#GM Thoughts

[typezerostudios]

Instead of perception checks, I want to give my players a hidden object picture and give them a time limit to find everything.  The more objects they find, the higher their effective roll.  Still trying to figure out other options for different skill checks.

[enchantedvistas]

2 letters. 2 letters are enough.

[dawn-appears]

Normally I hash out my plots with my partner before games, but he’s going to play in my current game so I’m throwing my thoughts into the void in hopes of getting some feedback.

Cypher System: Old Gods of Appalachia

Session 1 plan:

Start in the local tavern, players learn that a traveling snakeoil salesman has recently been in town and it started a near riot. He normally arrives every few weeks with a “special” medicine that has actually been making people stronger, but he claimed to be out and was trying to sell other items instead. Lots of folks are big mad about it. In walks a guy asking if anyone knows a local healer - his old pa has fallen ill and they don’t know what to do.

Pa is spitting up tar and muttering horrible things. Find out he was a regular customer of the saleman, but has been without his dose for a week now. Family begs the party to go find the salesman, who just left a couple hours ago, certain that he has to be able to get more.

If they comply they’ll find the guy’s wrecked car a bit down the road, with the guy hanging from a tree - dead. Searching will find a scrap of paper with a note to meet someone and directions on where to go. 

If they go to the place they’ll find a cabin with a doctor living there. He’ll admit to making the medicine, but say the salesman was wanting a bigger cut of the money and they argued. He’ll insist he was willing to make a deal and not to know about the murder.

Suddenly a horrible monster will appear. The doctor will insist it is his wife, nothing can change his mind, and he will fight to defend the monster. When its all over they can find a diary of the doctor basically saying he made a deal to create these potions in exchange for getting to see his dead wife again for a few hours every night. 

Now they’ve got to figure out who he made the deal with, what the potions are, and who else is involved. They’ll get hints that the potions are super bad, but they’ll also get a partial recipe. 

I’ve got a few extra things planned depending on where they go and what they do. A dead mangled bear in the middle of the road could lead to something horrible, maybe a blank-eyed man hanging around somewhere, etc... And a couple things related to backtories - one is going to learn a family member could be involved, another is going to learn that something they think is benign is actually dangerous. 

Going more for fear of losing your humanity/morality rather than losing your mind kind of creepy horror. Very monkey’s paw ish, where you might be able to get what you want but at what cost. Its just the opening, so I planned for it to be more learning that something is happening rather than jumping in to stop it. Planning for this to be a full campaign, or at least I hope it will be. 

[lacklusterhero747]

Working at Costco, a large portion of my job involves pushing shipping carts in the parking lot. Often for hours at a time.

Sometimes I like to let my mind wander as I walk up and down the rows, and I imagine I'm like one of those worker units in an RTS. Constantly back and forth with my valuable cargo as the dynamic of the map shifts and changes around me. Constantly harried by other units that are much larger, more armored, and flush with significantly more hp.

And then I like to imagine that somewhere, some low to mid tier player is just spam clicking away trying to make me move faster and I'm just flipping then off.

[canonicallyanxious]

I can only aspire to the level of spite that Brennan has achieved by creating an entire segment in his own gm talk show about the importance of snacks solely because Aabria and Matt made fun of him for eating almonds

[thegoodmorningman]

They're always calling me "Bird Brain". Good Morning!!!

[pangyham]

terribly obssesed w mingyun (chongming?) 🥲 snippets of a 5 page comic im working on.. but its really spontaneous and self indulgent and part of me wants to add a little bit of substance haha. chongyun and ga ming should interact in the event that would be awesome

[kimabutch]

GMs! Anyone who’s ever been a game master! Say something nice about your own GMing!

Ideas:

Specific aspects of GMing that you’re really good at (ex. worldbuilding, RPing, puzzles, plot hooks, running combat, developing NPCs)

Something that went down in a game that you’re proud of (ex. pulling off a big reveal, an NPC character interaction that was fun)

Something that you think your players appreciate about playing with you (ex. you find cool ways to weave in their PCs’ backstories, you’re funny and always have people laughing in stressful moments)

[amourtoken]

Hiiiii I don't typically write for Oli Sykes however Kool aid has adjusted my brain chemistry and I have to put these thoughts out there lmao

I offer: cult leader Oli x a gullible, malleable reader who doesn't know any better than to follow him <3

*NSFW below the cut, MDNI*

cw: triggering themes possibly, cult ideology, toxic Oli, manipulation, corruption, dubcon, spanking, general torment lmao, edging, oral, raw sex, dacryphilia, hair pulling, throat fucking, coercion, guilt tripping, thigh riding, nipple play, light bondage, there may be more but this is already rlly long.

