Experiences Things Your Game Master Wished You Knew

[Zer0]

Hi, guys, as the Leader, Dungeon master or Game master of your roleplay, what was one or a couple of things you wished your players or partners knew?

 

[Delinquent]

I actually put some effort into writing the plot, please play along with it.

I'm not saying that you have to follow my plans to the latter but please take the obvious plot hook instead of deciding to become traveling merchants and forcing me to rewrite the entire fucking plot mid-session.

 

[Idea]

Some of the following are not for all players, but more for specific kinds of players.

1. I would like to clarify, when I set out a rule that isn't a challenge for you to find a way to go around it and try to make something gamebreaking. It will either break the game or force me to create and pile new rules that make the RP more messy to manage and more intimidating for potential newcomers.

2. There is literally no point in keeping secrets from the GM. Your big IC reveal will be great surprising the other players, but it could easily be disastrous if it does the same for the game master. On the other hand, if you share it with them, they could help you build up to your reveal and even incorporate it into the plot and such.

3. Please please please be aware of your own capabilities and schedule, and take both into account when making decisions for the roleplay. Don't make a loner if you are incapable of making a solo scene for more than one post, don't make a genius if metagaming is the only way you know how to show intelligence, don't join a roleplay with length or pacing demands entirely outside your comfort zone, don't get 4 characters interacting with yours when you know you're going to be absent from the roleplay for a week starting the very next day.

4. Specialists > Jacks of All Trades, most of the time. This gives more room for both other players and the game master to contribute and to give everyone their own spot in the narrative.

5. The more information you write down and keep track of, the better. I don't just mean my information, but if relevant information for your character is, for instance, in a spoiler on your posts, that can really help making the process of managing things easier. A roleplay can easily be stalled if a GM has to open 3 or 4 tabs just to have the character information adequately available during an event in which it is relevant.

6. Please don't wait for me to try to interact with other players, IC and especially OOC! A dead OOC will kill a roleplay, if you can be present that will help a lot! And IC it's not always feasible for the GM to bring the characters together, and many players for various reasons have trouble bringing their characters to interact unprompted. The more you can be helpful in bringing your group together the better your RP's chances of actually surviving! Plus it can even make the hype last longer.

7. On a more positive note, I would like you to know that I as a GM I am here to help if you have any stranger idea you'd like done but you're not sure how, or if you're feeling lost and don't know how to move forward. I am also happy to answer questions you have, especially if the setting is one I made myself. If I want to share my setting with you, why wouldn't I be happy if you ask me to do precisely that?



That's all for now.

 

[Zer0]

Mine would be, please talk to me. Like, I really want my roleplay to live, and I don't know why people leave. Like when I put in my guidelines that you are welcome to talk to me to make things better, I reeally mean it. I'm not gonna bite your head off.

 

[Onmyoji]

Rules lol
If it's something like DnD I would wish that the players knew the rules and what to roll for what.
I'm guilty of not knowing that very well and I apologize to my GMs.

 

[Cosmo]

Coming at it from a tabletop/pen and paper direction [Cause Forum RPing is slightly different]

1. Know your character and their rules. I don't ask people know the entire rulebook to DnD or Warhammer RP, or whatever. I sure as hell don't. Asking a player to know every single thing is insane, but knowing the basics does speed up the game exponentially. What I do want is people to understand their character and their character's rules. Cause I sure as hell ain't going to remember all their modifiers, rules, feats, whatever and, more over, its not really my job to remember everything about the player's character. I am more then happy to help with general rules as we are going, look at rule interactions, etc, but I am not going to memorize everyone's character sheet, just not happening. So don't give me the evil eye when you forgot your character could do X and are mad that I didn't remind you they could do X. Its your character. You should have remembered.

2. Never use a blocker. Roll in the open. You don't want that stress, you don't want to see that you crit and know you just dropped their character and this is likely going to lead to a TPK. Roll in the open. They see it. They know what happened. Its in the hands of the Dice Gods now. I understand you may not want players to figure out the modifier by seeing the dice roll and using simple math, but so what? It really doesn't matter and what you save in stress and honesty is worth way more, also, trust me, when a big roll comes up and they get out of their chairs to watch that dice roll, you'll know you made the right decision.

