High Level Games
High Level Games
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy One-Page Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy One-Page Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures

Welcome to the High Level Games Blog, News, and other stuff to take your games to the next level!

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

The Terrifying Tale Of Things Gone Wrong: Don’t Make These 3 Mistakes As A GM

5/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Mistakes were made.

​Systems are confusing for a new GM. People are way more complicated than we give them credit for. Timing is always a problem. Learn from me, sympathize with me, or even just mock me; just don't do what I did.


1) Choosing Your System
My rationale:
I chose my first system to GM based on two things. One, I wanted a system that the group wasn’t familiar with because I feared rules-lawyers and I was intimidated by doing things wrong in the system and being told I was wrong over and over again. That may be my fear of failure coming through. Two, I wanted a setting that was familiar to all. The lore would be known for the most part and so I could focus on building my story within that lore.

What I did wrong:
The system I chose was Palladium Fantasy. It met my requirements of being a new system for my group and fantasy was a setting that was well known among my geekdom of friends and players. Not knowing the extent of how tough and crazy the rules were, I spent far too many minutes in-game flipping through the book. The sheer number of options for attacks and classes was mystifying. I had played Rifts… I should have known.

How I should have fixed it:
I could have mitigated the crazy detailed rules by limiting the range of character types that my players could be. There could have been a community of dwarves that were spurred into going into new territory due to changes in leadership, climate, or famine. They could have bonded and had a great adventure together with a shared cultural identity. I didn’t do that.

I could have made some pre-generated characters to choose from. Then I could have understood the character building process and types of characters better. This would have made me more wise and understanding of certain traits each character had and I could have become an expert in those areas. I didn’t do that either.

2) People
My rationale:
I decided to continue on with the roleplaying group that had been started by my SO. There was already an established time and a group. It would be great to have the least amount of explanation and beginning thoughts on how we were a team.

What I did wrong:
There was no session zero to establish anything, really. We made the characters in a haphazard way. Meaning, I took no forethought in seeing what would be the best for the group. I never talked about how I saw the players coming together as a group. I even misread a specific player’s thoughts during the campaign which ended in the player leaving the group after it finished. It was a train-wreck that I didn’t even know was happening.

How I should have fixed it:
I should have called a timeout for in-character play. Once I saw that one character wasn’t gelling with the idea of the group, I should have done something. He was acting erratic and contrary to the group of heroes I saw being formed in the game. I thought he was doing it for laughs. The other players laughed and recounted the crazy stories. All the while, I had no idea that he wasn’t in on the jokes.

Next time, the establishment of the group in a session zero is necessary. I also need to learn to be more direct and talk to my players. I had just made assumptions based on it already having been an ‘established group’. Even with veterans to the roleplaying scene, you need to be aware of where the group is coming from and where they want to go.

The next time if things go awry, I need to speak with the individual or group.

3) Timing
My rationale:
This particular GMing essential is the tough part of any group. “When can we get together?” is the battle cry that we all herald. So in the next campaign I ran, I thought we could have more flexible timing. I had a group of ladies to GM for and, for the most part, we were full of first-time players. Being super busy at the time, we all figured a slightly different schedule would work.

What I did wrong:
I didn’t want to alienate my group, so when we started having huge problems getting together I did nothing about it. The campaign (as fun as it was) fell into obscurity with even me not being completely motivated to keep it going.

How I should have fixed it:
I should have set a better time, when all players could make it most of the time. I should have cleared my schedule to make sure I would be available each and every time they were. I managed to be semi-committed to everything in my life during that time and so failed to do anything really well. My urge to play again should have corresponded with the timing in my life.

Next time I run a campaign, I would establish the timing as set. I would be okay to have not everyone involved if they can’t commit. If I can’t commit, I won’t. Or I will decide to run some mini-campaigns or one-shots just to have fun with my friends. But whatever we decide, we will decide as a group.

These are the three things I urge GMs to take into account. GMing is not about perfection, but about steady improvement. If you are able to use any of these missteps to dance your way to a better campaign then I have done my job. Happy GMing!
​
This article was written by Vanessa who is a sarcastic, 30-something wife and mother. She likes things and stuff, but not simultaneously. When she isn’t involved in things and stuff, she teaches and coaches debate. She thinks everyone should be roleplaying.  She is also trying out this new twitter handle at @sarasma_nessa ...on second/third thought… I am terrible at twitter. Please send help! She also thinks you should support the writers here that are more clever and can figure out twitter.

Picture reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGRRalRjb7Y 

Savage Worlds: Fast, Furious, and Fun! - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    All blog materials created and developed by the staff here at High Level Games 

    ​

    Picture
    Click here to support our community for as a little as $1.00 for exclusive content, free downloadable stuff, and even discounts on role-playing game items.

