The Colors of Magic - Available Now

December 21, 2012

The Scout Motto

"Be Prepared" is the scout motto, and it's just as valuable a motto for the game table as the Appalachian Trail.  Even GMs who run their games extemporaneously, you'll find, have done quite a lot of preparation.

I accrue paper.  I write up handouts to keep the players from asking questions about things they should have written down.  I build props -- especially props of anything written.  I draw pictures and maps, and download graphics off the internet for handouts.  I learned from a fellow GM that if you show the players a photo of a person who you think looks like your NPC, that NPC sticks in their heads a lot better.  "Oh, it's that detective who looks like Wesley Snipes."

I also organize things.  I use folders, baggies, and tupperware to sort handouts, stats, maps, tokens, map tiles, etc.  Obviously D&D has a lot more junk than other games, so for a game like Vampire, I don't need the baggies and tupperware.  I'm naturally somewhat disorganized, being an ENTP on the Myers-Briggs scale; so I also tend to lose stuff a lot, even despite this effort; though I think my job has been making me better at it.

I know GMs who are very different from me as well.

Some GMs scribble relationship maps on scrap paper, make song playlists for their NPCs, or write short stories about them.  If you've designed a game about NPCs working against each other, it may actually be more valuable to write stories about them to get their quirks, personalities, motives, and mannerisms clear and cemented in your head than to write out stats, draw maps of potential battle zones, give them equipment, etc.  Far better, I think.  I mean, you can ad-lib stats, too, right?

What this says to me is that not only do we GMs have a personal prep strategy; we also tend to vary it based on the game.  Like all things we do, we should be intentional about it.  So think about what your game is about.  That should tell you the things you need to be ready for the most:

(Note: When designing a whole campaign, this strategy can help you pick a system!)

Is the game about daring adventure?  Then preparing skill DCs and combat stats is important.  You need the players to feel that sense of danger and you need to offer them risky strategies that really pay off, and that takes some real work.

Is the game about intrigue and scheming?  Then you need to get into the heads of your NPCs.  Maybe you write short stories, or write letters and prop notes in their voice.  Maybe you spend time finding pictures of people who look like them on a google image search.  Maybe you design a villain based on a Bond villain and rent the film to get the mannerisms right.

So how about you?

What's your preferred prep strategy?

Have you ever found yourself using a very different strategy because the game called for it?

December 10, 2012

Conceptual White Space

So you're trying to flesh out the setting of your game.  Maybe you're just trying to describe a sleek, futuristic office building that your Shadowrunners are breaking into.  Maybe you're trying to describe the barony that your medieval fantasy heroes are travelling through to stop some bandits.  Maybe you're describing a ruin that your pulp heroes have discovered in Axis-fortified North Africa.

I'm going to give you some quick tools to build verisimilitude with a high degree of efficiency.  That is, with these tips, you can make the setting feel rich and real without writing volumes; or if you're inclined to write volumes, you can still use these tips to make every word tell a story.

December 5, 2012

The Maltese Falcon


Hooks and character motivations are powerful things.  I want to use The Maltese Falcon to describe the difference, since that's what it's about.


This post has spoilers for an 82 year old story.  
Go watch or read The Maltese Falcon if you haven't -- it's short and won't take long -- then come back!


A lot of GMs use cliched adventure game tropes such as fetch quests, bug hunts, boss fights, dungeon crawls, matryoshka doll quests, and isolation scenarios.  These cliches are great!

Wait, what?