Some things I'm learned while gaming

These are some concepts and ideas that I have attempted to solidify about my experiences as a storyteller and a player. Some of this comes from problems I have seen, problems I had caused, and problems I had to deal with directly in a role as storyteller.

While I had numbered these items it is more to help myself organize a large amount of information to better share it, not a ranking of importance.

  1. Perception is key
    No matter what the truth is, it’s what it looks like that matters. This is simply the idea that most people will never know the whole story about why some decisions are made, and because of that you should take extra care to make sure it does not appear that some things are happening due to favoritism. Avoiding making ST calls for girl/boyfriends, spouses, best friends, and sometimes enemies. With a larger staff of storytellers and narrators this is easier to accomplish.
  2. Learn to Delegate
    Part of storytelling is being a good manager. Learning what assignments you can give to your fellow storytellers, what can be handled by narrators, and what is something that you don’t need to be concerned with right now. Understanding that you don’t have to do everything by yourself helps make the game run smoother and prevents storytellers from burning out. Once you have delegated something, learn to trust that the people you have given the task to will carry it out.
  3. The Open Door
    You want to encourage your players to talk to you about the direction of the game, game system rules, and the policies that help manage the game. If you offer players the chance and take their ideas and feelings into account it helps create a player base that feels they have more of a stake in the game. It also gives players a forum in which to dispute rulings they are uncomfortable with, without resorting to a debate or yelling match during the game session. A critical part of the Open Door is learning to actually listen to the players (and your fellow storytellers) concerns. It is very easy to dismiss ideas that do not line up with your own.
  4. Your Composure
    Never lose your temper at a game. While sometimes you will need to raise your voice to get the players attention, for game wrap up and such, avoid yelling at your player base. If you can, try using a whistle to signal game wrap instead of shouting. Yelling at the players base makes it appear that you have lost control and are attempting to regain it by being the loudest (see point one).
  5. You are not Infallible
    While you are the storyteller and your decisions about the rules should be followed during the game sessions, remember that you can and will make mistakes. Do not compound any mistake by insisting you are always right. If there is a point of conflict let people know you are willing to discuss it later, and make a point to find that person (or persons) and have the discussion.
  6. Don’t be afraid to Discipline
    For games that use a three (3) strike rule make sure you use it. The idea behind the three (3) strike system is that players will sometimes make mistakes, this will give you a chance to correct the behavior and offer the player a chance to improve. For this to work the strikes have to be issued. I have often seen storytellers talked out of giving strikes for many reasons, mostly with the players stating that they have learned their lesson and will never do it again. There are three major points to go with this
    1. The strike is a warning to change behavior to the offending player
    2. The strike serves to let the other players understand you are serious about the rules and policies of the game.
    3. The strike needs to be recorded in the game files for other storytellers for your game.
  7. Keep Records
    Records are the history of your game. If you don’t keep good records, you will run your plots into each other and contradict existing game lore. As well as keeping good in game records you need to make sure you keep good out of game records. For dealing with your site, any money you charge for game entry, disciplined players, contact information for possible other game sites, businesses to get props and anything else you think might assist you or your fellow storytellers.
  8. Style of Game Awareness
    Making sure your players and staff understand the style of game you plan on playing. This is one of the simplest things you can do to insure a smooth running game. If you feel your storytelling style tends to cater more to one style of play than another, let people know. Maybe some of the players will choose to find a different game to enjoy if yours is not to their liking, but the players that stay will be more in tune with the ideas you have.
  9. You will not please Everyone
    Learn this simple fact early, some people will not be happy not matter what you do. Very often I have seen entire staffs of games spending ninety percent of their time trying to make ten percent of the game happy. Consider that the 10 percent may never be happy in your game, focus your attention on the larger group.

There’s more to all this I’m sure I have notes spread all over my desk at the moment, but this seemed like a good point to take a break and send this out.

- Jimm Polli