Four GMing Ideas

[shannon_a]

For many years, I didn't understand why podcasts were of any interest. Sometimes when there was something I really wanted to know about (mainly for the RPG history book I was working on a few years ago), I'd sit at my computer and listen to a podcast. But it always felt pretty stupid, being such a passive recipient of media on a very interactive computer.

That finally changed when I got an iPhone. Suddenly, I could listen to podcasts while out walking or while on BART, and it all made sense.

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Lately my most frequent podcast has been 2D6 Feet in a Random Direction. I'll have to admit, one of the prime reasons I enjoy it is because it usually features my friend, chrishanrahan. However, I also like its takes on the industry and its looks at games indier than I play.

This last episode featured something I hadn't seen a lot on the show before, essentially a collection of GMing ideas. Several struck me, especially as I'm trying to up the RP of my own games. I've noted them below, primarily for my own reference. Some of these were pretty clearly described, while in other cases I went off with an idea that had been briefly mentioned.

1. En Media Res. I love this technique, particularly for a very episodic game, which is what I've been trying to develop for Traveller. I've used it a few times in that campaign, but each time afterward I backed up an did the setup for the en media res as a flashback. Maybe I just need to offer a summary and dive in instead, with no back-stepping. I'll have to try it again soon.
   
2. How Characters Are Feeling. I think I'm least likely to use this one in my own games. Chris H. said that he typically starts adventures off by asking each player how their character is feeling and how they're expressing it. I don't think our groups' current amount of RP is up to this technique, and I'd fear it slowing things down at the start. But I think it's a good thing to have in your pocket for possibly using later in a game.
   
3. Next Time on xxxx. I loved this one. At the end of a session, the GM asks each player what he'd like to see in the next adventure. He's looking for ideas and scenes. Then, he incorporates some of those. This might be neat for Traveller. Savage Tide is generally a bit scripted, and thus it won't entirely fit ... but I'm running a one-off sidequest next week, so at the end of Saturday's session I asked the players for "next time on Savage Time". I thought the results were A+++ terrific. We're only going to have 4 players next week, tops, but I'm going to try and work their requests in. (Off-hand, they included, "Saving a little girl", "nudity", and "a giant wheel of cheese rolling down the street". I can't remember what Dave S. or Dave W. said, but they're all in my notebook.)
   
4. Passions. Off-handedly, one of the hosts mentioned how Spirit of the Century supports RP with Passions, and that made me think right-off of adding Pendragon-like passions to Traveller, as it's certainly true that there's no built-in support for anything but skills & combat. I've got an idea gelling, and I think I'm going to publish it in my new Traveller column in a bit more than a month.