Challenge Gow Umpiring Twilight: How to put the question to a non-player character with a six-sided die. Kim White ‘ne question commonly asked gaming magazines is: What must | do to be a good umpire? In my opinion, the answer is “anything, you like, providing your players want to ‘come back for more.” The key to this is to tryto give your group members more Cf what they want, but not to give them everything too soon or they won't know ‘what to do next. For example, your group, having been creamed with the 5th Mechanized Divi- sion in Poland, decides the only fit course of action isto obtain an intact ait- craft “But surely, umpire, there must be at least one plane in Poland in a bunker cr hard shelter, fully equipped with a couple of nukes on it.” and plaster the nearest Soviet city in revenge. You could arrange for it to happen {after all, one of the supreme satisfac- tions of umpiring is to be able to create these little miracles), but consider the ‘consequences: © The selected target might just be the location for GDW’s next published adventure. '® Having been given such a powerful toy, the players will expect similar miracles to occur on a regular basis. © Having had a high-charged, adren- alin-packed game session (culminating in the target oftheir choice slowly rising in- to the stratosphere as radioactive par- ticles), what do you offer them next? ‘Anything short of global devastation ‘would be an anti-climax. So. LESSON 1 Feed them slowly with easily digestible lumps that will satisfy but not choke. ‘Another principle I've tried to follow is to keep the game moving as quickly as possible, even at the expense of (wait for the screams of agony from the purists!) not always following the rules book. Think about it. You are in the middle of a firefight, AK rounds impacting only inches from your unarmored head (what ‘wimp would be less than gung-ho and ‘wear a helmet), and the Bradley you are lying under gets wasted by an RPG-7. Do you find yourself blasted into meatloaf, boiled by oil, or (miraculously) relative- ly unharmed and escaping? Or are you sitting there, M6 in hand, waiting for the Supreme Being (often referred to by disgruntled players as the 'S.B. to roll some phantasmal dice and eventually let you know what happened? Which situation will give you the flavor of really being there—the instant result, cr the slow working-out from the rules book after the event? LESSON 2 Keep events flowing as close as poss ble to real-time. | use two systems to get the “quick result.” 1, Prepare a few vehicle encounters in advance. Generate some common vehicles and their condition and con- tents, and also generate what happens to them if they are hit by different sorts of antiarmor weapons, By having these instant “brew-ups” ready at hand, you ‘can avoid those tedious pauses in the ‘game which let the players come down from their adrenalin high and lose the feeling of being there. A similar tech- nique can be used for people en- counters; use the encounter tables by all ‘means, but do all the rolling-up before your game sessions, and store the results ‘on index cards. Include possible casual- ty results on the cards as well 2, The second quick method is to cheat. From similar events in previous ‘games you should have a rough idea of what could happen. Roll some dice behind a screen, make a pretense of con- sulting a g.r. sheet, and tell the players ‘what happened (as you've just decided). This method is not recommended for ‘every occasion but is justifiable occa- sionally. This will only work ifthe players are not allowed access to their rules books. Which brings me to lesson 3 LESSON 3 Players should not know everything. Nothing interrupts the “reality” of a ‘game more than the umpire calling a decision only to have a sea lawyer query the decision several minutes (and, at least in my group’s games, several bodies) down the track—thus, at best, necessitating a lengthy argument and, at ‘worst, enabling the group to get out of a potentially sticky position it had book during game sessions, This rule has ‘one vital rider: You, the umpire, must be as expert as possible in your knowledge of the rules book. Itwill only work if your players trust your knowledge.Gow Challenge LESSON 4 Make players responsible for all their actions. For example, you are describing a delicate situation the players have found ‘themselves in, and some wise guy says, "I'l drop a frag grenade Under the table.” He will then say, “No, only joking, umpire! Only joking!” In my campaigns, what they say is what they get! In that ex ample | made the group accept the consequences of one member’ foolish act. (The results were actually quite hilarious!) The point is, it makes players think before they act. Obviously, if we are talking about an established rule that is in the book, and you don’t know it, own up and look it up. But ifthe information is on a town the players are interested in (and you haven’t pre-prepared an encounter card—see lesson 2) of a procedure not covered in the rules book, fake itt Invent something! ‘As long as you write it down quickly (so you will be consis- tent later on if it happens again), no one will ever know. Thus are born new rules and variations. LESSON 5. | will leave you with one of my own improvisations, necessitated by my group's preoccupation with beating infor- mation out of prisoners—hence the subtitle to this article. Just how do you put the question to a Soviet NPC, with 1D6 or 2062 ‘Simple: Establish that the NPC has a coolness rating of, for example, 4 (for characters of less than 2, count their rating as 2) You ask him your question and make a saving roll against. his coolness rating with 2D6. If he saves, you roll 1D6 and apply “Grand Alliance” ie fully computer moderated play Syimait game. which ives the ate of srvval between human and allen Faces. Players represent cither a member of the finan face orf the alien race wih tho unvese as 8 ‘ig the pe plod onairap of three lvls where each level is composed of 240 planetary systems, Each player must and pelea problems within their own amp before war can be incl end he ‘pposing race. Fach ide i feed “with” the same Sivations and problems to “To order the rule book and take ‘oF $2.00 for book only wit Simcoarum Systems P.O. Box 520861 ¢ Salt Lake City, Utah 84152 ‘Tur fees are $3.00 ist tum, please send $5.00 your name and address to GRAND ALLIANCE 2000 the points against whichever part of the body you wish (or ran- domize it with the hit location chart This continues until he falls against his coolness rating, thus telling all he knows, or lapses into unconsciousness. | _ The system is especially useful when an NPC is questioning | a player character. Ordinarily, feeling no pain, a player might | let his character be tortured to death before revealing the “big secret. In real life this seldom happens, and with this system itis interesting to note that a “brave” character may actually crack after suffering only one point of damage! The main thing for a referee to remember (and I'm certainly not the first or last person to quote this onel) is that your players are playing the game for enjoyment, not to feed your ego. ‘Applying the above principles can help you enhance player satisfaction=I know it has in my group. We ran a continuous Traveller campaign that spanned five actual years (15 years on | campaign time) every second Friday night from 1982 to 1986, | and we ran a Twilight: 2000 campaign that ran for 18 months. The aim is to keep them coming back for more. Don't forget it @ So Detailed Starship Deck Plans in 15mm and 25mm scale Available Now: Empress Marava Il Xboat, Tender and Scout Ship Subsidized Merchant Five Small Craft of the Imperium Laboratory Ship 15mm $8 or 25mm $10 Coming in 89! Module 8: Spacer Hostel in 15mm and 25mm SEEKER + P.O. Box 337,Finley, ND. 58230-0337. Please add $2.50 for shipping, Overseas add $5 U.S.Order by Phone (805)-466-3360, Send for your FREE catalog today.