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100% GMing
Treasure Tables is dedicated to game masters, offering GMing advice and ideas and a community of GMs helping each other run great games since 2005. I'm Martin Ralya, and I've been GMing since 1989 and writing for the RPG industry since 2004.
Mastering Your GM-Fu
“Mastering Your GM-Fu” was a free GMing advice seminar run by four longtime GMs — Zachary, Vicki, Phil and myself — at GenCon in 2006 and 2007. The four of us fielded questions from the audience, and attendees also offered advice based on their own experiences.
We distributed resource handouts and a freebie to attendees — in 2006, the freebie was a GM-Fu button, and in 2007 it was the official GM-Fu d2. If you’re interested in the handouts, they’re both available as free PDFs: 2006 (GMing weaknesses and resources) and 2007 (prep, social contracts and resources).
This seminar was a lot of fun to run, and hopefully everyone who came walked away with some good advice and ideas about tackling GMing issues.
The Panelists
Here’s a bit of info about our four panelists, Zachary Houghton, Vicki Potter, Martin Ralya and Phil Vecchione. Hopefully, reading about our GMing styles, strengths and weaknesses will give you a better idea of what we’re like, and what each of us brings to the table.
Zachary Houghton
• Location: Pendleton, Indiana (just outside Indianapolis)
• Age: 27
• Years GMing: First GMed in 1993, so I suppose 14 years — but there were some definite gaps in there
• Currently Running: Palladium Fantasy (houserule version), with periodic games of Rifts, Traveller, and Risus thrown into the rotation for good measure. Also looking at running a d20 variant soon (no, I’m not sure which one yet).
Games/systems you play often: Risus, Palladium Fantasy, several forms of d20, Epic RPG, Iron Gauntlets, anything by HinterWelt and Rolemaster (among many others).
Describe your overall GMing style: Somewhat loose, informal GM style, but push players to both meet and create challenges/opportunities. As a GM, I’m much less interested in the letter than the spirit of the rules.
I believe that no game survives long without the players buying into it, and so I really encourage creative contributions and additions from all my players. If it works, use it.
As a GM, what are you best at?: I’ve worked very hard on my Table Diplomacy — that is, resolving issues before they blow up in the group’s face, helping players find their niche in the larger scheme of the game and finding out exactly what players are expecting from playing in my campaigns.
I’m also pretty happy with my campaign management and how I organize our orientation/character creation sessions. It all breaks down to making sure that everyone at that table is having fun. I also enjoy cartography, and have worked that extensively into my games to good benefit.
What are your GMing weaknesses?: Pacing in my game is something I’ve had to work really hard on. Keeping the game moving along, yet allowing players time to fulfill their various roles, personal quests and part of the story without feeling rushed is a tricky business.
In my eyes, pacing ties in very closely to a sort of game balance — learning what scenes to linger on, when to use cinematic devices to move things along, and proportioning enough combat and social interaction so that all players in the group are able to feel they have a large stake in the game.
Industry and/or convention experience: I ran RPG Blog, a RPG Reviews, News and Analysis site that featured unique gaming reviews, interviews, commentary, and as many freebies as I could scrounge up. I’m also Press this year at the Con for The RPG Site, a rather unmoderated, fast-growing, general-RPG website. I’m also in the middle of two playtests that I really wish I could tell you about, because they are FANTASTIC!
Vicki Potter
• Location: Nebraska
• Age: 45
• Years GMing: 25
• Currently Running: Against the Darkness demos, occasional Castles & Crusades one-shots, and D&D 3.5 when we can make time for it
Games/systems you play often: When I started playing RPGs, I played AD&D almost exclusively for years, with the occasional flutter into James Bond 007. Then we discovered FASA’s Star Trek and played that extensively and with great relish. Later we tried d20 supers and Star Wars, eventually returning to d6 Star Wars for the chance to roll all those dice. In the past year I’ve started running Against the Darkness, a Vatican horror/conspiracy mini-game we publish. I’m also supposedly GMing a 3.5E D&D campaign, but we’re usually too busy running our game company to have time to game!
Describe your overall GMing style: In our group, I’m known for running a “kindler, gentler universe.” People can adventure without worrying that the end of the world may be at hand. I tend to focus on adventures with a small-to-medium scope, that affect the town or the planet, rather than the world or the galaxy.
I tend to run either a very set-piece adventure (“here’s the dungeon, go in it”) or a very free-form one — throwing out a few different interesting things that are going on and letting the players pick up on what catches their attention, and then running with it.
As a GM, what are you best at?: Over the years I have learned that the best-laid plan will not survive contact with the players. I have had to learn to improvise, to make information up out of nothing with a straight face as if it had been part of the plan all along.
I have also learned to listen carefully as the players are discussing what is going on, and snatch a few of their best ideas for my own — it would be a shame to disappoint them when they are so excited about it!
I also have a “GM filter” that I automatically run things through — newspaper articles, TV shows, people on the street — to see how I could make use of them in a game.
That travel article has a cool picture; characters may encounter that scene in the wilderness. This animal show has a dangerous little critter they’d better watch out for while they’re there. A certain obnoxious fellow from the store is going to be in a shop with the characters sometime soon. Grabbing things from real life makes it easier on the imagination later.
