A Not-So-Simple Question...

[Syberdwarf2]

I know that there are various resources online, not to mention articles in magazines about this subject. However, I just wanted to know what my fellow Herophiles thought; both for my own curiousity and for the benefit of relative newbies...
So here it goes...

What makes a good GM?

[TheEmerged]

Patience, organization, preparation, and the ability to entertain people. Not necessarily in that order.

[Evil Steve]

The ability to understand what someone wants out of a game and how to give it to them.

Some skill with crowd control. The GM must be able to focus the players without antagonizing them.

Reason and logic, but mainly for rules desisions.

Adaptability, for when players go off on a tangent.

[The Mad GM]

Enough organization to plan things out and the flexibility to change plans on the fly.

Fairness

Not ego-centric: even though you are the focus of everyones attention, you are just the MC, the players are the main act.

A thorough knowledge of the rules, and decisiveness about questions that come up.

Being mad helps

[Mark Taylor]

Robin D. Laws summed it up for me when he said, "If you and your players are having fun, you are a good GM" in his book Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering.

IMO, it doesn't matter how a GM achieves that, as long as he does. For example a couple of responses here mentioned planning / preparation as a necessary quality for a good GM. In my case, it doesn't work too well - I have a talent for improvising the games I run, in fact I'm far better at improvising than I am at executing even the best laid plans, and my games have improved no end (ie. everybody is having a lot more fun a lot more of the time) since I dropped the planning. Now my campaigns are about 90% improvised - the only planning which goes into them are a few 'seed' ideas which form the basis of whole campaigns, and a few more I dream up before (and sometimes during) individual game sessions. This works exceptionally well for me and my group, but it might prove to be a flop for others.

It's a matter of what works for you - maybe a good GM is just a GM who uses the methods which happen to work best for him and his group of players, no matter what they are.

[Syberdwarf2]

I've never heard of that book, but I'll make it a point to look it up. Personally, the idea of improvisation makes sense to me. The best laid plans are almost always foiled by the players. Not that's a bad thing. I don't really have a problem improvising. In addition to gaming, I also enjoy writing short stories and acting. Both I would consider useful assets for GMs and gamers in general. In fact, I think both, at least in my case, are natural outgrowths of my gaming.

Improv is easy, but is a learned skill as well. Any writer will tell you that ideas are cheap. When I'm stuck, I usually brainstorm for a second, throwing no ideas away, and go with whatever I come up with. Regardless of what I think of it at the time.

[Tasha]

To be able to make each PC feel important in his or her own special way.

To be fair and to remember that the Villian's plans are SUPPOSED to fail. That the PCs will always do what you didn't expect and be stubborn about doing it their way.

To make engaging stories that both neither rely constantly on combat nor constant talking.

They remember that the PCs are for the PLAYERS to play. That if you are role-playing for them, they aren't having much fun.

That no one likes to be railroaded into doing something. So keep anything that doesn't involve the players short. No one likes to be the spectator to their own game.

Also remembering that the NPCs are the bit players in a game. It is OK for there to be Powerful NPCs, just don't have them save the PCs constantly or have them take the glory too often.

Flexability, Knowlege about the game world, Knowledge about the players, The ability to entertain, The ability to keep the Ego small, Knowing that really winning is letting the players to have fun. Not stressing out about the rules. Making comprimises to keep the game fun. Knowing how to deal with rules lawering.

It is all about having fun. That is why we game. If it wasn't fun, it wouldn't be much of a hobby.

Tasha

[Mark Taylor]

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2
I've never heard of that book, but I'll make it a point to look it up.

It's published by SJ Games. Robin Laws is the designer responsible for creating Feng Shui among others and has contributed to quite a few game systems. IMO he's an excellent writer and desginer.

http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/

Back when I used to plan games in a lot more detail, I couldn't help but notice that those sessions where I ended up being forced to improvise for one reason or another (because I hadn't had time to plan, or because the players had 'skipped the tracks') ended up being the best sessions I ran - hence my motivation for cutting out much of the planning stages completely.

It works for me. It also adresses some of the points Tasha made in her response. It's easy to respond to the players and avoid 'railroading' them into anything, because an improvised style of play takes a lot of it's cues from the players themselves, responding to the motivations of the players and their characters. The game becomes more 'player oriented'.

Improvising IS easy, the hard part is improvising rapidly and staying consitent and 'on the ball' as you do it. As you said though, it's a learned skill, and I have the advantage of 10 years of experience. For a novice GM, a little more planning than I tend to do is probably necessary, until they 'find their feet' and become more confident with the improvisation.

