Hi everyone!
After a few years of playing quite a few characters, APs and modules on Paizo, I'm starting to seriously consider trying my hand at GMing. I've always liked telling stories and roleplaying, and I think it could be a fun experience, if a challenging one.
I live quite in the middle of nowhere, and have never been near a RL group. Not only is there nearly no one I can ask questions to about GMing and how to do it, but if I run anything, it's going to have to be PBP on Paizo. Which is okay with me, but comes with its own problems.
With all that in mind, I have three questions for anyone who would be kind enough to be willing to give me some advice:
1. Because there's no use trying to be ambitious when you're learning to ropes, I don't want to start by running an AP, a campaign, or anything that could get me overwhelmed because of my experience. What would be a great, one-shot module for a beginner GM? (with some room for fun RP, of course :))
2. On Paizo, I've had GMs who used Google Slides for maps, or others that relied on Roll20. I don't have a clue how to do maps, and from what I've gathered, it's often described by GMs as difficult to learn and master. Are there tutorials? Should I use Google, Roll20, or something even easier to use?
3. One thing that is also completely new to me is how to prepare an adventure/module/scenario. Are there any resources I must have and use, beyond what can easily be found online for free (anything on legacy.aonprd, anything on the Archives of Nethys, etc...)?
Thank you very much in advance for your consideration and help! :) I really hope I can get to GMing in the following months (or 2022 at the latest...)
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1. There are introductory modules. Assuming you are going to run PF1, I am led to believe "We Be Goblins" is considered fairly interesting. You might even want to run the first book, or even part of a first book, of an AP. Some of the APs, like Rise of the Runelords, start off rather generically and some of the books can be played independently with little issue. That way if you feel this is working well you can run the rest of the AP or have it branch off into something else, or you can leave it alone and start something new later.
2. There are tutorials for Roll20, I know. Learning how to do maps can be a bit frustrating but as long as you primarily care about a useful battle map and don't care too much about it looking good, you can use Roll20 to make some serviceable stuff with only a few hours of fiddling with things. Haven't tried Google Slides
3. The first thing to do is read through the module thoroughly and find out:
- what is the plot?
- how are the PCs expected to get involved?
- who are the major NPCs and what are their personalities and motivations
- how does the adventure expect the PCs to proceed.
After way too many years of not learning from my mistakes I finally sat down with pen and paper and just wrote all of this down when prepping rather than assuming I'd managed to get everything on the first readthrough. Some people I've come across basically pretend to play through on their own and then read the module to try to answer questions they-as-PCs would come up with, such as 'how are we supposed to find out X was behind the killings?'
4. (bonus answer)
*Don't worry about making mistakes. Everybody does. Don't worry about knowing every rule and every bit of mechanics. Especially in a pbp you have time to look things up.
* Don't be afraid to say no. I've seen too many games made worse because the GM doesn't want to say no to players, and you end up with some character or action that detracts from the game for the GM and often other players. If there are classes or mechanics you don't like and will be constantly annoyed if you have to put up with, ban them. If there are races or classes or backgrounds that don't fit with what you have planned, ban them. If for instance your concept is, as one game I played in was, everyone is an elf belonging to a single country, don't let whiny players guilt you into playing humans because they are mechanically superior. Trying to find ways of accomadating players is good, but it's the GM that determines what is permitted, not the players.
* Be vivid. Vivid, memorable NPCs make for a fun game. You don't have to be a good actor, or poet but you should spend some time making people memorable. One rule of thumb I've come across is 1-2-3.
1. sentence for bit players. A town guard, a barkeep, a passing farmer. Can be as little as a single word description, doesn't need to be more than a short description, e.g. 'the barkeep' or 'the stressed barkeep'
2. Add some distinguishing features for more important NPCs "the very pretty landlord's daughter who sneers at everyone", "the grossly fat merchant who constantly wipes sweat from his forehead", "the smelly city guard who looks as though he hasn't bathed in a month"
3. More adjectives and a couple of sentences for the really big NPCs. "The queen is clad in magnificent clothes that are just a tad too tight for her. Her regal demeanor smacks less of dignity and and more of aloofness, and her retinue of ladies-in-waiting almost manage to hide their haggard faces behind tight smiles."
This will help fix someone in the players' minds.
Now if only I can take my own advice.
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Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the living God, City of Golden Death are a nice 3 module series that take 2-3 sessions per book to play. not overwhelming, but still loads of fun.
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This is only my opinion, but I've always found Hollow's Last Hope to be a good introductory module. I know there are others, specifically in the Pathfinder Society adventure seasons, but this one's always been my fave.
I don't know Roll 20 well but I've used it a couple times. I know there are tutorials on there that are very helpful. There's other resources on the site as well for managing tokens and such. If Google Slides is easier for you, or just using Zoom and pointing a camera at a battle mat, do what works for you.
As for how to prepare, most self-contained modules do a great job at providing generic plot, a cool setting and somewhat interesting encounters. Remember though that everything is generic for a reason: this is a product that has to market to EVERYONE.
Whatever adventure you choose to begin with, read it well. Understand what it's about; maybe even make some random dice rolls with pre-generated level 1 PCs and see how some of the scenes might play out IRL. However, if you want to create a larger campaign that's yours personally, find a way to add the adventure you want to run into that larger campaign.
Say you want to run Hollow's Last Hope. Say also you want a larger campaign that has a lot of fey elements. Well, the adventure involves a big forest and a ruin. For you to personalize things, perhaps adding fey-themed encounters or setting details will start the campaign off on the right foot.
