Hey folks! I just started playing PbtA’s on the Gauntlet a few weeks ago and I’m enjoying it so much that I’ve decided to run a session of Monster of the Week for my local group! I wrote up session outline and then stuck it in an arc (just in case it catches on). The arc is centered around an ancient demon from the Jewish mystical tradition coming to smalltown Georgia in order to get pregnant and spawn a new demon prince. The first session is about the Golem the Jewish community summons to protect themselves from a neo-Nazi group…somewhat inspired by recent events in Kentucky. If anyone has any cool ideas I can stick in please let me know!
I want to run this session in about 4 hours including char gen…is that realistic? Any helpful hints you guys have for a first time MotW Keeper would be much appreciated!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2XpR4S8THYeTHRIeVpZaExZdUU
First – welcome to the GM society! We can always use more! 😀
I’ve run Dungeon World for 8-ish sessions, but I mostly GM Fate. I think my word-of-advice would be not to get married to your adventure plot. PbtA games really shine when the players realize their narrative power. It’s not D&D where the Players constantly look to you for “what’s next? where do we go now? who’s standing at the corner?” As a matter of fact, in many PbtA games, when the players look to the GM, you reply with a move – usually not good for the players.
MotW is one of the more prep-heavy PbtA games, but it’s not hours-and-hours of making a dungeon for players to run through. That said, for DW, I like to start with less of a full blown adventure, and more with a few hooks. I forget where I read it, but a chart of “Who – Wants – Because – So” is great. It helps me build my fronts and clocks.
Example:
Who: Leeches | Wants: To pay respect to the birth of Aggie’s son | Because: They want to gain status and respect from Aggie (I’m guessing – this helps define their motivation tho) | So: They arrive a few days early, offer respect to the birth mother, and visit 1 day after birth.
Just this one line helps me think about sub-arcs. Do all the leeches feel the same way? Maybe some of them genuinely respect Aggie, and some just want status or power. Does this manifest?
First – welcome to the GM society! We can always use more! 😀
I’ve run Dungeon World for 8-ish sessions, but I mostly GM Fate. I think my word-of-advice would be not to get married to your adventure plot. PbtA games really shine when the players realize their narrative power. It’s not D&D where the Players constantly look to you for “what’s next? where do we go now? who’s standing at the corner?” As a matter of fact, in many PbtA games, when the players look to the GM, you reply with a move – usually not good for the players.
MotW is one of the more prep-heavy PbtA games, but it’s not hours-and-hours of making a dungeon for players to run through. That said, for DW, I like to start with less of a full blown adventure, and more with a few hooks. I forget where I read it, but a chart of “Who – Wants – Because – So” is great. It helps me build my fronts and clocks.
Example:
Who: Leeches | Wants: To pay respect to the birth of Aggie’s son | Because: They want to gain status and respect from Aggie (I’m guessing – this helps define their motivation tho) | So: They arrive a few days early, offer respect to the birth mother, and visit 1 day after birth.
Just this one line helps me think about sub-arcs. Do all the leeches feel the same way? Maybe some of them genuinely respect Aggie, and some just want status or power. Does this manifest?
Actually I’d really like to run on here eventually…I wanted to start with Monster of the Week because it looks awesome, but also because everything I read said it did the best job of explaining how to run a PbtA game. After I get some more experience I’d love to jun the GM guild.
I definitely struggled with not making this as linear as Call of Cthulhu, something I’ve run a fair amount. I think I’m focusing way too much on the countdown to be honest. I think the “Who-Wants-Because-So” chart is a really useful idea. I’ve still got some time before the session so I think I’ll put one of those together and cull some of the railroady elements…I can already see how that would make my bystanders more dynamic
Thanks a lot for that, that’s a huge help.
Actually I’d really like to run on here eventually…I wanted to start with Monster of the Week because it looks awesome, but also because everything I read said it did the best job of explaining how to run a PbtA game. After I get some more experience I’d love to jun the GM guild.
I definitely struggled with not making this as linear as Call of Cthulhu, something I’ve run a fair amount. I think I’m focusing way too much on the countdown to be honest. I think the “Who-Wants-Because-So” chart is a really useful idea. I’ve still got some time before the session so I think I’ll put one of those together and cull some of the railroady elements…I can already see how that would make my bystanders more dynamic
Thanks a lot for that, that’s a huge help.
You are welcome! Let us know how it goes – what went well, what didn’t. When in doubt, 2d6 + stat modifier: 6- is bad, 7-9 is eh, 10+ is good.
😀
You are welcome! Let us know how it goes – what went well, what didn’t. When in doubt, 2d6 + stat modifier: 6- is bad, 7-9 is eh, 10+ is good.
😀