[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

(TFT) I knew this guy



I knew this guy. Robert Miles, had just shut me out of my own temple with an evil take over. So I had my character go to the next town. I went out to the road and set off north. Robert rolls some dice. 'You encounter a giant owl. He likes you and decides to join you. The first day is over. You make camp.' I'm thinking this is very cool. A giant owl eh. I spend some time feeding him, talking and getting to know him. The next day I set out north again with my new friend. Robert rolls some dice. 'You have an accident.' He rolls some more dice. 'You trip and fall on you're weapon.' He rolls some more dice. 'You take six points of damage and die.' 'Uhhh, Robert. I have a staff. How do I fall on a staff and kill myself.'
    'You impale yourself on it.'
'Uh, the staff is about as tall as I am. How can I impale myself on it?'
    'You just do.'
'O.k. Can the owl help. Maybe go get someone to heal me or something. He seems pretty smart.'
    'The owl flys away.  You're dead.'

I learned a lot about being a GM from Robert. Granted, I learned mostly what NOT to do. But I wound up with a lot of happy players. I would give them animal followers who would always run for help if needed. I would always let the characters start any social events and never inflict them myself. If a temple was going to be overthrown the players would have been involved in starting it. And I never used random events of any kind. Instead I devolped an approach of thinking about the consequences of character action and letting them face those. If they pushed the world it would react. They could really feel the ripples of their actions in the campaign. It isn't abitrary or random.
    They loved it.

    David Michael Grouchy II


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"