Quote from: Daztur;785172Don't give the PCs choices unless they have information to base their choices on.

Even really basic stuff like "do we turn left or right in this dungeon corridor" should have SOME information so it isn't just a random crap shoot. Maybe one corridor smells bad and the other one has a floor that looks more worn.

I disagree.  In an old school exploration dungeon where fun shit lies down either corridor so it literally doesn't matter, let the players have no information.  The game is ABOUT exploring the space.

Quote from: Daztur;784879"Be Crom."

I.e. root for the players but don't provide any miracles when things get sticky.

That one has particular resonance for me. As a GM, whenever I'm tempted to soften the blows I have to remind myself how much I dislike that as a Player, where I vastly prefer tough-but-fair GMs.

Quote from: The Butcher;785266No amount of GMing talent will engage players who don't want to engage.

That's the core version of my own vow of "Do not play horror games with Players who do not want to be scared."

"Stupidity kills. It is not the GM's job to deus ex machinae the Players to success if they deliberately screw up."

"A GM is there to adjucate the rules. The GM is master of the rules, the rules are not the master of the GM."

Deus ex machina is a great way to get the party into trouble (= start an adventure), but a lousy way to get them out of it.

Quote from: Daztur;785172Don't give the PCs choices unless they have information to base their choices on.

Don't give the players choices, unless you want to kill half an hour watching them make their minds up.

One from Daddy Warpig in Bill's memorial thread:

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;785574To be fair, dreaming about making RPG's isn't crazy.

To actually try it? Bugnuts insane.

Another one my brother and I are fond of: "We try things. Sometimes they even work."

Quote from: Haffrung;785199Or to put it another way:

"Should we kill the guy who hired us now, or wait until he betrays us so we can find out what he's really up to?"

If you hire Machete to kill the bad guy, make damn sure the bad guy isn't YOU.

Quote from: The Butcher;785266Heroes are made, not born. PCs don't survive impossible odds because they're the heroes. They're the heroes because they've survived impossible odds.

This needs to be in the motherfucking players handbook!!!  :cool:


Some of mine:

Be courteous to your players, even as you are grinding their PCs into meal.

The dice can often bring unanticipated fun. Listen to them.

One short list of named NPC's with some motivations can make it look like you are prepared for anything.

Quote from: Old Geezer;785294I disagree.  In an old school exploration dungeon where fun shit lies down either corridor so it literally doesn't matter, let the players have no information.  The game is ABOUT exploring the space.

I'm kind of in the middle here. I don't think it helps the game along if the GM feels straitjacketed by a rule that says he can't ever give the players a choice without information. But if the game is dungeon-exploration, say, then, you should gamify the exploration of the dungeon. And to me that means not just pure luck, but strategy and tactics and educated guesswork being involved. So I like the idea of one corridor smelling worse and the other looking more worn. That should flow to some extent from envisioning the game-world as a living place and thinking how its inhabitants will have impacted on it. So I basically agree with Daztur but I would allow some exceptions. Most choices should come with some info.

Let me put it another way. Maybe you don't have a grave need to put in extra info for the players' choice of corridor. But do you have a particular reason not to put it in?

"How do you have a gaming company with a million dollars?  Start with two million."

Quote from: Omnifray;786425Let me put it another way. Maybe you don't have a grave need to put in extra info for the players' choice of corridor. But do you have a particular reason not to put it in?

There are certain circumstances where this would be preferable. If the PC's are dumped into a maze that they need to escape, then everything looking ,hearing, and smelling more or less the same is part of the challenge.

In this case the burden of marking their way and/or finding their way out rests solely with the players.

- "We'll do the correct thing" does not constitute a plan.

- The dice are your enemy: if you low poorly, you die. If you roll well, all you achieve is that you get to roll again later. The wise man seeks to avoid rolling altogether.

As a GM, it's not your job to tell stories. It's your job to present situations, and let the players tell the story.

Quote from: Pat;786488As a GM, it's not your job to tell stories. It's your job to present situations, and let the players tell the story.

My version would be:

As a DM, it's not your job to tell stories. As a player, it's not your job to tell stories. You present to each other situations and react to them. Later you tell and remember the stories of what happened.

Quote from: Omnifray;786425I'm kind of in the middle here. I don't think it helps the game along if the GM feels straitjacketed by a rule that says he can't ever give the players a choice without information. But if the game is dungeon-exploration, say, then, you should gamify the exploration of the dungeon. And to me that means not just pure luck, but strategy and tactics and educated guesswork being involved. So I like the idea of one corridor smelling worse and the other looking more worn. That should flow to some extent from envisioning the game-world as a living place and thinking how its inhabitants will have impacted on it. So I basically agree with Daztur but I would allow some exceptions. Most choices should come with some info.

Let me put it another way. Maybe you don't have a grave need to put in extra info for the players' choice of corridor. But do you have a particular reason not to put it in?

Well the reason I said that was I was in a long campaign in which it was a lame player in-joke to always say "turn right!" at any intersection in a Dungeon since the corridors always looked the same going both ways so it was a complete crap shoot so why not always turn right?

Basically without having SOME information there the players can't make a decision, they just guess randomly and I like having outcomes driven by player decisions rather than random guessing unless there's a good reason otherwise (like with the featureless labyrinth).

Quote from: Premier;786479- "We'll do the correct thing" does not constitute a plan.

Likewise, "Charge!" is never a good battle plan.