Gamemasters are the beating heart of an RPG home game. Their hard work creates the adventures player characters play through and the world their characters experience. If you’re a GM you are constantly honing your skills. Here are d6 basic ways to help you improve as a GM or start for the first time.
As you consider these ideas, think of tabletop RPG home games as a three legged tripod. You have creativity and story telling, rule design and adjudication, and the social interaction with your players that all combine to make up actual RPG game play. If you deeply understand and apply these first three concepts, you will have the basics to understand GMing. The last three concepts are needed to be a competent GM and build on the first three ideas.
As you consider these ideas, think of tabletop RPG home games as a three legged tripod. You have creativity and story telling, rule design and adjudication, and the social interaction with your players that all combine to make up actual RPG game play. If you deeply understand and apply these first three concepts, you will have the basics to understand GMing. The last three concepts are needed to be a competent GM and build on the first three ideas.
- Read Books: A foundation for running RPGs, reading fiction lays the groundwork for world building, NPC creation, and adventure ideas. Read everything not just fantasy, science fiction, or horror. Non-fiction too. A book on architecture may hone your map making skills. A murder mystery may inspire your next adventure when the king is assassinated. You want to steep yourself in the underpinnings of the hobby: Tolkien, Lovecraft, Burroughs, Vance, Heinlein, Howard, Asimov and more. Don’t neglect the newest works either though: Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, Neil Gaiman, Chine Melville, Jim Butcher etc. I also enjoy J. A. Jance’s modern crime thriller series starring Sheriff Joanna Brady. If you are at a loss, choose a Hugo or Nebula award winner or a Pulitzer Prize winning book to read.
- Read RPGs: If fiction builds your appreciation of world and NPC building, then reading RPGs will hone your knowledge of rule design, game play, and GMing. Read more RPGs than you play and you will be exposed to a variety of new ideas, new ways to run games, and even new ways to think about running game. I may never run certain RPGs but my understanding of my favorite RPGs are greatly broadened by reading the rules for other systems.
- Play as a Player: If you want to understand your players, what hosting a game looks like, and the nuances that go into GMing then play a few games as a player. The easiest way to understand a player’s mindset and goals is to be one yourself. Just remember to leave your GMing hat behind and put all your effort into helping the GM and other players create an engaging game session. Remember how you felt as a player and keep those feelings, thoughts, and goals in mind the next time your GM.
- Know your RPG: You read a lot. You play every once in a while as a player. To take your game to the next level, also delve deeply into the actual RPG you are running right now. Take time to reread rules, especially those sections that trip you up. Delve into the lore of the RPG and seek to deeply understand the tone and themes of the game. Immerse yourself in your RPG of choice.
- Know Your PCs and Your Campaign: Take the time to understand the characters your players are running, not just the game stats but who they are, where they have been, and where they are going. Try to memorize the names of each player’s character and use those character names in game. Review your previous adventures in the campaign. Update NPCs who survived previous encounters, update visited locations, move the timeline forward, and figure out what scheming villains have accomplished since last session. Remember what your players enjoyed in previous adventures and build on those experiences while at the same time introducing one or two new concepts and experiences.
- Know Your Adventure: Whether you write your own or use a published adventure, you need to organize your adventure. You need to carefully read a published adventure and turn the information into your own adventure notes. Try to configure encounters to one page including map and rule information like stats and defined terms. Write quick reminders on how certain rules work. If you can’t remember what the blinded condition in D&D 5E does and you need it for fighting a medusa, write needed details in your adventure notes. Keep a random list of NPC names and leave space for information you don’t want to forget after you actually run an adventure or as a place to count down hit points. Monster and NPC stat blocks usually leave out critical information like what class features and feat do, spell descriptions, special weapon and gear abilities, and more. Decide what you need to know to run the creature and record the information in your adventure notes.
Still, no experience at playing any recent games as a result. I miss being a player on occasion but I always preferred to run the game. Given the limits on my time (until I retire) I will continue to rack up time DMing...
