New game masters that don't want to do the work..

[Mytical]

Some people who play roleplaying games, seem to not understand exactly how much work is put into a GOOD roleplay. On another forum somebody is trying to start a game, and I am trying to help them/work with them..they have a solid CONCEPT..but seriously..it's not going to go far.

They borrowed a little from Avatar, that much is obvious..but they just do not seem to want to put the work into the game. No background, they have 'classes' but want the players to determine what classes there are/what skills/etc. Hey some of my games were/are huge flops..and sometimes I take things for granted..but there is always a HUGE amount of lore/background/thought put into every game. I have whole UNIVERSES..so yeah I miss a lot of things..and need to come up with something on the fly..but the amount of work it takes can be daunting.

Motivation..what motivates your npc's. Politics..who dislikes who? Why? Just simply saying "X is at war with Y" is just not enough. Hey I will help ANYBODY who wants to learn how to run a game. At all, in any way I can..but seriously..you have to put in the effort.

[Teysa]

My SO has been GMing the same campaign for over ten years now. I've seen how much work he's put into it. (It's pretty much his own universe with a bit of Dark Sun thrown in for good measure.) He'll sometimes consult with me on name ideas and such or have me spell check for him. It's fun watching him when his muse hits.

[Duelist925]

Hell, I'm just working on building the main city in the world I'm trying to build. I'm not even building a system, just standard DnD d20 rules. I'm just building a city. And its freaking tons of work figuring out history, how the three main groups struggle with one another for power, secret societies and cults, whats illegal, what isn;t, why, how does the justice system work, ahhg.

Its fun, but hard.

And I haven't even found a map creator yet so I can design the physical city. XD


So, yeah. GMing is hard work.

[Hyena Dandy]

Some people who play roleplaying games, seem to not understand exactly how much work is put into a GOOD roleplay. On another forum somebody is trying to start a game, and I am trying to help them/work with them..they have a solid CONCEPT..but seriously..it's not going to go far.

They borrowed a little from Avatar, that much is obvious..but they just do not seem to want to put the work into the game. No background, they have 'classes' but want the players to determine what classes there are/what skills/etc. Hey some of my games were/are huge flops..and sometimes I take things for granted..but there is always a HUGE amount of lore/background/thought put into every game. I have whole UNIVERSES..so yeah I miss a lot of things..and need to come up with something on the fly..but the amount of work it takes can be daunting.

Motivation..what motivates your npc's. Politics..who dislikes who? Why? Just simply saying "X is at war with Y" is just not enough. Hey I will help ANYBODY who wants to learn how to run a game. At all, in any way I can..but seriously..you have to put in the effort.

Ugh. This. So very this.

I have someone trying to start an MLP RPG with me. I said I'd be down for it. So far, I've determined when we're going to be holding it, and now he wants me to also be the person responsible for recruiting new players. When I ask him about the background, he just says "Everything is set in stone in the show" which is... Ridiculous, because it's a half-hour, episodic kid's show. The setting is not very well defined AT ALL. When I ask him what type of campaign he wants to run, he gives me a total non-answer. He's derisive of the fact that I didn't make a character in about thirty seconds since it's a very easy system to make characters in (and it is, that's true) but if I'm not told even WHERE THE CHARACTERS START OUT.

And yea, all the other stuff... You need motivation. No-one, at least in most places, does things because "I'm evil."

And never, ever assume that there's something your PCs won't do. I ran a Vampire: The Requiem game and I had a contingency plan in case the players wanted to travel to the moon.

[Bloodsoul]

I'm.. sort of the opposite. I love coming up with a world concept and statting out NPCs and figuring out politics and history and the like.. but I hate DMing!! I just love being playing a character far too much to DM (along with the fact that I'd probably fall under the practice of using DM PCs which is generally a no-no).

Were I to take things a bit more seriously, I might be able to write and illustrate some .pdfs for a campaign setting that others might be use, which would be fantastic.

[Nekojin]

Hell, I'm just working on building the main city in the world I'm trying to build. I'm not even building a system, just standard DnD d20 rules. I'm just building a city. And its freaking tons of work figuring out history, how the three main groups struggle with one another for power, secret societies and cults, whats illegal, what isn;t, why, how does the justice system work, ahhg.

Its fun, but hard.

And I haven't even found a map creator yet so I can design the physical city. XD


So, yeah. GMing is hard work.

