My Darlings!

My Darlings!

My Darlings!

I am prepping for another episode of GM Masterclass now that my shiny new laptop is in the mail on its way to me! Let’s celebrate by coming up with some questions for Jason Cordova and I to answer!

Bring out your hardest GM questions and we will do our best to answer them!

40 thoughts on “My Darlings!”

  1. How do you approach a player who disdains safety procedures (lines and veils, x-card, etc) and refuses to acknowledge them (but doesn’t go out of the way to break them) at the table.

  2. How do you approach a player who disdains safety procedures (lines and veils, x-card, etc) and refuses to acknowledge them (but doesn’t go out of the way to break them) at the table.

  3. I never seem to get pacing right, either during a session or in a campaign. I always have at least soft time frames (2-3 hr sessions, 10-12 long campaigns, etc) in mind but go over 90% of the time.

    Any tips/tricks?

  4. I never seem to get pacing right, either during a session or in a campaign. I always have at least soft time frames (2-3 hr sessions, 10-12 long campaigns, etc) in mind but go over 90% of the time.

    Any tips/tricks?

  7. How to find the proper pacing for a 4 sessions Gauntlet game: Managing content and offering a satisfactory ending, players enganging in character banter vs advancing the actual story, etc.

  8. How to find the proper pacing for a 4 sessions Gauntlet game: Managing content and offering a satisfactory ending, players enganging in character banter vs advancing the actual story, etc.

  11. What adjustments do you make when it’s clear a player is not interested in any of the presented hooks? If the rest of the party is into it, what tricks do you know of to spark the interest/hook a reticent player?

  12. What adjustments do you make when it’s clear a player is not interested in any of the presented hooks? If the rest of the party is into it, what tricks do you know of to spark the interest/hook a reticent player?

  15. How to deal with players that comes from a long-standing d&d/trad games background and aren’t fully embracing the shared narrative / story game approach of pbta games. For example they try to game the system by taking 7-9 consequences of a move that are the most meaningless and less impactful to them instead of choosing one that is the most interesting, that never actively try to hit bonds and drives, and that still see only 10+ as good results instead of seeing 9- as opportunities to drive the narrative forward.

  16. How to deal with players that comes from a long-standing d&d/trad games background and aren’t fully embracing the shared narrative / story game approach of pbta games. For example they try to game the system by taking 7-9 consequences of a move that are the most meaningless and less impactful to them instead of choosing one that is the most interesting, that never actively try to hit bonds and drives, and that still see only 10+ as good results instead of seeing 9- as opportunities to drive the narrative forward.

  19. How to, in a game with fairly traditional gm/players split, create a game space and fictional situations that invite and demand player and player character pro-activity (in the sense of intrepid, consequential decision making and actions that, in combination with NPCs ditto creates what “story” there will be). In other words, I’m interested in gm techniques that makes it easy for players to let loose and take the helm.

  20. How to, in a game with fairly traditional gm/players split, create a game space and fictional situations that invite and demand player and player character pro-activity (in the sense of intrepid, consequential decision making and actions that, in combination with NPCs ditto creates what “story” there will be). In other words, I’m interested in gm techniques that makes it easy for players to let loose and take the helm.

  21. How to properly run a fight scene without stepping into reactive mode as the GM?

    I usually set the initial setup then ask what do you do. That’s fine.

    I manage properly the spotlight between the players. That’s good.

    I think my enemies, locations and “props” are interesting.

    But I feel like my opponents lack agency since I never really take the spotlight (I give it to the players). So I’m mostly only reacting to their actions. The enemies feels like they are standing there waiting for a pc to roll a 9- or ignoring a soft move to do anything. Does resolving a PC move is a prompt to make a GM move or do you only make a move on a 6-? Is it “legit” to make a gm move on a 7-9 even if the move has specific results on a 7-9? (most moves do if not all)

  22. How to properly run a fight scene without stepping into reactive mode as the GM?

    I usually set the initial setup then ask what do you do. That’s fine.

    I manage properly the spotlight between the players. That’s good.

    I think my enemies, locations and “props” are interesting.

    But I feel like my opponents lack agency since I never really take the spotlight (I give it to the players). So I’m mostly only reacting to their actions. The enemies feels like they are standing there waiting for a pc to roll a 9- or ignoring a soft move to do anything. Does resolving a PC move is a prompt to make a GM move or do you only make a move on a 6-? Is it “legit” to make a gm move on a 7-9 even if the move has specific results on a 7-9? (most moves do if not all)

  23. For games that basically require GMPCs (e.g. Valiant, Shadowrun Anarchy, rotating gm campaigns), how do you make it not suck? Both in a making it work in the game context, and in a ‘how do I get over this fear of spotlight theft and other GMPC problems’ context.

  24. For games that basically require GMPCs (e.g. Valiant, Shadowrun Anarchy, rotating gm campaigns), how do you make it not suck? Both in a making it work in the game context, and in a ‘how do I get over this fear of spotlight theft and other GMPC problems’ context.

  31. I’m wondering if you can talk about how you might port other games into DW. For instance, i just bought Cryptomancer and The Clay That Woke and Troika. Importing a setting is easy enough, but what happens when a setting in another game requires certain mechanics? I know Jason has talked about bringing in flashbacks from Blades, but maybe a general discussion of how you bend rules, break systems.

  32. I’m wondering if you can talk about how you might port other games into DW. For instance, i just bought Cryptomancer and The Clay That Woke and Troika. Importing a setting is easy enough, but what happens when a setting in another game requires certain mechanics? I know Jason has talked about bringing in flashbacks from Blades, but maybe a general discussion of how you bend rules, break systems.

  35. One of the facets of many of the DW games that Jason runs (at least the ones he puts on podcasts) that I really admire is how he is able to keep everyone engaged and interested with so little combat. As a GM, that terrifies me. I think I probably understand at some basic level how to substitute other forms of conflict and tension that aren’t combat related, but I lack any sort of conceptual framework to think about it consistently and holistically– like, maybe I could come up with a good individual scene, but I don’t know how to spin an entire 4 hour session that way. Or for that matter, even just some concrete tips would be welcome.

  36. One of the facets of many of the DW games that Jason runs (at least the ones he puts on podcasts) that I really admire is how he is able to keep everyone engaged and interested with so little combat. As a GM, that terrifies me. I think I probably understand at some basic level how to substitute other forms of conflict and tension that aren’t combat related, but I lack any sort of conceptual framework to think about it consistently and holistically– like, maybe I could come up with a good individual scene, but I don’t know how to spin an entire 4 hour session that way. Or for that matter, even just some concrete tips would be welcome.

  39. How to make social encounter work when the player are not the social type (interaction is not their forte). Also, to make it work when the player are passive about the social aspect, unless directly engaged/challenged. Without becoming the monologuing GM (the one who make several NPC speak among themselves, making the voices of all, instead of just giving an exposition scene).

  40. How to make social encounter work when the player are not the social type (interaction is not their forte). Also, to make it work when the player are passive about the social aspect, unless directly engaged/challenged. Without becoming the monologuing GM (the one who make several NPC speak among themselves, making the voices of all, instead of just giving an exposition scene).

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