GM Tips, Tricks, & General Advice

[RaistlinMC]

What Fox just described is my own personal nightmare. I played in a game like that once. It didn't last long, needless to say.

If you ever get the chance, I say this to you all: Get in a module run by Cailano. That dude somehow finds a way to let you feel like you can do anything (and, indeed, allows players to venture off track frequently) yet somehow stays true to the adventure path's plot. A lot of kind things have been said here about my sandbox GMing, but when it comes to modules and pre-made adventures, I know when to bow to the master

Two other things come to mind:

One, JFlo, I love the 'mission' style you're talking about. It sounds like PbP XCOM, but with dragons instead of aliens. Add that to Pathfinder rules? Fucking awesome. Seriously.

Two, it'd be awfully fun some time to get all of the lecturers and moderators of this fine academy together in a game, even if it was a short one. I've played with many of you (and will gladly continue to do so until I'm old and gray, truly) but it would be a blast to do an 'all-stars' game at some point as a group!

[jflo2415]

Speaking of which, Fox, there was some talk about the Academy being open for business again sometime. Where are we on that front?

[Blackfox42]

We're actually really close, Jflo. With the help of all the excellent people who have been Volunteering their time and effort, we're just about ready to start back up again, this time in a much better format.

If things continue as they are, we may be open as early as the end of next week.

But I think we've Hijacked Cai's thread long enough. We should let the man get back to his most excellent Tips and Tricks guide for GMs.

[RaistlinMC]

God, I forgot that that's what this thread even was! Perhaps we could collect Cai's tips and tricks and collate them into one cohesive thread minus all of my inane ramblings?

[cailano]

It's not a blog guys, its a discussion board and your comments are welcome so long as they are on the topic of GMing and running a better game.

On the subject of creating an organic feel for pre-made modules: The key is to get into the heads of the NPCs and to think of the world as your own. With older modules that was hard as the NPC actions were forced and the plot was often silly. These days, Paizo has changed the game and their modules are rich, multi-layered stories with interesting characters.

That being said, as a GM you still have to make it your game and there is always some improv involved. You have to be able to come up with personalities for NPCs who aren't defined well, and you have to give each PC a moment to shine. Also, you do have to allow your players the ability to go off the rails if they want to, it is their game after all.

If anyone is thinking of trying to do this with a Pathfinder AP, I've tried to run three (still currently running two) and my impression is that the easiest AP to make feel "alive" is Curse of the Crimson Throne. That is an excellent published adventure with a good core plot and plenty of subplot action to keep things interesting. Also, the confined setting (most of it takes place in a single city) allows NPCs to develop in a natural way.

Rise of the Runelords is a good, varied AP but the plot lends itself to railroading and the PCs pretty much to have "be a hero" as a motivation. It was the first Pathfinder AP and it shows in lack of polish. It can still be a good game, but it requires cooperative players.

Jade Regent is an excellent AP, but a lot of the action centers on a single NPC, and the challenge is to make the PCs feel like the drivers of the game. Also, the game has an epic, world traveling sweep to it, which is at once a strength and a weakness. The larger your game setting, the less detail you can give individual pieces of it, and making the world seem alive becomes more of a challenge. In Curse of the Crimson Throne, I worked hard to make the city of Korvosa as much an NPC as any in the game. Doing that for several countries and whole swaths of wilderness is a bit harder.

[cailano]

Well I have it in mind for the group of PCs to be essentially a military unit, and so the game will often be divided up into "missions" where there is an objective but the decisions about how to meet that objective is left up to the players, while between missions there will be time for RP and character developmen, for characters to wander off by themselves or in groups, etc. This will be easier for me as I have a good working understanding of how the military works and in a game setting I'll be able to cut out the BS parts that I wish I could get rid of in every day life.

Glad they don't have to role play standing in formation for three hours straight...

I like your concept for a game. I think your challenge is going to be in keeping the separate missions fluid, so that the PCs can see the results of their actions. You'd want to avoid a situation wherein the PCs go out, finish a mission and return to an officer for instructions about the next mission. You'd want to change up the source of the missions, the nature of them, and also have an over arching plot that the PCs could not only uncover, but change the course of.

