Happy International GM Day!
Today is also the anniversary of everyone's first GM, Gary Gygax, so I just want to stop and thank each one of you for taking on the mantle of story teller. I appreciate the time and effort that each one of you put into your campaigns, and I hope that you'll find GM'ing to be as wonderful, as fun, and as fulfilling as it is now well into your -
*rolls a d20 on the aging effects table*
-venerable years and beyond!
So I ask you: who has been your favorite, most influential, or just all around most fun, GM?
Can I vote for 2?
Whether I can or not I am going to.
For running Kingmaker and starting Jade Regent the award goes to Jess Door.
For running a Midgard Northlands campaign currently, the award goes to Godu AKA Doug M.*
* Not sure he wants his last name on the internet.
Yeah I'm voting for two as well.
Faceless for running the utterly hilarious Rise of the Runelords campaign for my group.
And Aszimar (not on the forums sadly), my group's resident WTFDM, for his insane and off-the-wall campaign ideas as well as his (sadly aborted) GMing of Age of Worms in years past.
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DM Dudemeister for running Kingmaker and Jade Regent for us.
Both use a large supporting cast of NPCs and he keeps them from fading into the background.
Also, he sometimes does voices.
I'd have to vote for my dad. He started my brother and me on Basic D&D many a moon ago, and it has become a lifelong hobby. I still remember certain aspects of his campaigns fondly, and I still even have the first area map he ever created.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I've had plenty of great GMs. I've learned something from every GM I've played under, good, bad, or indifferent. But I have to say, my favorite GM is me. I like calling the shots! I don't think I'm the best GM ever--far from it--but most of the time, I'd rather GM than play.
My favorite GM when I'm not GMing would have to be my buddy Mac. He's been at it for about ten years longer than I have. He pushes all the right buttons and pulls out all the stops. Our gaming styles really mesh well. I've disagreed with his approach on rare occasions, but I've always had a blast at his table.
You don't have to limit it to one! My wording was a little narrow in the opening, sorry!
Unfortunately, I don't have any GM stories :( I only played tabletop twice in college, and since I started playing Pathfinder I've always been the GM.
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Thinking about favorite GMs makes me think of one of my favorite and first GMs. He was our history teacher. His name was Mr. Army. Our teachers didn't have first names. This was in the late 80s Boarding school. We had to wear blazers and ties, and stand up when the teacher came into the classroom. I suppose it was little like Hogwarts without the broom sticks and moving stair cases.
One Saturday afternoon we the Dungeons and Dragons group were al at Mr Army's house seated around a table. There were old maps in frames up on the wall and fire crackling merrily in the stone fire place. Some of his kid’s toys were stuffed behind an easy chair. I remember the front end of a Star Wars At At peaking around from behind the chair.
There was also a pair of brightly colored plastic baseball bats. My friend and I grabbed them, and be began “deuling” with the baseball bats, gleefully quoting “hello, My name is Inigo Montoya, You killed my father Prepare to die”. After a minute of two of laugher, Mr army smiled, and said, “The whole party has been plunged into darkness as the fighter and the mage decided to deul with the party torches…..Then Mr. Army asked us to hold up the base ball bats, because those were the “party torches” if we let them down, everyones light would go out.
Mean while, our characters had come to a chasm in the under ground cavern complex they were exploring.
I thought I could have my character, the party mage, cast a spider climb spell, take the rope and climb up the wall, along the ceiling of the under ground chamber, and come down the other wall, on the other side of the Chasm.
So I told Mr. Army “ I have my mage cast Spider Climb” and I begin climbing up the wall, carrying one end of the rope”
Mr Army replied “ all right, you go over to the wall and nothing happens, you are not sticking to the wall. “
Puzzled, I asked Mr. Army “ what happened, my Mage cast the spell didn’t he?”
And Mr. Army replied “ read the last part of your spell description”
I looked at it and exclaimed, “ my character has to eat a live spider?” Mr. Army nodded affirmative. Every one at the table exclaimed “eeeewwww”
My character ate his spider, holding his nose, and we got across the chasm.
I will never forget that moment, and after that, I always remembered to read my spell description, and to take notes on 3x5 cards.
When I later was worried about writing a term paper, Mr. Army assured me “ don’t worry you have already done research…remember looking up those spells for your character and taking notes on 3x5 cards….?”
Mr. Army also ran the Diplomacy club....which I was in. then things really got messy, playing Diplomacy, but that is another story for another thread.
There have been lots of GMs over the years. I have GMed lots over the years. As Mr Bell has said, I have learned something from all the GMs I have played under.
