How to Remember Game Master Intrusions Without Breaking Your GM Flow

How to Remember GM Intrusions Without Breaking Your GM Flow

Many Numenera game masters lament their struggle to remember to use GMI's in their game sessions. Forgetting or forgoing GMI's cuts players off from earning XP, which are their tools to take narrative control and to become more powerful. In a sense, they are the real treasure of Numenera. Here are six suggestions to help you ensure that your players are getting the rich experience they deserve:

1. Prepare customized GMI's. Before you play, create three or four GMI's based on each character's backgrounds from their type and focus, their initial link to the adventure, the connection from their descriptor, their equipment, or any other specific information you have about them. For example, A Tough Gliave who Fights With Panache may have Intensive Training as their background. This means a trainer, a master, a dojo or gym, training partners, past mentors and rivals, old grudges or favors and blind spots or deficits in training that can be exploited by other trained fighters.  Any one of these could be the basis of a GMI.  In the character's background, he is  regarded as a hero by the neighbors of a family that he saved from a fire. This can lead to flashbacks at inopportune times, being recognized inconveniently, community expectations that the character will always go into burning buildings to save whoever is inside, plots to frame the PC for arson, the sudden arrival of a member of the family who needs help or has fallen in love with the PC, and so on. If the players chooses the "You're acting as a bodyguard for one of the other PC's" for their connection to the first adventure, a GMI could make fighting or defending more difficult when the guarded PC is threatened, or interacting more difficult because the PC has become over-protective or suspicious. Fighting with Panache has a connection of always wanting to impress a PC.  GMI's for this could include embarrassing failure (next action is demoralized; 1 tier harder), foolhardiness (next defense roll 1 tier harder) or an injury from showing off (1 step down the damage track). Interfering with the PC's equipment and highest stat pool can also inspire GMI's. By having a few ready-made GMI's in ready to go for each PC, the GM has already taken a step towards making sure they happen.
2. Use a checklist. A card or sheet of paper with check boxes for each character shows whether you have intervened in their story during the session.  This can help keep you honest as well; some players maybe easier or more fun to mess with and this tool ensures that they don't get all the GMI's. This could look like a simple list of names with check boxes next to them or it could be your list of custom GMI's for each player along with a few blank slots for improvised trouble.
3. Use a timer. If your game session is four hours long, have it go off every hour.  If you haven't done a GMI by then, by all means intrude! If you've already given some thought to how you're going to intervene with the PC's, this will be much easier.
4. Use tokens for XP.  Having a stack of tokens (glass beads, cards, poker chips, m&m's, washers, etc) set out in sets of two will act as a visual reminder to give them out. (I used this technique when I GM'ed Savage Worlds and it really helped.)
5. Reward players for reminding you.  If you give the players something good, either a real-world reward or an in-game benefit (your next cypher goes up a level, you get a special token that gives a free re-roll, etc.) for reminding you to do GMI's, at least one of them will remind you.  Careful that you don't let greedy players bully you into over-intruding!
6. Solicit player suggestions for GMI's.  Remind them often that GMI's equal XP. Share the idea of using their background, equipment, abilities and environment as a source of trouble and encourage their creative feedback.  Once the players get the connection between GMI's and rewards, many of them will be more than willing to help you out. Even if you only have one eager beaver, his or her input will remind you to intrude into the other character's stories as well.

 With forethought, a few physical reminders and your players' help, the GMI's should be flying at your next game session.  I think you'll be pleased with the results.