A course in GMing

Imagine, you're teaching a course in GMing. It's not setting or game-specific, you have time to show different kinds of games.

How do you handle it? What is absolutely necessary?

Lesson 1.
Open world is best world.
Lesson 2.
No one cares about your story let the players chose what they want to do.
Lesson 3.
The bitter sweet smell of TPK

>The bitter sweet smell of TPK
What kind of lesson is that? How to fuck your entire party and end your campaign?

Doesnt matter what anyone else says.
Never fudge rolls.
A game loses all sense of risk/reward when its outcomes are arbitrated by the GM.
If you do fudge rolls pray to the god of dice your players never find out.
Once that trust is broken once there will allways be that nagging doubt as to whether you succeeded on your own merits as a player or through GM fiat.

Introductory lesson with a few quick parlor roleplaying games.

Then, a quick look at Chainmail for people unfamiliar with wargames, followed by an examination of each D&D edition up to 3.0, with the main highlights being what changed between each edition. Switch gears into a look at the ST games, CoC, an introduction into GURPS, Shadowrun, and a very quick sampling of a few other games. This might also be the time to introduce games like WHRP and DSA.
Introduce 4e, and then before any debates get out of hand, introduce Fate, and then some horror games like Ten Candles. Then wrap up the game introductions with 5e.

Once that's all out of the way, use 5e as the base to first discuss the responsibilities of a player, followed by the responsibilities of the GM.

Responsibilities of the player will start with making the PC and controlling it, and then expand to contributing more and more towards the creation of the setting.

GMing will start with making a first adventure, and after getting notes on it, expanding that adventure into a full campaign. From there, it's likely going to be more of a workshop, working with the other students and fleshing out their worlds, punctuated by lessons on what makes a good NPC (including how to alter your voice/ use accents), how to make a map, a run down of deity and government systems, and miniature workshops on how to make custom monsters, spells, and items.

This is an advanced course: 101 is how to be a good player.

1: there is no story before you're at the table. Examples of low and high prep games.

2: READ THE FUCKING BOOK (homerules are totally possible, but are to be decided in the group. Examples about how it fails if you don't do that)

3: worldbuilding and "atmospheric tuning": how to do it right (i.e. engaging the players)

4: GM: is it necessary? Examples of GMless games

5: oneshots: pros and cons

6: Genre: a box of stereotypes ready to be broken (or not, actually, but you'd probably consider them as ready to be)

Im gonna tell you how i structure my games, it works for me but might not be right for you.

I start with an an idea for a plot. Keeping this idea as simple in concept as possible, i personally tend to overcomplicate plots.
Dont overcomplicate plots, the players will complicate it plenty on their own.

Once the idea is nailed down in the rough i start writing "Chapters"

These chapters are not a script of events but rather pre-packaged locations with requisite NPC.

Each of these "chapters" must contain what i like to label A, B and C quests.

One A quest, a 1-3 B quests and as many C quests as i can think of.

The requirements for these types of quests are as follows:

An A quest must advance the main plot of the game in some to-the-players tangible way. Either through exposure to the plot or directly influencing the main plot.

In the case of a B quest, it must provide player or character development. Which is to say force the character into making choices, explore the BG of the character or allow the character to seek out personal objectives.
A very good thing to prioritize with B quests is how they will introduce intra-party play either through differences or similarities between characters. Make sure the players dont just wander off on their own to avenge their dead family, make them involve the rest of the party this will build the sense of a "team" and foster in-character play between players.

C quests are just filler to make the world feel alive. C quests must expose the players to the setting, and/or to tertiary NPC's. I preffer to throw in merchants, wandering bands of entertainers, local lords and ladies, odd little episodes. It's very important that C quests are "showing, not telling" about the setting, dont drone on for tens of minutes on end. I personally preffer to keep these C quests lighthearted as a break from the serious or even possibly grim mainplot.

Might write more details later if wanted and thread isnt ded, lecture is starting.

Smell, not taste. Regardless of how things are actually going, the players needs to stay on their toes and experience the feeling of real and imminent danger.

ah. Good lesson.

Cutest LARP couple

Never plan plot, plan context. By building a world with interesting events, cultures and NPCs with goals and desires, you provide all the tools for the PCs to create an emergent story on their own. Furthermore this allows great freedom on their part which allows them to pick and choose which parts of the world they interact with. Lastly, this limits the amount of time you will need to spend improvising. While improvising isn't necessarily a bad thing it should only ever be used to get your players from point A to B rather than conjuring characters and quests out of thin air as they will almost certainly be of lower quality than potential hooks and NPCs you prepare beforehand. Furthermore don't keep your world static. Players appreciate a world that feels alive and having events occur parallel to the ones they're involved in greatly aids immersion. One of your players' cleric died defending a town? Have the town devote a shrine to him and attract pilgrims. Your players raided an infamous tomb? Have treasure hunters seek them out for advice or to harry them out of jealousy. Keep the world moving.

