Quote from: Baeraad;955467A commonly proposed solution to problems between GMs and players is "just tell players what to expect ahead of time." Which makes a lot of sense in theory. If you're going to commit to dozens of hours of play at the very least, you should know what you're getting yourself into. And it should reasonably cut down on later drama if there is an agreed-upon expectation for what a group is sitting down at the table to do in the first place.

Of course, by the same token, every time you're introduced to someone for the first time, you should give them a full account of your religious and political beliefs, your personal peeves and berserk buttons, and what you do and do not consider "just common decency, really." Yet for some odd reason, people don't normally do that.

So, as a GM, what do you tell prospective players about how you go about things? Do you have a list of what you consider vital information that you make sure to inform them of? And do you find that that does, in fact, work well to head off future unpleasantness?


Personally, I must admit that I almost never do any such thing, and that I nonetheless rarely have any trouble. (I can remember exactly one player who actively seemed to expect a different style of play than he got, and who was frustrated by it) Somehow, the players always just seem to manage to get into the spirit of things without me telling them what that spirit is supposed to be.

Part of it may be that I try to match the intended playstyle of whatever game I'm intending to run. No one's surprised when most problems in a Savage Worlds campaign ultimately boil down to hitting mooks over the head. Likewise, if I propose a GURPS game, you don't need to be a genius to guess that thinking before you act is probably going to necessary, whereas if I suggest a Barbarians of Lemuria game, you can more or less assume that jumping in with both feet and a lot of splashing will usually be the way to go.

Another thing that I suspect helps is that I try to examplify what I'm after. For instance, I put a lot of work into giving my NPCs distinct personalities, which I think sends a pretty strong signal to the players that this is a frou-frou True Roleplayer campaign and that they are not supposed to hack and slash everything in sight. I prefer to play by the rules as much as possible, so I reference what rules I use when I use them, and tell the players what their characters are capable of based on what their skills are. And so on. Show, don't tell, basically. It won't help with a player who genuinely came in wanting something completely different, but most players are a little more flexible than that and are willing to take some cues as they go along.

And conversely, I also take some cues from the players as to what they seem to want and what interests them. If some part of my initial plans really seem to be boring them, I'll start downplaying that part and focusing on what they seem to want to engage with. If, by some strange accident, I manage to pitch a game of courtly intrigue to a group of players who all want to do dungeon-crawling, then within a few sessions, once I have figured out that that is the case, it will likely turn out that dungeoneering is the current fad among the court and that the best way to win the ear of the King is to impress him with how much loot you've acquired recently. I aim to please, folks. :cool:

Quote from: Caesar Slaad;957072In the recent past, I have:
- Used recent media to give a reference point for what the setting tone is like (e.g., my M&M games are somewhere around Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: First class)

Quote from: RPGPundit;957056I don't really tell them anything. They learn as they go along. Though a lot of people locally are pretty aware of the types of games I run.

Quote from: Tod13;957078What's your backup plan when me, my wife, her sister, and our red-headed friend all say we haven't seen either of those?

Quote from: AsenRG;957080Yeah, me neither;).

Quote from: Tod13;957078What's your backup plan when me, my wife, her sister, and our red-headed friend all say we haven't seen either of those?

Quote from: Tristram Evans;957091To answer for myself, the first question would be, why do you want to play a superhero RPG?

QuoteAnd the second would be, what is your knowledge of superheroes in media?

Quote( From there I could either determine a) the point of reference I could use, b) recommendations to make for how you can clue yourself in or c) assess you know so little of the genre you shouldn't have any preconceived expectations that would conflict with the game.

QuoteAnd then I'd probably make fun of you for missing out on some of the best films of the past few years.

Quote from: Tod13;957078What's your backup plan when me, my wife, her sister, and our red-headed friend all say we haven't seen either of those?

Quote from: AsenRG;957142I like the idea of superpowers, and chicks in spandex:p?

QuoteWhy, I've seen a few episodes of Spiderman and Fantastic Four, watched the Batman and Robocop movies, and a movie with that hairy guy with the claws that everybody called Wolverine, a movie called Watchmen, and something about those X-men mutant teens. Oh, and I've read Punisher Max at the recommendation of a colleague, he was a lot like the Watchmen!

QuoteGo ahead, tell me what you think. The above is really what experience I have with superhero movies.

QuoteDon't, or I'd make fun of you for thinking that there have been good films in the past few years;).

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;957192"You're all going to die, especially if you don't bring snacks."

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;957192"You're all going to die, especially if you don't bring Alizé and titties."