Redelia's GM school (Inactive)

Game Master Redelia

Oh, another great one liner from Our Mysterious Benefactor! Lovely!

Hmm

That is Great!!! I will admit as a GM I love to Troll my players both at F2F tables and also online.

Back to GM Philosophies!

I was a bit overwhelmed by the idea of posting a GM philosophy in my profile. I have this statement:

I tend to GM one game at a time, and give it my all. As a GM, I am fast-paced and story-oriented. I reward both enthusiasm and roleplay, and love to share adventures with my players.

What can you expect from a GM Hmm game? Teamwork. Laughter. Discovery. Roleplay. Sound effects. Filks. Whimsy! I hope that you'll have a good time, get a chance to bring out your character's quirks, have good chemistry with your teammates and a chance for self-discovery.

I don’t know if it is a philosophy so much as a manifesto. It says what I value, the sort of game that I like to offer, and that I am the sort of GM who wants to give players a chance for self-discovery. One of the things that I love is when players become invested in the settings and characters I provide. I’ve had five players do in-character marriage proposals or weddings. Several player characters decided that they like one of my towns enough that they wanted to relocate, buy businesses or retire there. Characters sometimes also have pivotal moments where they make shifts in their attitudes or future paths. I like to think that I am the sort of GM that provides opportunities for reflection and change.

So let’s look at everyone’s GM Philosophies:

I believe my job as GM is to make sure my players have fun, are challenged, and feel like their characters contribute to making the world a better place.

I expect players to do their best to engage with the world I present, post regularly, and let me know if they will not be able to post. I also expect players to help each other to enjoy the adventure.

I like this one because it reflects Redelia’s style: plain-spoken, warm, honest. It gives a sense of her as a GM and what she wants from her games.

I'm hopeful we will all have fun. I want enthusiasm, silliness, sound effects, team chemistry... If you want that too, I think we'll have a great game together that you can laugh about later in the future.

How can I not like this? It’s similar to thoughts that I have stated. Short and sweet, and follows up a fairly detailed expectations section.

I only GM one game at a time as I am new to GM’ing and fairly new to Pathfinder and Starfinder in general so as a GM, I will be learning as much as you will as players. My intention is to give you as players the opportunity to tell the story you want to tell, and to guide rather than lead. If you feel I have made a mistakes, tell me - there’s every chance you are right!

I like the honesty and openness here!

1. Guide your players. Drop hints. No one remembers what that handout said that you showed to them four days ago. Just because you're invested doesn't mean they are, so repeat certain key points from the handouts or NPCs. Repeat parts of the mission briefing or story if needed. Anything to get them back on track.

2. Go with it. Just because the scenario/PDF only indicates the players have to go to the temple, doesn't mean the players have to go the temple. Maybe they want to go to the bar first. Maybe they want to explore the town. Make up the bar scene, explain it, create an NPC and have them interact with her. Dress up the scene by adding a barfight or some other activity that won't interfere with the story but that will otherwise add some fun.

3. Foster PC relationships. When players begin to roleplay with each other, you know you've done a good job, and you know you've got a group that's going to stick around. You can't exactly force this, but you can certainly set it up so that PCs need to work together to achieve their goal - that is the very essence of PFS, after all.

4. Keep it fun. Did your PC forget to use their Heal skill on themselves when they could have avoided ability score damage? Would you let them correct that if playing on tabletop? I would. Stuff like this happens all the time. If you enforce the rules harshly, you take away from the game's fun.

5. Roleplay. Pathfinder ROLEPLAYING game is what it's called.

There is so much good stuff here, it is not just a Philosophy statement. It’s a GM 101 education!

I believe in providing a good time to my players by presenting challenges for their characters to face. After all, it is through overcoming adversity that heroes are born and memorable "Oh wow, that was AWESOME!" moments are formed. I ask players to work together and inclusively to make the game an enjoyable experience for everyone.

This being said, I'm still new to GMing, so please bear with me if I hit a few bumps along the way. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, let me know - it would be much appreciated!

Also, I like to laugh so I tend to inject a bit of comedy into my games whenever creative inspiration strikes - with varying levels of success. So if you join one of my games, be prepared for an extra layer of cheese on top. Moreover, bad puns are welcome and wholeheartedly encouraged at my table. You've been warned!

