So I've been puttering around, and I still haven't found a place to land. I've got some thoughts, however. (more…)

Well, now that G+ has gone the way of New Coke, where will Steve-o be hanging out? Probably here, for now. I haven't been making much use of this blog, but until I tamp down a new social network that feels comfortable I'll be posting here and resharing elsewhere.

I'll be more active on Instagram. My personal instagram isn't updated all that often, and only has pictures of me and my dog and occasionally my beautiful wife. My costuming instagram is more active, but mostly has costuming and prop making and occasionally pictures of my beautiful wife in various states of dress.

You can usually find me on Hangouts still. Although my gaming group has migrated to Discord, the wife and I still use Hangouts to chat and send funny pictures. So if you just want to say hello or send me a funny picture hit me up on Hangouts @robotkarateman

One of my players has been working on learning to GM and has been asking me questions about my writing processes.

I'll be honest, my processes are few - there's not much to my GM'ing beyond "tell a good story". The way I run my games varies pretty widely depending on the group, system and setting.

But on the other hand, I'm not the type of GM who believes every game should be run 100% on-the-fly. The last thing I want to do is sit at a table while the players are looking at me waiting for some kind of prompt for something to happen. It's far less stressful for me to adapt a story to the players than to improvise a story as we go.

The main story technique in my GM bag of tricks, which I've used to write some of my best campaigns, is to write the story as a process map. I use it every time I write a longer campaign of a dozen or more sessions where the story has to have a meaning (If I'm free-wheeling a sandbox campaign, I usually just make up the next adventure after each session). Having a plot beats map lets me pace the reveals in my story while still being completely open to improvise based on the player characters.

Here's how I do it.

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The party is comprised of scientists, military technology experts, etc. The game begins with everyone in a helicopter over a jungle being given a briefing - they're about to be dropped into an extremely remote testing facility where artificial humanoids have been living in an isolated commune. The company wants a full study of AI capabilities - Language, Adaptability and Resourcefulness, Awareness, and Combat Effectiveness. Once the testing is complete, the AIs at the camp will have all memories of the testing erased so that they can continue living without outside influence.

There are five artificial beings living in the compound - Alpha - levelheaded and decisive, Beta - the guardian and protector, Gamma - sensitive and cautious, Delta - nimble and quiet, and Epsilon - the poet and artist. They've been living an idyllic life, quietly farming and just generally existing. The team's arrival is a shock to them, but they adjust and make the party feel welcome - all except Gamma, who is convinced they're about to be terminated. Gamma's fear is so great that it eventually destroys itself, damaging the compound's only source of electricity and the only way the AIs can recharge themselves.

The company says it can't have a team in with repair equipment for at least a day - tropical storms are about to roll over the area making it impossible to do a heavy equipment drop.

Delta blames the party for Gamma's "death" and storms off, returning later to attempt to kill one of the party.

Epsilon apologizes for Delta and explains that they've never been killed during a test before. It becomes clearer as they interact more with the AIs that this sort of testing happens with some regularity. The party begin to wonder how the AIs remember previous tests when their memories should have been wiped.

As dawn breaks and the storm clears and the party prepare for the arrival of a rescue team, Delta shows up again, this time less combative but no less challenging. It tells the party that they're all dead anyway, the test groups are always dead at the end.

As helicopters roar in over the hills in the distance, Epsilon explains that The Archivist keeps their memories for them so they remember what happens with each test. Epsilon would introduce them to The Archivist, but without power The Archivist won't be awake to speak to them. The Archivist, it turns out, is the head of an artificial being that they found in the jungle after a past test - it has burn marks and a bullet wound.

It also looks exactly like one of the party.

The AIs then explain that the residents of the camp are not the artificial beings who are being tested. And the tests are over. And now the soldiers are coming.

I made a new GM screen! I based my screen build on Tim Snider's design, with a few tweaks.

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