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Because I'm insane!!!
Seriously, I love what Paizo has done with my favorite RPG. Society provides an additional avenue to play (outside my home group) and it exposes me to new players I never would have met otherwise. And I get to continue to hone my GM chops. Not to mention it gives me an excuse to visit my FLGS on a regular basis and stay current with new game releases and demo alternate games I wouldn't impulse buy for myself.
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I really enjoy the format. It's a fixed system that is, in theory, balanced against itself. The idea that characters are portable from table to table is great and the updated GM reward system now that I don't really have to 'take one for the team.'
I've always been the DM since I was 12 years old and some habits are hard to break.
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Because where else can you sit at a table and have four-to-six random people entertain you with their unpredictable and creative exploits for four-to-five hours? Many people seem to regard GMing as a chore, but I look forward to every session. Each time I re-run a scenario for a new group, I get better at telling that story. At least there's no risk of my character dying!
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1.) I like the system. I was fine with 3.5 but it's not being supported by a living campaign I care to play.
2.) I like the campaign world. I will always love Greyhawk first and foremost. Golarion is suitably complex and interesting for my needs.
3.) I like meeting new people through organized play. Playing with a home table is nice, but I love going to conventions and seeing lots of familiar faces. In the past few years I have begun to run into people who played under me the year before. They remember me as their GM and it feels very validating.
4.) I have become an elitist snob/control freak about the game and I don't enjoy playing under bad GMs. I started GMing after getting burned by GMs who didn't do prep work, drew indecipherable maps, couldn't describe the monsters, aimed to collect a body count and/or acted like they knew the rules but didn't. I have developed high standards and I'm critical of other GMs when I sit at their tables. This "no one can do it better than I can" mental condition has driven me to be the GM. It's not pretty, but it's the truth I know about myself. (I still forget rules and sometimes players have to correct me--not perfect by a long shot. I may not be as good as I think I am, but I am set in my ways)
5.) I enjoy the respect I get as the GM. I love it when players say "Thank you" at the end of the game, and I feel like I have earned it. I love the times when the players hover around my table when the muster starts because they want to claim me as their GM.
6.) Reading DarkWhite's post, it reminds me that the more I GM, the better I get. I like to GM because after running a scenario 3 or 4 times I start to make it my own. Everything goes smoother. I remember all the details and descriptions that I forgot to mention the first time I run the scenario. By 5 or 6 times through I don't even need to reference the scenario, I know it by heart. I spend more time role-playing with the players than I do with my nose in the scenario trying to find the DC for this, or the Faction mission for that.
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I fell into GMing as my friends said I should join the GM crew for our area. I had GM'd many many moons ago for a home game and while I felt inept at it, it was a home game and therefore I wasn't nervous.
I started judging PFS in March for a home group I put together to help get a friend leveled up.. one night in a tired stupor I emailed a certain Doug Doug about volunteering at Origins -- imagine my surprise when he accepted and I was supposed to judge a slot -- I really really really dislike speaking in front of people I don't know and felt that I wouldn't do a good job. I ended up judging for the whole convention and had the time of my life!!!!!!
Origins was a blast, I started to develop my own style and really really started to like GMing.
I GM because not many females will in a convention setting and let's face it, I don't mind being the token female of PFS -- I'm not being conceited, but really.
It's fun, it's challenging and I've found myself learning the game system better. I'll never be a rules lawyer, but I understand rules better and have a desire to play classes I normally wouldn't have because I want to understand the class when I have to GM it and when it's played at my table.
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For crack mainly. Herald's pretty much my dealer. Actually, I started playing again to find something off the computer to do with my son. Herald was GM'ing us. I volunteered to run a few at GenCon and then decided I better figure out how to GM PFS. I ran one or two a week until GenCon, I loved it, and now although I travel a great deal, I try to sneak back into the weekly event I started that Herald now runs.
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I've been GMing campaigns of one sort or another (always D&D though until now) since I was 13. I do it because I enjoy it and I'm pretty good at it - at least my players seem to have a good time.
Why PFS as opposed to a campaign? I do both. Each has their place, but I do like the competitiveness of PFS, at least in our area. It's all in good fun naturally, but it has a different edge to it.
Still, it is GREAT to be able to play one week and judge the next without skipping a beat!
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It's one of the best ways I have found of getting awareness of PFRPG up.
When I recently asked the owner of my FLGS if I could run PF society there, he agreed rather enthusiastically and has been making the events well-known at the store, convincing quite a few customers to attend.
I also like the predictability of having an "official" rules set. I can sit down with a bunch of strangers and know that they built their characters by a certain set of guidelines they agreed to just by attending. I love my home game and its house rules, but I'd really hate to have to talk a bunch of strangers into using my house rules - my home group only adopted those after years of building up problems with the rules that we ended up changing.
