Archive:My GM Style

On cool ideas

I try to be as open as possible to cool ideas, provided that they fit within the underlying mechanics of the game

I am equally on board with forlorn heroes on pensive brooding quests to correct ancient wrongs as I am with a team of meme heroes.

• You want to make your own copyright-infringed carbon-copy of Aragorn? Chef's kiss, classic choice. Let's try bake his ascension to king into the story somehow.
• You also want to make a man with a banana-wagon who slides around calling himself the Peel Mobile? Splendid, what if his catchphrase was "Well ex-BRUISE-me Princess!"

I want to learn the art of saying "yes, and.." instead of "yes, but.." to fun ideas

On how I roleplay

I like the breakdown of roleplay into two types:

Descriptive Roleplay

This is the more accessible of the two, you simply describe what, how, and why your character is taking an action. You still need to have a firm grasp on who this character is and their goals/skills in moving about the world. But the advancement of the plot is not gate-kept behind your ability to stay in character and be an improv actor.

Performative Roleplay

This one is the whole thing about "being in character" speaking as if you are the character. Accents, mannerisms, attitude, and all. It's a load of fun but you have to be pretty good at improv.

Blending the two

I personally feel most comfortable in the Descriptive camp, but its always a good idea to throw in bold splashes of flavor into your descriptions and manifesting the character. There are times I will oscillate between the two mid-roleplay scene. Sometimes I will be firmly in the descriptive mode. Some players hang out in the performative mode more often. It's really a matter of choice and all are valid at the same table at the same time. The most important thing isn't HOW you manifest the character, as long as you are having fun bringing the character alive.

Resolving Dice Rolls vs Roleplay

Aside from adjudicating rolls based on the game mechanics, there is a whole other discourse in balancing what you can accomplish by pure conversational roleplay versus rolling a skill check to acheive something. This is particularly salient in scenes of political intrigue, information gathering, or other times where you need to resolve something with non-combat NPCs.

How far do you take the roleplay? How soon do you jump in with a dice roll? What external factors are at play that are currently, or might potentially, affect the success of the outcome?

Generally, my strategy is to roleplay until you get a sense of what your aims are and the peices of information you are dealing with, then roll to resolve it/advance the scene. This isn't always the case, but it's a good starting point. Sometimes you have to reach an impasse first, then roll, and sometimes you have to roll early on.

One technique I learned about recently which I really like the idea of (disclaimer: I am still adjusting to this technique)

roll-first, roleplay second

Roleplay a little to get a gauge for the NPC's personality, the situation, and the PC's goals, then before you get lost in the miasma of directionless roleplaying, the PC and GM should roll to resolve. Once you know the result, however success or failurey it is, you roleplay the result. If you failed the roll, own the failure and control the character's fumbles. If you succeeded the roll, own and control your character's triumph. Either way the GM is there to be your spotter. It's like volleyball with the bump, set, and spike. You bounce it back and forth off each other to advance the plot.