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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2652380" data-attributes="member: 63">Are we asking how to be a good game master (which implies providing a reasonably entertaining experience to everyone), or being a great one (which requires a lot of practice and honing of skills)?Good GMing means knowing what you and your players want, and importantly, knowing what you don't want, and what the difference is. The basics of GMing are discussed all the time, because running a game is, indeed, difficult to master. However, a lot of people do it, and when people hit snags that trip up the game, it's easy to give advice on how to get the game moving again.What is hard, though, is going beyond good, going beyond just being a game you play with your friends to pass the time. What is hard is running a game that is entertaining, that weaves the players into a story that entertains them and touches them, making the game take on as much significance in the lives of you and your players as your favorite movies.I've played games that I think were better than Star Trek, than Lord of the Rings, than Star Wars -- but so far, they surpass only in the realm of drama and action. So far I have only rarely touched upon deeper meaning -- emotional, intellectual, or spiritual -- in my games. While not all players are interested in games with meaning, it is a challenge game masters may rise to: to run a game that is both action-packed and deeply affecting, both visceral and sublime.Of course, there is always the threat of taking ourselves too seriously. Few sins in game mastering are worse than railroading, and few types of railroading are worse than when a game master wants his players to learn or to feel something specific. Gaming is a group activity, communal storytelling, and at its best, a compelling game will be so because the game master gives it the potential to have meaning.It is the players themselves (the game master too) that make that meaning real.</blockquote>

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