|
Post by HourEleven on Oct 14, 2014 20:23:22 GMT -8
This might seem a dumb question, especially with how much con-game running this community does, but I've never run a game for players that I didn't know incredibly well.
How does one prep a game without knowing their players?
When I prep a game, it's with full knowledge of what my players like and want in a game. I craft hooks that target specific players because I know the types of things they each want to chase. I can prepare resolutions that I know will satisfy. I can tweak systems (oh, Gurps) to focus on what they think is important and sidestep the rest.
As I'm hunting for new players and thinking about trying some online gaming - I'm suddenly unsure that any of the tried and true tools in my GMtoolbox will work under these conditions. I feel like a 15 year old getting to second base, it should be fun and awesome but all I can think is that I'm not sure this is how it's supposed to work.
There's an odd parallel to the fact that I'm single for the first time in 16 years and am realizing I don't remember how to date. But I digress.
How do you guys prep a game for people you don't know? Isn't that like recommending a movie to a stranger? Or ordering food for someone else?
Possibly I'm over thinking things, but my game prep has always originated from a place of my knowledge of my players themselves and there's a good chance I won't know dick about the next people I game with.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2014 4:07:33 GMT -8
When it comes to prepping con games I tend to focus much more on the story I'm trying to tell during the adventure and try to identify the important hooks for it. Why does the group want the MacGuffin, who is the antagonist, what are the important locations. I try not to railroad but I will have a plan for the adventure from start to finish as opposed to adapting the adventure as I go along. Then using those core features of the adventure I try to build PCs that will grab onto them, with the interests of the characters being clear on their sheets.
So basically I build the adventure hooks for the PCs rather than the players.
|
|
HyveMynd
Supporter
Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
Currently Playing: Monsterhearts 2
Currently Running: The Sprawl
Favorite Species of Monkey: None
|
Post by HyveMynd on Oct 15, 2014 4:56:24 GMT -8
The short answer is you can't HourEleven. You can't know what your players will like until you get to know them better. But I do the same thing that @whodo does; I prep the adventure hooks for the characters rather than the players. I also run those hippie, prep-light games, that work well with a "build as you go" type game. For the Dungeon World and Monster of the Week games I've run for the Happy Jackers, I had a loose plot. You have to stop an evil Ice Witch. You have to go retrieve a magic crown. You have to hunt down these vampires. Like that. I write up a few notes about locations and NPCs the characters might encounter, stat out the bad guys, and figure out the steps in their evil plans. But I also leave a lot of the details blank. That way I can fill them in by asking the players questions as we're playing. That makes them feel invested, tells me what they want to see, and makes the game more enjoyable for them. So... just like sex, ask what they like as you're going along.
|
|
|
Post by Stu Venable on Oct 15, 2014 7:27:41 GMT -8
Go for the simple, tried and true motivations. Money, greed, being a badass, etc. Their characters might give you a clue as to the type of games they like, especially the details they focus on -- assuming you have characters to look at yet.
Basically approach is JUST like a con game (except you might not have PCs). Give them an exciting goal, interesting people to talk to along the way, etc.
You can always personalize things later as you get to know the players.
|
|
D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
|
Post by D.T. Pints on Oct 15, 2014 7:40:31 GMT -8
Yeah I've gotten away from the "Here are Your Pre-gens!" mode of running games for a new group. At least not totally completed pre-gens, my last Deadlands game I tried to give a framework of a character with blank spots that would allow each player to put their own particular perverse spin on the concept. HyveMynd is right (again...) the best way to start knowing what direction to take a game is to include immediate player input. I personally think all games can utilize AW style mechanics of collaborative story building. Those games are just much more overt about it. The Moment of Truth New Dark Age game started with a two paragraph story outline and that turned into dozens of ideas from one character creation session. Good luck with the quest for Kansas players. I'm returning back to my Indiana/Chicago/Wisconsin roots next week to be a part of the semi-never-annual CURTCON2014. Which will involve a bunch of old bastards getting back together at the scene of the crime (my parents garage) and try to remember how to roll real dice. There is something very special and cool about having that longtime circle of gaming friends and it is not an easy thing to recreate. I hope you will consider giving Analise another go for Jackercon V...In SPACE! Cheers, Curt.
|
|
|
Post by HourEleven on Oct 15, 2014 9:59:56 GMT -8
I would definitely be all up in Jackercon (I'm itching to GM, need my fix), but that's one of two weeks before the end of the year where I'm working a 120 hour week. It's going to hurt. I've been accused of many things, but being an improvisational GM has never been one of them. Guess it's time to say comfort zones be damned, drop trou, and go for it. Also, maybe it's time for me to run a game I want to run. I was listening to some FtB backlog today and they were talking about how there is such a large population of players for online games that you can find players for just about anything. Being clear upfront that this train wreck will include X,Y, and Z should bring out players who are really into XYZing. I'm slightly fascinated by Stuart Robinson's (designer of weird west) GM Merit Badges: elthosrpg.blogspot.com/p/gm-merit-badges-list.htmlOtherwise, I might try and find a way to write an "adaptable" structure. "Oh, they were really into that combat, good thing o have this other encounter I can stick in." Or whatever. Hmm...
|
|
|
Post by HourEleven on Oct 15, 2014 10:01:39 GMT -8
Also, that's super rad that you will game with your old group.
