Guerredo's page

probably a bit late but i post this for future researching GMs.

Credentials: GMing since the 90s, longest running storyline 5 years @2week intervals, made a player actually vomit with a vile room description (he was new *shrug*)

there's two answers to this dilemma, one for the actual Role player (fluff luvers) and one for the powergamer(mechanics luvers)

For The Role Player Breed.

Take what they love and mutilate it. it is important to be completely unbound by morality in this endeavor when preparing the story just as much as the villain surely is. figure out what they love, then threaten, kill, rape, imprison, enslave, steal, massacre, mutilate, dismember, or otherwise maim it until the cry the one word heroes scream "why". be crafty in the setup, elaborate and vile in the description, and be sure to add boasts and insults with which to season the worm on the fishhook well.
BUT DONT FORGET the most important part of all... HOPE. Hope is, oddly enough, what tends to drive the PC's pursuit. kill their hope and the players will devolve to feelings of castigation and maybe even drop from your game. kindle their PC's hope while keeping juuuuust out of reach till your ready for a climax. to know "hope of what?" you will need to seriously analyze the characters and answer that yourself.

For the PowerGamer
far more easier (and boring *sigh*) than a fluff lover, simply take their gear, give them permanent negative effects (ie. negative levels, curses, etc), and spare no moment with the NPC's tongue to taunt, insult, or othwise mock their "power". example quote: "Guess your not that much of a hero after all <grin>". thats part 1, part 2 is using magic or high power level sources that allow the villian to evade capture or defeat constantly or what i like to call "the rub" as in rubbing it in. op sorry, well fought, but i win again, bye. that has been the result of numberous objects being hurled past my GM screen lol.

in either situation the goal as story tell is to engage the players which few GMs can actually do or even understand. my recipe for doing this is as follows.

1. know the players preferences, likes, and dislikes of gaming in its entirety.

2. use that to craft a story element that will engage them to you. symptoms of an engaged player are: curiosity, excitement, investment, abnormal amounts(as relates to the player) of inquiry on game knowledge, and comments of approval "this is crazy" is one of them believe it or not but OMG is a more common one.

3. give the reigns to the player (aaaand everyone look at me funny now). as a gm most of my briliant ideas and memorable gaming moments are not mine at all, they are the result of flexible and fluid GMing. when players investigate possiblities or speculate, i listen, and if the idea would make for a better story it suddenly becomes what was in the script. Dont tell them that your basically hijacking their idea cus it reduces the level of entertainment most times but do nurture it like your own child. the player will be happy cus he guessed right and feels in control (powergamers have serious esteem issues typically) and you will be known as the awsome GM.

the opposite of step three is railroading, mazing (dead-end ing), and typically ME vs. YOU gming which is crappy gaming and a total waste of valuable time in this day and age. imagine reading a book and having somebody constantly turning the page your about to read back to the one you already read...would you hate that? yeah so dont be that guy.

easy as 1-2-3 :P

sorry for my longwindedness and thanks for reading, hope it helps someone out there become a better Game Master and bring more people to the game(s) i so love.