Xyrop - Mot-clé - RPG theory2024-02-29T08:30:42+00:00urn:md5:a569525ea7dae80655214b43ebf9d4d9DotclearStrategic gamemastering, part 5 : Converting THACOSG links into scenesurn:md5:7f95c6c92fb9353e2e5e21e8390b61c82018-04-09T14:11:00+02:002020-05-10T17:02:39+02:00LudoxgamemasteringGM ToolsOptimizationRPG theoryScenesStrategic gamemasteringTactical gamemasteringTHACO<p>Having performed the prescribed steps of the strategic gamemastering methodology, the strategist GM now has obtained the requisite <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/2014/08/29/Strategic-Gamemastering-part-2">THACOSG</a>.</p>
<p>Accordingly, this THACOSG provides the GM with :</p>
<ul>
<li>an overview of all objects (Themes, Locations, NPCs & Items) which are common to your players' respective creative agendas ;</li>
<li>a list of all the links that the GM has created in order to increase the number and interdependencies of objects across the player-characters.</li>
</ul>
<p>A question remains : how to switch from a strategic level of gamemastering to a tactical level ? Which concepts should be converted into scenes ? How to create these scenes ?</p>
<p>This post aims at answering these questions.</p> <h2>Main scene drivers : the player-characters (PCs)</h2>
<p>The main scene drivers are, and must be, the PCs. This is basically the whole point of the strategic gamemastering method : catering to apparently incompatible player creative agendas by making each PC action consistent with the creative agenda of his own player, and activate concepts and elements from background & objectives from the other PC. Therefore, most of the scene setup will be provided by the players themselves, by triggering either concepts common to their PC and another player's, or concepts linked by a similar notion (partial synonyms or antonyms) or GM input.</p>
<p>Transforming a link between 2 PCs into a scene requires that :</p>
<ul>
<li>either at least one of these PCs must be present and be active in the scene ;</li>
<li>either a third PC who has an interest in the very link between these 2 PCs must be present and active in the scene.</li>
</ul>
<p>A scene which can unfold without any PC present, or worse, with a PC present but no possibility for the PC to alter the possible outcome of the scene is not interesting to the narration. Note that a PC being present as a watcher and being able to act accordingly, but who chooses to remain passive is perfectly appropriate.</p>
<h2>Determining the appropriate links for conversion to scenes</h2>
<p>As noted earlier, most scenes in the scenario will naturally stem from the exploration of its background or objectives by the player-character. However, the GM may also trigger specific scenes based on his own creative agenda as a gamemaster, which the strategic gamemastering method translates as the GM-driven concept links.</p>
<p>The two main scenes which can be derived from the THACOSG itself are the following :</p>
<h3>High creative agenda potential (HCAP) scenes</h3>
<p>The more often a THACOSG entry occurs in different player-character outlines, the higher the chances that a scene based in part or in whole on this entry will simultaneously fulfill the creative agendas of the relevant players.</p>
<p>It stands to reason to identify HCAP scenes on a purely statistical level, as the scenes based on the THACOSG entries presenting the highest number of occurrences and links to the most player-characters.</p>
<p>Most of the time, HCAP scenes will be triggered not by the GM, but by the player trying to fulfill his own creative agenda, by exploring one or more of the concepts in his own THACOSG outline, which are common to PCs belonging to other players.</p>
<p>Playing a HCAP scene will involve a natural psychological gratification for the participating players : they're getting what they've come to the gaming table for !</p>
<h3>Gamemaster-link (GML) scenes</h3>
<p>The links that may provide the most interesting scenes for the players are the links that the GM has created himself between naturally unrelated objects in the THACOSG.</p>
<p>This stems from the fact that the players may know each other's characters and therefore have an intuitive knowledge of the commonalities of their respective creative agendas, as well as an inkling of the scenes which may therefore unfold during the game itself.
No such intuition is possible with the indirect GM-driven links determined in the latter phases of the strategic gamemastering methodology, because they rise from information which is completely unavailable to the players. They may guess at it, but if the GM did his job correctly, there cannot be any logical connection between the concept that the GM chose to link unless the players have access to the relevant information.</p>
<p>Therefore, GML scenes are usually triggered by the GM, and will probably bring forth narrative elements to the shared imagined space that the players are unprepared for. GML scenes are discoveries, realizations, NPC interventions or betrayals, plot twists, sudden events which move forward the whole narrative.</p>
<p>Being linked to the concepts of their character outlines at a remote, second or even third level, GML scenes are opportunities for the players' to fulfill their own creative agendas in an unexpected, deeper manner - by finding & following the mysterious narrative threads that the GM has sprinkled his plot with.</p>
<h4>Narrative waypoints & lone concepts</h4>
<p>HCAP and GML scenes do not exclude "narrative waypoints", as made manifest through THACOSGs based on already-existing <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/2015/09/02/Strategic-Gamemastering-part-3-Flags-THACOSG-PlotHooks">scenarios</a> or <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/2017/11/06/Strategic-Gamemastering%2C-part-4%3A-Matrix-campaigns">campaigns</a>.</p>
<p>Such waypoints, however, will mostly be GML scenes, as they will answer the creative agenda of the scenario/campaign author as expressed through its interpretation by the GM.</p>
<p>Alternately, the GM may choose to trigger an unlinked concept in a character outline, usually based on NPC actions & decisions. For example, the GM may decide that the next scene involves an attack by tribal warriors, triggered by the fact that PC#1s nephew, who had usurped his uncle place as chieftain of the tribes, has sent assassins to remove this PC and any allies of his from the equation.</p>
<p>This is a case of a lone concept in an outline being deliberately used by the GM to fuel a scene.</p>
<h2>Continuous creative agenda load balancing</h2>
<p>When the THACOSG has been correctly filled, and the GM has devised the required conceptual links between characters and between character and plot, then the various creative agendas should automatically be fulfilled through actual gameplay. In the vast majority of cases, <strong>there is no need for the GM to try and achieve a balance</strong> between the various narrative threads for the player-characters in the aim of catering to distinct player creative agendas, because <strong>the strategic gamemastering method itself</strong> is designed to <strong>provide this creative agenda balancing</strong>.</p>
<p>Even if the GM has followed the method faithfully, creative agenda load imbalance may still occur in a case where, for example, one or several players are taking up too much game time to explore the background or objectives of their character, and not leaving enough space for other players to have their fun too.