What would the exam be like?
Running a game with the jury as the players?

>being this much of a poser
Did you get your list off 1d4chan, You gameless faggot?

Anyway, to round off what i said.

I just write however many of these chapters it takes for the mainplot to resolve satisfactorily and have NPC's send them from chapter to chapter, IE "location/questhub" to "location/questhub"

If the players decide to bugger off or ignore the hook to a certain location/chapter they will eventually just enter another place with its pre-made maps and NPC's. Some of the B and C quests migt unfurl in another point in their timeline but they're there and ready to go.

I usually just throw the questhooks for A and B hooks, then fill in with as many C hooks as i feel is needed to make the game progress at a good pace.

Be careful about overloading your players with separate questhooks at the same time, they wont know which ones are time sensitive or relavant to the mainplot and which are just quirky time-filler.

Most of all be adaptable, your players will forget or ignore the mainplot and autistically focus on that one icecream vendor that got agressive at them for choosing his competitors brand of chunky monkey, just let them.

The good thing about having 100+ secondary and tertiary quests just lying around is that you can allways recycle the ones they didnt pick up or you didnt introduce. Suddenly that quest with cultists trying to summon a long-forgotten oracle is about an ice cream conglomerate with a shadowy board of directors huddling in a ruin beneath their icecream factory, sacrificing people to curse their competitors and using drugs to hook people on their product.

So yeah, to sum up: Try to not overcomplicate shit with too many quests, have a single main plot lined out, and sprinkle with additional quests as neccesary.

Make sure all quests fulfill a purpose in relation to plot, character development or worldbuilding (or atleast have the potential to, cant make the horse drink, amirite)

And most importantly!: Have fun! Listen to your players critique (if any) and dont be afraid to just START!

Start with a roleplaying scenario, no system. Something like one of those "choose ten things you'd take with you if you got stuck in a deserted island", then make them roleplay out their first day on the island. Second class would be the second day on the island, but now instead of letting them decide whether they succeed or fail at something, you've introduced a simple system like Risus, and had them pick what they're good at. Wrap the class up by discussing the differences and have them think about it some more for the next class.

Next time, run a different scenario, but have everyone play a character different from themselves. What you're trying to ge them to notice is that the system lets their characters be good at things they themselves aren't, even things nobody present is an expert on.

Eventually you want to split them into groups and have them run assigned scenarios. Finally, have them run their own scenarios and expect a lot of TV series premises. Use this to point out that it's important to seek out inspiration, and that stealing ideas you think are cool is 100% okay.

If you still have time, focus on polishing their improvisation skills and introduce them to act structures and how to work with them without planning. Explain the importance (or lack thereof) of prep and some ways to do it that aren't stupid. After that you can head into a bit of RPG history. I'd personally focus on controversies: The satanic panic, the influence of Vampire on subcultures, Little Fears's first edition, etc.

A lot of people say not to create a story or plot but these campaigns always turn out to be a collection of hooks with no payoff. Nothing wrong with coming up with some hooks and making an educated guess on what the players will do and work from there.

If you come up with
>dragon kidnaps princess and the king wants her saved
and your next step is to come up with
>barkeep wants adventurers to reclaim his magic sword
instead of a dungeon where that dragon is chilling with his princess you're retarded. A GM that gives you a dozen hooks in some sandbox isn't going to have finely crafted adventures for each hook, he's either winging it or railroading you to the same place (or wasting his time) so the hooks either turn out being lame or pointless. That doesn't give you an excuse to railroad your players along "your story" though, it's a shared story, always remember that.

The biggest trick to GMing is asking yourself what "the players will probably do". If you can answer that then you can create a fun and interesting session because you're not wasting your time preparing for content that never gets seen.

The second biggest trick is asking yourself "if they don't do what will they do" and if you can answer that you've got your bases covered.

For example you're designing a castle the players have to infiltrate. These guys have climbing gear and points in climbing, they'll probably try to go over the walls. Spend your time creating fun and exciting things that happen when they try to climb over the walls. But what if they try for the sewers, or maybe just try fighting through the front gate? Come up with things for those too. Make each of these options unique so that the players aren't just doing the same thing whatever option they choose.

