aka, "Cheetoism"
Roleplaying games are a social creative hobby. Both the social and the creative are equally important like two hands on a guitar, and for a good game session, we have to encourage both sociability and creativity. The social part complements the creative part, and vice versa.
For a good game session what's important is,
Roleplaying games are a social creative hobby. Both the social and the creative are equally important like two hands on a guitar, and for a good game session, we have to encourage both sociability and creativity. The social part complements the creative part, and vice versa.
For a good game session what's important is,
- People
- Snacks
- Setting
- System
- In that order
People are the most important because a good group with a crap game is always better than a crap group with a good game. People just not getting along is the main cause of game groups imploding, far more than people not liking this particular edition of a game system or the like.
Snacks are next most important because sharing food is something which binds people together and relaxes them.
Setting is next because players and GM have to have something to inspire them, some ideas to hang the adventures of their characters on. "You wake with no memory naked in an empty cell with no windows and a sealed door." No, don't be stupid.
System comes dead last because of the following two principles which help the game be both social and creative,
Snacks are next most important because sharing food is something which binds people together and relaxes them.
Setting is next because players and GM have to have something to inspire them, some ideas to hang the adventures of their characters on. "You wake with no memory naked in an empty cell with no windows and a sealed door." No, don't be stupid.
System comes dead last because of the following two principles which help the game be both social and creative,
- player smarts should be more important than character skill
- GM rulings should be more important than system rules
If character skill is made more important than player smarts, then when a player comes up with a brilliant idea, the GM may say, "but your character wouldn't think of that," and veto it. So the GM is squashing player creativity, and players become discouraged and speak up less, which also hurts the sociability of the session. In a good game group, the GM will encourage player creativity, and make it more important than character skill.
No rulebook can deal with every possible situation coming up in a game session, still less can it deal with it in the way exactly to each group's taste. Thus every GM needs to make rulings, make decisions about what is at that moment reasonable, plausible, interesting and fun.
From rules to rulings there's a range. On the one hand we have rules-heavy games which try to ensure that the GM makes the minimum of rulings, on the other hand we have freeform games with little or no rules at all. A sensible GM finds a place in the middle, but slightly on the side of rulings. This is because a system of rules will only by merest chance happen to match what's right at that moment, but the GM can match it perfectly - sometimes only by squashing a rule.
None of that means that system doesn't matter at all, just that of the four, it's the least important. Like your little toe and your ability to walk - it helps, but it's the least important part of your foot. So long as the rest of your foot is sound, the little toe can be a bit mutated and you'll walk alright.
All this leads to five principles of GMing:
I master the game, the game does not master me is simply another way of saying that rulings are more important than rules.
Step on up or step on out is saying that everyone jumping in to talk and do things keeps the session fun.
Momentum over perfection is about the GM's role as pace-setter; sometimes players will get stuck arguing about some tiny thing, or the GM will be tempted to spend an extra few minutes looking up an obscure rule - but all that is boring and no fun, it's better to keep things moving.
Complications more'n obstacles is a bit more finicky. As GM you present the PCs with challenges. There are two sorts of challenges: things which challenge the PCs' skills and the players' dice - obstacles - and things which challenge the players' minds - complications. "The evil wizard kidnapped your daughter" is an obstacle; "your daughter has fallen in love with the evil wizard's son" is a complication. You need both in a game session, but should put more effort into the complications because they need it, they're much harder for the GM to come up with and much harder for the players to solve.
The game must go on! means that we don't sit around waiting for that last late player, or cancel the session because someone's absent, or let a session just not happen because we're not sure where it'll be this week, or whatever - we make the game happen.
Of course, some people feel that these guidelines are wrong, or they quibble with their details. But those people are generally Bitter Non-Gamers, Forgers, Communists, or all three.
No rulebook can deal with every possible situation coming up in a game session, still less can it deal with it in the way exactly to each group's taste. Thus every GM needs to make rulings, make decisions about what is at that moment reasonable, plausible, interesting and fun.
From rules to rulings there's a range. On the one hand we have rules-heavy games which try to ensure that the GM makes the minimum of rulings, on the other hand we have freeform games with little or no rules at all. A sensible GM finds a place in the middle, but slightly on the side of rulings. This is because a system of rules will only by merest chance happen to match what's right at that moment, but the GM can match it perfectly - sometimes only by squashing a rule.
None of that means that system doesn't matter at all, just that of the four, it's the least important. Like your little toe and your ability to walk - it helps, but it's the least important part of your foot. So long as the rest of your foot is sound, the little toe can be a bit mutated and you'll walk alright.
All this leads to five principles of GMing:
- I master the game, the game does not master me.
- Step on up or step on out.
- Momentum over perfection.
- Complications more'n obstacles
- The game must go on!
I master the game, the game does not master me is simply another way of saying that rulings are more important than rules.
Step on up or step on out is saying that everyone jumping in to talk and do things keeps the session fun.
Momentum over perfection is about the GM's role as pace-setter; sometimes players will get stuck arguing about some tiny thing, or the GM will be tempted to spend an extra few minutes looking up an obscure rule - but all that is boring and no fun, it's better to keep things moving.
Complications more'n obstacles is a bit more finicky. As GM you present the PCs with challenges. There are two sorts of challenges: things which challenge the PCs' skills and the players' dice - obstacles - and things which challenge the players' minds - complications. "The evil wizard kidnapped your daughter" is an obstacle; "your daughter has fallen in love with the evil wizard's son" is a complication. You need both in a game session, but should put more effort into the complications because they need it, they're much harder for the GM to come up with and much harder for the players to solve.
The game must go on! means that we don't sit around waiting for that last late player, or cancel the session because someone's absent, or let a session just not happen because we're not sure where it'll be this week, or whatever - we make the game happen.
Of course, some people feel that these guidelines are wrong, or they quibble with their details. But those people are generally Bitter Non-Gamers, Forgers, Communists, or all three.
3 comments:
(Ketsuban here, from the GURPS forums.)
I disagree with one tiny point in this manifesto: namely "player smarts should be more important than character skill".
If the player has elected to play as a barbarian with low intelligence and high strength then he's not allowed to start setting up elaborate Xanatos Gambits - that would be breaking character horrendously.
I would happily allow the player to try to set up an elaborate Xanatos Gambit, since rpg sessions are unlike tv shows in that they're not scripted, so the gambit will never work anyway. And trying to do something complicated and failing is what dumb people sometimes do :)
This is good stuff, though I consider snacking less important and setting and system as intertwined enough to not be worth treating as separate issues when actual play is considered.
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