Judging with Style

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Being a Game Master can be daunting: Prep time, dungeon design, scheduling, nailing the delivery of descriptive blocks, getting the voices of NPCs just right, picking out the right mood music, making sure you have all the minis you need for the big encounter, a battle mat; the list goes on!

No. Stop it. 

This is a "give a mouse a cookie..." situation. Not only will the mouse ask for a glass of milk, all of that is bad for the poor rodent and it will die. Or in this case, your RPG group will ask for milk, and you, the GM will die.

Now, before the non-GMs amongst you click off this post, you can learn from this too. Sit down, lean against a wall, lay on your side, or settle in however you consume your media, and consider this:

If you've come up playing D&D in the post-Dragonlance era (Basically the tail end of AD&D 1e onward), a lot of habits have likely been accidentally trained into you that you're not even aware of. I wasn't. These habits end up making being a GM and a Player a lot harder than it should be, because as editions went on, preconstructed narratives and the image of the GM as a storyteller became the default assumption. Many of the tools presented to facilitate GMs and make their role easier, supplied as part of the Dungeon Master’s sections in AD&D 1e or B/X were pushed into supplementary books for later editions, treated as tertiary material. 

Remember that TSR and WotC (and most companies really) are trying to make money. So, finding ways to itemize your experience is ideal, even if it is a detriment to the game's design. Businesses are not your friend. There are of course excellent tools in these expanded catalogs, some that certainly would not have fit within the page count of later DM’s manuals, but Gygax’s DMG is commonly cited as a useful resource, while the others, not so much. Indeed, from a modern perspective, there are quite a few better resources, useful across most RPG systems, whether that be expansive blogs like The Alexandrian, or publications like Return of the Lazy GM.

The Pointy End

Hopefully, everyone in your group is playing RPGs to have fun. If one of you (in the case of this topic, the GM) is stressing the fuck out every (other) week trying to prep, it is vital to change your standards of expectations. Don't LOWER them per se, change them. Or if you and your group  insist on a certain style of game and don't want to read any further, you’ll need to find a GM who can give you that multimedia extravaganza you're looking for. Don't expect from a group what they cannot give. Friendships and social groups are ruined by stubborn folks refusing to be honest with one another. It is okay to bow out of a game to save face. This is true not just from the performance of the game, but also personality clashes within the game. A more difficult and expansive topic than can be covered in brief here.

So, this sort of examination of expectations is also important for new groups starting out, when new players join, when a fresh campaign starts, or when someone else starts GMing. The sort of expections to discuss can vary from group to group. Some groups will need to discuss content limits, especially if some players have a history of trauma or particular phobias they'd like to avoid. If someone tells you to "man up" over CWs, and the group doesn’t support you, leave that group.

Others may want phones away at the table, if a group has trouble concentrating or keeping pace during a session. Everyone's time is limited, and when information has to be repeated ad nauseum, those precious moments get wasted. Others may need those same phones as a comfort or fidget device to assist with anxiety. The exact particulars of what your group decides to examine is specific to your group, and keep that dialog open. If need be, every few sessions have another discussion to make sure everyone is happy. Use Discord or your preferred method to chat online if having an in-person meeting is too high stress. You're not trying to have a witch hunt, you're trying to gauge enjoyment. 

Okay players, get out of here, the rest is for GM eyes only... or keep reading, I'm not your mom. 

Behind the Curtain

The GM screen is a powerful tool. Both in practical terms for the quick info you can refer to about your game of choice, but also in the more metaphorical concept of obfuscation. The other players really don't know what you have up your sleeve at any moment, and as long as they perceive the rules to remain consistent (and they should), have little reason to doubt what you tell them. This is where all those extra pieces of prep detract from the utility of the GM screen. This is your poker face. You bluff with what is or is not behind it. With the right balance of prep and improvisation using random tables, simple room descriptions, and your own imagination, a session can be played with literal one page dungeons, as shown by the yearly One Page Dungeon Contest which always produces wonderful, creative work. Seriously, there are a ton of free dungeons there to use for your campaigns. If you've got that creative bone go participate or at least vote on what you think is best.

"Just use owlbears" was right there…

One Page Dungeons? Newer GMs may be wondering, "How do monster profiles, descriptive blocks, story hooks, and long npc backgrounds fit on a single page?" They don't. Go take a quick look at OPD and then Let’s break each of those down how you’re supposed to run one without that info spoonfed to you, starting with monster profiles:

Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque put it wonderfully with the phrase "Just use bears". As most of my games involve more humanoid monsters, I often paraphrase it with the more fantasy saying "Just use orcs", but the idea is the same: Your player's are imagining the description you give them, not the profile you have on hand. They can't see the stat profile, and by the time they can sus it out from back and forth rolls, the creature is dead. Even then, they’re not going to be comparing it to another creature they fought.

