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Eclipse's Masterminding Tips and Tricks
Nov 12, 2015 8:02:19 GMT -8
Post by The City [EclipseZwolf] on Nov 12, 2015 8:02:19 GMT -8
Eclipse's Tips and Tricks
So I am writing this mostly cause I just kinda feel inspired to write some stuff down for people on the site. I plan to go give some tips and tricks for what I consider the three main ways to participate in games. As a Mastermind. As a Murderer. Or as a Detective. Please remember these are some things I consider good tips and tricks, but unless one of you is my clone and hasn't told me, none of you are me so don't consider these as rules or anything. Think of it as a kind of advice. For now its just masterminding as I haven't written up full suits for the other two.
Masterminding Tips and Tricks
Tip 1: Under-commit, Over-deliver: What! You told us you could probably host 2 hours and it turns out you can actually host 3!?!? This is a common tactic in business. Players expect you to keep to your own statements except in extraneous circumstances so its dangerous to make claims like hosting for 12 hours. The same goes with the number of rooms or any other quantifiable variable in the season. The customer is expecting a service from you, so you tell them the worst case scenario and just don't tell them its the worst case. Then when you turn around and suddenly do it better, for a more desirable period of time or with greater content, the customer is pleased as it has gone better than predicted. You can do this with players and that way you leave a way out if you can't run for an exceptional period, but also give yourself room to give more to the players.
Tip 2: Give me your Word: Be careful, when you tell a player something, be it skype or the forum, its dangerous. When you tell one person you plan to host for 12 hours on a good day they take that seriously. In fact, that person probably stopped listening at "Host for 12 hours" since that's what they wanted to hear. This ties back to the under commit thing in that you don't want the players having these absurd expectations of you. THAT SAID, make sure to communicate with the players constantly and make sure you give them your word whenever you are sure of something and stick to it. Players who don't know when you will host cause you were vague may not ever play. They expect you to be relatively close if not exactly what you said to them so make sure to tell them and stick to it, within reason. You can host a little longer to over deliver, but don't double or triple the session as at that point you are just punishing those people who could only cut out that one two hour window on their schedule. Give your word carefully, but know that there is a power in the words of a mastermind and with great power comes great responsibility.
Tip 3: Know yourself: Understand what you yourself as a mastermind are capable of. If you don't think you have what it takes to construct enough content for a 500 thread map, don't. If you aren't creative and can't come up with super powers for everyone, don't. Its not a big deal if you can't do something, all of us have that problem sometimes. If you push yourself to do something that you cannot then all you are doing is hurting yourself and the players who will experience it. We all grow as we proceed, so don't worry if you can't do it now, perhaps later you will be able to.
Tip 4: Know your Players: This one is a tough one. How can a mastermind be expected to know ALL their players especially on a deeper level. Well you don't need a great connection, but its important to understand what your players WANT from your game. If you have a lot of people who want violence and murder you need to see that and prepare yourself for many of those situations. On the flip side, if you have a lot of mystery detectives you may want to look for ways to reward them more or let them progress the story without a murder. Perhaps you have that one player whose sole goal is to screw with everyone, its important to recognize this threat and prepare for it. Knowing your players gives you a forewarning as to the problems and issues that may arise in game.
Tip 5: Preparation Preparation Preparation: One minute spent preparing is two minutes saved panicking. Anything you can think of that you will need during your game. PREPARE IT BEFORE HAND! Copying and pasting something is significantly faster than typing it out right away. In addition this helps you give uniform responses to all players. Preparation makes you a faster, more efficient, and more accurate mastermind. Its a REALLY helpful thing to do.
