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7 Golden Rules of Dungeon Master Etiquette
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9245413" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>A great list, and one I wish more DMs heeded. It very much seems to me that most of these (except maybe point 3) are forgotten or even intentionally ignored in this <em>glorious</em> age of "DM empowerment."</p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't remember precisely which game system a prior GM got it from, but the idea of "ritual phrases" (which are prevalent in TTRPGs, but rarely called out as such) does a lot of work here. I have a ritual phrase I use at the opening of every game: "Previously, in the Desert..." It gets variations relative to the tone or context, e.g. when the party went to the perpendicular plane of Zerzura (based on the very excellent <em>The Gardens of Ynn</em>), I instead would say, "Previously, in Zerzura..." Or, for an upcoming example, the party is about to take an ocean voyage, so the sessions reflecting back on that voyage will begin with, "Previously, in the Sapphire Sea..."</p><p></p><p>One of the great benefits of such ritual phrases is that the GM doesn't have to be the one to speak them every time; the words begin to carry a power all their own once they've been used long enough. As a result, you can arrange for someone else to do the recap if it is useful/relevant/productive, by having them invoke the ritual phrase instead.</p><p></p><p>Other useful ritual phrases for me are, "<em>Are you sure?</em>"/"<em>Are you sure you want to do that?</em>" (read: that sounds risky, you might want to reconsider your options), "<em>What do you do?</em>" (classic PbtA gameplay loop), and for me, because I loved the first Myst novel as a child, "<em>What do you see, <name>?</em>"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9245413, member: 6790260"] A great list, and one I wish more DMs heeded. It very much seems to me that most of these (except maybe point 3) are forgotten or even intentionally ignored in this [I]glorious[/I] age of "DM empowerment." I don't remember precisely which game system a prior GM got it from, but the idea of "ritual phrases" (which are prevalent in TTRPGs, but rarely called out as such) does a lot of work here. I have a ritual phrase I use at the opening of every game: "Previously, in the Desert..." It gets variations relative to the tone or context, e.g. when the party went to the perpendicular plane of Zerzura (based on the very excellent [I]The Gardens of Ynn[/I]), I instead would say, "Previously, in Zerzura..." Or, for an upcoming example, the party is about to take an ocean voyage, so the sessions reflecting back on that voyage will begin with, "Previously, in the Sapphire Sea..." One of the great benefits of such ritual phrases is that the GM doesn't have to be the one to speak them every time; the words begin to carry a power all their own once they've been used long enough. As a result, you can arrange for someone else to do the recap if it is useful/relevant/productive, by having them invoke the ritual phrase instead. Other useful ritual phrases for me are, "[I]Are you sure?[/I]"/"[I]Are you sure you want to do that?[/I]" (read: that sounds risky, you might want to reconsider your options), "[I]What do you do?[/I]" (classic PbtA gameplay loop), and for me, because I loved the first Myst novel as a child, "[I]What do you see, <name>?[/I]" [/QUOTE]
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