Simple Principles in running a game

So I try to be a good GM really I do, here some simple guidelines i follow

1. Know your Players (What do they like? What do they prefer, how are they Entertained? How do they think?)
2. Have clear understanding of the system to make it fun.
3. Have an interesting plot (more on this in a second)
4. Make the players the center of the universe (what the players make happen have a real impact on the world around them)
5. Have back up plans for encounters

this is just off the top of my head.

Now I do want to say that a good gaming experience is like a good book. It should have a beginning, a middle and apex and an end. So lets take for example my current Rogue trader campaign: Imperial Rogue Trader hard core loyalists to the emperor who have to deal with a Space Lizard man chaos faction in a giant tree that is causing problems with the warp on the planets surface.

Ok how did we get here?

Well first the PCs are part of a retinue of a rogue trader who is a decent guy a retired Imperial Army Col from Armageddon who was entrusted with the Rogue Trader Writ that was an original. He recruited these pcs from various backgrounds with the soul purpose to maybe find them worthy of carrying the writ.

Now for those of you who may not know the rogue traders writs are letters of Marque to acquire alien technology for the empire and has been blessed by the emperor himself. Also note that Humans in this Sci-fi setting are basically Space Nazis and have little tolerance for non-humans.

The writs state specific facts like "Go forth and collect alien tech" which is what this one says.

In this scene, which in my opinion has lasted longer then I anticipated, The Rogue trader cover story has been to set up a colony for the Human Imperials on a specific world, where in reality he has been given a profitable opportunity by the Ordos Xenos (that's anti-Alien inquisitors) to prove himself to possibly become an Inquisitor for the Ordo Xenos, all he had to do was recover the Alien space craft that crashed landed on this planet. But at the same time he created a colony, so this venture is economically very profitable, but...

...The former occupants of the spaceship have gone sorta feral and bred like tadpoles. They Worship a chaos god nurgle and have begun a large evil ritual at a large tree where their home base is. There has already been one large offensive against the humans cutting up the alien space craft that is being salvaged by the Rogue trader, and various skimirshes as well which all ended horrible for the Lizard folk

That's how we got here. Now for those of you who say "wait....Lizard people in 40K?" yes, back in the day there were the slaan and lizard people. so I decided why cant there be lizard people? It adds something to the universe that still screams 40K but is totally made up by myself.

I also moved the story to sound like a twisted version of ferngully/avatar because lets face it, Avatar should of ended with the humans nuking the goddamn blueberries tree from orbit.

Now I need stats on a possessed Lizard guy Daemon host and greater demon of nurgle.

Now there are several twists that can happen with this story, one is the writ can get destroyed in the fight which kinda adds an edge to the game. Well how can a writ get destroyed? well I decided that to add tension the writ would be written on on a venerable dreadnought and only the most pious Rogue Traders would be allowed to have it. And yes the dreadnought is very charismatic and long winded.

But there is a catch, and that is the Dreadnought is THE most cavalier Dreadnought ever. Think like a Musashi rolled up with a Cereno De'Borciac with a pinch of Galahad. HE WILL lead from the front.

So on many different levels this is a story but interactive iwth the dice determining fate.

Now the back up plans the what ifs:

1. What if the Party decides to use the rogue trader ship to bombard the tree from orbit?

well since the evil lizard people are cast a ritual anything could happen. Basically depending how close they hit the tree one of several outcomes could happen.

Best case: The tree falls because the orbital cannons hit it just right and missed the ritual of the Chaos Gate (again GM caveat) that may bring through an army of Plagued Chaos, tree falls on the casters every one dies and the good guys mop up.

Worst Case: Laser hits the wrong part of the ritual and quickens up and an army of Chaos flows through (these things happen).

Basically I roll dice I add some modifiers with the pcs gunnery and we hope for the best.

Now this is not the only way to deal with this issue but it is easy and chancy. See just like the Movie there is the expensive thing under the tree called "promethium" so if they do hit the tree just right you may not get chaos, but a world ending event. Promethium is highly highly nasty explosive dangerous catch all future fuel.

So even if they do a well place orbital strike with a homing beacon (which is an option) they might just screw the pooch.

The Frontal assault is also an option given the number of armed colonists and other influences that are on the planet. So we shall see. But I give many ways to skin a cat to my players. More options the better and I have NPCs who are skilled giving advice on options as well.