New GM needs help Options

[SleepMethod]

Hi everyone, I'm not to sure where to put this so please let me know if I should put it in another section instead.

Me and my friends are new to SR4. So far all we've done is make a mess of Food Fight 2.0 (Which in my opinion isn't the best demo of the game but we soldiered on lol) and create characters for the proper SR4 campaign. We're looking to start the denver campaign this weekend.

What I need to know is how to be a good GM!! I've been reading the rules so I will be more familiar with them but I've never done anything like this before and I'd like advice on how to run the game and what I should expect (I don't even know what questions I should be asking) and that sort of thing. Any help at all is greatly appreciated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thanks in advance (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
SleepMethod

[AKWeaponsSpecial...]

Best advice I can give is:
Learn from your players. You should learn their style, so you know how to challenge them without crushing them. It's a fine line to walk, but once you learn it, your players will come away from the game feeling good about the game, and you should have fun with it, too.

[Notsoevildm]

Kinda broad question but I'll try to give some broad answers.

Say 'yes' rather than 'no' when a player wants to do something outside the rules. Warn them if it's really stupid, risky or out-of-character.

Eyeball it. Don't spend hours looking up rules in the book. Set a threshold or make it an opposed test and then make the player roll an appropriate attribute + skill. SR4 mechanics are really good for this. Look the rules up afterwards so you know them for the future!

Avoid railroading, you can try and steer players in a certain direction but you want them to feel like it was their decision to go that way.

Make sure your players work out their backgrounds and pick up on character hooks in your scenarios. Makes it more fun.

Try to let everyone have a chance to shine. That includes you as the GM

You will screw up. Rewind if necessary, run with it when you can.

Last but by no means least, it's not you vs them. Challenge them, yes, but its not a competition.

[ThirtyWiredMonke...]

The best tip I have heard is to design each initial run around a game concept then play through it by yourself before getting everyone else involved.
Think about the tutorial levels of a video game. Introduce a concept (shooting a gun), once that is understood add a twist (burst fire,full auto) then add complications (armour, cover, range, visibility).

[SleepMethod]

Kinda broad question but I'll try to give some broad answers....

... Challenge them, yes, but its not a competition.

Thanks, that's very helpful (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SleepMethod]

The best tip I have heard is to design each initial run around a game concept then play through it by yourself before getting everyone else involved.
Think about the tutorial levels of a video game. Introduce a concept (shooting a gun), once that is understood add a twist (burst fire,full auto) then add complications (armour, cover, range, visibility).

That's good advice alright though I'm a bit time poor for that at the moment. We're gonna run the denver campaign which seems to start fairly simply anyways so hopefully that ease us into things (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[codemonkey_uk]

Hi SleepMethod!

I'm going through a similar kind of process right now, new to the system, GMing a new group.

My best advice is: Prepare prepare prepare!

Put aside AT LEAST 1 whole evening per 4 hour session to prep for the game, if not 2. I've run 3 sessions so far, and have spent 6 whole evenings (and I really do mean whole evenings, 4 solid hours) doing nothing but reading rules & scenario details, and making notes, draw maps, and build cheat sheets and time lines. Look every detail of the adventure up and write down page numbers from the rule book, pre-calculate dice pools, and so on and so forth. Do it before the day before the session (2+ days in advance) so you have time to ask questions (here) about anything that is confusing in the rules or scenario.

Good luck!

[Paul Kauphart]

Best Dumpshock advice :

Watch your back. Shoot straight. Conserve ammo. And never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.


Damn, that's the player edvice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Mooncrow]

That's good advice alright though I'm a bit time poor for that at the moment. We're gonna run the denver campaign which seems to start fairly simply anyways so hopefully that ease us into things (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Frankly, GMing while being time poor is going to be a challenge =/ Not that it can't be done, but especially as a new GM, spending time outside of the game learning the mechanics and preparing makes things much, much easier.

[ShadowPavement]

The only two pieces of advice I can give that haven't been stated already are:

1) Practice, practice, practice. Just keep GMing through good and bad, it's the only way to get better.

2) Don't be afraid to let your PC be Awesome!

[Mooncrow]

Eyeball it. Don't spend hours looking up rules in the book. Set a threshold or make it an opposed test and then make the player roll an appropriate attribute + skill. SR4 mechanics are really good for this. Look the rules up afterwards so you know them for the future!

