Characters are slippery little things, scurrying about the game world. Corralling them into a coherent story challenges even the most experienced GM. This articles addresses all those convenient holds we use to push and pull characters in the right direction to keep the story moving.
To get PCs moving, we need a way to motivate them. Some of this motivation is from the player who has agreed to play the game. Unfortunately, too often, "that's not what my character would do" becomes a shield against the plot, so it's just not enough. We need handle to grab the PCs by: this is the character biography.
The character biography is part story and part facts. The story gives a bit of flavor and affords the player a chance to spew volumes of prose about their characters like they like to do. For the GM though, the meat of the biography are the facts: who they care about, who their enemies are, where they are from, and what has sent them into our game world. These are our handles.
Unfortunately, players aren't very motivated to give us these handles. They'd much rather focus on the prose that is mostly useless to the GM. To fix this problem, I always add a simple qualifier to my directions: anything not defined in the biography is left up to the GM. Now when they forget to mention siblings, don't tell me who their third grade teacher was, or forget to mention that the dog's name was Indiana, I can make it up, and use tha to motivate them in game too.
To use a handle, we grab it with a plot line. Grab any old person they like or care about, and have them show up as an NPC. Maybe this NPC needs saved. Maybe this NPC needs to convince them of something. Maybe this NPC is the bad guy. However you twist it, make feelings they have about this person pull them deeper into the story. Even locations can be used: now the bad guy assembles an army to attack their homeland. The PC cares.
Straightforward hooks aside, let's get creative. Is their biography too short? The character must have amnesia. Is it missing family and friends? Oh, no -- maybe the PC murdered them all under a gaes. The forgotten elements complicate the character's life in all the right ways. They intrude on the happy little story that the player wants to tell, with all the things the character doesn't want known. PCs have secrets; we the GM know them even when the player does not.
As GM though, we do need to temper our manipulative enjoyment with realism. Our understanding must be scrutinized by the player and pass their inspection. We can't totally change their character. Sometimes this means getting into the psyche of the character, understanding their psychology. More often this means getting the player on board. When needed, take the player aside and run your background enhancements past them. Explain all your devilish ways for improving the depth of their character. Don't tell them, how it will be used though; let them experience the shock of what they sign up for totally in game.
In game, we reap the benefits. Handles and complications both allow easy manipulation and motivation of the PC. The argument of "that's not what my character would do" gets thrown to the wind. The story becomes compelling. This is the game we want to GM; this is the game we want to play. It is the art of the personalized campaign, that makes us all have fun.
To get PCs moving, we need a way to motivate them. Some of this motivation is from the player who has agreed to play the game. Unfortunately, too often, "that's not what my character would do" becomes a shield against the plot, so it's just not enough. We need handle to grab the PCs by: this is the character biography.
The character biography is part story and part facts. The story gives a bit of flavor and affords the player a chance to spew volumes of prose about their characters like they like to do. For the GM though, the meat of the biography are the facts: who they care about, who their enemies are, where they are from, and what has sent them into our game world. These are our handles.
Unfortunately, players aren't very motivated to give us these handles. They'd much rather focus on the prose that is mostly useless to the GM. To fix this problem, I always add a simple qualifier to my directions: anything not defined in the biography is left up to the GM. Now when they forget to mention siblings, don't tell me who their third grade teacher was, or forget to mention that the dog's name was Indiana, I can make it up, and use tha to motivate them in game too.
To use a handle, we grab it with a plot line. Grab any old person they like or care about, and have them show up as an NPC. Maybe this NPC needs saved. Maybe this NPC needs to convince them of something. Maybe this NPC is the bad guy. However you twist it, make feelings they have about this person pull them deeper into the story. Even locations can be used: now the bad guy assembles an army to attack their homeland. The PC cares.
Straightforward hooks aside, let's get creative. Is their biography too short? The character must have amnesia. Is it missing family and friends? Oh, no -- maybe the PC murdered them all under a gaes. The forgotten elements complicate the character's life in all the right ways. They intrude on the happy little story that the player wants to tell, with all the things the character doesn't want known. PCs have secrets; we the GM know them even when the player does not.
As GM though, we do need to temper our manipulative enjoyment with realism. Our understanding must be scrutinized by the player and pass their inspection. We can't totally change their character. Sometimes this means getting into the psyche of the character, understanding their psychology. More often this means getting the player on board. When needed, take the player aside and run your background enhancements past them. Explain all your devilish ways for improving the depth of their character. Don't tell them, how it will be used though; let them experience the shock of what they sign up for totally in game.
In game, we reap the benefits. Handles and complications both allow easy manipulation and motivation of the PC. The argument of "that's not what my character would do" gets thrown to the wind. The story becomes compelling. This is the game we want to GM; this is the game we want to play. It is the art of the personalized campaign, that makes us all have fun.
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