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13 - Wake Up GM: A Knife Theory Mystery
James and Chuckie are back to basics this week - no guests, just the two of them digging into one of the most useful GM tools you've probably never heard by name: Knife Theory. Originally posted to Reddit in 2017 by a guy named Jim Baby, Knife Theory is a way to get players to write backstories that you can actually use. The idea is simple: when players include certain elements in their character history, they're handing their GM a knife. A weapon you can pick up and use to pull that character deeper into the story.
- What's in the knife block: named NPCs, phobias, traumas, mysteries, enemies, obligations, crimes, heirlooms, secrets - and what makes each one useful at the table
- The difference between a sharp knife, a dull knife, and something that was never a knife to begin with
- Why 12 knives is too many and what happens when a player's backstory starts stabbing the rest of the party
- The double-bladed knife: what happens when you tie two backstory hooks together into one scene
- Chuckie walks through his character Finn Mueller's knives live - ex-thief, ex-soldier, one abusive uncle, a phobia of angry dogs, and a pocket watch he won't put down
- The debate: should you share your secrets with the whole party or keep them for the GM only? James and Chuckie don't agree.
- Send the knife list out before Session Zero - and what that looks like in practice
Stay tuned to the end to hear about some upcoming guests...we're so proud of what we've got coming to close out August (it's not a knife!)
We've also launched our Twitch channel for August's Monster Hunters Club Actual Play and our member-only quarterly AP - this time featuring our friend James Gordon Ross to close out Petey & Westmoreland's first ever time out of Vault 104! https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast
- Discord access & Actual Plays on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584454320344
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/
- BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/goodgms.bsky.social
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast
- Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast
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By James Currie, Chuck TaylorJames and Chuckie are back to basics this week - no guests, just the two of them digging into one of the most useful GM tools you've probably never heard by name: Knife Theory. Originally posted to Reddit in 2017 by a guy named Jim Baby, Knife Theory is a way to get players to write backstories that you can actually use. The idea is simple: when players include certain elements in their character history, they're handing their GM a knife. A weapon you can pick up and use to pull that character deeper into the story.
- What's in the knife block: named NPCs, phobias, traumas, mysteries, enemies, obligations, crimes, heirlooms, secrets - and what makes each one useful at the table
- The difference between a sharp knife, a dull knife, and something that was never a knife to begin with
- Why 12 knives is too many and what happens when a player's backstory starts stabbing the rest of the party
- The double-bladed knife: what happens when you tie two backstory hooks together into one scene
- Chuckie walks through his character Finn Mueller's knives live - ex-thief, ex-soldier, one abusive uncle, a phobia of angry dogs, and a pocket watch he won't put down
- The debate: should you share your secrets with the whole party or keep them for the GM only? James and Chuckie don't agree.
- Send the knife list out before Session Zero - and what that looks like in practice
Stay tuned to the end to hear about some upcoming guests...we're so proud of what we've got coming to close out August (it's not a knife!)
We've also launched our Twitch channel for August's Monster Hunters Club Actual Play and our member-only quarterly AP - this time featuring our friend James Gordon Ross to close out Petey & Westmoreland's first ever time out of Vault 104! https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast
- Discord access & Actual Plays on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GoodGMsPodcast
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GoodGMsPodcast
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584454320344
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodgmspod/
- BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/goodgms.bsky.social
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@good.gms.podcast
- Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/goodgmspodcast