I have recently been trying to up my game in terms of DMing and have taken to playing in more public games to get a feel for how other DM's go about running their games telling there stories and presenting their characters, I have found it really helpful.
I was wondering though when other people go looking for the same stuff what kind of questions do you like to ask, what kinda information is most helpful to you to improve your DMing style and the stories you tell. If you sat down and talked to them and asked them questions what would you ask? I am planning to do just that and I am looking for some good questions that maybe I had not considered. Thanks!
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Hmm I have a few friends and we bounce ideas off each other over email during the week. Otherwise the forums are an awesome place for this. I have been running APs and the subforums have been priceless.
The types of things I generally ask are subjective to my games in particular. I often ask about how to tailor things more to my PCs to make the game better for them. Usually its less "what have you done" and more "im thinking of doing this what do you think about it?"
I dont ask about mechanics often because i've been using this system for a decade now so i got a really good handle on it. Wish I had something more substantial for you.
I dont ask about mechanics often because i've been using this system for a decade now so i got a really good handle on it. Wish I had something more substantial for you.
No worries, honestly its all about story telling for me, I am not so worried about mechanics. I am looking for questions to ask people to gain a better understanding of peoples methodologies in story telling. mechanics a great but any info worth having to me is stuff that I can apply to my pathfinder games or any other RPG under the sun. At the end of the day its all about the story and the characters.
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I have noticed a decline in describing the encounters, environments, and just a hand waving of imagery.
I understand that PFS sessions are "timed", but it does take away some fun character descriptions, not too mention the monsters.
Some people forget that this game was almost all story telling, less mechanics...
I have recently been trying to up my game in terms of DMing and have taken to playing in more public games to get a feel for how other DM's go about running their games telling there stories and presenting their characters, I have found it really helpful.
I was wondering though when other people go looking for the same stuff what kind of questions do you like to ask, what kinda information is most helpful to you to improve your DMing style and the stories you tell. If you sat down and talked to them and asked them questions what would you ask? I am planning to do just that and I am looking for some good questions that maybe I had not considered. Thanks!
The key in my opinion is small groups. 3-4, maybe. Have subplots for all the PC's woven into your overall story. Customize magic items and encourage spell casters to come up with visual and other sensory effects for their spells. Don't get bogged down in banality like tracking ammunition or ever bent copper spent. Design encounters so that different players get to shine. Fudge dice rolls for cinematic effect and story progression. Know your players abilities as well or better than they. Don't worship at the altar of balance.
And always bow to the Golden Rule, the Rule of Cool.
One of the best ways I have found recently to learn new methods of DMing is playing in other peoples public games and getting a feel for how they run them. It has been interesting to observe all the differences between my normal at home group and the dynamics of the new groups I got to play in. What I am really looking to do is find a good series of questions to help me start up conversations with other DMs to learn how they do things and have the questions broad enough so that I may ask new questions in response to their answers and efficiently learn from them. I would love to say I had time to play in every persons game but being able to just sit down and ask about their GMing styles is I am sure good info in itself. Its partly a learning thing and partially just an interesting subject for me.
I have a friend who I am constantly bouncing ideas off of. Anything from "Do you think giving items like this in the Brinewall treasury would help bind the characters to the AP and be helpful in the long run?" to "Dude... If I dump the caravan combat mechanic and add a handful of hectic melees and cunning ambushes would it keep everyone more engaged and happier or should I just have people take turns making caravan rolls?" and also some "Ok, you ran me through Savage Tide in Greyhawk and I plan on running it set in Golarion and I plan on doing this, this and this... Thoughts? Oh and can I borrow your Savage Tide dungeon magazines?"
He is even a player in my upcoming Jade Regent campaign but I feel like his many years of quality GMing for our group and his ability to quickly forget what we talk about has been invaluable to me as a newer GM.
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Both though playing and running public games helped a bit in being a "better" GM. But it more help me define the type of GM (and player) that I am and how best to describe it.
I know that I tend to be a 75% Tactical 25% Character-Story type GM with a soft heart for the players. As a player I know I get bored if the game goes too much over 50% Character-Story Focus.
Does this make me a good or bad GM? Depends on the players. I know a few people who I consider fantastic GMs, but they don't play in a style that I prefer to enjoy.
With that said, there is the goal that as a GM, your task is to make sure everyone (or at least most of the players) has fun and wants to come back next week. Sometimes you might have a GM-Player playstyle difference and the best course is to part ways, but just accept that as neither good nor bad. And the key to that is the players must feel they have agency and ability to play their characters.
