GMGuide
From SteelStorm
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Game Master's Guide
| Note: This page has been imported verbatim from the text of the original Steel Storm RP system. It may require significant revisions and corrections, and should be verified before being accepted as a final page. | ||
Note: I tend to use the terms GM (Game Master) and DM (Dungeon Master) interchangeably in this section. In fact, GM is possibly more accurate here, as DM is a term more appropriate for Dungeons And Dragons (R), where, indeed, you would be master of your own dungeon. In Steel Storm, however, many different locales are covered, dungeons being the least of them - so I think that GM would be more appropriate.
Setting up a new instance of Steel Storm
If you are creating a new instance of Steel Storm on your forums, you will most likely need the following boards:
- Steel Storm Campaigns: this is where all of the main, episodic campaigns are played. That is... this is where all the major quest, wars, and so on are played out.
- Steel Storm Non-Campaign Play: this is the board where all of the other interactions of Steel Storm can be played out. This is where you can have threads for shops and marketplaces, as well as threads for basic travel from one place to the other, and similar basic activities (for example: threads for moving to a new workshop, constructing a new piece of equipment, etc.)
- Steel Storm Locations: this is where you can list out places of interest in all of the main Steel Storm locations that are localized for your game - player residences, buildings of interest, and so on.
- Steel Storm Characters: a location where all of your players can place their character sheets.
- Steel Storm OOC (optional): a place to have out-of-character discussions related to current campaigns or other aspects of Steel Storm.
- Steel Storm Equipment (optional): as Steel Storm is an RP system that is designed for player-based invention and innovation, this board can be used to screen ideas for new types of equipment, where a GM/moderator can approve an idea as being possible in the Steel Storm universe. Alternately, this forum can be used for construction of new equipment, instead of the Non-Campaign board.
You may also want to set up a cash system on your forum, to keep track of the in-game currency - otherwise, you will need to set up a separate database for this.
You will also need a moderator for this section, that can edit character sheets to reflect the outcome of the campaign.
Finally, you will need to locate these rules somewhere where all interested players can access them. Currently, Steel Storm is only licensed for use at the site tekguild.com, by registered members of the Technomancers. However, this could possibly change at some point in the future. If you want to use this RP system, please download an archived version and host it on your own site, rather than linking to this one, as this will save our bandwidth.
For best results, it is recommended to have a set of RPG dice on hand to GM Steel Storm, especially a D20 and D100 (or percentile dice) - although you can also get by with 2 D10 dice if you're clever about it. However, you can make do with a digital roller if need be, although one is not included with Steel Storm at this time. Or, you can choose not to roll at all (more on that later).
Before you Begin
So, your boards are set up, you've read through all the instructions, and you're ready to begin a campaign! Luckily, it's not as hard to set up as you might think - but be aware that it will take some work. The first step, of course, is coming up with the plot of your campaign. As in most RPGs, campaigns can boil down into quests - they can be about tracking down a rare object, or fighting a dangerous enemy. However, you will most likely have a better campaign if you work on somehting a bit more original. Remember that Steel Storm is not just about fighting or adventuring - it is also about trading, building, collaborating, and influencing, among others. Keep this in mind when building your campaign, and consider having a number of sections, which require different tactics than simply one battle after another. In fact, it is possible to run a campaign without a single battle at all, if you are creative enough.
Remember to plan for a certain number of party members - 3-5 is usually ideal, although as few as 2 can work, and more than 5 can be done if you're determined (however, due to possibilities for lag, 5 characters + GM is the maximum recommended).
Some GMs prepare a detailed map in advance - this can be a useful thing to have, but is not required for all quests. However, you should have a good idea as to what should happen where. Also, it may be helpful to roll up some of your enemies in advance. In the spirit of Steel Storm, you can create your own enemies, within reason - they should be able to fit into the lands of LEGEND, and be reasonably plausible. Also, you should take care to balance your enemies, so that they can provide a challenge, but will not be impossible for the party to beat. Steel Storm will also have easy-roll tables for some common enemies in a later version.
You may wish to create equipment or other items that can be found or obtained form enemies throughout your campaign. In general, you should ensure that all new equipment ideas are approved by the overall leader of the Steel Storm RP system on your forum, to ensure that the items you propose will be balanced within the Steel Storm system, as well as appropriate for the level of players that you intend to enroll in your campaign.