Excellent. Detailed, interesting, honest. It reminds me strongly of the philosophy statement written by Our Mysterious Benefactor.

I see roleplaying games as an exercise in communal storytelling. I bring the setting, some allies, some enemies, and various types of challenges to encounter. You bring your characters, with their backgrounds, personalities, and abilities. I enjoy combat as well as roleplaying, and believe that the more we engage with each other, the more fun will be had all around.

A GM after my own heart! I love the story emphasis here.

Don't take on more than you can focus. Is playing in this campaign going to stretch you thin, and all your PCs will have rushed posts? If so, maybe you've reached the limit that you can comfortably play, and another may not be a good idea.

Make an effort to be a part of the world around you! That doesn't mean sniff every rose and talk to every fishmonger, but all the players get the best experience when every player is doing their best to create an immersive experience. Be a part of it!

BUT THE NUMBER ONE MOST IMPORTANT RULE, IS TO HAVE FUN!

I loved the preceding section where you detailed your GM style, and really love the second paragraph here. Very strong!

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN

Do any of the philosophy statements here really resonate for you? What ones made you go “Aha!” and reflect? Let’s give each other some feedback!

Hmm

Thanks, Hmm, for keeping the discussion going while I was ill. I'm not 100%, but I don't need to be to type on a computer.

Everyone, the one thing I most notice and like about all the GM philosophies is that in each of them, I can hear your own individual voice. That voice is in some ways more important than the words, because it gives your players an idea what tone to expect in your games.

Let's spend a few more days discussing GM philosophies, including any questions you guys have, and then we'll move on to some of the basics about keeping a game moving in Play-by-Post. I'm hoping that in about a week, we can be ready to start to play. Does anyone want to volunteer to start with their faction mission? I'll be starting things out with the encounter with guidance first.

GM Red's words are enlightening - especially the guide your players part. As the GM, I've read and re-read the scenario so many times when setting things up that I assume stuff that was mentioned days ago is as fresh in the players' heads as it is in mine. But as Red points out, this isn't necessarily true.

Redelia, I'm happy to start with the Exo-Guardians unless anyone else wants to go first.

I’m cool with not going first as I can learn from others. Excited!

Tomorrow I will set an order to do the faction missions, so be sure to let me know any preferences you have. I'll also move us on to new topics, so please respond to Hmm's question if you have any thoughts and ask any questions you have so far.

I've only played PbP for an extremely short time so I don't have any truly outstanding examples, but this post from my Emerald Spire game set the mood nicely.

It was descriptive, moved things forward smoothly without them feeling rushed, and left plenty of hooks for us to react to.

GM Red's "Go With It" section was particularly interesting to me, because Railroading is a problem I specifically want to avoid. Hearing others' thoughts on getting creative with moving forward is helpful!

I have no particular preference for order of the factions.

I'm also curious about what others think of the "go with it" philosophy, especially in an organized play format, which I gather is generally expected to be more on rails than freeform/homebrew gaming. It seems to me that the pbp format would make it easier to explore outside the written scenario, because we don't necessarily have the time pressure of a four-hour time slot. On the other hand, people have committed their characters while they're in a game, so I wouldn't want to take too long. And maybe not all the players would be interested in whatever the party gets up to.

Maybe one of the experienced GMs has an example of following the players off-script for a little while and then bringing them back?

That one happens to me all the tiime as a GM!

Examples:

EXAMPLE ONE: There was a scenario where the players had to go to a tower that was on an island a short distance from shore. They are supposed to either wait until morning when the tide was out and they could walk across, or risk swimming in treacherous waters. They did not want to wait, and they had a lunar oracle. So they created a moonlit bridge to the roof of the tower. And they broke through with pick axes, fighting the end boss, first, and going backwards through the dungeon. They loved it. A minor break in plot, most GMs can handle this.

EXAMPLE TWO: I was GMing a pair of scenarios set in city filled with crime bosses. In the first one, they are supposed to meet a terrified contact, and then get blamed for his death once they find his murdered body. My group had a paladin with ultimate mercy who brought the murder victim back. Then all the stooges of the bad guys who were tipped off that a murder took place rushed in... They said, “Aha! Murderous thugs! We have caught you at last!” Then the stooges stood there, dumbfounded, when the supposed corpse says, “Oh, I was murdered, but these chaps were not the ones who murdered me. They brought me BACK! Really, you should go bug someone else.”

