Reading Tea Leaves and RPG Systems

One of my GM friends mentioned after playing The One Ring 1e, "Why do you think there's Hope and Shadow in the system?" This was a rhetorical question because he was critiquing the game we had just played in. He thought the GM was being too nice and didn't push the boundaries of the game. I hadn't thought about that. I was just optimizing my moves and trying to "win" the scenario without using too much Hope or getting Wounded.

"What?" I said.

"Why put Shadow in the system if the designer didn't intend us to use it? It's supposed to come into play."

He was right to a degree. It's there to be used, but probably not used to bludgeon us over the head with repeatedly. That would have been cruel and unnecessary and probably abuse of the system by the GM, but it should come into play.

This of course started the hamster wheels running in my head. Making me do a deeper analysis of various RPG systems. Why are certain things designed that way? Why are certain design elements present?

The other day, I played The One Ring 2e (TOR). The Journey system as written was pretty tough. We traveled from the Shire to Bree and it cost us 8 Fatigue. My PC had to take his helm off or else he would have been Weary. The system was designed to simulate being tired after a long travel. The Lord of the Rings movies had a lot of travel in it. TOR simulates it.

In Call of Cthulhu (CoC), there is a Sanity system. Hit Points don't increase over time, so the PCs stay squishy. You are supposed to lose SAN and have Bouts of Madness. Mistakes will kill you in spectacular ways. In one game, a PC put on magical armor without really knowing what it did. It sealed him up in it, turned translucent, and then he exploded, splashing blood and organs against the inside of the translucent armor.

Yes, as a Player, you want to make your SAN check and lose the minimum amount of SAN. So, you can survive to the end, but part of the fun is to actually go insane. I trust my Players to play out their Bout of Madness because it's the fun bit. The grinding loss of SAN for long surviving PCs is also fun to watch as the PC spirals down into madness.

Alien 1e RPG has a Panic system and it works brilliantly. It replicates the panic when something unexpected happens. I personally think during an action scene it's better than CoC's SAN system. Though the SAN system in CoC simulates the effects of long term stress better.

Delta Green has a great Bond system which simulates relationships at home breaking down due to stress at work. You can spend Bond points to reduce SAN loss. It's the cop who acts distant at home because he can't talk about his day job of looking at grisly homicide photos day in and day out.

I had designed my own version of The Walking Dead and realized that zombies aren't the threat, it's people. People cause more damage than anything else in The Walking Dead TV series. When Free League came out with their game, they realized the same thing. Zombies are only an environmental hazard. "Humans are the real monsters." I played the game and found that humans were very squishy, be prepared to have backup characters. I suspect the game wasn't that popular because people were looking for a first person shooter, not a game based on Havens, Factions, and Relationships.

When I played Vaesen, it felt like Monster of the Week until I used Campaign Rules (p.86, Chapter 6). The Headquarters adds continuity between scenarios and longer story arcs for the PCs. Too bad this was buried one third into the core book.

Mörk Borg is brilliant except you need to know that the key bit is The Calendar of Nechrubel, p.16. You have to activate Miseries even for one-shots. On the back cover is important information: "The world is dying, time is short. How will you face these last days? Robbing the graves for soil-stained wealth, or face down the apocalypse, hoping it can be fought?"

There's no instruction on how to use Mörk Borg. It has very flavorful random tables and a great online PC generator. If you read the rules carefully, the game is about an impending apocalypse and what your PCs is going to do in the face of that.

I played D&D 5e, Curse of Strahd. I was trying to build a flim-flam man who sold snake oil and used sleight of hand. I built a Vancian Mage focused on illusions. All the spells I found were mostly short term combat spells. I wanted to be able to Curse someone with the Evil Eye, but that spell only lasted 1 round. My most useful spell was Mage Hand. I concluded D&D was designed for tactical combat.

I was talking to another old GM friend and he told me he used to hand out XP for treasure which I never did because I thought it was double dipping. You kill the creature, get XP, then take their treasure, get XP. Well, he said, but then thieves can't just steal treasure and level up without killing things. Damn! I never thought of that. In our games, the thief just used their backstabbing skill to kill creatures and take their treasure. If you look in AD&D, there are XP awards for keeping magical items. By D&D 3.5, XP was awarded based on CR (Challenge Ratings), generally for only defeating creatures. The focus had shifted to killing things only.

Different systems emphasize different aspects. Various elements are important, so when I hear about someone new to a RPG system and says, "I don't like XYZ and I'm going to remove/change it." As if all systems are GURPS and you can swap parts in and out without affecting the whole game or the designer's intentions. I cringe.

I think people should understand what the game is about first. Then they can house rule stuff if they think it's broken. Some things are broken such as Alien RPG's panic cascade. All the GMs I know have house ruled a fix for it.

When I heard about Brindlewood Bay, I thought what the hell? It's a murder mystery, but the scenario ends when a Player comes up with a plausible explanation and then you roll dice to see if you're right or not. But, but, but... That's just make believe and not a real murder mystery. Then one of my friends played it and loved it. He told me the game is about roleplaying nosey old ladies getting into other people business. The mystery solving is just an end condition for the scenario. Oh, ok, I get it. Now I want to play it.

Some games are obvious as to what you're getting into. I played Eat the Reich and loved it. Overpowered PCs killing Nazis. Hurray!

Some are not. I tried Dune and will give it another shot, but it's sort of a metagame. The game is designed to go from small (hand-to-hand fights), to armies, to galactic intrigue, but using a single system. A number of things are handled with just a die roll. I glanced at some of the campaigns and some of the chapters are handwavy meta-level events. Sometimes you have to send an army, but you can't roleplay that, but the rules cover that instance.

I have the Kult books. The lore is incredible and it tells you on Chapter 1, p.38 that the world isn't real. It's a prison for people designed to make them compliant. The jailers are Demons and Angels. I had a friend tell me he was playing in The Black Madonna campaign and was getting bored after months of playing. I said, "What?" I told him the premise of Kult. He told me nothing creepy was happening. What? Something has definitely gone off the rails.

One time, we tried Blades in the Dark. But it was a one-shot where we did a single score. The system was very meh and I didn't get what was so special about it. Once I read the book, I got it. It introduces Clocks and building out your Crew and Claims. It's more about growing your criminal enterprise.

Another one of my GM friends says he just sort of wings it when running a new system. But then we're not really playing that game, but his game flavored by the new system. Not exactly the pure experience I was looking for. It's any color you want, as long as it's black. So, why try a new system if we're not really playing it?

Before you run a game, you need to understand the system and what effects various parts create. You must understand the intention of the designer, then you can change whatever you want to your heart's desire. Some rulebooks aren't written very clearly or are badly organized, so some tea leaves need to be read for that complete understanding. Sometimes you have to run the system a few times before it clicks. Sometimes it's easier if you play it first. I was lucky with my first game of Mörk Borg. The GM made us roll 3 Miseries that had come to pass before we started the one-shot. And he explained the world would end with the 7th Misery. This increased the urgency for whatever the party was aiming to do.

