[OOC] Get to Know a GM -- Week 0 (Open to all)

[savoylen]

Welcome to the Get-to-Know-a-GM Lounge!

Come inside! Try one one of our plush, velvety GM lounge robes, grab yourself a Corinthian leather padded armchair, your favorite drink, and relax!

For the duration of Iron DM 2023, this is where we'll be gathering for curated conversations about DMs/GMs/Referees/Keepers and their craft. Just as the Iron DM OOC Lounge is the place to talk about the Iron DM 2023 game in particular, this is the place to talk about GM'ing in general during the competition. Informal ... but hopefully also informing and inspirational!

How does it work? Well, this week, we'll have a conversation theme for all to answer. As the contest runs into December, we will also be posting some Get to Know a GM interviews, which will also be open for comments and discussion.

For the Round Zero time frame, let's get the ball rolling with these question prompts. Please Quote or Copy/Paste these questions and answer them with your first post in the lounge. We'll follow up with conversations on these questions and answers for all of Round Zero until we move on to a new theme when Round 1 begins.

This conversation is open to all, participants, potential-participants, judges, hosts, and spectators ... we want to hear from you!

Note: This is NOT the game application entry thread. (A separate thread is set aside for that once applications begin.) This is simply a GM shop-talk thread (about GMing in general, not related to this contest) open to contestants and non-contestants alike.

Iron DM 2023 Lounge Round Zero Theme Theme: Great GMs I Have Known ... (and maybe one lousy GM I remember) Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

[bananabadger]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? A friend received the box set for holidays back in the early 80s. We opened it and had no idea what we were doing, nor did we understand the concept that it should be a game played simultaneously by a group. I think we did individual sessions and then tried to patch them together. It was a glorious mess ... but exciting!

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? My second GM, just a few months later was an older friend we all knew who straightened us out on the group play. We gathered, gorged on pizzas, raided the family ice cream freezer, and all went home at the same time in the designated carpool. I'm not sure if this GM was that good, but he was the first to introduce the group concept and made it feel like an event--so greatest ever in my book!

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? It is by no means a signature move, but I remember the aha! moment when my NPSG solo GM (Savoylen) had a PC make a direct and (what I thought) very humorous response to my character's action. It showed me the power of PbP play in how it allows (with just a little more time and thought) for players and GMs to have these story-building volleys.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! Me. Definitely me. My first GM experience is when a camp counselor who was very hostile to the D&D idea (Satanic Panic era) asked me to run him through a game. I tried. It was boring and poorly executed, and the skeptical audience just made it worse and worse.

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on. OK, whoever goes next ... what is one RPG system that you never really liked or tried as tabletop, but love playing/GMing as PbP?

[ghostwalking]

Originally Posted by bananabadger

OK, whoever goes next ... what is one RPG system that you never really liked or tried as tabletop, but love playing/GMing as PbP?

My PbP experience is actually very limited, and the games I'm picking to try as PbP are games that I can't convince my tiny table top group to try. So far, I've enjoyed most of them. For me, it's less about the system and more about the people playing.

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

My neighbor got me into gaming and was our first referee. We were in, perhaps, the fourth grade? Being maybe 1978-ish, this was our first exposure to RPGs at all. So the most important thing that he did was being adventurous enough to spend his allowance on that first Melee, later rolled up into The Fantasy Triplittle pamphlet of a game at the local bookstore and share it with us.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

Name Redacted was the GM that truly seeded my love for gaming. His games were fun and light hearted, even when the dice were against us. We were all there to have a good time and have a few laughs, often at the expense of each other, and he wasn't afraid to tailor the narrative in-flight to accommodate poor player choices and tragic die rolls. His stand-out skill was making the game an actual party.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

It's not really a signature move, but the great DMs I've played with over the years were all good at improvisation and jamming with the players.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

There's no one story that stands out, but the least enjoyable sessions I've played were run by DMs who took agency away from the players. We had one recently who went so far as to even try and force our PC skill development and narrate "downtime" actions that were contrary to the PC alignments/personalities.

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

How do you manage that one player whose schedule makes their attendance spotty but everyone enjoys it when they're there?

