037: Quickly Master Secrets from GM-less Systems

Episode Transcript
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>> Clint Scheirer (00:00):
GM list tabletop RPGs are on the rise giving
everyone at the table a share of the storytelling, world
building and rolepl play without the stress or the prep.
But if you are a game master at heart,
you thrive on guiding players through a world that youve
built and keeping the game running smoothly. In
this episode were breaking down the three GM list

(00:20):
strategies you should master to quickly level up your
gmled games. Welcome to Claim to Game. We help
tabletop gamers have a great time with friends to
experience amazing stories. It can be overwhelming to
start and run great games. Lets make it easier for you
to play any game you want to have fun with your friends.
Im Clint Scheirer and ive helped thousands of students in my

(00:41):
career find their way to better themselves and better their
game. With more than 10 years experience in leadership,
coaching, live performance and public speaking, I
know I can help you create immersive low stress
games youll never forget. Its time for you to
make your claim to game.

(01:24):
Hello and welcome back to episode 37
season two of claim to Game Still, a predominantly
educational fun podcast in which I am daring to coin the
word funicationalal. It's like 22
million hamsters running at maximum energy on little
wheels to power the electricity of a single average
house at peak condition. We've been taking

(01:44):
a good long look ah at GMless M tabletop
RPGs over the past couple of episodes. First in episode
35 we talked about the T top 5 best GM
list tabletop RPGs according to the R
RPG Reddit community. Next we looked at
some obstacles to overcome when switching from a gmled M
game to a GM less game and now

(02:05):
its time to turn the tables. Or as Michael Scott likes to
say, well well well. How the
Turntables if you are a game
master and your heart is set on being the game
master because you like it, you love it and you want some
more of it, then consider what
can a game master learn? What can a game
master steal and master from a GM list

(02:27):
game to make his or her GM led games even more
wonderful? I've got three strategies for you
here. 1. Allow your players to
participate in the world building. 2.
Use GM less oracle tables in your
GM led games and finally three
the yes and Principal from long form
Improv comedy.

(02:48):
Lets s go. First up, allowing your players
to participate in the world building. In an
upcoming episode I'll be having a conversation with professional
game master David North, East and David is
a big supporter of the importance of letting your players
shape the world. Most of his games are a
sandbox with the basic trappings of a world

(03:08):
in which he then places his four agents of
chaos and thats a shout out to Craig Shipman for the new
title that I give all of my players. So how do you do
this? How do you channel the spirit of a
gmless RPG which often allows all
players through the mechanics to contribute to the world
building for the world that theyre playing in? How do you do that in
a GM M led game? Lets use the examples of

(03:30):
ironsworn and Ironsworn starforge. These games
use roll tables which we will lean into a little bit harder
in just a minute and these roll tables provide pre
made prompts that are just vague enough
for players to interpret and create a
uniqueect the so lets keep going
withon_swornn Starforged is the main example.
One of the first activities that you do that Seaw

(03:53):
Tomkin has you do in this GM less version
of the game is you need to choose your truths
and these truths set the tone and the background for
the campaign and the world that the characters are going to
explore. Shawn provides some categories of these
truths which players can either come up with answers out of their
own mind or if theyre having trouble coming up with something they

(04:13):
can roll two ten sided dice two D
ten to get a number thats between 1 and
100. One of the dice will be the ones place
and the other dice will be the tens place. You put those
two numbers together to get a number between 1 and 100
find where your number is on the roll table which will
determine that pre made truth a

(04:33):
key aspect or a key truth that you need to create when
you're playing Starforged Forged is the cataclysm
which is something horrific or something
cataclysmic that happened in your people's home
galaxy which drove them to travel to the
new galaxy of the Forge which is where your gameplay
takes place. I've already gone ahead and rolled my two D10
and got the number 36 and on page

(04:56):
84 of the Ironsworn Sworn Starforged Forge Corps rulebook. This
tells me that my cataclysm is an
interdimensional invasion of beings
into my people's reality. And
as a player if I'm the one rolling this, I can expand
upon this using the creativity of my own mind
or I can go one level deeper using the roll
table prompt on page 84 again.

