Back to the Basics
The 6 B's of Effective Gamesmastering

by Matthew Glanfield

Every once in a while it is a good idea to step back and reassess the way we look at things. This is as true for Gamesmastering as it is for anything else. With all of the "new and innovative" ways of looking at how we GM, I have come to realize that we need to refresh ourselves with the basics on how we can be the best GM that we can be! I've come up with six B's that are what I would call the "basics" of GMing. They are:

1. Be Prepared
2. Be Flexible
3. Be Fun
4. Be Dramatic
5. Be Merciful
6. Be Trustworthy

1. Be Prepared

The first "B" is to Be Prepared. While it is true that some of the roleplaying sessions that are the most fun are the ones that have things happen that were unexpected and unplanned, order is still needed to help everybody to have as much fun as possible.

Now there is a fine line between being well-prepared and being over-prepared. You will have to find that line yourself, but there are ways to ensure that you find that balance.

Prepare a skeletal outline of what you would like to happen in the story. This should give a good general feel on what the storyline is intended to be. Places should be given some detail (maps, NPCs, etc.), and events and encounters should be pre-planned.

Be careful not to make too much detail that could be frustrated by player decisions (I'll go more into this in the next "B" - Be Flexible). An example would be the following: You have planned a wonderfully intricate murder mystery for your players to go through. You have laid out all of the clues, whether in forms of physical objects (they find the murder weapon, the secret key, etc.) or tips given by NPCs. The outline is definitely quite detailed, but you are worried if the players will actually be able to figure everything out. What if they don't go into the parlor? What if they don't talk to Hank the Bartender? These are details that you can leave out of your initial design and adlib instead when you are playing.

So the preparation should be adequate enough to help you have a rich gaming experience, but not so detailed that you will have to "force" the players through it just so that you can walk through your awesome story.

A good rule of thumb is to spend about half-an-hour to an hour preparing for a three hour session. Any more than this shows that you have put a little too much detail into it (of course there are exceptions to this rule depending on how well you know your players). I usually end up taking one sheet of paper and writing in point form what is expected to happen. I write down all the NPCs that I know that the players are going to encounter and some of their stats, and maybe some items that are important. The rest I leave up to chance and the players to fill in the blanks!

So Be Prepared! Players can sense if you aren't prepared. The game will lose it's genuine feel if everything is done haphazard.

2. Be Flexible

Which leads us to the next point: Be Flexible. If there is one point that I want to stress in this article it is this one. As a GM you have to be the most flexible of all the players (because you are a player you know - see Be Fun below). This will allow for the best gaming experience for yourself and others.

I played a game once with a GM who had planned out a great adventure. He had all the details of exactly what he wanted to happen. Close to the beginning of the adventure my character wasn't cooperating with one of the NPCs that wanted to give us a job. I was roleplaying my character perfectly well and was trying to have some fun with the NPC. The GM, however, couldn't think of what to do as this stopped his "story" from continuing the way he had planned. My character was all of a sudden tranquilized and carried on with the rest of the group to the next part of the adventure! Needless to say that I wasn't having too much fun during all of that.

Players will often (if not always!) come up with ideas or take courses of action that you were not planning. This is most of the fun of roleplaying. Instead of hindering them from exploring the world around them, you should encourage it. Instead of saying "You can't go down into the sewers to get into the base because I didn't plan a layout of the sewers…" let them go down. Pretend that you know the layout of the sewers, or make some sort of "dead-end" that stops them from taking that course of action.

Whatever you do, don't make it appear that you are forcing the players through a specific course of actions. They won't have nearly as much fun as you think. Remember, this isn't a movie, where the director has full control over each of his actors and what they do. This is roleplaying, which can be just as fun (see Be Fun below) and just as dramatic (see Be Dramatic) as other genres of entertainment.

3. Be Fun

The third letter in RPG stands for Game. RPGs are no more than that: They are games. As a game, the intention is to have fun and to entertain. If you or the players aren't having fun, then you are missing the point.

