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Players never do what you expect. One session they are “murder hobos,” but the next session they are so cautious that nothing moves forward. I have players that I could rely on, at least I thought I could. Every time they were faced with a situation, they would do the same thing. Now…not so sure.
One of my players asks so many questions I feel like I’m coming up with lore on the spot. Improve my way through it, take notes, and have it come into play at a latter time. This is where I tend to shine (I can spin a story). I could always count on that player to find the information, or at least fabricate something from the stuff spewing forth. And just when I thought we were on a roll, they decided not to do the expected. Now, I’m left with how to get information to my players without just showing them a neon sign (though sometimes that is necessary). I like to sit on it for a while, let these juicy clues just marinate for a bit. Allow my world to run without the players’ intervention and see what might happen, then let it hit the fan. If the players must have the clues right away, it might be easier to just send in an NPC to say, “As soon as I heard this, I had to find you.” This can cultivate a sense of urgency should the players want to hang out in town, dragging their feet toward their goals. But this could give them exactly what they needed to put all the pieces together to give them a bigger picture of what is going on in the world. Either way you choose, have fun with it! Give yourself time to work it out. In the end, your players will be excited to learn the information whenever you decide to give it to them (or they finally do what was expected).
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In previous games, I have given all the information the group needs to complete a quest. As they are on the quest, I throw in other plot hooks or NPCs that draw interest from the players. This keeps them wanting to continue exploring the world and find out more about what I threw in (usually during an improv moment). In this new system, I’m trying something new.
Giving them less often provides for an opportunity to role play more. They have to look for information, gathering it via news sources or people, and put together their own conclusions on the quest that has been asked of them. They now feel a need to take it “to the next level” so they can be fully informed. Playing a “Mr. Johnson” I am reminded of the quote attributed to Oliver Goldsmith and used in various forms throughout history since. “Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.” I keep this to the forefront of my mind to keep me on task. If they ask questions that I believe could incriminate Mr. Johnson, then I lie or redirect the conversation. On the surface it looks unfair to the players, but it actually makes it better for them. With the players not being able to trust the informant, they will do their own research and this is when you can give out the information in bits and pieces. For this to be effective, the GM must give the players time to discuss and work it out themselves. Once they come up with something, I am now able to push forward into new avenues of the story. Give it a try and let me know what you come up with. Wide-eyed and knees knocking, I have stepped into a new genre. It wasn’t until recently that I began to explore other systems and settings. Now that I have, a whole new world has opened up to me. I found out that star systems, supernatural mysteries, and blaster pistols are fun!
The scariest part of running a game in a new genre is my lack of familiarity with it. Futuristic era in a real-world setting makes me nervous. I’m bound to get names and places wrong, and with years of lore already built by others, I’m going to get that wrong too. I will be using the names of corporations (and their leaders) in ways I am sure do not make sense to one deeply embedded in the history of this world. To that I pre-emptively say “Sorry.” With that said though, as all advice I give fellow GMs, this is my world. It will be my Seattle they are exploring, my corporations they encounter, and my villains they will defeat (I can say that confidently, we all know how I roll). I want to build a story my players can walk away from satisfied, not add to the history of an existing world. Wish me luck, and feel free to offer advice. Just know that I will be doing my best to make an enjoyable, unforgettable story for my players…not to add to the canon of Shadowrun. Wrapping up a campaign comes with a lot of mixed emotions. I’m happy that it is over because I’m ready for something new, yet at the same time I am sad to see it go. My players feel the same way, so having a good closure for the campaign is important.
Now, let me start by saying a good closure does not necessarily mean a long combat (though it does happen often). Sure, you just beat the BBEG, but that is not closure…that’s victory. Closure comes with wrapping up what your characters are going to do from here. Asking your characters, “What are you going to do now?” The answer to that question varies as much as the players sitting at the table. Some will go off and live the quiet life, while others will continue to adventure. I know one of my players almost always runs some kind of major organization for many years before retiring. Often, there are children from love interests or marriages within the group, or with an NPC. The wrap up for the adventure is much like the last chapter of a book. You see a snapshot of the characters 1-10 years later. You learn where they are living, what they are doing, and if they have a family of their own now. It provides a nice bow to the box of plots, battles, and personal interactions that have been played out over the many sessions. I wrote another GM Corner titled “Challenging Encounters” back in 2023. The blog talked about balancing an encounter so as not to be run over by your players, or accidentally cause a TPK (total party kill). However, it didn’t really go into what it actually means to be challenging.
