SPELLS AND SWORDS GM ADVICE

GAME MASTER ADVICE AND OPTIONS
- Gygax Maxim: Players should be in real danger 25% of the time but 
feel in danger 75% of the time. 
- It's Ok for the GM to remind players of things that are Common Knowledge, or 
of Facts that their Characters would personally know or should know. 
- Remember that the GM and players are engaging in a piece of shared fiction.
- Most players go off the Rails. They prefer a Sandbox Campaign to being Railroaded.  
- The GM should ask for Feedback from players during and in-between sessions. 
- Find out what players like: Combat, Role Playing, Problem Solving, etc. 
- Players should be rewarded for problem solving and Teamwork. Getting past a 
Trap without having to make a Risky Skill Roll or Saving Throw is always preferable. 
- After every move, the GM should ask "What do you do?" 
- Players should Roll for their Actions first. Next the Players can describe 
their Success or Failure based on the Roll. 
- If a player says his character does something, he does it. No takebacks. 
- If a player does not react in time neither does his character. 
- Players and the GM may share secrets the other players don’t know. 
- Introduce Moral Dilemmas: What to do with cute baby Kobolds? What to do when 
captured Foes beg for Mercy. Do you make deals with Monsters? Is there more to life 
than looting, seducing, and murdering? Are all Humanoids irredeemably evil?
- Baby Sitter NPC's are disliked by players for good reason. They take away their 
agency and give it to the GM. The GM may introduce a weak NPC, the Shepard, who has 
info relating to the Quest or Adventure at hand. Instead of the baby sitter doing 
everything for the PC's the Shepard would require protection. 
- Some players dislike the presence of too many Party Members. The GM will have to 
balance this carefully. 
- Some players will think you are lazy if you don't do certain minimum things, such 
as having a few miniatures available or having a detailed map of the dungeon, or a 
colored map of the region. 
- Some players really like the idea of mysterious Lone Wolf PC's. The GM can have
these rotate in at pivotal Story points only to suddenly disappear, but otherwise 
the Player should also control a Character who is more of a team player. 
- Random Encounters for their own sake can be an unnecessary time waster. The same 
goes for Random Dungeons. A Dungeon should, story-wise, have some reason to exist. 
- Things that aid in Character development: PC Interactions with each other. Humor. 
Meaningful progression. Gaining Lands, Titles, Armies, Buildings, Settlements, 
Artifacts, Followers, Powers, etc. 
- Advanced Storytelling: Meaningful Sidequests that revolve around the Character's 
Backstories, Sense of Exploration, World Maps, Geo-politics, Discovering Secrets
- Each session should answer some questions and ask new ones. 
- The First session should establish the World, The Characters place in the World, 
and why the Characters are traveling together.
- Name your Campaign.  

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STORY TELLING TROPES
Ultimate Weapons, Puzzle Bosses, Team-up with previous Foe, Recurring Foes, 
Betrayal, Treachery, Lies, Hidden Identities, Friends and Family Members in Disguise, 
Big Bad controlled by even Bigger Bad or Ambitious Villain. Friends or Family Member 
is really Villain, Artifact is valuable for a different reason, Find Murder, Death of 
Father Figure, Plot Twist in storyline, Unknown, unrevealed motivations, Need of Rescue, 
guilt and innocence, Fake Death, Blackmail, Great Curse, Dependents, Find Map, Key, 
Timer on Death Trap, pending Disaster, Acquire Leverage, Complications, Tremendous
Risks, Martyr, Unexpected Ally, Mysterious Stranger, Elaborate Disguise, Reveal Clue, 
Not Believed, Earn Trust, Follow up Leads, Risk Ritual to get Info, Captured, 
On the Run, Hidden Agenda, Romance, Marriage, Birth, Turn back Time, Elaborate Caper, 
Sea Voyage, Demi-God, Seventh Son of Seventh Son, Family Heirloom, Ancestral Castle, 
Prophecy, Latent Powers, Chased by Secret Society, Hunted, Great Discovery, etc. 

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HOW PLAYERS MEET
You meet in a Tavern, Prisoners, Refugees, From same Village, Town, Academy, 
Hired by plotting Noble, Sent by King, Recruited by Wizard Friend, On 
Crusade Together, All are Pilgrims, Agency or Military Mission, 
All are Survivors, Veterans of the Psychic Wars, Hired by Thieves Guild, 
Secret Society Intrigues, etc. 

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STORYLINE FLOWCHART
The GM can set up a Campaign Decision Tree. The players, after every completed 
scenario, will have to decide what to do next: Protect the Town, Investigate the 
Haunted Tower, Explore the Mist Filled Swamp. Every decision will have consequences: 
If the players visit the Tower, the Town is overrun by Zombies and the Swamp has a 
Black Dragon make its Lair there. There will be missed opportunities as well as 
Heroic Accomplishments. 

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DEALING WITH OVERPOWERED (OP) ITEMS, SPELLS, AND PC'S
- What has been given can be taken away. 
- Magic Items are easily used up, stolen, broken, confiscated, and the like. 
- Disagreeable power (munchkin) gamers can just as easily be poisoned, 
disintegrated, or fall down a Bottomless Pit. 
- Spells can be banned, or modified if need be. 
- Some effects that may at first seem difficult to handle, will reveal their 
weaknesses. For example: Invisibility: The Invisible foe can be covered with 
water, paint, mud, or dust. Detect Invisibility Spells are available. Animals 
with enhanced senses can find them. Area Attacks can often hit an invisible Foe. 
- Another hard ability for a novice GM to deal with may be Flight. Flying Units 
are easily spotted and are vulnerable to ranged Attacks. Flyers will also attract
the attention of some potentially very strong Flying Monsters. 

