Post by barefoottourguide on Mar 16, 2014 3:58:22 GMT
As a dr who gm I've discovered the ultimate complement is when players ask why the story they are telling has not been made into an episode. This isn't about clever plotlines, although one is needed to provide direction in the first act, raise the stakes to insane levels by the third act... to such a degree the players should not be able to fathom the consequences of losing whatever is at stake in the story. It is about the players feeling free to run with the story in many possible direction and not feel like the gm is trying to pull them back to a golden path or inevitable set piece confrontation, and the gm responding to the players actions, being sure to add complications from success and bad results to create a magical series of events the characters have to contend with. And despite how wild the characters' ideas are... how many story points flow... the gm needs to direct it so it all comes together as a result of those wild actions. I think of it as the Moffat touch.
For example... in my mckinley conspiracy game, jenny is a time agent charged with eliminating a rogue agent who's at duffs wings while president obama is present. Capt jack eliminates the team leader by seducing jenny. They go to the tardis pool, whick k9 accidentally beamed a missile filled truck to... eight feet over the water. About to have a truck fall on him, jack throws jenny out of the pool while the doctor deletes the pool, accidentally also reversing the gravity in the tardis. This combo results in jenny flung nude out of the tardis and through the restaurant's front window in front of obama. The doctor rushes in and convinces this is all part of a government science project. All is well. Obama asks if everything is sane again. The doctor says yes as k9, connected to a jeep's computer and sensors... runs over the sontarans in the restaurant doorway.