Welcome to a world of fun adventure. Whether you are new to roleplaying games or are an old hand this manual will give you everything you need to get started as a Game Master (GM), running games to play with your friends.
Chapter 1: The Job of the GM
The primary responsibility and characteristics of the GM
In the introduction to our player’s guide (an essential resource that you should read before attempting this volume), we mentioned that Role Playing Games are a form of dialog. Remember the fundamental exchange we quoted;
GM: What do you want to do?
Player: I want to do X.
GM: When you attempt that <<often requiring dice rolls>>, this happens… What do you want to do?
Well, where our player’s guide was aimed at helping players understand and engage in the player portion of the conversation, this GM’s guide is intended as a guide to Game Masters.
What is a game master, you ask?
A game master is responsible for everything that happens in response to player actions. Where players are responsible for the characters they play, the GM is responsible for everyone else the players encounter, as well as being responsible for bringing the world to life for the players, and adjudicating the rules and dice rolls that make the game possible.
But even beyond these things, the GM has one MAJOR responsibility, and that is to ensure everyone at the table has fun.
Understood in this way, the GM’s role is utterly pivotal to the success of the game. Not only is the GM responsible for bringing the story to life, but also acts as referee, guardian of fairness, smoother-over of ruffled player feelings, and maintainer of a positive table.
Daunting isn’t it?
Still, it is also incredibly rewarding. Seeing your group of players have fun and leave the table talking about the great game they had (possibly for years to come if you “knock one out of the park”), watching your idea for a story come to life, or seeing that off-the-cuff character you invented to meet an unexpected game circumstance take on flesh and blood, all these things are hugely rewarding and creative endeavours.
They are also a lot of work, and being a good GM requires commitment and lots of practice.
But, right now, we want to focus on some fundamentals. The primary characteristic of a good GM, beyond creativity, and a willingness to work hard, is… unselfishness. If you are primarily concerned with how the GM’s role meets your own needs, you are going to fail to run an effective game at the table. Below are some common mistakes, beginning GMs make by misunderstanding this key point.
If you see the role of the GM as a competition between yourself and the players, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. It’s an easy trap to fall into, particularly if you are a competitive sort- seeing yourself as being in competition with the team of players at the table and seeing it as your job to “beat” them – but the GM’s job is not to “beat” the players. It is to be the facilitator and impartial referee of an unfolding story. If you turn the game into a competition in which you set out to be the winner, then you might be thoroughly enjoying yourself, but no-one else will be. The power to shape events inherent in the GM’s role far outweighs that of any group of players. If the GM is adversarial in his/her approach then the players don’t have a chance (and will find the experience miserable).
Creative types can be selfish too. If you see the role of GM as a means of showing off your creativity by telling your carefully crafted stories in such a way that you corral your player’s choices to the point they are merely the passive audience for your genius, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. Players want to take part in the story, shaping it through their actions and making it their own via their own choices. If you are determined to be the sole creative force in the game, then you will stifle and limit the choices made by your players for the sake of your own vision of what direction the events should follow. This will frustrate your players (who will feel like they are not contributing anything meaningful to the experience and, regardless of how good a story you are telling, will feel (rightly) that they are not being allowed to participate. A roleplaying game is a game and not a book. Interaction and participation is key. If you limit interaction for the sake of your vision of the story, you might be thoroughly enjoying yourself but no one else will be.
Watch out for the desire to be in charge as well. Being a GM does require a fair degree of people management skill. You are responsible for getting the game happening, keeping the players focused, etc. It can be a heady feeling to be in charge. But if you indulge in the role just to be in charge and fail to put in the work necessary to entertain your players, you will quickly gain a reputation for running a joyless table. If you see the role of GM as primarily one of being in charge, and you are unwilling to put in the work necessary to provide a great experience for your players, your players will NOT enjoy the experience and you will have failed in your primary responsibility. You might be thoroughly enjoying yourself but no one else will be.
If however, you look beyond yourself and see the role of the GM as hard work, true, but a creatively rewarding task aimed at ensuring everyone at the table has fun, then your players will love coming to your table, and you will have met your primary responsibility… and by choosing the path of unselfish GMing you will have found the key to your own enjoyment as well.
If you want to help your players enjoy themselves at your table, then this book is for you.
Getting a game together
Old hands at role-playing games generally have an established network of players to draw from (and should feel free to skip over this section) but if you are new to RPGs this section may be helpful in gathering your first table.
