Funny GM quirks

[Aaryq]

I tend to let a majority of my "Bad Guys" value life. Not everybody and their brother is going to fight to the death just because they're bad guys. If you're in a firefight with some nicely equipped PC's and you started out with a group of 10 and there are 2 of you left, you're probably going to re-evaluate your decisions and try to flee or at least try to surrender and beg for mercy (optional).

[Alrik Vas]

Aaryq, that's not a funny quirk. It's common sense.

Now, if you had your badguys be cowardly and beg for mercy on a regular basis, then constatnly try to sneak away in the night...like, as a rule of thumb, that would be entertaining, and quickly make evil PC's...because who wants to babysit when you can just put a plasma cartidge in their skull?

[Aaryq]

Okay, funnier:
I learned this one playing D&D in Afghanistan with Canadian Forces and US Army.

Comic Book/Action Movie Physics Mode:
What I do is put them in a ridiculously impossible situation and tell them that Comic Book Physics are now in effect. They have 5 minutes (or the time for me to smoke a cigarette) to come up with the most impossible, ridiculous way to save themselves. Anything that you can do in comic books, action films, video games, and stuff like that is good to go. The more ridiculous the outcome, the bigger the experience reward is given to the players (unless it becomes a "No ****, there we were" moment I usually cap the experience at 500 per player).

[Alrik Vas]

Nice!

[Thinyser]

after sessions (or sometimes at the stat of the next) i'll run trivia on the game for bonus xp

nice idea

also sometimes i'll just roll dice and smile to watch players get freaked out

Don't all GMs do this?

[KillWatch]

what kind of trivia?


and yes I make phantom rolls to freak my players out as well. Keep them guessing.

[Thinyser]

what kind of trivia?

Guessing it would be trivial details about the previous session.
Names of NPCs, which wench slept with which PC, how many blows it took to kill a certain enemy, what the rooms and meals/drinks cost at the inn, etc.

Just a guess, but thats how I'm gonna bring it into my game.

[Kargan3033]

One thing I did when I was GMing was have the players run afoul of an dirty, rotten lying scummy, sleezy lawyer who keeps hounding the players with lawsuits and every other underhanded legal trick in the book and then set it it up that they have to save the scum bag or Bad Things happen to them, the ones they love or innocent people and for a kicker I made this low life scum bag a mega villain who was playing the Heros/Players like a fiddle and had her as a reoccurring enemy/questionable allie and all around plot device to really get the player's goat(in game that is).

Ahh those were good times for everyone.

[KillWatch]

everyone?

did they at least get a satisfying death out of him?

[RiftJunkie]

I try not to have a no in my head
I say you can try. I allow the characters to hang themselves, suffer their consequences, let the dice play as they lay.

Screw game balance. I don't worry about it. sometimes some jerkwads are hassling an old lady for her purse. They don't become super villains just because the players get involved. Its nice to be the big bad ass mo fos.
sometimes it is better to run. If you I have a built in way for you to rid the world of the old one you thought would be cool to summon,... think again.

No meta gaming from the players or from me. You don't get to change your mind based on player knowledge and neither do I. If the players come up with a good idea that the villain hasn't thought of, excellent you found a whole. Villains won't automatically know what the players have in mind. Sometimes the villains won't even know the heroes exist! I won't design villains just to foil the players. You have no idea what is going to happen during game play and the most random thing may happen and destroy your plans. Unless they are specifically arch villains there is no reason to counter powers with tech etc. Well ok another reason is a long standing back and forth battle with a major recurring villain who has witnessed and studied the heroes and has some kind of obsession with them. But just because they can see the abilities being used it doesn't mean they have a guide book or a RPG book to look up what these strange abilities are and what weaknesses they might have. Major villains need to be as fleshed out as the PCs with their own desires, goals and failings.

Don't have anything in your game you aren't willing to have destroyed. That means, NPCs, Agencies, Bad Guys everything is mutable. NPCs should have their own lives that are not stagnant. NPCs should have relationships and troubles of their own, that the players can get involved in or exposed to providing whole other story arcs. villains can be caught off guard, surprised or fumble a skill roll.

Have a mary sues that dooms themselves through rp-ing. Like a superman who seems all good and untouchable, has a thing for crushing women during sex, exploring just how fragile humans can be. The highly skilled martial artist has a drinking problem. A major NPC is secretly battling stage 4 cancer.

