Satine Phoenix DM Tips: Dungeon Master Co-Op November 25, 2020Zoltar oh my god so this one time I told my</p> <p>friends I was running a battle royale</p> <p>game at mill town and it was super fun</p> <p>there were two teams of five going after</p> <p>the same prize Matt Marisha were there</p> <p>Jason Charles Miller and Dodger were</p> <p>there I had everyone dressed up in suits</p> <p>and cocktail dresses server d’oeuvres</p> <p>and all in the comic shop as I was</p> <p>coming up with the story in arena I</p> <p>realized that although I’m used to</p> <p>tables of 10 players I needed an</p> <p>assistant game master oh yeah I’m</p> <p>catching Phoenix this is GM tip and</p> <p>today’s theme is GM co-op back to battle</p> <p>royale aka PvP are teaching I realized I</p> <p>need an assistant this way we could both</p> <p>introduce the two teams to the situation</p> <p>at the same time and then leave them to</p> <p>the arena where I would take over the</p> <p>main jamming Patrick my assistant would</p> <p>help keep track of the initiative and</p> <p>status effects I often have a hard time</p> <p>with encounters that have too many</p> <p>participants having an assistant helped</p> <p>the smoothness of my storytelling so I</p> <p>don’t have to pause to find the thing</p> <p>later in the game someone came in and I</p> <p>had them perform the monsters it was</p> <p>this amazing battle that made me feel</p> <p>like I was conducting an orchestra it</p> <p>was amazing having an assistant GM is</p> <p>fantastic but what about having two</p> <p>games today I’d like to introduce Bruce</p> <p>Lee Keith Manik the two game masters of</p> <p>storm a game we played in for almost</p> <p>three years yes it was a long time it</p> <p>was a long time and you guys tricked me</p> <p>because it started off as so into the</p> <p>Dragons but it evolved actually it was</p> <p>really cool that it evolved to do there</p> <p>were the two of you game masters and how</p> <p>many players were yet I think our most</p> <p>was above twenty above twenty they were</p> <p>like twenty four were a couple sessions</p> <p>we were above twenty and then by the end</p> <p>we had ten to twelve pretty regularly</p> <p>and that’s why you’re here today so we</p> <p>could talk about two game masters at the</p> <p>table so how to work together and how to</p> <p>work together so earlier I talked about</p> <p>assistant chance you guys actually coach</p> <p>and you talked about that a little in</p> <p>the beginning when we first came up with</p> <p>it we thought it would be cool if we</p> <p>created a world</p> <p>I came up with one of the continents</p> <p>called em blurt anis and then Keith came</p> <p>up so I came up with the second</p> <p>continent Adriel to the east and then</p> <p>there was a third larger continent that</p> <p>the idea behind it was we would get the</p> <p>players to help define that setting the</p> <p>way we did our koji i mean was that when</p> <p>things happen that were M blue tennis I</p> <p>would do those things and I did I made a</p> <p>lot of the final calls on character</p> <p>choices and the location and the history</p> <p>of it whereas Keith did Israel yeah so</p> <p>when they came depending on where the</p> <p>the campaign was going on when the party</p> <p>came to Israel I then kind of stepped up</p> <p>from being second chair when from when</p> <p>we were in Templar Tanith to first chair</p> <p>I designed a lot of the major NPCs there</p> <p>and then when it came to the last</p> <p>section dolor in the third continent we</p> <p>split it up based on which which regions</p> <p>we were more passionate about which</p> <p>characters we created that sort of thing</p> <p>I think one of the things that is the</p> <p>biggest advantages of being game having</p> <p>more than one game master is that you’re</p> <p>going to people in multiple locations so</p> <p>it could be as complex as to one person</p> <p>when one group wants to go to one</p> <p>comment and the other group wants to go</p> <p>to another continent – as simple as</p> <p>three members of the party sneaked ahead</p> <p>to look assess the enemy and see what’s</p> <p>happening while the rest of the party</p> <p>preps and organizes and sets up some</p> <p>sort of ambush their attack and by doing</p> <p>it that way you can do everything at the</p> <p>same time which makes everything run</p> <p>smoother and is more fun for the players</p> <p>you had these things happening at the</p> <p>same time you guys are separated how do</p> <p>you share that information because as</p> <p>the games going on you know the party</p> <p>splits we party comes back together how</p> <p>do you</p> <p>you guys didn’t make it look complicated</p> <p>it was seamless so that when everyone</p> <p>got back together it was almost like you</p> <p>guys are sharing brains so how did you</p> <p>do that so seamlessly well obviously</p> <p>preparation it’s one of the big things</p> <p>that keeps getting repeated on this show</p> <p>but another thing that’s