Here be Vampires

A guest article by Leslie Holm
Senior Editor, RPG Gateway
http://www.RPGgateway.com/

If you’ve decided to run an online RPG, the main thing you
need in your arsenal is dedication. You will get bored. You
will get irritated with your players. You will get
frustrated by lack of response.

So why bother? Because when everything is going right, when
your players are excited and posting daily, when development
is at its peak, running an online game is thrilling.

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up over the years on how to
be dedicated and keep a game running.

1. Plan Your Campaign
==============================
Sounds simple, right? Every GM plans his campaign, at least
to some extent. You will find, however, you need a detailed
campaign when you are running an online game. My theory is
that the time between posts allows the players to be more
creative, curious, and inevitably, thwart the GM who isn’t
totally prepared.

In a tabletop game, players can, for the most part, be
guided and heavily influenced. Things move quickly, and you
can give them just what information you want them to have
and move them along.

Online, the players are going to come up with questions
about everything. Players in my PBeM want a description of
every shop they enter when they make a trip to town. They
want names of shopkeepers and folks they might meet on the
street. They want to know if the temple is on the west side
of town, and the docks on the south side.

Know your setting. Use generators if you need to - town,
NPC, whatever - but be prepared to answer lots of questions.
I recommend using a published setting that you are familiar
with to make your job easier. If you are using your own
world, make sure it’s complete before you begin; right down
to the garderobes in the castle.

You should also be planning your second adventure while
running your first. During current adventure, you should be
dropping clues to other exciting things they can do when
they complete their goals. That way you can have a week or
two break, and start right back up.

Offering a choice of adventures is always a good idea. For
example, they could have heard of a gang of thieves
operating in a town they visit, one of the orphaned
characters (there are always orphaned characters) could have
learned something about their family they want to follow up,
or they may have heard of mysterious and dangerous things
happening at a temple nearby. Then, let the players discuss
their options and decide what they want to do. They will
participate more eagerly if they think they are the masters
of their own fate.

2. Be Prepared For Drop-Outs
================================
If you lose your only cleric because his player just went
back to school, and doesn’t have enough time to play
anymore, it leaves the rest of the party in fairly dire
straights. I generally start my adventure with 8 to 10
players, knowing that one or two will drop out in the first
few weeks for any of a number of reasons, ranging from not
liking my game to illness. Since a PBeM usually runs at
least a year, you will lose more players along the way.

* Allow lurkers in your game. This almost guarantees you
have a person familiar with the story, and possibly eager to
jump in, who can take over the defunct character or create a
new one in the class you need.

* Always advertise. If your party drops down to just a
couple of players who want to continue, and you have no one
to fill in, advertise quickly. In your ad, emphasize you
have a long-standing game - players often prefer to join a
game they know will stick around as opposed to a brand new
game of unknown quality.

When you don’t need players, keep a list of interested people
can help when membership gets lean. Put and ad in your e-
mail and forums signatures, keep your open ads fresh and up
to date at various forums.

* Edit logs and post them regularly. Edit a version of your
logs for public consumption and reference. These logs give
interested players a taste, or help generate interest in
prospective players. Party members will find the abbreviated
version good for reference and catching up after missing
sessions as well.

* Maintain a contact list. Record names and e-mails in an
address book or file so you have a quick and easy way to
find contact info when you need it. Record recruitment site
addresses as well. Keep a separate section for players who
are potential invitees or replacements. When a current
player drops-out, send out invitation e-mails and post at
your flagged recruitment sites.

3. Know Your Players
==================================
Don’t accept the first submission you get. When you
advertise, it’s wise to explain you are starting a new game,
and that character creation will take several weeks. This
gives you time to get decent samples of writing - many DMs
require a background of 1,000 words or more. If your
applicant can’t be bothered to use spell check, or good
grammar, chances are he/she won’t be bothering to post
regularly either.

You also need to lay firm ground rules with regards to
posting - what you expect from each player. It is not too
much to expect they will post twice weekly, and that they
will give you a reasonably long post - not a sentence or
two. Their cooperation during the character creation process
should give you a good idea of how they will post.

