Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Ghostse]

I've never done FASERIP and was largely unaware of the system until I googled it based on your post (I think it might have come up before, but my brain dropped it) so I can't give you anything specific to help out there. But I can give some general advice.

I'm honestly more used to this sort of reactive improv than I am to normal storytelling, due to a variety of factors going back over a decade, so I'm hoping my weaknesses don't lie in that...

Sounds like you're already pretty well there. You have

I'll give you two of the better pieces of general GM advice:

First, from Gygax himself, its important to keep fairly rigorous track of time. Note how long it takes to go places or do things, and what it takes/cost to go there. This not to say that you can never mess with these numbers - in fact, you should alter them readily - but that when you do so, you should have a REASON for why.
Example, it takes 30 minutes in normal traffic to go from your HQ to UN.
Lets say things have wound up in the story that in 15 minutes, so big event is going happen at the UN. Rigorous Timekeeping isn't saying that they should miss the event (though maybe they should), it is saying when they make it in 15 minutes, there should be a reason - their driver takes a short cut, they find a street shutdown for local festival they can take, they take a helicopter instead.
Flipside of that, maybe you want the players to take longer than 30 minutes to make the trip. Maybe there is and accident, or some group of mooks ambushes them.
The point is that doing this ups the drama and engagement because it doesn't just seem like a videogame where cutscenes don't trigger until you enter the room.

Second, at the end of the day even the crunchiest system is about playing make-believe as an adult. The only thing that gives the actions of your Imaginary Friends meaning is the consequences of those actions. When you try to ignore bad rolls (or good ones) you take that meaning from the game and the world it is in.
So, never fudge your rolls as a DM. And then when you do fudge your rolls, make sure you do so intentionally and never let the players know you did.

The dice are not what run the game, you are. But the dice are how you interpret them. Respect the dice, but remember they are a tool and you are the craftsman - they are your servant, not your master.

and course, don't forget GM rule zero:
You are the GM. Your power is absolute. Don't let the players forget it or bully you. Its your world, they are fortunate to be permitted to visit.
Of course its a fine line, no one likes an autistic dictator railroading players through their magic realm. So you need to learn the fine art of being a Benevolent Dictator.

Even if you're experienced they'll tend to let shit slide so long as you aren't an asshole about it and everyone is having fun. I've been permaDM'd for years with my group and I'll straight up tell them "I'm too lazy to look it up right now so we'll just do it like this for now" and if they have any objections I'll hear them but my word is still final.

@Sleazy Car Salesman nails it here.
You are judge and executioner. There is nothing wrong with listening to player objections, or even away from the table doing some reading to figure out you were wrong and reversing a decision, but you need to make it clear that your ruling is final.
And sometimes, its ok for God to take a mulligan. "We're going to run it like this for now because I'm not looking up the rule right now".

And if you need to reverse a decision or choice, try to only do that between sessions not mid-game.

...on a slightly related note, are silly voices required? I'm no good at those.

No, but you need to make sure the party knows who they are talking to. In person, I will often give important NPCs some sort of obvious-but-not-exagerated physical mannerism - tenting fingers, waving hands, leaning on imaginary canes, leaning back aloofly and refusing to look directly at them, a large Used Car smile, etc - that I'll adapt when voicing that character to make it more readily apparent who I'm talking to (it also helps me get/stay in character I've found).
Over Zoom I'll usually at least do some sort of pitch correction or accent.
Again, the main point is to make it easy for players know who is speaking.

If you don't have any faith in your ability to do this, and that might be necessary depending on the quality of audio setups with voice, you can just take the Mulligan and simply..... go about it like you're reading them a storytime book.
" 'Well I wasn't sure you'd make it' Capeshito said, darkly. 'I but I can promise you that you are still too late.' his voice gaining in confidence."

Would it still be okay to post that kind of stuff? Or would I need to make it more understandable to warrant it being more than just spam?

