[MariaSunderland]

I'll be hosting a game soon (in two weeks in fact) and I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous about it. I've been part of these games as a player a while, but I became more serious about it last year of september when one of my good friends invited me in a Werewolf: The Forsaken game. He's been a GM for years now, and ever since he started, he's been telling I should try storytelling. Although I always refused, I gave in a few months ago when he asked me again. So here I am, with a story I hope they'll like at hand... But I have NO idea how things will go, and I won't lie to you: although I love imrpovising, I'm scared of getting stuck lol

So... What I'd like to know is, for all of you GMs out here, how was your very first experience as a GM? How'd it go? I'm kinda curious, really ^^

Luv,
Maria

[Deimos_Masque]

My first experience was very frustrating because the players wouldn't follow the adventure I had written for them... of course I was 10 at the time so it was a bit understandable.

However that seems to be the similar thing everyone has to get used to... the players are going to ignore your plot if they can/

[Vampir]

My first experience was just giving them opponents to kill... then I started to implement the mystery element to my stories... I think I was 12 then...

[serial_experiments]

Ah! How could I forget!
Dark Ages: Vampire, shortly after it was released. I had been only a player until then. Yeah, that game ended in complete abhorrent failure. Probably my biggest abortion to death, along with a Mage game that started shortly after.

[Röma Nâim]

It was VtM, and it was only a few years ago now. Started with the first settling of New Orleans and moved on to a Roanoakee style wipeout from an ancient fuck evil diabolic Tzimisci warlords awakening.

How it went? Piss poor.

I got too caught up in railroading the game to what I wanted – However that was an incredibly good learning experience when I look back on it.

My second was an Exalted game set in my own homebrew world. I got a lot of positive feedback from that, and still do to this day.

The third was my London VtR game that started recently and once again seems to have been given a good reception.


Best advice? Allow yourself to make mistakes, don't aim for perfection, just try and take it in your stride and learn from what happens.

Next best advice? make sure you and your players are having fun. Be prepared to sacrifice storylines if players don't follow the script. You might suprise yourself at what turns up.

[Naggoth]

My first experience was only about a year ago. up until then I had not started to collect the Nwod line and while I was interested in RP'ing from a young age I never could get a group together because I lived in the boondocks.

So the first game I ran was a Mortals Nwod and I look back on it with fondness as it was one of my best I feel. Im running Requiem now and I havent hit the right horror angle for the players that I could when they were mortal. Im starting to look longingly at Forsaken for its both suble and viceral horrors that I think might resonate better.

So here I am, with a story I hope they'll like at hand.

so can you tell us what that story is or do your players freqent this site?

[agasha kumiko]

I was arrogant and foolish for my first experience my game of choice was Mage the Ascension 2nd ed. with utter Mage newbies, 'Nuff said.

(Strangely enough even though the game itself was an utter disaster from top to bottom my vict..er I mean players enjoyed themselves immensely. It could be the fact that I was winging it like a madwoman since they destroyed and/or ignored my plot at every turn...).

[MariaSunderland]

Eeeee... now I'm not sure I want to do this anymore. haha!

Seriously though, I'm aware it's not an easy task. I guess the fact that the players have been with us for a good while, and are pretty mature, I shouldn't worry they'll be doing all in their power to go anywhere but toward the storyline lol I'm kinda forcing them into it the first few seconds anyway XD The rest will be up to them though. Our current GM is stepping down as a regular player for the three games I'll be hosting too, so I don't think he'll be doing all in his power to go toward anything BUT what I have for them.

My first experience was just giving them opponents to kill... then I started to implement the mystery element to my stories... I think I was 12 then...

Haha! Yeah, my first experience as a player was a Vampire game based on a very similar pattern Aaaand... I thought it sucked XD It got me sick of White Wolf games and D&D for that very reason... My friend was lucky he was able to capture my attention because it's not an easy task, believe me

Ah! How could I forget!
Dark Ages: Vampire, shortly after it was released. I had been only a player until then. Yeah, that game ended in complete abhorrent failure. Probably my biggest abortion to death, along with a Mage game that started shortly after.

