G.M. Gimmicks - Help me freshen up my campaign!

[Heathen72]

Hi guys,
I'm hoping you can help me out with a few ideas...
I've been running a relatively serious campaign for the last, I don't know, ten years or so, and it has just about come to an end - one major story arc left before I retire the campaign world. However, there still some stories from the world that I don't want left untold, so before I finish I want to run one more story arc there - One with some totally new player characters.

As I said, though, my other game has gotten pretty heavy, so I want to lighten the mood a little, and bring back a little of the fun. I'm going to run a more 'game'-oriented game, if you understand my meaning, as opposed to my usual 'story' oriented game, and while I am at it, I'm hoping to expand my GMing skills a little - I think I have been somewhat resting on my laurels of late. Maybe I can find someone to run a G.M refresher course.

One way I've thought of doing this is incorporating a few GMing "gimmicks". I want to trial things that I've generally eschewed in my other campaigns in a game that has less riding on it, with a view to perhaps using them later on...

Some ideas I have thought of incorporating are:
"Whimsy cards"
"Cut Scenes" - An idea I've always liked but never used...
"Drama Dice"
"Taglines" (like in the Dying Earth RPG)
"Good stuff/Bad Stuff" (a la Amber DRPG)
I might even put in a few dungeons again.

Has anyone tried using the above in their D&D games? What little gimmicks have you found in other systems that have translated well (or poorly) to your current campaign. And what tricks have you discovered yourself that have helped make your game more enjoyable and have helped break the routine a little?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Mike

 

[Wombat]

Any and all of the above, dependent on players and personal tastes.

I have used Whimsy Cards quite a bit (since the old Lion Rampant days) to great effect.

Oh, and may I suggest Roleplaying Points? I give 5xp to anyone who does something Really Cool or Really Funny during a game, while staying 100% in character, over and above the usual xp, just to encourage good roleplaying.

 

[Heathen72]

Where can you get them these days?

Lion Rampant[/I] days) to great effect.

Where can I find some good ones? I am quite happy to make my own, or buy some if there are some that you reccomend.

Another one that I forgot from the G.M refresher course - Starting games in media res

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

For a more light hearted game, I can recommend barsoomcore's Swashbuckling Cards! http://barsoom.hyboria.net/Swash.html

They're a good read, if nothing else. I think you can download them without any hassle, but if not, just look him up and ask him.

 

[alsih2o]

For a more light hearted game, I can recommend barsoomcore's Swashbuckling Cards! http://barsoom.hyboria.net/Swash.html

They're a good read, if nothing else. I think you can download them without any hassle, but if not, just look him up and ask him.

you know, i always see these referenced and say "i need to use those" and i never go get them and do it.

just lookin gover them again i decided to ask my wife if my newbie group would like them.

she says they probably owuld not be good until they ahve the rules down a little better, but she likes the idea

 

[Uruush]

What are whimsy cards, drama dice, and taglines?

 

[Berandor]

I used cut scenes in a campaign, and I am planning to use them in my upcoming campaign as well.
I have found it can be used to great effect, and really enhances the game. You must be careful, though, not to spoil any secrets or twists you are planning.
If the player's contractor is planning on betraying them you shouldn't make a cutscene highlighting a traitor in their vicinity unless the contractor has dealt his cards and it's no longer important to keep his status a secret.

However, when the players enter a castle, and you describe a dark cell, where suddenly red eyes begin to glow, and a dark voice rumbling "Intruders!"

Or a believed-dead NPC suddenly entering a hall, falling before the figure in a throne at the end of it, pledging fealty to be spared... that can be cool, even to the players

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Oooooh, that's just given me an idea for my Mutants and Masterminds campaign! Thanks.

 

[dave_o]

Someone explain, well, ALL OF THESE.

I'm way interested.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Someone explain, well, ALL OF THESE.

I'm way interested.

Sorry, can't explain all of them, but:
"Whimsy cards" are cards with plot twists, dealt randomly, one or two to a player, they are numbered, and players can only play a card that is higher than the cards played before their card. So a player may play a card with a title like 'unexpected alliance' when a wandering encounter is rolled. The D.M. can then decide to let it be played, discard it, or 'edit' it. In this case deciding that yes, the ogres just encountered are willin to ally with the players... if the players in turn are willing to help them with a problem they are having.

These were sold in themed packs - mystery, horror, and romance. Sadly they are long out of print (I got mine in 1988), but they were very enjoyable, and I keep thinking about doing some of my own, the set I had having disappeared one card at a time over the years.

"Cut Scenes" - Basically allowing the players to hear scenes they are not present for to give a more cinematic feel. So while the adventurers are climbing the sheer walls of the villains lair we cut to the highest tower, where Princess Rose is being dragged to the altar, there to wed Prince Malagent at the point of a sword.

"Drama Dice" The easiest to impliment, a Drama Die is awarded to a player when he does something frikken cool! This die can be added to any die roll the player makes, so when in the middle of the combat the paladin Michael fer de Lance grabs Princess Rose and swings off of the battlements mere seconds before Malagent finishes his nuptal ceremony, crying 'Thou shalt not have her foul fiend!', the D.M. gives the player a die to use later.

The size of the die varies from system to system, with d4s or d6s being about right for D&D. One important thing is the player gets to decide whether or not to add the die after the original die roll is made, so if it was close he can choose to add it, if it wasn't he can save the die for later. If the player has more than one such die he can add them one at a time, for those 'must have' rolls. Also, if the player uses the drama die to accomplish something that in its own turn is 'frikken cool! then he gets another drama die...

Just in case you could't guess I love this mechanic, and it's twin 'Karma Dice'. Karma Dice is simply a small bowl of dice, typically one or two per player, these dice may be spent only to help another player, and only if you say how, so as Malagent deftly cuts the rope, Tony, another player in the game, can explain how the rope moves just out of the path of his sword as Michael finishes his swing... This is an example of 'Good Karma'. 'Bad Karma' on the other hand is a black die added to that same pot, when the G.M. feels that one of the players has done something seriously 'uncool', say quoting Monty Python as Michael tries to do his speech before swinging off. ('And besides, she has enormous... tracts of land!') ruining a good scene. Alternately if the player pulls something boneheaded that results in injury to another player. ('I tie the message to an arrow, and then I fire the arrow at Michael, just to make sure he gets it... *TWANG!* *Thunk!* AAaargh! as Michael loses his grip on the rope, falling 30 feet to the ground, Princess Rose still in his arms...)

At some point when the players succeed at a difficult task the D.M. can pull out the black die and simply say 'You fail!' This does not need to be the player who flubbed the scene! If the player involved keeps it up he may be surprised how seldom other players use the good karma dice on his behalf...

The Auld Grump