GMs and Players, Watch this

My good friend Jim posted this on facebook and I totally agree with him.  Every GM and Player MUST watch this.  These five plot points are present in every fantastic story, and if people want to further their education and make their games more awesome, it will help to know these five plot points and learn to embrace such moments to make their games feel more satisfying and have narrative sense.

Too often, people get so carried way with their own fun that they neglect that in a role-playing game, everyone should share the responsibility of keeping things coherent and fun for all those in playing at the table.  So here's hoping people take the time to watch this and take a moment to absorb and realize how much more awesome their sessions can be.

GM Seminar #1 videos

Thanks to the hard-work and dedication of Fabs, Justin and Marc (I may have missed other names, I apologize) the footage of the talks for the first Game Mastering Seminar are finally online.  It is with great shame I now admit I shot way over the 45 minute mark we were given.  But I would like to think I did it because there were just so many things to share with the group.

Do enjoy the videos and send us some feedback!


(Gods, I hate now nasal I sound.)
Oh and bonus points to those who can recognize my shirt.
Rocky made sure he and I have matching shirts when he ordered them.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCielftiLRwETr1ZPsLPuKjw

My Slides are Ready

I think I am ready for the weekend.
Been working on the Power Point presentation for the talk I am participating in this coming Sunday at Makati B&B.  The Game Masters Seminars is an awesome idea and I do hope this does become a monthly thing.  Always good to share what we have learned and discovered with others who love the hobby as well.

My dear friend Marc was uber kind in his write up for my segment of the talk:

Mood Building Ideas and Approaches
Facilitator: Tobie Abad

Topic: A rare opportunity to learn from one of the best there is in building dramatic atmosphere in tabletop RPGs!

Anyway, I've prepped the slide show and decided as well on creating a PDF to give away to the attendees so they can easily review the talk afterwards.  Here I am pushing towards 40 and I'm still feeling a bit of stage fright at the thought of people listening to me speak.

Ah, but to take part in more gaming related activities.  Here's to the dream this does lead eventually to larger scale conventions devoted to role-playing games and other table top happiness.  I'll share a link to the slides and the PDF in the future.

GM Advice: Cinematic Tension

This is a beautiful approach that you can also use in your table top role-playing games.
Thank you Alfred Hitchcock.

Story Twists Made Easy

Story Twists Made Easy
by Tobie Abad

When I'm going through gaming groups in Google Plus, a common question I see raised by other gamers is how does one come up with an unexpected or quick story for a game session.   Some people feel that they are only able to run pre-written adventures because they're not too confident about their ability to write stories.

Here are some of my suggestions in coming up with story twist or ideas for your own games.

1. Take the Expected Assumptions, then Attack them.

Take your typical fantasy game and think of what are expected assumptions in the game, be it in the setting or the system.  Then focus on those elements and see how you can switch them around.

For example:
In most fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon World, The 13th Age and the like, an expected assumption would be that Undead Monsters are Evil.  The main reason they are undead is because their souls are trapped in the bodies, or they're so consumed by anger and hatred that they live on in a state of undeath.  So what if the players meet a Ghoul that claims to be good?  More interestingly even, registers as good when magic is used to detect its alignment.   You can even push the envelop completely and have a Lawful Good Lich that seeks to make the world better.

A few more examples:
Humans are the dominant race.
So what if in the setting, humans are dying out?  The PCs are some of the few remaining ones?

The Sun rises in the morning.
What if it didn't?  Or what if TWO sun rose in the morning?

After attacking the assumption, write down your ideas as you explore it in the different angles you think would be interesting for the game.

2. Embrace the Tropes save for one detail.

Tropes are not a bad thing.  They are familiar and can be relied upon for an audience to very quickly grasp something in a narrative.  So don't feel that using tropes is a bad thing.  Use that expectation of the trope to your advantage, and twist one single detail in it to find something new.  The first twist tends to still be tropey, so don't be afraid to twist it even further after the first attempt.

For example:

The Absent-Minded Professor is a common trope.   We always have characters who are super smart or frighteningly intelligent and this is balanced out by either a memory problem or a tendency to get diverted or distracted.    So this is a trope you can easily place in your games.

Now twist:
What if the absent-mindedness or the memory block isn't just due to injury or age.  What if it was because of something intentional.

Now twist to the limits:
The intentional cause is this:  the professor's rival has miniaturized himself into a tiny being and the original plan was to spy on the Professor.  But the professor had inhaled the rival and the rival is now trapped somewhere near the Professor's brain, and has been attacking it through the years hoping to get his vengeance.  These injuries are the cause of his memory loss.

The beauty here is you have websites such as TVTROPES.ORG that nicely give you a pool of ideas to start on.

3. Mix Two Things You Feel Are Completely Different

Coming up with ideas isn't as different as cooking a meal.  Everything is a possible ingredient (though not necessarily a GOOD one).  The trick is to explore combinations until you find something that works.  The beauty here is, unlike cooking, the combinations you make are not necessarily lethal when tried.

So for a quick example, let's say you were running a super hero game inspired by Marvel Comic's Avengers.  So you have players who will be super heroes from different backgrounds.

Consider what will happen if you mixed the following to the game
.... giant kaiju monsters
.... intergalactic sentai policemen
.... Terminator
.... Adventure Time
.... World War I
.... Battlestar Galactica

At first, your brain might see the combination in the campiest possible way (Iron Man fighting against the Power Rangers, not cool), but then try adjusting the second element to be more thematically connected.  (Iron Man is now fighting an alien force whose troops are composed of children from various planets all trained to fight in teams of five).  Suddenly the ideas can be more viable.  Anything too funny or wacky at the onset can actually be developed into something viable if you just get past the initial hilarity of the combination.

Great ideas have started by mixing unthinkable elements.  Romeo and Juliet + Zombies, for example, gave us the wonderful movie Warm Bodies.  X-Files + Alternate Universes gave us Fringe. Heck, Ally McBeal was such a hit when it came out because it mixed two things deemed unmixable before:  Drama and Comedy.

So there you have it.  Three ways to quickly boost your brain to come up with new plot twists and story ideas.  Hope they help!

Must Read: Pixar's 22 Rules Storytelling

The awesome DinoIgnacio posted this version of Pixar's 22 Rules on Storytelling which was originally tweeted by former Pixar artist Emma Coats back in 2011.  The rules are fantastic and can benefit game masters, players and storytellers who want to make their games have more coherent and awesome experiences.