One important thing that should be noted is the amount of time in which you wish to run the campaign, and the number of action rounds this will allow you to have (for more informaiton on this, see the Waiting section further down on this page). Keep in mind that, due to the nature of Steel Storm, you may have one action round completed only once every day, or even less frequently, so be sure to plan accordingly. Unfortunately, this is the tradeoff of a non-realtime RP system - while it allows for play across nations and time zones, latency for each round can be quite high, and it is important to consider this in the planning of your campaign.
In addition, you should also consider what NPCs will be part of the campaign - as well as their personalities, powers, and equipment if necessary. You don't necessarily need to roll up a new character sheet for them, but you should be aware of their capabilities and weaknesses, so that they can be played in a reliable fashion during the campaign.
One thing you may want to consider is branching - coming up with different outcomes based on the actions of the party. Doing this can make for more interesting gameplay, and make the campaign more interactive and dynamic, rather than linear.
For the truly devoted GM, there is also the multi-party quest - one in which two or more parties are questing simultaneously, either working on related goals, or possibly working at cross-purposes, or even warring! However, this is like playing chess on multiple boards at once - only something to be done by the experienced, professional GM.
Above all, unless you're really fond of (and good at) winging it, you sould consider all details and potential actions of the party, and plan for every contingency you can think of. By doing this, you can prepare a reliable campaign, and ensure that you don't have to pull any "miracles" out of a hat because you've painted yourself into a corner.
So - you've spent the time, and you now have a good campaign setup under your belt. The next step, then, is to create the actual campaign, and recruit some characters to play it.
The standard format, then, is to post two threads - on in the Campaigns forum, where the campaign will actually be played, as well as a sign-up thread in the OOC forum (if present), where people can sign up their characters to participate in the campaign. This is usually done on a first-come, first-served basis, although some charqacters can be guaranteed inclusion if they will be crucial to the campaign's storyline.
Also note that, in most cases, characters will need to be located near the location of the campaign's starting point to be eligible - otherwise, they will first need to travel there, unless a special dispensation is made (see assumptions, further down). Here's an example of a sign-up thread's initial post, from an actual campaign:
| Campaign Synopsis: Insects have been discovered in a wooded area north of Forefront. Big ones. They don't yet appear to pose a threat to the town, otherwise the Order would be swarming all over the place. Ztrauq IX believes that the appearance of the insects is not a natural occurence, and that there may be something behind it - the Order, however, is not all that interested in it, and most of the high-level Guild members are wrapped up working on a secretive new invention at their facility in Tekal. As a result, the Technomancers' Guild has put up notices, offering a monetary reward for a group of adventurers willing to head into the forest and figure out why the insects are there - all interested adventurers should meet outside the main entrance of the Technomancer compound four days hence.
Signup Deadline: Monday, May 9, 1:00 PM PDT || | ||
Once your characters are signed up, you can make the initial post. Again, here is an example post from an actual Steel Storm campaign:
| Location: Forefront, Main Street, outside the Technomancer Compound.
Characters: TK-429, Drake Raelin, Sconibulus Rex XXXVII, Character TBD (Xforce) Assumptions: All characters in this campaign have left their residences and have already traveled to Forefront from their respective locations. All characters are currently carrying their basic loadout of equipment, and are wearing a set of their work clothes and their basic armor. All characters are here to sign up to go on this quest - if you wish to do otherwise, make your intentions known to the NPC. Events: A technomancer stands outside the imposing gates of the Technomancer complex, wearing a set of exoskeleton armor, the top half of which has been retracted to let him handle a clipboard. "Thanks for coming, everyone. My name's Sigmund Crispe... but you can call me Sig. Heh, and no, that name doesn't refer to the outcome of all my experiments... "Unfortunately, Ztrauq is in the midst of an important project, and so I've been assigned to head up this mission. I assume that you know what this is about, from the advertisements... Basically, we'll be heading into the forest due north of here, to figure out what has caused the recent increase in abonormally large insects. "Ztrauq has indicated that this should be a priority, so we do want to get going as quickly as possible. Let me just get each of your names for my roster, so that we can know which accounts to credit once this mission is complete. Once that is done, we'll head out in about a half-hour, in case there's anything you need to do in town to prepare for this mission before we depart." || | ||
As you can see, for this initial post, there are a number of different attributes:
Location - the starting location for the campaign, where all the characters have gathered. You can provide as much detail and scene-setting here as you wish.
Characters - a list of all of the characters playing the current campaign. Unless a character is on this list, they are not part of the campaign - unless you make a special dispensation and write in a plot point for them to be added at a later date.
