Over the past couple of months, I’ve run a few games on the Unconventional GMs channel that I’ve not GMed – or played – before. I’m normally a bit cagy about doing this, as I like to get to know a game before putting my GMing out publicly, but building up content for the channel has meant reaching further quicker than I’d normally. 

But games of Candela Obscura and Cortex Prime seem to meet our intent of bringing examples of one-shot play that people want, so I’m in the middle of prepping Weird Frontiers, a spooky weird west DCC game. Come to think of it, the first time I ran Vaesen it was recorded, too. So I thought I’d share my process of prep for a game where the system is new to me.

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Choose Your Audience

First off, don’t run a game for the first time on stream. I’m sort of breaking this rule, although we’ve got a safety net in terms of if it all goes disastrously wrong we don’t have to release the video. We’re avoiding too much editing to cut out rules issues and such, as it’s better if those are in as examples of how a GM can deal with it, but in the end there’s still a frisson of pressure on to run a game with OBS on recording it. 

Likewise, if you’re running at a convention, I’d pick one you’ve been to before, where you know at least some of the players. Let them know, if you like, at the start that it’s your first run through – don’t put yourself down, but it’s a good way to discover if there’s any other players who’ve got experience who might be able to assist. But a friendly, welcoming group will help make it smoother!

Pregens

My first port of call with a new game is usually to make characters. Occasionally these will be pre-made, or I’ll start with the rules sheets, but chargen is usually one process in the game that’s actually described step by step so it’s as good a start place as any.

I’ll try and get a balanced-ish party and get an idea for the rules as I do so. Often options will reference other rules, so it’s a good way to start to get to know what’s what, and get a general sense of how gameplay works. Occasionally I’ll have to stop and go back and read some more mechanics (Cortex Prime, for instance, is a bit of a page-flipper as it’s presented as a multi-genre toolkit), but mostly I’ll try and get the characters down.

There’s an ulterior motive for this, too, that making pregens is often the most time-consuming and least-interesting part of prep – so getting it out of the way early makes sense.

One-Sheet the One-Shot

Having got a general sense of how stuff works, I’ll now create a one-page rules reference for me to use at the table. When I say “one-page,” this is sometimes aspirational – I think my John Carter of Mars one is three pages long! Generally it’ll be structured a bit like this, with the bits in bold essential as the things that are often easy to forget

• Task resolution
  • Helping rules
  • Group tasks
  • Opposed tasks
  • Any sort of skill challenge system (if there isn’t one, I’ll often hack one)
• Combat
  • Initiative
  • To-hit
  • Damage
  • Effects of damage
  • Healing
  • Magic (not in too much detail, the player needs to own this in most cases)
• Metacurrencies
  • Player metacurrencies – how to spend them
  • GM metacurrencies
• Any GM-specific rules

There’s a lot of these already available, but I generally always make my own. It’s the process of creation that helps me to learn a lot of the rules and internalise them.

Solo Play

This is an optional step, and usually only if the game seems unusually complex or out of the ordinary for me. I might step up a sample fight, and run through it, or a few skill checks and see how things play – this is often just a quick hack through it, but it really helps to imagine what play will look like. If you want something more involved, stuff like the Mythic GM Emulator or 9Qs can let you run a whole session – or you can put the pregens through a few scenes of a published module. Either way, if you’re concerned about remembering the rules, this is a useful step.

Plot the Thing!

Once you’re set up, you should be in a strong place to sketch out your one-shot. Sometimes with a new system it can be easier to use a pre-written module, but not always. Some starter adventures can be harder to parse at the table (they can’t all be as good as Fabula Ultima’s!) and if you roll your own you can tailor it to what you want to see at the table. For a new system, a straightforward plot will probably work best – either a linear sequence of flexible scenes or a 5 Room Dungeon / Non-Dungeon.

Either way, you should now be set up to run the game! Have you any new games you’re waiting to try? Let me know in the comments.