[savoylen]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

I didn't have a solid GM to start. I was exposed to the game with a series of one-shots (if you could call them that). Once in the high school cafeteria and then as an after-thought in a war-games club in college (a military school). That turned out to be a good way for me to ease into the hobby as there was a lot of satanic hysteria bout the game at that time.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

I've only had 1 long-term GM. Their name was Jesse. I'd say that there wasn't any single thing that made them standout, other than they were consistent and was just a cool person to be around.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

I appreciate the big reveal with a twist. Every ending seemed to peal back the layers of the story making me want to go further and be stronger for my party.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

I can't say I've had a bad experience with a GM... but there were several incidences where the pre-game food became features of our session!

+Q: How do you manage that one player whose schedule makes their attendance spotty but everyone enjoys it when they're there?

I have a stable of "guest appearance" characters... including premade NPCs and those made by the kind of player you describe above. This makes the days they can come more of a 'feature' than a hinderance since they are already integrated into the storyline.

My Question: What character have you played that stands out in your memory more than any other and why?

[lostcheerio]

Theme: Great GMs I Have Known ... (and maybe one lousy GM I remember)

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

My first GM was Tim, a very good sport. He was my nanny's teenaged son, who took me solo through a very early module, when I was pretty little, one evening when he got stuck babysitting me. I remember being in high suspense over every corner and just being enchanted with the idea that I could affect what he was telling me. Also the violence of the game was thrilling because he also made it funny.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

It's Fillyjonk, with her Battle of the Bards game here on RPGX. The madcap pace, the party atmosphere, the surprises we all had about each other and our own characters. What a ride.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

I love it when a GM allows shenanigans without letting it get stupid. As a player I tend to take as much rope as I'm allowed to take, and I really appreciate GMs being able to spool it out, up to a point, and then say, no, this is the boundary.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

Worst GM experience was having objections and "red cards" ignored and feeling like my beloved character wasn't safe from having unendurably horrible things happen to her in the world the GM was creating. That was the only time I cried about a game. It was educational though, and I hope I never make my players feel that powerless and frustrated.

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

Sav's question for me: Bunk, my bugbear barbarian! I love him, loved the other characters in the group, and I miss the game, their silly voices.

My question for the next guy: Do you like improv? Or are you a planner?

[Jon]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

Simple one this - a school friend. He'd bought this strange thing called Dungeons and Dragons - the basic set before Advanced came out. I'd never heard of it before. We played for a while running through lots of modules, then plucked up the courage to bring friends on board from the nerd-gang at school.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

Really difficult this one - so many great GMs and moments, but if I had to pick one, it would be Begon running his Strahd game. Its PBP, so his masterful writing brings out that sense of evil and doom all over Barovia. The sheer power of Strahd when he swiped my character across the town square shocked me. But my fave moment was just after I joined his game and he had the hags in the windmill having captured and dissected my young charge. It was so dark. The post he inspired from me was a POTM winner.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

Character, always character. Our worlds are populated by people (and things) who we interact with. A great GM makes you love, hate, be frustrated with or laugh with these characters. Its the characters I remember most. Some of the characters Bluejack brought to his short-lived Waterdeep campaign were brilliant exemplars.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

The boring / honest thing here is the GM who sets up a great game with some much promise, then ghosts within three or four cycles of posts. It happened on my first game here, which was a bit of a shock. But luckily Creed had accepted me into his game at the same time ... watch out for Creed, he'll kill you dead! (in a good way - it was a fantastic and ambitious game)

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

My question for the next guy: Do you like improv? Or are you a planner?

Lost Cheerios's question for me: Lay out the most basic blocks of a plan, then improv all the way. The wonderful this about PBP is the scope it gives to make stuff up as you go along. You can properly respond to what the players do and enjoy. In my giants game, the team refused to raid the Hill Giants house, so I ended up improvising an enormous ambush battle and a whole sequence in the caverns beneath the hall. It took them over a year of play to get to room 1. Great fun!

My question for the next one:

What do you find most challenging as a GM - and who do you know that does this the best?