So, For the love of God, Montresor! If you see some odd bit of rule that you're unfamiliar with, maybe there's a reason for it. Ponder before discarding.

A Place for Wellness - RPG game design process

SPOILER WARNING: This whole post is a spoiler, so don't read further if you plan to play.

A Place for Wellness

System: Cthulhu Dark

Duration: 4 hours (takes less time with less Players)

GM: Morgan Hua

6 Players (best with 6; works with 5; 4 is playable, though not that great).

Pre-gens provided.

Description:

You will play various characters from movies such as Terminator, Halloween, Hellraiser, IT, Psycho, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All are new patients in an insane asylum. Patients suffer from various persecution complexes, delusions, paranoia, and some have violent tendencies.

When not playing a Patient, you will play as Doctors in charge of evaluating patients, recommending therapies, and administering outdated therapies to the patients.

The asylum is modern and similar in tone to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

This is a PvP game where the Patients are pitted against the Doctors and the system. This is a game about perceptions, observation, deception, and human cruelty.

Remember: The Institute for Wellness is here for your safety and well-being. Patience is a virtue and a patient is only released when they're ready to face the world.

Background

The seeds for the idea behind A Place for Wellness started with a game I played in at a convention. A GM started us as kids for Act 1. Then Act 2 started with us a grownups and based on whether our kid got arrested or not, he had criminal or upstanding citizen adults for us to play. The brilliance of the game was that he had character portraits for all the characters. He found actors who started as kid actors and had varied roles, so he had normal and hardened criminal character portraits. Today, with AI tech, I guess this would be easier to pull off, but at that time, I had never seen anything like that before.

Years later, I built Welcome to the Clown Motel where the PCs were action heroes past their prime, think of the movie RED. The PCs were James Bond, Emma Peel, Shaft, Elvis, and Indiana Jones. It was easy to find photos of them in their iconic roles and photos of the actors past their prime. I used a character portrait standee that was clear and put the young hero on one side and the old hero on the other. I told the Players that, "This is what you think you are, this is what other people see." I show them both sides.

And I put the standee where the young hero portrait faced the Player and the outward facing side towards the other Players.

So, the next evolution was to have a standee where the Player only saw their self-image and other Players only saw something else.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

So, I asked the question, what type of game could I build using this mechanism? It had to be a game about perception.

I decided it had to be a game about an Insane Asylum. The PCs were patients. But what about the doctors? Ah, the doctors need to have two faces also. The doctors must see themselves as normal well-meaning doctors, but see their patients as disturbed. The patients must see themselves as normal, but the doctors as monsters.

Years ago, I ran a homebrew game based on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The PCs belonged to Section 0.9, the nightwatch of Section 9, the B Team. At one point, a PC was put on trial for excessive force (she was being sued by an NPC who was mistakenly tortured). The issue was that the other PCs were not on trail and had nothing to do, so my solution was to hand out roles in the courtroom (witnesses, lawyers, judges) to the other Players and handout hidden agenda cards to them. This worked out great. So, I applied the same idea to this game. If you were not playing a Patient, you played a Doctor.

In most convention games, the main table is round, so all the Players can face either other, but this messes up my setup. The doctors must all see each other as normal. So, I decided it had to be a long table with all the doctors on one side and the patients on the other. This to me looked like a panel of doctors evaluating a patient. Aha, bingo! Some convention rooms did have a long rectangular conference table, so I needed to request this for my game.

Once I decided that that was what the game was going to be, I wanted to have tools for evaluation. I looked up inkblot tests, word association tests, and possible treatments for patients.

I then created a list of possible patients based on various movies. Of the 17 I came up with, I picked a variety of 6. I didn't want them all to be thematically the same, so I picked some Final Girls and some Villains.

The Patients

Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) from Terminator 1 (1984) & 2 (1991) & Dark Fate (2019).

Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) from Halloween series (1978, 1981, 1998, 2018, 2021, 2022).

Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence) from Hellraiser 1 (1987) & 2 (1988).

Ben Hascome (Jeremy Ray Taylor & Bill Skarsgård) from IT (1990 & 2017).

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from Psycho (1960).

RP McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) from One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Batman (1989/2008).

What the Doctors see as Patients

What the Patient sees as themselves

I wanted some variation. Some patients look normal but act odd. Some look odd but act normal.

I also had to explain why RP McMurphy and Kirsty Cotton were allowed to look so strange inside the hospital. So, before they showed up, I told the Doctors that McMurphy acted out and was hard to control when he didn't get to put on some makeup. Cotton had a history of self-harm and even though  her nails were cut to the quick, she somehow still harmed herself.

The patients that didn't make it were: Natalie Portman from Black Swan, Wynoda Ryder from Beetleguice, Edward Norton/Brad Pitt from Fight Club, Nicole Kidman from The Others, Bruce Willis from 12 Monkeys, Jessica Lange from Frances (her story was way too icky for a RPG), Dan Stevens / Rachel Keller from Legion, Johnny Depp from Don Juan DeMarco, Leonardo DeCaprio from Shutter Island.

Doctors and Staff

What the Patient sees as Hospital Staff

What the Doctors see as Hospital Staff

The doctors are: Louis Cyphere from Angel Heart (1987), Frank N Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Dr Loomis from Halloween (1979) and You Only Live Twice (1967), Annie Wilkes from Misery (1990), Mildred Ratched from One Who Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest (1975), and Jeffery T Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses (2003) & The Devil's Rejects (2005).

You'll notice that the evil version of Nurse Ratched looks like Nurse Ratched because there's no good version of her. She's just plain evil. 😊

I also hand a Rubik's Cube to Dr Cyphere. I have a small standee with the following:

Patients see (left), Doctors see (right)

Some Patients and Doctors actually try to solve the Puzzle box. The issue is if they solve it too soon, the end game (Act 3) is triggered. To slow that down, I'd say that deliberately trying to solve the box causes the Patient to make a Madness save roll. Only when they reach Madness level 6 does the box open. Deeper into Act 2 or if in Act 3, then just automatically increase the Madness level each round they try to solve it. See Rules section below for an explanation of the mechanics. For the Doctors, it's just a Rubik's Cube. Or is it?

Using Cthulhu Dark, I found it was too easy for the Patients to overwhelm the Doctors, so I had to give the Doctors some help. I decided to give the Doctors a bonus if their Intern/Orderly helped with controlling a Patient.

What doctors see as intern/Orderlies

What patients see as intern/Orderlies

Since the Orderlies weren't as important as the Doctors, I used mini-standees for their portraits. If possible, I gave Orderlies to their theme appropriate Doctor.

I gave Harley Quinn with the baseball bat to Annie Wilkes because of the hobbling-thing. The Silent Hill Nurse to Louis Cyphere since he's the Devil. Riff Raff to Frank N Furter. Jaws to Dr Loomis. Otis to Spaulding. Elle to Ratched (sort of a leftover default).