3. Suggest failures. You crit fail? Throw something out. You messed up so bad your character tripped. You flung your weapon across the room and now are in deep shit. Have fun with it. I won't ever punish a player, usually, for crit failing in, say, combat [now if you are trying to parkour off a building and crit fail? Yea, your ass getting bruised son], but I always love when a player is like, 'Whelp, I think I just fell down the stairs,' because it makes them invested, it makes the story fun, it adds in that element of realism because, sometimes, embarrassing failures happen and it helps avoid people taking failure too personally and becoming sullen which is just a mood killer.

4. Randomization. Some games allow a lot of weirdness and randomization in their character creations, from their race, backgrounds, profession, stats, etc. People who lean into that, who leave everything to the Dice Gods, are such a blast because its so fun. You roll up this random character and then make a person out of them and what people can come out with is so fun, and usually, if they keep badly written stats instead of using whatever in-game mechanic they have to avoid that, I always reward them with something for being willing to bite the bullet and jump in. I love when players randomize something and then turn it into a person with a background and personality. Don't always have to do it, and I love when people come up with super neat ideas for their characters, but leaving it to the dice gods and seeing what you get is super fun and I advise any RPer to try it sometime.

5. Just ask. If you have a character idea or concept you wanna do, but you aren't sure so you ditch the idea for something else... don't. Just ask the GM. Most GMs are willing to play ball to make something fun and interesting. Just don't abuse that and never be afraid to talk to your GM.

6. Roll Off. Arguments happen, and sometimes they can get heated. Don't get me wrong, if its something important, the GM has to put their foot down and that is it. Accept their decision and move on. But if its something small that really doesn't matter, and, tbh, you don't really care, especially, if its between two players? Just have them roll off. Higher one wins and that becomes the precedent for the future. It saves a ton of time and is, usually, easier for people to swallow then taking a side as GM. If you are playing and you and the GM or you and another player are arguing, offer a roll off. If it isn't super critical, most people will agree to it.

7. Rules as Intended > Rules as Written. I am a huge believer in this. The intent of the rule means more to me then what is written. If the intent is to stop X from happening, I don't care if you can find a loophole that says you should be able to do X because it wasn't written clearly enough to close the loophole. I also believe this is great to have as a player and a GM, it makes you more flexible, as a GM, and as a player, it stops you from trying to take advantage and meta game. I can't stand playing with metagamers, they bore me and I quickly lose interest.

8. Know when to roll with it, know when to punish. If your players wanna do something dumb, let them and follow up on it. Your plays wanna wander away from the narrative? Whatever, roll with it and enjoy it. But don't let them forget they are part of the world and it doesn't revolve around them. Instead of rushing off to stop MR. BADDIE from unleashing his DOOOOOM on a town, they decide to go chasing after some NPC because murder hobos gonna murder, whelp, when they get back have that town be ruin. Just set that precedent that the world doesn't freeze just because they do. If they don't act, the world will keep moving and often for the worse. Trust me, nothing is more amusing then watching your players realize that, yea, all these people are dead because you were gonna murder hobo, some hero you are. It won't stop it, but it does add consequences which is great... even if it means you gotta do more record keeping.

9. Don't over do it with traps. I don't set traps all that often in dungeons, I know, I see you looking at me like 'wut'. I use them. Just not all the time. The reason is.. pretty simple, if you use traps a lot, players slow down. They start to treat everything like its a trap and you have to sit there as they make test after test to see if each new room is trapped. It bogs down the game. No, what you do, is you don't set traps all that often, so when you do, it completely catches them off guard. It makes it more enjoyable for you, for them and you don't have to do a thousand checks [Although, yea, after they fall for one, be prepared for a session or two of paranoia, but its okay, give it some time, they will loosen their guard again]. And as a player, don't go crazy with checks. Come on, if this is the third damn hallway you search for traps, your GM is just going to put a trap there because you annoyed them not because there is one.

