100 Roleplaying Tips for Gamemasters

100 Roleplaying Tips for Gamemasters

by Chris Perrin

Being a gamemaster (GM) is tough, even if you’ve been doing it for a while. Here are some tips for dealing with common problems that occur at the table and a few thoughts on different ways at looking at how to GM. Whether you are just starting as a gamemaster or you have been doing it for years, these roleplaying gamemaster tips will help you improve your GMing skills.

Roleplaying Tips For Your First Time as a Gamemaster (and Every Time Thereafter)

1. Don’t be nervous. This is obviously easier said than done, but don’t be nervous. You won’t have fun and it is hard to manage a game when you are nervous. Don’t worry about being a GM, just be a GM.
2. Know the game rules. As a gamemaster you should have a fairly good grasp of the rules. You don’t need to know every single thing about the game (that’s why you bring books to the table), but you do need to know the core mechanics enough to know what rolls to ask players to make. Also, when you make a judgment call, knowing the rules will ensure that your ruling is consistent with the rules of the game.
3. Don’t GM for the first time with a new group. This is more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule, but if you have never run a game before, it’s nice to have a few friendly faces playing the game with you. Friends who know you are more easily going to accept any of the missteps that will inevitably occur during your first GM session.
4. Own up to any mistakes you make. This is a good rule for new and veteran gamemasters alike. As a GM, you are only human and you may make a mistake. Admit it, don’t cover it up. Your players will forgive mistakes. They tend to not forgive attempted cover-ups.
5. Be flexible. Again, this is another rule that applies to veterans and new GMs alike. No story survives contact with players. They will do things which throw off the story so be ready for it and roll with it. Some of the best times come when players do something unexpected.
6. Ask the Players Questions. If something goes disastrously different than you thought, talk with your players about why. Try to get their point of view so you can better anticipate their reactions next time.
7. Be fair. Gamemasters must be fair and consistent. Do not play favorites and make all rulings with fairness and fun in mind. If you are fair, players will trust you and your judgments.
8. Get feedback. For new GMs, it is imperative that you ask your players what you did well and what you did not do well. Use this feedback to improve your style.
9. Take notes. As a gamemaster, it is your job to remember what happens in the session, what bad guys the party ran across, and the names of major landmarks. You need to write them down. You can delegate this off to a player (usually with an associated bonus of some sort), but if they don’t do their job, you’re still supposed to remember everything.
10. Don’t railroad. Don’t force the story on your players. Let them make meaningful decisions and be prepared to drop your entire story if they have a better idea. The worst gamemasters are always the ones who overly railroad their players. A little railroading may be necessary, but too much is infuriating.

Gamemaster Tips – When to Say Yes – When to Roll Dice

1. What does saying yes mean? In general, it’s more fun to the players for you to say yes than making them roll endlessly. Let players do what they want unless there is a clear reason to make them roll. Some players report that their favorite sessions were when they never had to roll a die.
2. Avoid unnecessary die rolls. Do not make a player roll more than once for an action without a good reason. For instance, if they want to swing across a room on a chandelier and land on their feet, it’s not necessary to make them roll a Jump check, a Dexterity check to grab the chandelier, a Strength check to build the momentum to cross the room, then another Jump check to land. That is giving them too many chances to fail on a single roll when they are probably just doing their action for color.
3. Have they already rolled? Do not make a player roll more than once for the same thing unless there is a very good reason. For instance, navigating across the ocean might require several navigation checks, sailing across a harbor, does not.
4. Roll when failure is interesting. Make players roll when failure is interesting. For instance, if they fail are they caught, do they fall, miss a shot, lose the girl, etc. Combat is the obvious example.
5. Roll when success is interesting. Make players roll when success is interesting. For instance, if they succeed they hit their target, win the girl, etc. Again, combat is the obvious example.

Gamemaster Tips About Sizing the Opposition

1. Size opposition according to the purpose of battle. Boss fights need to big. Skirmishes at the beginning of an adventure should be interesting, but not impossible to win.
2. Make the battle challenging. As the gamemaster, you should play the battle hard. In most games, combat is player vs. GM, so you should try to beat the players. They will enjoy combat more.
3. Give the opposition some sort of special abilities. No matter how small the skirmish, make the players sweat a little bit. Give one or two opponents neat gear or powers which make them especially tough for the players to beat.
4. Don’t overdo it. Don’t overwhelm the players with sheer numbers or very powerful enemies. It’s not fair to the players that they are defeated before the battle has begun.
5. Avoid needless waves. It’s demoralizing to fight wave after wave of enemies. Put most of the combatants on the table at the start. You can bring in a few more, but not several waves of powerful enemies unless the story of the game supports it and even then, do it sparingly.