(05:18):
So I did that. I went ahead and I rolled two
D10 and the game when I got
my number 71 the game tells me that
these beings were titanic creatures
of horrific power. Now notice that these
prompts are high level enough and not too
specific to tell exactly what the nature of
the cataclysm is or the specifics of these

(05:40):
creatures that are invading my galaxy.
So one player may say that these
titanic horrific creatures are giant centipedes
from Starship Trooper style or
another might say they're vampire goats with octopus
tentacles. Player creates the world,
they create the obstacles and the secret that we
can learn here as a gm. Just like when

(06:02):
we are seeing this in GM list games, ask
open ended questions that are not too specific
but just specific enough to spark players
imagination for them to add on to the world.
Some other examples of these questions may be
you asking your players and what do you see? What do
you hear? What do you smell? What do you feel in this
area or what do you notice about this

(06:25):
place? What do you want to do with this item or
this location or what do you think might happen if
you insert action here? The answers
to this question provide rocket fuel for you
to allow your players and their characters to shape the
world instead of them having to be confined
to all the pre made aspects that the GM that

(06:45):
you the GM could lay out for them. So
this type of strategy, this game master allowing
the players to build the world with
them really avoids the common complaint that some players
have of being railroaded which if youve never heard that term
that is just the situation where the GM constrains
the players choices forcing the story to follow a

(07:06):
predetermined path or limiting the players
agency. If you want to hear more about this be sure to
listen to the upcoming episode with David North, East.
Next up as promised is using GM less
game Oracle tables to spark imagination. Now this
secret is not so secret and it was revealed previously when we were
talking about bringing players into the world building. But I

(07:26):
want you to consider Ro Rolel tables as a quick way for you
as a game master to give yourself an
open ended question or give yourself a
direction in your improvisation to
own the moment in your storytelling
creation. Now Role tables are not new to
tabletop RPGs, not new to the tabletop
RPG community. And whether its a chart or a

(07:49):
table with a list of names for characters,
NPCs, magical weapons or appropriate
enemies for any given system or any given
situation, these tables can help you
make quick decisions. It provides
immersion without planning. Now there are some
fantastic roll tables provided with GM list games but
my absolute favorites appear no no

(08:09):
Shocker in Ironsworn Sworn and Ironsworn Sworn Starforged
Forge. Some of the Rolell tables are setting specific
to the Ironlands for Starforged Forge and to the
Forge the galaxy that you play in when you play Starforged
Forged. But there are some universal tables
in these games that I think I've actually used
in other games to help me run games like Pathfinder 2E
2e, Dungeons & Dragons 5e as well as some

(08:32):
lesser known one shot RPGs. So here are my
favorite three system agnostic roll tables that
I love using from Ironsworn Sworn
action and theme descriptor and
focus as well as characters, roles, goals
and aspects. Now I want to go a little deeper into the
action and theme table because this
oracle I find so helpful if I want

(08:54):
a unique twist to a situation that I
normally wouldn't consider being a game
master as things arise in my game. Now
before I give you an example, you may have noticed that I've been using the term
oracle and oracle tables as well as
roll tables synonymously and they're really the same thing. It
is a table, a chart, where
you roll a number and then there is a

(09:16):
corresponding word with that
number. Here's my example of how this works.
Maybe one of my players in a game that Im running
is investigating the local Thieves Guild and asks the
barkeep at the lodge how he can get some work to earn a
bit of coin. Maybe I want to add a unique story
element with this PC player characters interaction
on the fly. But I didnt prep it in advance because

(09:39):
I didnt expect my player to visit the local Thieves Guild.
Lesson learned, during this gaming session. So what I
could do is if I have my, my roll
table in this case Im going to be using the action
oracle table from page 28 of the Star Forged
reference guide. If I have that handy I can take
out my two D10. Remember one of those D10

(10:00):
ten sided dice is gonna be my tens place. The
other ten sided dice is going toa be my ones place.
I roll them both and I'm going to get a
number between 1 and 100. Now I already rolled this
previously and I got a 65 on the roll
table. The word that is connected to the number
65 is the word mourn as in
mourning the loss of something or someone. Now

