04-28-2005, 03:39 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Sammamish, WA
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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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Kira: What do Klingons dream of? Worf: Things that would send cold chills down your spine, and wake you in the middle of the night. It is better you do not know. |
04-28-2005, 07:43 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: nyc
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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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04-28-2005, 10:13 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Australia
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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, Ack |
04-28-2005, 11:57 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Germany
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Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds
Quote:
The game is there for all participients to have fun, after all. |
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04-29-2005, 12:43 AM | #5 |
MIB
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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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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04-29-2005, 09:07 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Sammamish, WA
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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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Kira: What do Klingons dream of? Worf: Things that would send cold chills down your spine, and wake you in the middle of the night. It is better you do not know. |
05-02-2005, 09:23 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lexington, KY
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Re: New GM for Infinite WOrlds
Quote:
It's the simplest, fairest, and shortest treatment of the "players play themselves" idea that I've seen. ;-) |
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