Though this is not an issue with the strategic gamemastering method itself, this is an issue both for the players and the GM, and there is a need to identify and correct such situations. Fortunately, the strategic gamemastering method makes it very simple to do just that.</p>
<h3>Checking the creative agenda balanced fulfillment status</h3>
<p>When one or several HCAP or GML scenes have been played, the GM may wish to <strong>check the status</strong> of common creative agenda fulfillment. This status checking is by no means mandatory. It is, however, one key indicator that the strategic gamemastering method is functioning in a nominal condition and that the game is unfolding in a manner consistent with the aim of equally fulfilling the players' differing creative agendas.</p>
<p>For example, if 3 out of 4 PCs have "Magical research" as a Theme in the objectives section of their character outline, and the last two scenes have been purely focused on "Magical research", this concept has been activated twice, potentially twice fulfilling the player creative agendas for these three PCs. However, this also means that the creative agenda of the fourth player may not have been fulfilled at all during these last two scenes.</p>
<pre></pre>
<p>Let's take our usual example :</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO_GMIntervention.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO_GMIntervention.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="Fully completed THACO with GM decisions" /></a></p>
<p>For example, if one scene consists in a nightly, gritty fight against time-traveling thieving murderers, beneath the city walls but with the added stake of avoiding alerting guards, this scene would potentially activate the following concepts :</p>
<ul>
<li>Combat (PC#1)</li>
<li>Assassination (PC#3)</li>
<li>Savagery (PC#1)</li>
<li>City slums (PC#1 & PC#3)</li>
<li>Stealth (PC#3)</li>
<li>Assassins guild contact (PC#3)</li>
<li>Time-travel (PC#4)</li>
<li>Shadows (PC#4)</li>
<li>Thieves guild contact (PC#2)</li>
</ul>
<p>At the outcome of this scene, if the GM performs this concept activation check, he will note that this scene incurs 4 concept activations for PC#3, 3 for PC#1, 2 for PC#4, and only one for PC#2.</p>
<p>The GM may carry on with the unfolding of the plot, during which the various concept activations will probably balance themselves while players roleplay their respective PCs and explore their background & objectives.</p>
<p>For the sake of the example, let's assume that the GM is not confident that the next scene will involve different concepts, and expects a possible imbalance between creative agendas to occur and probably worsen during the game. In that case, he may engage in <em>creative agenda load balancing</em>.</p>
<h3>Creative agenda load balancing operation</h3>
<p>The creative agenda load balancing operation is quite simple and does not incur any significant energy expenditure.</p>
<p>It consists in checking which PC outlines were triggered in the latest HCAP or GML scenes, and if necessary to select concepts belonging to less-often triggered PC outlines for imagining the next scene, in order to restore a balance among the player creative agendas activated during the gameplay.</p>
<p>Continuous creative agenda load balancing is achieved by focusing each successive scene on a concept belonging to the character outline of another character.</p>
<p>Let's take up our usual example again :</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO_GMIntervention.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO_GMIntervention.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="Fully completed THACO with GM decisions" /></a></p>
<p>Reviewing the nightly assault scene, the GM noted as stated earlier that this scene incurred 4 concept activations for PC#3, 3 for PC#1, 2 for PC#4, and only one for PC#2.</p>
<p>In order to restore a balance between concept activation, the next scene should ideally activate more concepts belonging to PC#2 and PC#4 than to PCs #1 & 3, ideally through a GML scene.</p>
<p>The obvious GML scene common to PCs #2 and #4 rests, of course, on the GM-driven commonality based on the Arcane research and Technology concepts. A scene based on this link would activate the concepts of both these player-characters.</p>
<p>The obvious PC outline concept for PC#2 which could be used in the scene is, of course, Magic.</p>
<p>Additionally, in the PC#2 outline, there is this "Great arcane library" location, which is not linked to any other PC concept. This location uniquely belongs to the objectives of PC#2.</p>
<p>The next scene is therefore an opportunity to make the narration focus on an objective of importance for PC#2 and cater to the PC#2 player creative agenda :</p>
<p>After having defeated the murderous time-traveling thieves, the PCs search the bodies, and find a curious, dog-eared tome in an unknown language, which seems to describe an unusual combination of magic and unfathomable technology in order to create dangerous weapons, which reading plunges the young thaumocracy magician in the depths of perplexity. Strangely, the book itself bears the seal of the forbidden section of the Great arcane library. Has it been stolen from it ?
The activated concepts in this next scene are the following :</p>
<ul>
<li>Magic (PC#2)</li>
<li>Arcane research (PC#2)</li>
<li>Great arcane library (PC#2)</li>
<li>Technology (PC#4)</li>
<li>Technological arms & armor (PC#4)</li>
</ul>
<p>Through remote commonalities & GM-driven links, the following concepts have also been activated :</p>
<ul>
<li>Hyperborean obsidian broadsword (PC#1)</li>
<li>Cursed blade (PC#3)</li>
</ul>
<p>The outcome of this scene restores a relative balance between the PC outline concepts. After the two scenes have unfolded, the GM checks the concept activation status again, and notes that outline concepts activations for the combined two scenes are :</p>
<ul>
<li>PC#1 : 4 concept activations</li>
<li>PC#2 : 4 concept activations</li>
<li>PC#3 : 5 concept activations</li>
<li>PC#4 : 4 concept activations</li>
</ul>
<p>Given the globally balanced concept activations for the various PCs, at the outcome of the second scene, the GM may confidently surmise that the players have experienced a relatively even fulfillment of their respective creative agendas.</p>
<h2>Scene contents</h2>
<p>Once the HCAP scene has been triggered, or the GML scene decided by the GM, the question remains of deciding the precise contents of the scene.</p>
<p><strong>For HCAP scenes</strong>, their manner of unfolding will be determined by the motivations, objectives and actions of the player-characters.</p>
<p><strong>For GML scenes</strong>, the GM will have to provide the following data, in accordance to the various concepts which will be activated.</p>
<p>If the concept that the GM wants to trigger is a character (either PC or NPC) or a theme linked to a character, it will have to be a character whose concepts in its background and/or objectives correspond, in whole or in part, with the concerned PC background or objectives concepts. This character may be another PC, the "big bad" at the end of the adventure, another antagonist, an ally, or may not even be present in the scene yet have a stake in the manner that the scene will unfold : this stake may be the planned actions of the character in the scene, or simply the fact that the scene will bring a revelation or a misleading piece of information about this character.</p>
<p>If the concept which the GM wishes to trigger is a location or a theme linked to a location, the GM may decide that the scene will occur at this location, or the scene will have to provide information about the location which the concerned PC will want to act upon ("<em>- Suddenly, a soot-covered, disheveled man bursts wild-eyed into the tavern. In a wheezing voice, between pants, he gasps 'The Great Arcane Library... By my ancestors... The Library is on fire !</em>'")</p>
<p>If the concept which the GM wishes to trigger is an item or a theme linked to an item, the GM may decide that this item is found / lost / stolen / retrieved / chased after / used / made unusable, or that information (correct or misleading) has been uncovered about this item. During the scene, the GM will have to provide information about the updated data regarding this item to the concerned player-characters.</p>https://blog.xyrop.com/post/2018/04/09/Strategic-gamemastering%2C-part-5-%3A-Converting-THACOSG-links-into-scenes#comment-formhttps://blog.xyrop.com/feed/atom/comments/61[Tactique de maîtrise] Les descriptions synesthétiquesurn:md5:5af3307903f1b4100c48c0ab229d1a702016-07-25T15:00:00+02:002016-07-25T14:02:58+02:00LudoxAdviceAide de jeuconseilsGamemasteringgamemasteringGMGM ToolsJdRJeu de rôlemener une partieMJOptimizationRPGRPG theoryTactical gamemasteringtactique de maîtrise<p>La mise en œuvre de descriptions captivantes est l'un des piliers d'une
narration réussie. Ce billet explore la manière dont le recours à la
synesthésie peut constituer un outil utile pour raccourcir les descriptions
tout en les faisant s'adresser aux émotions et au ressenti plus qu'à la seule
raison.</p> <p>La plupart des conseils aux conteurs, écrivains ou meneurs de jeu, mettent
l'accent sur l'implication des cinq sens au lieu des deux seuls sens de vue et
de l'ouïe afin d'obtenir des descriptions immersives et captivantes.</p>
<p>Or, certains sens évoquent plus facilement des émotions que d'autres. La vue
et de l'ouïe permettent de percevoir de loin, tandis que les odeurs, le
toucher, le goût, ont tendance à affecter plus directement l'intimité du sujet
de perception.</p>
<p>Ainsi, les parties visuelles et auditives d'une description susciteront
difficilement des réactions émotionnelles, tandis que les parties olfactives,
tactiles et gustatives de cette même description y parviendront plus
facilement.</p>
<p>Le remède habituel à cette difficulté consiste pour le conteur à décrire
également les effets émotionnels des perceptions visuelles et auditives.
