Most of the people I know never want to GM. There seems to be an informal sort of etiquette, about it, even where someone who is sort of “Due” to GM is coerced in to running a game by having no one else agree to run them. It’s actually kind of depressing…
So, in my player-free(because I am a sucker) days I often wonder whether there is a way that the traditional style of RPG(Pencils, Character Sheets, Dice, Rulebooks) to which I have become accustomed can be adapted to work without a GM. I came up with a couple of solutions,which were:
This worked OK if the game met 2 of these 4 criteria- it was simple with it’s types of encounters, had less than 4 players, was at low level, or used primarily shambling undead. It made a magnificent Savage Worlds zombie game, but the preparation process definitely requires an imagination, and probably requires an advanced course in statistics. The text of this is going to be made available once I figure out how to generate the map effectively as the game goes along. The Zombie game is 6 pages of typewritten tables detailing the- Contents of each possible area, The likelihood of finding a set of resources, likelihood of behaviors for each monster type and for randomly generating NPC’s and their behaviors, the rules for randomly generating buildings and their degree of repair, randomly determining dead-ends, and a system for tracking the in-game time using the adventure, and modifiers to each table based on the player’s actions. Pros: Requires absolutely no GM, quick and easy to play, TOTALLY REUSABLE Cons: Limited Circumstances where the system is practical, Entirely too complicated to set up, Outliers occur and break the action, Final product is disproportionately small compared to work involved Points: Almost all Roll-Playing, for good or ill. Also, probably will drive those who attempt to create it insane.
The primary role, for all participants, is still the player character, but the secondary roles are Adjudicator, Storyteller, and GMPC. When the participant is acting as the adjudicator, he is responsible for determining the difficulty of an action when it is provided by the storyteller, and for concealing that difficulty from the Storyteller and Players. The Storyteller is responsible for coming up with the action of the story. When the participant is the storyteller, he also controls all NPC actions and temporarily relinquishes control of his Player character to another participant. The Player who’s secondary role is the GMPC is responsible for playing the storyteller’s character when he is moving the action of the story along and controlling the NPC’s. These roles are rotated several times during the game when the Storyteller dictates thus. Pros: I don’t know. I haven’t tried it yet, but it is a cool hypothesis. I think the “pro” here is that it requires no real alteration of the pre-existing game system, but rather compartmentalizes the role of the GM. Cons: None forseen by me. Points: The Participants would have to agree on a general story concept before beginning the game. Certainly would require experienced, comfortable, and cooperative players. People who like eachother and want to role-play will probably find this fun. Kind of an homage to Lord Byron’s party game, who’s name I cannot remember, but supposedly was the game in which Mary Wollstonecraft came up with the beginning of Frankenstein. If anyone can remember what it is called, it would save me a trip to see the world’s worst poetry professor… Please?
Anyway. I thought they were good enough ideas to show folks. If you try them, please let me know what you think!
Related Post: Players Build the Dungeon, Sandbox Dungeon Master’s Tool Kit
Divination
Sybll Trelawney’s divination class simutaneously confirms everyone’s contradicting suspicions about divination. Hermione Granger and Minerva McGonagall both believe that the discipline is ‘very wooly’ and they’re right, most of the prophecies offered by seers were simply ominous sounding vague(and incorrect) warnings of imminent demise. However, when Professor Trelawney offers up her second real prophecy(involuntarily) she shows that divination can illuminate an individual’s path. However, even a real prophecy isn’t set in stone, and Harry defies it on many occasions.
Obviously, this presents some problems as a game designer. I’m writing rules, for god’s sake. Just saying “Random GM call” is too much of a blatant cop out. Ok, here goes.
Destined Events: Destined Events are parts of the campaign that the GM feels are so necessary to the continuation of the story that they are specifically more likely to happen than others. This can be arbitrarily made or simply be a difficult to resist part of the story. Destined Events are what divination predicts. Each Destined Event, depending on it’s obscurity, will be harder to perceive and will penalize the roll to percieve it. The GM should roll this an appropriate number of times per session, I recommend once for every 3-4 sessions.
A PDF is available here, separate from the total Hogwarts RPG.
DISCLAIMER: This information is to be considered accurate only in an in universe context. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT EVER use any substance without care, attention, and an experienced(Preferably certified, definitely trusted) practitioner present to observe in case something goes wrong. People can get hurt.
LESS UNPLEASANT DISCLAIMER: This table is system neutral. Feel free to use the crap out of it for whatever game you like. That’s what it’s here for.
For some newcomers, this might require a little explanation. Charts are notoriously arcane(Pun intended) in rpg systems, after all.
GM Tip #1: First and fore most, if you can come up with the herbs on the fly without using the chart, for the sake of your players, do not use the chart. It will give you more opportunity to flavor the story, for instance fudging the tables to put in a bizarre chance bit of gillyweed as a plot device, or knowing what herbs are common in the region to add authenticity. If you can’t, or would rather not, or just don’t need to, well that’s why I made the chart.
GM Tip #2: As a GM, you might allow a player who knows(Or is interested in learning) about herbalism and wishes to take that route with his or her character, then I suggest that rather than determining whether an herbalism check succeeds with a die roll, allow the player to describe the process of using the herb and determine success based on the clarity(or creativity, if the case arises) of the description.
To use the chart, roll 1d6. Take the result and look it’s section of under the “Initial D6″ Column. Roll another d6 to determine which herb you find, by comparing the secondary D6 to the. The third column, if applicable, is a d6, plus or minus a constant, that equals the quantity of the herb you receive from your skill. A star next to the herb name indicates that I have not encountered a growing plant in the U.S., but that does not necessarily mean that they will be difficult to find in some other context.
Step Three: Schedule Classes
In almost all RPG’s, a characters special skills are enumerated by category. In the Hogwarts RPG, we instead use 2 skill types, “Classes” and “Experiences.” Classes are skills that you can pick up by taking a class in that field, such as Defense Against the Dark Arts or Potions. They are leveled up on a scale of 1 to 7(For each year at Hogwarts) using points recieved in game. More on character advancement later. Experiences are skills that are taken as a result of backstory(Step Zero Again!) or significant in game occurences and rarely change. For instance, being versed in muggle cleaning could be an attribute of the Weasley boys, since that was a punishment they received for their various mischiefs. Another example would be Harry Potter’s abnormal resistance to Voldemort’s curses. These are on a scale of 1 to 4 OR can be given a percentage value(17, 33, 50, 66, 84, 100), and typically involve a bonus or skill that would only be used in a specific and somewhat unusual situation.
To use a class, choose an ability from that class and roll 2d6. Add the relevant stat(Ex. Expelliarmus(Easy Spell, Will based, Roll greater than 6 to cast)) and the number of years your student has taken the class. If the number is equal to or higher than the listed difficulty, you are successful.
GM Sidenote: Experiences are a little tricky for new gamers, because as a game designer, I cannot possibly imagine the breadth of experience that a schoolful of wizarding children would have. I therefore include examples and rough scales, but not lists or mechanics. The GM must guage the validity and extent of the experience and how he is willing to allow it to affect his game. Here are some examples from before
Experience Example: Muggle Cleaning
Experience Example: Spell Resistance(Imperius Curse)
