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Thread: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
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2019-06-10, 03:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2011
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
I think this pretty well fits under the umbrella of adaptability, but I will make a specific objection- simply because you raised a specific circumstance-
You can't conform too much to player wishes, because an important part of growth for any character is getting outside of their comfort zone. If you get into the habit of tailoring your game too much toward your players, you risk never meeting important narrative challenges for a character.Back in my day we used all of our spells before the fight, and it was just a matter of time before the DM realized his encounter was over.
And we walked to our dungeons uphill through the snow, both ways.
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2019-06-10, 04:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
Hi. As the self-reported paragon of this virtue, whose characters are always "not from around here", I would like to point out that this is in no way an overreaction. Oh, sure, *in theory* there exist GMs whom one could just *ask* not to incorporate one's backstory elements in their game, but I've encountered too many incompetent GMs who thought it would be OK "just this once" (it wasn't), God-complex GMs who believed that they couldn't possibly **** it up (they did), senile GMs who "just forgot", and insensitive GMs who couldn't care less about my preferences and included them anyway, for me to willingly make my fun dependant on the Mythic Rare "reasonable GM". So my characters are… "friendless orphans from another dimension" (), at least until session 0.
It really would take a great GM to roleplay a character of my creation, or someone I know (which pretty well covers what my backstory characters consist of) to my satisfaction. If I ever met a GM who could roleplay out a complex scene involving several of my former PCs to my satisfaction, I'd consider letting him run my backstory characters in a game.
Until then, my characters are friendless orphans from another dimension, with standing orders to Power Word Kill on sight anyone they know from backstory.
But, yes, I think you've nailed the cause and effect of how I came to optimize my behavior to minimize the GM's ability to **** my enjoyment of the game.
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2019-06-10, 05:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2012
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
Honestly from everything you've posted I've just sort of come to think that you've developed your preferences based on a lot of interactions with bad to mediocre GMs. It's certainly a tricky talent to portray someone else's NPC to their satisfaction, which is why I put it on my list of things that makes for a great GM, but it's not unachievable either. And like I said, part of that skill comes with knowing enough to know that you don't know enough, and continuing to ask the player questions until you've filled that gap in your knowledge.
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2019-06-11, 12:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2011
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
This post has inspired me to add another trait to the list- managing player expectations.
At a certain point you have to be flexible about story and characters. Limitin yourself because of some poor experiences and your excessively high bar is only denying yourself enjoyment.
A Great DM can come into a game and help players understand what theyre gonna get out of a game, and that by necessity there will be different interpretations of elements.Back in my day we used all of our spells before the fight, and it was just a matter of time before the DM realized his encounter was over.
And we walked to our dungeons uphill through the snow, both ways.
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2019-06-11, 09:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
Excessively? No. Abnormally? Sure. Inconveniently? Absolutely. But not excessively.
Some people enjoy (insert long list of niche pleasure, some of which are illegal). I have decades of experience testing just how high that particular bar needs to be in order to not utterly ruin my experience. You don't get to tell me what I enjoy.
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That said, I'll run with your word "manage", and parallel sentiment of great GMs having social skills, in saying that a great GM is like a great manager. Sure, it doesn't have to be you, but *someone* needs to get the group to work together in the way that's best for the group, and that's not done through inflexible adherence to cookie-cutter imbecility, but through starting with understanding the group in the first place.
Or, at least, that's what my experience with managers (and, to a lesser extent, GMs) tells me.
EDIT: in case it came off the wrong way / wasn't clear, I actually rather strongly agree with the notion that a great GM should "manage" the players. I may have different opinions of what that means for optimal management, though.Last edited by Quertus; 2019-06-11 at 10:05 PM.
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2019-06-14, 06:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2019
- Gender
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2019-06-15, 02:24 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2011
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
I have found that an ability to manage real-world logistics, and how to handle "down time" is pretty useful. The best GMs I've seen have made sure that you could do your down-time stuff away from the table, and maintained a small reality off table as well. You might not be playing, but you can catch up on what the world looks like, dramatis personae, etc.
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2019-06-17, 05:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2018
- Location
- Between SEA and PDX.
- Gender
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
5th Edition Homebrewery
Prestige Options, changing primary attributes to open a world of new multiclassing.
Adrenaline Surge, fitting Short Rests into combat to fix bosses/Short Rest Classes.
Pain, using Exhaustion to make tactical martial combatants.
Fate Sorcery, lucky winner of the 5e D&D Subclass Contest VII!
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2019-06-17, 08:42 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2015
- Location
- Mid-Rohan
- Gender
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
Probably slightly better is to have a very general campaign destination to work towards, loose plans for 3 sessions, and only detailed plans for 1 session.
This way you can avoid the sessions from becoming disjointed. They retain a better theme and consistency, which helps the players plan and know what to expect. As long as you keep long term plans loose and flexible, they won't make player actions irrelevant.
Basically, Quantum Ogres should never change states in the active session, but it's fair for them to shift their position in the story if they aren't due for another session or two.
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2019-06-17, 08:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
Re: Research: What Makes a GM Great?
I believe it would be possibl to write a book on the things that could make a Gm great, but for the most part isAbout
- 1 Knowing how to entertain your players
- 2 Being good at communicating
- 3 Interesting and consistent Worldbuilding
- 4 Knowing when to use the rules, enforce them and disregard them.
Last edited by zinycor; 2019-06-17 at 08:54 PM.
Last son of the Lu-Ching dynasty
thog is the champion, thog's friends! and thog keeps on fighting to the end!
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2019-06-17, 09:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2018