Hell Yeah, Gamemasters!

"I Wish Like Hell I Could Go Back"

Wed, 23 May 2012 10:07:22 -0500

Tim Rodriguez writes…

Ten years ago, I played in my friend Kym’s Legend of the Five Rings game that blew my mind. It was the first long-form RPG I’ve ever experienced and the first time I grasped what character depth might look like. It was also the first and only game I’ve been asked to leave — simply for not giving my all to the game. I can look back and trace all my roots as a game master to that game. Which is still going on, with my characters still kicking as NPCs. I wish like hell I could go back.

Should've Read The Cover Blurb...

Fri, 11 May 2012 09:32:12 -0500

We’re nearing the climax of an awesome game of Night’s Black Agents run by Kevin Kulp. Our spies have chased an arms dealer suspected of stealing suitcase nukes across the crowded streets of Krakow, sneaked our way into a secret meeting of drug lords in Colombia, and found the guy we’re pretty sure is behind at all. He’s able to do some kind of weird mental stuff to one member of our party, but we all think that guy is insane anyway. After all, he’s only three days from retirement.

So, we corner the big bad on the helipad as he’s getting ready to leave town with a nuke chained to his wrist, and he starts to grow wings. And his skin changes. And he’s really tough. And with a HUGE shit-eating grin, Kevin says “Oh, did I mention that Night’s Black Agents is a game of super-spies versus vampires?”

Beholders and Workplace Benefits

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:35:59 -0500

Dave Chalker is running the second playtest of his 4e hack for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (it’s delicious!) late Saturday night at PAX East 2012. Everything is off-the-cuff, tongue-in-cheek, but still mostly sincere fantasy adventure. Dave runs a tight improv ship, despite his protestations countering it.

Our party is in the heart of the dungeon. A beholder emerges. He’s going to enslave us all and make us work for the BBEG. Because cowards live longer, I guess, my halfling cleric pipes up:

“You know, we could just work for you. But we are going to need proper healthcare benefits first!”

So, there are a couple of ways to deal with this. We can get our chuckles on and then fight or we could fight over enslavement vs employment.

Or, we could turn the conflict into a parallel fight/healthcare battle. Eyebeam intimidation and laissez faire politics opposing a divine power and a desire for positive social change.

The dice were not on my side. Not only did we not get healthcare benefits, the beholder took the notion of work-for-hire completely off the table and went with the enslavement plan altogether.

But I appreciate that Dave not only let my silliness take form, he engaged it and made the scene even funnier.

Hell yeah.

The Incident of Owl Lake

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:24:00 -0500

David Rogers writes…

Love the idea for the tumblr, I’ve got one to share:

I played in a game of Andre Kruppa’s called “Incident of Owl Lake” at OGC, a con in Nashua, NH. It was a horror game, based on FUDGE that began with a strange vehicle crash-landing on the island where we were camping, and ended with us in a fight for our lives against the dark forces that had been controlling our lives since childhood. This was my first gaming con and I’d had some cool times and met some nice people, but generally had not been blown away by the experience. The gaming floor was loud and chaotic, the games were great but tended to move slowly and get side-tracked by table talk or outside distractions. I was really excited for Andre’s game, my last of the night and the con, because of the billed “theatrical elements.”

My friend Melissa was also slated to play. We couldn’t find the game at first — it wasn’t anywhere on the floor. Instead we got steered upstairs, to a part of the hotel we hadn’t been aware was part of the con. Inkjet-printed signs pointed toward a pair of double-doors. We went in and were greeted by a dark room, with a few mounted theatrical lights casting circles of illumination on a conference table in the center. The room was secluded, and quiet, and moreover, Andre had rigged it with a pretty extensive lighting and sound set-up.

The room was kept dark during the entire game, with lighting cues adjusting to the scene: a low red as we gathered around the camp fire, a sudden flash when a gun fired, glowing green or a sudden bright white as our situation proceeded to get stranger and stranger. Flashlights were provided for us to read our character sheets by when the lights were low or went out, and Andre wasn’t afraid to leave us in the dark. Then there was the music: Andre had a soundboard, some nice speakers, and a full range of musical cues. The sense of atmosphere — in sharp contrast to the other games I’d been playing — was incredible.

The theatricality went beyond the tech: we had props too, in the form of our flashlights but also in the neatly organized play aids Andre provided, from character sheets to rules references to setting materials, all neatly laid out and laminated. I’d never played FUDGE before, and neither had Melissa, but we were very seldom uncertain about a rule.