So this TOTALLY broke my plot. I did reward them for their saving the contact, but I still wanted the crime boss to pull them in and make them do work. So instead of him demandng that they work for him as blood debt for a beloved client, I had him invite them to a nice dinner where he told them, “You know what the reward is for a well done job? Another job! Youse guys is competent, and I want the best working for me...”

They also got free room and board from the risen former murder victim, who was always making them food or bringing them pillows whenever they saw him. “More pastrami? If that’s not enough, I can send for some of those nice pastries in the bakery near by.”

They loved it.

EXAMPLE THREE: I was GMing a scenario where something very significant happened in an apple orchard. That thing is supposed to be a mystery for a while longer, but one of the characters had a leshy familiar who could talk to trees. And wanted to do so... So I had to think about how I could roll with this. What would the trees know about, and what would they care about?

Want to know how I handled it? Read the link below!

“I swear, you’re as adorable as one of my own apples!”

There’s more examples, but I have to get back to prepping for two different versions of Solstice Scar this week in face-to-face GMing. But I think this gives you the idea.

I think my mind has officially blown. :-)

Hmm, in that first example, would fighting the end boss with full health and daily spells when you're expected to have been adventuring for a while throw off the balance? Should the easier battles be considered a reward for creative problem solving? In PFS are there times we should draw the line at them moving too far from the scenarios intended line of adventuring, and if so, how do we do it without just saying "No, do this"?

I've occasionally had to do something like you describe, Voice of Mag, but I tend to do it as a gentle out of character request. Something like 'Hey, guys, that's going a bit too far outside the adventure. Could we try to ****' where that end will vary based on what is happening. I can't recall any exact instances to point you to, though.

Actually, there is one thing like that which happened recently. I'm currently running level 1 of Emerald Spire super dungeon. It's approved for PFS as each 'level' being a separate adventure. My players stumbled on the stairs to the next level before they finished the level they are on. I described the stairs, let them fight the enemy on the landing, and then told them the stairs went to the next level and we need to finish the current level first. Here is the post. It's only a little bit spoilery. It also will show you how I handled needing to let players know I would not post as much as usual.

I think this post is still producing valuable insights, so I'm not going to move us forward yet.

I've done it before as a player, where we skipped to the final boss first and then went through the rest of the challenges backwards. It still felt challenging, especially since the guy was a spellcaster and the GM threw all sorts of nasty stuff at us. Then we still had to go through a series of minor fights and traps and such after that. I don't know if he would have done anything differently had we gone through in the 'expected' order, but at the time I didn't see anything wrong with the way it happened.

Although, if there is some big reveal at the end, I could see that you might need to either redirect the players or reorganize the plot a bit.

The next thing we should talk about is what to do if one of your players doesn't post for a while. Here are some general principles:

Before the game starts, tell your players how often you expect them to post. (I usually tell them once a day, with one post per weekend alright) Realize that the GM will have to post probably about twice as often. Too fast, and players can't actually do it, or you drive players away. Too slow, and the game stalls or people lose interest.

Also before the game starts, have a 'botting policy' in your GM profile. This should tell players under what circumstances you will 'bot' them, and what you will do.

Many GMs also find it helpful to request players have a 'bot me' spoiler in the character profile. This makes it easier to know what a player would like you to do if you need to bot them.

Some GMs bot players themselves, others ask another player to do it for them. I personally do both in different circumstances.

Assignment: Please make sure you have a botting policy in your GM profile, and also a 'bot me' in the character profile you will be using for this game. (non-student participants, please make sure you have that 'bot me' in your character profile, also)

Discussion: what do you guys thing about posting expectations and botting characters?

edit: Assignment #2: Read this guide on the topic written by our VC, Hmm.

I've put up expectations and a botting policy in my GM profile: CLICK

Admittedly, I've cobbled my policies together from seeing how other GMs handle their PbP games.

