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Let's Have A Thread of Veteran GM Advice
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<blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 9287355" data-attributes="member: 9053"><p>One more piece of advice that can really help a GM in a game. Be a fan of the PCs. I don't mean have everything they do work out and treat them with kid gloves, I mean accentuate how they're skilled and just awesome at times.</p><p></p><p>It's been a long time now, but I used to play with many GMs who just treated the PCs as if they were trash. NPCs were rude to them, and if things came to a head, of course they were always much more powerful than the group was. When the group went out of there way to help those in need or do dangerous and heroic deeds, they were often punished or made to feel like chumps. It's no wonder that groups turn into murder hobos when things like that happen.</p><p></p><p>When a character is good at something, make sure you highlight that in your descriptions. Make them feel like they are something special. And when they fail at something, don't make them seem like idiots. Yeah, a poor roll may have had your character who is very good at something fail, but why did they fail? Maybe something unexpected happened or maybe their opponent was shown to be equally impressive.</p><p></p><p>When the group does something impressive, let people be impressed. In the game I'm running, the group got a task of seeing what happened to a group of thieves who went rogue and went into a dungeon, never to be seen again. They rescued most of them. The individual rogues basically called them heroes, and the guild they did the job for has already helped them with information and gear. Every time they go into the tavern where the "thieves guild" is located, they drink for free and are warmly regarded. That meant something to them.</p><p></p><p>In other words, make things as difficult for the group as you can, but let the world recognize what they do. It goes a long way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SteveC, post: 9287355, member: 9053"] One more piece of advice that can really help a GM in a game. Be a fan of the PCs. I don't mean have everything they do work out and treat them with kid gloves, I mean accentuate how they're skilled and just awesome at times. It's been a long time now, but I used to play with many GMs who just treated the PCs as if they were trash. NPCs were rude to them, and if things came to a head, of course they were always much more powerful than the group was. When the group went out of there way to help those in need or do dangerous and heroic deeds, they were often punished or made to feel like chumps. It's no wonder that groups turn into murder hobos when things like that happen. When a character is good at something, make sure you highlight that in your descriptions. Make them feel like they are something special. And when they fail at something, don't make them seem like idiots. Yeah, a poor roll may have had your character who is very good at something fail, but why did they fail? Maybe something unexpected happened or maybe their opponent was shown to be equally impressive. When the group does something impressive, let people be impressed. In the game I'm running, the group got a task of seeing what happened to a group of thieves who went rogue and went into a dungeon, never to be seen again. They rescued most of them. The individual rogues basically called them heroes, and the guild they did the job for has already helped them with information and gear. Every time they go into the tavern where the "thieves guild" is located, they drink for free and are warmly regarded. That meant something to them. In other words, make things as difficult for the group as you can, but let the world recognize what they do. It goes a long way. [/QUOTE]
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