Greetings and salutations to all! In my little corner here I'm going to attempt to share some of my less-than-vast wisdom about how to be a good GM, and offer game starters for various systems. Since the editor is breathing down my neck, I'll have to keep the witty rejoinders to a minimum and just jump right in.
Now, one of the rules I try to follow as a GM is not to overplan. You do need to have a good starter and several planned events, however you shouldn't have a rigid plot that you have to force your players into. Players, especially good ones, tend to want to go off on their own tangents and will resist an inflexible plot.
This means you have to be able to think on your feet and give them nudges to keep them where you really want them to be. This also means you have to be very flexible. If you want the grand battle to take place in Paducah, but the players decide to go to Gary instead, then shift your villains to Gary and stage your battle there. A good GM can think of some reason for the villains to be in Gary instead of Paducah as originally planned.
Planning several alternate endings is also a good idea, especially if you know your players. Have an ideal ending scenario, but consider what they might do to keep that ideal ending from taking place. If they decide that, really, they don't want to rescue the Pink Panther diamond from Dr. Evil and return it to the museum, have an alternative ready. Dr. Evil can trade the diamond to Marvin the Martian in exchange for the Earth Destructor Device. The players catch wind of this and now must decide whether to stop Dr. Evil from using the Device, get the diamond from Marvin, or sit around contemplating their navels until the earth explodes.
Oh, and try not to infringe on too many copyrights like I just did. That was just an example.
Now, let me get to the other portion of my little piece, i.e. game starters. Since my brain tends to work against me and in the interest of space and having more to write next time, I'm going to attempt to feature one game per issue, probably in no particular order. For this issue, I'm going to start with the game I know best: Shadowrun.
For a basic starter, pick a public performer, preferably a rock singer. Don't know of any? Make one up, and tell your players who he/she is, what kind of material they do, and how popular this person is. For my purposes I will call her Roxy Moxy. However, the person can be male or female, or any of the main five races.
Roxy is giving a performance in the group's hometown when she drops dead on stage. The group is hired by her manager to find out whodunit.
For a one-session game, the culprit is a nut case who has been stalking Roxy, and finally decided if he can't have her, no-one can. This madman is well-armed and willing to do anything to protect himself, including take on a shadow team.
For a multi-session game, let it get a bit more complicated. Pick two governments or corporations. Aztlan/Aztechnology always makes a good "bad guy," but use whomever strikes your fancy. Roxy's music tends to contain veiled protests against the antagonist. In turn, they have finally gotten tired of her causing trouble and have decided to remove her. The means can be just about anything you want, from a sniper to a chemical poison. With the poison option, it could be something that has been administered over a long period of time, affecting her health as a threat to try to get her to stop. Being the stubborn rocker, Roxy chose to continue her campaign and died for it.
The fun part comes in trying to prove this and find out who close to Roxy could administer the toxin. A groupie or someone on her staff is a good choice for an agent of the offending organization. This gives you a lot of flexibility with encounters, such as attempting to find evidence or tangling with corporate enforcers.
Want to make it more complex? That's the spirit. Here's option B: Roxy actually works for one of the two organizations you chose. She can either be a spy or an assassin. After all, who can talk their way into restricted places better than a famous rocker, and who else can come up with alibis? The "bad guy" organization finally found out and decided to remove her. The challenge comes in first finding out that Roxy worked for the first organization, then finding proof of who did her in. If you go for this option, the person who hired the team is also an agent of the company or government that Roxy worked for, and will be reluctant to divulge this information.
You're probably hoping I'll give you more details to use, but that's not my goal. As a GM, you should be able to take basic ideas like this and create a game from them. Fill in names, customize events and NPC's to your liking. This can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Run with it.
Next issue I think I'll do something for AD&D, or maybe Rifts. We shall have to wait and see.