Gamemaster Tips – Using Character Flags

1. Use flags. Flags are things on the character sheet that signal to the GM what the players want from the game. Good gamemasters find ways to incorporate them into their stories.
2. Find flags on the character sheet. Some games have explicit flags, while others are more subtle. Look for skills or powers a player selects to determine what type of stories they want. For instance, a character with good looks and lots of social skills will want to talk instead of fight.
3. Backstory flags. If a player provides backstory about her character, she is signaling that’s the type of adventure she wants to play. Use some of those seeds in your story when you can.
4. Ask for flags. Don’t be afraid to ask players for what they would like to happen in the game. The players will take more ownership in the story.
5. Games with flags. Certain games come with flags built in. Good examples include Mouse Guard, Sorcerer, Spirit of the Century, and The Shadow of Yesterday. These games have more advice on flags.

Gamemaster Tips – Setting the Mood

1. Get rid of distractions. When you run a game, turn off the television, make sure the dog has been walked, etc. Try to minimize anything which can steal players’ attention.
2. The physical space. Make sure that players aren’t crowded, but that they’re not so far away that they have to shout. Also, ensure there are enough writing surfaces so players can write.
3. Music. Many successful GMs use music to set the mood. Experiment with playing creepy music in horror games, metal during combat, and quiet music during recovery time.
4. Voices. You do not have to use voices as a Gamemaster, but it helps players tell NPCs apart and help them get into the game. If you do decide to use voices, don’t use the same voice for two NPCs or players get confused.
5. Narration. For games involving combat, a quick description of the action (“You swing your sword and with a wet “thwack!” you hit the orc in the chest”) add nice visuals to the game. They are also fun to hear.
6. Lighting. Make sure the room is bright enough to read your character sheet. However, for certain games (horror or supernatural being the best examples) having dim lights help set the mood.
7. Work with players. If you want a certain mood in the game, talk to your players about it. You may need to ask them not to make jokes during a life-or-death game or you may want to encourage them to act crazy.
8. What not to bring to the table. Ask players not to bring things to the play area that are not part of the game like novels, homework, etc. Try to minimize laptops so players aren’t tempted to check email, surf the web, or play other games.
9. Props. Props can really make a game stand apart. Use real world replicas of fancy magic items, dossiers with background information on villains, etc. Many players like to have physical objects they can manipulate.
10. Tokens/Figures. In games involving combat, having figures that resemble characters can help players envision the battle and to see the battle map easily. Try to have a collection of different types of figures to support different types of games.

Gamemaster Tips – Building Worlds

1. Know the major factions. When building a world, know all of the nations, rulers, religions, cults, secret organizations, and powerbrokers in the world. Most of the major story arcs will come from these factions fighting against each other.
2. Make the world logically consistent. Unless it’s important to the story, your game world should follow physics. Players have enough to worry about without wondering if gravity works, if the sun rises, etc.
3. Give it some history. A world and its people don’t just appear. Have an overview of how the factions got to where they are, how the major religions started, etc.
4. Maps are good, even if crudely drawn. Even if you can’t draw, have a map of your world. It will give players a sense of the world and make it easier for them to imagine themselves in it.
5. Let the players help build the world. Building a world is hard, so let the players help. As you game, take the players’ input and incorporate it into the history of the world and the current state of the many factions. The best way to build a world is to play in it.

Gamemaster Tips – Preparing a Campaign

1. Create game outlines. When you decide to start a new campaign, create an outline of the major story points. Then try to figure out how they are linked. Then be prepared to drop the story if the players want a different story.
2. Provide history for the players. If you are starting a world from scratch, have a one page overview of the world detailing all of the major factions. This will allow the players to envision the world and get their imagination started about what type of characters they want to play.
3. Link the party. Having all of the characters start off in a bar or unknown to each other can lead to characters having different agendas. Find some reason for the players to be a team or know each other already. It’s often in the players’ best interest for their characters to work together.
4. Get things going quickly. You don’t need to start a new campaign off with combat right off the bat, but get things going with an urgent summons, an emergency call, or something to get the players involved in the story immediately. If the players are new to the game, give them opportunities to test the mechanics early.
5. Have random NPCs statted. When you plan your campaign, have the stats for civilians/peasants/tavern owners and typical bad guys written down and in front of you. Nothing is more boring than waiting for a GM to look up the stats on a non-important NPC.

