Gamecraft: The Stress-Free GM – part 2

You can read part 1 here.

Tip 3: Just say “Yes”

One of the things that more games are stressing to GM’s is the idea of saying “yes” to players instead of saying things like “no you can’t,” or “no your character wouldn’t do that.”  I’m a huge fan of this concept.  Nothing kills the illusion of free-will like saying “NO” to the players.  Don’t be afraid to let your players attempt anything. Remember, even if success is virtually (or even completely) impossible, it doesn’t mean that some fool (I mean PC) shouldn’t be allowed to give it a try.  It’s completely fair to let the players know that the chances for success are slim to none, but never simply tell them no.  Besides running the risk of making the game less enjoyable for your players, you are missing a golden opportunity to let the game grow on its own accord, instead of you always having to be at the helm.

Why are some gamemasters unwilling to say yes?  There are a lot of reasons.  Sometimes the GM hasn’t anticipated the character’s actions, so feeling the pinch, they say no.  If this is you, go back and read the first section Change Your Focus.  Others may not feel prepared for where a “yes” may take them.  If this sounds like you, go back to the second section, You Run the World, not the Other Way Around, and read that again. But for many of the GMs I know, they are afraid to say yes because they are unsure of a game mechanic or feel they don’t know the rules well enough.  Never let the rules get in the way of a good time.  In some cases rules aren’t even necessary, but if you feel they are, keep in mind that virtually every game out there has some sort of “core mechanic.” Use it.  Pick a stat, roll against it.  When all else fails, simply assign a percentage chance for success and roll away.

The important thing to realize is that saying yes actually makes your job easier by allowing your players to exercise their character’s free-will and being able to do virtually whatever they want – players love that.  It also helps build player/gamemaster trust.  In some campaigns the GM begins to seem like an unyielding authority figure, someone who is always telling the players no and forcing the story upon them.  When a group of players has trust in their GM, he becomes a partner in the story-telling, not a dictator, and he shares in the group experience.  This kind of relationship eliminates many of the problems that can come up at the table greatly reducing GM stress, and that is the key to allowing your best game to come forward.

Tip 4: Let the Players do the Work

One of the most stressful parts of being the gamemaster is the responsibility of continually providing new, thrilling, and creative adventures that characters are emotionally invested in and players are excited to go on.  In fact, the pressure to turn out great stories and adventures can easily cause GM burnout and make running a game feel more like a job than a beloved hobby.  The key to staying fresh and keeping your creativity up is remembering that most of us GMs do a lot more work than is strictly necessary when it come to creating great stories.  As GMs, we tend to forget that our #1 resource for inspiration and motivation are the players sitting around our table.

Earlier I talked about designing the campaign without focusing on the PCs.  Although this helps reduce the frustration of anticipating the characters’ actions, it doesn’t do much to “connect” them to the story.  This is where character hooks become the bridge between your story, and the characters’ stories.  Need to motivate characters into action, use an old friend or ally.  Want the players to care about a community, make it a character’s hometown.  Need an assassin for your arch villain to send against the characters, of course it’s an old enemy with a vendetta.  All of these NPCs may seem like a lot of work, but let me share a little shortcut with you; make the players do the work.

When I’ve finished laying out a few general aspects of the campaign (see Change Your Focus above), I sit back with the players while they create their characters.  I like to help the players come up with interesting backgrounds, character hooks, and ties to each other.  Among other things, I ask players to come up with some NPCs, at least three friends or allies, three rivals, three mentors or contacts, and at least one true enemy.  These don’t have to be more than a name and a one or two sentence description, but right away I have 20 – 40 custom made NPCs for the campaign that tie directly to the characters.  This, combined with a background consisting of at least a place of birth and two or three notable life events, and I have plenty of inspiration for dozens of great adventures.

In my campaigns, I usually have one or two primary plot arcs designed for the overall story.  Oftentimes however, that isn’t enough to carry an entire campaign, or they simply don’t dominate every part of the campaign level-to-level.  Enter the character hooks; they are an excellent resource to mine for adventure ideas and sub-plots.  These act as mini-stories within the greater plot line that help to tie each individual character into the campaign and make each of the players feel like they are part of something greater.  This not only takes some pressure off the GM by giving him some ideas to work with, but also helps build verisimilitude in the world.

Using your players’ own creativity to help fuel yours goes well beyond simply assisting you as the GM; it also makes the players “connect” with the world and keep them emotionally invested in the events that transpire there.  Once your players feel that their characters are the story and not just in the story, the game truly becomes a shared experience, and that motivates the entire group to work together to produce an excellent game.  Sharing the workload is another key to stress-free gamemastery.

Tip 5: Sit Back & Enjoy the Ride

All of the ideas presented here were designed to help you, the gamemaster relax and have more fun while running the game.  By using the tips and techniques presented above you should find the stress and anxiety that sometimes comes with running a roleplaying game to be greatly reduced.  With time, you may even find yourself feeling more like a player and less like the person in charge.  Hopefully, you will be able to shift your role as gamemaster from director, needing to control everything and keep the players on track, to story participant, watching events unfold around you and being pleasantly surprised by where “your” story takes the group.