Art of Role-Play

Real life is a place where all of us come from; Role-play gives us an opportunity to go to places that only exist in the collective imagination of those engaged in it. This imaginary world is influenced by real life experiences, knowledge, and logic. While the real world concepts provide stability to the imaginary landscape, strange and imagined creatures, magic and superhuman powers, abilities, and technology give the imaginary world excitement. A role-playing game builds on these principles and allows a supernatural world to ‘come alive’ in the minds of its participants. Usually a Role-playing Game requires a dedicated Moderator often called a Game Master (GM) or Dungeon Master (DM) to orchestrate these ideas.

This text is intended to provide suggestions, guidelines, and helpful aids to the GM to facilitate a pleasurable experience. This work will provide the paint, brushes, and canvas upon which the GM, and players, can paint their imaginary world. The GM, with input from the players, must provide the creativity and the desire that perpetuates the imaginary world. As any artist can explain, the choice of color, the size of the brush, and the attention to detail, are all part of the greater picture. Self-expression is neither right nor wrong; it is simply Art.

Responsibilities of the Game Master

Proper Game Mastering is not an easy task. It requires planning, resourcefulness, adaptability, diplomacy, and a creative spark. It is not something that can be done correctly if you don’t really want to do it. You must have the desire to develop the setting of the imaginary realm, the imaginary creatures, characters, and entities that call it home. Finally, you have to present this imaginary landscape to the player in a digestible manner. They cannot immerse themselves within it without vivid description and good storytelling. Oh, and let me not forget the most important part – this entire process has to be fun!

Balance – perhaps the hardest part of the GM’s job is to provide balance between the laws of reality and fiction. Altering one or two aspects of reality such as temperature, gravity, or sunlight is fine; making wholesale changes to every aspect of normal physics is not a good idea. Logic, especially in a fantasy world, is an essential ingredient to a successful campaign. Players must have a foundation they are familiar with – common ground. Monsters, races, cities, and communities must have a reason to exist. Creatures and characters alike must have a purpose. Depending on their level of intellect, often these creatures will also have emotions, desires, and goals they wish to achieve. It is the GM that must provide balance to the gaming world not allowing one aspect to overshadow another. Be fair, but not inflexible.

Diplomacy – as the main creative force behind an imaginary world, the GM wields a great deal of power. Not only does he control the monsters and creatures that inhabit the land, but the very forces of nature and the gods that preside over the world. It’s easy to get carried away with access to this much power. Let’s face it most GMs love the control factor. A GM must be careful to allocate time to each player and allow that individual to ‘paint’ his portion of the canvas. Ignoring or punishing a player is not desired nor fun. A successful GM must, MUST, listen to the players’ feedback. An open discussion, often after a game session, is suggested where the GM and the players discuss what transpired within the game, the motivation of their characters, and possible difficulties with game rulings. This discussion should not be a form for the players to gang up on the GM, nor should it be a venue for the GM to preach to the players. It should be an open-minded discussion.

Integrity – the importance of integrity cannot be overstated. A GM must be consistent throughout the campaign. Arbitrary rule changes, mood swings, and radical shifts in style should be avoided. A GM cannot show favoritism either to a specific player or more commonly a group of pet monsters/creatures within the imaginary world. Changing the rules to save a player form death or a monster from being captured is a form of cheating. Not only does it cheapen the experience, it undermines the integrity of the game. Players, to some degree, must also help to maintain the integrity of the game. They are responsible to inform the GM if a rule has been overlooked or a previous ruling forgotten. Finally, everyone should reframe from cheating by fudging dice rolls, misrepresenting statistics, or willful omission of damaging information.

Setting the Scope

Player and GM interaction - consult the players that will be part of the campaign and ask them what type of game they would prefer. Their input will often spark creative venues which will only enhance the role-play experience. Here are some things to consider.

Finite vs Infinite – storytelling is a complex art, one that requires careful planning and foresight. Running a campaign is much like storytelling. One of the first things a GM must decide is if he wants to run a campaign with a defined start, middle, and an end. These are perhaps the simplest and recommended for novice GMs. Finite campaigns can be as short as 3-4 sessions or as lengthy as 10-12 sessions. Typically, these campaigns are set in a single town and the surrounding courtside. World building, outside the boundaries of the campaign setting, is not needed. Years ago, these mini adventures were often call modules.

Infinite campaigns typically have no definite ending. The GM runs the game so long as the players wish to play. In these games, the players are not typically confined to a single town or adventuring location, they can travel to far off lands and interact with different cultures. Infinite campaigns are recommended for experienced GMs that have a developed gaming world that the players can explore.

Flavor

Non-epic - the actions that the characters take will not have a major effect upon world events. The fate of others will not rest upon the PC’s choices nor are they responsible for it. This type of campaign is open-ended and allows the PCs the most freedom in which direction the game will take. The PCs provide the centralized goal(s) and pace of the game. This type of game is suggested if the majority of the PCs wish to have a non-good alignment. The general motto is ‘live and let live’. Non-epic games are recommended for experienced players that interact well with each other and can develop self-motivating goals.

Exploration oriented – this type of game is designed for a group of individuals that do not wish to settle down in one location. This type of game tends to generate a large amount of experience points quickly and constantly allowing characters to advance quicker. The GM has a fair amount of control providing the group with various ‘adventures’ to entertain them. This type of game does not allow for a great deal of empire building, spell research, nor politics. Additionally, character death is common as the beasties one encounters in dungeons are quite challenging. These games are action oriented and typically suited for players that focus more on combat and puzzle solving than developing extensive backgrounds and contacts.