As for general tips about running your own games... really don't worry too much. I'd reiterate what Bjorn Royrvik says above - everyone makes mistakes. There's TONS of resources out there, from YouTube videos to blogs to advice threads on forums here and elsewhere to provide tips and tricks to GMing your game.
At the end of the day, just remember what you showed up to do: play a fun game with some other folks. If you're all having fun, don't sweat the small stuff. If you rule someone can't take a 5' step when they should've been able to, or you forget to have a monster take an Attack of Opportunity or you miss enforcing a Concentration check or whatever, don't worry about it.
Your game is a pickup game of basketball, or a bit of freeform jazz or a million other examples of a collaborative pastime spent with friendly folks. Sure, there's some basic rules but if you make some of it up as you go along, that's par for the course!
If I can make one other suggestion though... take notes. Jot down interesting things your players say, things they wished happen, names, setting details, and so on. I've been running games for nearly 40 years now and I STILL have to keep a pen and a notebook handy to remind myself what name I gave an NPC on the fly or how the players were CERTAIN there was a secret door behind a statue on one wall and so on.
Thank you everyone, that's really great advice! :) I'll keep the 1-2-3 room in mind, and I'll definitely remember to take notes along the way.
I played We Be Goblins and found it a little bit too railroad-y for my taste, in a sense that we really went from combat to combat without much room for role-playing, interacting with each other or with NPCs... But maybe it's just me? Have you had similar experiences? I've thought about a Core PFS scenario too, as some of them have the advantage of being quite short. I just have to learn how to fill out the Chronicles at the end...
I try to watch videos that can help with GMing, and I've gathered from them that creating NPCs would be a big part of the task. Are there guidelines or rulebook that can help?
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Gallows of Madness is a nice starter adventure. It’s designed for new players and has sections that can be swapped around depending on what clues the party want to investigate first, and there is room for a lot of roleplay with NPCs.
I have only used Roll20 as a player, but from my ref’s comments, uploading maps is painful (and the gridlines don’t line up), so if you do use it it’s worth taking the time to create a library of random encounter maps that you can pull up if you need one in a hurry.
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One way to spontaneously generate some quick NPCs is in the Donjon Fantasy Inn Generator. This gives you an inn or tavern, the barkeep, and some patrons with a couple blurbs about each you can build from. It also, obviously, gives you an inn too!
I personally also use tons of random tables from the D&D 1e DM's Guide, the D&D 3x DM's Guide and DMG2, The Gamemaster's Guide from Paizo and even some from Ultimate Campaign. These are tables to help generate NPCs, their personalities or quirks, physical descriptions, group names such as military/mercenary units or adventuring parties, and so on.
Last but not least, a GREAT way to make NPCs is just borrow or steal from your favorite media. If you read a lot, get characters from there, or from any movies, TV shows, anime, cartoons, etc that you enjoy. This has the added benefit of giving you a pre-set personality to emulate when acting out that NPC.
As for generating an NPC's stat block and such, all of that is in the CRB. For PF1 NPCs all have classes, even if it's just one level in "Commoner." The exception to this is the occasional monstrous NPC.
Most monsters in the Bestiary books are meant to just fight PCs as is or otherwise figure into the PCs' conflicts. Occasionally though you want to give one a genuine personality. A tatzlwyrm, for example, technically has an Int of 5 (greater than "animal" intelligence) and speaks Draconic. Instead of just making one slither up and try and bite a PC, maybe you want to give the thing some kind of dramatic persona in the larger narrative of your adventure.
Well, you can use the monster's stats as is, or change them to NPC stats for a different kind of threat. Otherwise just randomly generate or make up some kind of personality and quirks for this specific Tatzlwyrm that sets it apart from others.
Thanks!
I just about realized I should have been more explicit, and point out that what was really bugging me was how to make NPCs or monsters mechanically :') I forgot that it was in the CRB! Probably my early memories of the Player Handbook and the GM Handbook being two different things in D&D...
I'll have to think about which scenario to run, but you've given me quite the selection! :) Thank you all very much!
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The first couple of Pathfinder adventures I ever ran were Risen from the Sands and Master of the Fallen Fortress, both of which were released as Free RPG Day modules, which are all still free as PDFs. There were fun, but both are mainly dungeon crawls, so most of the RP will be what you and the players bring to the table.
I agree with others here that low-level Pathfinder Society scenarios are a great place to start, whether you're running them as actual PFS games, or just for practice with your home group. They're designed to be played in 4-5 hours, but some require more prep work than others--which might be making maps, copying handouts, or making sure you're familiar with some less-often-used rules. There are several adventures (some at every tier) that involve a LOT of social encounters, so you'll definitely get that RP fix you want, but you'll want to make sure both you and the players are up for a lot of talking and negotiating. (But don't worry, even the most talky adventures erupt into combat eventually!)
The bare minimum you need to run an adventure is the Core Rulebook and the first Bestiary. Your may need some other sources depending on what adventures you choose to run, but most of that material is available on the Archives of Nethys.
If you try running PFS material, then expect the amount of non-Core material to steadily increase with each season. If you're just running this stuff for some friends (for PFS credit or not), you can probably negotiate with them to keep their characters' source material from straying too far from what you're familiar/comfortable with. If you run an open game at a store or a con, expect to see a lot of weird builds that constantly surprise you--that's part of the nature of organized play. But if your players are reasonable people, they'll be forgiving of a newbie GM, because that's the only way we get more experienced GMs.
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