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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 8493734" data-attributes="member: 6669384">Once upon a time I wrote a Superhero game.  Never published, but it was a local hit.In that booklet I included a section on running a game,  Let's see what I can recall from memory.Rule 1:  Shut up!  You know more about the adventure/module you're about to run than the players do.  Keep it that way.  Avoid the temptation to chortle or gloat about the fiendish things you have in store for them.  Let them find out when it happens.Rule 2:  Make sure you actually do know more about the adventure/module you're about to run than they do.  No matter how good you are, don't ever try to run a game cold.  Read through the notes or module, bring yourself up to date on the rules and opponents (i.e. "Monsters") they're about to face.  Think through specific scenes and tactics, and make notes.  Even if you came up with the original, making fresh notes helps lock the scenes into your head.Rule 3:  Speak clearly, and speak to the players.  If you're working from a module, notes, or even from the rule book, pick it up so you can see over it, and speak to the players while meeting their eyes.  Your voice will carry much better than if you're looking down and talking to a piece of paper.Rule 4:  Listen.  Keep track of whose action it is, and don't let the more soft-spoken players get drowned out by the more energetic ones.Rule 5:  Keep things moving.  Know the rules well enough that you can make quick and consistent decisions when needed.  Nothing kills a game faster than a Game Master who has to stop and dig through the book to figure out how to do something.Rule 6:  Keep things moving.  If the players seem to be lost in indecision or bogged down in argument, then do what you have to to get things moving again.  One option, if it's indecision, is to reiterate what they know, in character,spell out the obvious choices, and organize a vote.  In other bogged down moments, start on your left (or right or wherever) and ask each player what their character is doing.  Demand answers, not more arguments. Make them make a decision.Rule 7:  (This one wasn't part of my original "10 Commandments")  Try to tell a good story.  It's a beautiful thing when the Game Master can conspire with the rules to create a good story, but try not to let the rules get in the way of that story.  If the adventure, when complete, wouldn't write up as a good story, you probably did something wrong.Rule 8:  Be fair to the players.  Think about what you're about to do to them.  If you were a player and a Game Master did that to you, would it feel like a cheap shot, an abuse?  If it would, then don't do it to them. Find another solution.Rule 9:  Be fair to yourself.   Don't ever let anyone talk, bully or badger you into a decision or ruling that you know is wrong.  It doesn't matter how many rules they can quote (or misquote, as is far more often the case), if the result is unbalancing, if it gives unfair advantage to someone, say no.  Say it loud and clear and repeat it as often as necessary.  Yours is the greatest power in all of role-playing:  The power to say "No", and make it stick.Rule 10:  Above all, be fair.  It might seem like your big-bad is going down too fast.  Avoid the temptation to prop him/her/it up.  If the players sense that you're fudging dice rolls or hit points, they'll start doing the same, and that starts the long slow slide into chaos.  In the same spirit, keep an eye out for players who always seem to be too lucky.  Don't let them fudge things on you either.As a general rule, remember that players like to roll dice.  It gives them a sense of control, even though the dice actually represent the absolute lack of control.  But let them make their own rolls when possible.  Success or failure, in their hands.If you're at a common table, which is getting more and more rare these days, make sure everyone's dice rolls are on the table, where everyone can see.  I have one of those baseball-sized D20s I use for my rolls.  Even on camera, my dice rolls are visible to everyone.  At a game table I might pass that around.  Who holds that dice has initiative, and they make their rolls with it.  When theri action is done it gets passed to the next player in line, in Initiative order.  Fair, and seen to be fair.</blockquote>

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