Dec

Vacation has turned into thinking in metaphor and worrying about narrative casualty…

Shona on December 31st, 2008

The lack of updates can be attributed to finals and winter break following each other in quick succession. But now I am back, and with plenty of news. While finals at Reed were exactly what I expected, I refuse to worry about whether or not I passed my classes until January 9th. Reed does not start up again until the 26th, so that gives me quite a time to read for pleasure, do all the things I wasn’t able to, and most importantly at this moment: create my campaign.

For my friends have finally converted me to the ways of game-mastering and running roleplaying games, so I’ve started with GURPS and Discworld. It’s Discworld, and GURPS which seems to be the only thing I play in now (d20, I do miss you). What can go wrong, right? Ye gods. The subtlety of Discworld magic is going to kill me, if the whole “rename the spells things like ‘Stacklady’s Morphic Resonator’” doesn’t get to me first. And considering this is the first time I’ve ever GM’ed, it’s kind of like being thrown into a swimming pool when you’re first learning how to swim.

One of the best parts is that the person who’s always GM’ed me so far is *in* it.

Great. Just. Okay. Sure.

General tips for GMs that I’ve learned in the past week:

1) Show, don’t tell.

2) Find your standard. You can have the players be observant or rely on the dice.

3) Don’t make it impossible, don’t frustrate your players.

4) Get the big picture and work your way into the details.

Things I’ve learned about Discworld that every Pratchett fan should know:

1) Brigadoons, named after the legend of Brigadoon, are areas in which the structure of reality is weak and the location slips in and out of local existence. (Wandering Shops from Soul Music or the Lost City of Ee)

2) There are three types of magic: Intrinsic, Residual, and Induced.

3) Eight is a hell of a lot more important that you think; if you’re a spell-caster, don’t say it out loud unless you’re looking for a fight with a Thing or two.

4) Spell names are *funny*.

5) The Disc runs on three rules and principles: life force (anything may develop life), the power of metaphor and belief (leads to recurrent literal-mindedness), and narrative casualty (the power of stories).

Happy New Year, everyone!

Tags: crazy ideas, lists, observations, RPG