Being a GM (for mystery/challenge based RPs) - How does one do it?

[MyCatGinger]

Hello, all!
I was looking for some help, and advice!

I've never been the GM of a game before, but I really have wanted to time and time again. Particularly, an RP based very much around solving challenges and the atmosphere of mystery.
If anyone has ever seen or played 999 (9 hours, 9 doors, 9 persons), there will be a fairly relatable scenario there, in which the game masters operate.
It's a DS game, by the way.

Anywho. I realise a self-insert character from the GM is often a bad idea in settings like this, unless it's a total NPC, or someone just doing the duty of announcing the next task to players.
Think Jigsaw from the first Saw movie. It's the only one I've seen, err...

I also realise it needs to be thought out from start to finish which is the hardest part.
Do you advise time markers? "Finish xyz before Thursday evening, for example, and let me know if there's an issue. I'll make extensions if necessary."
Or something like "For this section, everyone is allowed two posts minimum, and post 'done with this section' in the OOC when done for real"

And what are your opinions on restrictive GMing? Does it excite you? Does it drive you away?

And what are your tips to be a good GM in general?

Also, does one approve of elements of dice rolling in freeform settings? EG, if there is an actual battle between two players at a point, allowing dice rolls and predefined or mentioned stats to win it?
And if so, how do you know if someone's not lying to you on a roll?
Are there any dice rolling things that can be accessed by all the members of an RP for fair game and making it noteworthy that this person isn't lying?
And if not, are we implementing it?
I hope so.

Much appreciated, thank you!
-Ginger

[Jig]

If anyone has ever seen or played 999 (9 hours, 9 doors, 9 persons), there will be a fairly relatable scenario there, in which the game masters operate.
It's a DS game, by the way.

@MyCatGinger

I've heard good things, but haven't played it.

I also realise it needs to be thought out from start to finish which is the hardest part.

Lots and lots of yes. Except, also lots of no. You can't control everything, and so you need to plan what you originally had in mind, and also every other possible thing that could feasibly happen in the universe of the game.

You have a straight choice, from the outset, of deciding what level of freedom you're giving your players. In Wolf, I've basically gone for maximum freedom: players are free to do almost anything they want in the context of the story. This isn't just something I happen to prefer (although I do); it means that you don't overtly 'ban' things that give away secrets. For example, if I said 'the cast of Wolf Manor aren't allowed to go in the lounge', you're immediately going to wonder what's in the lounge, as a player, and have to justify it in the plot (especially if your character would probably actually really like to go to the lounge).

You do have to cheat and control the universe around your characters, though. In Wolf, the only locked doors are the ones that are locked for obvious reasons: the NPC's bedrooms and their study - would you invite strangers over and not want to lock away where you sleep or keep important documents? Obviously not, and so those doors are locked. There may be secrets behind them, but, equally, there may not.

The real cheating comes from having a complete monopoly on the environment. This might change as Wolf progresses, but I kept (and for many rooms, am still keeping) all information about the environment secret from the players until it was time for them to use it. This guarantees the most natural behaviour from the characters (in that they had a straight choice between a list of unknowns), and I can control what is in those rooms to suit. By forcing the players to give me a bit of a clue what they're going to do, I can intervene and adjust the environment around them.

In particular, one of the players knows that their character is going to witness something shifty. I know they are, because I've been able to know where they're going to be, and, needing to present this bit of plot, have put the something shifty where they can witness it. When asked what their character would find if they went to the location of the something shifty, I haven't prevented them from going, but, by being able to control the environment, have guaranteed that nothing will be discovered until its time.

While this might seem very passive, it doesn't have to be. There is at least one instance in Wolf where I've needed something to happen, and, without infringing on any cast member's autonomy, have been able to, in a quite natural and coherent (if unsubtle, through other mistakes), control the outcome.

You can't control everything (as much as it would make my life easier if I could) without spoiling the plot: but you definitely can and should stack the odds in your favour. Sometimes you get what you were expecting when the players make their move - and, sometimes, you don't.

Do you advise time markers? "Finish xyz before Thursday evening, for example, and let me know if there's an issue. I'll make extensions if necessary."

Not so much. I'd recommend such an RP being in the Advanced Section; that way, you can basically be more selective with your players. As a result, you won't be getting posts very quickly anyway. This doesn't mean that you can't be all 'dude, could you please get a move on or leave a placeholder and get back to it', but setting a 'schedule' doesn't give you time to adapt to what you need to do, and clamps down on your players, from whom you're already expecting a lot by having them flying blind.