Assumptions - this essentially lists all of the starting attributes of the campaign. For instance, you can assumethat all characters have already traveled to the location in question - if not, they will first have to travel, via the non-capmpaign travel thread, before they will be eligible to sign up for the campaign. You may also want to list some aspects of this inthe sign-up post, so that people will know if they need to travel or not before they can sign up.
Events - this is where you can begin using NPC actions and starting the campaign, as well as further setting the scene.
Before you begin in earnest, you may want to make up a sheet/database, with the vital stats of the characters in the campaign - HP, MP, Armor, and any other attributes that you may need. This will allow you to keep track of character stats, without manually editing character posts each time a character takes an armor hit. However, remember to enter the proper information back into the character sheets once the campaign is over...
Congratulations - you've now begun your first Steel Storm campaign! Brace yourself, though, as the reeal work is about to begin :)
Posting as a GM
In general, the GM will need to make 2 types of posts - one is what's known as a keyframe post, and the other is a battle post (the two can be, and often are, combined). The keyframe post, as it sounds, it designed as a global update - printing out the results of player actions, as well as some other basic information. In contrast, the battle post sets the scene for a battle, describing the key tactical considerations. While some information is always necessary, the GM does have some latitude in formatting these posts - although adhering to a standardized format is recommended. The following examples will show you one possible formatting for GM posts, along with a description of the values.
| Results - Global
Elapsed Time: 30 Minutes Elapsed Time: 8:30 AM Through a combination of rest/recharge/food, all players' HP and MP are restored to their current maximum (with the exception of locked MP). Results - Players Most of the party members sit down to breakfast, discussing who should be the leader for the duration of the mission. TK-429, noticing the green liquid is continuing to crystallize into smaller pieces, gathers up the material and places it in a container, moving back towards the group to cover it. However, before he is able to do so, a light breeze wisps through the clearing - and a miniscule amount of powder is lofted into the air near where Drake and Sig are sitting... Behind the party, there is a loud thump, as trapped gasses in the body of one of the pack-beasts somehow ignites, ripping the beast apart and sending bits of beast-guts flying, although somehow no one is hit. Sig - Global "Well... that's definitely an interesting decision. My armor has an integral tracking system, that is designed primarily to map detected movement vectors and use theoretical mapping to extrapolate possible courses. It works best when I have a detailed map of the area in question, but it should be adequate for the task at hand. "So, if everyone is all set, there's no point in wasting any more of the day..." Packing the remaining remnants of the campsite, the party begins their trek into the forest. - New Action Round - Restrictions: Only actions that can be done while travelling. DM Comments: Make sure you're on the lookout - you never know what you might come across in a generic, unremarkable forest... || | ||
Global Results: these results refer to basic global schemes, global status, countdowns, and so on.
- Elapsed Time: the time elapsed since the last keyframe post. As Steel Storm is not played in realtime, you must consider the actions of the players, and decide how long everything has taken.
- Actual Time: using the elapsed time, you can modify the actual time. Currently this is a standard 24-hour AM/PM system, although an official Steel Storm time protocol may eventually be developed.
Player Results: this is where you list the results that the players have taken. The form shown here is a more narrative fashion that includes all actions in a single statement - however, you can also use per-character, second-person descriptions if you desire, as in a standard pen-and-paper RPG. Also note that this section, at your option, can be used for additional results, as well as various other actions - such as the prelude to a battle!
NPC Actions/Narrative: this is where you can have your NPCs take action or converse with the other characters. Note: you can, in between keyframe posts, make a narrative post for your NPCs, without advancing to a new action round.
New Action Round: this designates that players can begin another round of ongoing actions:
- Restrictions: during the game, the party may be engaged in various things - traveling, attempting to sneak past sensors, falling down a steep hillside, and so on. Due to these states, you can restrict player actions to only things that can be done in that situation. Additionally, you can use this to restrict actions based on the effects of magic, or other events.
- DM/GM comments: this is where you can post advice, hints, premonitions, etc. This is, of course, completely optional.