Andre also made use of long blocks of prepared text that were triggered at several points through out the game — specifically, when characters suddenly flashed back to certain suppressed memories. Several of these were repeated time and again as different characters hit upon the same triggers, but they didn’t get old: Andre’s spirited delivery (and accompanying music and light cues) kept them fresh each time, and the repetition underscored the eerie sameness of our experiences. By chance, my character was the last one to trigger a particular memory, but even though I’d heard the associated text three times before at that point I was still psyched. Andre still treated the material as fresh, too, throwing in an ad lib tailoring the speech to my character.

The game itself went great and we did pretty well. There were some really fun moments of pure dramatic role-playing, and a lot of exploration and problem-solving. Andre did a good job giving everyone a chance to have fun while still keeping the tension ratcheted up. Melissa and I were a little more into exploring interpersonal drama than the other characters at the table, and we had a few minutes to do that, but things generally kept moving at a good clip.

In the end, we all survived and escaped from a real nightmare into relative safety — thanks almost entirely to the good decisions of one of our savvier players. The game was both frightening and enthralling, and ended with a great moment of catharsis of closure followed by a great twist. Afterwards we were all visibly jazzed, wired even though it was well after midnight, and Andre stayed to talk to us about the setting he’d designed and the choices we’d made. He even solicited feedback about specific game elements and design choices.

All in all it was undoubtedly the best game I’ve ever played in. Andre has a website (http://www.gamesoapbox.com/) talking a little about the different scenarios he’s made and the different events where he GMs — I’d recommend checking it out, and if you ever have a chance to play with this really superlative GM, go for it.

A Great Patriot of the Motherland

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:38:00 -0500

Josh Zingg is a good friend, inventive writer, and absolutely, ridiculously dedicated DM. When running a 4e D&D Iron Kingdoms game via Skype for a group of now-graduated college buddies, he constantly wrestled cantankerous tech into submission to keep things running smoothly. Between router port forwarding, shaky Skype connections and an unstable MapTools server, everything that could go wrong did. But Zingg soldiered on, dedicating what I suspect was more hours to game prep and server testing than to the sessions themselves. While we eventually moved on to another game and another platform, Zingg’s valor in the face of the gremlin horde won’t soon be forgotten. He may have been bested in the end, but he fell as a true son of Khador.

"PAX East obliterated Jared Sorensen’s voice but he still had an event left to run. Players were counting on him. The convention schedule had the game session locked in. Sorensen, his voice already spent on conversations and events in the noisy convention venues, seemed fucked. But Jared Sorensen didn’t quit."

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:50:20 -0500

"PAX East obliterated Jared Sorensen’s voice but he still had an event left to run. Players were counting on him. The convention schedule had the game session locked in. Sorensen, his voice already spent on conversations and events in the noisy convention venues, seemed fucked. But Jared Sorensen didn’t quit.":

Somebody wisely suggested I share this piece I wrote, called “Hush,” with the HYGMs site here. So here it is.

Remember This?

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:15:34 -0500

It’s been a year. You must have built up some new game and game-master-related wonderment by now, right? Submissions slowed to nothing, but let’s take another stab at it. Tell us about a GM you dig right now or dug long ago. What did you play? Show us the GM in action in, using a conversational tone. Don’t worry about wit or wonderment—just tell us a quick tale or give us an example of what makes your GM rad.

We’ll start posting again if we can get as many as five submissions to this address (note that it’s new!): hellyeahgm (at) gmail (dot) com

Alternately, click the Submission button here on the Tumblr and submit that way.

Ready? Go!

Miss Master Griffen

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:39:00 -0600

Matthew wrote:

I’m blessed with a wealth of great gamemasters but I’d like to give a special shout out to Christian Griffen. Christian is a fine game designer (Beast Hunters, Anima Prime) but he is also a damn good GM and player.

I play in a group with him that’s been together for over three years now and my admiration for him and what he brings to the gaming table is a comment not just on his capabilities but also those of the other members of the group who sometimes run the games, David H and Colin C. Over the last three years we’ve all gotten better at learning those things that make the game fun for each of us. As trust and familiarity have increased we’ve all gotten better at communicating those things. But Christian is especially intuitive, both as a player and GM, at moving play and narration towards those things that a particular player enjoys. He exels at “making others awesome.” Given our gaming preferences, sometimes that takes the form of a “face-stab,” a gut-wrenching outcome delivered as a GM response to a failed roll or as a “bon mot” that highlights a particular character’s Achilles’ heel.

Each of the wonderful players in my primary gaming group usually create characters with flags that wave, “hurt me here,” and Christian is especially adept at delivering those blows. Similarly, if a character is kick-ass at words, weapons, or Wyrd, Christian is careful to provide spotlights/opportuniites for those capabilities.