Or something like "For this section, everyone is allowed two posts minimum, and post 'done with this section' in the OOC when done for real"

'Two post minimum' is a bit arbitrary: sometimes a billion things happen in one short post, while nothing but character development can happen in five long ones. The 'done in this section' thing is good, though. Since you aren't going to be forthcoming with information, players might not feel that there's anything for them to do, which is fine if you can bump the plot along, but you obviously need to know when they're ready for it.

And what are your tips to be a good GM in general?

Honestly? Know your players.
Wolf is going very slowly, but I know all you guys, and so there's trust and investment there. That's why when Bliss and Call can't get on to post, they do get on to say where they are, what they're doing, and to apologise for RL existing.

Also, does one approve of elements of dice rolling in freeform settings? EG, if there is an actual battle between two players at a point, allowing dice rolls and predefined or mentioned stats to win it?

I tend never to use dice because I don't like chance: if I'm in control of what's going on, I like to make an informed decision. What would be better for character development (usually losing!)? What will help the plot progress?

Things that have worked well in Wolf (so far):

• Timestamps on posts. Oh god yes. This means that in free time, lots of things can happen at once, without fear of contradicting each other's chronology.
• Coincidence. Sometimes it goes against you, sometimes it doesn't. Lots of things about Wolf Manor have been coincidences based on one completely arbitrary decision I made right at its conception. At the same time, the plot immediately evolved into something very slightly different the moment I started writing for Sol. Things will surprise you. Roll with them as far as you can.
• The manor itself. In order to control the universe around the characters, you need to know the universe and have a monopoly on information about it. Therefore, setting the plot in a restrictive environment (Wolf has gone for the cliché of phones don't work, remote location) means that you limit the players' scope without infringing on their characters' autonomy.
• Leaving clues. You guys have been good little bunnies and have gently been tugging the threads I've left for you. I've had to spell very little out (except one thing, which was my fault and will be seen as very clumsy as the plot reaches its end), and, as a group, you've written the clues naturally and well.
• Talking. I think I know what you guys are expecting from the RP and what you want. By having a good OoC relationship, I'm able to directly ask youse what you'd like to see/how you'd like me to run things, and youse tell me, and I do my best to accommodate.
• More secrets than clues. The plot in Wolf is either simple or complex (I'm not giving anything away!), but there are more secrets in that house than those clues that will resolve the main story. Writing in little secrets gives the players red herrings, but also gives you a little wiggle room if there's something you realise you need to justify. For example, Wolf Manor's study is locked, and what's in it is therefore 'secret', but you don't know what, if anything, is in there. That could be anything as innocuous as an embarrassing teenage photo of Lena, or Gertrud, standing before a smoking pile of corpses with a flamethrower tucked to her breast and a grenade pin between her teeth. The best part is that if I realise I need something to be in there (or have been in there), I have, until it is factually established to decide.

When Wolf comes to an end, I think I'm going to publish it with a preface of my notes for future reference for idiots like us, that take on GMing such a monstrous task. ;)

[Rakurai]

Ah well I don't really feel qualified to answer this since I've never run a mystery/challenge based roleplay ever. I did try to start one up a long time ago, but I sort of cancelled it at the last moment after noticing all the ways in which it could go horribly wrong.

My personal recommendation to you would be to try something simple first.
Don't leap into the GM'ing world with huge ambitious ideas since they're only going to get ruined and crushed by a variety of things, even more so if you haven't got the experience to make things flow.
Personally I'd try my hand at something which doesn't involve problem-solving skills and simply go with a standard RP where you incorporate plot-twists, leading character on with some posts only to logically over-turn everything so that you can get the hang of screwing with people's minds xD

If you're intent on running something around the whole mystery genre though I'd suggest going with something bare bones first. Even if it's as simple that adopts the Cluedo format. Experience is everything!

---

Self-Insert Characters: It's manageable, but yeah it's a bit hard playing all clueless when you know everything. I think it'd work better if you had a spattering of NPC characters to help control the world, rather than having one prominent NPC who seems to be in the know.

Planning: You don't need to know all the details, but obviously you should know the 'truth' behind the mystery, and what your first 'event' will be before you start. As stated above you can't plan everything, and when you invite multiple variables (players) into the equation, your plans are bound to get ruined anyway.

Dice: There are sites that allow you to do dice rolls and then checkup any previous rolls.
I once did a fantasy combat roleplay where dice were used.
We used a website called "Invisible Castle" which let us roll dice.
Each member was assigned a name they had to enter when rolling "Eg; Rakurai5"
The site came with a search function that'd show all rolls done by 'Rakurai5' so if they rerolled and linked to something other then their initial role it'd show in the search. Obviously this had to be done manually and was a hassle, but it was the only way we could make it work at the time.

Dice overall tend to turn away a lot of players so personally I'd avoid their inclusion for a first RP though.

