By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 06:23:04 +0000

You’re very welcome. Here are a few more from my collection.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Players Handbook: First Edition), TSR Hobbies Inc., 1978, pg 7-8 of 128

The game is ideally for three or more adult players: one player must serve as the Dungeon Master, the shaper of the fantasy milieu, the “world” in which all action will take place. The other participants become adventurers by creating characters to explore the fantastic world and face all of its challenges — monsters, magic, and unnamed menaces. As is typical for most of us in real life, each character begins at the bottom of his or her chosen class (or profession). By successfully meeting the challenges posed, they gain experience and move upwards in power, lust as actual playing experience really increases playing skill. Imagination, intelligence, problem solving ability, and memory are all continually exercised by participants in the game.

…

Each individual campaign has its own distinctive properties and “flavor”. A good Dungeon Master will most certainly make each game a surpassing challenge for his or her players. Treasure and experience gained must be taken at great risk or by means of utmost cleverness only. If the game is not challenging, if advancement is too speedy, then it becomes staid and boring. Conversely, a game can be too deadly and become just as boring, for who enjoys endlessly developing new characters to march off into oblivion in a single night of dungeon adventuring?!

Sometimes, however, because of close interaction (or whatever other reason) two or more Dungeon Masters will find that their games are compatible to the extent that participants in these individual campaigns can use the characters created in one to adventure in the others. In such cases the Dungeon Masters have created a very interesting “world” indeed, for their milieux will offer interesting differences and subtle shifts which will pose highly challenging problems to these players.

Ultimately, despite the fact that this is a game system created by someone else, the game’s viability rests principally with the referee. The Dungeon Master must design and map out the dungeon, town, city, and world maps. He or she must populate the whole world, create its past history, and even devise some rationale for what transpired (and will probably happen). As players, you help immeasurably by participating, by letting the referee know that you appreciate his or her efforts, and by playing well and in a sportsmanly fashion. Good play inspires better creations to challenge that play.

Ars Magica (Fourth Edition), Atlas Games, 2000, 272 pgs

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Bubblegum Crisis, R. Talsorian Games, 1996, pg 18 of 168

One of you will take on a different role, that of the Referee (or Gamemaster, or GM): the person who presents the story plot to the players, controls any characters not controlled by the players themselves (logically called non-player characters), and applies the rules of the game. The Referee must have a firm grasp of the game rules and the fictional background in which the world is set. It’s the most demanding position in terms of time, energy, and imagination— a lot like directing a play when you can’t control all the actors—but it can be very rewarding as well.

The Referee uses the background given in the gameworld to devise a basic plot into which he places the player characters. He describes the situations to them as the characters would know it and the players describe what their characters are doing and how they are responding to the situation. The plot generally flows from there, with the Referee presenting obstacles, non-player characters, and other elements to the players in story form and the players continually deciding what their characters will do and reacting accordingly. This way both the players and the Referee create a story together … and have a lot of fun along the way.

Call of Cthulhu (Edition 5.5), Chaosium Inc., 1998, pg 23-24 of 288

THE KEEPER

The player who acts as keeper becomes the game moderator. Perhaps using a published scenario, or creating one of his or her own, the keeper knows the entire plot of the story and presents it during play, incidentally taking the parts of all of the monsters, spooks, and sinister or ordinary people that the investigators meet. The keeper has the responsibility for preparing a scenario without bias. He or she must make the opposition smart and mean, or there will be little challenge for the players, and they will be bored.

The keeper needs to understand the game in order to he able to answer player questions and to be able to present the material fairly. To be a keeper, read the rules on creating investigators, the game system, and sanity, and then go on to read about magic and the Mythos. You’ll find individual monster and spell descriptions in the reference section. Those entries can he consulted, and do not need to be read through and memorized. (That would be quite a feat!) Skim the keeper’s lore chapter.

Then choose one of the short scenarios from this book. Read it, then invite some friends over. Have them roll up investigators together (be sure to photocopy enough investigator sheets first). Or photocopy the ready-made investigators at the back of this book, and let them each choose one―all they need are 60 more points of skills.