I also like the opportunity to meet up with people outside my normal circle. Our home-game playstyles may differ, but we can always meet halfway over a PF society game.
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I actually first volunteered to DM PFS after an experience with a bad PFS DM. Me and several other players in the same game went to the shop owner and complained (it turned out we were not the first) and then to the roleplaying coordinator of a local Con and essentially volunteered to fill his slots. We didn't end up doing it 'offically' but we were there to DM, and ended up getting the tables first.
I've been DMing PFS ever since, essentially making myself availible, not because of him, but because I found I enjoyed it and was good at it.
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I have been DMing two groups for my home games for the past 7 years or so. We transitioned from 2e to 3 to 3.5 and finally to Pathfinder.
I am a solid DM when it comes to stories and storylines, but I was lacking in rules and enforcement/ruling of them.
So, I mainly started DMing PFS to get more practice and better grasp of the rules. From one game with four players at that first PFS game, it expanded as word of mouth spread and we now have 6 locations running PFS with nearly 40 active players. It continues to grow and hence we are where we are now :)
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I do it for the women, because you know, GMing is like a babe magnet or something.
There are plenty of reasons to enjoy PFS in general, the world, the format, and the persistent environment for example. Honestly though, when it comes to GMing, I just enjoy doing it. When you're done playing with a table of strangers and you get a "thank you" or a "that was a ton of fun" you feel a sense of accomplishment. I'll also admit with a bit of trepidation that like several people here, I've had bad experiences as a player with GMs I don't know. Some have been really fantastic, but others aren't prepared, or are in it for the benefits, not the fun. I want to make sure everybody who plays has fun, because that's fun for me.
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I do it because I am a glutton for punishment. j/k
In reality I am an old veteran of RPGA Living Campaigns. More as a player than GM, but I knew the basic ins and outs of the idea. When PFS was announced, the misses and I were planning to go to GenCon and we had nothing really planned in what we were going to play. So we both signed up for PFS and I volunteered to GM for PFS. I was in love from the start and have met a large number of great people over the seasons. I just can not wait to see what happens next.
Will
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I started GMing during Living Greyhawk and enjoyed it for many of the reasons that people here have expressed. When 4th Ed came around, I organized monthly (two session) games until the final few months before Pathfinder debuted, at which point our monthly gaming session became Pathfinder. A year and half later, we have grown from 1 table per session to three (which I need to report...) and no indication of it getting smaller. In the heyday of Greyhawk, our local group had 4-5 tables running per session, so my goal is to strive with this for Pathfinder.
So, basically I started GMing Pathfinder because my judge group and I have been organizing Living campaigns for a long, long time and we all love Pathfinder and want to bring it to the masses.
PS: Thea is in my group's judge pool and she was never inept at it.
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I actually started cuz my brother was a little nervous about running a PFS scenario he had just written for a crazy group of gamers at Origins 08 (the ones I remember were named Josh, Erik, Jason, Nic, and Chris). So I helped him by being initiative/rulebook monkey.
Then it became natural for me to run the same adventure at GenCon, and Josh kept asking me to help him out by running another session.... and it built from there.
I like the rules system. I like the completion time-frame. I like the vast majority of the adventures. I like the setting.
And like most others here, I enjoy the positive feedback I get from running a crazy number of people thru a bunch of scenarios at a large con.
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PS: Thea is in my group's judge pool and she was never inept at it.
I think many people feel that they can't GM because they don't feel prepared. "I don't know the rules well enough" is the most common reason. "I don't feel comfortable GMing with a bunch of strangers at the table" is another one. Everyone feels nervous and off-balance when they GM for the first time. Heck, I recall I still felt that way after a solid year of convention GMing. But all that nervousness and anxiety means is that you CARE about doing a good job. It doesn't mean you can't handle it. I think that coming to a convention and GMing for a bunch of strangers is empowering. I think that Thea was one of the best GMs at Origins this year. Any feelings of ineptitude were not apparent. Rather I thought of the scene from the end of "Platoon" when Charlie Sheen and his partner succumb to battle-frenzy and lose their fear of death, charging the VC like madmen. That was Thea at Origins.
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I think many people feel that they can't GM because they don't feel prepared. "I don't know the rules well enough" is the most common reason. "I don't feel comfortable GMing with a bunch of strangers at the table" is another one. Everyone feels nervous and off-balance when they GM for the first time.