Wanted to emphasize this; never, ever spend more than 30 seconds deciding how to handle a rule during play. Make note and look it up afterward, but for the immediate, if you don't know the exact rule, make something up and go with it.

[deek]

Based on you having little experience and wanting to run Denver missions, here is my advice.

1) Read each mission adventure at least twice, but preferably 3-5 times. Read it once all the way through to get a good idea of what's going on start to finish. Read it a second time making sure any details or tests you are unfamiliar with, that you highlight and spend time understanding. Read it a couple more times, just so you feel comfortable with the flow of the adventure, maybe look for areas that your players may not follow the rules, etc.

2) Don't be shy about asking for help. Getting your players involved by handing them a book and asking them to look up a rule not only gives the players something to do, but allows the whole table to learn the same rules at the same time.

3) Don't be afraid to make mistakes. You are going to learn a lot the first time you run combat, run the matrix, throw a grenade, cast a spell, summon a spirit, try to blow a hole in a wall, shoot out a tire, etc. There are a lot of rules and not all of them will come into play every session. Even after a year running 4th edition, we had to stop playing and look up just how we were going to handle shooting a pressurized air tank and handle its explosion. Some things come up that aren't straightforward, so just make everyone aware you don't know and work together to figure it out. Even if it doesn't match the rules, as long as everyone had fun doing it, then its a success.

[Mayhem_2006]

Sit down with the players and discuss, in advance, the fact that you are all new to the game and are learning together.

Make sure that everybody understands that this a a co-operative game which is, in part at least, about working together - players and GM - to create an entertaining story.

Work with the players as a group during character creation to create a balanced party, so that all of the common areas are covered, and so that everybody will get their chance in the spotlight.

(There is nothing worse than a player creating a specialist only to fond that due to better application of the creation rules, somebody else in the party can do their job better)

Emphasise the aim of having fun. As a group, discuss what that means for you. For some it might mean role-play light gun fights with practically no in character speech. For others, they might want to speak in character almost all the time. Make sure that you are all aiming to play the same game in the same style, and that everybody is comfortable with that.

[Neraph]

2) Don't be afraid to let your PC be Awesome!

I live by this.

[Nexushound]

Oi Chum,

Welcome to the other side of the table. I can agree with all of what was said prior to my post. I really have to agree with what Deek said about having the players help look up rules. It gets things done faster and everyone is learning the books. Also don't fall into "Roll-Playing" vs Role-Playing. Don't let the dice rule the day, only your imagination. Just get past a confusing rule with what you think is fair. If you don't quite understand, work it out later. Just keep things moving and have fun. There is nothing wrong with changing how you ruled it the first time when you have a better understanding of the rules later. Thats the good part of being the GM. You are in charge. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

One fun thing I like to do at the end of each game is have PC's nominate M.V.P. and call out for a bloopers reel. Always fun.

Good luck, have fun and try to get your PC's to make as many deals with Dragons as you can!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Yerameyahu]

Don't just *let* your players be awesome. They have to work for it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[kzt]

Don't waste the players time. Don't let them waste your time or the other players.

So be prepared, have stuff written down, have some ideas on how to handle the player doing something off-script. Understand the important parts of the rules, work with the players so you and they share a common outlook on how things like the insanities of the computer rules work. Know your bad guys, have the right dice handy, don't sweat unimportant details. Don't spend signficant time on npc-npc interaction. Be decisive, but don't be a jerk about it. Admit the mistakes and screw-ups.

Ensure players have their data organized, know how many dice to roll, understand the rules and abilites of their gear/magic. If they don't know they don't act that IP. Don't let them spend 10 minutes debating what to do in the next 3 second turn. Don't get drawn into rules-lawyer debates during games.

But don't crack down until they understand the game and their characters.

[Trevalier]

In the line of not railroading your players:

Once they've committed to a particular run, establish victory conditions--a set of things they need to accomplish to successfully complete the mission. Let them meet those conditions their way, insofar as possible within the rules. If a player comes up with a clever (or crazy-but-workable) plan that you didn't think of, roll with it as best you can. If they think of a way to avoid a scene that doesn't advance their goals, let them skip it. If there's plot-critical (as opposed to merely useful) information in that scene, find another way to reveal it. Note that some published adventures have railroad points like this. Feel free to ignore them. The book is not the GM, you are. (I'm looking at you, DotA.)

