What are the essential skills of a GM?
Loz is a frequent contributor to the comments here at CM. So when he submitted a question to Ask The GMs, we were inclined to pay close attention. Here’s what he had to say.
“Here’s a deceptively simple question: What are the essential Game Master skills? (Full disclosure: I [...]
How do you choose the right game system?
The Ask the GMs questions here at CM never seem to stop, which is great, because they never fail to inspire new discussion topics. This one’s been sitting on the backburner for a while because we had so many already cued up, so we’re pleased to finally have [...]
In many respects, it’s easier being a player than a GM. Since the player determines the personality of the character, as well as what the character says and does, there is in fact no ‘right way’ or ‘wrong way’ to roleplay any given character – only ‘better’ or ‘worse’. It’s a bit like being able [...]
I’d like to start this blog with a shout-out to an old buddy of mine named Chris Mount, for reasons that will become obvious as it proceeds. When I first discovered roleplaying, Chris was the guy who taught me how to play. Without his guidance, I would never have amassed sufficient expertise and experience to [...]
September’s blog carnival was about about GM errors: Mistakes – ones you’ve made in the past and how you got past them, one’s you’re making now and don’t know how to solve.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the carnival. The stories and lessons you’ve shared will not only help new GMs but verterans too:
The original [...]
How can you make the players feel like their actions have an impact on the world?
Sometimes, the simplest questions have the most complicated or profound answers. So it was with some trepidation that we’ve approached this question, which was asked virtually exactly as it’s quoted at the head of this article.
The short answer is, you [...]
How do you handle PCs who seem to be immune to magic?
A recent inquiry in Ask The GMs asked us,
Hi! I’ve just started an AD&D campaign where the all the PCs have got really good saving throws. Less than 50% of any spells I cast on them will work on the Dwarfs and Halfling Priests [...]
We all make mistakes. Some are trivial – I mean, who really cares in the long run if that critter did d6+1 damage and not d6+2? But I’m talking about bigger mistakes, the kind that matter. I’ve got five of them, and as part of this month’s blog carnival, which we at Campaign Mastery are [...]
I can understand the appeal of on-line RPGs, especially MMORPGs. I thoroughly enjoyed games like “Knights Of Legend” and SSI’s line of computer-based AD&D games like “Eye Of The Beholder” and the “Krynn” trilogy, back in my Commodore-64 days. Even at the time, I thought to myself how cool it would be to be able [...]
How do you pace a campaign? How do you know if you’re giving too much or too little in experience and treasure? And how do you get the PCs to explore more than the local area?
Hello Johnn and Mike,
I have been gaming on and off for about 10 years but am a rather new GM [...]
