Michael

In regards to my friend who has cancer, normally I would run immediately to another friend of mine for how to respond to the current situation.

Problem is that friend has been dead from cancer for about four and one half years.

Mike was amazing. He was my GM for a long running D&D campaign.  We ended up fighting Demogorgon at the end of that campaign, and it involved turning our monk into a Titan to do MEGA DAMAGE to anything she punched. I played a dwarven wizard because no one plays a dwarven wizard in D&D.

Mike was amazing. He was the type of friend you said "I love you" to without it feeling weird. Since his passing I try (and admittedly sometimes fail) to say "I love you" not just to my family but my friends as well.

Mike was also known for playing two different characters in the LARP we played in. His second character and my character HATED each other, which was fun because after game we would joke around about what level of trust you needed to play characters who had that sort of relationship. There's a group of friends I have purely because 

I miss Mike every single day.

Love Your PCs

Love Your PCs.

Love Your PCs.

Love Your PCs.

I cannot say this enough as both a Tabletop and LARP GM.  If you hate the PCs (or even worse the players) or just like being a cruel jerk that believes "they get what they deserve," you have no business being a GM of anything.

We challenge the PCs to see them overcome the situations.  Will they fail at times? Yes, and that is fine. I am not advocating making things all sunshine and rainbows for them, just that no matter how hard the challenge, you should be rooting for the PCs to overcome it.

Admittedly, I have needed my PCs, especially my LARP ones, as heroes for my own sanity. Sandy Hook left a negative imprint on my psyche for a long time, I ended up creating a similar NPC in game just so the adventurers could pass judgement and kill him. The fact that it also served as a dark mirror to one of the PCs was completely a bonus.

I am writing a story right now where the player is eating ALL THE ANGST BISCUITS. She is having an enjoyable time of it. I just gave her a challenge of sending her to what basically amounts to Hell in our LARP to retrieve her 3yo son's soul. Nothing major.  ;)  It is a challenge that I root for the character to succeed in, though success is not guaranteed. I will still root for her, though

Always Love Your PCs.

Vaesen

We started a new monthly tabletop campaign called Vasesen, which is 19th Century Nordic Horror.  It's made by Free League Publishing, the same people who make RPGs such as Forbidden Lands and Tales from the Loop.

My one player Casey likes to mention that the system is brutal. You roll Attribute plus skill and any sixes you get are considered a success. You can push a roll to generate success but it doesn't guarantee success, just a reroll.

So far we have the following characters:

An Academic

A Private Investigator

A Lutheran Minister

A Military Officer

A Rich Doctor

(I am sorry but I don't have access to their names where I am right now. All I remember is that the private detective is named after one of Sherlock Holmes' disguised identities (which I believe is Ulf Sigerson)

We have done half an adventure so far, and the Military Officer has shot at monsters, gone a bit batty, and ended up screaming uncontrollably at the sight of a hanged man. There was haunted shadow puppet theater going on. People fainted,  The Doctor and the Private Investigator are the only ones who kept their heads on straight so far but we shall see what happens when more stuff goes on.

It's a lot like seeing a Call of Cthulhu group lose it's collective mind in a way.  An interesting event to say the least but it'really can throw a wrench in the story.

I know some people prefer the fear mechanic in things like Legend of the Five Rings, where you just get penalized on rolls to the point where running is probably a good idea. I have found this doesn't work as well with groups that mainly play D&D because instead of embracing the fear they just get frustrated at the penalties. Then again, it's tough without getting the proper buy in from players in L5R without it turning into D&D with Samurai. When the GM tries to describe zombies without saying it and really give a good horror to the situation and the players are all like, "YAY!! ZOMBIES!!!" it really can take the wind out of the GM's sails.

Back to Vasesen. I find the game fun.  Hopefully other people do too, since they are playing in it. Hopefully everyone survives. As the GM, I root for my players, but that is another post for another time.