Is a human bandit's +1 to hit and damage any different from an orc's +1 to hit and damage? When stats are that simple, why keep EITHER profile on hand? If YOU decide to throw bandits at your players, "just use orcs", or even simpler, don’t use anything and give bonuses to dice rolls where they make sense. The rest of the profile doesn't need to exist. How you describe the bandits and how you play them is far more important. Your player's don't need to know that you're bluffing behind that screen. 

This doesn’t mean make things up as you go, or change things mid-play. The bandit’s health shouldn’t double because you want the combat to last longer, or a fighter’s attack miss because you thought their pocket sand trick was silly. If you’ve presented a set of “laws” for your world, stick by them. Your players (and by extension their characters) should be able to rely on them.

You find yourselves in a tavern

Those little boxed blurbs have been with us since the beginning of D&D, but you'll find in older modules that they almost always exist at the beginning to provide a story hook, and then are gone. Few rooms if any have blocks of text describing how tepid the walls are or the gangrenous zombie arms clawing out of the grave dirt.

Room entries will  tell you room size, number of monsters, treasure. and sort of leave it up to you. Are the zombies just corpses on the ground until you get close? are they chained to the walls like in a prison? What makes sense for the adventure? Prep in older games was less rote memorization of short stories, and more about making a module your own.  Here you can see a great project by players creating terse entries for Caverns of Thracia by the magnificent Jennell Jaquays. You don't have to go ham like this. Baby steps.

Far easier to remember an adventure you had a hand in "creating" than trying to remember massive chunks of prose like you're back in literature class at school. Jot down some quick ideas about each room, if more than one comes to you, keep it. At the table you'll have extra options. Its also okay for a room to be empty. Players hate empty rooms. Sparks dread deep down in the soul.

So now you're running a session with a single floor of a dungeon, with brief room descriptions, and no monster profiles. But how do you get your players there? Well, we sort of did this backwards, because you would only do all this, because your players WANTED to.

Let’s clarify something about your role: the name Dungeon Master or Game Master is really a bad title for your position at the table. The GM is more akin to a Judge, a Referee, or Facilitator, not a Master. On top of being excessively antagonistic, that nomme de plume suggests far more central importance and control of not just the game world, but the game plot, focus, and direction. 

The Players should have that control. If your players want to go to the goblin camp the villagers have complained about, then you're gonna run that dungeon. If they don’t want to explore the crypt where the zombies are coming from, well,  it’s good that you didn't put too much effort into it. They are playing the central characters, perhaps not in a grand fantasy adventure, but in this small view of the world, their choices are the ones to matter and care about. NPCs should never take center stage or eclipse the characters, except if the players chose to put them there, such as with the creation of their personal nemesis or supporting a character in a political struggle. When generating NPCs they should have simple backgrounds that don't require the GM to craft a grand family tree, or a long story to explain their background should the players inquire. The town blacksmith could have fought in "the war", but don't regale the party with the battle where he fought the evil warlock and became cursed with a demon arm. 

Instead, ask the players about their backgrounds. think of ways to seed their ideas throughout the world. In that case, if one of the players is an evil warlock who curses people, maybe you could have one of their victims show up. A thief in the party? Is their old guild set up in one of the towns? do they have a bounty out for their head? Plenty of quick ideas that can engage your party in the world, and nothing that forces your party into an expansive narrative.

The Toy Box

So, what about all the play aids? Gotta get enough goblin minis painted to have that cool battle. If your players are really into tactical gameplay, then sure, you can go nuts with a grid and minis. There is fun to be had in kitbashing and painting that right mini for your character AND THEN NEVER TOUCHING IT AGAIN (this is definitely not a personal problem), but too many visual elements and gamification of an RPG can take players of out of the world, and actually make roleplaying more difficult. Focusing too much on tactical play rather than adventure is perhaps using the wrong tool for the job.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Tactical RPGs; as video games. But I feel thats where they work best. With the computer calculating in the background, not having to wait on others for my turn to come up again, and spending as much time as I like on my own. At the table, speed of play, simplicity of resolution, and capability of choice are key components of a great roleplaying experience. If you're looking for that crunchy miniatures focused gameplay, hit up your friendly local game store (they can use the business) and play Warhammer (they don't need your business).

Crunchier RPGs, whether we're talking about certain editions of D&D or many of its competitors, often end up creating a more narrow view of the capabilities of a character. The more actions and activities that are typified and laid out with rules oddly narrow the idea of what a character can do. Obviously this was not the intent; Designers were trying to expand what characters (and players) were clearly capable of, but intent and result are difficult to align in game design. 

Roleplaying has always been at it’s best when fostering lateral thinking, puzzle solving, and interacting as a character like you were in a real, living world, rather than simply playing a game by the limited rules it provided. As a GM you should always be ready and willing to follow the improv rules of "Yes and..." or “Yes but..” to any ideas your players come up with.