Tip 6: Bias Mastermind: Careful about picking favorite players and ones you don't like. Yeah I get you know Steve from your elementary years, but he just got ambushed by an actual assassin armed to the teeth. Don't suddenly save Steve even if you don't want your friend to die. You need to be fair. If the assassin planned this whole assault out before hand, making preparations and such, then he deserves to not get destroyed by your desire to help your friend. When you do this your friends may like you, but they already liked you. The person getting gibbed probably held you on neutral and now moves you towards the dislike and hatred side. On the opposing side, don't screw over the assassin cause you don't like them. Its not cool. When you play a computer game it doesn't just change how physics work just because it didn't like you. You are the mainframe, you should not allow emotions to influence your decisions. That said....
Tip 7: GET PUMPED!: Get invested in your players and their stories. Be happy when they succeed and sad when they fall. You should be having fun just like your players. Watch everything play out and enjoy the story that everyone is writing together. Plus when you can connect with the players feelings, ALL CAPS OF HAPPINESS "AH THAT WAS EPIC," or the "****, can't believe that happened." Players in turn get invested with you as a host. You are a medium through which they succeed and fail, a team that wins and loses together. Try to have this kind of connection with your players and you may find they are more accepting when you deliver bad news or something happens.
Tip 8: The Two Commandments of All Masterminds: Never forget the two most basic things a mastermind must keep in mind while hosting. Your twin goals that should always exist. The first: You are hosting for Everyone to Have Fun. Not just you, not just your players, Everyone. The second: The players should win. The culmination of all their time and effort should be rewarded. Don't give them the "congrats you figured out why you are here and why the nuke is about to go off. You all die. Yay." None of the players want to have their victories crushed in such a manner. Yeah they "won" but they died or got screwed over plot wise. On the flip side, unless you are intending for players to be EXTREMELY challenged, don't make the game impossible to win without warning players. Yeah I get that in murder mysteries the worst case happens more often than not, but try not to punish the players excessively for screwing up and DEFINITELY don't punish them if they did something right. So, never forget, Everyone needs to be having fun and the players or at least player should win in the end.
Tip 9: The Word of God: You are the host, what you say goes. If a player is debating something you decided on, be it physics or blood or whatever, don't be afraid to admit that you are unaware of EXACTLY how something would work, but that in the universe of this game it works as YOU see it. I don't believe any of us have a degree in forensic investigation or blood spatter, so its unreasonable to expect a mastermind to know that. You can tell players this, just try to be calm about it and efficient. You don't have time to argue the exact array of the blood spatter with a player when you have 10 other people pming you. Don't be afraid, you are god in your games and sometimes you need to exercise that privilege.
Tip 10: CRITICAL HIT!: Players want to feel AWESOME and EPIC and IMPORTANT. Who doesn't enjoy performing herculean tasks with the greatest of ease? Essentially, don't be afraid to play up a players action, make it sound more epic by adding sparks as flavor. If they want to quadruple back flip drop kick someone, great. Unless them doing that would be crazily different then just attacking someone, just roll with it and move on. Even if the backflips served no purpose, its fun to do and people get a kick out of that stuff. Just don't allow flavor when the flavor results in unintended buffs.
Tip 11: The Chain of Stats: Avoiding Stats: When you set hard number values to things, yes it becomes easier to just glance at two numbers and say, "Oh, he has two more strength so he wins," but you have to be careful. If you have to go against your number/stat system for any reason you may find players reacting poorly as the stats failed them. When you incorporate stats you give players a solid way to measure themselves, but you chain yourself to that system unless you are careful.
Tip 12: A->B: Continuity: If you set something in the beginning, stick with it! If you for some random reason decide that flying billiard balls can KO people then don't change your mind later in the game. This goes with NPCs as well, don't just randomly change how they act or work without some kind of explanation. If the physics change or the NPC personalities change there needs to be a find-able IN GAME reason for it. Move from physics A to physics B by in game item ->. Everything should be connected within reason. If something needs to be strange for the sake of the game do so, but when you make sudden jarring changes you can surprise and annoy players.
Tip 13: Gimmicks, Revival, and Plot Oh My!: Mechanic Relevance: Don't include random mechanics that go unexplained. If you are going to have a hunger system, have a reason for it. Revival especially, don't just stick it in the game and say its a thing. Tie it in with the plot and/or the world itself. When everything has a reason and is interconnected you look like a flippin' genius! Plus it helps keep things connected.
