Human Paragon 3
2010-04-28, 12:41 PM
I believe in taking a deeper look into the psychological aspects of the DM/Player relationship. Recently, I have been considering the weighty role of the DM. His job is to make sure the game progresses and that all of the players have fun. In order to do this, the DM must become a manager of sorts, keeping the players engaged, tracking hundreds of variables, developing an ongoing story and bringing to bare an incredible amount of control on the player's in-game environments.
This series of weekly conversations will serve as a forum to examine specific DMing/RPing issues, the intention of which is to help advanced DMs improve their games and promote conversation about game master theory.
I've decided to retroactively make a thread I started last week part 1 in this series. In a moment I'll post the part two thread.
Additionally, feel free to make use of this main thread to discuss general DMing concepts, ask questions to the playground or generally talk shop.
Part 1: Impossible Situations and PC Egos
(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149467)
Cliff Notes:
1) Always expect your players to attack. Even good roleplayers in clearly dodgy situations. Maybe "expect" is the wrong word, but certainly PLAN FOR your PCs attacking even against impossible odds, because there is a fair chance they will. They are PCs and this is D&D, and your instincts that they feel everything will be CR appropriate and that they are the conquering heroes is a good one. Describing an enemy as totally awesome and badass is a good idea, but PCs take on impossible every day, and this particular bad guy probably won't immediately stand out as worse than the huge dragon they killed last week (for example) even with a paragraph of intimidating prose attached to it.
2) Leave outs. There are many different kinds of enemies out there, and some admittedly have no reason to leave your party alive. Some hold a grudge, or are murdering bastards, or are hired killers, or maybe it's personal. In cases like these, you won't want to show your NPCs or monsters backing down and letting their prey go, so leave outs. Maybe there is a great hiding place nearby. Maybe another monster comes by and distracts the original monster. Maybe a friendly NPC can show up and rescue the PCs. Chances are I haven't mentioned the exact solution to your problem here, and you'll need to come up with one on your own, but leaving outs is usually a good idea. Whatever outs you do decide to leave, make them obvious. The last think you want is for a TPK followed by "Well, if you had passed your spot check you would have seen the auto-win artifact."
3) Sometimes, you just have to beat the party down. Hopefully this won't result in frequent TPKs. If it does, either you're doing something very wrong or your party is, or maybe your party just can't deal with/doesn't want a game where they often have to run from fights. But if you do it right, you will be able to put the PCs in their places and let them know, "Not this time, not against these guys." A swift beat down sends a message that there are baddies you can't beat in a way warnings, metagame knowledge, portents and friendly advice just can't manage. After one good smack down, they'll probably wise up.
4) Think about encounter design in a larger context. The advice of sending one difficult creature against the PCs which they barely beat or survive, then showing them a large group of the monsters is sound. If they know they were almost wiped out by one baddie, taking on 30 will be an obviously suicidal action, and they will run. Probably (See point #1). This becomes more difficult if the threat is a unique monster that the PCs have not yet encountered and does not use cohorts. Having a single, unbeatable monster like this, and then having the PCs encounter it, is generally a bad idea because you can't control your players' actions, and you should always expect them to attack (point #1 again!). If for some reason you must, always remember point 2.
5) Accept you're not in control. In the final analysis, DMs need to come to terms with the fact that they don't control everything, and some player decisions will lead to character death. Once you accept this, the players will have to accept it, too. Don't stress out about how they will know to run away. They'll figure it out, or they'll die. This is a harsh-but-true reality. If you've done your job, given fair warning and left outs (preferably multiple, obvious outs), you have nothing to feel bad about. The players are responsible for their characters lives, not you.
If you master the overwhelming encounter as a plot tool, the enjoyment of the game for everyone involved can be greatly increased. Sure, it's fun to take on all comers and end up on top, heroically crushing all who stand in your way, but it's fun to be afraid, too. That's why we like thrillers and horror movies and roller coasters. When the players are afraid of the very real possibility of character death, they will be more engaged and the game will be more exciting. And when they finally become strong enough (or get the maguffin) that will let them overcome the enemy, their victory will be all the sweeter.