 

[Zer0]

Coming at it from a tabletop/pen and paper direction [Cause Forum RPing is slightly different]

1. Know your character and their rules. I don't ask people know the entire rulebook to DnD or Warhammer RP, or whatever. I sure as hell don't. Asking a player to know every single thing is insane, but knowing the basics does speed up the game exponentially. What I do want is people to understand their character and their character's rules. Cause I sure as hell ain't going to remember all their modifiers, rules, feats, whatever and, more over, its not really my job to remember everything about the player's character. I am more then happy to help with general rules as we are going, look at rule interactions, etc, but I am not going to memorize everyone's character sheet, just not happening. So don't give me the evil eye when you forgot your character could do X and are mad that I didn't remind you they could do X. Its your character. You should have remembered.

2. Never use a blocker. Roll in the open. You don't want that stress, you don't want to see that you crit and know you just dropped their character and this is likely going to lead to a TPK. Roll in the open. They see it. They know what happened. Its in the hands of the Dice Gods now. I understand you may not want players to figure out the modifier by seeing the dice roll and using simple math, but so what? It really doesn't matter and what you save in stress and honesty is worth way more, also, trust me, when a big roll comes up and they get out of their chairs to watch that dice roll, you'll know you made the right decision.

3. Suggest failures. You crit fail? Throw something out. You messed up so bad your character tripped. You flung your weapon across the room and now are in deep shit. Have fun with it. I won't ever punish a player, usually, for crit failing in, say, combat [now if you are trying to parkour off a building and crit fail? Yea, your ass getting bruised son], but I always love when a player is like, 'Whelp, I think I just fell down the stairs,' because it makes them invested, it makes the story fun, it adds in that element of realism because, sometimes, embarrassing failures happen and it helps avoid people taking failure too personally and becoming sullen which is just a mood killer.

4. Randomization. Some games allow a lot of weirdness and randomization in their character creations, from their race, backgrounds, profession, stats, etc. People who lean into that, who leave everything to the Dice Gods, are such a blast because its so fun. You roll up this random character and then make a person out of them and what people can come out with is so fun, and usually, if they keep badly written stats instead of using whatever in-game mechanic they have to avoid that, I always reward them with something for being willing to bite the bullet and jump in. I love when players randomize something and then turn it into a person with a background and personality. Don't always have to do it, and I love when people come up with super neat ideas for their characters, but leaving it to the dice gods and seeing what you get is super fun and I advise any RPer to try it sometime.

5. Just ask. If you have a character idea or concept you wanna do, but you aren't sure so you ditch the idea for something else... don't. Just ask the GM. Most GMs are willing to play ball to make something fun and interesting. Just don't abuse that and never be afraid to talk to your GM.

6. Roll Off. Arguments happen, and sometimes they can get heated. Don't get me wrong, if its something important, the GM has to put their foot down and that is it. Accept their decision and move on. But if its something small that really doesn't matter, and, tbh, you don't really care, especially, if its between two players? Just have them roll off. Higher one wins and that becomes the precedent for the future. It saves a ton of time and is, usually, easier for people to swallow then taking a side as GM. If you are playing and you and the GM or you and another player are arguing, offer a roll off. If it isn't super critical, most people will agree to it.

7. Rules as Intended > Rules as Written. I am a huge believer in this. The intent of the rule means more to me then what is written. If the intent is to stop X from happening, I don't care if you can find a loophole that says you should be able to do X because it wasn't written clearly enough to close the loophole. I also believe this is great to have as a player and a GM, it makes you more flexible, as a GM, and as a player, it stops you from trying to take advantage and meta game. I can't stand playing with metagamers, they bore me and I quickly lose interest.