important is</p> <p>knowing who is the lead and who makes</p> <p>decisions on different tanks so for</p> <p>example when I would take a group away</p> <p>and do things Keith knew that when we</p> <p>came back and they said like they ran</p> <p>into a monster they ran to this empty</p> <p>sear the Aranda this organization and</p> <p>Keith said thought to himself I have no</p> <p>idea what happened I don’t know what the</p> <p>monster was I don’t know what the</p> <p>organization is I don’t know what it is</p> <p>but he would say okay and then he would</p> <p>put that into his own game and by doing</p> <p>that by just saying yes which is a</p> <p>common improvisational technique we</p> <p>could make a seamless idea that we were</p> <p>working together and it planned a lot of</p> <p>things in advance and we knew it was</p> <p>going to happen and we knew it was going</p> <p>to happen the other room the whole time</p> <p>when in fact we just rolled with it and</p> <p>one thing when the party splits and they</p> <p>come back together the natural tendency</p> <p>is you tell the other half of the party</p> <p>what happened so during that period of</p> <p>time if there’s something that the other</p> <p>party did that I don’t know about</p> <p>they’re telling me in addition to</p> <p>telling each other and it gives Bruce</p> <p>and I the opportunity to step to the</p> <p>side and also tell each other stuff that</p> <p>happened maybe the PCs aren’t aware of</p> <p>so we have there are these natural</p> <p>breaks in the game where you can take</p> <p>advantage of time to keep each other up</p> <p>to date so splitting the party that’s</p> <p>one benefit to Co jamming what is</p> <p>another bonus to doing that the ability</p> <p>to bounce ideas off of each other can be</p> <p>huge especially when as you said we</p> <p>started off as Dungeons & Dragons and</p> <p>then once we hit a certain number of</p> <p>people the main reason that we</p> <p>transitioned into this more homemade</p> <p>system was we needed something that</p> <p>could handle a larger group that could</p> <p>play a bit faster and when you’re</p> <p>designing your own system where you’re</p> <p>making house rules or or changing the</p> <p>system in any way it’s really helpful to</p> <p>have somebody to bounce ideas off of and</p> <p>collaborate with to get to come up with</p> <p>the best possible solution I do want to</p> <p>talk a little bit about the difference</p> <p>between koji IMing with someone and</p> <p>being an assistant yeah because they are</p> <p>very different when we did the storm</p> <p>Keith and I we made it together we split</p> <p>the world and we split the duties and</p> <p>when he left and he was he was the GM he</p> <p>was making the story I’ve also had</p> <p>experiences where I was in charge and I</p> <p>had an assistant in fact</p> <p>I ran a series of games in college that</p> <p>I really enjoyed where I had three</p> <p>assistants they were they were actually</p> <p>uh larks</p> <p>much like vampire the masquerade except</p> <p>that what we did was horror movies and I</p> <p>would come up with a story throughout</p> <p>the night of something like you’re a in</p> <p>a haunted ghost town and the ghosts</p> <p>appear because it’s the curse night and</p> <p>you have to survive and in advance I</p> <p>would lay out an outline of like dasor</p> <p>this is what’s going to happen and when</p> <p>I ran that game I actually had times</p> <p>where I was like at 9:00 p.m. this is</p> <p>going to happen at 10:00 p.m. this is</p> <p>going to happen and so forth and by</p> <p>doing it my three assistants who they</p> <p>might be in a completely different room</p> <p>because when we do that when we ran</p> <p>these LARP we would be in like six</p> <p>different rooms in a building Wow yeah</p> <p>and you wouldn’t know or see or hear</p> <p>what other people are doing</p> <p>so those assistants had to run the game</p> <p>and had to know it was going to happen</p> <p>and had to make their own story but</p> <p>because we had these time chart they</p> <p>could look at the clock and know oh it’s</p> <p>10 o’clock that means that this terrible</p> <p>scream comes from the church or</p> <p>something so</p> <p>even though I as the main GM was in one</p> <p>room everywhere around this building a</p> <p>storyteller was there to say you hear</p> <p>scream coming from the church and it</p> <p>made it feel like a full unit story</p> <p>rather than people in chaos</p> <p>let’s talk about your pregame house</p> <p>rules I would say that the biggest thing</p> <p>about when I game master it’s that my</p> <p>games have consequences if you run at</p> <p>the souls if there’s a unit of soldiers</p> <p>and you’re one person you run at them</p> <p>with a sword you’re going to die or you</p> <p>might get seriously injured so I always</p> <p>warn players in advance that their</p> <p>actions could lead to harm and death and</p> <p>losing limbs and all sorts of bad things</p> <p>it’s true that’s the thing that happens</p> <p>yes