friends and I share with you our
thoughts and suggestions on how to game
master your role-playing game
I’m your host satine Phoenix co-creator
of mais Arcana and a dungeon master for
D&D
today’s theme is psychology at the table
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tabletop role-playing is more than just
fun and games it can be a powerful tool
to help people with life people can
learn to relate socialize and interact
with others I didn’t realize it so
blatantly at the time but as a kid while
all these terrible things were happening
to me I was able to build the courage to
leave a terrible situation by becoming
the strong character I was playing I got
to defeat monsters in the game which
gave me the relief I needed in the real
world even after the trauma was over and
the aftershocks felt debilitating it was
Dungeons and Dragons that helped build
the skills I needed to stop being
depressed I had a group of people that I
was now responsible for and who felt
responsible for me together we went on
missions as save or find things which
gave us a sense of accomplishment it
created new memories that ended up
becoming more a part of Who I am
than the trauma itself put simply
Dungeons and Dragons helped me through
my PTSD how exactly can a role-playing
game help people through issues or
challenges when experiences in life I
could roll on but instead let’s discuss
this with writer teacher and lore master
of stone blade entertainment George
Rockwell so excited I’m excited you’re
here I’m excited we’re discussing what
we’re discussing today I’ve been wanting
to talk about this for a really long
time so thank you for being the guy that
I’m talking about this with well
actually it was kind of you you’re like
hey can I do this yeah I wanted to I was
excited well it’s important and a lot of
people it’s a big thing that people keep
asking and almost every game master I
know talks about it but needs help
through it until you have a lot of
character deaths and you have a lot of
experience with people crossing
boundaries it’s very scary and it’s
emotional for you as a game master so
why don’t we talk about why you wanted
to talk about it well I think character
death is something that can be valuable
for a lot of different types of stories
it’s not valuable for every story but
there are quite a few stories where it
can be used and it can really make that
adventure even more powerful I think of
moments like in the end the Avengers
when Coulson gets
it brings the team together yeah like
Wolverine dying at the end of Logan
where it’s like oh you know he died
saving spoilers right yeah I think
everyone who’s watching isn’t seen that
stuff no but that’s a really good point
because it is a part of it how do you
communicate with the player or do you
communicate with the player do they want
to die or do you just kind of set it up
that if they die then you use it for the
story well I think there are a few ways
to do it so there’s one which is where I
have someone who’s really invested in
this story and they come up with the
idea like there’s this great time that
they could have a heroic death and so we
talk about there’s a bit of metagaming
to it where I go like okay like how do
you see it happening
you know this will be the cue and will
lead up to it and then the character
will die it will become part of the
story and maybe we even resurrect that
character as part of the story later on
or there’s a ghost or something like
that depends on the story you’re telling
another is where a character is acting
really foolhardy
and gets killed a lesson Chinese guy
yeah exactly but but it happens right so
you’re looking for that place between
full hardiness and cowardice that is
courage right and that’s when I won’t
kill the character unless they like want
that where they’re they’re kind of going
out of their way to they’re going out of
their way to save the day but it’s like
a calculated risk and it’s something
that’s in character but the foolhardy
part that’s like people just don’t think
that they’re going to die they think
that you’re going to be safe and you’re
gonna protect them as a game master
because you’ve been playing for however
many months or years or weeks or
whatever they’re safe this is just a
game this is just Dungeons and Dragons
or Pathfinder working through there yeah
it’s a safe place and because you are
friends there’s no way you would kill
them right and and yet it is an
emotionally difficult thing for a lot of
people to have their character killed
when it happens yeah so I think that one
of the things that I like to do is set
the tone of the game before we even
start playing so I talked to them about
what kind of world were in I always tell
them
way harder than it actually is so I can
go like look this campaign was made for
four players there are only three of you
here there’s a good chance you’ll die if
you don’t think strategically when I say
think strategically I also mean think
strategically in character how would
your character approach this situation
and remember to you sitting in this room
it’s not a life-and-death situation it’s
your character it is a life-and-death
situation
yeah right so how does that character
respond but also that that’s a setting
up the game by saying something like you
know this is gonna be really difficult
there’s a good chance you can die gets
them working together as a team they
start to recognize that it’s not about
