GM Theory - Ideas to help run RPGs

MAKING MYSTERIES

The biggest problem with these is that GMs too often figure out one thing about their mystery that is, indeed, clever, but not enough to run a whole mystery from ("It LOOKS like the butler did it, but really it was the cute girl.") This results in Game Masters who refuse to give out any information because if they tip their hand at all, you'll solve the mystery and solve it all at once. And then you get a bad case of the head scratches as the GM constantly drops deliberately obtuse and cryptic hints, the players have no idea what to do with it, and then the GM starts complaining that the players aren't "figuring it out" even though he really can't give them anything to go with.

• Create layers. Several layers.
• In each layer, have several related mysteries:

• Each mystery has several components, so you flesh out those components, and give them some sub components.

• Approach the creation of layers in reverse:

• Start with the big reveal
• then work your way back to the smaller mysteries.

Using our one liner above as an example, ("It LOOKS like the butler did it, but really it was the cute girl.") two things stand out.

First, why would we assume the butler did it? Perhaps he WANTED us to assume he did it. Why? Perhaps he believed his son did it, and wants to protect him. There's a sub mystery right there. But how can we further develop that? Why would he assume his son would do it, and how can we make this less obvious to the players? Perhaps his son doesn't KNOW who his father is. Perhaps he believes the murder victim is. And perhaps the murder victim was going to screw the son over and when the Butler discovered things, he tried to cover it up, and when that didn't work, is trying to frame himself to protect his son (who didn't even do it. Won't he be relieved?)

What else? Well, why would the girl kill the old man? Maybe she was in love with the son and he spurned her. Perhaps she's much more spoiled than she let on, and so she was trying to talk the murder victim into writing the son out of the will (which explains why the Butler was afraid his son would flip out), and when that didn't work, got pissed and killed him, and then tried to frame the son (which further concerned the butler).

This gives us a slew of material to work with, mysteries within the mystery that lead us to greater revelations. First, we try to figure out who killed him: We can afford to give them plenty of clues, several of which will point them to the Butler. But further investigation will suggest the butler is covering up for the young man, and then it turns out that the young man is, in fact, the butler's illegitimate son. Revelations! It was all this adopted heir! And he killed him because he was being written out of the will! Except certain parts of the story don't add up, so before the heroes can wrap it all up, they realize the prim and cute girl was the one trying to persuade the victim to change his will, and that she'd tried to have a relationship with the boy, only to be spurned, and then bam, the final pieces fall into place, and we have a heckuva memorable mystery.

The same premise can apply to anything: What's the secret of the ancient manuscript? Where does the tomb of the final templar lie? Who is really behind the cattle mutilitations of New Mexico?

Role-Playing Non-Combat

Social roleplaying is a little more complicated. Generally, romance, drama and intrigue come down to hard choices. Whom do you betray? Whom do you commit to? How far are you willing to go? In alot of ways, I think this is the meat of a good RPG in any case, because choice is what RPGs are all about. If you're just fighting an endless stream of monsters, you're not doing anything you couldn't do better on a computer.

The core of drama is to make these choices as equally appealing (or unappealing) as you can. The rule of thumb is "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." There should be no "Right" answer (which isn't to say every answer is HORRIBLY wrong, unless you're playing a horror game, but those can be depressing). Every benefit should have a trade off, and if your players stop and see everything spreading before them and really can't decide, agonizing over each choice, you've really done your job well.

My favorite example of this is a spy scenario I dreamed up once: Imagine a soviety spy who has infiltrated an American base. While there, her life is saved a couple of times by an American captain, who falls for her and her for him. She finds herself growing content in her new life, but it cannot remain so forever: one the one hand, the CIA is begining to suspect that there's a spy in their midst, turning up the heat on her. The KGB begins to suspect she's gone to the other side, and sends an agent to "check up" on her. Making matters worse, the American captain is ordered to engage an attack on a soviet special interest, putting her into the final bind: she must decide where her loyalties lie. If she tells the KGB of the attack, her lover will surely die. If she does not, this special interest will fall and she'll be cut off from her country forever. If it seems to obvious, like the player would certainly choose the lover, we ramp up the consequences of that, perhaps putting some of her family in the line of fire if the attack goes off.