Railroading can be okay as long as everyone wants to be on the train.
I have been running 'Murderer's Clubs" for 38 yrs now, where GMs gather to compare notes and improve weak GMs' technique. The premise is that every GM is different, but we can all serve as examples to others. For some bad GMs', it can resemble an intervention.
If you're interested, we try to arrange monthly meet ups at some restaurant to bounce ideas around that are never single game in nature. Our April feed was at a local Chinese place (I think it was supposed to be held in 2008, we too often let them slip.) with 7 GMs running some 12 different games intermittently or better. All but one were ancients (40+) with one having brought a teenage daughter who is involved with a local Masquerade bunch. She has Apps on her phone that track more stuff than I ever have!
I leave one morsel to the crows that feed on this thread: One thing I learned early on was that passing off all the make work of a session freed me up to focus on making a better game. I task Initiative to one player, mapping to a second, etc, with the last session's rules lawyer refereeing rules. Since my regular groups run minimum of 30 and (now) all college graduates, the rules job is not beloved. A few sessions back, I showed up and all the task slots were assigned and all were chomping at the bit to start. That night, I may not have rolled a single die.
Does this make me a good or bad GM? Depends on the players. I know a few people who I consider fantastic GMs, but they don't play in a style that I prefer to enjoy.
You know I had a talk with my players to kinda smooth out this exact thing. Defining what they wanted out of the game, how much story, how much combat. As you said it defiantly varies group to group and maybe even game to game.
I leave one morsel to the crows that feed on this thread: One thing I learned early on was that passing off all the make work of a session freed me up to focus on making a better game. I task Initiative to one player, mapping to a second, etc, with the last session's rules lawyer refereeing rules. Since my regular groups run minimum of 30 and (now) all college graduates, the rules job is not beloved. A few sessions back, I showed up and all the task slots were assigned and all were chomping at the bit to start. That night, I may not have rolled a single die.
I like that, the idea of diving up tasks to people does strike me as being a very helpful tool. To a certain extent my group kinda does that by themselves but there are likely things I have not considered that could be passed of to them.
I have recently been trying to up my game in terms of DMing and have taken to playing in more public games to get a feel for how other DM's go about running their games telling there stories and presenting their characters, I have found it really helpful.
I was wondering though when other people go looking for the same stuff what kind of questions do you like to ask, what kinda information is most helpful to you to improve your DMing style and the stories you tell. If you sat down and talked to them and asked them questions what would you ask? I am planning to do just that and I am looking for some good questions that maybe I had not considered. Thanks!
"Hey shi**ead, when are you running another game? The last one was good."
The questions you should ask need to be based around what you want to know. If you're just looking for general GMing tips, then here are a few I thought of off the top of my head:
- Always be prepared for the unexpected.
- Keep a handy list of random NPC names and personality traits.
- Document everything you can during game time, then update whatever record keeping system you're using in-between sessions.
- Know your campaign setting well - especially if you're using a pre-created campaign world.
- Be fair - to the players, to the enemies, and to the campaign world.
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Yes, "What are your house rules?" is a good one.
More:
How do you prep for a game?
How do you make combat encounters interesting?
How do you make sure skill challenges and social encounters engage all characters? (Fighters and similar often feel less than useful outside of combat.)
How do you deal with PvP? Have you ever had conflict with PCs cause conflict between players?
How do you portray vivid NPCs? (I've struggled with this one, myself - it can be tricky figuring out how to display NPC motivations or background naturally, without taking the spotlight off the PCs.)
Do you fudge rolls? (I've seen a lot of opinions here on whether it's good to fudge for narrative reasons or whether it undermines the entire premise of rolling dice to determine outcomes)
I tend to look for where a gm's limits are...
Find the things they tend to say no to...
Particularly as relates to whatever character I have in mind for a specific game.
I don't know that I've ever really talked shop with another DM.
I've offered advice when asked, but never asked or sought any myself.
Despite the vast variety of gaming philosophies and GM styles I find only a tiny few that mesh with mine. I message back and forth with them about ideas and campaign building, but even then it's not that often.
Gaming podcasts like "Fear the Boot" are a good place to find inspiration for discussion. The hosts have a range of styles from wing everything to write 100 pages of background.
I have often thought about starting a topic thread after listening to a podcast. I get lazy though.