{"id":7576,"date":"2016-12-02T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/?p=7576"},"modified":"2016-11-24T17:24:10","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T23:24:10","slug":"the-gm-awakens-minimal-multimedia-can-gain-instant-buy-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.d20radio.com\/main\/the-gm-awakens-minimal-multimedia-can-gain-instant-buy-in\/","title":{"rendered":"The GM Awakens: Minimal Multimedia Can Gain Instant Buy-In"},"content":{"rendered":"

This series follows the trials, tribulations, successes, and failures of a fairly inexperienced GM who has recently picked up the hobby after a long time away. It aims to assist new GM\u2019s by examining what worked, didn\u2019t work, and what failed miserably as he spins up new campaigns, modules, encounters, and adventures for his friends and family in Fantasy Flight Games\u2019 Edge of the Empire\/Age of Rebellion\/Force and Destiny system.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don’t consider myself a good GM.\u00a0 Maybe some day.\u00a0 But certainly not now.\u00a0 Not when I’m picking up the hobby for the first time in decades and running a system I just learned in May.\u00a0 I have a long way to go.\u00a0 But my players have heaped me with (I think unwarranted) praise in how I run my games.\u00a0 After a few sessions I started asking my players why they say my games are fun.\u00a0 We are playing in Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars RPG game lines.<\/p>\n

One thing they said was that the games “feel” like Star Wars.\u00a0 The players said the games feel cinematic and like their characters are in the movies.\u00a0 That’s good because that’s the point and the heart of the narrative dice system, or any rpg for that matter. \u00a0But as I examined their answers, I started learning there was one thing inserted deliberately into my games that significantly increased their enjoyment.\u00a0 Multimedia.\u00a0 Not much, just a little bit.\u00a0 But the reason that I included multimedia in my games was to fill in gaps of some Game Master shortcomings I have.<\/p>\n

So, I started using some techniques to make the groups feel immersed into a Star Wars adventure despite my poor narrative skills. \u00a0While I am playing the Star Wars lines, I would use most of these techniques in any rpg.<\/p>\n

Don’t read… show and play an opening crawl<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is not an original idea.\u00a0 Many GM’s do this.\u00a0 FFG’s books recommend you at least read an opening crawl before new adventures.\u00a0 Because it’s very easy, I simply show one to my players with my laptop, complete with an episode number, title, and music.\u00a0 According to my players, when the crawl is finished they are pumped up and ready to go.\u00a0 I admit when I hear the opening trumpet blast and see the Star Wars logo shoot back into the screen I get goosebumps still.<\/p>\n

There are a few crawl generators out there.\u00a0 A simple google search will score you some.\u00a0 StarWars.com used to have one too.\u00a0 However, I felt all of these were missing something for different reasons.\u00a0 Either the font wasn’t right, there was no music, they had character limits, or there was no opening logo flying back.\u00a0 But then I found some crawls that were done by OggDude, a FFG Forum staple who has given the Star Wars RPG world many great tools.\u00a0 At this thread<\/a> I found many stand-alone HTML files for crawls he did for his adventures.\u00a0 All you need to do is download any of the files, open the source, and type over appropriate text, replacing it with your own, and save it as a new HTML file. \u00a0Yes, this does take a small amount of technical acumen, but it has everything:\u00a0 music, the opening logo, and complete control over all text.\u00a0 I pick one of these HTML files as my template and each week change the text to match my adventure.\u00a0 (If anyone would like an example or see some I have done, contact me here or through Facebook and I’ll be glad to show you!)<\/p>\n

Bottom line is, when the crawl is finished, my players usually have goosebumps and feel like they’re about to be in Star Wars.\u00a0 There’s no better way of setting the stage.\u00a0 Sure you can read one, but with a few minutes of effort, you can just show it to them!<\/p>\n

When you can, show your players the things they encounter<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m a complete Star Wars nerd.\u00a0 I realize and admit this freely.\u00a0 All my players are Star Wars fans too, but I happen to know more than any of them combined because of my level of nerdery. \u00a0Luckily though, the internet is full of guys like me who have much more talent than I have.\u00a0 So I take advantage of that!<\/p>\n

I’m a poor narrator. \u00a0At least I don’t think I’m great. \u00a0So because I likely know more about the Star Wars universe than my players, while I can imagine something easily in my mind, my players might not be able to.\u00a0 All you have to tell me about the bounty hunter in front of me is that he’s a dangerous looking Aqualish with a disruptor, and I’ll see that easily in my mind.\u00a0 But my players won’t know what that is, most likely.\u00a0 So, I show them.\u00a0 The good thing about the internet is that just about any and everything you’d ever need to find is out there.\u00a0 Any species, ship, world, or weapon in the universe has tons of photos, videos, and artwork with examples.<\/p>\n

So when my players need to have something described, I simply show it to them whenever I can.\u00a0 I put up the picture on the laptop and display it to them.\u00a0 I do this for every world or setting they visit, almost every NPC they encounter, and for ships and weapons sometimes.\u00a0 Even if the image isn’t exactly what the game calls for, if I find something close, I’ll still show that.\u00a0 For my remote players on Google Hangouts, I screen-share and show them too.\u00a0 There are infinite places to find things but here’s the top ones I use:<\/p>\n