Spoiler tags exist for a reason.

 

[AnOminous]

First, from Gygax himself, its important to keep fairly rigorous track of time. Note how long it takes to go places or do things, and what it takes/cost to go there. This not to say that you can never mess with these numbers - in fact, you should alter them readily - but that when you do so, you should have a REASON for why.

I have to admit to having routinely dumbed down time. I promise I had reasons though.

 

[Adamska]

Time is mostly critical if you have something like a ticking clock. But it is at least a good idea to pay attention to how the world would shift in time, be it due to player actions or due to the actors at play. I tend to treat it softer than Gygax ever would, but you do have to factor and move it around.

As for running a game? I tend to have maybe two sessions of material to work with. Rule of thumb is have at least a few maps ready. Nothing stupidly developed, just have like two or three as needed. Have a rough outline if you suck at on the fly material, and then just wing it from there.

It's just something you get better at/competent at by doing usually.

 

[Ghostse]

Just wing it. Make stuff up. You'll be fine. Try to remember being ten and having an imagination, and let that part of you run things.

And don't forget to leverage your players for ideas. Not every retarded idea that enters their empty munchkin skulls should pan out, but if they come up with something good, go with it.

There was some Youtube GM who said he'd give players challenges/puzzles and the solution would be the first thing they came up with.
This is a terrible idea and them saying thatwas a big factor in why I told Youtube stop suggesting their videos to me, as just running on pure bullshit works for a time but never lasts and the seams will start to show, but there's some gold in that pile of shit.

Namely, Listen to your players and be willing to flex. If they come up with something reasonable as a solution, lean into it; even if it what they try doesn't "work" maybe it at least helps them on their way. Maybe if they try to breakdown the doors of the tomb it doesn't work, but maybe when they pound on the stone doors, it makes some of the carvings on the wall pop out slightly....

Or maybe all the noise they makes attracts a group of orcs, or a patrol of the evil wizard's underlings and wouldjalookitthat , they have a key on them made of the same sort of stone.....

I just dm'ed for the first time last week and I had like 15 minutes setting up the VTT and winged the entire session. I didnt do great but my players said they had a fun time, you need to remember that you arent some actor like on youtube and your players want to roll dice and have fun. If they know you are new they will let stuff slide.

TRIGGERED.
When Critical Role was super hot, god dammit the number of players at oneshot nights who expected their own personal Critical Role and would check out to watch their phones when they realized normal games aren't scripted was out of the fucking world.

 

[WhatIsThePunchline]

Some help with DMing in general is also appreciated. Thanks muchly

You're over preparing.

If you are a first time gm run a small bare bones adventure for a couple of evenings to try things out and learn.

 

[Mr. Manchester]

I just dm'ed for the first time last week and I had like 15 minutes setting up the VTT and winged the entire session. I didnt do great but my players said they had a fun time, you need to remember that you arent some actor like on youtube and your players want to roll dice and have fun. If they know you are new they will let stuff slide.

I don't know where I heard it but someone once said that if you care about people having fun you're already doing a good job. There's a certain merit to winging a session, you get ideas you normally wouldn't because you didn't over prep. A general sense of your world and what's going on then shooting from the hip can result in some of the best sessions possible in my experience. Kind of hard to tell when you're in that position because you're firing at all cylinders and it's kind of stressful, but if your players told you they had fun I'd be willing to bet they meant it.

 

[Konigsberg]

Retarded baby has never DM'd before but recently got the chance to do so in about a month. She has spent the last four days trying to learn a system completely new to her (Advanced FASERIP) so that she can DM it and would like some help with finding online resources and figuring out the combat/traversal systems. Some help with DMing in general is also appreciated. Thanks muchly

I think it's important to keep in mind that the DM is going to be learning both the game and their party's dynamics as the game goes on, so don't worry about getting it all done perfectly up front.

