GMs: What lessons have you learned from playing/other GMs?

Wik

First Post
For those of you who mostly run games, it's always fun to get on the other side of the table. And, what I've always noticed is just how much I LEARN while playing, simply by watching the GM run his game. Sometimes, it's things not to do, and other times, it's simply "hey, that's a neat way of handling that!".

So, spill your guts. What secrets have you learned by watching?

***

When I watched my friend S. run a game, at first I really enjoyed how he had set the game up - give us a loose goal, and let us get there our own way. Unfortunately, once he began to get comfortable as a GM (it was his first time), he got lazy... and then the game dissolved. He would throw bigger and badder beasties at us, almost as if he were trying to "win". And he wound up being a huge fan of GMNPCs - at one point, he was running an entire adventuring party that was three levels higher than us in level. We watched these NPCs, and the GM, roll dice at each other. And when we came to a fight against some really big ogres that killed all of those GMNPCs in the first three rounds, we were surprised when the GM was mocking us for trying to run. WE decided "to hell with it" and charged in, knowing full well we'd die - we hated the game that much.

Anyways, he taught me to always put in the time for a game, and to watch the reactions of my players more. I remember many times being in his game thinking "geez, if he'd only look up and see we're bored stiff". Which made me realize I should be watching my players more, not getting buried in notes.

***

A poster at ENWorld (I forget his screen name... blargney should know it) ran a short-lived Eberron game about a year ago. It was pretty fun, and it seemed to mesh seemlessly. I didn't know until the end that we had actually gone through three Dragon adventures - everything blurred together so well that I thought we were in one ongoing plotline.

While he had other talents, that was the one that stuck out for me. I really try to emulate that in my games now, linking adventures together by common threads. I actually did that fairly well in an Eberron campaign I ran a while back - and it worked wonders. Something I still need to work on, though.

***

A friend R., who is usually a player in my games, but also GMs using his own rules system for another group, is a pretty fun GM. He's definately "fast and loose" in style, which encourages the players to get creative. One of the few times I was playing in his system, I had a sword and board fighter, in a fight with a skeleton.

More or less, I had one skeleton up against a wall, pinning him there with my shield, while two skeletons were behind me. I had also been disarmed. The problem was, if I moved the shield, the skeleton would get away, but if I didn't move soon, the two skeletons behind me would get me.

My character wound up ripping off the pinned skeleton's skull and hucking it at one of the other skeletons. The GM had no rules for this, but was totally willing to wing it (and the next action of mine, where I threw my shield Captain America-style to take out the last skeleton). The event stands out in my head, because it reminded me of an easy-to-forget rule: if the rules are hard to remember, just make it up.

I also taught me that it's fun for a player to do cool, unexpected stuff, and if the rules really get in the way of that, they're not good. Now, when my players want to do something particularly cool/movie-like, they still have to roll dice - but I tend to give them a bit of an edge, so that it's likely that cool stunt of theirs will work.

***

I'm sure there are more, but I'll stop here. You get the general point.
 

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I can't really pinpoint any particular event or game I witnessed.

I can repeat, however, a few of the basic principles of DMing that I've learned from others, through observation or otherwise:

1/ The rules are your servant, not your master. Rules hamper fun? Trust your ruling. Throw the rules out the window. Literally.

2/ Trust yourself. Your knowledge is definitely NOT universal wisdom, but it caters to your group specifically. You best know what to do with your own group of players. Make sure your rulings are inspired by fairness rather than bitterness. From there, you can make sure everybody enjoys the game. That's why you're here.

3/ Good role-playing, descriptions, and ambiance go a long way towards creating a mood at the game table everyone wants to be part of. Be compelling rather than exclusive. Versatile rather than rigid. Welcoming rather than exclusive. You are the host. Act as the person animating the evening. Think of DMing as such.

I'll add more later, maybe.
 

One more, important:

4/ Unlearn gaming stereotypes. If you think in terms of "munchkins", "powergamers", "drama-queens", and God knows what else, this does NOT serve your skill at DMing, EVER. If you are thinking in such terms, you must unlearn what you have learned, in Yoda's terms. Really.
 

I'll tell you one I picked up from YouTube, it's how Nick Logue first mechanically works out what happens, and then re-tells it in an animated style. I have been trying to do more of this myself, I feel it really adds to the overall enjoyment of the game (at least for me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MWwPi3py4

I am nowhere near as good as he is at it, but I'm working on it.
 

