GM Tips, Tricks, & General Advice

[cailano]

Pacing

I've addressed the issue of pacing elsewhere in this thread, but I want to bring it up again in more detail because it is so critical to the success of a game. This is true whether your game is VTT, PbP or right at your dining room table. Pacing is everything.

Probably the most important aspect of pacing is knowing when to leave a scene. The answer to that is as soon as possible. The second, the instant that your players have accomplished what they need to in a scene, move them onto the next.

For example, if a scene exists in order to find a certain clue, once that clue has been found you might say something like this.

"You discover a small book in the room. It appears to be some kind of journal for an explorer named Wulf. It seems like interesting reading. Finding nothing else of interest in the room, you move back into the hall and continue north."

That's it! You've clearly identified the clue in a way that doesn't break the fourth wall too much, and you also told them without a doubt that there is nothing else to do there.

Another thing you want to avoid is choke points. In my experience, choke points - places where a game bogs down - come in three places. 1) Places where the PCs don't know what to do 2) Places where the players are being timid 3) Long combats.

Choke points are death! Avoid them as such.

When the PCs don't know what to do: Tell them. This is one reason I always like to have an NPC in the game is to drop hints. Remember, games aren't novels. Players get distracted and can't flip back to read what they missed. Sometimes they need a good hint and there is nothing wrong with giving them that.

PC: "I'll search the room... again." GM: "You start doing that... and then you remember that you haven't questioned the prisoners you rescued earlier. Perhaps one of them will have some idea of what happened here."

When the PCs are being timid: Usually this is right before a combat. The players don't feel ready and so they wait for someone else to make the first move. I usually tell them to move or face a minor consequence. Something like "You are hidden, but you know you can't stay hidden forever. Eventually you wil be discovered or more monsters will enter the room. you have to move while you have the chance."

Alternately I just have the monsters attack them. That always kickstarts things.

When the combat goes on too long: A dwarven defender holding a castle gate against a thousand orcs sounds thrilling... but in PbP it's a sludge. It's only fun for about three rounds before it just gets repetitive. The solution is to fast-forward or to end the combat.

Fast-forward: You want to be fair, but there are a lot of ways to do this. Is the dwarf taking damage? How much per round? How many orcs does he slay per round? Where will he logically be in ten rounds? In twenty? Skip to where it gets dramatic.

"Your waraxe rises and falls in a sickening rhythm, but the orcs pour forward in a snarling tide for long minutes. The blows that manage to penetrate your armor start to add up, and soon you are battling in a pool of blood that you know is at least partially your own."

(( you're down to 20 hitpoints, but you think if you can hold another three rounds you'll break the charge. What do you do? ))

Or... end the combat. That's it. Usually this means letting the players win when it seems inevitable.

"Just when you think you can go on no more, you hear the blast of an orc warhorn and the beasts pull back. You stand in the gate like a hero of legend, bloody but unbroken. Now to attend to the black prince."

Bottom line, you have to push past choke points and keep advancing your game. Do that and your games will have a much better chance of surviving.

Pacing is a tough task. As a GM you always have to be aware of it and you always have to look to keep the pace up in your games. No one gets this right every time. I myself fell victim to poor pacing recently. In my case it was part of a published module, but I knew it was a potential slow point and I didn't do enough to cut it short. That mistake cost me three good players.

In my next post I will go into some narrative techniques to use when you need to pick the pace up but need an idea for how to do it.

In the meantime, how do you feel about pacing? What do you do to keep your games moving?

[Baron Of Hell]

Pacing
For battles I do group initiatives to determine if the PCs or Monsters move first. On the PCs turn they can post in any order. By doing it this way no one person is holding up the battle. I also encourage the stating of tactics. For example if you will always attacking the strongest looking enemy say so. This is important in my games since during battles I give 4 hours to make a move or I will do my best to make a move for them. I do this to prevent battles from taking weeks or months. I'm actually in a game as a player where I first encounter is going on month 3. Yep 3 months for 6 PCS to fight 6 bandits. I'm still surprised no one has dropped the game.

[cailano]

Pacing
For battles I do group initiatives to determine if the PCs or Monsters move first. On the PCs turn they can post in any order. By doing it this way no one person is holding up the battle. I also encourage the stating of tactics. For example if you will always attacking the strongest looking enemy say so. This is important in my games since during battles I give 4 hours to make a move or I will do my best to make a move for them. I do this to prevent battles from taking weeks or months. I'm actually in a game as a player where I first encounter is going on month 3. Yep 3 months for 6 PCS to fight 6 bandits. I'm still surprised no one has dropped the game.

Wow, that four hour rule is a tight timeline. How have your players reacted to that?

[Baron Of Hell]

Wow, that four hour rule is a tight timeline. How have your players reacted to that?

Out of six people one seems to want me to push harder, one would like more time and the rest seem ok with it. In practice I say it averages out to 8 just because I'm not in a position to update every 4 hours and sometimes there are questions in which case I'll give more time.

[cailano]

Narrative ideas to pick up a stalling game

If your game seems to be losing direction or stalling out - or worse if you have no idea of where to go next - then you might try some of the following techniques.

