One of the big misapprehensions about Game Mastering (v.) that we perpetrate in our gamerooms is that the DM always seems to know the answer to any problem that is discussed.
This gives players the idea that there is a book somewhere with all the right answers to all of the interesting questions, and that DMs know those answers.
And if one could get hold of the book, one would have everything settled. That's so unlike the true nature of DMing.
I don't think it's the GM's job to know every nuanced rule. It's the GM's job though, to adjudicate based on what they do know, so it behooves the GM to know as much as possible on the subject. But 100% expertise? I've never played with that expectation, and when I've run a game, it's starkly obvious that I don't aim for that.
I aim only to have a good time.
One of the big misapprehensions about Game Mastering (v.) that we perpetrate in our gamerooms is that the DM always seems to know the answer to any problem that is discussed.
This gives players the idea that there is a book somewhere with all the right answers to all of the interesting questions, and that DMs know those answers.
And if one could get hold of the book, one would have everything settled. That's so unlike the true nature of DMing.
But I have that book.
One of biggest mistruths is that you have to dress up to play.
One of biggest mistruths is that you have to dress up to play.
One of the biggest mistruths is not that you HAVE to get dressed up, but rather that people do it at all. I've never met a single person who ever got dressed up to play, even a single time. Yet every single gamer in popular fiction shows up in a cloak and has a sword and shield or a staff or something.
Let's be fair, many of us would LIKE to. I myself would show up for games dressed as my characters if not for the exorbitant price in doing it and looking good while doing it. I don't want some crap cardboard, I'd prefer something decent looking, and that sadly costs money.
Are we talking myths and truths from within the RPG community? Or myths and truths from people outside the RPG community? I'd say, inside the community, I've never gamed, on either side of the screen, with the expectation that the GM knew everything. Rather I've gamed, again, on both sides of the screen, with the idea that the GM would adjudicate everything as fairly as possible, with the intent that everyone at the table have fun. I have to look up rules at the table every time I GM.
If you want to talk about outside the RPG community then there are whole hosts of things people assume. I run a club at the school where I teach, and even some of the other teachers assume we dress up, hit each other with foam swords, and that we all talk with fake British accents. Some people outside the community watch movies like this and assume that every GM everywhere is like these people. I hope this doesn't offend anybody reading, but... I work out regularly, and I'd like to think I'm in pretty good shape. (Breaking the stereotype that all GMs/Gamers eat only processed food, and are well overweight.) I've been gainfully employed as a teacher since I graduated from college. (Breaking the stereotype that all GMs/Gamers are working crappy dead-end jobs just to support their gaming habits.) I have a clean, caring, and not socially awkward home/family life. (Breaking the stereotype that all GMs/Gamers live in their parents basement, in Section 8 housing, or have dysfunctional relationships with everyone around them who isn't a gamer.) Also... I've never ever put full body makeup on. (Which apparently is a new stereotype of the RPG community, because they even put it into the Community AD&D episode.) Those are the kind of assumptions people make outside the hobby, and I, personally, believe those are the kinds of stereotypes that gamers everywhere should be trying to disprove. That way people outside the RPG community can realize that not everybody who games is a complete nutjob.
Truth: a GM should be a good facilitator
This can be compensated by an active player, but in my experience, it usually falls to the GM.
It tends to be helpful to know the rules better than any of the players as that way, when an interpretation of a rule is need the playing group will acquiesce. It's rarely possible, and even when true it doesn't mean that the players agree that the gm knows the rules better.
If you don't know the rules better, it helps to be able to say "well, in [my] game, today, the rule works like this" and for your players to be willing to accept this. If they're not, then something is wrong at the table.
My "Rule One" is that the GM is always right, and is entitled to make or change any ruling for any reason (including personal malice). A more common reason for making or changing a ruling is that I have been persuaded by a player that their interpretation is better than mine, but once I've 'heard submissions', I make a ruling and move on. The most important thing is that the rules are a framework, not a straight jacket. As GM, you can break them if you want - you're a gamesmaster, not a rulemaster.
As for dressing up, Live Action is way different from tabletop, great fun but different. As long as no one wears trainers.
One of biggest mistruths is that you have to dress up to play.One of the biggest mistruths is not that you HAVE to get dressed up, but rather that people do it at all. I've never met a single person who ever got dressed up to play, even a single time. Yet every single gamer in popular fiction shows up in a cloak and has a sword and shield or a staff or something.
I own a wizard hat, but for an unrelated matter.
I own a wizard hat, but for an unrelated matter.One of biggest mistruths is that you have to dress up to play.One of the biggest mistruths is not that you HAVE to get dressed up, but rather that people do it at all. I've never met a single person who ever got dressed up to play, even a single time. Yet every single gamer in popular fiction shows up in a cloak and has a sword and shield or a staff or something.
I can see it now, with the Lincoln Beard and the Hat.
Hobby Myth : GMs that allow characters to die are bad GMs.
Hobby Myth : GMs that don't let the players do whatever they want are tyrants and bad GMs.
Hobby Myth : All optimizers are bad roleplayers.
Hobby Myth : All good roleplayers play gimped mechanically broken characters.