Whatever the game, as a GM he rolls like someone who sold their soul to the gods of the polyhedron. In some groups this might be a problem, but our group enjoys the challenge and it works out great. Hell yeah!

You Will Never See It Coming

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:09:42 -0600

Lillian Cohen-Moore writes…

My darling other half, Matt Heller, is one of the GMs I fear the most. Some people fear bad GMs. I fear the ones who set things up so you and your fellow players get down in the moment—the heist, the rescue mission, the investigation—and are suddenly hit with the terrible realization that you are all simultaneously beyond the realm of merely fucked. For a perfect, sterling example, I point to a recent Shadowrun game he started for six players, yours truly included. By the end of the first session, the ‘Face’ was under criminal investigation, the rigger’s sister had been kidnapped, and my poor, sweet hacker was on the run for her life. By the end of the second session, the rest of the players were joining us in our very uncomfortable spot between hell and a hard place. I have never cheered so hard inside and cried so hysterically in character than when our Runner’s lives were greatly imperiled by that simple, 5K per person run go so horribly fucking wrong. Across genre and chronicle, Matt has done it to us all again and again—our lives, with the Devils we know, are traded out for Devils we don’t, and the knowledge that one wrong move will get earn us all a fate worse than any death we can think of.

Hell Yeah Logistics

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:40:21 -0600

Zack Walters writes:

Sara Johnson and Zach North are good friends, Zach is a great game master and both are unbelievable hosts. I played in a 4e D&D game Zach ran for over a year. He and Sara welcomed the group into their house and cooked dinner for us for over a year before Zach burned out and asked me to take over running a game. I was happy to take up the hosting and game running responsibilities, but I only got the latter. Sara and Zach have continued to host our group every week, welcoming us into their home with hot meals and cold beer for nearly another year. I may be statting up monsters and running sessions every week, but it’s Zach and Sara who still do the most important work.

Sorry about what happens next

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:06:00 -0600

Graham Walmsley writes:

If you live outside the United Kingdom, you probably won’t have heard of Scott Dorward. But, in many ways, he’s the heart and soul of the British convention circuit.

Scott often runs games in every convention slot. (I wish he wouldn’t, because he’s a great player, too, but it’s hard to complain). He sticks to a few games he knows well: Dead of Night, Prime Time Adventures, Cold City and few others. For some, he writes twisted and horrific scenarios. For others, he improvises.

For example, at IndieCon, we played one of his Prime Time Adventures sessions. These are remarkable for the amount of stuff that gets done in a single session: there’s a pitching session, then a full episode, and none of it feels rushed. We created a TV show about a Women’s Institute run like the Mafia. Within two hours, we were shooting shotguns, exploding churches and selling chutney.

Perhaps his greatest strength is that he improvises well, in that old-school style, letting players drive the adventure. We played a deeply satisfying Unknown Armies game, based around a suburban cocktail party. It ended in a ritual that made one player character disappear. Later, I found out about another group, playing the same game, who ended by confronting a sorcerer. The scenario was the same, but Scott had tailored it to the players.

Best of all, I like his technique for handling horror. When something appalling happens, he’ll smile excitedly as he tells you. Hence, his gory description (and it usually is deeply unpleasant) is accompanied by bright enthusiasm. It is disturbing.

The title of this post is taken from one of Scott’s T-shirts. It describes his games rather well. He’ll probably be rather embarrassed when he reads this and squirm a bit. And, quite frankly, that’s the only reward I need for writing it.

The Gods of FATE

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:35:16 -0600

Scott Anderson writes:

I want to thank Mike Olsen and Morgan Ellis for spoiling me on the FATE system. Their specialty is the version of FATE featured in Spirit of the Century. They have hacked it into submission and brought my undeserving soul the glorious time I spent with Spirit of the Fist and Spirit of the American Hero. I tried running lesser versions of FATE and found them sadly lacking. I have played the FATE games of other GMs and, again, they were not even close to the standard I was used to. You can experience this magic by attending one of the three annual Strategicon conventions at an LAX airport hotel. Mike and Morgan have inspired me to be a better GM and I hope to rise to meet their standards someday. Hell Yeah!!!

Mystic Secrets of the Canadian Masters

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:03:29 -0600

lfr2010 writes:

Screw linear storytelling. Here’s what Rob MacDougall did in our Unknown Armies game: he had us play historical versions of ourselves. He had us play alternate world versions of ourselves. He had us play NPCs we’d only encountered tangentially, through the shadowed glass. He embraced the concept of rewriting history, in a game that was about history. When a player had to leave the game, he took it as an opportunity to reinforce the theme of historical flexibility: did Danny Greer ever exist? Who knows? Each shadow session reflected the “real world,” and sometimes they were the real world, in a Grant Morrisonian parfait of mystery. I’ve never since been afraid to mess around with chronology.