the individual character it’s about the
party it’s the party’s story not your
individual characters that’s just part
of it because you can play a video game
for that right if you wanted to but
that’s not what these things are about
and it’s interesting we all know that
you could die when you play a
role-playing game but when you’re in it
right you’re just you forget yeah like
oh it’s just the thing and then if I do
this and that so what are other things
in the pre game that you can do as a
game master to set up emotionally or
other ways for them to realize the
danger so let them know what it looks
like mechanically to die right like here
are the rules for death in this game so
they know when they’re going down that
path and they can like think a little
bit more and the rest of the group can
think about how to save them they like
know how far down the path because some
people just won’t remember what those
rules are they act they don’t come up
quite that often yeah so like you just
need a reminder and I like to let people
know early on this is how death works in
this game and I also give them an idea
of like how the villains would work in
the game you know like if you you know
if you’re some wizard that runs into a
group of soldiers and you’re gonna try
and fight them all with your staff like
they’re gonna butcher you yeah soldiers
yeah they’re just some wizard okay so
it’s just important to like let them
know that and give them the opportunity
to to deal with it so in a game
having them experience it like you can
prepare them you say all these things
how do you prepare how do you keep them
prepared yeah so you attack them early
on with something pretty heavy right so
this is also a fun way to deal with
power gaming well yeah you yeah you
don’t fight the power game or just let
them make the character like that and
then take a hand or something right so
the idea is like you use like critical
damage rules or something like that and
again it depends on the story you’re
telling like you know in a ninja turtles
world you’re gonna have like the Foot
Clan bumbling around and you know you
could escape by accident even though
they’re technically trained yeah exactly
whereas like if you’re playing a more
kind of first law Game of Thrones world
it’s gonna be a little bit heavier and
like you know insulting the King to his
face as the bard is just gonna get you
executed yeah exactly
um so what I like to do is throw in like
severe damage rules in other words early
on if you take more than half your hit
points and damage you roll whatever the
relevant save for your game is like a
fortitude save or something like that
and if you fail it you go straight to
zero hit points and you have to roll on
a critical injury chart to see if like
you lose an eye you lose a hand you lose
some fingers you lose your leg the great
part is about this like is that these
scars start to develop the character
yeah like this is what he learned this
first day of battle this is what she
learned on her first day of battle like
this is serious thing just like funny
because I’m watching your face as you’re
saying this and I’m seeing these
memories pop up where this guy did a
thing and I like I love it when that
stuff happens so we played him recently
or something like that happened the guy
lost the whole back of his calf to an
alligator oh man and it’s like minus
once all his like acrobatics checks and
stuff like that until he fixes it and
it’s not gonna really what about healing
potions all right we already healing
potions supposed to like fill those
things and heal scars
well rest rate like more like
restoration stuff right so like it’s
like you’re missing a limb the healing
potion doesn’t do that right healing
potion and also stops you from bleeding
out essentially my healing potions also
leave scars
right so like it heals faster as though
it’s like a natural healing process
that’s just sped up that way they have
those because they’ve become part of the
story like I got this here this here
yeah right and it also keeps the the
like high charisma super handsome
characters like you guys can’t get in
fights all the time if you want to stay
that way or you have to be really smooth
as a smooth talker yeah yeah yeah you
need to talk your way out of those
fights yes so I think it’s fun to do
stuff like that and and with the again
like with the power gamer it’s like you
target them first like the six soldiers
game because they look okay so during
the game but then somebody dies yeah how
do you cope with had after the game so
or during the game either one so you can
always take a break and talk to someone
right something big like that happens
you can literally just say we have to
take a break and I have to talk about it
you can have something planned like you
can you can think of something that you
can do ahead of time that you can pre
write for each character in case they
die right good idea you can also talk to
the other characters about doing
something for that character afterwards
in other words like they can’t resurrect
them they don’t have the money to yet
but they can they can do something for
him and he’s always or she’s always
welcome to roll up the new character
right and that’s something you would say
beforehand like you could die in this
game I will allow you to roll up a new
character and then we’ll fit that
character in somewhere in the story
