The First Born’s final class assignment for her social studies unit on the medieval period was to construct a catapult. So, armed with scrap wood from my shop, an instructional video from the good folks over stormthecastle.com, a table saw and good length of rope, we set about constructing a backyard water balloon launcher.

We settled on making the torsion catapult, since this was the closest thing to a mangonel — which we thought was the engine type truest to the period. Of course we made a few concessions (it was to be a working model, after all, not an era-specific replica), nylon rope being foremost.

From the gaming side, the thing I took away from our little experiment was the feasibility of on-the-fly trapmaking. The next time my adventurers want to play McGyver and construct an improvised trap to spring on unsuspecting dungeon inhabitants, I will have to judge their success based on the materials on hand. (I mean, they can’t exactly run to the Home Depot when they are short a 2×4.)

However, I also (re-)discovered the utility of a length of rope. In fact, in a dungeon setting, climbing might well be the least reason for needing rope. But, if I continue along this line, you might hear me rant — once again — on the necessity of a Use Rope skill in rpgs. (Why 3.5 nerfed it and Pathfinder and D&D 4E eliminated it is beyond me).

All in all, a fun experiment. And there’s a lot of medieval discovery fun at stormthecastle, so if you are in the mood to make a paper castle or a shield of cardboard for gaming needs, it’s a great place to stop and learn how.

Back to the bookshelf

Just picked up the Third-Edition supplement Kingdoms of Kalamar on the secondary market. I look forward to digging into Kenzer’s long-established setting — mining it for ideas and inspiration.

Two other Kenzer products have served me well over the years. (Why it took me so long to dive into the company’s signature setting, I’ll never know.)

The sourcebook on Geanavue has been a “go-to” NPC supplement of great utility and the Villain Design Handbook features great advice to novice (and veteran) GMs on running adversaries of all sorts.

Silence is golden

As a teen I got invited to Bill’s game. That was fortunate — all the other players were college aged. Was I intimidated? Just a tad … (which, admittedly, might color how I remembered those games).

This was the era of gaming greatly influenced by wargaming’s legacy, and Bill was very much in the mold of a judge from that time. He would provide brief room descriptions, then sit back and watch. He would step forward to adjudicate only when required.

He operated like the old basketball adage: If after the game the referees seemed to be invisible, they probably did a pretty good job.

This might fall into the category of “let the players play.”  Anyway, in Bill’s game, the players set the pace. The approach was ideal for his dungeon crawls.

I guess those times Bill roleplayed NPCs were memorable not because he was a particularly adept actor, but because of his restraint in other aspects of the game. Because when he chose to talk, you knew it was time to listen closely.

We call it … a battlemap

Understand, I started in an era when that the only map in the game was the one secure behind  the GMs screen. One player might be designated as the mapper, which he dutifully tried to scratch out on a worn and crumpled piece of graph paper. Its accuracy was questionable, at best.

But the rest of the game was narrative. Combat was described.

Sure, some players might bring minis. And these might be displayed on a grid. But the players controlled that. Only the GM knew for certain if what we were representing on the table was accurate.

(Remember, these were the days when the GM’s role might accurately be described as adversarial — not cooperative, as is the assumption today).

I think the first time I saw a true battlemap in play was for a science fiction rpg at a convention in East Peoria. This GM, whose name I cannot remember, unfortunately, had a easel-sized tablet of grid paper. Each sheet in the tablet was another encounter area, with all the terrain and obstacles clearly detailed in magic marker. As the adventure progressed, all he had to do was flip the page and present a new encounter area.

For a GM running a convention game, it was outstanding preparation. But I immediately grasped how much more streamlined this approach was. Yes, a party is not likely to get lost in Undermountain with such an approach — but any game with turn-based combat, this seemed like an elegant solution. I became an advocate of this approach.

I loved drawing up my own battlemaps in crayon. (Crayon is the best because the colors are so vibrant and so quick to fill in). I even shared that method with the readers of Dungeon. (Prison Mail, Issue 119).

Today, of course, GMs have a score of such products at their disposal, whether it’s Flip-Mats, Dungeon Tiles or a bevy of printable terrain cards. Gaming’s even come full circle with three-dimensional products. And for me, personally, I’m now hip deep into plaster — building my own floor tiles, modular dungeons and set pieces for my games.

But it was that very prepared convention GM who set me on this path.

Short ’n’ sweet

More recently, I got a reminder of how a terse, brief description can be more effective than a shelf full of background material.

I mean, that’s quite an admission, coming from me. I’m the guy who provides a 10-page player background document for players in my setting. I open most sessions with paragraphs-long descriptions of the events as they’ve transpired.

Silence may be golden once the game gets under way, but at the outset, this GM is going to get his say in.

I had to be reminded less can be more in some instances.

