Hey!I have a question about NPCs in Urban Shadows.I think it’s kinda hard not to pre-think about the plot that involve basic NPCs.Let’s say our group goes to a bar, they meet a barwoman and she is like whatever they want her to be like…but!Maybe i want to spice things up and let her take a more interesting part in the campaign, if i am not prepared to tell them the reason she is important, if i stuck at the critical moment, the moment it’s needed, the moment will be gone for good… i guess not all things in this game are created in real time.What do you guys usually do?Prepeare some parts of the story just for backup?Or let it roll and see what happens?
Hey!I have a question about NPCs in Urban Shadows.I think it’s kinda hard not to pre-think about the plot that…
Hey!I have a question about NPCs in Urban Shadows.I think it’s kinda hard not to pre-think about the plot that…
Well, I really don’t think everything is supposed to be made up on the spot. We do make up most things at the table but I also inject some mystery.
Especially if they get excited and go like: ”oooh, the villain is this way because in his childhood he was abandoned and raised by an evil cult that he slaughtered and…”, that usually makes me say: ”wow [character name] it sounds like your character has some outlandish theories about this guy you just met, are you saying this out loud to the group?”
I could very well use that information going forward, but the villains story won’t be fun if I let the KNOW that.
If the players have a say in everything they see, they won’t ever be surprised or engaged in trying to find out what is going on around them.
If you really like the bartender, bring her back next week. See how the players react to her. If they’re just like: ”meh, whatever”, scrap it.
I always adhere to the principle Johnn Four taught me: ”prepare situations, not plot” – so prepare the start of some situations, throw the players in it, add dice and see what happens.
You can have things going on in the background. The whole storms chapter covers this.
Victor Segell You are right about the mystery part, MC should give enough freedom but not too much.
Aaron Griffin MC’s role looks easy at first but it’s way more difficult than typical GM’s role.He lives the story while he tries to give them players a realistic world…this system is so unique!
Kira Yagami How so? To me as a beginner GM i find these systems (Apocalypse World-family) so much clearer and easier than other systems because they so clearly state what is expected from you. But please enlighten me of your view!
Victor Segell Personally, as someone who GM’d AW back in the day a bit, switched to something more traditional, and is now switching back, I agree with Kira Yagami. The amount of improv you need to do in these systems is much greater than in a system where you can pretty thoroughly plan out things. Personally I needed several years of experience in planning things out and playing that way to improve my sensibilities towards world-building to the point where I feel comfortable GMing in this system and ad-libbing all the time.
Overall I think this is the better way to do it, but it is harder for the GM if they aren’t someone who is naturally good on their feet.
Ian Pytlarz Ah, I guess I never experienced that since I almost always shop up to session 0 and go: “So, what are we going to play?”. But the again I think my forte is that I AM good on my feet… with that said just because I’M good on my feet it doesn’t mean that the stuff that comes out are great! 😉
Victor Segell Ian Pytlarz was right.I just don’t feel so confident adding important pieces of the story in real time.I am new as a GM so I don’t expect much at least so early!
Ian Pytlarz You are right,as I said to Victor I need experience so I can feel comfortable with real time GMing…
i personally feel like improv is significantly easier than planning, tbh
Few notes from me.
A – why are the players even meeting the bartender?
US is not a start in a tavern type of story where PCs don’t know anyone. PC is going to meet the bartender for a reason, are them why? ->is he information trader? is he a vamp that feeds off of client emotions?
Then have them roll “put a face to a name” and if they hit 10+ and want a juicy secret you can tell them that this vamp is an agent of demon lord or … whatever.
B – never too late, just do it in front of player.
If you want the bartender to be important, give him his own game – make him a threat. Have him come to PCs to do stuff for him.
You don’t have to say in the first 5 seconds – this guy is important. Make him important through his actions.
Are players investigating place of power? Then tell them that they learned that this is the place where the bartender sacrifices people to his demon lord.
… and that they hear him open the door and come in with newest victim right this moment.
What do you do?
Improv … improv is improv. Sometimes hard, sometimes the stuff comes out wrong, sometimes it doesn’t make sense.
For that reason keep things vague – you don’t need to know each NPC minute to minute agenda, you just need to know their drive and have them act accordingly.
Prep gives some level of assurance, you have a fully fleshed out NPCs, with day plan, looks etc
But then players ignore that fully preped NPC and go talk with the hobo who is not prepared.
Pawel Solowczuk You are right, i know that those are things that come with experience, i guess i have to be patient and let things happen!
Kira Yagami don’t forget that it’s OK to think off screen. We all do it.
I prepare a threat off screen,I think what actions threat might do next session, but I’m not committed to it.
When during session an opportunity arises like a failed roll or something, I look at my list and do a my move.
Instead of writing like ‘A will kidnap B in location C at time D’ ill write ‘A kidnaps someone’ who, where and when I’ll fill on the spot during game.
Pawel Solowczuk I like this line of thinking, it’s a generalized adaptation of how I’ve been running my RPGs for a while, and it seems a reasonable approach. Allows me to do a bit of planning so I have some ideas for what might happen, while still allowing the story to develop pretty organically.
As i can see, you guys know this game well enough.Maybe it’s only me or the examples in the rule book are misleading me?Escape a situation and keep your cool are very close to be the same on some occasions.Some examples in the book are the same for both…