Part 2: Keeping Players Engaged and Getting Them Hooked (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8392744#post8392744)
Cliff Notes:
Thanks to Valadi for help with this summary!
1) Give fun descriptions. Despite rumors to the contrary, the DM is the storyteller, and the way you tell a story is just as important as the individual plot points. Use your power of description to show the players why their characters are awesome, inside and out of combat.
2) Put your players in the drivers' seat. If you make the PC choices matter, and respond to their actions and interests, you make them an active part of the story, rather than passive observers. When the players feel that their actions have impact and their characters have agency in the world, they will be encouraged to be a more active part of the story. Using the backstory the players supply as story elements let you do this before the game even starts. If the PCs have NPCs in their lives/backstories, you can use this to everyone's advantage: the players get a story they are interested in because they themselves wrote it, and you don't have to write as many NPCs yourself. Once the game is under way, let players fill in the details. If they describe incidental setting elements, there's no reason not to run with it and make it part of their world. This also means listening to your players' table talk. Sometimes they have a better idea than YOU when it comes to an interesting plot twist. Use these! It will let them feel like they figured something cool out and solved a mystery while giving you a cool plot element to use.
3) Know your audience. Cater to your audience. This cannot be overstressed. If you already know your players going in to the game, then half the battle is already over. You know that 3 players love combat, 2 love intrigue and 1 is interested in roleplaying moral dilemmas, then you basically have your action ratio worked out ahead of time. If you don't know your audience well yet, watch them around the table and see how they respond, then give them more of what they like.
4) Pay attention to NPC details. When you stat out your NPCs, don't forget to give them a personality. Make them hate the BBEG for who he is, not just for being +2 CR higher than the other enemies. Populating the PCs world with other living, breathing beings with personalities, goals, dreams and fears goes a long way toward fully immersing your players. Suddenly, those orcs aren't just walking bags of XP, they're bullies and murderers who delight in torturing those weaker than themselves.
5) Manage the danger level of your sessions. You have to keep PCs alive long enough that the story can continue. You also need to threaten them enough that they take combat seriously. Both values of 'enough' will vary from group to group. (See also Pt. 3, Murder Death Kill (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8428659#post8428659))
DM's Miscellany
Expand player horizons. Give them something new to think about. Break genre conventions if you have to. Limit your rules lawyering. Rule of cool trumps rules as written. Challenge the PCs personally. Make them feel that there's a reason why that particular PC is in the party. Their character should have meaning/story that another adventurer wouldn't have.
Part 3: Murder Death Kill (Character Deaths in Your Campaign) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8428659#post8428659)
Cliff Notes:
Well, if there's anything we learned from this thread, it's that how to handle character death is purely subjective. Just about the only hard and fast rule that everybody can agree upon is: Don't make the DM/Player relation adversarial. As long as you're not actively trying to kill your PCs, things should go fine for your game.
However, character death and danger in general is a strong DMing tool that can be used to help create mood, atmosphere, tension or whatever else. How to use it is just a question of what you and your players actually want.
If you want to play a game where the PCs are the protagonists and they are fated big freaking heroes, then character death should be rare and resurrection common. If you want a gritty, high-tension game, and your players are OK with the risk, then you should make encounters dangerous and make resurrection hard or even impossible to come by.
If your game is more lighthearted, you might want to make it very difficult for PCs to die at all through the use of fiat or gimmicks.
However you decide to treat character death, just be aware of how it will effect the overall spirit of your game, ask your players what they're looking for, and tweak as necessary.