This lesson came from Robert, who is taking his turn from our group to move behind the GM screen. My direction for character creation for his new campaign: A single sentence.

You don’t know how liberating that was. I had a clear instruction, a solid idea of the adventure setting, and a target for my PC. What more could I ask for?

There is mystery about this setting, and Robert’s wise about playing it close to the vest. It’s refreshing.

Swing the spotlight over here

If I have GMing mentor, Ken is it. Maybe it’s because he participates in local theater productions, but he always has a sense of drama in his games. And one thing his is particularly good at is providing spotlight moments for players during encounters.

One of his best tactics is “divide and conquer.” In other words, he finds ways to isolate PCs in the midst of combat, providing them with a chance to enter the spotlight. He usually achieves this by the way he moves monsters and NPCs around the encounter area. The trick, of course, is that in most games, the key to overcoming obstacles is for the players to work as a team. He’s pretty consistent at balancing that out.

One thing he does exceptionally well is “read” a character sheet. I admit it, when I look at a PCs sheet, all I see are numbers, and I’m the last person who’ll check the math to see that it’s right. But Ken’s pretty adroit at seeing the intended “character” buried inside those numbers. I think that gives him some insight at laying out situations that beg for players to step into the spotlight. The encounter probably won’t be tailored for a particular PC, but if there is an aspect a given PC might exploit, then Ken will lay it out there for them. Maybe it’s not always subtle, but when is a spotlight subtle, anyway?

GMing is an art form; no two GMs will prepare in exactly the same manner. In addition, the list of techniques for game prep is massive and ever-changing. I’ll try to cover a few big topics, but each GM have to find what works best for them.

First Time Out

For truly first-time GMs, I strongly recommend a published adventure. Preferably one by the writers of the game, for low-level play, using pre-generated characters, and where player choices are somewhat limited (like a dungeon crawl).

Published adventures, especially ones by the writers of the system, are usually balanced, usually point out some of the cooler parts of the game system, and (most importantly) have been playtested to ensure that the players should enjoy it.

Low level play is much easier to manage than high level, especially for the GM. Encounters tend to take less time, which is good, because novice GMs should take their time learning the rules. Low level monsters, traps, and characters have less information to clog up your already full memory banks.

Unless your group is already comfortable with the rules system, pre-generated characters are the best way to go. Many systems will have character generation pitfalls that aren’t obvious until after the game has started (such as the broad but very limited abilities of generalists), and pre-gens will usually avoid these pitfalls. Also, you want to run a game, not sit there for an hour while the players argue over who has to play the cleric this time.

Limiting the players’ choices is somewhat ‘railroadish’, but getting behind the screen is confusing enough. For the first few times behind the screen, it’s best to keep the action somewhat predictable and well-defined. Save the free-form ‘sandbox’ style for later.

When using a published adventure, read it cover-to-cover twice. Highlight important passages. Make notes in the margin or on a notepad. Run a ‘test encounter’ to see the rules in play. Create a rough playbook for important NPCs – Which ability will they use first? Under what conditions will they retreat? How open to negotiations are they? Get comfortable enough with the adventure to know where to find the important points when the party gets to them. If it helps, use post-it notes or adhesive flags to mark important rules in the core books.

Rolling Your Own

Once the initial adventures are over, many GMs are eager to to take the reins and start their own campaigns. Some stick with published ‘adventure paths’, while others prefer to start entirely from scratch, either in an established setting, or in one of their own creation. I suggest sticking to the published material when possible, at least until you’re comfortable behind the screen.

Regardless, there are a few general techniques for game prep:

• Define only what is necessary – The recurring shopkeeper’s combat stats are not important, but his personality and interests might be. On the other hand, City Guardsmen might need combat stats, but little more. Resist the urge to overdevelop.
• How does each element add to the game? – An NPC might help move the story forward, might add some verisimilitude to the game world, might supply the PCs with resources, or might provide some brief opposition. An NPC who brings nothing to the game is superfluous.
• Start small, grow organically – Address the immediate surroundings and questions first, then move on to more distant areas. For instance, in a classic D&D campaign, the party will need a place to stay, a place to buy and sell things, and somewhere to adventure. As the party moves on to bigger tasks, create those, but resist the temptation to work too far ahead. Many a beautifully crafted location or story has been skipped when the PCs became interested in something else.
• NPCs, Locations, and Loot – You’ll need all three, and can often mix and match them when needed. NPCs include monsters, allies, contacts, etc. Locations are where they are encountered, and often impact the encounter with environmental modifiers. Loot is anything not in the above categories – treasure, transportation, information, etc. Create more than you need of each, and you’ll never lack for the building blocks of a good encounter.
• NPC Creation – For NPCs the party will socially interact with, define at least three things about them: likes, dislikes, fears, goals, personality quirks, looks, mannerisms, accents, etc.
• Sounding Boards – Chando42, in a great comment, pointed out the value of a sounding board. Bounce your ideas off of someone else, and see if they stand up to someone else’s perspective.
• Information Management – How do you organize your information? Computer (wiki, website, text files, etc)? Notebooks? Index cards? I’ll have more on this in a future article, but take some time to try out a few options before settling on one, and be very open to shifting gears if it isn’t working for you.