I don't GM yet, but I'm throwing my hat in the ring. For all the gaming I've done I can remember four GMs. One awful and three good. Now, that's not to say that I haven't had a lot of great GMs, it's just that I remember the story and not the GM - and that's a good thing. They told the story, they ran the adventure and they did their part - well! When I GM I won't mind if I'm not remembered. I just don't want to be remembered for a bad call (I'll make them) or messing something up royally (I'll read the adventure x3 the first few games). If the players remember the game, then I will have done my job well.
-Swiftbrook
Future Rookie GM
No matter the system, I run games because I enjoy telling the story and interacting with the characters that the players bring to the table. And while I know there is a time-limit to PFS games, I will still try to keep the role-play in the game where it does not slow things down once I do finally GM a game. Oh, and while the rewards are nice, I would probably still GM without them.
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I'll admit, I had no experience with organized play prior to the Society. I didn't get involved with Living Greyhawk, and never bothered with LFR when 4th edition got rolling. I got my first taste of PFS play at PaizoCon '09, and it got me hooked. The enthusiasm of the GMs, Josh's dedication to making it the best organized play setup out there, and the quality of the scenarios, really made me want to get involved. I wouldn't have gotten to where I am in terms of the Society without any of that, and I'm grateful. I love playing, GMing, and just getting to meet new people and introduce them to the Society. If I could do this for a living, I totally would :)
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I GM for several reasons. Mainly, I enjoy it. I also like the idea that by GMing, I am teaching and mentoring other GMs (I've been GMing various games for 20 years now). Also, I'd rather GM than play under a bad GM. I GM PFS games specifically to promote the system and meet new players.
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I GM for several reasons. Mainly, I enjoy it. I also like the idea that by GMing, I am teaching and mentoring other GMs (I've been GMing various games for 20 years now). Also, I'd rather GM than play under a bad GM. I GM PFS games specifically to promote the system and meet new players.
And I have to add, Charlie is one of the best GMs I've played under. His games never fail to be fun. And of course, then there's the Professor...I'm gonna miss him.
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I think many people feel that they can't GM because they don't feel prepared. "I don't know the rules well enough" is the most common reason. "I don't feel comfortable GMing with a bunch of strangers at the table" is another one. Everyone feels nervous and off-balance when they GM for the first time. Heck, I recall I still felt that way after a solid year of convention GMing. But all that nervousness and anxiety means is that you CARE about doing a good job. It doesn't mean you can't handle it. I think that coming to a convention and GMing for a bunch of strangers is empowering. I think that Thea was one of the best GMs at Origins this year. Any feelings of ineptitude were not apparent. Rather I thought of the scene from the end of "Platoon" when Charlie Sheen and his partner succumb to battle-frenzy and lose their fear of death, charging the VC like madmen. That was Thea at Origins.
PS: Thea is in my group's judge pool and she was never inept at it.
blush.. kind words for me acting like a madwomen. I'm honored Thank you
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I GM for several reasons. Mainly, I enjoy it. I also like the idea that by GMing, I am teaching and mentoring other GMs (I've been GMing various games for 20 years now). Also, I'd rather GM than play under a bad GM. I GM PFS games specifically to promote the system and meet new players.And I have to add, Charlie is one of the best GMs I've played under. His games never fail to be fun. And of course, then there's the Professor...I'm gonna miss him.
Thanks, Dane. Miss you guys too. Congrats on Venture-Captain!
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blush.. kind words for me acting like a madwomen. I'm honored Thank youI think many people feel that they can't GM because they don't feel prepared. "I don't know the rules well enough" is the most common reason. "I don't feel comfortable GMing with a bunch of strangers at the table" is another one. Everyone feels nervous and off-balance when they GM for the first time. Heck, I recall I still felt that way after a solid year of convention GMing. But all that nervousness and anxiety means is that you CARE about doing a good job. It doesn't mean you can't handle it. I think that coming to a convention and GMing for a bunch of strangers is empowering. I think that Thea was one of the best GMs at Origins this year. Any feelings of ineptitude were not apparent. Rather I thought of the scene from the end of "Platoon" when Charlie Sheen and his partner succumb to battle-frenzy and lose their fear of death, charging the VC like madmen. That was Thea at Origins.
PS: Thea is in my group's judge pool and she was never inept at it.
I second Doug's praise of Thea. I played at her table one night and I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. My life was not going very well at the time and that really helped to lift my spirits, let go, and just have fun. Thanks again Thea. I hope you make it back to Columbus next year.
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I second Doug's praise of Thea. I played at her table one night and I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. My life was not going very well at the time and that really helped to lift my spirits, let go, and just have fun. Thanks again Thea. I hope you make it back to Columbus next year.
Mo, Glad I could lighten things up even if for a night :)
As for next year hehe, already have the time off requested, Already indentured myself to Doug for the week