GM PRINCIPLES
Be a fan of the PCs. Root for them, but put their backs to the wall so they can prove themselves. Listen to the players and they will tell you what is important to their characters. And then put that shit at risk, immediately. Push on it. Make the characters the center of the story, not your plotting.
If they say they can speak a language, ask where they learned it. If it’s in the heat of things maybe flashback a scene about how they learned enough to decipher the tome. Then weave that information back into the story later. Don’t nit pick them and don’t play gotcha.
I’ve seen players put their characters in worse positions than I could ever devise for them. Let them. They want to be challenged and to live or die heroically.
Let everything flow from the fiction. As you play little tidbits come out. A character seduces a bartender, they slight a noble, they rob a fence. (Also – NAME THESE PEOPLE) All of these things have consequences in the world. Each of these is a little gift from the players to you. Take what they give you and return it to them two fold.
Let’s say they leave a body where no one can find it. And the player actually looks you in the eye and says “no one will miss them.” What a beautiful gift. Take them at their word. No one finds the body. No one CAN find the body. The spirit is trapped there enraged. No one misses it, no one notices it. How does that make the slowly degenerating spirit feel? Maybe it wants to be missed, recognized by the only people that might remember it…
Everything has the possibility to come apart like a loose wagon with spooked horses and a wheel missing.
Hold on lightly. The game is a conversation between a group of smart interesting people. If something doesn’t fit and feel right tap it with a hammer until the rough edges are worn off and it slides into place. Repaint your mansion. Make the carpet match the drapes. Fit everything into your galloping narrative and discard what pokes out. A rough story told well is better than an accurate one told tediously.
Address the characters. “Silver, where do you go to look for the Red Sashes?” not “Sara, where does Silver go?” This puts Silver front and center—his preferences, desires, and style. Silver comes to life as a character.
Address the players. “Sara, how do you want to handle this?” not “How does Silver do that?” This puts Sara front and center — her preferences, desires, and style. Sara can consider what she wants, then filter it through Silver.
(I got nothing to add to those except to note that normally PbtA games advise to just address the characters, so it is an interesting addition to Address the players as a separate note)
Paint the world with a haunted brush. There are ghosts and hollows, weird sounds, arcane energies, and strange cults everywhere. How does the haunted city manifest here?
The Duskwall setting is rife with horror. The Gates of Death no longer fulfil their function letting souls escape this world. How is this expressed? What new horror is just a commonplace thing to the world the characters are inhabiting? What else can’t escape when spiritual death is no longer on the table, but the body can still be destroyed?
Surround them with industrial sprawl. Duskwall is crowded with factories and their choking soot clouds, buzzing electric lights, ironworks, clanking machines.
Duskwall is falling over the brink of the industrial revolution. What physical jobs are no longer necessary, leaving a class of strong violent workers unemployed and restless? What new gizmo sparks the minds and hearts of bootblack children in the streets. Is the printing press a thing yet? How is that changing life in the streets?
Consider the risk. Think about the risks and dangers inherent in most things the scoundrels do. A risky move is the default action almost all the time. When they’ve taken great care and are building on successes, they might make controlled moves. When they have to improvise off the cuff or when they’re in over their heads, they’re probably making desperate moves. Go with your gut. Call the positions as you see them, but be open to revision.
Default to risky endevors. A motto I live by. What happens to a person whose entire life is one of risk and bravado. Tell the players the risks involved and let them make the call as to how their characters react. Offer them juicy bargains with interesting consequences, but always play with the risks as cards, face up on the table. Let the players drive informed decisions, or even inform the decision themselves.