Sometimes the players will choose an option that you never even considered, when that happens just go with it and improvise as best you can. If you need to you can sub in encounters and events you've planned for somewhere else.

t. Player

t.guy who wrote this

A lot of what i like in games is to make my players feel.
Feel scared, feel happy, feel angry, feel awesome.

What are the ways that you guys use to help reach your players? Music? Carefully worded dialogue?

I feel like the better you know your players the better you can tailor specific game content to them.
For instance of my players recently became a father, and protecting or helping kids suddenly became such an easy way to invest him in a plot that it almost feels like cheating.

You guys know any cheat codes?

Purpose and method, purpose and method.

These are generalizable to most everything in life but they're good to keep in mind at the table too.

Before figuring out how you are doing things (method), find out why you are doing them (purpose)

Are you here to have fun with your friends? If so, you will conduct your GMing in a different fashion than if you are here to playtest your new rules. Are you here to do after-school activities with the kids you're in charge of at the club? If so, you will conduct yourself differently from when you are running a game after-hours at your game store to keep people in the building and sell snacks.

After finding the purpose, then you start finding the method. Some GMing methods are significantly better for purposes X and Y than they are for A and B.

1. Talk with your players and find out what you, collectively, want out of the game.
2. Start to plan the game based on what conclusion you've reached.
2.1. Do the bulk of the planning/worldbuilding before session 1, because you'll be having less and less time to spend on it as time goes on.
2.1.1. Start with worldbuilding - set up the geography, the nations, the culture, cities and people who live there, then build the major people of the world. Those who will impact in the overall narrative and whose actions can send the whole story into motion. Devote the most time to the antagonist, but keep in mind that he's meant to be defeated, don't get attached.
2.2. Remember that things will basically never go the way you've planned. Don't feel threatened, this is how it's supposed to be.
2.3. Always keep several "generic descriptions/quests/information" in hand for when the players go after things you weren't expecting them to. This makes improvising a lot easier.
3. Once you've got the bulk of the world done, relay information to the players - tell them what is and isn't possible in the world, and set the limits for the backstory of their characters. Tell them how and where the party is supposed to get together, and ask them that their backstory naturally leads them to that situation. This makes the group getting together in-game feel more organic.
4. Once this is all done, get together and start playing! Remember to never force absolute paths into the players, just adapt naturally to their choices.
5. Have fun.

Have everyone listen to the first opening of the Cardfight!! Vanguard anime.

...what?

I actually did that.

1- Golden rule: everyone should be having fun, and not at the expense of others. Also, as Rule 2- you are the God of the table. Rule 3- it isnt DM vs Players.
2-KISS. Keep it Simple, Stupid. You never know exactly what the players are going to do, so work your plots into a general direction rather than a firm "step by step" idea
3-constructing villains and how to use them, ie., types of motivations vs character motivations along the Hero's Journey timeline
4- plot construction, which really is just me encouraging people to start small rather than have planet-reaching plots. My favorite campaigns have been on Islands the size of Vermont, if only because the space meant 90% of what I made got used.
5- Ensuring no one player gets the spotlight forever/equitable treatment for Players in both attention and loot
6- Helping build team chemistry with Session 0/character creation, and why a party of chaotic evil necromancers + a paladin is probably doomed to failure
7-World building (I think this was 2 actually) and why you should do it SOME, but keep in mind most players will ignore a lot of it. If you make stuff, dont try to shoehorn just for the sake of using it. Do it in a way where the world helps advance the narrative.

I probably have the powerpoint somewhere.

OP here feel free to send me, I'd love to read it. It should come as no surprise that I'm actually doing this as well and this thread is a thinly veiled poll to figure out what Veeky Forums finds important. Not that I will inspire my course on the words of an anonymous Veeky Forums board, but it helps to add some necessary reminders.

>101 is how to be a good player.
that would be useful too

Live on, thread! In the name of fresh blood and smooth adventuring, I command you to stand tall on page 1!

I think the most basic and most often skipped lesson for a GM is about how to lead and facilitate constructive conversation, manage schedules, and efficiently use their time.

Better props, story structure, acting, and improv are all superficial compared with how to actually be a functional foundation for a group of people. As GM you should be farmingniut some work, but farming out scheduling or letting players do whatever at the table makes a game collapse no matter how good.

