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New GM, looking for tips
Topic Started: Jun 7 2015, 07:08 PM (803 Views)
LeadPipe
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Pokémon Trainer
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So hey guys, I'm new around here, around the system, and around Tabletop RPGs in general. Some background first, altough I don't want to bother with my life story; I have been DMing in RPGs for over a year now, and I have been a player in no more than 6 sessions. My DMing experience is actually not more expanded than my player experience, so I'm not entirely confident with running a game, specially having in mind my lack of experience.

So anyways, I come here mainly looking for advice on running a game on the PTU system. I was thinking of running a game with the main objective of imitating the anime, without necesarily falling in it's pitfalls ("Aim at the Rhyhorn's horn, pikachu!"); it will try to avoid death, but not heavy risks. It will also follow a very game-like formula: The players recieve their pokemon in the hopes of setting off on their pokemon adventure, with the objective of being victorious on the League Championship, facing dangers such as mythical and legndary pokemon and a criminal organization, yadda yadda. Pretty standard stuff.

What would you guys recommend to a rather novice GM on a new system he has never tackled? Anything I may want to be careful with? Any tips for building adventures? Maybe on working along with the characters, so that each get their own highlight? or even just to help with the overall progress of the game. Any single bit of advise you may give, I would be more than thankful if you gave it to me.
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FanaticRat
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Hello, and welcome LeadPipe! I would suggest, first and foremost, if you haven't already, to check out the blog which has lots of helpful gming and campaign building advice, as well as some examples of previous campaigns. Also, you can stop by the IRC to ask questions; we're always happy to help and the devs hang out there often if you want help from them!

In any case, as for advice, here's what I can give to address your points.

1. Firstly, for having never tackled the system, I recommend you, of course, try to familiarize yourself with the system by reading the core rule book. Lurk around the forums and IRC, ask people what they did, and don't worry about getting everything right the first time! Just review what you can. I highly recommend that you try not to overwhelm yourself starting out, which means you should try to have a reasonable number of players (3-4) and try to stay away from homebrew or esoteric houserules until you get a better grasp of things. Also, I and a few others have made premade games that you can consider running for getting your feet wet. And of course, when you GM your first game, let your players know you're new and that you'll inevitably make mistakes; they will be willing to help you and go along with things that way.

2. As for things to be careful with, the biggest are number of players and esoteric homebrew. This system is pretty crunchy and combat can take a long time since each character is really 2-7 characters, so you're better off running a smaller number game. Homebrew can sometimes be fun, but it's best you understand what's going on before diving deep into it. Try to get a good idea of what the game assumes--for example, something like removing Pokemon Center or equivalent is something that pops up frequently but not something the game is designed around and can really make it a drag on your players.

Outside of PTU specific things, you should be patient with how you pick players. Get to know players, their styles, and what they want out of the game before you accept them, instead of just accepting people based solely on their characters. This will help you know who will be the best fit for your game and weed out people who will be potential problems or no shows later. PTU is a GM's market, so you can afford to be picky.

3. There's advice for this in the blog, but on a wide scale, you'll want to think of what themes you want in your game, what the central conflict is, and then how things branch out from there. On the session to session scale, I think you should plan each session to progress things in some way, whether or not the players fight anything or not, there should be some idea of progression, even if it's just roleplaying in the party and getting to know each other better.

4. Like I said, talk to your players. The best way to do this is to build a setting and general idea for your game, then talk with your players and find out what their characters are like. Ask their backstories, interests, fears, that sort of stuff. That way, you will know what plot threads will motivate your players...and when I say this, keep in mind I don't mean it in the "Oh your chraacter wants to do anything for his family? The BBEG kills them in first session, get revenge", but I mean keep their character goals in mind and incorporate those into the plot. The players practically write the plot threads for you.

I hope some of that helps!
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Giant2005
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I would advise you to get rid of trainer xp for adding to your Pokedex. It is relatively common for at least one player to ignore your plot points for the sake of catching random Pokemon that they don't actually care about just because they want the XP. Having that XP in the game can be incredibly destructive for your game, not just because of players ignoring your plot points but that one destructive player will get to be a much higher level than the rest of the players and make balancing encounters impossible.
Essentially, if you keep XP for catching Pokemon, you will lose control of the game and it will become a single player's game with the GM and the other players just coming along for the ride.
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Doxy
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The PTU Guy
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Giant2005
Jun 7 2015, 09:54 PM
I would advise you to get rid of trainer xp for adding to your Pokedex. It is relatively common for at least one player to ignore your plot points for the sake of catching random Pokemon that they don't actually care about just because they want the XP. Having that XP in the game can be incredibly destructive for your game, not just because of players ignoring your plot points but that one destructive player will get to be a much higher level than the rest of the players and make balancing encounters impossible.
Essentially, if you keep XP for catching Pokemon, you will lose control of the game and it will become a single player's game with the GM and the other players just coming along for the ride.
We were supposed to remove catch XP for 1.05, and definitely will for the next update FYI.

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Hariku
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FanaticRat
Jun 7 2015, 07:46 PM
4. Like I said, talk to your players. The best way to do this is to build a setting and general idea for your game, then talk with your players and find out what their characters are like. Ask their backstories, interests, fears, that sort of stuff. That way, you will know what plot threads will motivate your players...and when I say this, keep in mind I don't mean it in the "Oh your chraacter wants to do anything for his family? The BBEG kills them in first session, get revenge", but I mean keep their character goals in mind and incorporate those into the plot. The players practically write the plot threads for you.
I want to accentuate this. Always keep in contact with you players, ask them if they liked the session and what could be improved on. Make sure you are on the same page as your players, tell them what kind of game you're running and ask for feedback. If there's a problematic player, or the player character is disrupting the flow of things make sure to talk to your other players and the problematic player as a result. More problems come up if you just ignore it or try to mess with the player in game. Do not be afraid to lay down the law either, you are the GM, the arbiter and god of this world. Your word is law. If you think a player is too powerful by using a broken tactic, tell them. That also means that you shouldn't go crazy with power, discuss things with your players and keep an open mind.

Also, steal. If you see something you like from another campaign, TV, or novel, take it. It's hard coming up with brand new ideas, and no one is going to fault you for adding in a fun scenario.
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Couch
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Pokémon Trainer
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Giant2005
Jun 7 2015, 09:54 PM
I would advise you to get rid of trainer xp for adding to your Pokedex. It is relatively common for at least one player to ignore your plot points for the sake of catching random Pokemon that they don't actually care about just because they want the XP. Having that XP in the game can be incredibly destructive for your game, not just because of players ignoring your plot points but that one destructive player will get to be a much higher level than the rest of the players and make balancing encounters impossible.
Essentially, if you keep XP for catching Pokemon, you will lose control of the game and it will become a single player's game with the GM and the other players just coming along for the ride.
I don't see why it's not just a shared value, personally. Experience distribution between Pokemon is one thing, but all individualized Trainer XP seems to do is encourage exactly that sort of running off and doing their own thing, whereas group TXP encourages keeping the party together at all times.
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LeadPipe
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Welp, thx everyone for your help and advice :P I'm feeling much more confident about the upcoming game (Even though some pretty nasty issues are popping up)
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