Pretty Good GMing Advice
I ran into some good advice for GMing, so naturally, I’ve got to share it. It’s possible we’ve all had idea like these, before, but I find it help to refresh the old memory. So let’s get to it.
Skip the Random Encounters
I’d been mulling this over for years, especially as I dove deeper into writing fiction. In writing, you cut out things that the story can survive without, because they don’t change anything. Random encounters are kind of like that. They’re just interruptions to the quest. In an RPG, they do impact the result in that the PCs have less hit points (sometimes way less). But nothing in them is going to reveal new clues. They’re random and unrelated. And if you only have 3 hours for the adventure, how about we stick to events that are about saving the princess’s frog.
Now, if you still like those random tables, you might roll on them while creating the adventure, to decide what the bad guys are. So rather than an interruption to the quest, you’re rolling to see who the boss monster is and what their allies are. That could be fun.
Create a Numbered Track For Initiative
Since initiative rolls run from one to twenty-four, write those down in a long track. I recommend one inch wide per position. Tell your players to bring an extra token to identify themselves in the initiative line. Bring a few for yourself. Now when everyone rolls initiative, plop their token on their number. It’s faster than trying to rank-sort die results being shouted at you.
There are ways to handle initiative, including skippng it and just going in player order. But if you’re sticking with the rolls and figuring out turn order, this is the fastest way with zero thinking. Get your roll result and place your token on the right number. The ordering is inherent in the physical positioning. Done.
Delegate to Players
The GM has a lot going on during the game. Let the players help with stuff that anybody can do. There are all sorts of things you could let go of.
Initiative Minder
This person handles the initiative conga line (see tip above).
Rules Counselor
You need an expert on the rules. Less a lawyer trying to find a loophole, more someone who knows how attacks of opportunity works or can look it up and quickly come up to speed. That person also needs to accept that if the answer to the game mechanic takes too long to find or is too complicated, you’re just going to make a die roll and move on. But even so, this is very helpful in checking how spells work, etc.
Schedule Coordinator
Why is the person doing all the game prep also the person trying to manage four to eight people’s schedules? What if you had an agent who took care of that. Ask for a volunteer to work out everyone’s availability and lock in game dates.
Map Mopper
Those wet/dry erase markers aren’t going to clean themselves. Ask a player to clean the map, set the scene, and position the minis. Saves you leaving your screen to get close enough to do any of that yourself.
Group Recap Warm-Up
To get the game going, ask the players to recap what happened previously. They’ll babble for a bit, remember some things, and get themselves back into the zone of where we left off.
Player Combat Describers
What if you only had to describe the enemy attacks? Start with asking players to describe their killing blow. When confronting a bunch of mooks, ask each player to describe something unique about the foe they are about to attack (ex. This orc has a flower painted on his breastplate).
Get Laser Pointers (line and dot)
Right before COVID, I found and bought a laser pointer that did lines at a game shop. Brilliant for line of sight. I bring that one and a classic dot style, so I can point at things on the map or show lines of sight to the players.
Own a Notebook and Take Notes
I’ve never been big on taking notes. In my day job, my engineering notebook lasts about five years. But I swear by keeping one at my desk for when I need it. While I advocate for a paper one, you can go digital if it can keep up with your need to jot things down quick enough.
In the front of the notebook, I list out the PCs with player name, class, background, so I can keep them in mind. Any trackers for magic items, etc would also go in the front section.
On game day, go to a new page, write the date, name of adventure if you have it, but the date will suffice. Write down the name of the location we’re at right now. If anything happens, jot that down. If we introduce an NPC, jot their name down, maybe include a note on who they were (ex. Nan McPan – Breadmaker). As we’re leaving that location, sum up what happened (ex. Bit hook, going to rob the bank). Then write the next location name down. This sets you up with a chronology and a quick reminder of who and where Nan McPan is should you re-introduce them later. And writing the location before you need to write other stuff keeps it so each bout of writing is very short.
