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<blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 7767339" data-attributes="member: 158">Strong advice, and one of the worst habits I broke when I was younger. There's nothing wrong with a simple plot, when your players expect and want it (some nights are different than others), but I had multiple instances where the plot was dependent on the PCs being captured, or the PCs taking the MacGuffin to a specific person, or the PCs acting a certain way (&quot;well, of COURSE they'll surrender to the town guards...&quot;). PCs will not only do the WRONG thing invariably, they'll RESENT it if you Deus ex Machina the &quot;correct&quot; result for your plot.Similarly, I'd advise be aware of the reasons each of your players play. This falls into an old book now, but still fantastic read: <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/" target="_blank">http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/</a> Robin's Laws of Good Gamer Mastering -- be observant to the activities that give your group of players their &quot;emotional kick&quot;. Some people love acquiring new skills and tricks and powers for their PCs; some love solving complicated problems or traps; some love pure roleplay moments; some love multiple things. Learn over time to deliver a small spotlight of each to each player for their specific thing, and in my experience you'll have them camping out on your doorstep for the next session. ;-) More seriously, you can't go wrong finding those emotional drives and learning to incorporate them - but it does take time, and learning more about your players as you go.Largest piece of advice here though:&quot;You have permission to suck.&quot;Matthew Mercer sucked as a GM, once upon a time. Chris Perkins sucked as a GM, once upon a time.* They kept running the game, and learning.*Kevin Kulp, also known as [MENTION=2]Piratecat[/MENTION] , never sucked as a GM. He was Born in GMing Perfection from the Womb, and Blessed Upon the World that We may Know the Template to Judge All GMs by.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Henry, post: 7767339, member: 158"] Strong advice, and one of the worst habits I broke when I was younger. There's nothing wrong with a simple plot, when your players expect and want it (some nights are different than others), but I had multiple instances where the plot was dependent on the PCs being captured, or the PCs taking the MacGuffin to a specific person, or the PCs acting a certain way ([i]"well, of COURSE they'll surrender to the town guards..."[/i]). PCs will not only do the WRONG thing invariably, they'll RESENT it if you Deus ex Machina the "correct" result for your plot. Similarly, I'd advise be aware of the reasons each of your players play. This falls into an old book now, but still fantastic read: [url]http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/[/url] Robin's Laws of Good Gamer Mastering -- be observant to the activities that give your group of players their "emotional kick". Some people love acquiring new skills and tricks and powers for their PCs; some love solving complicated problems or traps; some love pure roleplay moments; some love multiple things. Learn over time to deliver a small spotlight of each to each player for their specific thing, and in my experience you'll have them camping out on your doorstep for the next session. ;-) More seriously, you can't go wrong finding those emotional drives and learning to incorporate them - but it does take time, and learning more about your players as you go. Largest piece of advice here though: "You have permission to suck." Matthew Mercer sucked as a GM, once upon a time. Chris Perkins sucked as a GM, once upon a time.* They kept running the game, and learning. [i]*Kevin Kulp, also known as [MENTION=2]Piratecat[/MENTION] , never sucked as a GM. He was Born in GMing Perfection from the Womb, and Blessed Upon the World that We may Know the Template to Judge All GMs by.[/i] [/QUOTE]

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