How do you ensure that you have fun? Well, you need to Be Prepared and Be Flexible as already explained; But what you really need to do is loosen up and try to help everybody to have fun. Everybody is playing the game, including the GM. You are a player. You control every NPC in the world around the players. You actually have the most fun job out of everybody! Have fun with the NPC characters that you will be acting out. Change your voice to reflect the NPCs emotions and appearance (see Be Dramatic below).

If at any time in a session you aren't having fun, have a little break. Take fifteen minutes and take a walk outside or talk to the players while you try to get yourself in "the zone." I had one experience where I was having a roleplaying session. About halfway through I realized how incredibly bored I was and how I wasn't having any fun. Then I realized that it was the same for the players. The game had come to a halt because the atmosphere was just "blah." Instead of dragging it on just to get the adventure done I stopped it right where we were. We played again later where we had left off and we had a lot of fun!

So have fun for goodness sakes! That's what this is all about!

4. Be Dramatic

As a GM you have to be the best actor out of everybody. Each player is responsible for acting out one character. You have to act out everybody else. You have to sound as strong as the lumbering giant, or as weak and pathetic as the little goblin. You need to be as elegant as the town mayor or as rude as the town drunk.

You cannot accomplish this by saying: "The strong bartender gets angry at you and says 'Stop' with a loud voice." You must become the bartender. Get in the players' faces! Be loud! Be strong! This is when everybody will really have fun. You need to entertain your players with your voice and with your actions.

In my experiences I have found that the sessions where the players have the most fun is where I am the most animated. Don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Everybody will love the adventure that much more when they can feel the passion of the NPCs rather than just see them as a means to an end.

Let our RPG worlds come alive!

5. Be Merciful

The next "B" is Be Merciful. The players will usually invest a lot of time into creating their characters. The longer you play the more they will grow attached to their characters. The death of a character should be a sad and dramatic moment, not just a passing event.

As a GM you need to realize that this is not about you "winning" against the players. You shouldn't try to make a mission that will eliminate every character except one just to be dramatic (although every once in a while this can be fun). You need to remember that the real "villains" are those that you create, not you yourself.

On the other hand, there needs to be a sense of danger in the game. The players shouldn't feel like they can do anything because their GM will bail them out of any situation. Once again we have to worry about the fine balance between being merciful and being unrealistic. If the players walk up to a lever and read the sign written above it that says "Pull this for a fiery death" and then decide to pull it, well, they deserve to have just that (unless you had something else in mind if they pulled the lever, but that's besides the point!).

There are several ways that players could die. The most common could be in battle. Maybe one of the NPCs made a critical roll and did much more damage than he normally would, killing the PC that's twice his size and strength! At this point you can do one of two things: you can "fudge" the roll and pretend it didn't happen (I do this quite often). It's important that the players don't know that you have changed the rolls or the chance of the game will disappear. Or you can let the NPC do his critical hit and bring that big PC to his knees! Maybe you decide that it knocks the PC into a coma which will make him permanently lose Hitpoints or some other vital statistic. Or maybe the PC will die as he should. It is completely up to you. Just be merciful.

Avoid using the "cavalry-to-the-rescue" approach, where every time the players are in trouble you send in some allies to help them out. Players should be responsible for getting themselves out of situations. This will much more satisfying for everybody, including the players.

6. Be Trustworthy

The last of the B's is Be Trustworthy. While you are allowed to determine whatever you want with the game, make sure that your players can trust your decisions. Don't play favorites with any of the players, as this will make the others respect you and your decisions less. Treat everybody equally and try to let everybody have fun. This will be something that is very hard to do as there will always be the "loud-mouth" of the group that gets a lot of the attention.

Before making an important decision think to yourself: "Am I doing this in the player's / group's best interest? Or am I doing it to gratify some selfish desire?" Make every decision based on the B's already listed, especially Be Flexible and Be Merciful. The players should be able to trust that they will have a good time when you are the GM.

Conclusion

So go at it! Be all that you can be as a GM! And have fun while you're at it.

After all, it is just a game...

Matthew Glanfield
http://www.randomrpg.com