8. Know when to roll with it, know when to punish. If your players wanna do something dumb, let them and follow up on it. Your plays wanna wander away from the narrative? Whatever, roll with it and enjoy it. But don't let them forget they are part of the world and it doesn't revolve around them. Instead of rushing off to stop MR. BADDIE from unleashing his DOOOOOM on a town, they decide to go chasing after some NPC because murder hobos gonna murder, whelp, when they get back have that town be ruin. Just set that precedent that the world doesn't freeze just because they do. If they don't act, the world will keep moving and often for the worse. Trust me, nothing is more amusing then watching your players realize that, yea, all these people are dead because you were gonna murder hobo, some hero you are. It won't stop it, but it does add consequences which is great... even if it means you gotta do more record keeping.

9. Don't over do it with traps. I don't set traps all that often in dungeons, I know, I see you looking at me like 'wut'. I use them. Just not all the time. The reason is.. pretty simple, if you use traps a lot, players slow down. They start to treat everything like its a trap and you have to sit there as they make test after test to see if each new room is trapped. It bogs down the game. No, what you do, is you don't set traps all that often, so when you do, it completely catches them off guard. It makes it more enjoyable for you, for them and you don't have to do a thousand checks [Although, yea, after they fall for one, be prepared for a session or two of paranoia, but its okay, give it some time, they will loosen their guard again]. And as a player, don't go crazy with checks. Come on, if this is the third damn hallway you search for traps, your GM is just going to put a trap there because you annoyed them not because there is one.

Thanks, this has good advice. I haven't had a player that leaned to randomization, but I wish I experienced one. Kind of want to try it myself too.

 

[Idea]

Know your character and their rules. I don't ask people know the entire rulebook to DnD or Warhammer RP, or whatever. I sure as hell don't. Asking a player to know every single thing is insane, but knowing the basics does speed up the game exponentially. What I do want is people to understand their character and their character's rules. Cause I sure as hell ain't going to remember all their modifiers, rules, feats, whatever and, more over, its not really my job to remember everything about the player's character. I am more then happy to help with general rules as we are going, look at rule interactions, etc, but I am not going to memorize everyone's character sheet, just not happening. So don't give me the evil eye when you forgot your character could do X and are mad that I didn't remind you they could do X. Its your character. You should have remembered.

Personally, while I absolutely agree it’d be insane to ask a DM to keep tabs of every single thing about the player’s characters, I believe that reaction elements, and passives, which pertain to how NPCs would interact with the players or something players can do during the NPC’s “turn” to act, is something the DM should be aware of. I say that because the DM controls the NPCs, not the players, so if there is something passive to modify their behavior towards the players, only the DM can make them do it, and if the DM expects the players to remember it instead, that will only lead to arguments of “oh, but the NPC should’ve acted this/that way, because of this feature...”. Or if an NPC is doing something in a situation where the player has a very specific response for that kind of thing (say, an NPC is casting a spell and a PC can use a counter spell) then it falls on the DM to (when appropriate) create a window of opportunity, even if just a few moments, for the player to be able to speak up and respond.

 

[Kaihaku]

Engagement is more important than the "product" and it's not solely the Leader/Game Master's responsibility.

 

[Idea]

Engagement is more important than the "product" and it's not solely the Leader/Game Master's responsibility.

What do you mean by “the product”

 

[Cosmo]

Thanks, this has good advice. I haven't had a player that leaned to randomization, but I wish I experienced one. Kind of want to try it myself too.

Should try it sometime! Just be warned, the character you get may be pretty.. not great but it makes it fun to try and work around that limitation.

Personally, while I absolutely agree it’d be insane to ask a DM to keep tabs of every single thing about the player’s characters, I believe that reaction elements, and passives, which pertain to how NPCs would interact with the players or something players can do during the NPC’s “turn” to act, is something the DM should be aware of. I say that because the DM controls the NPCs, not the players, so if there is something passive to modify their behavior towards the players, only the DM can make them do it, and if the DM expects the players to remember it instead, that will only lead to arguments of “oh, but the NPC should’ve acted this/that way, because of this feature...”. Or if an NPC is doing something in a situation where the player has a very specific response for that kind of thing (say, an NPC is casting a spell and a PC can use a counter spell) then it falls on the DM to (when appropriate) create a window of opportunity, even if just a few moments, for the player to be able to speak up and respond.