For example, in a game I am joining now, my GM has written
me 6 times in 3 days, and I’ve answered promptly each time.
Hopefully this indicates to him that I am cooperative,
responsive and prompt, and that’s what you need to look for
in a player.

4. Be Organized
===================================
For some reason, in online games, we don’t always take the
same care to stay organized as we would in a tabletop game.
In a tabletop game, we have everything written down, and we
have notes, charts, and maps to refer to. In an online game,
you often make an off the cuff post, and if you don’t keep
notes on it, you could be in trouble later. Sure, you can go
back and search messages for whatever you’ve forgotten, but
that could be time-consuming. I have a friend whose game has
been running since April of 2004, and currently has 5,610
messages. In a well-run PBeM, plan on between 200 and 500
messages a month.

There are programs to help you stay organized, such as DM
Buddy and DM Genie. Some are free; others are downloadable
for a small fee. If you would prefer to do it yourself, I
recommend using Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

I use one file with many worksheets:

* One sheet lists every NPC I mention, with description,
place met, and any notes that might come up later.

* Each town they visit gets its own worksheet. In it, I
record each place they visit, who they met there, what they
did, and any notes needed.

* One sheet is a game time calendar - day one, they visited
a town, bought equipment, slept at an inn. Day two was spent
on the road, and so on.

* Each player has a sheet where I have pertinent information
recorded. This includes stats, bonuses, spells, skills,
feats and anything else I think I might need at my
fingertips.

Now I have one file to open whenever I am posting, and I can
find whatever information I need quickly.

5. Be Flexible
===============================
Okay, you’ve done everything right. You’ve planned your
campaign down to the color of the hair on the barmaid in the
first tavern they visited. You’ve got great players who can
spell and write short stories for their posts. You’re
organized and you’ve kept copious notes. Still, for some
reason, your game has stalled. Players aren’t posting
promptly anymore and it feels like lethargy has descended on
everyone. This is where most games fall by the wayside.

First, decide if you still have enthusiasm for the game. The
GM falling prey to boredom is the foremost reason players
lose interest. If you are still gung-ho, and you think your
players can be salvaged, then it’s time to be flexible and
shake things up.

One thing you might do is announce a hiatus. During
this time, review your game. What has caused it
to bog down?

* Think about each player. Sometimes you’ll find it’s just
one player, and speaking to him about it, or removing him,
will solve the problem.

* Analyze your own posts. Have they become lackadaisical and
unexciting? If so, stop thinking about your game. Read
books, watch movies, play other games, such as computer or
board games. After a week or three look at your game again -
hopefully your enthusiasm will have returned.

* Shake things up. Unless you are in the middle of a dungeon
or a huge combat scene, (and rarely does a stall happen in
these circumstances) take a different direction. If your
creativity is in a lull, pick up a module or download one of
the millions of free adventures on the web and fit it into
your campaign. I think you’ll find a whole new set of
circumstances will boost everyone’s morale.

* New blood. Bring in a new player or two. The excitement a
new player brings to the game might be infectious!

If nothing has worked, and you want to continue, then just
plug away at it. Increase posting frequency, do more to get
your players involved, develop the adventure or world out a
bit more, craft some NPCs and fun encounters, and hope it
all gets exciting again.

[Comment from Johnn: one thing I’ve done to stir up a
stalled game is present a new side-adventure out of the
blue. Sometimes a GM gets bogged down from the slow pace,
emerging complexity of the plot (causing planning
paralysis), or lack of planning time.

Find an adventure that’s short, different, and captures your
interest and imagination. The adventure should be self-
contained so you can drop it in and wrap it up without
sabotaging your campaign.

I keep the old D&D module Castle Amber always on hand for
just such a bail out move. :) Other ideas are published
adventure and encounter compilations, Dungeon magazine
adventures, the intro adventure you might have in the back
of the rule book, and freebies posted at the publisher’s
site.

Next time the campaign stalls and gets boring, shrink the
PCs down and drop them into a rabbit hole, or have them get
lost in mist and find a strange mansion….

taken from - roleplayingtips.com

Tips for encouraging your GM to continue the game you’re
currently enjoying.

A guest article by Amy Driscoll

With thanks to Colin “Relapse” Morris and Robbie “Head
Wound” Eberhardt for constructive criticism.

