From: johnn@roleplayingtips.

com
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 2:18 AM
To: erisrvn@bellsouth.net
Subject: Roleplaying Tips Weekly #56: 5 Tips On Using Bureaucracy In
Your Game World

#56

Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #56:

5 Tips On Using Bureaucracy In Your Game World

_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������
SENT BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY With Compliments
From: Johnn Four, http://www.roleplayingtips.com
mailto:feedback@roleplayingtips.com

CONTENTS:
--> A Brief Word From Johnn

--> A Word From Our Sponsor

--> This Week's Tips Summarized

1. Bureaucracy Makes Good Roleplaying
2. Use Bureaucracy As A Pacing Tool
3. Be Creative Where You Install Bureaucracy
4. Bureaucracy Is A Method For Villains
5. Examples Of Bureaucracy's Methods

--> Readers' Tips Of The Week

1. Helping Players Empathize
2. Blindness & Silence Tricks
3. Finding Inspiration
4. Perfect Gaming Environment?
5. A New Year's Idea

_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������
A BRIEF WORD FROM JOHNN

Your Tips Submissions Always Welcome!

=====================================
Thanks to everyone for your tips emails! I've been receiving
feedback on topics from recent and archived issues and
always enjoy hearing from you. I read every one and then
permanently file them in a special folder for future
reference. I publish the best 1-5 tips in each week's issue.

I also frequently peruse all the tips and feedback you send
in for topic ideas and improvement ideas. If you don't see
your tip published in the ezine or in a supplemental issue,
please understand that it is still valuable to me and all
the subscribers because it's helping me publish a better
newsletter.

Good Consumer Experience At Hyperbooks.com

==========================================
While our sponsor, FunUSA.com, is an excellent, secure and
very reliable place to purchase your RPG sourcebooks and
games from, HyperBooks Online has a few products which can
only be obtained through their web site. The Fractal Mapper
software is one example.

I've known about Hyperbooks.com for awhile, and I was taken

to their site this week after clicking the order link at the
Fractal Mapper's web site. I just wanted to report that my
credit card transaction was successfully processed within 24
hours. I received a professional and orderly email
confirmation statement along with clear download
instructions. And Fractal Mapper downloaded quickly and
easily and worked perfectly after installation.

Sometimes e-purchasing can be "iffy" if you don't know much

about who your are doing business with, but my experiences
have proven to me that Hyperbooks.com and FunUSA.com are
definitely trustworthy merchants.

(HyperBooks has not rewarded me in anyway for this

testimonial -- I'm just letting you know about another good
online RPG resource, one that I've wondered about for some
time now :)

Cheers,

Johnn Four
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR: FunUSA.com

Attention Gamers!
For Low Prices and Huge Selection
From AD&D to Zobmondo!
Fun N' Games is Great Games and More!
Hard-to-find Items? We Special Order!
www.funUSA.com toll-free 1-877-810-9596
_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������

5 TIPS ON USING BUREAUCRACY IN YOUR GAME WORLD

1. Bureaucracy Makes Good Roleplaying

=====================================
Dictionary.com says bureaucracy is "an administrative system
in which the need...to follow complex procedures impedes
effective action."

GMs, you can use this to your great advantage to create

roleplaying-based encounters in your sessions!

Imagine the following:

* The party's mage needs to use the city's library for
research. The librarian asks to see the mage's pass. The
mage asks where she can get one and is told to see the
mage's guild office. She goes there (it's across town) but
is told she needs to get a membership first. The clerk is
all out of applications but there are some at the library.
The mage returns to the library only to find that it
closes at noon, unless you have a pass to show the guard
outside...

* The barbarian, victorious from a recent dungeon raid,

plunks down his bag of gold and points at the big, shiny axe
mounted on the wall. The arms merchant starts counting the
coin but suddenly stops and says "oh, this coin doesn't bear
the King's face. I'm afraid you need to exchange it for
King's currency with the exchequer at the palace. It's
illegal for me to take this money."

