Hiya. As you know, I've been diligently working over the past few months to improve the practice of Storytelling in my own little way by providing STs with advice and anecdotes applicable to all games. I still have ideas on how to do that, but honestly, I love specifics. That in mind, I'm going to introduce a new "feature" on my page...a "How to Run Game X" area. The idea here is to teach a Storyteller who has no or minimal experience in running a given game how to do it WELL. We all know you can pick up any game and run it, but some games lend themselves better to beginners than others.

So where do you come in? Well, a couple of practical reasons exist as to why I can't write all of these essays myself.

First, I haven't played/run every game I want an essay on. I know White Wolf pretty well, yeah, but I've never run Shadowrun, D&D, Rifts, GURPS, Feng Shui, etc. I think those games deserve recognition, too.

Second, I just don't have time. I'm certainly going to write some of these, but I'd like to have some other folks pitch in, too.

With that in mind, here are some guidelines.

  1. Format: Start off by giving us and overveiw of the game. Tell about cosmology, the basic premise, the time period, tone, style, mood, etc. Give us some terms we should know (in italics, please) and tell us what kind of dice the game uses.

    After the overview, let us know why the game is great. Give us some of myriad possibilities that exist for stories in this game. Let us know why you're enamored of it. If the word "cool" is used even once, I'll send a mutant eggplant after your pets.

    Then, tell us any problems you've had with the game. If the system is wonky, tell us why. If the continuity is screwy, tell us why. Tell us how you've managed to fix these things (without getting into house rules too much, please). If you use the word "sucks" even once, I'll send a mutant eggplant after YOU. This is also a good place to warn a potential ST about abuses. For example, it's easy in White Wolf (any game) to concentrate on the kewl powerz and forget the people behind them. Tell us how to avoid that specifically in the game you're discussing.

    Finally, tell us what you did when you ran this game that made you love it. I don't want a blow by blow, I want a simple, fairly clear anecdote about your session/chronicle of Game X that made you fall in love with it.

  2. Games you've RUN. I'm not interested in hearing about how to *play* game X. (Sorry). I want to hear about games you've run for more than one session, even if it's a series of one-shots, that the players were excited about. If you were hot about the game, but the players were indifferent, that's probably not the best of all possible worlds.

  3. Send me proposals on what you want to do before sending me a finished essay. If I've got 19 Werewolf essays and nothing else, that's not much help. For the record, I'll probably only post one essay for each game, but if two essays take a markedly different tack and are both great, I may post 'em both (what the heck, ain't like I'm paying for this...).

  4. If you aren't a Storyteller, you probably know one. Forward this to him/her and let him/her know.

  5. Here are some of the games I’m specifically looking for (though I'll take pretty much anything):

  • Any White Wolf.

  • Shadowrun

  • GUPRS

  • In Nomine

  • D&D (I’m not exactly a fan of the d20 system, so feel free to change my mind).

  • Call of Cthulu

  • Rifts (Make me believe this game has any redeeming value, I dare ya.

  • Really, just about any other game that’s on the market and that you really dig. If you’ve got some ideas, drop me a line via the link below.

Thanks!

BlackHat Matt
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