Cependant, sauf bien entendu pour les gens de grand talent, capables à la fois
de décrire et de faire avancer l'action, rallonger la description implique de
ralentir l'action.</p>
<p>Le conteur moyen devra nécessairement se contenter, quant à lui, de
pratiquer un arbitrage entre le temps qu'il consacrera à décrire les
perceptions des personnages et le temps qu'il consacrera à narrer l'action,
afin que l'intrigue se poursuive à un rythme acceptable.</p>
<p>C'est là qu'intervient une technique bien utile basée sur la
synesthésie.</p>
<p>D'après <a href="https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesth%C3%A9sie" hreflang="fr">Wikipedia, la synesthésie</a> (du grec syn, avec, union), et aesthesis,
sensation) est un phénomène neurologique par lequel deux ou plusieurs sens sont
associés.</p>
<p>Utiliser la synesthésie dans une description consiste à affecter à une
description visuelle ou auditive des caractéristiques, adjectifs, aspects,
connotations, dénotations, associés normalement à d'autres sens.</p>
<p>Par exemple, une odeur bleue, une couleur nauséabonde, une voix glissante,
un goût strident. Howard Philips Lovecraft ne fait pas autre chose en décrivant
la voix profonde, vide et gélatineuse de la créature dans sa nouvelle "La
déclaration de Randolph Carter".</p>
<p>Ces juxtapositions synesthétiques, apparemment absurdes, ne peuvent être
interprétées directement par la raison. Elles suscitent directement un ressenti
basé sur la combinaison des connotations associées aux mots employés.</p>
<p>Lorsque la juxtaposition directe n'est pas possible, ou que le temps manque
au conteur pour créer un effet (par exemple s'il souhaite improviser), il
demeure possible de décrire de manière synesthétique en procédant à des
comparaisons.</p>
<p>À titre d'exemple, "les remparts de la cité se dressent dans un désordre
harmonieux comme le chant cristallin d'une myriade d'oiseaux à l'aube".</p>
<p>L'emploi de la synesthésie permet donc au conteur de faire des descriptions
plus synthétiques, plus courtes, et néanmoins de conserver un certain impact en
termes de ressenti émotionnel.</p>
<p>Il n'est pas matériellement possible de présenter les infinies possibilités
du langage et de ces juxtapositions synesthétiques.</p>
<p>Cependant, le meilleur outil pour s'aider à réaliser de telles descriptions
sera probablement le recours à un simple dictionnaire des synonymes.</p>https://blog.xyrop.com/post/2016/03/11/Descriptions-synesthetiques#comment-formhttps://blog.xyrop.com/feed/atom/comments/17Strategic Gamemastering, part 3: Flags, THACO, and plot hook writing practicesurn:md5:42bcc614ab0d443ead58e5ae6c22d7682015-09-02T07:13:00+02:002020-05-10T17:27:36+02:00LudoxAdventure writingAdviceCreative agendaGamemasteringgamemasteringGMGM ToolsNPCRPG theoryStrategic gamemasteringTHACO<p>Readers have brought my attention to <a href="https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/flag-framing-1-setting-up-a-campaign/" hreflang="en">several</a> <a href="https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/flag-framing-2-running-the-game/" hreflang="en">articles</a> on <a href="http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/everything-is-a-flag-use-the-whole-buffalo-that-your-players-provide/" hreflang="en">flag framing</a>. Basically, "flags"are all data objects on the character sheet.<br /></p>
<p>If you haven't done so yet, I urge you to go read these insightful articles by experienced gamemasters.<br /></p>
<p>This article aims at clarifying the relationship between flags and systematic strategic exploitation through the THACOSG, and the manner in wich the strategic gamemastering method can be used to design plot hooks for preexisting scenarios.</p> <h3>Flags and cues</h3>
<p>Flag usage, especially as described in the last article in the above paragraph, does cover a lot of the ground also covered by the <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/From-RPG-theory-to-Gamemastering-Strategy" hreflang="en">first article</a> on strategic gamemastering. Flags, however, are not limited to the character sheet : everything on <ins>and outside the character sheet</ins> is a valid data flag and can be exploited.<br /></p>
<p>Furthermore, the <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/2014/08/29/Strategic-Gamemastering-part-2">second installment of the strategic gamemastering articles</a> goes further, by:</p>
<ul>
<li>providing a categorization of the cues/flags, which has consequences regarding the manner in which said cues can and will be exploited by the gamemaster</li>
<li>presenting the THACOSG tool as a rational, and systematic management of cues/flags, not only for designing plot hooks and/or an adventure based on player-character data, but also for managing the evolution of said cues/flags over the course of the game and campaign.<br /></li>
</ul>
<h3>The THACOSG in comparison to other tools</h3>
<p>The THACOSG tool is <strong>not</strong> a <a href="https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/designing-conflict-in-play/" hreflang="en">conflict web</a> and has never been designed as such.<br /></p>
<p>The THACOSG is a <ins>systematization tool</ins> designed to represent in a <ins>visual, efficient, and reproductible manner</ins> all GM mental processes related with the Shared Imagined Space at a specific time. The successive THACOSG diagrams over a campaign can show the evolution of the characters as well as that of the setting <br /></p>
<p>The THACOSG incurs consequences for the manner in which the GM creates his adventures.<br /></p>
<p>Being a systematization tool for any game data, not limited to the use of the PC character sheet flags, regular use of a THACOSG tool incurs further consequences in the manner the GM will read adventures & NPC descriptions created by third-parties: <ins>everything is a flag, including any and all data in an adventure and/or NPC fluff & stats</ins>, and the THACOSG-using GM will be decomposing said adventures and NPCs into their constituent objects (flags).<br /></p>
<p>Let's try it with a quite straightforward adventure:<br />
<em>A herald announces that the princess has been kidnapped by a dragon, looking for vengeance after the kingdom's armies drove him from the land many years ago. The aging king offers a reward for whomever will rescue the princess and return her to her sire. Unbekownst to the king, his daughter the princess is in league with the rebel barons. They plot to overthrow the king and crown his daughter, using this kidnapping as a pretext to approach the king in order to assassinate him.</em></p>
<p>Decomposed into a THACOSG and combined with the preexisting character THACOSG rows, then color-coded for obvious commonalities, we obtain this:<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/THACO_Adventure.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/THACO_Adventure.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" /></a></p>
<p>Note that the adventure objects are not decomposed into the Background and Objectives rows, but into "Setting" and "Events to come" rows.<br /></p>
<p>The simple color-coding of identical objects makes the "Youth" thematic appear, which might bring some promising interactions between the two characters of the young mage and the princess. The dragon, of course, is the focal point of many important thematics.<br /></p>
<p>For the next steps of remote linking & GM-decision linking, we've dispensed with the links that had been established between the player-characters, and focused on the links between the PC and the adventure. The result would look like this:<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/THACO_Adventure_Linked.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/THACO_Adventure_Linked.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" /></a></p>
<p>Only a few links are required to immediately perceive which angles might be the most effective to embroil the PCs into the plot. The assassination thematic in PC#3's background row would normally fit the plot by the rebel barons, and could be linked to the adventure "Political instability" theme, but depending on how the PC approach plot, such a link presents a risk of putting the assassin PC directly at odds with the rest of the group: this is an example of "Opposition linking" which I described in the second installment of the Strategic gamemastering article.<br /></p>
<h3>Consequences on plot hook writing practices</h3>
<p>Let's (tamely) fantasize for a moment. What if adventures and NPCs were already decomposed before the strategic GM begins to work on his THACOSG?<br /></p>
<p>Nothing prevents the writer of an adventure or an NPC from taking a few minutes to decompose said adventure or NPC into its elementary components.<br />
These components would not be character cues or flags, but adventure and/or NPC cues.<br />
If the author were to organize these elements in a simple THACOSG, possibly with a color-code for common objects, the GM could then directly add the adventure and NPC rows to his THACOSG.<br />
The point is that this simple and admittedly obvious work, since no one knows the objects composing an adventure, a campaign and/or NPCs better than their inventor, enable the author himself to <ins>dispense with the tedium of having to create and list the plot hooks</ins> to his setting, scenario or NPC.<br />