What matters is that we have a choice, it's a tough choice, and that this choice has consequences that will reveberate through the game.

The other half of social play is convincing and interesting NPCs. They need to have a good look, an interesting personality, and be simple enough that the PCs can sum them up pretty quickly if necessary. But they also need their own agendas and a reason to be in the game. All too often I see GMs who introduce love interests whose sole purpose in life is to be loved by the hero, or a rival whose sole purpose in life is to antagonize the hero. These seldom hold attention for long, and tend to feel railroady ("Look, it's a princess. You love her, right?"). So I ensure that all NPCs have a secondary role that ensures that, should a player dismiss them as a love interest or rival, I can shrug and keep them in the game for a completely different reason, clearly signaling that they do, in fact, have a choice in the matter. It also tends to ensure they're multi-dimensional. Perhaps the princess seeks to save her kingdom and has hired the heroes to help her do so. Whether or not the hero falls in love with her after that is immaterial (but interesting). Perhaps the rival seeks an alliance to the kingdom and the princess's hand and, completely paranoid, believes that the hero seeks to steal her away (the fact that she's crushing on the prince doesn't help anything).

Tough choices, interesting NPCs who exist for a variety of reasons and have their own desires, and consequences to your actions tend to form the basis, in my opinion, of any social roleplaying situation.

It needs a fairly different approach to games I've run in the past. Players need big, up-front goals for their characters that they don't keep secret. We also use a specific scene structure, and hash through the agenda of each scene before I begin narration. That keeps scenes busy if they need to be, relaxed if they need to develop character rather than plot. We also spent the first session developing the background and story arc of the first season, so everyone was on board with the point of it all.

SOAP OPERA

Introduction

One of the more difficult things to sustain is a long-term game wherein the characters are able to develop meaningfully as people. The ongoing presentation of challenge after challenge familiarizes the players with only a handful of non-player characters that are necessary only to overcome the obstacles at hand. While it is not uncommon practice for Storytellers to utilize recurring characters to fill these roles, this in its own way only serves to further limit the types of interaction available to the players or to give a simple answer to the problem. In the following paragraphs I will describe a methodology that runs contrary to these techniques and has resulted in multiple lasting games. This methodology may be applied to any game, but seems to work best for the World of Darkness due to its psychodramatic themes.

The Soap Opera

The key to the methodology is the continuous introduction of new characters and story elements. This is similar to daytime television dramas, some of which have been running continuously since the seventies. I would not expect anyone to play the same role-playing game for thirty years, but it does seem to be a model worth emulating if one wishes to have a long-lasting chronicle.

Each season of a soap opera, a name referring to the original sponsors of daytime dramas, introduces new characters and complications at regular intervals, some of which remain unresolved for years. By emulating this, a role-playing game can be made engaging and challenging indefinitely. Perhaps the most important aspect of this style is that there is never a point at which everything is resolved. By always leaving loose ends, and important loose ends at that, the players' interest is maintained.

The Cast

None of this is possible without a large cast of characters. Again referring to daytime television, the main characters are often related by blood, as in All My Children, or by employment, like General Hospital, they have enormous ancillary casts of characters. Over it's 37 year run, All My Children has had 199 lead characters. The challenge here is to strike a balance between introducing new characters, each of whom must be at least somewhat unique and offer a new opportunity for stories, and building upon existing characters.

Lead Characters

Fortunately the World of Darkness is structured in a way that encourages the creation of this cast. Each game features a social structure that cannot possibly be filled out exclusively by player characters. Ask yourself, what factions are present in the setting? Who is in power? Who opposes them? Just by naming these characters you'll have generated a significant part of the cast and probably a couple story ideas.

