Gamemaster

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Hope to god he knows the rules.

The Gamemaster, or the GM as he is often called, is the source of all your fun and all your sorrow in a role-playing game. An adept or experienced GM will make the worlds of the RPG come to life, and present a vision that makes you feel as if you're really there. In other cases, the GM can come off as a total dick. The GM is responsible for describing the game world, playing the role of its inhabitants (NPCs and monsters) and adjudicating the results of your actions.

Other Terms

Various games refer to the Game Master with different names:

How do I shot GM?

The best advice on how to be a good GM ever.

A lot of people come asking for advice on how to run a role-playing game, but the simple truth of the matter is that a game master is not born; rather, made. Only experience, reading and knowing the group of people you play with will help you become really good. Different GMs have different approaches, some improvise everything, others painstakingly prepare every map, encounter and NPC the players come across. This way of doing things rarely pays off, as players usually hold to long-standing player customs of shrugging off all over your meticulously-planned work, as they decide to take one wrong turn or ignore one person that was supposed to put them on the right track you laid down for them, and wander off in the complete opposite direction. Some GMs counter this by railroading their players, which is generally seen as an douche way of doing things. When being railroaded, the players typically become little more than unwilling spectators to the GM's personal fantasy movie, which usually (read: always) sucks.

If you know what your players want you're one step closer to running a good game. Some just want to kick some goblin arse, others want to get involved in the political intrigue at court, others don't really know what they want. Try to lead them on adventures that involve all the characters and give them all challenges that depend on what they do best. If you have a rogue in the party make sure to have some sneaking or trap-finding to be done, if you have a barbarian be sure there will be opportunity to kick some ass and so on. Talk to your players.

In the end there is really only one rule, Rule 0, which states: Have fun. Meaning everyone at the table. Make sure everything is moving forward, try to avoid stalling and monotony. If the players are really stuck just throw something at them, even ninjas. Keep things happening and everyone interested.

If people aren't excited or interested it's often better to pull out another game, switch GMs, watch a movie or just WATCH ALL THE PORN.

A Rebuttal From That Guy

What kind of after-school-special-carebears-bullshit is this? As the GM your one and only duty is to win. Why in the name of Tiamat would you want to help the players anyways? They sit around your basement, drink your beer, herp their derps, and shit all over your carefully constructed masterpiece. They aren't your friends, they are animals. And there's only one way to deal with animals. That chest? It had a Sphere of Annihilation. The new warstrider you built? It gets one-shotted by the imperial manse. Your psyker? Fails his perils roll and summons a bloodthirster. Oh you survived? Deploying rocks now. They might hate you for it but its the only way to keep the story progressing in the right direction (yours). After all to rule one must either be feared or loved, and who could love you?

And this elegan/tg/entlemen is why we never let That Guy DM.

Shut up. Just shut the hell up. You know what? You're dead. You died. Orcus reached through a tear in the abyss and pulped you like an orange. Now get ready to roll a new character, we're playing my erotically charged My Little Pony Homebrew- *BLAM* Oh, don't mind me, I just crawled out of the 40K Section. Praise the Emprah. *BLAM* *BLAM* It twitched. Praise the Emprah.

Types of DM

A description of commonly found play styles of DM and their pros & cons. (hoping that more will be added over time)

  • Aspiring Author - Hand-crafts his own campaign setting, populating it with "unique" characters, factions and history.
    • Pros - Can make for a very unique experience if the DM takes his time with the setting, particularly in creating unexpected scenarios for the players. Also becomes very difficult to meta-game since players don't necessarily know how the system works (and therefore how to break it)
    • Cons - If he's not very good, the "uniqueness" of the setting will be contrived / cliche tropes that the players already know, and will get tired of if being sold to them as "different". Also if the DM is not committed to the group, adventures may take a long while to write up and cause the players to forget what they were even playing.
  • Canon Defender - Applicable when using an established setting/adventure modules (Forgotten Realms, 40k, Star Wars etc) they usually know their fluff better than most and try to maintain the integrity as much as they possibly can by restricting how much damage the players will inevitably attempt to cause by breaking it. Or by restricting their movements to specific "breakable" portions of the in-game universe where the players cannot cause significant harm. (eg: no visiting Terra since the players will obviously attempt to murder the Emperor)
    • Pros - The "realism" of the campaign is maintained, so if the players know their lore they remain familiar with the setting no matter how much they try to screw it over. If the DM is well versed enough, they can also deal with random/wrong situations as they come up in an appropriate manner without bringing gameplay to a crashing halt.
    • Cons - Players can feel cheated that they are not interacting with the setting as much as they would like. Also, if a DM is not well versed enough with the setting it WILL devolve into railroading. Meta-gaming is going to happen and arguments will occur with players who think they know the setting better.
  • Formula/Dice DM - What the rulebooks often expect a DM to be. Follows the adventure modules religiously, but unlike the canon defender is more interested in the crunch than the fluff. When shit happens, he will likely refer to whatever table of events / random encounter lists / pre-generated characters that are available. His in it as much as the players are; just along for the ride.
    • Pros - Things tend to go most according to plan since a rule can often be found to cover most situations. Is also the least likely to cause a fuss with the players, since he's playing the game as much as they are. So nothing is personal with him.
    • Cons - The situations can occur that often feel out of place to the players; such as repetitive random encounters or things not happening in the appropriate places (meeting a merchant in the middle of a dungeon?)
  • Turncoat Player - Longtime/munchkin players who want to give the DM chair a shot, often thinking they can do it better than the previous DM since they have sat through the experience of being a player and want to do it differently.
    • Pros - If they can learn restraint, they can be the most sympathetic to the players needs and become one of most adaptable DMs. Also will spend a lot of time with the players developing their characters, crafting well fleshed out back stories and often including an inordinate amount of heirloom items.
    • Cons - More player experience does not always equal good DM. These DMs can be wishlisters; creating settings that they'd rather play in... giving the players the "best" gear, "freedom" of gameplay and dish out ridiculous experience and in-situ rewards in an attempt to ingratiate himself with the group and sometimes end up in denial that their setting has any flaws in it at all.
  • The Monster - Often appears to have the most desirable skillset as a DM; knows his fluff, the ruleset and gets on well with the group but do not be deceived, he is one of the worst types of style. Recognisable for his lack of dice rolling, also for constantly talking to his players and making things up on the fly. Often giving them loads of information to work with and dropping hints about what they could be doing next. If he's good, he will often defer to the players and create a scenario on the fly depending upon what their options are.
    • Pros - One of the smoothest operating DMs, since his plan is constantly in his mind he will quickly have a resolution to most scenarios. Also can be as creative as the aspiring author above, but less attached to his setting and can give the players much more free reign.
    • Cons - The players will feel railroaded by his constant hint dropping, and will be punished (sometimes severely) with whatever consequence he has in his twisted mind for not taking those hints. Since there is little to no dice rolling there is often no comeback for the players. This DM will insist he is being fair and is NOT railroading you since you always had the option of following his advice. Also, since it's all mostly in his mind, if he gets an opinion or a vendetta in there, you're pretty much screwed over at this point and are just pawns in his little game.
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