Run an RPG

Table-top role playing games can be some of the most fun you've ever had, whether or not you're a 'hardcore geek'. Or, on the other hand, they can be incredible wastes of hours of your life. It all depends on a few things... Mainly, the people you're playing with. And none of those can have more of an impact on the game than the one that's running things. So this is a general guide to running RPGs, for the first-timer or experienced GM (Game Master) alike.

Steps

  1. Most RPGs on the market will provide you with a section on how to run it... Follow their advice. These guidelines are just additional things, tricks they often don't mention. I'll be glossing over the basic principles that every RPG's GM section always includes, on the assumption that you'll read them there.
  2. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Even if you're using a pre-made adventure, make sure you've pre-read the story, and know where things are in the reference material. If you're running something you made yourself, get EVERYTHING in one place. Sketch out maps, visual aids, relationship or plot diagrams. Double-check to make sure all the major stuff exists; you can flesh out side characters, other areas, and such during play. Or, my personal favorite, flying by the seat of your pants. Make sure you have an idea of general direction for both the session and adventure, or at very least a general theme. No plan survives first contact with the players. Not intact, at least. No matter how you're running, read and re-read the rules of the basic system. Make cheat-sheets for combat, types of actions, movement... Whatever is going to come into play frequently. Keep things organized.
  3. As well as the preparation of the game itself, you'll usually be expected as GM to provide the venue. Have a table, enough chairs, and good light on hand. Ask players to bring what snacks and drinks they want, and to help clean up afterwards. Have lots of pencils and erasers on hand, scratch paper and spare character sheets. A CD player or laptop with mp3s can be handy, occasionally... But you won't use it as often as you might think. If your group leans towards using visualizations, try to have some miniatures or tokens on hand to represent characters and foes, and some assorted items for walls, doors, tables and the like.
  4. When players first arrive, start getting early arrivals into the game with discussions of character background, what they want out of the game, and what they think of current/past plot lines. If this is the first session, character creation will have to happen. Try to get everyone doing this at once, as the discussion this prompts will get personalities jump-started and keep people interested. Once everyone's there and ready, start the game as promptly as possible. Don't let people start wandering right off hand. Open sessions at a high pace, if you can, capturing interest right off hand, and getting people into character.
  5. Starting campaigns is hard. Going from creating a character straight to playing them is always going to be a little rough, and it's your job as a GM to keep things running until people settle into their character personas. There are many ways to start a game. Try to avoid the cliches of taverns and mysterious strangers. Don't tell people out-of-hand that their characters already knew each other, unless it was something already discussed in character concept. Better to have most, if not all, first meeting happen during play. It helps define the relationships realistically, and gives a much more interesting time. A good tactic is often to start with each character separated; more work for you, but more rewarding in the end. Over the course of one, maybe two sessions, let them all run into each other. They might even be pitted against each other initially, or working together, but hostile; don't force friendships. Things will develop.
  6. If you're indecisive and overly loose in your GMing, your players might start feeling adrift, and pointless, without a plot to follow. 'Sandbox' worlds, where they have to find their own stories, can work, but it takes a very rare set of players. Most will just get frustrated and bored. On the other hand, being overly controlling, forcing your players' actions and reactions, will make your players feel railroaded. You can use these feelings for short stretches of games, if they have a valid in-game reason to exist, like a manipulative superior showing up as the villain, but they have to be something that can be stopped. Players will get incredibly frustrated when they can't make their own decisions, and get apathetic and angry, because they're no longer involved in the story.
  7. Now you've got those basics, here's the weirder suggestions from my time spent behind the GM's screen. Take these with a grain of salt. Some were culled from various games, some are just my own invention.
  8. Never tell a player 'no'. This is, basically, improv theatre with dice. A 'no' is a destructive answer, and it interrupts the game's flow. Here are the alternatives:
    • If it's something you have no problem with them doing, something you feel would be good for the story, just say 'yes'. If this gives one player an advantage, make sure you play fair, though, to avoid feelings of favoritism.
    • If it's something you're not sure of, that you like, but seems unlikely, tell them 'yes, but'. Qualify it. Tell them it'll take special effort, or they'll only succeed partially, or they can't manage that, but something similar...
    • If you think it'll unbalance the game, hurt everyone's experience, and make things less fun, tell them 'you can try'. And let them try. They can even roll dice. And they might manage to do something. But at the same time, don't be afraid to tell them in that case that they failed.
  9. If someone proposes an action that will dis-rail or bypass your planned story, ask yourself these questions: Can I make another story with this? Will it be fun? Will it be more fun than the planned story? Can I pull it off? Will the other players enjoy it? If you answer yes to these questions, then let them do it. If you can get the players to drive the story, it's that much less work for you. Just get a step or two ahead of them by the end to give them a twist or two and a good reward, and let them run with it.
  10. Change things. Avoid altering core mechanics, but major NPCs, points of setting, details of how things work, and politics and machinations should be fair game. The world should be able to surprise the players, avoiding the jaded feeling games can acquire when everyone's read the rulebook and setting, and knows everything. Keep your own notes so your alterations are self-consistent, and don't reveal these to players. Tell each one the information that their character would know. Have fun with this; tell some outright falsehoods that would arise from cultural misunderstandings, and lots of colorings of the truth. Let their information disagree.
  11. Above all, have fun. Cultivate your accents and acting skills. Practice your evil chuckle. Be a friend to the players, and cruel fate to their characters. Collaborate with individual players on events centering on their characters, from abduction or major alterations to family issues. Do this for everyone, at one point or another. Each story can get everyone involved, make the featured player feel special, and develop the campaign as a whole, all at once.

Tips

  • Those little packs of multi-colored sticky-tape 'flags' are your best friend. Find them at office supply stores, and use them to mark up your copy of the game book. Bestiaries, character creation, magic rules, combat rules, anything you end up referencing frequently should be marked. Ending rules debates or questions fast is paramount to a smooth game.
  • Watch your players. If they start making dice-stacks and staring at the ceiling, throw a plot twist or some action at them. If they become emotionally invested in something, avoid the temptation to mess with it too soon or too frequently. If you yank players around by such things too often, they'll stop forming new attachments, since it just stops being worth it.
  • Keep leveling up. Go through areas with lots of enemies that are not too hard and not too easy in order to get stronger.
  • One of the most important things for a DM is the ability to think on your feet. Things will happen that you'd never expect. The players may kill the person they were supposed to get the vital information from, or they may end up going to the only section of town that you haven't detailed yet. Make it up as you go along, just be sure to jot down notes so you can incorporate them into the story later.
  • Keep a bunch of index cards on hand. Put things on them. Lists of personality types and distinctive traits/appearances for giving random NPCs some individuality. Types of treasure, items or collections for dungeons, basements, or just museums. Lists of injury types, for a more realistic post-battle description. No more the 'injured arm' ad infinitum. Punctured lung, cracked rib and a spiral fracture in the right forearm, anyone? Even things like era-appropriate foods, lists of colors and clothing or armor types, and other ordinary things can add a lot of immersive things, and keep you from coming up blank or repeating yourself when inventing scenes or people on the fly.

Warnings

  • Try to avoid making your players paranoid. It sounds good in theory, but it gets irksome to everyone really quickly. Don't trap everything, don't make every offer have a hidden catch. Mixing honest luck and inoffensive areas with horrible danger and treachery can make for a more immersive, more interesting experience.
  • Don't spend too much time playing. RPGs can be very addictive. Go for a jog. Read a book. Heck, learn to fence, then you can be like an RPG character in real life!

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