Supporting Characters

Filling in the lead characters is easy and no mystery. It's very common for these characters to be named even in a beginning Storyteller's chronicle. Supporting characters are another story. The supporting characters are folks like body guards, accountants, and nannies. Anyone who is close to a lead character can have, but doesn't necessarily need, a name. It's not uncommon for players to name those related to their own characters in this manner, but few Storytellers take the time to name the servant of another named character. This is, in my opinion, a mistake. By naming these characters it gives the players another thing to latch onto. An unnamed goon is unlikely to be remembered, but Hammerfist Hadly, the loyal retainer of the Daeva primogen, might be directly approached. The character might even develop into an important contact. I strongly recommend naming at least two supporting characters for each lead character in a chronicle.

Relationships

Building up the cast can be as simple as writing a list of names. Adding a single line description of that character's relationship to one or more of the other characters will generate a huge number of potential story lines though. Expanding that line to a paragraph can aid the Storyteller in building an impressively deep set of stories.

Shaking Things Up

Soap operas are so successful because they build rapport with the viewer by maintaining a consistent cast for years. However for sweeps week, a period when the Nielson ratings are tabulated for sponsors, it's very common to do something exceptionally dramatic or unexpected to draw in more viewers. Weddings, murders, and the introduction of new characters are common tactics. Since we have no real sponsors, though it could be argued that the players themselves are the sponsors, we have to work out for ourselves when the best time to do this is.

I recommend hitting the players with a new character any time they venture into a new social milieu or when they have become comfortable with the status quo. That will add a degree of realism and keep them on their toes.

Murdering a well known character, especially one which the players have come to rely on, can have unexpected consequences. Players will hopefully be shocked, but the Storyteller must also be prepared for them to be angry. It may be perceived as an arbitrary maneuver to weaken their characters. New groups and groups that have had problems with trust especially may react in this manner. If you still want to attempt this tactic with such groups I recommend providing some opportunity to rescue the ally.

Weddings are a mainstay in soap opera because it puts a nice cap on what has typically been a multi-season love affair. Utilizing this device in a role-playing game can be difficult though because with few exceptions the players will mostly be male. Weddings however can be an excellent backdrop for conspiracies, murders, and other such events.

Layering

A large cast of characters, described in such a fashion that they have conflicting goals, can easily generate enough story lines to sustain a very long campaign even if they are addressed one at a time. However, by dealing with these conflicts as individual problems the game will hit points where everything of importance seems to be resolved. Essentially, the game will find a natural end. Instead, consider layering these conflicts so there are always two or more pressing problems that demand the player characters' attentions.

The Order of Disorder

Throwing out all of the plot hooks at once will most likely result in the players attempting to connect too many disparate elements or worse a complete failure to act. Instead it is advisable to dole out the plots at fairly regular intervals. Every session or two offer up another clue regarding one of the story lines via non-player character interaction. This can take the form of a rumor, an offer to join one conspiracy or another, an unexpected attack, etc.

Ultimately this should result in a situation where the players must seek and gain allies while making hard decisions regarding the allocation of their resources. If the lead characters have been structured as I describe above gaining allies also results in gaining enemies, which may in turn result in more story lines that can be pointed at the player characters.

The real point of layering things is to avoid ever having a lull in the action. Try not to completely overwhelm the players with too many story lines, but keep things coming at least as quickly as the stories are resolved. The diagram below is a visual representation of this idea.

Story A
		Story B
				Story C

NPC vs. NPC

As I mention above the non-player characters are in conflict with each other. These conflicts are at the center of the stories that the player characters will find themselves at the beginning of the chronicle. Later, as the player characters have been more thoroughly integrated into the setting, their own conflicts will provide more than enough story lines to keep them occupied. At first though it must be expected that they will become embroiled in the conflicts of others.

In conventional games these conflicts will not progress, change, or be resolved except by the intervention of the player character protagonists. This is typically done to simplify the Storyteller's job and to make the player characters the center of the story. However, I consider this to be a mistake. Regardless of whether the players choose to involve themselves in the interaction of the non-player characters these story lines should progress for two reasons; verisimilitude and to escalate the conflict.