Check it out here:
http://imgur.com/a/fPLnM

The Magic of Doors

The Magic of Doors
by Tobie Abad

Doors.  The mysteries that they hide.  The stories that they birth.    Doors are portals to more than just the next room, they are gateways to adventure and secrets.  Here are some ideas on how to make a door curiously interesting in your games.

1. The Door is Locked
No one knows how to open it.   Or the key was something you have to find.  Maybe the key isn't even a typical key.  Consider Pier's Anthony's The Skeleton Key and how that story explored the many ways "key" can mean.  Or perhaps the key unlocks more than just the door itself like in the graphic novel series Locke and Key.

2.  The Door cannot be Closed
This usually entails the need for a reason you'd want to close it.  Or a desire to never have it closed.  The door can be an actual portal, wooden frame and all.  Or it can be figurative - like access to creativity or dreams.  Or money.

3.  The Door Was Not There Before
You wake up to notice a second door in your room which you never saw before.  Or you wake up one late night and realize down the alleyway visible from your window, the dead end now has an open door with light streaming out and pounding music coming from within.  Maybe the door isn't even where a door should be.  You catch your lover mumbling in her sleep, and a small doorway has popped open from her temple.   Sometimes, it can even be something as simple as a door opening the impossible way, separating from the wall hinges side, and yet not falling off the frame as it swings open to reveal a path that could not exist before.

4.  The Door has Changed
Sometimes it might be just something subtle, like the white door now appearing gray.  Or its simple handle suddenly replaced with an ornate iron one.  Maybe it suggests something having visited, like the door now having claw marks at the outside.  Or worse, a bloody hand print on the inside.  Maybe your key stops working with it.  Or maybe the noises through it sound different from what you can see outside the peephole.

5. The Door Isn't.
Maybe it was a maw hungry for more meat.  Or a throat swallowing new souls into hell.  Or a closed eyelid and now the massive orb stares at you and judges you silently.  Maybe the door turned out to just be a drawing on the wall - and now you wonder how you got in the room in the first place.  Maybe it is alive and talks back.  And offers secrets, if you figure out the riddle it asks.

Doors.
Who said they had to be boring and simple?

Turn Undead can be Awesome

Here's an inspiring video to show you how to approach it.

I love how he uses the Turn to not just repel the monster...

He's Crazy!

He's Crazy!
by Tobie

Insanity is a tricky aspect to handle in a game.  On one end of the spectrum, you have those who love playing it like a Monty Python sketch on full throttle, and my memories of this approach range from players who've portrayed the bunny wabbit slipper Malkavians to those who think being an insanely ancient druid means talking to animals in cutesy voices and embracing the idea of comic relief.    At the other end, you have those who push it to disturbing, psychopathic levels, which while less funny, aren't functionally that different in hindering rather than helping a game.   I recall a recent Paladin that was portrayed as a guy who pretty much tried to decapitate anyone who lied, showed a hint of evil, or questioned his "righteousness".  And there was the other player who spend almost thirty minutes of real time just staring at the rest of us, and finally when he was prodded to act in a scene, goes all out screaming obscenities - then stops to explain, "That's how madness really is" -  before continuing his explosion of verbal rage.

I don't like that.

I don't like it when players think "accurate" is more important than "fun for everyone".  I don't like it when players think "amusing for me" is more important than "amusing for everyone including me".  Role-playing games are a social activity.  And unless the game has a system geared to being antagonistic to each other (cause yes, there are such games) I dislike any player who tries to make a game session just a chance to mess everyone else up.

Given that, here are some suggestions on how to approach a not-quite sane character in your games - assuming you are someone like me who wants the game to still be fun for all.

Early note:  I'm not writing a blog post that seeks to define insanity, or to do it "justice" in any way or form.  This is not a post that tries to favor neurosis over psychosis or anything like that.  Nor is this post attempting to belittle the true struggle some have with mental disability.  This is merely a post suggesting how players and gms who want to have an insane character in their stories can approach it without making it less fun for everyone else in the game.  Those who feel insanity or mental disability (and so forth) should never be in a game, feel free to not have them in your own games.

Even the Joker Can Make Sense
Take D.C. Comics' infamous villain, the Joker.  Yes, he's psychotic in ways we can only dream of.  One comic even described him as "constantly reinventing himself" or possibly being hypersane, in the sense that he's like that because he is aware he is a comic book character, hence nothing matters.  None of them are really alive.

Now, that I can work with in a game.  The character might sprout nonsense at times, or wear something outlandish, but when push comes to shove, the Joker still focuses on the goal.  The joker still makes sense in what he does (only that "sense" tends to be something extremely questionable and unthinkable when viewed with our perspective.) but then acts in a way which still helps move the narrative along and allow other players to interact with him.

The Insane One Isn't Alone, Unless it is a Solo Game
A good guide is to keep the internal logic of insanity intact.  Once the insane action goes way over the character's own sense of what makes sense, then its most likely leading to more disruptive displays than not.  Yes, in the real world insanity is a serious issue and can make things difficult in real life.  But in a fictional story, consider at least keeping it at a level that allows the game to still be fun for all who are part of it.  Batman, for example, can be deemed to have his own share of insanities and yet for the paranoid, overly careful lone wolf he tends to be he still works well as part of the Justice League, even if many scenes are showing why he supposedly does not.  The Doctor from Dr. Who on the other hand can have his moments of mania and one incarnation even suffered from a God-complex moment.  But they were always shown to still rein in their "tendancies" to work with the rest of the team.  Tip too much past being able to work with others, and you slide away from Punisher and slip more towards Dr. Doom where the neurosis start either making the character so antisocial it makes the other players prefer to NOT interact, or transforms the viable concept into a caricature just so the player still feels its "being fun."

Consider letting the GM keep you guessing
This works best for players who want the challenge of actually being "saddled" with the neurosis and not feel like they're in full control of it.  In my games, I have offered to run the neurosis for the player, and while challenging, this has resulted in pretty awesome moments.

For example, one player wanted to have paranoia but didn't want to just come up with reasons to be paranoid.  So here's what I did:  Whenever his character was handling scenes away from other Player Characters, I would "color" the narrative to suggest the paranoia.    Him learning another player left to buy supplies would be described as, "You learn that Anna for some reason you cannot fathom opted to leave without telling you.  The last time you saw her, you noticed she broke eye contact very quickly.   Did she really go to get supplies?"  In a later scene, when Anna returned, the character confronted her about leaving and the rest of the team were telling him he's being a jerk.  I slipped the player a note and it read:  "You notice Anna glanced at James before James started complaining about your actions.  Are they in this together?"