A group of friends and fellow gamers asked me last year to
commit to GMing a regular, long-term campaign. Long-term
campaigns hold several attractions for me. There’s the
intense character development, the simple plot wrinkles that
snowball into world-shaking events, and the kind of campaign
stories you reminisce about for years afterward. So I said
yes.

After a year real-time of gaming though, I found myself
dreading upcoming sessions. I was leaping upon the
opportunity to postpone sessions and struggling to come up
with the next session plan. In the end, I nominated myself
for a break, and one of the players has taken over as GM for
a few sessions. I still love gaming, I still want the game
to keep going - I just do not want to run a session at the
moment.

I’m not alone. I’ve discussed the burnout scenario with
other GMs, trying to work out the causes and patterns
leading to my current GMing antipathy. In the course of
that, I’ve put together a few general pointers for players.
There are already tips out there for burnt out GMs (believe
me, I know), so these are focused on what a player can do to
help their GM maintain enthusiasm and keep the game rolling.

1. Give The GM Something To Work With
==============================
Short test: Which character does the GM prefer to game with?

The GM knows Character A wants to bust up a local drug ring
by finding the source and cutting it off. He also
desperately needs to find the cure to a mystical infection
ravaging his girlfriend, and to return to his village before
his sister is married to the local bully against her wishes.

The GM knows Character B likes horses, wears a trench coat,
and has a wicked left hook.

Answer? A, obviously. Not only is it going to be easier to
plot out an involving session for Character A, it’s also
going to be simpler to motivate the PC to get involved with
conflicts. If the GM has to make up something on the fly to
keep the game going, Character A is probably going to get a
lead role because the GM knows what Character A wants.
Character B will have to tag along for the ride or head for
the sideline.

Maybe your character is already a fully realised, well-
developed person with hooks, flaws, and a background full of
loose ends. Does the GM know? While you might have given a
list or summary to your GM at the beginning of the campaign,
you will need to update it every now and then as the plot
and your character develop. If the GM doesn’t know about
your character’s hooks, they will never appear in the game.
And without those hooks, there’s nothing for the GM to use
to attach your character to the plot.

If you can’t think of anything, try using a pre-existing
sub-plot. Character A’s interest in the drug ring might have
stemmed from a brief brush with them in a previous session.
Now, the player has decided the character is desperate to
bring an end to their perfidy. Great. The GM can flesh out
the NPCs and add more background without too much trouble.
This is significantly easier than coming up with a gripping
new plot from scratch.

Give your character driving goals and motivations, and make
these abundantly clear to the GM. Your GM will be spending
more time on plot lines they know you are interested in,
taking your character places you want to go. In turn, you’ll
be making the task of session prep that much easier on the
GM, which cuts down on GM burnout and builds up their
enjoyment and anticipation for each session. They already
know you’ll enjoy what they have in store for you.

2. Lend A Hand With The Technical Aspects
===========================
The less peripheral paperwork a GM must track in a session,
the more they can concentrate on the game itself.

That’s pretty straightforward. If your GM is answering
questions from other players, looking up references,
checking their session notes, making up a new NPC, and
trying to describe the scene before you, the plot is going
to get continuity errors and the action will start to lag as
they hurry to catch up. Performing some of these tasks for
the GM is only going to improve the game for you, especially
when the alternative is sitting around waiting for the GM to
catch up.

* Is the GM constantly handing over a source copy reference
to the players? Get a second copy.

* Does the GM keep referencing the same pages for specific
information? Build cue cards with all that information, such
as for your spells or combat specialties, and give a set to
the GM to keep.

* Can you help a player with a question? If the GM can avoid
breaking off to help someone go over a technical aspect, the
game is going to run more smoothly.

* Offer to role-play an NPC in an encounter.

* Start a game journal to keep detailed notes.

One of the best tasks a player ever performed for me was
starting a gaming journal. The player kept a relatively
detailed journal and published it in a Word document sent to
myself and the other players later that week, so I only
needed to take light notes in-session. Everything - NPC
names, locations visited, what the players did and when -
could be checked against the journal later. The journal also
gave me a player’s eye view of the game. Was that last clue
too oblique? Do I need to spend more time describing NPCs?
What do the players think is really going on?