The barbarian stomps off to the palace and demands an

appointment with the exchequer. Upon hearing that the money
is fresh from a dungeon, the official asks where the
barbarian is staying and who else was travelling with the
warrior. Then the official discreetly orders a small army of
guards to go to the barbarian's inn, seize all money and
goods and to arrest the barbarian's friends. Then he also
places the barbarian under arrest.

You see, the barbarian and his friends broke a number of

laws concerning bringing loot into the city. Ancient loot
can carry strange diseases, curses and plagues. The original
owners of the loot may try to get it back. Not to mention
there's the royal tax, of course....

Next time you want to create an encounter that involves

roleplaying, tension and conflict, think bureaucracy. :)

2. Use Bureaucracy As A Pacing Tool

===================================
If you want to slow things down, buy time to think and plan,
or just limit the PCs in some way, bureaucracy is the
perfect tool.

Use laws, procedures, paperwork and delays between each step

to accomplish what you need.

This technique is best used if the PCs' are already somewhat

aware of what they are up against ahead of time. Suddenly
springing strange rules or laws on them may appear arbitrary
or heavy-handed to the players (unless they are new to the
area).

So, plant seeds before the bureaucratic need arises:

* Create your own loose set of guidelines (i.e. tax
everything you can without pushing the area
into rebellion) so you can GM consistently
* Officials can post vague notices about new and
changed laws
* Friendly warnings from helpful NPCs
* Area knowledge skill checks

Examples of pacing:
* Travel permits (local and foreign) restrict travel plans
* Treasure Tax (it will take time for officials to count all
that loot, detect for magic and curses and record
everything--the PCs may be without their treasure for
awhile)
* Passes and visas (i.e. libraries, city districts)
* Building permits slows those castle plans down
* Party and special event permits
* Magic item and foreign technology quarantine

3. Be Creative Where You Install Bureaucracy

============================================
Bureaucracy is not just an affliction of big government. Be
creative where you use it:

* Guilds (i.e. dues, memberships, approved activities,

promotion)
* Churches (i.e. tithes, promotion, meeting with officials)
* Social organizations (i.e. membership, rules of conduct,
favours)
* Tribal councils (i.e. making decisions, passing laws,
granting priviledges)
* Committees and meetings (i.e. co-ordinating, consensus,
agendas)

Any place where there's organization and authority you have

a chance to add in a little bureaucracy to liven things up.

4. Bureaucracy Is A Method For Villains

=======================================
You can help players become more involved in your stories by
making them really despise the villain. And bureaucracy is a
perfect way to do that!

Perhaps your villain is employing cruel or unusual laws and

rules. Or, in indirect attacks against the PCs, the villain
pulls bureaucratic strings to make sure the heroes are
delayed, severely penalized or worse.

5. Examples Of Bureaucracy's Methods

====================================
Here are some examples of the evil methods of bureaucracies
you can easily insert into your campaign:
* Taxes and processing
* Memberships
* Permits
* Unsympathetic officials
* Corrupt officials
* Distant offices
* Confusing hierarchies
* Public scrutiny

And:
* Processing time
* Delays
* Mistakes
* Lost files
* Prying questions
* Application forms
* Audits
* Unjust decisions
* Bribes
* Inflexible rules

====

Do you have any bureaucracy tips or stories to share? Send

'em in to johnn@roleplayingtips.com. Thanks!

_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������
READERS' TIPS OF THE WEEK

1. Helping Players Empathize

From: Tris
============================
The best device I ever dreamed up while GMing, was to make
the players meet themselves....or to be more precise meet
people in their situation.

The characters had, at that point, deserted from an army,

and were making their way back towards their home city. They
met a group of men, some of whom had items of clothing which
the group had seen before while they were marching with the
army. The characters approached slowly and were approached
equally cautiously by the men. It took about 15 minutes of
tense roleplaying, neither side willing to volunteer
information, until they finally realised that they were both
in the same boat.