Given the games had systems to "check if she was lying" and the like, for those I stuck to my guns and always answered truthfully.  Although to help push the paranoia, for that player such rolls were done behind a screen.  Whenever they failed, I would alternate between truth and lies.

The player? He loved it.  He loved not knowing for certain if he could trust them.  The other players?  They liked how they didn't feel he was just making stuff up.  They liked how I sometimes gave a double meaning to a simple action. At some point, they even threw in some of their own "double meaning" actions to push the paranoia angles.  It worked brilliantly.

In another game I ran (which was a Vampire the Masquerade game) the players were elders who had held fast to their unlife til the modern nights.  Given how the rules required them to have some Humanity loss, which to explain to the non-Vampire gamers meant their characters had some level of mental degeneration, I opted to handle their derangements for them.  One player had it simple:  Sanguinary Animism.  So whenever he fed, I would run a few scenes where he thought he was the victim, living part of the victim's life until he reasserted his mental dominance.  The other, however, was the prime moment of awesome.  The second player had a Venture who had risen high in the ranks of the Camarilla, with an eye for the Princedom.  His Sire visited him nightly, offering advice and suggestions on how to take any rivals down.  And after numerous game sessions, when he finally accomplished his goal, he called for a grand ceremony and asked the Ventrue to bear witness to his achievement.  As he regaled to everyone how this was a huge step forward for the Ventrue Clan to solidify their hold on the city, he turned to his Sire to thank him for always believing in him.  The crowd remained silent.  He turned to the crowd, angered that they did not applaud his Sire, and slowly began to hear from the gathered their small whispered murmurs of how... the Sire was not there at all.  In fact, the Sire had met a Final Death many centuries back.

He was, all the while, talking to himself.  And saw that "self" as his Sire.

Finally, Consider a Kind of Crazy you can Keep to the Side til the Big Moment.
Have you seen the show, Hannibal, for example?
If yes, then you know what I mean.

If no, then I suggest you check it out.  And you'll see how that would work really well.
Basically have any actual manifestations of the psychosis emerge when the character knows he is alone.  Think less Gollum screaming at himself and more certain examples that would spoil certain movies if I mentioned them.    Maybe the madness manifests only when he is alone.  Or maybe the madness slips through when his defenses are lowered, and gain full control when he finally falls asleep.  More Baltar.  Less Mister Bean.

Always having clear and focused characters can be boring, I admit.  But opting to play a less sane one just for kicks and not paying attention to how that ruins the fun for everyone else?  That's just crazy.  And its the kind of crazy that can get one kicked out of a gaming group.

So don't do that.

Sentai-fy your Games!

Sentai-fy your Games!
by Tobie Abad

I have NO doubt that not everyone will want to do this.  Oh don't worry, I don't blame you at all.  In fact, I am certain that there is a much smaller demographic of readers who will find this article useful.  But hey, I love you, people in the niche groups.

Wait... did I hear you right?  What is Sentai, you ask?

Asians like myself tend to be familiar with Bioman, Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets) and Super Sentai series.  Some of you might be familiar with this thanks to Power Rangers as well as Sailor Moon (although Sailor Moon touches more on the magical girl concept.)

So here are my suggestions on how to sentai-fy your games!

1) The Rule of Five
There must be FIVE main characters in the game.  It doesn't matter if they are all players, or if the others are non-player characters.  Five is the magic number of a Sentai group.  As the story progresses, a fifth or even sixth member may emerge (usually with one being a dark horse who falls from grace and eventually redeems himself) but five is the number which makes the game have that sentai feel.

2) The Colors Must Matter
While many Western sentai concepts ignore this rule (for instance, note Animorphs doesn't really embrace the color scheme as much) Sentai teams tend to follow a color-coded approach to their uniforms, clothing, and accessories.  The guy in red, for example, probably owns a red car, likes red drinks, and tends to have a red armband or red watch.  The girl in yellow, on the other hand tends to have a yellow skirt, or wear yellow shoes, or might live in a yellow condominium and so forth.  D.C. Comics Green Lanterns have recently embraced this sentai trope by introducing the other colors into their franchise (with Orange for Envy, Blue for Hope and so forth).

You can push this to less tacky and more moody, if you think about it, by describing any scenes or narratives with color codes for each character.  The red vampire for example would tend to notice the night sky contrasting the red brick buildings in the neighborhood.  Or feel the masses of people like a crimson tide pushing against him.  Or the rust-colored cages we walk ourselves into.

3)  Strike a Pose
Each member must have a key pose.  Typically this key pose is the group pose, where each one shows their personality or key fighting stance.  Given the way table top games tend to be, having the characters gather for a group pose might be... pushing the envelope.  So you can always reduce this to making sure they have a signature move.  Exalted, for example, has combo uses in charms manifest with a specific Essence display.  For a Sentai-Exalted game, be sure to connect that essence display to their specific personal look with the matching color to boot.

You can also just require the players to describe a specific favorite pose they take whenever they roll a tremendous success or a natural 20.

4) The Weapons Matter
Each one would have their own signature stylish weapon or armament of choice.  In sentai, you've had everything from swords, to guns, to guns that turn into swords, to boomeranges, or even yoyos.  Have the character have a signature weapon he or she would be a master at.  Give them a huge bonus when using the weapon to encourage them to keep using it.

5) The Enemies Should be Dressed to fit the part
Enemies in Sentai shows are always overly-dressed and clearly evil.  So play your villains to the hilt.  Alien hybrids, strange cyborg things, animal-like plants and so forth.  And don't forget to have a signature line or key phrase for each one.

6) Teamwork MUST have its moment of Glory
Every Sentai group as their Team Attack which can range from them simply moving in unison, or them projecting some empowering force as they all chant the same battle cry and press a button.  Give your group the appropriate bonuses when they learn to gather together and (at the prompting of the leader) call upon their Team Attack.

And be sure to reward it ONLY and only if they actually perform it in unison.

Optional #7 Rule
Given most Sentai shows are officially not western productions, having some kind of dubbed/subtitled angle to your game is always a fun plus.   But this will only really work if your other players are familiar with the genre.  And actually enjoy it.

So, let's go!
Role-playing Powerful Greeting:  Now!