1) Have a fight. This is a tried and true way to get your players in on the action. Just having something attack them. Maybe an old enemy is looking for revenge. Maybe a villain coming up decides that the PCs are a threat and tries to take them out first. Maybe its just a warrior at a local inn who decides he doesn't like your party leader's face. A fight can be just the thing to get your players checking your thread regularly, and if you can use it to build animosity towards an upcoming villain or to build tension in the game, even better.

2) Introduce a new NPC. This can be either an antagonist or a supporting character, but they should be interesting and have some of their own concerns. Ever play Baldur's Gate? (If not, stop reading this and go do that, its awesome.) Minsc is a great example of an NPC introduction. He's a boon to the party in a fight, he comes with a whole side quest - and insists the PC helps him if he's to stay in the group - and he's hilarious. ("Evil all around... try not to step in any." "What this party needs is a swift kick in the morals!")

Like with the fights, if an NPC can also help with foreshadowing ("Aye, I've had dealings with this Black Prince before. Three years ago when my best friend fell under his blade.") or with establishing tension in the game ("I'm seeking the Crystal Wand as well. Without it, the curse that weakens me even now will mean my death.") all the better.

3) Introduce a plot twist. It's amazing how much an improvised plot twist can add to the game. I remember once in an AP I was running there was a bit of a slow point, so I had a villain the PCs had let live earlier come back for revenge. The main plot instantly became an afterthought to them, and they wanted to pursue the guy they'd let live before. That was great, because it allowed me to advance the plot in the background while they were all fired up about revenge. That was just a side quest, but its also possible to throw a curve ball at them in the main plotline. For instance, your party may be sworn to defeat the Black Prince and all he stands for, but what happens when he invokes the law of the land that allows him to chose his bride and he chooses the party sorceress?

Just a few ideas to get your game moving again. What are some techniques you've used to keep your players interested and your game moving?

[RaistlinMC]

My number one rule for keeping players interested is to never, ever stop their PCs from choosing their own paths. Want to split the party? Go for it. You'll likely die, but hey, it's your game. Want to fight the dragon at level two? You'll surely die, but at least it'll be in a blaze of glory. Come upon an inter dimensional portal that your PCs really, really shouldn't jump in because the DM has no friggin' clue where it leads? Jump in. It's my job to figure things out from there

[jflo2415]

I have a question, not to step on what Ra said. I am gearing up to put my first game as GM into motion. So as a player what I've noticed is that the vast majority of GMs seem to ban psionics from their campaigns. Why?

[cailano]

I have a question, not to step on what Ra said. I am gearing up to put my first game as GM into motion. So as a player what I've noticed is that the vast majority of GMs seem to ban psionics from their campaigns. Why?

I'm not completely sure, but I think its primarily because most GMs don't think they fit a fantasy world in a thematic way, and secondarily because they feel that psionics are overpowered.

Myself, I think they are interesting. I built a world once that was engineered around psionics being the primary "magic" system, with arcane magic being a distant second. With that as a jumping off point, I made probably the most original fantasy world I've ever crafted. There was some crazy stuff going on in there.

All I'm saying is that there is no reason you can't buck the trend. I'm sure you'll find plenty of players that would love to play a psionic character, or who wouldn't mind being in a world that allowed them.

Adding them changes almost nothing about a GMs job description, you can make a great campaign either way.

Good luck! If you run into any sticking points in your campaign be sure to ask around here.

[RaistlinMC]

If you go Pathfinder, I have no problem with psionics, as they are included right along with everything else on the SRD. In DnD, I tend to not allow psionics only because by allowing them, I open myself up to the splatbooks associated with their powers, leaving the game a bit unbalanced and my own wallet far, far more depressed.

[Blackfox42]

Generally speaking there are 2-3 reasons why Psionics are disallowed in many games.

1: Probably the most prevalent reason: Psionics has gained a bad reputation among 3.5 players as being 'Overpowered' even when its not really any more so than standard Arcane or Divine casting. Its simply different, and therefore powerful in different ways. Many people don't even bother looking into Psionics, and simply ban it as 'overpowered' because that is reputation it has, and they go based entirely on past experience of it being banned in games they have played in (Further perpetuating the Reputation, thereby making it more likely that more people will ban it.)

2: The GM has never looked into Psionics, doesn't know hardly anything about it or how it works, doesn't own the books, and doesn't have the time/interest/money to learn. This is a legitimate reason, IMO, and is the same reason that some GM''s allow Core Only, or other such things. If you don't have the knowledge, you can't run appropriate challenges, so its best not to allow it if you aren't interested in learning.

3: And this ties in with #1 in a way: The GM has had bad experiences with Psionics in the past in one way or another and is predjudiced in a way.

Really, Psionics isn't any worse than any other spellcasting in D&D, as far as being overpowered. The main thing to remember if you are going to allow it is this (And this is strictly my opinion, but i've found it to be true): Make sure you are using the Magic-Psionics Transparency Rule.

What this means is that Psionic Powers count as Spells, and Vice Verse, for all things that protect against spells or Psionics. So Spell Resistance works vs Spells and Powers, and Psionic Resistance works vs Powers and Spells.
Anti-Magic Zones work against both Spells and Powers. Etc, etc, etc.

