Posted by Rear Admiral Lindsay Bayes (Gamemaster Director/Senior Gamemaster) in New GM Course- Part 2

Posted by Rear Admiral Lindsay Bayes (Gamemaster Director/Senior Gamemaster) in New GM Course- Part 2
[course continued from Part 1: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/gmd/notes/12201/]

Styles of GMing

Storyboarding - This is probably the most utilised style of Sim plan there is. The GM lays out a series of storyboards connecting his plot from start to finish. It’s a lot like writing a choose your own adventure story. This style requires the most amount of prep work.

Pro’s - You have a very definite idea of where and how the sim will progress. Probably the best style for the new GM.

Cons - Its structure is its downfall, fairly rigid and may require you to drop hints or give out cheats to help move the sim where you want it to, to prevent it getting stuck. It is the least spontaneous style type.

Table topping - Similar in type to the storyboard but looser in that the GM sets up a more loosely connected series of encounters or obstacles and then judges the player’s actions based upon a roll of a dice which advances the sims through the series of encounters. (Oldest method of GMing) It requires a moderate amount of prep work.

Pros - An inherent amount of flexibility is designed into the sim. Allows a degree of spontaneity, and fun because chance plays a significant element in the sim’s outcomes. More realistic as it can easily incorporate and resolve unexpected actions.

Cons - Its reliance on chance is also its downfall as it doesn’t necessarily reward player creativity and research. Players can and should be rewarded for going the extra effort to come up with great ideas and this method doesn’t necessarily do that.

Free Form - This is both the riskiest and by far the most rewarding of styles out there. Definitely not for your first time up to bat. A GM who free forms basically throws a problem or a premise at his crew and then lets them dictate where the action goes from there. Requires minimal prep work.

Pros - The most spontaneous of all the styles, this is best utilised amongst a very creative crew and is highly rewarding and satisfying because players feel that their actions matter fundamentally to the outcome.

Cons - Not for the faint of heart. The GM needs to be constantly on the pulse of what their crew wants, providing little nudges here and there and then taking the hands off the reigns. Your sim premises must be tailored to engage your crew or else you’ll find it falling flat quickly.

Combo - Some GMs in the club do a style that is a mix of free form and storyboarding. This is where you set up the main crux of the story, plus all the key character and world-building details and then let the crew go where they want to.

Pros- It provides a modicum of structure and ensures that as you go along you have something to refer back to to keep the sim grounded in the bubble reality you are creating. It provides lots of room for the crew to be creative, and for you to make changes as needed without having to come up with every detail.

Cons- When you have room for a lot of flexibility, you have to be prepared to go with the flow. You might need to re-write some things in your basic plan to make things work, or you may need to steer the crew slightly back to where you need them to be. Otherwise they may go so far that things stop making sense and you end up with contradictions.

SECTION B

Types of Interaction

Now that you have your idea it’s time to review the methods you can use to present your sim. GMs have a few methods of giving information to the players and moving the sim along. They include Narrative posts, Interactive posts, and Elsewhere Posts.

Omniscient/Narrative
This is probably the most common GM style in STF, or anywhere. Simply put, the GM knows all and shares the information with the players when needed: usually in the form of Starfleet orders, a diagnostic outcome and sensor information. Any characters the GM introduces to the story can be used to impart information in this way.

Interactive Posts
As with Omniscient/Narrative, the GM knows all, but his way of telling is different. Here, the GM creates characters whose interaction with the crew reveals the needed information. A GM can use sim characters to convey all types of information, ranging from explaining why the villain of the sim is trying to destroy a planet, or what background information the Intelligence Agent has on certain smugglers.

Interactive posts are dependent on the GM creating his own characters. Sometimes these will be very basic characters, the interaction will be limited. Other times the sim may revolve around a GM character. These type of characters need to be as real and as deep as the characters that you play on other ships.

Elsewhere Posts
This type of post should really be used sparingly. Often times I have seen it used in moderation in the start and end of a sim. Basically, this is a post where one or more of the GMs sim characters are interacting with each other, or with themselves. These posts are great for foreshadowing upcoming events. It’s a subtle way of managing meta vs in character expectations.

Examples:

Omniscient/Narrative Post

Suddenly, the rundown freighter the USS - Anyname had been escorting exploded in a blinding flash of light, sending debris in all directions.

Interactive Post

A player may post: “So did you notice anything unusual before you heard the explosion, “Lt. Anywho asked as he interviewed the survivor.

A GM’s response could be: The injured man, an elderly Bajoran, nodded to the question, “I heard weapons fire. Lots of it… I stuck my head out of the cargo hold to see what I could and that’s when I saw a Cardassian running in my direction!

Elsewhere Post

The Cardassian Commander shook his head as he saw the latest sensor readings. The Starfleet vessel had found survivors. This was not good. He slowly swivelled in his chair and turned to the helmsman. “Set an intercept course,” he ordered, “Maximum warp.”

So how do you decide which style to use? There’s no clear-cut way. If you’re a strong role-player you may find the Interactive style of posts more enjoyable than the Narrative. If you’re more of a storyteller, then the reverse may be true.

A strong GM has mastered all these types of posts and is able to pull them together in perfect harmony to tell his sim and entertain the players. When starting out you should try to use a combination of these type of posts. It’s probably wise to avoid the elsewhere style for now. Take great care when developing characters to interact with the crew, keep a note of any key points so they don’t trip you up.

[course continued in Part 3}

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Bumping for a final chance for feedback.
~Linds