The practical arts and methods applied to gamemastering.
24
votes
5answers
626 views
Dealing with people who turn up late for sessions
I run sessions every Monday evening at a pub in the centre of London, and most people come to play straight from work. Up until recently we were attempting to start at 7pm, but there were one or two ...
24
votes
5answers
356 views
How many sessions is enough to judge a game fairly?
I want to introduce some new games to my group. But when I broach the topic like, "Howdja like to play Dogs in the Vineyard?" they balk - not at the prospect of trying something new, but at the ...
24
votes
11answers
758 views
How do I create a great fantasy villain?
In my early years of GMing it was simple enough to say that the badguys were evil and that was all the justification we needed. They are attacking the village because they are evil, they are stealing ...
24
votes
6answers
901 views
How to deal with overly cautious players?
Recent encounters with hard to hurt opponents have left the party pretty beat up. The player is now seemingly scared by similar encounters and prefers fleeing.
I'm GMing a solo game of Pathfinder for ...
24
votes
10answers
720 views
What are some sources for in game puzzles for players?
I love to spice up campaign settings (dungeons in particular) with logic, mechanic or word-based puzzles. Can you propose valid resources for this ?
24
votes
3answers
321 views
How to support useful Intraparty Conflict
This is a question calling for tried and tested methods for facilitating entertaining CvC intraparty conflict.
Although Player versus Player (PvP) seems to be the accepted term among a large ...
23
votes
19answers
1k views
What role-playing games have good gamemaster advice sections?
Which RPG's, in your experience, have good advice for gamemasters in their rulebooks, both for novice and experienced gamemasters?
Please keep in mind that this question is not about good games for ...
23
votes
6answers
507 views
How to get players to be curious and ask questions?
I have recently noticed that my players don't really try to find out much about the world and story beyond the direct "what do we see?" I want to have them interact more with their environment and ...
23
votes
8answers
422 views
Creating emotions
In the group that I GM, I ran an adventure a few months back that was generally considered very good by everyone involved (Including myself, which does not happen often). It included a little girl ...
23
votes
8answers
910 views
Suggestions for decreasing metagaming and increasing player immersion?
This question is posed in a great way over on the Paizo boards, where I hang out since I play/run a lot of Pathfinder. Immersion is one of the key parts of the RPG experience to me, so I loved the ...
23
votes
7answers
482 views
How to add a player who joined after the campaign started?
I started running a game, and then a friend of mine expressed interest in playing, so I invited him to join us. He created a character and came along to the next session. As the rest of the party was ...
23
votes
5answers
666 views
Problems with a party of only Spellcasters?
Given a party of only spellcasters (and only unique classes, i.e. only one character can take any specific class), what are possible roadblocks or problems the group may run into? Should they be ...
23
votes
4answers
473 views
How do you handle large scale exploration?
I'm currently running a game where the players are exploring a large ruined city (It happens to be Rathess in Exalted, but the question is more general than that), and I'm looking for techniques to ...
22
votes
10answers
1k views
How to make magic items more interesting?
We all read about the little person finding a magical ring and the GM basing
his whole plot on that little ring. That was a cool example
of a MacGuffin.
Earthdawn has a system in which characters ...
22
votes
5answers
614 views
GMing for [dis]abled players, specifically blind players?
What kind of measures should one take when running a game which includes a [dis]abled player (or players) such as a blind of deaf player? Are there any technologies or styles which are particularly ...
22
votes
6answers
1k views
How to deal with players not taking things seriously?
As both a player and GM I play with my group of players (and close friends) on multiple occasions and they will often make fun of either my characters, NPC or a specific situation and won't stop ...
22
votes
9answers
787 views
Third-Person Limited Narration or Third-Person Omniscient Narration?
What are the advantages/disadvantages to using either a kind of "Limited Narration" or an "Omniscient Narration" style when running a game?
i.e. Does saying...
None of the characters notice the ...
