Learning to DM

[ArcticChicken]

I'm trying to learn to DM so that we can actually rotate games and always have one on tap, but I have crippling self confidence issues. The way we have hit on to try and overcome them is to run a series of one shot adventures in 7th Sea. The problem is, crippling self confidence issues mean that I shoot down my own ideas before they are formed. Anyone got some ideas for one shots they want to lend me?

[Chanlin]

Some easy one shot adventures for any game system:

Defend the town/ship/castle/fort from invading: Orcs, Zombies, Pirates, Soldiers :: This has the added benefit of being able to be in two parts. Part one has the players as "experts in combat" prepare the townsfolk or whomever and their defenses. Part two is the actual assault.

Some things to spice it up: Do they have a wall?; A legendary soldier nearby?; Do they know the size of the enemy force? If not they may need to send a scout; Does everyone in town have a weapon?; What about the women and Children?;

___________________
Go attack/steal plans from/steal McGuffin/Rescue important person from an enemy Fortress/Castle/Ship/Cave etc

This is your classic dungeon crawl or caper that requires either a simple hack and slash till we find it OR You can plan a big party or what have you that the players have to plan and RP schmooze their way around or anything in between. You can have as little or as much combat as you want in this one.

Some things to spice it up: How well guarded is it?; Is there a fake/false of what they might steal?; Does the enemy know that whatever is in danger?;


There are many more ways to fill in easy Generic plots that can be a lot of fun. Being a DM is a two way street. Plan enough of the BIG details like locations, NPC's, Major Villains, BIG Treasures, Rumors and what not to move the plot forward. Leave enough gaps in the story from point A to Point B and so on so that the players have to RP or use skills and dice to fill it in. This leaves wiggle room for players to do something crazy you didn't plan for (this will always happen no matter how well or good you are its part of the game). This is where being good at improvising plot is helpful. In short you're more of a director than the end all be all. Your plot should NEVER have a dead end in it because the players are trying to take the story in a direction you didn't plan. You want to have some very logical consequences and ideas about well if A happens the most likely response will be B, C or D.

Remember its OK to fudge details so people die/live if need be. Having rumors or clues ready helps those clueless players, or gives the players a nudge in the right direction. You never want to have MAJOR plot details where players do NOT have the appropriate skill and or knowledge to uncover it. It is ok for minor secrets or small details to be likes this, but having Major clues be unobtainable is silly. And trust me I've seen my fair share of bad DM's that do this.

Lastly: An idea is NEVER stupid unless it is so totally cliche it makes you groan just to think about it. Listen what your players speculate on. Sometimes they come up with great ideas and you can throw in a slight plot twist based on what you hear.

PM me if you want more advice; or PM me if you want to chat on Google talk I can give you a lot more one on one advice, or you can bounce plot ideas of your own off me. I've never played 7th sea but I've DM'ed several very long stories and several one or two shot games at cons.

[Andara Bledin]

1. Think of an adventure scenario you'd like to be a player in.
2. Muzzle your inner doubts and lock 'em up.
3. Make a loose plan for how the adventure is supposed to go (NPCs, enemies, random events, locations, settings, etc) and don't forge the backup and backup backup plans for when your players inevitably go off-script.
4. ?????
5. Profit! (aka: Have fun )

^-.-^

[lordlundar]

Rule 1. The DM is the narrator, not the storymaker. Your job as the DM is not to steer them into a particular direction, but to handle all incidents that are not directly in the player's control. If a player screws up, it's not your place to punish or forgive them, but to tell them the consequences of their actions.

[Mytical]

Rule 2. Remember this. You will put your blood, sweat, and tears into something. It will be magnificent and glorious..and the group can trash it in three minutes. Which goes back to the rule above. Roll with the punches. Don't take things personally.

Now here is a one shot that will cause chaos, glorious glorious chaos . If your group is pirates...they attack a relatively harmless looking vessel. It is easily captured, but aboard is a high ranking commander of the equivalent of a 'royal fleet'. The royal fleet gets wind of the attack, and sets off in pursuit. If they are not pirates..they happen upon the above, while the pirates are still setting about capturing the ship. Should make for an interesting chase if nothing else.

[ArcticChicken]

Thanks folks, this is very helpful.

This leaves wiggle room for players to do something crazy you didn't plan for (this will always happen no matter how well or good you are its part of the game).

That I know, having been the cause on more than one occasion. In the biggest one I ultimately wound up trying to kill the rest of the party. (I did make sure it was OK with everyone when it started looking like my character might go there.)

[cinema guy]

Keep it simple for the first time.

Try a pre-written adventure. Or just a simple scenario with just a handful of npcs and small combats.

Once you have run your first one, you will gain the confidence to run more.

[Sarlon]

Since we're having dinner sunday, we can geek about it.

I've been a semi successful DM for several years, and I enjoy any geeky time.

[Gerrinson]

My advice would be to pick up some 1 shot modules. Read through the module, adjust as you see fit, and there you go. It's a lot less work than writing your own from scratch.

If you play Pathfinder, I have a one shot that I wrote myself, must message me and I can send the files to you. It was supposed to be a 3-4 hour Free RPG day game for 4 players, but it got dragged out into an 8 1/2 hour 8 player game instead. A lot of that time was spent because players focus on the oddest things.

If you ever want to mess with them, have them find a bag with 23 complete kitten skeletons in it, one of which has a golden key tied around it's neck. I had a party that spent the entire campaign trying to find the lock for that key.

The door is locked? We try the golden key! The chest is locked? We try the golden key!

Boy, it was fun watching them trying to find out where that key went.

