New GM for the Fantasy RPG, could use some assistance please

[Natasha]

Communicate. Talk to the others about their expectations and desires for the game. Talk to them about yours. Do so in concrete expressions and do not settle for “having fun”. Drive out specifics. You are not carving these things into stone so they can and probably will change but it is important to know them. That in my experience gives the best durability to a campaign. The ones where people only talk once they arrive at the table tend to be lame.

Creating NPCs is depending from the situation and need. At one time I just make up the numbers according to what I need. I will have the character and personality figured out before I start but the skills and attributes tend to come as I start to know what I need.

If something comes up I will add, but this is a start anyways.

[The Dark Elf]

NPCs - you only need strike parry dodge damage bonuses. I make the ALL +2 then up it to +3 if the players are finding it easy. simple
HP&SDC just have the players and make that the value for your NPC.

IF you have any major villains then roll them up without skills. Ignore rolling attributes just make them whatever you see fit (if you want your villain to be uber strong make his PS 24 etc etc.).

Campaigns are up to you. Sorry. Try having an adventure first then, whilst youre playing pick up on a sequel idea to carry it on. start with a book adventure maybe. The Island at the edge of the world is a campaign and is what got me hooked on Palladium. Use that.

My own advice (may vary from others) is to start small THEN build it into as epic a campaign as you like as the players grow. Do not start the quest as "find the most powerful item on Palladium" as it is impossible for lvl 1 (players and their characters need to role play building confidence).

By the rules large battles are indeed just time consuming. Just remember that there can only be so many people attacking within range. 50 people couldnt reach you to hit you. Say ten at the most if youre surrounded. If you are putting those odds against the group I hope its just animated dead who should fall quickly.

[JuliusCreed]

Hopefully this is in the correct section, I apologize if it isn't.

Yep you got the right section. Welcome to the GM's Forum.

I'm a somewhat new GM, and I was wondering if I could get some GM tips and basically a "How to" GM guide for Palladium Fantasy RPG; Something I can print out and study. I've run a handful of games and I felt I wasn't quite qualified to GM until I did some further learning/research/studying into GMing. Unfortunately, I can't find much GM information in the Main book for Palladium Fantasy. Can anyone tell me what they do from story telling to combat and so on?? It would be greatly appreciated as I'd love to learn how to run my own games proper.

Welcome to the wonderful world Of GM'ing. Be warned it is not for the faint of heart, but can be a very satisfying and rewarding experience. First and foremost, the best piece of advice I can give is to just relax and do your best. You're not gonna be a great GM right out of the gate, but like anything else, the more you do it the better you get. As for a "How To" guide to GM'ing, the best place I can think of is PFRPG pgs 37-41, the section titled The Game Master and the Art of Storytelling. While not a comprehensive guide to being a GM, it has some great tips and tricks that can go a long way toward getting you started.

Things I know:
*Character creation
*The basics of combat (Initiatives, number of attacks, which dice to use, etc.)
*Savings throws and Coma/Death related information

Good... you've got most of the basics covered.

Things I'd like to know:
*How to do complicated combat (Large amounts of enemies) efficiently

Large scale combat can be one of the more difficult things to tackle. Personally, I handle it by keeping the main bulk of the action focused on the players' actions in the battle as well as a few key NPC's and relegate the bulk of the big group to a few simple percentile rolls that determine a rough idea of which side of the battle holds the advantage in the battle. For example, Army X is battling Army Y. After the players and key NPC's are taken care of, percentiles are rolled for the armies with Army X getting a 51 and Army Y getting a 47. The numbers are pretty close, so it translates as no significant losses on either side, though Army X seems to be gaining an advantage, perhaps by starting to take a particular hill or edging forward at the front lines. This roll can stand as is for a melee round or two and then a new roll is made with results of 16 and 84 for Armies X and Y respectively. The bigger difference shows a significant shift in the battle tide to the side of Army Y, showing some kind of major outflanking maneuver or a heavy cavalry charge breaking through the lines or even the death of a major leader on Army X's side. Basically, keep the rolls for large group battles simple and use your imagination with the rest the rest.
An even simpler way to do it is to just have a way you want the battle to go already planned out in your head on a round by round basis. No need to go into details about how the battle is going unless your players specifically ask about it. For example, your players engage in a large scale battle as part of an army. They charge forward and start slashing their way through the lines. In my head, i have the side the players are on slowly working their way forward against the enemy until a particular moment when a cavalry charge from the enemy breaks through a flank and begins mowing through the ranks. If at any time before the charge the players take a moment to take a look around to see what's going on besides the hacking and slashing they're doing, a quick perception roll or two later can give them a hint of what the enemy is about to do and react as they see fit, either warning their comrads of the impending charge, moving to counter it themselves or even nothing at all. This method requires a lot less die rolling and allows the GM a lot more flexibility in how the battle goes, as well as giving himself and the players a lot more control over the outcome of particular events in the battle.

