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DougRed4
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Joined: 18 Jan 2013
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Location: Seattle, WA
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 Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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I don't agree that the GM is merely a neutral referee. The way I see it, we're all spending time out of our lives to tell/create interesting and thrilling stories. It's an elaborate game of "let's pretend", but with rules that help shape things and (like any game), there's the element of randomness to keep some excitement, and make it so we all don't know exactly how it's going to end.
The GM's job is really that of master storyteller, and the goal of everyone (players and GM included) is to have fun and a great time.
If the GM were completely neutral, it would be possible for there to be (with a bit of bad luck) a string of three adventures in a row, let's say, where the players fail at what they try to do, where they get humiliated and beat up, possibly even slaughtered or killed. If I even had one such session that went that poorly for my players, I'd make sure they succeeded significantly on the next one.
The GM has total control over the world. I'm a GM who doesn't "fudge" dice rolls, either; I tend to let the randomness cause some element of mystery, and it's thus possible a character could die, or an arm could be chopped off, or their ship could be severely damaged. But I am constantly honing and refining the story such that they will be challenged and tested, but where they can ultimately succeed.
They are the true heroes of the story, after all, and with Star Wars it all boils down to mythic storytelling. Good vs. Evil, and the like. And I doubt the movies (and EU materials) would be as popular as they were if the heroes were all wiped out in the end.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green |
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atgxtg
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Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: |
I woefully disagree with that assessment.. A GM's role is neutral arbitrator, neither wanting them to lose nor favoring them to win. |
Nope. That is a common misconception, fostered by the GM's pseudo-adversarial role,and the myth of game balance. And it's one that is easy to dispel.
Who creates the adventure? the GM! Now if the GM were truly neutral then he would set up adventures that were not biased towards the PCs. The adventures, and the opponents in those adventures would be determined in an unbiased fashion, and not adjusted to reflect the skill of the PCs. If GMs ran that way, PCs would die off fairly quickly just from the laws of probability.
If we assume that beginning PCs are evenly matched against the average opponent , then they would only have about a 50% chance defeating their first opponents, 25% of getting past their second opponents, 12.5% of getting past their third opponents, and so on. It's like flipping a coin. Eventually the other side will come out on top. If such were the case, then no GM could sustain a campaign for very long.
So all RPGs and GMs are far from neutral. They are all heavily biased in the PCs favor. They have to be. The bad guys are usually quite inferior to the PCs so that the PCs have a far better than average chance of succeeding and making through a series of adventures. |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 12:13 am Post subject: |
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I guess it's differences in opinion on how to run things..
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atgxtg
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 9:47 am Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | I guess it's differences in opinion on how to run things.. |
More like differences in perception.
garhkal, when you write up an adventure. how to you determine the skill levels of the opponents? |
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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I base it on how i see the enemy being/what i am going for.. Then depending on the group that 'sits down to play' they get tiered up from there. Many are based on 'starting PCs sitting down, but i write the modules out NOT with a mantra of "They should have a significant chance of success". I go in with they should at most have a 50/50 chance, and what they do/how they approach it defines whether that chance goes up or down.
THEN depending on whom sits down, the baddies/difficulties tier up from there.
In 2 of my modules i scribbled out for home games, i went in with the initial thought, "The baddies will stomp the HE)% out of the rebel base, including the pcs.. How well they perform/get on their dice, will show how many can come out alive when they flee" The group i ran it for LOVED IT.
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atgxtg
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2013 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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How long do PCs last in your campaigns?
If you go with them have a 50-50 chance at most, I can't see them lasting very long. Especially in this RPG.
Remember the bit in the RAW about GMs letting flawed plans work in order to keep the fast pace of the films? |
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garhkal
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 12:48 am Post subject: |
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In sparks, quite often. Its frankly rare as heck for anyone in sparks to die.
In my home games, had more deaths per 'game session' than how sparks has it.. Around 1 death every 10 or so game sessions.
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