GM Lounge - Bartenders Answer All Your Questions

Started by HockeyGod, January 02, 2012, 03:16:41 PM

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Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Chrystal on January 21, 2013, 03:47:53 PM
Hey, advice from a mentat is not to be dismissed lightly! Thanks, Thufir.
You're welcome.

QuoteThe game in question is one that I stared fairly recently, a post-apocalyptic setting where some sort of virus has turned all men into zombies and the only survivors are women with enough butch to kill the men, or enough mousie to successfully hide until they are rescued by the first lot... It seemed like a good idea. But I've already had two incidents, one of a character apparently committing suicide, and another of a character shooting a NPC dead when they were told to disarm them.
Maybe it's just me, but what's the problem with either? I mean, that's the post-apocalyptic genre! People do make mistakes, and pay dearly for them.
About the shooting part...what are the consequences to shooting instead of disarming? Spring them >:)!
And if there aren't any, why is that a problem?

QuoteIt's partly my fault, because, in order to give the impression of a dog-eat-dog world, I had the group leader execute a NPC out of hand in my opening post. I think that was a bad mistake, now and if I could change it I would.
Again, not sure why this would be a mistake. Needing more information.

QuoteThe thing is, these are IC issues and as you say, shou;ld be dealt with IC, but I just don't have any desire to do so.
Actually, if we follow what I said, them leading to you not wanting to play is an OOC issue and is best dealt with by OOC means.

QuoteI have PMed both players.
Yeah, that's the way to go with OOC issues :P!

QuoteAnd the whole thing is made impossible for me to track by the fact that it's in a single thread and we're using that rubberised time keeping. That was another mistake that I shan't make again.
You can split the threads, and introduce more exact time-keeping. If the GM can't track what's going on because of the format, the format changes.

QuoteSeriously, if I was just a player, I would have dropped out weeks before I actually said anything in the OOC about wanting to quit.
The point above about learning by experience applies. You don't want to hear about the first campaign I was running, just believe me on my word!
So, take the lessons with you, and go ahead, whether that means quitting and starting another, or solving the OOC issues and changing the format on that one ;D!
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HockeyGod

You've got a tough situation there Chrystal. I've had to close games because of player lack of interesting and (ashamed) GM lack.  :o

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: alxnjsh on January 26, 2013, 07:19:54 PM
You've got a tough situation there Chrystal. I've had to close games because of player lack of interesting and (ashamed) GM lack.  :o
It could end up like this, but it doesn't necessarily have to.
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Chrystal

I've left the game to the players. I have no idea what is happening other than no-one has posted for a bit.

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Hellis

Good evening fellow GM's. I am currently running a game of my own here (and others, non erotic ones off site.) I is always a shame when RP's die. I tend to get people by bulk, thne weeed players out by see who can post without flaking out. That said my games tend to move somewhat slowly.

HockeyGod

Quote from: Hellis on January 27, 2013, 12:29:19 PM
Good evening fellow GM's. I am currently running a game of my own here (and others, non erotic ones off site.) I is always a shame when RP's die. I tend to get people by bulk, thne weeed players out by see who can post without flaking out. That said my games tend to move somewhat slowly.

Yes, the moving slowly...I always freak out when a game is moving slowly, thinking that it is decomposing.

Hellis

I honestly prefer it. Lets me say in several and still keep up. And it also allow me to go to work while mulling over what to post.

Chrystal

Quote from: Hellis on January 27, 2013, 03:28:57 PM
I honestly prefer it. Lets me say in several and still keep up. And it also allow me to go to work while mulling over what to post.

If there's one thing that really gives me the colly-wobbles, it's coming home from work to find a group game I'm in (or running) has thirty more posts than when I went to bed the night before...

It means I have to spend the entire evening reading nothing but that one thread.

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Devil's Advocate

Quote from: Hellis on January 27, 2013, 12:29:19 PM
Good evening fellow GM's. I am currently running a game of my own here (and others, non erotic ones off site.) I is always a shame when RP's die. I tend to get people by bulk, thne weeed players out by see who can post without flaking out. That said my games tend to move somewhat slowly.

I don't like getting in that situation because when you have quantity rather than quality, the quality tends to leave because of the quantity's weaknesses.   I have an application/character sheet that I use to determine who is going to be good for the game.  Those who are not, I politely tell that they're not the right fit for the game or are not heading the direction that I'd like the game to go. 

I've had a lot of success with this method.  I think the shortest game I ran or closed by use of this method was three years.
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Hellis

Quote from: Devil's Advocate on January 31, 2013, 03:17:26 PM
I don't like getting in that situation because when you have quantity rather than quality, the quality tends to leave because of the quantity's weaknesses.   I have an application/character sheet that I use to determine who is going to be good for the game.  Those who are not, I politely tell that they're not the right fit for the game or are not heading the direction that I'd like the game to go. 

