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Normally I advocate putting a lot of blood, sweat and tears into a role
playing world/setting. However, that isnt always possible. Since I had a
terribly busy month and couldnt think of an aspect of world creation to
focus on, I decided it was time for a special edition, called "World
Creation the Cheap and Dirty Way."
Every now and then youll be called on to run a game on short notice.
The shortest notice I ever had was when I started gaming with my family.
Upon getting to my parents house and learning that the pre-made
adventure my Dad had downloaded required us to use those god-awful
characters seen as examples throughout the D&D books (oops, this is
coming dangerously close to a rant!), I said "Screw it, Im GMing!".
Luckily I had had the forethought to bring most of my notes with me, so
the day was saved. Had we been playing a game other than D&D,
though, I might have been in trouble.
In some cases, when youre called on suddenly to GM, you can just use
the pre-made worlds that come with the game. Rifts, D&D and Earthdawn
(among others) all work for that. If youre running a World of Darkness
game, you can just set it in your home town (thinking about this, I came
up with the idea for running a campaign set in Tucson this time of year . . .
A group of Nephandi steal the rodeo animals to sacrifice them to dark
demons . . . Can our heroes save the calf roping event??? Its a good thing
I dont run WoD, I know). These options may be cheezy, but when your
players only give you like a day or two to prepare, they cant complain
much.
However, if youre playing a game that just gives you rules and no
setting (ie, BESM), youre screwed. How can you, a person who might
even have a real life, whip up a setting in just a few days?
Time for cheezy rip-offs and lots of ad-libbing! Now, I really dont
advocate blatant rip-offs, especially not of often ripped-off cultures
(Feudal Japan, Celtic cultures, and god forbid, Arthurian legends . . . guh!)
or worlds created by known authors. Rather, I suggest choosing a
culture that you admire, and working from there. Try to add your own
twists if you have the time, or even meld cultures.
Next . . . Limit your players. If I have time to really work on a world, Ill
give my players a couple of countries to choose from as the setting for
their game. However, when time is a premium, you dont have time to
fully develop 2 or 3 countries. Your best bet is to run a city campaign,
and put all of your work into developing that city really well, and maybe
a few outlying areas. If your players dont like it, well, thats too bad.
They can GM next time.
Coming up with monsters for a game that doesnt provide any is a pain in
the butt. If you dont have a lot of time, make the characters fight NPCs.
Or dont put any fighting in at all- though this isnt my favorite option. I
like action, and so do most players. If you feel like you have to provide
monsters, go for the good ol traditional mythical monsters. I find that
when I make up monsters on the spot, my players usually end up
fighting some sort of giant rodent with either bright blue fur or green
scales. If youre running a serious game, giant lime-green reptohamsters
arent going to fit in very well. A dragon or demon is probably more
appropriate.
While youre busy working on your setting, you may not have much
time for a plot. There are two things you can do about this. The first one
is to take all night helping everyone make characters and telling them all
about the setting and arguing about what toppings to get on your pizza.
Then you have until the next session to come up with a plot. The
second, if the first one fails, is to make it up as you go along. This is
actually my preferred method of GMing, because if I have a complex plot,
some smartass always does something to mess it up.
There are a few things you can do to make ad-libbing easier on yourself.
First, while youre writing up your setting, write in a few conflicts that
could come to a head just as the campaign starts, or make up some
important people that could get assassinated or kidnapped. You can then
tailor these ideas to fit what kind of characters your players end up
making. A few other things you can do to make your life easier is to come
up with some places of interest (taverns, brothels, guild headquarters,
marketplaces, whatever tickles your fancy) that can occupy the
characters and serve as places for them to gather information and seek
help.
If you dont know what story youre going to be running, you cant
make up NPCs in advance. To save yourself the trouble of going
"Uhhh . . . the guildmaster says his name is . . . uhm . . . Bob Smith", make a
list of names appropriate for your setting and use them as needed. This
can also serve to help your players choose appropriate names.
One last word of advice . . . If you DO choose to rip off a setting from a
book or movie . . . make sure its one your players have never read or
seen. Theyll never know the difference <evil grin>.
Disclaimer: AJ is still not an expert. Feel free to disregard her advice.
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