GM Merit Badges

Desdichado · Sep 15, 2011

Dice4Hire said:
How much can be unclear before it falls into the realm of meaninglessness?

Depends on what you hope to get out of it, I guess. I didn't find it either unclear or meaningless, but then again, I hardly thought it was going to be a hard and fast cladistic program to quantify GM styles either... it's just a hold your thumb out at arm's length, close one eye and make a S.W.A.G.--as well as being a useful shorthand to talk about what your priorities are. What you aspire to have in your gaming, at least, if not necessarily what you manage to always have.

MichaelSomething · Sep 15, 2011

It's a good tool to help GMs explain the type of game they want to run and for players to understand what the GM want to do. If you want to be more objective about it, it would require an organization to define the styles and rate GMs somehow.

Wombat · Sep 15, 2011

I could claim more than a few of those, but let's stick to Improvisation, Storytelling, and Weirdness for the moment.

Oh, and as my players say... "OH NO! Not another moral dilemma!"

Ahnehnois · Sep 15, 2011

My game is more enjoyable when I keep my GMing style unknown.

This is a bit of an odd one. I answered yes because I have had success keeping certain stylistic parameters secret.

For example, I have had many PC deaths, but my most recent campaign concept essentially precluded this. I still let the players think their characters might die. Likewise, I might run some encounters straight by the book, but fuge stats or dice rolls on other ones (independent of their difficulty). I do tend to reveal such manipulations after the fact, however, because I like to watch a good movie with the director's commentary after watching it cold.

enrious · Sep 16, 2011

I'm in favor of anything that tweaks boy scouts. It's almost as much fun as getting them to argue over the name of a knot.

And I think these could be sort of useful if you were announcing a new campaign:

one part your personal tendencies, the second part the kind of campaign it's going to be.

GM Merit Badges

Pick all that apply

Tactics are an important part of my games.

My games will tell an interesting story.

My games will be scary.

My game focuses on exploration and mystery.

There will be player vs player combat allowed in my game.

My games are safe and you don't need to worry about content or character death.

I will mirror back player ideas that I think are interesting in game.

My games use a pre-made map and pre-scripted content.

The GM is in charge in my games and rule zero is in effect.

My games rely on improvisation rather than pre-scripted content.

My games are gonzo and can include lots of strangeness.

Characters in my game are destined for greatness, not random death.

I roll dice in the open and don't fudge results.

My games include disturbing content.

My games focus on interesting characters and drama.

Player character death is likely in my games.

I play by the book and rule zero is not used to alter existing rules.

My games are more of a social fun "beer and pretzels" style game.

My game is primarily non-combat in nature.

Players in my game should be prepared to run when odds are stacked against them.

My game has shared GMing responsibilty with one or more of the other players.

I frequently tinker with the rules of the game.

My game focuses on player skill rather than character abilities.

My game is more enjoyable when I keep my GMing style unknown.

My game focuses on espionage and politics.

My games contain sexy content.

Desdichado

Hero

MichaelSomething

Legend

Wombat

First Post

Ahnehnois

First Post

enrious

Registered User

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