GM Advice and the Perfect RPG Game
There are tons of blogs out there for role playing games. Add on the podcasts and you have even more sources that give you advice on how to make your game better. Now, I do appreciate the articles, even the ones that seem to be the same from one publisher to the next. I don’t mind hearing the guys on FearTheBoot.com talk about how to manage trouble players and then hear the same thing on the DM Guys podcast. Note: I don’t think the DM Guys have actually covered the topic, I just use these two sources for example purposes.
Take notes. Use music. Create a list of names. Get the right miniatures. Use handouts. Think of ways to set the tone by not only describing what the player characters see, but also what they smell or hear. With all these bits and pieces, and there are tons more, I’d wonder if it’s possible to keep them all in your pocket and remember to pull them all out when game mastering your game. Holy cow, never mind the 300+ pages of rules that we should have a grasp of.
Maybe I’m being a bit cynical, but it just seems that these pieces of advice can surely add to a game. No question about that. I just wonder if the perfect game is just not possible to achieve.
I think the advice may pertain to those that have little to no experience. Perhaps that they’re most helpful to those audiences. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say my GM style is the be all end all, but experience does help. I also think we GM the way we do because it’s habit or we have our own preprogrammed way of doing things. Sure, we can try something new, but don’t we all revert to our own ways?
I think I need to play with other groups to really see how different approaches to game mastering can really appeal to me.
Thoughts?
