Howdy folks!
In recent months, I've been involved in some serious discussions over at the RPGsite and other forums around the web centering on what became a philosophic debate on intent. More specifically, I am of the view that preparation affects RPG gaming in a positive way. I was very surprised at how many gamers do not share this view, but I thought I would address how this debate has affected the Wargate specifically.
Over the last year, we've had several GM's run games for us. Most of those games went fantastic throughout their 10+ week run, and as a result we've even extended the main run for most RPG's to 16+ weeks since the addition of the schedule 2 games.
However, not every game went so well. During a few games club morale dipped pretty low, and some players were rather put out and resolved not to play in certain games. It was felt that a lot of what was happening in the game was being made up on the spot, and was easily recognizable as being drawn out of thin air. While I believe that being able to ad-lib is one of the best talents a GM can possess, the biggest source of this was the fact that GM's were simply not writing their scenarios.
Each session became an ad-hoc group talk session with a random combat thrown in, and as time wore on this got worse. This led to some pretty weird places, and made group members uncomfortable in more than one situation. Random events - for no reason - that were made up on the spot - often for a silly reason. A random chain of events with very little rhyme or reason does not a campaign make.
Before anyone attacks me with "you can't tell me what to do" or "I can run an ad-lib game by the seat of my pants that will knock your socks off" - let me tell you that you are invariably wrong. You will have made some notes at one point and you will have brought notes to the game for that session. Even the vilest turds on the RPGsite agree to that.
We've had a lot of experience with gaming here at the ol' Wargate - I'm not even going to go into it. Lets just say - you have a passel of wargamers who double as rules lawyers here, not your run of the mill FLGS club. You'd better be well versed in the rules (because there's more than one of those floating around, guaranteed) and you'd better be well planned in terms of scenario - if you intend on running a game for these hounds of hell.
So, in an effort to curb the ad-lib and encourage thought out campaigns and adventures, the Wargate enacted a rule last month.
No Text / No Game
- In order to run a game during Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 game nights as GM for an RPG, the GM must have prepared notes for that session/campaign.
Pretty simple, eh? Well, it has been a sensitive subject, and I feel that the counterpoint is without merit.
Now, I want to be clear that this isn't a final haranguing by the Bone to those Wargate GM's who feel this applies(d) to them. We've went through that already. As soon as this rule was enacted, this problem absolutely stopped at the Wargate. Everyone's game immediately picked up, and we've been having a blast since.
No longer did players feel as if they were being circumvented or aided by the fickle whim of the GM alone. This is an important thing for us here at the Wargate, where we are gamists - not dramatists. It makes everything feel more authentic if the encounter / scenario has great pacing and we don't have to look up systems for every thing about the adventure that isn't standard.
So, the rule about the notes. However, it's not as if we check every time.
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| The Word Police want to see your papers. |
So I'll sign off with this - make your notes, people. Don't show up saying it's all in your head, because that way lie madness (or at least some anger and resentment over you not taking the time to prepare for the evening). Even sandboxes need notes - it's sort of a commitment to the game at hand.
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