My #1 rule as a GM is : Don't reward Stupidity. If you do something stupid, don't expect the Hand of God to reach down and save your character. If it's just that the Evil Dice Gods are enjoying torturing you, then maybe the Hand of God intervenes. That doesn't make me a bad GM, it just means my gamemastering style is a more gritty type. Nothing wrong with playing "Nobody Dies" either, but I find it boring personally.
GMs are there to do a world setting, and if the GM says "Sorry, all barbarians are Orcs or Gnolls from Suvanra or Telvassa" and the player wants to play a human Barbarian, then that just don't work. Play a half-orc barbarian instead. The GM has to come up with the world, and he has to keep it internally self consistent. If he's constantly retconning to allow every odd combination that comes up, the world suffers and becomes less believable.
An optimizer is not necessarily a bad roleplayer. However, if he's not a good roleplayer, then he's a drag on the game. He drives the bar higher for anyone else who's not an optimizer. Now, if the whole group just wants to try to maximize everything, that's fine. In mixed games, it's a major issue.
And on the flip side coin, not all good roleplayers play characters intentionally mechanically inferior. They might not be mechanically optimized, but that's highly different from inferior. And beyond that, may be optimized. It can go too far in the opposite direction, someone who's great at roleplaying a 12yo loli sorceress who screams and runs from battle may be highly entertaining, but if her character is not contributing, then she's a drag to the other players. If they are ok with that, then all is well and good. But if not, the sorceress needs to change.
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One of the biggest mistruths is not that you HAVE to get dressed up, but rather that people do it at all. I've never met a single person who ever got dressed up to play, even a single time. Yet every single gamer in popular fiction shows up in a cloak and has a sword and shield or a staff or something.
To be fair regarding stereotype, a handful of people would walk around wearing that stuff for reasons unrelated to gaming, and the stereotype is frequently applied in a slightly broader sense to actors and other theater folk (not just high fantasy garb, but any and all costume garb accurate to period).
I would walk around with a cloak if I had the money for a well-made one. I would also wear bracers in non-gaming life, but mostly because I have a design half-done in my head for something amounting to "utility bracers."
In response to the OP, though, the GM shouldn't be expected to know everything. The responsibility is more to make rulings where questions/conflicts arise, then (mostly) try to keep things consistent. If a player brings up a rule that I hadn't realized was there (I haven't memorized the Core rulebook yet), then I'll move off from the ruling. If we've already played a significant amount of game as if that rule wasn't the case, though, I'll probably stick with the way we've been playing for consistency's sake. That's a style thing for me, though.
I'd disagree with Cassia Aquila that personal malice is a fair reason to change the rules, though. There's the potential problem of favoritism showing up, or "all are equal, but some are more equal" cases. Not a big fan of stuff like that.
I would also wear bracers in non-gaming life, but mostly because I have a design half-done in my head for something amounting to "utility bracers."
I would like to subscribe to youre "utility bracers" newsletter.
GMs are there to do a world setting, and if the GM says "Sorry, all barbarians are Orcs or Gnolls from Suvanra or Telvassa" and the player wants to play a human Barbarian, then that just don't work. Play a half-orc barbarian instead. The GM has to come up with the world, and he has to keep it internally self consistent. If he's constantly retconning to allow every odd combination that comes up, the world suffers and becomes less believable.
This, of course, illustrates...
Hobby Myth: Players care just as much about the DM's personal setting as the DM does, and are absolutely willing to set their own desires and enjoyment of the game aside in order to preserve its internal consistency.
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Truth:
As the DM, you are the LOSER. You're gonna lose every fight. All your characters are gonna get killed eventually and all their nefarious plots will fail.
Sure, as DM you can fudge dice rolls, bend rules on stating up your monsters, adjuticate rulings based on your gut, etc. But you're still gonna lose.
Sure, maybe an occassional PC dies and get raised (or a new PC joins). But if you allow a TPK, except during the very last fight of a Campaign (or Adventure), you've likely made a mistake as DM.
Truth:
As the DM, you are the LOSER.
This is why it is very difficult for some people to get behind the screen.
GMs are there to do a world setting, and if the GM says "Sorry, all barbarians are Orcs or Gnolls from Suvanra or Telvassa" and the player wants to play a human Barbarian, then that just don't work. Play a half-orc barbarian instead. The GM has to come up with the world, and he has to keep it internally self consistent. If he's constantly retconning to allow every odd combination that comes up, the world suffers and becomes less believable.This, of course, illustrates...
Hobby Myth: Players care just as much about the DM's personal setting as the DM does, and are absolutely willing to set their own desires and enjoyment of the game aside in order to preserve its internal consistency.
Hobby Myth: Any GM that wants his world to stay internally consistent does so by sucking all the enjoyment of the game out of his players, like a psychic vampire, only satisfied when they groan aloud and ask to be killed every time they think about the game.
Game Truth: If the players cannot be flexible to work with the GM so that everyone is happy, then the players are selfish pricks.
Game Truth: If the GM cannot be flexible to work with the players so that everyone is happy, then the GM is a selfish prick.