right that’s actually really nice
there’s also with the potential to
resurrect that character is something
else in the story a potential a
potential NPC that they could come back
and play randomly like a ghost that
haunts them or or you know resurrected
by the bad guy and now they have to kind
of defeat this that’s really cool so you
can find other places for them that kind
of are fun and interesting I think it’s
just all you know there’s exciting
creative stuff like with the losing the
limbs
it’s at first it’s scary but then you’re
like wait I live in a fantasy world Luke
Skywalker lost his hand Winter Soldier
lost his arm like yeah you have you in a
fantasy world you get like a ghost hand
or you’re like a crazy metal arm like it
can all get better okay so that’s a good
solution but then there’s the emotions
that are attached to it
like when you when you lose a hand
you’re automatically some people
automatically are upset about the
disadvantage that they’re gonna get how
do you as a game master handle be upset
about the mechanics well I think again
with the setting of the pregame will
ease all of that and when you get to it
they understood the mechanics and it’s
important you know when you’re playing
it even though that character is part of
you don’t take it personally like it’s
like you weren’t out to kill someone the
rules did it and sometimes this happens
your characters going into battle all
the time the chance of death is always
there yeah exactly um and so you know
sometimes you’re just unlucky
I think killing some killing one of the
characters for no reason is a bad thing
killing when the characters fighting
like their big bad I’ll give them more
opportunities and that’s just me like
watching roles on the other side of the
things so that they can because it’s the
big fight and because I want that to
happen I want them to be near death I
want them to have that heroic moments so
there’s other stuff that you can do on
the other side of it to make sure that
stuff like that doesn’t happen but I
just don’t want the the random needless
death like if they work for 14 levels to
get somewhere and they you know they
just fail like four or five roles to
some goblins oh my heart or you can make
that not happen yeah you have total
control over that so the next subject
that we’re talking about is boundary
crossing so people have these personal
boundaries that sometimes they don’t let
you know right until the til it comes up
in game how do you handle boundaries so
you can ask ahead of time does anyone
have any topics that are really touchy
for them like the date they don’t want
to talk about
this game and you can just find that out
and if that’s in the game you can swap
it out for something else of course yeah
the other is not every story is for
everyone so if it’s a core part of your
story and it’s not for them let them
know and there’s always another game or
they can come back in the game once that
section is over or you can tell them
when that will occur and you can send
them on you can like write a side
mission for them right yeah so there’s a
bunch of other ways you can have fun
creative times where they don’t have to
necessarily be around it and yeah I
think I think talking to them ahead of
time is one of the best things that you
can do but then sometimes it comes up
and you didn’t know that it was going to
and they didn’t know what was going to
and there’s always the opportunity to
pause the game there and have a
conversation about it and I mean it’s
something that’s they’re probably going
to have to process and I it really
depends on how much you can help them
process it but usually it’s not a thing
that’s in your realm yeah it’s really
hard well you didn’t if you didn’t know
it was gonna trigger that and they
didn’t know then you know it’s just the
best to give them some space and let
them do whatever it is that they have to
do to handle it
and support them in whatever ways that
are necessary so if something happens at
the table
I find that everybody is involved even
if they’re just watching how do you do
what I call aftercare how do you do that
with the people in your party I think
taking a break to talk about some of the
stuff that’s going on in the game and
also like that’s when you can have like
a great food break get some pizza
literally just do something else like
bring people back together and then you
know you don’t necessarily have to
continue the game that night right
there’s like if it’s if it’s been kind
of halted and the momentum doesn’t seem
to come back like end the night on a
good note but not necessarily the game
the night is what you want to end on a
good note so that they come back they’re
excited to play next time yeah but if
you kind of try and force it and they’re
not in the mood
messy yeah it gets messy character stop
making the decisions they would have
made the roles start getting a little
bit slippery or so I think I think
sometimes just recognize when it’s over
for the night and be okay with it yeah
what are some tools that you have for
game masters where you can push them
over the edge but then catch them right
before they fall great so one of my one
of one thing that’s really great to do
is to take an experienced player you
have and develop a character for the
beginning of the game that he knows or
she knows from the moment you start the
game is going to die early on right
they’re gonna set the pace for the fact
