Comments on: Doubleheader: The Triple Constraint of A Campaign

By: theEmrys

theEmrys — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:16:59 +0000

Very interesting. I'm a PM myself and don't think I ever really sat back and realized how much of that I've been applying to my GMing. Now, I've been GMing much longer than I've been a PM but I can see how each has influenced the other over time... very interesting.

By: Yax - DungeonMastering.com

Yax - DungeonMastering.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:42:05 +0000

This puts into words a concept that I've always understood but could never quite explain this clearly. Thanks.

By: coolcyclone2000

coolcyclone2000 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:12:42 +0000

Very Nice and Appropriate Post! Something all GMs should always keep in mind.

By: Patrick Benson

Patrick Benson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:39:54 +0000

BTW – I’ve hired Phil via his GM4Hire project to be a project manager on a game that I am designing. I’ve worked with many project managers in the past for my job, and good ones are hard to find. Phil is one of the good ones. No gnome nonsense here – he knows how to quantify and evaluate a project and create deliverable results from it.

And as a GM this article is great advice.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:42:51 +0000

This isn't the way I normally think about gaming tasks, so I really appreciate the new point of view. So far, budget has almost always looked like it was time constrained, but I appreciated the way you pointed out that paying for supplements (etc.) can help offset that. Of course, many supplements just increase the time spent (like player options)-- remembering that they suck time as well as the player's cash is important.

By: John Arcadian

John Arcadian — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:54:44 +0000

I know that I've only had to fulfill the project manager role in regards to side-projects of mine, and never in a way that I have to do good enough to earn money, but I can definitely see how this intertwines with GMing. Scope, Budget and Schedule are a great way to look at the structure of a game, especially if you want to do elaborate and impressive things from the GM's side. I think I'll have to implement this in planning my next convention games. By the way, great article!

By: wampuscat43

wampuscat43 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:03:21 +0000

Oh yeah, I do something similar. Every player has a side job - One tracks the XP and loot, one is in charge of NPCs, one keeps me straight on the rules, another handles the tokens for conditions, and one is the initiative tracker. And I worry that one has more work to do than the other. Still, at least I'm willing to delegate...

By: DNAphil

DNAphil — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:51:42 +0000

@wampuscat43 - I would say that as a PM the biggest effect it has on me being a GM is that I look at all my campaigns as projects, and my players as members of the project team. I will often look at my campaign and lay out my story arcs as tasks in the campaign. Which gets me in trouble, when I think I am "behind schedule" and I start looking at what corrective action I want to take. As for GMing and Playing, in our group, we have three ongoing campaigns in a Tri-Weekly rotation. So I have been GMing for years, while being able to be a player in two other games at the same time. As a player I have to suppress my urge to seize control in every game, as the natural organizer an PM. I try really hard not to be party leader in most of the game I play.

By: wampuscat43

wampuscat43 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:41:32 +0000

Slightly off-topic, but I'm curious (as a project manager myself) - do you find your profession affecting your desire to run the games, as opposed to being a player? I take breaks two or three times a year, letting one of my players run something or simply switching to boardgames/cards, etc. After about three weeks, I get really antsy to take over again. It's not so much that I've got all this great new material, or have a tremendous desire to add the stress of running again, it's seems to be more of a control issue ("this is going nowhere - we have to get back on track and do it right!"). Do you ever feel this way?

By: Kurt "Telas" Schneider

Kurt "Telas" Schneider — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:18:46 +0000

Thanks for pointing out how these three elements are linked. In my own campaign a couple years back, I failed to see how a major change in one affected the others, and the campaign suffered as a result. Another way I've seen it is: "Good, Fast, Cheap - Pick Two."