Rules

I wanted the game to be rules light and more role playing than dice rolling. Since it's horror themed, I wanted to pick a horror game system. One that came to mind was Cthulhu Dark.

In Cthulhu Dark, you roll 1d6 to 3d6 and look at the maximum. e.g. you roll 2, 5, 4 = max is 5. If you decide to use your Madness die, if it is a higher number than the other dice, you must make a Madness save roll. Roll 1d6 and if it is higher than your current Madness level, increase your Madness level by one. All Patients start at Madness level 1. The Madness die is a different color than the other dice.

I wanted the Patients to be the star of this game and the Doctors to play 2nd fiddle. So, if I gave the Patients the regular 2d6 + the (optional) Madness die, then they would have 3d6. If I gave the Doctors the same dice, I'd get ties all the time, and that'll be boring. So, if I gave the Doctors less dice, they would lose to the Patients most of the time. So, I decided to give the Doctors 1d6, but if they had an Orderly help, they'd get 1d6+1. If they wanted to risk getting their Orderly hurt, then they'll get 1d6+2, but if they lost the die roll to the Patient, then the Orderly would be lost (sent to the hospital or morgue depending on how the Patient overcomes the Orderly. In either case, the Orderly for that doctor is out of the game).

During play if something disturbing happens, the Patient must make an Madness save roll and if the Patient fails, their Madness level goes up one. Also I reserve the right to just increase the Madness level of a Patient without need for a save roll. I do this nearer to the endgame to reduce the number of die rolls.

In Cthulhu Dark, when a PC's Madness level reaches 6, they're an NPC. In this game, I declare to the Players that "something special happens" instead.

What I've decided is that when a PC's Madness level reaches 6, their innermost fear is actually true and it manifests. Their object of fear appears and will kill them. At that point, this triggers the endgame and their fear manifested will stalk the remaining PCs (Patients & Doctors).

Endgame Horrors

These creatures are Supernatural and are immune to attacks by the PCs. If more than one PC manifests, then Supernatural creatures can fight Supernatural creatures. I just let them Roshambo to see who wins. But if a Supernatural creature goes against a Patient, Doctor, or Orderly, the P/D/O will be removed. Doctors can sacrifice an Orderly (push them in the way) to save their lives.

Most of the Supernatural creatures are self-explanatory as to their powers. The only detail I add is that the Nolan Joker from The Dark Knight has wired the Hospital with explosives and can set it off at anytime. Norman Bates is a little bit special too, he turns into an unstoppable Mother.

Table Setup

On one side of the table, for each Doctor, I put a clipboard and handouts* (protected in clear protective sheet covers for reuse), 2d6 (white) 1d6 (green, madness die), and a water soluble pen. I have some paper napkins that can be moistened and used to clean off the sheet covers. If you're not running this more than once, you can just use pen/pencils and paper printouts.

One side of the long table are 6 chairs. The other side, 1 chair.

I found it was easier if the Doctors just got up and walked around the table to play a Patient. Before they do that, I put a paper bag over that Doctor's standee to hide the Doctor's portrait. I actually find this funny. I also show their Patient standee to all the Doctors, some Doctors at the end of the table can't see it properly due to their viewing angle.

When they return to their seat, I hide their Patient standee and I take the paper bag off the Doctor.

Before the game starts, none of the standees are out. All the other props (Rubik's cube, crayons, ink blots, puzzles, standees) are also hidden.

To save time, I do put out the Patient Treatment Form* (top sheet), Patient Case Histories*, and the Word Association Test* on the clipboard, but the issue is some Players take a sneak peak and there are minor spoilers on there. I guess I should put a cover sheet that says, "Do NOT look until Administrator (GM) tells you."

Just for fun, I wear a white lab coat as the Hospital Administrator.

Introduction

1. Game safety tools. The issue is that I have no control over the Players when they're playing the Doctors (or Patients), so I have no idea what they're going to do or say. So, I have a giant red X-card. I explain that a Player can at anytime pull up the X-card and wave it to stop play.
2. I explain the Cthulhu Dark system. And my modifications.
3. Let the Players pick PCs.
1. I have 3x5 cards folded in half, so it is tented. In front is typed the names of movies. Inside is typed the name and occupation of the Patients from that movie; for Doctors, inside is only their name. The cards are separated into two groups: Patients and Doctors.
2. Show the list of Patient movies. Some Players are not familiar with all the movies. Let those Players choose first. Tell them to open the tented card to see which Patient they're playing. If you are short a Player, I'd leave out Norman Bates, but his interactions with Frank N Furter is actually pretty funny. The 3 must have PCs are Ben Hascome, Kirsty Cotton, and RP McMurphy.
3. Show the list of Doctor movies. Use the same process as for Patients except that some Doctors are in the same movie as the Patients. Those Players who had already picked a Patient from a movie should NOT pick a Doctor from the same movie. This is so that there is some roleplay interaction between the Doctors and Patients who know each other. None of the Doctors are must have, but Players love to play Frank N Furter. If Cyphere isn't played, just give the Rubik's Cube to different Doctor.
4. Put the Doctor standees in front of their respective Player. The nice professional picture should face the Players. The evil side should be hidden from sight. I give Cyphere the Rubik's Cube and put the Rubik standee in front of him. This is a trigger for Kirsty Cotton especially when someone plays with the cube.
5. Some Players have said that they sometimes get confused as to how to play their PC. This generally happens when they suddenly realize what their hidden portrait is. So, I tell the Players before the game starts, "In earlier games, I've been asked by some Players that get confused as to how to play their PC (whether Patient or Doctor). Players are free to interpret their PCs. The point of the game is to have fun. It is up to you to pick what you are comfortable with and what is fun for you and other Players."

Act 1 - The Interviews

1. Remember: The Institute for Wellness is here for your safety and well-being. Patience is a virtue and a patient is only released when they're ready to face the world.
   Of course, this is ironic.
   
   
2. "Today there will be 6 new patients at the Hospital today. We will be evaluating them and figuring out who is the Primary Physician responsible for assigning treatments to them."
   
   
3. Explain various tests: baseline interviews, word association test, ink blot tests.
1. Doctor Evaluations. Q &A with patients. This gives a baseline for the Doctors. Either hand out the Patient Case Histories or tell them to look at the pages on the clipboard. "Players should not feel they are tied to the case histories as the case histories may contain inaccuracies, but it gives the Doctors (Players) who are unfamiliar with various Patients some info."
   
   Will Patients lie in effort to seem normal and get released? Can Doctors see through the deceptions? Will Patients tell the truth about their bizarre experiences? These are all choices the Patients must make.
   
   
2. Word Association tests. Either hand them out or point to the page on the clipboard. Some of the words are from real word association tests, some are actually deliberate trigger words to get a reaction out of various Patients. How the test works is that the reaction time is recorded. Quick responses are more truthful than slow responses. But in-game, we won't bother writing down the time, nor use a stop watch. Players generally forget these and I prompt a Player that seems a bit quiet and ask them if they want to try a few word association tests.
   
