So; How do people START their games of Sagas? This is clearly of the “don’t plan too much as the GM” school of gaming, but how much is “not too much” and what SHOULD I know? What should I try to work out with the players? Any tips?
So; How do people START their games of Sagas?
So; How do people START their games of Sagas?
“Not too much” = “not at all”, at least for the first session. By all means read some history and the Sagas themselves but let the players set the parameters in the first session. The moves create the story for you.
You might have a bit more work to do between sessions once you know which way things are going but don’t try to fit the game into a premade hole.
No NPCs, no nothing? Leave it all to the players?
Yep.
Mike Pureka Here’s how I started my game: “I spent about half an hour skimming the book, having read various playbooks and some stuff online, some months ago.” https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2015-03-23_Sagas_of_the_Icelanders
Definitely not a lot. But it was enough that when I saw the characters, I was able to pull the whale story out of thin air and everything went from there. NPCs got created as we met them.