Even though this is a game, it makes the pretense of being set in a version of the real world. This makes it important that things progress in a natural fashion and that just like in the real world things go on whether anyone is looking or not. Characters or groups that have a stated animosity towards each other should engage in activities designed to harm their enemy even if the players have chosen to distance themselves from the conflict. Characters that have constructive goals and the power to pursue them should do so, even if the players have chosen not to aid or hinder them. Verisimilitude is not however an excuse for the Storyteller to engage in arbitrary action on the behalf of non-player characters. Everything that occurs must be rational and teleological or the Storyteller risks violating the players' trust.

By following this strategy, many plot hooks that do not initially attract the attention of the players can be recycled and offered to them again. For example: The players are made aware of a feud between two non-player characters before the game commences as part of the setting brief. They choose to pursue other story lines or perhaps to actively avoid the feud. Regardless of this decision the two characters should continue their private war. This can be brought to the players' attentions by circulating rumors regarding the acts of the two feuding non-player characters and/or by having one of them approach one or more of the players asking for aid. Even if the players refuse to become involved the conflict continues. Other persons are dragged into the fight and the stakes are raised until the players do choose to become involved or it is logical that one of the parties should fail. The failure of one of the parties may in fact be more desirable because it may produce a power vacuum, introducing more characters that the players must then deal with.

Conclusion

By following the strategy I have outlined above a Storyteller rapidly establishes a highly interactive cast of characters that grow and evolve over time. While this represents a significant investment of time before the game begins, each of at least a dozen characters must be defined at this time, this is the most preparation that will need to be performed at any point throughout the run of the game. And this preparation need not be too detailed. As little as a name and a statement of the character's goals is enough to get started. Simply accounting for the characters' actions as they work towards their goals will generate further conflict and from that further story. Additionally, once this work is completed, the cast of characters is easily recycled for other games.

Where do the Players Fit?

While this methodology creates a self sustaining environment it can be difficult to get the players involved without contrivance. All of the non-player characters are bound together by a variety of alliances and animosities, and unless the players are made aware of all of them they might find it difficult to write their characters into the story.

To preserve the mystery and surprise it may not be desirable to expose everything to the players. I strongly recommend preparing a story brief, a short summary of everything known about the other characters in the story, to overcome this. It should include known feuds, power struggles, and pet projects for all of the non-player characters that will be featured in the game. The players can then be encouraged to take sides and write their place in those conflicts into their characters.

Another means of getting the players immediately involved can be borrowed from Exalted. Have each player select a motivation for his or her character. This is a simple, single sentence, statement of the character's long-term goals. The character's motivation gives the player something to work towards in every session and the Storyteller a better idea of whether the player characters will work well together.

Even with a motivation defined it is possible that the characters will drift around for several sessions until the players find their place in the story. This tendency can be frustrating for both the players and the Storyteller. To circumvent it, I recommend having the players each define three to five short term goals for themselves. These may or may not tie into the characters' motivations, but I recommend that all of them require the players to interact with one or more non-player characters.

Example

The following mind map illustrates the lead vampire characters for Of Blood and Dust.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v150/king_kaboom/Game%20Stuff/OfBloodDust.png

The map describes both the covenant and clan/bloodline affiliations of this cast of 20 characters.

Conflict

The characters are arrayed against each other in such a way that builds conflict. At a macro level there exists the standing animosity between the covenents, the simple distaste that the clans have for each other, and the distrust that parent clans have for their bloodlines. There is also the "us against them" mentality of the Bruja in operation at this level. If one reviews the background of the characters numerous personal conflicts are described as well. To summarize them:

• Esperanza is angry at Noble for frenzying on her
• Noble has taken the conflict between the Carthians and the Bruja to a personal level
• Ronnie wants to get back at Consuelo
• Mikos is attempting to keep Consuelo under control, and failing
• Consuelo is angry at the world and looking for any fight she can get
• Rutger is plotting to destroy all of the Kindred in Reno
• Talon Blackwood wants to have sole control of the Circle of the Crone
• Michaela is trying to maintain control over her brood while eying Mikos and the other elders hungrily
• Arnie Welsch wants out of the gang
• Edna wants Donald to love her
• Olga wants to kill Michaela and take over
• Donald wants to get back at Consuelo
• Cosimo is trying to manipulate a spirit court without coming into conflict with the Uratha
• Monica is trying to steal Rutger's secrets
• Paul wants to escape his servitude
• Mother wants to kill Tongue and destroy the Bruja
• Tongue wants to control the city from the shadows
• Markus is controlling the city from the shadows and wants to keep it that way
• Herve wants to understand the messages from God he sees and to destroy those who would harm him (everyone)
• Juanita is trying to be normal

