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| #1zombiegleemaxApr 03, 2002 8:10:00 | Second Edition (Rev. K as of 2002-10-25): Under continual maintenance. In trying to write a FAQ for "What's a DM to do?", I realized that most DM problems stem from one source. DMs and players rarely sit down to discuss and agree on their gaming expectations before beginning a campaign. As the game proceeds, expectations continue to diverge until a problem ensues. To help solve this problem, I wrote the RPGamer Code, a framework for building a mature DM/Player relationship. It consists of two major concepts: Common Ground and GM Rights & Responsibilities. I think you will find that any group agreeing on their own versions of Commond Ground and GMR&R will avoid many gaming pitfalls. Just as importantly and central to its creation, the RPGamer Code serves as the foundation for the "What's a DM to do?" FAQ that follows. Questions, comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism of the code and FAQ are appreciated. I wish for them to evolve and improve through everyone's input. *** RPGamer Code Common Ground Our RPG group's primary goal is to have fun. First we'll discuss our individual concepts of fun. Then we'll discuss the specifics of the campaign in which we wish to play. The GM agrees to run the campaign based on this agreed upon Common Ground. To keep things fair, we agree to the following ... GM Rights & Responsibilities 1st Resp: I will design and run game sessions that allow everyone to have fun, based on the agreed upon common ground. 1st Right: I have the right to make all final decisions regarding the game. In doing so, I may seek outside, objective advice regarding rules, balance, continuity, role-playing, etc., before rendering a decision. 2nd Resp: I will listen to and honestly consider all player input regarding goals, interests, concerns, rules, PC development, storyline, etc., throughout the entire course of the campaign. 2nd Right: I have the right to the same respect and consideration from the players for my own goals, interests, and concerns. 3rd Resp: I will find ways to challenge the players and their characters in the manner they generally prefer. 3rd Right: I have the right to design adventures, plot lines, and make rulings that do not meet any or all of an individual player's goals; balance rewards to obstacles overcome; and, maintain campaign continuity, so long as the group as a whole continues to have fun. 4th Resp: I will strive to improve as GM by listening to player concerns and advice, seeking objective advice, and implementing reasonable changes to my style and demeanor. 4th Right: I have the right to expect the same improvement efforts from my players. 5th Resp: I will prepare for each session. This includes an understanding of the goals for the session, rules that may apply, and any necessary materials. 5th Right: I have the right to expect players to similarly prepare for each session. FAQ Q. Wait a minute, as the DM, I am out hunting for players and creating the group. I know exactly what campaign I want to run, where I want to play, and everything else. Why should I give the players any options at all? A. Unless you thoroughly discuss these issues about fun and common ground, how are you going to know if the players you find meet your needs? Are you going to get them to agree to absolutely every draconian measure you dream up? You aren't. Even in the DM driven game group, it makes sense to follow the RPGamer Code to make sure your players know what to expect. If not, you'll find yourself looking for new players. Q. So, if I am always faced with immature or unreasonable players, is the RPGamer Code of any use? A. Sure. First, even unreasonable players will respect you, if not admit to it, for making their fun the main priority. Second, if you follow it, it helps you set reasonable expectations, weeding out all "well I didn't know it would be like this" arguements. Third, you begin to train yourself for better gaming in years to come. Fourth, if, after all this, you are forced to resort to Right 1, better known as "GM is God", then you will do so with confidence and justification. This is especially important with an unreasonable or immature group, because you are likely to invoke the 1st Right quite often! Q. Ok, we are all getting together to play D&D. Why do we need to discuss our concepts of fun? A. One fundamental problem I spy on these boards is the assumption that D&D is the primary reason players join a group. This is often not true. People can join just to be part of the social circle. They prefer the friendship, the banter, the pizza, and the escape, to the actual game. A better understanding of why everyone is getting together is important to setting up a game everyone can enjoy. Q. Any specific things to keep in mind when discussing concepts of fun? A. Yes. Try to agree on how often you will play, time, day of the week, length of each session, location, food and drink responsibilities, attendance requirements, and acceptable behavior. If you are playing in a house with small children, for instance, you have to know that foul language and lewd topics are banned. Q. What topics should we specifically discuss to find Common Ground on campaign issues? A. There are quite a few, but it will help your game in the long run. Genre, high/low fantasy, high/low magic, high/low power, linear/open storyline, ratio of combat to politics to roleplay to urban to outdoor