Summarize the rules for the players, and supply a photocopy of the game tables at the back of this book. When you’re set to play, don’t worry about making mistakes the first time around. It is your privilege to make mistakes. While you are learning how to invent your own scenarios, use the ones in this book or consult one of the many scenario supplement books available. Often printed scenario thoroughness and extra information can be welcome.

As you need, consult the reference and resources sections. or read pertinent sections in the keeper’s lore chapter.

With the purchase of this book and some dice, you have everything needed to play the game.

Cyberpunk 2020 (The Second Edition 2.01), R. Talsorian Games Inc., 1993, 254 pgs

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Dangerous Journeys (1: Mythus), Game Designers’ Workshop, 1992, pg 6-7 of 416

The Gamemaster

Let us consider the role of gamemaster more fully. The gamemaster (GM for short) is the producer and director of the game action. A GM must know the game rules, the premises upon which they are constructed, and then prepare for play. Because a fantasy roleplaying game (FRPG for short) is a long-term activity, a GM must have materials prepared for game action spanning days, weeks, months, and possibly years of roleplaying activity by the player group. Such materials, in toto, are referred to as a campaign. A play episode which has a start and a conclusion is usually referred to as an adventure or scenario, while a portion of an adventure is usually called a session. As noted, a campaign lasts for as long as the group involved desires, An adventure might conclude in two or three hours, or it might require 10 or 20 times that to be resolved. In part, the time required is dependent on how well the player team operates, how well it uses its creativity and imagination in problem solving. The length of an adventure also depends on the complexity of the particular quest or mission involved.

Gamemasters know all the secrets behind each adventure situation, but they reveal information only as their players’ game personas discover it through their announced actions and observations. Thus, the GM is not only the producer, director, and source of all information, but also the sole player of those roles not taken by the other game participants. Does your character encounter a guardsman? A Gypsy fortune teller? A learned sage? A powerful villain? All of those will be played by the gamemaster.

As an impartial and disinterested participant in the story, the GM serves both to help and hinder the player group. The GM lays out the scenario, provides information to the players, acts the roles of minor characters, adjudicates disputes between the players’ personas and characters they meet, interprets the game rules, and critiques play after the completion of an adventure by awarding merits to individual players for the skill with which they played during the game. That brings us to just what it is that you will do as a player in the Mythus game.

Doctor Who (The Players Manual), FASA, 1985, pg 3 of 48

One player does not have a permanent role to play. Instead, he moderates the game, keeping in mind and reinforcing the limits and rules of the game. Called the gamemaster, this player judges the effects of the player characters’ actions and determines what the response to those actions will be. He plays all the ‘bit parts’: the bystanders, aliens, villains, and other characters who are not central to the action but who interact with the players’ characters in some way.

The gamemaster often creates the adventures, and, when he presents them, he provides enough opposition to the characters’ efforts to make the game exciting. His job is not to make the adventure goals impossible, but to make them challenging and fun. He is responsible for making the game run smoothly so that all have a good time. He guides the action so that the players will succeed — but only after making a number of important decisions and only if they work hard and play their roles well.

The Dominion Tank Police, Guardians of Order Inc., 1999, pg 14 of 176

To help answer the question “What are the limitations on my character’s abilities and talents?”, RPGs employ a rule system to help settle character conflicts and resolve character actions. The system mechanic usually outlines the use of a random generator (dice for random numbers, cards for random events, etc.) to add an unpredictable element to the game. A typical role-playing scenario requires a handful of players and one person to run the game, known as the Game Master (GM) or referee. The players tell the GM what their respective characters would like to do throughout the course of the adventure scenario and the GM describes the results of their actions. When the GM works closely with each and every player, the game adventure remains exciting and fun for all.

