As some of you may know, I am a complete gaming geek. I like most everything – board games, cards, console, PC, whatever. However, my preferred geekery is tabletop. I have been in a game pretty continuously since I was a wee teenager.

These days, I prefer to run* games. It gives me a nice (…well, ok not nice), safe (as in no one ACTUALLY gets physically hurt) outlet for my evil. Also, it helps me to refine my writing skills. I can hear some of you saying, “Um…Running a game equals writing? Yeah. Sure, right. Whatever. Writing/gaming….pfft.” Bite me. Setting up a complex adventure for a group of intelligent people is challenging and requires quite a bit of skill.

Maybe its different for me — I tend to run something closer to an interactive story. I want there to be an over-arcing story with multitudinous subplots. Also, the game has to move along without long pauses – otherwise the PCs get bored. That being said, I hate railroading players into a meta-arc. If I want railroading, I’ll watch Fox News. Now, couple that with players who go, “Oh, look! Shiny plot hook; let’s go somewhere else! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” The details _have_ to be setup way in advance. You have to have motivations for ALL of your GD NPCs* so that when – not if but WHEN) they decide to veer left, you have something setup for them.

Because they are going to ignore the guy with the neon sign that says “PLOT DEVICE PLEASE TALK TO ME” over their heads. No, instead they’re going to the one that has the neon sign that says “FLAVOR CHARACTER, I’M HERE TO GIVE ATMOSPHERE ONLY” And you as GM are going to have to figure out how that flavor character now has a bit of information to give them to keep them moving along briskly.

Here are what I consider the absolute basics for a GM to have to run a decent game:

>> an idea/event
Srsly. There has to be some sort of event that is happening, that is going to happen, that happened…something. While an exploration of new world can be fun for a while for players, know that they will tire of it quickly. There are only so many random encounters before the players figure out that you are winging it.

>> a timeline of events leading up the event
There should be a credible (note that I did NOT say “sane” – evil baddies are rarely sane) reason that Event X is going to happen.
Have a clue of the history of the place. Make sure that if you are gaming in someone else’s universe that you have a grasp of why things are the way they are. If you are gaming in your own universe, ….well…

>> if its your own universe* have some clue of what the physics of the place are
If there is no magic due to a giant catastrophe — what was the catastrophe; when did it occur; what are the ramifications politically; what are the physical remnants..etc.
If magic DOES exist – how does it manifest? Is the caster required to have components? Is it all mental? On and on and on.

>> if you are in someone else’s world…
be versed in it. Know that there are no such things as salt water oceans on Planet Crud, mmmkay? Because you can bet if you have smart players, they will do some research in to the specifics of where their characters are going to be from.

>> NPCs
I cannot stress this enough. You don’t need a cast of thousands…but you need to have all of the background and attributes of all the main NPCs worked out //before// you start a session. For example, for a module that I wrote/ran for Talislanta I had histories, personalities, abilities, and etc for ALL of the NPCs that I figured the players would interact with. Good guys, bad guys, henches, info givers, inn owners, and etc.*

>> Maps and diagrams of important buildings
Maps..that should be obvious. If the building is larger than a suburban house – have a diagram of it. I keep two…one for the players – that I reveal as they go. And one for me – that shows where the mutant dogthings are hiding, waiting to bite. 🙂

*

1 – yes, that makes me a rarity. most folks LOATHE GMing with a passion rivaling the Roman’s for the Christ
2 – goddamn non player characters
3 – I HIGHLY recommend that first time GMs run in a universe that is already setup. This keeps the headache to a minimum.
4 – If you are interested in seeing the module, I am glad to forward it to you. The publishers have apparently put a moratorium on authors getting paid for new Tal modules. Grrrrrrr….