One of the biggest game maladies I suffer from is GamerADD. It may be because I started my GMing career with Rifts... which, yea.... See, Rifts is just gonzo enough that there are no limits to the possibilities, so I ran it by the seat of my pants and become more like a sounding board to the players whims and threw in whatever was on TV that week that I liked. Those games were overfilled with awesome… sexless, teenage boy dream kind of “Epic!” fun.
I eventually switched to Vampire/Mage when it came out and bought into that idea of “telling stories.” I read and thought, I could have fully fleshed out novel(la) style games. ng to set up some rails for my creativity so I started outlining the major setting elements I wanted to touch on. The outline method works well enough, but it always seemed to lack something. Sure it was fun and we did it, but in retrospect, there was no real ownership of the worlds I labored on by the players and really, I didn’t give them a chance. You see the outline of elements was really just hard coded GM fiat. After all, I had a set of ideas I was going to stick to and that was that. Now, having ran Rifts the way that had, I had a lot of experience at rolling with the punches (which is key to any Mage game) and I could always get the train back to my grand story, but the games were never as fun as the Rifts stuff so after a couple of G.O.D. (Game Ordinance Director) style runs I went back to just going by the seat of my pants. I was less disappointed this way when players trampled all over my “well crafted” story.
In order to get the players to create their own buy in I wanted to set up a few guidelines on what the setting will be and make sure we all have the same expectations. I use the following acronym as touchstones for my players to generate a setting that gels with all of us. Also, by getting it all out (and on paper) I can make sure my GamerADD can be kept in check. For the players, this is a chance to help collaborate on the setting and game without being on the ground level of all the secrets in the world. Most of my players look forward to the big reveal or at least that moment of discovery (often times we would both be surprised by what was going on). Each time I have used this, I have taken a round table discussion format. In doing so we were able to quickly to shoot down ideas that drag along or to spin ideas with our own inclinations.
Play
Aesthetics
Rhythm
Assembly
Dynamics
Issues
Genre
Milieu
Play encompasses what the game will focus on and how to approach it. Will we explore the character motivations and the drama that surrounds their life? Or will the character be drawn into a world spanning conspiracy where the needs of the plot drive the action? How will it be presented, Withering Heights or Buddy Cop movie? Nothing is worse than having the idea of a melodramatic vampire story in mind, but everyone shows up to play gothic supers with fangs.
Aesthetics is the window dressing the world takes on. These world decorations are often some sort of –punk or –ism . For instance, Steampunk is a good Aesthetic example. A lot of people will say that Steampunk is a genre, I will say that it is more of a accent to a genre since you can have a lot of a Steampunk Action Adventure or Romantic Intrigue. So the point of determining the Aesthetics is to once again make sure that everyone knows what to expect.
Rhythm determines the frequency of play and the format that the session will take. This often seems inconsequential, but by stating that you will be playing this many times a week or month you can make an informed decision on how each session will be formatted. In the case of a weekly game, you may want to have each session correspond (as closely as possible) to the breaks for a chapter while if you can only play twice a month it may be better to play a more episodic style of game.
Assembly is required. There needs to be a reason that the characters are in this new world and there needs be some cohesion in how their efforts are being addressed. Note that this is not same as cohesion in efforts, there is no need to force the group to work together, unless that is part of the group dynamic that people are looking for. Now say why.
Dynamics determine the fundamental relationships that the characters will enact. These should be something stated in the open and something that the players can agree on. While I like secrets, I do not think that secrets in the setting are toxic, they are downright deadly in this section. If you want o be a double crossing thief, then tell people that this is what you want to do and that you want them to go along with it. They may have some boundaries that they don’t want you to cross, but most people will be cool with it. If you want a love interest in another character, make sure they know it and comfortable with it.
Issues are the meat of the game world. What is changing and how will the character get involved. I find that it is best if each character has at least one issue and the group has 2-3 for longer games, this provides the players the chance to get into their character’s headspace and there is enough backbone to support the groups further actions.
Genre, Genre, Genre. Much like the old business adage, Genre is the mental equivalent of Locations. Here the Genre helps dictate the expectations of the tropes being used. Unlike Aesthetics, there is no thought given to the reflection of how the world looks, only how it acts. If you want action adventure, then you know things will go over the top, but you can have that in a grimly lit dark ages setting as easily as you can hoping planet to planet in your pre-war star frigate. Often times, the genre is known before any other aspect of the PARADIGM and that’s ok.
Milieu handles the actual locations of the setting. This is a chance to really hit home the feel of the world by getting players to create their own set piece for the rest of them to play in. Maybe the story is something that takes place in a prison, but the players want the action to be something from their shared past. The crew of an intrepid ship would most likely have access to a number of locations, but if people have no interest in the ship, you can skip detailing and instead focus on those locales that they want to interact with. Milieu also refers to the social atmosphere to which the character will be subject to.
It obviously is not perfect, but I have found it very useful and plan to continue to refine the process. Maybe next time I will skip the round table and have people draw stones to “buy” their little piece of the Paradigm.