In The Dominion Tank Police Role-Playing Game, player. can create and assume the role of various character types including:

• A Tank Police officer from the series (e.g. Leona Ozaki, Al Britain)
• A super-criminal from the series (e.g. Buaku, Annapuna)
• A super-mercenary from the series (e.g. a Red Commando)
• A completely original character

The characters created will depend on the type of adventures the GM intends to run and the number of players. For example. if the GM is intending to run an adventure focused on the Tank Police set immediately after the events of the videos, he or she may wish to limit the player characters to those officers portrayed in the show: Leona, Britain, Al, Specs (Lovelock), Chaplain, and maybe even the Chief. Alternatively, the players might focus on a different tank police squad with mostly original characters, and perhaps only a few series characters (that have been transferred between squads). If the GM wants to focus on the Buaku Gang and has more than three players, the players will certainly need to create new characters since only three Buaku Gang members (Buaku, Annapuna and Unipuma) were presented in any detail. There is no limitation preventing the mixture of existing series and original characters in the same adventure.

Dragon Lords of Melniboné, Chaosium Inc., 2001, pg 191 of 208

THE RULES for Dragon Lords of Melniboné are relatively compact, but cover a lot of topics. New players need to read or to be familiar with these chapters: “Introduction,” “Adventurers,” and “Game System.” Most also will want to examine the chapters “Magic and Religion” and “The World of the Young Kingdoms.”

Dungeon masters should read as well this chapter and the one for “The World of the Young Kingdoms,” and be aware of the issues covered in the Game System chapter. Every dungeon master should thumb through the entire book.

Dungeons & Dragons (Second Edition), TSR Hobbies Inc., 1978, pg 5 of 48

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantastic, exciting and imaginative game of role playing for adults 12 years and up. Each player creates a character or characters who may be dwarves, elves, halflings or human fighting men, magic-users, pious clerics or wily thieves. The characters are then plunged into an adventure in a series of dungeons, tunnels, secret rooms and caverns run by another player: the referee, often called the Dungeon Master. The dungeons are filled with fearsome monsters, fabulous treasure and frightful perils. As the players engage in game after game their characters grow in power and ability: the magic users learn more magic spells, the thieves increase in cunning and ability, the fighting men, halflings, elves and dwarves, fight with more deadly accuracy and are harder to kill. Soon the adventurers are daring to go deeper and deeper into the dungeons on each game, battling more terrible monsters, and, of course, recovering bigger and more fabulous treasure! The game is limited only by the inventiveness and imagination of the players, and, if a group is playing together, the characters can move from dungeon to dungeon within the same magical universe if game referees are approximately the same in their handling of play.

The Dungeon Master designs the dungeons and makes careful maps on graph paper. The players do not know where anything is located in the dungeons until the game begins and they enter the first passage or room. They create their own map as they explore. While only paper and pencil need be used, it is possible for the characters of each player to be represented by miniature lead figures which can be purchased inexpensively from hobby stores or directly from TSR Hobbies. The results of combat, magic spells, monster attacks, etc., are resolved by rolling special polyhedral 20-sided dice which come with this game.

Dungeons & Dragons (Player’s Handbook: Third Edition), Wizards of the Coast, 2000, pg 6 of 288+16

When you play the Dungeons & Dragons® game, you create a unique fictional character that lives in your imagination and the imaginations of your friends. One person in the game, the Dungeon Master DM controls the monsters and people that live in the fantasy world. You and your friends face the dangers and explore the mysteries that your Dungeon Master sets before you.

Dungeons & Dragons (Game Master’s Guide: Third Edition), Wizards of the Coast, 2000, pg 6 of 256

Let’s start with the biggest secret of all: the key to Dungeon Mastering. (Don’t tell anybody, okay?) The secret is that you’re in charge. This is not the telling-everyone-what-to-do sort of in charge. Rather, you get to decide how your player group is going to play this game, when and where the adventures take place, and what happens. You get to decide how the rules work, which rules to use, and how strictly to adhere to them. That kind of in charge.

You’re a member of a select group. Truly not everyone has the creativity and the dedication to be a Dungeon Master. Dungeon Mastering (DMing) can be challenging, but it’s not a chore. You’re the lucky one out of your entire circle of friends that plays the game. The real fun is in your hands. As you flip through the Monster Manual or look at published adventures on a store shelf, you get to decide what the player characters (PC5) take on next. You get to build a whole world, design all its characters, and play all of them not played directly by the other players.

It’s good to be the DM.

