Three Tips: How to Fall in Love with GMing again!

We were contacted this week by Johnn Four from RoleplayingTips.com to contribute to this month's newsletter. We are joined by various other excellent DMing resources, and I think I speak for the rest of the SR Crew to say we were honored to be in such good company.

Johnn asked us for three tips on how to fall in love with GMing again, and luckily we are blessed with three authors so we each decided to go with a "quick tip" format! Enjoy!

• Dante says: Let someone else do it! By letting a new GM flex their muscles you might find yourself getting inspired to go in a different direction and get back in the saddle!
  
  
• Vanir says: If the spice is gone from your game, try some new spices. If you're always hack and slash, do more storytelling and roleplay. If you're always playing fantasy, try some sci-fi for a week or two. Get with your players and see if anyone has anything they'd like to try but were afraid to ask.
  
  
• Stupid Ranger says: Get excited about the game! Whether you're the PC or the GM, you need to be excited about it if you're going to really have fun.
  

You can use our tips if you like but in reality you simply have to identify what it is about the gaming experience that is fun for you and really focus on that and find new ways to make that element of your campaign shine.

Your motivation is what you make of it!

In Honor of Dragon Appreciation

In R.A. Salvatore's Streams of Silver, Drizzt shares his hope that the world never runs out of dragons. Dragons represent the ultimate challenge, and without a challenge, life becomes meaningless. Before you go running out to defeat your dragons, you should consider the many kinds of dragons.

The Terrorizing-the-Villagers Dragon

Characterized by the terror he provokes, this dragon enjoys the chaos he can spread among the villagers who unfortunately live in the village at the bottom of the mountain in which he resides. In his defence, however, this dragon just can't get enough of those villagers! They make such wonderful snacks, though all the running around in terror does tend to make them a little more lean than he'd prefer.

Eventually, the villagers will get tired of the constant dragon scares and will hire a Knight-in-Shining-Armor to brave the dragon in his lair and rescue them from his reign of terror. If said Knight manages to kill the dragon, he reaps the benefit of the dragon's hoard; if not... well, all his shiny equipment will be added to the pile.

The Secret-Lair-of-Tremendous-Wealth Dragon

In a very remote, nearly unreachable, mostly uninhabitable area, the lair of this dragon is very difficult to find because he doesn't want to be disturbed while he enjoys the hoard he's accumulated over the years. Like a miser enjoying even the smallest coin, this dragon enjoys every little piece of treasure, knows everything down to that last magic ring, and is trying desperately to ensure that no pesky thieves come to steal any of it.

Because of the reclusive nature of this dragon, it takes a very crafty, very sneaky kind of person to find the location of the hidden lair and determine how best to get in, get stuff and get out. Otherwise, this dragon will enjoy a very tasty snack.

The Protector-of-the-Path Dragon

Instead of being a lazy, lay-around-and-count-his-gold dragon, this one went out and got himself a job. He guards something, or someone. He might be pulling the security job because a) he was coerced by someone, b) he decided to do it out of the goodness of his heart, or c) he had nothing better to do and wanted th meet/eat adventurers.

Whatever this dragon guards, it's always important. And he may or may not let others near whatever it is he guards. Only the very courageous, very smart may either fight their way through or convince the dragon to let them pass.

Final Thoughts on Dragons

As we wrap up our celebration of dragons, keep in mind these final thoughts. Not all dragons are evil. Some dragons aren't even real; they may be imaginary, created from the challenges we face in our everyday lives. And some dragons are merely stepping-stones, obstacles which we must overcome in order to enjoy our own happily ever after.

Dressing for Success

Looks can be very important, and they can also be quite deceiving. In my opinion, one of the areas that most good characters often overlook and poorly execute most often is that of appearance.

All that glitters is not gold

What a character wears and how they present themselves can do a lot to craft a unique personality or entirely reinforce a stereotype. Many people wishing to portray a good character often overdoes it with extremely shiny, grandiose, or otherwise over-the-top accouterments. Others use their attire to send a message to their enemies.

In measured portions, neither of these approaches are bad. However, if overdone your good character becomes a boorish stereotype, and that really isn't something I wish on any of my characters. Just like people don't like being reduced to the lowest common denominator in real life, so too should you treat your characters.

So how do I keep it unique?

