Chaotek Thoughts

Last night we started a new campaign, using a new system, and a first-time game master. That’s a lot of new, suggesting the session would turn out to be an all-around train wreck. As it turns out, the session was very smooth, with the issues primarily around learning a new system. Afterwards, we discussed some tips for the first time GM. The primary issue I’ve seen with first time game masters is a strong desire to tell a story-at the cost of the players’ fun. We call this railroading, where the players feel like they have to control or input into the story. The players become glorified dice-rollers at best, bored story listeners, or at worst angry ex-players. So here are some thoughts on how a first-time GM can avoid railroading:

Be a minimalist in describing the situation. I’m not saying that description isn’t important; in fact it is very important for story immersion. What I’m recommending is restricting your description to the minimum required to set the scene. Then allow the players to interact with that environment, thereby allowing for more description. If you completely describe the pub that the players walked in to, down to every detail of the inhabitants, then there is very little for the players delve deeper. By being a little vague about the description, you’ve created an air of mystery that the players will want to solve.

Don’t over think the adventure. In a given adventure, simplify your story idea into 2-3 plot points with huge gaping holes between them. Don’t spend a lot of time deciding how the players are going to get from one plot point to the next. If you plan too much, you’ll quickly lose your entire plan as the players go a different direction. Allow the players to decide how to get from one plot to the next. For example, if the players need to find out information about a nasty relic they are looking for, don’t plan on how they will learn that information. Allow the players to decide, such as they might consult a library, ask around town, or seek divine inspiration. All you need to do is plan the end result (in this case you might have the location of the relic), and let the players get there by whatever creative means they think of.

Start off small. For your first game, consider not planning a grand campaign plot at first. A first time GM will kill themselves planning an intricate, multi-month plot only to have the players destroy the possibility of that plot in the first session. Instead, focus on a single adventure at a time, and then incorporate reoccurring themes. It will seem like you planned it all out in the end. Long term campaign ideas lead to railroading more often than anything else in my view, because the game master wants to get to the end-plot and is less concerned with the current plot and the chaotic players. Once you get some experience, use the adventure advice above to develop a campaign story arc.

Don’t do anything on the players’ behalf. I heard a great bit of advice on the Fear The Boot podcast, the GM has control over the entire world, whereas the players only have control of a single character–don’t take that away from them. Try to stay away from changing character backgrounds or personalities. Don’t tell the characters as they walk into the pub that they move up to the bar and order a drink–let them say that they are moving up the bar to order a drink. Even if you can accurately predict the players’ actions, let them do it anyways.

Your plot is not set in stone, and that’s a good thing. If your plot revolves around the players getting ambushed on the way to village X but the players decide to go to village Y, who says that the ambushers are not on the road to village Y instead? If the players decided not to leave town, let the ambushers come to them or save that plot point for when they do–next session. If your plot points are vague enough, as suggested above, they can occur almost anywhere and for any reason. The players have no idea what you planned, and will think that their actions (or inaction) let to the plot progression. If the players kill someone you were going to use as a reoccurring villain, then use someone else to fill that role in future plots (it doesn’t mean the entire plot collapses).

Unless you are making up the entire game as you go along, which I don’t recommend for first-time game masters, and then you have developed some sort of plot for your game. The key is to let the players believe that they are in control. In a way this suggests that it’s just an illusion of control, but a most important illusion. Freewill in the real world can be considered an illusion of control. The players feel like they are in complete control, and yet you are doing an awesome job keeping up with them. When in reality, you always knew that a platoon of bad guys was going to find them–no matter what they did.

Sure, you can and should take the player’s actions into account. The most important part of being a game master is to facilitate the player’s fun, so allow them to have fun. Make them feel like their actions and personalities matter. Oh, and never use a published adventure for your first time in the GM chair, as a published adventure will go against every suggestion here.