Your questonaire for potential GMs?

[Peter Knutsen]

In my first thread, Bookman wrote the below to me, and although it's not a method I'd be using ever (for reasons that I've explained in the other thread), it could be a fruitful discussion for some other people.

I'd just really prefer to keep it separate from the original thread, since it's tackling the same issue but from a 180 degree different angle.

Originally Posted by Bookman

You seem to care most about the world being a strict sandbox, and objecting to the GM putting his thumb on the scale in any way, shape, or form. Let me flip it on you: If you were interviewing a prospective GM, what questions would you ask?

Well...

I wouldn't do it that way. It's meaningless to me, in the same sense as asking anybody if he or she is guilty of the murder of Laura Palmer. The answer is so obviously and painfully predictably going to be no, completely failing to help me figure out whether the person I'm asing is or is not the murderer, that it's a waste of breath to even ask it.

But here are a few random-yet-serious questions, that would almost certainly be a small part of such a sifting process of mine, if I were ever to employ it:

1. How many GURPS supplements do you own?
2. Mention one of your favourite GURPS supplements, and briefly explain why.
3. If the answer to question #1 above is "none", explain why.
4. Which of the two movies "Alien (1979)" and "Aliens (1986)" do you like best?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

But here are a few random-yet-serious questions, that would almost certainly be a small part of such a sifting process of mine, if I were ever to employ it:

This is much easier to answer than writing a manifesto. Almost 35 years of GMing without having constructed a manifesto mean that teasing out the differences between what I want and what I do is non-trivial.

1. How many GURPS supplements do you own?

I have not counted, but most of the 3e and 4e ones except for the Traveller and Dungeon Fantasy lines.

2. Mention one of your favourite GURPS supplements, and briefly explain why.

High-Tech for 4e. It makes a good attempt of translating a lot of modern day equipment and activities into game terms, and does it clearly enough that one can generalise from it to translate things it does not cover.

4. Which of the two movies "Alien (1979)" and "Aliens (1986)" do you like best?

I have only seen the first of these. I'm really not very much into films: I prefer to use strange and discomforting ideas in RPGs, rather than evoke visual memories that aren't directly to do with my story. I don't find that book or film plots translate to RPGs in a very satisfactory way: the need to handle a group of more-or-less equal protagonists makes RPGs somewhat different.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

1. How many GURPS supplements do you own?
2. Mention one of your favourite GURPS supplements, and briefly explain why.
3. If the answer to question #1 above is "none", explain why.
4. Which of the two movies "Alien (1979)" and "Aliens (1986)" do you like best?

About two dozen in print that are on my "current use" shelves; there are more that I own as author or contributor copies but no longer use. I don't know how many I own as pdfs only.

GURPS Horror in the latest edition, because it brilliantly exemplifies Ken Hite's ability to discuss what's really going on in a genre or trope, and how to use that to make it more effective.

Does not apply.

I definitely like Aliens better. It has Vasquez in it!

Bill Stoddard

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I have not counted, but most of the 3e and 4e ones except for the Traveller and Dungeon Fantasy lines.

Measure them in shelf-feet or shelf-kilometers if you like. The purpose of the question is to weed out GMs who don't own any, or who own very few, because that is indicative of an attitude of not ascribing much vaue to factual real-world knowledge.

I don't care whether you own 40 or 50. You own a lot. That means you've passed this test. (I figure I could have made it a multiple choice question: None, one, two, three, 4 or 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 40, 41 to 100, over 100).

The Alien/Aliens question is because the first movie, directed by Ridley Scott, is a horror movie that takes place in a science fiction ('ish) setting, while the second movie is a sequel directed by James Cameron, and is more of an action movie (this time the good guys get to shoot back!), although still with horror elements.

I dislike horror for many reasons, so here the correct answer, as far as I'm concerned, is obviously that the sequel "Aliens", is the preferred movie.

I had not thought, when I asked the question, about visually impaired GMs such as you and Sean Punch. But anyway it's just one question, out of a list that'd most likely contain 25-40 items, if I were to write it, which I'm not.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

... the second movie is a sequel directed by James Cameron, and is more of an action movie (this time the good guys get to shoot back!), although still with horror elements.

A friend of mine found she had to treat it as a black comedy. She found the troops laughably unprofessional.

I had not thought, when I asked the question, about visually impaired GMs such as you and Sean Punch.

Is he visually impaired? He's very strongly influenced by films; I wasn't into them even before my sight deteriorated.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Is he visually impaired? He's very strongly influenced by films; I wasn't into them even before my sight deteriorated.

He's clearly more into movies than you are. Perhaps I've read something into his posts that isn't there...

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

I don't care whether you own 40 or 50. You own a lot. That means you've passed this test. (I figure I could have made it a multiple choice question: None, one, two, three, 4 or 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 40, 41 to 100, over 100).

Probably a better way.

Do you own more than 10 GURPS supplements? is how I would phrase it. And the number ten is ex recto.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

I wouldn't do it that way. It's meaningless to me, in the same sense as asking anybody if he or she is guilty of the murder of Laura Palmer. The answer is so obviously and painfully predictably going to be no, completely failing to help me figure out whether the person I'm asing is or is not the murderer, that it's a waste of breath to even ask it.

That just means you need to employ some interviewing skills. You're right, you shouldn't ask the GM a staccato series of point-blank, yes/no or multiple-choice questions with obvious answers. Not only is that pointless if you think the person might lie, it's not even as illuminating as a less direct method would be, because it doesn't draw the subject into actually generating their own statements.

Instead, think of it as having a conversation with them, listening to what they have to say and responding to it, and using that flow of conversation about roleplaying and gaming to take you to topics that are significant to you.

[Brandy]

FWIW, there is a broadly-used style of interviewing in the business world called, at least in some places, behavior based interviewing. My recollection of is it is that most questions are deliberately not posed in the hypothetical ("What would you do if x?") or factual ("Do you have x certification?"; "How long have you been doing x?") but couched in terms of their actual experiences ("Tell me about a time when you x?"). This might be a useful tool for such an interview:

Tell me how the last campaign you ran began and ended.
Describe some of your most memorable players and their characters.
Tell me about a time when a player did something unexpected and what you did in response.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

The Alien/Aliens question is because the first movie, directed by Ridley Scott, is a horror movie that takes place in a science fiction ('ish) setting, while the second movie is a sequel directed by James Cameron, and is more of an action movie (this time the good guys get to shoot back!), although still with horror elements.

Two comments on that Alien/Aliens question. What do you do if the person answering hasn't seen one or both of the movies? Or if they liked them both equally?

Why not just ask if the person prefers horror or action?