Does the GM Need To Know the Rules?

[Animus]

Does the GM need to be the resident rules expert? Is it okay for someone else to be the expert, and the GM just have a good knowledge of the rules? Or is even the rules beyond knowing the basics (like what dice to roll) necessary to run a good game? Discuss.

 

[Stormonu]

Needs to know enough to run the game, and fast enough on his feet to wing the rest. An expert, no. Competant, yes.

 

[Tallifer]

The dungeon master should know the rules enough to run a simple combat, and it is preferable that he be an expert.

But the most important quality of a dungeon master is an ability to tell a story (or create an environment for the players' own stories). From this quality proceeds his authority which he can use to adjudicate difficult situations. All the rules in the world will not help him subdue mutiny if he has no storyteller's authority, no mastery of the dungeon.

 

[pemerton]

It depends a lot on the system.

In 4e, the GM does not need to know the character build rules very well, and does not need to know the details of particular character build elements - feats, items, powers - at all.

But in 4e the GM does need to know the combat rules and the skill rules well. Otherwise encounters won't run very smoothly, and run the risk of not being very interesting - given that interesting encounters in 4e are precisely those that engage the action resolution rules ways in exciting and/or unexpected ways.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

The GM needs to know the rules enough to:

* run encounters
* approve characters and various resources that they actually want in the game for story or mechanics reasons
* keep an eye on new players to make sure they're doing to right thing
* Teach the other players if no one knows the rules
*have the last say in rules disputes, even if it's only to postpone them to a later date.

You don't have to be the expert, but it helps.

 

[Piratecat]

I ran Call of Cthulhu for three years before I ever opened a rule book. Hell, I still have never read the CoC rules other than skimming them. It's a testament to BRP's relative simplicity and elegance that I picked up everything I needed from having played the game first.

A more tactical game is different, though. It helps in D&D to know what you don't know, if you know what I mean, and to know how to find the answer (or make up a fair and consistent solution.)

 

[shadzar]

The GM needs to know the rules, but there is nothing really the players need to know outside what the GM tells them, otherwise they start to worry too much about the rules and not enough about playing the game.

The GM will be the one afterall that has to fix strange rules that do not work for the players.

 

[Dice4Hire]

The Dm/Gm/Bottom-dweller/whatever needs to be competant in the level of rules the game requires. For most D&D gmaes, the DM needs to know a lot. Apparently with CoC , the DM does not need to know a lot. (based on the post above)

The ydo nto need to be an expert, but a thorough knowledge is best.

 

[Almacov]

It really depends on the whole group composition and what kind of game they want to take part in.

The last 4e session I ran was one I could have run without knowing the system.
There was essentially no combat, and about the only dice cast were d20s.
All the DCs were whipped up on the fly.
It worked out well, especially given that pretty much all of my session-specific prep work assumed it was probably going to be a combat-heavy one.

Had a different set of players managed to make it that day, it probably would have been.

As it is, the party accomplished a great deal in the game world, and very little happened that required real mechanical support. That was in part the nature of what the group chose to do in-game, and in part how I chose to run it.

In short, no. A GM can get by just knowing basic RPG concepts, in the right setting.
He or she does have to pick up a lot of the game's slack though.

 

[pemerton]

I ran Call of Cthulhu for three years before I ever opened a rule book. Hell, I still have never read the CoC rules other than skimming them. It's a testament to BRP's relative simplicity and elegance that I picked up everything I needed from having played the game first.

A more tactical game is different, though.

In this respect, not that many games can rival CoC. Even Runequest requiers someone at the table to know the combat rules (though that need not be the GM).

I'm not sure I'd capture the difference as being one in respect of "tactics", though. I think it would be pretty hard to GM HeroQuest without knowing the rules, but HeroQuest isn't a tactical game. But it is one in which every conflict is mediated via the rules, and in many conflicts the GM will be the antagonist to the PC(s), and hence will have to apply the rules.