to puzzle adventures, OOC talk, metagaming, PC mortality, Raise/Ressurection expectations, & the prominence of PCs in the game world. Next you should cover the 'sticky' topics. Sex/sexuality, prostitution, drugs, good/neutrality/evil, and their role in the campaign. They should all be discussed in order to avoid placing you or any player in an uncomfortable position during game play. Personally, I don't mind romantic roleplay, but I 'fade to black' if sex is involved. However, I completely ban PC drug use as strictly unheroic. The definitions of good, neutrality, and evil in a fantasy realm can vary, so sensible discussion will limit misunderstandings. Q. What if we can't find Common Ground or at least agree on what means fun? A. This is what is so difficult about questions to this board. The answers require reasonable and emotionally mature people. The bottom line is that if you cannot compromise on when, how, what, where, and why you all want to play, then do not play. It will not be fun for you or the others. However, it is more common that everyone will compromise something for the greater good of the group. Q. We have our Common Ground squared away and one guy volunteered to be GM. Is he God? A. GM as God is a style used mainly to keep unruly or immature players (often read 'younger') in line. It is neither required nor preferred. However, as per the 1st Right, the GM does indeed have the right to make final rulings. Furthermore, the more you expect of the GM in so far as organizing sessions, providing materials, teaching the game, and driving the plot, the more authority you cede. Rights & Responsibilities are directly proportional. If the GM has darn near all the Responsibility for the game, he has darn near all the Rights. Q. The GM or Player X is being unreasonable regarding Y. What do I do? A. I recommend you follow a simple pattern. First, do not discuss it in-game. You kill everyone's fun like this, gain no allies, and solve nothing. So, take the time to communicate your concern and your reasoning directly to the 'offending' person, when everyone is calm. Second, try to negotiate a solution in good faith. Maybe you concede, maybe he does, but keep it honest and mature. Third, if you cannot find a satisfactory solution and you are not going against common ground, address the issue with the whole group, before the next session. Finally, if you are unable to improve the situation, then you need to decide the issue's importance. Maybe you just let it go and play on. Worst case, leave the group, stop GMing, or expell the offender. No one else can decide which is best for you or the group. Whatever you do, do it maturely; and, do it so you and the group can move on and continue having fun. Q. But (s)he is my friend, relative, spouse, or boss? How can I do this? A. If you are mature, sensitive, and fair throughout the process, then the real question is whether or not your relationship with said person is mature. "Janet, you know I have two young kids sleeping in their rooms down the hall. I have asked you not to use foul language or argue my rulings during the game. I am not having fun anymore, and I bet that neither are you. Even though you are my cousin, I think you should stop playing with us. I'm sure you can find another group." Just remember to do this out of game and as sensitively as possible. If you think that the consequences are too dire, then you have issues with this person that go far beyond this board. Q. What topics does this board address? A. "What's a DM to do?" tends to receive posts on everything from rules clarifications to combat tactics and from campaign ideas to item creation balance. Just about any topic for which the poster would like DM opinion is posted here. This is not to say that it SHOULD be posted here. Most items are better researched or posted on the numerous other boards, most of which have their own FAQs. Here is a complete list of board FAQs … General D&D FAQ (maintained by chonjurer)
A. A nice rule of thumb is "Human not Mechanical, Effect not Cause, Strategic not Tactical, Implimentation not Clarification." For instance, questions regarding the impact of a rule change on your game are better than questions about clarifying the rule itself. For that, just go to the DMG board, or the Spells board, etc. If your question relates to how something impacts your world, your group, or you want to avoid common non-rules DM mistakes, this board is for you. Having said all this, this board is very forgiving, so many people use it as a board of last resort. Q. I see a lot of passionate discourse on this board. Are answers to DM questions as black and white as they appear? A. No. Most legitimate questions to this board have an infinite number of answers. Everything depends on your group's Common Ground, your DM style, experience, goals, player relationships, etc. However, DMs, by birth or training, tend to have strong opinions about what they like or what they would do. Sometimes, they ‘forget’ to qualify their statements with the requisite, “If I were you,” or “I prefer …, but given your choice then I recommend …” Keep this in mind and you will get much more mileage out of the board and avoid unnecessary flame wars. Q. If there are an infinite number of answers, then how do I know which advise is best? A. The more information you provide about your circumstances, the easier it is for other board members to customize their answers for you. Even so, it is up to you to