The thing is that as a GM, you can frequently do all of that on the fly - just make sure you take notes so that you don't contradict yourself. Your players start out in a prison for reasons to be dealt with later (and encourage the players to come up with a plausible reason to have been thrown in jail - reasonable or otherwise), and are released together by the Royal Marshall in order to deal with a problem that nobody else wants to deal with. Either they solve the problem and are pardoned, or they die, and the kingdom doesn't have to deal with delivering their punishment later.

With that setting, you're already establishing the kingdom as probably a bit tyrannical, but you don't have to go into all of the whys and wherefores right off the bat. You don't need to figure out a map for the town until they're heading there. You don't need to find out the political climate (is there significant unrest?) until the plot calls for it.

I used to GM Teenagers From Outer Space like this all the time. Of course, that game lends itself well to off-the-cuff adventuring, but if you're sufficiently creative (and a good bullshitter! ), it's not that difficult to do with nearly any setting short of a White Wolf game.

[Duelist925]

The thing is that as a GM, you can frequently do all of that on the fly - just make sure you take notes so that you don't contradict yourself. Your players start out in a prison for reasons to be dealt with later (and encourage the players to come up with a plausible reason to have been thrown in jail - reasonable or otherwise), and are released together by the Royal Marshall in order to deal with a problem that nobody else wants to deal with. Either they solve the problem and are pardoned, or they die, and the kingdom doesn't have to deal with delivering their punishment later.

Thats actually almsot exactly how I plan on getting the party together--their in prison, and their sentences are bought by a wizard. the justice system allows the wealthy to purchase a convicts sentence, basicly making them indentured servants. They all get bought by the same senile old wizard.

They do what he says, and if they try to run, he activates the collar round their necks, and Boom!

With that setting, you're already establishing the kingdom as probably a bit tyrannical, but you don't have to go into all of the whys and wherefores right off the bat. You don't need to figure out a map for the town until they're heading there. You don't need to find out the political climate (is there significant unrest?) until the plot calls for it.

it actually isnt a kingdom, so much as a single city with outlying farms. Actually a nice place to live, considering how wealthy the city is. Think Ank Morpork, if you get the reference, but more serious.

It started as a single inn along a major trade route, which gradually built up into a small town, then a fortress, then outlying towns which slowly merged into one big city, which sits on a convergence of 3-5, I havent picked a number yet, of the biggest trade routes in the land.

Merhcnats loved it, since, well, trade routes, and the merchants attracted artisans, attracted by the low prices of certain trade goods, such as certain woods or stones, and mages, thanks to the low prices and availability of certain magical ingredients.

Ive put a lot of thought into it so far, and I like what I have. =3 I even have the basic story opf whats currently going on, and the first few adventures semi planned out. I just need to create and stat important npcs and actually make a map now.

I used to GM Teenagers From Outer Space like this all the time. Of course, that game lends itself well to off-the-cuff adventuring, but if you're sufficiently creative (and a good bullshitter! ), it's not that difficult to do with nearly any setting short of a White Wolf game.

I've always wanted to play that game, ever since I heard about it. I want to weaponize perv nosebleeds.

And oooh yes. Anything can be fluffed into working the way ya want with sufficiant BS and a good enough poker face.

[Mytical]

A lot of things do have to be done on the fly, don't get me wrong. It is near impossible to consider everything. Heck a town that has a populace of 1000 people would be a monumental task if you tried to think of every detail. Some things should at least be basic however. If you are going to have 'classes' you should at least know what kinds of classes are available. After all, what if (in a D&D setting) a player wants to bring in a blade dancer? Compared to most of the other characters he/she would be a LOT stronger.

Sure at the beginning 'x is at war with y' might work, and you might get lucky and the characters never delve into it. Just hope I never play that game *laughs*, because most of my characters would not only try to find out WHY, but what it would take to get the groups to sit down at a peace treaty.

[Nekojin]

A lot of things do have to be done on the fly, don't get me wrong. It is near impossible to consider everything. Heck a town that has a populace of 1000 people would be a monumental task if you tried to think of every detail. Some things should at least be basic however. If you are going to have 'classes' you should at least know what kinds of classes are available. After all, what if (in a D&D setting) a player wants to bring in a blade dancer? Compared to most of the other characters he/she would be a LOT stronger.

Oh, I'm not arguing against the OP's premise at all. I'm presuming the existence (and use) of an already-extant game system as a foundation for character creation and setting tropes, as a minimum. I agree entirely with your opening rant, as the "do what you want, I'll work with it," idea just opens the door to power-gamers. If you don't corral them right from the start, they'll run roughshod over you.

