23 DM Answers

[Rafael]

From the very, very best blog on D&D, of which I won't tell you the name, because I need to have some secrets, too:

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
2. When was the last time you GMed?
3. When was the last time you played?
4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
10. What do you do with goblins?
11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

[Rafael]

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

Not my invention, but the "cute sidekick" is my trademark.
Almost always, I have a cute character, like Bobby the Bear, or Ronald, the Duck Paladin, in the game to give some comic relief.
Not so much because my games are that humorous, but, in fact, because they are very, very bleak.


2. When was the last time you GMed?

On a table? ... Probably last year at ROPEcon; otherwise, the latest "Ghosts of Summer" chat game.


3. When was the last time you played?

Heroquest, SUPERB home-made "Sturm über Mokkhatam" scenario on... I think around November 20th.
Otherwise, I think, probably around Halloween, some "Dark Heresy" scenario I don't quite seem to remember. :oops:


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

"Pelinore: Rise of the Zombie Cows."


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

Check my superawesome "smart" phone.


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

I don't eat while I DM; otherwise, meat or apples.


7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

No.


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

Hmmm... "Why shouldn't we face that troll army in the rain?!"


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

Nope. They know me, and they fear my wrath.


10. What do you do with goblins?

Ignore them; I think orcs fill that role more than enough already.


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

The Tokkitai from "Jin Roh" made a very creepy appearance in my "Masque of the Red Death"-campaign.


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

When my Warhammer character Backe ("Cheeky") rode through the gates of Middenheim on an eight-legged horse...


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

"The Ravenloft Gazeteer Volume I", because I wanted to know with how many "t" you spell "Gazeteer".


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

Jon Hodgson.


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

Yes.


16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

Best time I ever had: Running the beginner adventures from the German AD&D Basic Box for my youthgroup,
around the year 2000.


17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

Any table big enough. Probably, at a bar, so we don't have to clean up later.


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

4e core books, and Castle Falkenstein.


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

Super Nintendo era RPGs, and German poetry from the 1920s.


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

People I get along well in real life, too.


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

Sitting in public transport, having to pee urgently.


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

"Ivid the Undying" should have made it into print.


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

Nah, not really. I am pretty private about my hobbies.

[Dave L]

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

Nah, not really. I am pretty private about my hobbies.

Also, it's a FAIL as a chat up line for the pretty girls, eh Rafe?

[Rafael]

Come on, Dave!

Short answers, lots of nodding, one-word questions, raised eyebrows in pretended interest, and obviously, broad shoulders and good body smell.

Content, not important.

[Havard]

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

A kind of motto for my most successful campaign was "Return to Innocence". The basic idea was to recreate what fascinated me about gaming when I was a kid, while at the same time avoiding it becoming childish or stupid. Not sure if I succeeded, but the players loved the campaign.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

Last October

3. When was the last time you played?

3 weeks ago.

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

Castle Amber.

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

Plan ahead. Or eat snacks.

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

Nothing healthy, that's for sure.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

No.

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

Stealing a magical protective gem from the tower it was supposed to keep safe against Orc invaders.

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

Both. Villains are often ridiculed. But sometimes players seem to demand too much coherence into a setting as well, while not everything needs to make sense in a fantasy world IMO.

10. What do you do with goblins?

No Goblins in my Blackmoor. Just Beastmen.

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

Red Dead Redemption has provided alot of inspiration at least.

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

When a PC facing the judge in court after having pushed an old lady aside in order to get to a healing potion before her, unpon which the lady died. His plead of defence was: "But I didnt mean to kill her!" You had to be there I guess. : :lol:

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

Pathfinder: Inner Sea Gazetteer. Looking at it for inspiration in terms of style and layout.

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

Larry Elmore.

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

No. We are there to have fun

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

B10. Although I almost never use published adventures, at least not without making dramatic changes.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

Comfortable seating, music, food supplies and no disturbances from the outside are the most important things.

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

The FFC and the Pathfinder Books.

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

Frank Herbert's Dune and a book on dinosaurs that I used to read when I was a kid.

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

Someone who is interested in the game, but also looks out for the needs of his fellow players.

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

A Mediterrean holiday turned into an adventure on the Savage Coast (Mystara).

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

DA5 City of Blackmoor

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

I have one friend who write movie scritps and we sometimes bounce ideas back and forth between my RPG ideas and his movie ideas.


-Havard

[RobJN]

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

Uther's twin daughters, Rowena and Leansethar (and, by extension, Silva and Aurora)

2. When was the last time you GMed?

Last summer?

3. When was the last time you played?

At a table? With live bodies? Right after 3rd edition came out.

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

"Grab your coats, gentlemen," the Fetch says. "The ogres have taken the twins again."

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

Look over notes, or chuckle mysteriously.

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

Chips, crackers. Usually not much eating during the game itself.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

No

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

Distracting the vampire intelligence while Abraham attacked it with a stake.

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

Yes and no. They've done both, usually lightening the mood when things look too dark.

10. What do you do with goblins?

Sautee with onions, garlic and white wine.

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

The Expert Rulebook's map of Threshold, to calculate how long it would take to walk to the woods at the edge of the map...

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

Elmore

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

For themselves? Their characters? Or me? hock:

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

I have this 4' wide, 6' long mahogany table at home, that expands to 10'.....

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

Elizabeth Haydon and Masaki Tsuzuki

[Rafael]

BTW, this is the place I took it from:

http://rolesrules.blogspot.com/

Best (non-setting-related) blog I ever read. Warrants all the respect you can give it.