With this article the series “A stick and a carrot” is finished. I really hope you enjoyed reading this posts over the last months. Honestly I do not like the concept of experience points very much. When you kill ten people you may be more experienced, but you can hardly say that this can lead to better skills in reading and writing. I have always preferred to take down notes who did what. (more…)

This is a complex issue. It happens that a PC dies during gameplay. In the end most games are more or less combat oriented. Combat rules occupy major parts of the rulebook and there are few adventures totally free of combat. So you should be prepared to let them die. However do not kill them. There is no bodycount you have to achieve to be granted entrance to the Hall of Fame of GMs. (more…)

Respect is also important. Treat your world with respect. Do not hesitate to kill a NPC, but try to play them as human beings. I have seen more than once that a NPC that followed the party was used as cannon-fodder. No one does this. Except for absolute fanatics and dumbheads no one is willing to sacrifice his live for someone else. Play the NPCs this way. (more…)

Coming to the most important aspect of your game mastering: The world itself. The world with all its inhabitants, being it monsters or civilised people, is your medium to the players. They will judge you very much according to the setting and the reactions of the players.
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Sooner or later the adventure will lead to a combat. Combat rules should be fully understood, it is the place where flipping through the rulebook destroys most atmosphere. You should make notes of the combat procedures, copy the relevant tables and charts. When combat involves more than one opponent keep a journal. This should include the relevant skills for all opponents, room for notes (like modifiers) and room for projectiles. The last is especially important, since during combat people tend to forget to write down how many arrows or shots have been fired. The PCs may, after combat, search for fired arrows that are intact, but first of all keep note of this. (more…)

Traps are a difficult issue. First of all, do not overuse them. How many times have you seen a trap in real life? I have never. The reason is pretty simple: If you would be built a fortress and probably inhabit it with mentally challenged guards, you would never include complex and possibly deadly traps. (more…)

The classic riddle is almost extinct in modern games. There are few niches where it could survive, but most adventures that built on intellect rather than sheer muscle power do not have them. Sure they have a lot of investigations and things like this. But the classical three line riddle as seen in J.R.R.Tolkien’s hobbit, rarely does exist. (more…)

Whether you want to use pregenerated professional adventures or make your own is up to you. Generally it is better to start with pregenerated adventures. Even if you are an experienced game master, these adventure help you a lot to get a feel for the world. Pregenerated adventures however have some disadvantages: First of all, you must transport an idea that was thought out by someone else and probably you do not find it 100% convincing. (more…)

Game mastering could be so much fun, if it weren’t for the players. In a worst case scenario they can ruin everything you have planned and plotted in many sleepless nights. They of course come in many flavours, so you may have good luck with your players.

Many people try to categorise the types of players (e.g. the rules lawyer, the munchkin, etc.). Although such categories have a certain entertaining value, they are of little use in my view. Reality is more complex than categorising theory. Most players will show one trait or the other, very much depending on the circumstances. Therefore I have only detailed certain characteristics and I have restricted to the negative ones, that may cause you problems. (more…)

Starting a session should begin with repeating what happened last time. This is vital, if you do not play regularly. But I always thought that it is the best starter into the scenario. The repeat can be done by you or the players. In my view the best is that the GM starts with some basic information like “after you have left the village two days ago, your way took you higher into the mountains…”. (more…)

Very difficult issue. Honestly I cheat whenever possible. Either as a gamer or as a GM. You give me a dice I will do whatever is necessary to manipulate the result (if you pretend to have problems with arithmetic it helps a lot). I guess most, if not all, GMs have manipulated results in one way or the other. Your powerful necromancer awaits the PCs and his first attack is a really bad fumble to which the rulebook says that the NPC has dislocated his arm and went unconscious. This rarely happens. Your archvillian should appear as an archvillian and not as a member of the Marx Brothers.
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All you need to roleplay is a pen, a sheet of paper and a number of dices. How often have you heard this? I guess quite often. It is of course true, there is nothing else (well except for the rulebook). However most groups use a variety of other tools. The most obvious are miniatures and a cd-player, but believe me there are many many more. What you personally prefer is up to you, the only thing you may want to remember is that people fiddle around with things when they are present. Some like to throw a pen up in the air all the time (like I do), others try to build large miniature pyramids. So much as there tools can help you, so much can they distract the players from playing. (more…)

There are hundreds of possible ways to game and it is your decision on which you choose. What however is important is that the players are aware of your style. I remember a session when we introduced a new member. He had only gamed AD&D before. Unfortunately we were playing Harnmaster. The - pretty quick - result was that he hurled himself in a rather unnecessary battle and was killed by an ordinary city guard, something that had never happened to him in AD&D. (more…)

Another important point: free speech. You have to be able to talk without any “ahms” and “ohs”, any “wells” or “you knows” for at least an quarter of an hour. Some people have problems with it, but it can be learned and the more often you play the better you get. It helps a great deal if you are aware of what is going on. The better your knowledge of the adventure, the better your performance. Don’t get nervous, you are not giving a speech in from of a committee that decides on your future. You are standing in front of your friends and they will not make fun out of you, just because you stuttered or went red. If they do, look for new friends. (more…)

Clearly differentiate between in-time and out-time. In-time is what is happening within the game. Out-time is the time not in the game, but in the real world. If someone asks for the way to the toilet, this is out-time. Unless otherwise clearly noted, everything that a player says is in-time. This helps a lot to discipline the players. When they begin joking around about pulling someone’s leg, they should be met with mistrusting eyes by the inhabitants of the world. (more…)