*How to create enemies properly (Do you make character sheets per enemy and reuse them with updated stats as needed?? How do you come up with HP among other things, through character creation or just randomized??)

Depends on the enemy you want to create... if it's a major player in the game, like an evil sorcorer trying to take over the world or a sadistic witch king with an army of orcs and trolls at his command or even a noble knight in shining armor wandering the world, righting wrongs and occassionally helping the players out, you'll probably want some decent details on the guy, maybe even make it a fully statted out character. Major players that are likely not going to be repeat problems, like the aforementioned evil sorceror's hunchbacked henchman Igor or the witch kings troll warlord lieutenant or the palladin's trusty squire sidekick, put in some details and color, but just enough to give you a good idea of what he's all about. For pretty much anyone else, from orc thugs and bandits to peasant farmers, barkeeps and town militias, all you really need is the absolute basics for combat (number of attacks, strike, parry, dodge and damage bonuses), weapons being used, if any, AR, HP and SDC. determine the numbers simple and fast; attacks should be anywhere from 1-4 depending on how experienced the guy is, 1d4, 1d6 or 1d8 for combat bonuses you want to add, HP ranges from 3-5d6, SDC ranges 1d4x10. Add weapons and armor and send to the slaughter.

*How to create a good, long campaign

Start with a few small adventures. see what catches your players' attention the most. Get a good feel for what they like and don't like, what they want their characters to do, where they want to go and what they want to experience. Always, always, always keep the communication lines between yourself and your players open. Personally, at the end of EVERY gaming session I run I hold a quick Q&A with my players, asking them for any questions, comments, compliments, complaints and, most importantly, suggestions they may have about the game. My way of looking at it is simple. They say I'm a great GM. I say the reason I'm a great GM is because my players tell me how to make it that way for them. Once you get all of this information, a good long campaign can actually start to present itself, sometimes in surprising ways. All you have to do is give them a common thread to work with and let the rest work itself out. Just take ideas from what they want and find a way to string it all together. :Last week your players rescued an Elven princess from a mysterious mystical kidnapper. Yesterday they stumbled upon an ancient Elven ruin where they found a strange magical artifact that seems to be resistant to mystic probes about its origins. And just today, a dragon razed a small town to the ground not far from the player's campsite. What do they all have in common? Only you, the GM, knows, and it's up to your players to find out... before it's too late!

*And anything else you feel important to share with me

The only other thing I can say... and this comes from the heart... you're going to screw up... probably a lot. Don't get too discouraged by it. It takes time, patience and practice to get good at anything and being a good GM, much less a great one, is testament to that fact. I've been playing these games for nigh on 30 years now and running/GM'ing them for almost 20. And I still have nights where I just can't seem to get the ball rolling right. But it's worth it when even one player looks at me and says they had a great time.

I will post more questions as they come, and any answers are greatly appreciated. I hope my posts were clear enough, and if not I will be more than happy to elaborate.
Thank you for reading and thank you for any replies

Thank you for taking the time to read this and learn. There are hundreds of resources right here on these boards you can tap for any kind of info and help you may need. In the end we're all gamers and do it all for the love of the game. Ask around about anything and I can guarantee you'll get a couple dozen different answers on nearly any subject. Take the one(s) you like and go with it. After all... it's YOUR game!
Good luck and great gaming!

[JuliusCreed]

Thank you JuliusCreed for your detailed response, I read it all and will likely read it again and again to try and remember everything.

I think I will try to write some small adventures after I talk to the group and see what they are interesed in.

As for my big campaign, is there any section here I can post it under to get some input and help writing it?? That way if everyone thinks it's a solid story/quest they can use it for their own games .

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, .wrote this from my phone and the screen is shifting oddly

My pleasure, friend. I like to help new GM's along their way and passing what knowledge I have is one of many ways I can do it.
Forum to post your big campaign in depends on the campaign location. If your campaign is in PFRPG, post it there, Rifts campaign in the Rifts forum and so on and so forth.

[Akashic Soldier]

The Rifts Game Master Guide has extensive information on how to (and how not to) run a game (using the Megaversal System which includes PF).

Its a $30 book and I highly recommend picking up a copy. It is the jewel of my collection. There is not a game session where I do not refer to it at lease once.