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Which are (some of) your favourites GM-tips/technique ? And how do you use-them in your games ? (fedia.io)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Many of us, have read GM-sections in RPG, RPG blogs, forum discussions, and sometimes books about the storytelling art.

All of these contains tons of interesting tips/techniques (and some will contradict each other, you don't GM a gritty mega-dungeon and high-school drama game the same way), so I am curious which ones are your favourite and how do you use them in your game

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[–] INeedMana 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I hope it's ok that I don't put links. I think the ones that are from blogs should be easily found

Lazy GM - creates a habit of loosely planning the plot, so you can have a bag of things to use, without having to railroad, and changing the plan because of players' actions doesn't hurt
don't plan plots, plan obstacles - when you get into the habit of thinking what could be an obstacle in a situation, you don't have the game to go this or that way. You only switch between applicable obstacles
onion plots - "who needs what, what for, but they can't because of what". That way coming up with a follow up is easier
run combat like a dolphin - mainly, remember to describe things. Yes, I have to actively remember about doing that
stars and wishes - to me this is the most constructive form of after session summary. If I ask "what you didn't like?" (roses and thorns), to me it is not clear how to improve. When it's about "what you wish/wished for?" it's much easier to decide whether there was a problem with expectation management or maybe a cool idea that I passed up
yes and+no but - mainly, even if we are playing a more trad game, I don't ask for a roll if I (the plot, of course ;) ) need the thing to happen. I ask for it to answer an additional question "will the character do this well enough to uncover additional details?". Unless we are in a simulationist wounds&initiative combat, the roll to me is a plot device, not plain success/failure

And thing I came up on my own but might be only because how my mind works:
Do split the party
What I often do is present the obstacle, ask around what the characters are doing after learning that. Then I choose the sequence that I feel has the most meat on it - story to be told and go one by one. Even if an idea surprises me, I've found that by the time another player rolls their dice I already know what to do with the previous one. And when scenes have fewer participants, it's easier to manage spotlight and have lower stakes per scene