And I've entered botting instructions in my character's sheet for this game: CLICK

I definitely seeing posting expectations and botting policies as necessary items to have stated up front because as Hmm's guide states, pacing is the lifeblood of PbP. Also, I think PFS and SFS games have a slight advantage in that players have a vested interest in sticking to and finishing a game in order to advance their organized play characters. But in non-organized play games, I've seen a drop-off in posting frequency kill games off.

Hmmm's guide suggests using a BOT alias and I think that's an awesome idea!! I'll be implementing my own BOT alias now...named: BOT-EE-licious

Your bot made me smile, bigboom.

Me too!

The author of that guide is an amazingly suave and handsome Bot.

I wrote out a policy in this alias, and added some bot instructions to Cora. I tend to be overly verbose, so do let me know if it's not clear enough.

I have mixed feelings about botting in pbp. I've seen it used well, in a way that's helpful to both the GM and the players. But I've also felt uncomfortable before when a GM seized control of a slow-posting character in combat without making arrangements beforehand. (At least, not any that I knew about.) Having attack and damage rolls written out is quite helpful, but going further and coming up with a blanket policy for a character's behavior feels strange and sort of video-gamey, when in reality I'm always reacting to what's going on around me.

Obviously I've never been on the GM's side of the table, waiting for an important character to act and trying to decide whether to move on or wait for them. When someone explicitly says 'I'll be gone for a couple days, please bot me as needed' that helps a lot, but even then I think I'd feel insecure. I guess this is just me rambling - it's a challenge of the role, and something I'll have to work on getting more comfortable with.

If it can be considered botting, I do love when GMs roll everybody's perception or initiatives all at once, ever since the first time I saw it happen. It feels weird to me now when someone doesn't handle it that way in pbp.

Botting policy updated!

What are some tricks you guys have seen GMs use, or even used yourselves, to keep your games moving? (In a day or two, I'll post a link to a document I wrote with some answers, but I'd like to hear what you guys think first.)

Picking order of factions: 5d3 ⇒ (1, 1, 3, 2, 3) = 10

0: Intro stuff, by me
1: bigboom
2: Darren
3: Voice of Mag
4: Elinnea
Then I'll finish up with the conclusion stuff.

I will be bringing a solarion. We will each play in all of the parts we are not GMing, so we will all have to be a little flexible in terms of continuity errors :)

I hope to get started playing on Monday, but we will continue talking here, also.

What are some tricks you guys have seen GMs use, or even used yourselves, to keep your games moving? (In a day or two, I'll post a link to a document I wrote with some answers, but I'd like to hear what you guys think first.)

What I find works if the game stalls in social interactions is making impatient NPCs. If the last post was your NPC asking the players questions, and no one has answered for two days, you could have that NPC say something like. Heidmarch taps her finger on her elbow and lets out a long sigh. "Have you nothing to report? I have the finest pot of peppermint tea brewing, and no one likes oversteeped tea. Come on, out with it!"

In combat, it isn't unreasonable to bot if a player is holding up the fight. If it becomes consistent, it's also not unreasonable to PM that player and ask if everything's okay, or gently remind them that you'd appreciate a little more frequent posting.

I've not really seen anything specific that jumps out at me but I really like the idea of using the NPC's to keep the immersion factor up.

I've dropped hints via not-too-difficult skill checks to encourage players to move on when they're barking up the wrong tree.

I actually haven't really had any games stall except one, and the way it moved forward was actually an example I didn't agree with.

Voice of Mag, if you feel comfortable with this, could you in general terms tell us what you didn't agree with?

It was a scenario made of multiple parts, and we were in a part where we had to fight our way into a house, then investigate the house.

After a short stall mid-combat, with less than half the enemies dead and us not even in the house, in a single post the GM had the enemies flee, us search the house, find our objective, and travel back and report our findings.

I didn't agree with the loss of control over our PCs or auto-completing the mission and moving on.

OK, I understand now what you mean. I think most GMs in that situation would either poke the players and remind them to post, or bot a little bit of the combat to get past the players who were creating the stall. That would take away player agency slightly, but as little as possible while still keeping things moving forward.

edit: This also is why setting posting expectations at the beginning can be so important. You called it a 'slight stalling' after 3 days. To me, a slight stall is about 1 day when no one posts. 3 days is a game in real danger, unless everyone has agreed to a slow pace or else is very committed to the game.