Ultimately, your PCs need to drive the action in a game, but as long as you keep that in mind it sounds like you have a solid idea of what you want to do.

[primenumbers]

I recently had a go at running RotRL with 2 different groups, one in person and one on roll20. The in person group worked out pretty nicely and will resume next summer when we are all in the same place together again. The online group ended up stopping due to lack of interest and a tough meeting time for the group. I also think it runs better with fewer people, maybe 2-3 players rather than 4-5.

I think RotRL is a pretty good story, and I really like some of the twists. You say it works really well when the PCs are "heroes", and I agree, but it also works if you just provide story incentives other than just being a hero to do things. I had my players read the player's guide and take campaign-specific traits so that they had some reason for being in Sandpoint to begin with, and without spoilers, the romantic interests of the PCs and those directed at the PCs by certain NPCs actually triggered a lot of the action with very little railroading, even though my players had NO interest in typical "hero-ing" or just helping others in general.

That said, I cannot even pretend to be as good a GM as Cai or Ra. I'm sure the same adventure path would run very differently in more skilled hands!

[RaistlinMC]

Ok, now I'm blushing. Enough backslapping. We're nerds united, folks; we all have our strengths and weaknesses. No place for arrogance or needless humility at this table

[archmagi1]

I'm awesome (needless fact) :P

Runelords is a pretty interesting campaign. Only ever been in session 1 of it myself, but I've read most of the lore about it, and especially with the PF converted anniversary edition, it is a very good and thoroughly played adventure path.

Speaking of thoroughly played APs, a good tip for GM's is to browse the AP forums on paizo's website. Link. There you'll be able to search through thousands of posts by other GMs and players to see how they adjudicated difficult or questionable areas, and just get general advice for what you'll be up against as a GM in a particular AP chapter.

[cailano]

Suspense

You move through the catacombs, your sword a comforting weight in one hand, while the torch you hold in the other provides the only light these corridors have seen in a century.

The old traveler's map tells you the Crypt of the Grey Man is just to the north of here, if you're reading it right, but the space between you and the crypt has been rendered illegible, scratched out by someone in the distant past.

You hear something ahead... footsteps, you would swear it. You hold your breath as you listen. There is the sound of dripping water, the crackling of your torch...

There it is again. Footsteps coming from just ahead. You can see a doorway at the edge of the torchlight. You move to it as quietly as possible, and thrust your light inside.

Nothing. Save for spiderwebs the size of tapestries the room is empty.

Then you hear them again. Footsteps, only this time from behind you.


What you see above is an example of a scene made interesting through the use of suspense. Suspense is a great tool for any sort of storytelling, and an essential one for a GM's toolkit.

Suspense is created when a player is informed that something is about to happen, but he or she doesn't necessarily know what, or when. It is a feeling of expectation that goes unrealized, at least for a while. Something is going to happen... not yet... soon... wait for it... search for it... still coming...

That's suspense. If its done well, it's riveting and players love it.

That being said, suspense is a bit of a juggling act. It has to build up, hold for just long enough, and then have a payoff that justifies the wait. Suspense in an RPG is a two way listening game. Your players will be listening to you, waiting to learn what happens next, and you should be listening to them, trying to pick up on subtle clues that you are pushing them too far. You want to push them just far enough. Just till they can't stand it any longer, and then BAM, you let them have it.

Suspense does wonders for a scene, or even a whole adventure. It can make an encounter seem frightening even if the monster isn't of very high CR, it can get your players to spend precious resources on a fight that they otherwise may not have used them on, and it creates an emotional response to what otherwise might have been run of the mill exploration or monster slaying.

Now that we know the value of suspense, let's talk about a few of the many ways to create it. We're going to talk about foreshadowing, isolation, senses, and the unknown.

Foreshadowing

"Aye, I've seen this map before, in the hand's of an old traveler. He wanted that treasure too, any sane man would. He hired some swords and one of the local priests, and he set out for that place. From what I understand, he took the map in with him and was never seen again. Yet here the map is. It wasn't the old traveler that brought it out, I can tell you that much."