These plot hooks would become readily apparent as soon as the GM :<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>integrates the relevant object rows to the THACOSG of his own gaming group;</li>
<li>performs the three steps (color-coding, remote linking & decisionary linking) of THACOSG integration.<br /></li>
</ul>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>The only question that remains is whether adventure & NPC writers will pick up the practice of creating a synthetic table of the THACOSG objects in their own works, in order to speed up the process through which a GM gets hold of said adventure or NPC, and makes the PC interact with the associated plot.<br />
I strongly hope that they do, because decreasing author effort while simplifying the life of GMs seems to be in everyone's interests.<br /></p>https://blog.xyrop.com/post/2015/09/02/Strategic-Gamemastering-part-3-Flags-THACOSG-PlotHooks#comment-formhttps://blog.xyrop.com/feed/atom/comments/4Strategic Gamemastering, part 2: Data organization and exploitation through the THACOSGurn:md5:3c06e022cad39a17fcfc7e702ca9327c2015-08-31T11:00:00+02:002020-05-10T17:32:21+02:00LudoxCreative agendaGamemasteringNPCOptimizationRPGRPG theoryStrategic gamemastering<p>This is the second installment of our series of articles on optimizing gamemaster effort through systematic gamemastering strategies. In the first article of this series, we have seen together how a clever gamemaster could infer player expectations for a given game by thoroughly mining all available data sources.</p>
<p>This post is focused on the practical organization and exploitation of all data gathered following a practical methodology, which I have named the "THACOSG" (<em>Table of Holistic Analysis of Concepts and Objects for Strategic Gamemastering</em>).</p> <p>Once all roleplaying session data has been <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/From-RPG-theory-to-Gamemastering-Strategy">mined from the various available data sources</a>, remains the question of how to exploit it. The prospect of exploiting the data gathered can feel daunting, in fact, because there can be a lot of it.<br />
<br />
Most good gamemasters will focus on a few salient aspects of the gathered data, mostly aspects that are common to most if not all characters.<br />
Great gamemasters will be able, through talent or experience, to manipulate more themes at the same time and integrate the characters in the scenario in an elegant and unexpected way.<br />
<br />
For managing the "lone wolf" player-character who'd prefer to pursue his own particular creative agenda regardless of those of the other players, novice gamemasters will strive to railroad the stray player-character, and experienced GMs will improvise appropriate plot devices for gently leading the outsider player-character to follow the plot.<br />
<br />
Intersections between PC creative agenda and plotline can be schematized in the following manner:<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Intersections.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Intersections.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" /></a></p>
<p><br />
<br />
However, strategic gamemastering is based on the premise that all gamemasters don't have the same degree of talent or time to invest in preparing the game. Therefore, a proposed data exploitation strategy should be usable in the same manner by both novice and experienced gamemasters.<br />
Therefore, the proposed strategy altogether dispenses with the need to improvise specific plot devices, by diverting the energy expended by a player in order to pursue his personal creative agenda towards feeding the creative agendas of all other players.<br />
<br />
This will incur the scenario plot to rely very heavily (if not almost exclusively) on the data gathered during the first phase of the Strategic Gamemastering approach, which is extremely character-centric. The background, goals and choices of the characters will therefore have a tremendous impact on the unfolding of the narrative.<br />
<br /></p>
<h2>Overview of Strategic game data exploitation</h2>
<p>The character that a player creates is a vessel for her own entertainment through the fulfilling of the player's creative agenda. Therefore, the GM can infer the player's creative agenda from the choices made by the player during creation.<br />
Is her character a min-maxed fighting machine? Then the player not only expects to take part in combat, but also expects to come out with the upper hand in these fights - certainly competitive approaches regarding combat will play an important part in her creative agenda.
Is the character a alcohol-addicted con man? Then the player creative agenda will probably involve social interaction and the player will probably expect the alcoholism of her character to have an impact on the story.<br />
<br />
Though aspects of the various player creative agendas can be inferred from their characters' designs, motives & backgrounds, trying to figure out exactly why each player created her character in a particular manner in order to try to reconcile the creative agendas and design a social contract seems less efficient than letting each player pursue her creative agenda herself within a framework designed by the GM to grant such freedom to each player.<br />
<br />
The method in a nutshell, starting from the data gathered during the first phase, consists in:<br /></p>
<ol>
<li>listing all objects related to each player character, i.e. all themes (magic, time-travel, combat, exploration, social manipulation), all NPC stereotypes (for exemple the mobster, the cop, the bum, the rogue assassin, the mage), all types of locations (e.g. the empty warehouse, the condo, the dirty backalley, the seedy tavern, the mage tower), all character strong suits and weaknesses which, <strong>by nature</strong>, are linked to each character and indirectly to the player character agenda;</li>
<li>systematically linking each of these objects to as many other objects as possible, either by establishing causal or synchronistic relationships between components related to different player characters (e.g. the cop described in the background of PC#1 is partner to the cop in PC#2's background), or even by deciding that these components are identical (e.g. the cop described in the background of PC#1 is the same cop in PC#2's background).<br /></li>
</ol>
<p><br />
A lot if not most gamemasters already do these two things intuitively, empirically making arbitrary decisions related to the backgrounds and objectives of the player characters in order to ease the unfolding of the plot, the integration of the player characters into the plot, as well as to cater to the players' tastes and creative agendas.<br />
<br />
The proposed method, however, is a systematization of this thought process. The main advantage of this systematization is that, being systematic, it will not depend on gamemaster talent or experience, nor require any particular player cooperation beyond that of providing a copy of the character sheet & background. Any novice gamemaster following this method will ultimately build an adventure greatly comparable - but never strictly identical - to that which a seasoned gamemaster would imagine on his own.<br />
<br />
This strategic systematization method leads the gamemaster to record links between all the narrative threads related to all player-characters motives, designs & backgrounds (and hence, indirectly, to the player creative agendas), and to use these links as the basic components of the main game plot. The main plot will therefore be composed of the dramatic, narrative threads which are common to player characters, non-player characters, and existing diegetic objects of other plots.<br />
<br />
As a way of consequence, there are no specific plot hooks. Or rather, the plot hooks are disseminated throughout the player characters' backgrounds and objectives, and as such, <ins>are determined by the players themselves</ins>.<br />
<br />
For this reason, this method leads the player characters to enter the main plot "sideways", because their approach will be tainted by their own subjectivity. Since the plot was completely designed based upon the commonalities and narrative links between player characters, each time a player pursues his own creative agenda, said player:</p>
<ol>
<li>deepens the involvement of his character into the plot in a manner consistent with his own creative agenda ;</li>
<li>stimulates the links between the main plot and the other player characters, and stimulates the eagerness of the other player characters to follow the narrative threads.<br /></li>
</ol>
<p><br />
The interdependency of the narrative threads will eventually lead the player characters to follow the plot in the same direction, regardless of their particular choices & decisions, even those which would theoretically endanger the scenario. Though artificial, this method is very much the opposite of railroading. Railroading, for a GM, consists in:<br /></p>
<ol>
<li>restricting player character choices and decisions to the strict list of choices and decisions that the adventure scenario has planned, qualifying any other choice and/or decision as "not possible" or "inappropriate" ;</li>
