Pacing

It's important to be aware of how much time you have to work with and block out your story accordingly. My group plays in four hour blocks so I know I have to recap a little from the last game, introduce the new problems, handle the action, control any goofing off, and conclude within a four hour period. Seems easy enough until you take into account all the things that can make the game go longer. However, with a bit of forethought about how your group operates, time management can be a simple and effective process.

Some groups prefer plenty of combat in their games and these groups tend to have to deal with pacing more than most. Combat is by far the most time consuming aspect of any game. If combat is beginning to overtake what time you had set aside for it then it is a good idea to interrupt the combat from the outside. Deus ex machina (latin for god from the machine) is the ultimate tool of the GM and is most appropriately used for pacing. This could be in the form of the enemies fleeing to regroup, an outside authority figure stepping in, or some natural event; whatever is most appropriate for the setting.

Since my games tend to be light on combat I allow for plenty of time for characterization. This means that I block time for my characters to socialize with other people in the game. This is usually pretty easy to manage as eventually the characters will run out of meaningful things to discuss but at moments it can start to run on. Easiest way to handle this is to remind your players that there is still more to accomplish and to wrap it up.

Last thing I want to mention is goofing off. It's gonna happen and there is no stopping it. Whether someone says something humorous and side conversations go on an interesting tangent distractions happen. This is sometimes the most fun part of playing a rpg but as the GM it is important to reign it in after awhile. Maintaining focus is the role of the GM; don't rely on your players to do this as they are not aware of all that needs to be accomplished in a given time frame.

Non-Player Characters: Enemy Combatants

Conflict is central to a storyline and no conflict is more straight forward than a physical confrontation. At some point you will push the characters of your story into a violent conflict (unless you are one of the very few groups that no interest in combat in games) and you'll need to populate your world with a few bad guys to be serve as the physical manifestation of conflict. This post will cover what you need to remember when creating these enemy characters.

First thing to remember is to not worry too much about the finer details of these characters as their only purpose is to be beaten up or killed. Names are typically only given to "bosses", combative NPCs with special skills or motivations, to signal their importance. Most of your throw-away villains, minions, and other One-shot Johnny's will only be around for a scene, unless they are reoccurring, and will only require a brief descriptor for a name such as thug or mercenary.

The most important part of creating a combative NPC is listing their fight skills and ranks. You have to focus more on the mechanical side of the game for these NPCs as combat is the most rules heavy portion of the game. However, these NPCs still don't require a full sheet of stats as long as you have what they can do with a fight. Minions should be weaker than your PCs and Bosses should be a few levels above. Most minions will not have any speical abilities but your "Bosses" should have a few tricks up their sleeve to keep the battle interesting.

Health and armor are also good things to consider as they will let you know what your NPC can handle. The same rule applies to health and armor as it does to combat skill level; minions should be lower and bosses should be at the level or better than PCs. To humanize my combative NPCs I tend to make a note at what level of damage do they lose morale and flee since most people aren't willing to throw their life away if they can help it. Not only does this help to shorten the time consumption of battles it also makes sure that not everyone you create for a fight is part of a suicidal death squad.


Once the mechanics are in place all that is left to decide is what items the NPCs have on them. Looting the bodies of the fallen takes place in many games so it would be wise to figure this out beforehand. For the most part this equates to money and small items that might prove useful or interesting to the character. This can also be a good time to work in a few story elements as you never know what you might find in the pockets of a dead man.

Bringing Combat to Life Part 1

         While conflict is central to any good story I find that combat can really bog down a game. Each turn usually only represents seconds in game time but it can take minutes to roll the dice and record the results meaning that this is the one place where action slows down. In my experience, too many epic battles tend to end up like this

Player: I’m shooting that guy. *rolls dice* Did I hit em?

GM: You got em by three points, roll damage

Player: *rolls dice*

GM: Okay, looks like you did five points of damage

And this repeats several times until the fight is over. If that sounds boring and repetitive it’s because it is. Just telling your players the mechanical portion of combat is what makes this process drag on. However, combat doesn’t have to be this way. It should be way more exciting; this is the scene in the action movie where all the action happens.

The trick is to narrate the mechanics behind the game. This involves translating the numbers on the dice to describe how the scene looks. If a player just barely manages to score a hit then it’s best to describe how the opponent put up a struggle before the blow landed or if they beat them by a wide margin then it’s best to describe the total lack of skill and defense of the opponent. Listen to the difference between “You beat his defense by three points” and “You fire at your opponent, striking him through the shoulder”, which sounds more interesting? The second option sounds much better and all I had to do was translate the marginal success to mean non-vital area. Had they been more successful I would have just changed the placement. The trick is to show rather than tell.

Same can be said for damage. The above example of lackluster combat tells the player how much damage they did mechanically but overall that doesn’t really tell the players much. If he has ten hit points then it’s a lot of damage but if he has seventy then that is nothing special. It doesn’t explain how much further the players have to go to slay the man, how effective it was in bringing them down, or contain any story elements to it. It’s best to translate the damage with descriptors like how the blow landed and how terrible of a wound it left. To keep with the above example of the shoulder shot if the damage is minimal in total when you can mention that “the bullet just grazed his shoulder, leaving a small trickle of blood” or if more grievous you can say “the bullet blasted through his shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain as it shatters bone and rips through muscle”; now that is an action scene right there.