   Will Patients try to lie and skew the test? etc....
   
   
3. Ink blots. I found a number of ink blots online (some are real). You're supposed to show the ink blot for a few seconds, then hide it and ask the Patient what they had seen. In-game, the Doctor will leave the ink blot up and show it to the other Doctors too. Not really a problem. The ink blots have deliberate triggers too. I usually hold back the ink blots and if I see a Player who's a bit quiet or withdrawn, I hand the stack of ink blots to them (about 25) and point out a few triggering ink blots to show. 
   
   Will Patients try to lie? etc...
   
   
4. When a trigger gets a reaction from a Patient (or if it should elicit a reaction and they are able to hold it back), I ask the Patient for a Madness save roll. If they fail, I raise their Madness level and I tell them what its current level is. I have a sheet of paper with the Patient's names and their current Madness level. All Patients start at Madness level 1.
   
   Norman Bates is a little bit special. The Patient starts off externally looking like Norman Bates, but internally, he's Mother. If the Player has enough time playing as Mother internally, then when the Madness level increases you can either let the Player pick which side to show and that would be the internal and external picture for everyone or you can flip the picture to the other side and tell everyone that's the internal and external picture for everyone.
   
   
4. I ask the Doctors, "Which Patient do they want to see first?" Generally, there's a pause and confusion. I then say, "Actually, out-of-game who wants to volunteer to be the first Patient?" Generally, someone will jump up and volunteer. I put the paper bag over that Player's Doctor's standee hiding it. Then invite the Player to come over to the other side of the table and have a seat. Then I put the Patient's standee out. If it's RP McMurphy or Kirsty Cotton I explain that before the Patient is brought in, the Hospital Administrator (GM) says the following:  
   
   For McMurphy: This Patient acts out and was hard to control when he didn't get to put on some makeup. So, we let him wear some.
   
   For Cotton: She has a history of self-harm and even though her nails were cut to the quick, she somehow still harms herself.
   
   You may also hand out the Patient Treatment Form at this time (or point out that they're on the clipboard) because this would give the Doctors an idea as to the type of treatments available. Also the Doctors may want to argue about diagnosis and treatments during the interview.
   
   Ben Hascome is triggered by RP McMurphy and Spaulding. When he sees them he needs to make a Madness die roll. Furter might trigger him, depending on how strongly the Player reacts.
   
   During the interview, Patients may want to do some actions such as steal a paper clip (Sarah Conner) or escape the interview room (Ben Hascome). This is resolved using the Cthulhu Dark die rolls. If the Doctors want to spot this or stop a Patient from escaping, interested Doctors can roll against the Patient. All interested parties, Patient and Doctors, roll simultaneously, but the Doctors must first declare if they want to "Risk" their Orderly for a +2. Otherwise if their Orderly is there, they get a +1. The Patient must also declare if they're using their Madness die.
   For example: Sarah Conner vs Dr Cyphere and Dr Loomis.
   Declarations:
       Sarah Conner declares she is using her Madness die for 3d6.
       Doctor Cyphere risks his Orderly for +2.
       Doctor Loomis does not, but still has his Orderly and gets a +1.
   All roll dice simultaneously.
       Sarah highest die is a 5 [die rolls = 2 & 5 white dice, 4 green die].
       Cyphere rolls a 1 +2 = 3. His die roll loses to Sarah's.
       Loomis rolls 5 +1 = 6. His die roll beats Sarah's.
   The result?
   Sarah is caught by Dr Loomis with the help of his Orderly, but Sarah has hurt Cyphere's Orderly (ask Sarah's Player what she did to take out Cyphere's Orderly - "When the Orderly tried to take the paperclip from me, I broke his arm in 3 places."), so remove Cyphere's Orderly from the game.
   
   As an aside, RP McMurphy can try to seduce Harley Quinn. If he beats 1d6+2, she will continue to pretend to be Wilke's Orderly, but will instead be the Joker's. You can keep this a secret or just put the Orderly standee next to McMurphy, he can then use her help +1, risk +2, or be sacrificed.
   
   
5. After the first interview, I tell the Doctors, "They must pick a Primary Physician who determines what treatments to use on their Patient. The Doctors can confer on possible treatments, but the Primary Doctor gets the final say." I had to do this because without a designated Primary Physician, the arguments about what treatments to apply never ended. One or two doctors would remain steadfast on what they treatments they wanted to apply. If a certain Doctor spent more time on a Patient during Q&A that usually was a sign that that Doctor wanted to be the Primary Physician for that Patient.
   
   The Patient Treatment Form has a line for the Patient's name and Doctor's name, have the Primary Physician fill this out; this is just so we can remember which Doctor is paired with which Patient. 
   
   
6. Ask "Which Patient do you want to evaluate next?" Ask for the next Patient volunteer. Repeat this until all the Patients are evaluated. If this gets too repetitive or boring, you can start doing treatments or group activities for Patients already admitted. See Act 2 for Treatments and Activities.

Act 2 - Treatments and Activities

Activities

It'll be fun to have some Patients meet other Patients. You can have Group Time with coloring books and puzzles or you can have Group Therapy. When Patients meet other Patients, you can have them face each other on a round table so they all see each other's exterior portraits. My only caveat is that you can't have too many Patients meet because you'll run out of Doctors and this is a prime time when the Patients might want to escape. I made this mistake once. During Activity Time, there were only 2 Doctors and the Patients decided to break out. The number of dice the Patients had totally overwhelmed the single dice the 2 Doctors had. I recommend no more than 3 Patients can be together at the same time.

If you wanted to be cruel, you can hand out only one crayon at a time for coloring. I did that to Sarah Conner because she was known to be dangerous. "Which color do you want?" I was holding a full 64 color crayon set. "Red."

Treatments

Doctors need to discuss who to be treated first, who is in the most need? Basically, have Players decide who to go first. When treatments are to be administered, ask the patient if they want to voluntarily take the treatment or fight it. If fight it, how?

• Most therapy forces at least one madness die roll.
• Pills: roll to hide pills vs taking, taking pills subtracts one white die. All patients are on at least one drug. Each drug reduces one die. Not taking a pill the next day recovers the lost die. If opposed to taking the pill, ask if the Patient tries to stuff it in their cheeks, under tongue, discard, use slight of hand. Doctors can oppose this observing for slight of hand or asking the patient to lift their tongue and inspect their mouths. On failure of opposing die roll, the doctor forces the patient to take the pill.
• Restrict Diet: nothing happens, unless it's a starvation diet, then remove one white die
• Increase Drug Dosage: remove another white die
• Additional Medication: remove another white die
• Solitary confinement: roll madness die
• Straight Jacket / Restraints: remove one white die until freed
• Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy: roll madness die (also scene is played out for more)
• Hydrotherapy: roll madness die (play out)
• Insulin Shock Therapy: roll madness die (play out)
• Pyrotherapy: roll madness die (playout)
• Lobotomy: Permanently remove a white die (play out)
• Experimental Therapy: roll madness die (play out)
• Patient Cured, Release Patient: If a patient is to be released, they are interviewed by the chief of staff and told they will be released the next day once the paperwork is completed. They are then released into the general patient population for a scene where they can tell the others that they will be released. In the middle of the night, the patient will be taken out of their cell. Do they make a fuss? Scream? What do they do? Then they are gone the next day. If the staff is asked, they will say the patient has gone home. They were released. Stoke up the paranoia.

