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Is the DM the most important person at the table
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7926828" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>A separate post that's maybe more on-topic:</p><p></p><p>If someone asked me <em>what's hard about GMing</em> that might make it harder than playing, even playing well, I would say <em>juggling the fiction</em>.</p><p></p><p>There are probably 3 or 4 aspects of that (categorising this stuff will always be a bit arbitrary):</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">* Keeping track of stuff (ie elements of the fiction, whether established or incipient) available and/or necessary to frame scenes;</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Keeping track of stuff available for consequences (if none of this is salient to the players, they won't feel much pressure and play might be a bit listless or "draggy");</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Keeping track of stuff actually introduced as consequences;</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* When there are multiple things going on (eg group (a) is on the bridge of their starship while group (b) explores the abandoned space station), moving back and forth across players to try and keep everyone involved, which requires keeping track of and preferably interweaving parallel unfolding situations.</p><p></p><p>After juggling the fiction, the other thing that I personally find sometimes challenges me as a GM is fitting what is going on into the mechanics. This isn't hard as the above, though, because the players can be recruited to help with it - even if it's just pointing to a skill or similar entry on their PC sheet that makes sense as a starting point for resolution.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7926828, member: 42582"] A separate post that's maybe more on-topic: If someone asked me [I]what's hard about GMing[/I] that might make it harder than playing, even playing well, I would say [I]juggling the fiction[/I]. There are probably 3 or 4 aspects of that (categorising this stuff will always be a bit arbitrary): [INDENT]* Keeping track of stuff (ie elements of the fiction, whether established or incipient) available and/or necessary to frame scenes;[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]* Keeping track of stuff available for consequences (if none of this is salient to the players, they won't feel much pressure and play might be a bit listless or "draggy");[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]* Keeping track of stuff actually introduced as consequences;[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]* When there are multiple things going on (eg group (a) is on the bridge of their starship while group (b) explores the abandoned space station), moving back and forth across players to try and keep everyone involved, which requires keeping track of and preferably interweaving parallel unfolding situations.[/INDENT] After juggling the fiction, the other thing that I personally find sometimes challenges me as a GM is fitting what is going on into the mechanics. This isn't hard as the above, though, because the players can be recruited to help with it - even if it's just pointing to a skill or similar entry on their PC sheet that makes sense as a starting point for resolution. [/QUOTE]
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