If I want to play Pathfinder, I practically have to DM. I'm the only one with rulebooks or any experience with fantasy. I got my first rulebooks from a family friend, but he barely remembers 1E.Set up a few games that are for the learning curve. We always let new DMs take us through a few low level disposable games till they got the hang of it.
It really cuts down on people with perfectionistic tendinecies putting stress on themselves....
Also you might discover you don't enjoy or want to DM...
I think he will like Pathfinder.
Damn it Jim! I'm a doctor not a DM!
I ad-libbed nearly an entire official "Friday Night Open D&D" campaign for my friendly local game store. Lasted exactly one year, and everyone wanted me to keep going, but I didn't want to continue with 4E (the campaign started 3.5 then switched to 4E midway through when it was released at the request of the store owner).
I never planned more than a single session ahead of time, and never more than maybe 1 page of notes. Most sessions were only vaguely outlined in my head. Only the really critical sessions (like the final two sessions, where the party had to fight an Uktena that I basically ran as a terrain encounter rather than a creature encounter, then had to defend a group of NPC mages while they completed a ritual who were attacked by wave after wave of githyanki attacking through a gate) got planned ahead of time at all.
The key is to rolling with whatever seems to interest the PCs at the time and actually NOT planning too much. The more you plan, the harder it is to keep a free-form campaign going. Try to always say "yes" or "yes, but" any time a player asks "can I do X".
Essentially ALL GMs ad lib anyway. Those pesky PCs NEVER stick to the script!+1
I've found if you DONT adlib you arent doing your job as the dm, as it ends up feeling like a videogame where one road suddenly stops and you cant walk any further because the dm didnt write anything up for that area.
I adlib most of my games. In fact half the time the players give me ideas in game that i change the story for. Players capture a guy instead of killing him, well he's important now, lets make him a plot hook. I usually just have a general direction i want things to go. And for sure i dont have a whole area mapped out ahead of time. I hate that nonsense. If players go right instead of left and i created an encounter for left, guess what, dimension warm, left room is right, right room is left. Its your world it can be as fluid as you want it to be.
And, in the end no matter how many contingencies you think of, there will be one player in your group that thinks of something else, and they wont do what you expected.
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Answer: Yes.
The answer to "How consistent must I be?" is always "Enough to satisfy the players."
If you never run a non-ad-libbed game in your entire career as GM, that is fine so long as the players (and you) are having fun.
I myself am obsessed with consistency, to the point where it can actually interfere with the game. But it makes me happy. If you're more able to roll with it, I'm sure that will help you and your players have fun.
I'm the same way, and I was determined to get in on the next big campaign setting after trying Forgotten Realms. I wanted to be in on the ground floor so I can keep up with the metaplot as it came out. I missed out on Eberron, but it seems that was providence as I love Golarion so much more (And PFRPG over 4E waaaay more)
Sorry to bother you gamers who actually know what you're doing
I've been playing these games for years and I have no idea what I'm doing!
Anyways, if you're having fun, you're doing it right.
My favorite thing about some DMs are you kill big uglies and when you return to the same room the corpses are missing....
I make it a point to have the corpses still be there or at least have an evil DM reason for why they are missing....
very active dungeon rats
ad libbing is the mark of a good GM.
You should never try to start the session with anything more than the most vague of ideas as to what is going to happen. Then, hand everything over to the PCs and learn to pull things out of your backside quickly, learn to think on your feet, and tell your players that plot doesn't matter - character does.
Remember, things don't have to make sense. Things do need to be interesting.
Depends on your group. I've run for groups who would stare blankly at me in confusion if I didn't propel them from room to room in a dungeon to kill things. And I've run for groups who skipped the dungeon entirely to go and meet their contacts in the city and propel my world in the direction their characters wanted it to go.
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Depends on your group. I've run for groups who would stare blankly at me in confusion if I didn't propel them from room to room in a dungeon to kill things. And I've run for groups who skipped the dungeon entirely to go and meet their contacts in the city and propel my world in the direction their characters wanted it to go.
I really wish I had been more experienced and able to mold my military buddies in the second direction. It was amazing when the bard player said 'I'm going to go talk to my thieves guild contact for information' and I had to make the character up on the spot.
You mean all my DMs didn't have the whole world mapped out down to the last pebble, with every possible story route planned out for me to choose from? I'm shocked, sir, absolutely shocked.
as far as my players know I absolutely always do *shifty eyes*
I have to laugh to myself because I have been ad-libbing games for the better part of the last 15 years. I too understand how sometimes you feel that you are doing your players a diservice but in fact getting a game together is more than enough for most.
I do sit down from time to time during a campaign and create important NPC characters and certain plot ideas but I never write out every single thing about an adventure path. I like my games to be filled with freedom for the players to do what they want, interacting with the story, not getting rail-roaded by it.
As far as not having anyone else to run and feeling inadequate for a lack of a better term, same thing happened to me 18 years ago and I just ran with it.
My suggestion run some adventure paths, Paizo has some good ones; Or just look at the modules. These can be great fun for the players and also help fledgling DM's get an idea of how to set up a campaign. Also watch movies and read books... rip off ideas, just change some aspects. I've been doing that for years and it makes for great plots. 99% of the time they have no idea and if they do generally they think its awesome.
As pretty much everyone has said, ad-libing is perfectly fine. I would like to add though, that some people have an easier time to improvise on the spot than others. If you find that improvising as you go feels difficult, start making some loose notes for what you want to accomplish in one session and then use those notes as a guideline when you play.
My very first adventure I DM'ed was totally improvised aside from the city the adventure took place in.
After a few session you'll find a Dm'ing style which works for you. Whether that includes a ton of preparation, some loose notes or nothing at all doesn't really matter as long as you're comfortable with it and people are having fun.
I think the only time I ever had a problem with this in the past ten years or so is when I was an assistant GM. As an assistant GM, I didn't have the right to throw curve balls. The head GM had a specific direction he wanted the game to go. Man, I'll never be an assistant GM again. It was boring for me and for my players.
An assistant GM? How does that even work? Is it like a phone conference gaming session, where he's not there so just talks you through it? I don't know how anyone would even come up with the idea of an assistant GM. Being a GM is hard enough without needing to be confused by having an out of game assistant.
Reminds me of Monte Cook's story about his Ptolus game where the party ran into a guard and asked his name, and Monte brushed it off. One of his players remarked 'Man, I thought EVERYONE in the city had a name.' That's a damn good game right there.
PLAYER So, what's your name, old man. . .
no response from the Guard, who looks like like an old Clint Eastwood, replete with cigarette out the corner of his mouth.PLAYER: I thought everyone had a name!
GUARD (grabs hold of the player): Yeah, I do, but not for a b+$*&@*~ punk like you.
PLAYER: No prob man!
GUARD: Leave or I'll end you and your miserable friends.