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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2653859" data-attributes="member: 1129">It's hard to improve your skills as a GM. People tend to fall into ruts of certain styles imagining that they're way is a glorious path to adventure salvation and that while other styles from other GMs may be good, that they'll be damned if they're going to change!Now I'm not saying I'm above that. I tend to have a certain feel about the game in terms of it's morality and good vs evil and that I'm not running a game of PvP.To become a better GM, one should be ready to admit that it sometimes takes a little money and a little help.1. Miniatures: You can argue with me all day till you're blue in the face, but the looks on players faces when they see a miniature that is a pretty good representation of the monster they're fighting, or of their own character, is worth some DM points. Having terrain and other bits are also great things and help players get a sense of where they're at and what their characters are doing. I'm not saying by any means that they're mandatory or that you can't be a good DM without them, but they are useful.2. Game Aids: Having little things like initiative cards to track initiative, or a white board numbered where you put the character's names when they roll, or some life point beads of different color to represent you're spells or index cards foled with the spell effects on them that you throw out when it's case, are all useful.3. Be Open: This is the hardest thign to do because it in essence means you have to admit that there may be something you're doing that is not meeting the group's expectations. If you're running a power game and everyone wants puzzles, you could be the best damn power game GM in the world and it won't matter. This could be a simple case of your style vs.  their style, in which case, it's time to step down.4. Be prepared: This doesn't necessarily have to be tons of notes and written encounters, but you should know what your group is capable of and plan for it. If you GM by the seat of your pants, you should have names, locations, and commonly used monsters written dwon so that you're not bit in the butt when it comes time to find out something or to do something.5. Start from the Core: I've seen players try to DM after only being players and at the same time, introduce dozens of variant game play concepts. For me, this gets back to the thing they tell an artists. don't show me you know how to take away Y and add Z until you get the basics down. Until you've run a few games from the core and know the rules from the basic stance, you shouldn't be adding and subtracting a lot of alternative rules and then expecting it all to run without issues.</blockquote>

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