#gming tips

[rollforfelicity]

If you want to be a really good GM who seems like they plot things waaaaay in advance and are really good at foreshadowing, the best thing you can do is re-watch your own games (or take really good notes) and keep pulling from what's already happened.

It's really hard to intentionally foreshadow something in a TTRPG because you never know what players will do or how things will change, but it's really easy to SEEM like you foreshadowed something by just pulling on a thread that already happened.

(This, btw, is what the writers of Adventure Time did. A lot of stuff from early seasons that comes back wasn't planned, it's just that the writers were really good about looking back at what they had already done and developing it more, or building off a line that seemed like a throwaway at the time.)

[just-tabletop-things]

GM Advice: Uses for Candles in Horror RPGs

When you start the game, light some candles and turn out the lights. Now, you have a few options. 1. Whenever the players make a major advancement in the plot, blow out a candle. By the end of the game, they’ll all be huddled around that last candle, wondering what will happen to their characters if it goes out. 2. Have each candle be of varying length, so they run down one at a time. Every time a candle runs out, something terrible happens. Save the candles that survive and keep them for the next session. Your players will be racing against the clock in fear of what will happen when the last candle goes out. If the last candle is a different color from the others you will increase this effect. 3. The players must stop something terrible from happening. If they fail, blow out a candle. Then tell them their characters wake up earlier in the day. Time has been reset and they must try again. If that last candle runs out, it’s game over. 4. Try any of the above, but when the last candle goes out, give the players a matchbox. As long as they keep the fire burning, their characters will be safe from the Thing that Happens in the Game When the Fire Goes Out. When they start running low on matches, tell them that they can start burning their character sheets if they want. What happens to the character when you burn their sheet? Only one way to find out... 5. Try out these bleeding candles...

With all of these, don’t tell your players what the candles are for or what it means when they go out. They’ll figure it out, and it will be much more suspenseful that way.

[just-tabletop-things]

When in doubt, have two men with guns burst in the door.

GM advice brought to you by Raymond Chandler

[just-tabletop-things]

GM tip: getting players invested in your world

Players need to feel a sense of identity with the game world. Give the PCs things in the world that belong to them. Things they can call their own. Work with your players to develop families, faction ties, and homes, and bring them into play. Don’t keep character backgrounds in the background. As you play, ask your players questions like,

What would your father/mother/sister/best friend back home think of this?

How does your character feel about this faction/race/ideology?

As you fall asleep tonight, the last thing in your mind is...?

What were you always taught about this as a kid, and what do you think about it now?

Who does your character know in this town?

What memory from your character’s past does this situation remind them of? What did they do in that situation?

Allow players to be a part of creating the world. Because they are a part of the world’s creation, it will be more real in their minds. Even if it’s just small details, they will care about the world because they are helping create it. As you play, ask your players questions like,

What race is the bartender you’re talking to?

What is the king’s name?

What should this nation’s primary export be? (If they say grain, have grain farms be a common occurrence, etc.)

What is the name of your character’s favorite god, what does that god love and hate? Which gods/religions is s/he opposed to?

Why are people in this town suspicious of this people group?