As we mentioned a few days ago, you want to resist the urge to overdo a given aspect of your character's persona, and this extends to their attire. Having gold armor is a cool thing, however once you add gold-dyed leather boots, a gold helm, and a gold cape and all of a sudden you don't have an inspiring knight... you've got a pimp. Sorry.

I would rather have a good character more concerned with their actions and presenting themselves in a good way than I would all the shiny silver helms and flowing greatcloaks that the lands can offer. Pick a few elements to define your character's style and let your actions fill in the rest of the blanks.

If you want your character to be a stereotypical looking knight or paladin, you have to temper that with a really deep and meaningful character personality because 90% of the commoners will treat the character just like they would a revered knight of the round. Dressing in this way also makes you a target for the agents of evil that wish to prove a point, so you can define your own destiny a bit through your attire.

Does it really matter that much?

When you're playing with me it does. Your appearance defines how the world looks at you as much as your words or actions in some cases. If you enter a town wearing skulls and saying you're a necromancer (or even if you just enter town proclaiming to be a necromancer) the people are going to treat you a certain way. If you come into town on a white horse in gleaming gold armor, they're going to treat you a certain way.

In the end it is your choice how you choose to be seen by the world, and I think it is an important and relevant one to the development of your characters.

Being Good, with your host, PC

The guys around here have created a lot of good buzz about being a "good" character. And who am I to stop a "good" thing?

Well, It's Not As Easy as Insanity

One of the important things to realize about playing a good character is that it's not always as simple as it seems it should be. It's easy to slip into the mindset of being a good person: you are a good person, so playing a good character shouldn't be that hard; you just make in-game decisions like you would make life decisions. Unfortunately, it's not always that easy because life doesn't always translate into game. Don't believe me? Consider this: most of us don't wield a sword or cast fireball everyday. Face it, you don't always have the necessary background as a player to fully relate to your character.

So, Is It Hopeless?

Of course not! Just avoid some of the pitfalls of being "too good" as Vanir and Dante have already shared... basically, don't go insane with goodness! Also, remember that your alignment is a guide to help you determine your actions; you might not be "good" every time, but your goods should outnumber your not-goods.

Always Remember This:

You know more about the situation than your character most times; when making morality decisions, you must avoid metagaming if you're going to be true to your character. You might know that the shadowy figure in the background is the long-lost heir to the throne, but your character doesn't; how, then does your character react to his proposal when he asks you to murder the king?

Making these moral decisions without metagaming can be somewhat easier if you have a backstory for your character: some history to which you can refer in times of crisis. Take a step back from the plot for a moment to re-orient yourself if your moral compass has been compromised.

Living and Dying Heroically...

Over the last week, we've explored various aspects of being a good, virtuous character. Today I'd like to focus on the alpha and the omega of being a hero: life and death situations.

Commitment

Most heroes live their life with a certain level of commitment to a cause. For some, its religion. For others, it is a philosophical ideal or some other altruistic pursuit that is very important to them. Usually it is something that has directly impacted their life prior, however there are some "grown heroes" that acquire a personal cause that has never come home to roost.

It is important for players to really consider the motivations of their characters as they progress them through their life. As previously mentioned, a "one-trick pony" type of character that flatly acts a certain way given a certain stimulus usually makes for a poor hero. The character's level of commitment may ebb and flow throughout their walk through the campaign, and having a player take special notice of this and really embrace roleplaying these changes can make for a very enthralling experience.

Dedication

I have an excellent example from our recent campaign. One of our players had a character that had a very strong bond with a certain religion and several other members of our adventuring party. She did an excellent job of roleplaying the ebb and flow of her beliefs, and really internalized the transitions that her character made throughout her life.

She had decided during one of our "in game" story breaks that she had become tired of the constant conflict and was ready for rest, so she made the decision at that time that she would go peacefully into the afterlife and be unwilling to return to this world should she die.

Unfortunately, her character fell in battle during this past week and the character remained true to her word and was unwilling to return from death. Her player had obviously thought this out long and hard, and I was taken aback by her level of dedication to the way her character felt about this matter.

To me, that exemplifies a truly heroic character and a truly good player. The character was given enough depth to actually react to the changes that life had given her, and her player remained dedicated and didn't attempt to explain away that decision.

Dedication to a cause, both at a player and character level is what it's all about everyone. That's how you make a character truly heroic!