Ch0bbitz
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How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 20:07

Hi everyone,

I’m in the middle of planning my first session as a GM. I’ve chosen Chariots of the Goods. I like the way the PCs wake up to realize that something terrible has happened and that they soon will be the subject of horrible things. It’s a full story for my friends to experience. I also find the cinematic scenario way to play as sort of easy going for a first time GM. Do you agree?

My plan is to run the first session starting by lunch time to late night. See how it goes and run as many sessions needed to complete the scenario.

I’ve read the core rule book and found helpful guidelines to follow as GM, I also learnt a lot from playing as a PC in Drakar & Demoner, Coriolis and Vaesen. All this but I’ve made no notes on things to keep in mind of making a good job as a GM.

I’m interested in your thoughts on approaching the role as a GM. What preparations have you found extra valuable? What mindsets has provided a rich and exciting playing environment for the PCs but also for yourself? Are there any specific Alien RPG-aspects to keep in mind?

Please share your thoughts, forums, lists, links, written material, podcasts, videos or whatever you find useful.

I searched this forum for this subject but couldn’t find the right keywords or I just might have bad search skills ;)
 
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Angelman
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Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 20:51

Hey, Ch0bbitz, and welcome to the forum and this great game :)

Just from the the surface, I think the fact that you're interested in these things and have researched them before, and have experience with other games, and have given the game and scenario enough attention to have developed interesting throughs and considerations, indicates to me that you are pretty much ready to GM this. You can research and research and research, but none of it substitutes GMing experience, which is what you will get from running CotG.

I think the best you can do at this point is re-reading the scenario ('cause you can never know it too well), but don't stress it too much. Also do some thinking about what your players (assuming you know them well) are likely to do and how they will react to things. That will allow you to anticipate things and play into or against their habits and preferences, as best suits the drama of the story. Know the scenario and know your players, and don't worry if you get the rules or whatnot wrong; they are there to make things fun and exciting and scary, and fun/exciting/scary trumps the rules every time. You're the boss, even when you contradict somethings in the books (or even the films in the case of Alien RPG). But listen to your players, too; if they flag something that makes more sense to you than what you said and ruled, don't be afraid to change things, ESPECIALLY if the story benefits from it. (Also, sometimes its good to let the players win, to give them ownership in the game and just let things slide... They argue that they have an unused gun reload when you know they've used it all? Whatever! Let them shoot the gun one more time, and just add another baddie behind the next corner; everybody winns when everybody is having fun).

Now, if you want more GMing suggestions, I would strongly recommend you watch a run-through of the game on YouTube. Some friends of mine ran a GREAT game that I would personally recommend; it helped me a great deal when I ran CotG. They are funny and cool and know exactly how to play in the Alien universe, how to act and to "live" in the setting. Check out the Tale Weavers' video series here: https://youtu.be/KwT4k8kR844

It's "6" episodes + a "Behind the Screne" loose talk at the end, and it's pretty great! (Note, Episode 2 has two parts as something weird happened when the uploaded it at the last 10 minutes got cut off the first video, so they uploaded the last ones as "Episode 2, Part 2"; don't miss that!)
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
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Skillstuntman
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Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 21:36

- Remember you are a game master--not a storyteller.
- Don't railroad your players even if they're doing something stupid.
-Don't let the rules get in the way of fun.

Preparing for the game:

-I think Hadley's hope is a better first time game but you look like you have experience so I think chariot of the gods will not be a problem.

-Even though you're doing a module, still take notes. You want to take all the text walls and turn them into bullet points.

-for the alien RPG, keep things moving. this game hinges on ramping up tension. Looking through books or arguing different concepts slows the game down and ruins the tension (cheat sheets help)

- for the player that is going to be the Android in your game for Chariot of the gods, Make sure he's your most experienced player and make sure he understands how to fake stress rolls and all in all being an android that's acting human. It helps to give them the act 1 card and Android card beforehand or at least take a picture of it and text it to him.

-allow stanima rolls for the disease in charoits of the gods. Don't just kill off players randomly. And make sure you have character sheets for all the NPCs so you can give players a new character sheet if their character dies.
 
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_ArthurDallas_
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Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Thu 28 Oct 2021, 00:23

Yes welcome to the corps.
A lot of game mother are posting here and on the reddit alienrpg (here = https://www.reddit.com/r/alienrpg/).