With a detailed game system like HERO or GURPS, generating NPC stats 'on the fly' without slowing down the game probably takes a good bit of practice and knowledge of the game system too. It'll be interesting to see how I go with this when I start running my first HERO campaign.

(I have mostly being running GURPS, I recently obtained HERO 5th Ed. mainly because it 'scales up' to high-powered campaingns better than GURPS, and I have a particular campaign in mind to use it for...)

[Tasha]

Originally posted by Realms of Chaos
It's published by SJ Games. Robin Laws is the designer responsible for creating Feng Shui among others and has contributed to quite a few game systems. IMO he's an excellent writer and desginer.

http://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/

Back when I used to plan games in a lot more detail, I couldn't help but notice that those sessions where I ended up being forced to improvise for one reason or another (because I hadn't had time to plan, or because the players had 'skipped the tracks') ended up being the best sessions I ran - hence my motivation for cutting out much of the planning stages completely.

It works for me. It also adresses some of the points Tasha made in her response. It's easy to respond to the players and avoid 'railroading' them into anything, because an improvised style of play takes a lot of it's cues from the players themselves, responding to the motivations of the players and their characters. The game becomes more 'player oriented'.

Improvising IS easy, the hard part is improvising rapidly and staying consitent and 'on the ball' as you do it. As you said though, it's a learned skill, and I have the advantage of 10 years of experience. For a novice GM, a little more planning than I tend to do is probably necessary, until they 'find their feet' and become more confident with the improvisation.

With a detailed game system like HERO or GURPS, generating NPC stats 'on the fly' without slowing down the game probably takes a good bit of practice and knowledge of the game system too. It'll be interesting to see how I go with this when I start running my first HERO campaign.

(I have mostly being running GURPS, I recently obtained HERO 5th Ed. mainly because it 'scales up' to high-powered campaingns better than GURPS, and I have a particular campaign in mind to use it for...)

I also run using "seat of the pants" GMing. I do try to write up all of the NPC's before the Game and make sure that the Speed chart is already created.

I can make NPCs on the fly, but I always write them up later.

I agree that my favorite sessions were when my players went off into left field and I had to improvise. Also the best games that I played in (as a PC) were when the GM had to go off Script.

Tasha

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2


What makes a good GM?

SHAZAM
The Wisdom of Solomon
The Poetry of Homer (No, not Simpson)
The Knowledge of Aristotle
The Power of Zeus (Well, in game, smite carefully)
The Pioneer Spirit of Armstrong
and
The Patience of Methusalah



Seriously...
1. Try to be fair to all your players.
2. Remember, they, and not you, are the stars of the show
3. There will be times you'll have to put your foot down, but don't make it personal.
4. No one is perfect. You and your players will make mistakes... and that's okay.
5. FUN is the goal... Don't lose sight of that.

[JohnTaber]

I call em the three F's...

Fair

Firm

Fun

[jtelson]

1. Enjoy being a GM - If you don't. stop being one.
2. Be fair
3. Keep good notes or have a great memory.
4. Make certain that every player has a chance to shine eventually.
5. Have fun.

[Peregrine]

The ability and willingness to subordinate your 'artistic' or 'literary' vision to the players' fun. Let them make the story, let them have their fun. If this takes away your fun, stop trying to GM and just write stories.

[MarkusDark]

Being able to come up with stuff on the fly. No matter how much you plan as a GM - your players will find that one facet that you never thought of.
Understand your player needs. Some want slugfests, some want detective work, some want to be the center of attention - work with them to satisfy their needs
Know when to take a break. Sometimes GM's burn out. Take a couple of weeks off. Read a book, play in another game, watch some movies - get your batteries recharged and go again. Trying to force your way through a game just to keep a schedule will result in ugliness for all.
Find the players who match your style. Although tough, don't be afraid to say, "You know, your style and mine just don't seem to mesh. Perhaps you'd be better off in another game." People trying to force themselves to play in a style they don't like usually result in the game dying out.
Have fun. If it starts to feel more like work than fun, you're doing it wrong. Stop, step back and try to remember why you started and if you still want to continue. Better to stop a good game than to continue running a bad one.

[Mark Taylor]

Originally posted by MarkusDark
Although tough, don't be afraid to say, "You know, your style and mine just don't seem to mesh. Perhaps you'd be better off in another game."

Fortunately, I haven't had to do that in a very long time But there is quite a good and fairly 'mature' gaming scene here. In places which lack potential players, finding ones who work togther well in a group can be really hard. If I ever moved back to where my parents live, I think I'd be looking at a virtually impossible task to put a decent group together. *shudder*