Gamemaster Tips – Preparing for a Roleplaying Session

1. Review your notes. Before the game starts (and before the players show if possible), read over the notes you’ve been keeping about last session. (You are keeping notes, right?) This way you can be sure to incorporate everything from last game into the new game.
2. Know how you’re going to start. The most important thing in the session is to understand what’s going to happen first. The only thing you can be sure is going to happen is what you decide is going to happen first. After that, the players may very well swing the story in a different direction.
3. Weave player plotlines into the story. As much as you can, if the players come up with ideas for the story or if something occurs through play, go with it. As you plan you review your notes, try to recall plotlines the players generated last session and try to continue resolve them in the session whenever possible.
4. Prepare possible contingencies. You can guess what the players are going to want to do in the game, but you may not guess right. Try to have several different ideas of where to take the story based on the players’ desire.
5. Make random rolls early when possible. If you decide to make random rolls on treasure tables or to determine what type of opponents the players are going to face, do it before the session starts. It slows the pace of the game when the GM starts rolling and then has to look up something from a table.

Online Tools for Gamemasters

1. D&D Insider – If you are playing Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition, D&D Insider is an invaluable tool with tools to build characters, digital articles on D&D, etc. If you are not playing D&D, there are invaluable articles on fantasy play.
2. Fantasy Name Generator – Need a name for a fantasy NPC, look no further than this site. There are several different options for creating names.
3. Science Fiction Name Generator – This is a tool for creating science fiction and cyberpunk names. This is a great tool for creating generic names for NPCs.
4. Google Earth – Need a map? Use Google Earth to map any place on the Earth for games involving this planet or a photo editing program to make them look like a non-real planet.
5. Thinkature – Thinkature is a great interactive tool for organizing outlines. It is a perfect tool to keep track of a campaign.
6. PBWiki – Want to give your fantasy world or campaign its own wiki? Get a free wiki at PBWiki.
7. Fantasy Gaming Tiles – If you do a lot of playing with minis, this site has a great set of free terrain. There are several terrain types to choose from.
8. RPG Sheets – Looking for a digital version of a character sheet? RPGsheets.com has them!
9. NearbyGamers – Gamemasters need players. Find them at Nearygamers.com.
10. MapTool – If you want to game with players across the world, MapTool is a great free tabletop that works with any tile-based fantasy game. It should be possible to load the tiles from Fantasy Gaming Tiles into the software.

Gamemaster Tips – Player/GM Relations

1. Conflicts are inevitable. As a GM, realize that since your players are human, conflicts are going to happen. The key to being a good GM is how you deal with them.
2. Gamemasters facilitate fun. Conflicts usually arise when a player doesn’t agree with a call. The first thing you should do when a player challenges a ruling is to make sure you are serving the fun of all the players, not doggedly following the rules. If you are just following rules, consider making an exception.
3. What to do about disputes over a call. If you believe your ruling will still allow for fun, listen to other side and see if their arguments make sense. Consider their arguments and then make your ruling. Be firm once it is made.
4. Negotiate with rules lawyers. If a rules lawyer points out you are not following the rules, determine if any players are going to be hurt by you not following the rules. If so, do what the rules say. If, however, you want to break the rules to serve the story and have fun, explain that is what you are doing and that you would not make the call if the characters’ lives were on the line. (A common example is coup de gracing an immobilized enemy. Yes, there are rules for damage, but it’s oftentimes easier and more fun just to let players dispatch the enemy and go on.)
5. Encourage quiet players. If a player is not participating, they may be quiet. Or they may be shy. Try to make their character the star of the action or ask them what they would like to do. They may not feel comfortable in the spotlight, but eventually many players will warm to it.
6. Calm angry players. If a player is yelling or screaming, it is your job to calm them. Usually calling a five minute bathroom break will do it, but you may need to talk to the player to find out why they are angry and work to resolve the issue.
7. Deal with bullies. Sadly, some players are bullies. If a player is being a bully, call a break to the game, pull the player aside, and calmly inform the player that you perceive them to be a bully. If they don’t stop, you may need to kick him out of the game.
8. The players who never show. If you have a player who habitually does not show up for a game (and does not have a good real life excuse), you should either try to find a more convenient time that works for the entire group or talk to the player. Typically, players who do not show are not happy with the game and do not realize it or don’t want to say it. Use the conversation to work with player so she gets more enjoyment out of the game.
9. The players who show late. Some players are just going to show up late for games because of real life concerns. On the other hand, if you have players who are habitually late, you may want to start the game without them if they are upsetting other players.
10. Accommodate families. Sometimes players have family issues which may cause them to miss a session or be late. Do not penalize them if you don’t have a family since more often than not, gamers with families are making sacrifices to attend your game.