The DM defines the game. A good DM results in a good game. Since you control the pacing, the types of adventures and encounters, and the nonplayer characters (NPCs), the whole tenor of the game is in your hands, It’s fun, but it’s a big responsibility If you’re the sort of person who likes to provide the fun for your friends, to create new things, or to come up with new ideas, then you’re an ideal candidate for DM.

Elric!, Chaosium Inc., 1994, pg 9 of 162

THE GAMEMASTER

The most fun in the game is had by the gamemaster. The player who acts that part moderates the game. Using a published scenario or one he or she has created, the gamemaster narrates the game universe and acts as the adventurers’ opposition. That opposition must be smart and mean, or the players will be bored, and it must be presented fairly, or the players will be outraged.

To be a gamemaster, read all of the tabbed rules section, and then become familiar with the rest of the book. The Gamemaster chapter has some useful entries, including notes for conversions from Stormbringer and a stock of non-player characters. Know the general procedures for combat and magic, but don’t feel you need to memorize everything—most questions can be answered as they arise.

Start with the scenarios in this book, or choose and convert one from a Stormbringer supplement, or create one of your own. Photocopy some adventurer sheets, then invite some friends, and have them roll up adventurers. Summarize the rules for them, and supply a photocopy of the game tables at the back of this book. You’re ready to play.

Farscape, Alderac Entertainment Group, 2002, pg 13 of 320

Game Masters

While most players have but a single character to keep track of, the Game Master’s job is much more complicated. He or she serves as a combination of narrator, referee and supporting cast: he develops the setting and adventures, describes the environment and plot developments. and portrays any non-player characters (NPCs) the PCs may encounter. The GM also serves as an arbiter of the rules, enforcing the die rolls and making sure that the group maintains proper balance. He is, in effect, the director of the Farscape story which the group is telling: steering it in the right directions and giving the PCs the opportunity to play Hero.

While the GM’s job involves much more work than the players. it can also be the most rewarding. The players have only their characters to run with: the GM has the whole universe. The Uncharted Territories is a big place, and the GM has a chance to serve as ringleader for all its sights and wonders.

Tips and ideas on Gamemastering a Farscape game can be found in Chapter Twelve.

Gamma World (Second Edition), TSR Hobbies Inc., 1981, pg 4 of 56

The referee is the participant who is willing to provide the mental and physical labor of completing the game within the framework provided. He will also preside over the actual play of the game itself. Instructions detailing the referee’s tasks are given in the material to follow. However, three attributes necessary for a good referee — imagination, creativity, and a sense of fair play — must be provided by the referee himself. He must carefully balance risk with reward. The game he creates must not be so “deadly” as to make survival of the player-characters impossible. On the other hand, he must see to it that the player-characters are challenged. Too many rewards given at too little risk is sure to create a boring game.

Gamma World (Fourth Edition), TSR Inc., 1992, 192 pgs

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Hackmaster (GameMaster’s Guide: Fourth Edition), Kenzer and Company, 2001, pg 14 of 368

The Role of the Gamemaster

“We will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate such actions among our own.”
–GM’s Creed

Greetings Friend, and well met.

Welcome to the ranks of an esteemed group of individuals who, as unsung heroes, have been carrying the torch of role-play forward for nearly thirty years. Here, we proudly bear the title GameMaster and be you a veteran GM simply advancing from HackMaster 3rd edition to HackMaster 4th edition or a prospective GM rising up from the masses to heed the call, we welcome you into our fold as an equal.

Your position as GameMaster is not an easy one. It requires wit, determination, drive, imagination, diplomacy, organization and the ability to think on one’s feet and to roll with the punches. You are essential to the game. Through the selfless endeavors of in-th-trenches GMs such as yourself that strive to hone your skills and keep your players challenged, the HackMaster experience continues to grow. You are the reason players keep returning to the table and bringing new blood into the game. That’s right, you! As a GM, you are the backbone of the HackMaster experience and bear some credit for any success, and certainly for any failures, the game may experience in the future.

