Laws of Running a Game

[clockworkjoe]

The more you prepare for a game, the less of it will be used. A one sentence sketch of an idea will be completely used. The fifteen pages of investigative background will be ignored.

NPCs exist to fight or give quests to the players.

If you introduce a NPC thinking the players will find them interesting, they will fucking hate the NPC.

The minor NPC you ripped off from the Simpsons or some obscure cartoon will be loved by the PCs. Especially if you can't stand him.

If you totally forget to prepare for a game, you're fucked.

If you overprepare for a game, you're fucked.

If you prepare just the right amount, the players won't show up that night.

Players either want to kill shit, hog the spotlight with their roleplaying or both.

Everyone may feign interest in the new $50 game you just bought but if you run it instead of the usual game, everyone will come down with a sudden case of having a life.

[Maze]

If you agree to a player to give him an item or ability on the condition he won't abuse of it, he will.

If you give fire to a player, he will burn something.

If you give rope to a player, he'll attach or hang someone.

If you give a weapon to a player, he will slay the innocent.

If you give a coin to player, he will spend it to further maim or kill people.

If you give genital herpes to a player, that. is. awesome.

[rayner23]

Jeez Ross, a little bitter are we?

For the player: If a player really wants to do something, they will argue with the DM for an uncomfortably long time especially if the argument in question doesn't change the story or the outcome of the game in any way, shape or form.

DM Laws (because I believe in being fair and balanced):

If the DM emphasizes one particular solution more than any other, then he is going to fuck you over.

If the players come up with a better solution than the ones the DM has provided, then the DM will fuck you over.

If the players get really interested in the game and are anxious to play that week, then the DM will play a one-shot of a game that no one has ever heard of because the game is so "underground" that it is impossible to find in stores and can only be bought off of a special website or at a convention. That means the game has streetcred.

As the DM, it is your job to throw a ton of subplots at the wall and see what sticks. If players suddenly remember a subplot or character that they enjoyed from a previous game, then get all pissed off at them for caring about the world you have created.

As DM, you should keep a very detailed NPC list of all the characters the players have encountered as well as any characters you might have mentioned in passing. Update the players on the status of all the NPCs from the great hero that the entire town loves down to the lowly town crier that had one line in session 5 and has never been seen again. If you don't keep this list, the players will and you do not want to suffer the consequences.

Dms should never pay very close attention to which monsters are considered a player's mark, their quarry, or any other stupid title that the players give monsters as they battle them. It will just give the DM an unnecessary headache.

Remember DMs, players can't just go fight a dragon, they have to go through the following steps: get the dragonslayer sword from the wise old man, but he won't give it up unless you give him a special gem that grows in the magic forest. You can't enter the forest without a blessing from the water spirit, but you have to please her by finding her lost daughter. Her daughter has been captured by a cattle baron and the only way to beat him is if you star a riot on the ranch. Even if you start theriot though, she is locked in the bathroom and the key has been stolen by a band of tieflings. And guess where they are? The magic forest that you can't enter without a blessing from the water spirit. In short, make sure the players are fucked from the start.

The most important law: If players love something, then kill it.

I love you Ross and to show my love for you, I got you this gift.

[Tadanori Oyama]

90% of your minitures will not be helpful to your game.

99% of all players will be unable to find a mini that matches their character.

The 1% that does have a mini that matches their character will want to play as the Fire Bat miniture.

Players will notice the one detail on your dungeon tiles that doesn't fit instead of the dozen that do. One of them will attempt to use this detail to gain an advantage in the encounter.

A proper circle can not be drawn on a wet erase grid map.

[wrotenbe]

If you give them what they want, they scream Monty Haul!

If you refuse to give them what they want, they scream railroading!

If you try to compromise, they demand the most broken shit possible and refuse to live up to their end of bargain.

If you lie to them, cheat them, murder their characters and otherwise treat them like an abused spouse, they will love you and talk about you to their friends.