I know several GMs out there think a challenging combat is one that has high risk with strong tension, the characters could actually die. That can be a thrilling combat, but it is not necessarily challenging. If you encounter this at every session, it becomes exhausting to your players. Taking that on week after week (session after session), and expecting them to be okay with it, is asking a lot of your group. The challenge in my combat does not put them in a life or death situation. It could happen that way, but that is not my goal. I do not set out to knock them down to one hit point and watch them crawl away from the battlefield licking their wounds. I want to challenge them intellectually, as characters and as players. When I set up a combat, I start by asking myself “What do I want to accomplish?” Do I want them to work together? What would they do if they couldn’t work together? Will they back down and run away? How would they handle one of their own suddenly getting pulled into another dimension? Setting up a combat to find out these answers is my challenge. Learning the answers is a challenge to my players. The players need time to think about what is happening in the battle in order for their character to react. As GMs, we have to remember that the players are NOT the characters, they are simply portraying them. The player does not have the character’s instant reflexes or combat training (usually). The monsters they face cannot hit them so hard that they don’t have time to think up a good solution (unless I want them to run away). I want to inspire my players to think outside the box, not feel trapped to always use their most powerful attack because if they don’t, they could die. I’ve been asked on a number of occasions if I planned on switching over to the newest edition. Let me be honest, I have not actually opened a 2024 Player’s Handbook as of today. I have only what little I’ve read about it, snippets, and videos discussing its content to go by. It does not draw my attention.
For me, 5e has been a blessing. It has brought my family back together and I’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of people by sharing a love of tabletop gaming. It is open enough to be creative in my own homebrew adventures, yet has a good structure to run combat and guide me in the rulings I make during the game. On top of this, there are plenty of source books and third party content to garner ideas to throw into a campaign. So what is wrong with 2024? Perhaps it’s too open. Races are not inherently good at anything anymore, half-races don’t exist, and backgrounds seem to have become more important than classes, these are just a few of the things that I believe are not good. Now, don’t come after me! I know that not every elf is focused on magic, but I believe this should be an exception. I believe that the newest edition is trying too hard to break stereotypes and be super inclusive for a GAME. If you push that hard on character creation and breaking the “norms,” then what can you consider a “bad guy” (they have just been misunderstood). On the topic of half-races being removed because they believe them to be racist (IN A GAME!) is racist itself. They disguise this decision with the idea that half-races imply that they are inferior to either of their parent races. Since they are putting real world issues into a game of pretend on a mechanical level, then let’s reverse it. They have just implied anyone who is mixed-race is inferior to either of their “parent” races. In a world where diversity and inclusion is applauded, I’m honestly surprised they did this. That aside, I have access to a lot of the material for 5e (2014). Comparing that with what I’ve heard about 2024, I don’t think I could run a long campaign with the newest rule set. I struggle to make a good, balanced encounter with the OP characters that are present in 2014, I know that 2024 got stronger (or more broken, depending how you look at it). AND, from what I understand, it is not really backwards compatible like they had originally claimed. Overall, the shift made for 2024 was for the online gamer, in my opinion. With AI game masters a very real thing lately, this new edition is designed to work with that. AI game masters won’t forget monster stats, do not pull punches for story effects, and will not allow players to step out of the box mechanically to do really cool things. Therefore, the mechanics have to include stronger, faster, bigger actions. That’s not really for me, so I’ll stick with 2014. I am feeling the pressure from all directions. Work has laid some extra responsibilities on me (including an annual review), my application for graduate studies is coming due, and of course I am working on getting a new campaign ready to take off. As I work through all of this, I cannot help but be excited.