I would walk around with a cloak if I had the money for a well-made one. I would also wear bracers in non-gaming life, but mostly because I have a design half-done in my head for something amounting to "utility bracers."
I want a cape to GM: Link
Game Myth: The GM is always right.
Game Truth: The GM has the last word, and wasting half an hour of game-time proving that you are RIGHT when it really doesn't matter, kills the mood for everyone.
Game Myth: The GM is the loser.
Game Truth: The GM who learns to take his victories from the small stuff, the looks of surprise on his player's faces, the exclamations of "Oh s@*@!" when you reveal they've been tricked, the laughter when your goblins light themselves on fire, and the cheers when they win a hard fought battle, is a winner. Every. Single. Time.
Game Truth: The GM who can't... who only wins if his party loses, is a loser.
Game Myth: The GM is always right.
Game Truth: The GM is always right... until he looks up the rule later and sees he was wrong. In other words, at the table, unless you can whip the rule out before your next turn, go with the flow.
Game Myth: The GM is the loser.
Game Truth: The GM who learns to take his victories from the small stuff, the looks of surprise on his player's faces, the exclamations of "Oh s#!&!" when you reveal they've been tricked, the laughter when your goblins light themselves on fire, and the cheers when they win a hard fought battle, is a winner. Every. Single. Time.
Game Truth: The GM who can't... who only wins if his party loses, is a loser.
Game Myth: The GM is always right.
Game Truth: The GM is always right... until he looks up the rule later and sees he was wrong. In other words, at the table, unless you can whip the rule out before your next turn, go with the flow.
Now you're getting semantic. Of course the GM wins when he has fun, and enjoys the game. I mean, that's the point. I would hope that goes without saying. It is definitely true, though, that as the person in charge of all the "bad guys," the beasts and characters you play are all but destined to die. In that sense they do lose. They lose in combat, but they aren't a loser, unless they can't handle that.
Unfortunate game truth: There are GMs out there that actively work to kill their player's characters.
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Unfortunate game truth: There are GMs out there that actively work to kill their player's characters.
Yes, but more than that, I've known of lots of DMs who maybe don't consciously try to kill off the PCs but...
fall too in love with their villains,...feel frustrated about a fight going against their monsters,...
feel they made mistakes when a Player finds a weakness in a BBEG (or other),...
feel they can only get (generic, real-life) respect when they win,...etc., etc.,
and as a result, twist things in their games around so the PCs are always on the brink of being Turtled -- and often just trump the PCs' abilities.
Unfortunate Game Truth: Lots of DMs get some kind of self satisfaction or ingratiation out of "beating" PCs down and always "winning" -- subconsciously making themselves feel better about themselves.
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Unfortunate game truth: There are GMs out there that actively work to kill their player's characters.
I've actually known a couple DMs over the years that were solid-or-better at DMing but were sorta "out to get" the PCs.
But it was clearly NOT from some sense of, er, let's say "low self esteem" but rather because that was how the game was fun for them. And because they were Fair and Consistent, their games were good.
One (who is looking on the Gamer Connection Forum, Pensacola-area) is a great DM who makes his games fun by overtly twisting around the things the Players say and do to cause a funny or frightening result. Again, very fair, very consistent -- never out of malice or some kinda inferiority complex. . . . Think of the olden days when THE POINT of a Wish spell was to try and twist the Players' words around for maximum Mwahahahahaha effect.
So, even though I agree that it's "Unfortunate," I have to posit that it can work -- and work really well, with the right DM. Of course, the caveat is that some Player styles don't appreciate that kind of game.
Hobby Myth: Any GM that wants his world to stay internally consistent does so by sucking all the enjoyment of the game out of his players, like a psychic vampire, only satisfied when they groan aloud and ask to be killed every time they think about the game.
Game Truth: If the players cannot be flexible to work with the GM so that everyone is happy, then the players are selfish pricks.
Game Truth: If the GM cannot be flexible to work with the players so that everyone is happy, then the GM is a selfish prick.
This is correct.
I don't think it's the GM's job to know every nuanced rule. It's the GM's job though, to adjudicate based on what they do know, so it behooves the GM to know as much as possible on the subject. But 100% expertise? I've never played with that expectation, and when I've run a game, it's starkly obvious that I don't aim for that.
I aim only to have a good time.
+1
I own a wizard hat, but for an unrelated matter.One of biggest mistruths is that you have to dress up to play.One of the biggest mistruths is not that you HAVE to get dressed up, but rather that people do it at all. I've never met a single person who ever got dressed up to play, even a single time. Yet every single gamer in popular fiction shows up in a cloak and has a sword and shield or a staff or something.
Do you put on your robe with it?
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Um, I've dressed up to play. Both NPCs and PCs.
In fact, I wore a tiara when I was playing a witch (PC in Kingmaker). She was going to be a real-live, honest-to-awesomeness queen...Exhas P. Orate-McTavish!
And I once wore a cloak and dark grey and white face paint to portray a bad NPC, who was once the party's dwarven cleric's sister. I also hurt my throat doing the half-undead voice. :D
RP isn't LARP, but you can still use props...if you wish. You don't GOTTA, but sometimes it can be amusing.