A few weeks ago I wrote about “a game master’s statement” based on some of the artist’s statements I had seen at art gallery shows and museum exhibitions.

To give an example of what this can look like, I wrote one for a sandbox campaign I’m working on.

This is just one way I could do this. It could be a video or a combination of video and text. The important takeaway is to communicate how I think about roleplaying games to prospective players so they can decide if they want to join the game and what to expect.

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Game Master’s Statement for the City State of Maleth

What is a roleplaying game?

I define a roleplaying game as an interactive model (simulation) in which players take on the role of a fictional character, in a fictional situation, and make choices in pursuit of objectives. 

The purpose of an RPG, is to emulate experiences we either cannot have at all or are unwilling to take the personal risk of experiencing. These simulations occur primarily in our own brains but sometimes we use affordances such as maps, images, and miniatures to enhance understanding of the situation.

I use words to describe the starting state of the system. The components of that system are the game world and it’s inhabitants, the life experiences and knowledge of the participants, and the game rules. Players make choices and the state of the system changes. I describe that change to the players.

If I create engaging situations and describe them in a skillful way, the words will stimulate the imagination of players. Evocative description can produce otherworld immersion directing player focus toward the fiction of the game world and away from the mechanical systems.

Stimulating imagination and emotion in players so potent that they will remember the events played out in the game for the rest of their lives is one of my primary goals.

The Rule Set

The Maleth Campaign will use the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules written by Matt Finch. I will supplement the rules with house rules, and other systems borrowed from other game masters and designers. Some of these mechanics will be hidden from players. Other mechanisms will be available for the players to manipulate but I prefer that you interact with the setting by use of normal language.

Damage, healing, death, and dying

I consider “hit points” to be an abstract game mechanism that represents the physical capacity of characters to fight, move, and perform physical actions. When a character has less than 0 hit points, I roll on a “Death and Dismemberment” table to determine the actual injury and how that affects their ability to proceed. Healing spells and rules also differ from the standard system.

Silver Standard

The standard currency in most places will be the silver piece. There are 200 coins to one pound for encumbrance purposes. One experience point will be awarded for each silver piece worth of treasure brought to a safe haven.

Reaction and Reputation

I use the standard reaction roll in circumstances where I am uncertain how an NPC will respond to the player character’s. Reputation may modify that reaction. Reputation can change depending on how the players have previously interacted with NPCs in a location or with the faction the NPC belongs to. Social interactions with NPCs can have long lasting and salient affects on the behavior of NPCs toward player characters.

Genre and Setting of Maleth

The Maleth campaign broadly falls into the genres of swords-and-sorcery and unheroic/grimdark fantasy. 

The campaign world suffered a terrible event several centuries ago that is commonly called The Great Calamity. The Great Calamity was a period of war, social strife, pestilence, famine, natural disasters, invasions by barbarian sea raiders, monsters, and destructive magical storms. Many people died. Most cities were abandoned. Civilization collapsed almost everywhere. 

Maleth is one of the first cities to reform since the collapse.

Player characters have origins in the lower classes, are outsiders to Maleth, or possibly a junior member of an impoverished aristocratic family.

Maleth is a city state within an archipelago. The city is ruled by an arcon elected by a council of the city’s influential families. Most of them are merchants who own ships involved in long distance trade. The city has recently allied with the seafolk (mermaids/men) who trade weapons and tools for goods recovered from ship wrecks. This has brought great wealth to the city in a very short period of time.

There are many factions in Maleth. They include the few remaining aristocratic families who survived the calamity, corrupt and greedy merchants, wizards obsessed with recovering the magic of the before times, pirates, smugglers, and priests who are trying to revive the tradition of sacral kingship.

Most of the islands in the archipelago remain depopulated and monster infested ruins. Treasures, magic, and knowledge of the old world lie within those ruins waiting to be recovered and used to restore the civilization that came before.

Inspirations

History:

• The ancient and medieval history of the Mediterranean Sea and it’s cultures
• Venice, Malta, Tyre, Carthage, Rome, Greece, the Phonecians, the bronze age collapse, the Greek Iron Age

Fiction: 

• The Iliad, The Odyssey by Homer
• Chronicle of the Dread Empire, by Glen Cook
• First Law series by Joe Abercrombie
• Earthsea series by Ursala LeGuin
• Robert E Howard, HP Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and other sword-and-sorcery writers

Music

• Apocryphon by The Sword
• Dead Star, Acheron by King Buffalo
• Lovecraft Collaborations by Cryochamber

Movies

• Jason and the Argonauts
• Seven Voyages of Sinbad
• Troy
• Clash of the Titans (1981)

Boundaries and Expectations

My games tend to have adult themes and motifs. Most of the time, that manifests as terrible things happening to the player characters and helpful non-player characters. 

I sometimes describe those terrible events in graphic detail. Usually I give only enough to get the point across.

You can expect villains to be truly villainous, self centered, and cruel. Monsters will be monstrous. The horror, horrible. Without disturbing events, the normal and the wondrous have no meaningful contrast.

Most of the time, I’m trying to create “fun”. Sometimes I will create situations that could cause discomfort, annoyance, and apprehension among other unpleasant feelings.

Those moments may not be “fun” but they will be meaningful. Those feelings will provide contrast. I will attempt to provoke you into having a deep dislike of some of the NPCs and beings in the campaign world.

Adventurers sitting around town waiting for adventure to drop in their lap will receive that but it will be to their disadvantage. My NPCs are actively seeking to achieve their goals. Some of the major NPCs are not nice and do not use nice means to achieve their ends.

There will be interesting and engaging opportunities for adventure and gain. Some information will be given without effort on your part but you will benefit from seeking out NPC sages, priests, oracles, beggars, and underworld information brokers. 

The most valuable sources of experience points and treasure are found by active adventurers.

The choice is yours

Whether you decide to be heroes, scoundrels with a heart of gold, villains, or something else is up to you.

I create the world and give you enough information to get started. You decide what you want to interact with and how. The game system, the logic of the game world, and the occasional ruling from me determines the outcomes of those choices. The monsters, factions, and non-player characters of the setting respond to your decisions and you respond in turn.

My intention is to create a gaming experience that is engaging, immersive and fun. 

I hope that the group has a lot of laughs and many memories of wonder and adventure as their low born characters became legendary figures in the city state of Maleth.