Those are suggestions, you do what you want.
1-don't sticked to all the rules, enjoy your time and try to give to your players a chance to have a good time too.
2-when you face a xenomorph, you can count that your player is dead, so avoid putting too much xenomorph in your game (campaign mode) and respect the settings of cinematic game but give a chance to your players. (Exemple, don't kill 4 players in act.1 in a scene. 1 dead is enough).
3-keep the carnage (more than 1 dead) for act.3 finale scene.
4-it's a game of ambiance (put them under pressure), they see a strange 7ft shape on the roof of the building and it's gone. they feel someone is watching their back. strange sounds are coming from there.
5-don't use all the rules. I said it in (1), I'm saying it again. Xenomorph have signature attacks and most of the time 2 attacks in a round when humans have 1. When a xenomorph is with your players, death is there too. Use androids and corporate agents for 90% of the time (villains) and keep xenomorph for the big occasions.
6-Saying it again, enjoy your time and give to what your players like and enjoy. Give them some chance (exemple, in hope's Last day, they need a keycard to unlock the shuttle at the end. If they don't have the keycard, give them a task (comtech) or multiple comtech to unlock the shuttle. Don't stop the storyline there, Give your players a chance).
 
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ExileInParadise
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Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Thu 28 Oct 2021, 02:40

I’m interested in your thoughts on approaching the role as a GM.
I just answered a very similar question over on a another RPG forum so I will do a bit of crossposting...

If I were starting today:
I'd take 10 deep breaths and realize that tabletop is basically telling tall tales with friends about their friends they created on paper

As a practice or warm up - try this idea out:
Recreate your own version of the "Last Supper" extra from ALIEN: COVENANT.
Have your friends playing the crew of the Montero share a story around supper before heading to hypersleep at the start of their mission.
Then they head to hypersleep and what happens next?

That's all there really is to play... just do 3 things:
1. Set the scene...
2. Let your friends describe what their friends on paper do in that scene/event/scenario/encounter/moment
3. Figure out what happens next using rules or what seems most fun
Then repeat.

For step 1, setting the scene - one of my sticky note GM screen reminders is:
"Describe from the player's senses" - what do they see, hear, feel, smell, taste ... or what "tingle" do their "spidey senses" get?
Try thinking of that last supper scene like that...

For step 2 - all you have to do is listen.

For step 3 - that is something you will work on forever as you play.
The more you get familiar with the system and setting, the more monsters, maps, NPCs, you create, the deeper you go into how to figure out "what happens next"
But just starting out - that's all you worry about - what happens next - based on what everyone has narrated so far.

Some great advice I've heard about how to be a GM comes down to being a fan of of your players' characters.
You are helping them tell their characters' stories in this situation.

When things go wrong, and they will, plan to "fail forward" - present the failure as a hook or option or opportunity to continue playing, but in a different plan or direction.
Think about ALIEN - the first plan was to catch it in a net and that fails disastrously ... leading to the airlock plan ... which fails.... etc.

Don't hesitate to take 3 breaths in the moment and give yourself time to mentally answer "in this situation - what would be the most fun for everyone?" ... then start talking.
It can get easy to get caught up in the moment and roller-coaster paint yourself into a quick corner.
From your description you've given yourself plenty of time for the game to take place - allowing for a pause to reflect before you go.

For some GM's - preparation is key: confidence comes from "knowing the path" before "walking the path"
If you have more time to prep - go through each location on the map and look at which rooms/encounters that location leads in and out from.
In that location, what could each of the players be doing?
The module has tons of notes... but for each note - what happens if that check or test is a success and what happens if its a failure?
The failures are your opportunity to introduce the complications and setbacks that provide the challenges for the players to overcome.

But here's the really tricky part: You are not in conflict with the players.
Instead - you are the creator of opportunities for the players *to keep playing* - even a failure of a check or missing a clue is to provide a way to keep playing!
It's not up to you to solve the problems - you put the problems in front of them and let THEM try to solve them as they please... and then you figure the various things that could happen next from that and start setting that scene.

Don't worry about making mistakes - you will - we all do - even years or decades after first slinging dice.
We're human. Try to remind yourself this is fun with friends, not Shakespeare with a paying audience of drama critics.
It's O.K. to have fun, and be scared, and laugh, and slip and step back, and retry.
As long as you make it a party... its an event to spend time with friends and you've done them a solid by taking on the role of "fun host" by helping them tell their stories rather than trying to run your own.

I know that's a lot and its vague at first ... so here's a short bullet list reminder:
1. It's not Shakespeare! Take some deep breaths, relax and have fun with your friends!
2. Set the scenes.
3. Let them make their choices.
4. What happens next?
5. Be a fan / audience for the players' stories
6. When something fails - let it fail forward into the opportunity for a new plan or direction to have a chance.

