GM SEMINAR a success!

So the Game Master Seminar held last January 25th was a success!  Although the day began with Rocky not feeling too well, he insisted he wanted to be there to support me (I love this guy so much!) and so we tried to catch up with the Game Master Seminar even if we were a bit late.

We arrived to see Justin already giving his talk about running games online (we missed Marc's talk on the basics of role-playing games) and it was nice to finally check out Makati B&B (Boardgames and Beer) given this was our first time to ever go here.

In as much as I have been doing a lot of public speaking in my life, it was surprising how nervous and intimidated I felt to be talking to the gathered gamers.  Even during my younger days, my parents would have be join elocution contests, storytelling contest and the like.  I would be all dressed up (or in costumes) as I faced the crowd and delivered the lines.  Then there were my theater days in college, as well as my love for performing whether as an on-camera talent or as some kind of street performer.  (Uh, don't ask about that latter part).

But yeah, I was nervous.  So nervous I opted to sit down while giving the talk to both give the audience a better view of the screen, and to keep myself from fidgeting and getting weak-kneed.

So I talked about the many techniques that I like to use in my games to build mood and atmosphere.  I made sure to cover certain key truths, such as how mood will only work if the players want it, if the location of the game will support it and if you prepare for it, as well as discussed the importance of trust, of having a safe word, and of how mood is not the same as simulationist games.

 I covered a LOT of ground.  Far more, I admit, than the allotted time would have allowed.  It was hard not to, given for some techniques I felt sharing a short anecdote of how I used them was necessary to convey how it worked.  It was nice seeing how some ideas and tips were excitedly received.  I can only hope to someday hear from others how they used a technique or two to enhance their own games.  It was heart-warming to see how some people were very eager to hear the talk and I still honestly get shy when others throw praise in my direction.  Rocky always reminds me to just accept it and say thank you.  And yes, thank you so much for being very appreciative and supportive.

Met a lot of new faces that day too.  Already inviting three of them to try a game under me this coming Friday night.  They've asked me to run End of the World for them, with the idea being to run it for them and their girlfriends.  I had to repeatedly warn them that playing oneself in a post-apocalyptic game might be far more revealing than they realize and that they should think very hard and carefully if they're really ready to do that.

To give them a glimpse of how I run games, though, I'll be running them Lacuna, Part I: The Birth of Mystery and the Girl from Blue City, using my meta-connected game called Recruitment #.  I hope they do enjoy the game.

I added the pdf version of my talk to the Garapata Repository.  Feel free to check it out!

If not, at least memory loss is common in the Blue City.
*Thank you to my partner, Rocky, who lovingly took photos.