[PlaidPeregrine]

Get to Know Me! Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? The Sci Fi & Fantasy Club at my university was my dream come true when I got to college. I had the DM's guide, Monster Manual, and the Player's Handbook in hand; I did not need anything more than someone who knew what they were doing. Oh, and dice! My DM was fun, drawing all sorts of maps and having us tromp around killing monsters. I doubt there was an in-depth storyline. A Friday night hidden in the basement 'maze' under the dorms with enough Jolt cola and pizza to last us until sunrise was THE way to go. Give us the monsters, and let us describe our super cool cloak-wearing Elves …and that was all we needed - and a lot of healing potions. The hobby was in my blood along with too much caffeine. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? This is a tough one because I've played PBP, tabletop, and I've LARPed. In a LARP, I was in a Strahd-like weekend game. The stand-out skills of one of the GM's is how much attention they paid to each individual's PC's background if a player went into the game with a written background (this was not a requirement). They used a character's background in the game to add not only depth to the player experience, but to manipulate/maneuver us around in such a way that other characters were pulled into certain plots/storylines. There is an art to integrating PC backgrounds into a GM/DM's story in such a way as to make it not just awesome for the 'targeted' player, but for the other players as well. Perhaps this wasn't the most epic, but it definitely left a solid memory - my wealthy merchant character in the Strahd-like game hired a group of mercenaries (How I do love me some real SCA armored folk who can fight!). Being a merchant, I met the Lord of the land and offered him a variety of fabrics to re-curtain his castle. Innocent enough! Rumor had it he was a vampire. I couldn't care less because I just wanted gold, being a merchant. The moment came one evening my party came up to me, looking sour-faced, and told me that they knew I was meeting with The Vampire. And that they could no longer trust me. They handed over all the gold I had paid them and walked out on me. I offered to enchant their armor! To make them potions (Side hustle of being a little Alchemist). But no! They thought I was corrupt or controlled, threatened my life!! The abandoned me. Being in a LARP with 40 or so people, and being abandoned to my own devices was very shocking. I believe the GM's were sending out the rumors of my character being on the side of evil when she wasn't. They were clearly expecting me to go running to the Vampire Lord since I was all alone without help. Very clever tactic to get another PC on the Vampire's side. As far as live tabletop gaming goes - I would have to go with LostCheerio who made the MOST comfortable table I was ever at. I honestly believe this is a skill - making everyone comfortable (and feeling safe) to the degree you're willing to let go, be open, and play your character. As an anxious person who had recently been with a live tabletop group with the DM being 'mocking-funny' with me, I really appreciated the atmosphere of the game and everyone involved. What was epic? Getting mauled to death by a werewolf at the end of the game and instead of being devastated, it was FUN. She gave me every freakin' chance under the sun to roll dice to try to survive the encounter - to squirm out of a grapple, to save against lycanthropy…anything, and I failed every roll to the point it was just funny. AND since this was a one-shot, and being the DM she is, the game was going to end on a POSITIVE note. My PC was healed, lived, and would spend the rest of her days trying to either cure the lycanthropy or take control of her new werewolf-shifting self. A sense of play, good humor, and empathy in a game is a very important (IMHO) trait to have when running a game. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? [/b] See above. The approach of setting the initial atmosphere of the game so the players are comfortable playing. What I mean by comfortable is - to be open about their character (and what they want to explore with their character and what they expect from the DM), to not be afraid of being mocked or embarrassed for their ideas. This way the DM will also know if the player is a good match for their DMing style and/or for the game itself. Another skill is to be improvisational. If a character finds a very cool orb with lightning inside of it, and that character is fearful of magic and smashes the orb with their weapon instead of handing it over to the wizard, well…let's say I was appreciative when the DM enchanted that weapon with a 1d4 of lightning damage and made it a +1. A DM who keeps in mind that the PC's are not going to follow the script, and find awe and wonder in what they actually do instead of what they are expected to do will have a very fun experience with their players. Rasgorn, for example, openly enjoys when his PC's surprise him. Many times we get the Improv 'Yes, and?' from him. Filly is also a very 'Yes, and?' DM, which is wonderful. It really makes playing a lot more fun or interesting since we can throw around ideas, even if they do not pan out in the end. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! I wish I had humorous stories to share, but I honestly do not! Question 5: Jon's Question: What do you find most challenging as a GM - and who do you know that does this the best? Combat! And finding the prices for magic items! But mostly combat and number crunching as correctly as possible. Corwin is a DM who can do this by the book with grace and fantastic trackability. Admin Choco also knows how to keep everything straight. Actually, all of my DM's do a very good job with combat be it keeping the numbers clear, or being able to write wonderful, fluid fight scenes - with or without maps. Fillyjonk and LostCheerio are mapping masters with incredible communication with the Players. Ysolde and Rasgorn, both are especially good with making a colorful, dangerous scene pop. I will be practicing my combat-DM-skills very soon in my campaign. Practice makes perfect! My question for the next person is: What do you think is a good practice that allows players (or helps players) to be open and communicative with their GM, especially when there may be issues arising?

[Ysolde]

Get to Know Ysolde Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? So 2nd edition rules D&D books were in my Father's closet not far from certain magazines that my young teenage self was confusingly interested in. My dad came home and there was no way I was getting out of that closet without getting in trouble so I grabbed the Dungeons and Dragons books and claimed to be interested in those. He brought me to the next meeting of a gaming club he was part of and one of the people there was my first DM. I can't remember his name, but he welcomed a young barely teen girl to play and I remember having a great fun time playing my first paladin. With him and my father there everyone behaved and I had a great time. If that DM or that Gaming club hadn't simply accepted me and been fun I would have never kept playing. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? I think my wife probably has one of the best moves and that's an ability to guide without letting everyone know she's guiding. Ways to give enough information or put a teaser in that make you want to follow the story. Ways to let a side quest or something important happen to characters and yet still interact with the overarching plot. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? I think the most humorous time I remember was my High School Dm. He had a villain character that he really liked too much and in this fight we were having my character shot this guy so many times and yet somehow his regeneration kept him up. Finally I had enough and, using rules he'd created for called shots I literally said, "[His Name] I cut off his head." then I proceeded to roll a nat 20. One dead villain and later villains were all less annoying to kill. Question 5: Jon's Question: What do you find most challenging as a GM - and who do you know that does this the best? Remembering everything every character has said or done. Getting all of the requests and in character rolls straight so that I adress all of them. There's a big reason I have an OOC Talk to the Dm area and it is because I know I will miss something. I think the person I know who does this best is once again my wife. Her memory for detail and for keeping everything straight is nearly superhuman. Sadly she does not enjoy play by post so only I and some of our friends will ever see it in action. Plaidperegrine's question: What do you think is a good practice that allows players (or helps players) to be open and communicative with their GM, especially when there may be issues arising? I have an OOC "Ask the Dm" area and it seems to be working better than just having a regular OOC area.

[Fillyjonk]

I like a FIELDSET, myself Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? My brother. He and his teenager friends let me play as long as I was the cleric and didn't talk. (Maybe that sounds mean, but he was in middle school and I was 8 so that was actually pretty cool big brothering, IMO.) It made me love being a healer/utility character. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? lostcheerio. Mr. Jonk and I had moved from early tabletop experiences separately to online MMORPGs like WoW and Darkfall. I STILL love Darkfall, the game, but the culture of blatant racism and dudebro-dom drove me out. We were not gaming when the pandemic hit, and cheerio offered to teach me to play 5e here. It was more than a game, it was a lifeline in an awful time. It is also an AMAZING #^((ing game. She blended Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak into one story and made it dovetail thematically and plot-wise with the backstory I had given my bard -- it was all so personal and clever --- and the writing! Humor and pathos and horror in balance. A joy. We are still playing it. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? I LOVE a plot twist and a mystery, and if a DM can surprise me while playing fair and honoring the dice? HAT TIPS and <3 <3 <3 Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? My worst experience wasn't humorous at all. A DM blatantly disregarded my red cards in a horrifying way. Not. Cool. I cried over it, and I HATE that that I handed that person the power to actually hurt me. Never again. I've had very few bad DM experiences, and I never had a "funny" bad DM experience. I probably take my games too seriously. The stories really matter to me. The characters feel very real. I was the kid who had imaginary friends YEARS after people are supposed to grow out of it, and I guess I still do. I will answer plaid's -- Ysolde gets a pass on forgetting because her answer to question 1 is the cutest most hilarious thing. I LOVE IT! What do you think is a good practice that allows players (or helps players) to be open and communicative with their GM, especially when there may be issues arising? I like using discord to supplement the OOC because that immediate back and forth is really helpful. Question for the next DM: What do you hope for in a player who sits at your table. Not just, what makes a good player, but what makes a good player for your particular style.

[Azathool]

In for a wait, is that the right way around?pound, in for a penny.

Since I have the temerity to enter the competition, even though I do not DM on here (yet), I hope you enjoy my entry;

Iron DM 2023 Lounge Round Zero Theme Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? "I actually don’t remember as it was a looooong time ago. Probably my father or godfather, as I was ~10 in the mid- late 70’ in the UK. Basic (red soft cover) D&D. They gave me the rulebook as a gift and let me play. I DM’d/Played D&D from then on. Wish I still had that book. " /sigh. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? "P_ from my teenage years. We played WAY TOO MANY days, nights, weekends, overnighters. Standout skill was putting up with my (and my brother’s) BS for so many years. Epic moment was probably getting to the end of the G1/2/3, D1/2/3 (Giants/Drow) D&D modules which took… years." Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? "Walking the line of losing and winning, taken to the absolute edge. The game that hinges on one roll (they think), one critical hit, one save vs fail, when they KNOW that that one moment made the difference between rolling new characters, and beating the BBEG. You remember those moments. They should be rare as if too common then you either TPK the party all the time, or they know it’s not real. But the occasional one really works." Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! "Humorous worst is actually me. As a young teenager DM I condemned my brothers character to be permanently Polymorphed into a “Wondering Moron”, a ”joke” he took badly and even now decades later is still “fresh” in our (my?) memories. It was mean of me, as it was a petty argument of young boys." Question from the last DM: What do you hope for in a player who sits at your table. Not just, what makes a good player, but what makes a good player for your particular style. "I am a very technical player (& technical person!) I almost exclusively play “RAW” (D&D 5E), with few adjustments, and let the die fall as they do. So that means I like to see that in a player. There is nothing wrong with being new to a game/system, but I expect you to research and learn and improve as you play. So I think if I ever DM’d here, I would have an additional channel for “OOC Technical/Build“ just for that game. It’s awesome to see us all improve our writing & language skills (and formatting skills!), but I see mistakes on the technical side which would be great also to discuss. At the end of the day of course it’s the players choice, but you don’t put a learner driver in a car without a teacher. And a good teacher can learn off the student just as much." Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on. Azathool’s Question for the next poster: Given my answer to (3) above, do you think it’s ever worth fudging a roll, an outcome, an encounter beyond the original scope to force a particular outcome. Made a 20… not a 20, made a 1… not a 1… Added two more guards, given the party just one more extra round. If yes; Why and what was the outcome, and now in retrospect would you do the same thing ?

[Begon Ugo]

Begon Ugo Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? All of my gaming has revolved around RPGcrossing. My wife knew that I loved the DnD novels, Drizzt and Raistlin and so she bought me a set of 5e core rulebooks. Once I dove in, I knew I needed to find a way to play, but with 3 kids my time was not my own. Luckily I found RPGxing and I’ve never left. My first GM was Tomplum who walked me through my first steps by running me through the Solo Game: Tower of the Mage. By the time I was done with that short adventure, I was hooked on the PBP format. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? Wow… what a question. For me, one of the main things I love and look for in a GM is longevity. Has the game lasted? Have the characters had room to grow and change. In the PBP format, with time passing so slowly, you need to be dedicated to the game. I have been lucky in this regard. My top two GM’s would be Elanir and Jbear: They both tick the dedication box, with both games still running strong. But beyond that, what I love and try to emulate in my games, is the structure they bring to the game. They are both similar in the way that they utilize DM notes at the end of posts that detail different available player choices. It seems such a simple thing but the way in which they do it gives the players so much meat to add to their posts. I love it. I would highly suggest you check out both of their games. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? LOL… well… I guess see above? Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! Me… all me. My worst but damn hilarious moment was in my Delta Green game. I had Jon, Warson, and Bluejack investigating a double murder in the desert. Long story short, in a span of a few seconds, Bob (Jon) went back in time 542 million years to die of radiation poisoning, soon followed by Gene (Warson) who also went back in time… to be devoured by an Allosaurus. Yeah… don’t go through mysterious portals. Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on. How do the rest of you keep track of battles? I use Tableplop VTT (Free) for mapping and initiative. But in terms of tracking HP I just copy and paste stat blocks onto google docs. Anyone have a better method? Answer to Azathool’s question: I do not fudge rolls. I have thought about it many times but I think that in the end it takes away the suspense and danger of an adventure. Personally speaking I would rather have a favorite character die, my own or another's. It becomes part of the story and could lead to such awesome, emotion filled moments. Now I have given a character a one in a million, need a nat 20 roll to influence a major part of the story... and of course they got that 20!

[Strangemund]

Strangemund Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? The love of my life and my partner in crime, QueenQatherine! Her and I were online buddies at the time who were secretly crushing on each other but would never admit it in fear of ruining our friendship. Which is too funny looking back on after being together for almost eighteen years now! But yeah! We wrote in freeform roleplay forums every day for years until we flew her out to Iowa-- where I lived back in the day-- so she could meet up with our other online buddies. She'd been planning to run a game for us weeks ahead of time. We were all nerds. Huge into anime. And our current favorite was Fullmetal Alchemist, the original release. So, Qat whipped up a homebrew version of old World of Darkness where we played in that setting. And it was just an absolute blast! The plan was to go to an anime convention together and hit up the panels and check out cosplay photoshoots, but we all ended up spending more time in the hotel just rolling dice than anything else. It's a very precious memory that I hold dear to my heart. In terms of what was the most important thing she did for me to pick up the hobby was just explain how it worked. I've always heard about Dungeons and Dragons but never knew anyone who played TTRPGs that would introduce me to it. But she went out of her way to explain everything in a way that was easy to understand, and quite frankly, gave me an unequenchable desire to game forever. Truly the perfect con on her part. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? I am going to be real. I am just gonna talk about my girlfriend. She's my biggest influence and my biggest fan when its my turn to run. I owe so much to her that it's impossible to not brag about her here. That doesn't make any of my GMs on RPGX any lesser-- it is just she's been the focal point to my creativity and how comfortable I've become in terms of running games myself that I gotta brag about her a little bit more! I love her! She's fantastic! She's an AMAZING story-teller. You'll never know when she's improv'ing. Which is an incredible skill 'cuz everything feels planned out, even when our party goes off the rails and does something she never expected. Her NPCs are full characters who feel like their doing own thing in time with you. You get attached to a lot of them. I myself have accidentally started a running gag where my PC usually picks up wayward or lost NPCs and send them somewhere where they can recover and be safe. In Mage, its called my Wayward House for Troubled Boys, run by my sassy Goth Valley Girl and spirit medium, Barbie. She's also incredible when it comes to describing scenes. Everything feels cinematic when she starts to describe what is happening around you and what the NPC you face looks and acts like. It's not just physical description. But subtle cues of body language or habits they've been doing for ages that she zones in on. Some of them are also incredibly funny, because Qat loves dumb jokes as much as I do, and god help her, she'll put them in her serious campaign if she thinks its funny. And it gets me every time. I can't really pick the most epic gaming moment. There's a lot of them. I guess the most recent one would've been our Girl by Moonlight game she ran last weekend, where I discovered that my character Zip is possibly a living ship of Theseus. What does that mean exactly? Well, it turns out that my sentient Mech has been growing parts of my character inside her in case I ever get injured and would swap it out whenever I decided to rest in the cockpit at her gentle urging. I cannot stop thinking about it since it happened so I think its worth calling epic. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? Ooh, I'd say Open Communication and Rule of Cool. Open Communication more or less means just communicating with each other or the GM when problems pop up or if you are not satisfied with your current character. It's something my VTC group does all the time. We'll rollback a scene if it didn't feel right or felt really out of character, and just pick up a few seconds before that moment happened. If content pops up that's triggering, we'll stop and figure out a solution together. I value healthy communication in just about all aspects of my life, so having it in gaming just feels great. Rule of Cool is when you look at the rules and then look at the crazy wild rule-breaking idea your player wants to do-- and you go hell yeah. Roll, baby. I can't deny it. I gotta reward creativity when its super rad. 'course, that's sorta how I handle GMing. Rules aren't written in stone for me. I like whatever tells the best story. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! Hmm. That's tougher for me. 'cuz I haven't experienced a lousy GM, just GMs who didn't click with my style of gaming. As for myself... I dunno. I can't really be hard on myself. I am trying my best, just like we all are. If anything, I guess it'd just be how hard some words are to pronounce. It's easy on PbP. You just look the word up. Saying it in person, however, oh man, the goofs I've made! Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on. What is your white whale of a storyline/campaign you've always wanted to run? Begon Ugo's Question: How do the rest of you keep track of battles? I use Tableplop VTT (Free) for mapping and initiative. But in terms of tracking HP I just copy and paste stat blocks onto google docs. Anyone have a better method? I am so sorry that I am the one to answer you. I do theatre of the mind for any encounter. It's mostly 'cuz the systems I use are very narrative driven. There's no need to put a number down to how far you are away from an enemy when most of that's just handled through out of character conversation. In terms of tracking HP, I use my Note app. I write down the names of the Party Members and the NPCs, write the intiative order, followed by HP. I usually have a separate stat block I reference in Google Docs, which is where I organize my campaign notes. It's a lot of open tabs but it stops me from endlessly scrolling to find what I need.

