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Old 04-28-2005, 03:39 PM   #1
Ogbendog
 
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Default New GM for Infinite WOrlds

I'm thinking of staring an IW campaign in my group, and was wondering if anyone whose already run such a game has any tips.
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Old 04-28-2005, 07:43 PM   #2
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Default Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds

Try to run adventures in worlds that have some interest for all involved, not just what fits in good with a story you have written. Having said that, ignore it if you have a good story that will draw the players in.

Having a recurring villain neatly ties the disparate worlds theme together, I go with Reich-5. Can't go wrong with nazis.

Throw in a few adventures with a 'light' theme once in a while, worlds that are kind of jokey or ridiculous. This breaks up the monotony of tension-filled adventures.
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Old 04-28-2005, 10:13 PM   #3
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Default Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds

I've run a game like that once or twice.

Things to note:
Don't have the forces of law and order be all-knowing and omniscient. They can drop the ball from time to time. This is just as important (if not more so) when the characters may be facing them, as when they are them.

Having the characters come from different worlds can be interesting. Try to limit the vast disparity of concepts, so that one character doesn't entirely overshadow another.

If possible, when you start the game, don't let them know before the game starts that it will be an IW game. Characters made up for an ordinary game and characters made up for an IW game will be quite different in nature. If you can get everyone to make up characters separately (letting each person think that the setting their character is in will be the base setting) then that would be ideal.

The first jump, wherever they go, should not be announced. Let them figure it out for themselves.

Give them personal goals to achieve within the larger goals. It keeps them focused. This could be anything from retrieving a stolen item, to 'rescuing' a native who is having a hard time.

Don't give them all the goodies at once. Have some surprises kept back. (For instance, in one game I did, the same person appeared to all the characters at more or less the same time, in different places and times. When they figured that out, there was more confusion. Which is always good).

Let them have the occasional sense of security, but always give them more things to wonder about.


Yeah, I know a lot of these can apply to a normal game. And?


Cheers,
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Old 04-28-2005, 11:57 PM   #4
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Default Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ack
[...]
If possible, when you start the game, don't let them know before the game starts that it will be an IW game.
I would rather recommend to tell them what they're going to play. Maybe they know that they don't like it.

The game is there for all participients to have fun, after all.
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Old 04-29-2005, 12:43 AM   #5
Kyle Aaron
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Default Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds

If you want them to be just regular joes, but not to shaft the players by not telling what kind of campaign world they'll be in, that's easy.

Make them play themselves. Or rather, since systems and egos won't allow for that, caricatures of themselves, more ballsy versions. Have them all on the same points, more or less. Work it like this:

Attributes: assign best to worst, for example ST 12 [20], DX 11 [20], IQ 10 [0], HT 9 [-10]. This will then be between +10 and +50 pts.

Dis/advantages: none. Saves egos.

Skills: Consider Background, and four skills from that. Assign "most effort" to least effort" put into them. Then points: 4, 2, 1, 1.

Do the same with Education (4, 2, 1, 1)

Then the same with Profession (except more points: 8, 4, 2, 1)

Now, you'll have a character of between +41 and +91 points.

Check out who has the most points. Award everyone else points to make them equal to that player. That player gets nothing:D

In the first couple of sessions, make that an extended character creation. So suppose you give them Duty (ISWAT) for -10 points, give them +10 points to balance it up.

This way, players begin with ordinary joes, but aren't ambushed by your game setting.
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Old 04-29-2005, 09:07 AM   #6
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Default Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds

my current idea, asuming that they mostly want to play ourworlders, is that each somehow goes off dimension. the wizard might fumble a spell, somone might be chasing a parachonic critter, a cop might be investigating smugglers (who have a gate which blows up) or a storm get's them, whatever. then they stick together, survive some stuff, maybe do a good deed or to, adn are eventually recruited.

My worry is that I'll have 4 random people who don't go together. Or that hte higher tech gadgets will be a problem on lower tech worlds
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Old 05-02-2005, 09:23 AM   #7
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Default Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Bob
Make them play themselves. Or rather, since systems and egos won't allow for that, caricatures of themselves, more ballsy versions. Have them all on the same points, more or less.
IW has a sidebar suggesting something like this, on p. 184. Everyone gets exactly the same point budget, and then builds a version of themselves within that limit. They can take some liberties in setting their own abilities, to avoid arguments about what stats they "should" have, and to give themselves some useful adventuring skills. Then, if they're recruited by the Time Patrol, Infinity, or whatever, their Duty to that group will provide points for additional training.

It's the simplest, fairest, and shortest treatment of the "players play themselves" idea that I've seen. ;-)
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