Before the Game

The day before the game, I like to review the rules for any new weapons, spells, critters, etc that I or the players will be using this session. Too many games have ground to a halt while the group looks up and argues about how the new ‘thing’ actually works.

The day of the game, I scan my notes, remind myself of the important points in each scene or for each NPC, and try to take a few minutes before the game to relax and ‘get into character’ as it were. A few minutes’ relaxation before a game can make all the difference between a mediocre session and a great one.

During and After the Game

Your prep may be over once the players arrive, but the acid test is just beginning. During the game, make notes to yourself about how your prep and notes worked, and especially what didn’t work. Did the structure work? Do you prefer the critters’ stats on the page of the room they’re in, or collected in an appendix in the back? Did your chosen ‘stat block’ format work for you? Did you prep everything you needed, and need everything you prepped?

Don’t be too harsh on yourself, but be aware of what didn’t work, and make an effort to change it up the next time around. Feel free to try out new techniques and see what works for you.

Do you have any favorite prep techniques or anything else to add? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

For some GMs, game prep takes far more time and effort than the actual gaming sessions. We could spend weeks on game prep, but this is just an overview of the process; techniques will be handled in a future article. Because game prep is such a wide and varied topic, I asked my fellow Gnomes to assist.

Overdoing It

As a first time GM, you will likely over-prepare. It’s okay; we’ve all done it, either through enthusiasm or anxiety (or both!). You’ve probably realized by now that the prep needed to start a campaign is far more than the prep needed to continue a campaign.

Over-preparation can be a Good Thing, because there may be a time further down the road when you just don’t have the time or energy to prep, and can draw on the work you’ve done previously. Many GMs make use of this ‘early enthusiasm’ by spending a month or more working on a campaign before it actually starts.

This is not a reason to intentionally overdo it. As the first-time GM with a new campaign, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by everything. First off, relax.

Martin Ralya: You can’t prep for every eventuality, so don’t try. Instead, remember you can always call a five-minute time-out during the session to gather your thoughts while everyone else warms up another bowl of delicious and nutritious Gnome Stew slice of pizza.

Priorities, Priorities…

I like to set up a “priority of work”, so that needs are taken care of before wants. Some needs: knowing the rules of the game, establishing the opposition’s stats, defining NPC motivations, assigning names to people and places, and drawing maps (if you use them). If you prefer to use “boxed text”, write that out as well.

Another need is to idiot-proof your storyline. (Let’s assume there’s a bit of railroading; save the sandbox for later.) Make sure that your red herrings aren’t too misleading, and that every step in the story is logical and obvious.

Matthew Neagley: I create a number of location hotspots where encounters might occur, along with notes on what might go on there, what NPCs are there when, what you can find there, etc….

Then I jot down a "path of least resistance" summary. In other words, if the PCs roll 1s all night long, will the adventure continue? If not, I’ll fill in the missing links. This makes sure that, even with trash rolls, the adventure doesn’t grind to a halt. Better rolls may lead to better results, more hints, background info, rewards, etc… but minimal rolls must still MOVE THE PLOT.

Regardless of what we or any other source of advice says, make sure that you are comfortable with your prep.

DNAphil: “If you are at the table, worrying about your notes, you won’t be able to focus on your players and your story.”

Less important things can be saved for later, or if you have plenty of free time. This includes things like hints for the next storyline, development of other parts of the universe, more-detailed stats for noncombatant NPCs, additional details, names, and places.

Time-Wasters

It’s easy to waste time in game prep, especially for the novice GM. One frequent time-waster is creating unnecessary encounters or scenes, either because ‘something cool happens’, or because they’re left over from an earlier draft. 

DNAphil: Every scene or encounter should have a purpose.  If you cannot briefly explain why this scene is in your game, you likely do not need it. I write the purpose of my scene at the top of the notes for it, and while writing my notes make sure that what I am writing sticks to the purpose.

Another common mistake is to spend too much time on the world, instead of focusing on the local area. Your players will probably be working in a small area at first. What happens in that area is far more important to the game than what happens elsewhere. If you are going to attempt to paint the world, use very large brush strokes and leave a lot of blank spaces in between them.

A mistake I used to make was to overdevelop an NPC’s backstory, either because I was trying to make him interesting, or simply because I could. Remember that the player characters are the stars of this movie; don’t try to take screen time away from them without giving something back (like a Big Clue as to the NPC’s motivations or weaknesses).