Depends on what you mean by 'passives'. If you are referring to something about the setting, say, this NPC is a devote follower of sigmar and that player character is a dwarf so is going to get more positive reactions from said NPC [As one of the central creeds in that religion is to be nice to dwarfs and help them out], sure, but that is less 'knowing their sheet' and more 'knowing the setting'. Usually, however, if a player has something that can affect an NPC its a dice roll such as a spell like charm or a persuasion attempt. Players being famous or known for helping people in the town and so the NPC from said town should be nicer, isn't knowing the player sheet as, I'd say, knowing the setting again.

Players always have time to, say, counter spell. You say NPC is casting a spell, you pause a moment to ensure everyone understands, you describe the spell as you are rolling the dice, that is actually more then a few moments for the player to go, 'Counter spell'. I have also yet to meet any player who hasn't been ready to throw down their Counter Spell instantly as if they were in Yu-Gi-Oh and were about to flip their trap card [Anytime a player gets to interrupt or ruin their DM plans, they tend to remember that... Even if that is all they remember]. Its not like once the dice get rolled, the verdict is set, sucks to be the player, shoulda said something faster.. Well, I guess some DM's out there may do that but they shouldn't. Again though, just as with traps, I am not going to ask the player 'Hey, would you like to counter spell,' every time a spell goes off because hell no. They should know their character can do that and speak up if they want to do it. I do allow for limited rollbacks when I DM. If I've rolled and the damage has just been dealt and you remember, 'Crap, I coulda counter spelled', I'll allow a roll back cause sometimes things slip the mind. But if a turn or two has gone by? Well, that sucks mate, you coulda but now you know for next time.

 

[Idea]

Depends on what you mean by 'passives'. If you are referring to something about the setting, say, this NPC is a devote follower of sigmar and that player character is a dwarf so is going to get more positive reactions from said NPC [As one of the central creeds in that religion is to be nice to dwarfs and help them out], sure, but that is less 'knowing their sheet' and more 'knowing the setting'. Usually, however, if a player has something that can affect an NPC its a dice roll such as a spell like charm or a persuasion attempt. Players being famous or known for helping people in the town and so the NPC from said town should be nicer, isn't knowing the player sheet as, I'd say, knowing the setting again.

What I mean by a passive in this case, or at least the example I had in mind, was something like the diplomat feat from D&D 5e (UA):

"If you spend 1 minute talking to someone who can understand what you say, you can make a Charisma (Persuasion) check contested by the creature’s Wisdom (Insight) check. If you or your companions are fighting the creature, your check automatically fails. If your check succeeds, the target is charmed by you as long as it remains within 60 feet of you and for 1 minute thereafter."

Now granted upon re-reading this effect isn't entirely passive (it does say you "can" make a charisma check), but it still has the traits I was describing regarding it being outside of the player's ability to determine. The player can neither
A) Decide a minute has passed
nor
B) Know if a given NPC can even be affected by this

The GM has to make those two determinations and I think we can agree we don't want a scenario where the player spends every 5 minutes asking whether they can use the feature. So for situations where you have something like this, it's important for the GM to know of it.

Another case would be, say, some kind of passive detection feature, allowing you to sense a certain kind of monster. The DM being aware that the player can sense them would be important to give information appropriately.

 

[Cosmo]

What I mean by a passive in this case, or at least the example I had in mind, was something like the diplomat feat from D&D 5e (UA):

"If you spend 1 minute talking to someone who can understand what you say, you can make a Charisma (Persuasion) check contested by the creature’s Wisdom (Insight) check. If you or your companions are fighting the creature, your check automatically fails. If your check succeeds, the target is charmed by you as long as it remains within 60 feet of you and for 1 minute thereafter."