Bear in mind that simply asking, “Can I help?” is not
practical. People will instantly react with, “No, I’m fine,
thanks,” whether or not this is true. Come up with real
solutions and implement them.

3. Make Your Own Entertainment
============================
It’s a lull in the game - for you. The GM left the room with
Bob to run a scene. You can wait for them to get back, check
through resources, or talk about what’s good on TV.
Alternatively, you could turn to Jess on your left and start
up an in-character conversation. It might not be about
what’s happening. It might be the general kind of
conversation you could have already had somewhere on the
road, or it could be about Bob’s character’s toe-nail
polish. The point is you aren’t depending on the GM for your
gaming entertainment. You’re building your own characters,
practicing basic improvisation skills, entertaining each
other, and maintaining the tone and flow of the game. And -
gasp! - the GM didn’t have to be there for you to do it.

You could also:
* Pass notes to other players
* Write letters home
* Pull small, in-game pranks
* Play sports
* Flirt
* Mock each other
* Lay some bets
* Improvise a game of invisible cards

Try anything that doesn’t affect the basic plot but is
reasonable to do when stuck with a wait. Make sure it’s in-
game, in-character entertainment so it keeps everyone in the
game zone. This should also have the side benefit of
distracting attention seekers - the players that disrupt the
scene the GM is currently running in an attempt to get more
spotlight time.

Some GMs hate this. It’s moving parts of the story out of
their control, or they feel it’s disrupting other players.
Some love it. It can be a great relief when the GM realises
they aren’t the sole source of all entertainment for the
game, and the players are able to entertain themselves when
the GM has to concentrate on another player. Find out which
GM you have and run with it.

4. Acknowledgement
=============================
Players get XP, treasure, sidekicks, and subplots. GMs get
to see their carefully plotted groundwork twisted into
destruction three minutes into the session. So when they do
something well, tell them they did good!

Try to cite a specific example, and share your enthusiasm
with them. “I was just stunned when it turned out the hot
dog vendor was behind the blackmailing plot!” “I really
liked the combat against the Jawa Flea Circus!”

Even if you’ve just had a less then stellar session, find
something good about the game and mention it to the GM. They
already know the session wasn’t as good as it could have
been, and they need you to let them know you enjoyed it
anyway.

Your enjoyment is one of the reasons they do this, after
all. Like Pavlov’s dog, if your GM feels good when you game,
they’re going to want to keep gaming with you.

* * *

Try using these tips to support your GM to help develop a
long-lasting campaign and better sessions. Remember, a good
GM is hard to find, and maintaining your own is the best way
to make sure you always have one on hand.

roleplayingtips.com

From: Leslie Holm
==============================

==============================
My idea of a great GM is the one whose name makes you cringe
when you see it in your e-mail. The good kind of cringe,
mind you, where you shiver in delighted anticipation. Is my
character still alive? What horrors will she face today?
Nothing excites me more in a new game than hearing we have
an Evil GM.

There are Evil GMs and there are bad GMs. A bad GM is one
who spends little time preparing, writes badly, or kills
your character just out of spite. An evil GM creates
thrilling adventures that surprise you at every turn and
keeps you on your toes. Complacency is not an option with
the Evil GM.

So, how do you get to be an Evil GM? Hard work, of course!
Here are a few things I’ve observed my favorite GMs doing:

1) Kill someone!
This isn’t the movies. Good guys don’t always win. When you
have a group of people wandering around looking for trouble,
sometime, somewhere, they are going to come up against
something bigger, stronger, and meaner. If the dice dictate,
let the character die!

2) Shake it up!
At the inn, the PCs either meet someone with a quest or get
woken up by adversaries. On a deserted road, they are
attacked. In the dungeon, they kill monsters and find
treasure. Boring! Seduce a PC in the inn, sprinkle annoying
talking flowers along the road, flood the dungeon with
butterflies.

3) Meet new people!
Don’t let your NPCs become predictable. The man decked out
in black chainmail carrying a wicked looking sword could be
a garrulous paladin, while the young girl in pigtails with a
winning smile could be cursed or possessed. An interesting
way to do this is to create totally stereotypical NPCs and
then switch their characteristics.

roleplayingtips.com