This is the kind of stuff that players live for. Mysterious old map? Treasure? Forgotten crypt? They'll be all over it. But there's a question here and its important. How did the map get back into the world? What brought it out if not the old traveler? Why? Don't answer these questions for your players no matter how they search for the answer. You have begun the build up of suspense, but its just a little thing now. It will fall into the background as your players equip themselves for the journey and deal with the road, but that's fine. It will still be there later when you need it.

There are many ways you can use foreshadowing. Your oracle PC could have a portentous dream, or your wizard PC might find a reference to a long forbidden magic. A bard in an inn can tell a harrowing tale. The important thing is that the players know there is something going on, but not understand exactly what.

Isolation

Though the road starts out well traveled, once you pass the town of Autumn Barrow there isn't so much as a wagon track. The road becomes a trail that leads you into a barren country. The trees here are twisted and leafless, and the air hangs heavy with mist.

"This is the place I told you about," your guide says, "The entrance you're looking for is over those hills, behind a great rock that juts up out of the plain like a tombstone. I will go no further, only a madman would."

What we've done here is isolated our PCs. They are a long distance away from civilization, in an area where even professional guides won't go. They are surrounded by mist and dead trees, and we've worked in words like autumn, barrow, twisted, tombstone and madman into our description. These words have ominous associations and they create a certain mood in your players. Now the tension that we created with foreshadowing is starting to pay off. They are on their own, and that is always an unsettling feeling.

There are a lot of ways to isolate a player or players. Far off locations, collapsing exits, or areas that are just hard to get out of in some way. For instance, instead of having your monster lair be a cave entrance, what if it was at the bottom of a well and players had to rappel down? Now its hard to get out. What if once they are down there some unknown thing cuts the rope from the top without explanation? Now you are building suspense.

Senses

You take ten steps into the crypt and the wet chill in the air becomes something more than that. Your breath billows up in front of you, and you work your fingers back and forth to keep your grip strong. Your nostrils are filled with a stale scent, as if even the air had come to this place to die.

Another tool you can use to create suspense is activating all of a character's senses. Strange sounds, things just at the edge of vision, tactile sensations, even smells can be used to create suspense. A suspenseful setting should feel ominous and oppressive. Nothing should feel safe. If your setting is a mine or a crypt, tell the PCs how the rotted timber groans under the weight of the rock above. Tell them how whenever they so much as speak bits of rock rain down from above. Now you've got them communicating in whispers, waiting for the roof to come down.

And when a monster is coming, let them hear it long before they see it. Other sounds also work well, especially if they are out of place. For instance, the sound of a woman crying in the distance, when the PCs are in a castle that hasn't been lived in for decades, or the sound of children playing when they're in the third level of an abandoned mine.

Let's not forget the sound of a large creature breathing in the darkness. Some tricks just never get old.

The Unknown

You reach the blank part of the map, the part someone scratched out all those years ago. The tunnel here narrows to a crawl space you'll have to drag yourself through on your elbows. You thrust your torch into the tunnel but you can't see the end of it. You listen, but don't hear anything. All you know is that according to your map, the treasure is on the other side. By the map that tunnel might stretch for a hundred yards or more, but why hide it? Why conceal just this one part of the map? There is only one way to find out, but it feels like crawling into your own grave.

It's hard to prepare when you don't know what's coming, and that, combined with the other techniques we've discussed above creates suspense. What is in that crypt? We still don't know. What if we're attacked in that tunnel, how will our abilities work? Probably not well, but again we don't know. That unknown element creates suspense and by now our players have gotten about as much as they can take. All of our techniques have pushed them to the breaking point and its time to deliver the pay off. Will it be an attack in the crawlspace? A tomb full screaming undead on the other side? An ancient curse that will drive them to madness? A treasure they will spend years wishing they'd never found? It's up to you as the GM but whatever it is your players will be eagerly awaiting its unveiling.

And whatever it is your players will have had a memorable journey to it, because you have kept them in suspense.


What techniques have you used to create suspense? How can you imagine using some of the tools above in future games?

[TheDevilOnLine]

First of all, you're really doing an awsome job cailano, thanks for sharing your knowledge and letting people pick your brain.

I'm curious how to handle a skill challenge as a DM. The DM's Guide remains a bit vague about information to share and what not. I copied one of the skill challenges from the DM's Guide, could you give an example how you'd run this?

