How to run something without it turning into a car wreck.
Don't introduce cars or trucks or owls!
Okay, let's see...
1. Start small.
Seriously, a smaller scene means you'll be a lot less worried about keeping everybody on the same page when Character A goes off to do Plan Z while Characters B and C argue about Plan A-F and Characters D and E sit around waiting for a leadery character to resolve something while Character F ignores everything else going on and bounds into action, meanwhile the players of Character G and Character C need to BRB for a moment, and the player of Character A wants to know whether they can still do Plan Z and then the Player of Characters D and C both need to leave early for work and that's a lot of madness for a new (or, let's be honest, any) ST.
If you're running a SL so more than likely a lot of PCs might get involved, I still personally recommend starting small, or even starting small multiple times. Depending on the system (but I'm guessing you're thinking Mage, so), after the first scene there WILL be gossip about it and PCs WILL go to talk to their allies (other PCs) and those allies WILL want to get involved for one reason or another so you'll have a lot less work for you to do.
We're not playing tabletop and working on alliances / giving PCs something to talk about in between scenes that you actually run is pretty cool and I feel an integral part of gaming online.
2. Pay attention to the PCs and what they want.
Be prepared to be hella flexible when PCs do their thing. I know that seems super obvious, but I know some STs get frustrated when PCs aren't behaving as they'd anticipated in a story. I rarely get frustrated with PCs who go off the map 'cause there is no 'off the map.' The PCs are the story, you know?
And paying attention to
all the PCs and what they're doing, instead of just the one who is following what you thought was the proscribed path to 'the end,' I feel makes for a more rewarding scene or storyline for everybody involved.
I don't know if you're the kind of ST who wants to have a lot of notes in advance or the kind of ST who thrives on chaos, but I feel like the best scenes both for players and STs seem to be the ones where PCs actually feel they have some sort of effect and that their presence in the scene wasn't interchangable with any other Joe Schmoe PC.
In an ongoing storyline, don't automatically shut-down any attempt to figure something out or do something. Even if the characters are going in the completely opposite direction than they 'should' be, there's probably something interesting in that too, and the players don't know their characters are barking up the wrong tree. I've had a lot of fun messing with people's PCs who have come to the completely wrong conclusions about what's happening.
3. Be clear about what you can handle and upfront about finding out what the players in your scene can handle. Also totally be upfront about your ST style. I guess: manage expectations?
This kind of ties back to #1, but you know, be super clear about how late you can stay and how much time and/or physical doom you reasonably expect to put into a scene. Most STs have their little scene-starting caveats, yeah? Those are very useful for the managing of expectations.
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I feel like there is more but I can't think of anything that is specific advice and not just general philosophy of STing.
GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED.
- Tithe
