RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Have you attended the "GM 101" seminar, or read the handout? There's a lot of good advice there: how to draw out NPC characteristics, how to prepare under emergency circumstances, and so forth.
A couple weeks ago, somebody asked me what I think the most important quality of a GM is, and when I had an answer, I was surprised that it wasn't in the GM 101 list.
A good GM needs integrity.
It's nice to have a judge who does funny voices and makes the table laugh. It's very nice to have a GM who's well-organized and prepared. But I would trade a well-organized GM with acting talents for a GM who considered it important to be honest in her actions and and truthful in her judgement.
On a couple other threads, people like Kyle Baird and nosig have commented that there is a problem with players who don't trust their GMs. If I don't trust my GM, there's no way that I'm going to relax enough to enjoy his NPC characterization. I will have a hard time appreciating the way his encounters are efficient, if I'm questioning whether we're encountering 10 goblins because (a) that's what the scenario tells him, or (b) because he had 10 goblin miniatures.
This doesn't mean only "run the encounters as written", although that's usually part of integrity. It also means "rule consistently". If our party is easily overcoming the scenario's obstacles, I don't want the GM to make more ruling against us, or give all the NPCs a +2 situational modifier to their attack rolls.
What quality do you think is important in a Pathfinder Society Game Master?
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I think you nailed it on the head Chris.
I'd also go with Confidence.
But Confidence within their Integrity.
This doesn't mean that they are cocky and seeking to kill the characters.
Confidence means they feel they are prepared, know the rules sufficiently, and most importantly know how to make a ruling and stand by it.
Confidence doesn’t mean that they are always right though. Check your ego at the door.
If you make a mistake, own up to it, and if it doesn’t matter, move on. If it matters, do what you can to correct it in the most time efficient and least impactful way possible. GM’s will make mistakes.
Part of Confidence with yourself is being able to admit you are wrong, fix the mistake, and still believe that you can do a good job going forward.
This part of Confidence is very important to integrity. Players will appreciate it when you retcon something because you made a mistake, rather than just say, “oh well, crap happens, sorry your guy is dead.”
If you can maintain your integrity through confidence, then you can move on to ensuring a fun time had by all.
Not disagreeing with campaign leadership seems to be a good start. Judging by the attitudes put forth in the great Bracers of Snowball Knack discussion.
Just nod your head and say, Yes sir, no sir, thank you sir.
Well I'll let the rest of the people who read this thread make that ruling for themselves.
Sometimes my English doesn't come across the way I want.
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Maintain verisimilitude.
I hate it when the game is running smoothly and then the GM stops to destroy the world of imagination the author has created by pointedly complaining about a statblock he can't find, or how the encounter which is about to happen is something that he would never run, and did you want to just skip it? Thanks for taking me out of the space, GM. You're the Game Master, YOU make the decision. I hate GM commentary in the middle of a game, save it for the end.
I like GMs who favour common sense, realism and game flow over RAW. If the module says the party must make a DC 25 perception check to proceed with the adventure, but everyone fails, USE YOUR BRAIN. Have the brilliant scholar roll knowledge skills on what the group should be looking for. Allow the gossip-monger to hear tidbits to give him clues. Don't stop the game! ESPECIALLY if the gaming roadblock is trivial.
Above all, I love Game Masters who allow the PCs to interact realistically with the world. Town guards get grossed out by the hideous Eidolon as it passes on the streets. Chelish slavers snarl at the Eagle Knight as he swaggers by. Tien NPCs bow reverentially to Lantern Lodge members and smile politely but confusedly at Inner Sea heroes. Etiquette gets you places, while brusqueness does not.
To aid with this, REMEMBER people's characters. Ask about them at the beginning of the session. Learn about them and assist the player build up their personality. How would the rising star bard deal with a gaggle of besotted middle aged female fans? How would the Orc Knight deal with seeing that his kin are begging for mercenary jobs out in the slums? How would a CG Andoran deal with seeing the environmental destruction of his homeland? Look actively for these opportunities for your players and make the most of them.
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Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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Not disagreeing with campaign leadership seems to be a good start. Judging by the attitudes put forth in the great Bracers of Snowball Knack discussion.
Just nod your head and say, Yes sir, no sir, thank you sir.
People disagree with me all the time. I listen to those disagreements and sometimes change rulings from seeing a better way to make PFS work (See Jiggy's post 4 posts up). Admittedly, I put more weight into discussions from people who actually play PFS, since organized play is a different animal than a home game.