The players actually laughed with nervous release when they

realised what was going on.

2. Blindness & Silence Tricks

From: Pete Stevens
=============================
My tip on how to make good role-playing sessions:

Used sparingly, having enemy spell casters can be extremely

effective. Casting blindness or silence on the party is
great fun. When I cast blindness on a character I force the
player to wear a blindfold the whole time. Since I draw out
all of my room maps rather than desribing them this means
that the other players have to do all of the room
description to this player. Similar for silence spells I
forbid the players to talk to anyone other than to the GM.

This encourages hilarious role-playing between the players

and makes these spells *greatly* feared. It requires players
who can take a joke and public humiliation though.

3. Finding Inspiration
From: Roberta Barnhart
=========================
Shake the cobwebs loose from your brain by reading a
sourcebook from a completely different game. Even if you
never plan on PLAYING the game, just thinking in a different
genre might be enough to trigger an adventure idea or two.
For instance, if you normally play D&D, reading the Vampire:
The Masquerade or Werewolf: The Apocolypse might shake some
ideas loose (how about a SYMPATHETIC vampire or werewolf
pack?).

4. Perfect Gaming Environment?

From: Gareth Hodges
==============================
We have just shifted from gaming in our living room,
sprawled on couches, to gaming at the kitchen table, and
it's made a huge difference. The players aren't falling
asleep as much, and out-of-game conversation has dropped off
a lot since people are much closer together. I know that
most people probably already game at the table (hence
tabletop), but it'd be interesting to see what other groups
do to structure the gaming experience at a player level. The
props issue had a few ideas. What are people's "perfect"
game situation?

[Johnn: I'd be interested in hearing about perfect gaming

environments too. Send your gaming environment tips to
johnn@roleplayingtips.com]

5. A New Year's Idea

From: Jim Anuszczyk
======================
Hi Johnn,

Your question about whether or not worlds include new years

celebrations inspired me to write in for the first time. The
world I'm currently running, The City States of Shaturia
(home grown), has a very distinct new years that others
might find interesting.

In this land, the moon only cycles once per year. At the
dead of winter the days are very short and there is no moon
at all for roughly two weeks. This time is hell on earth.
The evil powers plan all year for the destruction and
domination that will occur during the days of darkness.
Many of the evil organizations based out of the northern
wilderness have prizes for the best trophies their members
can bring back from the "civilized lands".

The player characters in this game are no heroes, but even

these scoundrels recognize the need to protect the people
they buy all their equipment from. So, come mindwinter
night (new years), the towns on the edge of the wilderness
become very strange places where everyone puts aside their
differences and band together for common defense.

I think it's quite likely that the player characters will

find themselves fighting right beside the local baron who
they've had all kinds of trouble with since the autumnal
equinox. It should be interesting.

Thanks for the great newsletter.

_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������
That's it for this week's issue.

Have more fun at every game!

Johnn Four
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

_______________________________________________________
�������������������������������������������������������
MY PRIVACY POLICY & HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

"Roleplaying Tips Weekly" is provided to you free of charge

by RoleplayingTips.com. It is sent only to those who have
specifically requested to receive it. My subscriber list has
never been and never will be available to any third party.
EVER! Your privacy is very important to me, therefore it
receives the respect it deserves.

SUBSCRIBE TO "ROLEPLAYING TIPS WEEKLY"

subscribe@roleplayingtips.com

UNSUBSCRIBE FROM "ROLEPLAYING TIPS WEEKLY"

unsubscribe@roleplayingtips.com

SUBMISSIONS
Submissions & Articles may be sent to:
submissions@roleplayingtips.com

Copyright � 2000, Johnn Four, RoleplayingTips.com.

All Rights Reserved.

phone: (604) 984-4649

fax: (604) 984-4649
email: mailto:feedback@roleplayingtips.com
web site: http://www.roleplayingtips.com