Learning to Let Go

Learning to Let Go
by Tobie Abad

Sometimes, a game just isn't going the way you all want it to.    I think we've all found ourselves in such a dilemma in the past. Maybe it is a gung-ho tactical war using the Pathfinder system which for some reason keeps feeling less like a tactical game and more like a video game.  Or maybe it is a dark brooding Call of Cthulhu game which somehow keeps dipping into Monty Python humor.   Or sometimes, it can even be more insidious: Those games that are going the way the group wanted it to... but somehow, the fun isn't just there.

And whatever the reasons behind the game's collapse, you reach a point you have to decide whether or not it is time to pull the plug.  Is narrative euthanasia still acceptable as a response?  Should you just throw the game away with the bath water, so to speak?

1.  Ask your Players
Ask them what they truly think of the game.  In fact, ask them if it is really fun or if they'd want to try playing something else.  In games like the Onyx Path's World of Darkness, players write down Aspirations as small goals they want to achieve in a session or two.  Other games like Dungeon World's Bonds system has a similar system.  Those might provide insight on how much fun your players are really having.  If their lists are expansive and interesting then you got a good game going.  But if they seem to talk more about wall flowering, then maybe the game should be given to the roses instead.

2.  Throw them a Break
If you're lucky, you'll get to throw them a one-shot game or something which might either just be the break they needed to get back into your game.  Or they might like the alternative game so much, that its clear its time to let the dying game lie in its shallow grave.  But ultimately, it is a win-win proposition cause you not only get to try a new game, but if it turns out to be the game that hits the "fun" they want, then you got a fun game to enjoy too!

3. Take a Time Out
Instead of a usual game night, try having a boardgame night instead!  Or grab your friends to head off to the movies and catch the latest blockbuster movie you've all been planning to see.  A change in the routine at times might be more beneficial than you think, as it allows the group to synch up in an environment different from where you run your games.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes, it is during games that major cathartic releases occur.  And after such moments of de-stressing, an unconscious association to that "heaviness" still connects to the locale.  So try taking a time out and see if it makes things go smoother.

4. Ask Yourself
Now even if the players feel its really going great, if you as the game master feel very dissatisfied or lousy about it, by all means - STOP RUNNING IT.  Maybe you need to stop for the moment.  Or stop running the said campaign for good.  But again, you are NOT paid to entertain people.  You are enjoying a hobby to have fun with your friends.

So if you aren't having fun, then admit it.  Tell them it ain't working for you.  And stop.

But do know they deserve to know how "long" this "stop" will be.  As they too deserve the right to do what's fun for them.   If your bonds with your friends are pretty strong, there shouldn't be any childish "sulking" going around.  And frankly, if there is... I think it might be better to not have *that* person be part of your gaming group.

Let's face it.  The time wasted in trying to resuscitate a dead game would have been better used in starting a whole new cooler game.  Just my two cents.

Recommended: Improv and Gaming

I'm very happy to see a lot of stuff I do is actually what many recommend as how to approach gaming.  In my case, a lot of my gaming techniques were born from a mixture of what I've learned in Writing for Children's Literature, doing Theater, drawing Comics, visualizing for Film, working in Advertising and finally embracing my love for games.

This video captures a lot of great insight on how to approach gaming, and even echoes many of things John Wick shares in his book Play Dirty.

Check it out and add to your own gaming experience!

Recommended: 11 Ways to be a Better Roleplayer

I've decided to make it a point to repost links here of great articles that I've come across which share new insight and ideas on gaming, storytelling, and enjoying games.  Usually I just reshare these articles and links in either Facebook or Google Plus, but now I realize it would be great to have the links here too so even those who have never met me may chance upon them and get to read them too.

Today's featured link is 11 Ways to be a Better Roleplayer by Grant.
The Article is very insightful and everyone has a specific number they feel closest to. I personally love number ten.  So go read it and heck, I even highly recommend you let your group read it.

Recommended: Dungeons and Dragons taught us stuff

Just resharing an article which I found to be VERY enlightening.
http://litreactor.com/columns/7-things-dungeons-dragons-taught-me-about-storytelling

Dungeons and Dragons, whether you hate it or love it, has a place in gaming history. And yes, for many of us, the game opened our eyes to new insight on how stories are told and what works pretty well in making them entertaining.

So go check out 7 Things Dungeons and Dragons Taught Me About Storytelling by Rob D. Young.
Broaden your game experience.

Game Idea: Celebrating Pride in your Game this Weekend

Celebrating Pride in your Game this Weekend
by Tobie Abad

We're celebrating Pride this weekend and I thought I should at least have some stupid Pride-themed post to celebrate it with a geeky twist.  So here are some gaming suggestions on how to celebrate Pride in your game this weekend.   If you get to add it to your game this weekend, good for you!

Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeon World, and all similarly themed games
Arcane Magic casters (such as Wizards, Sorcerers, etc) best prepare Color Spray and cast it on the first hateful monster they see.  More learned ones can prepare Prismatic Ray or Wall spells to make an even bigger statement.   Paladins can spend the session calling for the need for certain people to be given their freedom or to be treated equally.

Monster Hearts, Apocalypse World
Switch the Dark/Weird stat with Pride and all moves are now given a much more fabulous touch of fiction.   Oh and for this session only, the Fae, the Vampire, the Werewolf, the Witch and the Queen (for Apocalypse World, I'll let you guys decide) all get +2 to rolls when using Pride, but only if they're serving fishy realness.  Remember though, gay does not have to mean gender-bending.  There are a lot of non-effeminate gay guys just as there are a lot of feminine lesbians out there.  So don't feel you have to go campy just to give a touch of pride into your game.  But don't think campy is bad either! Just know the difference between loving the camp and making fun of it.

World of Darkness, Shadowrun, Shadows of Esteren, and other "dark games"
You can do it two ways:  One is to highlight the true existing struggle for LGBT to gain equality and acceptance, and have scenes which give players a chance to fight back or explore the themes of the struggle discrimination.  But that might be too serious for some groups that just want to play to have awesome moments.  For that, my second suggestion is that you throw in your i-take-no-nonesense gay character inspired by characters like Lafayette or as sizzlingly confident and disarming as Kinky Boots' Lola.  We've had enough crazy gay serial killers, thank you.  Let's have cooler gay NPCs join the fun.

Houses of the Blooded
The ven are fabulous.  Maybe it is time for them to be upstaged by the House of the Bear.  Bears are impressive.  And Tenacious, after all.

Inspectres
Throw in a gender-bending episode where the Inspectres crew have to deal with an incident where a whole town has turned gay.   And just as they realize the cause, decide on how to handle things when they realize the affected people aren't quite unhappy with their new life.   Do they choose for them?  Or do they live and let live?

