The Back Six
By Cape Rust
If you haven’t been following this series, I am trying to guide you, the epic, awesome, totally cool readers through the entire adventure creation process. This is A way to create an adventure, not THE way to do it. Last week I encouraged the readers to establish a GMing order in their group so they will have an idea of when they will run the next few games. After you know when you are running a game, I recommend starting with a self assessment to prevent failure in your next game. A great way to do this is to ask yourself some questions. I came up with a list of eleven of them to get you started. To keep things easy and to stress just how important those or any questions are, I’ll include them all here. Besides, it will keep you from having to open the other article and switch between the two.
- Do I have the time to develop and run this adventure?
- What Kind of games do I normally run?
- What is my GMing style?
- What games have I run that failed
- Why did my games fail
- What games have I run that succeeded
- Why did those games succeed?
- What Kind of Game do I not want to run
- How much time am I willing to put into this game?
- Have I already decided what kind of game I’m going to run?
- Am I willing to compromise my “vision” to keep the game fun?
Last week we ended at rule number five, so let’s pickup with six and seven. I mentioned the After Action Review or AAR as a great way to figure out what you did right and wrong. I recommend looking at failures first then ending with the good points. This helps heal some of those fail wounds and will keep you in a decent mood. As you finishing asking yourself the rest of the self assessment questions, always end on a positive note… unless you are writing an H.P. Lovecraft story.
We all have a few games that we will never forget. I find it hard to name my favorite game of all time, but I could come up with a top ten. At this point you should look at your top ten list and figure out what you liked and what worked in those games that left you waiting with bated breath for the next session. Find that past game goodness, scratch the surface, dig deep, and figure out why it worked. Was it the whole concept? Did you give all of the NPCs unique voices? What captured magic for you as the GM and what made it great for the players?
Question eight seems like a no brainer but some people run games they don’t want to. They run these games because their players wanted a certain type of game or no one else is willing to run the next game. If you have had to run a game that you really didn’t want to run, you know how it feels. You don’t want to let the players down, but every minute you spend working on the game kills you a tiny bit. One of the guys in my current gaming group does not like modern game much. He will play in them, but I would never want or expect him to run one. Knowing what you don’t want to run helps bracket down the list of what you do want to run. When you deal with this question, you might realize that space operas are not for you and that realization is a good thing.
In this busy day and age, time is not something anyone seems to have an excess amount of. I am the parent of two teen girls and work a full time job. Additionally, I write for two websites, do some freelance writing, do some community theater, and read. Dog pile Facebook and its mindless games and my free time starts to diminish even more. If I played WoW or another MMORPG, those free hours would dwindle down to seconds. WoW is getting ready to release a new expansion and The Old Republic is getting ready to launch. If you are excited about either of these MMO prospects, you need to think about your table top game and if you need to bow out for a few months to pursue your online mistresses, bow out (Don’t even get me started on Skyrim!). When you run a game, it isn’t just about you. Your players are counting on you to provide an interesting game that everyone wants to be involved in. If you are a player and are excited about those online goodies, you might think about a break as well. I have had people flake on game sessions because their guild was raiding and It pissed me off. I would rather they just not get started in the current game to begin with. There is nothing worse than writing in story hook for a character and to have that player skip the game to go play beer pong.
Have YOU already decided what kind of game you are going to run? If YOU have, there is a possibility that you might be setting yourself and your game up for failure. If you are running a game for your normal group then you should have a general idea of what kind of games the group enjoys playing. The funny thing about players is they tend to change their minds; yes, they might want a break from Battletech after two years of adventures. Take a critical look at any ideas you have floating around your head and try to determine if they will appeal to the players. Remember, gaming is a team sport. Don’t go too far down the development road without player input, which I will cover later. Remember, the more time people tend to spend on a bad idea, the less they are willing to let go of them.
Question eleven is interconnected with question ten. If you have a great idea, are you willing to compromise that idea for the good of the gaming group? If you are dead set on an idea and are not willing to deviate, you might be headed for trouble. Most of my great game ideas are born in a vacuum with little or no consideration for players. Plenty of wasted time and quite a few bad games later, I have learned that vacuum ideas tend to make great books but they don’t always make the cut for the tabletop. As you move into socializing your ideas with your players, you might learn that they have zero interest in your concept. If you are not willing to compromise or at least collaborate on an idea, your players will feel railroaded from the beginning and those feelings could derail your game.
I encourage you to look at these questions, develop a few of your own, and reorder them to suit your needs. The most important thing to remember is ask questions early in the process and actually listen to your answers. During your self assessment, you might learn that you are not suited to running any type of game and that is OK. The goal here is to save time and feelings by setting up a personal foundation to build an adventure on. Next week we will look at pre-development socialization with your players.
