UbiquitousRat's Roleplaying Dreams: Becoming a Decent GM

Ok, I admit it. I suck as a GM.

This week I have been really puttering around the basics of my own interpretation of the Traveller setting that I talked about in some recent articles.

Along the way, by way of an epiphany arising from the project, I've also been considering what makes me a sucky GM.

I have a few ideas...

Really?
Here's how I know that I suck as a GM:

I feel nervous and unprepared for each session.
During the game we are regularly distracted by non-gaming stuff... and I feel like it buys me some time.
I don't have much in the way of written notes to refer back to.
I am regularly having to look stuff up on the rulebook... even basic stuff.
I never let on to my players that I need some help.

Don't Wanna Suck
Again, I hate to admit it but I suck as a GM.
Here's why:

My prep is shockingly light. I spend my free time on any roleplay activity you can imagine EXCEPT prepping my next session.
I'm a butterfly-head who never sits still. I'm dreaming about the next setting, another system, whatever.
I spend more time reading that writing. Reading, re-reading, referencing... but rarely for the next session's system or adventure.
I don't know the game rules well enough. I read them once, I am reading another system now.
I'm quite good at winging things. I tell myself that I am better when I am creating on the fly. I'm wrong.

Now, I admit that my guys turn up regularly to play and that says something positive about my GMing... but you have to wonder, don't you, if the guys show up because my game is better than no game?

I don't wanna suck as a GM anymore. The only problem is that I don't want to lose what I truly love about my hobby: my freedom to create.

What's a poor GM to do? I have some thoughts...

What's This Hobby About?
First of all, I'm having to decide what I really want from my hobby.

Is it lots of cool RPG books to read and digest?
Is it an evening with friends where I spend more time thinking on my feet than roleplaying the scene?
Or is it to become the most un-suckiest (yeah, it's not a word but...) GM?

I want to keep the fun and creative elements of my gaming style. That means I want to keep my ability to wing-it and make the story respond to the ideas and input of players. It means that I want to be able to add anything to my game, anytime, on a whim if required.

But I also want to become an awesome GM. Not mediocre or average... awesome!

What Does Awesome Look Like?
Awesome GMing has a number of cool elements that it's darn well time that I learned to develop. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

Confident, smiling, relaxed GMing which allows the players room to play.
Rules don't get in the way. The book rarely, if ever, opens.
The setting is rich and believable, consistent and detailed, alive and vibrant.
The story has pace, purpose and drama.
Fight scenes are high-paced and spiced with descriptive roleplay.
The game is a campaign, with depth and long-term challenge.

Writing this just highlights how far I have to travel... but also galvanises my determination to start moving in that direction. What am I going to do?

Starting Somewhere Useful
In a week's time I have a game session to run with friends in the IW setting. It's time to focus.
But then it's also true that you can't become great overnight... or even in a week.

What we need next Friday is a cool evening of entertaining roleplay that also starts to feel better.

Step One has to be focus:

Focus on prepping the things that I usually spend time making up on the spot but which I knew would probably be needed.
Focus on the game at hand, not the next one that I want to talk about but won't be playing anytime soon.
Focus on writing and creating, not reading.
Learn the game rules. Focus on the system I like.
Focus on allowing myself the space to wing stuff that is really cool, not the stuff I should have prepped anyway.

Step Two is about being ready for Friday:

Create an in-game situation which will be quick to build.
Prepare the key elements of that situation in more detail than usual - NPCs, items, places...
Revisit the rules that are needed to run that situation.

Step Three is to talk to the players about how they can help:

Ask for copies of their up-to-date Character Sheets.
Ask for their single A4 one-sheet maximum sized character background... and read it.
Listen to their questions, ideas and comments with intent to answer, mine, steal their thinking.

I don't know if this will work, or even if I will be able to deliver... but, I gotta tell ya, it's time to try. I don't wanna suck as a GM anymore.

If you've got any suggestions, now's the time to share them.
...please?

2 Comments:

At 4 December 2011 at 22:40 , Rev661 said...: I agree, I'm a little ropey as well!

I've ran games at national competition level, at home, and many other places - with strangers and friends alike, and I always stress about how I am running the game.

With my gaming background, I tend to write up the session too much - in the past I had to write games for other GMs to run with, so you had to explain more than you would need, in order to keep each GM running the same adventure.

I still write the same way, but have started to set the scene, and put pointers on what the PCs will do next - running more on the fly, but knowing the overall plan of the campaign.

My last session of running a game was not that fun - people were getting bored of D&D and fantasy, or just needing a change after 4 years of playing the same PCs, we missed sessions, and we just needed a change of setting. GURPS has given us that change, and with it we can focus on playing the character, and not the setting.

The rat and I have written a WFRP game together, and that worked great - my planning, and the Rat's vision. Players liked it, so we must have done something good!

We all have bad days, and then we have the great days, where players and GM works together and a great session is born.

I do enjoy your sessions, and I like it more when you stick to the same setting and ruleset! - all players including the gm, learn the rules, and then they learn to role-play their part in the adventure.

I also think running on the fly is a great skill to have - and makes the game better if done well. In the past, without moving away from the planned session, we would not have had such great games as the Alternity CNN news crew and the madness, or surviving after a PC shot the Mothman! It means the options are open, and not tied into a construct like a computer game!

To err is human, to really foul things up requires 5 ego led players!
At 5 December 2011 at 15:21 , Swelter said...: I think that the key to being a great GM comes down to involving the players in the unfolding story... The story is not yet told and they have an effect not only on the outcome of a given scenario but in the existence of that scenario. When running a group I spend the largest portion of my efforts on making sure that there is something in it for every character. Does the Story matter to them? Do they have a reason to be involved in the story or an investment in its outcome?

Keeping the group together is often essential to managing time in the real world. The largest weakness in most campaigns seems to be that the group setting... the imperative to remain with the group... outweighs all other factors. There are good reasons for this and I'm not a fan of allowing the evening session to disintegrate into a zillion solo adventures but, rather, construct events so that there is a natural reason for the group to remain together. Its not necessary that every event in the story matter to every character but that the events are part of a story that does matter to all of them.

Preparation is essential but I find that knowing the details of your setting are more important than understanding every nuance of the rule system. Not that the rule system is irrelevant... sometimes the mechanics of the system are key to the story.. but that the story should always be the driver. Anyone can pick up and read Traveller but your stories about it are your own. I spend my time resource in understanding the setting so I can wing it with surety based on a good understanding of general and specific motivating factors.

This sometimes means time spent with players outside the evening of gaming. This might be virtual time... like email... or actual time... like lunch... and can take the form of micro sessions (solo or small subgroup sessions that last from 2 to 15 minutes which are VERY informal and just occur at any convenient moment to add in a quick snippet) or, preferably the main way, just in chats about the character, its motivations, its interests within the setting, information that it might have just by virtue of living in the setting (some related to events and some not).

I am often a bit weak on the combat rules of rpgs. I tend to be interested in intrigue or other story constructs that minimize mechanical combat in favor of cinematic encounters. I find that the fastest way to deflate that Nemesis NPC is to subject it to the mechanics of player combat. Let the Nemesis work through intermediaries and exercise its unique resources to keep it out of the player's NPC meat grinder. I avoid the rule bits that I'm not good at to the extent that I can. This is tempered by the player group of course, as a group of blood crazed ninja's will quickly lose interest if the story constantly voids all the their talents and specialties, so I focus on the areas of rules that I know I'll have to include in the story build.

I really like your step three.

Becoming a Decent GM

UbiquitousRat's Roleplaying Dreams

Sunday, 4 December 2011

Becoming a Decent GM

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