Gamemaster Interventions - Community Feedback

Marvin Garden

Marvin Garden

Head Game Master
Head Game Master
Two Year Club Foundation Archivist Community Engager
Jul 1, 2023
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Hello, Head Gamemaster for USA here.
I am making this thread because I want to gauge the community's thoughts on a certain topic that I've wrestled with a lot during my time as GM. And that is the topic of:

Gamemaster Assisted Advantages

What do I mean by this? I am talking about when a player, group, or faction uses a GM's assistance to gain an advantage over another player, group, or faction, or to achieve something outside of the basic gameplay loop. It is a fundamental question as to whether GMs should facilitate "realistic" RP that may contradict the way certain gameplay elements/loops are normally done without a GM's interference, which may end up being unfair for someone else who doesn't have a GM with them since GMs are a limited resource.

For example:
A CI is kidnapped by the Foundation. They are given Class-F. Normally, they would remain with a CI model. However, the person who brainwashes them calls for a GM to change their model to a foundation one, and "/me gives the man new cloths."
This is not achievable in the normal gameplay loop. But it has lasting roleplay effects, for better or worse.

At the moment, GMs generally have discretionary authority to do pretty much anything. However, we do have reservations about affecting core gameplay loops due to the questions posed above and previous tradition taught by prior GMs. I think the best way to answer these questions is to go to those directly affected.

So I have the following questions for the community to consider and respond to thoughtfully:
1. Describe a specific situation you personally witnessed where GM involvement significantly altered the outcome of an RP scenario.
  • What was the intervention?
  • Who benefited?
  • Who was disadvantaged (if anyone)?
  • Did it improve or harm the overall experience in your opinion?
2. Do you believe GM-assisted actions should be equally available to all factions and players? If access to GMs is limited, how should fairness be maintained?

3. In your opinion, which types of GM intervention are acceptable, and which cross the line? Consider the difference between:
  • Cosmetic worldbuilding (model swaps, weapons, props)
  • Mechanical interventions (bypassing keypads/servers, handcuff removal, teleporting players)
  • Narrative authority (declaring outcomes, injuries, memory alteration, etc.)
I will wait to state my own opinion until more community feedback is given to avoid tainting the input.
As always forum rules apply, so no arguing in the thread. I would prefer to not have to get this locked.
 
1. Ive used remodeling for class f'd CI alot turning them into ISD, It would be normal for things like that to be able to happen since ISD equipment would be readily available in RP. However I do see the point where there is no way to tell its a CI say in a RR or something, you would need to pretty much id check all the isd if that happened. So I am not sure of a solution to this (or if there even needs to be one) I still like being able to do that because its cool

2. I think reaching out to GMs is the only thing stopping people from doing this and I think giving people more power with working with GMs is a good idea. Ofcourse I think they should have actual good reasons for what they request and it's not just "give me bio cl4 so i can breach 008"

3. As long as there is a good enough reason and story behind it i dont mind anything really. I dont like rule play and because its a game you cant do everything obviously so GMs can help
 
1. Kidnapped CI was "Given" clothes by omega-1. This makes sense in universe as I'm sure that MTFs have spare uniforms for new recruits, replacements, etc.. This didn't really benefit anyone in a big way, it only prevented the ci from being domed by a cadet randomly. When CI RRd it didn't matter that the kidnap's model was changed as CI already intended to kill o-1 (and since the CI was class f'd him as well). This made it feel like they actually wanted to roleplay out his class f instead of going around with a CI and showing him off like a pet.

2. I think that all players should actively seek out RP and ask assistance from GMs. Without a GM to do things that you cant do as a regular player you can only do so much. I think GMs do their best work when they passively make rp with props or model changes instead of random events forcing a certain storyline. This should be for all factions and players (obviously within reason). Some things may need to be monitored by a GM but that's not a bad thing. With the GM there they can actively be apart of it and continue the enhancement further if needed. Lets say there's only two GMs on but multiple people want RP enhancement. the GMs should make an effort to respond to all the players requesting but if it's not possible (due to having to oversee a current enhancement) then they just cant do it and that player will have to wait.

3. Nothing is to far unless it is rule breaking or just unfair. A GMs whole job is to make interesting roleplay situations for all players so as long as that's being done and they aren't actively impeding a department or regiment from doing their duty then everything goes. (obviously a dclass shouldn't be given a auger for "riot rp" it should be realistic and fair to the other people it would affect.)

I haven't worked much with GMs and have also never been one so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
 
1. Describe a specific situation you personally witnessed where GM involvement significantly altered the outcome of an RP scenario.

- I can not speak to this point above as I would like more experience first. But I think GM Involvement is crucial in making engaging role play scenarios possible but it also relies heavily on the player and involving players for it to function properly.


2. Do you believe GM-assisted actions should be equally available to all factions and players? If access to GMs is limited, how should fairness be maintained?

- Yes and No. The reason I say yes is if we have role players who are willing to put in the background work / role play for certain actions to be taken on Site-65 creating more role play for more then just them self. Example: Requesting a SCP on site. you write up a document with justification for why this needs to be on site(Preferably not a reason just to kill someone but a RP reason.) Get all prior approvals with signed documentation from the administration and all approval authorities. Then bring it to the GM for them to see how they would like to tackle the RP Scenario you have tried to lead the charge for. This sort of RP is what makes GMod RP something special because there is so much background RP you can do that will lead to interesting scenarios all crafted from the player base with the GM being the dungeon masters treating it a bit more like DND.

The Reason I say no is because there are countless people who just want to make their character OP crazy strong etc. This is not cool without the background work to show. Or without a clear goal or mental state your character lives by. A lot of people want to create very interesting role play with out the background for their character fleshed out. Also not having set rules for their character Ex: Like Morals they wont cross are they a pacifist? How the RP events they have been in have shaped their mental state. I'm not saying your character cant get stronger or have a crazy goal in mind for the end game but how you get their and how quickly can affect the quality for not only yourself but others who have to role play with that being the case. Keep others role play in mind when creating or encouraging role play.

3. In your opinion, which types of GM intervention are acceptable, and which cross the line? Consider the difference between:

  • Cosmetic worldbuilding (model swaps, weapons, props)
  • Mechanical interventions (bypassing keypads/servers, handcuff removal, teleporting players)
  • Narrative authority (declaring outcomes, injuries, memory alteration, etc.)

- Regarding number 3 here I don't think anything should be unacceptable as long as the leg work was put in before hand and during. Mechanical interventions for example lets say CI wanted to get better hacking equipment. CI can send out an email contacting an external organization to maybe help them craft better hacking equipment to be used against the foundation. They create email RP or someone comes to visit their base starting communications back and forth to start the process. They use their in game budget to supply the organization with money for the order of new equipment. Then they have to craft and build the hacking device. This would take multiple days to complete and shows a bunch of RP Leading up to the end result. This also dosent mean the external organization contacted is going to not have other motives for taking this deal so there is always something to be aware of when creating scenarios like this always be on your guard.


Always available if you have any questions regarding anything stated and can expand on anything if needed.


Thanks for Reading

Your Wonderful Researcher Andrew Snow.
 
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