Remember that your prep style is very much in flux, and this is a great time to try new things and see what works best for your particular situation. We’ll cover actual techniques in a future article. If you have anything to add (as mentioned, prep is a huge topic), sound off in the comments and let us know.

What? More Rules?

Over the years, a gaming group will develop their own internal rules, conventions, and standards of behavior, many of which will be unspoken. Some of these cover how the game is played, from House Rules that change the mechanics of the game, to “all dice rolls must be visible to other players.” Some cover above-game behavior such as when and where the group meets, how disagreements are handled, etc.

A new group does not have the luxury of developing these over time, but can avoid much wailing and gnashing of teeth simply by establishing a few things before dice hit table. The point of this exercise is not to come up with an actual document or to lecture the players, but to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes time to game. This discussion can take as little as a half an hour, or as much as half the first session, but at the end of it, everyone should know what to expect.

A Game Charter or Social Contract is not written in stone. It will change over time, as the group grows and learns. But starting on the same page, even if that page is quickly turned, provides a solid foundation on which the rest of the game is built.

First Things First

The GM is the leader of the group. This may sound controversial, but I’ve seen far more disasters from a GM who didn’t step up than from a GM who tried too hard to lead. Remember: Leadership is about responsibility, not control.

This concept is worth its own article and seminar (please read the former), but I mention it here because the GM will be moderating this discussion, if not outright directing it. One of the ground rules being established is that the GM is in charge.

The following sections lists some of the questions that should be asked in this discussion. Since the title of this series is “First Time GM”, I’ve included my own hard-earned answers, but feel free to ignore them and find your own.

Playing the Game

But before playing in a campaign, I would like to know how the following about it: 

System and Setting – Obviously, the system and setting will be established up front, but what about supplements? Third-party rulebooks? I would minimize the options at first, especially if you’re not entirely comfortable with the rules. Your player may have a raging woody to play the latest and greatest, but your comfort level is a critical factor.

Genre – Pulp? Heroic Fantasy? Space Opera? Steampunk? Define your terms when it comes to discussing the genre you’re about to play; “Heroic Fantasy” means many different things to different people. Use books and movies as examples.

Lethality – How lethal is the game? We’re not just talking about a half-dozen backup characters, but also about healing (magic, technology, etc), and how important it is to have all the right information and tools before going on a mission. A word of advice: Players generally don’t enjoy high-lethality games as much as GMs do.

Realism – How ‘realistic’ is the game? The system and genre will determine much of this, but the group’s interpretation will, too. Does the group want a game as realistic as Platoon, or as fantastic as anime or wire-fu? Somewhere in the middle? Define this early, because immersion is easily broken by going too far in either direction.

Style – How the game is played and run, including (but not limited to) the following:

• How many house rules should there be? At first, resist the urge to modify, and play the game as written.
• How strictly should the rules be interpreted? At first, not terribly. The goal is to have fun, not to maintain absolute rule integrity.
• At what pace should the game be run? This will figure itself out over time, but try not to leave anyone behind for now.
• How are rules disagreements handled? Quickly. Don’t be afraid to have a quick discussion and make a decision, and then research a final answer after the session.
• What happens when a player is absent? I suggest that absent PCs are assumed to be ‘doing their own thing’ in the background. TPKs affect everyone equally.

Above the Game

This part of the discussion usually goes quickly, since the person hosting is just laying down the law for using their house: Where and when the sessions will happen. Rules for having food and drink at the table. Smoking and, um, other things. Tolerance for kids and/or pets. Hygiene, or the lack thereof. Colorful and/or loud language. Standards of expected behavior. Etc…

Some other topics for the ‘above game’ discussion that should actually be discussed include:

• Who can invite others to join, and how is that handled? This has blown up into group-shattering explosions a few times. I prefer to handle my own invites with an interview and a ‘test session’ or two.
• How many sessions can a player miss before losing his seat? It really depends on the group, but I drop players after three unexpected absences. 
• How are above-game disagreements handled? Let these linger, and your group will not be happy. I prefer the extremes: openly with strong GM moderation, or behind the scenes by the GM.
• How much off-topic chatter is acceptable? A few minutes, tops; the preferred attention-redirecting phrases are “Stay on target!” and “Game on!”

This article covers a lot of ground, and does so quickly, but this discussion should take place with every gaming group, especially beginning ones. If I’ve missed anything important, or if you have anything to add, sound off in the comments and let us know!

Up next: Game Prep

Finding players

Some GMs are lucky enough to inherit or adopt a fully-developed group of players. But some poor souls are truly at the beginning, and have no idea on what to look for in a player – or more importantly – what to look out for.

Most RPGs have a ‘sweet spot’ for the preferred number of players, generally about four to six. I strongly advise that new GMs pay attention to this number, and would even recommend that they aim for the low end of it. Your first games will be slow; more players will only make them slower. Besides, it’s easier to fill four seats than six.

One of Martin’s most popular articles on TreasureTables.org is Ways to Find RPG Players. The article and associated PDF are still excellent resources, if a bit dated. Some new options: Facebook, Twitter, and whatever forums and mailing lists that support your preferred gaming system.

New GMs may want to look for more players than they have seats, in case of scheduling or personality conflicts. If so, make sure that all the prospective players are aware that they are not guaranteed a seat at the table.

A common situation is players who try to bring friends into the game. This can help fill a table pretty quickly. On the other hand, these friends will almost certainly form a clique, and may try to dominate the table.

Interviews

One school of thought on gaming groups is that you should only game with people you’d want to hang out with. There’s something to be said for this, but novice GMs probably don’t have a very long roster of potential players, and will have to pick and choose carefully.

One of the best ways to do that is the player interview. Also on TreasureTables.org, Martin Ralya wrote a nice article about that, as well. I would add that gamers should clearly define their terms when discussing gaming, as not everyone has the same definition of ‘cinematic’.

Scheduling

Once you’ve got a list of prospective players, either start a Yahoo or Google group, join Obsidian Portal, or just start a mass email, and start looking for a time to play. Resist the temptation to accommodate everyone, and make sure that your players are truly available at the agreed-upon times; “getting off work at 6:00” does not mean “available to game at 6:00”.

Four hours makes for a good session, but the whippersnappers among us can handle far more. I prefer to play on Thursday nights, as it’s easy to make it through Friday if the session runs late, but you’re not interfering with weekend plans.

I have found it easier to schedule if everyone is roughly the same age or has roughly the same job. This is not a necessity, but college kids can game all night; professionals can handle 6:30 to 10:30; waiters can game on Monday; etc.

Finding a Place

If “the kitchen/dining room table at my place” isn’t an option, check with your players. If they can’t host, try your local gaming stores. If they can’t work with you, perhaps a library or local college has rooms available. If that’s not an option, coffee shops are a possibility, but remember to tip heavily; consider it “rent” for their table. Heck, some gamers play without a table! (But others may differ.)

Once you’ve found a place to play, and have a few sessions under your belt and a better idea of who your players are, consider the seating arrangements. Small changes in the seating can make drastic changes in the atmosphere.

Did I miss anything? Got any more ideas for finding players, scheduling a time, or finding a place to game? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

Up next: Establishing the Ground Rules

As a first-timing DM, one thing that I’ve noticed lacking in many first-time-DM articles is just the basic, taken-for-granted stuff; how to use secret information, how to paint an environment picture, easy ways to keep track of initiative/char. stats/etc. for all the PCs and monsters, how to avoid MMO-style number-crunching, that kind of thing.

Which led directly to First Time GM, a series of articles dedicated to the newly-minted game master, making his first tentative die rolls behind the screen. First Time GM will cover a broad range of topics, from advice on finding players, to techniques for managing information at the table, to handling those “WTF?” moments, hopefully touching on many of Inumo’s topics along the way.

Of course, much of this material will be old news to the seasoned GMs among us, but hopefully everyone will find something they can use, or will share the fruits of their experience in the comments.

What does a GM actually do?

To launch the series, let’s take a look at what a GM actually does at the table when he or she is running a game. This is not an exhaustive list, and does not include many of the things that a good GM will do, nor does it include ‘game prep’.

• Plays the NPCs, especially the opposition. Walton the shopkeeper, Helpless the Henchman, the Dark Lord of Lost Socks, and Kobold #4 are all the GM’s characters.
• “Runs” the environment, including locations, the weather, and inanimate objects like traps, by describing how they appear and what they do.
• Decides what aspects to focus on, such as combat and negotiations, and what aspects to “hand wave”, such as travel, research, etc.
• Acts as the final arbiter of the game rules, although many GMs will defer to their players or provide temporary answers pending further research.
• Manages the flow of information from the world to the players, paying particular attention to the plot-centered aspects of it. From one point of view, RPGs educate the players about the world their characters inhabit.
• Improvises when the party does the unexpected, whether by creating a neighboring town that the PCs unexpectedly visit, or merely by deciding if there is any loose dirt in the room.
• Decides when to stop the session, and when to press on.
• Takes notes for future reference.

Some of these are relatively simple to do, but others can take the full mental bandwidth of a veteran GM. But wait, there’s more…

“I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people.”

In my opinion, the most important aspects of the GM’s job involve dealing with his or her players. It shouldn’t come as a shock that many GMs have weak people skills. Most folks are oblivious to their own social shortcomings; even if they are aware of them, it’s not easy to change a lifetime of social habits.

The first time GM should be aware of the need for social skills, as he or she may be called upon for the following (again, not an exhaustive list).

• Enforces the rules of expected behavior at the table, even if they are decided by the group as a whole.
• Keeps the game moving by the judicious pruning of small talk, tangents, “this one time in bandit camp”, etc.
• Manages the ever-changing dynamics of a potentially disparate group, also known as ‘cat herding’.
• Deals with players who may occasionally be distracted, rude, absent, over-eager, easily offended, bored, or just plain difficult.
• Prevents the strong personalities from steamrolling the wallflowers.
• Adjudicates disagreements over the rules, acceptable levels of metagaming, personality conflicts, what’s for dinner, etc.
• Ensures that every player and character gets a bit of the spotlight.

Again, much of this is relatively easy to handle, but a GM may need to handle multiple issues, with each answer pulling him in a different direction. At times, the GM is the busiest person at the table. With a list like this, it’s a wonder that anyone ever agrees to run a campaign, much less a one-shot game.

But it’s not really that bad. GMing is one of the most satisfying hobbies I’ve ever had. With a good group of players, the right preparation, and a few easily learned techniques and skills, GMing can sometimes be easier than playing a character.

In future articles, we’ll delve into finding good players, preparing efficiently, and managing everything the players can throw at you. For now, one of the most important things for a first time GM to remember is that it’s just a game. The campaign will not come to a screeching halt if you make a mistake, and your players will probably be much more forgiving of your mistakes than you will be.

As mentioned earlier, this is old hat to most of our readers, but it should give the ‘wannabe GMs’ a decent overview of what a GM actually does behind that little screen. Future articles will have more detail and will dwell on a specific aspect of GMing. Every group, session, ruleset, and campaign is different, so your mileage may vary. I’m only presuming to speak from my point of view, so if I’ve missed something truly egregious, please sound off in the comments and let us know.

Up next: Looking for Group

Welcome to Gnome Stew’s Introduction to Game Mastering series. If you’re new to GMing, this series is for you — and even if you’re an old hand, you might pick up a trick or two.

In writing this series, I assume you have some familiarity with gaming terms and jargon. If you see a term you don’t know, just hit up Gnome Stew’s RPG Glossary.

This is Part 3 of Gnome Stew’s Intro to Game Mastering series, and continues the list of things you need in order to start GMing that started in Part 2. (Part 1 was all about the golden rule of great game mastering.)

Here’s the whole list (bold terms are covered in this article):

• Creativity
• An RPG
• Players
• Rules Knowledge
• An Adventure
• A Bit of Planning
• Confidence

An Adventure

For your first time out, I recommend using a published adventure. The majority of RPGs have several available, and many include one in their core rulebook (though more often than not, these are pretty mediocre).

Published scenarios have generally been playtested, thought through with an eye to the “average” group, and have good production values — often including maps, handouts, or other goodies. They’re also a window into what the game’s designers thought was most fun about the RPG you chose. They don’t always hit the mark, but they hit it often enough to be useful.

There’s no secret to choosing your first adventure: just pick one that sounds like fun, and run with it.

Once you’ve picked an adventure, read the whole thing. Then read it a second time with an eye to the rules — and if anything doesn’t make sense, reread that section of the rulebook. That will give you a good foundation for the next step: planning.

A Bit of Planning

If you’re planning on kicking off a campaign with your first adventure — the traditional route — then you’ll probably want to have your players create their own characters, rather than using pre-generated PCs (which are often included with adventures).

Character creation for an ongoing campaign is a meaty topic, and will be the subject of a later article this series. Don’t worry about it right now — let’s finish covering the basics first.

If, on the other hand, you’re just getting your feet wet, aren’t sure you’ll enjoy GMing, or there’s no slot in your group’s rotation for a new game at the moment, you can either go with pre-generated characters or have your players create PCs without worrying about their long-term viability.

There are also a few other things you’ll need to plan:

• Where to play. Your place? A friend’s house? Your local gaming store? A dorm lounge? The main concerns are that everyone has a comfortable seat and can hear each other; that you have enough room to spread out books and possibly a map; and that the space is yours for at least 4-5 hours.
• When to play. When largely depends on where; just pick a time that works for everyone, and make sure you’re all on the same page.
• Expectations. You’ve already talked about the game with your players, but make sure everyone understands whether it’s a one-shot with pre-generated characters, the start of an ongoing campaign, etc.
• Little touches. Don’t worry if you don’t have time for these — but if you do have time, they can make a big difference in everyone’s enjoyment of the game. Little touches can be anything from creating props to match elements of your adventure, making handouts, or hand-drawing maps. Pick one or two things to focus on, and just have fun with them.

It can be easy to overplan, especially when you’re a first-time GM — don’t fall into this trap. The important thing at this stage is momentum. You’ve done the reading, you’ve picked an adventure, you know where and when you’re gaming, and you may have prepped a couple of flourishes to impress your players — you’re ready.

Confidence

Feeling intimidated is far and away the most common reason why many players never make the jump to GMing: they’re intimidated by how much everyone else in their group knows about gaming — and doubly worried about how experienced their current GM is.

Don’t be.

Game mastering isn’t rocket science. It’s much more akin to a game like Go, which is simple to learn but challenging to master — and like Go, you can have fun GMing even if you only know the basics.

All of the many details that go into becoming a fantastic GM can wait — you’ll be surprised how many things you pick up just from running your first session. You don’t need to absorb everything at once.

And consider this: What’s the worst that could happen? Even if everything goes horribly wrong, you’ll have a funny story to share down the road — and you’re not going to lose any friends over a bad game. Whether you discover that you love or hate GMing, you’ll learn something just by giving it a shot — and if you’ve made it this far, you’ll probably love it.

Being confident in your ability to run a fun game is one of the single most important things you can do to become a great GM. The moment you lose your confidence is when things start to go wrong — but when you keep your confidence up, and focus on the golden rule, you can run an awesome game.

You don’t have to be cocky, or try to overcompensate — or pretend you know more about GMing than you actually do. If you’re enough of a geek to read an article series on GMing on a gaming blog, you can be a great GM.

Dive in — and have fun doing it.

Next up, in Part 4 of this series: running your first session.

Welcome to Gnome Stew’s Introduction to Game Mastering series. If you’re new to GMing, this series is for you — and even if you’re an old hand, you might pick up a trick or two.

In writing this series, I assume you have some familiarity with gaming terms and jargon. If you see a term you don’t know, just hit up Gnome Stew’s RPG Glossary.

Building Blocks

In the first Intro to Game Mastering article, we covered the golden rule — the foundation of all great GMing. But apart from knowing that rule, what do you actually need to become a game master?

You need these seven basic things:

• Creativity
• An RPG
• Players
• Rules Knowledge
• An Adventure
• A Bit of Planning
• Confidence

This article will cover the first four; Part 3 of the series will cover the other three.

Creativity

Roleplaying is fundamentally a creative hobby, and you’ll need every ounce of your creativity as a GM.

Creativity plays a role in writing adventures, dreaming up campaign and story arc plots, creating maps and other props, bringing to life memorable NPCs, and handling the many, many enjoyable curve balls your players will throw you during play.

You may not think of yourself as a creative person, but if you’re a gamer, you read Gnome Stew, and you’re considering GMing, you are a creative person — and you can become a GM.

An RPG

If you’re going to run a game, you need a game to run. The right game meets one or both of these criteria:

• You’re jazzed about the prospect of running it
• You’re already familiar with the rules

If either of those statements applies to the game you’re considering, it’s a good choice; if they both apply, it’s a great choice.

There’s also a third criteria that’s important, but slightly less so for your very first game:

• Your prospective players are excited about playing it

Once you have some GMing experience under your belt, the third factor — player excitement level — is the single most important consideration. (For more on that topic, check out Player Buy-In Trumps GM Interest.) But right now, it takes a backseat to the other two factors — provided your players aren’t actually opposed to your game choice, of course.

Chances are, you’ve got a game in mind already that sounds fun to run; if not, give some thought to what you’ve played, and what you enjoyed most. Games in that vein are likely to be worth considering. (If you’ve never played an RPG before, starting out as a GM is a challenging route, but certainly not impossible. You’re going to have to extrapolate from some of the tips in this article, though.)

Once you’ve picked a game, buy it. You need a copy of the rules to bone up on before the game, and to reference during play; borrowing a friend’s book won’t cut it for long. If any other books look useful for your first few sessions, buy them too — but don’t feel any obligation to read them all.

You’ll also need dice and a scratch pad; I recommend a watch (to keep tabs on pacing) and a reference tool of some sort — the inside of a GMing screen, a quickstart rules sheet, or even just a list of rules you put together in Excel.

Players

With any luck, you’re already part of a gaming group — but that’s not a given. If you are, then as long as your players aren’t dicks, they’ll be glad to have another potential GM in the group and will understand that your first foray into GMing isn’t going to be perfect.

You should feel comfortable GMing for your first group. If you don’t feel comfortable GMing with your current group, consider why that is; they might be receptive to talking through your concerns. (We’ll get to this in the Confidence section of the next article.)

If you don’t already have a group, welcome to a situation you will find yourself in many times throughout your GMing career. You do have a leg up on the average gamer, though: you want to GM, and it’s nearly always easier for a GM to find a group than it is for a player.