22
votes
7answers
608 views
How can a GM justify changing a player's alignment?
Lately, in one of my campaigns, I've been having problems with a character who everyone agrees is acting out of alignment. Everyone, that is, but him. The problem, of course, is that he's playing a ...
22
votes
8answers
701 views
How do you discourage “player knowledge” as a GM?
As a trivial random encounter is winding down, a player thinks "That was too easy... The GM wouldn't give us an encounter that doesn't give XP," and starts searching for hidden bad guys or other ...
22
votes
3answers
568 views
How to implement a stealth based instant-kill system
I've been playing 4e for a few months now and I'm really interested in creating a dungeon crawl in which the PCs can choose to stealthily kill off certain monsters before they are able to alert other ...
21
votes
14answers
815 views
How to deal effectively with a player unable to lose?
How do you effectively handle a player that overreacts to any loss of his character (level drain, death) ?
21
votes
6answers
695 views
When GMing in a high-tech game world how do you handle potentially disruptive tech?
This question stems from my Eclipse Phase campaign, but applies to any high-tech setting. While the setting books describe a wealth of technology, there are plenty of tools that are not listed. That's ...
21
votes
7answers
2k views
How do I use Passive Perception to have some characters notice parts of the environment?
I'm new to DM'ing and have an issue I'm not sure how to deal with. The situation is this: It's pitch black outside and the PC is walking, with a lantern in hand, toward a building. A bird is ...
21
votes
14answers
998 views
How can I add sound to our sessions?
I've been toying with the idea of adding sound to our typical sessions. I was thinking about throwing in some sounds for atmosphere's sake, like some of the following:
Birds chirping/water running ...
21
votes
9answers
2k views
Traps specifically for Smart characters
Does anyone have examples or suggestions on creating traps that are harder for Smart (High INT/WIS) characters?
Example: My NPC necromancer has set up his lair. In his arrogance he believes that ...
21
votes
6answers
464 views
How can I close my sessions better?
A big principle of group practices (facilitation, meeting management, etc) is Opening and Closing. Opening is creating a comforting environment where people feel invited and welcome. Closing is about ...
21
votes
7answers
457 views
It is possible to have one player lose control of their actions (get possessed) and have the other players not know it?
One of the players in my group is getting rather fond of a very powerful and clearly evil sword that gives them great increases to strength and magical ability. As a consequence, I would love to have ...
21
votes
8answers
536 views
What can I do to give the players the same feel their characters would have about wilderness travel?
I find that in a lot of our group's games, traveling long distances through wilderness is too easy. In real life, it's quite arduous traveling overland. No one who's just walked a hundred miles is ...
21
votes
6answers
332 views
Techniques for communicating setting and campaign information to the PCs?
In the past, I've almost always had at least one NPC that would travel with the characters as a type of "lore master" to expand on the story. I've tried to make the character witty and, once the ...
21
votes
7answers
910 views
How can I invoke actual fear in my players?
I'm a DM that focuses heavily on story, description and setting. My goal is to send players home wanting -- no, longing -- to actually be part of the mythos I've created.
The ultimate goal for me as ...
21
votes
4answers
596 views
How do I explain stress to a d20 crowd?
In the next month or so I'm going to start running the Dresden Files RPG soon with a group that has most of its experience in D&D 3.5 and 4e. We're all new to FATE, and I tried to explain the ...
21
votes
10answers
247 views
Keeping a published module interesting when some players have already played.
When running a published adventure which some players have already played, such as a RPGA module, are there any suggestions for keeping it interesting for all involved ?
21
votes
6answers
665 views
What GM tasks can be delegated to players to speed up encounters?
My party's encounters (D&D4e - 13th level) take on average 3-4 hours. We chit chat a lot and are pretty easily distracted, and it's not a huge deal because we're all having fun. But lately we've ...
20
votes
10answers
336 views
Campaign is on hiatus. How do I keep it on life support?