The problem you run into otherwise is this: As hard as Spell Resistance and protection can be to get..... Psionic resistnace is even harder and rarer. If you do not put that Rule into effect you will run into the problem of the 'Caster-proof' monsters ,that are supposed to be the challenge for your non-casters, getting obliterated by the Psionics in your group. Alternatively, you're party that has spent tons of cash on Spell Resistance items, or other ways to defend against Casters, will suddenly find themselves getting destroyed by even the most sub-par Monster or Enemy NPC with Psionic powers. Imposing the Transparceny Rule helps to keep everything in balance.

[archmagi1]

I have a question, not to step on what Ra said. I am gearing up to put my first game as GM into motion. So as a player what I've noticed is that the vast majority of GMs seem to ban psionics from their campaigns. Why?

80% of the time it is due to someone up the player/GM chain of whomever is running the game played with someone who played wrong and it ruined the table. Simple mechanics of no more PP spent than your HD often got overlooked, and the scaling power of augmentation gives the false dichotomy that level 1 spells are always getting better (when actually they're becoming level 2,3,4,5,etc spells whose save DC may or may not scale to the appropriate level). Folks saw augmentation as free metamagic which overbore the base 9 casters. And by up the player/GM chain, like the others have said, it is reputation. Player A was in a game with X who abused or ignored the psionic rules and had a bad experience; Player A plays with GM B and convinces him to ban the broken system. GM B then does so throughout games C-L before Player M asks to play a psion, at which point he gets OMG they're BROKEZORZ!!!1 And it perpetuates from there, unfortunately.

5% of the time it is because of some GM using the very poorly 3.0 suggested default of psionics is different than magic.

5% of the time it is because somebody played with psionic combat modes from 3.0 Psionic Handbook (shudder), and never saw they got rid of them in the subsequent XPH (and PF thereafter).

The remaining 10% hate points-based casting for various reasons ranging from OMG OP!!!1 to accounting reasons.

They're all dumb tho. Psionics is the best, particularly in PF where Dreamscarred's class design surpasses anything Paizo has done since coming up with Archetypes (the idea, not necessarily the execution).

EDIT: Well Mythic was kinda 150% awesome, so maybe Paizo pulled out some worthy 1st party content in the last two years after all lol...

[Baron Of Hell]

On the question of how to maintain interest. One thing I thought to do was to skip over necessary scenes. For example we just ended a encounter in a swamp. The PCs wanted to go back to town. I just basically stated what happen in town and what happen the next day and placed them back in the swamp. The PCs were then to state any extra stuff they did or just go with what I stated. I left the door open for anyone insert themselves anywhere by saying things like "Any of you that wish to go to the funeral attends" instead of "All of you attend the funeral of your fallen comrade".

Some people go to the funeral, some go shopping, some just hang out but at the end they all end up fully healed and back at the swamp ready to continue the adventure.

[cailano]

On the question of how to maintain interest. One thing I thought to do was to skip over necessary scenes. For example we just ended a encounter in a swamp. The PCs wanted to go back to town. I just basically stated what happen in town and what happen the next day and placed them back in the swamp. The PCs were then to state any extra stuff they did or just go with what I stated. I left the door open for anyone insert themselves anywhere by saying things like "Any of you that wish to go to the funeral attends" instead of "All of you attend the funeral of your fallen comrade".

Some people go to the funeral, some go shopping, some just hang out but at the end they all end up fully healed and back at the swamp ready to continue the adventure.

I want to draw attention to this post, because this is an excellent technique to use for keeping up the pace in a game, and one that I use all the time. If, as the GM, you KNOW nothing important is going to happen in a place your PCs want to go, just summarize it and move on.

This happens most often when your PCs want to re-supply. Just let them know in your OOC thread what they can buy in town, and let them post their supplies there. Restore their hit points and spells and press on as quickly as possible.

Thanks for bringing this up, Baron. Great stuff.

[jflo2415]

Thanks for the great advice about handling Psionics. Here is another question, somewhat in the same vane of keeping a game moving, especially in PBP. Again I'm completely new to the world of GMing. When we talk about a sandbox world, I understand that to mean that the PCs can literally go and do anything they want be it departing from the main story line, running off by themselves and leaving the rest of the group, etc. So what is the best way, in your collective experience to handle situations like that?

[Baron Of Hell]

Thanks for the great advice about handling Psionics. Here is another question, somewhat in the same vane of keeping a game moving, especially in PBP. Again I'm completely new to the world of GMing. When we talk about a sandbox world, I understand that to mean that the PCs can literally go and do anything they want be it departing from the main story line, running off by themselves and leaving the rest of the group, etc. So what is the best way, in your collective experience to handle situations like that?

If they aren't going to be split long I do it in the same thread with locations titles and spoiler boxes stating who is at the location. Here is an example

If they will be split for long periods of time I would use different threads and just tell them who can post in either if it wasn't obvious.

In either case I wouldn't make the spoiler or separate threads private to those involved unless absolutely necessary.