but and I also say the players are</p> <p>the protagonists of the story at the end</p> <p>of the day I am running the game to let</p> <p>my players be heroes be protagonists so</p> <p>if they make good choices and even</p> <p>more if they surprise me things often go</p> <p>well for them but and in keeping with</p> <p>this actions have consequences there’s</p> <p>danger around every corner you are not</p> <p>the most powerful person in existence at</p> <p>any time you are still a guy with a</p> <p>sword or wizard with a handful of spells</p> <p>but around the corner there could be</p> <p>some arch maze who’s been studying magic</p> <p>for 3,000 years and he’s going to ruin</p> <p>your day</p> <p>well one of the other house rules that I</p> <p>think is important is how players</p> <p>communicate with each other and</p> <p>differentiating between down time versus</p> <p>action scenes so not necessarily fights</p> <p>but if something is happening and a</p> <p>player has to make a decision in order</p> <p>to let the player make the decision it’s</p> <p>important to control the people around</p> <p>them telling them what to do because</p> <p>people don’t like to feel like they’re</p> <p>losing their agency because the more</p> <p>experienced players giving them advice</p> <p>and realistically if you’re if you’re in</p> <p>the middle of a tense situation if</p> <p>you’re in the middle of a fight and</p> <p>you’re not going to have one guy who’s</p> <p>also fighting be yelling to ten people</p> <p>about what they need to do yeah so</p> <p>making that clear in advance that</p> <p>speaking requires actions that if you</p> <p>have a certain number of actions and</p> <p>around and you want to talk to people</p> <p>you might not be able to do as much</p> <p>other stuff favorite jam moment so my</p> <p>favorite GM moments are any time that</p> <p>the players figure out that the villain</p> <p>might actually be a good guy</p> <p>it’s one of my favorite moments ever</p> <p>because I like to write my games have a</p> <p>lot of gray morality in them so the bad</p> <p>guys do bad things but they often do</p> <p>them for the right reasons and the good</p> <p>guys seem good but they also have their</p> <p>own bad things going on no one in my</p> <p>games is ever like truly good or truly</p> <p>evil and if they are they’re very rare</p> <p>so I love when the PCs are in a</p> <p>situation and they say wow that guy’s</p> <p>might be right and an example of that is</p> <p>I gave in my game storm there was</p> <p>someone called there was a god called a</p> <p>Raven king and his duty on the planet</p> <p>was to take magic away from humanity</p> <p>that humanity long ago had gotten magic</p> <p>from the gods and he had been sent down</p> <p>from the heavens to take it back because</p> <p>we can’t be trusted with all this power</p> <p>and the party with like oh screw him we</p> <p>want we want magic Magic’s good magic</p> <p>makes the world a better place and they</p> <p>found this powerful artifact that would</p> <p>channel their magic and make it more</p> <p>powerful so they ran to these enemies</p> <p>near a river and they cast a spell to</p> <p>make the river overflow and destroy</p> <p>their enemies and then they found out</p> <p>that the spell had overflown the river</p> <p>so much and flooded everything that a</p> <p>village down the river had been</p> <p>destroyed and people had died and</p> <p>innocents had been killed because they</p> <p>used this magic to destroy their enemies</p> <p>and in that moment they thought you know</p> <p>maybe we shouldn’t have this much power</p> <p>remember that – um so some of my</p> <p>favorite GM moments are when you set up</p> <p>something and it pays off and the PCs</p> <p>are surprised and like really thrown</p> <p>back and happy with this plot point that</p> <p>you’ve set up over the course of several</p> <p>sessions so my example is also from</p> <p>storm so we had in Israel in the country</p> <p>that I built um there was this king and</p> <p>his whole thing was that he claimed he</p> <p>knew the time of his death and as a</p> <p>result he was very cocky he would go</p> <p>riding into battle knowing he’d be fine</p> <p>because I don’t I don’t die for a while</p> <p>and we have this necromancer who had</p> <p>this rot this rod of incredible power if</p> <p>he pointed it at anything he could kill</p> <p>whole armies wipe out units and the the</p> <p>party has met this necromancer and they</p> <p>come to the king and they say you got to</p> <p>worry about this guy like you can’t just</p> <p>go riding off and charge it this guy</p> <p>he’s really dangerous the king being</p> <p>cocky was like oh I’m gonna charge</p> <p>straight at it and we knew that what was</p> <p>going we knew what was going to happen</p> <p>and we wanted to show how dangerous this</p> <p>necromancer was so three sessions before</p> <p>the big fight with the with the big bad</p> <p>guy we had them meet this guy called the</p> <p>hand who was this powerful