RolePlay onLine RPoL Logo

, welcome to Community Chat

08:59, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Any tips for a new GM?

Posted by mightyjake
mightyjake
member, 2 posts
Tue 16 Sep 2014
at 21:27
  • msg #1

Any tips for a new GM?

I have just made my own game using a world of my creation.

This motion was mostly spurred by being involved with many games that fail to be active enough for my liking.

As a new GM, I obviously have very little idea of what I am doing, so I post this in the hopes that some senior GMs might be able to lend their help and point me in the right direction in terms of setting up a fun and approachable game!
Jayde
member, 6 posts
Tue 16 Sep 2014
at 22:16
  • msg #2

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

My own experience as a GM, and mind you it's been a few years, would be to consider a Co-GM, or a Moderator if you will. I find that some games don't always last, or start to lose interest because the GM's initial idea for a game can either be too much or too little depending on the scenario. Players are lost in both senses, and having a second GM/Moderator may help to curb this, as well as be that person to bounce ideas off too. If you do decide you want a Co-GM, be sure they understand where you want to go with your game, and is willing to take on the responsibility you want to give them.

Always good if you may not be around and need to deal with life or so too. Makes real life somewhat more managable. :)

I'm sure there are a lot of other things that make a good GM as well, but from my experience this is one of those big decisions that, should you find the right person, can keep a good game going for a very long time.
katisara
member, 5989 posts
Nazis. I'll Godwin
if I want to.
Tue 16 Sep 2014
at 22:18
  • msg #3

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Establish expectations from the getgo.

How often should people post, and what happens if they don't?
What's the game setting? What resources are you using? Can players request stuff not in those resources?

Then prepare yourself for the natural ebbs of PbP. September is probably the best time to kick off a game, but it gets slow in November and winter break time. Expect a 25%-30% drop out rate (with no warning) and prepare yourself for it.

As for actually running a game? Do your homework beforehand. PbP is slow, and it's easy to forget why you were so excited, or what you planned to do next. Write that stuff down. If you don't feel like posting that day, you can just hit your notes, draft something up and keep stuff moving.

Find out what your players want and give it to them. I can tell you what makes for a great game for me, but that's not the same stuff that makes it a great game for you. Advertise based on what you enjoy, make sure your players are on board with your vision, and then figure out how best to deliver it.

Once you figure out broadly what type of story you're telling, come back and ask for advice on how to storytell in that style.
mightyjake
member, 3 posts
Tue 16 Sep 2014
at 22:23
  • msg #4

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Neat. Both pieces of advice seem very relevant and should prove helpful (assuming I stick to them). I already have a clear idea of where/how the story starts and roughly what kind of path I want it to take. Of course, it shouldn't be exclusively up to me, I want my players to be able to add as much as they want into the story and I will try and encourage such a behaviour so that the game becomes a fabrication of more than one creative mind.
ashberg
member, 567 posts
Beware the Groove.
Groooooove.
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 00:43
  • msg #5

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Couple of precepts for being GM of your own, original setting:

- Clear and open communication.
- Set expectations of post rate, and notifications around absences. Both GM & players should put their hand up and let the team know if there are any expected.
- Treat your players like humans, despite the anonymity of the interwebs.
- Encourage. Help. Give them as many opportunities to provide feedback or as questions as possible.

As for GMing with the intent of having a game that is more active and stable than the other games you had joined as a player... well...

I found the best way to ensure I always had a player to work with, was to run the players in their own solo threads. This means if someone needs a break, the whole squad isn't adversely affected.

I offer players the chance to play a multiplayer thread from time to time, but I keep those scenes short and punchy. I also allow the players to contact the other players via IC means, like letters, emails or phone calls.

Running multiple solo threads has given me a vastly increased sense of enjoyment, achievement and interaction.
Azraile
member, 415 posts
AIM: Azraile
Dislexic
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 02:08
  • msg #6

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

don't try and put to much detail into the story your working on, if you put to much focus on it you will not like what happens when it falls appart on you and you have to wiggle around for a new way to work things out.....

