Zak's GM Questionnaire... [UPDATED]

Questions posed by Zak.

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
I'm very proud of how well I think my house-ruling of the Crypts & Things character creation process worked out. But that's also still a work in process as little issues arise and I tinker further.

2. When was the last time you GMed?
Just before Christmas - it was the character creation session for my new Crypts & Things campaign.

3. When was the last time you played?
November - wrapping up the latest leg of Pete's episodic Top Secret SI campaign.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
The player-characters have to rescue an imprisoned colleague from the depths of Hell.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
Listen in on what the players are saying to see what 'wild speculation' can be twisted into future plot threads or ideas.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
Sometimes crisps, but we traditionally have pizzas before a game, so are usually full by the time the first die is cast.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
Actually I find it makes me very hyper. It's usually quite difficult for me to 'come down' after a successful game and actually get to sleep!

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
In Pete's Top Secret game we were trying to liberate a passenger ship from hijackers. I'd gotten caught and disarmed and was walked into the map room to be interrogated, when I burned off a luck point (or whatever they are called in Top Secret), swept the maps off the desk into the faces of my captors and then, in the confusion, launched a surprise attack.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
Not always as serious as I'd like, but then perhaps I take it too seriously sometimes. But at other times they really surprise me with insightful and probing questions.

10. What do you do with goblins?
Nothing as yet as my current setting is very swords & sorcery, so I'm still deciding what form 'fairy folk' will appear in. Certainly won't be the traditional D&D goblins, if at all.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
The Forest Of Weir, from Hawk The Slayer. Hawk The Slayer is considered part of the history of the land where my campaign is set (one of the characters actually lives, as guest, in Hawk's old castle).

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
More an on-going visual than a single moment, Steve's character in Pete's Top Secret campaign spent the entire last mission (on the cruise ship) dressed in his pyjamas and dressing gown (he happened to be a passenger on the ship at the time of the hijacking; the rest of us parachuted in later).

13. What was the last game book you looked at -aside from things you referenced in a game - why were you looking at it?
Ghosts Of Albion, from Eden Sudios. Because I adore the Cinematic Unisystem and like to support fellow blogger Tim Brannan who wrote the game.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
There are so many, from old school masters like Erol Otus and Jeff Dee through to Stefan Poag and Rich Longmore (who did the interior art for Carcosa)

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
Not yet. But that won't stop me trying...

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
Can't remember running anything I didn't write (or heavily modify).

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
Large, Gothic room, with comfortable seats, a big table with miniatures and terrain, suits of armour in the corners of the room, swords on the walls... you get the picture.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
Arduin Grimoire and Pendragon.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
The works of HP Lovecraft/Clark Ashton Smith and kid's cartoons (like Thundercats, Thundarr, Dungeons & Dragons etc)

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Enthusiastic and invested. I want them to be there because they want to be, not because they feel obliged for some reason.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
My years in journalism have helped with superhero campaigns in coming up with some interesting crime and investigation ideas for scenarions.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
Not these days, I tend to find if I think of something I'd like to explore someone's either already brought it out or is already working on something similar and will be ublishing it soon.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
After a games night, my wife likes to know if we "had fun" and if I "enjoyed running the game", but beyond that she isn't interested in the details (she certainly never says: "tell me about your character").

[UPDATE, 5pm] 24. So, to follow up, in her own words: why does your girlfriend/wife not play?
Rachel writes: "There are several reasons; gaming has never particularly interested me and the parts I've overheard don't make me want to try – I see it as acting and quite intimidating. I don't understand a lot of what goes on which makes me feel unintelligent (which I don't think I am!). I also think it's healthy to have separate hobbies and I enjoy the fact that Tim is doing something independently from me."