Help me be a good gamemaster

[KOVAV]

Hey, there are not many gamers in my area....actuelly, let me rephrase that, there arent many non noobs in my area, so, although, I am no expert, that fact that I've played through a campaign or two qoulifies me for game master responsibilities. I've beeen thinking of making a few modifications to the 3.5 ruleset

1: make non magical classes more viable, preferably without nerfing the spellcaster (much)

2: Simplify the system slightly, if I can without ****ing it up....this is kind of secondary, but it would be nice to make it easier for the noobs to get into

PS: any tips anyone can give me on being a game master would be awesome.

[HunterColt22]

Hey, there are not many gamers in my area....actuelly, let me rephrase that, there arent many non noobs in my area, so, although, I am no expert, that fact that I've played through a campaign or two qoulifies me for game master responsibilities. I've beeen thinking of making a few modifications to the 3.5 ruleset

1: make non magical classes more viable, preferably without nerfing the spellcaster (much)

2: Simplify the system slightly, if I can without ****ing it up....this is kind of secondary, but it would be nice to make it easier for the noobs to get into

PS: any tips anyone can give me on being a game master would be awesome.

Review and practicing are always good indications of where to start. Look over your own past games you have played in, what did the DM/GM do that you liked, what did they do that you hated. Got that list? Good, now instead of doing only what he did right and none of what you consider wrong, instead look for reasoning behind their choices and see if they were founded correctly.

Being a good GM is alot about knowing the material, planning out what you want to do, and being flexible and expecting your players to change your story in some drastic way more than once either by intention or by accident. Simplifying the system is all well and good, but understanding those choices and play testing them so that they are actually simple, and not more confusing then just using the normal rules is also a very good practice. If you want to look for some examples of simplification, look into pathfinder, they have combined some of the skills in 3.5 to make t easier for new players. Get ready to do research, because quite frankly, you have a long, long, long paper to write. Good luck.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Hey, there are not many gamers in my area....actuelly, let me rephrase that, there arent many non noobs in my area, so, although, I am no expert, that fact that I've played through a campaign or two qoulifies me for game master responsibilities. I've beeen thinking of making a few modifications to the 3.5 ruleset

1: make non magical classes more viable, preferably without nerfing the spellcaster (much)

2: Simplify the system slightly, if I can without ****ing it up....this is kind of secondary, but it would be nice to make it easier for the noobs to get into

PS: any tips anyone can give me on being a game master would be awesome.

If 90% of your players are newbs, don't bother trying to "fix" the rules, ala linear warrior - quadratic mage. It's more trouble than its worth for a problem that may not rear its head for years. Start making tweaks after it becomes a problem.

A couple off the top of my head tips;

Remember the DM's mantra: It's our story not my story.

This is the single most common mistake new DM's make. They try to tell a story that they've cooked up, and when the players invariably make a move they never considered they panic because it short-circuts the story they were trying to tell, then they try and force the party back onto the rails causing all kinds of unnecessary friction. This will get you labeled "bad DM" so fast it'll make your brain hurt. Click the link in my sig for a brief summary of how to put together a campaign world that works well for most gamers, IME.

Know the rules.

Your players will be expecting you to know the rules and to adjudicate them fairly and evenly during play. When planning encounters brush up on the relevant rules that will likely come up during that planning.

Learn to wing it and be firm.

It is inevitable that a player will need a ruling regarding something you're not familiar with. When this happens, make a call based on your best judgement and defer any discussion on the matter to after the session's over. Nothing bogs a game down worse than a lengthy rules discussion, no matter who it turns out is right.

Admit your mistakes.

This ties into the last item. Sometimes when you have to wing it, you'll make a call that goes against the actual rules. When this happens, admit to the affected player you messed up, and if he was affected seriously give due consideration to a retcon. In anycase, proceed either by using the actual rule from then on, or make your initial ruling a house-rule if everyone thinks your call was better than the actual rules.

Have some confidence.

Any artist (yes DM'ing is an art) will look back on his work with the most cynical critisizms of any other viewer to that work. Don't get stuck inside your head and convince yourself you suck. If everyone's having a good time, you're doing just fine.

Be prepared for critisizm.

At the end of any session, ask your players what they liked and what the didn't like. Adjust accordingly and don't take the latter personally. This ties back into the previous item.



That's all I've got for now. Good luck.

[BowStreetRunner]

Honestly, the rules don't matter nearly as much as most GMs believe they do. I have played and GMed in a wide variety of RPGs over the past 25 years or so, and as long as the rules are consistent and fair, players can have a good time with any rules set.

