GM’s Corner

Free Flow Gaming versus Adventure Books

Before you start your career as a GM, you have to have a couple of things down. Firstly you need to have a fairly decent grasp of the rules. At the end of the day you as the GM should be the final ruling on any problems or confusion in the gaming session, so a decent knowledge of the rules helps save time and keep the session running. The second thing a GM needs to know is his story, the story is core of the game and whilst I put emphasis on letting your player characters live out their own individual “stories”, having a well built and well thought out “plan” and world helps ease the player characters in.

This leads us to the problem that I and a few other GM’s I know came to face as we started playing. Do we invent our own stories and worlds for the player characters or do we use the various pre-written adventure books that are available?

I’ll start with Adventure books. These are pre-generated campaigns/stories that are usually written up by the same companies that make the games/rulebooks. They give the GM a full adventure from start to finish and detail all the encounters and NPC’s the players will discover along the way. They usually contain very detailed descriptions of the locations and villains that define that particular story and are often filled with hints and tips for the GM to run the sessions.

Adventure books are ideal for first time GM’s or GM’s that are moving to a different game (i.e. moving from D&D to the Star Wars RPG) and are still getting to grips with the new rules. They offer a complete campaign and often give hints and tips that are very helpful to a new GM. Another good point about adventure book gaming is you have reliable idea of the number of sessions you will need to play for, one of the major issues with free-flow gaming is that it can be nearly impossible to gauge how long a campaign will run for. This isn’t the case with adventure books, because you have the story and structure set up already, it is ideal for GM’s and PC’s who have limited time to play or that don’t want to get bogged down in a year-long campaign (Yes, it happens…)

The downside of Adventure book games is that the players are basically being “rail-roaded”. For those of you who are new to roleplay gaming, Rail Roading is when a GM or Campaign force a player characters actions. They will always end up discovering the same clues and ending up at the same locations regardless of how they may investigate. Whilst it is harder to spot for newer players, Rail Roading eventually becomes a problem for players as they feel restricted and unable to truly immerse themselves in the gaming world. Some other minor problems with adventure book gaming include the cost. Depending on the publisher, they can be quite expensive and essentially if you stick to the same gaming group, it is a one use book with no replay value. And the last problem you might face is the unimaginative player character. With these books printed and on sale for all, you run the risk that a player character will read through the story and gain an unfair knowledge of things to come. It’s not always the case, some groups might not experience this at all, but occasionally it can happen and can ruin a campaign if it becomes obvious a player knows what’s coming.

Free-flow gaming, if the term has been coined as such is a campaign of the GM’s creation. A world he has made and a story he has written. It is a style of gaming that lets the player characters have real freedom to investigate and explore the GM’s world in a manner of their choosing. Free-flow requires a lot more effort on the part of the GM. He must create a world and a story from scratch but must also be ready to improvise on the spot as usually the PC’s will not act in the manner you expect.

Free-Flow as I’ve mentioned is not limited like Adventure Book gaming, the only limit on the campaigns and worlds and characters you will meet and encounter is that of the GM’s imagination. It can offer a much more immersive world for the PC’s as they are free to interact and investigate at their own pace and in a manner of their choosing. More often than not, this style of play makes the campaigns more about the players “story” than the actual mission they are trying to achieve and this can be very rewarding for the players as they generally prefer the ego-boosts. The other benefits include it being completely free, a pen and paper being all you will need to create such a campaign and also it will be unpredictable for your player characters. With it being contained with the GM’s mind, there is no risk of a player character reading ahead and ruining the story for everyone else.

The major downside of Free-Flow gaming is the timescale. As I’ve already mentioned, player characters rarely act in the manner a GM might expect and in an effort to keep with his players, the campaign can be stretched out quite a lot more than the GM might expect. This can be a problem as often it conflicts with other hobbies and generally the busier lifestyles people tend to lead. A person can’t be expected to give a night or two every week for the foreseeable future and often people will have to miss sessions if the campaigns drag on. Another problem is the freedom the campaigns offer, this can lead to massive deviations in the storyline as the players pursue an obscure lead or waste time chasing personal goals. This can lead to the problems with the timescale but can also be easily remedied with a little improvisation. Finally one of the bigger downsides of free-flow gaming is also the biggest strength. Whilst the campaigns can be immersive and limitless, you also have the problem that the story is only as good as the GM. Sometimes a GM can offer little in detailed description leaving the player feeling like he is moving from one empty whitewashed room to another whilst other GM’s waste time with description, detailing every inch of an area to the point where a player loses interest. The best bet is finding the middle ground.

Both types have their merits as well as their problems. I personally would recommend that new GM’s try an adventure book campaign first just to get to grips with the system and the new role they find themselves in, I would also suggest it to GM’s moving to a different game system. After that however I recommend Free-flow as it is equally rewarding for the players and the GM. I’ve tried to be as unbiased as I can be about them and I hope you find it helpful.

Next time on GM’s corner we’ll be talking about the things you need and might consider for the sessions...and it will be on Youtube!

If you have anything to add or think I’ve missed anything let me know, I welcome input from other GM’s as well as being happy to answer any questions new players might have.

See you next time.

-Roth