Learn the conversation basics, for all its faults PbtA systems are really good about explaining how to have a proper conversation during a game to prevent squabbling. Players need to state their action and the GM needs to tell them what game ability facilitates that action, and not let players simply say they will roll for X ability. A GM also needs to prevent players just all rolling for the same thing at once and using whatever the best dice roll was, and direct the party how one roll affects he next individually and provide that structure and flow to play.

A GM also needs to be the one most communicative outside the game to, trying to build rapport and confirm schedules ahead of time. They also need to lead the way to rescheduling and making sure sessions happen. And the GM needs to cut bad players that won’t learn - including players hurting the game.

>Yeah tavern is in east part of the town
vs
>Yeah you can ask a local about it
>- Tavern? Plenty o'em in da town, but fer folk like you I'd say Rusty Axe'll be best ta visit

There have been some very good suggestions here, but I would just want to throw out an idea (not a comprehensive course) about the importance and some techniques of screening people. Not everyone is good at RPGs. And even of the people who can play, not all of them will be suited for the rest of the group or the campaign that you might be running.

And NOTHING kills a game faster than one seriously disruptive player. They need to be identified and removed at the earliest point possible, ideally before the game starts.

- Don't stress out, it's just a game.

- Everyone starts as an amateur, you'll get better over time. The best way to get better at something is just to practice.

- Realize that when the hobby started many decades ago, people had nothing to go on except pencils & graph paper and it still worked out ok. There are plenty of resources available that can help you improve, but nothing beats learning from your own mistakes.

- Put aside the ego. If everyone isn't having fun, then what's the point? That said, don't be a pushover. Realize that different people want different things from their ttrpgs and that's ok. Find a group that wants the same things you do (they exist) and then you'll have a great time.

Well, the obvious first step is to put:

>ABANDON HOPE

Across the top of the doorway into the classroom in big letters

Run your game in the same way successful governments are.
There's this sense of checks and balances, with this notion that anyone could be the GM and the Players are all equally good. But we are not naive here. Clearly some players are significantly more pleasant to you and you reward them. While anyone *could* lead the party, it's going to be the guy you trust most who actually does it.
There's a feeling that it's all fair and just, there's some discretionary power the GM holds, but overall there's a system that handles everything. This is false. The rules exist only as a veneer and justification for your decisions, but you can't be too obvious about it or people will be dissatisfied.

Your players will often demand things, but in truth they demand what they *think* is good, or what they've been told is desirable. Most never really think too deeply about why this is the case. The average player doesn't put enough thought into any aspect of the game to really see how it would be linked with all the others, so they fall back on some repeated mantras and shallow ideals.

The worst players are those who are completely tied to a series of ideas they can't really justify and don't understand, people who want to play characters from shows, or who think of their characters in terms of physical description. They want to get back some emotional connection they had to the media, but they don't understand that made it good.
The more they obsess about superficial things, like implementation (systems) and build, the worse they are.

The best players understand it's a game at heart. They know they have a part to play, not just for themselves, but for others as well. They construct something from the ground up, and have a coherent method for interacting with the game that doesn't break it for everyone else.

If you ever forget that it's a game, and let the sense of power exceed the bounds of public acceptance, you become useless due to your inability to perceive your own faults.
There's the odd player type who makes a show of how much they can break the game. Despite how much this can annoy you, especially if he breaks character, the group tends to like it. If you ever become arrogant beyond their ability to stomach, he will replace you.

I think this user has the right idea. Hit basic skills, communication, first.

I'd probably start out with discussing just exactly what user suggests for the most part on day one. But I would end with a discussion on public speaking.

I would then assign homework to the effect of right a one or two minute description of a scene and be prepared to speak in front of the class.

This, some variation there of, would become a standard for the class. Some form of assigned homework to practice public speaking the next day - describe an NPC, describe a scene, etc.

Depending on the size of the class I might break the class down in to peer groups so that multiple people could speak at one time.

Day two would likely focus on NPC's. How to craft a detailed NPC, things to include, all of that. Followed by a discussion on how to quickly make up an NPC on the spot - tips and lists to help (students craft their own list of things as a class project). Ending homework would be prepared to describe an NPC and speak as that NPC (in character) for the next day for your peer group.

Following classes would be things like out door adventures, political adventures, describing scenes in general, doing voices.

Those would likely be the big blocks. Spread throughout the course would be talks on communication and conflict resolution. Reading people, how to motivate people (what motivates them), that sort of thing. Shucks, if this was a full 101 class couple of hours twice a week sort of thing, no reason why those and others wouldn't get full day focus.

Man I really need to read shit before I hit post. Sorry about all of that.