Who’s on Deck?
By Cape Rust
Last week I ended my article with the beginnings of a disastrous RPG. That description was about as well thought out as a show about pregnant sixteen year-olds. The first and most obvious problem with last week’s great idea was one word: I. That’s right, that one letter word not only appeared at least ten times, it is a word that has ruined marriages and plenty of games. RPGs are a team sport. Even Macabre Tales from Spectrum Games that is designed primarily for one player is still a team activity. Even though Macabre Tales requires a narrator and a player, if my math is correct, that equals two people involved and most of the definitions of team on the interwebs include more than one person working towards a goal. Those ten or so I’s from that horrific paragraph are as far from teamwork as possible.
Even at the conception stage it takes two to tango, otherwise you are just playing with yourself. I know some readers are already scoffing at my new age hippie ways, but stick with me. You might have a great idea for a game, but that does not mean that your players agree with you. There is nothing wrong with allowing the good idea fairy to land in your head and to use your brain as a hanger, but if the idea is truly a good idea, it can wait. Here is what I mean: Let’s say the current game you are involved in is a zombie horror game. The current game involves large amounts of gory slaying of undead (a modern day dungeon crawl if you will). Your group is enjoying the adventure, but growing a little tired of the wash, rinse, repeat cycle of investigating, being scared, killing zombies, and healing. Just because the good idea fairy is telling you it would be great to run a game based on the television/comic book series The Walking Dead, that doesn’t mean that winged little freak fluttering around your dome is correct.
If you are feeling like the zombie cycle is getting tired, why in the heck would you want to try and run the same game? Are you under the impression that even though you are tired of killing zombies your skills at running a game are somehow so great that you can repeat the same basic concept, do it better, and re-energize the other players into enjoying a slight variation of the very concept they are sick of? This is an easy trap to fall into when you are only thinking of YOUR good ideas. You will fall into it and the worst part is, you will end up upsetting your players and yourself.
The bad thing is that if you think this is the first step in planning your game, then you are behind the power curve. I alluded to the fact that planning your next game is, in fact, not all fun and games, and this is one of those points where the six Ps come into play. Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Like homes, you must build your game on a solid foundation. The planning might not seem like fun, but in the end it will pay off. Remember we are trying to create a game that is fun to run and even more fun to be a part of.
The initial planning for your next adventure should start months before you even let the good idea fairy near your cranial landing zone. The first thing to figure out is who from your gaming group is going to run the next game. This seems like a simple thing to figure out, but it is important. Don’t volunteer to run the next game just because you have this great idea. Before you open your pie-hole, look at what major events you have coming up and what major Holidays are approaching. In my current gaming group, one of our players was going to run the next game; however, due to his work schedule over the holidays, he had to pass. It wasn’t a show stopper, but it put a crimp in our plans and caused one of our other players to start a game without much input from the rest of the group and not much prep time. If we had planned things better, we wouldn’t have even suffered that crimp.
I actually recommend trying to figure out who will run the next two or three games. This might seem like too much planning for an activity that should be fun, but consider it an investment. By figuring this out, you give the next two or three GMs ample prep time. This also gives those GMs time to interact with the GIF (Good Idea Fairy) and even more time to socialize their ideas with the rest of the group. This extensive prep time allows a GM to shift to a new system or set of ideas if the group is getting tired of the normal hack and slash or decides to run a seasonal game.
Socialization of ideas must be encouraged and flexible. An additional advantage to this approach is that if one of the on-deck GMs has to bow out for some reason, the next GM is ready to start socializing and planning. Next week we will look at the right way to socialize your ideas and some techniques for the planning process.