Lacuna
There are odd colors today post Slab today.  An endless parade marches down the streets.  Even the Spiders are mesmerized.  Is this a chance to dive DEEPER?  Or is this the worst time to explore the Blue City.

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, DC Heroes and other Super Hero Games
Time to give the gay characters the spotlight for the weekend.  Maybe Northstar contacts the players to deal with a living plague.  Or maybe Wiccan and Hulkling visit the players from an alternate time-line and ask them to help out as a nation devotes itself into Hate.      Heck, go all out and run a Vertigo-inspired game answering the question, "What happens when Desire of the Endless is allowed 24-hours to explore his/her own heart's desire?"

Dice Rolling Games

Maybe for this session, any rolls that have to do with freedom, peace, equality, acceptance, love and beauty get a bonus to their roll.  You can explain it away as magical effect, as a skewing of probabilities due to a quantum influence  caused by billions of people thinking of the same thought that moment, or just a quirk that seems to happen every June.

Or throw in a colorful die and tell players they always roll it with their normal rolls, and once in the game session each player can opt to use the colorful die's result instead as their own.

Card-based Systems
The Hearts get the bonus. It doesn't matter why or what for.  So long as it has to do with Hearts it gets the bonus.  After all, hearts are all that matter.  Not whats between the legs.

What We Can Do Without
Gay jokes.  Gay bashing.  Gay used as a word to mean something bad, negative, or disliked.    We don't need more hate.  We don't need to be presented as caricatures to be made fun off.  Or feared as crazy or insane.  So, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar is a yes.  Modern Family is a yes.  New Normal is stereotype-y but works.  Apollo and Midnighter is awesome, but only if you ignore the New 52.  Sam Adama of Caprica and Jack Harness of Torchwood are good guides if you want a non-campy approach.  Glee... tries to cross the spectrum but tends to wallow in stereotypes, but is acceptable enough.  But please, let's cut down on Silence of the Lambs type of portrayals.  Or have cross-dressing as a scene to laugh at the idea of men wearing women's clothing (or vice versa).

Let's just celebrate the unity, the love and the happiness of a world that is slowly taking steps forward.

Happy Pride!

A Show Of Evil

A Show of Evil
by Tobie Abad

So you have players who insist they want to be evil characters.   Maybe they're the minority in the group.  Or maybe they outnumber the ones who want to be heroes.  And after considering things, and talking to all your players, in the end you have all decided to still go for it because yes, it can be fun.

Here are some things to consider adding or bringing up with the group to make the game more interesting:

1) The No Kill Rule
A mixed group of good and evil can sometimes spell very rapid character deaths.  The Paladin might decide he HAS to hunt and kill the evil Assassin.  Or the Fallen Angel might make it a point to destroy the Saint.

Tell them: Don't.
Instead, remind them that the game can remain more fun if a no-kill rule applies.    And once they feel its a stupid rule because there's no fun if the good/bad guy doesn't terminally deal with the other, quickly shoot off the following examples:  Batman and the Joker, The Devil and God, and practically any other franchise that features a hero and his rival villain.

For the Hero, the concept of redemption will always be there.  There may be a time the villain can be rehabilitated. Or can be made to understand the evil he does.  And if not, there's the idea that the hero MUST not become the villain.  He must never cross that line.  And at its most basic, maybe the hero does want to cross the line, and can, but if he does so, the villain has the last laugh.  In the end, the hero's pride keeps him from letting the villain win.    (And if the player does kill the villain, tell the player of the villain to feel free to HAUNT the hero for the rest of the game.  Or be sure to throw the full weight of his actions upon him in later narrative arcs.)

For the Villain, the hero must be broken down.  The hero must be made to give up.  Killing him is easy, but removes all the fun and fulfillment of being evil.  Killing him removes the point of being his dark reflection.  And in the end, if he does kill him, the Hero player can always create someone who wants to avenge the old character.  The game can continue, but now the stakes definitely may change.

Remind both players a "killing" moment makes for a great climactic moment in a story.  So to time it well, rather than just make it something that happens by accident.  Or by opportunity.  And remind them this no killing rule applies only to each other.  All other non-player characters are free game.

2) RewardsWhether or not the game itself has an existing system, be sure to create a reward system for whenever either player acts in full accordance to his preferred role.  The Hero must gain something for doing good things, such as saving total strangers, or doing "the right thing" even if it may be to his own detriment.  While the Villain gets something for showing cruelty, or for having moments of megalomania and the like.    This way, the two feel the distinct difference in their roles.  The Hero who opts to resort to violence does NOT get the extra fruits of his decision.  The Villain who shows compassion does not get the bonus for being nice.

This ties in to the fact that if you want to encourage an approach, you show a benefit for doing it.

Maybe the reward can be a bonus they can apply to their roles.  Or maybe, plan and simple (which can work for almost all games out there), each time they receive the "bonus" they get a token which they can cash in to reroll any roll whose result they did not like.

3)  TemptationsOn the flip side, you might want to throw temptations in.  Sort of, throw small systems to see how hard and determined the player is in embracing their chosen role.  The Hero might get the bonus whenever he resorts to violence, cruelty, and breaking his word.  The Villain might be thrown allies, friends, and other bonuses for free whenever he decides to sincerely try kindness.  Or care for someone.  Or even just doing it in reverse, by making such allies and advantages cost time and effort to have as a villain, but come easily when he does good.

Tempt them to stray from their roles.
This should give birth to pretty cool role-playing opportunities.

4) Show me you mean it
My last suggestion was one I've embraced for any game where a player might opt to kill/sacrifice or otherwise eliminate another player character from the story.  Firstly, this applies only to games where I've made it clear to all players that character death will be something that happens in the game. While in some games the players enjoy a "no kill unless you really act stupid or is dramatically appropriate" rule, I've run other games where I've made it clear, "There is no fate or destiny in this game.  If you die, then you die."

So in such a game, if a player, for example, opts to literally sacrifice the others to save himself/others... have them walk up to the player whose characters were killed, face them as they pick up the character sheet (and yes, the other player is free to plead, beg, and do everything save for touching the other player to convince them to reconsider), and tear it up in front of the other without breaking eye contact.

This was my version of "Show me you mean it" and nicely, it has worked wonderfully in practice.


Hope you find these ideas fun!
Do let me know if you tried them out.

