I have been running a game with some good friends for a fair amount of time now, say 6 months. I have played 2ed/3.5/pathfinder for years. I was called to bit the bullet and run a game or we simply wouldn't play anymore. The others in the group will not run because they have anxiety to the point they fixate over it and it ruins their week, no time, or have run before and believe it is someone elses turn. All are reasonable reasons not to run. For me I can say I don't mind running but would sure as heck would rather be playing.
Okay, to the meat of this post. How do you all keep excited about running the game, what do you use as inspiration? I have read some high fantasy authors. Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Weis/Hickman, amoungst others in my time. It seems I am fired up and ready to create the day of and day after, but inevitally something comes up and cuts my create time.
I am running a champain based off an idea from a scifi book I read sometime ago (Suicide Collectors). The quick and dirty is something has corrupted the area and now the people have lost the will to live. In come the playes to save the day! Do I need to get a bottle of scotch, some Tom Waits albums, (I am thinking that song "Whats he building in there") a pack of smokes and give her hell? Or is there a "science" to it..?
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
I know how it feels to be a GM who would rather play.
To have fun, just make your character and let him be a recurring villain or person of interest. Do not make him part of the group or something like that.
For interesting ideas: I get inspiration from about everywhere, TV, movies, books, news, forums, simply browsing trough bestiary etc.
For example I noticed how much a weretiger could look like a rakshasa. So that was the base idea (to disturb all those metagame-thinkers). Then I looked where they are to be found, ruinds or wilds.
It ended up that a couple of weretigers are occupying a lighthouse. To get to a big city, the group has to defeat them.
They have to climb the cliffs for whatever reason, get trough caves full of sleeping goblins, once up they see the weretigers, probably killing them.
What they didn't know was that it's full moon, and the goblins got infected too (all weretigers now). If they killed the goblins, werewolves will come, as the goblins were there to keep the werewolves away.
this from the idea to pass a weretiger as a rakshasa to scare some players.
if nothing helps, just pause for a month. Still meet and everything, but do something else for a while.
Any thoughts?
Thankfully its been a long time since i had to GM ;), but anyways:
First: Ask the players what they want, generally, in style, "poweredness" and direction of the group as well as the characters, short-, mid-, and long-term.
And tell them that sooner or later one of them has to help you out, at least for a break now and then.
Second: Where do you want this thing to go, pass through and where to then ? Break the problem in smaller pieces. You mentioned "high fantasy", is this the style the campaign is supposed to be? If the inspiration was science-fiction, maybe you should return to it or/and change the medium, watch movies. Or just take some time off.
Third: Be methodic. Write, scribble notes, maps, NPC´s, some flavour passages to read out, some letters(handouts) or short stories, to get a better feel for the setting yourself.
On the other hand: Don´t make yourself the work too hard.
There are lots of "pre-written" adventures out there, also lots of older ones for free. If YOU have a grand scheme, that doesn´t mean that you also have to think up every single mission of the players yourself.
For instance, i´m reminded of the "starting-section" of an older TSR-Drow- Campaign which ended in Menzoberranzan. The above-world region was nicely detailed with hamlets and villagers and beset with lots of small problems, worth 3-4 Levels. Maybe look for something like that, to give you some breathing space... and something for the next GM to read, too.
PS: Ahh, the sun always shines in MB.
I think the reincarnated druid archtpe from ultimate magic could make a good recurring villain.
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On the other hand: Don´t make yourself the work too hard.
There are lots of "pre-written" adventures out there, also lots of older ones for free. If YOU have a grand scheme, that doesn´t mean that you also have to think up every single mission of the players yourself.
Yes, this. Grab lots of modules and study them. Look into the PFS ones especially, as they're designed to be ran as a one-shot. If you feel like creating, create. When you don't, run a module instead.
It keeps your game going and keeps you from suffering unduly.
I have been doing some of this. I am currently running them through an old mod, Tomb of the Lizard King, as I needed something to run start to set up somthings involving more powerful undead stuff.
RedPorcupine
Second: Where do you want this thing to go, pass through and where to then ? Break the problem in smaller pieces. You mentioned "high fantasy", is this the style the campaign is supposed to be? If the inspiration was science-fiction, maybe you should return to it or/and change the medium, watch movies. Or just take some time off.
As far as the high fantasy and the inspiration of my "campain" idea being from a sci fi book, I don't know if it too much of a reach. I have a doom like effect leaking onto the world via low hanging cloud generated from obelisks through out the area (in the scifi book it is some sort of communicable virus/disease).
I appreciate the thoughts!
I try to come up with a fun story arch, sprinkle it with some fun encounters, and try to get the PCs to follow the path(s).