that death can happen it probably will
if you’re not careful and that person
knows it ahead of time they’re literally
writing a character that can help and it
can also be a plot point for your story
so when this happens it triggers more of
an adventure to occur right so that’s
one thing that you can do and that
definitely sets the tone that doesn’t
happen the other is that’s yeah you can
use just use things to make the game a
little bit rougher I think a lot of
people throughout rules like encumbrance
and I love oh that’s the best
encumbrance I love like you know like
you have ten thousand gold pieces and
you have to like move them somewhere so
that it adds a little bit of reality to
the game there’s like gravity to it the
fact that you find a hundred thousand
gold pieces in a tomb and you have to
get it out it’s like now we have to stay
here for three days longer while we
carry these you know gold pieces out or
we have to hide them or where do you put
them in a city yeah right so there’s
this idea that like having that kind of
stuff can can cause all sorts of weird
things to happen they have to like be
always on the lookout they’re a little
more paranoid using the using the severe
damage rules is great again like all of
that stuff and really all of that stuff
can really affect and and help create
more character for the characters and
then you know generally introducing guy
villains that they have to flee from not
villains that they can beat villains
that can actually beat them up and you
know kick them out give them that fear
like oh I’m not the most powerful thing
here or let the big tough guy in the
group get in like a
our fight and lose right just get
knocked out cold and thrown out of the
bar like you’re not not the toughest in
the city yeah but you can get there so
there’s always that kind of stuff but
yeah you’re just trying to just trying
to make it a little bit more like they
aren’t they they aren’t necessarily the
greatest heroes ever yet but they’re
building towards that’s why the
experience is there yeah I also like the
games where you get to you get
experience for failure not success
that’s are a bunch of systems where you
get experience for failing and you get
no experience for success then you make
it fun for the players you so it’s like
you’re not just beating them down you’re
actually like okay these things are
happening giving you character making
your experience at the table more
dynamic oh and adding adding hero points
just so that someone can get out of a
nasty situation so I would give one to
to the group per game they can earn more
hero points are basically for an out
there who hasn’t used them before they
are points that you can use to
automatically roll a 20 and anyone at
the table has access to it they can use
it you can also use rules from the the
edge of empire game has these force die
and it’s got black and white dots on it
and when you roll it black dots are
essentially hero points for the villains
very dark side and lights and and they
switch so if I use my hero point from
the light side the villains get it and
they can use it against me later on and
if the villain uses one and the heroes
get an extra one so you can kind of
bounce them back and forth for a like
this kind of constantly shifting
dramatic moments that’s super fun yeah
so I’m going to ask you three questions
already
what is your pregame house rule so I
think I already went over that which is
that I have the I have the serious
damage stuff going on you’re gonna get
maimed yeah you’re gonna get mad it’s
gonna be awesome
what’s your favorite GM moment when I
was growing up we were playing D&D we
had this party that I don’t think we
thought of it at the time but it was
mostly Devine divinely inspired
characters so like paladins and clerics
and things like that and he took us into
the few
where all the gods had been slaughtered
and so we had no powers like wow they
just hadn’t all been defeated it was
like a wasteland we had to get out of
that future
but as you know paladins and clerics
with no divine magic so I loved that
quick tip to the audience quick tip to
the audience is make the hero suffer but
not needlessly nice that’s our show for
today thank you so much for coming here
and joining us why don’t you tell
everyone where we can find you on the
Internet you can find me on instagram at
the nerd salon very cool as always I’m
Satine Phoenix at Satine Phoenix you can
ask me giant questions at hashtag ask
Satine pick up and play one of my guild
adept supplements for the tomb of
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dandy thank you guys for watching us
here on geek and sundry and we’ll see
you next time George would you
geom us out of here absolutely though
you warned him not to the greedy rogue
slides the golden ring onto his finger
the doors sealed shut
the rogue looks down as the hidden
insectoid legs spring out from the ring
and it burrows into his flesh it’s a
trap a repla peed once the creature
takes hold its magic won’t stop until
the victim dies the prisoner begins to
laugh and the room starts to shake
dust and bits of rock fall from the
ceiling and he gets louder and louder
the vibrations get stronger and stronger
if you don’t stop him now the room will
come down on your party crushing them
all his back has turned you have one
chance to save them what do you do
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