Narrative Approaches to Explore

Narrative Approaches to Explore
by Tobie Abad

Sometimes, running a game chronologically can be boring.  If you've been gaming for quite a number of years, you might find yourself hungry to explore narrative approaches which take a different stride.  Here are some approaches to consider, with accompanying references you can view to get a feel for how they can be like, which you might find enjoyable to explore with your own gaming troupe.

I.  Flashback Reveals
In television shows like Lost and the movie Memento, secrets and explanations in the narrative are revealed by flashbacks which expand on and explore the reasons behind certain character's actions.  In such games, characters might do something which others find oddly inappropriate or unexpected of a character's established  moral views and later through a flashback sequence reveal the reason for the action.

II. Generational Narrative
In such a story, the narrative is not limited to merely the lifespans of the characters involved, but extend beyond them, to show how far reaching the theme explored goes.  The animated movie rendition of the classic tale Beowulf explores this as the story moves from father to son, as does the tremendously ambitious adaptation of the book Cloud Atlas, which spans far more than just a single generational step.  The videogame Phantasy Star explored this as well, with characters being the children of their earlier characters.  And lastly, although in a way which I would have to cite as the wrong way to do a table top game, the game Infinity Blade wraps itself around this concept to explain away its infinite game play.

III. Everything Is Connected
While Generational leaps across timelines, in this one, it simply leaps across characters.    The actions of a character directly affect the decisions of a second character, and its repercussions affect a third, forcing a fourth to take a new direction... This might require much more planning to link up the actions of the players, and can be very impressive if done right.  These don't necessarily need railroading to work.  Just a careful orchestration of making sure things are interconnected to one or another in subtle ways.  Movies like Crash and Six Degrees of Separation explored this nice interconnectedness of things.

IV. Multiple Chances
On the other hand, maybe you can run a game which explores the many ways an issue could have been tackled and the repercussions surrounding each one.  Maybe this can be an extended substory taking place over a small number of sessions, with each session exploring the question, "What if I did ____ instead?"  The need for either magic realism, some destiny/fate device or perhaps just some pseudo scientific jargon might be necessary to make this work in a game.  Check out movies like Sliding Doors and the very well-written Run Lola Run for inspirations in this direction.

V. Player Perspective Is Not Necessarily Character Perspective
In the bag of big reveals, you can explore a game where the players don't actually grasp things as clearly as their characters do.  Maybe the players aren't quite perceiving things the way the characters actually understand things, and will have to slowly uncover the truth behind the events that are transpiring.  Or maybe the characters know, but the big reveal is handed to the players in segments, keeping things interesting and intriguing.  Consider movies like Identity and Sixth Sense as possible inspirations.  Or maybe it can be just a matter of perspective, with players thinking they were human soldiers all this time, only to learn they are actually semi-intelligent rats that have been trained to use military grade hardware.

VI. Player Perspective Is Character Experience
On the other end of the spectrum, you can make sure the players experience things as the characters as much as possible.  I've embraced this approach in my Lacuna games, with the telling line, "Memory Loss is common" as a reason why some things don't seem to make sense even if discussion suggest the players are supposed to be familiar with them already.  In such games, the characters lack of grasping the events around them is integral to the player experience as well.  Movies like Cube and Dark City explore this trope, as does the recent movie Source Code.  With many using flashbacks to later explore what the player and character starts to recall.  The old movie Nick of Time also explores this without using an Amnesia angle, forcing the player to react in real time to the events, even if they don't quite grasp why they are happening.

VII.  We Tell the Story of Another's Tale
One last suggestion is to have the players not be the very starts of the story.  Instead, they are the one's narrating the events of a story they know of.   Sort of like a story within a story, players are gathered to narrate the events of what they know, and from that narrative, reveal the events, twists, and secrets which they were witness to.  The movie Usual Suspects nicely does this, as does the movie Life of Pi.  Each narrated scene, which may or may not be a flashback, can be run as a game session with one player having the overall control of explaining some key narrative elements.  Maybe this "narrator" can be a rotating role which a player takes in each game scene, or session, allowing all the players to have a chance to set the stage.


Clearly there are many directions to explore and in no way is this list exhaustive.
But try something new and see how much new horizons of fun await you!

Steal Ideas from the Unexpected

Steal Ideas from the Unexpected
by Tobie Abad

Some troupes complain about how their games seem to always be the same kind of game.  The players bemoan how their game master always seems to embrace the same troupes, or explore the same old ground regardless of what kind of game is being run.   Now, innately, this is not a bad thing.  After all, some people who like vanilla ice cream, might not want to eat any other ice cream BUT vanilla ice cream.   For others, however, this desire to explore more flavors of ice cream... I'm sorry.. more diverse gaming directions can feel like a compelling game-related wanderlust.

One way for a GM to give their games an added boost of "something new" is to try borrowing from unexpected places.  And this article is to suggest a few ideas on how to do precisely that:

1) Consider Sources that are UNTHINKABLE

You love Game of Thrones and your troupe is enjoying your Dungeon World, but feel its too much LIKE Game of Thrones?  Then try pulling ideas from sources that might sound as impossible ones such as Romantic Comedies or Chick Flicks and the sort.

Consider the Romantic Comedy known as You Got Mail.  In that story, the guy falls for the girl whose business he is destroying with the building of his own larger company.    Just by reading that synopsis, can't you already quickly see how it can be used as a framework for a fantasy story arc where the players learn of a young countess whose county is being subsumed by the coming conquering Duke.  But the Duke falls for her, and in hoping to woo her, tries to communicate with her incognito (perhaps through the player characters).   Only here, rather than the cute angle of "I wished it was you" the Countess realizes the unique opportunity in her grasp, invites the Duke to meet her secretly, then has her hired men kill the Duke (unless the players do something about it!)

2) Draw Ideas from an inspiration's line of work.
So your NPCs seem to have the same old story over and over again.  Need to come up with a more interesting key NPC's back history?  Then choose an actor you love, and shape one from some of the work he's done.  The Bard is inspired by Leonardo diCaprio?  He started out as a young penniless man who fell for this baroness on a ship, but the ship was attacked by a Dragon Turtle and he was believed to be dead, only he survived, recreated himself as a wealthy man in a far away kingdom, where he bluffed his way into riches and fame, all in hopes of someday attracting the Baroness back to his now influential and famous Duchy.

Try to avoid making things too obvious, and you'll have a fun backstory that you can easily spin around for the players to explore.

