Has anyone got any tips for a new Gurps GM?

[Odin dragin]

Well, i'm starting as a new GM soon and would like to know if people have any tips. Though i have agreed on doing 5 Sessions / Scenarios first to get the hang of it.

Mainly things helping me understand how to come up with the scenarios and what i should do if the PC's grind to a halt in what they are doing (how do i push them along without alerting them what the plan is).

Thanks in advance,

Ryan (AKA Odin Dragin)

[Gigermann]

Here's my $.02: Daniverse GM Tips

[Odin dragin]

Thanks alot for this i will keep the page as a favourite so i can read back on it.

[Victor Maxus]

Start with short, simple adventures. Until you get use to the rules, how the players play, it is best to keep things simple. Also, you may want to judge yourself. Different GM's prefer to do things in different styles. Some love to plan out huge adventures with every detail, and have the players follow through the path. Others just write down a few notes, the most important information, and let the players wander about, filling in a lot of the details themselves. Some GM's are adventure driven, that is the story of the adventure is important, and the players are just caught up in it. Others are player driven, that is, adventures are designed to revolve around the players and their personal little details. There are all sorts of styles of GM's, so I would do a few short, easy adventures, and take a look at yourself. Understanding yourself will help you and your players in the future when all of you know what to expect.

[Nemi3e]

Be prepared to roll with the punches. And I mean really.

I set things up, kept it vague because I had no idea where the group was going to go, though I expected that they would meet the brigands, talk a bit then take them down, the mage and assassin escaping for other adventures.

Instead they lured the mage to a bar and blew it up under him via the sewers, then seiged the 'fort,' with bombs.

Then rolled a critical success for finding the loot.

At least they didn't go to the swamp, I had nothing prepared for that.

[Hannes665]

Originally Posted by Odin dragin

Well, i'm starting as a new GM soon and would like to know if people have any tips. Though i have agreed on doing 5 Sessions / Scenarios first to get the hang of it.

Mainly things helping me understand how to come up with the scenarios and what i should do if the PC's grind to a halt in what they are doing (how do i push them along without alerting them what the plan is).

Thanks in advance,

Ryan (AKA Odin Dragin)

Rule no. Lets have fun! :)

Other than that "when in doubt, shout and roll the dice"

[Hannes665]

I dont know if you have GM or DM anything before, but if you have unlike DnD for example you don't have to write up all encounters as full characters. Just write down the basics, weapon skills, damage, hp, DR and so on.

Also I recommend that you ease yourself (and the group) into combat, combat can be as easy and as complex as you wish. For example you have hit locations, feints, techniques and so on.

As soon as you and the players get into the game and it starts to run smoother all these extra options make the game more fun.

Don´t be afraid to ask here on the forum, we are (mostly) harmless.

[whswhs]

I don't know what your previous GMing experience has been like. I can tell you that when I run a session, I don't have a destination in mind, and thus don't usually have a reason to push the PCs along. Rather, I've looked at the PCs carefully, figured out something that will get them stirred up, and thrown it at them. I find out what the plot is by running the session. Now, if the PCs aren't doing anything, I might have stuff happen to them . . . but as long as they're doing something, I'm cool. Have you worked in a system that assumes a more structured plot?

Bill Stoddard

[ClayDowling]

My standard reply: http://www.obrienscafe.com/adventuredesigner.html

A series of forms to ease planning of adventures. You just list the key scenes that you want people to hit, with the high points of the scene.

Be prepared to run with wild directional changes in the event of catastrophic failures. You can still direct things to your key scenes, but you'll take a different route. And that's a wild and crazy amount of fun. Check out my last game session for a great example: http://www.rpg-campaign.com/planner/streets-auburn

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Odin dragin

Mainly things helping me understand how to come up with the scenarios and what i should do if the PC's grind to a halt in what they are doing (how do i push them along without alerting them what the plan is).

The first rule of GMing is the players will almost never, ever do what you expect them to. They will sometimes miss the clues that you feel are obvious. They will get a "bad feeling" about a character that is telling the absolute truth. They will charge headlong through the front door without a warrant when what you expected them to do was telephone the eyewitness and ask him questions, and when you expect them to charge the front door they will get out their spy gear and sneak in the back way. "Pushing players along" is almost certain to fail. Here's what I do:

Be prepared for anything. Describe the situation in general terms, give yourself names and dates and notes, describe the locations, put down all the information that you think is relevant, but don't try to map out every location. Just do it like this:

The murderer Edward Santiago (48, married to wife Rosa, two kids 11 and 8) is the killer who lives in the Green Lake neighborhood. He's about 5'8", dark hair, brown eyes. Works at Cold Wind Distillery as a buyer; travels frequently to other parts of the country to visit farmlands; surveys grape, wheat and barley crops for purchase. In the course of his travels, he has murdered the following people...
[insert dates and times of the murders and describe each in a few sentences, giving murder method, names and occupations and ages for the victims, etc.]
If the players investigate Santiago, they will find a cash box buried in the back yard with his grisly souvenirs (requires Search at -5). At crime scene #3(above), they will discover an article of Santiago's clothing with DNA traces on it.
If the players stall, or cannot get Santiago's identity, he will kill again, and provide the following fresh clues...

Then, as the players investigate, be prepared to improvise maps for each crime scene, and possibly to improvise Santiago's house, or place of work, or even the grocery store, if they choose to confront him there. You can't know ahead of time, and it's often easier to make it up on the spot than to prepare for every eventuality.

Every player should be useful. And the rule that goes along with that, don't give them a task they cannot EVER solve. The scenario should require at least one skill from each player, but should not require perfect rolls in skills that none of them has. In the above scenario — for my Supers campaign — the players have a portable video timescanner that enables them to investigate 10-year-old crime scenes... if they can find the precise spot. One character works the scanner... one character has Streetwise... one character can communicate with rats... one character has Tracking... one can disguise herself as anybody as long as she has a DNA sample. Another has Possession with Memory Access, but she can't use it on unwilling innocents (she's a superheroine and it's against the law). Together they have the skills to get the answers, but no one person can do it all alone.

An idea is still brilliant even if you didn't think of it yourself. If one of the players says, "Aha! I know how we can do this!" and his idea makes sense, there's no reason you can't adjust your scenario if it makes sense to do so. For instance, in the above game, the players decided they would contact the police forces in Spokane and Bakersfield — locations Santiago was known to visit — to see if there had been similar murders there. I hadn't expected that, but it was such a good idea, I decided that there had been some.