<li>disregarding any consequences of the choices and/or decisions by the player characters if said consequences do not fit in (or contradict) the framework of the adventure scenario as conceived by the GM or written by the author.<br /></li>
</ol>
<p><br />
On the contrary, in the proposed optimization method, there is no restriction in choice and/or decisions of any nature, nor any restriction of the consequences of said choices and/or decisions: any and all decisions and choices remain open and all lead to the main plot, as long as the player plays his character consistently.<br />
<br />
The first main plot thread will therefore be constituted of the interconnected links and relationships between the player characters.<br /></p>
<h2>The <em>Thematic Holistic Analytic Character Outline</em> (THACOSG)</h2>
<p>THACOSG stands for <em>Thematic Holistic Analytic Character Outline</em>, also known as <em>Tool for Holistic Analytic Creative Organization</em> and <em>Table for Historicized Analysis of Character Objects</em>.<br />
The THACOSG is a graphical tool, a table/grid which aims at providing a systematic overview of all data gathered during the first phase, organized in rows and columns.<br />
Let's discover how to use it.<br /></p>
<h3>Rows and columns of the THACOSG</h3>
<h4>THACOSG Rows</h4>
<p>The THACOSG is made up of at least twice as many rows as there are player characters.<br />
Each couple of rows correspond to a particular Player Character:<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>The upper row, <em>background</em>, corresponds to the background & past history of the Player Character.</li>
<li>The lower row, <em>objectives</em>, corresponds to the current objectives of the Player Character.</li>
</ul>
<h4>THACOSG Columns</h4>
<p>The column headers of the THACOSG correspond to the various categories of objects which the data gathered in phase 1 of the Strategic Gamemastering method can be split into.<br /></p>
<p>The common object types, ordered into column headers are Theme, Location, NPC and Item. Since a player-character might have several of each, these column headers are numbered<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>Theme {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: The themes that are attached to the player character as a being, or to the player's expectations for the game (which are often related, as seen in part 1). For example, a deposed brutal barbarian chieftain from the steppes would probably garner the themes <em>Combat</em>, <em>Savagery</em> and "Exile" in the background row. If the players shows hints of being willing to enter combat regularly, the same "Combat" theme might also appear in the objectives row. Should this Player Character wish to remedy his exile from his tribe, then the <em>Outcast</em> theme might be appropriate for the objectives row as well (These themes can also be deduced from the highest skill sets of a PC as evidenced on his character sheet. For example, a PC with an extremely high skill in stealth will probably lead the GM to add a "stealth" theme to said PC background or objectives row).<br /></li>
<li>Location {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: The locations that are important to the player character, whether featured in his personal history, or being important locations regarding his objectives. The aforementioned barbarian chieftain from the steppes would probably garner the "Steppes" Location in his background row.<br /></li>
<li>NPC {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: A type of NPC that the player-character either had to interact with in a meaningful way in his past (which qualifies said NPC as a background object), or intends to interact with in an narratively important manner. The cunning nephew who betrayed and deposed the barbarian chieftain PC is a "background row" NPC, whereas the thaumaturgist that the barbarian intends to work for would fit in the objectives row.<br /></li>
</ul>
<p>In some cases, it might be useful to distinguish NPCs which have had (or will have) strongly negative interactions with the Player-Character, since cases of strong enemity between the PC and a NPC may have an important impact on the way that said NPC can be exploited in the narration.<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>Item {1, 2, 3, 4, ... , n}: A particular item or type of item that has significant meaning to the PC. For example, the barbarian chieftain might garner the <em>Hyperborean obsidian broadsword</em> as one of its item-type objects, either in the background row (if he has been in contact with the sword before) or the objectives row (if he intends to do something with the sword, e.g. retrieve or destroy it).<br /></li>
</ul>
<p>Now, the first sample player-character objects for the barbarian chieftain will be organized thus in the THACOSG:<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/THACO_Barb.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/.THACO_Barb_m.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="THACOSG for the Barbarian Chieftain PC" /></a></p>
<p>The same process is then repeated for all other player characters:</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/uncolored_THACO.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/uncolored_THACO.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" /></a></p>
<h3>Color-coded commonalities</h3>
<p>The player characters organized in the THACOSG present common objects. Color-coding these common objects makes the most obvious ways to cater to the player creative agendas during the course of the game appear:</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/THACO_Complete.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/.THACO_Complete_m.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="Color-coded THACOSG for all PCs" /></a></p>
<p>In the above example, a game main plot aiming at catering to player creative agendas should probably include the following objects:</p>
<ul>
<li>Theme 1: Exile</li>
<li>Theme 2: Travel</li>
<li>Location: City slums</li>
</ul>
<h3>Tracing links between remote commonalities</h3>
<p>Color-coding the common grid objects highlights the easiest links between characters that a GM may exploit. <br />
However, these commonalities may seem too obvious to the players, or too deterministic if the players usually create similar characters. More rarely, a character grid rows may sometimes not provide any common object with the other player characters.<br />
<br />
In order to avoid this, the GM has to perform one additional step: tracing links. Tracing links consists in trying to find remote commonalities between globally unrelated themes, aspects, locations, goals, or NPC's. <br /></p>
<p>Some of these links may be easily deducted for intelligent players. For example, the relationship between the object "thaumaturgist employer" and the object "spires of the thaumocrats" (etymologically, "people governing by virtue of magic"), is kind of obvious. Additionally, even these links between objects presenting thematic commonalities may not suffice to integrate a particular player-character into the narrative thread.<br />
In the example below, the GM has made visible all direct - color-coded - commonalities as well as all more-or-less obvious remote commonalities (purple arrows):<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="THACOSG with apparent remote linking" /></a></p>
<h3>Links resulting from GM decisions</h3>
<p>As a perceptive reader, you will note that the objects related to the last PC (the time-traveller) do not easily let themselves linked to the objects comprising the other PC rows, and that, currently, the last player's creative agenda does not seem to intersect that of the other players, thematically.<br />
This particular problem of an "outsider" PC <strong>must</strong> be solved before the game begins: strategic gamemastering aims at providing optimal fun to <strong>all</strong> players by catering to each of their agendas.<br /></p>
<p>There is no solution to this issue but for the GM to make arbitrary decisions for linking objects. The last links to be drafted by the GM when using the THACOSG are arbitrary and non obvious.</p>
<p>Taking again our example of the time-travelling cleric of shadows, the GM has made the following arbitrary decisions in order to create links between that particular PC and the others:</p>
<ol>
<li>Link between the "travel" and "time travel" themes - PCs 1, 3 & 4 are travellers;</li>
<li>Link betwen PC #2 "arcane research" objective theme and PC #4 "technology" background theme: the GM decides that PC #2 research into arcane notions will lead him to believe that there are ways other than magic to manipulate the space-time continuum. The GM will then leave clues to the young mage that PC #4 may know more than he seems about that;</li>
<li>Link between PC #4 "shadows" theme and PC #3 "stealth" theme: the GM decides that PC #3's incredible stealth really originates less from training than from a latent ability to naturally manipulate shadows, which of course wil elicit PC #4's interest.</li>