I had a GM with a cool idea once. I don't remember his reason, I think he said that he was really busy, but the result was that each session was held at a different venue. We didn't realize until halfway through that this was to make us feel more in the game. For example, when we were investigating secret ruins, we would meet up in a room underground at his school. When we were in a forest, we went over to his partner's house which had lots of house plants. One time we were on an airship, so we held it on the balcony of his apartment, but it turned out there wasn't enough space, and twice we had to run down the stairs to collect a blown away character sheet.

In my game now I try and do the same thing in my house. Dark and spooky places, I close the blinds and even all of the doors, and make the only light on in the house the gaming room. In outdoors venues, I'll open the glass doors (weather permitting) and try to get houseplants. I have a few paintings as well, which I use to decorate the area; the darker browner ones for underground, green ones for forests, ones of lots of people for urban adventures... (To be honest, a lot of this deals with my pre-game boredom. I usually make sure I have an hour or so before the game to prepare, but after like fifteen minutes I'm just sitting and waiting.)
 

Festivus said:
I'll tell you one I picked up from YouTube, it's how Nick Logue first mechanically works out what happens, and then re-tells it in an animated style. I have been trying to do more of this myself, I feel it really adds to the overall enjoyment of the game (at least for me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MWwPi3py4

I am nowhere near as good as he is at it, but I'm working on it.

Why are you not? (i.e. what makes you think you're not as good as Nick is?)
 

djdaidouji said:
I had a GM with a cool idea once. I don't remember his reason, I think he said that he was really busy, but the result was that each session was held at a different venue. We didn't realize until halfway through that this was to make us feel more in the game. For example, when we were investigating secret ruins, we would meet up in a room underground at his school. When we were in a forest, we went over to his partner's house which had lots of house plants. One time we were on an airship, so we held it on the balcony of his apartment, but it turned out there wasn't enough space, and twice we had to run down the stairs to collect a blown away character sheet.

In my game now I try and do the same thing in my house. Dark and spooky places, I close the blinds and even all of the doors, and make the only light on in the house the gaming room. In outdoors venues, I'll open the glass doors (weather permitting) and try to get houseplants. I have a few paintings as well, which I use to decorate the area; the darker browner ones for underground, green ones for forests, ones of lots of people for urban adventures... (To be honest, a lot of this deals with my pre-game boredom. I usually make sure I have an hour or so before the game to prepare, but after like fifteen minutes I'm just sitting and waiting.)

Yeah, that's a really cool idea. I've done similar things with Cthulu games (the whole "light candles, draw blinds" trick), but I never thought of changing the venue each time. That's actually really cool.
 

Things I've learned to avoid:

1. Coming in with a big ego as if I own the place. I've been in the presence of a few of these kind of guys and I really didn't enjoy being looked down upon as a player.

2. Be prepared and keep all NPCs stated up before playing. I've seen guys pull crap out of their butt just so their NPC doesn't die or so they can thwart your creative thinking. If a PC casts a spell that is going to mess up my plans, my NPC won't magically have the perfect counter spell or scroll to thwart the PC unless it's on his NPC sheet.

3. Not having a real adventure ready for the players. I've played in a game where the DM kept running dull situation after dull situation that didn't benefit anything. I think I spent 5 hours of game time being told that my character is training in town, practicing & learning his powers, eating in the mess hall, & walking around town meeting neighbors. It was extremely boring & pointless. I don't think he had any kind of solid plot line for me and he expected me to explore the town and create some kind of scenario myself.


Things I learned to incorporate:

1. Describe action. Players seem to get a kick out of being told in detail about what an attack looked like other than that "you hit".

2. Describe sounds & smells rather than just visuals. I try to do this more when describing an environment.

3. Root for the PCs. I make sure that I come across as just one of the guys and that I'm rooting for their PCs (while still showing that I'm not afraid to beat on their PCs). When I've seen DMs like this, they really make the players feel like their PCs are cool. It makes it more fun to play with a guy that makes you feel like you have a cool PC rather than just you thinking your PC is cool.
 


As a GM playing in a game the single most important thing you can learn is to be the player. Too many times I have watched GM's who can't let go of the reigns so another can take teh helm. I've seen GM's as players who are rules mechanics and adjudicating master minds. they end up slowing the game and depending on their skill and knowledge of the rules they can really hurt the game or bring up pointless arguments. To learn anything you must lower the veil of control and be willing to see just how another GM's style works without trying to dint their efforts.

Most of my gaming is done online, so its hard to be animated. I find that creating interesting NPC's, good use of language and vocabulary, solid descriptions and embellishing on battle descriptions helps me. i also try to incorporate story elements like cliffhangers and flashbacks. Generally I try to assume certain themes for my games also, moreso with NWoD games though sometimes with Dnd as well.
 
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