Part 4: Player vs. Player Conflict (How to Refocus or Resolve It) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8471930#post8471930)
Part 5: The Invisible Hand of the DM (How to nudge your players in the right direction, if there even is one) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8515781#post8515781)
Part 6: Victims, Villains, Bigwigs and Thugs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8605488#post8605488)
Part 7: Missing Persons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8758922#post8758922)
Part 8: Mano a Mano (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10448201#post10448201)
This series of weekly conversations will serve as a forum to examine specific DMing/RPing issues, the intention of which is to help advanced DMs improve their games and promote conversation about game master theory.
I've decided to retroactively make a thread I started last week part 1 in this series. In a moment I'll post the part two thread.
Additionally, feel free to make use of this main thread to discuss general DMing concepts, ask questions to the playground or generally talk shop.
Part 1: Impossible Situations and PC Egos
(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149467)
Cliff Notes:
1) Always expect your players to attack. Even good roleplayers in clearly dodgy situations. Maybe "expect" is the wrong word, but certainly PLAN FOR your PCs attacking even against impossible odds, because there is a fair chance they will. They are PCs and this is D&D, and your instincts that they feel everything will be CR appropriate and that they are the conquering heroes is a good one. Describing an enemy as totally awesome and badass is a good idea, but PCs take on impossible every day, and this particular bad guy probably won't immediately stand out as worse than the huge dragon they killed last week (for example) even with a paragraph of intimidating prose attached to it.
2) Leave outs. There are many different kinds of enemies out there, and some admittedly have no reason to leave your party alive. Some hold a grudge, or are murdering bastards, or are hired killers, or maybe it's personal. In cases like these, you won't want to show your NPCs or monsters backing down and letting their prey go, so leave outs. Maybe there is a great hiding place nearby. Maybe another monster comes by and distracts the original monster. Maybe a friendly NPC can show up and rescue the PCs. Chances are I haven't mentioned the exact solution to your problem here, and you'll need to come up with one on your own, but leaving outs is usually a good idea. Whatever outs you do decide to leave, make them obvious. The last think you want is for a TPK followed by "Well, if you had passed your spot check you would have seen the auto-win artifact."
3) Sometimes, you just have to beat the party down. Hopefully this won't result in frequent TPKs. If it does, either you're doing something very wrong or your party is, or maybe your party just can't deal with/doesn't want a game where they often have to run from fights. But if you do it right, you will be able to put the PCs in their places and let them know, "Not this time, not against these guys." A swift beat down sends a message that there are baddies you can't beat in a way warnings, metagame knowledge, portents and friendly advice just can't manage. After one good smack down, they'll probably wise up.
4) Think about encounter design in a larger context. The advice of sending one difficult creature against the PCs which they barely beat or survive, then showing them a large group of the monsters is sound. If they know they were almost wiped out by one baddie, taking on 30 will be an obviously suicidal action, and they will run. Probably (See point #1). This becomes more difficult if the threat is a unique monster that the PCs have not yet encountered and does not use cohorts. Having a single, unbeatable monster like this, and then having the PCs encounter it, is generally a bad idea because you can't control your players' actions, and you should always expect them to attack (point #1 again!). If for some reason you must, always remember point 2.
5) Accept you're not in control. In the final analysis, DMs need to come to terms with the fact that they don't control everything, and some player decisions will lead to character death. Once you accept this, the players will have to accept it, too. Don't stress out about how they will know to run away. They'll figure it out, or they'll die. This is a harsh-but-true reality. If you've done your job, given fair warning and left outs (preferably multiple, obvious outs), you have nothing to feel bad about. The players are responsible for their characters lives, not you.
If you master the overwhelming encounter as a plot tool, the enjoyment of the game for everyone involved can be greatly increased. Sure, it's fun to take on all comers and end up on top, heroically crushing all who stand in your way, but it's fun to be afraid, too. That's why we like thrillers and horror movies and roller coasters. When the players are afraid of the very real possibility of character death, they will be more engaged and the game will be more exciting. And when they finally become strong enough (or get the maguffin) that will let them overcome the enemy, their victory will be all the sweeter.
