Friday, August 15, 2014

#rpgaday Fifteen



Favorite Convention Game

I’m still looking at Origins 1984.  As I mentioned yesterday, I got to play in a Justice Inc. game run by Doug Garrett, one of the early Hero guys (and author of Danger International).  That single four hour game, more than anything that ever happened before or after, changed my entire approach to GMing.  It was a master class in running games in a cinematic manner, from the way he maintained the pace to the use of actual movie making terms in his narrative.   Not only that, but he came to the table with character sheets, a blank legal pad, and a handful of dice.  No notes.  No GM screen.  He didn’t need them. Looking back on it, I now see he was engaging in a whole lot of “Say yes, and…” GMing, and it worked beautifully.

For the past thirty years, I’ve tried to put those lessons to use at the table.  I suspect my memories of the game are much better than the reality, but it’s certainly given me a standard to shoot for and it's certainly made me the GM I am today.

(Honorable Mention:  A private “Day After Ragnarok” Savage Worlds game at GenCon a few years back.  When the GM invited me, he kind of failed to mention the other players were Rob Heinsoo, Logan Bonner, Jesse Scoble, and CW Richeson.  Nope, I didn’t feel “Imposter Syndrome” at all.  Nuh-uh. Why do you ask?  How silly…)

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