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CLOCKS AND TIMERS
Timers count Down. The GM has something happen when the Timer reaches Zero, 
such as: They get Trapped in the room, The Guards arrive, The Volcano Erupts, 
the Tower Collapses, The Princess drops into the Pit, The Dragon Awakes, etc. 
The GM assigns a number of Ticks to the Timer. A Tick will go off based on 
Time (For Example: 1 Tick per Minute) or based on some other event such as: 
Failing a Skill Check, Killing a Guardian, Allowing another Piece to be added 
to the Clockwork Relic, For each Crack in the Magic Crystal, etc. Ticks can be 
added to the timer, representing the event being delayed, such as sticking your 
finger in the Dyke. 

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MULTIPLE CHARACTERS FOR EACH PLAYER
Most of the Drama in the Game comes from the possibility of your Character 
getting Killed. This is mitigated by each player playing 2-3 Characters. 
New Characters in the S&S Ruleset are also quick to make. New Characters can 
also be easily recruited in Town, on the Road, or even in Dungeons as liberated 
Captives and Slaves. Players can also Share Characters, so if a Party gets 
separated, the players can all shift to Characters within one of the 
Parties until they all meet up again. If a player is having trouble keeping 
track of more than one Character at a time, the GM can take over, treating the 
extra Characters more as Followers and Companions of the main Characters. 
The PC's may want to expand their Entourage of Followers even further. 
This can be accomplished by Charm Spells, Hiring Mercenaries, and Recruiting 
Retainers with promises of Fame, Fortune, and Revenge. It is very possible 
however, that an Adventuring Party of 40 Members will attract some extra 
unwanted attention (Skirmishes will be turned into small Wargaming Battles). 

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LIFESPAN OF GAMING GROUPS
Some groups last years, or even decades. Sadly, most fizzle out rather quickly. 
People start off enthusiastic but quickly lose interest. Some people just don't 
get along. There will be creative differences, and playstyle differences. People 
have bad days: You may be boring that day, or irritable, or just not into it. 
Real life gets in the way: People move away, get sick, get new jobs, new friends. 
When introducing new people to your game, keep it light, maybe play for just a 
couple of hours, with a total of 4 players. After the RPG, you can play a quick 
regular Board game or Eurogame that you think they might like as a way to break
them in gently.  

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CRAFTING: 2-D MAPPING
The easiest way to create a Dungeon Map. You should already have a small version 
of the Map drawn out on an index Card or Graph Paper. 
You will need a 1 inch square Vinyl Game Mat and a Non-permanent Marker. The marker 
ink can be wiped off the Mat with a damp cloth. Simply draw in Walls and other Map 
features. Use Miniatures to show locations of Characters and Foes on the Map.
You could use Counters or small tiles to represent things like chests, furniture, 
pits, stairs, pillars, secret doors, statues, etc. instead of drawing them in.  

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READY MADE MODULES
Most modules can be easily fixed to work with any Rule-System. So if you have or 
find one you like, feel free to use it in full or in part. Most modules concentrate 
on a single location, or small area, so your current campaign setting can be easily 
incorporated. Maps of Settlements are Great. The functions of buildings and Names 
of NPC's and locales can be readily changed to suit your needs. If you are looking 
for a Dungeon crawl, practically any premade Dungeon can be made to work out 
perfectly. First of all, premade Dungeons almost always look really nice. Second, 
as long as the rooms are numbered and not too many disparate details are written on 
to the map itself, a room can be anything you want it to be. You fill in the 
contents: the Traps, Puzzles, Treasures, and Foes to your liking. 

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CRAFTING: MAKING YOUR OWN GM SCREEN
Use 2 School folders staples together so that the screen is 3 pages long. 
A reinforced Central Page with a left and right Flap. To the side facing the 
Players, fasten some appropriate color artwork to the 3 pages. To the side 
Facing the GM fasten some useful Tables and Charts from the Combat and 
Adventuring Rules Sections. If you are anything like me, you have at least 
30+ Modules, each with its own GM screen: Art, Adds, and Module Text on the 
players side and Maps on your side. Some opaque tape can hide the Adds and 
Text, and you are ready to go. 

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CRAFTING: THE JOY OF INDEX CARDS
Compact, Tough, Convenient, Multi-purpose. Can be kept in Index Card Boxes. 
Some things you can do with them:
- Maps of Mini-Dungeons or Dungeon Levels made up of 5 or so rooms. 
- Encounter Notes containing NPC and Monster Stats. 
- To be used as Map Features directly on the Table. A 3x5 Card easily translates 
to 3x5 Spaces. Draw in (Birds Eye View) Walls, Doors, Chests, Pillars, Pools, Stairs, 
Statues, Coffins, Tables, Thrones, Barrels, Shrines, Rubble, and other Room Features.  
- Use as Character Record Sheets (its a little tight, but it works).  

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Spells and Swords Chapter Links     SPELLS AND SWORDS CHAPTER LINKS