tell the gods what to do. The more responsibility for the world and story you put in the players hands, the happier you'll be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted June 26, 2006 Report Share Posted June 26, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. To a familiar tune by Meredith Brooks: I hate the game today It's not good for me I know but I will play Tried to tell you but you look at me like maybe that I have an open mind Tolerant and kind Your character just died You must have been upset to see your hero fried I can understand how you'd be so pissed off But I sit and scoff I'm a mighty evil deity So take it all in stride Chorus: I'm a god, I'm the devil I'm a fiend, I'm betrayal I'm a monster, I'm a creep To me you all are sheep I'm your hell, I'm your bane Forever I will reign You know you wouldn't want me any other way So suck it up you toad Don't look at me like maybe you'll explode I assure you you should take your own advice When I'm rolling all these dice Tomorrow you may live But today's a different show Chorus Just when you think you've got it figured out You can't help but losing I think it's cool You try and you try But it doesn't matter Chorus I'm a god, I'm an troll I'm a demon with no soul When you hurt, when you suffer I am filled with laughter You've been duped, You've been taken You like it now and then You know I wouldn't want it any other way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Short Shot Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Aikido comments Not all aikidoists are the same. There are different styles of Aikido and different means of gaining rank. The ones I know of off hand are Yoshikan and Tomiki, and I'm pretty sure there is at least one other major style. The testing requirements are NOT the same, nor are the training methods. They have different training methods and base philosophies. For an interesting read on Yoshikan Aikido check out the book "Angry White Pajamas". There are other martial arts that have aikido as a component of their individual school. Wu chin pai, and shi sae ryu are two that I know of. Both use judo techiques along with aikido. One also incoperates tai chi and the other trains in karate. Bottom line, if two people of identical ability studied diligently at different schools, they may very quite a bit in philisophical points of view and in real combat ability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gojira Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. Pssst, wrong thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silbeg Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. bump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. bump? Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. Why? For those who missed it before. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary needs no reason to hump...oh, you said bump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. For those who missed it before. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary needs no reason to hump...oh, you said bump? People missed it? I thought it was immortalized on someone's website or something.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silbeg Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. Why? I was going to say something clever, but called away to actually do some work... kind of wanted to get it back to the top so I could make a comment... now I can't recall what it was about... something about trusting players only about as far as you could throw them (and if you've seen the RPG players I have... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guyon Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. I was just waiting for all the great quotes to die down before posting. If new quotes are added I will up date the file after enough are placed. As of the first draft I organized the post in alphabetical order according to creator. As well as combined all posts from the same creator under one name. I also did some editing, and minor spell checking. If you do not want your post on this list please let me know. http://www.protectors.frih.net/ The combined file is under the downloads section. If you have something nice to say, please add it to our Guestbook at the bottom of the index page. PS I have a printed version of this now at every game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmosemeritus Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. After skipping the last 4 pages of the thread... I miss being a player. Correlary: When you are permitted to be a player again, don't back-seat GM. Its just plain rude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrakazog Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. You can lead a PC to a clue, but you cannot make him use it. ZOMG YES! I can't tell you how many times I've had it happen where the players would be given an obvious clue only to stick it in a pocket or something and immediately forget about it. Argh! The corollary, of course, is clues are never as obvious to the players as they are to the GM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrakazog Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. This is one of the best threads. I am reading through every post. I needs to be a sticky. Or and edited version be included in the rules book Seconded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioKAOS Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. You can lead the party to the Oracle,but you can't make them ask the right question... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrakazog Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. I love that strip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guyon Posted July 19, 2006 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. You can lead the party to the Oracle' date='but you can't make them ask the right question...[/url'] If you read my edited verson of that on my web page it states: You can lead the party to the Oracle,but you can't make them think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. I was going to say something clever' date=' but called away to actually do some work... kind of wanted to get it back to the top so I could make a comment... now I can't recall what it was about... something about trusting players only about as far as you could throw them (and if you've seen the RPG players I have... )[/quote'] I've learned that when a player asks me something that I want to get a second opinion one, I can't remember what it was about when I finally get to the Discussion Boards. What that it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. Don't game with anyone you wouldn't hang out with under other circumstances. It took me years to learn the truth of this one. Well said, Oddhat. I'd rep you if I could. Matt "Doin'-it-the-hard-way-and-lovin'-it-anyway" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silbeg Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. If you take the time to pre-draw out that 11 story construction site, your players will be impressed. They'll be impressed if you pre-draw out a simple bank! However, you have to still find a way to get them there! Nothing sucks worse than having to spend 3 hours redrawing that 11 story construction site, because you never got the plot going to get them there, and you don't want the ink to permanently stain your $100 MegaMat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. The five great truths of being a GM: 1) Even in a crowd of gamers, you're still essentially playing by yourself. 2) The more props you need to pull off a session, the more likely the game will be at someone else's place. 3) The more you practice the villain's monologue, the less chance you'll have an opportunity to recite it. 4) The depth and complexity of the game universe is inversely proportional to the number of players at the table. 5) You're going to spin your creative wheels occasionally -- so when it happens, run a combat-light off-the-cuff session (or blue book, if you have a crop of writers at the table). Matt "The-words-of-the-prophets-are-written-on-the-subway-walls" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. The more prescriptive you are with your planning, the more likely the players are to do something you didn't expect. So, for each scene, work out what they will learn, what they might learn and what they might if they're really lucky stumble across.... and just don't worry so much about where they find it or who tells them. After all, if you're the only one who knows the plot, no-one knows if it changes. (with thanks to Doc Democracy, who helped clarify something I kind of already knew but in terms we can all understand!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeropoint Posted July 21, 2006 Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 Re: What I learn playing a GM. A single Viper eight-team just isn't a credible challenge for a team of 350-point supers. Zero "and-tenement-halls" point hmm. that doesn't work so well with my name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.