[Corrosive Rabbit]

There is no clue so obvious that the PCs won't stroll blindly past it.

There is no minor detail so innocuous that the PCs won't spend hours trying to figure out the non-existent deeper meaning behind it.

CR

[Maze]

I've got a feeling that this thread quickly plunged into the gamer logic domain.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Well let's bring it back up from those deep pits than. These are gaming issues, so we need to focus on the at the table experience rather than in the game.

Things like preperation, equipment, snacks, the important stuff.

Alternativally, we could adjust the focus and share our own "Laws of Gaming"; the rules we ourselves us at the table, like houserules for RL.

For example:
At my table, you can only reroll the die if it lands in a way that the number can not be determined, such as if it lands cocked or if it falls off of the table. Striking objects on the table or the terrain of the table itself are considered part of the randomness of the roll.

[Corrosive Rabbit]

Ah, I think I missed the point with my previous post -- here's one that I still fall prey to that might be more on point.

Spending time on things that won't directly affect the player characters is most often wasted effort.  This includes the history of your gameworld, the holidays, the customs and rituals, and everything else you'd find in a wikipedia article on your gameworld.  Figure out a way to have it become relevant to the player characters or accept that it will go ignored and unnoticed.

CR

[wrotenbe]

For example:
At my table, you can only reroll the die if it lands in a way that the number can not be determined, such as if it lands cocked or if it falls off of the table. Striking objects on the table or the terrain of the table itself are considered part of the randomness of the roll.

You get one cocked reroll. After that we take it where it lays or the GM rolls it behind the screen. I've seen way too many players abuse 'cocked die' or 'spot rolling' to trust the unwashed heathens any further.

[doctorscraps]

To GM's:
~The players serve a function- And that function is not relying on your NPC's.
~There is no satisfaction in a game that's simply going from situation to situation with no real point.
~Never compromise the key points of the story.
~Sometimes the best way to get a player to straighten up is to attack something dear to him/her rather than to attack them directly.
~Motivating players can be as easy as taking something away from them.
~When a player gets to big for their britches, it's time for a lesson in humility.
~Don't allow criticals on Social interactions.
~Don't be afraid to use your players own tactics against them.
~You are both ally and enemy- And must be able to switch between the two.
~You must want your players to suceed, but you cannot simply give it to them.
~Min-Maxing must be routed and squashed as soon as it's detected.
~A players backstory should never be as important as the story told from level 1 on up.
~A GM must create a world that is interactive.




To Players:
~Your actions have consequences.
~Just because you are who you are, do not expect everyone in the world to think you're made of gold.
~Your enemies can be set on fire, but so can you.
~Being a hero isn't always about what you stand to gain, but rather what you are willing to sacrifice.
~There's nothing fun about cake-walking through a mission.

[klaatu]

I noticed long ago that the more detailed my plans as GM, the less of the details I would use.  If I'm doing my job right, after all, the players are all there to be creative.

My GMing style now is to have a firm grasp on the character and motivations of the NPCs and NPC groups, and for games like Shadowrun a good idea of floor plans, other building tennants, etc., and no real idea how the PCs can win.

I find this works well for everyone.  I don't waste a lot of time on details that won't be used, and the time I do spend is reusable; if they never meet one of the NPCs, (s)he can be recast later.  The players, on the other hand, get to find creative solutions to the scenario, and watch the GM sweat a bit as I figure out NPC responses to PC actions.  (And it always feels good to make the GM sweat.)

Also, I get the entertainment of watching them try to guess what I want them to do.

[Shallazar]

I discovered today the power of taking a break.
Like an intermission, well timed, it really rejuvenates a failing game.

[codered]

I know its best to plan in the bs session in the beginning of the game. the ppl I game with show up at 3 pm and we don't start until 5 pm if were lucky most of the time we leave to get food at 5 pm so the games start at like 6:30 .......yes 3 and a half hours of bs time but the best part is that once we start we don't stop till we fall asleep at the table.