When it says (play out), play out the scene and see what the Patient does to escape the treatment. Ask what the Doctor does. Some therapies require that the Patient be strapped in. When things get scary, ask the Patient to roll a madness die to see if their Madness increases by 1.

After every Patient has been treated, Doctors can re-evaluate their treatments and make new recommendations. Repeat this until Patients escape.

Escape

At some point, usually during treatment, a Patient will escape. Where can they go? They will want to get out of the hospital, but during Act 2, this will end the game for the Patient. In one game, Laurie Strode (who was Released) actually returned to the Hospital (and recommitted herself voluntarily) which was a surprise. 

When the Patients escape a treatment room or group area, they head for the front doors. I make the front doors high security and require them to be buzzed to be unlocked from a secure room. There is a stairwell that has stairs going up or down. Down takes them to the basement and sub-basement with liminal corridors, laundry, heating ducts, etc. Up takes the them to an abandoned, disused floor or attic full of old machinery and maybe items from a Patient's backstory, and then the roof. Running loose on these other levels allows Doctors to try to capture any escaped Patients.

Act 3 - Endgame

The endgame starts when at least one Patient has reached level 6 Madness. I pull out their Endgame Horror and tell them this shows up (or you turn into this). I tell them, you now get to play the Supernatural being. Some supernatural beings replace the Patient, such as Mother (Norman Bates) or Nolan's Joker (RP McMurphy). But some kill the Patient. I let the Patient narrate how they get killed. It's usually very gruesome. I also remind them Supernatural beings cannot be defeated by normal people. And then I ask the Supernatural being who do they want to kill next (Patients, Doctors, Orderlies)?

Each round, the Supernatural being would stalk and kill someone. I tell the Player to describe how they show up and how they kill their victim.

If the Doctors and Patients had talked to each other or listened to each other's stories, they might have a clue based on the movies as to how they can eliminate the Supernatural being. I would let them try, but each round one of them will be killed.

Doctors can trick, push in the way, or order their Orderlies to sacrifice themselves to the Supernatural being. This will save them for one round.

Some Supernatural beings like to play with their victims instead of killing them outright which is ok. Some may work with a Patient. Pinhead gave McMurphy weapons to kill staff. Kirsty Cotton made a deal with Pinhead who killed everyone in the Hospital, thus leaving her the Final Girl, yet again.

During the stalking and murdering, Patients will continue to roll their Madness die. If another Patient reaches level 6 Madness, their Endgame Horror shows up too.

If two Supernatural beings decide to fight each other, use Roshambo (rock-paper-scissors) to see who wins. In one game, Pinhead and IT murdered all the Doctors and Patients and then shook hands as equals and departed.

This is also when Patients can easily escape. As Doctors are killed, there are no more people to oppose their die rolls. It's easier to run through a damaged door or slide down a drain pipe off the roof when there aren't Doctors and Orderlies to stop them.

Unattached Orderlies are dropped out of the game. This can happen if the Doctor is killed and they still have an Orderly. Or leave them around to be killed by the Supernatural being, so it buys the PCs some time to figure out how to defeat the Supernatural being.

If no Patient has reached level 6 Madness, but the Patients are loose and running around, you should just push the Patient with the highest Madness level to level 6. Just trigger the endgame because if you don't, the Patients will all escape without going to Act 3. You can only thwart their escapes so many times before it becomes a bit contrived.

Basically make the endgame as exciting and graphic as possible. Patients and Doctors might be able to thwart the Endgame Horror, or not (most of the time NOT). A number of Patients escape and usually the Endgame Horror kills the Doctors first.

Conclusion

This game was designed for convention play. I think it's almost impossible to run online. Also a full table maximizes the fun for this scenario as various character interactions are interesting.

I do find the story arc ironic. Patients claim supernatural horrors are stalking them. Doctors don't believe and perpetrate horrors on the Patients. The supernatural horrors are real and kill the Doctors.

At some point, the Doctors realize what might be on the other side of their standee. Do they dive in and go evil? Do they stay the course? Who are they really? This is when some Players are confused as to how they should play their Doctor.

Most people play the game as campy fun. You can approach it as someone trying to survive by lying to the Doctors and trying to get a clean bill of health. Of the Patients, Laurie Strode has been released. Sarah Conner had a chance, but at some point, she blew it and erupted in violence. Wait until you ask her about robots and time travel.

The game was designed for surprise shock value. When the first Patient sees what the Doctors look like that always gets a big reaction. When they see the Word Association Test and the Ink Blots, there's always a gleeful reaction when they see the Ink Blots. When the Endgame Horror shows up, that's a big reveal too. More fun that a jump scare when a cat leaps at you from nowhere.

Forms

Word Association Test

Patient Treatment Form

Patient Case Histories

Triggering Ink Blots

A mask, is this Michael?

Batman and Joker

I print this in B&W, but what's funny is this is Jason, not Michael Myers, but we always get a reaction from Laurie Strode

Is it a bat or moth?

Another Clown for Ben

Thoughts on Chain of Command in RPGs

 

There are RPGs with a Chain of Command: Star Trek Adventures, Godlike, Twilight 2000, Alien RPG (Colonial Marines), War Stories, Achtung! Cthulhu, Fall of Delta Green, YKRPG: The Wars. And even systems that were designed for non-military settings and characters, but someone decided to write a scenario set in WW1, WW2, etc. I've played in a number of Call of Cthulhu games where PCs are soldiers on a battlefield.

If everyone buys into the scenario and mission, then there's generally never a problem.

But I've experienced and heard nightmare stories:

1. One Player declares that he must play the highest ranking PC because when he played in a game before, their leader messed everything up. Well, the joke was on us, because this guy had no clue as to what he was doing and almost got us all killed until he died from his own incompetence, then someone else took over and the rest of us survived.
2. The highest ranking PC ordered everyone to hunker down and stay in place for the whole scenario because it was the safest thing to do. Even the GM told the Players that the "adventure" was out there. I believe they spent more than half the game doing nothing.
3. PC leader turtles and sends other PCs out to die or even picks on one PC to always do all the dangerous things.
4. PC ignores a direct order by another PC.

So, what can you do?

In Star Trek Adventures, Command Talents (p.136, core book) give other PCs extra dice if they follow your advice or orders.

In Alien RPG, Pull Rank (p.76 core book). It's an opposed roll to make someone follow your orders.

In Yellow King RPG, Leadership (p.19, The Wars). Spend a Push to inspire someone to work at the best of their ability.

In Achthug! Cthulhu, Tactics Talents (p.94-95, Player's Guide). Bonuses to other PCs.