Sure at the beginning 'x is at war with y' might work, and you might get lucky and the characters never delve into it. Just hope I never play that game *laughs*, because most of my characters would not only try to find out WHY, but what it would take to get the groups to sit down at a peace treaty.

And I, personally, would go with the flow, and drown you in information.

Tangent: For a MLP setting, the classes would seem to be obvious: Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earth Pony. Pegasi can fly, Unicorns can perform some forms of incidental magic (unless formally trained), and Earth Ponies tend to be a bit hardier and more rugged when it comes to physical labor.

[Duelist925]

Oh, I'm not arguing against the OP's premise at all. I'm presuming the existence (and use) of an already-extant game system as a foundation for character creation and setting tropes, as a minimum. I agree entirely with your opening rant, as the "do what you want, I'll work with it," idea just opens the door to power-gamers. If you don't corral them right from the start, they'll run roughshod over you.

"Do what you want, I'll work with it!"

"Alright, I want to play a kobold. "

"Ok, roll up--"

"Name of Pun-Pun"

And I, personally, would go with the flow, and drown you in information.

Tangent: For a MLP setting, the classes would seem to be obvious: Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earth Pony. Pegasi can fly, Unicorns can perform some forms of incidental magic (unless formally trained), and Earth Ponies tend to be a bit hardier and more rugged when it comes to physical labor.

Don't forget the Zebra, gryphon, and possibly changelings! >.>

[SongsOfDragons]

You give your player the option of A, B or C, and they'll take option 7.

My gaming group is made up of expert roleplayers and total subscribers to this theory. I've lost count of the roleplays we have made better by totally screwing over the DM's plans - one of the better times was when we killed our contact and joined up with the intended bad guys before we knew the roles of either ^^ Happens at the Nationals too: last year in a Supers RP one of our party turned on the rest of us and the DM said, and I quote, "This is great!! My players are beating each other up; I don't need to make up plot any more!!"

I'm working on a nice homebrew system and I had to test the rudiments of how the system works (just the dice rolls and the comprehensibility of the character sheets) last Saturday. With several experienced RPers looking at it, I made so many great adjustements based on their ideas and suggestions. And that's to the #system#, let alone the setting.

A poor DM is just asking for metagaming and the players ignoring the plot, smiting or not...

[Mytical]

A great DM doesn't have set in stone plans..*laughs* because no matter what contingencies you've made..players WILL mess with it. *chuckles*. Here is the latest development..something for everybody to consider about this particular case. The new gm is making his own character "Humanities last hope." The whole game is centered around this character..thoughts? (Before I put my own thoughts on this matter)

[Daskinor]

Currently running a 3.5 Dark Sun Game. (Athas.org rocks!!!!)

5 players and its simply a crapton of work. Sometimes the PCs will take the hook and sometimes they go off on a tangent and the book of random NPCs comes out. 4.

Knowing how the world works and its politics makes a huge difrence. And allows you to create deep meaningful adventures. But they take time and need to be written.

But in a pinch you need to keep in mind the theme of your world. Thats how you pull crap out of thin air when needed. Athas is a destroyed world so there is lots of survival themes. Sure the PCs want intrigue but out in the middle of the desert and running out of water can turn into a fun 2 game session. Especially when I through in the dilemma because the PCs went on major tangent 1,589 and need time to write an adventure for when they finnaly make the trek from Tyr to the Kalidnay runis.

I still don't have a fricken clue what supred that on. I think they are hunting for metal, but they may also be fraking with me for the 4 drink limit on weekdays.

[Nekojin]

Don't forget the Zebra, gryphon, and possibly changelings! >.>

Well, it's My Little Pony, not My Little Wild Animal Park. I'd only allow archetypes that are commonly visible in the show - no Dragonlets, because Spike's the only one. No Zebras, because although there's a tribe of them somewhere else, there's none around the common areas of Equestria - Zecora's the only one. No Gryphons, for the same reason - there's not exactly a ton of them wandering around Ponyville on an average day.

[Hyena Dandy]

The thing is that as a GM, you can frequently do all of that on the fly - just make sure you take notes so that you don't contradict yourself.

Some GMs can, yeah. And that's awesome. I'm usually one of them. I go into it with a lot of notes on what MIGHT happen and let the PCs lead the way to what DOES.