Forum: Public Forum

Ashley,

Now for the more constructive answers.

What was your first DM/GMing experience like?

An opening session at the Sheffield Student Union.
I had been playing for a couple of years in Manchester (and carried on as a player too) but wanted to have a go at GMing, technically "DMing" at the time as I was running a D&D 3.5 adventure. My first players were new students, complete strangers to me and to one another. As usual there was a ratio of ten players for one GM.

My opening move must have been along those lines: "This is my first time as a GM. I have prepared this adventure. Let's roll those D6s".
They wanted to play and I needed players. The following week most of them came back, and they brought some friends too whom I had to turn away (new GM handling twelve people? No, thank you!), the game later stabilised at eight regular players, although I wanted only four.

Oddly enough I have never played D&D with people who were my friends, I mean before playing with them. So for me the "Let's learn the game between friends/family members" never happened.

What are the "classic" mistakes and how do you avoid them?

Over preparing the adventure... then forgetting to bring it with me!
No seriously, this is shameful. Back in Sheffield, I had written a list then forced myself to read it before leaving for the game ever since: "dice, adventure, battlemat, marker pens, item cards, etc"

After the first five or so session, GM fatigue settles in and one just want to prepare "later". Up to the point where to many "Ooops, sorry I forgot that in this room there was..." happen during the game. This is sloppy and when the GM must scold themselves back into delivering a higher quality experience.

Another mistake, albeit on a totally different level is ignoring a shy player or letting players to bully others.

Knowing the level of proficiency with the game for all involved is also key to a good game. The "new player" should not be spared a good 2D8+10 whacking if the die said 20, but the new player should also be guided and made aware of the typical team tactics. This is more for the GM to tell/order the core players to provide help than for the GM to stop and teach the game. Ignoring the new player because the GM does not know about their ability to play can break a game session. The regular players are annoyed and the new ones villified.

If you had to only get one thing right hat would be the most important?

Having fun running the game and ensuring the players are having fun is the most important. You already know of a recent example of what not "having fun" for me is.
The game can go tits up, the players can wipe out my monsters, or I can wipe out the players with Goblins rolling 20s, it does not really matter as long as everyone smile through the ordeal.
Re-rolling or cheating on the rolls that would result in a TPK through shear bad luck could also be the one right thing to do at times.

How do you deal with power gamers and cheats?

The simplest solution, which I should have adopted and will in the future is to tell them to leave the game, unless the game is designed for power-gaming.

Cheats are of various sorts, cheats can be fun and the but of untold jokes shared by the rest of the team. They are easy to curtail: when calling for skill checks, find ways of ignoring their characters. After a while their modified rolls of 34 may, as by magic, reverse to mere 17 like everyone else.
Also, ask them for every resulting roll to list their modifiers.
For those who cheat by saying "This is what the spell says", make them read again that part about "spell resistance" and wait for the "oh... sorry, yes...".
Tell your other players to always check the roll of the cheat in turn, so as every single roll is witnessed. Ask them to make their noticing pretty obvious.
The cheat who enjoys the game and wants to stay in it will never ask anything about the odd behaviour of the other gamers who check on his rolls.

Power gamers can be fun to play with, on the one condition that all players are power-gaming. If not, the standard players will not enjoy the game, therefore making it a bad game.

What is the hardest part of DM/GMing?

There are many hard part but no real hardest to me at least, in no particular order:

Being the centre of attention.
Playing every round. GMs cannot get their eyes off the ball.
Managing a group.
Adjudicating in-game (in character) conflicts and actual conflicts.
Knowing the rules. A GM must know the gaming rules. A GM does not need to know all the rules (such as classes) though. I tend to trust my players with the "Player's part" of the game.
The dedication part: People expect you to run a game. A GM can miss a player, but players cannot play without a GM.
The fact that the job should bring in £30 an hour per player but that we do it all for free!

Prepared adventures

I am an engineer, so the brain is not trained that much for imagination.
Well, I need to come up with innovative solutions at work of course, but as answers to problems or requirements, nothing artsy-fartsy.
Therefore I always run published adventures. I can wing it up at times, propose some side little encounters but I just love the safety of a prepared adventure.
The hard part, and to me annoying part, is already done. I take pleasure in trying to guess how my players are going to go through planned ordeals.
Ironically, running a published adventure is not always easier than designing one's own. Players are extremely good at "breaking" things, even when they do not want to!
The GM must read the adventure at least once first and sort of recheck the spells to be used by their evil NPCs. Good players, not always power-gamers, are aware of the expected level of challenge from a typical encounter. Because of jagged XP progression, the GM must adapt certain NPCs and situations, thus making the published adventure more work than the personally designed one.

I am more of a tactical-combat type of GM than a role-playing GM. Others have a diametrically opposite approach to gaming. Prepared adventures fit my style of gaming.

Laurent,