Inspired by the Stephen R. Covey’s seminal books.
After 25 years of GMing, you learn a few lessons about GMing. Some are easier to learn than others.
Here’s a list of what I’ve observed in good GMs and what I strive to develop. It’s in no particular order.
- Being Enthusiastic: A great GM exudes loves for the game you to play in. He relishes in your successes and convinces you not to quit when things are grim.
- Being Empathic: A great GM is directly connected to the emotional energy of the table. She actively looks out for the emotional states of each player (Boredom, Excitement, Frustration, Irritation, etc) and can use that knowledge to keep the fun level high.
- Being Open Minded: A great GM is willing to throw any part of his preparation out the window if something more fun comes up in the game, especially if this comes from the players.
- Being Humble: A great GM is perfectly willing to admit she made a mistake or misinterpreted something. She’ll be willing to compromise to bring the game state to the best possible outcome once the issue is resolved.
- Showing Leadership: A great GM will bring players together and give everyone (including him) all the necessary tools to have fun. He’ll wear the mantle of authority with fairness and concern for the fun of all.
- Being Organized: A Great GM will make sure that her material is arranged to suit her natural style and flow. She won’t lose precious time looking for things and break the game’s pacing.
- Being Self Aware: A great GM will know his strengths and limits during prepping and at the table. He’ll focus on his strengths and make efforts to push back his limits in order to outdo himself as a GM.
You want to share any more? Please do, I sure can afford to learn more.
I’ve got an eighth for you:
Being Well-Read: A good GM has a grasp of the genre. He is familiar with the common themes of the genre and able to employ (or subvert) them to good effect. A great GM has a good grasp of a range of literature and other sources outside of the genre, and incorporates elements of them into his game world.
It’s the best advice I ever got about being a writer: If you want to write well, you need to read. A lot. And not just the great books, but the contemporary works in your genre, and a selection of works in other genres too. It grounds you. (And reading a book that makes you think “I can write better than that” is a great confidence/motivation booster.)
It applies equally well to GMing and storytelling. Looking at other worlds is practice for building your own.
Ninetails last blog post..Heroic Effort
Good article. It reminds me of a similar post I wrote in June, titled Seven Habits of a Successful Dungeon Master. It seems that D&D and business have much alike!
Jonathan Drains last blog post..Politics invades Dungeons & Dragons
Well, what I was going to suggest follows under the lines of “Being open-minded”, in that you shouldn’t be dictating a story that you force your players to act out, but rather take into account the quirks and unexpectancies, and play off them when appropriate. The few times that I have DM’ed, the game has always come out different than how I had intended for it to be – I give myself only a vague outline of what needs to be done so that I’m not surprised or thrown off when characters do something off the wall. I make sure that my plans work if they’re done out of order (and of course, having an alternate outcome appropriate).
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Handling criticism is something that I think a good DM needs to be able to do. I’ve seen too many people who try to DM and can’t handle it when the players try to offer suggestions on how to improve the game. They get angry and defensive instead.
Other than that, you definitely hit the necessary DM strengths. 🙂
Be firm is one I’d probably add. I’ve seen to many DMs try to make everyone happy by allowing all kinds of crap into their sessions that don’t make any sense within the world. If there aren’t gnomes in your world, and someone wants to play them, be firm when you tell them you can’t. However, also be prepared to find out why they want to play a gnome and help them find an alternative.
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@Ninetails: Good one. You are preaching to the choir here!
@Jonathan: Yeah, I recall reading it (Heck, I commented on it first) but I had forgotten about it… good thing I didn’t repeat each of your points Verboten! Good synergies both posts.
@Tenach: Agreed, we are GMs, not novelists!
@Tony: I’m actually working on a post about giving GMs honest feedback without making them go on nuclear defensive.
@Tomcat: i was initially going to diagree with you but I realised that being firm is not being inflexible… just consistent. So yeah I agree.
Expect to see your suggestions as ‘Seven more Habits of the Great GM’
Perhaps this is too basic, but a Great GM is creative. As part of being well read as mentioned in the comments above, a Great GM brings new and exciting ideas to the game of his own making (or at least remixing) Whether this is in NPC, items, encounters, scenery, there is something in what a Great GM offers that is new and different. This is one quality that really makes the difference between a good GM and a great one for me.
Having said that, I think it would go at the very bottom of the list. A creative but unorganized and inflexible GM is worse than a bland but organized and flexible GM
How about…
Being Consistent: a great GM remembers most, if not all, of what he previously told his players. This includes crunch (house rules, quick on-the-fly rulings, …) as well as fluff (NPCs names and mannerisms, events in the world, …)
This follows somewhat in the wake of Being Organized.
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@Chatty: Thanks for seeing what I meant, versus what I sort of said. 😉
Something else I think DMs should do is not be afraid to say no to running something they think will unbalance the game. I’ve seen far to many DMs try to make players happy by letting them run a class or race that they aren’t really capable of handling. So, I guess knowing your limits would be a good addition. Personally, I’d rather have a DM say “no” than to let something in that can kill the fun for the whole group.
Has anyone here ever experienced the GM that would rather be a player in the world he created. I’ve played one campaign with a GM that would bore the group with intricate details about his world, and report every minor event EVER ocurred. While this in itself doesn’t necessary mean that he would rather be a player, the fact that he had an NPC with us, the whole campaign, did. This NPC would always be right, become the heroic focus of the story, be capable of everything, and be on some kind of (way too deep) emo-trip; causing the GM to monologue his trauma’s to us to ad nauseam.
What I’m trying to say is:a GM should be involved with, but not in love with his own creations.
I always think of what I was told in infantry officer training: To be a good leader, you also have to be a good follower. In other words, if one knows what it’s like to be a player, it’s easier to be a DM. Likewise, a good player is one who’s been a DM.
Also, a good GM is willing and able to give up control. The story belongs to everyone, not the GM. I’ve always found that thinking of a GM as being a “first mover” keeps me in the right head-space.
My usual problem when I GM is that the quieter people at the table get lost in the shuffle. I love my story. I love seeing what my players will do with my story. Laying a plot twist out there and watching people’s head spin as they try to figure out every angle (and give you a ton of ideas at the same time) is so great. So, when we’re (almost) all telling the story, and (almost) everyone is into it, if there’s a problem, I sometimes miss it. Which is a real bummer for the person that was left out. I know in theory that I should pull back a bit, to not miss it, but then I feel like my story won’t be as engaging, because I’m not allowing myself to be as “into it” as I could, so that I don’t lose players…
Make sense? (Definately not a “Great GM Habit”, more the opposite, but I think it still fits here…)
I’m taking a page out of Martin Ralya’s book and I’m not going to write about being a bad GM. Good GMs are known to be overly critical of their weaknesses.
I say identify those weaknesses, accept them and be willing to get better.
As for truly bad GMs, the best service you can give them is to stop playing in their game while at least trying to explain why you are quitting. Focus on what you didn’t like about the game, don’t veer into detailing what you didn’t like about the GM.
I just recently left early from a gaming session run by a GM who broke all your habits. After my character died in a completely avoidable, completely overpowered battle he refused to let me start a new character and told me to go home.
I have been smarting from it ever since – if you break all 7 habits at once and chuck in a touch of arrogance the result begins to look a lot like bullying.
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That is one shitty DM Flash. Ugh! This…. this is why I do this on the blog
We need more empathic, flexible DMs. We don’t care if you are good at Improv, tropes or know your players well yet…
Just make sure others have fun damnit!