NOW GAMEMASTERING
For some reason, a
lot of indications on how to play better in roleplaying games have been
written, but for some reason, very few have been written to help the game
master... Gms aren't more perfect than their players, but they have the
power (muhahaha!), so I guess that's why they get less guided. Here is
a short essay about how to gamemaster well, keep in my mind that these
my ways to deal with my players! You can use totally different techniques
and make incredible games!
The story
As everybody knows, a great story is what makes a great game.
In shadowrun, a story usually keeps a typical look: encounter with Johnson
who gives the job, the run itself, the aftermath. This you can change once
in a while, to give some variety to your games... So, how do you make a
great story?
The encounter with the Johnson should never be normal( or
maybe some times, when the characters won't suppose it can be normal anymore...),
by this I mean there should always be something different from what could
be called "the norm". The players may be attacked while dealing with him,
he might be late, etc. or the very classical "the-Johnson-is-doing-this-to-frag-us-up"
or "won't-tell-everything-he-knows" or "is-actually-Lofwyr-in-human-shape",
etc... Anyway, be sure that this encounter itself gives something to do,
even if its searching info on the Johnson. One final word, the Johnson
should never tell for whom he's working for except in rare events where
its better for him. Of course he can lie...
The run itself is the most important part of the game. It
is where all the action occur, and where all the fun usually is. First
of all, give the players a reason to check before making the run how they
will theorically do it (of course it won't work but at least its a start),
some players just decide their plans while making the run... If they don't
plan ahead, make them feel like they should have.
Another important thing is that players must always have
something to do. Never leave them without anything to do or they'll get
bored, and the whole purpose of rpgs is to have fun, not to get bored.
Even if in reality there are boring moments, don't put them in the game.
So, if there's long freetime, get through it fast ("after waiting for a
week...") if the players don't do anything special. It is important too
that everybody has something to do. That can be tricky if players
go out to do something personnal and other people don't do anything. To
remdy to this situation, get the period where the player do personnal affair
short, so other player won't get bored, or get the other characters participate.
Another way (that I haven't tried yet but seems like it has potential)
is to let the other player play some npcs (no too important ones, of course...),
so they do something meanwhile... (and you, the almighty gm, have less
work ;).
Finally, don't "railroad" the characters. That is, don't
get them do what you want even if they have different plans. Nobody likes
to be manipulated, so if the characters decide to do something unexpected,
let them. The key to this is practicing with improvisation: if you don't
have anything ready, you won't get off balance (of course, try to prepare
at least the minimum, because pcs rely a lot on the gm to decide what to
do...). I rarely write anything down before a game but still make some
good games (at least I think... ;), but I don't recommend this to gms with
short memories (remembering all the npcs by heart can get confusing...).
I try to make some npcs sheets and that's all (and I never write
any stats beforehand, I make them up as we go).
The combat
Combat is an important part of Shadowrun, half of the book concerns that
and a lot of supplement are made to improve the combat capacities of the
characters. Being important, it must be fun when it happens. The worst
kind of combat imaginable is a combat where the players and gm have that
kind of conversation:
- I shoot him... I do 12D two times. (player)
- He dies (gm)... Another goon shoots at you full-auto.
He does 13D.
- Damn, I get S...
That's really boring, but it happens all too often. To remedy to
this a couple otpions are possible. The first is to make an intersting
setting, with lots of places to hide behind, to sneak behind people and
where there's lots of glass (exploding windows are always cool...). This
enables pcs and npcs to move and hide a lot, making the combats longer
and more fun, with more action (even Rambo doesn't stand still in a firefight...).
Some examples of this are grocery stores (all the alleys are cool to hide
between, and there are tons of stuff that can fall and get broken), places
where there are a lot of tables and walls (you hide around corners or behind
tables), etc.
If this is not enough to get your combat moving, or if you already do it,
then it's probably because the players doon't "move" enough and that the
npcs they confront don't move enough either. Of course you can't really
do anything for the players, but you can do something for the npcs. Make
them run, hide, make cool moves and get hard to hit. When they will realize
that their character isn't as interesting as the npcs and they are much
easier to hit, they will start moving and hiding, and things will get interesting...
For example:
- I jump behind the boxes and start shooting at the first
goon until I'm completely hidden by those crates. I miss the first time,
but do 12M the second.(player)
- The wall behind which is hidden the goon gets the first
shot, but the second one hits him in the elbow. He tries to shoot back
at you... but you're already hidden, so the crates get all the bullets.
Now that's much better...