GM Style, Scripted or Free? Options

[Capt. Dave]

Vote away!

[kevyn668]

I went w/ spontaneous but I think there should be a few more choices.

[Smiley]

What kinds of other choices?

[kevyn668]

Spontaneous within a framework.

Goes from an Outline.

Has notes on ideas rather than plans.

Has a complete story in his/her mind but can easily adapt to PC input.

Stuff like that. Neither of the choices in the poll is ideal unless I infer a certian amount of planning and forethought went into the 'Spontaneous GM'
That being said, I don't want a GM who has no idea whats going from scene to scene unless we're doing a PC driven session/campaign (The GM reacts to our plans. Like, "We want to rob a store" or whatever)

You get where I'm coming from? I'm not trying to be argumentative just provide some input.

[GunnerJ]

Perhaps there should be a recognition that between improvasation and total pre-planning there is a continuum. For example, I tend to plan about 70% of runs out, but leave enough details undefined so that I have room to improvise. Your poll does not give me the option of saying "mostly scripted, with some elements spontaneous." It's either a totally scripted play or completely off-the-cuff.

[Kagetenshi]

I really don't think you're going to get any serious votes for "scripted". The poll is a tad one-sided that way.

~J

[kevyn668]

[John Campbell]

There's a lot of middle ground between the railroader and the GM who goes in with no plot at all and makes the PCs generate their own. Most GMs I've played with are somewhere in the middle... they have at least some sort of preconceived plot, but one that's flexible enough that it can handle player creativity without coming apart or requiring railroading. And some are more willing than others to just trash the entire thing if the PCs do something that actually does bend it far enough that it breaks.

I'm fairly far towards the extreme end of "loose", myself... I don't have plots, I have background events, and the PCs can take part in them or not as they feel like. And I love it when the PCs stop just taking the runs I hand them and start figuring out things to do on their own. Even the runs I hand them, I don't plot out... I generate the opposition, give them an objective, make sure I can figure out at least a couple ways to accomplish it that don't require any GM knowledge (just so I know it's possible, not to close off any methods they might come up with that I didn't think of), and roll with whatever they decide to do. Frequently that means I'm winging the entire session.

[Capt. Dave]

Perhaps I should clarify (re-reading it, I agree with some of the above posts - it's not too clear)

What I meant was - If a GM has a plan, partial or full, can he act spontaneously with an unforseen action, or does he stick to the "script" as it were?

[Lilt]

I just try to set the scene and work from that. Plan the building, plan the people, and let it rip.

[kevyn668]

Bingo.

[Kagetenshi]

Again, I still don't think you're going to get anyone who will say that you should always stick to the script, even if it means having to rerail your players.

~J

[Capt. Dave]

[Capt. Dave]

[Smiley]

[kevyn668]

Then your poll should be: "Have you ever played for a railroading GM?"

[Kagetenshi]

Well, the general temperment of this board is against that. My statement wasn't saying that there's no one out there who would vote scripted, as an example has been provided elsewhere of what your GM is like. I'm saying that from my knowledge of the people who tend to be active on this board, I doubt you'll even get a one of them to vote scripted, and I'd gladly bet a sawbuck that the Scripted option would never get to 10% even if it did somehow get a vote.

~J

[Kalibar]

I think the GM should have a scripted plan, but PC's actions are rarely what you expect. As a PC I always hated railroading. So now that I GM I try to have key descriptions of surrounding areas an other useful items, in case the team veers off and the rest is seat of the pants, I now how security works who they call for help, how they patrol, and how they react. When PC's do something I say how does this affect people or things, what would they do? How would they react...Freeform GMing is the way to go

[Capt. Dave]

Okay...a new Poll then? Let's hear some ideas for options.
I grant this poll is one-sided.

[kevyn668]

A trick I got off this board was to have detailed descriptions of places I think will be key but then have just a list of descriptive words handy for the PCs wander off the beaten trail.

[Smiley]

[Capt. Dave]

Well, I believe we're all in agreement that a outline/framework with open ends
and a spontaneous GM able to think on his feet is good. That was the point of my (rather one-sided) poll.

[Kagetenshi]

Me, my style comes from ten years of GMing D&D. I read the core rulebooks several times through for fun, and never had a group that I was able to consistently play with, so I was used to coming up with adventures of whatever length for during lunch, at recess, on the chairlift at ski slopes, for the time we had after school... the whole "experience" thing was kinda lost on me, since it was pretty much a series of hundreds of one-shot games, none of which I had the rules on-hand during (and many I lacked dice, too), which has lead to my being a tad karma-stingy nowadays, but aside from the fact that I have to do more planning for Shadowrun (I need to actually make stats for things rather than just sorta assigning a d6 of damage, some random AC and THAC0, and going from there) I still end up being mostly freeform. Here's a goal, do what you can with it. When I do script, I tend to not have problems with players breaking from the script; I'm good at predicting people that way :vegm:

~J

[Capt. Dave]

[Steel Machine]

An example of how I write up my own games. I should warn any one who clicks that link it is fairly lengthy.

I generally fall into the set scene and let it roll crowd. I try less to anticipate what the players will do, and concentrate on figuring out what the NPC's will do. It allows me to realisticly react to their plans.