u/UltimateHyperGames

I'm running a game of Impossible Landscapes and I have an agent who has reached a breaking point. After discussing with her, it seems fitting she would receive a specific obsession as a disorder, but I have questions about whether I should just do this by the book, or alter it a bit.

Obsession:

Your Agent becomes fixated on some person, place,event, act, or idea. Losing 2+ SAN in any single roll triggers an acute episode, which lasts days. In that time, any long-term action or skill use—anything taking more than a few hours—is at −20% because your Agent’s mind is so often wrapped around its obsession.

>!She reached a breaking point in the night floors, she saw her soul bottle framed with her name on it and she also tried to get into the excavated area of the Whisper Labyrinth (also seeing her bottle there) among many other horrors. She has not read the play (hasn't had an opportunity yet). Therefore, her obsession is finding her bottle. Considering the way IL works, having an acute episode over several days seems iffy. Also, the trigger seems to be OK, but perhaps it would be better if it were more thematic (I think it should be triggered when mention of a bottle comes up).!<

I'm considering raising it to 3+ SAN loss and any time the triggering word comes up for the obsession's effects to be triggered.

Do you have any advice for how to handle this?

Hey GMs! I posted this over on r/rpg, but I think it might also fit here even better as it is GM-specific.

Most of what I've seen about GM styles changes for me depending on the game I'm running. I was wondering if there was something more fundamental and I had a thought about comparing it to something like Myers Briggs personalities. Trying to keep something similar to that, I think there should be 4 axes that are the most important when describing how we approach games that doesn't change much between different games. Also, it's more of a preference for how to do things. Much like introversion vs extroversion, just because you're introverted doesn't mean you can't socialize, it just might mean you prefer to spend time on your own.

I think this could be a useful tool because it might help describe to your players what kind of GM you are and can set expectations easier. I also think some games fit some personality types better than others, so it might be helpful to know when choosing games to run.

My first axis is Prepared vs Improvised (P vs I)

Do you prefer to have everything ready ahead of time, or make things up on the spot?

Next is Narrative-first vs Mechanics-first (N vs M)

This is intended to capture how you see a game's rules. What are they for?

Balance vs Drama (B vs D)

This axis measures how "fair" you are to the PCs. Do you put them in situations they are well equipped to deal with or do you put them in over their heads?

Character vs World (C vs W)

This axis measures how you approach the overall story in your games. It could be character vs plot, but the "P" was already taken by "prepared". Are you focused on the PCs and their backstories or are you more focused on the overall world? Which one revolves around the other?

So my GM personality would be PMBC and roughly something like:

• Prepared: 80%
• Mechanics: 70%
• Balance: 60%
• Character: 70%

I can think of more axes, but I feel these might be the top ones. What do you think about these axes? Can you think of any that are more important axes than these? Also, what is your GM personality?