As a GM, never have I wanted the players to succeed more, but felt so powerless to help them. Anyone else feel like this?
As a GM, never have I wanted the players to succeed more, but felt so powerless to help them.
As a GM, never have I wanted the players to succeed more, but felt so powerless to help them.
is it because they’re rolling all the dice?
I just want to know what’s going to happen.
Adam McConnaughey​ not in the slightest. It’s because they’re such underdogs and the rules are such that GM tampering is almost impossible.
Why would you want to tamper? Why not just play to find out what happens?
I have been for a long time a fan of everyone having a good time. I was that GM who always gave his players a way out. Honestly I didn’t believe players could have fun if I wasn’t actively pushing for it. Please understand, I come from a generation of gamers that was more rigid and relied a lot on cheating so that the players didn’t randomly encounter something that would kill them at level one.
Over the last year or so Apocalypse World and games of its ilk have weened me from the school of thought that I need to be in control to make the fun happen.
I also think that blades does something that goes beyond other apocalypse world games. It fundamentally changes the role of the GM and puts even more of the agency in the hands of the players as we collectively bargain. As a reformed control freak, I love letting go and the uncertainty I feel as GM is the highest praise I can sing.
I feel rather more like that the players got little chance to not succeed if they really like to. In regards for help you may offer them controlled actions and give them small effect clocks.
In my opinion, GM tampering in a game like this is a fundamentally detrimental thing, for two reasons. One, you’re supposed to play to find out what happens. Tempting as it may be to try and steer the game into a certain direction, you got to check that impulse at the door. When you play to find out what happens, the game will surprise you as the GM.
Second, I think there’s an implicit trust issue. You don’t tamper because you want the players to determine the nature of the game by the choices they make. If they want a punishing and gritty game, they’ll choose to take nasty effects rather than Stress. You shouldn’t be pulling punches. Give them fair warning that something they try will be dangerous, and if they still want to do it, roll the dice. If they don’t want the bad result, they can buy it off with Stress.