My regular campaign has ground to a halt due to scheduling problems. At this point, we don't really know how long it will be until we play again. Everyone is still interested, at least for now. Is ...
20
votes
10answers
927 views
Flaws that aren't flaws
What do you do when a system gives points at character creation for flaws/disadvantages when a player can permanently remove the effects of that flaw by buying something or spending other points to ...
20
votes
10answers
721 views
How do I find and eliminate plot holes?
I'm still a pretty new GM. Even though I enjoy coming up with plots and writing the overarching story-line, when I tell my wife (who does not play) how the adventure should progress (the long-view, ...
20
votes
9answers
738 views
How do I help my players get past an obstacle I didn't intend?
Here's the situation. There's a locked door that prevents any further progress into the dungeon. There's a keyhole in the door and a message basically saying that the key needs to be wished for.
In ...
20
votes
7answers
558 views
How can I convey the nonsensicality of a dream world?
Soon I will be GMing a campaign that allows the players to move freely back and forth between the "real" world and the "dream" world. I do not want this to be a secret or try to confuse the players; ...
20
votes
5answers
533 views
How can I learn how to negotiate as an NPC?
I'm a new GM (the system is DND 4.0 but that's not relevant here). I've quickly found that I perform very poorly when I'm portraying a negotiation between the PCs and one or more NPCs. Even when they ...
20
votes
9answers
811 views
How to Manage Player Frustration and Disengagement
Many RPGs have random elements, such as dice rolling, which can determine success or failure of an action. In some of these games, failure basically means the player character does nothing or ...
20
votes
5answers
614 views
As a GM, how do I keep Dungeons & Dragons more interesting for young players?
Currently, my group of players is my children, ages 7+ through 14+ (and several in between). They all are really excited about playing, but I am having great difficulty keeping them all interested ...
20
votes
7answers
487 views
Building a good comedy adventure?
I was wondering how to build a comedic adventure for D&D (or at least get some tips on it). The DM guide mentioned the multiple ideas for campaigns and one of them was comedy! I tried to start ...
20
votes
4answers
294 views
How do I construct an individual session as part of a larger campaign?
I've been GMing/DMing on and off for years. I prefer playing. Mainly because when I run a game, I'm more a fly by the seat of your pants kind of dm, and it works sort of..
My problem is that, while I ...
19
votes
9answers
603 views
Dealing with skill rerolls by several players
I could use some advice as a GM on how to handle rolls which get repeated by several players one after the other.
Example 1
The PCs stand in front of a locked door and try to force it open. The ...
19
votes
5answers
493 views
How to handle diverging expectations on “background density”?
Sorry, this is lengthy, but I want to put this into context.
After many years (try 15) of not GM'ing a group of my own, I recently made an attempt to return to the head of the table and shake off ...
19
votes
8answers
511 views
Systems giving XP based on roleplay - How to avoid jealousy/party balance problem
I used to play systems where XP is usually allowed to the group and shared equally no matter how well the players roleplayed or got involved in the story. But now I started Shadowrun and karma (or XP) ...
19
votes
9answers
719 views
How can I create within-party intrigue without destroying group cohesion?
I am a novice GM playing with several more experienced D&D players (who happen to be good friends). I wanted to spice up the game for them and take advantage of their own intelligence/experience ...
19
votes
4answers
394 views
How do I learn to become a good GM?
I have played and tried to GM games since I was in elementary school, beginning with games like Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Champions. Recently, I've gotten dack into gaming with a variety of other ...
19
votes
7answers
396 views
What should I consider when creating a time travel adventure?
I'm sure that many would advise against doing so at all, but knowing that I will likely try to do so anyway, what are the factors I should consider when creating a time travel adventure? ...
18
votes
6answers
591 views
Bad/Rash character actions and consequences that don't kill my game
When a character (I mean the in-game character, not the player) makes bad decisions, there should definitely be in-game consequences that have an effect on the character. I'm not trying to punish the ...
