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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6926620" data-attributes="member: 6696971">[MENTION=51843]Eilathen[/MENTION] , what you need to master to be a successful 4e GM is really just the following:1)&nbsp; With your players, identify what they (through their characters) care about.&nbsp; This is the action.2)&nbsp; Go directly to the action.&nbsp; Always.&nbsp; Relentlessly.&nbsp; Every single scene starts with the action and ends with its resolution.&nbsp; The fallout from that spawns the follow-on action scene.On and on, that simple feedback loop drives play.And what pemerton has written above is one of the more technical aspects of GMing that is central to running a successful 4e game.&nbsp; The PCs are heroes.&nbsp; When things go bad for heroes, it isn't because they have been revealed to be buffoons.&nbsp; It is because the stakes have been raised or something external to their locus of control has put a monkey wrench in the machinery of their plans.&nbsp; Failure should mean new, interesting decision-points.&nbsp; Decision-points that express how the tide has turned against the heroes and threatens to sweep them away if they don't reverse it.&nbsp; Both success and failure need to change the situation, but failure needs to bring about a level of dynamism and urgency that throttles up the action and reveals the ominous portent of looming disaster (should failure become manifest).I would say that mastering this skill in noncombat conflict resolution (The Skill Challenge) is the most difficult (and evasive) aspect of being a successful 4e GM.&nbsp; Put your back into it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6926620, member: 6696971"] [MENTION=51843]Eilathen[/MENTION] , what you need to master to be a successful 4e GM is really just the following: 1) With your players, identify what they (through their characters) care about. This is [B][I][U]the action[/U][/I][/B]. 2) Go directly to [U][I][B]the action[/B][/I][/U]. Always. Relentlessly. Every single scene starts with the action and ends with its resolution. The fallout from that spawns the follow-on action scene. On and on, that simple feedback loop drives play. And what pemerton has written above is one of the more technical aspects of GMing that is central to running a successful 4e game. The PCs are heroes. When things go bad for heroes, it isn't because they have been revealed to be buffoons. It is because the stakes have been raised or something external to their locus of control has put a monkey wrench in the machinery of their plans. Failure should mean new, interesting decision-points. Decision-points that express how the tide has turned against the heroes and threatens to sweep them away if they don't reverse it. Both success and failure need to change the situation, but failure needs to bring about a level of dynamism and urgency that throttles up the action and reveals the ominous portent of looming disaster (should failure become manifest). I would say that mastering this skill in noncombat conflict resolution (The Skill Challenge) is the most difficult (and evasive) aspect of being a successful 4e GM. Put your back into it. [/QUOTE]

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