WFRP, Rifts, and Dead Reign.

I think roleplaying has begun to pick up. I've got three games I'm preparing for.

Rifts: The first session has gone according to plan. I have set up the beginning of the campaign and introduced one of the influential NPCs. Hopefully personal character contacts can be established. There's a ton of work to be done yet in the planning department. I have yet to get two book I will need, the black market sourcebook and the Arzno sourcebook. According to the route I believe the players will plot through the post-apocalypse west, they will pass through Arzno. A city that had been besieged by vampires in recent game history. So it may be good to at least flip through the book.

Dead Reign: I've got all the books in the mail and have almost finished with the core book. The game is much more frightening and brutal than I had expected. I will not be playing it as is. Changes will be made to make it a more generic zombie survival horror. There are some zombie types and other elements that I believe detract from shorter games. It'll only be a two night affair, so I'm probably going to go with a sort of scripted series of events. I'm thinking about using "boss zombies" at the end of each day. Like how the Resident Evil games do the climax.

WFRP: I've been reading the core book and finding all the things That made me like this game so much. The game system is just well put together. And the theme is uniquely ingrained in the game world and how the mechanics work. I'll be playing with new players and I'm not sure just how much they know or expect from a roleplaying game. It should be easy to adapt WFRP to an easy-going playstyle or for greater depth.

Anyway...I'm done writing.

And now I am a Rifts game master

My currently roleplaying group has been playing Rifts with a rotating GM for a little over a year now. I was due to take over next and have been creating a storyline while I waited. As it turns out, our current GM has been running a few other games and is developing a little writer's block. So now I am to take over with but a week before my first session. It took only hours after learning this before I came up with an adventure for my first session to introduce NPCs and make contacts for the players.

Now, none of the things I do will be a stand alone adventure. They will all introduce contacts and villains tied into the main plot and character subplots of the campaign developed. I believe there should be more going on in the game than just the core story. Each character has a story of their own. A personal saga of hopes, dreams, and goals unattainable. Exploring this and linking it to other characters and the main plot will only enrich the roleplaying experience of each player. Of course, care and caution must be taken when crafting a storyline for another player. It must be personalized and within the realm of possibility within the game.

I am not going to post specifics of the game here for the possibility of a player stumbling across the information. I have already stopped telling them which books I am reading or currently looking to buy. I like open conversation between players and game masters, but I have found players get the most enjoyment out of witnessing the story as it unfolds. What I will post is what techniques I use and any rules alterations the I find work well.

My first player related priority is a character who can walk through walls and take control of computers with his mind. Rather than limit the player, I need to understand exactly how the character works to best figure out how it will interact with the environment. I don't pick on players or try to limit their creativity. Everyone comes away with something different when roleplaying. It is my job to allow them to enjoy the character they like without turning it into something they don't want. The game of Rifts is built to allow maximum flexibility. And to limit any of that just seems like a shame.

The first gaming technique I think I will introduce is the use of the "secret note". Players can slip me a note when their character is doing something they don't want anyone to know about. Not only do the other characters not know about the actions, but the note makes sure other players don't know either. I believe it creates some sense of mystery and suspense without forcing players to try and play their character like they didn't know another character just stole from them. Let's face it, the only way not to use out of game knowledge is to not have it at all.