Ok, this is inspired by this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9NtdF51GWE
And should probably stay there as all I have to add really is…….. yeah, so that, do it, but it got me thinking about games I have, games I want to play and games I want to make.
Being a GM can be daunting, but it does not have to be. As Quinns says, there is no winning or losing, just playing and interacting to tell a story and some of the best fun is had when you do it badly!
The point he made that hit me over the head like a big friendly nerf ball (with a reality brick inside) was, “the game does not belong to you, the GM, it belongs to the players”.
As a (mostly) reader, collector, reviewer and more occasionally gamer/GM, I needed to be reminded of that.
One example mechanic designed to facilitate this, is the 13th Age “one unique thing”.
The OUT is a true player empowerment tool, one of several in that game, designed to give a platform for players to influence the larger game. Icon relationships are another, backgrounds, even class choices, but OUT’s are the best option when the player tells a story, forms a foundation, that grows into a tree, then a wood, then maybe a whole world.
Too far?
Maybe not.
Character concept 1;
A White Dragon-Spawn Necromancer, who’s previous life was as custodian and soul chaperone to a White Dragon’s mausoleum, an usher to the other side. A speaker with the anointed dead and interpreter of their wishes on behalf of his pseudo-deceased master, she was a holder of many secrets, a cross-roads to two worlds. The catch is, The Stone Thief literally ate the mausoleum and cemetery condemning the souls contained inside to a fate unknown. Icon relationship may be positive or negative with the Necromancer.
This gives us a background (and career for skill generation), a story to evolve with and a reason to adventure, including a hook to the Eyes of the Stone Thief campaign.
Character concept 2;
A constructed sentinel (Forgeborn), freed from an age of silent guardianship by an event that destroyed the hold it was created to guard, left to wander the world looking for purpose. Maybe it is called by The Stone Thief, responsible for breaking the hold, maybe looters took it’s pledged treasure and it is compelled to find it, either way another reason to adventure, a back story and a career (silent sentinel of another age), which may grant some limited knowledge of many languages, customs, races and history as heard and absorbed in its semi-unconscious sentinel state.
Both of these are strong character driven story lines with motives and deep history to draw from. Neither directly affect the mechanics of the game, but they strongly influence the story.
The GM is now on notice of what the characters are looking for in the game, who they see their characters as and their role in the game/world. The GM now empowers these visions within the world as known. What the GM does not do is try to rail-road the player concept into the world as they see it.
As GM, you are physics, history and geography, you are social and political forces, interactions, the voice of many. You are the world, but the world is lived in, it does not control the beings in it, any more than we are controlled by an outer force.
Character concept 3;
You wake up in the desert, with just personal belongings including a magic item (unknown item) that seems to talk to your thoughts, whispering ideas both good and bad and no memory of who you are or why you are there. You do not know your class/career/origin etc, what you know until you try things, then they come naturally, or not.
This one flips the aegis to the GM and player to cooperate in the making of a character possibly of great importance, maybe in the middle of a time sensitive quest, but when will the breakthrough come, who are their enemies and who are their friends? When will the player and character know who they are and what happened to them?
One of my favourite character dynamics was that of Icarium and Mappo Runt from the Malazan Books. Icarium was a being of great power who could, when the compulsion took him, destroy empires. Being impervious to normal forces, the only “cure” found for him was to wipe his memory and provide him with a companion who kept him distracted and unaware through friendship and gentle guidance.
What these are examples of mainly are the need every game must accomodate for player involvement.
Why these examples and this feature?
You do not need just a few mechanics to force player agency. The OUT is an example of a process that can be fundamental to any role playing game.
To get into role playing games takes some commitment and resources for sure, but really getting them is simply realising that the game is made of interactions. Interactions are all it takes and whether they are rules perfect or not, they need to be two way. They need to be shared.
It is easy to fall into the premise that GM-ing is all about telling a story the players are expected to play their roles in, when in reality they are the story. It all revolves around them.
Take that load off, hand-ball some of the resposibilty for world building and story creation to the players themselves. Thus empowered, they will not only help with the creative process, but they will also feel like the world belongs to them, they are making it what it is, it is not just happening to them.
Lets face it, we all feel sometimes like the world is working against us, fighting us or at least not being super helpful. Why would you want to bring all that to the gaming table?
The best games sew seeds of ideas at every turn. 13th Age is for me an example of a game that does that well enough, even a single monster entry or magic item description can get me excited, that I forgive it it’s systemic foundation, the one game I generally dislike.