15 (more) cheap tricks

One of my fave GLoG blogs - Whose Measure God Could Not Take - did a fun meme about listing cheap tricks that GMs can use to make their game better. You can see the original and the resulting links to other cheap tricks here.

Here are 15 more cheap tricks.

1. Give your players an INC map. Seriously. Choosing the routes gives players an interesting decision point and discovering the room contents is fun. Saying "Wait, you said TWO exits on the north wall? I gotta redraw" is less fun.

1a. You can still have secret rooms. Seeing the "gaps" on the map and finding the door will make players feel smart.

2. Unless you're learning the game for the first time, don't pause the game to look up rules. Make the call the players want you to make, then get a rules lawyer to look it up while you continue the flow of the game.

3. The key to a good riddle is "something the players know but one detail changed." Take a riddle from the Hobbit and change the wording around. Players'll feel smart.

4. Ditto with monsters. Take a normal monster and change one feature to make it seem interesting. A cowardly troll covered in unhealed burns. A cyclops that sees six seconds into the future. A skeleton but it has a wasp's nest in it.

5. Introduce members of the PC's family and resist the urge to kill them for dramatic effect. "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" produces a stronger emotional reaction than "Oh no your dad is dead."

6. Ask players to recap the session for you each time. a) This makes them actually take notes and pay attention. b) You can better understand the gap between your understanding and theirs.

7. When players help out with some of the tasks a GM normally does (like the recap, above) throw them a bennie. Giving them a free reroll or something is free.

8. "Please give me feedback" is too unspecific to be helpful. Take some time to ask for "highs and lows" between games. Each player says their favorite/least favorite part of the session/arc/campaign.

9. "What do you have in your hands?" is the most important question you can ask. How can they pick a lock if they have a torch in their hand? How can they pick a lock if they don't have light?

10. "How does your character feel about that?" is a great question to share the spotlight with someone who isn't directly involved in the action.

11. Describe what monsters look like, not what their name is. A goblin is much grosser when it's "a stinky little guy about the size of a 3 year old but with bat ears and it has most of what-was-once-a-rat in its fanged mouth"

12. Why do you not have a dragon in literally every dungeon you make? You fool. You simpleton.

13. Non-monetary rewards are cool. Give a PC a byname (e.g., "the Troll Slayer"). Give a PC a spouse (e.g., "The duke offers his daughter's hand). Tell the PC that the necromancer "owes you one."

14. When you make a ruling, explain your justification out loud. If you're targeting a random person, tell the players the stakes before you roll. "OK, evens the wyrm goes after Faust but on odds it'll go for Drena even though she's on the ground."

15. Asking "Describe how you finish it" when the player would drop a monster is great for 3 reasons. 1) Opportunity for the player to give a cool description 2) Opportunity to be non-lethal ("I tie it up!") 3) Evil GM trick: If the monster needs some special gimmick (e.g., stake to the heart, decapitation, fire) to kill it, it doesn't actually die unless the PC specifically says it