Any notable guides/food-for-thoughts for prospective GMs/improving GMing?

**Coidzor** · 2011-04-05, 10:19 PM (ISO 8601)

As this seems like it'd be something that would be collated, and yet I've only really seen firsthand that long dead thread that used to be stickied up here.

So I'm a bit curious, not the least of which because my answers to questions my friend has about my experience with GMs and their GMing styles and how to improve upon them feel far too piecemeal to be usable as is.

**Savannah** · 2011-04-05, 11:42 PM (ISO 8601)

I'm assuming you're referring to this? It's quite good, in my opinion.

Beyond that, the three things I think are important are 1) you're going to mess up, so don't sweat it when you do, 2) if everyone is having fun, you're doing it right, and 3) don't arbitrarily negate PC abilities, even if they're a pain for you (instead either deal with them or talk to the player to work something out between the two of you if they truly break the game).

I've seen some other interesting guides or similar, but I can't remember where any are right now.

Oh, and SilverClawShift's campaign stories are wonderful examples of what can be done with a great DM and party, if you're interested in that sort of inspiration.

**The_JJ** · 2011-04-06, 03:43 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Savannah

Oh, and SilverClawShift's campaign stories are wonderful examples of what can be done with a great DM and party, if you're interested in that sort of inspiration.

Damnit. I have to read pages 1-175 of Great Expectations for tonight. How am I going to do that now?

**valadil** · 2011-04-06, 08:28 AM (ISO 8601)

I blog about my GMing. See link in sig. I've noticed though that while analyzing my GMing is good for finding weak points, it does little to correct them. If you read back about a year (which really isn't that much since I post once a month at best) you'll see that I noticed that my NPCs were lacking and I discussed some ideas for working around that. None of the ideas worked. In fact they mostly just pissed off the players. Ignoring those speculative solutions and just running the game has helped a whole lot more. GMing is kinda like sex in that way. Technique will only get you so far, when it's really all about listening to the queues you get from your partner/players.

**Savannah** · 2011-04-06, 11:18 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by The_JJ

Damnit. I have to read pages 1-175 of Great Expectations for tonight. How am I going to do that now?

I discovered her stories while writing a massive paper. I know your pain

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