3) Design Your Story with the Music in Mind
It isn't uncommon nowadays for GMs to use music to enhance their games.  But why not go the next level by designing your story's outline on the tracklist of the music album itself.  This would be a case of avoiding movie soundtracks (unless you want to pattern your narrative elements on the movie's flow) but let's for example design a sci fi game with inspiration drawn from Tori Amos' Boys for Pele album:

1. "Beauty Queen/Horses"
The story can start with the arrival of a major celebrity, a beauty queen from another planet.  Perhaps she rides on a mechanical horse or perhaps her race are of humanoid horses.

2. "Blood Roses"
Her entourage is aghast to discover her murdered, with blood roses left behind as a calling card.  The murderer?

3. "Father Lucifer"
He calls himself Father Lucifer, and claims to be a defender of natural beauty.  Some biotech enhanced doctor terrorist.

4. "Professional Widow"
The players gain an ally, a woman whose job is to be the widow of rich men who do not want their money to go to their family.  She informs them of the best way to reach Father Lucifer, which is through her associate...

5. "Mr Zebra"
Mister Zebra is a man in a black suit with white trimmings.  He tells them of the secret history of Father Lucifer, his love for a woman named Marianne who left him for fame and fortune by joining the beauty competition in Alpha Virusa.

6. "Marianne"
The players track her at a rundown red light district planet close to the Gamma Belt.  She barely looks human now, with enough tech to keep her alive.  She tells them that Father Lucifer was dreaming of using a bioweapon, one which supposedly will melt the faces of those who get infected.

7. "Caught a Lite Sneeze"
The bioweapon is released.   Two planets surrender and pay the ransom for the antigen.

8. "Muhammad My Friend"
A religious sect of space navigators reaches out, offering sanctuary for those who choose to convert.  New members are shunted through space to Jupiter station where the players learn they are actually being harvested for organs in the medical market.

9. "Hey Jupiter"
Jupiter station of the Moorish Space Navigators.

10. "Way Down"

Jupiter station is destroyed by diving deep into the gas planet's core, where the stabilizing mechanisms allow the orbiting station to remain within Jupiter's gaseous body.  

11. "Little Amsterdam"
Name of another station where the players can find refuge.

12. "Talula"

Codename for the bioagent.

13. "Not the Red Baron"

Father Lucifer resurfaces, but now as the Red Baron.  He gains clout from the people who don't realize who he is as he presents an antigen to the Talula virus.

14. "Agent Orange"
The name of the antigen.

15. "Doughnut Song"

Animated commercial ads which conceal hidden messages from the Red Baron to his sleeper agents spread throughout the systems.

16. "In the Springtime of His Voodoo"

The Red Baron becomes so influential and popular, he twists the media around enough that the players get pegged as behind the Talula Virus.  

17. "Putting the Damage On"
Players treated as terrorists.  Run from the law.  Lose contacts and allies.  Go underground.

18. "Twinkle"
A shimmer of hope in the form of Marianne.  She returns to the lime light as she exposes the Red Baron's identity.  His passion for her still there, he cannot deny her challenge.  But as he comes to her, she shoots down his desperate cry for love.  And he kills her in front of the watching universe.

19. "Toodles Mr Jim"
End game.  Maybe make a Star Trek reference.

So there you go.  Three quick and easy suggestions on how to jazz up your game with a shot of something different.  There's no excuse for running predictable and boring storylines anymore.  You can always find inspiration to make your games more interesting if you choose to look around.

Tips On Co-Gming a Game

Tips On Co-Gming a Game 
by Tobie Abad

Not that many groups have ever tried having more than one game master in their games.  There are many possible Perhaps the gm is new to the hobby, and wants to run a game but isn't that confident yet with handling system-related decisions?  Or perhaps the group is a large one, and the gm doesn't want others to be bored while individual scenes are run?  Ultimately, the co-gm role is an interesting one because a second person is there to engage the others players even while the first gm is still handling a different scene with another.

Here are some tips on how to approach co-gming a game:
1) Know the "need to know" stuff
To run a game with a co-gm means being willing to trust a second person to help you in the game's narrative flow.  While this might sound unthinkable to some more old school groups, for those who have explored narrative-control friendly games, this is a very acceptable and fun thing to do.

But since the co-GM usually wants to help usher the first GM's plot forward, there might be a list of "need to know" stuff you should be aware of, whether they be the outline of the session, the key scenes to hit in the game, or even just the motivations of key NPCs which you may end up portraying.  That way, things don't go completely contrary to any pre-established scenes or narratives that included the said characters.

This also means checking with the GM if there are any things that are meant "not to be clarified/wrapped up" as far as the players may be concerned.  For example, the GM might have an ongoing plot being built up, and a recurring clue is a tattoo in the shape of an octopus.  You might want to ask the GM beforehand if that plot thread is off limits, or if you're free to make up details or maybe even the truth behind it.

2) Volume Modulation
When scenes run concurrently beside one another, the tendency is to get more and more vocal to try and maintain the focus of attention.  It might be better to keep any scenes running at the same time to a minimum, just to avoid this very problem.  But when the need to run scenes at the same time does arise, considering finding a comfortable volume level that works without intruding on the other scene.

Smart co-GMs can use the second scene to give the player an introspective moment, perhaps throwing him questions to ponder in his head, or playing the scene out like an assisted internal monologue while the other scene unfolds.  Key lines can include, "You start to think about.." or "That moment, your mind remembers this time..." as jumping points for such scenes.

3) Have a Blue Book/Laptop Communication Option with the GM
Given the need sometimes to keep things "behind a GM screen", consider having a notebook or program like Notepad or Word open to quickly type in anything that you might need to discuss withe the GM quickly, without breaking stride from running the game.  The messages should be kept short and concise of course, as to not disrupt the fun of the game.  But the gaming gods know how many times I've been happy to be able to quickly type, "Is it alright to have this NPC die?" to bring a scene to a dramatic conclusion.

4) Don't Get Lost Playing With Each Other
When a GM plays an NPC and a co-GM plays the second NPC, it can be fun to have them banter at each other or interesting to use that as a mechanism to reveal more of the story.  The scene where the leader of the Cult discusses with his lieutenant while the players spy on them can be cooler to watch when two people portray the scene.  But if the two start portraying it a bit too long, the players might wonder why there's in the scene at all.  So don't get too caught up enjoying each other's role-playing.  Keep in mind the group is still there!  I know it sounds like a stupid reminder, but I have had games where a SINGLE GM portrays two NPCs and the narrative goes on and on and on to the point I end up telling the GM, "I step out into the open and say, 'Really?'"

