EDRulebook: 15 Gamemastering Earthdawn

Rules are meant to be broken, or at least twisted into a more pleasing shape. But the Passions protect their rules. Those you had best obey, lad, as courteously as you can.
-- Garlthik One-Eye, Ork Thief Among a group of people who get together to play roleplaying games, one of the players does not play a permanent role. Instead, this player moderates the game, keeping in mind and enforcing the game’s limits and rules. This person, called the gamemaster, determines the effects of the player characters’ actions and what the response to those actions will be. The gamemaster also plays all the bit parts; bystanders, creatures, villains, and other characters who are not central to the action but who interact with the player characters in some way. Very often, the gamemaster gets the group together to try out a new game. After playing a game for a while, the gamemaster and another player may want to trade places; the gamemaster then becomes a player and creates his own character, and a player takes on the responsibilities of the gamemaster.

As the gamemaster, you run the game. You create or adapt the story told during a game session. You create the situations and scenes your players’ characters get involved in, you determine whether or not a character succeeds at an attempted action, and you roleplay all the people and creatures the characters meet. You decide what creatures the characters encounter, how those creatures react to the player characters, and who gets to hit whom first.

The gamemaster also awards the characters Legend Points for successfully completing an adventure, rewarding the player for roleplaying and the character for meeting goals, acting skillfully, and surviving. The gamemaster determines how the rules of the game work, and makes sure everyone follows the same ground rules and interpretations. Though not easy, the gamemaster’s role can be the most enjoyable part of playing roleplaying games.

The information in this section mostly benefits the gamemaster, but players may find it interesting as well. As with all the rules in this book, treat the following as guidelines. If you and the players don’t like the way a rule works or feels, feel free to change it. This game is yours. You spent your own money for it, and no one, not even us, can tell you how to use it. Besides, no one is going to stop by your house in the middle of the night to check on how you’re playing Earthdawn. FASA hasn’t finished checking up on all its Shadowrun players yet.

Before we delve into the down-and-dirty methods and tactics for gamemastering Earthdawn, we would like to point out a few things to keep in mind while running Earthdawn, or any roleplaying game. Remembering these few ideas may make running the game a whole lot easier.

GROUND RULES

All roleplaying games have rules. Without them, the gamemaster would have a difficult time figuring out whether or not a character succeeds at an action and determining the outcome of a multitude of other events and situations. In addition to the rules specific to each different game, all roleplaying games share the following ground rules.

MAKE IT FUN

Roleplaying games are first and foremost a form of entertainment. Think about it. Why do you play roleplaying games? To get together with some friends and have a good time. But it’s easy, in the heat of the moment, to forget that you are playing the game to enjoy yourself. Some players pout when the adventure doesn’t go the way they want it to. Some players get mad when their characters are injured or killed.

If at some point you discover that the group is no longer having fun playing Earthdawn (we hope this never happens), STOP. Talk it over with the rest of the players, and try to figure out why you are no longer enjoying yourselves. Maybe you just need a break. There’s no harm in stopping a game session early to go out for pizza. Or maybe you’re tired of gamemastering, and want to try playing instead. As well as giving another player the chance to be the gamemaster, this gives you a chance to learn what it’s like on the other side of the gamemaster screen.

GAMEMASTER’S AUTHORITY

We guarantee that during the course of a game, the players will disagree with a decision made by the gamemaster. Don’t worry about it. Just remember that the gamemaster is the final authority. The gamemaster accepted the responsibility for running the game, and therefore has the right to make the final decisions about what works and what doesn’t. If the players are uncomfortable with a decision, discuss it after the game session ends, or before the next game session. Stopping in the middle of a game to discuss the rules interrupts the flow of the action and makes it difficult to resume play at the same level. It also makes more sense to discuss rules disagreements after everyone has had a chance to calm down—explaining how the device that killed a character works may not make much of an impression on a player who just lost Barsaive’s most legendary obsidiman Illusionist.

To effectively shoulder his responsibilities, the gamemaster must keep track of what happens during the game. If the gamemaster does not know that a character is taking an action, he may decide that that action didn’t happen. For example, if a character wants to visit the marketplace to purchase new equipment, the player must tell the gamemaster what his character intends to do. He cannot simply say, “I went to the marketplace and bought some new equipment.” The gamemaster may simply reply, “No, you didn’t,” and his decision stands whether the player likes it or not. Keep in mind that this rule does not exist to allow the gamemaster to micromanage each player’s character, or to ignore actions that throw off his plans. It simply prompts players to inform the gamemaster of any and all actions they want their characters to take. After all, the gamemaster cannot keep track of events unless he knows they are occurring.

INTERPRETING RULES

We also guarantee that two people playing Earthdawn, whether player and gamemaster, two players, or two gamemasters, will read the same rule in this book and interpret it two different ways. For example, a player might declare that his character intends to resolve a situation using a talent that you, the gamemaster, consider inappropriate to the task at hand. You reread the talent description, and tell the player, “The description doesn’t say that you can do that with this talent.” The player may retort, “Well, it doesn’t say I can’t.”

Who’s right? Both of you, in a sense. More than 150 individual talents create a lot of rules to keep track of, and so questions of interpretation will arise. In most cases, the gamemaster decides how the rule works. As a rule of thumb, the Earthdawn rules describe what your character CAN do, rather than what he cannot, and so in the example above, the gamemaster’s interpretation of the rule would be correct.