Note that not all of these conflicts are necessarily physical and not all of them are even between two characters. Some are between the character and themselves, some between the character and his or her nature. Any one of these conflicts would make a suitable adventure unto itself and by exploring them one at a time a pretty long running chronicle could be sustained, especially after integrating the player characters and their conflicts into the mix. However, going about it like that would emphasize the resolution of each conflict without necessarily requiring the characters to grow in the process or spawning additional conflicts.

Divided Loyalties

Also notice how, except where there is a childe/sire bond exists, it is very common for members of the same clan to possess antagonistic political agendas. This creates questions of loyalty and whether the characters will go as far to destroy their opponents when they are, after a fashion, family. The Filhos des Bruja are something of an exception to this made specifically for this chronicle. The Bruja are intended to be the default antagonists. They represent a destructive status quo that may be united against. For the sake of verisimilitude a couple weaknesses have been written into the characters that may be exploited by players, but divided loyalties are not among them.

Divided loyalties are, in my opinion, crucial to include. They help give characters dimension and offer opportunities for dramatic betrayals. This is different from the common bait and switch tactic of having an ally betray the player characters without warning because it allows for foreshadowing and gives a logical reason for the duplicitous action. More importantly, because everyone has divided loyalties, the players will typically not see it coming anyway.

Foreground and Background

By accepting that all of these conflicts exist in the story from the very beginning and introducing them to the players as they encounter the NPCs, being careful not to reveal more than would naturally come out in the course of conversation, it lends all of the scenes a greater sense of realism. It also offers the players more and more things to identify with, exploiting the players' innate sympathy. The job then becomes following up with the ideas that were most interesting for the players; offering them opportunities to become involved if they do not involve themselves.

Keeping the remainder of the conflicts running in the background can be challenging. However, it is worth it to spend a few minutes between sessions to write a single sentence about what has happened regarding each specific conflict. How has it changed? Who has gained the upper hand? Who else has become involved and how? All of this maintains the sense of realism and builds depth into the game. It also keeps the non-player character interaction fresh. Every time a player encounters the non-player character he or she has new information to give, new problems to talk about, and new events that have transpired.

MOOD & THEME

Mood and theme are vital elements of any story, and therefore an important addition to any role playing game. The mood of a game is the feeling the game as a whole is supposed to engender in the player, be it one of fear, paranoia or lighthearted humor. Theme, by contrast, amounts to the moral of the story being told.

Mood

Mood helps set the emotional stage not only for a chronicle as a whole, but for each story that makes up that chronicle. Although it can vary from story to story, overall the emotional tone should remain largely consistent throughout. The appropriate mood is set by the Storyteller of the chronicle and can be easily manipulated using such simple things are background lighting and music.

Examples of Mood

A chronicle in which the predominant mood is fear typically includes scenes steeped in darkness, with frequent horrors visited upon those in the characters proximity -- or aimed at the character -- to keep players from ever feeling quite comfortable. The Storyteller of such a chronicle might keep lighting dim and have little music save to highlight the unknown.

Paranoia is a common theme in Storyteller games and encourages the players (and their characters) to be afraid of everything and everyone they encounter. Trust is never an option, and every new piece of information should be suspect. Storytellers encouraging a mood of paranoia might want to give seeming importance to unimportant characters at times, while underrating their villains -- but only sometimes. Better that players never be quite sure whether that well-described Man in the Cloak is their arch-villain or some random street person; likewise, random events should take place that keep the characters in constant fear for their lives. Dark is an excellent setting for this mood, an soft instrumental pieces might ad a nice touch as well.