Beyond the minimal completion conditions, set up a few bonus objectives (things like extracting extra useful data, getting through the run without killing anyone, thoroughly cleaning up after themselves, and so forth). Assign some benefits to completing the extra conditions, or penalties to failing to complete them--the paydata includes some patrol schedules that lets them avoid a fight later, the Johnson slips them a small bonus for a "clean" run, an occult investigator or a LoneStar squad comes looking for a team that didn't clean up a crime scene. None of these are critical to completing the basic mission, but they're ways to reward players who are thinking and making choices.

[Inpu]

A piece of advice that works for any setting or game: listen to your players. Let them theorize, figure things out, and work things through. No matter how imaginative you are, be willing to pick up cool ideas that they mention and adjust the story with them. You'd be amazed at the sort of things players can come up with in those discussions and how useful one or two tidbits of information can be. It may spice an adventure up, or even just give someone the feeling they were right and can be comfortable in this world.

[Notsoevildm]

You'd be amazed at the sort of things players can come up with ...

...that you can steal and use against them. As a bonus, your players will think they are smart that they came up with a plan to overcome the stuff that you only included because they just handed it you. Bwuhahahah! Sorry, my evil GM got the better of me for a moment there.

[Tiralee]

You're the GM, this round, nothin's ever gonna keep you down.."

Do NOT Railroad. EVER.
They will resent you and forget about the good times and focus on the time where you were too lame to even try to think outside an adventure.

Don't be afraid of detours, yes the story in your head is excellent, but sometimes they want to get the crayons and colour in the background first. Record them.

Record who your players kill, things they destroy, reputations they trash.
- Some deviates like the "I'm wanted on 10 systems" notoriety, but the smart ones will figure that you're going to use the info as a plot hook/disturbance during a run.

Ever had a run going perfectly, then have the runnervan ™ side-swiped by some gangers who's boss you cheesed off 3 missions ago? The perfect run's hosed, the security's alert and now they've also got some friends trying to shoot while riding a motercycle at you.

Make the players THINK. Let them work out how to break into a building and be prepared to make up crap on the spot to cover it. If they manage to put together a workable plan, ohh, good. Then make them check out various other things (nearby roofs, sewer entrances, the astral plane) for issues.

Details - no one but you is going to remember the hair colour of the gang leader you killed 4 sessions ago, unless the orc decker scalped the guy and now has a toupee. Now that the image is in your head, can you imagine a colour? Thought so.

Characters. A porn-adept dwarf as a contact is going to be remembered forever, especially if he keeps hitting on the elf shammy. Engines of destruction, faceless slaughter-mills of the damned make for boring conversationalists.

Places: What's their favourite hang-out, before it was burned to the ground to try and kill the players. (Stupid Halloweeners)

Steal good ideas and use them 6 months later.

Do not ever use A-Team tactics. (Have the opposition do that)

A team up of recent internet memes is your excuse to start drinking to excess.

Pedestrians make bad noises when hit by things, like bullets, spells and vehicles. Avoid. Try and avoid kids and animals. They tend to die and runners are weird about things like that.

It's deadly out there. As a theory, ask your gunbunny to roll a simple surprise test, he the one being surprised. Yes, he might survive the attack, but that lowbie ganger with the ~$200 shotgun just took a a good chunk out of a million's worth of enhancements.

Explain that your lives are precious, fragile and if they don't look after themselves, brief. Stuffer-shack was supposed to do that, I think, but made it a lot too cliched.

Ask the runners what their plans are, then cast objects in their way. Be subtle about it - you're making them work to a goal, not breaking their toys because you can. Ask them what do they want to be when they grow up:)

Re-use old adventures. Some have crowning levels of awesome. And some are painful.

No should never be said. "Are you sure?" is a reasonable substitute. Or, "Before answering, can I ask, "Why?""
A "no" answer isn't someone who's playing with them, it's some dickish rules-lawyer with the rulebooks preventing your player from achieving epic levels of awesome.

Initially, give the players ~ 30 seconds per player per 3 seconds "gun time" planning. Ask if they want to cast an eye about, describe the info as best you can, but if they miss the perception roll, well, it's up to them. (Ok, maybe up to a minute for the noobie players, but they shouldn't need too much encouragement in this.)

