GM AMA Wrap-Up Part 1
Wow! What a fantastic event! I had so much fun reconnecting with old friends and we had some great questions! A link to the video can be found here. As I mentioned in my GM AMA, I plan to host this event every quarter to provide Game Masters of every level of play a free and open forum to ask questions. As someone who has seen a lot of tables and played with a ton of diverse players from a plethora of backgrounds and world views, I feel that I have some valuable advice to offer. I didn’t have a lot of resources starting out so I want to provide as many as possible and be able to personalize them to meet your specific needs. So as promised, here are my answers to some post-broadcast questions I received as well as some questions posed in our Friends of Open Heart Games Facebook Group.
Post-Broadcast Questions
You're considered by many of your peers to be a veteran DM/GM. With that consideration in mind, what's a moment you recall looking at something you did (or something you permitted) which you either immediately or soon thereafter observed, "Wow, that was a rookie mistake"? And how do you handle moments like that in the moment and in post-analysis?
First, thank you for the kind words. I actually had a moment like this happen to me fairly recently in one of my campaigns. I was running a session where the characters find themselves in an area that has been secretly overrun with cultists and as I was describing the scene, I accidentally said something to the effect of “The cultist standing on the rampart tells you to go away.” The party immediately responded with “Oooh! They’re cultists? That changes things!” If I had not let slip this crucial piece of information, the encounter might have gone very differently, and they may have skipped over it entirely for the time being. With the cat out of the bag, the only thing left to do was to soldier on. I took a moment, reshuffled my notes, and adjusted to the party’s new course of action, which included cutting a bloody swath through the legions of cultists inside the castle. The take-away here is that you are going to make mistakes and that you need to be flexible enough to adapt to the unpredictability of the characters’ choices. If you make a mistake you can always take a five-minute break while you consider your next course of action. Never forget that you can always retcon something that didn’t feel quite right [just try not to make a habit of it as players will grow confused and frustrated by inconsistency]. Mistakes happen to the best of us so try not to take it personally. Most mistakes are not campaign-ruining and are easily corrected. I think that C.S. Lewis, the father of Narnia, said it best, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
[What advice do you have for] First-time players trying to overcome the jitters of joining a group of more seasoned ones.
I am going to give advice for both the new players and the veteran players here. New players, make sure to ask lots of questions before the session, after the session, and even during the session. This will help you learn the game and help you feel more comfortable during play. Don’t worry too much about the rules. Just explain to the players what you are attempting to do and the Game Master and other players will help you with the mechanics. Most groups are filled with players who are passionate about their hobby and love to talk about it. Tap into that passion and learn from your fellow players. Game Masters, make sure to have all of your players introduce themselves each session until everyone is comfortable with each other and knows each other’s preferred name and pronouns, trigger warnings, etc. Also be patient with new players as you may have to pause the game to explain things for a few sessions. Veteran players, you should also be patient with new players and do your best to take them under your wing. Remember the confusion and excitement as you played your first game and how the other players (hopefully) helped. If they weren’t that helpful, be the change you want to see in the world.
How [can DMs] make themselves prepared for first-timers?
The answer to this question is going to vary depending on what roleplaying system you are playing in. You will want to be familiar with all of the aspects of character creation and any questions that might come up during character creation, especially a quick description on what the classes are. You will want to familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of combat if your system focuses on combat. Also, you will want to refamiliarize yourself with how the skills and attributes work. Perhaps most importantly, you want to brush up on the core mechanics of the system and be able to easily explain them to a new player. Make sure that you allow yourself and the new player plenty of time.
How much backstory is too much?
Your backstory is your love letter to your Game Master’s campaign. You should paint in broad strokes but sometimes you may feel inspired and want to come up with a deep rich backstory. When you are creating a backstory, you need to give your Game Master enough room to weave in their story with yours. Give your Game Master some meaty hooks that they can latch onto and let them work your backstory into their world. If you are too rigid or too detailed it becomes very difficult to work your backstory in and that will be frustrating for both you and your Game Master. As a Game Master, I find it best to talk with your players about their plans for their characters as they are working on their backstory and try to come up with some ideas together so that way you are both invested in the character’s arc. Also, don’t be afraid to check in with your player to see how they feel about their character’s development – they may have some new ideas. I also suggest that, as a player, you describe your plan for your character’s arc to your Game Master so that they have a better idea of your expectations.
That wraps up some of the questions for this week! I still have a few more that I will tackle in our next blog post. Great questions! Please keep them coming!
Take Heart!
Karington Hess
Game Master and Founder of Open Heart Games