(10:22):
I'm gonna roll again and I already did this but this time
when I rolled and I got my number it was
17. But I'm not gonna roll on the action
table. I'm gonna go to page 29 in the reference guide
which is the theme table and the theme
word that is connected to the number 17 is the
word cure which is a weird way to say it. Cure,

(10:42):
cure whatever and the word cure
as in cure a deadly disease.
So how could I as the GM respond to my player thinking
of the action morurn and the theme
cure Heres what my brain came up with on the
fly based on a fantasy setting that I played before
the barkeep answers you after pouring a long draught of

(11:03):
dark brown ale for you to enjoy.
A local baron recently died of the
box his wife was very fond of the old
bastard. Both of them fillt their rich
but guess wealth is not a cure to stay off to
disease and death funerals
tonight house should be empty

(11:24):
except for the lowliest of servants. If you
could sneak in there and grab a
particular jew crusted cup from the
nightstand of her baroness then
maybe we could talk about some future
employment eh?
Now notice I used the word morningurning but
the word morninging never came up. And how I was talking to

(11:45):
my player it was a plot point for why
somebody died. How there was an empty house. the word
cure did come up actually but it was a lack
of a cure that the baron couldn't find a cure and his money
was no no cure for him. He still died in the
end and this set up my player for an interesting
heist and a potential future set of plot

(12:05):
points all related to being maybe a part
of the Thieves Guild. And I could have also maybe rolled
in on the items table if I wanted to. You know you can find
tons of great roll tables online so
I just came up with the jewel encrusted cup but it
really could have been anything and maybe even something with magical
properties. And one tool that I love that

(12:26):
I've used for many years and it's been around since
2009 is Don John U I'll put a link in
the show notes for you to use this tool. It's a free
online generator website. It
generates everything from NPCs,
NPC names, professions,
across multiple different tabletop RPG systems
and different genres. So u why use

(12:47):
Oracle Tables roll tables as a gm? Well
because it frees up your mind it helps you not
over plan but also be in the moment and
be creative. It gives you those open ended questions
that really prompt some amazing moments. Quick
pause in the episode if you are considering playing a GM less
game to steal its good parts to include in your GM LED

(13:07):
game. One of my favorites is Goblin, the
RPG by game designer Grant Howitt. Simply
put, you play as green tiny little goblins trying to
succeed in a perfectly hopeless quest in a Lord of
the Ring? S setting. In case you miss season one of
claim to game, I packaged together everything and tied
it with a nice little bow in the show notes. You can find a

(13:28):
link to access my free resource the complete 7
episode series all about how to play gob quest the
RPG and youll find the complete 7
episode series about the rules hacks to
Goblin Quest giving you different settings, character choices
and modes of play. Still using the same rules as
Goblin Quest. Picture yourself pretended to be
gross grotty little buggers on your next game night with your

(13:50):
closest friends. Youll be wreaking havoc all over the great battle
camp in no time. Thanks.
And now back to the episode and our third
not so secret secret Derived from long
form improv comedy we have the Principle
of Yes and the Upright
Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation
Manual. Man, thats a mouthful defines the

(14:12):
improvisation concept of yes and as
follow yes refers to the idea
in long form improv comedy that you should
be agreeing with any information your
scene partner is giving you about the reality of your
scene. The term and refers
to the adding of new information that relates to the

(14:32):
previous information given by your scene partner. Now if
the yes and principal is good enough for SNL
alum and acclaimed comedian Amy Poehler, as well as
countless other comedians who have gone through UCB
Upright Citizens Brigade, then its good enough for me and
probably good enough for you. Gmless games
dont have a monopoly on yesan.
An improv also happens in GMLed games

(14:55):
too. However, in most GM less games
players arent able to outright deny or change
the reality of the story thats putth by other
players. In episode 35 we talked about the top
five tabletop RPGs put forth by the r
RPG Reddit community and in each one of them
Polaris the Fall of Magic The Quiet Year fiasco
2e iron sworn iron Sworn Starforge

(15:17):
players are not able to change the reality
set forth by the other players on the previous turn when those
other players have the narrative control of the
scene. There is a perpetual yes happening
here which is true to the beauty of
improvisation built into these games
and the other players on their turn they can add to the
story. That's the and of the principle. But they

