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Editorial Respekt++ the Character @ the BioWare Blog

DarkUnderlord

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Tags: BioWare

Here's another contemplative, thought-provoking, discussion generating in-depth blog post from the boys at BioWare. This time it's a <a href="http://blog.bioware.com/2008/11/19/respect-the-character-p1/">Part 1</a> and <a href="http://blog.bioware.com/2008/11/20/respect-the-character-p2/">Part 2</a> from Trent Yacuk on respecting the player:
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<blockquote>It’s all about respect. Ultimately, the role of the GM is to entertain your friends. And while some GMs think that their story is so great that it can’t fail to entertain, they may be missing the point. Because the players are there for their character, not for your story. Your story is just the path for their characters, the medium through which they can play their persona.
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Once the GM realizes this, they should then realize that respecting the player and the character is paramount to their story. And it’s a surprisingly easy skill to master, because it really is as simple as recognizing what the players and characters want, what they came to do and then give it to them.
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[...]
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You can also, as a GM, look at what the player put into his character and develop that as an important part of the story. A good author of a book or a show does not even mention that a character is an excellent painter unless there is a reason for it. The character’s artistic skill will become useful at some point and, if acknowledged prior to that point, shows that it wasn’t just ‘random’. A GM can use that. If a character dumps points into a Swim skill, you as a GM should put an encounter where that Swim skill becomes important. And maybe not just once but a few times. It lets that character be the hero of the moment. It gives the player something that they can do that nobody else is better at. And since you put that in just for them, if they roll the ‘1’ on their Swim check, hinder them a little but don’t make them have an ‘epic fail’.</blockquote>
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<i>Trent Yacuk is an independent game developer</i>. Oh, that's why his ideas are actually decent. It's just a pity he's not talking about CRPGs. Does this mean we'll start to see more of these thoughts incorporated into BioWare's games?
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com">GameBanshee</a>
 

Volourn

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"And since you put that in just for them, if they roll the ‘1’ on their Swim check, hinder them a little but don’t make them have an ‘epic fail’."

Fuck him!
 

SuicideBunny

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DarkUnderlord said:
Oh, that's why his ideas are actually decent.
those ideas are as old as pnp itself, most groups tend to do it instinctively in the very few systems that have neither gameplay mechanics that cover stuff like that, nor advice under the how to run a game section, and he totally fucks up with the skill roll example.
 

Spectacle

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Ultimately, the role of the GM is to entertain your friends
This is a fundamental misunderstanding and the cause of most unsatisfying RPG sessions. The players are there to entertain the GM, not the other way around. If you want to get some entertainment value from your players, railroading them through your story is not the way to do it. You already know the story - you're the one that made it up, To get some real fun, just lay out a basic premise and let them run wild with their characters, and gently nudge them on when the story seems to be heading in a cool direction.

And if any player shows up expecting to be entertained, don't invite them back. The players have just as much responsibility for the quality of the game as the GM.
 

hiciacit

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Spectacle said:
Ultimately, the role of the GM is to entertain your friends
This is a fundamental misunderstanding and the cause of most unsatisfying RPG sessions. The players are there to entertain the GM, not the other way around. If you want to get some entertainment value from your players, railroading them through your story is not the way to do it. You already know the story - you're the one that made it up, To get some real fun, just lay out a basic premise and let them run wild with their characters, and gently nudge them on when the story seems to be heading in a cool direction.

This deserves to be mentioned twice.
 

kris

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Spectacle said:
Ultimately, the role of the GM is to entertain your friends
This is a fundamental misunderstanding and the cause of most unsatisfying RPG sessions. The players are there to entertain the GM, not the other way around. If you want to get some entertainment value from your players, railroading them through your story is not the way to do it. You already know the story - you're the one that made it up, To get some real fun, just lay out a basic premise and let them run wild with their characters, and gently nudge them on when the story seems to be heading in a cool direction.

And if any player shows up expecting to be entertained, don't invite them back. The players have just as much responsibility for the quality of the game as the GM.

Different players likes different approches. I like the concept about "GM adapting to players" for sure and I had the ability for it. But some players like to be led on, just like some computer game players prefer a story-based game.
 

denizsi

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"And since you put that in just for them, if they roll the ‘1’ on their Swim check, hinder them a little but don’t make them have an ‘epic fail’."

Bethesda has made it into PnP?
 

Pastel

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denizsi said:
"And since you put that in just for them, if they roll the ‘1’ on their Swim check, hinder them a little but don’t make them have an ‘epic fail’."

Bethesda has made it into PnP?
Yeah, even the greatest swimmer should have a 5% chance of drowning every time he takes a swim. That's a fact.
 

elander_

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kris said:
I like the concept about "GM adapting to players"

Then you like the concept of role-playing. Otherwise it would not be necessary to have a GM. You could simply handle someone a story and have him read it, then give you his opinion.
 

Melcar

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Pastel said:
denizsi said:
"And since you put that in just for them, if they roll the ‘1’ on their Swim check, hinder them a little but don’t make them have an ‘epic fail’."

Bethesda has made it into PnP?
Yeah, even the greatest swimmer should have a 5% chance of drowning every time he takes a swim. That's a fact.

Shit happens, as they say.
 

Dire Roach

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So he's saying it would be a cool idea if a game randomly created challenges based on my character's stats/skills? It could be interesting if someone found a way to do it right, otherwise it would be just another retarded incarnation of level scaling.
 

mondblut

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Spectacle said:
The players are there to entertain the GM, not the other way around.

As a former GM, I can only agree here. I GM'ed to entertain myself, not the players.
 

kris

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elander_ said:
kris said:
I like the concept about "GM adapting to players"

Then you like the concept of role-playing. Otherwise it would not be necessary to have a GM. You could simply handle someone a story and have him read it, then give you his opinion.

You misunderstand me. When I talk about "adapting to the players" then I talk about not leading them on. It is easy to give them this well thoguht out campaign that they have ot follow. In that case it is the GM creating the story. Sure the players will always have freedom to do whatever they want in that campaign, but a hidden rule would be that they have to follow on the GMs story.

So with "adapting to the players" I am more talking about cases where the GM just describe the place they are in and from there on they can go on in any way they want. He give them options, but they can say "screw that, lets go back to Thunderon castle". etc
 

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