The GameMaster Guide is reserved for your eyes only. It contains all the essential rules that are not discussed in the Player’s Handbook. It has been placed here so you can have control over it. While players are not your enemies, they are by no means your allies and it is imperative that you bear that in mind at all times. But this book is not just about ‘hard rules’. As you will soon discover, a large portion of this book is devoted to discussions of the principals behind the rules. Another sizable component is brimming with source material that will arm you to handle those situations that will inevitably arise from time to time that are not explicitly covered by the rules. The purpose of this book, after all, is to better prepare you for your role as game moderator and referee. The better you understand the game, the better equipped you will be to handle unforeseen developments and unusual circumstances.

As GM you are master of your table. The success of your own campaign id primarily in your hands and you must take a firm, active hand in guiding it. When you take on the title of GM you are entering into a contract of sorts with the players you have assembled. They are agreeing to show up to your game each week and invest time as you weave your magic and take them into realms of high adventure. In return, you are agreeing that you will give them something worthy of their time.

Let me stress this is not a relationship you should enter into lightly. If you are skimming through this introduction, slow the hell down, back up and read it again. Slowly. It is crucial that you understand the grave nature of the commitment you are about to make.

(Note: HackMaster is both a parody of a game and a working system.)

Lejendary Adventures (The Lejendary Rules), Trigee Enterprises, 1999, pg 4 of 208

The Lejend Master

Play is directed by a Lejend Master or Lejend Mistress, usually referred to simply as the LM (and when spelled out “Lejend Master” meaning Lejend Mistress as well.) The LM will determine the cosmic environment for game play. He or she will adapt and/or create the whole universe, direct and orchestrate all the events of the game’s worlds and the variety of environments found therein. If the campaign is to be about thwarting a slavery ring, it is the LM that establishes the extent of the ring’s operations and the nations and regions in which the ring operates. If the campaign is to involve exploring alternate dimensions, it is the LM that creates the dimensions to be explored. If the campaign involves an evil sorcerer summoning demons from unwholesome places, the LM creates both the unwholesome places and the twisted residents.

It is the job of the LM to relate the campaign-specific information available to players, and relate to them all sensory data the game environment provides to their Avatars. In other words, the LM provides the players with the information their characters already know, and will also describe everything that is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, and perhaps “felt” by sixth sense or the like. If a player wants to know what an Avatar sees when looking out the door of a shop, the LM describes the buildings along the street, the people moving about, and any activity that would catch the character’s eye.

The LM will also play the role of every person or creature encountered that is not directed by a player. When the Avatars ask directions of a merchant, it is the LM that takes the part of the merchant and offers directions to the players. If the person encountered is surly, the LM is surly when dealing with the players. If the person is friendly, the LM is friendly, and so on.

Lastly, the LM will adjudicate all disputes as the final authority on the rules, award meritorious play, and manage playing time on a regular and agreed-to basis so as to provide the highest quality of entertainment possible for all participants the campaign. The LM is charged with understanding the rules and providing enjoyable play for all of the participants.

Marc Miller’s Traveller, Imperium Games, 1996, pg 11 of 192

The Referee

Management of the game is performed by a special player known as the referee. While the other players each concentrate upon portraying their specific character, the referee portrays all of the places they go and creatures they meet. Like the director of a movie, the referee judges what can and cannot be accomplished in a particular scene. Like the umpire of a sports event, he decides how the game rules apply to the particular situation, and makes rulings based on the spirit of those rules when the action strays outside those boundaries. And like the host of a party, he makes sure that all of the players are involved in the fun and have a good time. Being a role-playing referee is not an easy thing to do. Portions of this book give instructions and advice to prospective Traveller referees, and many other areas of the book provide special tips concerning specific situations.

Paranoia (Fifth Edition), West End Games, 1995, pg 15 of 224

Many games separate the “players” (those who create and play individual characters) from the gamemaster (the guy who sits down and runs the adventure, playing all the “non-player” characters so completely that the so-called players are having all the fun and the gamemaster is doing all the work.
That’s not how Paranoia is supposed to be played.

The gamemaster is a player, he just works under different rules than the other players. The gamemaster has more weapons, more tools, and more options than the other players but he also has a certain responsibility. He has to “run” the adventure. First, by setting up the situation, then by introducing it and, finally, by helping the players play through it. The “regular” players have fun by roleplaying their characters and trying to figure out how to accomplish the adventure “goal,” while the gamemaster has fun setting up and running the situations and interactions … and, of course, torturing the player characters.

