whatever you do, at the very least change the canned adventure, and if you write your own, players have the uncanny ability to solve things in ten minutes. Roll with it and move on. If you are running pathfinder or DND, become familiar with the SRD more than the players handbook.
Be a fan of the characters. Make them shine. Don't necessarily give them everything they want (that would be boring) but always root for them no matter the odds.
rules are a (imo very weak) social construct, and the most important thing is everyone has fun. The players are the ones who bring the main characters, conflicts, and determine the general direction of the story. The role of the GM involves a lot of improvisation to make it all work, and provide all the parts between (like the world).
If you have the urge to GM then you’re already more than qualified. Learn the rules well enough to keep your table moving (especially in combat) but don’t try to know everything. Try to be in the moment and improv as you go - it’s more fun to make stuff up on the day then sweat about keeping them on a determined or prepared path.
nobody knows when you're making shit up, nobody knows when your overly-complex plan for the session has fallen apart, nobody knows if you think you're not prepared at all. And if they did know, they *wouldn't care*. They're just glad to be playing with you!
Use a tiny RPG system[1] with a tiny environment ready-made environment[2]. Familiarise yourself with how others[3] run the same environment, then make it your own! You got this.
1. Change the rules when they don't fit what you want the world to be like. 2. Don't stress about balance. Throw too much danger (monsters, traps, big untracked wilderness) at the players, just leave them some room to run if they can't handle it. 3. Let them hire help, but don't give them anyone more powerful or flashy than they are. They gotta do it themselves. 4. Don't tolerate behavior you don't like. In-party fighting, etc. you can just shut it down. #rpg #ttrpg #dnd #gmadvice
nadin brzezinski
•djflippy
•Chris Hartjes
•Trike Homard
•Craig Maloney ☕
•aeva
•AJ
•Lambic
•evilchili
•Matt Thomson
•Always remember that this is meant to be fun for you as well.
Eric G.
•Jons Mostovojs
•Familiarise yourself with how others[3] run the same environment, then make it your own! You got this.
[1]: System (free). https://yochaigal.itch.io/cairn
[2]: Environment (free). https://v6p9d9t4.ssl.hwcdn.net/html/6466170/BotEk/index.html
[3]: An actual play of the environment (free). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3N4pqHIEwQ
Cairn by Yochai Gal
itch.ioJons Mostovojs
•(and three bonus suggestions from my experience in mentoring an actual beginner GM).
Distilled.md
GistEvan Prodromou
•Digital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 🎃
•2. Don't stress about balance. Throw too much danger (monsters, traps, big untracked wilderness) at the players, just leave them some room to run if they can't handle it.
3. Let them hire help, but don't give them anyone more powerful or flashy than they are. They gotta do it themselves.
4. Don't tolerate behavior you don't like. In-party fighting, etc. you can just shut it down.
#rpg #ttrpg #dnd #gmadvice