Now, here's an example of a battle post:
| ***Battle!***
Opponents: 2 unknown insects Enemy Armament: Chemical Spines, Other? Enemy Distance to Party: 2 meters Estimated Enemy Health: Unknown, probably Average Estimated Enemy Intelligence: Unknown (most likely animal-level) Area: Small cleared path through the forest. Thick underbrush and intertwining tree branches line both sides, with the exception of the entrance and escape vectors created by the pack-beast - which are not large enough to access unless crawling. Cover/Evasion/Retreat: A person (not in a mech) could concievably crouch down and hide in one of the low alcoves cleared by the pack-beast. Or, with a bit of hacking, individual trees could be used for some cover (average tree diameter is 2-3 feet). Since the enemies are inthe middle of the party, those behind them have an avenue of retreat down the cleared path. Critically Injured Party Members: None Party Member Status: Ariamaki (Knocked Down) Currently Equipped Weaponry Sconey: Weak Photon Blaster, Very Low Power UV Ray Ariamaki: Throwing Pins TK-429: "Meatgrinder" Drake: Standard Sword, Stamped Metal Sword || | ||
Opponents: these are the enemies that the party will be fighting. Description can be given here... or as part of the narrative in the keyframe post that precedes it.
Enemy Armament: the weaponry the enemies possess (in the case of animals, their natural waponry), if known.
Distance to Party: self-explanatory.
Enemy Health: if the characters could have a reasonable expectation to know the enemy's health, it can be listed here.
Enemy Intelligence: if the enemy is a common or known one, its general intelligence will be known. This will often have an impact on the complexity of its battle tactics, as well as its ability to read and anticipate attacks. If up against another sentient race, intelligence cannot generally be accurately assessed, unless the enemy's behavior has been observed beforehand.
Area: a general description of the area, including any interesting or tactical features of the environment. The environment can play a big part in battles, so be sure to spend enough time here to give an accurate description of the area.
Cover: this is where you can list any obvious cover that can be used, as well as known paths of retreat.
Critically Injured Party Members: any members listed here are too wounded to fight, and cannot submit tactics for the current battle - however, they may possibly be able to cast some spells, or use some items, at the GM's discretion. Party Member Status: self-explanatory, I hope...
Equipped Weaponry: a list of the weapons the party members have equipped, so that they know which tactics they can use. A weapon must be equipped at the time of battle if it is to be used, except for extraordinary circumstances.
Additionally, you may want to create some sort of map showing the positions of the enmies and party members.
Finally, you can also list any special instructions that may be required for the battle (restrictions, limitations, initial spell effects cast by enemy, etc).
Waiting
In all RP systems that are designed for nonlinear play, a crucial concept is time - in this case, real time vs. game time. Unlike a realtime game, where a solid connection between periods of time can be made, a nonlinear system must attempt to reconcile a linear in-game timeline with a decidedly non-linear actual gameplay in real time. As a result, unless you wish to attempt a "breakout session " where a certain campaign is played using a real-time communication medium (IM, IRC chat, etc.), you must come up with a standard that you wish to use, to determine how long an in-game action or combat round will be in real time.
Steel Storm is already set up to give you a hand in hadling this question, with its default actions system. Each player will certainly have a default combat action, and a default noncombat "idle " action can be specified as well. What this means is that, if a player does not respond during a certain round of action, you can apply their default action, allowing their character to play, while at the same time ensuring that the game can continue at a decent rate, without being tied down by stragglers or absentee players.
In between keyframe posts, you will need to determine how long a window of time players will have to respond, before a new keyframe post is made, and their default actions are taken. In general, the best way to determine a proper window of time is to run a short test campaign, in order to determine the average response of players on your forum, and adjust accordingly. On a very busy forum, or on a forum with active players, you may be able to make 2 or more keyframe posts per day. However, on a slower forum, you may need to make a post only once per day, or potentially even less frequently (once every few days, possibly even once per week). When setting a time, it is important to achieve a balance - you want to be able to have a pace that is fast enough to keep the campaign moving and the players interested, but at the same time, you need to allow sufficient time for all dedicated players to respond - if all the players end up executing their default actions each turn, Steel Storm becomes much less interesting. Ultimately, this decision is up to you, and is best arrived at by trial and error. However, some general guidelines could be:
- All participants in same time zone: potentially up to 3-4 action rounds per day, with active players
- All participants in same country (or within 2-3 time zones): potentially up to 1-2 action rounds per day
- Participants in disparate time zones: action rounds usually limited to 1/day
- Not particularly active forum/Participants in very disparate time zones: 1 action round per 2 days, potentially even less frequently
Another thing to be decided is whether you want to allow the splitting of action or combat rounds into multiple segments. Steel Storm is generally designed around the concept of a single action per round, and a single tactical post per battle. However, you may wish to run a campaign with a complex, multi-stage battle, or a complicated puzzle that would require multiple simultaneous actions. In these cases, you may wish to break the even into multiple, simultaneous action rounds - that is, rounds that all happen as part of an ongoing event, and for which only interim results are posted until the event is completed. Then, at the end of the event, the golbal statistics (overall player status, elapsed time, etc.) can be updated.