Gamemaster Tips – House Ruling

1. When to house rule. House ruling happens all the time and it’s usually to address perceived shortcomings in a game. You should house rule when most players agree a change would make the game more fun.
2. House rules should not penalize. Never introduce a house rule which hurts a player or makes them less powerful in that campaign. If a player finds a way to exploit the rules, next time you create characters, you can create a house rule, but not before then.
3. How to determine house rule. Typically, a house rule either comes from a different edition of a game (for instance using Vampire Dark Ages rules for Celerity in a modern day game) or from a player saying “What if…” All house rules should be tested once or twice before becoming officially adopted.
4. Communicate house rules to players. If you have decided to make a house rule, make sure all current and future players know about the house rule. There’s nothing worse than starting play with a new group only to find out they do something which makes your character less effective.
5. What to do when house rules have been challenged. Sometimes it may turn out that a house rule breaks the game or is unfair. In this case, the best thing to do is go with what the rules say and consider dropping the house rule all together.

General Roleplaying Tips for Gamemasters

1. Gamemastering is a service position. This could also be written as “don’t be a jerk.” You are not there so you can tell your story with the players’ characters. You are there to have fun by telling a story with the players, not in spite of them.
2. Recognize out-of-the-box thinking. This is a hard one for many GMs, but if a player comes up with an idea you would not have thought of, try to go with it. If it’s completely silly or unrealistic, you don’t need to pander to your players, but players will have more fun if they feel their input is valued.
3. Do not have your own player character. There are rumors of some gamemasters who roll up their own characters and have those characters travel with the players. This is a dangerous practice in most games since its so tempting to give all the goodies to your PC and stiff the players.
4. Stay current. You don’t need to read absolutely everything on a game you run, but its generally a good idea to know the latest on your game. Many companies release errata, free adventures, and new tools which can help you be a better gamemaster.
5. Remember, it’s a game. Don’t take gaming too seriously. It’s meant to be fun. If you focus on your players’ fun, everyone will have fun.

Gamemaster Tips – Using Purchased Scenarios

1. Understand how purchased scenarios change your power as a GM. When you use someone else’s scenario, you are surrendering some creative control to the scenario’s author. In some ways, this is nice because you have fewer things to worry about, but it’s more difficult to tell a story because any decision you make has to be consistent with the rest of the scenario.
2. Know the scenario. Read through the scenario and have a pretty good idea of what happens in it. It’s a real momentum killer when the GM’s nose is in a scenario book the entire session.
3. Know how flexible the scenario is. Before you run the scenario, understand how much leeway players have to control the story. In some cases, the players have to be a certain place or they must do something. This is going to be important in how you run the game and the types of side quests you let the players take on.
4. Read every sidebar. Scenario designers often employ sidebars like treasure chests. They put little nuggets, future adventure ideas, and tips in sidebars because they are easy to spot, read, and find again later in the campaign. If you can, also read the designers’ notes to understand why they did things a certain way.
5. Prepare like you would for a session. Even though it’s not your campaign, go through all of the tips for preparing a session and follow them. Even though you have less control over the flow of the story, running a published adventure is basically like running a regular game.