5) Use Some Unique Psychological Opportunities
Say you want the players to feel uncertain.  Or paranoid.  Because you want them to feel immersed the way the characters are.   Then here's a few quick ideas:

by Jon Gosier

a) The head shake.
While one gm runs the scenes and is very supportive of the player's plans and declarations, have the other one focus on the laptop/notes and slowly, quietly shake his head as if to say no.    For that added push, have him glance up at the player at a key declaration. Then slowly roll his eyes back to the notes and again, almost imperceptibly this time, shake another no.

b) The Dice Roll
The characters are escaping from the prison.  They are now quietly moving in the shadows, hoping to reach the sewer line before the others spot them.  As the gm runs the scene with all the drama and tension needed, the second GM can amp up the tension by rolling dice, then consulting the notes, and occasionally pointing at something for the first GM to either nod yes or shake no to.   Trust me, they will definitely feel the tension grow because they know, "SOMETHING IS HAPPENING THAT WE CANNOT SEE!"

If you want to really push their buttons, do all dice rolling in plain sight.  Let them SEE the results.  So each time the dice show a success, or worse, a failure, they will be dying in worry over what it is about.

c) The Twin/Double/Doppleganger Scene
The players are forced to two groups, and group A finds the contact they need to talk to.  As the GM runs that scene and has the contact warn them of the big bad guy's major plans, have the co-GM start the scene with group B.  Only in the second scene, they meet the SAME contact.    This contact, on the other hand, tells them the exact OPPOSITE of what the first GM stated.

Who is telling the truth?  Who is lying?  And why are there two of them?
That should make for a cool game story there.


So there you have it.  Some ideas and tips on how to share the GM reins with a friend.
Have fun.  Together.

The Tricky Act of Helpessness

The Tricky Act of Helplessness
by Tobie Abad

EDIT (05/17/2013): Thank you to Dan Noland for informing me of my title typo. Gosh, I feel so embarrassed for not noticing that sooner.

Many games out there have instances where the player is thrown in a state of being helpless.  For example, in White Wolf's Vampire (both Requiem or Masquerade) the Discipline of Dominate can force the player to declare unwanted actions as his player character's actions.  In Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons games, there are spells and enchantments that may force a player to portray their characters in a different way.  Across various game lines, there may be events or powers that force a character to lose their memories of a recent event, or make them black out and fail to grasp why something is happening.  And finally, there's always the plot-based sense of helplessness when the story has the characters dealing with things so immense and powerful that their hopes of taking control of the situation are as unlikely as the cast of Voyager being able to command Q to do something they want.

Yes, making a player feel helpless is one way to induce the feelings of horror and terror.
But when played out wrong, can simply make the game STOP BEING FUN.

So the tricky part of learning to balance the frustration with the drama is very important.  Because if the game isn't being fun for everyone, then it isn't going well.  Yes, it is fine to have players feel annoyed, irritated, terrified and frustrated for a scene or two.  But if the whole game has them feeling that way, then what you have is a game which most likely will be one where the players discuss when you're not around how frustrated they are starting to feel.

Here are some tips on approaching Helplessness without making the game Unfun.

1) Manage How Long It Lasts
Never let the feeling of helplessness last too long, or your players will start wondering why on Earth they are subjecting themselves to the game.   So the character is kept hostage by a bunch of lunatics.  They tie him up, duct tape his mouth, and throw sand in his eyes.  He's blinded, bound and in absolute pain.  The scene sets the situation, and clears how much the player has no control of the events.  That's fine.  That's a valid scene indeed.  But if two or three scenes later, the player is STILL in that same situation, the game stops being fun.  It "feels accurate" so to speak to a hostage situation, but again, that isn't quite a fun situation to be in, is it?

Physical captivity isn't even the only time this happens.  In some games, the GM might be too caught up with "the right course of action to take" that he ignores all the other options the player considers doing.  The player might be trapped in a nightmare as the enemy uses his ability to shape dreams against the hero, basically the player is fighting against someone with god-like abilties, and the GM might be thinking the solution to escape is for the player "to use the enemy's hang up over his parents against him" and keep the scenes going until the player thinks of it.  But sadly, that would mean scene after scene of frustration and annoyance.  Rather than the player having an "Aha!" moment, he will end up feeling "Darn it... finally.." as a response.

2) Never Confuse Helpless and Useless
Consider games where players actually do barely have a hope in the world:  Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia, and even My Life With Master.  These games place the players in a sad predicament: They face forces larger than they ever will be.  They force them to realize how small they are in the scope of things.  And yet, look how the games never make the players feel useless.

by Tegehel (Deviantart)

Players should never feel like they cannot do something that will matter.  They should never feel like their actions and efforts are pointless.  Seemingly pointless is fine.  But to actually feel like the whole session is one exercise in futility is no longer a game, it is a torture session designed as one.

Player characters are the stars of the story.  Not the non-playing cast.  Not the main villain.
They should always be able to do something that makes a difference.

3) Internal Consistency should be Present
If the feeling of helplessness exists due to say, an in-game mechanism like a rule against magic users, or say, a set of codified laws that are enforced upon the character, the player character should be able to use that existing set of rules to his advantage as well.    For example, a player playing a Paladin might feel helpless to fight against the high ranking individuals in his Temple, given his vow of loyalty towards them, but that same player should be able to find ways to throw the same set of rules at those individuals to his advantage.  Maybe he has noticed hints they are corrupted by an outside force and while his vows state he cannot directly question their commands, maybe the player can cite an obscure rule that allows him to request from them a Blessing before a Quest, effectively having them forced to show the use of "Good" magic as a test if they have been corrupted or not.

If you don't allow the player to make use of the very thing that prohibits him from doing other things, then all you are doing is throwing your weight around and giving your player a frustrating bad time.  Yes, we all know about the drama of Cuchulain being trapped by his vow not to eat dog meat, and not to refuse an offer of food.. but I don't think anyone would want to be playing THAT scene as the rest of their game session.  Or worse, as the chronicle of the character's story.

4) Finally, give the players a Pay Off that makes the effort worth it.
Maybe the character HAD to be imprisoned by the rival clan for three whole days, and undergo horrible tortures of both the body and mind.  Once he breaks free, give him his chance of revenge to beat up those who imprisoned him.  Maybe throw him information which he could have only garnered while in the prison, information which can change the advantage the enemy has had over the others all this time.   Whatever it is, make it feel like the crap he had to wade through was worth it.

If you don't, the player might decide the worst possible option instead:  That the game isn't worth it.
And you'll be left with an incomplete saga, and a game missing one player.