For example, my party and I almost always do a new game for campaigns, so we're all learning the game together at the same time. I tell my players up front I am not an encyclopedia and I don't know all the rules right away, and I don't expect them to either. Start your campaign with the most basic rules of the system, and slowly introduce other mechanics as the game goes along. This gives you and your players time to learn the game through actually playing instead of studying the rule system like its a math exam.

Lots of good advice in your replies here and previously in this thread through similar questions. You'll do fine, just remember to have fun.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Another part of me is screaming at myself that I'm overpreparing and I should just start with the one premise for the party's meeting that I have and go from there,

Then do it. Overprepare. As long as it's fun or makes you feel better. Just know you might have to throw a lot of it out.

When it comes to "improv", it's not making the whole game up on the spot. It's being able to adapt to the players choices without slowing the game to a crawl.

An "improv" tip I haven't seen mentioned, and maybe this doesn't work for FASERIP, but the concept of the generic statblock, "just use bears", "room DC", "the three numbers of DnD" and other names for the same concept. Basically, have the generic target number. In 5e this is 15. Savage Worlds it's 4. The basic idea if you need a number and you haven't prepared. Just use that.

A dragon breathes fire on a party? The AC of an orc? How hard is it to climb this wall? Whip out the generic target number.

"Just use bears" is a similar concept with monsters. The stat block of bear, bandit, or goblin/kobold can be used for 95% of monsters and players likely won't notice. For super heroes, have a generic goon and villain stat block handy?


Another trap not to fall into. Don't have a die roll (even an easy one) for something the campaign hinges on. If they need to make a tracking roll to follow the bad guys to their base, and the tracker wiffs the roll, it's game over.

"plots"

A favourite of a DM friend is he doesn't write the plot for the heroes. He writes how the villains plan would work if the heroes didn't interfere. Everything else follows logically.

Which clichés? "The party walks into a bar?"

There's a YouTube channel I like (can be a bit cringe at times) that has a fantastic series about great cliche RPG adventure hooks. Not useful for you right now, but in future, maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaZDQmxCRMJG4xhYnwIDQAfOXFSdopcAx

---

One of the best things about RPG is listening to people's stories to steal some ideas for our own campaigns.

I've been struggling with a liminal space/modern horror one-shot campaign/adventures. I was tempted to post them here for some feedback, but not sure if that would be rude or cringe. If you want to steal them (or better yet, give feedback) I'd be happy to.

I think it's neat.

Won't be the first time I've been sold a game in the worst way possible.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

And this is part of the thing about being an absolutely tyrannical dictator. You pretty much HAVE to do this as a GM. But if you're a retard about it, everyone leaves and your game dies. So you really have to be a benevolent tyrant. Your final word has to be something that everyone more or less agrees with. In short, if you go whizzard or something, you're getting punched in the face.

My rule at my table has always been that I am the DM and my word is final. You are free to try to argue with me, and if you present a good argument I may change my mind and see things your way, but if you argue with me and I tell you no then the case is closed and you shall not argue with me any further because my word is the final word.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

There was some Youtube GM who said he'd give players challenges/puzzles and the solution would be the first thing they came up with.

I've never done this exact thing as a DM, but I've done something similar where the party/player came up with a clever solution that wasn't correct but it would have worked and so I just gave it to them. If someone impresses me (in a good way) on a puzzle solution I'm willing to be somewhat flexible on it.

But NEVER EVER EVER TELL THE PLAYERS THAT YOU HAVE DONE THIS.

 

[demicolon]

This ensconces him as the undisputed God-Emperor of all of reality. He then rebuilds all of reality in his own image, turning it into an eternal, inescapable realm of torment and suffering from which there is no escape, no end, and no hope. Good job, retards.

TEEEEED!!!
...how did it feel to duel on the single thing that could stop me? Did you feel brave running away into it, or smart knowing your so-called friends will force you out, destroying it in the process? Heheheh... do not cry, I have a little game for you to play! It's a kind of a puzzle based on your memories I read while you were passed out. Do not think of me as an absolute tyrant because, if you solve it, I promise on my honour that I will permit you to finally kill yourself...

