| From: | David Hinkley <dhinkley@***.ORG> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: gamemastering |
| Date: | Sun, 27 Aug 1995 02:23:48 -0700 |
>
> This one is tough to answer. I could tell you that I've played and refereed
> a wide variety of rpg's for 17 years but all that proves is that I'm older
> than dirt. Besides 'been there, done that' just seems like a dumb thing to
> say. How about this - see my post to Eve.
>
If you are older then dirt, then where does that leave people
like me that remember when D&D was the only RPG in town (if you had a
copy of Chainmail(TM) for the combat (yep orignal D&D lacked combat
rules). More to the point, while "been there, done that" may be a dumb
thing to say ....'been there, seen that, don't want to go that way again'
has merit (it just doesn't trip of the tounge as well). In my 19+ years
of RPG gaming I have played a lot of systems, some pure some modified to
unreconizableness with a large group of players and with GMs of all
sorts, rules fanatics, free form, game designers, script worlds and
drunks. Some games were good some bad and some were the only game in
town. While I would rather play then GM I find my self doing it more then
i would like (next week is my bi-yearly Shadowrun Game as a player, an
old friend and I rotate running a private game at Pacficon every year).
To cut to the chase the quality of the game is determined by the effort
that the particpants are willing to put into the game. The key word being
particpants..both the GM and the players. A game without players is
little better then a game without a GM. The responsiblities that each has
are different but equally important.
The GM must be prepared for the game, have worked out the main
threads of the game and the chalenges he will confront the players with.
He needs to take into account the the charactors and players skills,
knowledge and ablities while putting his game together. Please note the
ablities of the players are as important as the skills of thier
charactors (a puzzle solving game does not work with hack a slash players
any more then a senario that requires Jet flying skill with a party that
has no pilots). And lastly he needs to be ready for the of the wall
solution that ends the game (satisafactorly from the player charactors
point of view) in the first 5 minutes of the session.
The Players need to roughly understand those sections of the
rules that effect thier particular charactor, they need to be familure
with the skills, attributes and equipment of thier charactor and they
need to make an effort to learn and understand the setting of the
game(especially where it impacts thier charactor).
Both the Players and the GM need to remember that the game is a
group effort and that playing to win is a good way to disrupt a otherwise
good game.
The nice thing about RPGs is that they can survive the times that
one or more of the participants fails to live up to thier
responsbilities, that the efforts of some of the players can cover for
the lack of effort of others and that the longer the group plays
togeather the better they learn the others quirks, hot buttons and
weaknesses and as a group compinsate for them.
As to the view of GM as 'God' he is and he is not. He controlls
the weather, most of the inhabinents of the world (and thier world view)
and for much of the game he is the final arbitor of the rules and the
world. But as I said earlier a game without players is not much of a
game, I have voted with my feet more then once and I suspect i will
probibly have to do it yet again sometime in the future.
Well I think it is time to climb down of this soap box to make
room for someone else to pontificate.
David Hinkley