Although found only rarely in White Wolf games, sometimes a Storyteller wants a light-hearted mood as a way to break the predominant mood of a chronicle. Bright lights and pleasant music tend to be the order of the day, while characters should smile and laugh frequently and obvious sources of danger should be virtually non-existent. Usually a light-hearted mood is best used to break the constant stress of the darker moods more prevelant in Storyteller games.

Theme

The theme of a story should be determined by a Storyteller before a chronicle begins and rarely changes from one story to the next. In many ways the theme of a story is its moral, the idea the Storyteller hopes to teach to the players through the medium of role playing.

Examples of Theme

Loss is quite possibly the most-used theme in both the Old World of Darkness and the new World of Darkness. From the slow, inexorable loss of sanity in Vampire: The Requiem to the rapid loss of ignorance -- and innocence -- in Hunter: The Reckoning, loss is an all-encompassing theme that a Storyteller can use to highlight the hardships of the World of Darkness. Storytellers can highlight the theme of loss using reminders both subtle and otherwise. When the characters encounter a child searching for a lost toy it highlights the theme of loss just as well as when a close friend suffers at the hands of an enemy.

Another theme common to the World of Darkness games is pointless violence. Whether the characters are Uratha defending their families and homes against the ceaseless aggression of Blood Talon warriors in Werewolf: The Forsaken or holy men hunted by the Holy Office for the simple crime of being pagan, mindless violence is everywhere in the world. By revealing the pointlessness of conflicts -- a thief murdering a man for a paltry three dollars, for example -- the Storyteller can emphasize this theme without much effort.

Loyalty. It is difficult to maintain neutrality in the World of Darkness, where factions conflict constantly. Clan versus clan; tribe against tribe; Hierarchy and Renegade: how are the characters able to navigate this dangerous world? Will they know when to be loyal to their allies and when to remain neutral? Enemies will try to coerce, and allies will connive, and the difficulty in determining what the best course of action may be can be an important theme in any game. One way to reinforce this theme is through treachery; if a character's allies cannot be trusted, who can? And what about the enemy who suddenly offers an alliance of convenience -- how long will such an alliance last?

The End is Nigh! and inevitability are particularly useful themes, particularly in the old World of Darkness. Hunter: The Reckoning, as a game, is based on this very concept, but each of the supernatural entities must face inevitable extinction be it through Gehenna, Changeling: The Dreaming's Endless Winter or the Apocalypse of Werewolf: The Apocalypse fame. This theme can be emphasized by increasing random encounters with other supernatural creatures, dire warnings about the end of the world and even prophetic advice from normally pragmatic individuals. All other themes can easily be tied into this particular theme because the End is all about loss, meaninglessness and ever-changing loyalties as factions seek to stave off the inevitable.

UNFORGETABLE GAMES

Most of us know how to run a good game, but what makes a game unforgettable? Here's a list of storytelling elements that will give your players chills.

• Put discreet elements of something weird going on for the players to discover themselves. Like small pieces of puzzles you give away slowly until they have enough to make sense of the big picture. For example, the location players visit has strange (spy) rats everywhere. Include the presence of rats subtly in every description of the place, until the players discover it on their own. Perhaps there is also an NPC with rat-like features (he sniffs a lot, his body type resembles it too, he smells cheese) but these features are given sparingly. When the players discover the rat presence, they will suddenly worry about this NPC.

• Use tridimensional characters. Avoid stereotypes and clarify their motivations and drives.

• Use elaborate descriptions. Read a random descriptive paragraph from a Tolkien book. The attention to details is key and the use of poetic language can turn a boring room into a place full of mysteries. Also, if your players are used to large descriptions, it will be easier to add some key elements of the place in your description that requires their attention, without making it too obvious.

• Add plots or side plots that involve the players personally. Perhaps the shipping company that was used to send the drugs is owned by a player's family member (his dad?). Maybe a player failed to help an NPC who ran away in a previous game. Now, on a completely unrelated note, the NPC finds himself tied to the main plot, because of the player's behavior.