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Research: What Makes a GM Great?
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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 7617836" data-attributes="member: 32740"><p>I'd break it down into four often inter-related aspects:</p><p></p><p>1. Good communication. Poor or complete lack of communication is 90+% of the issues people have in D&D. The DM doesn't say what they want or expect. Players don't either and can't GUESS accurately at the DM's positions. Whether it's game rules or behavior at the table, communication is unquestionably the first mark of a good GM. You can then also extend that to skill at communicating description - of people, places, events, objects, actions. This is a VERBAL game no matter how many minis and props and so forth you might have. It is verbal interactivity between players and GM's that the game revolves around.</p><p></p><p>2. Imagination. Beyond just describing everything, a great GM needs to invent a huge amount of people, places, events, objects, and actions. These may be featured once and then never again, or constantly throughout every game session. And even if you get most-to-all of your game content commercially you're still only going to have the more basic and obvious features imagined for you. A great GM needs to fill in all the blanks, the cracks, and most of the details of what IS already provided.</p><p></p><p>3. Improvisation. No matter how much you have in the form of printed adventure or your own notes on adventures you create from scratch, you'll need to create more on the fly. You can imagine all the details you like but you'll ALWAYS find yourself in situations where you have to invent more. And sometimes you'll have to re-write and ad-lib entirely new adventures and not just pieces of them, because players will choose to do things and focus on things you never anticipated. You then need skill to invent and redirect.</p><p></p><p>4. Self-sacrifice. One part of GMing is preparation and world-creation and it would be hoped that a GM enjoys that part of the position. But it's never a process meant JUST for the GM's own enjoyment. Creating and preparing a game is at best only half - the other half (the half that really matters) is when the PLAYERS enjoy it. The GM has to get a large part of THEIR OWN enjoyment from the fact that the PLAYERS get enjoyment from what the GM provides. So, the players enjoyment sensibly takes a certain precedence over the GM's personal enjoyment at any given point. The GM may really dislike creating and writing out stat blocks, but when the actual game proceeds smoother because the GM doesn't have to keep looking up information in books, and therefore the players get more enjoyment out of the game - it is the players enjoyment that provides the payoff to the GM, not the tedium of the stat blocks. Sometimes being a GM can be tedious, un-fun, and hard work - but a great GM sacrifices enjoyment of THAT part of the position for the PAYOFF of seeing the players benefit from that. It's deferred gratification and vicarious entertainment as much as it is anything else.</p><p></p><p>There is a reason why there are vastly fewer players as a rule who are willing and able to take the position of GM. It is the mark of the great GM to appreciate that even if not all parts of the job are fun or satisfying, it is worth the cost to them for the parts that ARE fun and satisfying. It is also therefore the mark of a great player who appreciates the sacrifices that EVERY worthwhile GM must make for the sake of that players entertainment. And it is the GM who most has to deal with your #*@% as players. When players are jerks, self-centered, unappreciative, or can't get along with each other, the GM gets gypped of the payoff for their efforts. So, yes, the great GM exhibits a significant amount of self-sacrifice.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 7617836, member: 32740"] I'd break it down into four often inter-related aspects: 1. Good communication. Poor or complete lack of communication is 90+% of the issues people have in D&D. The DM doesn't say what they want or expect. Players don't either and can't GUESS accurately at the DM's positions. Whether it's game rules or behavior at the table, communication is unquestionably the first mark of a good GM. You can then also extend that to skill at communicating description - of people, places, events, objects, actions. This is a VERBAL game no matter how many minis and props and so forth you might have. It is verbal interactivity between players and GM's that the game revolves around. 2. Imagination. Beyond just describing everything, a great GM needs to invent a huge amount of people, places, events, objects, and actions. These may be featured once and then never again, or constantly throughout every game session. And even if you get most-to-all of your game content commercially you're still only going to have the more basic and obvious features imagined for you. A great GM needs to fill in all the blanks, the cracks, and most of the details of what IS already provided. 3. Improvisation. No matter how much you have in the form of printed adventure or your own notes on adventures you create from scratch, you'll need to create more on the fly. You can imagine all the details you like but you'll ALWAYS find yourself in situations where you have to invent more. And sometimes you'll have to re-write and ad-lib entirely new adventures and not just pieces of them, because players will choose to do things and focus on things you never anticipated. You then need skill to invent and redirect. 4. Self-sacrifice. One part of GMing is preparation and world-creation and it would be hoped that a GM enjoys that part of the position. But it's never a process meant JUST for the GM's own enjoyment. Creating and preparing a game is at best only half - the other half (the half that really matters) is when the PLAYERS enjoy it. The GM has to get a large part of THEIR OWN enjoyment from the fact that the PLAYERS get enjoyment from what the GM provides. So, the players enjoyment sensibly takes a certain precedence over the GM's personal enjoyment at any given point. The GM may really dislike creating and writing out stat blocks, but when the actual game proceeds smoother because the GM doesn't have to keep looking up information in books, and therefore the players get more enjoyment out of the game - it is the players enjoyment that provides the payoff to the GM, not the tedium of the stat blocks. Sometimes being a GM can be tedious, un-fun, and hard work - but a great GM sacrifices enjoyment of THAT part of the position for the PAYOFF of seeing the players benefit from that. It's deferred gratification and vicarious entertainment as much as it is anything else. There is a reason why there are vastly fewer players as a rule who are willing and able to take the position of GM. It is the mark of the great GM to appreciate that even if not all parts of the job are fun or satisfying, it is worth the cost to them for the parts that ARE fun and satisfying. It is also therefore the mark of a great player who appreciates the sacrifices that EVERY worthwhile GM must make for the sake of that players entertainment. And it is the GM who most has to deal with your #*@% as players. When players are jerks, self-centered, unappreciative, or can't get along with each other, the GM gets gypped of the payoff for their efforts. So, yes, the great GM exhibits a significant amount of self-sacrifice. [/QUOTE]
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