I've had a lot of success with this method.  I think the shortest game I ran or closed by use of this method was three years.

I have rather high standards usually and  a set kind off player I want depending on the game. But I usually accept one or two extra incase someone decides to pull out.

Chrystal

Quote from: Devil's Advocate on January 31, 2013, 03:17:26 PM
I don't like getting in that situation because when you have quantity rather than quality, the quality tends to leave because of the quantity's weaknesses.   I have an application/character sheet that I use to determine who is going to be good for the game.  Those who are not, I politely tell that they're not the right fit for the game or are not heading the direction that I'd like the game to go. 

I've had a lot of success with this method.  I think the shortest game I ran or closed by use of this method was three years.

Would you mind giving an example of the sort of character sheet you use? I would be interested to see how you weed out the players using it?

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Josietta

I think the key is making a lengthy, well thought out, well detailed, developed character sheet that requires people to get in touch with their character and not just slop stuff onto a page and run.  I requires them to actually breathe life into it and get to know it. I know when Lunar got his SR game going he required people to post at least 2-3 paragraph histories and such. Things like that make people stick around because they put so much effort and time into making the character. It would be a waste to abandon it.

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Chrystal

Hmm... I agree. I also have found that people who bother to read the back-ground info are more likely to stick around, while people who don't, aren't... I know that sounds obvious, but...

Well when you have as much BG data as S/R, for someone like myself, I'm actually almost put off joining by it - the other thing that has made me baulk at joining is the high post rate, which I would never keep up with!

My Mars game has five long posts worth of back-ground at the start of the OOC. Players who read it before posting a character tend to post the sort of character I'm looking for.

By contrast, players who don't, well I've had several that I've rejected purely on the grounds of them being mentally unstable - in spite of the very clear and specific detail saying that all player characters have undergone a rigorous physical and mental screening process, followed by two years of intensive training and been whittled down from thousands, to 75!

I sometimes don't understand why people insist on creating characters that have mental health problems...!

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Devil's Advocate on January 31, 2013, 03:17:26 PM
I don't like getting in that situation because when you have quantity rather than quality, the quality tends to leave because of the quantity's weaknesses.   I have an application/character sheet that I use to determine who is going to be good for the game.  Those who are not, I politely tell that they're not the right fit for the game or are not heading the direction that I'd like the game to go. 

I've had a lot of success with this method.  I think the shortest game I ran or closed by use of this method was three years.
I agree, although I haven't made a sheet, I pretty much do the same. I usually start the game with 150% the number of players I want, if at all possible.
If they're all good, I can accommodate them. OTOH, if I needed to send someone away, I can do that as well.
I tend to favour shorter 12-18 months games, though. Although it all depends on how the game goes, of course!
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Josietta

Quote from: Chrystal on January 31, 2013, 06:42:12 PM
Hmm... I agree. I also have found that people who bother to read the back-ground info are more likely to stick around, while people who don't, aren't... I know that sounds obvious, but...

Well when you have as much BG data as S/R, for someone like myself, I'm actually almost put off joining by it - the other thing that has made me baulk at joining is the high post rate, which I would never keep up with!

My Mars game has five long posts worth of back-ground at the start of the OOC. Players who read it before posting a character tend to post the sort of character I'm looking for.

By contrast, players who don't, well I've had several that I've rejected purely on the grounds of them being mentally unstable - in spite of the very clear and specific detail saying that all player characters have undergone a rigorous physical and mental screening process, followed by two years of intensive training and been whittled down from thousands, to 75!

I sometimes don't understand why people insist on creating characters that have mental health problems...!

The SR game has a good mix of players and posters.  Senti only posts maybe 1-2 times a week. Bubby is the same. We do have a few that post a couple times a day, and then ones like me who post once a day or once every 2-3 days. Its a mix up and with a game like SR you can do that because there are enough plot hooks and things to do that you have multiple teams going on at once. You don't have to stick to one team or even read what everyone is doing. Its very laid back in that regard. You can choose what you wanna do and what you don't.

If anyone has any hesitations on joining you should speak to both Kuroneko and Bubby who both gawked and nearly fell over upon seeing our Wiki. Since then they have, through some GM guidance, found their niche and as far as I can tell like the game.

Incidentally today it hit Big Game status. So the subforum helps tons!

They key to BG info is to keep it sectioned out. SO that one person doesn't have to read all of it to participate. They can read one page of major info and rules and then read the others as they go along at their leisure.

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Moraline

#640
Quote from: Josietta on January 31, 2013, 10:11:29 PM
The SR game has a good mix of players and posters.  Senti only posts maybe 1-2 times a week. Bubby is the same. We do have a few that post a couple times a day, and then ones like me who post once a day or once every 2-3 days. Its a mix up and with a game like SR you can do that because there are enough plot hooks and things to do that you have multiple teams going on at once. You don't have to stick to one team or even read what everyone is doing. Its very laid back in that regard. You can choose what you wanna do and what you don't.

