By Andrew McLaren Roleplaying is a group activity. One cannot enjoy roleplaying alone. Sometimes the GM’s job is made more complicated by conflict that takes place within the group, when arguments and fighting takes place between characters and players. Consider the following situation to get an idea of what I mean: Having defeated the evil [...]
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Managing Player Expectations
In the GM Mastery Yahoo! group, Randal recently asked, “How do you deal with player expectations? And more importantly, how do you prevent the game from failing as a result of not meeting those expectations?” Some great discussion ensued that included numerous points of views and GMing styles. I thought you might find snippets of [...]
GM Interview: Frank Bartlett
This week we hear from Frank Bartlett, who GMs for his wife and two daughters. I love the idea of the whole family gaming together! Well done, Frank. Please introduce yourself Do you have a blog, website or campaign wiki? No, while I use my PC to create my campaigns, my group prefers old school [...]
GM Interview: Alexander
What kind of GM does a quantum physicist and a French existentialist artist produce? Let’s find out. Meet Alexander D. Fagaly, aka Hourglass. Please introduce yourself: Do you have a blog, website or campaign wiki? My website consists of my gaming group and a few other friends. We post various alternative rules, campaign concepts and [...]
A Trick For Easier In-Game Communication
From Joseph Rapoport Johnn, In regards to creating simple communications in games, I play in two campaigns and DM one in which we have all arrived at the same solution for communication. The solution is an item, a small hollow metal tube, which acts like a Message spell. The item comes in two forms: An [...]
When You Need To Cast In Secret
From Morgan Joeck One thing that bothered me when I first started gaming was identifying the spell I was casting when those around me would not have known what it was. My solution to that was to print out colorful fractals or other designs on index cards and fold them into little envelopes containing the [...]
Three Ways To Game With Casual Players
From Mark of the Pixie Johnn, I agree with your epiphany that we should play more. One way I am looking at to help facilitate this (as work, children, and other responsibilities reduce our time) is the logistics of how we play. Most of my games are fortnightly three hour face-to-face table top sessions in [...]
Contest: What do you want in a GM questionnaire?
by Silveressa Player questionnaires, we’ve all seen them in various incarnations, used by many a GM to gauge a prospective players’ gaming style, plot interests and overall experience, yet no such tool exists for the GM. What sorts of questions would be ideal to ask a prospective GM, be it about their gaming style, campaign [...]