I see you have no sessions of PFS ever recorded in your history. Before you start bashing on organized play, and me specifically, I invite you to try a game or two out. It is hard to advise what works and what doesn't work for organized play when you have never participated in it.
On a side note, if you don't have anything constructive to add to a conversation, then don't post.
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I agree, to Integrity and all the added qualities above.. And so I add my own:
For me personally, I add on flexibility. Great GM's know the rules, how the adventure works, but when a player does something creative to resolve a situation that is within the rules, they allow it and reward it if applicable.
There are a lot of GM's who run HARD RAW, to the point, where they don't even reward creative solutions. This is a big sticking point to Organized Play. Although to each their own, it's a trap that I think we GM's who run organized play can sometimes fall into. Not intentionally mind you, but that's the beauty of our game. We have our imaginations to come up with new ideas and resolutions to problems instead of just following the protocol of a linear plot cause it's already there in black and white.
To me, a flexible GM, who is open to the ideas of players, is a very important attribute. Both in organized play and in general RPG life. As long as no one is being a jerk, flexibility works. Especially in those tight situations where a player might need a little to make something happen that is important to the game at hand.
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To me, a flexible GM, who is open to the ideas of players, is a very important attribute. Both in organized play and in general RPG life. As long as no one is being a jerk, flexibility works. Especially in those tight situations where a player might need a little to make something happen that is important to the game at hand.
I like players that try clever things, like using marbles to trip NPC's, or trying to find a animal to speak to via spell.
I have found the most single common table variance in many games playing as well many games GM'ing, is the first level spell Grease.
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Try to avoid falling into the adversarial trap. It can be too easy to get upset as a GM when your encounters start, have one or two PCs go, and it is all over.
Remember to take a deep breath, and remember you are there to help everyone have fun.
And do what you can, if one or two players are dominating the table, to include the other players in at least some of the RP, if nothing else.
I see you have no sessions of PFS ever recorded in your history. Before you start bashing on organized play, and me specifically, I invite you to try a game or two out. It is hard to advise what works and what doesn't work for organized play when you have never participated in it.
Why would you give that private information about my account out to the public? That not information I choose to share with anyone. What are you going to tell them next, where I call home? Please keep my private data out of this.
I created this account to vote on RPG superstar. I have my paper chronicles and that is all that matters.
On a side note, if you don't have anything constructive to add to a conversation, then don't post.
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I created this account to vote on RPG superstar. I have my paper chronicles and that is all that matters.
No, of course it's not, dude. At some point, you registerd your player number on paizo.com, so your GMs have been able to record sessions you've played. That required an account. If "Chalk Microbe" is a second account for voting for RPG Superstar, then you've got two accounts, and that's not cool.
If you haven't gotten around to registering your player number yet, dude, get to it!
And if you've got something to add to this thread other than juvenile snark, I'd love to hear it. As it stands right now, I sort of feel bad for your GMs: they do all the work prepping and making sure to give you a fun, memorable game, and all you care about is whether they accept the campaign leadership's rulings unquestioningly.
Paper chronicles are all that matters. Or so I've been told by the guy who handed me my PFS #.
Are paper chronicles not the be all end all in regards to PFS play? Was I told wrong?
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Paper chronicles are all that matters. Or so I've been told by the guy who handed me my PFS #.
Are paper chronicles not the be all end all in regards to PFS play? Was I told wrong?
According to site terms of use, one singular person is not to have more than one account. If you created the "chalk" account in addition to your real account, you, sir, are in violation of those terms of use.
Since the electronic reporting isn't 100% (even though it should be) the official record is the paper chronicle that you received, however, the reporting system is used to track trends in scenarios played and a bunch of other stuff that we aren't privy to. In addition, should you ever lose those paper chronicles, you can email Mike (as long as he's still speaking to you {you have been a bit nasty lately just fyi}) and he can help you get your chronicles back to make the character legal again.
Just as an FYI, you may want to take a step back and evaluate the attitude that you're giving off on the forums. You so far every time you post have been in violation of the number 1 rule of PFS and that is don't be a jerk.
This is my only account. Not in violation of $$$$.
I'm trying to stop posting in this thread.
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Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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Paper chronicles are all that matters. Or so I've been told by the guy who handed me my PFS #.
Are paper chronicles not the be all end all in regards to PFS play? Was I told wrong?
