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TinyMushroom
2013-12-04, 04:57 AM
Hey, over christmas break I'm going to try and be a GM. The system is GURPS lite (as it's not as intimidating as for example D&D), but none of us has ever played a tabletop RPG so I can't really ask any of them for advice.

I'm not quite sure how to go about setting up the plot of a campaign, or where I should even start. Do the more experienced GMs of giantitp have any advice to offer?

Any other general advice would be appreciated as well :smallsmile:

Rhynn
2013-12-04, 10:05 AM
Not sure why GURPS seems less intimidating to you than D&D - it's got more pages of more thickly-laid rules than most any edition of D&D, and requires a lot of going-over to pick out the rules you want to use...

Anyway, it's easy: create an environment (a ruined tower, an ocean liner, a town under siege, whatever), come up with something that's happening (a murder, a hostile takeover, a dragon is lying on a pile of treasure, whatever), create the relevant non-player characters, and then think of ways for the PCs to get involved.

Start small; create something to do rather than envisaging some grand epic story. Especially when you're inexperienced.

BWR
2013-12-04, 10:34 AM
I would pick up a copy of the "Game Mastery Guide" for Pathfinder. It's a bit focused on Pathfinder and D&D in general, but the mechanics there are minimal and not necessary.

What you do get is a lot of theoretical and practical information on how to build worlds, design campaigns, run sessions, how to manage players, how to organize everything etc. etc. It's designed mostly for new DMs but even experienced DMs might find something useful there. While it assumes a D&D-ish sort of world, most of the tips and hints apply to any GM and any setting.

TinyMushroom
2013-12-04, 10:49 AM
Not sure why GURPS seems less intimidating to you than D&D - it's got more pages of more thickly-laid rules than most any edition of D&D, and requires a lot of going-over to pick out the rules you want to use...


Actually, we're using GURPS lite, so there's only like 40 pages of manual. Maybe I should've said that...

Anyway, thanks for the advice, guys.

Airk
2013-12-04, 10:51 AM
Not sure why GURPS seems less intimidating to you than D&D - it's got more pages of more thickly-laid rules than most any edition of D&D, and requires a lot of going-over to pick out the rules you want to use...

Was gonna say - you might want to consider a system that's designed a little more with beginners in mind, but that depends on what your goal for the game is.



Anyway, it's easy: create an environment (a ruined tower, an ocean liner, a town under siege, whatever), come up with something that's happening (a murder, a hostile takeover, a dragon is lying on a pile of treasure, whatever), create the relevant non-player characters, and then think of ways for the PCs to get involved.

Start small; create something to do rather than envisaging some grand epic story. Especially when you're inexperienced.

This is all super good advice, especially considering this is something you're just going to be running over Christmas break (so you don't want something that's going to take more than 1-2 sessions to resolve.).

Essentially, you need an Interesting Situation. What makes an Interesting Situation? Usually:

A setting - a location, time, and 'world'. This can be as simple as "A village in an unnamed kingdom in Generic Fantasy World. During the summer." or as complex as you want, but the universal guideline of "Keep it simple" means you really shouldn't construct more than necessary.
Some people with a problem ("There is a dragon eating our cows!" "My daughter has been kidnapped by bandits!" "The undead army is on our doorstep!" "Someone has stolen the MacGuffin of Power!")
A reason for the characters to get involved. (They come from the village? The rich merchant offers a handsome reward for the return of his daughter? The undead will feast upon their brains if they win?) - note. This is easier if you have vague ideas of who the characters are. I strongly suggest that you come up with some guidelines for character creation so that you don't end up with something implausible or awkward here. (A bunch nonhuman PCs from an all human village, or a bunch of evil PCs when you are counting on their being the good guys.)

From there? You'll want to make some educated guesses about how the players will want to approach the situation, and work out some information on what you'll need to handle the likely approaches.

Another important question to ask is what your goal is for the game. Not what the "goal of the adventure" is, but YOUR goal, for running the game. i.e. "What will make this game a success?" While, most likely, your first thought here is "If everyone has a good time", that's a little too vague. Is it okay if everyone dies as long as it was a valiant effort? Or would you like to really aim for success? Is this going to be a good, old fashioned door-kicking experience where the 'plot' is mostly a setup for lots of fighting? Or are you going to try to weave a clever little story in? Are the players expected to work together?

In fact, I'm going to suggest that you go over the Same Page Tool (http://bankuei.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/the-same-page-tool/); It's your game, so you pick the choices you want for YOUR game. And then you TELL the players. You don't have to shove the checklist in their faces or anything, especially as they're new, but you'll have a much better chance of having a successful game if you start off by saying, "Okay guys. This game is going to be a slightly gritty fantasy, but we're all working together to play a fun game, about how your characters sacrifice to save the day. So I don't want there to be any backstabbing each other. I'm not your "opponent" - we're all trying to make a good story happen, so I might fudge things for greater dramatic impact. I'm looking for a party of heroes who may seem gritty, but I expect everyone to have a heart of gold under there somewhere."

One of the biggest keys to a successful game is making sure that everyone knows what the goal of the game is so they can all work together to make it happen.

TinyMushroom
2013-12-04, 11:27 AM
I edited the intro post to prevent any more misunderstandings due to me forgetting to type an extra word :smalltongue:

Rhynn
2013-12-04, 12:29 PM
BTW, if you find you can't think of an interesting situation, here are all 36 RPG plots ever (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/plots.htm).:smallwink: