You could write endless volumes about the technicalities of running roleplaying games. This website has dozens of articles, and many thousands of words dedicated to the topic. Likewise, different people have different ideas of what constitutes good GMing, so what works for one GM, won't work for another. However, I do think that there are a few underlying principles of improving your GMing that are fairly universal, regardless of the type of gaming you enjoy.

Everyone is Here to Have Fun

I think it is fairly safe to assume that gamers roleplay in order to have fun. In my view, a good game is one where everyone (players and GM alike) enjoy themselves - regardless of whether or not I would enjoy that style of play personally. Thus, to my mind the first and most important goal of any GM should be to make sure that everyone is having fun. This is a wonderful underlying principle for all other decisions - "Will this add to or subtract from people's fun?" If it will make things more fun, then it's probably a good idea. If it will tick people off, it's probably a bad idea. If no one will care either way it may be a waste of time.

In reality, sometimes one player's idea of fun will ruin the fun of another, or the players will want something that will ruin the GM's enjoyment, and so on. In this case, the best course is to look for the most enjoyable compromise. In fact, I'd say that the only really good reason to prevent a player from doing what they want is when what they want would ruin someone else's fun.

When running games it's easy to get caught up in other concerns. You might be trying to tell a good story, or stick to the canon game mechanics, or avoid things which others would say are cheesy, or any of a number of other concerns. Remember that the ultimate reason you have these goals in mind is that they will hopefully make the game more fun. If they ever stop adding to the fun, or they start to detract from it, forget them.

So, whenever you don't know what decision to make, or when things don't seem to be going well, apply the fun test to what you are doing. If it isn't fun, change it. If it will mean more fun, go for it! If you're not having fun, then stop. Follow my advice, and health, wealth and happiness will be yours! Um, where was I.....

So, are you Perfect?

Presumably you are reading this because you'd like to improve your GMing. This is quite easy to contemplate in theory, but when you're faced with tired, angry whinging players the thought that it isn't all their fault can be quite alien. So, in order to get better than you already are, you'll need to change things. In order to change things, you'll have to accept that some things might need changing. Basically, you'll only improve if you contemplate what it is that you might be doing wrong.

It's a good idea to think about this whenever something goes wrong in a game you run. Ask yourself how it might be the result of something you did. Ask yourself what you could do differently to avoid it. This isn't about "taking the blame". I'm not suggesting for a minute that you should beat yourself up about every tiny mistake you make in a session. Neither am I suggesting that players never do anything wrong (Oh boy do they do things wrong! This advice goes for players too). What I'm suggesting, is that looking at what you, as the GM, can do to fix something is a lot more productive than blaming someone else.

Think back to that old saying - a wise man knows that he knows nothing.

No, they really don't get it!

Another major GMing faux pas is to assume that your players know what you're going on about. People are different. Your players may not have the same interests as you. They might enjoy different things. They might have different habits. They might think things are cool which you think are stupid, and vice versa. They might not have the same assumptions about how the world works that you do. In many cases players aren't doing something irritating in order to annoy you - they often genuinely think they are doing the right thing. Recognizing that people have different ways of seeing the world is the first step in harmonious roleplaying.

It's a lot more productive to assume that you just haven't explained something properly, than it is to assume that your players are malevolent idiots! Why the hell are you running for malevolent idiots anyway? I thought you were here to have fun...

So, to extrapolate a little, it's usually a good idea to give your players some idea about what you think is a good way to roleplay, and conversely, get them to tell you a bit about what they think. If you discover that you want to run a game of romance and political intrigue, with a player who is annoyed by irrelevant in-character discussion, and wants to focus on killing things, you might have a problem. It's a really good idea to discover this problem before the game starts. Some people advocate a specific and formalised play contract, which lays out everyone's expectations. Personally, I don't think you have to be that formal, as long as everyone has had a chance to express their thoughts. Regardless, I do think it's a good idea to put these thoughts in writing somewhere (if only through email) so that everyone knows where they stand.

If it's not on the screen - it doesn't exist

Likewise, it's important to remember that your players don't know what you are thinking. You can hardly blame them for making decisions which are stupid when you take into account things they don't know. Remember, if the players haven't seen it, it doesn't exist as far as they are concerned - this goes for good things as well as bad. There's no point in saying that you have lots of good stuff, only the players haven't gotten to it yet. They will (IMO, quite fairly) judge the success of the game based on what they've already experienced.

Communicate!

I can't emphasise this enough. Talk to your players. Talk to them out of game, as well as just running it for them. Find out what they think, and think about their comments. Get feedback about the game. Ask them what they most enjoy, and if you're feeling brave and diplomatic, ask them what they'd like to change. Tell them what you enjoy about what they do (this is always rewarding - everyone likes praise). Tell them when you don't like something, rather than assuming that they should know, or just punishing them in game - and when you do, do it diplomatically!

A few quick rules on giving criticism diplomatically are -

• Do it privately. Take the player aside rather than doing it in front of the group. the other players may want to jump in with their own "helpful" comments about what the first player did wrong - and believe me, it is never fun to sit there while a bunch of people gang up on you. In fact, never let a group of players do this to one player even if they all start it themselves.
• Keep it simple and focused. Don't bombard them with criticism, but pick one point and leave the others for another time. They'll be much more open minded if you don't just rant at them about how crap they are. Besides, if you make too many points at once people tend to forget them.
  
• Praise things at the same time. This is called the "criticism sandwich" - you insert your negative comment between two positive comments. This softens the blow, and lets them know that you don't hate everything they do.
• Try to be impersonal and non confrontational. Phrase things in terms of what you'd like to focus on, rather than what you want them to stop doing.
  
• Be positive as well as negative. If you tell them you don't want them to do something, try to give them some idea of what you want them to do instead.
  
• If you loathe personal confrontations, you can always try giving feedback on a group level, rather than a personal one, making suggestions as to what you want the group to do more or less of. The only problem here is that the person you really want to change might assume that it isn't relevant to them - and people who are doing fine will suddenly become paranoid that they're doing something you don't like.

Give Them What They Want

Some GMs will say that you can't just give players everything they want. They'll say that you don't want to pander to their every whim. Tish-pshaw. Find out what they want, and give it to them. It's fun. People enjoy it. The only good reason not to give someone what they want is when that would interfere with fun. So, feel free to say no when what they want would ruin enjoyment in some way, but other than that, GMs really are there to pander to the players whims. Note that your enjoyment is also important. If you don't think you'd enjoy what they want, you are perfectly justified in refusing. Just remember, if you don't want to give them what they want as a matter of course, perhaps you shouldn't be running for them at all.

This gets complicated, of course, because players won't always tell you what they want. The might say they want something because they think it's the "right" thing to want. They might not know what they want. They might want things that are incompatible (say, they might want the game to be exciting, but also want nothing bad or threatening to ever happen to their character). But at the end of the day, what the players say they want is probably your best bet for working it out. You can also watch them and take note of what they react best to in game, or you can ask them to tell you what their favourite movies and books and interests are (and then try to incorporate this sort of thing into the game). All this "saying yes" leads me to my next point...

Just Say No

Should you find that you don't want to allow something that a player wants (presumably because it will make the game less fun), for God's sake, tell them no simply and clearly right at the outset, when they ask for it. Don't give them something that looks like what they want, but later proves not to be. Likewise, don't give them what they want and then make sure that it's useless or irrelevant. Don't give them what they want, and then take it away in game as soon as you possibly can. Don't say that they can have it just as soon as they've "earned it" in game, only to keep it forever out of reach. Don't give them what they want, and then punish them for having it. Do what Nancy Regan advised and just say no.

Feel free to explain why you don't want them to have it, and remember that "I personally just don't like it" is a perfectly good reason - even if you have no other reason to disallow it. You see, if they are turned down right at the outset, they can give up on the idea and come up with a different one that you both like. If you say yes (but mean no), game after game will pass with the player rightly expecting you to follow through, and then getting angry and frustrated when you don't. Be honest right from the start.

Be Bold! (polishing the final product)

Finally, confidence is one of the best things you can have as a GM. Even if you're nervous, try to project an aura of confidence and self control. If you look like you know what you're doing, the players are far less likely to notice the slips (or care about them if they do). Try to avoid prevarication and justification of your descriptions and decisions - I've seen GMs apologise every time an NPC bested a PC, and then go on to explain that this was because they had a high attack stat (or whatever), all without the players looking even slightly put out by the event in question. This really undermines any attempt you might be making to give a smooth, professional delivery! I wouldn't go so far as to say that you should never apologise, or never explain, but you should certainly only do it if it's actually necessary. Likewise, try to follow the rules of good public speaking, and expunge words like "um" from your vocabulary.

If there's something you don't know, admit that you don't know it and move on. Don't be afraid to look things up, or make rules and information up as needed. If the players are getting out of hand (for example, by not paying attention) calmly and firmly ask them to stop, or if that doesn't seem likely, call a break. Postpone lengthy arguments until after the game session, so that you don't have to break your stride mid scene. All of these things add to a confident and professional looking presentation. If you're going to spend all this effort preparing and delivering a roleplaying experience to your friends, you may as well take some pride in your work and give it some polish!

The above article about roleplaying is original work by Riina Stewart, and may not be used without her permission. If you wish to comment on any of the articles, or seek permission to use them, feel free to email us.