PFS GMing 101 & 201

[Socar]

While attending Gen Con this year(2013) I made it a point to attend the seminars for the PFS GMing 101 & 201 as I am a new GM of PFS adventures although not new to the role of GMing overall. I thought it was important to get all the insight and experience I could from established GMs who have been around the block a time or two...

My decision to attend these seminars paid off very well. The seminars I attended were educational, entertaining, and insightful. I would like to thank those who ran the seminars and their assistants along with those who attended and shared their experience with the groups.

If an individual gets the chance to attend one or both of these events I would recommend that they do so. They are in my opinion helpful for both the new GM to PFS and the new GM in general.

My only recommendation for future seminars would be to develop a PFS Player 101 where new players would have a chance to dip their toes into the waters of PFS. This could help players with creation, world lore, and general table etiquette.

Again I would like to thank those who donated their time and effort at both PFS GMing 101 & PFS GMing 201.

[Paulicus]

I didn't attend a GM session, but a player 101 sounds like a good idea! Cover some basic tactics and useful items, and some common challenges players should prepare for (DR, flight, falling, etc.)

[Avatar-1]

A player version could arguably be better than GM x01.

Be sure to include the next step of trying your hand at GMing on the last page, and what you can take with you from a player perspective.

[redward]

One of the best ways to become a better player is to try GMing a game.

[Kyle Baird]

IMO, the best ways to become a better PFS GM are:

1) Want to be the best GM you can be.
2) GM
3) Play under great GM's
4) Play under terrible GM's
5) Attend GM 101/201
6) Read the Paizo PFS GM forums for tips/tricks.
7) Review available files on the GM shared drive that Thea runs.
8) Buy a wide-format printer ;-)

Every convention I attend I do my best to prearrange tables with notable PFS GMs that I haven't played under. Of course this isn't always possible. Sometimes you get lucky and land an amazing GM. Sometimes you get stuck with a GM who provides a miserable experience. The key is to learn from both situations. I often speak of my first bad PFS playing experience and how it drives me to give every last ounce of effort I have in slot #10 at Gen Con.

So I wrote the hand-outs section of GM 201 (typos and all...). What you may not know is those hand-outs evolved from playing with a great GM who was doing very similar things with hand-written index cards. I immediately recognized the benefits of putting the information in the players' hands and set out to improve upon the concept.

[Chris Mortika]

I'll add a piece of advice: Read the GameMastery Guide.

And another, perhaps more surprising: read the D&D 4th Edition DMG. It was Nic Logue who pointed me towards that book, and he's absolutely right: it's chock-a-block full of very useful advice, obviously written by people who'd run hundreds and hundreds of games, most of which is system-neutral.

[Finlanderboy]

Kyle Baird wrote:

Every convention I attend I do my best to prearrange tables with notable PFS GMs that I haven't played under. Of course this isn't always possible. Sometimes you get lucky and land an amazing GM. Sometimes you get stuck with a GM who provides a miserable experience. The key is to learn from both situations. I often speak of my first bad PFS playing experience and how it drives me to give every last ounce of effort I have in slot #10 at Gen Con.

One of the reasons I Dmed the hel knight's feats the other weekend was hoping I could run somethign for you kyle. So I could get you to brutally critique me. But alas...

Well I might DM it this fall at the con...