The Dead Witness

Bones creak as the corpse shudders and inhales. In a breathy whisper, it asks, “Who disturbs my eternal slumber and risks my wrath? Leave me be or suffer the consequences.”

After invoking the Speak with Dead ritual, the characters must convince a reluctant corpse to give up its knowledge. It refuses to be compelled by the power of the ritual—at least not without a little persuasion. This takes the form of a conversation that typically lasts 10 minutes or so. If the PCs are successful, the corpse answers the questions placed before it as usual, even going so far as to answer an extra question. If the PCs fail in this challenge, the corpse remains silent and its anger lingers to make the next encounter with undead more challenging than it would have otherwise have been.

With appropriate changes, you could also use this challenge for other rituals used to gain knowledge or information.

Setup: To learn what the corpse knows, the PCs must give it a reason to help.
Level: Equal to the level of the party.
Complexity: 2 (requires 6 successes before 3 failures).
Primary Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, History, Insight.
Bluff (moderate DCs): You falsely suggest that you share a connection with the corpse, whether it be family, religion, purpose, or the like. If the corpse catches the PC in a lie (the check fails), you can allow it to tell a lie as one of its answers.
Diplomacy (moderate DCs): You explain why you need the information, truthfully detailing the needs of your quest.
History (moderate DCs): You bring up events that relate to the corpse’s past life, or you disclose what happened after its death to make it feel more at ease talking to you.
Insight (moderate DCs): You try to connect with the corpse on an emotional level to make it more open to answering your questions. First success with this skill opens up the use of the Religion skill (the corpse mentions that it never received last rites before it died).
Religion (easy DC): You perform the death rites appropriate to the corpse’s faith. This is available only after one character has gained a success using the Insight skill, and it can be used only once in this way during the challenge.
Success: The corpse answers one additional question (in addition to the number of questions provided by the ritual) before time runs out.
Failure: The corpse answers no questions. Further, the ill will generated by the reluctant corpse makes the next encounter the PCs have with undead monsters more difficult (increase the level of the monsters by one or two).

[cailano]

Re: The Dead Witness

I like this challenge as it is a good example of setting up an encounter that can be resolved in multiple ways. As far as how much information to give the PCs, I'm a big fan of giving them quite a bit. I always want my players to have a sense of purpose, and its hard for them to have that if they don't know what's going on.

One thing to remember is that NPCs only know so much. The PCs might ask something like "What's in the level below us?" The dead witness might not have any idea what's down there. After all, people don't tend to keep corpses very informed.

More relevant questions might get vague answers, or even more specific ones if that better furthers the story. A question like "what killed you?" Might get an answer like "I remember fire, and a great battle. We hid here in this room, and we barred the doors but then... something... came out of the shadows. Like it was in here with us. I felt it's blade... so cold... all I could think of was my daughter. She is out there alone... find her for me, and then I will answer your questions."

That's if you wanted to segue into a side quest, of course. That might take the place of the "history" check above. When you get really generic scenario descriptions above, don't be afraid to tailor them to be more personal to your PCs.

I love communion type spells as a game master. I look at them as invitations to build suspense and to get in some good foreshadowing. After all, its hard to have a good mystery without clues.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you are finding the series useful and I hope you keep checking back.

[_Hahn]

Just curious, are there any tips/suggestions for playing skill challenges in 4e, when playing PBP?

[Actana]

First of all, use the updated ones. That goes for every medium ever. The math in the first ones is horribly broken. I think the new mechanics are in DMG2. Second... I don't really know. It might be fatigue creeping on right now, or just me not really knowing as PbP theory isn't my proper forte. I'm confident any advice I could give would be better given either by the rulebooks themselves, or someone else, I'm afraid.

[Blackfox42]

I am actually completely new to 4e, having only played in a few games, so I'm interested in the Skill challenge presented as a more Mechanical lesson, rather than purely roleplay. As Skill Challenges are a real thing in 4e, with specific mechanics expected of them, how do you handle that? How much information do you give your players? Do you tell them which skills they can use? Do you let them guess?

I think those sorts of questions were more to the point of what the OP was trying to ask (Though, I could be wrong).