He also taught me how to make a conspiracy game without mapping it all out in advance. I was shocked when I found out how much of the conspiracy was generated from our own musings and backgrounds. Rob makes it look easier than it is, of course: his deep understanding of United States history meant that he could find a match in reality for anything we came up with. But that just means I have a good example to reach towards.

He came to us from the mysterious North, living in the proverbial Cambridge green pastures for far too short a time. I miss gaming with him. Perhaps again someday.

Don't Rest Your Head, Kids: This Man Will Give You Nightmares

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:51:56 -0500

Lillian Cohen-Moore writes:

The first time I met Ryan Macklin I was about an hour out of an ER. Long story. Despite recent medical advice to take it easy, I sallied forth to my friend Jennifer Brozek’s house because she’d set up a one shot game I’d never played before for my fiance, a roommate and one of our friends, ran by Ryan. It was Don’t Rest Your Head.

That was months ago, and it still gets as much beloved air time as shining moments from games that took months, if not years, to run. Ryan is the master of short, intense games, one-shots included. Just like a movie or a book, there’s a clear arc, and like the end of any good horror story, hopes were raised, endangered, dashed, played with, and a whole host of conclusions were left to us players to think about later. It was my first one-shot. Ryan was not gentle, but he was sure as hell amazing. Ryan’s name is a killing word, which suits, because he is a killer GM.

The Man in the Black Hat

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:39:01 -0500

Emily Care Boss writes:

I’m having the pleasure of being GM’d currently by Evan Torner who is hosting three of us through the storms and duels ofSwashbucklers of the Seven Skies. This is the first time I’ve played a whole campaign with Evan, but I’ve been in games he’s run before and it’s no surprise to me that he’s a great GM.

As a regular GM at our local gaming con, I’ve played Inspectres, Misspent Youth and a variety of other games with him at the helm. He always brings something extra to the table. At one con, he ran a game of 1001 Nights and won the Best Dressed GM prize, for his long robe and turban, which along with the brass bowls and glowing jewel tone dice he used, had everyone envious of his players. He was truly running the game in the spirit that the author, Meguey Baker, intended.

What Evan brings to the game is a lot of thought. He has a serious amount of experience running games for folks at conventions, which takes a different set of skills than long term play. I’ve heard him talk about what goes in to choosing a game for a one-shot: good solid prep, hooky characters that players can jump right in on, or games that flow right out of the characters choices so that what the GM isn’t left scratching their head trying to figure out how to shepherd players they may never have met into following a strongly scripted story that might not tickle their fancy.

And in our long term game, he’s brought that same dynamic. With Seven Skies working beautifully to feed information back and forth between players and GM about what we’re interested in. In game setup, the GM asks what kind of story the players want, Action? Intrigue? So it’s we been a pleasure to see the ideas came up with for our characters become embodied in other people, places and things that we encounter, like the drunken courtier willing and ready to join the revolution to put Eppy’s character back on the throne. It’s a simple thing, but one of the best things in a GM is simply listening to their players, and Evan has that in spades.

The Iron GM of Oakland

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:30:31 -0500

Ryan Macklin writes:

As a GM, I love playing with other GMs. I learn so much from seeing the tricks they use, from the way Carl Rigney riffs off of playing input around misery to how Sean Nittner elevates the use of props to a new level. But it’s playing in convention games run by Brian Isikoff (the Iron GM of Oakland!) that has had the biggest impact on my GMing.

He has this thing called Backstory, which he’s talked about some on his podcast, 2d6 Feet In A Random Direction. He passes out characters, pitches the initial situation, and makes it clear that it’s not his scenario but *ours*. The last time I was in a game with him, some months ago, he ran a military space opera game using Heroquest. I grabbed the ship’s captain, and others grabbed the XO, engineer, etc.

Then he turned to one of the other players and asked “So, who’s the new guy on the ship?” That player replied with “The captain.”

He responded with some excitement. “Oh! I wonder what happened to the last captain?” he asked with a sly grin to another player. “Killed in the last encounter we had. That’s why we’re in dock — repairs.”

More enthusiasm. Brian just exuded joy and awesome. We were all getting pumped. He asked some more questions from each of us. One I remember keenly: “What’s this new captain’s reputation?”

That was open to the table rather than asking a single person. One of my friends answered “he’s a hardass, by-the-book kinda guy.” Brian checked with me to make sure that’s cool, “You good with that? Remember, it could just be an unjustified reputation.” He weaves the characters together, but doesn’t want to pigeonhole them into something they don’t want.

