Do’s and Don’ts

As with the groups people work and play with in everyday life, in a role-playing group there are roles as well. But there are really only two roles in a gaming group; that of the player, and that of the Gm. With the roles there come jobs assigned to them and the unwritten rules that go with them. When these rules and roles are adhered to, the game runs smoothly. When they get thrown to the side things begin to break down. Power struggles happen in gaming as within real life. Lots of players get resentful of that fact that the Gm is basically in charge. Unfortunately they also forget that, just like in real life, a group needs a leader to organize things; set up dates, times, and places the usual. Just like in real life somebody has to be in charge or else chaos rules and nothing gets done. To alleviate this I’ve come up with a brief listing that shows a bit of just how different the roles of the player and the gm really are. Being a Gm is a far cry from being just a player. There are many nuances that a good Gm incorporates into his or her style of game mastering. Some prefer to let the players take any action they want and shape the game world around the players desires. Others like to create a story and let the pc’s interact within their worlds, changing the plots. Some tell a story where nothing the players do can change anything. Chuga-chuga-chuga-choo-choo. In my games I personally prefer the Cthulhu concept that, yes the players can change the world, but their deeds with never be known. Compared to this the players have it easy. They are the characters within the script. The Gm however must make up the script that involves the characters and their specialties. Which breaks down further into many sub-jobs. I’ll give a brief listing of the Gm’s main jobs.

To tell a story where the players are the central protagonists.
To create a universe for the players to inhabit.
To control every action within this universe.
To be every single person in this universe.
To challenge his/her players so that they stay interested.
To have a good time. However many Gm’s seem to forget several things about being a player. They too have jobs within this group. But they only seem to remember them when it is either their ass in the frying pan or it can screw someone else. I’ll list a sampling of the players jobs.
To play in a game and work with a group.
Stay in character.
Assume their roles within the script.
To have a good time. Alas, groups seem to forget that there are just as many things gm’s and player’s aren’t supposed to do. Each has a list of no-no’s associated with their place within a group. I’ll give a sampling for each.

Jobs a Gm doesn’t or shouldn’t do

Be a camp counselor. It isn’t our job to be a counselor for the group when disputes come up. We’re all supposed to be adults even though often we don’t act like them.
Be a 900 number psychic friend. I’m not psychic. I don’t know about the rest of you but I can’t tell what you’re thinking unless I can guess by your facial expressions. I can’t see into the future and predict the problems in your lives. To solve this a little human courtesy on both sides is needed along with a telephone.
A shoulder to cry on. Gm’s aren’t your therapists. It’s not in the job description. That’s what personal friends and personal time is for.
The player’s whipping boy/girl.
A pocket scheduler to remind you when the session is.
A mortician. Gm’s who count success with dead player character’s don’t have player’s for very long.
A sadist. It’s one thing to mess with character’s life. But to deliberately inflict emotional damage is a definite no-no.

Jobs a player shouldn’t do.

It isn’t your job to be the Gm’s whipping boy. Respect has to come from both sides.
Be a thorn in your Gm’s side. Work with them not against them.
Cannon Fodder. You’re just as important as anybody else in the group. Speak up and get your fair share of the limelight. But this isn’t a release to hog all of it. Just your equal share.
A disruption. This is a group activity. Not your personal play room. Everybody is there to have a good time. Leave the distractions at home. If you can’t, then don’t come.
A cry baby. Life isn’t fair and the game isn’t either. Good people die for no reason at all some of the time. So when you’re in the corporate installation expect armed resistance.
Another player’s gopher. It’s not your job to have your pc do things under the direction of someone else unless you want to. Don’t let anybody else in the group bully you around. This does not mean to not be a team player. But it is not your job to carry another team members equipment if he or she is capable. So to basically sum it up, just like in real life a game has it’s do’s as well as its do not’s. Sometimes you won’t like them but they exist to help the activity move along just like any other activity, whether it’s a board room meeting or a game of Shadowrun. As I said, respect has to come from both sides. A gm has to respect his players or they won’t have respect for him. It’s a rough item to balance and an easy one to upset.

Not to long ago which according to my time was about 9 or 10 pm est on Nov 19th. I received a letter from a fellow in Peru(?), unfortunately my harddrive was in the middle of a read write error. So needless to say I lost it. So to keep up the public relations I’ll try and answer his questions from the quick glance I gave the letter
NightLife.

One of the questions I received pertained to what do runners do in their down time if memory serves. Basically just about what the rest of the world does. They, if their players are roleplayers have hobbies which they enjoy, girlfriends/boyfriends that they are involved with sometimes they even choose to marry. Right Bull ;-). They spend a lot of the time increasing their skills and sometimes just going out to have a good time at the local dinner. Another question dealt what do padepts do to increase their abilities as regular mages do. Generally they spend a fair chunk of karma on initiation. Initiation lets them get a magic point for every level beyond grade 0. With this new magic point they can upgrade abilities paying the difference between the old ability and it’s new level or just buy plain new one. They also get a few of the initiate powers. Masking, centering come to mind right now without digging out my grimoire. As for any other question he might have asked I simply can’t remember although I do feel bad that his letter was lost. I really get a kick out of fan mail and answering a fellow SR players questions.