In Godlike, Command (p.48, core book). This is a superpower akin to mind control.

Most offer only carrots and very few sticks to follow orders. 

Do you throw someone in the brig or court martial them? But what if you're out in the field? Do you take away their weapons and arrest them? Do you execute a PC in the field? All of these options are horrible. Unless you just don't like the other Player (note that I say Player not PC because all these actions will take the PC out of the game and thus the Player).

So, the best solution I've found is at Session 0 explain the following and get buy-in from all the Players: A NPC is in charge. The Players can vote for their course of action and the most votes is what the NPC commander orders the PCs to do. Then you have majority rules and buy-in from all the Players. This also makes the command seem like a snap decision even though the Players may have spent a long time discussing what to do before their vote.

This also models Star Trek when the captain turns off the viewscreen and discusses options with his officers on the bridge.

My Rant on RPG Books and Reviewers

A fraction of my RPG books

I have hundreds, if not a thousand RPG books. I've played numerous systems and games. So, when a new game or system is published, I like to read reviews about the game or try the game out before buying it. So, reviews are a great resource. I've been burned a few times where I bought a Kickstarter and found out the game was a clunker or that the game was rushed into production and not enough thought was put into streamlining the book or a through enough editing was done.

Yes, I'm used to errata. Before the internet, game publishers were more careful about making mistakes and corrected them in newer printings. I fear, the trend these days is to push things quick to market and correct the PDF afterwards. But if you got the first print edition, you get screwed. For example Alien RPG, the first printing, Pilots don't have the Piloting skill.

My pet peeves for RPG books:

1. Not using a professional editor/proof reader. Using MSWord autocorrect and Google Translate doesn't cut it. One KS delivered a badly translated RPG. The game was supposed to be decades old and very popular in Sweden. They had an early release PDF to allow us feedback. I'm a native US English speaker and have a college degree. I sent feedback and a number of my suggestions were rejected. The response from the company? We have a friend who's a Swedish expat in the US who speaks English, we rely on that person's judgement for the final decisions. OMG. I sold my copy of Trudvang. Great art, lousy system.

And if you don't use a professional proof reader, then pre-release the PDF, so your fans can give you feedback. Arc Dream at first didn't do this for their The Conspiracy KS. I mentioned this and they happily sent out pre-release PDFs to backers. I noticed that one of the fonts that mimicked an old typewriter was too hard to read. It was atmospheric, but led to sometimes hard to read names. I sent back examples for them to look over such as J-2 vs U-2. When I got the final release PDF, I noticed that they fixed it. Can you imagine if they didn't? As an aside, Arc Dream does a great job proofreading. Minimal typos if any in their products.

2. Important Rules in the Sidebar. Sidebars are for examples and flavor text. When GMs read the core book, we read the main text and look at the sidebars later. Sidebars do not Highlight Rules, sidebars say, "Ignore me until later when you have time to read me."

3. Inconsistent phrasing. Not having a System/World Bible, so you use different names for the same thing throughout your core book. Then indexing the wrong words, so you can't even find the rule you're looking for. I'm looking at you Alien RPG. You can't find Air Supply in the index. You need to look up Consumables. And good luck on finding how Stun weapons work. It's under the detailed description of the G2 Electroshock Grenade p.125.

4. Rules in the wrong place or missing rules. See #2 & #3 above. I'm looking at you The One Ring 2e. If you buy the Starter Set, you can't play the game. Good luck on figuring out what Attribute Level is for monsters. It's not in the rules provided with the Starter Set. You need the core book p.143. The rules in the Starter Set are all Player facing rules, so all the GM rules are missing and there's no GM rule booklet in the Starter Set.

5. Renaming standard RPG terms to be cute. I prefer GM (Game Master). But there's DM (Dungeon Master), Master of Ceremonies, Keeper of Arcane Lore, Storyteller, Narrator, Director, Facilitator, etc. These are all cute and I can figure this out. But then they start renaming NPC to GMPC, etc. Hit Points to Conditions, Health, Stamina, etc. I bought Invisible Sun and I still haven't been able to read past the first book because you need to translate from Invisible Sun speak to RPG speak. It's a giant barrier to understanding the game and playing it. The excuse for renaming common terms is to be "immersive." It's so immersive, I couldn't get into it like trying to climb into a bathtub full of mercury.

6. Bad rule book organization. Making it hard to find rules when running the game. The core books are written to be easily read, but then information is spread out to various sections. The publishers don't want to duplicate info, to save page count, but when info is spread out everywhere, it's impossible to use the core book as a reference book. Mödiphius 2d20 games such as Dune and Achtung! Cthulhu were painful to use at the table. GM pauses the game in what seems like an eternity, trying to look up a rule because misapplication could probably kill a PC. And this happens multiple times during a gaming session.

RPG Game Reviews

One of my friends did a podcast. They decided to talk about Vampire RPG. During the podcast they admitted they've never played the game. WTF? How can you be opinionated about something you've never even tried? Let alone talk a whole hour about it? I've played and run Vampire before and found their comments uninformed.

Book reviewers review a book after they've read it. That is the experience of the book. But RPG books are a different animal. You need to read it and either run the game or play it to experience it. So, I have problems with RPG reviewers who just read the book and don't play it. It's like a movie reviewer who just reads the movie script. Or a book reviewer who only reads the blurb.

I understand some people make a living reviewing RPG books, so they don't have the time to run/play every publication and the output volume of their reviews is their focus. And reading massive amounts of RPG books does increase your ability to make an informed decision. But that doesn't replace cracking open the book and trying to use it in a game.

I've read mediocre reviews of a game I've played in that was very, very fun. I've also read a glowing review of a RPG, but when I looked at Reddit posts about people who tried to play the game, they found it was horrible. It read well, but played terrible. So, I now read reviews with a grain of salt and also consult other online sources, especially comments from people who actually played the game.

I also don't want spoilers for scenarios, but I want to have enough information to decide if that scenario or campaign is right for my gaming group.

So, when I do review a game or scenario, I don't do it until I've been able to play or run it myself. When I've only played it*, I would still want to read the scenario, to differentiate what is in the scenario vs any GM invented material. What's worse than saying, "Hey, that's a great scenario, I'd like to run it," and then finding out your GM invented half of the material or merged multiple scenarios to make the game that you played, so the scenario you're recommending has nothing to do with what's published.

*I want to differentiate my review of a published scenario vs my convention reports about the games I've played in. My reviews are informed opinions about a published scenario I've run, or played in and have read afterwards. A convention report is more about the experience I had. I generally do not go and read the convention scenario I've played in, unless I enjoyed it so much that I plan on running it myself.

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My blog post on various CoC campaigns and scenario books: https://morganhua.blogspot.com/2021/11/cthulhu-campaigns-run-times-and-thoughts.html

Zombie Drama - Homebrew System

I was working on my own version of The Walking Dead RPG and of course, Free League announces their own game, The Walking Dead Universe, to be released in 2023.