<li>Link between PC #4 locations and the locations in other PC rows: the GM decides that the city slums which are so important to PCs #1 and 2 are forerunners of the future city slums that the time-travelling cleric of shadows knows so well. Furthermore, making the Temple of the ancients, under which roofs the albino assassin has made his nest, a time-indifferent fixture will of course give PC's #3 and 4 an additional incentive to pursue their creative agendas together.</li>
<li>Link between the "hyperborean obsidian broadsword" & "technological weapons": the GM decides that the barbarian chieftain's "hyperborean obsidian broadsword" is a technological item which will attract PC #4's attention. The GM hasn't decided whether the "cursed blade" in the albino assassin's background is a technological item yet, and reserves his decision on that according to the plots that PC #3 will feel like exploring.<br /></li>
</ol>
<p>The completed THACOSG is represented below:<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/Linked_THACO_GMIntervention.png"><img src="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Images/.Linked_THACO_GMIntervention_m.png" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="Fully completed THACOSG with GM decisions" /></a></p>
<h3>Opposition linking</h3>
<p>Some links are dangerous to the plot and ultimately the creative agendas of the players. Those are the links between objects belonging to different PC rows which incur a <strong>direct and unsolvable opposition</strong> between concerned PCs. Sometimes, these oppositions are unavoidable for the GM, because they are consubstantial to the PC concepts: for example in the case of both a demon PC and a fanatical demon-hunter in the same group.<br /></p>
<p>This means that when the concerned PCs explore their own background or objective elements which are linked by a strict opposition, <ins>they will be enemies regarding any related plot hooks</ins>: these players won't be able to cooperate regarding the concerned objects, until they evolve in their thinking and goals. In this situation, the GM has to provide a solution to this opposition (examples: a temporary alliance against a more hated enemy which may eventually incur mutual life-saving, grudging respect or attraction; or irremediable destruction of the item/NPC coveted by the PCs by an NPC).<br /></p>
<p>Such a situation is not intractable, but requires the GM to be very careful not to make this opposition the focus of an adventure until the concerned PC have already outgrown this situation and will be able to work out a solution. If not, then focusing the plot on this opposition link will probably incur a split in the group, not to mention a possible creative agenda clash between the players of the concerned characters, since they would not be able to pursue their agenda without opposing the agenda of the other player.<br /></p>
<h2>Exploiting the THACOSG during the course of the game</h2>
<h3>Sparing & redirecting GM effort</h3>
<p>Once the THACOSG is fully completed, the GM will obtain links:<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>Between the player-character themselves (background row);</li>
<li>Between the individual PC plots (objectives row);</li>
<li>Between the PC histories and the individual PC plots (cross-linking a PC background row object with the objectives row object of another PC);</li>
<li>Between the individual PC plots and the main adventure plot.<br /></li>
</ul>
<p>Such links allow the GM to completely spare the effort of pulling the PC together and making them interact as a group. As a matter of fact, presented with these links or hooks related to these links, PCs will necessarily follow at least one of these four leads:<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>Investigate / contact / interact / deliberately avoid another PC - which will necessarily lead to interacting with an object located in the background or objective row of said PC;</li>
<li>Investigate / explore / develop their background and personal history - which will necessarily intersect a background or objective row object of at least another PC;</li>
<li>Follow their own creative agenda and consequential individual plotline - which will necessarily intersect the background or objective row object of other PC;</li>
<li>For the most motivated of them, directly follow the main plot - which will necessarily intersect the background or objective row object of other PC.<br /></li>
</ul>
<p>In this situation, the interest for a GM to push a PC in a direction rather than another is almost nil. Structuration of the various links and plot threads prior to the game itself will automatically lead a particular player-character to a scenaristic intersection with the plotlines in which the other PCs are embroiled, and eventually lead the PC to the main plot, but on his own rhythm, and through the plot hook that best responds to his particular background and objectives, and therefore his player's own creative agenda.<br /></p>
<p>Used in this manner, the grid structure of the strategic gamemastering approach is not immediately obvious, and does not appear as restrictive or railroaded to the players.<br /></p>
<p>With the time and energy spared in creating the narrative threads that the PC can (and will) follow, the GM can better focus more of his attention on detailing the gaming world, on roleplaying non-player characters, on managing the flow of the game, on increasing tension, on fine-tuning encounters, on choosing music for atmosphere, on creating props, etc. All these activities are not strategic gamemastering, but <em><strong>tactical</strong></em> gamemastering, and are beyond the scope of this post.<br /></p>
<h3>Possible plot</h3>
<p>A pretty straightforward beginning plot resulting from a few of the objects and commonalities determined with the completed THACOSG above could be the following:</p>
<p>A member of the Eyegougers street gang (<em>thieves' & assassins' guild contact</em>) asks PCs 2 & 3 to look into the disappearance of an expensive (<em>hook to PC#3 wealth & riches objective</em>) jeweled staff (<em>hook to the PC#2 broken staff & jewel of souls items</em>), which was under guard at the Spires of the thaumocrats (<em>PC#2 background location</em>). The Eyegougers were supposed to steal it for a well-paying customer (<em>the GM ponders that this customer may be PC#1's ursurper nephew</em>), but were beaten to it by an heavily armed (<em>not unlike PC#4 technological weapons & armor though the GM hasn't decided whether this was indeed technological weapons & armor</em>) unknown party (<em>the enemy "du jour", with combat abilities challenging enough for PCs #1 and 3</em>) using unknown space-time disrupting devices (<em>PC#4 time-travel theme enters the plot, and are hooks to PC #2 arcane research, PC#3 investigation objectives</em>).<br /></p>
<p>The exiled barbarian chieftain's thaumaturgist employer (<em>PC#1 NPC objective</em>) orders him to investigate the disappearance of the jeweled staff as well, to find it if possible but, more importantly, to find and retrieve the incomprehensible magics that were used to steal it, as well as the wielders of such magic.<br /></p>
<p>PC#4 hooks to the plot are less direct. This PC is alerted to a disturbance in the space-time continuum at the Spires of the thaumocrats, and PC#2 latent shadow (<em>PC#4 shadow theme</em>) manipulation abilities at the Temple of the ancients (<em>PC#4 time-indifferent fixture</em>) will probably attract his attention sooner or later.<br /></p>
<p>Not all objects were used in making this plot, and that's quite normal. Adding more data may lead to a richer plot, but may also lead to slower narrative threads, as all kinds of minutiae regarding each and every individual plots would have to be followed by the player. In this particular case, the GM decided to disregard a few of the links, keeping them in his sleeve for later plots & game sessions.<br /></p>
<h3>Evolution of the THACOSG</h3>
<p>PCs are not static. In the course of each game session, the player-characters will have met more NPCs, accomplished some of their goals, failed at others, decided to pursue different ventures, become stronger or weaker.<br /></p>
<p>Since PCs are not static, the THACOSG is not static either. It evolves over time just like the PCs do, at the same rhythm, so that at any given time, the THACOSG represents the state of the PC particulars at the beginning of the next game session.<br /></p>
<p>The principles of THACOSG evolution are very straightforward:</p>
<ul>
<li>Everything which has already happened belongs to the background row;</li>
<li>Everything which the PC strives to attain or avoid is in the objectives row;</li>
<li>As soon as objects in the objectives row no longer correspond to goals remaining to be accomplished, they have to become objects, possibly somewhat changed, in the background row.<br /></li>
</ul>
<p>For legibility in the case of long-winded campaigns, it is advised to create a background row for each main story arc, which helps keeping in mind which PC accomplished what and when, and which story hooks remained unexplored. Players relish the surprise of encountering long-term consequences of their own past, almost-forgotten actions (or inactions), mostly since it proves that they have an impact on the game world.<br /></p>
<h3>Using the THACOSG with non-character data</h3>