I hope this helps somehow - please do keep asking questions - the world needs more GMs to facilitate having fun!
We live, as we dream -- alone. ~ Joseph Conrad
 
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_ArthurDallas_
Posts: 505
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Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Thu 28 Oct 2021, 04:14

Exileinparadise said = you are the creator of opportunities for the players *to keep playing* - even a failure of a check or missing a clue is to provide a way to keep playing! It's not up to you to solve the problems - you put the problems in front of them and let THEM try to solve them as they please... and then you figure the various things that could happen next from that and start setting that scene.

wow, that's exactly it. that's the best way to explain it ...
GM is a creator of opportunites, he goes with the flow, where the flow is going ...

thanks.
 
Ch0bbitz
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Joined: Wed 26 Aug 2020, 12:11

Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Sun 31 Oct 2021, 15:27

Oh my - thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas. I’m keeping it all in mind while preparing my first run. I like the idea of being a fan of the PCs and not giving them to hard of a time. I’ve never played a game where a PC have died and due to Alien RPG having it built in (at least in cinematic scenarios) I’m really looking forwards to see my friends reaction when I actually happens. Of course I’ll prepare them for it but nevertheless:)
 
ErikModi
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: How to become a good GM? Your thoughts.

Wed 08 Dec 2021, 17:21

The first thing I'd do is make clear to the players that this is a horror game, characters will drop like flies and this will probably include theirs. In general, players don't like it when their characters die, and while the sting of this is somewhat taken out by these being pregenerated character specifically for this one-shot, the potential loss of a character oftentimes means you're out of the game and stuck watching everyone else play.

Related to that, be ready to hand an NPC over to a player who loses their character so they can still continue to play and enjoy the game. Perhaps even go ahead and make up full character sheets for the NPCs that you can just hand out as PCs die off.

With the right mindset, a high-fatality game can be enjoyable in its own way, try and get your players into that mindset. If they bring their A-game and really work for it, they might all make it, or enough of them that it'll still be an amazing success. If they fail, maybe they can die in a way that is still uplifting. Think John Carpenter's The Thing: the last two characters alive probably aren't going to stay that way for long, but assuming neither of them is an imitation, they've saved humanity from an existential threat. Their deaths mean something, even if no one will ever know what, or why.

Ramp up or down the lethality of the scenario as fits your players. If you know them well enough to know they hate not only PC deaths, but deaths of NPCs they wanted to save. . . well, then, frankly you're probably playing the wrong game :D If this is a new group who don't have extensive experience with RPGs, let them know this is sort of a "calibration" game, to get a feel for the game and the rules and how a typical session of it might run, so that you can all decide on a comfort level with danger, death, gore, and horror.

Related to that, understand how comfortable your players are with mature content. Some people are perfectly fine with detailed description of violent, horrific, gory deaths, but the mention of a character being naked makes them uncomfortable. Some dislike the use of harsh language even when those are the most appropriate words to describe the current situation. The point is to have fun, not make your players squirm in a way they don't want to. Be as descriptive as you and they are comfortable with to get the point across.

But BE DESCRIPTIVE. You don't want this:

"The Alien drops down behind Brett and kills him with its inner mouth."

You want this:

"Brett moves through the dark and dripping vehicle bay, fruitlessly calling for Jones. "Here, kitty kitty." He wanders aimlessly, annoyed at the stupid cat and Parker and Ripley for sending him off on this dumb chase, before he finally spots the critter behind a crate. Jones takes a step towards Brett. . . then stops. "Aw, come on, you're fine," Brett says soothingly. Jones hisses. Brett stands, confused, and Jones' fur puffs up and he backs away, growling softly. Then Brett feels his own hackles rise, the sense of some. . . thing, something big, behind him. No sound. Not a breath, not a footfall, not a rustle of clothing, but he knows something is right behind him. He turns. The creature is huge, dark, almost invisible in the dim light, but what Brett can see he desperately wishes he didn't. The mouth opens, revealing another, smaller mouth, which slowly slides out. Brett screams. The mouth shoots forward. Brett's scream stops."

It'll probably feel awkward trying to take the time to build the scene effectively, but practice. As you get more comfortable with running games, it'll come easier, and you'll get a sense for when your description is working and the players are engaged, and when it isn't and you should cut it short to get things moving.

I'd also recommend watching this video for some extra tips. Some of what I've suggested, like having NPCs ready to hand to PCs who've lost their characters, is straight from him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCcCXHpzIIo

Above all, have fun. If everyone's invested in running a game that captures the teeth-grinding tension of Alien, go for it. If they're feeling more like the Monty Python or Mel Brooks version, eh, whatever works.

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