[ECC] GM Advice

I've been in games where the GM obviously knew what he was doing, and
I've instigated a few events myself, so I'm going to polish up my
hubris and offer unsolicited advice to people who might be thinking
about running an event for next year, particularly SG2 or FMAS.  In no
particular order, here are some suggestions:

a. Find out how big the table is.  Allow a space at one end for
reinforcements, and fill the rest.  A 48 x 48 set up on a 60 x 120
table isn't a good show.  A 72 x 144 set up on a 60 x 120 table is
generally not a good idea.

b. Bear in mind that players don't usually seem to make it more than
halfway across a table, so don't put their objective too far away--two
or three turn's movement, max, and less if they also have a base they
have to defend.

c. Give players specific missions.  They will often ignore them, but
they'll be happy.

d. On a related note, make different types of missions available.
Some people will be content with orders to "grind forward and destroy
the enemy" but others will want to be clever, or stealthy, or
whatever.  I often try to get through a scenario without firing a
shot--I have more fun either commanding or negotiating than I do
shooting.

e. Give players other ways than shooting to affect each other.	It
might be negotiations, or it might be things like the special cards
Adrian used in con Queso and I used in FMASheep.  The cards in Sheep
were usually ridiculous, but a more serious game could have things
like "out of ammo", "lost", "extra arty on call", "possible
blue-on-blue, heck fire, check fire!" or "civilians in the way".
Consider making cards that say "must play immediately" and benefit
cards that are "play on anyone except yourself".

f. Make sure each player has a balance of units--or more accurately,
of actions per turn. If Player A has a single unit and Player B has
nine, it's okay ... as long as A's unit is an Ogre or something else
that can take multiple actions per turn.  If not, A is going to be
bored for 90% of the time.

g. Be prepared to balance things on the fly.  If you're running a pure
military action with straightforward ROE and objectives, you can
playtest in advance.  If you're running a game where the role-playing
element is more heavily emphasized, playtesting may not help as much.
Either way

h. Make sure players don't get killed off until the end of the game.
Keep reinforcements / replacements available, and keep feeding them
in.  For FMA Sheep, I had a few extra characters to spare (such as
Sister Agatha, plus others who didn't get called to the stage), and I
also had various healing / resurrection cards available.

i.  Drama!  Excitement!  Big explosions!  Special effects!  I tossed
crepe paper "lava" down the length of my table and I guarantee it got
the players' attention.  If you have a small nuke or an orbital strike
on your SG table, you ought to have some craters and huge smoke clouds
to go along with them.

j.  You get into a story better when you can identify with a
character, so treat all games are role-playing games.  Your players
shouldn't be "First Platoon, Green 1" and "Second Squad, Blue 3" if
you can make them "2LT Jones, who has political ambitions and needs to
make a name for himself" and "SSGT Smith, who has a newborn daughter
at home and he's rotating out of theater in two weeks."

k. People are going to be spending a lot of time looking at your
terrain.  Make it worthwhile.