<p>Note that in creating this plot, the GM deliberately pushed PC#2's buttons by making references to previously unlinked objects (the broken staff & jewel of souls items) in the plot hook.<br /></p>
<p>This is an example of using the systematization strategy for adventures themselves. As a matter of fact, THACOSG use needs not be bound to describing and analyzing links between player-characters background and objectives elements, but can also be used for preexisting adventure data as well as non-player character data.<br /></p>
<h4>Value of THACOSG for non-player character data</h4>
<p>The benefits of using the THACOSG for non-player character data are the following:<br /></p>
<ul>
<li>linking commercial adventures and encountered NPC to the background and objectives of the PC, so that they can get in commercial scenarios without ever ceasing to pursue their own creative agendas;</li>
<li>densifying relationships between PCs and NPCs, in order to avoid the caricatural "best NPC friend ever" that the player suddenly discovers that his PC had;</li>
<li>linking commercial adventures and NPC together in order to increase the logical consistency of the adventures, each plot being inextricably linked with all others - the players will never know where exactly they are in the campaign or the sourcebooks, since everything which happens to their characters will be one long consistent story, optimized to cater to their expectations.<br /></li>
</ul>
<h2>How to use the THACOSG for non-player character data</h2>
<p>Using the THACOSG for analysing non-player character data is strictly identical to its use for a player-character: NPCs have both a background and objectives row, added at the bottom of the THACOSG containing the organized PC data. Complete commercial adventures usually begin with an explanation of "the story so far", which can be split into its constituents and organized into the background row of the adventure, while the scenes themselves can be decomposed in objects which will be the "objectives", i.e. the future of the adventure. Very important NPCs in the adventure can be decomposed into their constituent objects, and have their own rows in the THACOSG.<br /></p>
<p>Color-coded commonalities, remote linking, and GM-decided linking work in exactly the same manner as described for a PC-only THACOSG, though oppositional linking, which is discouraged between player-characters, doesn't incur any risk when between a PC object and an object in a NPC or adventure row.<br /></p>
<p>Showing you examples of how to use the THACOSG for complete scenarios and commercial adventures, or to build upon preexisting NPCs, or even to design plot hooks is the aim of <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/post/2015/09/02/Strategic-Gamemastering-part-3-Flags-THACOSG-PlotHooks">the next installment in our series of articles</a>.</p>[Geekopolis 2015] Vidéo de l'Atelier / Masterclass "Tuez vos PJ !"urn:md5:477fed61f5c6f5c4030b89d7798392952015-08-25T13:44:00+02:002015-08-25T12:45:55+02:00LudoxGamemasteringGeekopolisJdRJeu de rôleRPGRPG theory <p>Les festivaliers de Geekopolis 2015 ont mis en ligne la vidéo de l'atelier /
masterclass "Tuez vos PJ", auquel Dreyf (d'Opale), Krom (de Projet-R) &
moi-même (GROG) avons participé en mai dernier.</p>
<p>La vidéo se trouve <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qveHs2CWBM" hreflang="fr">ici</a></strong>.</p>
<p>Les slides que j'avais préparés (hélas sans pouvoir les présenter) pour cet
atelier sont disponibles <strong><a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/public/Gamemastering/Atelier_Masterclass_Tuez_vos_PJ.pdf" hreflang="fr">là</a></strong>.</p>https://blog.xyrop.com/post/2015/08/25/%5BGeekopolis-2015%5D-Vid%C3%A9o-de-l-Atelier-/-Masterclass-Tuez-vos-PJ-%21#comment-formhttps://blog.xyrop.com/feed/atom/comments/18[Geekopolis 2015] Slides de l'Atelier / Masterclass "Tuez vos PJ !"urn:md5:6ddc349ba29e13fa75b90900feb988892015-05-30T23:29:00+02:002015-06-06T16:32:46+02:00LudoxAide de jeuGamemasteringGeekopolisGMGRoGJdRMJRPG theory <p>Le 23 mai 2015 s'est déroulé l'Atelier / Masterclass "Tuez vos PJ" présenté
conjointement par les associations <em><a href="http://forum.opale-roliste.com/" hreflang="fr">Opale</a></em>, <em><a href="http://projets-r.org/" hreflang="fr">Projets R</a></em> et le <em><a href="http://legrog.org" hreflang="fr">GRoG</a></em> (j'intervenais pour cette
dernière association). Cet atelier s'est déroulé de manière uniquement orale,
sans support de présentation particulier - mais j'avais de mon côté commencé de
préparer un tel support.<br />
Suite à l'atelier, j'ai mis à jour ce support des points que j'ai présentés en
tant que GRoGuiste, enrichissant les diapositives que vous trouverez ici même
en annexe.<br />
Ce support est évidemment incomplet en ce qu'ils ne reprend que la partie sur
laquelle je suis intervenu, sans les propos tenus et explications claires et
détaillées fournies à cette occasion par Dreyf & Krom des associations
respectives <em>Opale</em> & <em>Projets R</em>, que je salue
cordialement.<br /></p>https://blog.xyrop.com/post/Geekopolis2015-Tuez-vos-PJ#comment-formhttps://blog.xyrop.com/feed/atom/comments/25Strategic Gamemastering, Part 1: RPG theory, Premises and Data gatheringurn:md5:35060cd3c6c9577c7f152e90f3a581fb2014-06-25T13:25:00+02:002020-05-10T17:33:17+02:00LudoxGamemasteringGMRPGRPG theoryStrategic gamemastering<p>GNS and Big Model theories have limits. They describe the players, the relationships between player stances, and the social contract between the players. They help expose the incoherences and/or game design flaws of role-playing games. They help understand the psychological mechanics & dynamics of a RPG gaming table. They help understand that differing expectations will end up with incoherence, zilch play, or even agenda clash. In that, they are useful awareness-raising tools for the GM and the players alike.</p>
<p>However, they also show their limits in that they are theoretical tools, from which GM & player best practices have to be deducted, and depend on the effort of the GM, on his understanding, and on the willingness and/or ability of each player to understand her own creative agenda, her own needs and expectations, know her own stance and the nature of the game, and fulfill her part of the gaming table "social contract".</p>
<p>But what of the time-deprived gamemaster? What of the player who is unwilling or unable to clearly state or even understand his own expectations?</p>
<p>Moreover, what of the case of an impromptu gaming table, or a gaming convention demo? How can a GM apply his understanding of the Big Model or the GNS model to the gaming session at hand without engaging in interviews on the preferred creative agendas and expectations of the players?</p>
<p>I believe that these limits can be broken through by any GM, by adopting a common, game-independant, player-independant, creative-agenda-independant methodical gamemastering approach.</p> <h3>Premises</h3>
<p>Tabletop roleplaying games share common traits :</p>
<ul>
<li>They occur on a table (virtual or physical).</li>
<li>They involve players, who take on the roles of characters during the course of the game.</li>
<li>They involve a gamemaster (whether a single player, rotating gamemaster, or shared gamemastery between players).</li>
<li>They have a gaming system.</li>
<li>They take place according to a particular universe or setting (which can be written or implicit).</li>
<li>The aim of the game is to have fun, through creative agenda blends of 3 main axes of exploring the universe through player-controlled characters, creating a story set in the aforementioned universe in which player-controlled characters are protagonists, and besting other (player-controlled or GM-controlled) characters through luck, ingenuity or min-maxing.</li>
</ul>
<p>The most important common trait in this list is the last one: players and GM alike want to have fun, and, hopefully, to achieve a maximum level of personal fun. Additionnally, the deeper they have invested themselves in the game, the more fun the players experience.</p>
<p>According to these premises, any general gamemastering approach needs to aim at optimizing the fun experienced by each player, while reducing the stress & energy load of the gamemaster.</p>
<h3>The issues with fun optimization</h3>
<p>Fun optimization in a roleplaying game, however, is difficult to achieve by the very fact that the players enter the game with different expectations, and that they have a very high level of control on the flow of the game through the actions of their characters. The very difficult work of the gamemaster will be to find a compromise between the various player's expectations and wishes in order to make the game enjoyable for everyone.</p>
<p>However, the more a player's expectations differ from the others', the greater the gap between said player's wishes and the resulting compromise, and the more gamemaster effort incurred to achieve that compromise.</p>
<p>The result, however, is disappointing :</p>
<ul>
<li>the game will be less enjoyable for that player, regardless of the fact that the gamemaster invested more time and more energy into worming his character, his expectations and his wishes into the game ;</li>
