Not related to any one particular system of rules.
126
votes
21answers
4k views
How do I get my PCs to not be a bunch of murderous cretins?
Most RPGs teach you that casual violence is the best solution to all your in-game problems. This is so well established a part of the vast majority of RPGs that there are entire satire RPGs like Greg ...
73
votes
16answers
4k views
How to deal with players who like to use the local authorities to solve their problems
Preface
I apologize beforehand if this question has been asked before, I was not able to find one, except this, which may be related: Dealing with players who try to run from everything?. Also I'd ...
62
votes
19answers
2k views
How do you help players not focus on the rules?
Background - My Group's Gaming Style
When I GM, I run games loosely from a rules standpoint, and do not feel bound to adhere to what the rulebook says when it doesn't make sense in a given situation. ...
58
votes
17answers
2k views
How do I not cheapen death, while also respecting my players' time?
I DM for a group of very busy people, for whom the commitment of several hours a week is a real sacrifice: that’s a sizeable chunk of their free time for the week that I’m asking for.
...
51
votes
21answers
1k views
How can I avoid players spending too much time planning?
Several times when I have played in or ran a game in which the players had an objective and reasonable resources, a lot of (real) time was spent trying to plan for every contingency.
For example, ...
43
votes
14answers
1k views
How can I help my PCs remember clues that they found?
I'm a new DM running my first adventure (it's D&D 4.0 but that's not relevant to my question). I've heard of the "three clue rule", that there should be at least three independent pointers to any ...
41
votes
10answers
1k views
Is it fair to press the players for decisions during combat?
My group tends to over-analyse during combat, which slows everything down.
I press upon my players to make their decision and roll the dice quickly. My players are all experienced in the system and I ...
40
votes
12answers
723 views
How do I make weather an important part of the game?
We're starting up a dark ages fantasy game, using some homebrew rules similar to D&D.
As the GM, how can I make weather an important part of the game?
To be clear, I'm not trying to just toss in ...
40
votes
7answers
762 views
As an unreliable player, how can I lessen the burden on my group?
I'm often unreliable, in the sense that something always seems to turn up at the last minute that draws me away from our current regular game. (It's happened before as well.)
Given that the reasons ...
39
votes
10answers
1k views
What characterizes a “Modern” role playing game or gaming system?
I recently read about D&D clones in another question (I forget where I saw it) and noticed comments referring to gaming systems that were clones of D&D as "Old School" while others ...
37
votes
13answers
2k views
How can I play dumb?
I have a half-ogre character at my local larp group, and one of the roleplay-enforced restrictions for half-ogres is that they have low intelligence. I often find myself biting my tongue not to say ...
36
votes
8answers
2k views
How do I deal with PCs who use kidnap and torture as an investigative technique?
I'm running a game in a modern setting with emphasis on the paranormal (Conspiracy X). The player characters are part of a secret government organization and are tasked with investigating & ...
36
votes
6answers
902 views
Preventing saturation in a horror campaign
I am currently designing my first horror campaign and what I've come up with so far is pretty dark and gruesome. I worry that if it is gut wrenching the whole way through, eventually the players will ...
35
votes
14answers
1k views
How to get out of a story deadlock
As with most of my questions, this is more of a general "how to handle a special situation" and not a plea to solve an existing problem.
What is the best way to handle story deadlocks (as in: The ...
34
votes
15answers
1k views
How can I make my PCs flee?
My players never run away or avoid conflict. Ever. I throw them ridiculous encounters, they will stay and fight. If I tell them, "You know you're not gonna make it, just run," they stay and fight and ...
34
votes
8answers
2k views
What ways are there to anger the PC's without angering the players?
Since I got so many good ideas on my last question, here's part 2:
What ways are there to really anger my PC's -- give them that sense of unbridled rage and fury -- without pissing the players off ...
33
votes
12answers
1k views
What rewards can compete with experience points?
My group is running a series of published adventures. I am GMing one of the modules (level 21-24) after which another member will be taking the reins.
I have plans for a side-adventure that will take ...
33
votes
7answers
1k views
Pre-modern farming: What percent of the population is in agriculture?
I'm running a premodern setting where the characters will be involved in local administration. Assuming no magic, how many farmers does it take to support one non-farmer? Any statistics/estimates ...
32
votes
3answers
428 views
How do I build a sense of wonder in my games?
I guess this is part three of a series of questions, with part I being on building tension, and part II being on building comedy.
Greg Stafford has talked of his primary motivation as a gamemaster ...
31
votes
11answers
1k views
What are some dangerous non-fantasy creatures?
We're running a fantasy game where the adventurers frequently travel through the wilderness. Too many of the threatening encounters they have are with fantasy creatures (like goblins, orcs, etc.). ...
30
votes
7answers
922 views
How do I avoid clichés while improvising?
Tropes are not bad, but clichés usually are. Sadly, when I need to come up with something on the fly it's much easier and faster to use clichés: if I suddenly need a barkeep, he's probably fat with a ...
30
votes
9answers
682 views
How can I cut short a doomed fight?
Occasionally one of my PC's wanders off and gets himself into a battle he simply cannot win. I know the player wants to play out the battle to see if they can somehow pull it out, but it's boring for ...
30
votes
8answers
695 views
How do I get better at narrating/storytelling as a GM?
Personally, I've always had difficulty telling coherent stories, even from my own experiences. My wife has even coined a term (jokingly) for the type of story I tell, one that either makes no sense, ...