#1 priority, working out the gaming world you are in.... If you have how everything works in the world you are in worked out you will do fine. You want to be able to answer ANY question and be able to tell how the world will react to ANY actions the players may take.... or not take.

The world is the foundation of your game and if it is sound and complete then it do not matter how much your game starts to fall apart you can pull it back together and start building it up again.

As for the story, my suggestion is to work out what you can and just make it into a rough draft in your mind and put down an outline on paper.... Yes, I said an outline. Back to middle/high school writing tactics.

Things WILL go off your story, players will never keep to your story unless you FORCE them and that is not a good thing, you never want to railroad something


Some Story Teller tricks I will pass on:

Have an NPC party member. This person can be used as a ST mechanism to balance a fight if things are not going the way you want and people might die, and if the story gets off track they can be used to push it back on track. This party member can change from time to time and they need not have one all the time, but it will help things out for you and if you make it so they have there own problems it will ether add more to the story or keep them from helping out to much. That way your not holding there hand to much and if you do for a bit, they earned it by helping some one out on a problem that had nothing to do with what they were doing.

Unless your in a game where resurrection is possible do not fall into the stereotype you hear of a GM trying to kill people. Unless this is what the players are looking for TRYING to kill people is never a good idea... Death brakes the story and leads to an imbalance of ability in the PCs.  You don't want to mess up the story with a player dyeing and the players don't want to hold the hand of a new weaker PC.

Now I say don't TRY and kill them.... but don't coddle them ether, if they do something incredibly stupid and it leads to there death well then that's there fult. However if it's just a cascade of crazy rolls, no one wants that to kill them.

Wich brings the point unless your DnD game has easily available resurrection you do not want to use save or die EVER. >.<  Even if you remove it completely the PCs will be happy to give up the affect's use to avoid seeing it used on them.
Evil Empryss
member, 1157 posts
Because knowing
is half the battle!
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 02:20
  • msg #7

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Start with a small group of players (4 at most) and make sure they have a reason to be together from the get-go so you aren't caught up with trying to find reasons for characters to play together.  You'll save yourself a ton of grief if you're not trying to keep a group of lone wolf characters on the same track or -- even worse -- having to run four separate games because everyone keeps running of on their own.
Azraile
member, 417 posts
AIM: Azraile
Dislexic
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 02:44
  • msg #8

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Thats a good point, as a new GM having some hook to keep people together rather they like it or not is a tinny bit rail road but long as you can fit it into the story it's a good way to go to make things easier on you.

Try and stay away from chalices though like being 'the chosen ones', they can be fated to do something but don't make it that you are chosen by the gods thing lol

I did something like it in a wraith game though but my twist was they all had a death mark (something to do with there plasmatic body, often a mark or discoloration, that don't ever go away that appears when they die or use a ghostly power a lot) but they all had a death mark that had something to do with time or infinity on them some where,  and the last time death marks like that were seen the world almost ended. Then here there are a group of people that all died around the same time and all have the (running out of...) 'time' death mark on them.

A good way common in WoD is a ritual that binds the group together and gives them stat boosts when they are all together.  GREAT method to encourage people to stick together there, everyone loves buffs. That and formally forming a team in a ritual is kinda encourages them to stick together in itself.

Like the wraith, aside from sharing a fate, you can make them share something that sets them apart from the rest of the populous.... that way they are only fully accepted by each other.  Like in the mortal=>hunter game I am running the PCs see the world as it truly is, the rest of humanity would not believe a word they said or at worse my commit them for being insane if they tried to explain whats going on. They are on the run from the law at times, and when it comes down to it the only people they can turn to is each other. Heck right now the cop is on the run from the law... though they don't know who it is they are chasing, so he still will have a job if he gets away. lol
icosahedron152
member, 351 posts
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 08:30
  • msg #9

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Firstly, I would say that being the GM does not guarantee an active game, though it can help. Players post when they are available and when they can think of something to say - regardless of who's 'in charge'.

The only advantage to being the GM is that you can scene-change to move the action forward, but if you do that too often, players lose track and the game falls apart.