(15:40):
aren't going to be using their and to go back and
undo the action of the previous player. Which really holds
true to the yes and principle of improv comedy.
this isn't necessarily saying we have to have funny
games, but the idea is that we are
collaborating in the creation of this
scene and we aren't kicking our

(16:00):
partner or our scene partners or other players to the curb
when they're trying to create something. We're not just undoing all of
their actions. So how does this help the GM m
led game? Well, I believe the GM should
uphold and arbitrate not only the
mechanics of the rules and of the game, but they can
lean into the GM list games U
purity to ask their players not to

(16:22):
undo what other players are creating, which
gives the world a feel of reality and
immersion. And we talked about this back in episode
16 with Robin D Laws and his idea of keeping your
eye on the ball, knowing what the scene
is that's being offered to you. Especially if you're at a convention
and playing with people that maybe you don't know as well. Usually there's
pre made characters, usually there's a pre made scene

(16:45):
or some type of one shot that you're gonna be playing
so that you can get familiar with a certain game that you're interested
in. it would be not, it would
not be in the spirit of, of storytelling
if somebody said, hey, you walk into an inn
and you decide, oh, actually I'mnna. I'm gonna go to the cave
that's across town while the rest of the party needs to engage

(17:05):
in the people in the inn. U that doesn't make sense. You're
not keeping your eye on the ball and you're not accepting the
reality of your scene partners that have been set in front of
you. You're not honoring the principle of yes.
And there was also a time where this happened to me and
I think I talked about it way back of one of the very first time
episodes. I was in a game, one of my very first D20 & D

(17:25):
games as a player and we went into a cave.
I think we were playing one of the D20 & D starter set
adventures and there was a bunch of wolves. Well, we started
battling these wolves and things went awry. And
I believe I was a halfling barbarian at the time.
Things were not looking good and one of the party
members decided they were going to disengage from the battle and
go look at something else that was happening

(17:48):
farther up the cae. What was the end result of
not honoring the principle of yes and well we
died. The people battling the wolves, the players battling the wolves,
and the player who went to investigate the cave,
well, those wolves hunted him down and
he died too. So it's really m important as a group
of players collaboratively telling a story
to honor that principle of yes and sometimes

(18:11):
it's the the difference between life and death. The
exception to this of course would be if players are
creating elements that another player does not feel comfortable
with either emotionally em mentally and sometimes a
physical response can happen high blood pressure or
panic or anything like that. And that is where
safety tools like the X card U should

(18:31):
be invoked. Like we should be using those to make
sure that we can scrap an idea that is causing some sort of
phobia or fear that is not wanted and
then rewind the situation and redo the
storytelling. but this isn't really what we're talking about here with
yes and we're talking about legitimate things that
everybody has agreed upon that is okay game
for for gameay play we want to yes

(18:53):
that is the reality and add on to that
story. So when you are at heart a game
master and you want to quickly master the secrets from a
GM list game, remember the 1. Allow
your players to be a part of the world building as they answer
your Open ended questions. 2. Use
role tables or tools that generate prompts for yourself

(19:14):
as the GM to spark your own creativity as
you are GMMing. And finally don't forget to
remind your group to embody the spirit of yes
and or as Robin D. Laws has reminded me, pick
up the ball that you were given and run with it.
Join us next time as we find the best ways to have great
times with friends and experience amazing stories through tabletop

(19:34):
role playing.
Are you struggling to keep a campaign going? Feeling
overwhelmed as a GM or dont know how to get started?
Get personalized guidance to build confidence and create
engaging sessions and manage your group effectively with
an absolutely free 30 minute
coaching strategy. Call with me. You heard me right they used to be
15 minutes but that wasn't long enough. So during our

(19:55):
virtual call I will give you some quick wins,
actionable steps and clear directions that you can take
away to make your game better. Click on the link in the
show notes to schedule your free 30 minute coaching call
today'laugh'cry we'll make you that big bad
evil guy dominating all other GMs in
your path in just 30 minutes. Can't
wait to speak with you and may you keep having fun as

(20:18):
you continue to make your claim to game.

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