My idea is different. It's more of an extension of indie RPGs where failure and drama is rewarded vs success. Robin Law's Hillfolk is about inter-character conflict. Delta Green gives you an experience check if you fail a die roll. Dungeon World gives you an XP for rolling 6 or less (failure with trouble).

I've pushed it to the limit. I decided that I'm going to make a game based on failure. Why? Because I binge watched The Walking Dead and noticed that Rick is a horrible leader. He makes bad decisions that get people killed, yet he survives and other people who make terrible decisions also live because they're fan favorites.

I wanted to make a rules lite game and I know there's no way I can get the IP (intellectual property) for The Walking Dead, so I can only build a generic zombie game with sly references to The Walking Dead.

So, the game is about people messing up. The more drama you create, the longer you survive. Zombies are more of a wild card that can get you killed. What's more boring than a group of survivors who know what they're doing and where nothing goes wrong?

The game is also couched as a TV series to explain why everything is so messed up.

Anyway, I wanted to beat Free League to the punch.

So, I present to you Zombie Drama:

Zombie Drama Rules

Zombie Drama Character Sheet

Full Disclosure: It's a work in progress and not playtested.

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It's free to use or modify for non-commercial purposes as long as you keep my copyright notice intact. If you want to redistribute, please keep the copyright intact and/or point people to this blog post instead, so at least I'll know how many people are interested in it.

Am I a good Player or GM?

The pandemic is good for my RPG gaming life. I've never played so many games in my life. Pre-pandemic I used to have one regular weekly game plus another game that happened about once a month. Now I have 3 weekly games plus one or two additional games every month or so. Some weeks, I have 5 games.

One of the Players in one of my games asked, "Am I a good Player compared to your other groups?"

That's an interesting question. Almost embarrassing to answer. Almost like a lover asking if they're as good as somebody else. So, here's my answer:

What makes a good Player?

I mentioned several things that makes a good Player:

1. Sharing the spotlight with other Players. What some Players aren't aware of is that when we play, each Player should have equal screen time. So, if you're playing for 4 hours and there are 4 PCs, there should be about 1 hour of play time per PC. If a Player is a spotlight hog, that Player may take half of the time or 2 hours out of the 4, leaving the 3 other Players only 40 minutes of screen time. This isn't nice. That said, some Players prefer to lurk and some do not. So, screen time would be adjusted based on a Player's play style.
   
   A good Player is aware of how much screen time they've used and yield the floor when they've used their allotment.
   
   
2. Involving and enabling other Players. A good player would try to involve other Players.
   
   Lone wolf PCs just disappear and do their own thing in secret, but what fun is that for the other Players? That not only takes time away from the table, but isn't fun for anybody else at the table, especially if the Player and GM go to another room for 15-30 mins. A better move is to either NOT do it in secret, so at least the other Players can observe and trust the other Players to separate in-game knowledge from out-of-game knowledge. What good is a in-game secret that never gets revealed? An even better move is to involve the other PCs in your scheme, get them to help you. Then it involves other PCs and advances your secret agenda.
   
   This happened in one game I played in, the Lone Wolf Sniper didn't want to associate with any of the other PCs. This went on scene after scene. The GM then did a brilliant move, he had the bad guys approach the Lone Wolf Sniper and recruited him. In the finale, we really, really loved murdering him in addition to the Big Bad.
   
   Enabling other Players. Instead of blocking what another PC wants to do, why not help them succeed in their goal? Why not do your cool thing, so that the other PC can do their cool thing? This doesn't mean your PC is subservient to the other PCs needs. But this doesn't mean you should steal the other PC's glory either. In one game, one PC finally met his arch nemesis. In the big showdown/duel, the PC almost killed his arch nemesis, then another PC, without asking, snuck in and dealt the killing blow. WTF? Don't do this. 😠
   
   A good Player tries to involve other Players and make it a fun experience for everyone at the table.
   
   
3. Understanding what the game is about. Some games are investigative, some are kick the door in and kill things, some are character studies. A good Player figures out what type of game it is and acts appropriately. Basically, don't f*ck things up. If it's an investigative game, don't kick in every door with guns blazing. In a social character roleplaying game, don't sulk in the corner and avoid all the other PCs. You can act against type, but you must still add something to the game, don't subtract from it.
   
   Also, if it's an investigative game, investigate. In one game I was in, a PC who worked as an EMT refused to look up an autopsy report for the rest of the party. He said, "I can't do this, it means my job if I do it." WTF. So, we broke in and got the report instead. He also refused to do lots of other things. After this, we side-lined that Player, sort of a collective punishment for making our lives hard unnecessarily.
   
   Act appropriately for the appropriate game.
   
   
4. Bringing something interesting to the table. A good Player always tries to bring something new to the table and keep it fresh and interesting. This could be through hijinks, dialog with other PCs, cool moves, or brilliant deduction.
   
   Don't be afraid of failure. Sometimes failure is a lot more interesting than succeeding all the time. My favorite example is Raiders of the Lost Ark. What if Indiana Jones put the right amount of sand into the sack for obtaining the idol? Then he would have gotten it without the rolling ball trap, the rush past the poison darts, the "Give me the whip, I'll give you the idol" exchange. How boring!
   
   Make the game fun. If the game isn't fun, bring your own fun to the table.

What makes a good GM?

Here's what I think makes a good GM:

1. Understanding the rules. I don't mean like a rules lawyer, I mean understanding how the rules work and when to apply them and when the break them. Know the rules enough, so you don't need to look up every rule, and enough so you can make rule decisions on the spot if you had to. Sometimes I do tell everyone, "Oh, this is important, I think I gotta look this one up because it could mean life or death for your PC. I don't want to mess this one up."
   
   Generally, if I do make a ruling on the fly, you usually have two choices, one more harsher than the other. I'd pick the one on the lenient side.
   
   You need to be consistent and fair. If you do make a ruling on the fly and then find out you're wrong, you can at the beginning of the next session say, "Sorry folks, I made a mistake, in the future, we'll be using this rule instead." This would be a lot easier if you had picked the more lenient ruling vs the more harsher one that might have killed or maimed a PC. Oops, no take backsies. Hard to explain how that PC suddenly sprung back to life.
   
   Why do you need to be consistent and fair? In one game of Top Secret I played in, one Player was James Bond, making crazy driving rolls, firing a gun out of the car window, and chasing the bad guys. Another Player decided to emulate him and jump off a bridge onto a freighter passing underneath. He wound up being George Smiley and broke both his legs. Yeah, it sucks being in the same game, and having different rules apply to you.
   
   
2. Understand the world or scenario. Be familiar with the world or scenario, so you don't have to look everything up. Be prepared. For my own homegrown scenarios, I have bullet points for things I want to hit during the session. Some people use a highlighter on published scenarios. With PDFs, you can temporarily highlight passages without permanently marking up your books.
   