So I am writing this mostly cause I just kinda feel inspired to write some stuff down for people on the site. I plan to go give some tips and tricks for what I consider the three main ways to participate in games. As a Mastermind. As a Murderer. Or as a Detective. Please remember these are some things I consider good tips and tricks, but unless one of you is my clone and hasn't told me, none of you are me so don't consider these as rules or anything. Think of it as a kind of advice. For now its just masterminding as I haven't written up full suits for the other two.
Masterminding Tips and Tricks
Tip 1: Under-commit, Over-deliver: What! You told us you could probably host 2 hours and it turns out you can actually host 3!?!? This is a common tactic in business. Players expect you to keep to your own statements except in extraneous circumstances so its dangerous to make claims like hosting for 12 hours. The same goes with the number of rooms or any other quantifiable variable in the season. The customer is expecting a service from you, so you tell them the worst case scenario and just don't tell them its the worst case. Then when you turn around and suddenly do it better, for a more desirable period of time or with greater content, the customer is pleased as it has gone better than predicted. You can do this with players and that way you leave a way out if you can't run for an exceptional period, but also give yourself room to give more to the players.
Tip 2: Give me your Word: Be careful, when you tell a player something, be it skype or the forum, its dangerous. When you tell one person you plan to host for 12 hours on a good day they take that seriously. In fact, that person probably stopped listening at "Host for 12 hours" since that's what they wanted to hear. This ties back to the under commit thing in that you don't want the players having these absurd expectations of you. THAT SAID, make sure to communicate with the players constantly and make sure you give them your word whenever you are sure of something and stick to it. Players who don't know when you will host cause you were vague may not ever play. They expect you to be relatively close if not exactly what you said to them so make sure to tell them and stick to it, within reason. You can host a little longer to over deliver, but don't double or triple the session as at that point you are just punishing those people who could only cut out that one two hour window on their schedule. Give your word carefully, but know that there is a power in the words of a mastermind and with great power comes great responsibility.
Tip 3: Know yourself: Understand what you yourself as a mastermind are capable of. If you don't think you have what it takes to construct enough content for a 500 thread map, don't. If you aren't creative and can't come up with super powers for everyone, don't. Its not a big deal if you can't do something, all of us have that problem sometimes. If you push yourself to do something that you cannot then all you are doing is hurting yourself and the players who will experience it. We all grow as we proceed, so don't worry if you can't do it now, perhaps later you will be able to.
Tip 4: Know your Players: This one is a tough one. How can a mastermind be expected to know ALL their players especially on a deeper level. Well you don't need a great connection, but its important to understand what your players WANT from your game. If you have a lot of people who want violence and murder you need to see that and prepare yourself for many of those situations. On the flip side, if you have a lot of mystery detectives you may want to look for ways to reward them more or let them progress the story without a murder. Perhaps you have that one player whose sole goal is to screw with everyone, its important to recognize this threat and prepare for it. Knowing your players gives you a forewarning as to the problems and issues that may arise in game.
Tip 5: Preparation Preparation Preparation: One minute spent preparing is two minutes saved panicking. Anything you can think of that you will need during your game. PREPARE IT BEFORE HAND! Copying and pasting something is significantly faster than typing it out right away. In addition this helps you give uniform responses to all players. Preparation makes you a faster, more efficient, and more accurate mastermind. Its a REALLY helpful thing to do.
Tip 6: Bias Mastermind: Careful about picking favorite players and ones you don't like. Yeah I get you know Steve from your elementary years, but he just got ambushed by an actual assassin armed to the teeth. Don't suddenly save Steve even if you don't want your friend to die. You need to be fair. If the assassin planned this whole assault out before hand, making preparations and such, then he deserves to not get destroyed by your desire to help your friend. When you do this your friends may like you, but they already liked you. The person getting gibbed probably held you on neutral and now moves you towards the dislike and hatred side. On the opposing side, don't screw over the assassin cause you don't like them. Its not cool. When you play a computer game it doesn't just change how physics work just because it didn't like you. You are the mainframe, you should not allow emotions to influence your decisions. That said....