    Archives

    February 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    13th Age
    2d20
    2nd Edition
    3.5 Edition
    3Deep
    4th Edition
    5th Edition
    7th Sea
    Acquisitions Inc
    Actual Play
    AD&D
    AdventureLookUp.com
    Adventurers!
    Aether Sea
    A+ Fantasy
    After Collapse
    Alignment
    Amazing Tales
    Amazon
    Anima: Beyond Fantasy
    Anime
    Apocalypse World
    Atomic Robo
    Australian
    Award Winning
    Basic Fantasy
    Belly Of The Beast
    Big Eyes Small Mouth
    Black Lives Matter
    Black Void
    Blades In The Dark
    Blood Pangea
    Board Games
    Book Of Exalted Darkness
    BrigadeCon
    Burning Wheel RPG
    Call Of Cthulhu
    Capers RPG
    Casual Roleplaying
    Changeling: The Dreaming
    Chaosium
    Character Arcs
    Character Creation
    Chris Spivey
    Cinematic RP
    Classics
    Comic-books
    Conventions
    Corvus Belli: Infinity
    Crawl
    Creators
    Critical Role
    Cthulhutech
    D100 Dungeon
    D20
    D&D
    D&D Beyond
    Deadlands
    Defenders Of Tokyo
    Degenesis
    Detako Saga
    Discord
    DMsGuild.com
    Dnd
    Dndbeyond
    Doctor-who
    Double-cross
    Dread
    Dresden-files
    DriveThruRPG.com
    Dr. Who
    Dungeon Crawl Classics
    Dungeons
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Slayers
    Dungeon World
    Dystopia Rising
    Encounters
    Era: The Consortium
    Era: The Empowered
    Esper Genesis
    Evil Hat
    Exalted
    Faith RPG
    Fandom
    Fantasy-age
    Fantasy-flight
    Fantasy Grounds
    FATE
    Fate Accelerated Edition
    Fate Core
    Fate Rpg
    Fate-rpg
    Final Fantasy
    Forgotten Realms
    Fragged Empire
    Free League Publishing
    Furries
    Game Design
    Game Lore
    Gencon
    Ghosts Of NPCs Past
    GMTips
    Golden-sky-stories
    GoodmanGames.com
    Grognards
    GUMSHOE
    GURPS
    GURPS Lite
    Halloween
    Harlem Unbound
    Harry-potter
    Hero Builder
    Heroes Against Darkness
    Heroes-unlimited
    HERO System
    High Level Games
    Historical Fantasy
    HLG Con 2018
    HLG Reviews
    Homebrew
    Humble Bundle
    Indie
    Interface Zero 2.0
    Interview
    Invisible Suns
    Japanese RPGs
    JRR Tolkien
    Kickstarter
    KoboldPress.com
    KULT
    L5R
    Lankhmar
    LARP
    Lasers And Feelings
    Legendlore
    Legend Of The Five Rings
    LexOccultum
    LOTR
    Low Magic
    Mage
    Mage: The Awakening
    Magic And Steel
    MAID
    Mayhem
    Mazes And Minotaurs
    Meikyuu Kingdom
    Mekton Zero
    Mental Health
    Middle Earth
    Mighty Narwhal
    Mini Six
    Modern Adventures RPG
    Modiphius
    Monarchies Of Mau
    Monsterhearts
    Monte Cook Games
    Morra
    Mummy: The Curse
    Mutants And Masterminds
    Mythender
    Narrative Games
    Nechronica
    Night's Black Agents
    Novel
    NPC
    Numenara
    Odyssey Of The Dragonlords
    One Shot
    Online Gaming
    Orun
    OSCRIC
    Osr
    OVA
    Palladium
    Pathfinder
    Pathfinder 2.0
    PbtA
    PDQ
    Pire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
    Play By Post
    Player Tips
    Podcast
    Powered By Apocalypse
    Power Outage RPG
    Preview
    Promethean: The Created
    Pugmire
    Pulp
    Puzzles
    Questlings
    Ravenloft
    Ravnica
    Red Markets: A Game Of Economic Horror
    Research
    Review
    Review Article
    Rifts
    Risus
    Role Play
    Roll20
    Romance Of The Perilous Land
    Ryuutama
    Satanic Panic
    Savage Rifts
    Savage Tokusatsu
    Savage Worlds
    Seeds Of Wars
    Setting
    Settings
    Settlement Building
    Shadowrun
    SIGMATA
    Snowhaven
    Social Combat
    Social Systems
    Solo Play
    Standard Roleplay System
    Star Trek Adventures
    Star Wars
    Storytellers Vault
    Suited RPG
    Summerland
    Supplements
    System Design
    Table Top
    Tabletop Simulator
    Tales From The Loop
    Tales Of Equestria
    Talislanta
    Tariffs
    Teenagers From Outerspace
    Ten Candles
    Tenra Bansho Zero
    The Dark Eye
    The End Of The World RPG
    The Great Long Dark
    The One Ring
    The Very Important Task
    Titan Effect
    To The Temple Of Doom
    Trial Of Cthulhu
    Trinity Continuum
    TSR Marvel Super Heroes
    Ttrpg
    Twitch
    USTR
    Va
    Valiant Rpg
    Vampire: The Masquerade
    Video Games
    Villian
    Volo
    Vs Ghosts
    Warhammer
    Warhammer 40K
    Werewolf: The Apocalypse
    Westbound RPG
    Wild West
    World Building
    World Of Darkness
    Writing Tips
    Year Zero
    Zweihander

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly