Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #44:

How To Maintain Game Consistency, While Winging-It,

For Left-Brain Game Masters, Part II

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

CONTENTS:
--> A Brief Word From Johnn

--> This Week's Tips Summarized

6. Be Vague Until Absolutely Necessary
7. Copy Players' Character Sheets
8. Use a GM Binder or Notebook
9. Use Specially Designated Index Cards
10. Keep An NPC Log
11. Review Your Notes Before Each Session

--> Readers' Tips Of The Week: Winging-It Tips

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A BRIEF WORD FROM JOHNN

This issue is early as Sunday evening I'll be sleeping on

the couch with a stomach full of turkey: it's Thanksgiving
this weekend in Canada (eh).

* * *

There's a new article you might find interesting at the

RoleplayingTips.com web site titled "Running Adventures With
little Preparation" by Brennan O'Brien. You can find it in
the new Articles section.

* * *

The sister article of this 2-part series, "How To Maintain

Game Consistency, While Winging-It, For Right-Brain Game
Masters" is now on-line at:
http://www.fiction-fantasy.net/authors/J4/index.php3.
It has some great tips not covered here about roleplaying
on-the-fly.

Cheers,

Johnn
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

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HOW TO MAINTAIN GAME CONSISTENCY, WHILE WINGING-IT,

FOR LEFT-BRAIN GAME MASTERS, PART II
Part I with tips 1-5 is available at:
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue43.html

6. Be Vague Until Absolutely Necessary

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This tip has a couple of different applications.

First, the more facts you mention to the players the more
information you need to track. So be vague and don't give
out names, dates, distances and other specific information
until you really need to.

Second, keep as much story information to yourself as you

can without ruining the fun and excitement of your
roleplaying. Learn to leak out juicy plot, NPC and setting
tid bits slowly, waiting for the best moments to reveal
them.

For example, a while ago I set-up an adventure where the PCs

were to fetch several unique and valuable items for an
important person. That person needed the items for his
bizarre experiments and was really depending on the PCs.
Retrieving the items was critical to the PCs' plans and the
deadline was very tight.

I made the mistake of telling the players exactly how many

items they needed to get, what the items were named, where
they could be found (I even supplied a map!) and what their
purpose was for.

Not only did that story become quite boring for me, but I
felt locked-in with little story flexibility left to me. I
was stuck. I should have kept more information secret and
revealed it as the PCs' needed it (i.e. after each task is
completed the next is revealed along with need-to-know
information and deadline just for that task).

Here's another example of keeping things vague without

wrecking your game. Re-read the paragraph above that starts
with "For example..." You understood the general storyline
right? And the description might even have made you curious
about a few things. But what specifics did I give?
* "a while ago"
* "several...items"
* "unique and valuable items"
* "important person"
* "bizarre experiments"
* "PCS' plans"
* "deadline"

Nothing in that paragraph gives any juicy information or

secrets away too early. If you can do that during your games
then you have a lot more control, not just over campaign
consistency, but over many things:

* If the characters decide to do something different you

haven't locked yourself in to specific places and times. You
can adapt better to play decisions and have your plot follow
them around...even just in the background as realistic
flavour if you like.

* If a session starts to lose energy, reveal a new fact or

secret and get things going again. By being vague you're
saving up ammunition.

* If you get better ideas from listening to the players or

from your own brain you can incorporate them seamlessly. You
haven't committed to unchangeable hard facts yet.

There's many more benefits of being vague and then getting

specific at just the right moments, but in terms of winging-
it and consistency, vagueness means less information to
track, fewer commitments to keep and greater private GM
flexibility.

7. Copy Players' Character Sheets

---------------------------------
Always keep an up to date copy of each player's character
sheet in your files. You can use the information to
streamline play (by needing to ask players fewer character-
related questions) and you can make all sorts of notes on
the copied sheets themselves, such as:
* NPCs met, spoken with, made allies/enemies of
* Secret effects such as curses, enchantments, blessings...
* Character family & friend information
* Character hooks and story ideas you get

By making notes in the margins and on the backs of the

copied sheets themselves it is easier to keep your campaign
consistent.

8. Use a GM Binder or Notebook

------------------------------
GM binders will be discussed in more detail in an upcoming
issue. They are an excellent tool for keeping your facts
straight while GMing.

They are a good place to keep notes in; you can create
different sections to stay organized and for easy access
during play (i.e. world info, story info, maps, NPCs...);
and you can add charts and lists for in-game reference.

For example, for my new D&D campaign I used my favorite name

generator to create two lists of names: Good Guys & Bad
Guys. I copied and pasted the names into a 2-column Word
document and used an "empty square" bullet style for all the
names.

