I have a bit of a minor issue surrounding gaming as a whole, To be rather blunt. I have no idea how to GM.
I understand that you don't necessarily need to be a master GM to enjoy everything in tabletop, but I also know that if I could do so I would probably be able to actually play some PF instead of just twiddling my thumbs, reading books, or homebrewing (And with that homebrewing comes the issue that I cannot even play said homebrew anyway). So basically... How do I learn how to GM? I get that's a very open ended question but I'm not even sure where to start
Start with Chapter 12 in the Core Rule Book. It's called "Gamemastering" and has a lot of information you'll find useful.
If you don't have a physical copy of the CRB, or a pdf, you can get started by using Paizo's own free resource, the Pathfinder Reference Document
There's also a Gamemastery Guide on that site.
Other than that, grab some dice, draw a map, help your friends create some characters, and start telling a story you want to tell.
If you need help creating a good story, the Paizo store has a lot of free modules for you to get started with.
Start with Chapter 12 in the Core Rule Book. It's called "Gamemastering" and has a lot of information you'll find useful.
If you don't have a physical copy of the CRB, or a pdf, you can get started by using Paizo's own free resource, the Pathfinder Reference Document
There's also a Gamemastery Guide on that site.
Other than that, grab some dice, draw a map, help your friends create some characters, and start telling a story you want to tell.
If you need help creating a good story, the Paizo store has a lot of free modules for you to get started with.
Thanks, and sorry if I seemed like some kind of complete idiot by asking about gming advice. I just have been quite unsure on general best practices and thought that I ought to ask for some advice on it. Again sorry if I seem like the biggest idiot for having to ask
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I've seen people with even less experience than you ask questions.
It's never a bad thing to ask about information. And you don't need to apologize for not knowing something. No one starts knowing everything.
This is a friendly site, and most of us remember how hard it was to get started on something completely new.
Ask away, there's almost always someone around who knows the answer and can point you in the right direction. I"m sure you'll have more questions as you start GMing.
That's why Paizo created a whole forum just for people who are asking advice.
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Hey, brother, you're not an idiot for asking. Quite the contrary, to be honest, you'd be an idiot not to ask.
I usually err on the side of letting people play when it comes to questions at the table. Unless something is obviously broken, I usually allow it. This goes for feats and class abilities and obnoxious or creative role playing scenarios.
I try to always up the daily encounters to keep characters from going nova every day. Plus, people tend to like combat in these games, and so do I. It's a win for everyone.
Don't be afraid to kill people in the party. Adventuring is hard, otherwise everyone would be doing it, there will be casualties. Obviously don't kill them without reason, people put a lot of work into some characters and can get rather attached.
Something that may work for you that I have done in the past, is prerolling perception checks before leaving civilization. An example of this would be as the party nears the gate to exit the city, a hobo bumps his way through the group, mindlessly brushing past the party, hitting almost everyone with his shoulders as he stumbles by. Everyone rolls perception, I tell them it's to see if the hobo stole anything.
I write down their perception check results to see who takes it on the chin in the ambush I have waiting down the road.
Nothing gives up a well planned ambush quite like a perception check, but now I have the results and can actually accomplish some amount of actual surprise, like an ambush is supposed to.
Use the cover rules to keep archers in check.
Pick a number of free actions you are going to allow in a round before you start the game and keep consistent to your choice.
Mainly, every decision you make, stay consistent to it. Obviously there are times when the GM is actually wrong, and you can just tell people that's how it is, or you can discuss things as a table, either way, pick a method and be consistent.
Introduce prepared spellcasters to the three day dungeon, they love it when they can't pencil in their diaries.
Read and reread the AP if you are using an adventure path. Always have a couple random dungeons written up as spares that you can use in a pinch. Just a troll cave with standard loot, stuff like that.
It's always good to have extra material prepared in the way of dungeons and characters you can throw in at any time. Even if you are using an adventure path.
Sorry for how discombobulated this is.
PS. Be more organized than me.
I highly suggest watching Matthew Colville's "Running the Game" videos. He has some great advice and you can pick and choose the videos that you think will help you more.
Rather than homebrew, grab a published adventure and just run it! Instead of trying to tackle all of the rules at once, just start at level one and read up on whatever is relevant to your adventure.
After a few of those, it will seem like old hat in no time.
I highly suggest watching Matthew Colville's "Running the Game" videos. He has some great advice and you can pick and choose the videos that you think will help you more.
Matt Colville gives some great advice for beginner DMs. Some other DM advice that I like:
GM's Guide to Creating Challenging Encounters
Pathfinder-specific guide that goes in-depth on how encounter math works. Probably the singular most helpful document to me in designing encounters and understanding how action economy, CR, and XP work.
The Alexandrian
Lots of general advice on how to structure stories and pacing, as well as other miscellaneous helpful stuff.
The Angry GM
He talks about 5e a lot, but there are some good kernels of wisdom buried underneath the 13 paragraphs of stream-of-consciousness text.
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A few other things:
1) Start at Level 1. Yeah, this is the weakest part in an adventurer's career. Yeah, even a fight with a handful of goblins can be a problem. But it's also the easiest time to learn - both for you as the GM, and for your players.
2) The Beginner's Box has a really lovely introductory adventure. It's not too complicated, it's written to walk you through everything, it includes great examples of traps, encounters that require saving throws, skill checks, places where diplomacy can be the better choice than combat, and even ends with a dragon fight. I highly encourage you to start with that. But there are plenty of other great Level 1 modules that can get you going too. "Crypt of the Everflame" is a nice one off the top of my head.
3) Accept that you will make mistakes. Don't let the fear of making mistakes stop you from jumping in and trying. I don't know a single GM who has never made the wrong call - either in terms of rules or just a story decision. But if you keep going, you'll keep having fun. And as long as your players are reasonable, you can always mea culpa and say "Whoops, remember back in Session 1 when you fought that wraith and he got an attack of opportunity against the cleric trying to touch attack him with cure light wounds? I goofed. He shouldn't have gotten that because she counted as being armed. My bad. We won't do that in the future."
Usually mistakes average out in terms of being for or against the party, so as long as you're not afraid to admit your mistakes, your players will understand.
I would second the suggestion of looking into the Pathfinder Beginner's Box. Also, look up stat blocks for the level 1 Pathfinder Pre-Gen characters for your players to use. Use the Pre-Gens as guides on how to create characters. Otherwise, you are liable to get very confused on how to make characters and that can be off-putting to new gamers. Good luck!
Use random generators for inspiration -- like https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/random/#type=encounter;n_pc=4;level=1;difficulty=a ny;environment=Underdark
GMing is mostly about having a story to tell and then knowing the rules well enough to move the game through that story. Both of those need to be laid on a foundation of you (the GM) having fun. I think the GMs enjoyment is more important than anyone else's at the table, if you're having fun, most likely everyone else is as well.
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I found the GameMastery Guide to be incredibly helpful. It not only gives you a wealth of ideas but also a positive mindset: Play with your players, not against them.
Further I played with a couple of GMs. Each of them showed some positive and negative behaviour, so I tried to learn from the positive and avoid the negative. Reading this forum also helps, especially the Advice and General Discussion sections.
Finally don't forget you are there for the fun too. There is no point in going for a campaign style you don't like, just because your players enjoy it.
Play, then do. The first time will be clumsy. You'll get better as you go. These days, thanks to the Interbooks, watching is also an option.