29
votes
4answers
343 views
Resources for Complex Puzzle-Traps
I'm looking for resources for designing complex challenges - something that's not quite a puzzle and not quite a trap, but somewhere in between. There are tons of resources for really complex or ...
28
votes
16answers
975 views
How do I get the PCs to visit scary places at night?
Sometimes when I design scenarios, I realize that my mental image of the adventure is only exciting because it takes place at night. When the players actually play through the adventure, they might ...
28
votes
13answers
779 views
What kinds of rules promote good team cohesion?
It seems like a lot of roleplaying games have no problems with players playing antisocial characters who can't really be part of the team. I've been part of groups (in D&D) with both a noble ...
28
votes
9answers
448 views
How do you track the PCs' reputation?
I'm currently planning a game with a significant amount of intrigue. I envision the players undertaking actions and adventures that will endear them to one group, and anger others. It occurs to me ...
27
votes
7answers
702 views
What makes a character/creature/power/ability/etc. over-powered?
In generic terms, what makes something, regardless of what game it's being used in, over powered?
I hear the term a lot, and while I can recognize it when I see it in-play (often due to someone ...
27
votes
10answers
571 views
What can I include in my character's background to help the GM build a better story?
Whatever the system or the world used, what can a player add to his character background that will help the GM make the game more interesting.
Games are much more interesting with the addition of ...
27
votes
4answers
481 views
How do I keep a long-range plot cohesive and coherent?
I enjoy GMing but I much prefer to to have some sort of long running plot (or meta-plot) rather than having a series of unconnected unfortunate events afflict my PCs.
For example, I would love to ...
26
votes
8answers
804 views
Can party betrayal be done successfully?
After reading How much experience should a PC be worth? I was wondering if and how party betrayal can be done successfully, especially since it's a real possibility in my campaign.
Criteria for ...
26
votes
6answers
657 views
How can I check whether an extremely adult/mature plot idea would be accepted by players without revealing any details of the idea itself?
I am running a post-apocalyptic zombie game with a dark and mature story, exploring a number of adult themes. I have complete buy-in from the players; some of them have stated it is their favourite ...
26
votes
13answers
1k views
How can I deal with players who are reluctant to spend resources?
There's a certain kind of people who like to hoard whatever limited resources they get "just in case"; they usually end up never using them, always waiting for bigger emergency. On the other hand, ...
25
votes
9answers
1k views
How can I replace a player character with an impostor without alerting the group?
I recently picked up a book of example NPCs (the Pathfinder NPC Codex, incidentally) and came across an entry for a "master spy". In the flavor text, it describes how his "secret identities have ...
24
votes
12answers
2k views
How does a DM correct the balance after accidentally giving the players too much gold?
Inspired by some of the answers to Pitfalls of using the optional 'XP for Gold' rule in a Basic D&D Retro Clone game?
As DM/GM, you slipped up and ended up giving the PCs significantly ...
24
votes
13answers
950 views
When would PCs choose to walk instead of ride?
I'm putting together an adventure where the PCs are on a time limit. As such, travel times become quite important and I want to make sure that I've understood the different means of travel beforehand.
...
24
votes
7answers
921 views
Is it possible to produce a bowl-shaped probability curve with dice rolls?
In D&D's basic D20 system, you roll one d20 and add in some modifiers, then compare the result to a target number. Each modifier effectively adds or removes a 5% chance of success with the roll.
...
24
votes
7answers
725 views
Fighting boredom in combat as a player
Sometimes (as a player) I get bored during combat. At times I feel like all my turns are the same (especially when playing lower level characters) and when that is combined with no combat progress ...
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
3answers
322 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
18answers
1k views
Overpowered PCs (Gabe's Dilemma)
Penny Arcade recently ran the following strip:
(Original strip here)
While the resolution of this thread hasn't yet been posted, I'm wondering what we think here. How do you game with PCs who are ...
23
votes
6answers
508 views
How do you handle verbal exchanges between NPCs without taking the PCs out of the spotlight?
One of the assumptions I make as GM is that the players should always be in the spotlight. Sometimes the players find themselves in a situation where they watch NPCs speak to each other. I don't ...
23
votes
7answers
349 views
How do you get a new player engaged in an old campaign?
A group of three players had been going through my campaign for a year and a half, when a fourth player was added around level 15.
The new player entered in media res: there was a ton of back story, ...
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
10answers
877 views
Crime Investigation in a fantasy world
I am writing a campaign which relies heavily on crime: investigating it, clues, leads, witnesses, evidence, corruption, etc... The setting is fantasy, low-tech, and for the time being - let us leave ...
22
votes
11answers
908 views
What to do when your character is just too good?
I'm playing in the Paizo Pathfinder Jade Regent adventure path and we're having a good time so far (campaign blog and session summaries). However, as my character has gone up in power I'm now ...
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
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
5answers
474 views
How do I increase role-playing during combat?
Right now, the group that I GM for is very, very tactical combat focused. To some extent we may as well be playing a dungeon crawl boardgame for all the role-play we manage.
Now, in itself that's not ...
21
votes
11answers
757 views
How can I create a megadungeon in a futuristic/post-apocalyptic setting?
I play a lot of AD&D 2e, and I really enjoy creating dungeons and megadungeons. However, in a futuristic/postapocalyptic setting, how can I thematically create a megadungeon? Obviously, I couldn't ...
