GM For Hire: Zero Session & Session 1

 GM For Hire: Zero Session and Session 1

Introduction: As previously mentioned on this blog, after over 30 years experience of running adventures, I've taken my first tentative steps into the world of professional GMing! I've only been offering the service for a few weeks and since then there's been some exciting developments, namely that I am running Judge Dredd games for two groups now! With things getting up and running, I thought it might be a good time to share a little more about how things have been progressing and what my plans are for running the Judge Dredd roleplaying game!

Judge Dredd: Illustrated by Brian Bolland (c) Rebellion 2000AD

Discord Server: I host my games on Roll20 and use Discord for voice chat. One of my new players suggested that a general server be set up on Discord for Judge Dredd gaming, but it quickly became apparent that a server for all 2000AD related RPGs and Tabletop Games would be more desirable...so I've set one up! In the space of a day, we have grown to a community of 28 members, including at least one of the writers on the recent EN Publishing Judge Dredd RPG! Please join us to connect and share your thoughts with fellow 2000AD RPG and Gaming enthusiasts by clicking on this text!

Zero Sessions: For anyone unfamiliar, before embarking on an adventure or campaign, I run a free Zero Session which allows the players a chance to get to know who I am and introduce themselves to their fellow players as well as running through character creation. What was really interesting was that we were all of a similar vintage, all with similar backstories, namely that we grew up with 2000AD in the 80's but fell away from the prog in the 90's, rediscovering our love for 2000AD/Dredd to varying degrees later in life! Most importantly, every one of the players have been lovely to deal with, all as thrilled to hit the streets of Mega-City One as I am to take them there! It probably was never in doubt, but my experience is that 2000AD attracts a passionate and fun-loving community of great people!

Both groups opted to play the Games Workshop version of the game, something which was very pleasing to me as the GW version was the game that introduced me to the world of RPGing (which later led into wargaming as well). I had a wave of nostalgia revisiting the old books and Citi-Block maps, and remembered a lot about my teenage years growing up in the late 80's and early 90's! 

One of the things that I really love about the system is that the stats and game mechanics are very clear: all stats are based on percentages which the players must equal or get less than when rolling a D100. Rolling up Judge characters is a pretty fast process, and this simple percentile system provides a clarity to players which few other systems I've ever played have. When running a game for a group of players who don't know me (or, for the most part, each other), this is a massive bonus as it means no one has to worry much about the system and can focus on the action and story, as well as interacting with the environment, nefarious NPCs - and each other!

Finally, it was in the first of these sessions that the time setting was decided (I was willing to set the game in any period covered in the 35 Case Files currently published). One of the players suggested that setting the game in a time post-Cal was a good idea because there were a few years of relative stability in Mega-City One during that time. It got me thinking and gave me a great idea - to start the game literally hours after Cal's demise! It isn't really explored in the comics at all (other than in the brief Cosmic Punks storyline), but there would have been absolute anarchy on MC-1's mean streets after the civilians narrowly escaped being wiped on Cal's "Death Day"! What better place to start? And so the "Order Out Of The Chaos" Campaign began to take shape in my mind...

Session One: The two groups are looking to play on different timescales, the first group on a monthly basis, while the second group has requested play on a weekly basis. I'm here to offer the service as often or infrequently as desired (scheduling permitting) so I'm delighted to be able to accommodate both groups in their preferred time slots! The group requesting weekly play have also indicated that they'd like me to deliver a campaign in the weeks running up to Christmas, something I'm incredibly excited about because it means that I can focus on delivering a more complex narrative. I'm certain that this will make it a deeper and more rewarding experience for all and I'm certainly excited to create the story and world for them to explore!

I won't be revealing many plot details here or in future posts because I don't want to spoil things for my players (or for future players who want to play the same campaign), but I will post a few items on this blog soon, relating to the campaign background, setting and some of the Sector House staff - so watch this space!

What I will say is that both sessions were a lot of fun! Thrown in at the deep end - though "it's all a deep end" - the Judges found themselves in the unusual position of the city's citizens having the upper hand. Before long, both their courage under fire and devotion to the law were both put under pressure and the teams were forced to figure themselves an escape route from a horrendous situation! What was very pleasing was that both teams identified and decided to pursue different methods of escape, something which is always pleasing as a GM when players have been provided with a block-sized sandbox to explore! 

Another thing that delighted me were just how many laughs there were during the sessions. Totally engaged with the setting, everyone seemed to gel well together and shared a similar sense of humour (you have to have this to be a true Dredd aficionado, of course!). It made the sessions an absolute pleasure for me to run and it was satisfying that everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, all expressing a commitment to play again and an excitement about the next session! Note: I offer a taste and try first session where you only pay for the session if you enjoy yourself and want to continue, so although I have confidence in my Game Mastering abilities, this was by no means a given! 

We've had a few fumbles and a few huge successes in both games - in the first group, one Judge rolled 100 when about to throw a Stumm Grenade and almost took out the whole team! Fortunately, one of the Judges passed an Initiative test to snap down his respirator and haul his teammates to safety, but it was a close thing! When pulling up information from a block terminal, another Judge managed to hack into the system and take control of the cite-block, while another barked an order that had perps quivering in their boots and throwing their guns down (not everything ends in a gunfight)! 

I've seen some criticisms of the GW system where some have said it delivers Judges who are lacklustre and barely capable of holding their own. It's true that it will take some time for the Judges' skills to rise to a level where they will be successful most of the time, but there was no problem at all in them holding their own! The teams worked well together in dealing with various threats and there was plenty of variety in terms of the famous Lawgiver ammunition used: General Purpose, High Explosive and Incendiary bullets were flying! If anything, I think I'm going to have my work cut out in delivering opposition which will sufficiently challenge the awesome firepower at the fingertips of the Judges - which is as it should be! I would be open to groups requesting their characters begin with higher stats, but it really is more interesting having characters who start off relatively weak (though not compared to typical citizens) and slowly become more proficient as their career progresses and hours on the street rack up! 

The freedom to explore that I've built in to the first adventure is harder to offer longer term in a game like Judge Dredd as the investigative side of the game tends to favour railroading, with the perps leaving behind clues like pieces of cheese for the Judges to follow up on. That said, I've been formulating strategies and putting gaming materials in place to deal with the situation of the Judges deciding to pursue their own agenda and go exploring Sector One! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with them!

On this evidence though, I'm going to have a huge amount of joy devising and delivering interesting, engaging and varied adventures in Mega-City One! And for any other potential players out there, please don't hesitate to reach out if you want to ask anything at all about my service! You can either contact me on the Discord group, my Judge Dredd GM Collective group on Facebook, find me on twitter @thebissler or email me at thebissler@gmail.com - I look forward to hearing from you! As mentioned previously, watch out for more details on the Order Out Of The Chaos campaign coming soon on this blog!

Cheers!