When it comes to pen and paper role-playing games, no-one has it harder than the Game Master (or Dungeon Master, or Referee, or Storyteller, etc). They tasked with world-building, scenario design, and playing all of the NPCs in game. They are arbiters on rules questions. They have to juggle the most content in game. They have to draw out maps (if the group uses them). In short, the GM has to do all the work!
They also have to contend with players. A dreaded life-form who’s sole purpose is to ruin all of the GM’s carefully laid plans, jumping off the rails and wrecking the story whenever and wherever they can!
This guy, for example.
And that right there is where so many Game Masters (myself included) go wrong.
Playing a pen and paper RPG is not listening to the GM telling a story; it is EVERYONE telling a story together. As Justin Alexander wrote, a good GM doesn’t prep Plots, they prep Situations. The definition of players I outlined above stems from a situation in which the GM has a “grand vision” of an epic story that the players partake in. The players are guests in the GM’s world, privy to the GM’s whims. That attitude sets up an adversarial relationship of GM vs. Players, a mindset of My Ideas Are The Only Good Ideas, and it inevitably leads to problems.
One of the hardest things I had to learn (and frankly am still learning) is that RPGs are not novels, short-stories, or screenplays; they are more akin to improv sessions. What’s the situation? Who are the major characters? What is everyone’s motivation? Got it? Okay, let’s run with it!
The issue is rather simple: if the GM writes a story, all of the key decisions are made before anyone picks up a blank character sheet and a pencil. In order for it to unfold as written the players are no longer active participants but passive viewers. And to be perfectly frank, there are MUCH better mediums in which to tell people a story! Novels, short fiction, films, animation, comics, poetry. Pretty much anything other than collaborative roleplaying.
Modules require flexibility too! Don’t be fooled by their seductive written-for-you-ness!
So what does this mean for Game Masters? It means one simple thing:
The most important thing every GM needs to have is flexibility.
Flexibility is useful regardless of system, players, materials or setting. Flexibility allows you to take part in the story as it’s being told. Flexibility lets you deal with mechanical oddities, broken systems, overpowered characters and renegade players. Flexibility is essential to being a good GM.
If you are flexible, you can handle pretty much any situation thrown at you. If you are flexible, you can turn a disaster (say, the players taking the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) out of the picture too soon) into a boon. If you are flexible, you can let the rules work for you instead of the other way around. If you are flexible, you can keep the game going even if everyone is having an off night.
That all sounds great! But as with most things, it is easier said than done. Flexibility is HARD. It means prepping less and prepping more efficiently. It means going off book. It means letting go of control (something my friends and loved ones will be SHOCKED to know I struggle with); control of the story, control of the game.
Because the GM is not the hard-nosed, tyrannical authority figure who hands down judgements on the rules, kills player characters with abandon, and dictates the story from atop their chair of paper-mache skulls. The GM is the gateway to another world, the conduit through which everyone gets to experience grand adventures, daring escapes, deadly combats, lurid romances, and so much more. The GM is not an adversary; they are simply playing the other side so that there is an other side! The GM is the person who poses the timeless question:
“Okay, what does everyone do next?”
And if the GM doesn’t have flexibility, there is only one answer to that question: whatever the GM already had planned. And at that point, why are we playing at all?
So be flexible. Roll with the punches. Don’t be afraid to make it up as you go and build upon that later. Not everything you come up with will be great, but no-one expects it to be! And remember, the players have a responsibility to be flexible, too. Which is why the second most important thing every GM has is:
Good communication skills!
For example, asking your player why they’re reading the module …
A good GM doesn’ t need to be an Obama-esque orator, or a Maryl Streep caliber actor, or a Terry Pratchett skilled writer. They DO need to be able to clearly communicate an idea, lead a discussion, and sell a performance. For some GM’s (myself included) this means doing silly voices, using props, and making faces. For other GMs, it might mean writing descriptive text they can read aloud when the players encounter a new NPC or location, or wearing costumes!
Ultimately, what it all comes down to is the ability to engage the players in a dialogue about their actions in game, and their reactions out of game. It means being able to gauge everyone attention span for the evening and (going back to flexibility!) playing down the creepy ambiance in favor of simple descriptions and head-bashing combat. Or playing UP the ambiance and dialing back the combat! Or dropping extra hints about where to find the next clue, or having the cute tavern owner make googly eyes at the character who’s been quiet all night and might need some attention, or realizing that no-one is interested in your scenario about rival gangs in the town they just came to for supplies. But they ARE interested in finding out why the local temple has closed its doors to the public!
RPGs are all about communication. D. Vincent Baker, in the RPG Apocalypse World, said “roleplaying is a conversation. You and the other players go back and forth, talking about these fictional characters in their fictional circumstances doing whatever it is that they do.” And that conversation leads to the stories we all love so much. It helps everyone get into the mindset of the characters, to experience this fictional world.
The GM is the window to that world; if the GM can’t communicate effectively, it’s a pretty opaque window.
And there we have it. The two most important aspects of being a good GM: flexibility and good communication. Master this, and the rest will fall into place, whether you’re running Dungeons and Dragons, Eclipse Phase or Bunnies and Burrows.
Commentors! What are some traits YOU think every GM should have?
Captain Jandor's Grimoire 