I'm interested in gathering input on GMing (NPCs, events, AND settings) in 2024 GC, on the following: 1. What does/doesn't work well. Techniques, scheduling, story elements 2. What sort of thing people are interested in seeing run. 3. The experience of GMing. 4. How staff relate to GMing. Both what staff want out of GMing in GC, and how players feel about the influence of staff over GMing. Answers don't need to be super specific or detailed, I'm largely putting out feelers as I want to pick up more GMing when I return to GC, so general thoughts are fine. I ask that critical answers are done constructively, and that if examples are used it's done conscientiously. Don't be a dick etc etc
hi! thought i'd give some feedback regarding good GMing techniques that i personally use in my stuff. 1. people respond very well to forcing them to do things, i.e. berating them when they're slightly late or have to miss a day because they're sick 2. people are interested in things that have no end-goal or thing to work towards. try not to give an end goal ever, at all. 3. i haven't experienced things you've GM'd, but in my experience, i hate the players and try to punish them as much as possible when they do anything that would develop their characters 4. i think staff should micromanage every little thing that happens when it comes to GMing. they should be in every corner, making sure that nothing is happening ever. hope this helps!
1. My take: Most people want their characters to be important, IC and OOC. Not in a selfish way, they just want to see the effort they put into writing to be recognized, and it feels good to make a very visible impact on a plotline. It's usually very well-received if everybody in an event should get at least one moment where their character has had a time to shine, even if it's small. Building on this, people love it if you present scenarios that compliment the traits or backstories of one or more characters, whether that's benefiting or tormenting them. Ex. a person with a very specific skill-set turns out to be essential for overcoming an obstacle, a recovering addict of a specific drug stumbles across a stash of it in the middle of the heist, a NPC vaguely looks like a character's family member or ex-lover, or a doctor that lost a patient or family member to a rare illness is now presented with that same illness again. Probe backstories! Ask for details, then use them in the plot to provoke characters into extreme reactions. It is fun and it gets people excited. (This isn't the only thing that people care about though. The plot itself doesn't need to just be about the player characters in it. Interesting NPCs and setpieces are just as important, but people's tastes vary on what they find interesting, so it's harder to give advice on) 2. I want server events! I love da server. Even something small and low-pressure would be fun. I especially love it when a world is modified (decorations for a festival or w/e) or created from scratch for an event (even if it's really small and quickly made). They are a lot easier to run than people think. Scheduling is the hardest part, but it's worth it. 4. I don't like that requirements for staff approval can get in the way of event-running. Now that most people are older and have been in the community for a long time, we can afford to be more lax, which is nice. It's usually only necessary when the event affects people OUTSIDE of the storyline, like if you give a character a crazy artifact that they keep once the story ends, or you introduce a nine billion clone army that will go on to fight someone that wasn't involved in whatever story served as their origin. Maybe the people that helped activate the "clone army machine" enjoyed the story you were telling, but whoever those clones attack could very understandably go "hey, what the fuck"... You can get away with a lot more if you keep resources contained to the story you're writing. Don't feel like you have to, though! Lasting artifacts or special loot is something people really like, so getting approval can be worth it.