Now granted upon re-reading this effect isn't entirely passive (it does say you "can" make a charisma check), but it still has the traits I was describing regarding it being outside of the player's ability to determine. The player can neither
A) Decide a minute has passed
nor
B) Know if a given NPC can even be affected by this

The GM has to make those two determinations and I think we can agree we don't want a scenario where the player spends every 5 minutes asking whether they can use the feature. So for situations where you have something like this, it's important for the GM to know of it.

Another case would be, say, some kind of passive detection feature, allowing you to sense a certain kind of monster. The DM being aware that the player can sense them would be important to give information appropriately.

Making a Charisma check is something the player would actively be seeking to do. They would make an active roll. That isn't a passive. A passive is something the player doesn't have to actively try to do. There is no 'can' about that. In order for the skill to do anything at all, the check must be passed. If it isn't attempted, then the skill does nothing, ergo, it isn't a passive effect because it requires an active check to pass.

The skill also tells them the limitations, if they are fighting, it fails. That isn't something the DM has to know before the player even wants to try and do it. The player is free to try and use that skill of their own violation and just let the DM know, 'Hey, I wanna try to do X and this is what the skill does' if the DM doesn't know what the skill does offhand. Again, for that skill, the player has to actively decide they want to make a roll against the NPC's wisdom, so no, the DM doesn't have to know they can do that whenever they want nor does the DM have to remind the player they can do that.

Depends on the game. Most skills that is just 'detect a monster' is an activated skill such as a Blood Hunters ability or through the use of detect undead which, again, is an activated ability and not a passive [it isn't always on, they have to let the DM know, 'Hey, I am turning this on, I can see anything in X meters for Y time'. Passive perception is more what you are thinking of in that if something is trying to stealth near the players, a player character may notice it without having to do a check. The said, if you are planning such an encounter, you are likely to know the highest level passive perceptions in your player party and, failing that, can always just ask or check. That is the closest thing to 'passive ability' you have really brought up, but it doesn't really change what I said.

EDIT: Mind, I consider passive perception an activate skill on the DM's part. You roll the stealth check for the item or character in question and compare that to the party members passive perception, but even this is really up to the DM and sometimes it may be something the players have to look for [But if it is potentially hostile I, as a rule of thumb, always role a stealth check and compare]

 

[AnnJam]

I want more players to understand that if your goal is to derail and do everything in your power to fuck with your DM's story; they wont want to DM for you anymore. It isn't fun if you don't play along when your DM has clearly put a shit ton of effort into creating an interactive world. It is frustrating too when you work hard to make something compelling and all your players do is fuck around or refuse to try to play along.

So be nice to your DMs it's okay to fuck around sometimes, especially if its really creative combat stuff or filler-on-the-road side stuff. But when the main story is on the go be nice, not everything has to be a joke.

 

[Kaihaku]

What do you mean by “the product”

When I referred to the "product", I was specifically thinking of participants who want the roleplay to achieve certain personal outcomes but who prioritize those above engagement with other participants.

This usually focuses on the other participants acting as an audience often to the individual's great acting (in tabletop), great writing (in play by post), or great preplanned narrative. It's not bad to have great acting, great writing, or a great preplanned narrative. It's bad to prioritize those over the collaborative group experience. At the extreme this results in the participant completely ignoring other participant actions that don't line up with their desired outcomes and dropping out of interactions the second they don't achieve the desired outcome.

I've also roleplayed with a lot of people (including my younger self) who thought we were writing something great together and who would ghost out over writer's block... It was all in good intentions, didn't want to let down the group with a low quality post. But really most of the participants would have loved to have the RP continue rather than having engagement dying because someone didn't want to write a couple of posts that were of subpar quality. In my experience, it's exceedingly rare for anyone other than the participants read over a completed RP. Sure, I know some aspiring authors who recycled/upcycled material from RPs for their writing but that's very different than thinking an unedited RP is great reading.


On the positive, as Game Master, I'd like all of my participants to be familiar with the "yes, and..." rule of improv comedy. It's not the best approach for every scenario - RPs can benefit a lot from interparty conflict around 'No' - but most RPs would benefit from more interactions that build on each other.