Re: GM Questionnaire

23 Answers to the GM Questionnaire

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

That "Youth Potion" my sister's Alchemist PC became addicted to.

That was really fun, I had not foreseen her character could become an infant.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

I co-refereed in October 2010 (Tango!) and GMed a small module in August 2010. It's been a long time.

3. When was the last time you played?

October 2011.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

V&V: You play your counterparts in another possible world where you have superpowers and where you live in the 1970's.

And other Ideas for Superhero RPGs.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

I give secret notes to other players and instill paranoia.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

Pimm's and chocolate.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

Yes, and painful for my back because I hate sitting still.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

When I used the Iron Lawstaff as a lightning rod.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Yes, I try not to put any discipline in my game.

10. What do you do with goblins?

More half-goblins?

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

Owls.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

That time when we met ourselves and discovered we were not ourselves, we were the clones.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

Traveller Alien Books. I am bored by Monster manuals but I love books about sentient species and other civilizations.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

The weird classicism of Miles Teves but with the dynamism and clarity of Alan Davis

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

Not really.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
Expedition to Zhodane. That's still my favorite adventure.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
Our Fortress of Solitude. On the Moon.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

C&S and Heroquest.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

Philosophy and comic-books.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

Friends who love stories. They can be any type, immature powergamers or thespians.

Patient but not too casual gamers.

People who would not imagine fighting each other for the loot.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

I used a travel to Egypt as a basis for my (unfinished) Mummy Campaign.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

Yes, a good Indian Mythology Epic RPG. I wish someone did that so that I did not have to procrastinate on doing Bhāratavarṣa.

I still want to play a game about Artificial Intelligences but I did not find a good solution for post-singularity RPGs.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

My blog readers. I annoy them with all my "Let Me Tell You About That Time When..." stories.

But they learnt how to skip the posts.