   When I run a published scenario, I keep in mind that the world is as realistic as possible. That if a PC decides to look for something, and make a roll (Spot Hidden for instance), unless the location was professionally swept, something of note would be found. In most published scenarios, only the main clue trails are described. But that doesn't mean that a candy wrapper or a whiskey glass with a quarter inch of whisky isn't left on a night stand and the PCs can't take the glass and get finger prints off of it. Normal people would have photographs on their desks or hanging on their walls. There is food in the refrigerator and prescription drugs in the bathroom. This also adds to verisimilitude. No room looks like an IKEA showroom.
   
   If the PCs search and there is truly nothing interesting, I'd just tell them, "There's nothing interesting. What do you want to do next?"
   
   
3. A good sense of pacing. In addition to managing spotlight time, by addressing various Players who haven't had a chance to shine, you need to monitor the table and decide when to throw things at the Players to keep them interested.
   
   For my homegrown scenarios, I have usually some optional pre-set encounters prepared. If I have to use a random encounter table, I'd pre-roll them and totally prepare them ahead of time. I never do this on the fly. Then I can possibly tie them into the story in a meaningful way somehow.
   
   If I'm not going to use throw away pre-set encounters, then I'd have various set pieces. We'd just move to the next set piece. Act 1, 2, and 3; finished.
   
   Pacing also includes GM's descriptions of things. Some GMs like to be loquacious, almost spinning a novel, describing in detail everything in a scene. This is ok, only once in a while, especially if the GM is really, really good, but most of the time, I hate this. It wastes time and is generally a snore-fest. I had writer's workshop training. We learned that the amount of words spent should be proportional to its importance. What's a better use of time is "It's a normal bedroom except for the following things..." Or I like pictures. If I have an illustration of the room, then that saves a lot of time. I love illustrations of NPCs too.
   
   If the PCs have split the party and rejoin, instead of having the PCs reiterate what had happened, I just ask, "Do you share with each other what had happened?" They'll generally will just nod their heads. Then we just move on. Once in a while, one Player would say, "Yes, except for ..." which is fine.
   
   Pacing also includes Table Control. When things wind down, take them to the next scene. When Players are bored, they start acting out. Asking for unreasonable things, looking at their phones, making phone calls, etc.. This may also be a good time to call for a short break.
   
   
4. The ability to say, "Yes and ..." and "Yes but ...". One thing I learned from the new Indie RPGs is improv and the ability to say, "Yes." Feng Shui RPG lets Players add elements to a scene. Sword of the Serpentine lets Players set various elements in a scene; the GM goes from Player to Player, asking various questions about the scene. All this lets the Players be more invested in the scene and action. They had a hand in setting it up.
   
   If a Player asks for something reasonable, there is no harm in saying, "Yes." If it's a bit too much, then the GM can say, "Yes and" or "Yes but" both leading to a complication.
    
   And sometimes you need to say, "No." Can I have a nuclear weapon? Or have the NPCs solve the mystery for me? Completely unreasonable requests can be answered with a simple, "No."
   
   
5. Understand that the GM is not the Players' enemy, but a facilitator. We've all heard of killer GMs. The GM should be a collaborator with the Players in telling a story and making the story as interesting and exciting as necessary. 
   
   Sometimes, a Player would ask some weird assed question. I know they want to do something cleaver, but not what. I will ask, so what are you trying to do or find out? Once they tell me, then I can tell them some information or ask them to roll some dice to see what they figure out.
   
   The other day, a Player had a box full of chemicals and wanted to throw it at a creature and have some effect. I asked if the PC had any Chemistry; No. So, I let her throw the box which hit and did some damage. Then had her roll Luck to see if by chance the mix of chemicals caused some sort of adverse reaction.
   
   IMHO, if a PC cannot die, then a level of excitement is lost. What fun is there in cheating death if you know that death can't win?
   
   On the flip side, what fun is there if the GM gives you a gimme when fighting a creature? For instance, in one game, a PC got dragged under the earth and was presented before the queen mother. He decided to light a bundle of dynamite and football charge her. The queen mother was really a giant snake with a glamour, she opened her mouth impossibly wide and swallowed him whole. By chance, the snake had massive armor, but was unarmored from the inside. The PC rolled damage and did exactly enough damage to kill the snake from the inside. That was Amaze-balls! I had to show the Player the monster's stats to show that I didn't cheat as the GM and gave him an automatic victory because he sacrificed himself. That was sweet! It was a meaningful death.
   
   GMs cheat. Yes, we sometimes modify things on the fly because an undeserved TPK doesn't serve the story. If sufficient warning was given a party for a foolish act or it's the last act, then I let the dice tell the story. If it's a TPK then, it's a TPK. But if it's some random low level creature or poison gas, then I'd rather let the party survive. But no miraculous savor, but instead some sort of complication. Such as waking up in a cell, waiting to be sacrificed, giving the PCs a chance to have a harrowing escape and at the same time, learn about the fate of others.
   
   I ran World War Cthulhu: Cold War and the PCs wound up in a gunfight, in broad daylight, in a public park with Stasi in East Berlin. It didn't turn out too well, all the PCs took enough damage to go unconscious. They all wound up in a gulag for two years. The mission was a complete failure. Two years later, they got released in a spy swap and was sent on their next mission. Their trust with MI6 was heavily damaged. I did cheat a little, I think one of the PCs would have bled to death before the ambulances arrived, instead I went into narrator mode and just told them that the Stasi administered first aid and arrested them all.
   
   A few nights ago, I ran a game where a creature with massive amount of hit points blocked the PCs' exit. One PC was insistent on casting a spell at it. It did do some damage, but nothing significant. The PC asked if that hurt the creature enough to make it back away. Once asked, I decided to give the creature a morale roll, I rolled a 89. The creature backed away from the exit towards another hall, allowing the PCs to escape. Again, I'm a facilitator of what happens, seeing if the PC's intention happens, not to "kill" the PCs. Once the PCs left the building there was another short encounter and they reached the safety of the woods. At that point, we were running late and they were in an area of safety. The scenario had one more event that would draw them back to the building, but I decided not to do that based on table mood, time left to play, and pacing considerations. It was good enough to call it the end of the game at that point.
   
   Also the GM should subtly teach the Players how to be more successful. In CoC, it generally benefits the PCs to discuss how they approach a NPC before meeting them. Making it up on the spot sometimes works, but it may lead to horrible consequences. I've seen a Player start telling a horrible lie to convince a NPC of something, then I ask for a FastTalk skill roll and of course that PC has 5% in that skill. If the PCs had discussed this before meeting the NPC, they could have decided another PC with a higher FastTalk skill would tell the lie instead. So, I sometimes ask, "While in the car, do you discuss how you are going to approach the NPC before you arrive?" This teaches them to do this in the future because I won't ask all the time.

So, I'll let you decide. Are you a good Player or GM?

If not, it's not really a big deal as you can always learn to become better. Practice makes perfect.

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I found this interesting video on "It's what my character would do!": https://youtu.be/jjEpZlo5FkI

Who shouldn't GM: https://youtu.be/J5DgMm14ioc