Hello! It’s GM Brave again back with another request.
So in the previous post I’ve made, I was asking for help with how to make fights actually be fights in Urban Shadows, but now I need help with knowing how to be a GM in general. Like I said in my last post, this is the first game I’m ever GMing and I have 0 clue as to what to expect. I think in my last post I was starting to sound a lil too demanding as to “TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO MAKE THIS GOOD” but really all I guess I’m asking for is tips.
How can I make this campaign of mine ring with the players as much as it has for me? How do I keep their interest and how do I just go about it?
I just need help, from GM to GM. I have the tendency to want to get things perfect, and I’m trying my best to stop that mindset and just go with it, but anything would help me tbh.
For a lil more context, my campaign is called Recognition, and it has 7 arks, each ark having a title starting with “Re” because why the hell not? Each ark has one specific end goal that “The Lobos” (name of the party playing) has to complete. The city this all takes place in is called Galestine (“Gale” for short) and is heavily based on New Mexico (with other influences too). Galestine is a pretty dangerous city with the influence of drugs, abusive homes, violence, poor economic support and poor education; there are too many elements in Galestine that make this place one of the worst in the nation. With Gale being a huge mixing pot with many different factions, there’s no telling who you’re going to bump into. Eventually The Lobos find themselves in the presence of a mixed group of Galestine citizens (mainly college students, a college professor, and their mom friend). This group calls themselves “The Guild of Good For Nothings,” TGOGFN’s or Guild for short. The Guild has been watching The Lobos and they end up becoming some of the most important NPC’s in the game. They are a source of valuable information and they can provide help pushing the story forward if The Lobos find it to be hard to know what to do next. With the Guild and The Lobos getting together, change is starting to occur in Galestine, and while most citizens either are all for it or don’t care, there are some evil forces who do not want there to be a change for the better. These evil forces are demonic, and all they want is to rule over Galestine as the patrons of the city.
These demons are the main villains of the story, and they’re out to get the Lobos, along with all the other fights that the Lobos will encounter. (Just to clarify, I do not mean tainted. I mean demons in general).
With that being said, I think I’ve rambled enough about Recognition. I can talk for hours about this, but I think I’m going to leave it there for the sake of not making this post longer than it has to be. To recap, I just really want help with GMing. Tips and tricks and some intel as to what to expect would be great. Once again, thank you guys all so much!
-Brave
My advice: Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Let the players drive where the story goes, and don’t worry about making certain events happen.
Your job is to provide a setting filled with cool factions, which it seems you have totally under control. Especially as it sounds to be filled with conflicts that the players can takes sides on.
When the players begin, their characters will go out, find things to do, and everything will flow just fine.
Have a read through the moves – especially Hit the Streets, Cash in a Debt, and Do Someone a Favor. You can see that by doing those things, the player characters can’t help but get involved in cool situations.
That, and have a good read of the MC section. How to run the game is all written down in there, and if you follow those instructions you can’t go wrong.
My advice is that you may end up having a bad time if you go to Urban Shadows with a campaign and story already planned.
Read the MC part of the game, there explains how to play the MC role in an urban shadows game and it specifically say that you don’t pre plan what will happen on the game. Because in this game even basic setting details are up to the players.
Vampires in one game can be killed by sun while in another one they die if they fall in true love. The players lay out most of the Npcs and factions. If there is a hunter that hunts demons it’s that player (or together with the tainted if there is one) who defines the strengths and weaknesses of demons, and how they work.
You may have a better time using another system for your campaign, maybe WoD is a better fit for this.
I agree with KaribuI here. It sounds like you’ve prescripted a lot, which makes me think you haven’t taken the Principles and Agendas to heart. “Play to find out” specifically involves not pre-planning and letting the players do what players do