However, I'm not my Favorite GM. My Boarding School History teacher was one of my favorite and most influential GMs. He was also by the way a good teacher, and he brought that into the games he ran.
In PFS there have been lots of excellent GMs. Nathan Meyers, Art Lobell, Sean Hans, David Montgomery, Don Walker, Dan Donnelly, Steve Miller, Jesse Riggs, many more. Its always nice to learn something new.
My first D&D DM, Wolf Porter.
Of the several DC Heroes GMs it has to be Michael Brown.
For Call of Cthulhu, no one does it better than Rod Robertson.
Inspiration and entertainment in perfect balance.
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Steve Miller, Jesse Riggs
Both are excellent GMs. I have only played a couple times with each of them--usually we're GMing different tables at a con--but I'd be super excited to play at either of their tables, anytime. Same for Sam Polak, Mike Eshleman, and Joe Jungers.
Though I've never gotten to participate yet, I've watched Erik Mona run his Spire of Nex game at Paizocon. He brings a really focused energy to the table--watching him GM is like watching Jimmy Page shred guitar.
I should mention that Mrs. Bell's still pretty new at GMing, but she's no slouch. Since she's a GM, I might have to say she's my favorite GM :D
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What a glorious thread idea. I must call on my experience, though I cannot limit my answer to one. Two great individuals, both who have affected my playstyle in different ways, must be included in my appreciation.
A Journey Begins : When I first started playing TTPRG's, it was as a fresh faced college student, who hadn't had much social interaction outside of through a computer screen. I joined the college society for fantasy and science fiction, because it seemed right up my alley. My first ever TTRPG (talked about in the worst DM thread) almost put me off playing them again. And then I met a man who would become one of my best friends, a stalwart ally, and a magnificent GM. He drew me into games with great, living stories. He made me interact with the world, remember that I'm not just a player, I'm the character. He mainly did horror or thought provoking games. Call of Cthulhu, or his own homemade system. He'd leap across the table at you if a monster got the drop on you. You couldn't just roll dice, you needed to think, to interact, to exist. Coming from a history of computer/video gaming, he really drew me out and enthralled me into TTRPG's. So a big shout out to my most influential GM, Michael Cthulhu, the third manliest thing on the internet.
An Epic Continues : After my pal above moved abroad, a gap was left in our hearts, our very souls! He had inspired us, thrilled us, enthralled us! But all was not lost! One of our own, semi experienced at this stage, rose to the challenge! Forging all new, home made systems, vibrant worlds, deep, engaging characters, and intriguing stories, we were once again enthralled by the thrilling world of TTRPG's. To build upon the depth of interaction with the worlds we had already developed, we were encouraged to make our character whole. Not just the now, but their distant past and their bright futures. We moved away from horror towards more fantasy/science fiction epics, with each game lasting multiple years. Finishing one of these games fills me with the same mixed feelings of any great work of literature, torn between the enjoyment of a great tale complete, and the sorrow of saying goodbye to characters, nay, friends, that we had come to know so well. So, for these, and the ever continuing experiences this GM provides, I give my second shout-out to my favourite GM, Malboury Jones.
@ Terquem,
Thank you for all the GM's you address that will probably not be named. I am one of those GM's.
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I can't name them, but there are two. I have two friends who are both exceptional GMs, in my opinion. They create exciting campaigns, are flexible about character options, give personalized loot on occasion, know the rules well, balance well between roleplaying and combat time, encourage creativity and cooperation. They tell good stories and want their players to have fun. They're also both very good players.
When I read horror stories of terrible GMs, I am always thankful that I've been so fortunate in my experiences with GMs.
@ Terquem,
Thank you for all the GM's you address that will probably not be named. I am one of those GM's.
I'm one of Terquem's players- and after years of being out of the hobby, I gotta say Terquem's patience and willingness to roll with players who don't read his posts as close as they should (umm..yeah...) have made for a really great re-introduction into RPGs. His relaxed game made it easy to play even with life's occasional rough seas, and his descriptive style bring the scenes to life. Thanx Ter
My co-DM: he does a lot of work so I can just show up and do crazy things to his plot lines... like a player, but worse.
Heck if I know, it was a long time ago. ONE of my first DMs was when I was in Highschool (1984/85?) and he had a game in this Pizza shop. The guy had a DMNPC called Nicron99 and he carried a 'Kill-o-Zap' gun. We were running pretty decently high level characters. He also had something called a Hairy Lightning bolt that did 'enough' damage. I remember it being a fun time with that DM.