Name on for self-identification

>Name on for self-identification

Hello Veeky Forums! This isn't my normal area of the chan, but I figured you'd be the people to ask.

A bunch of my discord friends, gathered around a particular interest, have a server where we RP things relating to our interest. One of us is running a Masks Campaign with a small group, but a few others were excluded and I wanted to do something for them. Since I was interested in a Magical Burst game anyway, I decided I'd like to run a Series, offering it first to those left out of Masks (though a couple of current Masks players have expressed interest)

The thing is, this would be my first time DMing, and my second time with a full-fledged dice and sheet RP (I've done a couple of Play by Posts with dice), and I'm kind of nervous. Not to mention, I think this is the first campaign this group will have played straight.

So, I was wondering if you had any insights for a budding DM?

If it helps, I've been RPing for awhile, and I'm actually a bit of a writer, having written a few short stories for fun.

>name on

Anyway:
-You're going to fuck up somewhere. Don't sweat it.
-No plan survives contact with the players. Don't plan extensively.
-Plan a few cool setpieces and pop them in when appropriate. It's especially easy in "monster of the week" genre games.
-Don't try making the next Madoka. Your players are more than able to bring tragedy on their own hands without you fueling the fire.

also
>I'm actually a bit of a writer

Not gonna help you here. The main goal of the GM is not to tell a story. Plot is fine, but remember that ultimately players want to have an effect on the world and not to read a book.

You're a referee, not the Quizmaster.

If someone's holding the ball too long and delaying the game, you reset the ball. Keep things moving, but let them play. The ref doesn't play, the ref makes sure everyone has a good time and plays a good game.

Fun > Story > Rules

Keeping the group small is generally a good thing. In my experience, 3 or 4 players is a really nice number.

Since you're running the game you should have the best handle on the rules. I learned the hard way that giving them a once over isn't good enough. Knowing what's going on mechanically means you can improvise better, rule with more confidence and help the players know what they're doing because they won't read the book well enough.

Writing scenarios for tabletop games requires a different mindset than writing literature. One major difference is that you aren't the one writing the protagonists. That's the players' job. You also aren't writing how most of the story gets to go. That is also the players' job, assisted by the dice. The GM writes the world and its minor forces, whether they be personal, natural or divine. When I started out, the world revolved around my players' actions because it was easy.

Players are going to do things.The Angry DM had a really good article on it, Action and Intention or something like that. Basically, they're going to do a Thing to make some Change. The results of rolls should give the Thing they're doing a natural consequence and also, when successful, apply the intended Change to the world around them. Or, when failed, apply the intended Change but make it clear that was a bad change to make. I can''t explain it that well this late, finding The Angry DM's article is for the best.

Ultimately, if you and your players are having a good time then something has gone horribly right.

Watch a few games of Chris Perkins dming to give you an idea how it should
be run. It's also help to watch some DM guides on youtube.

>Fun > Story > Rules
Ugh. Another faggot who wants to be pandered to, never wants any real challenge, and unironically uses the word 'fun' as a gloss for whatever retarded shit he's into.

>Fun
Subjective measurement that can change on the case by case basis.
>Story
The result of the actions taken by the group.
>Rules
Actual limitations that prevents players from saying "I win" by default which also gives you a framework what is or is not possible within the world.

So it should be "Rules=Story"

Gonna repeat what I would've told anyone who wants to GM.
First of all, has a point. I consider myself an OK GM, but I know I'd make a terrible writer. Those two skillsets are correlated very loosely.

To expand on poins:
*DO NOT*, for the love of God, write 'plots'. Don't even try to account for what your players might do. Come up with interesting SITUATIONS that can happen around them, and know how they will play out if nobody interferes. You don't need extensive worldbuilding, but good scene-building makes a game. When you plop down a situation, a scene, know the backstory behind it, or be ready to come up with it on the go. BTW, get ready for pulling a lot of answers out of your ass when you get unexpected questions. Have NPCs act for a reason and play them to that end - a common thug won't throw himself on a naked sword or dagger over a few coins.

Also, your game will suck. Relax, embrace it, and don't try to make it a magnum opus. Start with a proverbial goblin cave, do trite and tropey shit until you get the hang of it. If you happen to have a knack for it, you can make cliches fun, and if your players arent shitters, they won't be pointing out the tropes they found like autists.

This is pretty great. You need a certain sense of showmanship, you are an entertainer and a ringmaster, not a script writer - you don't plan the story, you just set the stage for the PCs and make sure they're busy, or at least CAN get busy with something. You can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make the horse drink, you know?

Don't run Magical Burst. It's a god damn shitshow.

Try Magical Burst ReWrite, or whatever it's called now, Project Rebirth.

Regarding the 'scenes', you need to know the backstory to react to players actions accordingly, whatever they could be. This is where the "don't plan" thing comes in - if you know what the character wants and whats their drive, you can use that to play out their reaction without preplanning it.

Message me on discord later, I'll give you some tips!

Make lots of characters. They're the most direct way for your players to interact with the game.

>If you happen to have a knack for it, you can make cliches fun, and if your players arent shitters, they won't be pointing out the tropes they found like autists.
Fucking this! Autists who have to point out everything with a wink and a nudge are the worst. Yes, we know about King Arthur having a sword named Excalibur, we don't need to hear about it every time we find a magic sword.

what is masks?

How much your players like railroading?

>thinking that challenge can't be fun

Wow that sure is a lot of projecting, user.

>No plan survives contact with the players. Don't plan extensively.

>Tfw I have spent the past three weeks extensively planning out how to provide my players with a chance at route-branching on Session 0 to lead into the rest of what the campaign will entail for them
Y-Yeah, planning too much is bad, you guys.

Dont go in with no plan.
This is the first truth.

Dont go in with too much plan.
This is the final truth.

No, user, you are the faggot. You admit to not finding a challenge fun, and yet you insist on labouring on through traditional gaming sessions that offer you no enjoyment. Explain this cuckery.

What's wrong with it?