♡ he's fucking horrible, and he knows it. But you don't.

♡ he couldn't help himself but to drag you in, you were just so fucking easy. All you needed to hear was someone was "there for you" and you were in. Oli had hundreds if not thousands of followers by now as well but he never treated any of them like he treats you.

♡ you'll follow everything he says on a whim and if you question him, he'll pull you close, hold your hands, run his fingers through your hair, say "when have I ever been wrong?", kiss your forehead and send you on your way. When it comes to the more toxic sexual side of the "favors" you perform for him, he defends himself saying you're supposed to follow his order without question, he's always right, do you not trust him?

♡ everyone's used to seeing you at his side by now and you always get the most pitiful looks from people. They see someone being manipulated that's too dumb to realize and fight it but you're confused, Oli would never hurt you, why do people keep saying be careful? When you bring this up to him, he just tugs you in his lap and trails kisses up your neck and jaw while stroking your hair and telling you not to worry about it.

"They're just jealous I spend so much time with you, love. Stop thinking."

♡ he's a massive sadist, and loves seeing you cry. He'll achieve it one way or another. Either fucking your throat until you're gagging around him and crying for him to be more gentle or fucking you to tears while he's pulling your hair to add to the sting. He fucking loves seeing his mark on you too, whether it's the hundreds of dark hickeys he drowns your soft skin in or the endless handprints littered over your body be it from spanking, slapping, choking, it doesn't matter. He wants to brand you.

♡ he's a cunt, and will humiliate you to tears then wipe them away while you're sitting on his cock. He knows if he breaks you down enough, he can build himself up as your savior. The only one you can trust, the only one you can crawl back to. You're so pliant for him it's almost funny to watch.

"Bad day, princess? C'mere. I'll make it better."

"You know I love you, right? I'm only harsh when I have to be."

"You always follow directions so well, love. I wanna reward you for that."

♡ at first you were really against anything sexual but he's coerced you. He'd plead for hours, claiming you must not trust him if you won't do what he wants. Do you not love him? He's done so much for you, given you a place to stay, given you affection, you're not gonna pay him back? Eventually you felt guilty and ended up folded in half under him nearly in tears while he fucked into you like he was trying to split you in half. He praises you so fucking heavily in the moment you can't help but enjoy it now. You crave that attention and affection so much it has you needy for him. He's trained you well.

♡ you're constantly crawling into his lap, kissing all over his neck and begging him to touch you nowadays. Of course, he "gives in". His big tattooed hands running all over your body, tugging your shirt off to play with your nipples while you grind yourself against his thigh and get all teary for him cause you wish he'd just stop teasing.

"So impatient. Haven't I taught you better? Or do you just need me that bad."

♡ he figured that'd be a good chance to teach you some extra manners and by teach you he means tying you up and leaving you on his bed with a vibrator pressed right against your clit indefinitely. No squirming is gonna help, if anything it'll make it worse. He'll sit on the edge of the bed near you and coo about how if you weren't so needy and impatient you would've gotten what you wanted without being overstimulated for hours. And he does in fact mean hours.

"I'll touch you when I feel like it, you don't need to be a whiny slut to get what you want. Could've just waited and you wouldn't be here right now."

"Aw, want it to stop? I'm not sure. I think you still haven't learned your lesson."

"Maybe if you keep begging in that pretty little voice, I'll turn it down."

♡ if you're being needy and he's in a mood. He'll give you what you're whining for, just not how you wanted. He'll fuck you with one of the seemingly endless toys he has for you and drag you through what feels like endless orgasms until you're pleading for a break.

"What? Wanna stop? You were so fucking needy before, where'd that attitude go?"

"So needy you don't even need my cock, you'll get off on whatever fills this pussy up. Right?"

♡ he has the biggest breeding kink as well. Loves the idea of carrying on his whole lineage and it's a bonus you'd look pretty all round with his babies. He never let's you off without pumping you completely full of his cum. Even then, once he pulls out he's gathering excess with his long fingers and fucking it back into your sensitive pussy so you don't waste any. If you do get pregnant, he's still planning on enjoying you, just maybe a tad more gently.