Typically role-players are awful at explaining their hobby to others without sounding like they are from Mars. You’ll want to avoid doing a bad job of this, if at all possible.
Let’s assume you have some friends that you want to invite to your table for a game (four to six players works best). There are definitely some things you want to avoid doing. Don’t start explaining the rules (your listeners will be lost after 10 seconds), don’t explain why it’s fun (people can figure that out for themselves), and don’t monologue (whatever their interest level you will turn them off with a monologue). Instead, following the advice of Scott Rehm (the Angry GM – who developed these questions) present a really quick pitch and give them the opportunity to ask questions.
“Hey, I’ve got this great new game I want to try out. In it, you are like Indiana Jones or those folks from the Mummy movies and you have a mystery/adventure to solve or quest to complete (like “find the kidnapped heiress” or “prevent the sacrifice from going ahead on Skull Island” or “discover the lost treasure of Ubar”). Are you interested?”
Then allow them to ask questions.
Make sure your answers are short and to the point (avoid explaining the rules in detail, explaining why it’s fun, and monologuing as before) and say just enough to prompt more questions.
Q: So how do you play?
A: It’s pretty straightforward. All the players (except one) choose or create a heroic character that they are going to represent. The remaining player is the game master and takes responsibility for running the game. The game master will explain where you are and what’s happening. For example, the game master might say “You’ve entered a wide cavern which is dotted with the mud huts of a colony of lizard people. There are plenty of stalagmites around the edge of the cavern that could provide cover and you can see a tunnel that leads out the other side. Suddenly a scaly lizard creature steps in front of you brandishing a spear, what do you do?” You then explain how you respond. Maybe you run for it, maybe you draw your gun and shoot the creature, or maybe you try to talk to it. The options and variations are up to your imagination. The game master will then determine how that works out (usually with the help of dice) and explain how the situation has changed giving you a new opportunity to act.
Q: So what’s the point of the game?
A: To complete the adventure (you know, explore the caverns, rescue the fair maiden, defeat the bad guy, find the missing treasure, or solve the mystery).
Q: How do you win?
A: If you complete the adventure you win, if you die or the villain gets away, etc. you don’t.
Q: How do you die?
A: At the start of the game you have a number of wound points. Every time you are injured you lose some. If they go below zero you die. You can heal them back up during the game as well.
Q: How do I know what I can do?
A: You can do anything you think of (that fits with your character). If you’re a pilot, for example, you can fly a plane. You can also do any ordinary things you can think of (run, jump, fight, swim etc.). Often you have a specific set of skills that you are good at and you roll a dice to see if you succeed at them.
Q: Is it complicated to play?
A: There are a lot of rules, but players don’t have to know many of them. It’s the game master’s job to know the rules and figure out what is happening. Players just need to use their imaginations and work together to accomplish the goal of the game.
Q: How does the Game Master know what happens?
A: The game master has a set of notes to guide the story (telling him or her what challenges are that you will face etc) and the game master also has a set of rules to use to determine how your attempted actions will work out (usually by rolling dice).
Q: Is the Game Master the bad guy?
A: No. The game master is responsible for the details of the game, creating the challenges etc. But the game master isn’t the bad guy. He ensures everyone has fun and that the challenges are fair, but doesn’t try to kill you.
Q: That sounds fun. When can I play?
A: How about coming over Thursday for a game, say around seven o’clock.
Don’t feel you have to answer all those questions. They are just examples. Just remember to be short and to the point, and the moment the person you’re talking with indicates the idea might be fun, give them the invitation.
Understanding player needs
Believe it or not, different types of players get different things out of role-playing. If you are just starting out, you may not have much of an idea what kinds of gamers you have in your group. They may be a homogenous bunch or they may be really diverse. Regardless, over time you will need to get to know what drives them and what you need to do in order to ensure the game is enjoyable for them.
Here are some typical player types (from a list developed by Robin Laws in his book “Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering”)…
Soldiers: Some players love combat, dice rolls, and stats. They need at least one good fight in every game in order to stay engaged.
Treasure Hunters: Other gamers are all about “really good loot”. If they don’t feel like they are building up their personal stockpile of wealth and cool gadgets, they feel the game is somehow flawed.
Specialists: Some players are all about building the most awesome character they can, specializing in the powers and abilities of their archetype and specialization in order to become (in game terms) famous and world-renowned. If they can’t increase their abilities they feel thwarted.
Character Actors: Some players play in order to get inside their character’s heads. They want to live the adventure, feel the drama, face choices that have significance for them personally and spend some time in the spotlight with regard to the plot (having it connect directly with their character’s lives).
