GM's Tip of the Week

Going to talk specifically about gaming on Rondak’s Portal this week; because we have a lot of new people, and running games on Rondak’s Portal isn’t quite like running them anywhere else.

So, to start with, you need to create your world. I’m not going to get into the how-to of creating a game, Toaster’s Guide says it far better than I do. What I am going to talk about is hooking players.
If you are running a game for which you expect to pull your player base from the Portal in general – which is to say, you are not running a game on an invite-only basis – you will have to hook them somehow. You want them to look closer. A good game title is the first step, it should give a taste of what the game is about, what you plan to do. Swords of Justice. Rise of Ran’Tassu. Orbs of the Lost Gods. Evocative. Intriguing. Get them curious and wanting to know more. A good banner can also help. Remember, less is frequently more; you want your title readable, and you can’t predict things like screen size. It’s a good idea to show your intended banner to a few people, get some feedback on it before you post it.

And definitely be sure it fits Rondak’s Portal image guidelines, because your game won’t be approved if it doesn’t!

Once someone has decided to read your game pitch, you need to … well, set the hook, so to speak. Sometimes a line or two is enough, but really, you want to suck them in, get them so interested that the system you’re using is irrelevant to just wanting to get into this new world and explore! Or get into trouble. Or do whatever their character concept intends to do. Think of the starting paragraph of a good book. You are essentially doing the same thing here.

Don’t forget all the crunchy creation information; what classes and books are allowed, what basic stat creation looks like, all that stuff that is occasionally boring, but very necessary to getting the game accepted.
Now you’ve hooked a group, you’re golden! Keep them involved, keep them thinking, get them invested and you’ll never be able to get rid of them. And isn’t that really what we all want out of this?