04-23-2021, 08:21 AM | #1 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
There are a lot of expectations at the gaming table: The GM's promise to entertain the players, the players' obligations to respect the GM's efforts and play nicely with one another, and the game designer's responsibility to deliver playable rules. The single biggest expectation, though? That everyone will have fun!I will just sit here This is often easier said than done, because no two gamers – players, GMs, designers – see things exactly the same way. How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations is a collection of short-but-pithy essays on getting everybody on the same page regarding such matters as realism, power level, dice vs. drama, and rules vs. roles. Like its parent, How to Be a GURPS GM, it puts GURPS first but its advice is nigh-universal. Play nice! — Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-0366
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
04-23-2021, 08:41 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
This is a great idea!
I don't recall seeing something like this from any other company.
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GURPS Settings Beneath Castle Everglory: A Dungeon, Lineage (Modern Fantasy) Paradise City (Cyberpunk), The World of Kung Fu (Modern Martial Arts Setting) |
04-23-2021, 08:52 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
An instant purchase. Like the introduction. Expect to enjoy the rest too!
edit: Read about 70% of the book which interested me the most. All good stuff. Well worth the price. Last edited by finn; 04-23-2021 at 10:03 AM. |
04-23-2021, 08:53 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
"This Is Not a Reality Simulator"
I love it. |
04-23-2021, 01:03 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
I also like how you keep referencing sections of the Basic Set that have been there all along, but which lots of people maybe haven't really paid enough attention to.
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04-23-2021, 01:12 PM | #6 | ||
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
Thank you.
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I expect to get grumped at for that assertion, but it's my sincere belief. ;) The Basic Set has surprisingly solid advice for GMs. The biggest problem is finding it in almost 600 pages of content.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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04-23-2021, 02:39 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: New Orleans, LA
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
I think this has set back Gurps the most over the last 20 years. The most visible people talking about Gurps publicly seem to be the ones clinging to the idea that Gurps is a simulator and that has turned off a lot of people.
I think this product can do a lot to help Gurps' misunderstood reputation. I try to point out Gurps is a toolkit and just "use the options you want" on other forums. I also believe there has been a change in "climate" on these forums recently (the place I still believe people curious about Gurps get their first real look at it) has been in a very positive direction. |
04-23-2021, 03:50 PM | #8 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
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Jokes aside, I bought without thinking twice. Enjoying reading so far.
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“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” |
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04-23-2021, 04:17 PM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
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04-23-2021, 05:32 PM | #10 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations
Pretty much this. I see my job as writer and designer as not, "Here's another brick in the wall of total rules coverage," but rather, "Here, let me inspire you and give you more random ideas to riff on." I sigh and roll my eyes whenever people want a hermetic rules solution. But that's probably because I'm from the late 1970s cohort of gamers . . . we made up everything and saw game supplements as ideas, not scripture. I think we spent more time spitballing crazy ideas than reading, but the reading gave us more crazy ideas.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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