Chapter IX: The Game Master
• Give them a chance. Players come up with all kinds of crazy ideas. Oftentimes, your first instinct will be to say, “No, you can’t do that.” Resist that urge and stop to consider the action. Players are often quite inventive and you don’t want to squash that. Rather than just saying no, give them a chance, even if it’s a small one. They are the heroes of your story after all and they deserve it. Lay down the law. That said, remember that you are in charge. Some players delight in running roughshod over carefully prepared games. It is thus sometimes necessary to remind them who’s the big boss. Other players will try to endlessly argue with you about the rules. Do not let them get away with it. Simply say, “That’s my ruling, it’s time to move on.” T here are worlds where courageous heroes who stand for all that is good and righteous watch over populaces of decent folk who seek to enrich their own lives and better those of the people around them. This isn’t one of those worlds. The Old World is one of blood, pain, sacrifice, treachery, deceit, and malice. Many of the Empire’s “heroes” are dangerous rogues and blood S o what is an “adventure” anyway? Basically, it’s a single story that your PCs experience over as little as one game night, to as many as it takes to finish the tale. There are various types of adventures, all of which have some elements in common, which this chapter will touch upon. As the GM, you decide what sort of adventure you want to run, and slowly reveal it to your players. Of course, it helps to know what they like as there is nothing as bored as a room full of gamers who sat down expecting gory combat, but instead received Noble society intrigue. Before the story begins though, you’ll have to navigate your PCs through that most delicate of beginnings: their introduction to one another. This is important, because their introduction may very well lead to their first adventure… s o , y ou a ll m eeT I n a T aVern Many an adventure has begun with such a tavern meeting. It is a cliché in gaming circles, but the funny thing is, in the Old World a large number of adventures have begun in the shadowy recesses of a darkened bar. Inns and drinking joints are where the majority of social interaction happens within the Empire. In such establishments, it is usually socially acceptable for all patrons, regardless of class or race, to rub elbows and swap stories over ale. Some enterprising sorts may indeed find that they have a lot to offer one another and decide to journey together. If you already know what sort of adventure you want to run, this isn’t the worst way to have your PCs meet, especially considering that the random nature of default character generation in WFRP , while a lot of fun, does not always lend itself to easily explained parties of PCs. Why exactly is that Noble •
• Don’t play favourites. This goes back to the point about fair play. All your players should get equal “screen time.” If one character is being a scene hog, make sure to ask the others what they are doing and try to re-engage them in the game. Also, make sure that everyone gets a chance at interesting story opportunities and whatever special items and treasure you deem appropriate to hand out. Keep the pace brisk. You are the narrator of this story, so it is your responsibility to keep it moving. It’s easy to get bogged down looking up rules, or cracking jokes, or going off on a wild tangent. Try to rein that in and keep up the pace. The last things you want to see when you look up from behind your GM screen are bored faces. spattered butchers. The people of the Old World are suspicious and insular, swift to believe the worst of others and slow to trust, often with good reason. Corruption is the rule, honesty the exception. Those few bright souls who still manage to accomplish truly heroic tasks frequently have to act under cover of darkness, lest they be accused of being in league with the very forces they try to combat. Sound like fun? Good. That’s why you’re the GM. a CCused of a T errIble C rIme The local authorities believe that your PCs are all responsible for a particularly heinous act, even though they’ve never met one another before. Perhaps their first meeting occurs in the local jail where they’re all unceremoniously tossed in together leading to a daring escape, or in the midst of a street fight as the militia tries to arrest them. Since nobody else believes them, the PCs are on their own for proving their innocence and bringing the true villains to justice. For further complications, especially if your PCs are not exactly honest sorts, maybe they are responsible for a crime or two, just not the one they’ve been accused of. C apTure by C ulTIsTs Your PC’s first meeting occurs in a dank dungeon where they awake chained to the walls by rusty manacles. Some were drugged at a high society party; others were simply sapped on the street and carried off. Survival will doubtless be their first priority, swiftly followed by vengeance. If you want to run an adventure about fighting Chaos cults, this is a great way to get your players motivated right from the start. s ewer d eTaIl Not all crimes merit execution in the Old World. Some prisoners will be assigned to gong scraping (sewer detail) as punishment. Your PCs start the game as dunnikin divers—in other words chained together and forced to wade through the ‘gong’, clearing the sewers of one of the larger Empire cities. A lot of strange occurrences go on down there in the dark, but nobody is going to believe your PCs when they claim •
— r unnIng w arhammer —
— a dVenTure C alls —
hanging around with that Rat Catcher? However, if you’re looking for something a little different, the following ideas will not only explain why your PCs know one another, they’ll also help frame your first story.
to have seen and even fought Skaven, because everyone knows that the Ratmen are just a myth. Besides, criminals will say anything to get out of their just punishment.
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