Reich Star, Creative Encounters, 1990, pg 6 of 248 (243)

It is the Gamemaster (GM) who creates a plot, situation, supporting characters and then acts as a referee. As a player, you would play the role of a fictional character of your own creation who would then take part in the scenario created by the GM. In this way, a role-playing game is much like “living” a movie, with the Game-master being writer, director, and supporting cast; and each player is an actor playing the starring role. However, in the game world the players in effect control the actions of the characters they portray – they are not bound totally by the script. It is up to the thinking ability of the player, the skills and abilities of his character, and the roll of dice that will always determine the final outcome of a situation. Both player and Gamemaster are dealt with in more detail later in this book, but first let’s look at some of the materials you will need before playing a game.

Shadowrun (Second Edition), FASA Corp., 1992, pg 10 of 296

The person controlling the story is called the gamemaster. His or her job is to keep track of what is supposed to happen when, describe events as they occur so that the players (as characters) can react to them, keep track of other characters in the game (referred to as non-player characters), and resolve attempts to take action using the game system. The gamemaster describes the world as the characters see it, functioning as their eyes, ears, and others senses. Gamemastering is not an easy task, but the thrill of creating an adventure that engages the other players, tests both the players’ gaming skills and the characters’ skills in the game world, and captures the players’ imaginations makes it worthwhile. FASA publishes game supplements and adventures to help this process along, but good gamemasters always adapt the game universe to suit their own style.

Stormbringer (Fifth Edition), Chaosium Inc., 2001, pg 16 of 304

The Gamemaster

To be a gamemaster, read all of the rules chapters, pages 52-179, and then become familiar with the rest of the book. The “Gamemasters” chapter has some useful entries, including notes for conversions from earlier editions of Stormbringer and a stock of non-player characters. Know the general procedures for combat and magic, but don’t feel you need to memorize everything–most questions can be answered as they arise.

Start with the scenarios in this book, or choose and convert one from a Stormbringer sourcebook, or create one of your own. Photocopy some adventurer sheets, then invite some friends, and have them roll up adventurers. Summarize the rules for them, and supply a photocopy of the game tables on pages 292-296. You’re ready to play.

Traveller (Book 0), Game Designers’ Workshop, 1981, pg 5-7 of

Most games require an umpire of some sort (also called the referee, the judge the dungeon master, ref, ghod, or some other title depending upon circumstances), whose job is to administer the imaginary world in which the players pretend to he gunslingers or swordsmen or whatever and to adjudicate the inevitable conflicts between the players and their environment. In many games the umpire is also the architect of the imaginary world the players explore, creating every aspect of it in as much detail as the players require. In other cases, the background is already there, either provided by the designers of the game or by the novel, story, or movie, that the world is inspired from. In the latter, the umpire usually makes a few minor changes to put a stamp of individuality upon a game and make it something unlike any other.

…

A referee will usually find it necessary to commit great amounts of information to paper (no mind could possibly hold all the information necessary for any but the most rudimentary mythos). This commonly takes the form of maps of the region the players are currently moving around in, and notes on such characteristics of the region as the referee may consider important (like a cave containing a large dragon or the nature of the military forces of the region, and so on). For most cases, the referee can keep track of the players’ actions on paper, but sometimes, a group will make use of miniature figures, realistically posed and painted to represent the players (one figure per character) and the various people they encounter while carrying out their operations. Playing with miniatures requires several times as much work as the normal paper-and-pencil version of a game, but many consider added visual effect worth the effort.

A referee must keep track of all things that various characters do, determine if and how these actions change the background, decide if and how these changes will affect the characters, note the passage of game time (from a character’s point of view, months may pass in a single evening’s adventure), and adjudicate conflicts between the characters run by the players (called player-characters) and the characters run by the referee (called non-player characters or NPCs). The referee, while doing all this, must also keep the players’ interest up. In most RPGs, it is the referee that makes the difference between a dull, boring session and a vibrant exciting one.

Traveller20, RPG Realms, 2002, 448 pgs

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