Throw the Dice! Let’s GM – A New Way to GM

Sometimes being the Game Master can feel very burdensome. We can get bogged down by all the work that goes into the planning the roleplaying games, and the pressure of making sure you run a fun game for your players can become too much. So how do you deal with that burden and prevent it from weighing you down to the point of not wanting to do it at all? In this video, I talk about a completely new way to GM and the 3 aspects to look at in order to help you become a Great GM, and to have fun while doing it!

So you want to be a game master but the pressure of doing it and doing it well stops you
from starting. How do you cope with all of the pressure and actually starting GMing?
Here is how I do it:
Break it down into 3 spheres or aspects to look at when learning to deal with the pressure of
being the GM. These 3 aspects are fairly straight forward, they are:

1. Yourself as the GM
2. Your world
3. Your game
   By looking at these 3 spheres of being the GM, we can then identify strengths and
   weaknesses in each of them. We can pinpoint areas that need to be worked on and areas
   that are already strong.
   Let’s look at each one:
   • Yourself
   o What do you want? How do you like to game? What makes you happy?
   o Overcoming your fears of being the GM. You shouldn’t be afraid – this is a
   game that you should enjoy.
   o Our focus as GMs needs to shift from making sure all the players have fun, to
   making sure that we ALL have fun together.

• Your world
o What makes your world (your setting) work versus how much work you think
you need to do.
o Homebrew or pre-brew – whatever your setting or world, they are all the
same. The players don’t need to know as much as you think they do, and they
care less then you hope.
o The burden of information should be shared.
o Information dumping – only we ‘know’ all the information. It’s all made up.
The players can do that too, and should.
o We tend to invest time in the wrong places. Planning instead of
understanding.
o The world is fixed. Our own world changes all the time – politics, religions,
history, trade etc. Why do RPGs say no?

o The frame gives form. Don’t fix your world before you play. Fix a framework
of world rules in place, and let those help you make the world as you go.

• Your game
o What is your campaign, who are your NPCs and why shouldn’t you plan
these?
o You should have no clue. Do not KNOW how an adventure will end. Plan out
how your NPCs WANT it to end, and then watch to see of that happens or
not.
o The GM isn’t God. The GM is physics and universal laws, and the GM is a real
NPC (all of them). The GM does not decide on how the world works (the
world does).
o You cannot force it. No GM should ever force an outcome. You should
respond to actions based on who might respond.

Using these 3 spheres, together, we are going to begin a new journey of how to become a
great GM that has fun at their table, that isn’t afraid of GMing and that isn’t there purely to
entertain the players but to also play in the game and have a great time while doing it!