How to be a Better GM

[Sacrosanct]

One of the things I want to include in the project I'm working is a guide for GMs. This is system agnostic. Any advice that you think I'm missing?

 

[Lanefan]

Without knowing what style of play or game you're otherwise designing for here (D&D-like? story-now? or ?), it's hard to comment in much detail. That said, a few things occur to me.....

One thing I'd write differently, were it me, are the creating the game world and creating the adventure pieces; as instead of saying don't prep in detail I'd say go ahead and prep in lots of detail but be ready to abandon that prep at a moment's notice. The key point to hammer home is don't let yourself get attached to your prep even though you may have put a lot of effort into it.

Adventures in particular - I often find the more details the author gives me the easier it is to run, as the author has handled the what-ifs so I don't have to. Prepping in too little detail can leave a GM - particularly a new one - floundering. Don't write plots, write locations - but write them in detail.

In GM traps you might want to give a brief example of what railroading can look like in play.

There's probably no good way to add this as a guideline without opening Pandora's box, but a little short-term railroading now and then e.g. a forced capture scene or a teleport trap that puts its victims into the middle of a dangerous situation can be a useful tool.

Under types of villains I'd add something like "The Mob" or "The Faceless Mass" to accout for situations where the "villain" is a widespread cult or guild or large family or even another adventuring party. Failing that, at least indicate somehow that "the villain" doesn't always have to be a single person; as all your examples otherwise seem to assume that it is.

Your describing the scene ideas are great for random places; though ideally that info would already be prepped were the location in a written adventure.

 

[John Dallman]

It's worth saying that knowing a villain's motive makes it easier to keep the adventure going once the characters have started messing up his plans. If the GM has concentrated on imagery and set-pieces, things can fall apart once the PCs do something unexpected.

 

[Darth Solo]

You're writing about plot and hooks as if you're giving advice about screenwriting. Don't write plots as they will almost always result in players being railroaded. Designing TTRPG campaigns is about crafting engaging scenes that will allow players to use their skills and special abilities. Describe the scene and then let the players roleplay and find out what happens. It's easier than you think. Also, immersion a.k.a. staying in character is far more important a skill than your other topics. The very best TTRPG groups get into character when the adventure begins and stay in character until the session ends. It's important that GMs teach proper roleplaying to new players in order to maximize the TTRPG experience. Finally, if knowing the game's rules isn't important how does one play that specific game?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Without knowing what style of play or game you're otherwise designing for here (D&D-like? story-now? or ?), it's hard to comment in much detail. That said, a few things occur to me.....

One thing I'd write differently, were it me, are the creating the game world and creating the adventure pieces; as instead of saying don't prep in detail I'd say go ahead and prep in lots of detail but be ready to abandon that prep at a moment's notice. The key point to hammer home is don't let yourself get attached to your prep even though you may have put a lot of effort into it.

Adventures in particular - I often find the more details the author gives me the easier it is to run, as the author has handled the what-ifs so I don't have to. Prepping in too little detail can leave a GM - particularly a new one - floundering. Don't write plots, write locations - but write them in detail.

In GM traps you might want to give a brief example of what railroading can look like in play.

There's probably no good way to add this as a guideline without opening Pandora's box, but a little short-term railroading now and then e.g. a forced capture scene or a teleport trap that puts its victims into the middle of a dangerous situation can be a useful tool.

Under types of villains I'd add something like "The Mob" or "The Faceless Mass" to accout for situations where the "villain" is a widespread cult or guild or large family or even another adventuring party. Failing that, at least indicate somehow that "the villain" doesn't always have to be a single person; as all your examples otherwise seem to assume that it is.

Your describing the scene ideas are great for random places; though ideally that info would already be prepped were the location in a written adventure.

First, thanks for reading all of this. Secondly, I knew I was missing some obvious stuff.

 

[Sacrosanct]

You're writing about plot and hooks as if you're giving advice about screenwriting. Don't write plots as they will almost always result in players being railroaded.

I'm not following. I specifically warn against micro plot hooks because of railroading in that document. The first sentence seems to think you're disagreeing with something I wrote, but the next sentence is almost word for word what I did write. I'm pretty explicit in that I'm talking about macro overall plots. Which every RPG adventure I can think of has.

 

[soviet]

It does feel like this advice is only 'system agnostic' for a certain range of traditional style RPGs. You make a lot of assumptions about the GM being in control and doing all the work, which is simply not true in many games and playstyles and for some of them would be actively poisonous. I don't expect you to cover all these other bases too but you might want to be clearer about what your target audience/game experience really is.

 

[Sacrosanct]

It does feel like this advice is only 'system agnostic' for a certain range of traditional style RPGs. You make a lot of assumptions about the GM being in control and doing all the work, which is simply not true in many games and playstyles and for some of them would be actively poisonous. I don't expect you to cover all these other bases too but you might want to be clearer about what your target audience/game experience really is.

That's true. I used some poor words. I meant that the advice doesn't have any mechanics of a particular system in it, but it is part of a fantasy RPG system with a traditional GM role.

And this isn't a stand alone document. You can probably tell by the page #s at the bottom, but it's just a section of the book.

 

[rgoodbb]

This might just be the DM's guide I wanted when I started but never got. I wish you good fortune in this endeavour.

 

[pemerton]

I'm not following. I specifically warn against micro plot hooks because of railroading in that document. The first sentence seems to think you're disagreeing with something I wrote, but the next sentence is almost word for word what I did write. I'm pretty explicit in that I'm talking about macro overall plots. Which every RPG adventure I can think of has.

That's true. I used some poor words. I meant that the advice doesn't have any mechanics of a particular system in it, but it is part of a fantasy RPG system with a traditional GM role.

And this isn't a stand alone document. You can probably tell by the page #s at the bottom, but it's just a section of the book.

The same things that @Darth Solo noticed, I noticed too.

You tell your GM to start with an idea of the final scene, and then work backwards to a plot hook. Frankly I don't know how to reconcile that with the bit about "not writing in stone", as it looks pretty stone-like to me.

Now as you say this is a fairly traditional approach to RPGing, and a lot of published modules exemplify it. I would suggest giving your prospective GM advice on how to actually do it. For instance, if players ignore the hook, or misinterpret what it is inviting them to do, what is the GM expected to do? Or if the players look like they are going to sidestep or avoid or simply miss the envisaged final scene, what is the GM expected to do?

Rather than leaving the answers to those questions as an exercise for the GM to work out, I would spell them out. If you're anxious about spelling them out because they look like instructions on how to "railroad" the players, that might suggest some revision of the other stuff is i order; but if you're genuinely happy with the other stuff then I would spell out those answers.