(I naturally replied with “You mean, ‘It could be an unjustified reputation, *sir*.’” It was on.)

What Brian did for that short bit of time turned six people at the table, some who knew each other and some who didn’t, into folks who trusted him and each other to play something fun. We didn’t have to shy away from PC-PC arguments. By using targeted questions, he gets us to throw ideas out on the table—no question so big that we have decision paralysis. And by bringing enthusiasm to each answer, he makes us excited about the game and trust that it’s totally cool to throw out ideas. Not only does he build a neat relationship web and short history of badness we as characters have to deal with, but he makes us as players *love* it…because it’s ours as much as it is his.

Recently, he defeated me in Endgame Oakland’s first Iron GM competition. We’ve talked about it a bit on his podcast, and some of his players talked about it on another show. I cannot think of a better person to be crowned our first Iron GM; we’re all made a better at gaming because of him.

Steve Miller

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:28:38 -0500

Catdragon writes:

Steve Miller is a great gamemaster — he takes the time to make sure the players understand the setting, the adventure, and the scenario. He also works at making props, making sure everyone enjoys the game. He is one of the best (if not the best) gamemasters I’ve had.

The Second Best GM in Britain

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 08:36:00 -0500

Graham Walmsley writes:

The first time I met Simon Rogers, he ran a Dungeons and Dragons game. He’d recently played Dogs In The Vineyard and wanted to try it with D&D rules. It was fun, but afterwards, I didn’t see him for a year.

After that year, I joined his gaming group. There, I saw the silver-tongued cleverness and quick-witted invention that defines Simon Rogers’ GM style.

His adventures are meticulously planned: indeed, he inspires our group’s other GMs to dedicate equal effort to preparation. Not only that, but his acting is superb.

I remember Simon GMing Ashen Stars. When he played an alien, he became strangely alien himself, frowning and speaking in a stilted manner. When he played a starship commander, he was commanding himself.

Not only that, but his master of accents is legendary. His Northern accent is instantly recognisable to anyone who has ventured north of Milton Keynes. His American accent is a joy to hear.

Finally, he cooks. While we play, there is the delicious smell of meat roasting. Often, he will switch between GMing and cooking, doing both with equal skill.

As you may know, English people are not allowed to give effusive compliments. Hence, I’m content to call Simon the Second Best GM In Britain.

"The DelRosso Principle: “Kick this setting in the teeth.” Invoking the DelRosso..."

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:34:00 -0500

“

The DelRosso Principle: “Kick this setting in the teeth.”

Invoking the DelRosso Principle is taking a published setting and making it your own. It is taking a collaboratively created setting and adding a nice flourish. It is changing the face of a fictional world through the act of pretending and the rolling of dice. It is taking a boxed set and making it a home, even if it is Dark Sun, a home that wants to see your characters dead. It is the act of making a fictional place a fun lens through which we can create and react.

”

- Judd Karlman

The Best GM in Tucson

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:18:59 -0500

Thomas writes:

If you know anything about Jason Corley, it’s that he’s the self-proclaimed Best GM in Tucson. In the years I’ve known Jason, I have not seen a thing to dispute that. I could talk about his gaming style, how he brings greatness to the gaming table (or living room in his home game), but I’m not. I’m going to talk about his contributions to the local gaming community. Sure, one can talk about how great that guy at the head of the table is, but here is a guy that’s bringing the awesome to people he doesn’t even play games with.

I first met Jason about four years ago at a local science-fiction convention’s gaming hall. After the con, he, I, and a friend of ours talked about continuing the gaming goodness; from these talks came the Southern Arizona Gamers Association. This little thing that we started runs multiple weekly and monthly RPG events, the largest gaming convention in Arizona, and reaches more than 600 gamers in the local area. This thing that he helped to found brought more gamers together to play new games, make new friends, and get into gaming groups.

Jason introduces and runs new games to gamers at our monthly events. He organized and maintained a shared game universe setting, Tucson By Night, for local and regional WoD gamers. Jason has spearheaded the Gamemaster’s Conferences that we’ve been holding here in Tucson—quite possibly the first ever convention of its kind. (In his words, “Really, the fact that this was the very first Gamemaster’s Conference in the history of the hobby is a disgrace to the hobby. Training, mentoring, developing partnerships, this is how you get better at everything else in the world, why not GMing?”) After running games in almost every slot at RinCon last year, this year he’s organizing the RPG track at RinCon 10.

The Best GM in Tucson isn’t just a guy that brings a cool adventure to the table each week. He’s the guy that continues to make our little hamlet in the desert a gaming mecca.