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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 5257990" data-attributes="member: 99">I wouldn't say, as a general rule, that a specific pace on an ongoing basis is important.  I would say, as a general rule, that exerting control over the pace is an important skill for the GM to master.  One of the most important in fact.  It goes hand in hand with "reading the table" and "knowing the players".I typically stress "knowing the players" as the most important thing for GMs to master because it informs so much of your adventure design, rewards offered and also pacing.  But "reading the table" helps you when you're playing with unfamiliar players or when something you thought was going to work isn't or when the players focus more on an element that you thought was just going to be a throwaway.  Those are the times when you may need to exert control over whatever pacing you had intended to establish.My best advice for learning good pacing control is to run one-shot games*.  If you design a game with a beginning, a middle and and end, and you know that you must somehow visit all three or the game is going to feel like a bit of a flop, then it forces you to exert control over the pacing.  If you aren't planning on attending an event that requires a one-shot game then you can also run an ongoing campaign more episodically, making each session its own sort of one-shot, each linked to the next.  I think this, more than any other activity, helps you structure things so that they keep moving past the stuff that isn't important and focus on the things that are.*I'm a big believer that one-shot games, as both a player and GM, are one of the most underrated teaching tools in gaming.  They are, without a doubt, the source from which my biggest improvements as a GM have come.  I strongly encourage people to find an event to participate in where you have the opportunity to run and play games like this.</blockquote>

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