♡ god forbid one of the other cultists finds some interest in you. He'd notice eyes lingering on you just a little too long for his taste and it'd end with said cultist tied to a chair across the room while Oli plays with your pussy in front of him. He's shit talking and reminding the man you're spoken for, property of your leader, no one could possibly make you feel as good as he does. Oli makes sure you're moaning his name and whimpering about how good he feels and how much you love him just to get the point across. He'll make sure no other name sends a swarm of butterflies to your stomach like his ever again.

♡ he'd be lying if he said he didn't have *some* feelings for you, but he'd never show anything other than his prior torment. On rare occasions, when you're tucked against his chest dead asleep after he's fucked you in every position imaginable, he'll press kisses to your forehead and trace circles on your back while almost admiring you. He'd never let anyone else see him so unguarded but you're just so soft and malleable, so cute. He feels lucky to have found someone who's too soft to say anything out of line against him.

[moeblob]

son boy raccoon trash can man suffering in a dnd au as a cleric bc his warlock will not stop committing murders and he has to keep coming up with reasons murder is valid to convince the gm its fine and under control

[puckpocketed]

reading scouting repourts like my morning paper again !!! Beckett Sennecke (sen-ek-uh <- have heard multiple people pronounce it like this) grew FIVE inches in like just over a year and is now 6’2 . god i couldnf imagine being put thru a pasta maker like that. some one chekc on hees bones . pleag

[probablygoodrpgideas]

Combat can be difficult to run, especially if you also have to manage a bunch of Npcs.

This is why in Blood Tithe, one player will take the role of Combat Master, in charge of running combat, so that the GM can fully focus on running the Npcs

This can probably also work in other systems but I think Blood Tithe's simultaneous actions are more suitable for it.

[artbyblastweave]

My sense of what Crossovers are for, conceptually, the thing they do that other works can't, was entirely formulated by my early-childhood exposure to Kurt Busiek and George Perez's seminal 2004 Marvel/DC crossover JLA/Avengers. Like most stuff Busiek writes it's a love-letter, and part-and-parcel with its status as a love-letter was that he took the time to render the horror and bewilderment that the respective teams had upon encountering the status-quo of their counterpart's setting. The JLA encounter the anti-mutant hysteria, the supervillainous fiefdoms like Latveria, figures like Hulk and Punisher being allowed to roam free, all those tonal hallmarks of Marvel, and they come to the conclusion that the Marvel Universe is hanging on by its fingernails and that the Avengers are somewhere between in over their heads and actively negligent. Meanwhile the Avengers explore the shiny, forward-thinking, optimistic DC universe, encounter the ubiquitously positive reactions they get from people on the street just for visibly Being Superheroes, see things like the Flash Museum and the Hall of Justice, and Captain America comes to the conclusion that the Justice League obviously must have led a fascist takeover of America. Then they hit each other a lot. Anyway, if you're writing a crossover between two works and you want me to care at all, you need to meet the JLA/Avengers Bar. When a character from one work is placed in the context of another work's setting, what commentary on the original work is that character in a position to provide through their outlook and worldview? What insight, in turn, can their commentary provide on on the assumptions and conventions of their native narrative? Have all characters involved experienced enough of the events of their own work that they've actually got something to compare and contrast with, or is the crossover occurring so early in one or more of their respective timelines that you're basically dealing with OCs due to the butterfly effect? Are you actually acknowledging the different properties as discrete narratives that are abrading each other in interesting ways, or are you for the one millionth time reimagining Izuku Midoriya as a native resident of some other setting (seemingly decided via roulette wheel?) And of course, are you correct in your assessments of how these are bouncing off each other? How many times am I getting hit with "They would not fucking say that/react like that/understand their new surroundings in that way/go five minutes without trying to disembowel this fan-favorite character from the other work that you've decided they're getting along great with?"

[alphadogmp3]

on the one hand, an aabria season sounds lovely. on the other hand, i don't know how good of an idea an hp parody is in this, shall we say, Socio-Political Environment. d20 likes to position itself as a progressive, inclusive, Queer show; however, their willingness to exist in such close proximity to the work of one joanne rowling certainly raises some questions and concerns. saying "fuck terfs" doesn't mean anything if you aren't also supporting and uplifting trans people - especially trans women - at the same time. i don't want to make moral judgements about the cast & crew of d20 and dropout; i don't think that is either fair or productive. but i do think perhaps having more TMA trans people behind - and honestly in front of - the screen would benefit dropout greatly.

[jula483]

obsessed with their little compliments for each other

(x)

[thegoodmorningman]

What do you mean this isn't an emergency?!?!