 

[Overly Serious]

@Anonitolia A few tips for a GM who has never done this before:

• Your plot is detailed and contains named heroes. Be careful not to treat the players like an audience to your story. They need to have an important role in it and for their actions to matter. It's part of their fun.
• Similarly, don't feel like you are the sole actor on the stage. Much of the fun will come from your players who even if you're the conductor, are still performers. Enjoy what the players do as much as they enjoy your GM'ing. If you're nervous there can be a tendency to grip tightly to control but you don't need to. Encourage your players to be creative and they'll reward you. Well, some of them will - there's always at least one that sits there like a lemon no matter what.
• Both of these points mean that you don't have to try and fill every part of this with your own plot and events. Players will come up with fun actions and you should be relaxed enough to roll with what they do a bit. You'll be surprised how what you expected to be a small scene can balloon into an hour of role-playing.
• Don't rush yourself when presenting a character or describing a place. With any sort of performance, it always feels like you're taking longer than it looks to your audience. Feel free to pause, breathe, finish the description you prepared. The ratio of time perception between a nervous performer and an audience is around 1.4x-2x to their 1. It seems far slower to a nervous person than not.
• Be prepared for irreverent players. You know that Stephen Strange is the most powerful sorceror on Earth and characters should be in awe of him. But a player might sass him or ask how he can cross the road with that giant collar blocking his peripheral vision. I'm not saying how you should prepare, but just be ready for players who don't immediately buy into your perspective or world. Maybe your style is to laugh with it. Maybe your style is to turn the player into a toad to maximise his wide-angle vision as he values it so much. But just be prepared for it. Otherwise it might frustrate you.

All those feel a little like more warning type advice. So some positive as well:

• Whatever you're using online, make sure you're able to draw and erase marks comfortably. Drawing lines is the primary skill of the GM. All else comes secondary to this. But seriously, make sure you know how to bring up a new piece of "paper" or scribble arrows on a map. Sounds silly but some virtual tables it can actually be quite unintuitive.
• Be ready to fall back to more primitive techniques as needed. I.e. don't waste half an hour trying to figure out how to get some attack to work with the software if you can accomplish the same with rolling the number of dice you know you need to and manually editing something on a character sheet. Sure, it's nice if everything works seamlessly. But if after five minutes of menus and clicking it doesn't, just do what works.
• Your prep time is finite. There will always be more you need to do than the time you have to do it. So prep the essential stuff first. For online play, that's making sure your mic works, the map displays, logins are set-up, you know how to send a secret message, whatever. For the adventure, it's making sure you have the early parts they'll actually encounter ready (see earlier about everything taking longer than you think to progress) and the NPCs they'll interact with fleshed out.
• Be ready to improvise. You can fix most messes you get yourself into, so don't be afraid to just wing it now and then.

...on a slightly related note, are silly voices required? I'm no good at those.

They are not required and most people aren't good at them. It is more immersive to talk in character, rather than "He says _____" and "She tells you that X". So most GMs end up with a bit of a mix of description and in-character dialogue. So I tend to be a selection of the following:

• Summarising a long conversation: "As he drinks his beer he begins to tell you the facts of the case, you learn that the killings were done by a [...]. Three pints and two-hours later he has shared all he knows" *hands players a fact sheet of names*
• Talking directly to a player character: "Where do you think you're going? <player response> "Oh, I don't think you are."
• An interactive scene: "The sphinx swipes at you with her paw for... 4 points of damage. As you see your own blood flying through the air, she laughs 'What turns white the more red it shows? Your corpse!' Roll your defence. "

I hope this helps. It's all more the meta stuff than specific game tips. But that might be more what you need. I think the most important advice is this: You don't have to be perfect.