Part 2: Keeping Players Engaged and Getting Them Hooked (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8392744#post8392744)
Cliff Notes:
Thanks to Valadi for help with this summary!
1) Give fun descriptions. Despite rumors to the contrary, the DM is the storyteller, and the way you tell a story is just as important as the individual plot points. Use your power of description to show the players why their characters are awesome, inside and out of combat.
2) Put your players in the drivers' seat. If you make the PC choices matter, and respond to their actions and interests, you make them an active part of the story, rather than passive observers. When the players feel that their actions have impact and their characters have agency in the world, they will be encouraged to be a more active part of the story. Using the backstory the players supply as story elements let you do this before the game even starts. If the PCs have NPCs in their lives/backstories, you can use this to everyone's advantage: the players get a story they are interested in because they themselves wrote it, and you don't have to write as many NPCs yourself. Once the game is under way, let players fill in the details. If they describe incidental setting elements, there's no reason not to run with it and make it part of their world. This also means listening to your players' table talk. Sometimes they have a better idea than YOU when it comes to an interesting plot twist. Use these! It will let them feel like they figured something cool out and solved a mystery while giving you a cool plot element to use.
3) Know your audience. Cater to your audience. This cannot be overstressed. If you already know your players going in to the game, then half the battle is already over. You know that 3 players love combat, 2 love intrigue and 1 is interested in roleplaying moral dilemmas, then you basically have your action ratio worked out ahead of time. If you don't know your audience well yet, watch them around the table and see how they respond, then give them more of what they like.
4) Pay attention to NPC details. When you stat out your NPCs, don't forget to give them a personality. Make them hate the BBEG for who he is, not just for being +2 CR higher than the other enemies. Populating the PCs world with other living, breathing beings with personalities, goals, dreams and fears goes a long way toward fully immersing your players. Suddenly, those orcs aren't just walking bags of XP, they're bullies and murderers who delight in torturing those weaker than themselves.
5) Manage the danger level of your sessions. You have to keep PCs alive long enough that the story can continue. You also need to threaten them enough that they take combat seriously. Both values of 'enough' will vary from group to group. (See also Pt. 3, Murder Death Kill (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8428659#post8428659))
DM's Miscellany
Expand player horizons. Give them something new to think about. Break genre conventions if you have to. Limit your rules lawyering. Rule of cool trumps rules as written. Challenge the PCs personally. Make them feel that there's a reason why that particular PC is in the party. Their character should have meaning/story that another adventurer wouldn't have.
Part 3: Murder Death Kill (Character Deaths in Your Campaign) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8428659#post8428659)
Cliff Notes:
Well, if there's anything we learned from this thread, it's that how to handle character death is purely subjective. Just about the only hard and fast rule that everybody can agree upon is: Don't make the DM/Player relation adversarial. As long as you're not actively trying to kill your PCs, things should go fine for your game.
However, character death and danger in general is a strong DMing tool that can be used to help create mood, atmosphere, tension or whatever else. How to use it is just a question of what you and your players actually want.
If you want to play a game where the PCs are the protagonists and they are fated big freaking heroes, then character death should be rare and resurrection common. If you want a gritty, high-tension game, and your players are OK with the risk, then you should make encounters dangerous and make resurrection hard or even impossible to come by.
If your game is more lighthearted, you might want to make it very difficult for PCs to die at all through the use of fiat or gimmicks.
However you decide to treat character death, just be aware of how it will effect the overall spirit of your game, ask your players what they're looking for, and tweak as necessary.
Part 4: Player vs. Player Conflict (How to Refocus or Resolve It) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8471930#post8471930)
Part 5: The Invisible Hand of the DM (How to nudge your players in the right direction, if there even is one) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8515781#post8515781)
Part 6: Victims, Villains, Bigwigs and Thugs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8605488#post8605488)
Part 7: Missing Persons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8758922#post8758922)
Part 8: Mano a Mano (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10448201#post10448201)