The GM’s Bit

GM’s Bit

- Running the game

--- milestones
--- scenes
--- fronts and clocks

- changing things up
--- archetypes and careers
--- talents
--- skills
--- setting (no magic, fantasy? etc.)

- npc’s and adversaries

--- how to make them

Running the Game

--- Rules and Tools
--- Milestones, Campaigns and Story Arcs
--- Scenes and Encounters
--- Fronts and Clocks

Rules and Tools

Additional Systems
- distance and time
- travel and recuperation
- adventuring
--- environmental effects/dangers (weather, traps etc.)
--- random encounters
--- find some good free puzzle sites.
- character conditions
- the x-card (reminder)

Optional rule: Story Points

- pool of points for purely narrative uses.

Optional Rule: No metal health disorders

- stress recovery halved
- only use limit break

Optional rule: Damaged Equipment

- damaged before broken
- under half ware = damaged
- lose benefit or half benefit of equipment

Optional rule: Team Based Initiative

- done by ‘side’ not character
- characters on a side can act in any order and in different orders in different rounds.
- intended to be more open and narrative.

Random encounter tables

Milestones, Campaigns and Story Arcs

Milestones
- Major and Minor (inc. Encounters)
- Used for awarding XP
- Can be used to structure arc’s, or taken directly from them.
- overt and covert

Campaign Overviews
- help to keep things in order and remind of central issues and themes
- a nice central upkeep document.

Arc’s
- way of organising and keeping track of campaign
- Like a series of tv show, part in a book or novel in a series.
(how long is an arc? As long as it has to be.)
- help to retain narrative focus and make recap easier etc.
- help to make space for downtime and manage ‘time skips’ etc.
- help to clearly define goals and rewards.

Scenes and Encounters

- using scenes
- running scenes
- encounters and encounter building

Fronts and Clocks

- can be used along side arc’s but can also be used separately.
- Can be visible or invisible to players.
– Name: Give the Front a name.
– Issue: What the Front is about.
– Trigger: What makes the front’s clock tick.
– Frequency: How often the clock ticks over.
– Dial: How many ‘hours’ there are on the clock.
– Effect/Outcome: What happens when the clock strikes midnight.

Changing Things Up
--- archetypes and careers
--- talents
--- skills
--- setting (no magic, fantasy? Etc.)
Making New Things
- Equipment and Magic Items
- NPC’s and Monsters
- Game Worlds

NPC’s and Adversaries

(POSSIBLY MOVE TO IT’S OWN SECTION, SECTION 10)

--- how to make them

--- how to run them
--- encounters

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General GM Guidance
Play with your PC’s
- if they have suggestions for costs / extras that’s great
- intended to be communal rather than competitive.

It’s a skill based game

- worth reminding the players (for those that haven’t realised already), particularly at character
creation.
- skills help to underpin ‘who you are’ by ‘what you do/are able to do’, rather than something more
abstract, like attributes and archetypes.
- skills can have far more of an impact on tests than attributes
- skills are the prerequisite for many talents

The company/Stronghold as a character

- The PC’s company/stronghold is, in many ways, your main NPC
- can be used to bind them to the world and narrative without the reliance on individual NPC’s. In
this way it can help them feel invested.
- can be used to give them motivation and goals.

Use the Company/Stronghold System

- Use it for your own creations
- good basis for guidance, reminders and quick crib sheet for you creations
- once fully scouted, can be given out to the PC’s for their own quick reference and to represent
their characters knowledge etc.
Be guided by your campaign
- use the campaign structure (provided below) to guide yourself and help make decisions.
- the players don’t know everything, so don’t be scared to make changes.

The d6 is your friend

- d2, d3, d6
- great for, relatively, unimportant decisions; ‘its taken a couple of hours’ etc.

Tiers of Play
- different xp levels
- how difficult tasks and opponents can be

What actually happened (in the world) and making it your world.
- Only read if you’re interested
- Don’t read if you don’t like being spoiled.