Here is the document, written specifically for dungeon crawls in PFS, which I referred to earlier. It does have some things which also apply in other contexts, especially about keeping a game moving.

Is everyone ready to start playing in the next day or two? I will be GM for the introductory portion.

Do you guys have any other topics you want to talk about? We will also discuss the game as we go, or talk about any GMing related questions that you guys might have.

I have nothing else in mind to discuss right now. I’m ready to go, and we’ll see what comes up!

Good info in the document. I'm ready to go also!

Ready to go!

Here's the character I will be using for the parts you guys GM.

(she's the closest thing I can get to a 'paladin' in Starfinder)

Unlike a normal game, in this case you are all welcome to read the introduction to the adventure as we work through it, so that you can see how what I do follows the adventure as written.

You will probably notice that my post has an almost exact copy-paste of the 'box text' but I have added details around that text. In this case I like the box text so I used it. Sometimes I will make a few changes to it so that it flows better or is more clear.

Whoop whoop! Looking forward to this. I’ll have seem time later GMT to write Dee’s actions in gameplay

I've set up my Outpost campaign....EEEKKKKK!!!!!

Woot! Woot!

Voice of Mag, if we don't hear from you in Gameplay in the next 4 hours, I'll need to bot you to keep things moving.

Just a little explanation of how we'll be doing things:
If you have a question that is specific to the current mission, please post it in the discussion thread of that mission.
If you have a general question about GMing, please ask that here.

Pretty bad timing on my end since I was really looking forward to helping here, but I'm going to be traveling from tomorrow to Sunday the 18th. I can't promise frequent updates though I will do my best to post once a day. If I do not, please feel free to bot me.

Sorry, daughter has been ill today. Will post GMT morning. Apologies

Ok, guys, next step may be the hardest part. bigboom did an excellent job, so I want each of us to tell him one things that he did very well, and one thing that could have been improved.

bigboom, I loved the way Ziggy felt like he had a strong personality.

I felt like the choices about whether to stand in line at the music shop could have been a little more clear.

OK, everyone else's turn to offer bigboom encouragement and a little big of gentle, constructive criticism.

Elinnea, are you ready to run your faction mission? I know it wasn't going to be for a while, but Darren is travelling this week, and Voice of Mag is missing. If you are ready, it would be great for you to start your mission.

Thanks Redalia - just posted in the game thread that it’s probably best if I am bumped as my connection is not great.

What I loved - the humour in Bigbooms posts and the way he bought minor NPC’s to life
What would have helped: genuinely struggling here - I thought it was a great GM performance, sorry!

Sure, I can do my section next. I'll get an opening post up this evening.

For bigboom: I loved the characters you created for the waiting in line sequence. It really brought the scene to life, and made it more interesting than just a couple die rolls. It was quite memorable, in fact. :D

I did think the scene change was a bit abrupt; we got the results of everyone's actions all at once, and had to resolve the album purchasing in the discussion tab, and I had some damage and a status to apply - but we were already in another location, with a new map and instructions to start exploring. It wasn't really a problem, just a lot to process from one GM post.

I suck and was away for a week, so I really can't give you any meaningful feedback, bigboom. :o)
What I was around for, I enjoyed. Both your exposition of the environments and Zigvigix's characterization were full of flavor and life. I enjoy playing in games with GM styles like your own.

Bigboom you did a great job here. You did a great job maintaining combat adding in little tidbits of how combat took place was nice.

Leading up to combat was a little odd, to me, I felt it could have lead to a stall in gameplay with the amount of time between "your in the warehouse" and "The Feather Stalker attacks". I understand the scenario reads to proceed with a game of hot or cold. In PbP as a GM you will need to think about how things that can be easily ran F2F but might stall the game in PbP.

For future situations you could offer up the different locations for the PCs to look through: What looks like a nest, A pit, a crate-filled scaffolding and a vehicle. Helps narrow it down in PbP rather than saying "Take a look around" and the PCs thinking "Well where to search? How far can I go? What if I'm separated from the party?" kinda situation.

Overall through I would say great job Bigboom you have a firm grasp of the PbP GMing duties.

Got it! All the bits of constructive criticism are definitely good points. Thanks for the feedback!