[Dworin]

I have not played enough to have good answers Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? My mom, somewhere around 1985. We were a real board game family but made a short foray into RPG. We probably did everything wrong and we stopped once we had played all 7 adventures of the DSA/TDE/ODM system that were translated into Dutch but somehow RPing had crept into my blood though I never really got to play anymore (except for some MUSH and forum play). What she did, hmm, well, buy the materials for starters. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? I already mentioned my mom so I'll nominate a GM from a Belgian RP forum (now defunct) that I can't recall the name of. How epic is that? The game was set end 19th century and I played an old Irish, catholic guy. It turned out the quest giver was a Jew (something to do with golems) and the gm allowed me to create friction due to my char being antisemitic (which I think is appropriate for the time and circumstances in the 19th but sensitive now). Let's just hope rpgx throws more memorable moments my way. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? Perseverance? The game referred to in Q2 was laying dead in the water for about 2 years but we picked it up and finished it. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! My ignoble past as GM, perhaps recognisable, setting a puzzle that's too hard for the PCs to solve and then don't even help them with hints. Ugh. Question 5: What is your white whale of a storyline/campaign you've always wanted to run? I'm really, really drawn to the setting of The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge). I don't know why, other than that it's the first thing I ever played. But not being German myself and now living in another time-zone (not to mention a gazillion other hobbies that suck my time) means it never happened so far. Though we're now setting something up over discord, with me as player, and I'm really excited about that. Question for the next: I'll kinda cheat here and take one of Jon's two questions for the next one (it wasn't answered): How and how much do you plan? Very tightly, detailed scenes in your mind? Just some stats for npcs that might come up?

[Admin Bhelogan]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

I first learned about D&D when I was 14 years old, my family was spending the year in Isreal. After school one day, I went with some of the other kids we were there with to a second-hand bookstore to find some old D&D books. I think I briefly played with them, a session or two, but didn't get too serious about it at that point.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

After my family returned to the states, turns out my group of friends at home had all picked up AD&D 2nd edition. Perhaps it is nostalgia, but my best friend ran a Darksun campaign that was absolutely brutal. Many late nights, sleep overs and parties were had with that group. I even had the chance to pick up a bit of the 'after story' with my old character here on RPGX some 20+ years later.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

One thing I love is when the GM/DM creates a combat scenario that has a lot of moving parts and challenges to overcome, making everything think strategically, and work together to achieve success.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

I think when I first tried to DM a game, it was mostly Monty Python-esk humor, poorly executed, with no congruent storyline, and way too many magical items. I didn't get asked to DM very much back then =p

Question 5: How and how much do you plan? Very tightly, detailed scenes in your mind? Just some stats for npcs that might come up?

I try to have a general idea of what I think will happen, and who some of the key players are, but I gave up on doing a lot of planning a long time ago. I try to encourage my players to be involved in the worldbuilding and play off them as much as possible. A lot of things I'll improve, or throw together as I go, especially with combat. (who needs stat blocks?)