I really like to come up with fun set piece encounters. For example, I ran an adventure recently with a big alchemist lab. There were tables filled with alchemical equipment all over them, some alchemists, and just a big L-shaped room. 2 of the alchemists stuck around and bombed the PCs, the others went around the corner and buffed up. The PCs ran around, under, and over the tables. One PC was so low on hit points he was desperate enough to drink an unfinished potion boiling in a cauldron on one of the tables (it worked!). One PC flipped a table to get cover against bombs. Some of the buffed alchemists got chased out of the room to other areas of the dungeon, so that was fun too. The rogue kept trying to pick one lock, and an alchemist would just slam it in his face and lock it again. That same alchemist then used a secret door to escape into a hallway the fighter had chased another alchemist down, so that didn't work. It was fun encounter.
Just link a bunch of fun set pieces together with a bit of plot, and the PCs should have fun.
Your inspiration will be designing set pieces, and then coming up with fun plotlines that link them up.
You can also give your PCs false choices; if they go North to Northdale, they encounter the same NPCs they would have met if they had gone South in Southport, East to Estmarch, or West to Westgate. This saves you A LOT of time, as you are not making encounters the PCs never get to use.
And you can recycle old or un-used encounters, just adjust them for the PCs current level. You can also re-skin existent monsters to make "new" monsters, like tigerhawk (owlbear) or pig-faced ogres (minotaurs).
This is going to sound like a no-brainer but just keep notes, like if you think of something throughout your day right a little note to remind you. It doesn't even need to be a main story type idea if you think " hey, that would be really fun to play out" throw it at them as a side quest. Or if you come across a monster that would give the party a challenge due to its ability's vs. their party make up. Work it into the campaign turn it into a mid-boss or boss fight.
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Keep it light hearted. You can have a great story which has silly things in it to keep things fun and amusing without 'detracting' from the game. Having a scenario which has you looking forward to the players reactions makes it a lot more fun, as well as interesting 'open' planned scenarios where you look forward to seeing what the players will do.
My brother actually starting writing a scenario which involves witches as the main plot line. The first session was an open investigation and quite dark. This is where the players found out that witches were behind it. They then went through a portal and essentially the next big scenario began. After trudging through the woods they found white specs on the floor that turned out to be bread.
Eventually they came across a house with candy cane fence and made entirely of food. Inside was an old woman who looked as obviously evil witch as could be and she tried to unconvincingly lure the players into a room full of wood and tinder. It sounds silly and it was, but it was very funny as all this is described and it even made sense with the witch story - the witch upon failing to trick the players broke down and cried, explaining that her evil sisters left her to do their plotting because she was so incompetant.
So, it was silly, totally unexpected, but very fun and very satisfying to watch the players reaction as it all came together - the white specs on the floor, the tentative approach to discover it is bread, the slow realisation that this has a certain fairy tale feel to it. All priceless. For him it's these little gems that make it so fun to run and write games for players
I think I am going to have to start carrying a pocket note book to jot things down. I used to carry on in my work bag but have stopped, that will have to change. You all seem to have a good handle on what you all like to do or would do. I Like the idea of making props to use as well. I will try to figure out some fun, light hearted archs to sprinkle in with the heavier, dark themes.
Thank you all for sounding off!
As an addition to taking lots of notes and having "false choices," I like to keep my notes very loose. I have found that the best thing I could do for my prep was to have a good idea of the areas available for encounters and my main NPC's, but letting things fly. Mainly because, if your plans are too rigid, your PC's will screw them up. Just keep in mind that you are leading them in writing a story; you can't write the whole thing yourself.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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A few things that will help you:
1. Plan ahead when you will work on the game. Setting aside time will help you make sure the game is prepared. The time set aside does not have be big though, a half-hour of writing out an outline, planning the major details of an encounter, or writing a list of clues out will help out.
2. Work with the most important details first. Start with the big stuff and work down to the small stuff. This will ensure that you have everything that you need and that you wont be caught without a stat block. The little details can often be made up on the spot anyway.
3. A gm is still playing the game, just in another way. Thinking that you are not playing when you are the GM is not correct. You are still playing, but a higher level. You have the real challenge. You control multiple characters, the pacing, the plot, the environment, and all the other elements outside of the player characters. Because of that, in your free time you should think about how to challenge the players, make them tremble with fear while still having fun.
4. Action always cures fears and apathy. If you are starting to feel like you don't want to GM anymore, sit down and prepare a game. It might feel strange at first going against that desire to quit, but by the end of it you will feel better from it. If you don't run the game but don't say anything about your desire to quit. If preparing didn't help you, running it will.
5. Keep your players involved. Ask them what they want and tailor the game to help match that. Also, keep asking for feedback on how you are doing. More then likely you will be showered with good feedback. Praise will really motivate you to keep going.
6. Talk to other GMs, often. My group is almost all Game Masters, and because of that we are often talking about rules, situations, and how to handle stuff. We also throw out ideas and concepts that would work in different games. You become who you associate with, so if you can associate with excited Game Masters then you will become an excited GM.