Running
Inspired by Dozens and Sigve I have decided to write about how I run games.
This isn’t advice, and I’m not trying to justify why I do it this way. This is just where I’ve ended up after several years, what works for me.
Before play
I mostly don’t do any ‘prep’.
If there’s a module that I’m using then I try to skim it at least once prior to running it. If I really like it—and I have time—I read it front to back. If I’m really busy I might not get the chance to even skim it.
I don’t write any notes. Experience has proven conclusively to me that my notes are worse than useless. I occasionally write down names, but even then I usually misplace them. I just do my best to remember the things that matter, and trust that my friends will help fill in the gaps.
I don’t do any special setup. Years ago I would set up play mats or miniatures or a DM screen or what have you, and I have also messed around with Roll20 and the like a fair bit. But I’ve found that those things don’t usually make the play any more fun for me. They mostly just stressed me out by giving me more to do, so I don’t bother anymore.
I do think, a lot. I think about the next games I have scheduled. And potential future games. And random ideas for things that might be games, or that might fit into games. This is almost all unstructured day dreaming—I don’t dedicate time to it, or schedule it. It happens in spare moments, or very often while I’m trying to sleep. Generally if I am looking forward to a game that means I’m thinking about it, and I only run games I’m looking forward to.
At the start of play
We agree a time when we can all play—I’m definitely not getting into that here—and when that time comes someone sends a Zoom invite or starts a Discord call. As people join we start chatting, and at some point someone says ‘let’s play’ and then usually we do. Sometimes we never start to play, and we just chat instead, that’s okay.
I don’t put music on, I don’t ‘set the tone’, I don’t speak in a peculiar meter or announce that the game is afoot. We just start playing, or don’t.
If we’re starting a new game I might raise discussions about what sort of setting we want to explore, what sort of tone we want to set. I might introduce safety tools or mention sensitive topics that could come up. How much time we spend on these things depends on the group. If I’m very familiar with the players it won’t be a lot.
In play
I describe as clearly as possible the ‘starting situation’. I ask questions if there’s things I’m not clear on, and often defer to the players to describe ‘what happened last time’. Then I listen to what the players say, and I respond.
I try my best to describe how the world reacts to the characters’ actions, the new things they see and hear, what ‘non-player’ characters say, how they act, and so on. I keep in mind what I know about the characters, and describe things differently to each of them, based on how I think they might perceive things, or what they might pay attention to.
I try to be clear and thorough, and to reveal everything I think the character could reasonably perceive. I generally let characters discover secrets, if there are secrets to be discovered. I try not to hide information behind mechanics.
When characters take risky or uncertain actions I take a little time to think them through, and then I propose what happens next. I try to make clear to players who are unfamiliar with me that everything I say is open to discussion, but if I say something I think will be contentious I introduce it as a discussion. I say what I think happens next and ask for input.
If we’re using a system, it will usually specify moments when the conversation is supposed to stop, and we consult dice (or whatever) instead to see what happens next. I keep the conversation going for as long as possible, over, past, or through those moments, minimising them in frequency and duration.
My goal is to make the conversation as natural and unstructured as possible. I don’t mind the dice making decisions, but I don’t want them to replace the fiction itself. I always ask what the character actually does, what happens, not just the result of the roll.
Sometimes the natural flow of the conversation leads to chat and jokes, and that’s fine.
At the end of play
At some point—sometimes predefined, but more often not—we stop playing. Usually someone remembers an errand they have to perform, or suggests that we’ve met a natural stopping point, or maybe just yawns loudly, and we know it is time to end.
Sometimes we chat a bit more at this point, about the game or life or whatever. But eventually we all say our good byes or good nights. And then that’s it, and I go back to thinking about the game.