PDA

View Full Version : DM Help New game in an hour and no idea.



Alberic Strein
2014-04-15, 10:53 AM
So yeah, after a 6 months hiatus, the campaign is starting again (sorta) and... Well, Last week I thought I would find something to say before the game, yesterday I thought I would do it today, and today I thought I would do it now. The only issue is that I have absolutely no idea what to cook up.

Namely, I have no idea how to make things interesting. The combat system of our game (MRQII) is boring, and they don't enjoy it that much. Campaign wise, they resolved a major issue last session. They have no investigation related skills, and sub par diplomacy ones. They like the world but not to be challenged, and have troubles thinking up solutions.

Help?

hymer
2014-04-15, 11:07 AM
Call everyone and tell them. Break out the group's favourite board game if you meet (and you probably should). Apologize without reservation. Buy the pizza tonight. And have a conversation about where you all want to go from here so this doesn't happen again.

Edit: You might even make it character creation night for the new campaign and/or game which you choose in plenum specifically to avoid the problems of the current campaign.

Airk
2014-04-15, 11:34 AM
Call everyone and tell them. Break out the group's favourite board game if you meet (and you probably should). Apologize without reservation. Buy the pizza tonight. And have a conversation about where you all want to go from here so this doesn't happen again.

This is good, honest advice. It sortof sounds like you're a bit adrift in terms of directions to take the game.

What have they been doing up until now? What motivated them? Can there be any "fallout" from their resolution?

Also, don't take any options off the table. If they're not digging the combat system, maybe you should all try another system unless there's something about this one that is really making things happen?

Alberic Strein
2014-04-15, 11:44 AM
That's some great advice right there.

What have they been doing up till now > Chasing some plot coupons to thwart the end of the world as we know it. There are 7 plot coupons, they've finally got one.
What motivated them > My boundless charisma? Seriously I have no idea. The willingness to play the game and to see the situation unfold, I suppose. Their enjoyment of the game.
Fallout from their resolution > They ended a civil war. Yes, there will be a fallout. But they disliked the whole "civil war" plot (made them feel powerless) so I can't exactly bank on that.

System > I thought about switching to Warhammer Roleplay, but it's mighty expensive, and we lose a lot of the "magic" component that they have right now. The main issue with switching games is that they've been playing this one for years. So their characters are complex and hard to transpose.

BWR
2014-04-15, 12:01 PM
Don't just change system, change settings and stories as well. Try something genuinely new. Make sure they understand it doesn't mean they have to abandon their other characters and campaign, just that you're taking a break from it because of burnout and not quite knowing where to go from there. Look up some other games (preferably very different in tone from what you've been doing so far), make suggestions about what games you'd like to try and hear if they have any suggestions or reservations.

Chances are they will be cool with it.

Airk
2014-04-15, 12:12 PM
Don't just change system, change settings and stories as well. Try something genuinely new. Make sure they understand it doesn't mean they have to abandon their other characters and campaign, just that you're taking a break from it because of burnout and not quite knowing where to go from there. Look up some other games (preferably very different in tone from what you've been doing so far), make suggestions about what games you'd like to try and hear if they have any suggestions or reservations.

Chances are they will be cool with it.

Yes. Especially if you couch it as "Let's explore some new games as a way to get the creative juices flowing again. No commitment, just some one shots, and we can go back to the campaign any time."

Don't waste your time on a huge heavy game that costs a lot of money though. If you can't play it with at MOST two books, it's way too expensive to experiment with.

Also, if they've been playing the game for years, what do they like about it? I'm not actually getting any sort of a "this system is a good fit for this play group" vibe.

ElenionAncalima
2014-04-15, 12:53 PM
I agree with a lot of what has been said.

If you don't feel inspired by the campaign and the players aren't enjoying themselves, starting something new would probably be for the best.

Make tonight about discussing as a group what time of game and/or system everyone is interested in and maybe making characters.

Alberic Strein
2014-04-15, 03:14 PM
Ok, so this happened.

I asked my players "what do you like about the system" and... "Errrrr..." "Can we think about that later?" were my answers. They don't know what they like about it. Or, maybe, I've been GM Ruling things so hard that it's not even MRQII anymore and they don't really see it as the system anymore.

Also, I would like to apologize to Hymer and you all.

Your advice was definitely the best back-up plan a DM could have.

However, since I'm a big fat coward, I let it as a back-up, the main plan being "man up and improvise something!" So I did. We could only play for three hours, during which we caught up, since we hadn't seen each other in a while, and since it was dinner time, I had to cook while I was exposing some background, re-giving them some information they might have forgotten and such... So yeah, I just went in with no plan. Luckily, there was so much to say and so little time that it worked, paving the way to the second plot coupon and dealing with some random (but long to process) things.

I don't know how I'm going to go about the second plot coupon, but we played and, well, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Airk
2014-04-15, 03:44 PM
Welp, it's good that it worked out, but I'm a little concerned that you haven't really solved anything, just kinda pushed the problems down the road a bit.

I still recommend a "take a break night", preferably combined with a play of another game, but that's just me.

hymer
2014-04-16, 06:00 AM
I don't think you owe me any apologies, AS. That said, I tend to agree with Airk.

On the answers to 'What do you like about our system', don't forget the risk of the inability to articulate the good things. If I was asked about my favourite system I might be able to cobble together some sort of reply, but there'd be no guarantees. It would probably be a lot of 'compared to X, compared to Y'.

Jornophelanthas
2014-04-16, 07:55 AM
Could it be that these players have never really played anything other than MRQII (which I don't know anything about), and are unable to distinguish between the activity of roleplaying and the specific rule set? Also, if this is the only campaign/setting they have ever played in during all these years, perhaps they even can't distinguish between roleplaying, rules and setting.

It would be like asking a fish if the seawater tastes good.

Airk
2014-04-16, 09:50 AM
Could it be that these players have never really played anything other than MRQII (which I don't know anything about), and are unable to distinguish between the activity of roleplaying and the specific rule set? Also, if this is the only campaign/setting they have ever played in during all these years, perhaps they even can't distinguish between roleplaying, rules and setting.

It would be like asking a fish if the seawater tastes good.

This is a super legitimate point, and IMHO, really drives home how important it is to try some new games in an experimental capacity. You've got the equivalent of people who've been playing Monopoly at board game night for years and aren't even sure why.

If I had to make some recommendations, I might venture:

"Everyone" loves Fiasco ($12 PDF, $22 DTF); GMless, prep-less, very genre flexible, stretches the improv muscles hard. You can argue that it's "not an RPG" but it's a close relative.
Dungeon World ($10 PDF, $25 DTF, Free SRD, though I'm not sure what's in it); a good starting off point for exploring "different" styles of games while staying in the comfy "D&D style fantasy" milieu. Also generally full of stuff that will help make you a better GM even if you don't play the system.
Tenra Bansho Zero ($14 PDF, $50 for super shiny DTF); This one is a bit more 'out there' than Dungeon World, both in terms of setting and mechanics, but it's such a well integrated game that I have a hard time NOT recommending it.

I'm sure there are other good ideas, but those seem like good options.