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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voobaha" data-source="post: 247722" data-attributes="member: 2741">Here's my 2 cents worth on the topic of setting up a campaign.  So much good advice has already been given, I had to struggle to think of something that hasn't already been said.I first learned to really be a good GM by playing Champions.  The Hero System Rulebook has one of the absolute best GM sections; it takes you step by step into how to set up a campaign from scratch.  This section was written by Rogue Squadron author and Champions Gaming guru Aaron Allston.  In 1983 he was an original Champions playtester, and set up one of the first superhero campaigns on record.  Hero Games published his original campaign, "Strike Force", in which Mr. Allston describes the history of how he set up the game and how he dealt with all sorts of problems that occurred (with solutions).For example, he describes how he handled it when a player had to move away, or new players were recruited; how he handled getting burnt out; how he learned to communicate better with a female player to give her more of what she wanted (slightly less action, a little more swashbuckling romance), etc etc.He also defines different player stereotypes.  He argues that you need to figure out what each player wants in the game, and then give it to them.  He also singles out problem players and suggests solutions.Some examples:"The Plumber" - a player who likes to develop a character with a rich background and then "plumb" the character to it's depths.  You must provide the plumber with a wide variety of difficult moral situations to deal with and relationships to act out, or they won't be happy."The Pro From Dover" - This player has to be the best at everything (world's greatest martial artist, strongest man in the world, etc).  Let the Pro get a chance to shine occassionally, but not at the expense of stealing the other players' spotlight."The Mad Slasher" - A selfish player who takes out his frustrations on the game, killing NPCs (sometimes even other PCs) without regard to the story or the enjoyment of the other players.  Either talk to the Slasher about the problem or kick him out of the game...Anyway, this post is getting long.  If you can pick up a copy of the Hero System rulesbook, maybe an older copy on eBay, it's worth it.It includes an extemely useful worksheet for planning campaigns:  a "Ground Rules" form that I'll repeat here at the risk of making this post astronomically long, so please bear with me:Hell, actually, let me just make it a separate post...</blockquote>

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