My Q for the next GM: What AI tools have you tried incorporating while planning/world-building, and how has that worked out?

[O2CXt3]

O2CXt3 I’m a little late to this thread, but I’ll sneak in an entry before the week one thread gets going! Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? My first GM was my friend’s dad, sometime back in middle school. I didn’t know what D&D was and wasn’t particularly interested, but my friend was very interested, had bought all the books, and twisted his dad’s arm into GMing for us. I remember lying on the carpeted floor of his bedroom for hours filling out character sheets and thinking, “This is the worst game in the world. All you do is fill out character sheets!”. And of course now I think that making a character is one of the most fun parts of the game. Eventually, late into the evening - it felt like 1am but was probably 8pm - we started playing. I remember there was a fight against a bunch of skeletons in a closet, but not much else. It wasn’t until years later that I played D&D again, but filling out the character sheet got me vaguely familiar with the mechanics of how RPGs worked, and I later got into old school RPG video games (Bard’s Tale, Dragon Warrior, FF1, FF2, etc). And then eventually years later meandered back to dabble in ttrpgs. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? I don’t have a ton of experience with ttrpgs and I think my longest real life game has only gone for a few months. I’ve really enjoyed the DMs here on rpgcrossing though and had good experience with my DMs here. The game that has stuck with me, though, is the “The Rangers of Ramia” game that @hitch briefly ran. I think we only played for a couple of months, but it was the first game I’ve been in that deviated more from the core D&D rules. I liked the low-magic settings and the homebrew elements of the game. It got me thinking about what I did and didn’t like about the raw D&D 5e rules and has made me want to branch out and try different systems. So I’d say @hitch’s stand-out skill was in personalizing the world and creating something that felt unique and interesting to explore. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? I really like a GM that is able to create a sense of immersion and atmosphere in their gaming worlds. In the same way you can lose yourself in the fictional world of a novel, I like that same feeling in role playing games. So I really enjoy GMs who are able to capture the unique atmosphere of their world and create a sense of how the world works so that you know how your character fits in and how they’d behave in that particular universe. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! I’ve had some not-so-great-moments as a GM myself! A couple years ago when I was trying to get friends with no D&D experience to give the game a try, they didn’t know some of the rules of thumbs of role playing games, like “don’t split the party”. One of the characters - a level 1 character! - ventured off on their own in a dungeon and managed to stumble across the boss. Their character was hidden, so they could have snuck away, but they decided to attack the boss anyway. I like letting characters have some rope as a GM, so I said “Ok, you can try that if you want,” hinting that it might be a tough fight. They went ahead and attacked and were dropped in a couple of rounds. So… I had an unconscious character split from the party. There was nothing the party could do to help them. I had the bad guy tie them up and make them a hostage. They had to sit the rest of the game as a “hostage” and listen while the rest of the party adventured in the dungeon. They’re still annoyed with me that I let them get into that situation and then made them sit there until they could be rescued In retrospect, I should have thought of something to let them stay engaged in the game or maybe provided stronger hints for a new player that they were going to get themselves killed! Question 5: What AI tools have you tried incorporating while planning/world-building, and how has that worked out? I love the AI image generators. I could play with them all day. I’ve started using them for generating images I use on rpgcrossing, but also for the home game I’m playing with my kids. Whenever I have an NPC or a monster, I’ll use one of the image generators to create a picture. It’s a quick way to help people visualize what’s happening in the game, and I have more fun than I should trying to generate a picture that is “just right”. I’ve also played around with things like chatGPT. So far, my impression is that the text generators are just-ok at creating game text (narrative, descriptions, etc). The writing and descriptions always end up feeling boilerplate. And besides, the writing is the most fun part of pbp anyway, right? I do sometimes use the text generators for generating ideas - e.g. give me 10 names for such and such a character, or describe the interior of a 14th century carriage. A lot of what it generates isn’t useful, but occasionally there are scraps of details or ideas that are interesting that I can incorporate into my writing - so I find it handy for idea generation. Question for next: What’s your strategy for creating a sense of atmosphere in the games you GM?