<li>the game will be less enjoyable for the other players, because the wishes and expectations of the differing player will have drawn the resulting compromise solution apart from the other player's own expectations and wishes ;</li>
<li>the game will require more energy from the gamemaster in order to reconcile player expectations and wishes whereas such energy might have been spared for better improvisation, more detailed world-design, prop creation, or anything else.</li>
</ul>
<p>The obvious solution would be to reach an agreement with differing players whereas they'd curb their wildest expectations in order to help obtaining a compromise (or not play with them at all). However, this approach incurs an effort from the gamemaster and the concerned player, and will necessarily end up with restraining the differing player's ideal fun. The issue is even worse when each player's creative agenda wildly differs from every other player's, in which case the differing expectations will gravely interfere with how the plot will unfold & how the players will interact with the setting.</p>
<p>It seems necessary at this stage to raise the obvious questions: what is "<em>good gamemastering</em>"? What is a "<em>good gamemaster</em>"?</p>
<p>Basically, gamemasters are judged by their own players, but according to which criteria can a player judge a gamemaster to be good? According to the fun the player had in playing the game. And the criterion is obvious: it depends on whether the gamemaster catered to the player's wishes and expectations, according to said player's creative agenda.</p>
<p>A good gamemaster therefore endeavors and succeeds at catering to all players' differing creative agendas at the same time. With the incurring energy expenditure, no wonder good gamemasters often feel spent after running a game.</p>
<p>Therefore, a valid gamemastering optimization method needs to :</p>
<ol>
<li>work for any tabletop roleplaying game, regardless of system or setting;</li>
<li>take into account differing player creative agendas without trying to forcefuly reconcile them;</li>
<li>diminish the gamemaster workload while also improving his management of the Shared Imagined Space.</li>
</ol>
<h3>First steps in Strategic Gamemastering</h3>
<p>Strategy :</p>
<ol>
<li><em>A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem.</em></li>
<li><em>The art and science of planning and marshalling resources for their most efficient and effective use. The term is derived from the Greek word for generalship or leading an army.</em> - http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/strategy.html <br /></li>
</ol>
<p>Keeping this in mind, an efficient gamemastering strategy would exploit each player's efforts in-game and meta-game to fullfill his own creative agenda and divert that energy expenditure to the goal of fulfilling the other players' own creative agendas.</p>
<p>This approach requires a rational and systematic analysis and exploitation of any and all data available to the GM about his players' creative agenda. Most of this data is not only easily and readily available, but also provided in an easily exploitable and understandable format: the player-character as defined not only by its character attributes and background scribbled on the character sheet, but also by the acting of the player.</p>
<p>Hence the three most obvious data sources available to the GM trying to exploit the creative agenda of a player are the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Player-character backstory & description</li>
<li>Player-character goals</li>
<li>Player acting</li>
</ol>
<p>Let's look into them.</p>
<h4>Player-character backstory & description (numbered and/or lettered)</h4>
<p>The main source of data for player creative agenda exploitation, really. The backstory of a character is often very revealing of the creative agenda of the player. A thoroughly occult backstory in a supernatural investigation game may indicate either that the player intends for his character to take the role of a mentor (or dark mentor for that matter), or that he designed the character in the aim of representing a real competition to the possible supernatural dangers of the setting: giving his character the ability to best supernatural antagonists on their own field.</p>
<p>Whichever is the answer, the player means for his character to be considered as a present (or past, since we're talking about backstory) strong contender in the occult. Any GM aiming at satisfying this player's creative agenda will certainly do better by this player if the scenario at hand has ties with the strongly supernatural past of the character. The player will probably find more opportunities for his personal satisfaction & enjoyment:</p>
<ul>
<li>by exploring a scenario with ties into the backstory of his character, which will give him more opportunities for drama;</li>
<li>if the scenario consistently takes into account the backstory of the character and that there is even more to explore in his own past, enriching his roleplaying;</li>
<li>by confronting the character with personal past foes or nemeses, ultimately ending with the character besting them in the course of the scenario (and/or campaign).</li>
<li>by the "spotlighting" of his character as a key character in the game.</li>
</ul>
<p>The same principles can be applied to the player-character description, whether as defined by attributes or skill scores on the character sheet, or as written secrets, flaws, traits and notes related to the character.</p>
<p>For example, the player of a Dungeons & Dragons character with a 18 Strength will expect that this particularly high attribute rating will distinguish him (both in good and bad ways) from other characters. The player of an albino character will also expect this albinism to have an impact on the game, both good and bad.</p>
<p>Both these traits are easy to exploit for a gamemaster because these are distinguishing traits, and fun for the player because his choices at character creation have a defining effect on the situation / story at hand. These traits help set aside the character from its peers, and as such they are obvious but efficient potential story hooks. However, all other character traits are just as useful for the gamemaster : the traits which do not distinguish the character from its peers are also hooks to the character's social group, to his daily life.</p>
<p>In the long run, getting hooks in the character through various traits tends to ensure that the player does not get bored with the way his character is introduced in the scenario.</p>
<h4>Player-character goals</h4>
<p>Player-character goals are usually very strong indicators of a player's creative agenda, and the most effective way to integrate the character in the scenario / campaign while maximizing the player's engagement in the game. It is through character goals that the player "reveals his hand", since he necessarily expects his character to have an opportunity, sooner or later, to pursue his goals. A character's goals can even be exploited, for example through a little NPC misdirection, to shoehorn said character in the scenario - though not too often as not to irritate the player by regularly deceiving him.</p>
<p>As a player, I remember my gamemaster using exactly this tactic in order to hook my character in a scenario: In a pulp game, I used to play an englishman secret agent, initially trained by a old indian fakir, and with a particular enmity towards thuggee assassins. The GM made one of my character contacts indicate that he had leads on thuggee activity in Boston, which made me jump into the scenario with gusto. The scenario had nothing to do with thuggees, and everything to do with the Tong triads. When my character comfronted his contact, the answer was : "Tong... Thuggees... It's all the same to me".
Regardless : the end result was my utmost investment in the scenario, which was thoroughly enjoyable precisely because of that investment.</p>
<h4>Player acting</h4>
<p>The last source of data for the gamemaster is the acting of the player. This data source is delicate, and often unreliable. Not all players make the same effort at acting while playing their characters, nor have the same talent. Unless a group is composed of experienced improvisation thespians, there is sometimes a risk that the gamemaster might misunderstand the player's acting, or be confused as to whether the player is in-character, or out-of-character.</p>
<p>Therefore, though this data can be exploited and/or (re)acted upon like any other type of data, an experienced gamemaster will exploit it only if he is certain of the player being in-character and of understanding the motivations and objectives of the player-character in that particular interaction.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>There is a lot of data which can be gathered and thereafter exploited in order to build a strategic approach to gamemastering a roleplaying game. <a href="https://blog.xyrop.com/index.php/post/2014/08/29/Strategic-Gamemastering-part-2">The next article deals with an easy and efficient manner to organize all this data, in order to design an effective gamemastering strategy</a>.</p>https://blog.xyrop.com/post/From-RPG-theory-to-Gamemastering-Strategy#comment-formhttps://blog.xyrop.com/feed/atom/comments/50