Note that EVERYTHING leads toward the game falling apart - that's the natural state, and only extreme effort will prevent a game from gravitating toward its natural state.

As Asraile said, a GMPC within the party is a good idea, it can be a useful tool for making suggestions when the players haven't picked up on that utterly obvious clue you left them, but do not, under any circumstances, make your GMPC the 'leader' or even a 'respected member' of the team, otherwise the players will do nothing, always looking to the 'leader' to make decisions, and you'll end up with effectively a solo game and it'll fall apart.

Players do not pick up obvious clues. They do not pick up very obvious clues. They may occasionally pick up utterly obvious clues, but often the only clues they will recognize are the ones you beat them over the head with. If players don't pick up clues, the game stagnates and falls apart.

Quite often, players have a very blinkered view of the game. All that matters to them is what their own character is doing or saying. You can find that PC 1 will state his intention to sneak past the orcs, PC 2 will, three hours later, state his intention to challenge the orcs to combat, and two days later PC 3 will log in and state his intention to cast an illusion that the PCs are a party of uruks. None of them will have any regard for the others' posts, none of them will make any attempt to negotiate an agreed tactic, either IC or OOC, and it's your job to try to sort out what's actually happening... before the game falls apart.

Good luck with your GMing. :)
Azraile
member, 418 posts
AIM: Azraile
Dislexic
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 09:28
  • msg #10

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Running a GMPC is generaly a bad idea.... but having a PC that goes along for the ride here and there works ok.

They shouldn't be a steady char, or one who's interest coincide with the PCs enough that they would go out of there way to help them.

Just some one that got wrapped up in the same mess as the PCs for a little bit and when what ever is done they will leave, unless the PCs can find some reason for them to stay.

I have found them being knowledgeable in one area works rather well because they have reason to turn to the PC but not reason to be defendant on them. They have some knowladge that may help out fethering the story, but when it comes what they should do with that knowledge there no help.

There main reason for existence is to point the way back to the path if the players get lost, or jump in to save the day if things go WAY WAY WAY wrong.  And if they do have to jump in to save the day.... you can kill them off. ^.^





One of the other uses for NPC party members right there, giving a sense of heavy mortality with out killing a PC. Even if they char has next to no skills and is near worthless if he's around a lot the players can become attached enough for them to fell bad when the NPC dies.

A prime example was in a game I was in, the char was a 100% mortal taxi cab driver... only big advantage with him was we got a good roll on hailing down a cab and he had REALLY good driving skills.... but that was it.... he was just REALY good at driving and nothing else. But my char had a ridiculous amount of money so he gave him like a thousand dollar tip for getting them out of that situation. He said if your always going to tip like that then call me first, and shocking to him and the GM I asked him for his cell phone number lol..... he was then the parties transport from then on, we didn't tip him THAT much unless we where getting shot at or he got chased by the cops for braking traffic laws but we was paying him so well he would kick his fairs out and drive recklessly to get to us ASAP.  Well midnight carnival showed up in town and we asked for a ride to check it out, when we left him alone he desided to see what was going on too and we got to see him die horably on the fairies wheel.  Needless to say everyone was quite upset about this. We ended up putting most of our money together to make sure his family was taken care of.
bigbadron
moderator, 14676 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 10:20

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

quote:
Running a GMPC is generaly a bad idea....

I disagree.  Having a GMPC with the group can actually be a pretty good idea.

Especially if he is really there to make things harder for them.

Like a fighter who is a member of the group, except that, when it comes to the crunch, he turns out to have been bribed by the opposition to betray his "companions".  This works better if you don't let the players know that he's a GMPC.  The players keep handing good combat gear to Bob the Fighter, because he's going to get the best use out of it, only to have him use it against them when the time comes for him to reveal his true agenda.
Azraile
member, 419 posts
AIM: Azraile
Dislexic
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 11:08
  • msg #12

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Generally though GMPC's can lead to some OOC problems at times, best to stick to NPCs rather than playing a char with them and stuff...

Unless our terms for them are just mixed up...

From all the uses i've had GMPC is a char the GM has with char sheet, exp, all the same stuff, that is just a part of the party and played no differently than a PC.