Gamemaster Tips – Turning Prepared Scenarios into Campaigns

1. See what hooks the writers give you. In a lot of cases, scenario designers expect that an adventure might be the springboard into a larger campaign. As such, they may have a section in the book about where the players (and you) can go from there. This is a good place to start thinking about where to take the campaign.
2. See what hooks the players give you. Many players have a tendency to take a story over and add their own plotlines. If these plotlines arise during play and are not resolved by the end of the adventure, then they become great hooks for future adventuring. Try to collect all of the hooks and use them as the outline for a new adventure.
3. Start the action immediately after the scenario. This is a general guideline rather than a hard and fast rule, but it is often more fun to pick up play in the immediate aftermath of an adventure. Barely letting the characters (and the players) catch their breath keeps the momentum going and oftentimes makes the most sense for the story.
4. Feel free to own the world after the adventure is over. While running a published adventure, you have to play in their sandbox. It’s often more difficult to ad lib any of the story because it might not make sense later in the adventure. Once the adventure ends, though, you are free to start controlling the story. That doesn’t mean that you can change canon, but it does mean that you shouldn’t feel shackled to anything but your own imagination.
5. Let any surviving villains grow in power. Part of the fun of continuing to campaign in the world of a published adventure is that normally at least some of the bad guys from the game survive and come back to torment the players. If any of a published adventure’s villains survive, do bring them back. However, make sure they continue to grow in power (and evilness) so that they continue to be interesting opponents.

Gamemaster Tips for One-Shots

In this case, a “one-shot” game is played in a single (or sometimes two) sessions amongst a play group or in an impromptu game situation. Games at conventions, which are also one-shots, but tend to play slightly differently are covered in “Tips for Con Games.”

1. Use pregens. Whenever possible, use pregenerated characters for two reasons. First, character generation can usually take up a full session, which isn’t practical for a game that’s only supposed to last one session. Secondly, it helps focus the game.
2. Focus on a tight premise. Because the game is only going to last a night, there’s usually not time to do anything but solve a single challenge, beat a single bad guy, etc. Therefore, focus all of the action to solving this single challenge so that players feel they resolved something at the end of the night.
3. Try something new. This is not a hard and fast rule, merely a suggestion. If you want to try something new (either a new setting or a new game), a one-shot is the perfect way to do it. You are only giving up a single night of play and you may find that you like the new game.
4. Be more free with loot. Because the characters playing in the one-shot are going in the trash at the end of the night, don’t worry about unbalancing the party with lots of treasure or powerful items. You can be more generous and let players have fun trying new things that might not encounter in their normal games.
5. Feel free to experiment. If you have heard about some new GM technique or you want to try to use music or lighting to set the mood, a one-shot is a great way to do it. If the experiment fails, it’s only going to matter for that one game, but if it works, then you can decide how to incorporate it into your regular game.

Gamemaster Tips for Con Games

A con-game is a short scenario or adventure played at a convention. It assumes that you don’t know most or any of the players are the table. Some of the tips assume that you are at a multi-day gaming event.

1. Have completely filled out character sheets. This one comes from the school of hard knocks. When you bring a character to a con game, fill out absolutely everything. It reduces having to look things up from the book and even if you don’t think it’s important, your players will.
2. Give tips on how the character should be role played. Just like with a one-shot, a con game is going to be fairly tightly focused and cover one or two major events. In order to help with the focus, provide tips to your players about how to role play the characters they have selected. Give them a brief history of the character and how they generally feel about the other players. This is a great way to start dramatic tension in the game.
3. Get the action started immediately. In a con, you have at most six hours, but usually four to get the entire story told. There is no time to waste. The best way to get things going is to get the action heated up instantly. Start off any con scenario with a combat, a skill challenge, or something dramatic like “The King is dead.” That will get players involved quickly.
4. The time of the con matters. The type of game you run will be affected by when the game happens. Normally, time of day does not matter so may as day of the con. On the first day of the con, participants are excited and want to play their favorite games. By the last day of the con, they are exhausted from multiple days of gaming (and usually a few late nights.) On the last day of the con, try to run games which involve less energy.
5. You will have all types of players. Go back and read the section on dealing with players because you are going to see every type of player imaginable at a con: rules lawyers, shy players, players who cannot take anything seriously, back seat GMs, as well as a lot of great people who are thankful to play in your game. Be prepared to handle them all without the benefit of knowing them personally and remember to make the game as fun as possible.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 8:41 am and is filed under Roleplaying Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “100 Roleplaying Tips for Gamemasters”

1. William says:

   October 11, 2009 at 3:03 am

   Brilliant article. I’m gonna print take this to heart whenever I get over to GMing.
2. admin says:

   October 12, 2009 at 10:38 am

   Glad the post was helpful!
3. Popular RPG Games says:

   December 28, 2009 at 10:43 pm

   [...] « 100 Roleplaying Tips for Gamemasters [...]

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