Comments on: GMing and Playing Styles… What’s yours?

By: Fitz

Fitz — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:30:58 +0000

@forged – Why do I think of Jean-Luc Picard saying “Engage” when you wonder about us being engaged as players? Is my mind wandering again?

By: Fitz

Fitz — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:29:55 +0000

@Kevin – Yeah… It would be nice to hit that sweet spot, wouldn’t it?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:00:22 +0000

@Fitz: Agreed. The complete sandbox is a bit too freeform for a lot of players who would prefer to react to the GM’s world rather than be primary movers… but still I can dream of the day when I’m in a group and we actually hit that sweet spot.

By: forged

forged — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:25:27 +0000

For me a lot of it depends on time to prepare for sessions, but the things I enjoy the most are keeping the focus on the players and working with them as opposed to against them to tell good stories. (Although maybe from their perspective, they might still think of me against them.)

Due to time constraints, we are currently running through a set of modules, but I keep trying to figure out how to make it less linear because it doesn’t feel quite right story-wise to be that narrow.

In general though, I find story-based games/campaigns more interesting to GM. But to really pull it off, you have to get your players to engage.

By: Fitz

Fitz — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:27:05 +0000

@A.L. – Interesting. I’m not seeing it here in Chrome, Firefox, or IE here on Windows Vista. But I’ll keep an eye out for it. My theme does seem to have issues on FF these days.

And thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it!

By: A.L.

A.L. — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:46:34 +0000

Firefox, and at subscribe to Moebius. Hope it’s just a one case thing. Meant to say before, good post.
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By: Fitz

Fitz — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:37:15 +0000

@A.L. – No worries on the vote – I’ll add a “None of the Above” option to handle your case.

Ultimately I think we all probably end up with some combinations of the elements in an ever changing recipe.

What browser are you using where you see the side bar encroaching? I’ll have to give it a look.

By: Fitz

Fitz — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:34:04 +0000

@Kevin – A wide open sandbox would be tough to maintain I think… More of a guided sandbox is probably what I have tried in the past. In a truly collaborative approach, the players would contribute as much as the GM in some ways, with the GM merely providing gentle nudges along certain paths or letting them explore in the weeds from time to time to expand the horizons…

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:18:42 +0000

I chose the sandbox, and that’s my real style these days – though I’ve progressed over years to it – but I probably run more of a stepped-down version of that style since most of my players have yet to demonstrate a desire for me to turn total authority in the game over to them and just watch them play. They say when the students are ready the teacher will appear… Sometimes the teacher is ready but the students are all dozing at their desks.

By: A.L.

A.L. — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:34:13 +0000

I didn’t choose one of the choices as none of them really fit me. I don’t believe in an adversarial approach for GMs to players, I can see where some would have fun with it but I think you’re better off being the Antagonist to their Protagonist than an adversary to be beaten. The GM should play the badguys, and play them fairly, but they should be rooting for the PCs essentially.

I don’t do modules, and also hate games on rails so I try not to run them. A bit of forced rail roading at the beginning to get things moving? Maybe, sure, depending on the game. But in general? Keep it out of the game, you’re better than that.

The NPC chat I also dislike as well, what are the players doing while the GM is talking to themself for 45 minutes? is it important? Ok, sure. But is it THAT important that 4-6 people have to watch you talk to yourself? Sum it up, have it written out before hand and just hand it to the players on a sheet. hell, give the script to two players and have them act it out for the group. Do something with it. Again, you’re better than that (imo)

The sandbox could be fun. Actually, it is something I want to try to do. A real, honest to god campaign where it is about what the players do and stories may or may not happen depending on that.

Currently though, I don’t Gm like that. I do more story focused games. Closest probably to a combination of the Sandbox, the NPC, and the Module all together. The players have freedom, but there are bumper rails on the edges to nudge them back onto the path if they start straying too far. Generally this isn’t forced, the world is set up to show where they should be going/doing and to make them want to. But occasionally there are things like “if you keep going west, you’re going to run into the army of lava monsters…..” followed a few sessions later by “You top the crest and see…An army of lava monsters!” if they keep going west.

You get the idea though. Oh, not sure if you noticed but your side bar encroaches on your blog post near the top.
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