Tip 7: GET PUMPED!: Get invested in your players and their stories. Be happy when they succeed and sad when they fall. You should be having fun just like your players. Watch everything play out and enjoy the story that everyone is writing together. Plus when you can connect with the players feelings, ALL CAPS OF HAPPINESS "AH THAT WAS EPIC," or the "****, can't believe that happened." Players in turn get invested with you as a host. You are a medium through which they succeed and fail, a team that wins and loses together. Try to have this kind of connection with your players and you may find they are more accepting when you deliver bad news or something happens.
Tip 8: The Two Commandments of All Masterminds: Never forget the two most basic things a mastermind must keep in mind while hosting. Your twin goals that should always exist. The first: You are hosting for Everyone to Have Fun. Not just you, not just your players, Everyone. The second: The players should win. The culmination of all their time and effort should be rewarded. Don't give them the "congrats you figured out why you are here and why the nuke is about to go off. You all die. Yay." None of the players want to have their victories crushed in such a manner. Yeah they "won" but they died or got screwed over plot wise. On the flip side, unless you are intending for players to be EXTREMELY challenged, don't make the game impossible to win without warning players. Yeah I get that in murder mysteries the worst case happens more often than not, but try not to punish the players excessively for screwing up and DEFINITELY don't punish them if they did something right. So, never forget, Everyone needs to be having fun and the players or at least player should win in the end.
Tip 9: The Word of God: You are the host, what you say goes. If a player is debating something you decided on, be it physics or blood or whatever, don't be afraid to admit that you are unaware of EXACTLY how something would work, but that in the universe of this game it works as YOU see it. I don't believe any of us have a degree in forensic investigation or blood spatter, so its unreasonable to expect a mastermind to know that. You can tell players this, just try to be calm about it and efficient. You don't have time to argue the exact array of the blood spatter with a player when you have 10 other people pming you. Don't be afraid, you are god in your games and sometimes you need to exercise that privilege.
Tip 10: CRITICAL HIT!: Players want to feel AWESOME and EPIC and IMPORTANT. Who doesn't enjoy performing herculean tasks with the greatest of ease? Essentially, don't be afraid to play up a players action, make it sound more epic by adding sparks as flavor. If they want to quadruple back flip drop kick someone, great. Unless them doing that would be crazily different then just attacking someone, just roll with it and move on. Even if the backflips served no purpose, its fun to do and people get a kick out of that stuff. Just don't allow flavor when the flavor results in unintended buffs.
Tip 11: The Chain of Stats: Avoiding Stats: When you set hard number values to things, yes it becomes easier to just glance at two numbers and say, "Oh, he has two more strength so he wins," but you have to be careful. If you have to go against your number/stat system for any reason you may find players reacting poorly as the stats failed them. When you incorporate stats you give players a solid way to measure themselves, but you chain yourself to that system unless you are careful.
Tip 12: A->B: Continuity: If you set something in the beginning, stick with it! If you for some random reason decide that flying billiard balls can KO people then don't change your mind later in the game. This goes with NPCs as well, don't just randomly change how they act or work without some kind of explanation. If the physics change or the NPC personalities change there needs to be a find-able IN GAME reason for it. Move from physics A to physics B by in game item ->. Everything should be connected within reason. If something needs to be strange for the sake of the game do so, but when you make sudden jarring changes you can surprise and annoy players.
Tip 13: Gimmicks, Revival, and Plot Oh My!: Mechanic Relevance: Don't include random mechanics that go unexplained. If you are going to have a hunger system, have a reason for it. Revival especially, don't just stick it in the game and say its a thing. Tie it in with the plot and/or the world itself. When everything has a reason and is interconnected you look like a flippin' genius! Plus it helps keep things connected.