make that judgment. Whatever course of action will likely be the most fun for you and your group, not the people posting, is usually your best choice. Remember that fun is your first priority. Q. What PC generation system should I use? A. If you are happy and comfortable scaling encounters, NPCs, and your campaign to heroic PCs, then use whatever system gives your players the most fun generating and playing PCs. If not, then stick to either a 25 point buy or 4d6 drop 1. A 25 point buy system is an exact baseline to the ECLs and CRs in the core books. Most players prefer more ‘heroic’ characters, so 28, 30, and 32 point buy systems are not rare. For 1E and 2E veterans, 4d6 drop 1 is most common (~ 28 point buy), though ‘heroic’ campaigns might even use 5d6 drop 2. Personally, unless the players request to roll dice, I let them choose their stats outright, with my oversight for balance. Oddly enough, my next campaign group has specifically requested to roll dice. Q. Should I, the DM, roll dice in plain sight or roll in secret? A. Although some will argue this point, most experienced DMs and gaming groups prefer secret rolls. Rolling behind the DM screen allows for much more complex storylines and challenges, since the DM has room to ‘fudge’ and avoid unnecessarily unfair results. Why kill a promising campaign because the DM rolled crazy damage and killed the entire party with one fireball at 3rd level? If they trust you to design the world, the major plot lines, all NPCs, and adjudicate the game, they should trust you to make dice roll decisions in the best interests of the game. Q. Isn't 'fudging' dice rolls just cheating? A. That depends. If, while discussing Common Ground, your group decides that all dice rolls are final, then yes, fudging is cheating. However, my experience is that most groups prefer that the DM have some latitude with dice rolls. In that case, fudging is just another one of the hudreds of judgement calls the DM makes during a session. Q. Then why are players not allowed to 'fudge'? A. Actually, in more roleplay intensive groups, players are sometimes not only allowed to fudge, but sometimes do not even use dice! It really all depends on your group's agreed upon Common Ground. In standard play, though, this is normally not the case. It boils down to the DM's need for PC benchmarks against which to design challenging and balanced obstacles. Player fudging destroys the integrity of the CRs, ECLs, and DCs used by the DM to design adventures. Thus, for both the players and the DM, it is best that players not fudge. Make the DM the variable, but keep the PCs constants. Q. I have given my players too much money, magic, power, etc. What do I do? A. Relax. Every DM has done this at some point in their DM career. It is not, as opposed to what others might say, a cardinal sin. Some DMs even like ludicrously high powered games. However, if PC power is ruining the kind of game you want to play, then you need to ask yourself some questions. First, do you want to keep playing this campaign with these characters? Unless you do, simply have a grand finale and close out the campaign. Next time around, use the lessons learned to better control PC growth. Second, assuming you do want to continue, what specific area makes the PCs overpowered? Most commonly, this is magical equipment. Common solutions include use of Sunder and its more powerful cousins, rust monsters, travel to planes inhospitable to certain materials, spheres of annihilation, grand theft, and bag of holding/portable hole combos. Money is easy, since taxes, bribes, stronghold expenses, war efforts, theft, and similar mundane expenses can bring balance. The toughest things to balance without wrecking continuity are innate imbalances like monstrous races, templates, divine gifts, and outlandish PrC abilities. Here you face a challenge that must be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Search the board for a myriad of examples and recommendations. Q. What is better, high magic or low magic, high fantasy or low fantasy? A. It all depends on the flavor you and your group wish to taste. If you have images of Lord of the Rings, then lower magic and higher fantasy best suit your desires. Most Forgotten Realms novels depict a high magic and high fantasy world. The core books for 3E D&D provide a balanced medium magic and high fantasy environment. Your taste for it will develop as you experiment, so where you start is not as important as having fun with it while you are there. Q. How do I get my players to roleplay? All they want is combat. A. I will assume that you did not agree upon Common Ground before beginning, or it would not be an issue. Unfortunately, you possibly have incompatible goals as gamers. Talk to your players and see what they say. If they tell you they have no interest, then you need to decide if you enjoy judging combat. If they are willing to try their hand at roleplaying, then design a noncombat plot line driven by character background. Political intrigue is most common, since government laws and consequences are easily used to keep PCs in check. More difficult plots include romance. Regardless, advise everyone that XP will be given strictly for non-combat activity, good roleplaying, which includes remaining in character, and avoiding OOC talk. Try it for a session or two; but keep in mind that most players will have preferences to which they will always return. Odds are you will not turn a group of combat