red-headed android

i keep seeing this one everywhere.

you’re the GM, right? you should be allowed to do whatever you want! and yeah, technically speaking, you can do whatever you want within the confines of the game. you can say anything, and according to the social contract set up in the typical rpg, it happens.

but obviously there’s all sorts of shit you shouldn’t say. for one thing, tabletop rpgs are conversations, and if you say heinously offensive stuff in any conversation, you’re going to stop being part of the conversation.

that’s not what i’m talking about, though. i think the vast majority of GMs have the social awareness to not say anything that’d get them slapped in the face in a regular conversation, and the intelligence to not abuse their position as GM to bully people or make them uncomfortable for fun. most of the horror stories you hear are about that, but they’re horror stories because that stuff isn’t normal.

no, i’m actually talking about the normal stuff. stuff that you shouldn’t do not because it’s obviously wrong, hurtful or harmful, but stuff that you should forbid yourself from doing because the game is more fun if you’re not god.

here’s what i mean. there’s this game called Masks: A New Generation, which i like a lot, and that game is about teenage superheroes discovering who they are in a comic-book city that challenges their identity at every turn. that game should have a sense of stability with its NPCs, so their views matter. it should encourage its player characters to be heroes. and it should maintain a light enough tone that the story is about personal growth, not desperation or trauma.

a lot of games would describe this in the player and GM section, and then not really push the issue. Masks doesn’t do that. Masks handcuffs the GM, and it’s awesome. it has a rule that says, to the GM’s face, “treat human life as meaningful”. it says what that means: never kill a character for shock value or in an unforeshadowed way, even a background NPC. always flag people who need saving, so heroes can save them. treat life and death with the seriousness they deserve, so every person feels like they matter.

what happens to the GM if they break that rule? well, the same thing that happens to a player that breaks rules. they’re cheating. strictly speaking, they’re not playing the game anymore. it’s the same as a player lying and saying that they rolled a nat 20 when they actually got a 2. it’s cheating, and anyone playing is justified in calling it out as the wrong way to play. and the GM doesn’t get to say “the GM is god” to that; the expectation has been set that they follow rules too. and this is a very good thing.

when you GM, even if the game you’re playing doesn’t have rules, give yourself some. if you let yourself think you can change everything on a whim, or break the rules for your own amusement or because you think it’s a good idea at the time, or that the ‘right’ way to play is whatever you feel like in the moment, then you’ll become sloppy. you’ll be unmoored, making rookie mistakes that you wouldn’t have if you just had some rules in front of you to–not restrict you arbitrarily–but remind you how you want your game to feel. when you play Masks you want a teen super game with a lighter tone. you, the GM, should decide what you want, and set rules for yourself that will get you there.

where to start, though? well, you could read some Powered by the Apocalypse games and see what rules they set for the GM, and adapt the ones that fit your tone into personal rules for yourself, but game designers don’t have a monopoly on… knowing what tone is, right? nor do they have a monopoly on best practices. you, too, can put yourself in dope-ass handcuffs that make you a better GM and make your players have more fun.

here’s one of my favourites, for running any game:

say what honesty demands. this one is from Apocalypse World. it means, don’t be a liar.

when a player asks you X about the world, and you think they should logically be able to deduce or realize X but it would spoil part of your plot–don’t be a liar! tell them what their character would know!

when you run up against the edge of your prep, and don’t have anything planned for if they interrogate the hermit at the edge of town–don’t be a liar! tell them he doesn’t know anything and that this is a dead end!

when the dice come up nasty and a PC dies–don’t be a liar! tell them the bad news, instead of lying about dice results to make them feel better!

when there’s a misconception among the players, and it’s obvious from what you’ve said previously that it’s not the case, but it sounds fun to let them act on wrong information–don’t be a liar! speak up and tell them they’ve misinterpreted you, instead of turning it into a gotcha.

a rule is only a rule if you actually have to follow it. otherwise it’s a suggestion. when you always say what honesty demands, then the players will learn to trust you. they’ll learn that while you might not be able to tell them everything they want to know, you will never tell them anything that isn’t true. if you hate rules, if you don’t think this is a good idea, if you like being god, this is the rule you should take a chance on. radical honesty is the GM best practice, and it should be a rule you follow.

there are some other rules i often come back to that can transform games if followed well. besides the Masks one (which, by the way, can give a lighter and more stable tone to any game), i really like using:

make threats real. this is a common rule from Powered by the Apocalypse games, in one form or another. basically, never nerf something that’s been built up as scary. never imply bad consequences as GM and refuse to follow through on them. if your players don’t believe there are consequences then they won’t believe the world is real. and that’s not fun. so hit ’em.

give everything a cost. this is for gritty, grimy, political games. make every alliance contingent on acting a certain way. make NPCs withhold their trust until the players prove themselves. don’t just give out xp; lock it behind something they have to work or sacrifice for (see xp is good actually for more on that). don’t make the world cruel, but make it unforgiving. soon they’ll value everything they’ve earned and accomplished, and be wary of exploiting the people whose trust they’ve gained. good for crime games, low-power fantasy, and Spire: The City Must Fall.

be a fan of the PCs. another Apocalypse mainstay, this is a rule that every game should have in my opinion. never treat the PCs like shit, pretend their cool characteristics, abilities or achievements don’t matter, or make them look like fools–a fan wouldn’t want to see that happen. never hand them easy victories or deny them their struggles, nor the opportunity to use those cool things unique to them to overcome hardship–a fan wouldn’t want to see that happen, either. loving a character this way means never compromising or denying what makes them awesome, no matter what; it also means never pulling your punches, so when they win, it’s real.

live to fight another day. as it happens, this one is in Masks too, but it’s actually more relevant in more traditional fantasy. don’t let your villains act like clowns, throwing themselves to their deaths for no reason. have them retreat. have them make deals. have them slink off into the shadows to plot. not only will this make your NPCs feel like real people, who famously don’t enjoy dying, it will also mean you get to have more plot hooks later, and reap the benefits of familiar baddies returning later–your players know them, you know how to play them, etc.

these are all pretty good rules, assuming they make sense for your game. which you’re still the arbiter of. you get to decide which rules to follow, as the GM. but you’re not god. once you set a rule for yourself, once you’re sure, you have to follow it, no matter how ‘cool’ or convenient it would be if you didn’t, because otherwise it isn’t a rule, and a rule that isn’t a rule doesn’t matter. that goes for all the unspoken rules like ‘don’t be a dick’, but it goes double for those rules you consciously choose.

people will notice that you’re following the rules you make. they’ll respect and appreciate you for it, and they’ll understand what’s possible in your game, what’s expected. you should make some, tell them to your players, and then follow them. give it a try. being god sucks.