[lordlundar]

My advice would be to pick up some 1 shot modules. Read through the module, adjust as you see fit, and there you go. It's a lot less work than writing your own from scratch.

Agreed. At the very least you can use it as a reference for writing your own. Just don't pick up Tomb of Horrors. Bad choice for a starting GM.

[wolfie]

Don't put in anything that defies logic.

In one AD&D campaign (hybrid 1st/2nd edition), a lot of party members would try to disbelieve anything that looked too hard to deal with, hoping it was an illusion (got to be a cliche in this campaign). Naturally, the DM started demanding a reason why we were disbelieving.

In one adventure, we had to get across a room that had 2 chained pyrohydras (this was one of the major "set piece" obstacles) chained in position by leg shackles (i.e. not free to roam). From the description the DM had given us on entering this dungeon, it was clear we were the first people there in hundreds of years.

My reaction to the pyrohydras? "I disbelieve - monsters eat and they shit. These ones are chained in place, so they can't go hunting on their own. We're the first potential food they've seen in hundreds of years - why haven't they starved to death? Also, where are the big piles of pyrohydra shit that would have accumulated in this time?". DM agreed that this was a logical reason to disbelieve.

I rolled the dice, and succeeded. Slight problem - I mentioned that this was one of the major "set piece" obstacles, so he couldn't just make it go away. On the other hand, the situation was to absurd to be allowed to remain (based on the reasons I gave for disbelief). His solution was rather cheesy - when I disbelieved the pyrohydras, I saw that they were an illusionary aura of living creatures surrounding mechanical constructs that expelled flames).

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm trying to learn to DM so that we can actually rotate games and always have one on tap, but I have crippling self confidence issues. The way we have hit on to try and overcome them is to run a series of one shot adventures in 7th Sea. The problem is, crippling self confidence issues mean that I shoot down my own ideas before they are formed. Anyone got some ideas for one shots they want to lend me?

It does't really matter what kind of an adventure you use as long as it fits loosely into the genre. There are tons of prewritten adventures that have been published.

Take a story element you like from a comic book, and make that a game. Or a movie. Or a TV show.

One product I bought on RPG Now is called the Superheroic Game Generator in Modern Disptach #66. It can really be used for any genre with a little tinkering. You roll dice to generate a quick one shot. Great for if you need to come up with something on the fly.

But however you generate your game ideas, none of that matters. There is one immutable truth to GMing great games.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THE PLAYERS ARE GONNA DO.

Some player gets an idea in his head based off something you say, that takes the game in a direction you never would have thought of on your own. Roll with it. Let the player create the game for you as you go. Just try to make your answers make sense. The players will love it and think you're the greatest storyteller EVER.

Some examples are kinda silly: You describe the setting and mention a cow in the field, and Bob thinks there must be something special about that cow because you mentioned it! But most of the time the players just think of things you didn't. Don't let not going where you thought the story would go bother you. You can always recycle that idea later on. Reward players for their cleverness and they'll think you are awesome.

I guest GM in my group on occasion. The games almost never go the way I want them to go. But as long as the players are having fun, its all good. It's fun for me when our regular GM (who almost never gets to play) likes one of my ideas and incorporates it (usually along with an NPC I introduce) into the regular game, giving the games I run a permanent place in our overall campaign setting.

Don't put in anything that defies logic.

My reaction to the pyrohydras? "I disbelieve - monsters eat and they shit. These ones are chained in place, so they can't go hunting on their own. We're the first potential food they've seen in hundreds of years - why haven't they starved to death? Also, where are the big piles of pyrohydra shit that would have accumulated in this time?". DM agreed that this was a logical reason to disbelieve.

I rolled the dice, and succeeded. Slight problem - I mentioned that this was one of the major "set piece" obstacles, so he couldn't just make it go away. On the other hand, the situation was to absurd to be allowed to remain (based on the reasons I gave for disbelief). His solution was rather cheesy - when I disbelieved the pyrohydras, I saw that they were an illusionary aura of living creatures surrounding mechanical constructs that expelled flames).

A lot of D&D modules, especially the older ones, suffer from these flaws. Old school hack and slash players didn't care about these details. Modern players want more sophisticated stories. You don't have to come up with anything too outlandish, just make the details make sense. If the polyhydras had looked half starved under the illusion, that would have fixed the problem. Maybe they bit off their own heads to have SOMETHING to eat.

[Divra]

I give the same tip I give all new GMs: Don't sweat it too much. If your players are anything even remotely resembling mine, they'll forgive you for pretty much anything and be grateful that someone is willing to do all the hard work and let them play.

[Kristev]

The DM in the area around here thinks he's the dictator. He believes that he is completely in charge and that the players don't get to make any choices. Even refusing to kill someone (because I'm playing a healer devoted to saving lives, for example), makes him angry.

He doesn't get that he's merely the world creator, not the tyrant, and that he's to follow what our characters do, not take away our choices to force us to do things his way.

[Andara Bledin]

DM agreed that this was a logical reason to disbelieve.

I rolled the dice, and succeeded. Slight problem - I mentioned that this was one of the major "set piece" obstacles, so he couldn't just make it go away.

But this is an easy one. They're in stasis any time there aren't living beings in the same room with them.

If you're the first ones through since they're installation, then there wouldn't be anything to see other than suddenly awake pyrohydras.

...

Nekojin ran a game recently that was supposed to be a quick and easy thing to get us as players to get our group to gel. It was a fiasco... After three sessions we just sort of gave up on that group of characters. Poor Nekojin.

^-.-^