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New GM question...


warstrekkid

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Alright, so I was wondering, when the players are in a group, and one needs to be separated from the others(in the game) like to do scouting or stuck in prison or something, other than kicking everyone out of the room, is there a good way to get around it? Should i just let them stay and ask them to play like they don't know, or what?

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I would say it depends on how secret/important the information that the "scout" can uncover is. If its just trivial stuff or stuff that you are pretty sure he will tell the rest of the group at first opertunity, then let them stay. Otherwise kick them out.

One thing that I have tryed a couple of times is to have two GM's then each GM simply takes one group.

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Having two DMs can be very useful, but only if the size of your player group really warrants it. A common set-up is to have one DM handle story stuff while the other runs encounters.

As far as providing information to specific players, you can take them out of the room or pass them notes. That way, the player gets a choice as to how, or if, to relay the information to his fellow adventurers.

I favour giving the players as many opportunities as possible to make choices and role-play. Running on the assumption that the player will relay specific information to the party reduces that. Of course, the player may indicate that any specific info like that he will tell to the party with complete honesty, in which case there's not much need to do anything privately.

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  • 1 month later...

If it is information that should not be handed out to the group as a whole, take the player aside. If it's something that will likely bore the rest of the group, take the player aside. :luck: If it's something that will be passed along to the group, or that will interest the players whose characters are not involved, do it in the group.

 

Passing notes works, but it tends to take longer. And fails completely if one person's handwriting is illegible.

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As others have said, it depends entirely on the situation. I always ask the player first whether he (or she) is likely to share information with the rest of the group, and what sort of information he would like to keep to himself. That leaves the decision a bit with the player.

 

But rather than throwing everybody else out of the room, I usually choose to leave the room with the player myself. After all, if there are five or six people in the room, it makes more sense for two people to leave rather than three or four, especially since the information I will be giving to the player is frequently very short and simple.

 

Of course, that can leave me away from my DM info or my dice, but since I improvize a lot as DM. That's not to say that I don't prepare for games, but I find I very rarely spend time doing stats for monsters/enemies and so, because the plot itself and the players' decisions always take priority. Then again, that might just be my experience as a GM (well over a decade) and the fact that my group is tends to do rather deep role-playing speaking...

 

I don't have good experience with multiple GMs, though. Again, that could just be my experience revealing me as set in my ways as GM, but as the storyteller I like to have complete control over where my plot is going. If I were to share that with anyone, I'd worry that I'd be unable to let player choices influence the game as directly as I prefer it to. For example, I like to be able to stop a battle if the players suddenly decide to call for a parlay or similar. As GM I'm both a storyteller and a referee, and I need to be able to respond quickly to player choices. And I will not let the rules dictate to me where my plot is going!

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