Comments on: Suggestions Needed for Our GMing Wiki

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 01:26:36 +0000

Added! Thanks, Zephyros.

By: Zephyros

Zephyros — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:08:06 +0000

Here’s one that could probably be broken down into a couple weeks — at least.

World-building.

- Pros and cons of using a pre-built campaign setting vs. building your own world
- World & regional themes and unique hooks (what makes your world special?)
- Appropriate levels of planning detail

There’s a lot more that can go into this, obviously, but that’s quick off the top of my head…

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:41:19 +0000

I’ve updated the Suggestions So Far… section through Amathar’s comment, #15, and added the suggestions from the forum thread. We’re up to 21, some of which could easily be broken down into substantial sub-topics.

This is going to be sweet.

By: Amathar

Amathar — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:58:41 +0000

Along the same lines as the music topic, sections for pictures and props would be good.

By: PinkCoder

PinkCoder — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:49:55 +0000

I would like to suggestion some topics on dealing with players:
- Recruiting new players (both new to your group and new to gaming in general)
- Encouraging interaction amongst players
- Dealing with trouble-makers
- Alternative rewards (besides system-specific experience)

By: xcorvis

xcorvis — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:19:47 +0000

I like the unstatted NPCs idea. Break it up a bit into some more discrete chunks:

10 Urban Fantasy Citizens
10 Rural Modern Citizens
10 Dragons
10 Modern Mercenaries
…

Each NPC could have a name, a very brief physical description, a few descriptive words for their personality, a few things they are good and bad at, and a small plot hook.

By: Crazy Jerome

Crazy Jerome — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:49:57 +0000

I think what would be good would be a set of pages on running for different lengths of campaigns. Perhaps one page on running one-shots, one on running short campaigns, and one on running long campaigns. Perhaps links to a page for the stuff common to all lengths. Perhaps the recent topic on running for conventions could tie into that.

By: Amathar

Amathar — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:04:50 +0000

A few more topic ideas (sorry if these already exist on the wiki; I’m being lazy and not checking first…)

- Tips on how to GM on-the-fly / by the seat of your pants
- Role-play / acting tips (to bring NPCs to life)
- How to find / form a new group
- Snacks / drinks ideas
- Worst. Session. Evar. (humor with lessons learned?)
- Electronic tools reviews (e.g., eTools)
- Non-electronic tools reviews (e.g., map tiles)
- Book reviews / suggestions
- Writing tips (e.g., BBG monologues)

By: Pythor

Pythor — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:07:01 +0000

And to add on to what Zephyros said: (blatantly sotlen from the Bootstrap blog(http://bootstrap-productions.blogspot.com/) )

Any list of NPCs would be great, but even better would be a good article on how to create realistic and interesting NPCs. Something like an expanded version of this:

1) Strong convictions (What do they believe?)
2) Real goals and consistent actions toward achieving them (What do they want? How do they try to get it?)
3) A distinctive voice (How do they sound?)
4) Weaknesses (What hurts them? What are they bad at?)
5) Stuff (What do they have?)
6) Contradictions (What do they do that doesn’t make sense?)
7) Backstory (Where did they come from)

An entry doesn’t have to have all those, but the more the merrier.

By: Zephyros

Zephyros — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:30:42 +0000

To add onto Jason’s (#8), maybe include a couple character traits and a goal for each of the NPCs.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:09:48 +0000

NPC’s. Not full blown stats or anything, but maybe something like:

Niles – human male blacksmith (apprentice).
Ferga – gnome female baker.
Mross Ironhand – dwarven innkeeper/brewer.

Things like that. Things that some peopel have problems creating, others don’t….

By: Frank Filz

Frank Filz — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:57:27 +0000

As to system specific vs. generic – as long as it’s easy to navigate, I think it’s important to realize that many GMing questions are most easily addressed by system specific stuff. Sometimes it’s actual rules. Other times, it may be higher level stuff, but still is system specific.

And sometimes a question is most easily answered by framing it for a particular system. For example, look at the contentions “bigger guns” discussion. People are tossing around examples of situations, but without particulars of system they are meaningless.

Frank