What I have found to matter most for a GM is to PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR PLAYERS!!! I cannot stress this enough. Your role is to make the game fun for them. Each player is a different person and will respond well to different aspects of the game. Watch and see what makes the game the most fun for them and then make sure you don't neglect any of them.

If the players are frustrated that the non-magical classes are too weak, the rules are too complicated, or anything else is taking away their enjoyment of the game, then by all means make adjustments. However, don't just do it because it's what you feel is most important. Make sure it works for them too.

I played in a campaign a while back where we had a mix of players - some who were real power-gamers and some who preferred to be challenged a bit more. The power-gamers played over-the-top munchkin-style characters (what would be the tier 1 classes in D&D) and the others filled in the less amazingly powerful roles. Because the GM did a good job adjusting the focus of the game so that all of the characters were given the spotlight equally at different times, it actually worked out well.

[laeZ1]

Honestly, as much as I love 3.5, playing Pathfinder is a good way to cover 1 and 2. Or playing 4th ed.

As for tips for GM/DMing: Read the DMG. It's got pleanty of tips that benefits new DMs. If you don't have it at your disposal, or you still want other tips, here are some things I told my buddy when he asked me the same thing:

1st and most important: Know your players. I don't mean you have to already be friends with them, what I mean is know why they play d&d. A person who plays because they enjoy roleplay won't be very happy in a dungeon crawl hack&slash, while a person who likes nothing more than turning your monsters into goo might get bored if you intoduce a political arm of a campaign.

The DMG breaks people up into... 7? Different player styles. (I'm at work on my break and don't have the book in front of me, so I might miss a few)

Beaters: Beaters love combat, more importantly, they love the descriptions of the awesome things their character does during combat. They won't be as impressed with "You deal 168 points of damage to the goblin" as they would be "Not only did you seperate the right and left halves of the goblin from itself, but you feel the foundation of the building shake as you partially destroy the floor"
Actors: Actors love to, when they make a character, really make the character (hometown, background stories, character traits, flaws), and more often than not, like to be the ones to talk to NPCs. Try to include shortcuts through plots, or advantages to talking to NPCs for roleplayers. Something to watch out for is problem RP that makes the game less fun for the other players. (ie Paladin "holier than thou art" RP)
Explorers: Explorers love the world feeling real, having the feeling of exhaustion described after their character clmibs the hill, and the detail that you describe the sunset. Another important aspect to include when you have explorers for your PCs, is for each town to be distinct from one another. (I recommend writing down the names of the town/towns people visit, referring to a town by name makes you feel good, instead of referring to the town by what happened there.)
Power Gamers: Much like the beaters, I haven't met a power gamer that didn't like combat. Unlike the beaters, though, they usually get more of a kick out of the numbers than whatever description you toss their way about their attacks.
Socailizers: Some people play D&D because it's how they interact with people, or spend time with others. They might view it as a background event, and the real reason they're there is to chat with the other players. (Imagine if you were invited to play Monopoly with your friends, and none of them ever told you that they were training for the world monopoly tournament until you started playing. I imagine Socailizers can sometimes feel like this)
Mess-arrounds: There's a better word for these types of players, but I can't think of it. They may open up the door to the next room while still in the middle of combat, they could, instead of participating, decide it's a good time for their character to make a hide check and start painting. I a player who, while the party was asleep, tried to sneak into the palace and futz arround. So long as you provide consequenses for their actions, and their antics don't take up too much time in a session, they're not usually that much of a problem.
Storytellers: To the storytellers, plot is the most important aspect of D&D. They don't care as much about what the city looks like, or the sounds in the forest, or if the Paladin RPs correctly, or how much damage they do. They care how exciting the game is, and why the goblins attacked the party.

Other important tip as DM: I call it the "Yes" rule. It's easier to explain in examples.
Eample 1: My players are traversing a tunnel, and as DM, I knew that nothing was coming at them for a couple of in-game hours. One of them asked for a spot check. He told me he had a feeling something was following them. He rolled rather high, so, as per the Yes rule, I had a him notice something following the party. A lost girl that he ended up having to protect throughout the tunnel.
Example 2: My players accidentally burnt down a building. The mess-arround decides to search the building for a trapdoor. The building didn't have one, until he rolled a high search check. I then told the elves that they could have search checks too. Because... elves.
Example 3: My players discovered the "Yes" rule. They were talking about using checks and talking to people to find a magical item. They found a cursed one.

And that's my lunch break. Hope it helps.