So who exactly is the mule in your gaming group?

I live in Reno, which is full of casinos and hotels. For most of my adult life I parked cars and drove limos, and we pooled our tips and split them among everyone working that day. Some days I had very little to contribute. Other days I was the mule.

In most gaming groups, the GM is the mule. They buy the books, study the system, get everyone together, prepare the run, and then run it. The rest of us show up with a character and say, “Okay, what have you got for us today?” Good players study the system and read the setting. Great players occasionally step in and do some of the heavy lifting.

So this is a challenge to myself, as a player: next game, I’m going to be the mule.

Come with more than a sheet

I’ll show up with a finished character who has a background and goals. His purpose in life won’t be to react to whatever the GM throws at him. It’ll be to give the GM something to react to. If the GM is going to develop ten or twenty NPCs, I can develop one.

That means knowing my runner inside out, and it also means building hooks into the world and the other characters. A rival fixer, a debt to someone on the team, an old contact in the Barrens. Not all of the story has to come from the GM.

Feed the setting

When we land in a new district, I’ll mention an old buddy who might put us up for the night, and I’ll hope we don’t run into his mother, who’s always pinching my cheeks (and not the ones on my face). While the GM is busy working out the next step of the plot, I can be adding flavor. Why should one person be responsible for all of it?

Help the table

If someone needs help with their character, I’ll give it. The GM has a story to tell and doesn’t need to spend an evening teaching the game. I plan to be a veritable mack daddy at building characters, both crunch and flavor, so the players are as ready as we can be.

I’ll also keep the rules lookup open on my tablet. When our group started a new system, having the reference up was a huge help. We’ve outgrown that now, but I’ll have it ready for the next new game, because it makes things easier on a new GM.

Write the recap

I’ll write a recap after each session and post it in our group before the next game. That way everyone can refresh their memory, and the GM doesn’t have to be the one reminding us. We don’t get enough table time as it is, so this helps us dive right in. It also gets everyone excited to play.

I made this list to be a better player. “Better” means different things to different people, but for me it’s this: come prepared, help move the story, and help make the game more fun for everyone. If I take some weight off the GM’s shoulders, they’ll have more left for running a great game.

I think the list could be longer. Here are a few more ideas:

• Keep the paperwork. Track the team’s nuyen, loot, favors owed and the NPC names the GM invents on the fly. Nobody can remember them otherwise.
• Handle logistics. Be on time, bring dice and snacks, and offer to host once in a while.
• Mind the clock. If the table drifts into arguing about a rule, say “let’s roll with it and look it up after the game.”
• Make decisions. When the team stalls, pick something and go. A bad plan the GM can react to beats no plan.

What would you add? What do you do to take weight off your GM?