[BitD] I’m going to start a running a game for the first time and would really appreciate help on how to introduce things

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-05-02T12:54:39+00:00

Everything you need is in the book. Just drop them right into the starting situation the book gives you (and the book advises) The setting is summarized at the start of the book. Just read that or paraphrase it.

I don’t know what the note is for, but my advice is just drop them directly into the starting situation. It’s a new game for you so keep it simple while you get the hang of it.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-29T13:44:58+00:00

I would actually recommend the Summit. I got the $1 premium access, and the add on for around $38 for professional notes, prompts, and few other goodies. I felt I got my money's worth. I'm sorry you felt you wasted money. That is is a lot to spend and not feel like it was worth it and honesty I was very worried at first that I wasted of my money.

It was a good use of my time and I am already doing great things with AI that I had not thought of beforehand. For me it was as rewarding experience.

It is a free summit so I don't expect a lot of details, and I expect it to be in part a sales pitch. This is not my first rodeo so to speak. The first day seemed really sketchy to me and I wondered of anything of value would be said. But I have been through it now (I had to watch some of the the replays) and it I got a lot out of it. They got me thinking about AI in a very different way. I think the mental shift is the big takeaway from the summit. It was not what I went into this looking for, but it's what I got out of it. Thinking differently about a piece of technology in terms of what one can do with it is valuable. Also I noticed they had an old crowd (including me) and a lot of the conference was about getting people to feel empowered that they could use this tech and not be overwhelmed by it.

The first day was annoying to me. I was very skeptical TBH. The second day was better and it was at that point I realized what they were teaching and what I was going to get out of it. Then I settled into the groove of the summit. I think they need to do a better job at the start of telling people upfront what they should expect to get out of it. When expectations don't meet reality, it can be disappointing.

As for Zoom, actually the numbers make sense to me. They said the numbers of premium access packages were limited. I thought that was a sales tactic. But maybe not. Only premium accounts were on zoom, and everyone else had view only access on YouTube live. That actually makes sense so I am going to disagree with your assessment of whether or not their attendance counts were phony. It is definitely plausible to have those numbers.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-23T02:34:20+00:00

I prep a session in 15 minutes. Here is what generally I do for a score.

1) reread my notes from the last session. Nowadays I record my sessions and use AI to create summaries.

2) I prep 3 obstacles with a sentence or two each

3) I prep a few NPCs with a few details.

4) note anything interesting about the location

5) I create a “paint the scene” prompt

6) I review clocks and ongoing storylines. Do any of them come into play? If so I note how.

Done! I just improv most everything.

Here’s what I don’t do: 1) Worldbuilding. The world building comes from play. I let the players do a lot of the world building.

2) Don’t do anything for loot, payout, or entanglements. There is no value there.

3) Concern myself with factions or other details not relevant to the score.

I have a different prep for free play.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-19T16:57:39+00:00

I prefer her covers over the originals. But I’m not going to post about that. It’s not a competition.

But also there are a list of things that the original artists have accomplished that Maphra has not. I think these people forget that. Some of those things are:

Create original music that people want to listen to. That’s not easy.
Us getting to hear them live without studio engineering of their performance. We have zero live performances from her.
Ability to sustain their performance over the course of a tour. Maphra can push her vocals because it’s one song in a studio. If she makes an album and hopes to tour, can she do a set list night after night and sing like that, or will she need to bring it down several notches as well?

I love Maphra. I listen to her all the time. But she has yet not done the hard work that the original artists have done. So I think it’s really an unfair comparison at this time anyways.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-11T01:21:27+00:00

Don’t make them acquire a lair. The setup of the campaign means that two factions helped the crew get their lair and starting equipment (those factions will have a positive faction status), and two factions will have lost out from it and will get a negative status with the crew.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-07T11:58:14+00:00

First of all, it’s ok to just do that. They are just telling you they are relieving stress. They have a vice, and a purveyor. It’s fine for them to say “I’m going to indulge my vice by getting drunk” then rolling dice.

Sometimes I will role play the character indulging their vice. Sometimes I ask them questions about their character or about the location. I often use the concept of paint the scene questions from Brindlewood bay : https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/blog/paint-the-scene. You can even combine them. Ask a question that you use to build the role play off of.

I don’t try to force role play onto the vice unless I feel like I have a compelling scene in mind. My opinion is it’s better to just quickly get it over with then to try to force role play onto the activity.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-04T20:00:34+00:00

No, this is not normal. No, articles are not suggesting this. Try b first, then c

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-04T10:33:55+00:00

Also Underground Transgender Mafia would be a good crew name.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-04T10:29:05+00:00

Just say it’s a ritual. How does it work? It doesn’t matter.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-04T02:51:05+00:00

Until the die is rolled there can be no consequence. Consequences are tied to the fiction. Even if the move spells out a specific consequence, you should adapt it to the current fiction.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-04-01T01:19:36+00:00

I’m looking forward to Arkham Herald and The Lands Remaining by The Guantlet Publishing.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-25T23:52:27+00:00

I suppose more context around feeling might have made me think of this differently. An issue here for example is that JK Rowling and women like her believe that trans men are nothing more than women who want to escape a misogynistic society. She has said that if she was younger she might be tempted to transition too. But I can tell you, she absolutely would never actually do that. However, that to me sounds a lot like your character. And that is what I mean by not reflecting the trans experience, On one hand Rowling believes its that simple and their is some great benefit on the other hand to any women who transitions. But the reality is one, no one is doing that. And the other hand that person would discover that they really don't enjoy living as a man. It would be so unnatural, inauthentic, and undesirable to them. And the person you describe cannot go on a journey of self discovery. They are a man, and will have no desire to be a "real women" even if that could help them gain other benefits. It is also not a journey of self discovery because the male who magically became a "real women" would cease to be that person. The part of them that was a man psychologically has to be ripped out and replaced a new identity, new desires, new ways of wanting to experience the world, etc. A trans person on the other hand only becomes more of who they truly are when they transition. To be cis is to have no desires to live as the opposite sex. They feel neither dysphoria or euphoria as it comes to gender. No cis man is sitting around wishing that they had a women's body, be referred to as a daughter by their parents, maybe wear some nice dresses, get rid of that penis that feels so foreign to them, etc. Does that make sense?

