Many different people and many different game systems will give many different opinions on what makes a successful Game Master. In the world of pen and dice RPGs, Game Masters or GM’s at their core are storytellers, referees, and character actors all rolled into one. When one considers the procedures and why of the game domain, one must understand what an RPG really is at its core. RPGs at their core are made up of a group of players who, under the guidance of a Game Master, go on a quest while portraying people of a heroic nature in a fantasy land.
The GM has the dual purpose of presiding over the rules of the game system and maintaining the illusion of the game world in which the game takes place. The game master provides the essence of the game world and is the source of its physical realities, situations, and possibilities through the art of descriptive storytelling and character acting. There are a myriad of tools designed by a myriad of game companies, fan groups, and individuals to assist the game master in his or her creation of the player’s universe. These tools run the gambit from reference books to adventure scenarios complete with scripts and maps. However, the experienced GM knows that these are just tools to help present the individual game’s adventure and feel of the game world.
As a game master, you use the rules or game system text of whatever game world you are playing as a source for the physical realities of that world. In these texts you will find the “nuts and bolts” that make the game playable. You’ll also find a descriptive story or backstories to help you present the world setting of the game as intended by its creators. However, these books should not be used as step-by-step guides like those written for board games. Rather, they serve the dual purpose of providing the mechanisms by which game elements such as combat, movement, and achievements are regulated, and an overall view of the game world is imparted. Understanding the rule systems of dice rolls, reference tables, and item usage is essential to being a GM, as it is obviously necessary for the game. However, of equal importance and possibly greater scope is being the narrator who introduces the game world and all of its features, physics, situations, and characters. The latter part of being a GM is often more difficult to achieve, as it requires one to use his imagination and storytelling skills to verbally lead players into a fantasy world.
It is important to remember that there is no set scenario, even if you have an intricate script with many optional variations. An effective GM that is enjoyable for both the players and the GM involves using a bit of imagination and flexibility. As each player will perceive the game world according to his point of view, the game will never be exactly as it is described in the scenario: this is where imagination comes into play.
There is always room for drift in the story, and as the GM you can add your own “twist” to the scenario by adjusting its structure and intended sequence of events to fit the flow of the game. By making the story your own, you avoid the possible and sometimes tedious “A” to “B” step-by-step feel of a restrictively scripted scenario. By allowing the setting to become a fluid adventure, the GM interacts with the players, using their ideas and insights to create an interactive story that everyone is a part of.
Essentially, it’s fine if the player characters want to deviate from the scenario and run off to get drunk or go shopping for new weapons. These detours can be added to the scene or even provided for by the presence of places like towns and cities designed for such purposes. This gives the GM the opportunity to be more creative in their interpretation of the game’s script while allowing players to experience their own “twist” on the game’s setting.
Returning players to the objective of the stage can be as simple as getting them into a bar fight or accusing them of ripping off a shopkeeper. Any number of non-player characters designed for the GM to use in the mission setup can be inserted or even invented by the game masters to guide the players when needed. It often becomes necessary to manipulate players’ actions if they stray too far from the story line. In the same way, the game sometimes becomes more fun if the game master allows the story to proceed in its own direction guided for a time by the actions of the players.
NPC or non-player characters are any creature from a simple monster to a helpful ally played by the game master and often described or written about in adventure stories that give depth and interaction to an adventure. The NPCs played by the game master aren’t intended solely as scripted automatons that are used to supplement combat or appear in a location doing something like they do in many video games. Rather, they can be as deep and flexible as necessary within the limits of their abilities, as described in the scenario texts or rulebooks. Non-player characters are one of the primary means by which the GM guides and directs the players and the game’s setting through their location, intent, and quest knowledge. For example: a player decides to deviate from the scenario script to get drunk.
The GM can use an NPC as a drinking partner, the antagonist who starts a bar fight, or the person who breaks the player out of jail and back to the stage objective. NPCs are essential to any RPG and invaluable tools for the GM to use, as they are the co-stars, supporting players, and filler that provide the interactive aspect of the game world. Since you, as the game master, represent the NPCs, you can use them to slow down or improve the player’s progress throughout the adventure. They are a great way to give clues to lost players who get stuck or miss important clues to reaching mission objectives. In the case of NPC Monsters, you are the direct opponent of the players, as you make all monsters attack rolls and try to damage the players.
In addition to playing the role of game masters of hostile NPCs, they should not see their role as an adversary, as an RPG is not a competition between the players and the GM. Rather, it is a theatrically presented challenge for players with danger and reward presented in the context of a loosely scripted theme or story. While the gamemaster is (usually) the only one to see maps and descriptions that may include the locations of traps and hazards, this does not necessarily create an adversarial situation between GMs and players. GMs who play to “kill” player characters often lose players and don’t run nice games. In a sense, the game master is analogous to the god of the game world, as he has all the foreknowledge of every bad situation and great reward that players are likely to face; it would be too easy to manipulate them into danger. There is really no challenge or enjoyment in this style of game mastering and it is not considered to be in the spirit of the RPG genre. Having said that, there are many times when the game master will not reveal the presence of a lurking or hidden danger, as the flow of the story or the player’s actions do not warrant a warning.
RPGs are very much “real world” in terms of the players’ actions or lack thereof that determine the outcome of any given situation. There are many cases where players may simply forget to use that danger detection magic or simply not look before jumping. In these cases, the GMs are never considered adversaries if they don’t tell the players things they couldn’t have seen or known. Sometimes this can cause disputes and this is where your knowledge of the game mechanics or rule processes makes sense. If players run into danger, lose a battle, or get caught in a trap, they can often ask if there is a die they can roll or a board they can look at to see if they can escape or win. In most cases, the appearance of danger or challenging situations automatically calls for some die roll.
However, it is up to the GM to decide what rolls, when, and by whom in a given situation. All of this knowledge is contained in various game texts produced by the creators of the various adventures or systems in which they are designed to be used. The sometimes tricky part arises due to the “freeform” nature of RPGs which creates situations that are sometimes in the gray areas of the rules and don’t directly invoke a specific die roll or rule-based decision. . Gamemasters in this situation must decide which dice rolls apply, and sometimes invent a dice roll or judgment in the spirit of the rule system being used. Possessing a good working knowledge of the rules, the game world, and the general idea behind how everything is supposed to work, the GM can make decisions on the fly quite easily and fairly.
The conclusion of a good GM is that you, the GM, are the creator of the illusion and the administrator of the natural laws of the game world. It’s your adventure, and you run it in hopes of giving players an immersive fantasy adventure that gives your characters ample opportunities for personal gain and glory, while also providing enough dangers and challenges to make it exciting to play.