For example: A standard Steel Storm battle would consist of players posting their actions, and the two sides hacking it out in a keyframe post, to wind up at a final result. However, you may wish to just show the initial results of that combat, leading to a new layout of forces and a new tactical situation, and allow players to post additional tactics for the remainder of the battle. For this, you only need to make an interim keyframe post, with current battle results, and note that players can choose new tactics for the next stage of battle.
Note: using this method will lengthen Steel Storm campaigns, and special care should be taken to ensure that the players do not get bogged down by endless, multi-stage battles. Steel Storm is designed to be as efficient as possible in its actions, to allow for reasonable, non-realtime play. Remember that every stage of battle can result into one of more days in real time, so take this into account when considering whether you can fit this concept into the length of the campaign you have created.
Determining Results
Ah, now we're getting to the fun stuff... or, that is, the process of determining the results of player (and, potentially, NPC) actions.
Skills
First, let's start out with the simplest form of result determination - that of determining success or failure of skills. Skills are an essential part of Steel Storm, as they allow players to do all manner of things, and can also be utilized in combat tactics, or in the invention or creation of new technology.
Rolling for a successful skill attempt is easy - just take the player's skill percentage from their character sheet. If the player is using one of their main skills (weapons/tech/magic), the appropriate skill bonus should be added: 1/3 MagP for magic skills, 1/3 TechP for technological/piloting skills (auxiliary and physical skills have no bonuses). Once you have the total amount, roll a 1D100 or percentile dice. If the amount on the dice is less than the skill percentage, the skill is performed successfully - if it is greater, then the skill fails. Optionally, you can also use "critical" rules: if the roll is 0 or 1, the skill succeeds beyond their wildest dreams, and confers an additional bonus - conversely, if the roll is 99 or 100, then they automatically recieve a catastrophic failure.
If the skill succeeds, you can then report the results of the successful skill - items created, things accomplished, new information discovered. This can often be a critical thing, as some plot points could hinge upon a single successful skill attempt bringing to light an important piece of information.
If the skill fails, though, you can then decide what happens as a result. Kindly GMs could simply have failed attempts just be a flop - i.e., it didn't work, so you don't complete your task or recieve the information you sought. Of course, for more traditional GMs, there is the failure table, replicated here from the skills page: 1-40: Minor failure. The task that you were trying failed. If attempting to disarm a security system, the system is still enabled, but no alarm sounds. 41-75: Moderate failure. The task that you were trying fails badly, causing some mild side effects (for example, if building something, components used start smoking and are destroyed). If attempting to disarm security, the alarm goes off. 76-94: Major failure. The task that you were trying fails spectacularly, causing you a fair amount of embarrassment. Things being built are destroyed completely, along with other equipment in the immediate surroundings. If attempting to disarm an alarm system, not only does the alarm go off, but security countermeasures are activated! 95-100: Catastrophic failure. The task that you were trying fails catastrophically. If you were creating something or working with technology, the surrounding area is destroyed, including any buildings. This will also injure your character and badly damage or destroy all equipment on your person, as well as doing damage equivalent to 1/3 of your max HP! If you are trying to disarm a security device, you are CAUGHT - either by it or by the security force it summons!
To make things realistic, you may on occasion want to withold the results of a failed attempt, as it is not always obvious if certain types of attempts have failed. As a result, a failed attempt that is unknown can lead to additional challenges down the road, and can add an additional level of depth to your campaign.
It should be noted that some tasks will obviously require multiple skills. For example, creating a complex piece of equipment will involve many rounds of experimentation, testing, and the like. Because of this, it is not advised to allow a single skill attempt to create an entirely new complex object. Instead, it would be broken down into subskills. For example, let's say that a character wants to make their own suit of power armor, completely from scratch. They would need to roll against: Elementary Mechanics to build the parts, Mechanics to assemble the complex components used, Energytronics to create the basic electrical circuits required (Chipmaking for more advanced control systems), Mecha Tech to assemble the completed power armor, and the relevant techs to create any attached weapons systems. However, smaller endeavors can be done with a single skill - a gearbox or basic clockwork or steam-powered device, for example, would only require the Elementary Mechanics skill. Most major items, though, will require a combination of skills - all powered devices will require a minimum of Elementary Mechanics and Energytronics, to provide both a mechanical framework and an installed power source.
