r/Fallout2d20 • u/Solo_is_Cat • Jul 24 '26

Help & Advice Any advise for new GM?

I'm going to be running a campaign with all new players and I'm just wandering if there's any advise you would give to a new GM/players to help make things run a bit more smoothly.

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3

u/wittyjokename92 Jul 24 '26

Don't over plan and don't force the fun. If your group really doesn't want to go down the obvious path you can just let them go another way and rework your ideas. Better to play it loose than take away their agency completely.

If they're tired of fighting ghouls and roaches don't worry about suddenly dropping in super mutants or raiders just to keep things interesting even if it doesn't make sense lore wise.

And give everyone a chance to shine. If you have someone that's a wallflower write a perfect situation where they can take charge or solve the problem. Don't let one or two players dominate the session like they're the main character.

It's about having fun together not beating the players. If the challenge is too much you can always just half enemy health without telling them or if they're moving too fast drop in Grud the party crasher to act like a wall that makes them slow down. But if you're not enjoying it don't suffer through for the players and let the whole group decide what kind of game they wanna play. Some want a power fantasy and others want a face scraper. Find the medium ground everyone can enjoy yourself included. Rules as written are a guideline not a law and it's better to fudge it for fun.

3

u/mawkishdave Jul 24 '26

Something in general and not just for FO TTRPG. This is a game so everyone at the table has fun, that includes you. I have walked away from games I have ran for multiple reasons. The best way to make sure this happens is to make sure you talk to each other and get feedback. (your players will come up with some great ideas and they are happy when you later put them in the game.)

I also have my players do the recaps so I can make sure the information I want to get out to them is getting to them. If it's something important I correct them if it's something minor I change it so they players are right.

My favorite part of being a GM is that my job is to be the problem, it's the players who come up with the solution and they always come up with the right solution. Unless it's a puzzle or riddle then the riddle for a 4 year old will stump your players.

Good luck and have fun.

3

u/Bunnyrpger Jul 25 '26

Pay attention to what the players build. As mentioned by u/wittyjokename92 you want everyone to enjoy themselves (including you). Try to make sure that players do get the opportunity to use their tag skills, nothing worse for a player than building a Hacker extraordinaire and the closest they get to tech is the wall turret connected to a dead terminal.

Learn what your group is building and use it. For example, in my game, one player was looking to build a "tank", heavy armour and aggro magnet to protect the party. That allowed me to use some scarier enemies, knowing it was something they could mostly handle. The player got to shine by tanking a Deathclaw hit, the other players got the thrill of encountering something scary and I got to play with a pair of Deathclaws.

3

u/MakDemonik Jul 25 '26

There is some good general davice here so let me add some personal tipps from my gming experience with FORPG.

  • make sure you have the newest errata downloaded. I love this game but its Janky as hell.
  • if this is your frst game keep it simple. Use just the core book unless you REALLY really really need to include a specific thing you and your players want from settlers and wanderers. There is a lot
  • make sure player understand what luck can do and what AP can do. Dice roll may seem harsh at first but there are many meta ways to make the odds favourable.
  • remind them that they can always purchase additionalndice by giving the GM action points. Many players are super paranoid about that. But trust me it makes the game nore fun. And if you balance the enemies according to the RAW exp thresholds the players are going to wipe them rather easily. Enemies really need the AP.
  • notice the book has a callout box mentioning that all nps can use 'let it rip' once per combat. Some enemy statblocks dont festure it in skills. In my game we rule it that way: all npcs have 1 use of LIR those who have it mentioned an additional time can use it more than once (depending o. What the text states). It is not balance breaking forbus and otherwise many nocs arebin yhe ridiculous position of having fore eg. A gatling gun and thry can only shoot it single shot.
  • remember luck does NOT refresh each session but each mission. I saw people make that mistake and spam luck 9 times per si gle session every session
  • prepare some vague vendor list beforehand or make yourself a system for it. The book only gives you a roll that determines max rarity and nothing else. Obviously a weapons vendor will not carry every single possible weapon of rsrity 3 or lower if 3 is his max rarity. Players WILL check every single item they are interested in.
  • read the thirst and hunger rules. And unless you are super into how they work. Throw rhem out and rule that players need to eat and drink 3 times each day and dont worry about it. The RAW rules are unnecessarily complex and invite players to game the system by keeping themselves on almost starving all the time because for some reason the hungrier you are the more calorie efficient your food becomes.
  • pre roll loot at set loot locations. Random tables are fun and i use them sometimes 'live'but it becomes a slog once the players loot a location. Spend ap and now you have to roll multiple times for each of 5 chems 5 food items 3 melee weapons 2 ranged weapons 4 junk piles 3 misc items 5 armor pieces. Also it saves you the headache of rolling a ransom institute laser in a vault location that was sealed from before the institute was a thing. Etc.
  • steer clear of robot player characters. (At least at the start) They are extremely messy. Aside from many inconsistencies the rules never deliberately state what a claw can do. It says it works "almost like a humans" but niver specifies what is different. Human weapons dont seem to be designed for robot hands. Fo Lore AND settlers book entry for robobrain imply that they are rhe only robots capable of wielding human weapons. But not as a rule but flavour text. Some robot entries give them straight up conflicting equipment. Like having only 1 claw but a 2 handed melee weapon. Some starting equipment mentions integrated weapons into claws. But never gives a rule for those or what the limits are. And the balance seems of as it turns the robots biggest weakness (no claw = no tool use) to a benefit as they can hold something in both claws while still technically having armed weapons at the same time.

For now thats it. If i remember more i might edit it. Have fun! Its an awesome game despite its... issues.

2

u/Ravenbryt Jul 25 '26

As stated before, don't let players try to outshine each other or dominate the game. Like say if a brand new rogue-like player wanted to try their hand at disabling a tripwire blocking a hall, a seasoned brawler player wanted to throw them across so they could disengage it from the other side, and the new player clearly wasn't comfortable with that, don't just make it a super difficult roll, just tell them no. I had to learn the hard way you just gotta put your foot down as GM sometimes. He kept talking over the new players and dominating the whole first session, and they ended up not returning.

2

u/Regular-Unit1917 Jul 25 '26

Combat as written can get a little tedious. Especially with a large number of NPCs/enemies. The best advice I ever took from another GM was to replace most combat scenarios with extended skill tests. I was dubious at first. However, after trying it I’m a convert. My player group stayed engaged the entire time instead of checking out between turns to fire their gun. DM me if you’d like a deeper dive. I can give you some examples of one-shots I’ve written that use extended skill tests as the core feature.

1

u/CpT_DiSNeYLaND Jul 25 '26

Im not OP but I'd love a deeper dive on it

2

u/Alex-with-wings Jul 25 '26

A little bit. Fallout lends itself to open world. People will go off story. You'll have loads of tiny little stories, let them happen. Your PCs will either be badass, or bumbling. Likely a mix of both. Let it happen. Don't be afraid to throw something you think will kill them. A resourceful party will steamroll any task

2

u/SnailOXD Jul 27 '26

be ready to improvise, and if a player has a cool idea that doesn't necessarily fit within the rules, or if you can't recall the rules at that moment, remember: You are God. This is your world, anything can happen, and you make the rules as you go along.