Information for New GMs

[Ezzran]

Denizens of the messageboards, I need to know what stuff is important for a new GM to keep in mind. This is for two reasons: I've just started running my own campaign for the first time (Carrion Crown, if you were curious), and one of my players is looking at running a small game for a small party. I'd like to keep this thread as being specifically for pathfinder, but obviously there's some overlap with other games.

I can start with a few things I've learned since starting:
1. Have EVERYTHING prepared before the session starts. Spend a day or so before the session just setting up your information, such as what's in stock at stores or whatever. Even things that you don't think your players will get to for several sessions, get that set up too, because players have a tendency to throw you for a loop.

I want to ask specifically for information when running modules for a small party (less than four players). The simplest reason for this is that some of the other players in our group are the type to try and break the game, so my friend wants to run her first game with just a handful of us that are a bit easier to work with. She'll probably be running a module (we're thinking Godsmouth Heresy to start with), and we're curious how thing will change if we only have three players. Should we Gestalt? Should we each make two characters? Should we see if we can find a 4th friend that doesn't do unusual things? Should she run a PC herself? We're all pretty good at avoiding meta-gaming (sometimes too good, actually), so that's not a huge issue.

[DM Azure_Zero]

As a GM,
The advice I give to new GMs is go only with the basics, In other words Core Rule Book content only.
Start with only the 7 Base Races, and the 11 base classes, and Restrict the use of those you don't understand period.
And start at level 1. Don't think off this as a screen play and don't think you can improvise the entire thing, it's a balance between the two.
Players will do the unexpected, but will also need a structure to follow.

Don't try custom systems, like Gestalt as you could end up with some broken combos and throw your CR to APL calculations out the door.

Being a GM does mean being prepared before the game starts, if the party is shy one PC the GM can fill in the roll with a NPC, but has to make sure they don't become attached to it.

[Orfamay Quest]

Most important thing for a new GM: you are not competing with the players, you are facilitating a story.

[Odraude]

If I could give four pieces of advice I wish I had when I started.

1. Don't be afraid to say no.
2. Don't be afraid to say yes.
3. Nip problems in the bud immediately.
4. Don't be afraid to lose. You will, in fact, lose a lot. Get used to it, it's all par for the course :)

[Romaq]

I'm working a solo campaign for my wife, so I'm facing these issues. One thing I will do to help me is to make notes here in the forum public. My working reference is http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19905354/Lessons_from_DMi ng_with_my_GF which for me sets a high gold standard. Others may disagree, but from reading that message thread I sure wish I could have Oakspar77777 as a GM. You may find useful material in that for both your friend and for yourself.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2prgz is my thread on the same topic. I am putting my notes on what I hope to do, what I think is going well, what I don't think is going well, and I can only hope someone finds it interesting enough to contribute or finds it helpful for them. I plan to run a ferret DMPC simply to cover the arcane side that my wife's barbarian would be suspicious against, and to play a character I do not expect to ever have opportunity to play. The ferret is squishy, the ferret is a 'supporting actor' in the story, the ferret is *NOT* the primary protagonist. If you have three, your friend might look at "disposable NPC support", perhaps a faint-of-heart healers or casters in nearby towns to help with situations, but *not* interested in being a party member in any way. I'd go against a DMPC. Your friend would know where all the traps are, and even if she tries very hard not to let the DMPC act on it, it becomes a source of potential conflict easily enough avoided with NPCs to provide the support, but otherwise *not* be active.

One other thing comes to mind... I have this sense that U.S. Marines, when they find themselves in this vision of hell on the battlefield, they tend to say to one another something like, "Well, if you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have enlisted!"

I'm a very n00b GM, I should be more focused on being a player, but then circumstances are such that I'm working with what I have and doing something rather than wish someone ELSE would cater to my whims. But I do get the sense that, yes... If you can't "take a joke", you really shouldn't consider being a GM. :(

[buddahcjcc]

My Pathfinder game basically died because I wasnt having fun. The group I run with are such rules lawyers they killed it foe me.

Hell one guy is so bad in the game we're in now, it feels like there are two DMs

[Little Skylark]

It's important to find out what you and your players like in a game. The most important thing is that you all have fun.
Second: It's not you against your players. If you feel like they are butchering "you" remember that you are also the village they are protecting or the person that gave them the quest.
Being a GM I found that you can't prepare everything, at least not with my players(They get very random at times), but it helps if you try. If you do have a situation you didn't prepare, roll with it. Some of the best moments I ever played weren't prepared.
As DM Azure said, go with the basics. Make sure you know the classes your players are playing. Read into them if you need to.
Also, apply common sense and social skills. Talk to your players if you dislike their behaviour, talk to them if you feel like they're not having fun. Make rules about the sessions, like how many of you have to be there, who makes a report of the session (will there be a report of the session), things like that.

You could play a dungeon with fewer players. This will be dificult at first but you will level faster. It also depends on the characters you make and how well the work together. If you're a new GM I would advice against playing a extra for the party. You have enough on your hands. But don't take on players that you're not comfortable with.

[DM Azure_Zero]

buddahcjcc wrote:

...

Hell one guy is so bad in the game we're in now, it feels like there are two DMs

At that Point I would ask Him; "Who's the GM here?"

or better yet get a sign with a arrow and the letters "GM" on it and use it when the guy talks rules.

or to his rules spinning
It's not that because it's Ad-Hoc.