Aw that's too bad Surely it couldn't have been that bad lol Well at least you learned from that experience so not all was lost haha

It was VtM, and it was only a few years ago now. Started with the first settling of New Orleans and moved on to a Roanoakee style wipeout from an ancient fuck evil diabolic Tzimisci warlords awakening.

How it went? Piss poor.

I got too caught up in railroading the game to what I wanted – However that was an incredibly good learning experience when I look back on it.

My second was an Exalted game set in my own homebrew world. I got a lot of positive feedback from that, and still do to this day.

The third was my London VtR game that started recently and once again seems to have been given a good reception.


Best advice? Allow yourself to make mistakes, don't aim for perfection, just try and take it in your stride and learn from what happens.

Next best advice? make sure you and your players are having fun. Be prepared to sacrifice storylines if players don't follow the script. You might suprise yourself at what turns up.

Well although I have a clear storyline, it's more of a background one. They have to find someone, and that someone's a packmate. If they don't try to find her, they'll be loosing their totem for lack of loyalty, since its ban is loyalty. So that I'm not worried about. I'll have them in the 'heart' of the problem as soon as they start, then it's up to them, but deviating from the roots will be hard.

I'm more confident since the 'real' GM, though stepping down as a player for the next three games, will help me out if needed. And the players are pretty mature too. If it deviates, then it does lol I'm just scared of getting stuck XD But then taking a break would also work. ^^

As for having fun, I'm aiming for that. I know some have complained in the past that the rules might be a little too severe, so I'll loosen up a bit.

so can you tell us what that story is or do your players freqent this site?

I won't lie to you, I'm NOT sure. I think the 'real' GM might be from time to time so I don't want to take chances. However, after my first game, I'll be more then delighted to make a resume of the plot and what happened.

(Strangely enough even though the game itself was an utter disaster from top to bottom my vict..er I mean players enjoyed themselves immensely. It could be the fact that I was winging it like a madwoman since they destroyed and/or ignored my plot at every turn...).

Hahaha yeah that does sound funny! XD Hm... well I think I'm prepared to just go crazy haha !


Thanks a lot for all of you who replied! I really appreciate it!

[kris_40000]

Mine was 10 years ago running D&D 2nd ed starter set. Soon after I picked up Arcane magazine and my gm'ing style improved and changed and felt limited by D&D.... so I got Star Wars 2nd ed revised.

My original groups of players lived for playing in character so they were a great help to a starting ST

[Temple]

ADD, about 8 years ago. I had designed my own (ridicilously small) generic fantasy setting, and had a complicated plot all worked out that my players subsequently shat all over. It was frustrating, but I learned a lot. My second time as a DM was actually even more frustrating, because I expected my players to do as I had planned. I learned a lot more from that one than teh last one, and to this day I never railroad. I allow the players to make the story, I just provide the world for it to unfold in and the initial challenges to overcome.

I continued as a player for a few years, before I discovered V:tM with some friends of mine. Played V:tM, learned about how roleplaying games could be played if you werent juvenile (well... if you werent as juvenile as I had been when I played D&D). Then I discovered H:tR, and I was sold. I only ever bought teh core, but I enjoyed it immensely. W:tA followed, but I never liked that one. WHen I got to Mage, I was a somewhat experienced ST, and thats what saved me. I still have fond memories from the first Mage stories I ran back then. With Demon I grew even more, and I now preferr to ST Dark Ages: Fae, Changeling and Wraith.

SO, thats pretty much my entrire rpg history, which sort of isnt what you asked for.. But you got it.

What have I learned from all this? Never plan. Plans are doomed to fail. Just provide the skeleton, teh basic outline of the chronicle, and the players will make all the meat and be convinced you had it planned that way al along.

[Tuesday]

A few important things to remember about running a game:

#1: It will never go according to plan. This is both a feature AND a bug, as it makes it more fun for the players and more work for you.

#2: The game is about the players and their PCs. This doesn't mean they have to be powerful or run the world or even to get what they want, but the game *must* always focus on them and their stories. NPCs exist solely to provide the PCs with something to do and the players with something to interract with. Remember that.

#3: If The Players Haven't Seen It, It's Not Set In Stone. This one is important, remember it: If your players don't *know* there's nothing behind that door, then there can be *anything* behind that door, and if you suddenly need something behind that door, put it there.