During play, when I need a name, I consult the Good Guys or

Bad Guys list and put a number in the empty square (see Tip
#2 from Issue #43
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/issue43.html) beside the name
I use. I also have a list of random NPC personalities
printed on the back of both names pages and put the same
number in the box beside the personality I choose. Same with
a physical descriptions page I have.

Now I have an NPC's name, physical appearance & personality

linked on paper by ID number, which I can assemble onto one
NPC page after the game session. The important thing during
play is using the forms to quickly track information as I
use it.

Using a GM binder this way helps me keep my facts straight

when GMing on-the-fly.

9. Use Specially Designated Index Cards

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You have to be really left-brained to like this tip, I'm
afraid. :)

I find when winging-it and making notes, that information

eventually gets spread out over several pages. And if I need
to look up something specific like an NPC, magic item or
town for example, I have to do some paper shuffling and
cross-referencing.

So, I use index cards for NPCs, world information (i.e.

gods, cities, special places...) and magic items. I have a
standard format that I generally use like name in the top
left corner, statistics on front, description on back, etc.
And I file everything by first name in a card file box which
makes it easy to lug them around and sort through.

Using a single index card sure beats paper shuffling. And it

helps you keep your facts straight if you get into the habit
of filling cards out as you play with the information you
invent on-the-fly.

Quick tip about using index cards: feel free to leave

sections on the card blank to fill in later when needed.
Don't feel compelled to have to fill out a complete NPC
profile, for example, in mid-game. Just record the info
you've made up and leave the rest for later.

10. Keep An NPC Log

-------------------
I do this as a regular part of the campaign journal I write
after each session. An NPC log is a fantastic tool for you
to track the people, monsters and villains in your campaign.
It's excellent for on-going reference and consistency in
mid-game.

Here's what you can track, without a lot of note-taking in

mid-session:
* NPC/Monster name
* Status: friend or foe
* Last known location
* Session date or number encountered in
* Plot hooks, loose ends, encounter possibilities
After each session I send an e-mail to my players with an
NPC log in it. I also take that log and add it to a master
campaign NPC log which I printout before each session.

How can you use an NPC log?

* Keep names & relationships with the PCs straight
* Scan it during the session for ideas
* Reference it to find recurring NPC possibilities (why
introduce a new NPC, which means more details to remember,
when you can bring back an old one?)
* Look for patterns and natural groupings of NPCs for story
ideas, conspiracies...
* Handy reference for character needs (i.e. training, "go
see Brogan, he has what you're looking for")

11. Review Your Notes Before Each Session

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In fact, review your notes as much as you can. The more
often you think about the events and people in your
campaign, the more likely you'll keep your facts straight
and game master with consistency.

See the article "How To Maintain Game Consistency, While

Winging-It, For Right-Brain Game Masters" at
http://www.fiction-fantasy.net/authors/J4/index.php3 for
more tips on reviewing sessions.

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READERS' TIPS OF THE WEEK: Winging-it Tips

From: Scott Dunphy

I have been a subscriber for a couple of months now and I

really appreciate your hard work and keen insight. I also
enjoy winging it from time to time. Some of my best
adventures have come from letting the story flow from the
players with only minimal guidance from me.

Tip 1: Place minor plot leads related to established NPCs,

organizations, monsters, and villains throughout several
sessions of your better scripted material. Once the
characters return home from that crypt they finally purified
or the castle siege they finally abandoned, simply sit down
at the next session and ask them what their characters are
doing. If you have dropped the right hints and hooks, they
will have about 20 things they want to do - right now! Just
let them run around and have the NPCs react appropriately to
the characters. This usually leads right into the
motivation for the next session's adventure. The players
enjoy this technique because they feel more in control of
the story line and it helps the DM to know what types of
adventures they hunger for.

Tip 2: Keep common regional monsters and standard NPCs

(enemy soldiers, wizard guild apprentices, etc) on index
cards that you can quickly reference. This allows you to
spring an encounter geared toward what the PCs do or where
they go without having to dig through expansive notes. If
you also have a common name sheet prepared, these encounters
appear planned to the unobservant player (most of them).
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From: Aki Halme

Consistency and winging it are not mutually exclusive.

Inconsistency means taking liberties with the past; winging
it means taking liberties with the present / future. Wing it
now, then keep notes and bear those in mind when winging
again.

Another idea would be the lego approach. Prepare stuff that

is bound to come in useful, even if you don't exactly know
when and where. Stuff like dungeon pieces, rooms, buildings,
interesting NPCs, plot sketches, story hooks, monsters,
legends, encounters, etc. That way you can do whatever you
please, and look entirely prepared as half the work has been
done beforehand.

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That's it for this week's issue.

Have more fun at every game!

Johnn Four
mailto:johnn@roleplayingtips.com

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