If anyone has any hesitations on joining you should speak to both Kuroneko and Bubby who both gawked and nearly fell over upon seeing our Wiki. Since then they have, through some GM guidance, found their niche and as far as I can tell like the game.

Incidentally today it hit Big Game status. So the subforum helps tons! (Shadowrun - Seattle2070)

They key to BG info is to keep it sectioned out. SO that one person doesn't have to read all of it to participate. They can read one page of major info and rules and then read the others as they go along at their leisure.

I agree with what Josi just said.

The key is that a lot of players "think" they have to read everything that goes in a game. While it's nice to have it all read, you only really need to read your own interactions (which is most likely just a small fraction of the threads.)  Then just read the GM stuff to stay up to date.

Tagging posts helps a lot with this.

The same is true of the background/world information - You only really need a general overview of the world and the few things that directly pertain to your character to be able to dive into the world - Most GM's are pretty good about helping people learn what they need to know as they go along. If a GM wants people with indepth information they'll most likely state it from the start.

That being said.. Everyone should come join the Shadowrun - Seattle 2070 game!       /endshamelessplugs

EDIT: Also a note, I'm one of those frequent posters and I don't think the quality of my posts suffer for it. Some people are just more prolific writers then others.

Chrystal

Quote from: Josietta on January 31, 2013, 10:11:29 PM
Incidentally today it hit Big Game status. So the subforum helps tons!

Yep. That's what I'm talking about.

The game has been running just a month and has 1000 IC posts already. That's 32 posts a day.

It's not the number of posts I have to make that is the issue to me, it's the number I have to read! I have a lot of one-on-ones going, and if I'm to make time to post in them, I cannot spend every day reading 30 or so posts in one game!

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Silver

Being that I'm not actually a GM but rather a Co-GM of only a few days, I was wondering if there was someone who I could ask questions to privately....
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People fear what they don't understand, But then they get mad because they don't dare to do it, Everybody a shinin' star, they ain't get far so they can't prove it, Most stars foolish, full of gas, useless, Pushin' bad influence, wonder what happened to 'em?, They say hurt people hurt people, guess that is proven, They put on a mask to mask feelings, Fill the universe with mass ceilings, Most people not even tappin' in...♡

Chrystal

Hi Silver.

As the first person to reply, I would be happy to attempt to answer your question, however there are probably others better qualified. I'm quite sure that everyone here is very approachable. Not meaning to answer for them, but if you sent a PM to any of the others (or myself if you think I can help), I'm sure any of us will be happy to answer your question for you.

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Silver on February 10, 2013, 01:45:34 AM
Being that I'm not actually a GM but rather a Co-GM of only a few days, I was wondering if there was someone who I could ask questions to privately....
Feel free to PM me, if you want my opinion :P.
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Silver

Quote from: Thufir Hawat on February 11, 2013, 12:08:23 AM
Feel free to PM me, if you want my opinion :P.

*quirks a brow*

Why did you say it like that?
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Now Playing: Star - ♡ Machinedrum (A$AP Ferg Remix)
People fear what they don't understand, But then they get mad because they don't dare to do it, Everybody a shinin' star, they ain't get far so they can't prove it, Most stars foolish, full of gas, useless, Pushin' bad influence, wonder what happened to 'em?, They say hurt people hurt people, guess that is proven, They put on a mask to mask feelings, Fill the universe with mass ceilings, Most people not even tappin' in...♡

Chrystal

He's been at "the juice of sapho" again.... *giggles*

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Thufir Hawat

Quote from: Silver on February 11, 2013, 01:00:45 AM
*quirks a brow*

Why did you say it like that?
It is possible that you don't want my opinion, specifically, for some reason I might even be unaware of. Besides, another thread I'm reading is currently reminding me how some GMs have opinions on GMing that diverge from mine :P.

Quote from: Chrystal on February 11, 2013, 04:19:13 AM
He's been at "the juice of sapho" again.... *giggles*
That, too, cannot be excluded ;D!
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Chrystal

I'm now wondering how many people besides us two actually get the joke?

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Ciosa

I'm actually here looking for a recommendation regarding some map generating software - I'm looking to map a fairly large city, with some 200 different locations/buildings/points of interest that I'd like to be notated.  I'm well aware that's a pretty massive undertaking, and while I've done it on paper, I'd like to have a much cleaner version that isn't scanned in and (badly) drawn. 

Anyone got suggestions?

Also, I'm terrible at Paint/Photoshop.  I could use those if they were the best resource, but I'd much prefer something cleaner.