newb to modern GMing (d20 + WoD)

[fireinthedust]

World of Darkness, d20 Modern, Call of Cthulhu. I've never run any of these (well, one of them once, and that was short).


I've got a game in my head that I'd like to run one day. I know myself enough that I have to write the module *before* GMing it, or I'll get lazy and it will suck, SO I'm thinking of the various game-withing-a-game encounters I can create for a WoD game using MC's d20 rules in a standard issue varient WoD setting (ie: masquerading vamps clans, some impending apocalypse, some Buffy-isms, etc).

The issue: I'm an old dungeon-designer, and I'm trying to get a handle on how to run what is essentially a different kind of game. I'm not sure I can do games where there isn't a series of rooms with mummies and giant spiders and clockwork-precision deathtraps... even my "normal" scenarios have something of that element to them (when they're well done, and not the tripe I worry about putting out).

So: What is some advice for running a game like this?

 

[Nagol]

World of Darkness, d20 Modern, Call of Cthulhu. I've never run any of these (well, one of them once, and that was short).


I've got a game in my head that I'd like to run one day. I know myself enough that I have to write the module *before* GMing it, or I'll get lazy and it will suck, SO I'm thinking of the various game-withing-a-game encounters I can create for a WoD game using MC's d20 rules in a standard issue varient WoD setting (ie: masquerading vamps clans, some impending apocalypse, some Buffy-isms, etc).

The issue: I'm an old dungeon-designer, and I'm trying to get a handle on how to run what is essentially a different kind of game. I'm not sure I can do games where there isn't a series of rooms with mummies and giant spiders and clockwork-precision deathtraps... even my "normal" scenarios have something of that element to them (when they're well done, and not the tripe I worry about putting out).

So: What is some advice for running a game like this?

Design as a set of potential linked nodes -- each node is a scene and/or set of results. The edges connecting the nodes are decision points for the PCs. The PCs enter at the top and drive deeper into situation as they visit nodes.

In essence, it looks like a dungeon where the PC choices define where they end up on the map.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Focus on characters and powergroups. Insert pcs into situation and see how they react. When i run modern games i don't worry about scenes or flow, i just make sure i have interesting npcs in play and allow tge interaction between them and the pcs to drive the adventure.

 

[MortonStromgal]

Buy some of the published adventures. Masks of Nyarlathotep, Harliquin, the adventure in the back of vtm 2e book, etc.

 

[fireinthedust]

Design as a set of potential linked nodes -- each node is a scene and/or set of results. The edges connecting the nodes are decision points for the PCs. The PCs enter at the top and drive deeper into situation as they visit nodes.

In essence, it looks like a dungeon where the PC choices define where they end up on the map.

I was thinking about that.

Monte Cook has a whole section in CoC d20 about building adventures that way. Something about each scene having (for example) clues or info the group needs to pick up. The scenes can lead to several other scenes (like rooms in a non-linear dungeon), the PCs pick which paths they follow, and the story concludes where it needs to (say, at the home of the mastermind of the scheme the PCs have unfolded).


BedrockGames: I think I have problems with social interactions. I find it... uncomfortable pretending to be NPCs. I can do my own characters just fine, mind you, but to be NPCs it's just strangely outside my comfort zone. No idea why. ...wait, maybe it's that I don't have a grasp on the character as strongly as I do for my PCs that I'd know how they'd answer questions/accusations/offers, compared to PCs who tend to reflect aspects of myself (or which I draw upon to make them "mine"). That and I have the adventure in mind, not the NPC, and I tend not to care about stuff that, in the big picture, don't matter to what I want the PCs to do *right now*.

Modules: fair enough. My friend is supposed to run Masks for me some time soon. I don't want to buy it until then.



What about combats?

 

[Bedrockgames]

If you want a smoother transition from classic fantasy to modern you can easily run a dungeon crawl. Think movies like indiana jones or goonies. There are still plenty of places like that to explore in a modern setting.

Also investigations are easy too because they are easy to tie to locations. Just figure out what clues are available at each place and where those might lead.

Have you read through some modern rpg rule books? When i first ran a modern game i believe it was call of cthulu and i got a sense of how to run it from the examples in the book.

 

[fireinthedust]

I've got a pile of them is the thing. D20 modern, future, apocalypse, cybernetics; CoCd20; and some others. None of them exactly what I'm thinking for this, though.

I'll be running (I hope) a d20 World of Darkness game, using Monte Cook's rules. I was thinking a detective agency for the supernatural could focus the action. The issue there is how to create a sense of dread for a campaign starring the monsters.

 

[Nagol]

I've got a pile of them is the thing. D20 modern, future, apocalypse, cybernetics; CoCd20; and some others. None of them exactly what I'm thinking for this, though.

I'll be running (I hope) a d20 World of Darkness game, using Monte Cook's rules. I was thinking a detective agency for the supernatural could focus the action. The issue there is how to create a sense of dread for a campaign starring the monsters.

So a quasi Kolchak The Night Stalker, Buffy, Angel, and Blood Ties style game.

You need to play up the initial unknown of the investigation. Each creature is unique with unknown needs, strengths, and weaknesses. Discovering what the opponent is ends up being over half the battle. The PCs need to piece together clues to its identity based upon behaviour, sightings, and the actiivity.