While NPCs may have sheets and exp and the like but there no 'lead chars' so to say, while a GMPC is a lead char with the other PCs.

Besides if you want to have a char turn on the party you can get a PC to do it.
icosahedron152
member, 352 posts
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 12:46
  • msg #13

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

It's probably a label thing.
My worlds are full of developed characters rather than cardboard cut outs. The GMPCs are characters that are fully fleshed out with a character sheet, background, plot-purpose, etc. The GM is playing this part as a character in its own right, even if it only has a cameo role. The sponsor of the expedition, the arch enemy, the friendly knight who travels with you for a few days and whose wife you help to rescue (and whom you might meet again), the assassin who is secretly stalking you after you killed his brother; these are GMPCs. Kill them and you'll feel the GM's wrath. (Maybe that assassin's brother was a GMPC...)

For me, a NPC is a lesser character, a cardboard cut out with no character sheet, and very limited background. A store-keeper, the local blacksmith, the landlord's daughter. They are subject to collateral damage; you might get some bad karma for killing them, but that's all. But you might not know which are which.

Redshirts are another type of NPC to have with the party to soak up damage, but if an obvious redshirt suddenly starts having opinions, it must be the GM talking, whereas a GMPC could simply be expressing an opinion in character.
Gaffer
member, 1159 posts
Ocoee FL
40 yrs of RPGs
Wed 17 Sep 2014
at 13:00
  • msg #14

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Keep it moving, right from the start.

Get player selection and character generation and such done quickly. I've been a player in a lot of games that died before the first scene because the GM let a couple of slowpokes bring things to a crashing halt during the preliminaries. If you have four players and one can't seem to get her/his character generated, start with the others. The last player can always catch up.

Let your players know that you WILL puppet their characters if they fail to post within a reasonable time. This might be a week during narrative scenes or it might be a day during combat. Also, require that they notify you when they anticipate being offline for more than a day or so OR if they decide to leave the game. Do the same for them, the disappearing GM is a bad trick.

If it's a system with a lot of grit in the combat rules (or spell casting rules or whatever), try to streamline the process. PbP moves slowly enough as it is. Taking a week to play a round of combat may be inevitable, but taking a month will strain the patience of many players, especially if they're not active in the round/fight. Let the players know how you intend to do this before game play begins.

Don't be the person slowing things down. I find it helps to know what I intend a scene to accomplish before it begins. Try to have any descriptive bits written out ahead of time so that, if RL slams you, you can cut'n'paste rather than having to create your next post from scratch. This includes descriptions and even dialogue for NPCs.

Keep the others moving forward in the story when a player drops out. NPC the character while you recruit. Hiatus = death in many cases. To that end, try to recruit at least 50% more players than you feel you need to run the story. Extra hands and voices don't really slow anything down and they help when the cast dwindles.

Finally, make a good game for whoever sticks with it. I ran one game that started with nine players. At the climax, there were two who hadn't run afoul of RL or simply vanished. I NPC'd those who fell by the wayside until I could give a graceful exit or tragic demise. The two who finished up really appreciated the trip and have played with me several more times.
ashberg
member, 569 posts
Beware the Groove.
Groooooove.
Thu 18 Sep 2014
at 01:04
  • msg #15

Re: Any tips for a new GM?

Gaffer:
Finally, make a good game for whoever sticks with it. I ran one game that started with nine players. At the climax, there were two who hadn't run afoul of RL or simply vanished. I NPC'd those who fell by the wayside until I could give a graceful exit or tragic demise. The two who finished up really appreciated the trip and have played with me several more times.


I have to potently agree with this point.

Over time I have played/GM'd a few games, and found there are a handful of people who are reliably consistent and enthusiastic. Finding the right people on RPOL that you *click* with will inevitably pay off in the long run.

But this will take time, so keep it in the back of your mind.

--

Also - don't mix people with post rates of < 3 per week with those who can post much more regularly. You'll find "over-posters" scaring away "under-posters", thus ruining your game. This comes back to clearly setting expectations.
Sign In