Before you write to us listing all the exceptions to what we just said that made it into print, remember that this rule should serve as a general guideline for the gamemaster to follow. We’ve tried to deal individually with most of the rules that we feel may pose problems, but we cannot anticipate every possible question. We recommend resolving disputes over rule interpretations as they arise, on a case-by-case basis. Because of the vast array of possibilities presented in these rules, no single rule of thumb covers everything. Sorry.

PLAY FAIR

Needless to say, everyone playing the game should play fair. Players should be honest (and good-natured) about lousy dice rolls, and admit it when a character falls unconscious. Cheating at a roleplaying game is like cheating at solitaire. Any victory won by cheating is an empty one.

Gamemasters and players should play by the rules, so that everyone works with the same set of assumptions. If the gamemaster and players really hate something written here, change it; but if you do change rules, make sure everyone knows the new version.

Remember that the gamemaster knows far more about what is happening than the gamemaster characters he plays. The gamemaster knows the player characters’ skills, weapons, spells, and so on, but the band of ork scorchers waiting in ambush on the edge of the forest should not. Allowing the gamemaster characters to respond to the player characters and make plans based on the gamemaster’s knowledge is unfair to the players, and makes for a frustrating game.

MISTAKES

Everyone makes mistakes—players, gamemasters, even the diligent folks here at FASA. As you play Earthdawn, you may misinterpret how we intended some of the rules to work. By using the rules, playing the game, and comparing notes with other players and gamemasters, you may discover these mistakes. Don’t agonize over goof-ups, but do explain the mistake to the players, especially if changing the use of a rule drastically affects the game universe or mechanics as your players know them.

Mistakes don’t have to be a big deal. If you make a mistake, don’t waste your time trying to figure out how it happened. Just admit the error, apologize to the players, and correct it if you can.

GAMEMASTERING GUIDELINES

The following gamemaster guidelines advise the gamemaster how best to handle his position of authority. These guidelines will help the gamemaster to create an effective adventure and run a challenging, exciting game.

BE AWARE!

The gamemaster has a lot to keep in mind when running a game. He must listen to what the players say and keep track of both the player and gamemaster characters: their whereabouts, plans, and so on. Keep a pad handy for jotting down notes on these things as the adventure moves along.

BE KNOWLEDGEABLE!

The gamemaster must be familiar with the whole game. This does not mean memorizing the rulebook word for word, but he should know it well enough to be able to find a particular rule or rules quickly when needed. The gamemaster should also have a solid working knowledge of the basic game mechanics.

Keep a written outline of the adventure handy for quick reference. Experienced gamemasters usually improvise quite a bit as situations arise, but gamemasters working through their first adventures usually find it best to think the entire story through in advance and keep the plot relatively simple. This technique also helps gamemasters avoid those deadly lulls when the characters come face to face with a monstrous Horror, turn as one to look at the gamemaster to see what the creature does, and hear, “Um—I just had it right here.” Because anything can happen in a roleplaying game session (and often does), gamemasters may want to outline several possible outcomes for each adventure.

BE REALISTIC!

Remember that the gamemaster characters are people, too, with their own fears, needs, hopes, and desires. By giving the gamemaster characters lives and personalities, the stories of the game have more depth and become more memorable for everyone involved.

In the same way, play creatures as real creatures. Many gamemasters ignore the fact that most animals do not kill for pleasure. They fight only when they need to eat, protect their young, or save their hides.

BE FLEXIBLE!

If a player wants to do something not explicitly covered in the rules, don’t refuse to allow it on principle; instead, find a creative way to resolve the attempted action. Decide what talent, skill or Attribute applies to the situation and inform the player that his chances are good, indifferent, or terrible. Don’t reveal the precise Difficulty Number, just hint at whether or not the intended action or move is possible and how tough it might be to pull off.

If you create a new rule to resolve a specific situation that arises during a game, decide later whether or not you want to keep using it. You might decide to make it a “house rule” that will always apply in the future, or a one-shot solution that only applies in a similar situation. As with disputes over rules or decisions, wait until the game session ends to talk about the new rule: the middle of an adventure is no place to discuss the fine points of game mechanics.

BE TOUGH, BUT KIND!

Challenge the players. Give them obstacles and threats they can’t defeat with one hand tied behind their backs. For example, two orks armed with short swords would not be the only guards at a city’s gate, and few Horrors retreat from battle after taking only one Wound. If the player characters haven’t worked hard for their Legend Points, they haven’t earned them.

Once everyone becomes comfortable with the way the rules work, the gamemaster can fine-tune the “threat level” of an adventure to suit his particular group of players. On a really rough adventure, the player characters should succeed by the skin of their teeth, and may not achieve all their goals exactly as they intended. However, the gamemaster shouldn’t make the adventure so tough that only one or two characters survive. The gamemaster needs to challenge the players, but not overwhelm them.

A gamemaster can kill off a character anytime. He can continue to throw enormous risks at the player characters until their luck runs out and they fail a test. But only cheap bullies do that. Gamemasters who measure their success in trashed characters soon find themselves without players. Better to be too easy on the characters than too rough.

As a failsafe option, when the player characters get in over their heads, remember that bad guys like to take prisoners. Prisoners can be made to talk. Prisoners make great hostages. Prisoners can also pay ransom to enrich their captors. Most important, prisoners may escape and live to fight another day. Fictional villains like to gloat, and they can act stupid; if villains were smart enough to kill off the heroes at the first opportunity, then every adventure movie ever made would end after the first ten minutes.