Going through school and projects at work, I have come to realize I work well under pressure. I can become more creative when I hyper-focus on the task at hand. “Just get something down on paper, you can fix it later,” I tell myself. Most of the time, when I take a second look, only a little adjustments are needed to complete the assignment. This is a huge relief of course since the deadline is probably in five minutes. It is commonly known that if you want something done, usually ask the busy person to do it. They are often the most focused since their schedule is packed. I am that busy person right now. So much so that I hesitate to turn in my application for school since I may have to give something else up. I am not willing to give up anything in my life right now, so should I even go through with it? What does this have to do with being a GM? Well, nothing really. I just wanted to share a bit about what is going on in my life. Perhaps you are feeling the same way. Too many things you want to do and not enough time (or money) to do it. I do know regardless of my future plans, I will continue gaming on Tuesday nights with my friends and family. Why? Because that is my fun time, my release from the stress of the world, a chance to play pretend and forget about any responsibilities. I’ve been running on fumes of late. I need a chance to stop by the station to refuel and refresh. Tonight was my chance to play “catch up” and I’m trying to take full advantage of it. Checking off the boxes of my list is quite satisfying…until I discover more that should get added.
The last couple of gaming sessions were semi-prepared. All the notes were in my head, but nothing was written down. I had no monsters picked out, no loot to find, no real plot points to hit, but that rarely stops me from coming up with something. I felt good after the session and hoped my players didn’t realize I had nothing ahead of time (I’m making up this story as we go along, just like they are). Am I too comfortable with this? Probably. All those missed plot hooks, all the monsters not encountered, they’re coming out now! My GM tool box is getting used generously. Sometimes my players benefit the most when I’m underprepared as I just pull out the loot table and make rushed decisions on item abilities. These will come back to haunt me later, of that I am sure! If you find yourself in this position, you could go either way. If you are comfortable with improv and coming up with a story on-the-fly, then go for it! Your players will have fun and you’ll have given yourself another week (or more) to prepare for the next session. On the other hand, if you are not comfortable with this, it’s okay to cancel or pull out a board game. This still gives you more time to prepare and your players will be okay with this decision too. It really is about getting together with friends and having fun! So we have announced our next campaign. We are playing in Shadowrun 5e, a system most of us are only vaguely familiar with (one has no clue). We debated over a title, but everyone seems to believe I am the one who should ultimately decide. I’m staring at the books without any clue as to what kind of story to tell and thinking to myself, “What did I get into?!”
Character backgrounds are a life-saver! With only two of my players’ backgrounds submitted, I have been able to at least formulate a title for the campaign. (No, you’ll hear it when everyone else does.) I have talked through another’s background, and am patiently waiting for the fourth player to get on board. He doesn’t have long though, we play another session soon to test out our changes from the first time. I’ve read through so much of the books that information has begun to swim about in my head. I do have a better grasp at some of the bad guy stats, and how they work. Fingers crossed it comes out in the game. The exciting part of this session (0.2?) is that the players will be using the characters they will bring into the stream. Sure, there may be some further minor adjustments, but for the most part, they’re done. It will not be long now. In a few weeks, 6 at most, and we’ll be jumping into a whole new adventure, in a new era. Here’s to post apocalyptic vibes in a postmodern sixth world of Seattle! Alright, you’ve read this far, so I’ll throw you the bone. You read it here first, the title of the next campaign is: Dark Allies: Shadows of Honor You arrive at the table and sit down to play with an eclectic group of people. Sure, some definitely do not align with your style, and maybe you’d never approach them in the hall, but now you have to work together. There may be differing opinions, style of play, even friend groups, but remember they are here to enjoy this game as much as you…common ground already.
Hot topics are some of the main things I try to keep away from the table (especially of the political variety). We don’t sit down to discuss what is going on in the world around us, we are here to escape it for a while. Remembering this alone, will negate a lot of unease and tension between others. We are playing make believe without running around in the yard with the neighbors. (Pausing for nostalgia.) I do this every time I run a game at a convention. These simple one-shots could have anyone sitting down at my table. It can be challenging to run a game not knowing what may cause someone else to feel uncomfortable. As a GM, it is up to me to read the body language of these strangers without any kind of base comparison, then adjust on the fly to accommodate for the release of tension. When I am able to do this, everyone wins!! Playing with strangers is just as rewarding. You can do the same thing as a player as well. Read your party members and aid in directing the party through the tense parts of encounters. Be the protector, the jokester, the care-free one, or even the careless one that the rest have to now rescue. All of these types of characters can redirect the one feeling uncomfortable to worry about something else entirely. I love my home game with close friends and family, but playing with strangers has allowed me to learn more about myself. I think this is fantastic! I’ve met some really great people simply by opening myself up to strangers. |
AuthorJodie 
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July 2025
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