new narrator

[Sarge]

Bribing the GM with food is an ancient and honorable tradition in roleplaying games.

At the start of a ST campaign, it's a good idea to remind the players, "Look, this is not D&D. It's Trek. Remember that your characters need to behave like Starfleet officers and Federation citizens. There are laws and regulations that must be obeyed, and there are consequences to your actions. Break the law, and you will be punished." If the characters break the law anyway, punish them appropriately. Sending a character to a penal colony and telling a player to come up with a new character to run may be necessary. But some players just won't be able to play well in such a restrictive setting. Don't be surprised if one of more of them just can't get used to this type of game.

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Darth Sarcastic
The usual box of cookies and soda should suffice...and then you have to get something for the players to snack on.

I joined a new group a couple of months ago and was introduced to a novel concept. The snacks are the players' responsibility - and the narrator expects good food!

New game starting soon...

[Calcoran]

Originally posted by Sarge
Bribing the GM with food is an ancient and honorable tradition in roleplaying games.

However, bribing a good GM is like bribing a loyal palace guard: it requires much more food (or gold, alternatively) .

At the start of a ST campaign, it's a good idea to remind the players, "Look, this is not D&D. It's Trek. Remember that your characters need to behave like Starfleet officers and Federation citizens. There are laws and regulations that must be obeyed, and there are consequences to your actions. Break the law, and you will be punished." If the characters break the law anyway, punish them appropriately. Sending a character to a penal colony and telling a player to come up with a new character to run may be necessary. But some players just won't be able to play well in such a restrictive setting. Don't be surprised if one of more of them just can't get used to this type of game.

For players who are not used to this kind of setting, or who might have trouble envisioning the fun one can have in a world where there are <I>laws</I> ... and moreover, <I>laws that the characters have to observe</I> , it is sometimes worth it to explain what fun can be had.
Like: "No you cannot tell your captain to go to hell, but you can order redshirts around, which is always nice".
Or: " True, you have to obey Starfleet regulations, but you can be assured that should some minor power try to harm you, you'll have the whole might of the Federation to back you up".

Of course, all this isn't always true, and often more mitigated, but still, that can help them get into the spirit .

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

It's always a good idea to make them see a Trek movie beforehand. It helps them envision how they should play.

[Kirok]

Originally posted by Lancer


And why for Pete's sake should he - as the Narrator - get something for the players to snack on ???

For players its either bring your own snacks or go empty. And while they are at it they might just as well bring the GM something to eat and drink.

I hereby heartily agree. I used to have a little sign I paperclipped on my GM screen: "The GM CAN be bribed with food and drink. Thank you - the management"

But on the "how to parse out info to PCs" topic, I have given this much thought...and come up with very little. My dream ST game would see each player with a laptop, the screen configured to look like that character's bridge station console. All the laptops would be linked to the GMs. GM would send premade (or hastliy cobbled-together) readings and info to appear on a given player's screen, thus similating the whole bridge dynamic. Cool.

other than that, one could have 3x5 cards with bits of info on them, stuff that you know will or suspect might come up, to hand to whoever comes across it. Then the player could relay that info to whoever, in character. You might have to write notes of a similar sort during the game, but this would reduce the amount of time spent scribbling them down in the middle of everything else going on.

I have plans for a starting a game in the next few months (see my thread on my "weird/cool new game/series idea", and I plan to print up lots of visual aids and to use a few props ( I have a few Playmates Tricorders and the like). There are LOTS of places online to find images of planets and nebula and the like, for starters. You could hand these to a player, or just clip it onto the front of your GM screen....crap, now there's an idea - make a GM screen with the side that face sthe player made to look like the bridge viewscreen, and then slide or stick images on it! I just made that up!
Here's some of the better space image sites:
http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/index.html
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/
http://www.msnbc.com/news/338343.asp
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/homepage.htm

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Kirok
But on the "how to parse out info to PCs" topic, I have given this much thought...and come up with very little. My dream ST game would see each player with a laptop, the screen configured to look like that character's bridge station console. All the laptops would be linked to the GMs. GM would send premade (or hastliy cobbled-together) readings and info to appear on a given player's screen, thus similating the whole bridge dynamic. Cool.

IMHO that sounds more like a nightmare and not like a dream, with people just watching their display in breathless anticipation of the next message from their GM, instead of just paying attention and using their imagination.

But if you want to pass out information try this tricorder display. I took some inspiration from the old Traveler "Grand Census" and "Grand Survey" books in making this. Just put it in a clear sheet protector and write on it with a non-permanent marker to show your players what kind of information they get from a tricorder reading.