@cynical13 I never have and I’m currently setting up my first-ever setting.

What’s making me procrastinate is the lack of actual “running the game” advice: I’d be more interested in knowing HOW someone improvises a random encounter in the moment rather than THAT they have x amount of random tables at the ready, for example. Real life examples are the best.

I’d like GMs to bring us players behind the scenes of the game in action, because planning is easy, doing is not.

@anderstallvik @cynical13 if you haven’t, I suggest listening to Hankerin Ferinale’s “RPG Mainframe” series

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlSmiQ728Xr1Gmx1XlNh8FnJ6X8qPoEuU

Good, thoughtful, practical advice for running and playing RPGs. No need to listen to them in any order. Find the one(s) that sound most immediately useful. But there’s gold in all of them.

@anderstallvik @cynical13 not really, no! The whole thesis is “have fun”, and it seeps into every episode in different ways.

The GM is also a participant in the game, so you should be having as much fun as the players. Too many GMs lose sight of that.

Also, less is more. You don’t need to have all the answers. Let your players help you build the world. Prepare one session at a time, not a whole campaign! Respond to player interests.

@anderstallvik @skippy

#13thAge is great for that. Players each have to come up with One Unique Thing (OUT) about their character that sets them apart. It's not a mechanical advantage, but can be something like "I'm the only elf who can grow a beard" or "I'm the only halfling Dragon Knight". There wasn't a Dragon Knight in the game world before, but now there is! What's that all about?

They also create backgrounds instead of buy skills. A character might be "a cat burglar". Now any time they do anything they can justify as being related to that (climbing, appraising items, perception checks, etc.) they add their background points into their roll. That can work similar to an OUT.

I like to keep areas lightly described. Describing a room as a dining hall with a large fireplace at one end paints a picture. If a player wants to swing from a chandelier, they may ask if they see any lights hanging from the ceiling. Well, there are now! Let them make a roll and see what happens.

Let them fill in some of the blanks.

If you see a player struggling with an idea, ask them what they're intending to do and make up a skill or spell use that seems to be what they want (within reason!).

@cynical13 I like that approach a lot – building the roleplay into the character design.

This all is really making me more excited to start the GMing and let the players fill in the blanks where I'm unsure.

It really makes The Conversation the center piece, too, in a way.

Oh I love all this.

@anderstallvik There are a couple of other things I realized I should have mentioned before.

Puzzles are pretty common elements in games. When I create a puzzle or obstacle for my parties, I don't have one single set solution that the players must figure out in order to proceed. It's frustrating for players if they keep trying and trying but can't think the exact same way as you.

Instead, I put forth a challenge and let them come up with ways to get around it. As long as they come up with a clever answer and make the appropriate rolls (only as needed!), they can solve it. They feel good that they outsmarted the obstacle and you pushed them to be creative and work together.

I mentioned challenge ratings. There's nothing wrong with using lower level monsters to make them spend resources (spells, HP, ammunition) during the day. Not every fight has to be life and death. Likewise, you can pick monsters of a higher CR, just use one or two of them. Often, more monsters can be just as challenging if not more so because there are more opportunities to make hit rolls.

If a fight is dragging, you can ask if the group wants to handwave the last elements. If you want, you can roll to see how many HP they lose as they wind down.

@anderstallvik

Scene pacing is important. Don't get bogged down in tons of descriptions. Paint the outline of a scene and let the players fill it in with questions and suggestions, as long as they seem reasonable.

Likewise, try not to let things grind to a halt. You can make suggestions to the players (just a basic thought or two to get the ball rolling again), bring in a new NPC or two, a change in weather to push them on, remind them of upcoming time limits, etc.

Investigations can get tedious. Summarize and don't be afraid to let them know that they found all of the clues. Or have a random NPC drop a related clue (they went that way in a hurry! They dropped this!).

I'm very open with my players so they don't think it's me against them. It also helps them keep from thinking I'm holding back on them when they investigate a location. That helps me to transition them to the next scene too.

Knowledge rolls can be really helpful, especially if they have really high scores. Ask them to make an appropriate roll (and be flexible! Dungeoneering, engineering, religion, arcana, nature can often be used interchangeably) to give them hints. They feel good when they make a roll (even an easy one!) and players like rolling dice.

@cynical13 Amazing, thank you!

Scene pacing feels like a thing I will have to try out for a while before I know what works and what doesn't, so having pointers is appreciated.

I find challenge ratings interesting since that's something that's never really visible to a player. I can see when my GM changes pace or sets up a scene, but I don't know how they treat all the numbers in a battle. Thankfully, I'll soon have the chance to shadow that part with some GMs here in Amsterdam!

@anderstallvik There is some advice in the DMG and you can do searches online for "encounter building" to get advice. But I find running a published module or two can help see how others do it. And it can depend on the players too, and how tactical they are and how they build their characters. Folks who are really into RP may not be as combat oriented as a group of min-maxers. But it's possible that they're good at both.

At the end of the day, you're providing entertainment to your party. Don't be afraid to ask for feedback at the end of sessions and make sure you at least consider what they say.