Tacticians: Still other players look for tactical challenges, a chance to sneak their way through things and outwit their opponents. If they never have the chance to feel clever, they find little else to satisfy them in a game.
Storytellers: Some players are at your table for the story. They want a beginning, middle and end (even if it is only on an episode by episode basis) and grow bored with long meandering “open worlds” and “sandboxes”. They love twists and sub-plots and intriguing characters. They love huge story arcs and intimate little subtexts.
Social gamers: Then there are some for whom the game is actually secondary and the game is just an excuse to get together with friends. For these folks, the pre and post-game catch-up is the most rewarding part of gaming.
There are probably more than these few types and they certainly overlap to an extent. You probably fit into one or more of these broad categories yourself and some of them have a tendency to conflict.
Players who are into story and character tend to feel irritated by players who are focused on the mechanics of character building and loot acquisition (and vice versa). Players who love a good fight tend to find themselves irritating the players who like to get tactical and sneak around the combat opportunities. And the social player is just there to chat and laugh (irritating the more serious players who want to just get on with things).
As the GM it is your job to see that everyone has fun. This means, when designing games, that you need to share the spotlight around, focusing on the story here, a character there, having a good fight here, beating a tactical challenge there, presenting a puzzle here, providing opportunities to increase abilities there, and find cool loot here, while making it a fun social occasion to play.
It sounds pretty complicated, but in practice, most games will deliver this variety without too much effort.
Gamers also differ with regard to the kinds of things they enjoy in games.
Some gamers enjoy having access to really nice playing materials and props, others enjoy the sense of immersion the game provides, some enjoy the story the game creates, others enjoy overcoming obstacles, while still others enjoy the social opportunities the game provides. Some players enjoy learning new things (about the world, their characters etc., sometimes even the rules), others like the chance to be creative (in expressing the character they are playing and solving problems), while still others enjoy playing for the distraction it provides from everyday life.
None of these sources of enjoyment are necessarily exclusive either. They all overlap and can appear to different degrees in different people. It is helpful to know this, both for understanding the needs of your players and for helping to recognize that there are lots of reasons a particular game may not be delivering the specific brand of “fun” that a player is looking for. Not everyone wants what a role-playing game delivers and so there is no reason to necessarily decide that their departure from a game is your fault.
Remember the most important part of being a GM. You are there to try to ensure everyone at the table has fun. Knowing your player’s preferences will help you. Try to run a well-rounded game with lots of general appeal, but don’t beat yourself up too much if your game doesn’t deliver for everyone equally.
This volume relies heavily on the work of Scott Rehm, Justin Alexander, Brian Christopher Misiaszek, Mike Bourke, Blair Ramage, Saxon Brenton, Robin Laws, John Wick, Wolfgang Baur, Ken Hite, Monte Cooke, Kevin Crawford, Phil Vecchione, and Walt Ciechanowski.
This chapter of the Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama RPG and all associated content (except where noted above) is © copyright weirdworldstudios.com and Philip Craig Robotham 2016 and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written permission of the author.
HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 1 – Running a Game
- Chapter 1: The Job of the GM (gathering a table, player types, and ensuring fun)
- Chapter 2: Preliminaries (the three fundamental skills, and your first session)
- Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 1 (the opening scene and narration)
- Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 2 (querying and adjudication)
- Chapter 3: Advanced skills – Part 3 (resolving actions, managing tropes, transitioning, concluding, and preparing future sessions)
- Chapter 4: Managing the Mini-Games (combat, chases, and social actions)
- Chapter 5: Maintaining Pace and Tone (managing time and policing the tone)
- Chapter 6: Improvising (improvising the story and the rules – for all the times the players do something unexpected)
- Chapter 7 & 8: Getting Feedback and Conclusion (improving your game)
HYOOTRD Roleplaying Game – Game Master’s Guide – Part 2 – Designing Games
- Chapter 9: Scene Design
- Chapter 10: NPC, Monster, Faction, and Villain Design
- Chapter 11: Dilemmas, Obstacles, Exits, and Clues
- Chapter 12: Plot (scenario, sandbox, critical path, and the interaction between story and choice)
- Chapter 13: Structures: The five-room dungeon (and variations)
- Chapter 14: Structures: The sandbox (the town or city)
- Chapter 15: Structures: The sandbox (the wilderness)
- Chapter 16: Structures: The Scenario
- Chapter 17: Structures: The Campaign