What are your GMing weaknesses?: I’ve never been very good at adding details on the spur of the moment. I can think of lots of details when I’m planning, but not under pressure. Dungeons are filled with empty rooms in between the monsters, and open terrain has nothing but rolling hills and the occasional tree.
My players also ask the tough questions: What are the names and flags of the ships in port? What does the necklace look like? Who else do we see walking down the street? (This is partially why Tabletop Adventures products help fill in these details — they really are the products we wished we had. Some of our advertising was taken directly from my games — “What part of ‘empty’ do you not understand?”)
I like to figure out details in advance when possible, but then I don’t enjoy getting into the mechanics — character and critter stats. Making up personalities and situations is much more interesting than taking time to put down all the stats.
Industry and/or convention experience: Three years ago, I and some other long-time roleplaying friends founded Tabletop Adventures, to publish the products we wish had been available to us as GMs.
Delving into the industry from the side of the publishers has been a mind-broadening experience for us, as we’re responsible for everything that previously was “behind the scenes.”
Martin Ralya
• Location: West Jordan, Utah
• Age: 30
• Years GMing: 18
• Currently Running: With three GMs in my regular group, I’ve been on a long stretch of playing (and writing TT every day, of course!)
Games/systems you play often: I cut my teeth on red box D&D, and went on to run and play tons of AD&D 2nd Edition and D&D 3.x. I’ve also run quite a bit of Shadowrun, Warhammer FRP and Call of Cthulhu (one of my all-time favorite RPGs), and played another twenty-plus games, from Mage: The Ascension to Bunnies & Burrows.
Describe your overall GMing style: I like to improvise, so I usually outline my sessions and then fill in the gaps by winging it. I try hard to be fair and keep things balanced, and I default to making most of my die rolls in the open (I mainly use my screen to hide notes).
I favor lighter rules over number-heavy systems, and my main goal is always for the whole group to have a good time — everything else is secondary to that.
As a GM, what are you best at?: I think fast on my feet, so I tend to improvise well — and I’m good at adapting to surprises from my players, which is one of my favorite things about gaming. I also like running quirky, memorable NPCs (often the product of improvisation).
Evocative descriptions are one of my biggest strengths — no matter what the game, as much as possible I want my players to feel like they’re there. I also listen to my players, both before and during my campaigns, and adapt to their interests, and I’m always willing to try new things, which never hurts!
What are your GMing weaknesses?: I tend to procrastinate, particularly when prep is involved — I’m really not that fond of prep. Because I improvise well, I can often get around this problem, but it’s still a problem!
I also tend to get bogged down in details, especially when writing adventures. I often focus on little things that sound cool but may never come up in play, and spend too little time structuring the scenario and handling the basics.
Learning to recognize the times when more direction is needed is another area that I need to work on. In general, I take a hands-off approach to prodding my players along, and as a result my games sometimes slow down to a crawl.
Industry and/or convention experience: Alongside my day job, I’ve been doing freelance writing for the RPG industry since 2004. I also write Treasure Tables, a resource site and community for GMs that I started back in 2005. I was also one of the four panelists for the Mastering Your GM-Fu seminar at GenCon 2006.
Phil Vecchione (aka DNAphil)
• Location: Buffalo, New York
• Age: 33
• Years GMing: 23
• Currently Running: Iron Heroes (using a homebrewed campaign setting)
Games/systems you play often: I have played a wide variety of games in my youth, everything from AD&D to Amber diceless. In the past few years I have become a fan of the d20 System and several of its offshoots. Since the release of 3rd Edition D&D, I have run campaigns in D&D, Star Wars, d20 Modern, Xcrawl, Mutants & Masterminds and Iron Heroes.
Describe your overall GMing style: I would say that I think of myself more as a storyteller than a “game master.” For me, the telling of a good story is the most important thing I do behind the screen. As a GM, I tend to be rules-light and story-based. I am very player-centric and structure my games to be very personal to the characters in my campaigns.
I believe that a good gaming group creates a story together. As the GM, I set the scene, but I like to encourage my players to step in and drive the story through their actions. If a player has an idea that is better than the notes for the scene I have written, then that is the direction the scene will take.
To me the most important thing when I GM is that my players are entertained by the story we create and go home having had a good time.
As a GM, what are you best at?: As a GM my strongest areas are story design and campaign management. I have worked for many years to hone my ability to quickly brainstorm adventure ideas and develop them into a full session.
I am very detail oriented in my story design, and my stories are known for having NPCs with realistic motivations, plausible plots and very strong continuity between sessions.
I have a good eye for pacing plotlines and good instincts for how to let a plot unfold in a way that keeps my players anxious for the next session. I also have a knack for back-writing new plotlines into my campaign, allowing me to create plot twists that have the feel of having been part of the main plotline since the beginning of the campaign, but were only recently created.
What are your GMing weaknesses?: I would say that my biggest weakness is a strong fear to totally improvise a session. I am such a strong planner in my campaigns and sessions that I have never run a session without any notes.
I also have a habit of getting too excited when a combat scene starts. I often forget to give the same detailed descriptions for combat scenes that I do for my narrative scenes.
Industry and/or convention experience: I have participated in some playtesting for several companies. In addition, I have been a speaker at GenCon for the past two years presenting on the concept of Metagaming in Role Playing Games Role Playing Games, and was a member of the Mastering Your GM-Fu presentation last year.