There are many ways to find players, but the three most common and successful are:

• Through a player-matching site like NearbyGamers (where my group found our most recent new player). I wrote a pretty comprehensive article about this topic a few years back: Ways to Find RPG Players; Googling “rpg find players” will turn up lots of options.
• On a major RPG messageboard. RPGnet and Wizards of the Coast (both of which my group has used successfully as well) are good starting points, as is EN World.
• At your local gaming store. Most gaming and hobby stores have a notice board for player matching, and while they’re hit-or-miss they’re also free and easily accessible.

Mention that you’re a first-time GM, but don’t present it as a downside (it’s not). Build your group based on social contact: meet in a public place and hang out for a little while (your gaming store works well if they have room), and make a point of talking about other topics as well as gaming.

Listen to your gut, and reject potential group members (or avoid joining an established group) based on social cues, not gaming preferences. Jerks in real life will also be jerks at the gaming table; people you’d enjoy spending time with outside of gaming are equally likely to be fun to game with.

Rules Knowledge

You don’t need to be a rules expert to be a great GM. That’s worth repeating: You don’t need to be an expert. Knowing the rules well will never hurt, but not knowing them inside out is absolutely not a barrier to trying out game mastering.

Rules knowledge is important, but not critical. If a game goes well, it usually won’t be because of how well you know the rules; if it goes poorly, there are generally several other reasons ahead of a lack of rules knowledge.

If you’re already familiar with the RPG you chose for your first GMing experience, you have most of the rules knowledge you need — but there are a couple of areas to pay special attention to: combat and PC abilities, as they will come up often and generally involve more mechanics than other aspects of the game. As a player, you may not have read the whole rulebook; as a GM, you should.

If you’re not familiar with the game rules you chose (having picked based on your excitement level alone), the same tip applies: read the whole book. Can you get by without doing this? Sure, but you’ll be better off for having read it all, even if you don’t remember every last rule.

Assuming you’re GMing for a good group, they’ll help you with the rules, rather than jumping down your throat if you miss something. If they jump down your throat, you’re GMing for the wrong group.

The key to rules knowledge is feeling comfortable with the game you’re about to run. That might mean taking notes on things you get stuck on the first time around, buying a GMing screen to have ready access to tables and other items, or running a mock combat by yourself to get a feel for that sub-system; it all depends on how you learn.

Next up: the back three — An Adventure, A Bit of Planning, and Confidence.

Welcome to the first article Gnome Stew’s Introduction to Game Mastering series. If you’re new to GMing, this series is for you — and even if you’re an old hand, you might pick up a trick or two.

In writing this series, I assume you have some familiarity with gaming terms and jargon. If you see a term you don’t know, just hit up Gnome Stew’s RPG Glossary.

The Golden Rule

When it comes to game mastering, there is one rule that will never steer you wrong: the golden rule.

No matter how long you’ve been GMing, or what problems you might run into as you learn more about the craft of being a GM, coming back to this rule will serve you well.

So what is it?

Everyone at the table should have fun.

There are lots of things you need to learn to become a great GM, but to get there (and to enjoy getting there) you need to build on the right foundation. This simple rule is the right foundation.

Why This Rule is Golden

It’s not the only thing you need to know, of course, and it’s not a magic bullet. But every element — literally — of running a good game is based on this rule, and literally every GMing-related problem can be solved in part by considering this rule as you search for a solution.

Let’s break it down into its two components: “fun” and “everyone.”

Fun

Having fun is a large part of why we game, and presumably of why you want to be a GM. There are lots of other reasons, too — hanging out with friends, a love of storytelling, the act of roleplaying, and many more — but at the end of the day they all revolve around having fun in some form.

Remembering that will keep you focused on what you do as a GM. When you’re preparing an adventure, make sure what you’re writing sounds like fun; when you’re actually running it, change things on the fly to make what’s happening more fun, play NPCs to the hilt, and otherwise get into it — all because it will make the game more fun.

The more fun your players have, the more fun you’ll have — and vice versa. It’s a feedback loop that leads to great gaming.

Everyone

As the GM, you’re a player, too. Every game you run should be enjoyable for everyone at the gaming table — fun for all of your players, and fun for you as well.

Everyone has bad sessions, and if you or one of your players doesn’t have fun one night, it doesn’t mean that you’re a failure as a GM. You’re not responsible for how much fun everyone has, but you are responsible for doing your best to make sure everyone has fun — that’s an important distinction.

Keeping everyone’s fun in mind will make you a better GM.

Putting It Into Practice

As you get a few sessions under your belt and hone your GMing skills, you will always benefit from remembering the golden rule of great game mastering: Everyone at the table should have fun.

It’s not rocket science, and there’s no secret to how to use this rule to run better games — just bear it in mind.

It can be easy to forget at times (particularly after you’ve run a session that didn’t go so well), which is why it’s important to keep it handy. (If you need to, write it down on an index card and clip it to the inside of your GMing screen, where you’ll see it at every game.)

That’s all there is to it. Stick to the golden rule, and you’re well on your way to becoming a great game master.