GM Tips, Tricks, & General Advice

[cailano]

Hey all,

I am a very old school gamer, and I think that RPG's without the wish spell would be lacking. The reason I say this is because if someone were to wish for something way out of line like, "I want to be King of a region" you could have so much fun having that character try and prove that the man who holds the thrown is in fact a usurper, and you are the true king. Ok yeah that is large scale.

If a player wished for 1 Million gold then have it given to him, but he has to go and find it, and trudge it back home past all of the demons, dragons, etc.

Same thing for "I wish my mother was still alive and not an undead." Maybe the mother was on another continent, or had a whole different family.....

I just don't think that any spells, or magic items should be banned. You as a GM can always throw a twist onto it.

Garrett.

If that helps create the game you want to run, then of course you are correct. It's all about the fun! My suggestions are just that, and if they lessen anyone's enjoyment of the game throw them out the window with the bathwater.

(that was obscure, but you know what I mean)

[cailano]

I agree with that; which is why I post multiple times a day during the week. I'd probably do weekends more if I didn't run an RL game.

Prepared adventures also have players more likely to come back; especially if they're DnD adventures. (I've seen Pathfinder adventure paths advertised frequently; but I haven't seen Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (for example) advertised for a long time).

I use prepared modules; but does make running combats long some times; as they're often more tricked out that I would make my monsters.

I double dog DARE someone to run ToEE here on TTW. If they make it all the way though that module I will seriously send them a gift certificate to TTW's store. Now that would be an epic PbP campaign.

[Blue Tempest]

Why?What makes that one so much more epic then ours? :(

[cailano]

Why?What makes that one so much more epic then ours? :(

Not more epic necessarily, but ToEE set the standard for 'super dungeons' and is a classic of the hobby.

128 pages long, with 16 pages of maps, it would have to be either run in 2nd edition or be completely converted to 3.5 or Pathfinder. That would be an epic undertaking.

The writing is also likely to be sub-par by modern standards, so would require a creative DM to keep the story interesting.

I'd love to see it done well though. Probably so would a lot of people.

Paizo once rated ToEE the #4 D&D adventure of all time.

Lastly, it was co-authored by Gary Gygax, the man who started it all.

[willvr]

I'm running it on RPOL. Not as comfortable here as on RPOL; but if I get a Co-DM who can help with the maps; I'll consider it. Maybe I'll even take the players I've got in my new players group as the guinea pigs...

The RttoEE Campaign tends to have a higher death rate than nearly any other published campaign. Monte Cook has a reputation as a killer DM; and what's more some of the monsters are in there purely to show the various types of monsters that you get in 3rd edition.

[willvr]

Oh the original. I'd have to buy it; and then spend some time converting it. Hmm. As I'm converting anyway; I might be willing to see how it goes in Pathfinder. Couldn't do posts at work for it though as much; though given I wouldn't be posting during the day as much; I'd try harder to get in at least one post during each weekend day (Except any days I specifically set aside to run my tabletop group).

[Hibernate_Paths]

I'm having trouble accessing Tangle Web right now (the full page won't load) but I've found a work around using kproxy (really easy to user, just google it and try it out!). SO...I'm not sure if anyone can read this. But I was browsing another site and found that someone had converted Elemental Evil to 3.5e on Enworld. Check it out! http://www.enworld.org/forum/convers...-3-5-here.html Just ctrl+f "elemental, in case anyone wants to run in sometime in the future.

[RaistlinMC]

The trouble seems to be over (fingers crossed) but that's a good way around the issues. I wish I'd been able to read it!

[willvr]

Funnily enough; I could get to it at work; because that would go straight to the forums; but not at home.

As for Temple of Elemental Evil; I know of that conversion. But I still need to get my hands on the original module again. And to a certain extent, I like to do my own conversions.

[paxiandreams]

Just stumbled across this... Know it's been a while since this has been updated but another thanks here!! I'm definitely bookmarking this for anytime I potentially DM...

[primenumbers]

Huge thanks from me: I read this and was SUPER nervous, but now I DM 3 campaigns, all three of which are active, and two of which have surpassed 200 IC posts!

[Baron Of Hell]

What is the D Academy?

[Baron Of Hell]

Baron of Hell look where you are at. What did you come here via a link or something. Darn noobs.

[Baron Of Hell]

If this is still active when do you use PMs and spoilers tags? Or do you not use them at all?

[cailano]

Well it seemed to go a bit inactive, probably because I was the guy who was supposed to be running it and I disappeared for a few months while I finished my bachelors.

BUT, no reason to let it die so here we go:

Baron of Hell, I am a little familiar with your work over at Myth Weavers and I have to say you have everything you need to be a great GM. That being said, you also have a great question.

I'm a bit mixed on PMs and spoilers. I weigh using them very carefully and in most cases I do not end up using them. That isn't to say that I NEVER use them, however. Allow me to explain:

To me, the art of GMing is really one of story telling and entertaining. If you read a book or watch a film you may notice that the audience often knows just a bit more than the protagonist. This can add suspense. I like to take advantage of this, and when I am considering whether to use a PM or spoiler tag I take suspense into consideration.

Another thing I consider is realism. IE- would any character but the one I am targeting with the message ACTUALLY know the information I am dispensing.

However, when weighing these two factors I will almost always go with building suspense over considerations of realism. I try to trust my players to role play. I let them know a bit more than their characters do and they rarely let me down by taking advantage of the information. At least without coming up with a good rationale for it, which is all I believe the game requires.

Remember, you are working with your players, not against them. All of you are a team of sorts, striving to create a memorable story and feeling of adventure. So before you hit that PM button, consider whether doing so will help the game. Try to imagine things from the player's perspective. If you can build suspense with a public post, do so. However, if you think you can get a bigger payoff later by keeping things behind the DM screen for the time being, then a PM might be the better tool.

Hope this helps!