Comments on: GM Means “General Manager” http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager The Game Mastering Blog Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:08:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: How to be a good general manager - Dungeon Mastering - Dungeons and Dragons blog - DM tips, D&D books, RPG fun http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1171 How to be a good general manager - Dungeon Mastering - Dungeons and Dragons blog - DM tips, D&D books, RPG fun Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:30:49 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1171 [...] This posts is a commentary that expands on, adds to, and slightly disagrees with a great post from Patrick Benson from Gnome Stew: GM means “General Manager”. [...]<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1171','How to be a good general manager - Dungeon Mastering - Dungeons and Dragons blog - DM tips, D&D books, RPG fun'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> [...] This posts is a commentary that expands on, adds to, and slightly disagrees with a great post from Patrick Benson from Gnome Stew: GM means “General Manager”. [...]
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]]> By: Patrick Benson http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1054 Patrick Benson Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:08:44 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1054 Troy - Most players are willing to pitch in. I've yet to have a player refuse to help with running and organizing the game. Scott - Yeah, everything before the last part of the post is really just examples of how you might improve things. Recognizing that a problem exists is really the first thing any GM (or manager) needs to do. As for scheduling, I find that planning for the business quarter works a bit better for my group. We all know what projects we have going on and it helps to convey to the significant others that gaming is important to us. We wouldn't plan it out for the next three months if it wasn't. You should definitely go with what works for your group though.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1054','Patrick Benson'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> Troy – Most players are willing to pitch in. I’ve yet to have a player refuse to help with running and organizing the game.

Scott – Yeah, everything before the last part of the post is really just examples of how you might improve things. Recognizing that a problem exists is really the first thing any GM (or manager) needs to do.

As for scheduling, I find that planning for the business quarter works a bit better for my group. We all know what projects we have going on and it helps to convey to the significant others that gaming is important to us. We wouldn’t plan it out for the next three months if it wasn’t. You should definitely go with what works for your group though.

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]]> By: Scott Martin http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1053 Scott Martin Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:08:59 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1053 Due to work schedules, we tend to do 1-2 weeks of planning ahead, rather than the months you suggest. We try and coordinate our next session via a blog post and google calendar. While it doesn't work as often as I'd like [the phone is most people's first thought], it's a good starting point. Coordinating the next session is ripe for delegation-- in our Hanford group, the same person coordinates whether he's playing or GMing. When I'm GMing, it's a big help. You last bit of advice is excellent-- I wonder what my list would look like. Maybe it's time to find out.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1053','Scott Martin'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> Due to work schedules, we tend to do 1-2 weeks of planning ahead, rather than the months you suggest. We try and coordinate our next session via a blog post and google calendar. While it doesn’t work as often as I’d like [the phone is most people's first thought], it’s a good starting point.

Coordinating the next session is ripe for delegation– in our Hanford group, the same person coordinates whether he’s playing or GMing. When I’m GMing, it’s a big help. You last bit of advice is excellent– I wonder what my list would look like. Maybe it’s time to find out.

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]]> By: Patrick Benson http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1052 Patrick Benson Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:56:35 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1052 DarthKrzysztof - I enjoy online gaming too, and I always buy the PDF version when available for my gaming books these days. One of the really nice things about online gaming though is that I can easily script or write a program for the more intense GM tasks. It makes life so much easier for me when running a game. The problem is that at the table, that same approach may result in me looking too often at the screen and not the players. Rafe - Good examples! I didn't want to get to specific with what you can delegate, but those are exactly the kinds of things that a GM can do to get players involved. And as you mentioned, the players will feel as if they invested more into the game and should have a sense of ownership.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1052','Patrick Benson'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> DarthKrzysztof – I enjoy online gaming too, and I always buy the PDF version when available for my gaming books these days. One of the really nice things about online gaming though is that I can easily script or write a program for the more intense GM tasks. It makes life so much easier for me when running a game. The problem is that at the table, that same approach may result in me looking too often at the screen and not the players.

Rafe – Good examples! I didn’t want to get to specific with what you can delegate, but those are exactly the kinds of things that a GM can do to get players involved. And as you mentioned, the players will feel as if they invested more into the game and should have a sense of ownership.

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]]> By: Troy E. Taylor http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1051 Troy E. Taylor Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:48:42 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1051 Rafe is absolutely right. Everyone needs to "share" in the fun. I've found that most players are willing to pitch in with just about any task -- you only need to ask them.. Though, that means it's still incumbent on the GM to be prepared -- so he or she knows exactly what kind of help to ask for.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1051','Troy E. Taylor'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> Rafe is absolutely right. Everyone needs to “share” in the fun.

I’ve found that most players are willing to pitch in with just about any task — you only need to ask them..

Though, that means it’s still incumbent on the GM to be prepared — so he or she knows exactly what kind of help to ask for.

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]]> By: Rafe http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1045 Rafe Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:18:48 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1045 There are so many things to respond to, so I'll choose one that really resonates with me: delegation. It's absolutely critical. A lot of DMs suffer burn-out due to feeling like they're responsible for everything. The best DMs I've had haven't even been wholly responsible for their own game world. Someone's a sorcerer? Have them do a short write-up on how magic first appeared and how it's perceived. Someone else is from Somera? Have them do a short write-up on what sort of land it is and what general traits those people have. Sharing the load makes players invested in the game and make them recognize early on that it's everyone's game, not just the DM's. I've written about some of that here: http://waywardgaming.blogspot.com/2008/06/gming-what-its-all-about.html<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1045','Rafe'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> There are so many things to respond to, so I’ll choose one that really resonates with me: delegation. It’s absolutely critical. A lot of DMs suffer burn-out due to feeling like they’re responsible for everything. The best DMs I’ve had haven’t even been wholly responsible for their own game world. Someone’s a sorcerer? Have them do a short write-up on how magic first appeared and how it’s perceived. Someone else is from Somera? Have them do a short write-up on what sort of land it is and what general traits those people have.

Sharing the load makes players invested in the game and make them recognize early on that it’s everyone’s game, not just the DM’s.

I’ve written about some of that here: http://waywardgaming.blogspot.com/2008/06/gming-what-its-all-about.html

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]]> By: DarthKrzysztof http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gm-means-general-manager/comment-page-1#comment-1044 DarthKrzysztof Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:17:15 +0000 http://www.gnomestew.com/?p=132#comment-1044 I still plan to write "Managing the Dungeon Master Way" someday, mark my words. I had an "absent player" at work yesterday... This is another advantage of chat-based gaming; it doesn't matter that I live too far away from -anybody- to host a table-based game, and I don't have to decide which books to take with me. (I have PDFs, but no laptop.)<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1044','DarthKrzysztof'); return false;">Reply</a> </div> I still plan to write “Managing the Dungeon Master Way” someday, mark my words. I had an “absent player” at work yesterday…

This is another advantage of chat-based gaming; it doesn’t matter that I live too far away from -anybody- to host a table-based game, and I don’t have to decide which books to take with me. (I have PDFs, but no laptop.)

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