:: Zelazny :: [polish] :: sparks that fly from the ironsmith's hammer ::
::. Saturday, March 29 .::
Perverse Access Memory:
WISH 40: Preferred Style What style of game do you prefer to play in? Style here does not mean genre, although certain styles work better under some genres than others. Style is more about the elements that predominate in a game: combat, politics, mysteries/puzzles, romance/interpersonal relations, etc. What three adjectives best describe your favorite game style? Does this style lend itself to particular genres or games?
If the game is being created by another GM, I'm often willing to step outside my own comfort zones. IOW, as a Player, I'm more likely to try things that I know might entertain for a session, or a con, or a short campaign.
As a GM, I'm much more style specific, because I feel my energy and commitment to the game has to be as good or higher than anyone else's.
So what do I prefer?
Give me game rules that are light, but allow for creative Players to surprise me. If the Players don't even have to read the rules, I'm well disposed to the game system.
Make the Player Characters matter more than setting or npcs or plot elements. Demonstrate that the game could not have rolled out the same way without this specific group of Player Characters.
Provide relationships between characters that are dramatic, dynamic, and changeable. Don't 'assign' npcs to certain roles and then not develop them. Don't ignore the potential of changing relationships or sudden controversy between friends. Make social discourse and conversation an important element of getting things understood within the game world. Suck me in with the experience of your world.
Three adjectives to describe the above? low-threshold, Character-driven, social
Luckily for me, this sort of game can handle most genres; from noir to swashbucklers, from space opera to gritty fantasy. What you can't do easily is dungeon crawls, pure-action challenges and war rpgs, though even there you could still emphasize the elements that appeal to me in those games.
RPGnet: The Last Dark Art "At this point, it should be clear that the GM's job is not to write a "plot" for the players. The GM's job is to introduce pressure, in sufficient quantity that the characters will be encouraged to act to resolve it."
Never a plot, instead a situation. Not a set of "railroad tracks" but a consequence of events.
You are a descriptive writer. You prefer to paint a mental image rather than simply toy around with people's minds. What's YOUR Writing Style? brought to you by Quizilla
Why is Vialle still blind? (includes an interesting point by Claire which I shall capture here.)
in the Shadow of Greatness "Claire Bickell says...
Shadow healing may also not be appropriate for political reasons. It could be a little disconcerting for the general populace if their rulers have horrific injuries one day, and not the next. Makes them less human. And could also be a seed for revolt.
"If it's so easy to do, why aren't they doing it for more people? Don't they know their chariable duty to the infirm?" and so on.
This becomes more dangerous when it's powerful Amber nobility saying it.
Just another little reason. ..."
04.02.pm | January 06, 2003
...sssssssssssssssssssssssssss no, that's not static hiss on your browser, the world of Amber gaming online is going to get quiet this week as AmberCon US swings into gear. But I'll be nearby... no strawberries for me this year.
Though I did send a telegram to Texorami.
Perverse Access Memory:
WISH 39: Cheating Have you ever played with someone who cheated? (Fudging dice rolls or implying greater powers than they really had, or some other abuse of in-game trust…) How did you handle it? How would you recommend it be handled?
Dice, drama and Player tension provide the motive to cheating, but I guess that cheating is hardly eliminated by tossing out the dice. GMs everywhere rely on the memory and details from the Player as to equipment, minutia, and other associations specific to the Character. While I have seen some young folks try to cheat dice, I've also seen Players of any age try to "retcon" an issue that they glossed over in-game.
This would usually be something like: "well, of course I would have told so-n-so about the message I left at my house, just in case I didn't come back in a few days."
I usually just take a quick "pulse" off the Player to see how seriously their enjoyment of the game is going to be impeded by the point they are trying to win. It could be a dice roll, or it could be a point of evidence, or it could be a combat situation where they told me "one thing" as an action and meant "something else". Whatever it is, I'll first assume that it is my job to get the communication right and keep the game going. There's no way I'm going to "expose" a Player as cheating a moment, die roll, or bit of action in play. So I clarify the situation, make sure I understand what they want in as fast and painless a manner as possible, and then move on.
This keeps the game moving and preserves the sense that there is no "correct" answer to a situation I'm throwing at Players. It reinforces that I am arbiter of Fate and not opponent to the Players.
And if a consistent pattern of "cheating Fate" comes from a Player. I'll deal with that outside the game by un-inviting them.
*Note: I'll still post the complete WISH participants list with my answers occasionally as an 'ease of use' and PR device. Let me know if you have trouble with it.
...sssssssssssssssssssssssssss no, that's not static hiss on your browser, the world of Amber gaming online is going to get quiet this week as AmberCon US swings into gear. But I'll be nearby... no strawberries for me this year.