My 15 year high school reunion is coming up in a year or two and I'm thinking about trying to get the band back together for a gaming night in Chicago. Most of us haven't seen each other in at least a decade.
|
|
tomes
Supporter
Hello madness
Posts: 1,438
Currently Running: Dungeon World, hippie games, Fallout Shelter RPG hack
|
Post by tomes on Oct 15, 2014 12:26:45 GMT -8
My first experience with on-the-fly game creation was with a GM named Denys Mordred here at Strategicon. He ran an Inverse World game (which uses Apocalypse World Engine) and we spent almost the first hour creating our characters, especially our bonds with each other. It was a pretty creative group consisting of four players, so the backstories started getting really interesting, especially how we met and know each other. I would like to insist: "bonds" is how you relate to each other and find each other very important in the context of the game... it does not mean that you like each other or are intimate friends. Anyways, the GM has an idea of what he wanted to run, but after we made our characters, he admitted that this wasn't the way he expected things to go, and needed a few minutes to figure things out. Excellent admission and one I wouldn't hesitate to use (similar to Stu Venable's admission of being excused to go to the loo, to do some quick thinking). 10 minutes later, he started us up with a little immediate situation that needed to be dealt with. I wouldn't feel bashful in railroading part of the story to get them straight into the thick of it. e.g. the players all said that their PCs are a part of a trade caravan. Great, have them already have made a deal, are already into the journey, and now they come across a problem. No need to see if they agree to the deal ahead of time, just make that the story line and go with it. As most con-games the players should have relative free-flowing expectations and not be too connected to their PCs insofar as saying "I wouldn't have agreed to this caravan route" or whatever. In my own con game that I've run, I didn't make the PC's personalities, but instead made some stereotypical tropes (Dwarf, Fighter, Elf, Wizard, etc.) and had a skeleton of a PC outlined, and then I had a pool of skills, edges, and hindrances (it was Savage Worlds) for the players to choose from... i.e. they fleshed out the rest of the skeleton with those things they had some interest in. You could go that route as well, where instead of a time consuming character generation process for the players, or a limited selection of PCs that you've generated, you instead go down the middle and do the basics, and let them have a limited selection of customization that they can perform (and then have ownership over).
|
|
|
Post by jazzisblues on Oct 18, 2014 13:47:30 GMT -8
I try to write characters for convention games that fit the world into which I'm throwing them and try to give them some reason to get involved in the thing that's going on that lead the game to the point it's at. I try to give the players cues that they can use to characterize the character. What they then chose to do with that is entirely up to them. I will never tell a player what their character WOULD do. I might give them an idea based on tendencies of their race or cultural group but I consider player characters to generally be atypical of their race or they probably wouldn't have left home in the first place.
Rather like my philosophy on problems in the game I don't want to answer the question just pose it and give some context for the player to work with.
Cheers,
JiB
|
|
|
Post by ironnikki on Oct 22, 2014 11:30:38 GMT -8
After reading your initial question, my first thought was that you're looking to start a long-form game with a totally new troupe. Now that I've read some responses, it looks like you're looking more for advice on preparing a con-style game or one-shot for players you don't know. The advice posted above, especially to design the game for the characters instead of the players and to ask probing questions, is spot on for the latter question. I've included my suggestion for the former in case there's anyone out there struggling with this issue instead.
A few years ago, I moved across the country with my girlfriend (now wife) who adamantly refuses to roll dice with me. She claims she's saving that to use as a bargaining chip in a future argument. Anyway, the point is I had no players around me that I could recruit for in-person gaming, and I was starting to itch.
What worked out well for me is running an arc with pre-generated characters and designing the story around the characters instead of the players, as has been said above. This gives you some time to game with the players themselves and get a feel for how they'll react to certain things. I took mental notes about each player during that arc, and used that as a base for the campaign that we started. After the arc ends, the players made their own characters and we decided on whether we'd rather continue the story or move on to something else.
This allows both you and your players to at least see gaming styles in action, and with an intelligent game design, you can probe them to get a hint at what their reactions to certain things will be. It's not a replacement for knowing people very well, but it worked out well for my group.
|
|