Comments on: Martin’s Maxims for GMs

By: Treasure Tables » Use Your Mental Back Burners

Treasure Tables » Use Your Mental Back Burners — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 23:45:51 +0000

[...] Just as playing in games — as opposed to only running them — is a good way to improve your GMing, it’s also a great way to get ideas. The same goes for reading and watching movies/TV — even stuff that has nothing to do with your campaign’s genre can give you ideas. [...]

By: mcv

mcv — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 13:34:27 +0000

I’m a bit late entering this discussion (slowly working through the TT archives), but I’d like to say I agree wholeheartedly, especially with Maxim 1.

Like Martin, I’ve been GMing (on-and-off, admittedly) for over 15 years, and I’m still learning. In fact, the things I’m learning are finally starting to make sense, and I’ve got the feeling i’m learning more now than I was years ago, when I was still stumbling in the dark about what would make me a good GM.

I think like programming, painting or any other art, there’s always room for improvement, always something new to learn, a new technique to explore, something that just can be done better than you’ve done it up to that point, even if there was nothing really wrong with the way you did it. The only question is if you’re willing to learn and grow, or if you’re happy sticking with a way that works well enough.

By: Treasure Tables » Getting the Most Out of Your Gaming

Treasure Tables » Getting the Most Out of Your Gaming — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:09:19 +0000

[...] Chris’s motto is along the lines of Martin’s Maxims for GMs, although Chris puts things more succinctly. If he had posted this before I wrote Martin’s Maxims, I would have included “Fun Now” along with the Lumpley Principle and the other iconic concepts I mentioned at the beginning of that post. [...]

By: Treasure Tables » Write Your Own Naughty List

Treasure Tables » Write Your Own Naughty List — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:24:06 +0000

[...] It’s also possible to become good at something the “traditional” way: through hard work, practice and a willingness to learn. That’s pretty much what I’m getting at with Martin’s Maxims for GMs: Focus on learning and having fun, and you’ll continue to learn and have fun. [...]

By: Treasure Tables » The 4 Ways to Choose Your Next Game

Treasure Tables » The 4 Ways to Choose Your Next Game — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:40:49 +0000

[...] Con: It’s good to try new things, and while there’s nothing wrong with playing one game a lot more often than anything else, it can lead to stagnation in your group. (A recent post, Martin’s Maxims for GMs, goes into more detail about this issue.) [...]

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 17:15:25 +0000

(Matt) If you look at how people play RPGs today (all aspects), and compare that to how RPGs were played 20 years ago, you immediately see a LOT of differences. And I know that 20 years from now, people will say the same thing. How can anyone claim that they know it all???

Exactly. I actually think this process is accelerating, too — so that changes comparable to the ones that happened in the past 20 years will probably happen again (in different ways) in the next 5 or 10, rather than 20.

(Joel) As I live out in the boonies, I’m thinking of trying to find an OpenRPG game that I can particpate in as a player. I suspect there’s a lot I could learn from playing in a game rather than GMing it.

Today’s minipost might be useful to you: More Ways to Find Players. Either in finding players in your area — which might be unlikely — or in finding an online game to join.

By: Joel Tone

Joel Tone — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:15:04 +0000

In my previous post, the first paragraph refers to my tabletop game – I deleted that part by mistake.

By: Joel Tone

Joel Tone — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 16:27:17 +0000

The one I’m worst at is learning from both sides of the screen. I’m the one who buys the books, has the subscription to Dungeon, reads the messageboards, and so on. Basically I’m the one with the adventures and I like GMing that game too much to swap with someone else.

As I live out in the boonies, I’m thinking of trying to find an OpenRPG game that I can particpate in as a player. I suspect there’s a lot I could learn from playing in a game rather than GMing it.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 01:10:08 +0000

Like you Martin, I am always surprised when people claim that they know everything there is to know about a topic, DMing in this case. How could that ever be true? I am sure that a DM can get to a point where he masters everything he knows about. However, this absolutely does not mean that there are not other things out there that he could learn, if he knew they were there. If you look at how people play RPGs today (all aspects), and compare that to how RPGs were played 20 years ago, you immediately see a LOT of differences. And I know that 20 years from now, people will say the same thing. How can anyone claim that they know it all???

For the rest, I agree completely with your emphasis on learning.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 14:36:15 +0000

I considered including something along those lines, although a bit more like, “If something isn’t fun, stop doing it.” I realized that, at least for me, that was kind of part and parcel of GMing — and gaming in general — and decided that it was too general.

Then again, the same argument could be made for Martin’s Maxims, depending on your point of view. In any case, I’m glad you like them. Are they things you do already, Joel?

By: Joel Tone

Joel Tone — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 14:21:36 +0000

I like these maxims. I would add something along the lines of “Make sure you and your playes are having fun.” I know I’ve bogged down a couple of times while GMing and it’s usually because I wasn’t enjoying myself. I know I’ve bored a player or two a couple of times because I forgot to include something fun for them to do.