For your character, sure they are all that matter. For PFS to get a larger budget to possibly produce more scenarios a month, the only thing that is going to allow us to expand what we offer is an increase in reported sessions so we can see the demand is growing.
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While I agree that confidence is good quality to have, it can sometimes run counter to another quality that I value more highly: humility.
I try to be very open to rules corrections when I run, because I know I'm going to make mistakes or have gaps in my knowledge. I'll usually only make a fiat decision for time's sake
Anytime a GM says "well, this is the rule but I think it's stupid so we're doing it my way..." Huge red flag there. Could be okay, but it's a sign that the GM thinks he knows better than campaign management, than the Paizo devs, and almost certainly more than any of the players.
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I’m not sure that integrity (at least the way Chris defines it) is important at all. Yes I want the GM to run the PF rules RAW and it's a major pet peeve of mine when they are ignored. But whether the GM runs the scenario RAW has nothing to do with whether the game is fun or not.
Most the time GMs run scenarios “RAW” and they run it wrong (they try), making the entire experience very non-RAW. So by that definition alone, most of my experiences should be horrible since they are non-RAW (unintentionally). Since that’s not the case, running RAW can’t be that important.
What’s important are the GM’s intentions. Is the GM on my side, does he want the PCs to succeed, and does he want players to have fun? If he doesn’t have that, he’s usually not a GM for very long.
So for me, this value is assumed, because I haven’t had many experiences otherwise. Have you?
So assuming that his intentions are good, I’d say preparation, verisimilitude (I hate this word btw), and humor are important, in no particular order.
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While I agree that confidence is good quality to have, it can sometimes run counter to another quality that I value more highly: humility.
I try to be very open to rules corrections when I run, because I know I'm going to make mistakes or have gaps in my knowledge. I'll usually only make a fiat decision for time's sake
Anytime a GM says "well, this is the rule but I think it's stupid so we're doing it my way..." Huge red flag there. Could be okay, but it's a sign that the GM thinks he knows better than campaign management, than the Paizo devs, and almost certainly more than any of the players.
Absolutely! I don't mind be corrected at the table, as long as interpretations on ambiguity don't become prolonged.
And this is where confidence comes in. If you are confident enough in yourself, its ok to be wrong sometimes.
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My 'grain of salt' moment.
These are MY important qualities that matter in the big chair:
(your results may vary)
1) Strong/Confident Communication.
2) Good Storytelling.
3) Broad vision.
4) Good Character/Voice Acting.
5) Balanced/Fair Decision Making.
6) Solid Rules Understanding.
7) Understanding the Spirit of the Game.
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I see you have no sessions of PFS ever recorded in your history.Why would you give that private information about my account out to the public? That not information I choose to share with anyone. What are you going to tell them next, where I call home? Please keep my private data out of this.
If you click on a link to your profile, you'll notice the lack of the message 'Pathfinder Society Member' at the top (unlike most other people in this forum). This means you haven't formally associated a PFS number with your account, which means you can't have any sessions recorded against it. This information is available to all.
If you don't register your PFS characters online, it means that every time a GM reports one of your sessions, they have to enter your PC's name and faction manually. If everyone refrained from registering, it would make entering sessions a real pain. Registering online is the polite thing to do.
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I try to gm the same way I used to do corporate training, with a motto that kind of bundles Integrity and Confidence and Humility: Never try to BS the class.
This not only means don't lie or cheat (Integrity), it also means recognizing that some people in your class might know more than you do and taking that opportunity to learn from them(Humility). You are much better off saying "I don't know--let me check" than trying to bluff your way through a rules question and hoping no one at the table knows the correct answer.
Probably least obviously, it means realizing that these people willingly took time out of their day to come listen to you/sit at your table for four hours, and you do have something valuable to offer them (Confidence). Don't waste time trying to impress them or bully them or prove your superiority. Just get started, and deal with any problem students on an individual basis if you have to.
If the class/players catch you in any kind of BS moment, not only will they stop trusting you in the future, but you can actually undo the experience they've already had with you: what if everything you said or did was BS?
Adult instruction to GM is not a direct comparison, I know, but they have more commonalities than differences. A lot of it comes down to respecting everyone at the table, including yourself and the scenario author/game designer.
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For me personally, I add on flexibility. Great GM's know the rules, how the adventure works, but when a player does something creative to resolve a situation that is within the rules, they allow it and reward it if applicable.