lovers into roleplayers in this lifetime. Q. The characters are now X level and the [class] keeps dominating combat. Are [class] overpowered? A. No. WotC did a pretty good job of balancing 3E D&D. More likely, you have forgotten that you must vary your adversary types, combat scenarios, monster tactics, settings, and strategies in order to challenge every class. Here is a short list of weaknesses or ideas which can help you challenge each class. Fighters: Will saves, ranged combat, airborne combat, damage reduction, monks, etc. Rogues: Undead, elementals, constructs, monks, non-evoker spellcasters, other rogues, Blind Sight, etc. Wizards/Sorcerers: Spell Resistance, antimagic, dispel magic, grappling, rogues, monks, don't allow rest periods or locations, steal/destroy spell components, large numbers of loosely positioned opponents, steal/destroy spellbooks, etc. Clerics: Spell Resistance, antimagic, dispel magic, don't allow rest periods or locations, steal/destroy spell components, Turn Resistance, Unhallow, Desecrate, airborne combat, etc. Druids: Urban settings, undead, and see Clerics Bards: Rural settings, deafness, silence, muteness, laryingitis, and see Wizards/Sorcerers & Rogues Paladins: see Fighters & Clerics Ranger: see Rogues and Fighters Q. What about [class]? They seem to be weaker than other classes. A. Unlikely. Though many arguements exist about rangers, bards, and others, a little thought should make it clear that not every class is designed for pure combat destructiveness. Urban settings, political intrigue, and roleplaying allow bards to shine. If all you run is combat, of course they will 'appear' weaker. On the other hand, rural settings allow rangers to shine. Make sure you are not overexploiting the same weaknesses listed above. Add some class specific challenges and you will see balance restored. Q. Can I, the DM, tell a player how their character feels? A. In general, no. The player's right to control his character's thoughts and feelings is fairly inviolate. It is a player's only true 'authority.' Unless a character is under the influence of a mind controlling spell, use descriptions, settings, and circumstances to naturally elicit the desired response. If this does not work, talk to your players OOG about their roleplaying. Maybe there are justifications for their PC's actions. If not, then make sure that the PCs face appropriate in-game responses. Guards might forcefully kneel a petitioner before the king. Temples might throw PCs out in the cold without aid if the PCs do not show them proper respect. In the end, it is better to inspire the player rather than dictate to him. As you get more familiar with your players and their characters, you may learn the subtle, but taboo, art of 'influencing' character emotion. Read this thread for an interesting discussion of the topic: Whose mind is it anyway? Q. What about character actions? Can I dictate them? A. Unless under a mind influencing spell, never, never dictate character actions. I did say never, did I not? Yes. I did. Never. Q. What if a player is having a bad day and plays the character completely, well, out of character? What about the paladin who suddenly decides to slaughter innocent tavern patrons? The paladin would never do that. A. I know it might frustrate you at times, but try to remember that the characters are not independent of the players. They are extensions of the players. They are called, after all, Player Characters (PCs). A character can 'have a bad day,' get depressed, snap, etc. As DM, you should play out the consequences of the PC's actions, not override the player's choice. Yes, on occasion, you may be able to 'save' a PC through legitimate in-game use of magic; but, such instances are rare and must be done while maintaining campaign continuity. Otherwise, focus on the repercussions. Q. One of the characters is disrupting gameplay, but the player is roleplaying his character well. What do I do? A. Get back to basics. If the character's actions are ruining your group's fun, then roleplaying skill is irrelevant. Speak to the player OOG to end the nonsense. If this fails, you and the other PCs have endless means at your disposal to 'disassociate' yourselves from the character. Regardless of roleplay skill or character alignment, your group's number one goal should be fun. Even if the player is technically within Common Ground and roleplaying well, no one is served if the end result is negative. Q. Would it be easier, for instance, to ban Evil alignments? A. Perhaps, if all agreed. This depends greatly on your group's goals. Some experienced groups enjoy the range the occasional evil character gives, but this also depends on your definition of evil and its manifestations. The best thing to do is to agree upon definitions for the three moral alignments and then decide if banning some would serve your purpose. See the following thread for some interesting discussion on the topic: "But I'm Only Playing My Character" Q. Can you clarify Alignment? A. For a full discussion on 3E D&D Alignment please follow this link: IDRP Alignment FAQ (maintained by Frez) Q. I need help judging paladins. Can you help? A. For a full discussion on 3E D&D paladins, please follow this link: IDRP Paladin FAQ (maintained by Frez) Scenario Creation My First Dungeon Q. Question A. Answer Q. Question A. Answer Q. Question A. Answer Q. Question A. Answer [ October 25, 2002, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: Frez ] |