What is the GM's Job?

[Lanefan]

Just thought of another rather significant aspect of the GM's job that nobody has really hit yet: to reliably show up for her own games.

A game can almost always sail if a player no-shows, but it can never sail if the GM no-shows.

I've been lucky in that I've always had reliable GMs who give lots of warning if a session is going to sink due to their own unavailability; and I try to do likewise myself. I've known others who weren't so lucky.....

 

[Aenghus]

Lots of good responses in the thread so far. I certainly don't agree with everything said, but I don't expect to.

Some of my thoughts:

• A GM needs to enjoy the game as well as the players
• The GM and players need to constantly win each other's trust. The GM needs to set a good example.
• Run the game for the players you actually have, not the players you would like to have
• Learn the range of risk-taking your players will appreciate to inform the level of risk in your game.
• Lower PC casualty rates and a stable player base allows more personal plots to be run. Some players want personal plots
• Tone deaf GMs scare a bunch of new players from the hobby. Talk to your players, try and find out what they want from the game first.

Sometimes GM and players want different games. Compromise may work, or it might be time for a different GM or different players. Sometimes a GM can play in a gamestyle they can't run well.

 

[MNblockhead]

Just thought of another rather significant aspect of the GM's job that nobody has really hit yet: to reliably show up for her own games.

A game can almost always sail if a player no-shows, but it can never sail if the GM no-shows.

I've been lucky in that I've always had reliable GMs who give lots of warning if a session is going to sink due to their own unavailability; and I try to do likewise myself. I've known others who weren't so lucky.....

The games I run are at my own home, so that's not an issue.

Now, be up and awake by the time the first player arrives after cramming most of the night for the 8-hour session...well, that's a challenge.

 

[Blackmoor_Film]

Do you think it's the job of the GM to make interesting things happen to your character, because that's a protagonist? Or are orcs no more likely to raid your own castle, than they are to target the identical castle nearby?

One of my major pet peeves (as a player) is a GM who treats the party like they are the protagonists of a novel, and try to contrive interesting things to happen to them for the sake of plot. It really damages my immersion in this other persona, when it feels like the whole world is just a narrative construct.

eh, it's all elf games, I want lots of action and fun.