Timelimits: Not against time-limits as a whole, but keep in mind that life will sometimes get in the way. Others might not be happy waiting around with nothing to do for prolonged periods of time. Everything else regarding this has been stated in the above post.

Restrictive GM'ing: Personally I think it's fun on both ends, but my concerns are with the GM. Being controlling can be a huge strain both time and mentally, and I've seen dozens of GM's disappear forever after they realized just how much of a pain it was. Seriously, if you think it'll be a walk in the park, think again.... and I'm not even talking about mystery/controlling RP's xD

GM'ing Tips:
Jig: "Know your players"
Nothing, and I mean nothing is more important in GM'ing for me.
My interpretation of that is probably a bit different than Jigs but here's an example.

"Lets say you're wanting to start your own business, you've put together your store and have prepared everything you think you'll need to run things. The last thing you need to do is get employee's so you put out an advert and several people swarm to you, wanting to fill a vacant slot. This is where the problem starts.
You've essentially drawn several random people from the streets who have different views, different preferences and different ideas. Some work hard, others are always slacking off. The variables are endless, but the thing is, you can't rely on them. They haven't come to you to make your business succeed, they've come to get paid (fun). So the whole 'lets work together' is a farce. Now you have to manage these conflicting, varying personalities while also maintaining your own business.

If you're really interested in doing a mystery-oriented group I'd suggest you either
1) Make a more generic RP and try mustering up a friendship clique you can rely on.
2) Try to juggle friendship gathering and experience collecting by running a mini-mystery.
3) Join existing mysteries to learn from those that are more experienced, keep a keen eye out for those you'd want to include when you start you own RP.

[JurassicHole]

I've never GM'd a game like that, but I have GM'd your more common types of RP's. The best thing you can do is basically me echoing in what the others have said. You want to have your core idea fleshed out, as well as understand how a player may interact with said idea. Once you get that, you can start branching out more with the inner workings of your game.

However, I do recommend at least GMing a simpler game or a more common type of RP before jumping into one as intricate as yours sounds like it could get. Once you get a feel for GMing and working with a group of other players, you'll begin to discover what works in RP and what doesn't, as well as the types of people you'd rather work with and the things you yourself need for a RP to hold it's appeal to you so you stick with it.

[HeySeuss]

I think it's totally fine to self-insert a character in with the group, so long as you do it with having fun but not simply gratifying yourself at the expense of players, but I think the most important thing you can do in an RP with an opponent for the group is flesh that person out first and decide what the guiding psyche is for the antagonist/opposing faction and work from that perspective.

That then gives you the ability to more solidly determine what sort of methods the enemy uses and what they are less adept at dealing with. The players need to be aware that they need to adapt to this enemy.

@mdk and I are co-GMing an RP where we essentially settled down on who the enemy commanders were -- people that the players might not even actually ever see -- and how that would dictate (this is a Star Wars RP) the actions of the Imperial Navy operations in the region.

@Trinais and I are co-GMing a modern fantasy where, from the outset, the opponent is an ancient being of immense power...but for some reason he relies on subordinate henchmen to get things done. One henchman, a vampire with an organized crime background, was just replaced by another vampire that fought the US Civil War (notably, Sherman's March to the Sea) and was involved in the wars (massacres) against the Plains Indians in the 1870's. The crime lord was slow to marshal other vampires in the city to the cause because he was trying to take a cut of the profits of their operations. This new guy? Not so much. There will be a strong contrast in methods there as the characters driving the enemy's thought processes change.

So in a sense, I think if you're going to devise a strategy against the players then you need to devise the enemy they strive against and then make sure you're compartmentalizing what your character knows versus what the enemy knows.

To be fair, I work with good players that tend to already understand the difference between OOC and IC knowledge, so I let them see the poker hand quite a bit. That -really- helps. ;)

[Sep]

I'm going to throw up a short answer.

You wing it, everyone has their own way but really you need to decide yourself. In terms of my own Crisis: Mars which bases around people gaining super powers in a futuristic colony on Mars people are running with what they want.

I have a plot on the top, and I'm kind of nudging, not pushing or shoving, them towards it. However I also am letting them know that there are consequences or rewards to their actions via the comments of the Watcher who right now is a mysteriou figure of unknown origin and unknown motive.

I think it's important to make people WANT to continue the plot, the more bored they are the more likely they are to try and derail things. At the same time you don't want to FORCE them along a certain path. They are players after all, not characters. You need to make it interesting and intriguing and I feel give them some time to perhaps go off to develop their own characters on their own.

Challenges you need to know the reward/consequence at the end and know how it's gonna play out. You also gotta give them hints (subtlely if possible to not ruin it) on how to solve it.

Longer than I meant it to be, bt I've said by bit. Farewell.