 

[MazonLabs Recruitment Rep]

I've never done this exact thing as a DM, but I've done something similar where the party/player came up with a clever solution that wasn't correct but it would have worked and so I just gave it to them. If someone impresses me (in a good way) on a puzzle solution I'm willing to be somewhat flexible on it.

But NEVER EVER EVER TELL THE PLAYERS THAT YOU HAVE DONE THIS.

THIS RIGHT HERE.

If you can make this a rote in your GM'ing style, it makes the task worlds easier.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

THIS RIGHT HERE.

If you can make this a rote in your GM'ing style, it makes the task worlds easier.

Any time you need to bend rules as a DM you can NEVER let your players know what you're doing unless it becomes a legitimate point of contention. Don't let them know that you've made tweaks, just present the game normally unless someone raises a stink, then calmly, but firmly, explain your reasoning for doing so.

A big part of being a decent DM is the ability to tell people "no" but to do so in a way that is both authoritative but also sympathetic. You have to lend a listening ear and sometimes you need to play fast and loose, but never forget that it is ultimately your table and your rule must be law.

 

[AnOminous]

As for running a game? I tend to have maybe two sessions of material to work with. Rule of thumb is have at least a few maps ready. Nothing stupidly developed, just have like two or three as needed. Have a rough outline if you suck at on the fly material, and then just wing it from there.

I generally actually did the "stupidly developed" thing. My players were uncontrollable. They would just decide "fuck your plan we're just wandering off to do something else." Basically "we're just deliberately fucking up your game, got a cope?" And yes I did. I would always have a couple full blown scenarios and maybe a half dozen mini-scenarios, and I also had a hundred or so NPCs on index cards I could use.

So no matter what the players did, I always had something for them to play, even if they were deliberately breaking the game (something we all deliberately did to each other since we were all GMs and routinely played in each other's games).

Surely it's more dangerous to raid a tomb than quietly murder a shopkeep and his family, loot what's lootable, and arrange things to look like the house just burned down and they all died in the fire, right?

But this is EVIL. The paladin leading the party isn't going to let you do this. Plus if you got caught doing this, everyone would view you as heinous monsters and put you on the top of the most wanted list. So don't do stuff like this.

The investigative adventure where the clues make no sense and you get to roleplay out losing your damn mind sounds like one of those adventures that would be really fun, like my long-standing idea of a CoC adventure where there is no mythos and it is completely mundane, but in practice it is just incredibly frustrating and leaves you blue-balled as you are constantly waiting for the shoe to drop instead of realizing what is actually going on precisely because you cannot divorce the meta-knowledge of game you are playing. You are playing an investagative game to... INVESTIGATE! Just fucking around for god knows how many sessions is actively annoying, even if theoretically it sounds fun.

I actually had a lot of these in CoC but not boring. A lot of my scenarios with my immediate organized crime group were not even remotely eldritch, but car warfare (played in SJW Car Wars) about bootlegging, to raise money to buy guns. The party had LOTS of guns. Especially in the early part, it was mostly a game about bootlegging.

Any time you need to bend rules as a DM you can NEVER let your players know what you're doing unless it becomes a legitimate point of contention. Don't let them know that you've made tweaks, just present the game normally unless someone raises a stink, then calmly, but firmly, explain your reasoning for doing so.

I would fairly often cheat behind the GM shield and lie about dice rolls, but only in the favor of the players.

(This became so obvious once they asked "did you just cheat for us?" And I had to say "no I'm not going to admit to that." "Oh, so you did.")

 

[The Ugly One]

So, never fudge your rolls as a DM. And then when you do fudge your rolls, make sure you do so intentionally and never let the players know you did.

When we've been through five combats without a hit on the players, it's time for somebody to lose some blood.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I don’t know if the stickers were for my post as a whole, or just wanting to see the adventures I’m working on. So here’s the adventures. Feedback and ideas appreciated.