But, are your players aware of their own capability to interact with the world beyond what the rules state? Or are they stuck within the box that late era RPGs have placed them in? Are they saying “I make a perception check” instead of “I turn the box over and look for anything suspicious”? Are they rolling checks before you ask for one? Start reminding them not to. When they ask for a check. Say “What are make an X check for?” “How are you doing X?” If they roll dice, tell them the roll doesn’t count. Good or bad. Just gently remind them that they don’t need to roll until you ask. And as a GM, remember that you don’t need to ask for a roll all the time. How often in real life do you have a 50% chance to fail a normal task? a 25% chance? When you get down to 10% or less, is that even worth rolling? Unless we’re talking Combat where Critical hits or the like come into play, just let the game flow. Let players explore and become immersed in the world. Instead of prepping by memorizing DCs, memorize synonyms for gross muck; words like ichor and putrescence. Expand your expressive power to help your players embody their characters as you think up descriptions on your feet. 

If your group isn’t really looking for crunchy tactical combat, easing them into theater of the mind will be easier than you think. Some grid paper and pencils can be used to draw areas if your descriptive powers are failing you, but you may also find yourself designing more interesting encounters than simple flat open areas when you go off the battle grid. Running fights, verticality, changes to the area, fights in places you didnt prepare for. In fact, you never really have to prep a fight. You will also find some player who loves cartography and dungeon mapping to pick up the slack to help the party with orienteering. Another classic facet of RPGs left by the wayside. Party roles is an article for another time, but one that can help players too shy to roleplay feel engaged in other ways.

If your players are not quite ready to leave the minis world behind completely, Professor Dungeon Master has an interesting compromise. Abstracting distances and positions into 3 fields of Adjacent, Near, and Far, and then representing that with three rings where minis and terrain pieces are places. This can help players who have difficulty visualizing combat based on verbal descriptions. His is done with a foam board, but graph paper, dry erase mats, or many other tools at your disposal can create the same effect.

Giving out play aids can be fun. When I run games at conventions or during special moments in a campaign; I find these are the right times to wow the party. They can be a treat that make it memorable, but mood music droning through a session just becomes background noise that players tune out or makes discussion difficult; visuals become less noteworthy if you have a picture for every character or a handout for every locale, and appreciation of any extra work you do eventually goes unnoticed.

This is not to say this is malicious, it just becomes seen as the norm. The level of expectation from players becomes raised. Play aids should be exciting, to punctuate something important. One of the groups I play with recently set out from the big city. We'd had a few adventures there, and finally wanted to explore the bigger world. To celebrate, so to speak, the GM set out a map fashioned in Wonderdraft. He had coffee-stained and rolled up the paper printout with a wax seal. The effect was great, and made us feel like we were truly striking out into the wilderness with an aged map in hand. If every map or missive handed to us was like this, despite the effort put in, the prop would be less likely to stick the landing. You can't eat cookies and milk all the time.

From my opening list of “mandatory” GM tasks, I skipped a few things; most notably scheduling. That's the bugbear, scheduling is real and hard. There are solutions. None truly perfect, but some workable. But the most famous solution, the open table campaign should really be another article. Lastly, everything I talked about, the expectations and bad behaviors trained into us over the last 30+ years of RPGs; You can still play the games that sparked those without reinforcing those behaviors. You can use the thousands of pages of content and ideas, lift them for your own use. The material isn't tainted by those cultural shifts. This hobby is for having fun. There may be no wrong way to have fun, but we can try making the experience more enjoyable for everyone. 

So, closing thoughts: Everyone should be having fun, including the GM. Whatever you do, don't make it your job. But, if you have time and you have FUN doing the sort of preps I’ve presented loop holes for, go ahead and do them anyway. Just ask yourself: Does it spark joy?

(Note - This originally was posted on my wordpress blog paired with images meant to compliment the text, those were lost in transition to blogspot. My apologies, I hope the context remains understandable.)

Further Reading

• The Alexandrian - Justin Alexander has extensive articles on a myriad of subjects including an entire series on being a GM. A must read site.
• Sly Flourish - Michael Shea wrote Return of the Lazy GM, and his site has a number of blog posts that are the basis for his books, but that are much expanded in his published works. If you're looking for something to have at the table, consider picking it up.
• ToGaD - Part RPG Blog, Part Book Review site, "Just Use Bears" has a permanent place in my mind palace. It was a philosophy i'd been unthinkingly using, but never had a name to put to it. I know there is more gold in there, too.
• Dungeon Craft - Technically Further Viewing, Professor DM's YouTube channel covers the ups and downs of WoTC's handling of D&D, reviews of excellent books you should own, and lots of neat variant rules to experiment with.
• Wonderdraft - My personal favorite map making program, I'm hardly an artist (I'm barely a writer), but I'm happy with what I create for use in my games.