Melody [0:00]
The Game Master Certification Organization had the opportunity to interview Charles the Sinister Storyteller! This podcast will feature an excerpt from that interview, where we will be touching on a range of topics from worldbuilding, to rules and mistakes, to performance as a game master - Sinister Storyteller-style. My name is Melody Rainelle and I’ll be your host. Charles, let’s start with the topic of worldbuilding. Do you have a favorite kind of detail you like to use that makes a world come alive?

Charles [0:35]
Well, I don't think I have one. I've never been one for hardcore worldbuilding. I mean obviously it's important, but I tend to push that kind of stuff off on my players, a lot.  I might know that they're coming up to an inn, and I'll, you know, maybe I'll give them a little prompt saying, you know, you passed a couple ends on this journey but you decided not to stop at any of them because you were wanting to stop here, what is unique about this inn that made you want to stop here? And then I let them have free rein to come up with any details that they want. I just don't... I don't want to spend the time to do that kind of worldbuilding. I don't think it's worth my time, if I'm honest, when the players can do it, and it will be, odds are, more creative than what I alone could come up with, and it invests them more heavily in the game.

Melody [1:32]
Well, thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions on worldbuilding. Let’s jump over to rules now. Do you have a rule zero?

Charles [1:40]
Have fun. It's all about having fun. I mean, other rules are all well and good. You know, you can homebrew, you can make up your own rule set entirely, or you can run the most rules-as-written game of pathfinder on the face of the earth, but if you're not having fun then what does any of that other stuff matter?

Melody [2:02]
Awesome. So, what rule system do you use? You mentioned a few of them in our last podcast episode. Is there a system you are really looking forward to right now?

Charles [2:13]
Well, I have found myself being drawn more and more toward rules light systems. You know, I cut my teeth on 3rd Edition, 3.5, and then Pathfinder, which are all very simulationist kind of game. There's a rule for everything and that's cool like I'm not trash talking that - that kind of game is a lot of fun. But I've also found times where I found it difficult to tell cool scenes in these games without just completely throwing out all the rules, right? Now fortunately my players are trusting of me and they know that if I ignore some rules, it's to set up a really neat scene, and not to screw them over. Right? But be that as it may, I've really been getting into Free League's games, they're the ones who do Alien, they do Tales from the Loop, Coriolis. So I've got a Coriolis game going which is really neat, and I'm currently waiting on the Symbaroum books to come in, so that I can look at that it's kind of like Nordic - Nordic dark-forced fantasy I think would be the quick elevator pitch - it kind of feels like the Witcher, in a way. And I'd really love to be able to run a group, through some of that.

Melody [3:34]
Neat! Now, jumping to our next topic, how do you handle mistakes?

Charles [3:41]
Mistakes on on my end? What do you what do you mean mistakes? Like if a player messes up a rule or if I interpret something wrong or if I don't add enough attendees to an encounter? I'm not sure what you mean.

Melody [3:53]
The questions are intentionally vague. 

Charles [3:57]
Well... Goodness, again that is almost too vague of a question. Um, well, I would say that most mistakes are done without malintent. So assuming that that's the case, you know if a player says: "well actually your grappled so that last hit, that last attack should have hit." Even if we've already moved on, I'll say: "Oh! Okay, well go ahead and roll damage." I'm all for ruling mistakes in favor of the players and the story. So, if I make a mistake that benefits them, I'm less likely to correct it. Well, let me change that. If a mistake has been made that benefits the players, I'm far less likely to correct it - like retcon it - than I am if a mistake disadvantages the players, right? So like if I score critical hit on a player, and it takes them into negative hit points, and we move on, we're a couple turns later in the initiative and that player finally is like: "Hey, actually, I have this thing that says there's a 50% chance that critical hit is a regular hit instead." "Oh, okay, go ahead and roll that." They roll it, and it becomes a regular hit. In fact that happened this Sunday with a player. And we changed their hit point total, because why would I disadvantage the players? That's not fun. And also, like if all the players die... I mean I'm not saying I've never TPK'd players. I will let a TPK happen, but I don't want it to happen because a mistake. And in this case mistake meaning getting the rule wrong. It's one thing if that happens because of mistakes in player strategy. That's just kind of how, like, hey, sometimes the dice giveth and the dice taketh away so we don't correct those. But yeah, I mean is a large part of my job is trying to make sure that I'm applying rules consistently. So, I try to correct mistakes as quickly and accurately in favor the players, as I can.

Melody [6:05]
Well addressed. Charles, we would love to hear more about your approach to storytelling. Would you please tell us about your art?

Charles [6:14]
I approach storytelling... I think about it in terms of a movie. I'm a big movie fan. I really enjoy movie-making, and all of the details that go behind that, processes that go into that. And so I would say the one thing that sets my games apart from most people's games, is the use of a virtual cam. So, I will say things like, you know, maybe the tension in the scene is building toward these Delta Green agents, confronting the monster that's hiding in a shed in the backyard. And as they open the door, I'll do something like the camera cuts to an interior shot of the shed. And as the door swings open, you're backlit by the floodlight. All we can see is your silhouette, surrounded by the bright rain falling behind. So I try to use those kind of conventions, one - for just dramatic reasons, and two - because I want the group as a whole to have a more consistent mental image of the game session, because I find that it's easier for them to remember and talk about those things when they all experienced it, more or less the same way, right? It's like when you're talking about your favorite scene in a movie like The Matrix, the first scene where Trinity jumps up and the camera spins around in slo-mo. Like, we all know exactly what that looks like because we all saw the exact same movie. So I try to do that for my games with the use of this virtual cam. I would say that's the main thing that sets me apart.

Melody [7:58]
What a fascinating approach! Okay, here’s the last question for this episode: What single piece of advice would you give to gamers?

Charles [8:08]
That is a very broad question... a single piece of advice? I don't know... Try different games. If you've only ever played one game, that's like only ever eating one type of food. It doesn't mean that that first game you played won't always be your favorite, but there are lots of other good games out there, and I think you'd be doing a great disservice to yourself by not trying other games.

Melody [8:38]
Now that’s some food for thought. Thank you, Charles!

To our listeners - please check the podcast description for details on how to connect with Charles the Sinister Storyteller! Are you curious about what running seven games a week looks like? And as a potential career choice, how sustainable is running games for a living? Well, next podcast we will answer these questions as we dive into the category of administration, so stay tuned! Follow us to receive notifications when new podcasts are released. For more podcasts and information, check out our website https://www.gamemastercertification.org/. Like what you’ve heard here? Hit the share button to help us spread the word! Thank you for listening!