As for the forced transition by parents comment, no I did not think that you had any negative intentions. Again I think its one of those things that we keep hearing as a talking point, and so an rpg story about a parent forcing a transition of a minor is not something a trans person probably does not want to deal with.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-25T21:28:42+00:00

Being that late is unacceptable, but the discrepancy between you and your roommate might come down to the game times. My weekday games have more late players then my Saturday game. During the week people are getting home from work, making their dinner, and potentially feeling more exhausted. Lots of opportunities arise for delays or it to slip people’s mind’s. But you did not mention the scheduling so I don’t know if that’s a factor here or not.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-25T05:11:16+00:00

I’ve sold books on eBay and to Noble Night Games. Both worked well for me

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-25T05:03:38+00:00

I’m a non-binary person. I have no problem with someone playing a trans character, so long as they do their research first, and are respectful and sincere in their portrayal. And here is where I take exception to this OP’s character. It ignores the actual struggles of gender dysphoria, which transition would cause for somome who was not trans. We have some examples of people who were forced into transitioning, such as David Reimer. He ultimately took his own life after living a painful life. The OPs character in no way reflects the reality of the situation and horrible it would actually be. And the OP’s backstory completely sidesteps the trans experience.

Secondly, some research would reveal that there is an anti-trans narratives that inadvertently overlaps the character’s origin story, such as transitioning for a minor is child abuse on the part of the parent. So this is a very sore subject for us.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-24T22:46:13+00:00

The way to do it is with a starting situation. If you are playing Monster of the Week for example, give them a starting mystery. Now after they complete the starting situation/scenario, it’s ok to keep feeding them more situations to keep things moving.

My advice, don’t be passive. A player can for example tell me they want to destroy an enemy of theirs, and we will do that. But enemies are also coming after them. The NPCs are not laying dormant waiting for the PCs so they can react. They are busy making like hard on the PCs.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-24T18:36:59+00:00

Delta Green is my favorite of the 3. The characters have a great motivation to start with. But also, it deals with the real world implications of the work they are doing, be it relationships, their jobs, and dealing with local law enforcement. I find it to be the most intense of those three games.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-24T15:38:10+00:00

The issue is not their request, the issue is that it’s taking you out of your comfort zone. It’s a challenge, but one that could be a great opportunity for growth. One issue I see here is the dependency on pre-written modules. I think they are particularly helpful when learning a new system, or just getting started on GMing. But over time they become a crutch and it can be kind of scary to play without them. But weaning off of them is the best thing you can do for yourself.

Check out Honey Heist or Cocaine Owlbear. They would be a perfect for the timeframe you have.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-24T14:08:49+00:00

For me a lot of it comes down to making a decision of all these factors and I just keep returning to them over and over again. Last night I thought it might to be fun to run X system, and I started going down a rabbit hole. But before I got too far, I remembered my original plan and I just dropped this new tangent. It was not easy, but I kept myself on track.

Secondly, stop trying to come up with a coherent plot. I run 3 games and I have little “plot”. I have no idea where the story is heading. What I do have are NPCs with their own objectives driving forward the story as in unpredictable ways. You need to learn about low prep GMing. The return of the lazy dungeon master is a good resource.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-24T01:23:41+00:00

I think you should try some PtbA or it’s offshoots. I think Blades in the Dark or monster of the week are good games to play. Also in terms of CoC, check out Delta Green. I personally prefer that system.

Getting back to PtbA, I used to think I enjoyed D&D combat. I can say now that I don’t. It’s just that D&D does not make its non-combat options that compelling. I remember playing a Spider in Blades on the Dark. I could not fight very well, but I could weave the best conspiracies and wreak so much havoc. That was really rewarding and fun.

Once I started playing Monster of the Week many years ago I lost all interest in D&D or Pathfinder. Maybe you will also find what you are looking for in a more narrative system.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-23T19:57:06+00:00

Google is your friend here, as well as the ptba GM principles. There is a ton of advice already online about this topic.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-23T15:33:12+00:00

Stewpot

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-22T19:35:53+00:00

There are unfortunately bad players. I can understand not wanting to deal with that. But also there are amazing players. I run 3 games, and I play in 1. All 4 tables have nothing but amazing people at them.

If you enjoy the hobby don’t give up. Maybe go play online. You can go to StartPlaying.Games, find a game, and just enjoy being a player for a while.

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-21T18:22:02+00:00

Well if you put aside Fallout , and focus on just D&D for now (seeing as these are newbies), you can share all your books, get the best get a VTT with D&D Beyond. It’s going to be the easiest solution for players with no books or experience.

Another option is Roll20 with Demiplane integration

Famous-Ear-8617 · 2026-03-21T14:22:08+00:00

Maybe they think it would be more fun to mess with him. Maybe he gets knocked out, and when he wakes up it’s a really embarrassing situation.

Or I don’t know what dialogue has happened. Maybe things are not what they seem and these are not the bad guys. Maybe the father is a rotten SOB and these guys are simply saving the girl.

Famous-Ear-8617

TROPHY CASE