> I'm not very good at this, but the other GM in our group is. Based on
> my observations of him, I'd advise the following. Be aware this advice
> comes 2nd hand.
>
> 1. Expend to spend significant amounts of time and effort fleshing out
> your campaign world.
> 2. Come up with several big threads/arcs that are affecting the game
> world allow them to come to the attention of your PCs.
> 3. Provide your players with lots of background material so that they
> can make informed decisions.
> 4. Get your PCs to decide what they want to do next (e.g. via e-mail)
> *before* the next gaming session.
> 5. Have ideas in place to force the action if they seem bored or
> unsure about what to do next.
> 6. Have some exciting (random?) encounters at the ready to slow them
> down if they start down a path you're not ready for yet.
> 7. The motives of your NPCs is of paramount concern; you should alway
> be confident about who your NPCs will react to any situation.

Hum, I know I would try to have my players, do a write up of their PC.

Who they are, goals and more. Such as contacts, past history, why they picked
their character and such things.

And then use the info to build some adventure ideas and more.

Such as why they are together? One game, the boys had connections, both from the
same village. One had an accident and accidently killed his father, when his
powers came out, so they both escaped to get away from things, yes the father
was abusive. And they kid became a fire mage or like.

Hum, like the idea of an email of intent, so you as GM/DM can see how to get
there, and if they are workable.

Always love the BS factor, or how much would their PC know about things, versus
how much the player would? Some times I wish people would do more theatre and
real role playing?

I know I had some games when I was playing, an email of intent would have been
good, it would have kept the other players from taking over the game and getting
us in deep trouble. I was playing a Doppleganger as a race, and cleric I think
as a class or .. I wanted to do something out of my normal in game character,
such as doing a back stabbing or like, but .. Again got pushed into just being a
medic or support player. Still not talking to my gaming buddies, been 4 years..
----

From experiance, not into people who are dating, playing together, unless they
are on the same team, to limit out of game tension. But some can handle it, but
...

Mike


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