James: Also, James Hicks, Music Enthusiast and Waffle Maker Extraordinaire, at your service.
Will: Having read the previous DM lesson, I assume I am tasked with addressing the weighty topics of planning and preparation. It makes sense that James would give me this responsibility, since this is one of the areas in which we differ greatly as DMs. I personally, depend greatly upon preparations.
James: For me planning is helpful but...unnecessary. For our podcast game, I generally have between one and three pages of notes going in. It's kind of like I see each game as piece of marble that the players and I will carve together. I have an idea of what we're carving but I don't really worry about how we're going to get there.
Will: There are many facets to “Planning” a game. For starters, a DM should have a full understanding of the basic game mechanics and systems. Additionally, he or she should be able to supply the majority of pertinent lore and information as it relates to the setting.
James: Will generally has these facts memorized before hand, hence Lore-Master. I honestly just make most things up on the spot.
Will: Like it says in the manual, the DM is rule keeper for whatever game universe is chosen. Therefor, You, as the DM, are responsible for maintaining the rules and systems of said universe, so help you God. It follows then that, it really is in everyone's best interest for the DM to actually know the rules and systems upon which the game depends.
That being said, a DM should not be expected to be an encyclopedia of knowledge, recalling even the most obscure detail at a moment's notice. After reading up on and maybe even play testing the game, it should be easy to identify what information is important and will be used repeatedly as it relates to rules and mechanics. Knowing the rules also prevents players from stretching or breaking them without DM consent.
James: Remember; it's a DM's job to give the game the illusion of equity. He or she is as much referee as anything else. Players need to feel like they are being treated fairly and nothing shatters this illusion more than the DM not remembering some basic rule. So if you get caught off guard, fake it. Just make sure to be consistent.
Will: This also discourages players from rifling through Player Handbooks for 10 minutes, bringing the flow of play to a grinding halt for anyone that isn't a librarian at heart. The more you know as a DM, the more confident your arbitration of the game can be.
For instance, you might have no idea what damage dice should be used for a Nunchaku but an educated DM will know that it should probably fall between a dagger (1d4) and a throwing hammer (1d6) due to its size and probable damage.
When it comes to lore and setting, a similar paradigm takes precedence. A DM should have a complete and comprehensive knowledge of whatever setting he or she chooses for the game. In this instance, I am referring to location, time period, and pertinent lore.
James: If you think about it, the DM pretty much is the setting.
That being said, a DM should not be expected to be an encyclopedia of knowledge, recalling even the most obscure detail at a moment's notice. After reading up on and maybe even play testing the game, it should be easy to identify what information is important and will be used repeatedly as it relates to rules and mechanics. Knowing the rules also prevents players from stretching or breaking them without DM consent.
James: Remember; it's a DM's job to give the game the illusion of equity. He or she is as much referee as anything else. Players need to feel like they are being treated fairly and nothing shatters this illusion more than the DM not remembering some basic rule. So if you get caught off guard, fake it. Just make sure to be consistent.
Will: This also discourages players from rifling through Player Handbooks for 10 minutes, bringing the flow of play to a grinding halt for anyone that isn't a librarian at heart. The more you know as a DM, the more confident your arbitration of the game can be.
For instance, you might have no idea what damage dice should be used for a Nunchaku but an educated DM will know that it should probably fall between a dagger (1d4) and a throwing hammer (1d6) due to its size and probable damage.
When it comes to lore and setting, a similar paradigm takes precedence. A DM should have a complete and comprehensive knowledge of whatever setting he or she chooses for the game. In this instance, I am referring to location, time period, and pertinent lore.
James: If you think about it, the DM pretty much is the setting.
Will: Yeah, if the DM doesn't know enough about where players are or what they are doing, then there really isn't much of a game happening. It's an essential part of the DM's role to generate enough content to satisfy players. If you can’t do that then you have no game.