Spoiler: The tism

Context.
The adventures are a follow up of sorts to an action horror one-shot that was well received. That game was a simple 5 room dungeon, The PCs were office workers who end up in the basement fighting alien creatures. Turns out evil-corp had recovered a crashed UFO and was reverse engineering it to make products when it escaped. The PCs saved the day and called the authorities, but were black bagged for their trouble. Was a funnel like adventure where a few PCs got picked off.

I’ve considered a direct sequel, but my ideas (black bagged PCs sent on another mission, or evil-corp products running amok) never grabbed me enough to go through with a direct sequel.

I want something modern horror themed with some combat. Especially analogue horror or liminal space related, but it doesn’t have to be. As said previously, published adventures have a great hook but no follow through.


My ideas
Odyssey Tapes/VR: From some PbtA slop. The PCs are trying to solve the mystery of some Candle Cove like creepy TV show people remember. They find some tapes, watch them and then …make it up. I’m thinking maybe a persona like adventure where they’re pulled into fucked up TV land. A similar concept is them putting on some VR helmets and ending up in fucked up VR land.

Looping train/nightmare train: An obvious Exit 8 rip off. There was a good eberron adventure on a nightmare train, which was the result of the train being re-routed and going too close to the mournland. Having the train being too close to a silent hill like town might work as justification. Trying to make Exit 8 work as a TTRPG is a fools errand and instead I’d have things go all Resident Evil Zero instead.

Motel Adventure: A published adventure where the PCs are guests at a motel. A Delta Green operation to contain mold monsters is under way and the PCs are locked in their room for their own safety. The operation goes sideways and the PCs have to deal with it. The problem with this is the PCs have no motivation to do so.
Best I can think of it have a friendly PC get taken, but that’s also a stretch that the PCs will embark on a suicide mission to rescue them. That person having their car keys could be another motivator, but then why not leave on foot? The module has an infected wolf or similar animal that chases down the PCs if they try this. But that leaves an obvious plot hole.

And finally.
Backrooms/Silent Hill as dungeon crawl: An idea I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I have a good idea of how to do them, but people dislike, if not offended, by the concept. I’ve considered disguising it as an abandoned office or never ending hotel they find themselves in, but the basic idea is the same. Unlondon is another concept I've toyed with.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

I would fairly often cheat behind the GM shield and lie about dice rolls, but only in the favor of the players.

I once ran a 3e campaign where I spent 18 months rolling the dice and then ignoring the numbers completely on literally every single roll. Just DMed by "vibes" as the kids would say. My players either never caught on or were polite enough to not mention it.

 

[AnOminous]

I once ran a 3e campaign where I spent 18 months rolling the dice and then ignoring the numbers completely on literally every single roll. Just DMed by "vibes" as the kids would say. My players either never caught on or were polite enough to not mention it.

To be fair to myself in the "cheating in in the favor of the players" mode, I generally reserved it for when they actually made the right choice and somehow got a completely shit roll. It wasn't an escape from a bad decision so much as an escape from the right decision leading to a ludicrously bad result.

My rule at my table has always been that I am the DM and my word is final. You are free to try to argue with me, and if you present a good argument I may change my mind and see things your way, but if you argue with me and I tell you no then the case is closed and you shall not argue with me any further because my word is the final word.

The thing is, your final word has to be something EVERYONE AGREES WITH. You literally can't force your opinion on everyone. Your final word has to be something EVERYONE agrees with. So yes, as a GM, you are an absolute dictator, but guess what? All the players have to agree, or they will go away.

 

[Ghostse]

I once ran a 3e campaign where I spent 18 months rolling the dice and then ignoring the numbers completely on literally every single roll. Just DMed by "vibes" as the kids would say. My players either never caught on or were polite enough to not mention it.

Of my last campaigns I cheated for the players to try to move things along. And later on I realized that delivering the judgement of the dice would have been better and made a more interesting campaign, that's before we take into account the stakes.