#3 - 1st Time GM

Welcome to the ranks of the GM! If you are reading this then you have already made progress into being a Game Master, or a GM. GMs go by other names in different games, and they serve many functions. GMs are are referees and judges. They both interpret and enforce the rules of the game. GMs are also narrators and stage director. Their responsibility is to depict what is happening to the players, to give prompts for player responses. GMs can even take the roles of every other in game character the players, non-player characters.

With all this range of responsibility you may be thinking that the GM is the most important person in the RPG. They appear to have limitless influence and duties! This may be the case, but the paradox of the GM is that while they could do anything to determine the course of the game, the best GMs will do very little.

Therein is my biggest tip for new GMs, Think of your role as a movie director. While the game plays out the players themselves will amplify the drama. Players will find reasons to execute revenge, to seek fame, to save the day, and get a final kiss in the sunset. Players do all that, you as a GM will set it up for them, so they can bask in the spotlight.

In a movie, the actors, starring in their roles who will have the best one-liners, who will look into the camera and wow the audience. Our best memories of movies are often not of what we saw in the footage, but the people in the movies. Gorgeous landscapes and choreography is pleasing, but also impersonal. Our heroes of the screen are the personal touch in a movie. The Players of a RPG are the personal touch. Each player in the RPG is a hero of the story. Your job is to set them up for a close up.

This is easy enough to think of. Even mundane occurrences have an opportunity for Drama, for conflict. If a player suddenly find themselves locked out of their car, they have choices to make. Can they reach through the window to open the door? Do they have a spare key somewhere? Should they call a locksmith? Will they be too late for the interview that they have to call a taxi now?! In this small example, the GM as director offers a single sentence. They then wait for the player to respond with Drama.

The GM will say, “As you reach in your pocket your don't find your car keys.” A good player will ask for a few clarifying questions, “what about my purse? What time is it? Where did I last have my key?” The GM should go ahead and give answers, and then wait patiently. The responsibility is now on the player to decide what to do. The other players in the room will watch them, perhaps they will offer suggestions of how other heroes can help, “Geoff can drive you and we can find your keys later... I'll call the office and say you are sick.”

Even if the others players aren't involved in the choice, whether they are not helping, they will wrap themselves in the drama. Other players want to know what the hero will do, the same way we want to see what movie stars do. The game continues as the heroes make choices. Your job can be as easy as asking questions. It might be disappointing to hear the first time, but the game isn't about the GM, it is about the players, the heroes. You may be the referee but you are not the bad guy. You may be the narrator but you cannot make decision for the other players.

Yet, as the GM you have the unique opportunity to set up the challenges they face. The Players will follow your lead in to drama. Your satisfaction will be seeing them bravely charge forth into the obstacles you put there.