There is the key to that statement right there, I am all for creative solutions within the rules, the issue is when creative solutions are used to break rules, which though rare are the times I see most pop up that cause the problem of players complaining about GMs not allowing creative solutions.
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On Topic...
So one of the few things that Bug me about GMs I meet outside of our local group are GMs that are not willing to admit they are wrong. I see this mostly in Experienced/Long time GMs.
This is especially bad when it comes to rules that have changed from 3.0/3.5 to Pathfinder.
What is sad about this and one of the main reasons I don't like Playing at conventions (I will GM all day at them!) is because I seem to always run into these GMs when I go to Cons.
I have run many rules wrong, but if you can show me in a timely manner during the game or after the game that I was doing it wrong I have no problem admitting it and changing the way I run it, but I always run into GMs that refuse to learn. Eric Brittain (VC San Diego) has corrected me a few times on rules and I have learned from that.
GMs need to be able to admit when they are wrong and learn from those experiences.
On a Side note, one of my biggest fears when I played in Mike's game at Owlcon was I was going to have the same problem with him because it happens so often to me, not anything to do with him just my luck on that.. ;)
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So, what makes a good GM?
Knowledgeable of the system, so that he doesn't have to look up everything up.
Respectful enough of his players, in that he makes sure he has prepped the game as best as he can, including creating "cheat sheets" with such things as spell definitions, monster stats, etc., so that he doesn't have to look up everything.
Confident enough to know he isn't always right. Sometimes you have to reverse a ruling if called on it (but the player should be able to cite the rules in the source material, preferably without disrupting the game). Confidence enough to say "I know that this might not be exactly right, but in the interest of keeping the scenario going, this is how I am going to rule." Then, in order to increase knowledge of the game, look up the rule after the game, and learn what the "proper" ruling is.
Fun enough to be around that you want to come back. While this may mean funny voices, more often than not it is just enjoying being at the table!
Sympathetic enough to know that players put a lot of emotion into their characters. Realize it isn't "us" vs. "them"... we are all out to have fun! However, also, when the battle is happening, hit 'em hard, but fairly. Make the battle memorable...
Above all, a goof GM is a good player, a good fan of the game!
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Above all, a goof GM is a good player, a good fan of the game!
I wanna be a goof GM!
Although I am sure some of my players, GMs, and co-workers would be willing to swear I am goofy enough already. ;)
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I believe one of the most important qualities of a good game master is to help your players create memories of a good experience. Memories that they can take away from the table and cherish for a lifetime. So that years down the road while swapping stories of the game table with their friends (and you all know you do this) they can say, "man, I remember this one time I got to do this amazing and heroic thing". To allow them as players to stand tall against the oncoming darkness and say, "not today". Isn't that why people play this game, to be larger then life and do something amazing? To do the things that they may never get to experience in real life? To stand up from prone with 2 HP left and crit the big bad sending him down for well deserved dirt nap?
The great thing about doing this is that it doesn't require you to be the best rules guy, or the best tactician or role player all you need to do is make sure your players walk away with a smile on their faces, having given them their time to shine and by allowing them to be heroic, even if it's only for the short time while they're at your table. If you've ever had a table of players applaud you at the end of a session you know you've done them a great service. That in itself is the best reward you can hope for as a GM. Something we can all strive for.
And yea it's a bit sappy, but what can I say, I had a good day.
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I think an important quality for a GM is the ability to herd cats without the cats feeling they are being herded. Almost any table has the chance to diverge on tangents that don't progress the scenario and actually detract from the gaming experience. The most common being off-topic table talk. As a GM I think it's important to be able to bring everyone back to the scenario efficiently without making the players feel as if they are banned from socialization.
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On the point of "Run the Encounters as Written", can I change the spells/feats/skills to better fit my tactics? I am also thinking applying archetypes and drawing from newer resource books would be possible since none of this changes the CR of the encounter. Adding or changing magic items would not be allowed. The idea is that many players have access to online discussions of the scenarios and some have run the mission before playing it, so changing it up a bit keeps the novelty factor, maybe even breathing new life into earlier season missions.
None of these changes are allowed. The stat blocks need to be used as printed with no adjustments made. Occasionally the scenario specifically adds conditions or removes abilities to fit the subtier being played.
This even includes not updating the class abilities of year 0 scenario NPCs from 3.5 class mechanics to PFRPG mechanics. In year 0 scenarios this will lead to clerics having proficiency in heavy armor, sorcerers without bloodlines, and other small discrepancies.
