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<blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 7878570" data-attributes="member: 23240">My GMing style changed several times since I started 24 years ago.For the first few years I mostly ran CoC and WoD games. It was mostly about creating&nbsp; mood and taking the players through stories I created, with a lot of illusionism and other railroading techniques. Most of the time, I ignored rules because they got in my way. At some point, I realized that no matter which game we choose, I run it in the same way.Then I tried D&amp;D for the first time; 3e. I became fascinated with the number of options, with combos and tactical play. I started running games by the book, strictly according to the rules. I played in one campaign and ran another one, from level one to nearly epic. And it burned me hard. I needed to stop playing for several months and couldn't bring myself to return to any of the games I knew.What saved me as an RPGer was Forge forums and various indie games. I learned that a group can create a dramatic story together instead of the GM imposing it. That metagame thinking needs not be detrimental and some amount of it is necessary to ensure everybody's enjoyment. That rules can focus play on the important themes instead of getting in the way.It later transitioned smoothly into a fourth phase, when I moved towards more mainstream systems while keeping what I have learned from indies. I mainly run Fate currently, but also explore other games, from various PbtA to Mouse Guard to Pathfinder 2e. We discuss expectations, often customize games to fit our needs, but then keep to the rules we agreed on; we build stories together. I also put more effort in bringing new people into the hobby and playing different things with different people. I started a gaming group at my workplace and started playing with my daughter.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="steenan, post: 7878570, member: 23240"] My GMing style changed several times since I started 24 years ago. For the first few years I mostly ran CoC and WoD games. It was mostly about creating mood and taking the players through stories I created, with a lot of illusionism and other railroading techniques. Most of the time, I ignored rules because they got in my way. At some point, I realized that no matter which game we choose, I run it in the same way. Then I tried D&D for the first time; 3e. I became fascinated with the number of options, with combos and tactical play. I started running games by the book, strictly according to the rules. I played in one campaign and ran another one, from level one to nearly epic. And it burned me hard. I needed to stop playing for several months and couldn't bring myself to return to any of the games I knew. What saved me as an RPGer was Forge forums and various indie games. I learned that a group can create a dramatic story together instead of the GM imposing it. That metagame thinking needs not be detrimental and some amount of it is necessary to ensure everybody's enjoyment. That rules can focus play on the important themes instead of getting in the way. It later transitioned smoothly into a fourth phase, when I moved towards more mainstream systems while keeping what I have learned from indies. I mainly run Fate currently, but also explore other games, from various PbtA to Mouse Guard to Pathfinder 2e. We discuss expectations, often customize games to fit our needs, but then keep to the rules we agreed on; we build stories together. I also put more effort in bringing new people into the hobby and playing different things with different people. I started a gaming group at my workplace and started playing with my daughter. [/QUOTE]

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