religious</p> <p>fighter and he helped them out he saved</p> <p>them in a couple fights and for two to</p> <p>three sessions he helped them out and</p> <p>showed how strong he was and how cool he</p> <p>was and the PC started to really like</p> <p>this guy they get into the final fight</p> <p>they’re trying to distract the</p> <p>necromancer because they know whoever he</p> <p>focuses on is going to die and the hand</p> <p>goes riding up to shoot at the</p> <p>necromancer the necromancer turns</p> <p>towards him points his wand and</p> <p>instantly killed him god yeah and the</p> <p>PCs are like oh my god this guy was so</p> <p>powerful this necromancer is ridiculous</p> <p>there’s no way the Kings going to be</p> <p>fine so then the King goes charging up</p> <p>still just as cocky as ever</p> <p>the necromancer raises his his wand he</p> <p>points it at the king and the</p> <p>necromancers arm blows off and he just</p> <p>starts screaming in pain the King rides</p> <p>up to him and finishes him off and the</p> <p>PCs had they were shocked they did not</p> <p>see it coming and that was having this</p> <p>payoff of setting up over several</p> <p>sessions all these various NPCs their</p> <p>interactions with each other and their</p> <p>interactions with the party and then</p> <p>having them be genuinely surprised quick</p> <p>tip for the audience</p> <p>gM tip if you please my damn tip is you</p> <p>should be willing to trust people</p> <p>whether they be your players or your</p> <p>code GM’s or your assistant gems you</p> <p>need to trust that people are going to</p> <p>make the right decisions so my quick GM</p> <p>tip this is going to be about combat</p> <p>because that’s that’s the thing I feel</p> <p>like I specialize in and that is you</p> <p>need to be willing to break the rules to</p> <p>bend the rules in the middle and be</p> <p>flexible so I like to come up with</p> <p>combats that are weird and maybe not</p> <p>balanced</p> <p>maybe you’re fighting something a bit</p> <p>too powerful for the PCs or they’re in a</p> <p>situation that it doesn’t look like they</p> <p>can make it out be willing to fudge the</p> <p>dice to in the middle change the rules</p> <p>here’s a list of tips for today’s show</p> <p>for all new Lister’s out there tip</p> <p>number one split responsibilities tip</p> <p>number two with the party tip number</p> <p>three Jam collaboration tip number four</p> <p>learn each other’s jam style and tip</p> <p>number 5 gm mentorship that’s our show</p> <p>for today don’t forget to ask your jam</p> <p>tip questions in the comments and on</p> <p>twitter at hashtag ask Zeki Bruce ji</p> <p>thank you so much for coming on that was</p> <p>awesome</p> <p>like I got a good insight on storm</p> <p>because like to play a game for three</p> <p>years usually learn a little more about</p> <p>it you can find them on Twitter and</p> <p>through Sonic and at Keith Manik thanks</p> <p>for watching GM tips here on geek and</p> <p>sundry as always I’m setting Phoenix you</p> <p>assigned me every Sunday with some of my</p> <p>gaming pals on music on a calm or</p> <p>twitch.tv slash Mays Arcana and dungeon</p> <p>mastering this summer with reading on</p> <p>series reach on twitch.tv slash D&D</p> <p>fruit I keep GM aside of you Satine your</p> <p>writing on your horse bow at your side</p> <p>sword mounted on your saddle next to you</p> <p>going to the woods as fast as you can</p> <p>because you haven’t heard for your</p> <p>friend James you’ve lost keep somewhere</p> <p>out here</p> <p>you were scouting for something</p> <p>dangerous in the woods you don’t know</p> <p>what it is and then you come up with</p> <p>cross the woods open out a little bit</p> <p>and then you hear nothing the animals</p> <p>are gone the birds are gone below you</p> <p>there’s a short clip about Jim’s feet</p> <p>you see something terrible you see your</p> <p>friend covered in blood and something</p> <p>floating above him it’s metal it moves</p> <p>and it turns it doesn’t have a face it</p> <p>doesn’t have eyes but it has something a</p> <p>glow a red glow it starts to scream but</p> <p>for no mouse it just floats in the air</p> <p>and comes towards you this mechanical</p> <p>metal thing what do you do yeah I shoot</p> <p>it with my book roll you need a 9 on a</p> <p>12 that’s a minute the sixth you missed</p> <p>you fire your bow it clicks off its</p> <p>armor but it doesn’t seem to affect it</p> <p>at all it comes at you it slides up in</p> <p>the air and out of nowhere there’s an</p> <p>energy blast and it shot out of this guy</p> <p>I had your ass your shoulder huh you</p> <p>turn to face it is someone wearing what</p> <p>appears to be powered metallic armor</p> <p>it’s glowing in their hand is a rifle</p> <p>smoking at the end</p> <p>you hear in the distance the same</p> <p>screaming but from at least a dozen more</p> <p>the person starts to pull you Wayne says</p> <p>come with me I can save your tribe but</p> <p>you have to follow me now yeah</p> <p> Share this:TweetWhatsApp