Have consequences for actions. You take out a the major baddy, fine. Is there someone who is waiting in the wings? do they have family or friends or lovers who wish to avenge them? What operations are going to go to hell now that they are not in charge anymore? Villains aren't in costume all the time. They might have secret identities who are married, have children, brothers and sisters, etc whoa re going to wonder where they went and begin their investigation, maybe even hiring the heroes to find them.

One hit wonders. Allow them. If they have been fighting up 13 floors of goons to get to the roof and one hit the viallin with a nat 20 fine. But that should clue them in that life is precious and fleeting and that they are vulnerable to it as well.

Yup, pretty much this. I also have the quirk that whenever someone rolls a 42, they succeed in whatever it was that they were trying to do in some ridiculous crazy flamboyant style. Besides XP, I also award "Cool Points" for outrageous bad@ssery. You know: the guy who casts globe of daylight (for backlight), heavy breathing, summon fog, aura of power and finally wind rush to kick open the doors to the "Thrown Room" just to make a dramatic entrance. "Cool Points" are a combination of exaggerated xp and the improved likelihood of rare/exotic equipment/spells/scrolls/etc. after gaining a few.

[Alrik Vas]

Cool points are a must, IMO.

[Thinyser]

I try not to have a no in my head
I say you can try. I allow the characters to hang themselves, suffer their consequences, let the dice play as they lay.

Screw game balance. I don't worry about it. sometimes some jerkwads are hassling an old lady for her purse. They don't become super villains just because the players get involved. Its nice to be the big bad ass mo fos.
sometimes it is better to run. If you I have a built in way for you to rid the world of the old one you thought would be cool to summon,... think again.

No meta gaming from the players or from me. You don't get to change your mind based on player knowledge and neither do I. If the players come up with a good idea that the villain hasn't thought of, excellent you found a whole. Villains won't automatically know what the players have in mind. Sometimes the villains won't even know the heroes exist! I won't design villains just to foil the players. You have no idea what is going to happen during game play and the most random thing may happen and destroy your plans. Unless they are specifically arch villains there is no reason to counter powers with tech etc. Well ok another reason is a long standing back and forth battle with a major recurring villain who has witnessed and studied the heroes and has some kind of obsession with them. But just because they can see the abilities being used it doesn't mean they have a guide book or a RPG book to look up what these strange abilities are and what weaknesses they might have. Major villains need to be as fleshed out as the PCs with their own desires, goals and failings.

Don't have anything in your game you aren't willing to have destroyed. That means, NPCs, Agencies, Bad Guys everything is mutable. NPCs should have their own lives that are not stagnant. NPCs should have relationships and troubles of their own, that the players can get involved in or exposed to providing whole other story arcs. villains can be caught off guard, surprised or fumble a skill roll.

Have a mary sues that dooms themselves through rp-ing. Like a superman who seems all good and untouchable, has a thing for crushing women during sex, exploring just how fragile humans can be. The highly skilled martial artist has a drinking problem. A major NPC is secretly battling stage 4 cancer.

Have consequences for actions. You take out a the major baddy, fine. Is there someone who is waiting in the wings? do they have family or friends or lovers who wish to avenge them? What operations are going to go to hell now that they are not in charge anymore? Villains aren't in costume all the time. They might have secret identities who are married, have children, brothers and sisters, etc whoa re going to wonder where they went and begin their investigation, maybe even hiring the heroes to find them.

One hit wonders. Allow them. If they have been fighting up 13 floors of goons to get to the roof and one hit the viallin with a nat 20 fine. But that should clue them in that life is precious and fleeting and that they are vulnerable to it as well.

Yup, pretty much this. I also have the quirk that whenever someone rolls a 42, they succeed in whatever it was that they were trying to do in some ridiculous crazy flamboyant style. Besides XP, I also award "Cool Points" for outrageous bad@ssery. You know: the guy who casts globe of daylight (for backlight), heavy breathing, summon fog, aura of power and finally wind rush to kick open the doors to the "Thrown Room" just to make a dramatic entrance. "Cool Points" are a combination of exaggerated xp and the improved likelihood of rare/exotic equipment/spells/scrolls/etc. after gaining a few.

I have a player who would so do that.