James: This is one place where Will and my styles differ. He tends to create massive and detailed settings, well in advance of his games, taking as much time as is necessary to make himself at home in his setting. This approach lends Will's environments a richness and a strong sense of immersion. I'm never sure just what's around the corner in his games but I'm always confident that he does.
I myself, prefer to create on the fly, often choosing environments and characters in direct response to player interactions. This approach lends my games a certain versatility. When a party attempts to venture beyond the "beaten path" of an encounter's design, rather than subtly redirect them toward a "set objective", I simply create a new path, right then and there.
Will: For many DMs, myself included, the planning of the setting includes, NPCs, Monsters, Dungeons, and just about any other detail you can think of. In other words, if your DM doesn’t know of something, it usually doesn’t exist.
That said, it's important to keep in mind that both James and I pretty much grew up on fantasy and role-playing though books, games, playing pretend, you name it. Therefore, we both have a great grasp of fantastical knowledge in general.
James: And even though my free-form DMing style requires little in terms of direct preparation, every encounter, creature, or NPC is based on some inspiration. Without having spent time immersed in the minutia of the genre, my methods would prove dubious at best.
Will: James affords the player spontaneity by being spontaneous himself. Using his great general knowledge of setting he takes an “in the moment anything can happen” attitude.
I do not recommend this for everyone.
This approach takes a great deal of gall to pull off because it means, in many cases, chaos will rule the table. There have been times in James' games where whole systems have been abandoned because of story developments.
James: I once took a science-fiction themed game, without precedent, into "the spirit world" and transformed the Player Characters into magical animals. Then, once they escaped and regained their natural forms, they retained spirit animal powers.
Will: James is an individual who can roll with and adapt to these changes as fast or faster than the players. The downside is that his games can occasionally spiral out of control and lose any semblance of consistency. It also takes a unique personality to be able to play so completely “in the moment."
James: I once took a science-fiction themed game, without precedent, into "the spirit world" and transformed the Player Characters into magical animals. Then, once they escaped and regained their natural forms, they retained spirit animal powers.
Will: James is an individual who can roll with and adapt to these changes as fast or faster than the players. The downside is that his games can occasionally spiral out of control and lose any semblance of consistency. It also takes a unique personality to be able to play so completely “in the moment."
My preparations allow me to be prepared for any and every action a player character might take. For example, I can easily anticipate how an NPC will respond to a player question or action by seeing said NPC as a real person. If I know where he lives, what he does, and what his life is like, I can understand, on some level, who he is and play the role accordingly.
James: It's like method acting but for DMs.
Will: This same concept rings true in combat situations. If I know that a cultist is wearing ceremonial robes, it follows that if you hit said cultist with a torch, said robes should light on fire. There aren't necessarily game rules to back up that interaction but if the player wants to try it, I have a generally realistic response ready, based of what I know to be true. So in my style more knowledge enables more flexibility.
James: I'm not Will and He's not me. I could never study and analyze a setting so completely, memorizing every little detail, and I honestly doubt He could pull off my cavalier take of the concept of play. The important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it. Find out what kind of DM you are. Will and I both DM a certain way because of who we are.
Will: No matter how much you prepare, I guarantee that your players will surprise you at some point. Just do the best you can and remember that it's just a game.
James: It's like method acting but for DMs.
Will: This same concept rings true in combat situations. If I know that a cultist is wearing ceremonial robes, it follows that if you hit said cultist with a torch, said robes should light on fire. There aren't necessarily game rules to back up that interaction but if the player wants to try it, I have a generally realistic response ready, based of what I know to be true. So in my style more knowledge enables more flexibility.
James: I'm not Will and He's not me. I could never study and analyze a setting so completely, memorizing every little detail, and I honestly doubt He could pull off my cavalier take of the concept of play. The important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it. Find out what kind of DM you are. Will and I both DM a certain way because of who we are.
Will: No matter how much you prepare, I guarantee that your players will surprise you at some point. Just do the best you can and remember that it's just a game.
No comments:
Post a Comment