City oriented – this type of game is centered on a small city or large town allowing the characters to be from various walks of life. Though the PCs can go on various adventures, they most often return to their hometown and are perhaps considered heroes. This type of game can provide political, urban, and closer to town adventures. The decisions the PCs make will have an impact upon the town or city in which they live. This type of adventure is best suited for mostly good or mostly evil groups. Neutral alignments do not fare well in this type of game. Political intrigue, hidden brotherhoods, and secret organizations are the bread and butter of these games. Characters are less likely to encounter fantastic creatures in such games and will have to deal with societal organizations such as the local law, warring factions, and/or noble rivalries.

Wilderness oriented – this type of game typically places the PCs at odds with the wilderness and the forces of nature. Fearsome beasts, challenging weather, and travel are typically what the GM has in store. Characters that get along with nature do well in these campaigns where as those more suited for urban-life fall short. Taming the wilderness, correcting blight, and/or communing with nature are common themes. These games are typically suited for mostly neutrally aligned characters. Game with a central druidic focus function well in this setting; characters can hunt down fantastic monsters, fight fearsome tribes of Orcs, or help towns recover from natural disasters.

Epic – yep, your group destined to change the world in some way. Your decisions will affect those around you and in most cased mean the difference between life and death for not only yourself but also those you champion. The GM has a great deal of control over the type of PCs generated and their backgrounds. Players must often fill needed roles in the adventure allowing them to shine from time to time. These games are hard on the players; strong experienced players are recommended for this type of campaign. This type of campaign is the hardest to pull off, but the most rewarding offering truly heroic situations and mountains of glory – should the characters survive. Epic games also come with epic villains, their minions, and a host of other nasty creatures that have their own plans to achieve. Often the players must stop or destroy these plans to claim their glory.

Infinite games may start with one flavor and jump to others as the adventure continues. Most campaigns evolve into epic games as time passes.

Tone

Fairytale – the world is a beautiful place and most locations are not in conflict. Good creatures control the larger cities and law and order provides stability throughout the world. Evil creatures exist but in the most remote places. Evil societies, cities, and/or communities are hidden and often few in number. Life is wonderful and individuals adventure for excitement not out of need.

World in Conflict – the forces of good and evil, law and chaos battle over land and resources. Good kingdoms are matched by evil ones and conflict is common. Most societies, regardless of race, have witnessed war within their generation or have lost family members to wars of a previous generation. These games offer a wide variety of choices for military focused games. Nobles and soldiers can enter the field of battle and if they are crafty enough even command men.

Glooming Darkness – the world is dominated by evil creatures and/or kingdoms. Life is not fair nor is it easy. Personal, societal, and economic conflict is common. Thieves, assassins, and bandits function batter in such games, while goodly folk are often the focus of aggression and discomfort.

Cadence (suggestion) – refers to the progression of the storyline. A good GM will vary role-play, combat, and downtime as the campaign progresses. A game that consists of combat every session can become monotonous. Likewise, a game where character interaction is limited to a long string of role-play sessions can become boring. Mixing things up, allowing different characters to shine in different situations is more productive. Finally, and equally important, downtime is necessary as characters spend their hard-earned experience points to improve their characters. Constant adventuring without an opportunity to rest, relax, and train is hardly realistic. How would you feel if you had to work seven days a week?

Supernatural Involvement

Low Magic – the age of magic has come and gone or has yet to dawn. Magic is scarce spoken in hush tones shrouded in mystery. True spell wielding mages and priests are legendary men and few in number. Most townsfolk have never seen magical displays, and some believe magic to be the stuff of fairytales. Supernatural creatures are extremely rare. Though Orcs may be common, few have ever seen an elf or troll. Dragons, if they do exist, are the stuff of myths and legends. A player may adventure his entire career and may only possess a single or at most two magical items. Many false faiths exist and the gods are distant and unobtrusive. These games are the most rewarding because hardships cannot be easily minimized by magic. Travel is often a long and dangerous undertaking.

Some GMs use low magic games as a backdrop to High-powered psychic (psionic) games. In these games, secret mental organizations are common, and a larger portion of the population possesses psychic powers.

Standard Magic – The availability of magic is standard but not something for the common man. It is quite conceivable for a well-off citizen to hire a spellcaster, it is not a common occurrence. False religions are few, and true priest wield great power both magically and politically. Often cities and towns are sponsored by a given religion and protected by a given deity to whom they give homage. Powerful wizards are uncommon, but everyone knows that they exist. Fantastic creatures exist, though mostly in unpopulated areas. Dragons are quite real as are unicorns, manticores, and fairy folk.

High Magic – These games are set at the height of the magical era. Virtually every family has access to some type of magic. Those that are magic inept or untrained are considered the outcasts of society. Magic is used to solve almost every type of problem. Archmages are common and often in positions of power in the community. Supernatural creatures, if they can adhere to the laws of a given town, can enter cities and towns. Elves are abundant while races not skilled in magic are few in number. Priests are powerful members of society and the gods are actively engaged with their worshipers. Though open warfare may be uncommon, the battlefield is lit by active spell casting. Armies have been known to lay waste to forests and productive lands while obliterating their enemies.

Typically, worlds that possess high magic also possess a low level of psionics, if at all. Truly high-power games, such as those based in the outer planes, where both magic and psionic powers are in the higher levels.

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