#4: Take suggestions. And by take, I mean "steal". You will never think of everything your players think of. They will ask you "Hmm, we think there was a murder in here, but there's no bloodstain.... I look at the dust and coloration on the floor! Has one of the rugs been moved recently? To, say, cover a bloodstain?"
And you, who didn't think of a bloodstain at all in the first place but think a bloodstain would be perfectly good to have, now have a perfect opportunity to say "Why yes, one of the rugs HAS recently been moved. Checking underneath it you find a discoloration"

Or, if you want no bloodstain for a specific reason, then have no bloodstain at all, and let the characters wonder about why that is. That's not the point. The point is that when a character looks for something that you didn't put into the scene, but that you think would be cool to have in the scene, run with it.

#5: Let the PCs do stuff. If somebody paid points for a skill and tries to use it, let them succeed if the dice say they should. ESPECIALLY if they put a lot of points into the skill. Stopping them at every turn except the One True Path frustrates them and feels like railroading. A better way to get the PCs where you want them to go is to accept that they will leave the path, and redirect them to the same goal *anyway*, letting them choose their path to the goal you've chosen.

It's still linear storytelling (which is a great bonus for you) but it *feels* like open-ended storytelling to them, where they define where and how the game goes (which is a great bonus for them).

#6: The players don't know what you know. What you see as a blatant hint will *not* be blatant to them, and they will take your hints and run in crazy directions with them because they lack the other information you have. Expect this, and *always* prepare more hints than you think you will need. Dole out these extra pieces of direction when the PCs start going horribly wrong, or when they get stuck. Try to be a little more subtle than "No, you're wrong, here's another clue" - if they jump to the wrong conclusion and start investigating it, let them, through their own work, find a contradictory clue that points them away from the wrong conclusion.

That's a start.

WHEN, not if, the players throw you something you're totally not expecting and have no idea what to do with, don't be afraid to say "Okay, 5-minute break. Go have a smoke or get a snack or whatever" to give yourself time to think before responding.

Finally, you know you're new. Make sure the players know you're new, and they'll put up with a little hemming and hawing and uncertainty, and work with you to make things better.

[MariaSunderland]

SO, thats pretty much my entrire rpg history, which sort of isnt what you asked for.. But you got it.

Haha don't worry! I thought it was quite interesting! I have a few storytellers as friends, and I'm sure they could relate quite a bit to your 'history'

The usual GM will be stepping down as a player actually, which he hasn't done in a long while. He's quite excited about it actually, and at the same time, I guess it gave him a sort of break from planning out the upcoming stories every two weeks

As for planning, well, aside from a squeleton, I haven't gone too much into details. There are things I want them to find out of course, but I shouldn't have a problem guiding them despite the path they'll take. I'll admit that reading all these posts has indeed given me more confidence with what's coming ^^


To Thuesday:

Thanks a lot for those insightful advices. I'll definitly take them to heart, and it will help greatly. It's helped me understand where I'm going and how to handle things a little better.

The players are people I've been playing with for over a year now, but I've acted as a player up until now. So now the storyteller is stepping down as a player for three games (our chronicles will last between 2 and 3 games ). So they know I've never done this before, and I will repeat it before officially starting as well. They're very mature and great players, so I'm not worried they won't help me.

I have a feeling I'll be taking a few breaks, from what I'm reading, but it's not a bad thing. I'll also ask them their thoughts when the first game ends to see what I could do to make it better, etc. ^^

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this down, Tuesday. Again, it'll help me quite a bit!


And, once again, thanks to everyone who took the time to reply! I appreciate it a lot!

Luv,
Maria

[Annael]

Here's another tip: Railroading is bad, but feeling as though the ST has lost control doesn't make things fun, either.

Remember: if you don't flinch, they don't know you just had to cover for something. Unless you give away that you're improvising, they won't know you are. On the other hand, a brief hesitation before you respond now and then isn't going to destroy your game. The players know you're human; evidence of this won't harm them, so long as you don't give away the fact that you just pulled the entire subplot they're now following from your ass half an hour ago.
One of the things you learn as you gain more STing experience is when to bring your poker face into play.