Make combat fast, confusing and dangerously bloody. They take it more seriously then.

Have at least 1 good laugh/10 minutes. Have a stretch every hour, and invite your players up into some 6th-world tantric yoga postures. "It works the kinks in" Reward clever or insightful comments. WRITE THOSE DOWN, and use them later.

Players enjoy the game best when they're able to succeed. Make sure it's not against you, it's against a team of slotted-off corp goons that are rightiously defending their property from a bunch of scruffy mercs.

Listen to the table talk, the players. If there are people who don't say much, ask them about 2nd and 3rd tier issues (What do you think you'd do with the loot after this run?) and get them contributing.

Be polite. Be evenhanded. Be prepared! Being the GM is hard work. If the players are bitching how you don't do much, ask them to run them through a small scenario with you playing another player's character (while that player swaps to the now-GM one. Less favouritism, then.)

Read up! Dumpshock's chock of experts. And even real experts.

Finally:
Let them die. Killing your players shouldn't be your aim, your aim is to tell a story. It's their job, not yours, to live.

Caveat: Don't be a dick about it. If the bunny kicked the door in without checking, or failed his roll so bad the magic-user is already passing over the new character sheets, discuss the damage and it's effects to the team. How he owes the rigger money, that sort of thing. Drag him out of the fire (it's always a He.) and tend to him. Have the player beg for help among the team...team dynamic here can be fun and it can be friendship-ending, this is the line to tread as the GM of good runs.


As always,
-Tir

[SleepMethod]

All great advice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I'll be keeping it in mind, and probably keeping this page tabbed on the night. I've taken a printout of the run to work with me so I can read it during my breaks and get a feel for it. It's the first denver mission and it doesn't seem too complicated, a couple of border corssings and a shoot out or two, if everything goes to plan, but of course we all know what happens to plans (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I'm looking forward to this, it'll likely be a mess but also probably be a hell of a lot of fun.

I have three runners, an ex cop PI, an old axe wielding viking and a face/mage (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Should be interesting

One question I have is when players aren't in combat, like when the border patrol are checking them out, can they talk among themselves as much as they like or do I stick to people taking turns or whatever? Should I limit them to how long a patrol guard might have patience with them while they talk among themselves trying to answer a question? What test would I use for fast talking, a reaction + perception test? not sure if any of the runners have a fast talking skill

[SleepMethod]

Wow, that's some great advice Tiralee, thanks for the insights (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

In case you're wondering, I have no plans on being a dick (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) lol My objective is to be fair and for everyone to have fun at this (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) We're all good friends as well as noobs so that we'll be helping each other out a lot I think (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Askani'son]

One question I have is when players aren't in combat, like when the border patrol are checking them out, can they talk among themselves as much as they like or do I stick to people taking turns or whatever? Should I limit them to how long a patrol guard might have patience with them while they talk among themselves trying to answer a question? What test would I use for fast talking, a reaction + perception test? not sure if any of the runners have a fast talking skill

In general when players aren't in combat, I'll tend to default to real time (i.e. the time it takes for them to talk their way out of the situation and be on their way), it's not a case where time needs to be dilineated by combat turns, that's for....ummmm....combat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

With regard to talking among themselves, the fun of the situation can be heightened by having the players stay in character, it's also a good roleplaying opportunity - if they've got a border patrol cop listening in and they've got no ingame method of communicating inaudibly, then he's going to hear what they say to each other. Whatever's said around the table, is said ingame and the NPC should have a chance of noticing any incognito signs or signals. I usually consider out-of-character conversations about how their handling a situation like this whilst the characters are actually IN the situation to be unfair, it also decreases the need for characters to plan ahead. However, especially if your players are newbies, WARN them that you're going to be playing it like this.

Alternatively, in noncomabt situations when the action is long and drawn out or repetitive, for example a road trip, feel free to adopt a popular tool of TV, movies and comicbooks - the cutscene - where the action picks up 'Some time later...'

Not sure about the fast talking question, since I'm not too familiar with SR4, but I'm sure the skill defaults to some attribute or other?

Hope that helps!

[Askani'son]

I have three runners, an ex cop PI, an old axe wielding viking and a face/mage (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Should be interesting

Eh?!