Battle
Now that we've covered skills, it's time to talk about battle. By its very nature, battle is much more complex, and has significantly more rules.
In general, most battles in Steel Storm will be between two groups - the party, and their assailants/enemies. Because of this, determining initiative is comparatively simple, and is done on a global level. For most battles, this is simple: either you surprise them, or they surprise you. For a more ambiguous situation, flip a coin (or use another random method if you choose) - heads, the party hits first, tails, the enemies hit first. From here, the battle is occurring more or less simultaneously, and so there is no particularly defined attack order - once the initial surprise is finished, both sides hit back and forth, and hitting/missing comes into play more than initiative.
Often, battles can be seen as being subdivided into groups - x players attacking x enemies. In some battles, this can be one-on-one, in others there may be a different balance. Generally, you should split the battle up into these types of groups, with results for each group, unless the battle is unusually balanced (i.e. only one enemy, or an enemy horde against the entire party).
To avoid complication, the battle system is tit-for-tat - each side gets a hit per character. There are actually two systems that come into play here - melee battle, and modern battle.
Melee battle is by far the most traditional system, and is used for hand-to-hand combat - that is a situation where someone on foot is slugging away at someone else. For each hit, you first roll a 1D20 to see whether the shot hits or misses. This is calculated from the players' Tactical Dexterity / 3, as well as any applicable bonuses (some players may have armor that can also provide some bonus). Values below the blocking amount miss - values above hit. To hit an enemy, a similar process is used, but is using your Physical Power / 3 against the enemy's blocking value. Once something has hit, damage is inflicted by the amount specified by the weapon (usually the roll of a standard die), as well as any other attacking effects (NOTE: STILL NEED TO DEVELOP EFFECTS IN BATTLE). Battle continues until one party is either dead, incapacitated, retreats, or surrenders. Most default tactics fall into this system, and on the whole, it isn't all that interesting, although it works like you'd expect.
However, with the advent of power armor and advanced spells, many battles are no longer in the thick of it, and require much more strategy. As a result, modern battle depends much more on the tactics system - as a successful attack will often be driven by high technology, the question is not so much whether it is able to hit, but how much it hurts. In battle, tactics will be used to determine an attack's success - for example, a player might have a tactic where they jury-rig and launch a "boomerang" projectile, which if successful, catches the enemy by surprise - but if it fails, it could leave them more vulnerable to an attack. In this case, you can roll on the percentage success of the tactic. The same can also be done for an enemy attacker - if they succeed, their attack hits for a specified amount of damage. Unfortunately, there are no hard-and-fast rules for judging these types of battles - it is left up to your discretion as to how effective each individual tactic is in a given situation. This, of course, makes Steel Storm harder to GM, but also makes it more interesting.
In addition, there are some special rules for the use of magic in battle. Generally, people can use combat spells in battle, as well as effects spells, which are cast at the beginning of the battle. Combat spells are treated like most other tactics - in the case of linear elemental assaults (fireball, etc.), hit/miss does come into play, but any more advanced or guided attacks will, if successfully cast, always hit. Effect spells also face a similar roll, but are effective over the entire duration of the battle. In this case, however, the affected party rolls a 1D20 (with MagP) bonus to determine if they can block the effect. If the roll is less than the number, the effect is blocked - if it is greater, the effect remains.
Steel Storm GMing for the Narrative RPer
As mentioned before, these guidelines are put into place for players who prefer a more structured, numerical RP system (and, even in this case, it requires a lot more than rolling a few dice to determine an outcome). However, if you have an aversion to dice, you can also simply writte out a narrative of the battle's outcome, based on your good judgment of the capabilities, skills, and tactics of each particular player. However, this is the most difficult way to play by far, as you must, on your own, make proper determinations about initiative, tactical success, damage, and so on. It is doable, yes... but using some of the structure is still recommended. Attempting to GM Steel Storm in a completely narrative manner should only be attempted by people skilled at GMing, and not known for god-modding or other such offenses.
Additional Notes
Steel Storm, by its very nature and ability for creative input, is not a particularly easy game to GM. It takes time, experience, and determination to put together a fun and engaging campaign. Over time, as Steel Storm is used more extensively, more guidelines will appear in this section, which should then make GMing (comparatively) easier. If you are going to be a good GM, you should make sure to read, and become familiar with, the entirety of the Steel Storm system. This guide is just a start - having a good familiarity with the entire system will allow to you create a successful campaign, while making sure that you stay within the general boundaries and rules of the game.