[Deimos_Masque]

And something I still have problems with is "Avoid the Deus Ex Machina"

[krowe]

And something I still have problems with is "Avoid the Deus Ex Machina"

Very much a truth. I, and many of the people I game with, would rather the entire group die horribly and wipe the entire game than be saved from that certain doom by miraculous NPCs with no other reason to be there than to save our asses.

[MariaSunderland]

Here's another tip: Railroading is bad, but feeling as though the ST has lost control doesn't make things fun, either.

Remember: if you don't flinch, they don't know you just had to cover for something. Unless you give away that you're improvising, they won't know you are. On the other hand, a brief hesitation before you respond now and then isn't going to destroy your game. The players know you're human; evidence of this won't harm them, so long as you don't give away the fact that you just pulled the entire subplot they're now following from your ass half an hour ago.
One of the things you learn as you gain more STing experience is when to bring your poker face into play.

Thanks, I'll definitly keep that in mind!

And something I still have problems with is "Avoid the Deus Ex Machina"

What do you mean?

[Temple]

Wikipedia! Because I suck at explaining!

[Halla]

My first Werewolf Storytelling Experience is viewable at the link.

I have not dared to repeat it since then for real, kept to text only. The advice I came away from that is that it is way easier to run your own game than a premade plot.

[Annael]

"As you sink into the watery gloom, the last breath bubbling from your lungs, you feel a hand catch in the collar of your shirt. You're dragged from the water to see...it's Malkav! He's come to save you!"

"Uh...this is a Mage game, dude."

The deus ex machina ("god in the machine") originally comes from Greek plays, where a god makes an appearance toward the end to resolve the plot. It's come to hold negative connotations, as in, "You had so much trouble resolving the storyline that you had to resort to a deus ex machina." Usually, it indicates that the storyline is going to hell, and the author or ST is panicking, unable to think of a way to fix things without throwing some improbable, overpowered plot device in that typically has little to no foundation in the story so far.

My gaming group likes to refer to the 'panic button.' It's a similar idea, except that we work in a specific NPC or scenario into the game early on, that can plausibly show up to save the PCs' asses if things go horribly awry--say, a spy that wanders in and out of the story now and then, or an Elder who took an interest in the characters early on, but who mainly tries to stay out of their way and observe. It could even be the villain, keeping the characters alive for some dark purpose of his own. Note that resorting to the panic button should always have negative consequences for the PCs...but at least they're alive, and now they've probably got new plothooks. Never give them a free ride to safety, or they'll learn to abuse it.

I've only seen a deus ex machina used twice. The first was nothing less than an attempt to "reboot" by a positively horrible GM who'd accidentally gotten all our PCs killed because he was too busy pandering to one of the players to notice. When he tried it, we all just stood up and walked away from the table. The other was in a retard's prelude, as he seemingly systematically destroyed every opportunity the ST provided to save the PC's worthless life. The ST didn't want to off the character before it even made it into the game...not that the mongrel lasted long afterward.

[MariaSunderland]

And now we are here. Tomorrow is D-day. As some people know, I am fretting over this a lot. What if I make mistakes? What if I bore the players? What if no-one even signs in my games? What if they do sign in and run when they see me? What if I have a nervous breakdown and turn into a simulacrum of quivering jelly? These and a hundred other worries plague my mind, yet I am also excited.

Aaaah yeah... sounds like me alright! Our current Storyteller is really good as he's been a ST for years now. He's had his share of experience, and learned a lot. I somewhat learned from the side, from what I witnessed or heard, and know what not to do. At least I think lol

Halla, your experience sounds like a lot of fun! And I'm glad you enjoyed it even if you were not quite satisfied with the full result

What I'm hoping to do is let the characters discover things as they go, and not throw 10000 clues in their face and go "Well it was pretty obvious!" ... no, as a player, I know it's not always the case. Some clues will be stronger, but I'm willing to be flexible and change what's needed to be changed. (Ugh! How I wish I could let you know what I planned... But I know at least 2 players lurk these boards from time to time LOL So I don't want to take chances )

And thanks for the "Deus Ex Machina" description. I understand better now, and I don't think I'll need a 'panic button' . There would be nothing realistic in that anyway. We have plenty of characters, so I'm not worried the Wizard of Oz will have to come and rescue those poor souls... haha