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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 2653904" data-attributes="member: 99">By way of credentials, I am a <s>"great GM"</s> "good GM".  How do I know this?  Because after one of my games at GenCon, Piratecat said, "Scott, you're a great GM."  And we all know that PC doesn't lie.  Even so, maybe he just caught me on a particularly good night and was being nice.  But I'm willing to call myself "good".There are different kinds of GMing.  The two kinds that come to mind for me are "GMing for a regular group" and "GMing one-shot games".  They demand slightly different skills but I think that what you learn from one can also help you with the other.GMing for a regular group is primarily about knowing your players and crafting a game that is fun for them and fun for you.  I pimp it all the time but Robin Laws' Robins Laws of Good Gamemastering was a huge turning point for me in terms of "taking my game to the next level" by consciously catering to the specific desires of the players.  I am constantly testing our theoretical "player types" to see if we've gotten them right.  This isn't always easy so I recommend trying to PLAY with your group whenever you can too.  When you're GMing you often have so much going on that it is hard to observe and process how the players are reacting individually to the game you're putting out there.  Hopefully the chance will be presented for somebody else to GM once in a while and you get a chance to watch how they engage with that GM.  Watch (and NOTE) the times when they are most "into" the game and also watch for the times they get bored.  And make sure that you keep these notes when it comes to yourself as well.Knowing what kind of player you are will tell you volumes about your own style as a GM.  I personally am a bit of a Tactician.  My games often have some aspect of tactical consideration that give (or could give) one side or the other a significant advantage in combat.  The PC's will need to take advantage of this benefit or try to minimize the benefit gained by the opposition if they want to be as successful as possible in the encounter.  This is fun for me.The trick is that it isn't always as fun for the players.  They like it to a point (or else they probably wouldn't want me as a GM) but it isn't their main "kick".  And I have to constantly remind myself to moderate my Tactician tendencies with plenty of stuff added for the other player types.  That's why it is so important to gain that level of understanding of your players and then give them what they are gaming for.As an example of what happens when you ignore that, we have a guy in our group who is a Power Gamer.  That's fine with me.  But he began GMing a campaign about a year or so ago and his GMing style had Power Gamer written all over it.  He gave us lots of magic items and XP bonuses.  If he was playing in his own campaign he would have been THRILLED.  But we were not Power Gamers and we were not thrilled.  He could not seem to adjust his GMing style to our play styles and the game eventually faltered.GMing for one-shot games for your regular group is pretty much the same.  You know who your players are and what they want.  So just do that but take it to the next level.  Don't be afraid to be "over the top" with it.But if your one-shot game is to be run at a Con or Game Day where you may not have met the players before (or if you have you're not as familiar with them as your regular group) then you don't have the advantage of familiarity with their preferred play style.  In these situations my advice is to aim for a "Roller Coaster Ride".  It should be fast.  It should be exciting.  It should have ups and downs.  It should be on tracks.I railroad in one-shot games in ways that I'd never dream of doing in a regular campaign.  You've got a limited amount of time.  You don't know how well some of the players are going to embrace the story or mechanics.  You gotta keep things moving.  Start things with a bang and keep them moving at a quick pace.  Explain the story through showing the PC's things rather than lengthy monologues once the game is going.  Don't leave a trail of breadcrumbs from one scene to the next; leave entire loaves of bread.  The PC's shouldn't struggle for more than a couple minutes before the next course of action is apparent.  And always end things with an exciting conclusion, even if you have to ditch a couple of planned encounters to do so.  Pull out all the stops and remember that no explosion is too big for the ending of a one-shot game.I strongly encourage all GM's to attend Game Days and Cons if they can.  Running one-shot games, if nothing else, gives you a chance to do something different, which can go a long way toward staving off GM burnout.  Or if you're currently a player in your regular group then they give you a chance to exercise your creative muscles (and control freak tendencies) during your "down time" as a GM.  And, as has been mentioned by others, PLAY with other GM's, especially those you know or suspect to be very good.  I'm a better GM today than I was a year ago thanks to playing in games run by people like Psion, Belen Umeria, Piratecat, Henry and Old One.  I learned a lot and had a fun time doing it.Whether it is a regular campaign or a one-shot, above all, know this:  No matter how hard you try, sometimes things will fall flatter than you like.  There is simply no way that you can guarantee a Great session every time.  These days I'd say that most of the time my weekly games are Good with an occasional Great and a rare Stinker.  Those are ratios that I can live with.</blockquote>

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