Running a Session

All games of Saga Machine are made up of some number of sessions. Each session unveils the next chapter in the continuing exploits of the player characters.

Target Numbers: Open or Secret?

As the GM, you decide whether or not to make Target Numbers (TNs) openly known to the players. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether the character would know how difficult the action is before taking it, and then reveal or conceal the number as appropriate. When in doubt, lean towards making it known.

“Pick” is a skilled thief. He is about to scale a wall to access a hidden airlock. The GM decides he would know how difficult this is and publicly declares it to be TN 12.

Hartley is gathering rumors in a local bar. He doesn’t know what rumors there are to gather, so the GM decides to keep the TN of his Socializing test secret.

Planning Challenges

When planning challenges, it’s good to keep in mind the party’s abilities. One way to do this is to look at each character sheet and pick out a skill the character is good at, then try to find a way to make the skill relevant in the session. This gives each character a moment to shine.

Another useful trick is to look over the party’s current ambitions when planning the next session. These are a good indicator of what sort of challenges are interesting to the players and what they hope to achieve. Give each ambition some thought and try to find a way for the team’s short-term ambitions to play out in an interesting way.

GM Edge

Just like the players, you get a pool of Edge that you can use for NPCs. One way to make sure that you remember to use it is to, while planning a session, outline which NPC actions are the most important. Write down in your notes that you should use Edge, if needed, for these actions. There are unlikely to be more than one or two critically important NPC actions in the session, but this helps ensure the game flows as intended.

Handing Out Awards

As the GM, there are a number of ways to reward players, tempt them to do missions or incentivize certain behavior—both during and after the session.​

Experiences

At the end of each session, you might consider awarding players an experience or two, in addition whatever they earned by completing ambitions. The recommended target is that players should earn about three experiences per session total.​

Edge

Edge is not just a means of modifying actions, but can also serve to reinforce the horrific themes of the game or to motivate players to put their characters in potentially hazardous situations. Whenever a player go out of her way to investigate something horrific, feel free to reward her with an extra Edge.​

Favors

Rewarding the party with a Favor is a great way to demonstrate the impact the characters have on the world. Favors might later be turned into Contacts or even Patrons.

Money & Gear

Offering money or gear is a tried and true method of motivating players. The average mission reward should be about a week’s wages for the average party member (see page XXX).

Facing Defeat

Whenever it looks like the party is going to be defeated, it’s useful to take a moment and think things through. Go to the bathroom; get a drink; give the players a few minutes to sweat as they look defeat in the eye.

Horror games benefit from having very real and bloody consequences. At the same time, campaigns suffer when the players frequently lose characters. This can be a tricky balance to strike. While delaying, you should take a moment to ask yourself: How can I make this failure interesting? How can I make this loss meaningful to the players without ruining their fun?

There are many options for defeat beyond the wholesale slaughter of the party. Characters could be wounded and left for dead. They could be arrested by station security or taken as hostages. Their contacts could be kidnapped. They could lose Edge or have Favors forcibly exhausted. Know your group; try to pick something they will find interesting.