GM Guidelines

Rules to Know-         1. Be Fair- you are not out to kill charaters; likewise, you do not have to give them the entire candy store.         2. King/Servant- the GM is the second highest authority in the game, the rulebook (agreed upon by all parties), being the first. GMs are no to be served but we serve the players, giving them a good story and enjoyable experience. At the same time, players do not own us nor do they tell what is happening outside of their character's actions. GMs must be a humble king, directing affairs of the story and yet not being subject to the whims of the players.          3. Be Reasonable- Sometimes it helps the story if the GM twists a few "bad things" to occur for no reason, but remember to use the GOD Idea; bad things happen so good things can occur later. Players may gripe in the present about bad things happening but they will learn to trust your judgement if they are reasonably rewarded. If you throw in a demon to obstruct the characters' path, some reward or knowledge equivalent to the danger should be present. However, this does not give an excuse to throw in rune weapons or invisible cloaks.          4. Know Your Limits- Just as any other group project, the GM is the 'leader' but must manage a good number of people. The more players there are, the harder it is for a GM to move a story line along.  It is harder  to maintain all the actions the characters are taking and reasonably draw upon an outcome. Two players are fine for beginner GMs, three to five players are optimum for most adventures and anything higher than six is getting hard. I say optimum because of the equation "Danger=Experience*(1/#of players)".  The more players in the group, the harder it is to award experience reasonably.           5. Keep Realities Separate- The entire game is meant to be fun. What happens in the game does not happen in real life. Sure, a few pencil markings will appear or disappear on the character sheet, but everything in the game is fantasy. Stress this to novice players and maintain the difference between reality and fantasy. Characters can come to love their characters and may be emotionally hurt if they are killed or seriously maimed. Players who cannot distinguish reality from the game should not be allowed to play for their own mental heatlh. These people are screwed up already and the game does not 'trigger' these reality/fantasy fusings, but it does offer a proving ground to flag this condition.

Acronyms and other things to know Scenario: the set adventure or "chapeter" in a book. The scenario can be resolved in one session, two sessions or however many it takes. Campaign: the overall story arc. Some GMs have an entire story arc written but these usually result in a more disciplinary GM since players don't always take the GM's hint about where to go next or what is needed to be done. Some GMs go one scenario at a time and hope for the best. A good combination is in order in my opinion. Generally know what is going to happen but make sure the scenarios are open ended to allow lots of freedom to the players. Players will constantly amaze and astound to everyone's delight. Trust me. PC: Player Characters. These are the playing pieces in the game the players control in the game and the incentive to continue playing. Characters gain experience, wealth and other knick-knacks. They can also gain insanities, families and curses. They believe in gods, governments and things that we do in the real world. NPC: Non Player Character. These are the characters a GM controls without mercy, envy or prejudice.These characters are static until they come into contact with the player characters. However, recurring NPCs can change if they follow their own adventures or escapades. Villains who recur to haunt characters are more satisfying villains (players feel better when they best them). Villians: They can be good, bad or selfish. Basically, a villain is the antagonist(s) of the characters. They can be an individual, company or entire government opposed to the characters. Villains can have great supplies or be extremely poor. Just remember, what the villain has on their person belongs to the characters should that villain dies. If you don't want characters to have a rune sword, don't equip the villain with a rune sword unless the villain has many means to escape (after all, the best villain is usually facing a group of determined player characters who think for themselves and are very ingenius). OCC: Occupational Character Class. This is the chosen profession a character has decided to engage in. Each occupations have positives and negatives, but essentially all occupations are balanced. Characters can change their occupation only after achieving a level of experience. PLayers can abuse this option, so house rules may be appropriate as to how many times a character can change occupations. Levels of Experience: Plateaus of growth within an occupation. Players recieve +1d6 hit points and skills are upgraded, including WPs and Hand to Hand. House Rules: The individual rules of the GM. Most are made up on the spot but rarely are they actually written down. If players insist on written house rules, do it but make them really vague so only a GM can properly interpret them. The Palladium Rule Book does not address all aspects of gaming so House Rules may be appropriate. Make sure players either know house rules already or trust the GM to use house rules fairly. DO NOT use house rules for the total subjugation of players by the GM. See "GM" above. WP: Weapon Proficiencies. Charcters can use any weapon but recieve special bonuses due to training and experience with that weapon. High level characters with WPs can attain awesome (and legal) bonuses. Magic: A plausible realm of metaphysics where common science does not apply and such things as possessed animals, flying wizards and fireballs are commonplace. GMs should not abuse magic, but a sorcerer is usually a match for most groups of characters. The role of magic is up to each individual GM, but I believe magic should be the 'big guns' of the game. GMs can limit spells known to players and yet use sorcerers, witches and other malcontents to abuse characters. Magic is part of the special effects a GM can muster. Religion: gods in the game are not the gods of real life. Rea life gods include money, property, career and family. Gods in the game are supernatural beings able to grant spells, blessings and other aid to worshippers and can strike "unbelievers" with curses, plagues, etc. These are the generals of a GM's authority, since they cannot die and usually have indiscriminate power. Gods and their roles should not be abused and show up infrequently in a realistic game. Visions, signs and other shows of power are often more compelling to characters than actually meeting a god/dess face to face. Besides, gods have better things to do than crush some petty characters in a backwater world. Artifacts: These are totally up to the GM. Usually artifacts are older than contemporary magic items, being stronger and more flawed (or less, depends on the history of the world). These can be god made, man made or naturally occuring objects the universe created sporadically or to be integral to the universe's survival. Naturally, universes that rely upon focal centers of power (such as artifacts) don't last long in the cosmic scheme of things.