Create Less
World building and planning can be a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work. Work that may not appear at the game table. There is value in prepping a bit more than appears at the table, because it influences the decisions you make. You can’t have Nan McPan bristle at the Potaatan incursion because they drove her people from their homelands a century before if you don’t know that.
But you also don’t need to work out the entire country of the Potaatan people. Don’t write a page where a paragraph or sentence will do. You can always come back to it when you intend to focus on the Potaatan crisis.
Another facet of creating less is to borrow. Use an existing campaign setting, re-skin monsters, model NPCs after characters from movies and books. I love creating everything myself but the days are short and as fan-fiction authors figured out, you can shortcut a bunch of work using an existing setting and characters and get to the unique situation you’ve thought of for Chekov and Uhura to solve.
PS. For the love of all that is holy, do not use an LLM/generative AI. You have a brain. Use it.
Dial Back the Combat a Bit
You’ll have to measure this by eye, based on player preference and pacing, but there’s a good reason to alternate between combat and exploration or NPC interaction. Each breaks up the other so its not monotonous, and it helps avoid wearing out the PCs.
That last is counter-intuitive. Part of the game is resource management. Knowing when to use your big spells, running away when hit points get low. Later fights in a series are influenced by this on purpose. But here’s the thing, if the party is too weak when they reach the bad guy, it won’t be fun. If they need to long-rest after every 3 fights, it won’t be realistic (ex. Guys, it’s only been fifteen minutes in the dungeon, there’s fifty more pages of dungeon to explore).
So what if you only planned three fights before the next logical rest break? Those non-combat encounters might include deliberations about what to do next, trying to get some healing, etc. You also could make those fights meaningful, rather than filler combat to whittle down hit-points.
Buy a Big Pack of 3x5 Index Cards
Use them. Why cards? Because you can re-order them, re-use them, and even hand them to players. Also, buy two cheap recipe-card boxes to hold them. One to bring to the game with the cards you’re using that day, the other to stay at home and hold what you don’t need, including most of the blank cards.
NPCs
They need a name, and a descriptor. Maybe add details when the situation calls for it. Having these on cards makes it easier to find and remind yourself of who they are. Think of your notebook as holding certain kinds of information, primarily about the party and the current adventure. Keeping the NPCs separate from that lets you stay on the same page while referencing the NPC from card.
Monsters
I had the 5E monster cards and they were easier than working with the Monster Manual. I’m thinking I’ll upgrade to the new 5.5E cards. Or just write things down on index cards. I always pulled the cards I needed for the day’s game, so it kept the clutter down. And meant I could leave a big heavy book at home.
Magic Items and Loot
I don’t love writing stuff down. And I really don’t enjoy reciting a bunch of stuff to a player who can’t keep up. It’s easier to write it down on cards and hand it to them. And they have something tangible to work with to divvy the loot out. Plus, I think players like having something in their hand to hold. So take your time writing these out clearly. If you can draw passably, doodle what the item looks like next to the name on one side and put the game info on the backside. I would even recommend this with lists of mundane items (one card for the pile of things). Just hand it over, and you’re done.
Clues
What clearer way to signal that a piece of information is critical to solving the mystery than to hand it to the players on a card. If they forget it and never look at the card sitting on the table in front of them, well that’ll be on them, right?
Try to write the clue to not be tied to a location. That is don’t write “muddy size 10 bootprint in the drawing room” because if you can’t quite get the party into the drawing room, they’ll never get the card. Instead, just write “muddy size 10 bootprint” and when you find a way for them to discover it in the study, jot down “found in the study” or “told by Nan McPan” before you hand it over.
Note that for a murder mystery ala Clue, location matters a lot, but the more often your clues are just pieces of information, without wording as to where they were discovered or who revealed, the easier it is to reposition them.
Bring Only What You Need
Before heading out to the game, I pick out all the miniatures I’ll feature in the game and place them in a small, wooden box. If I’m smart, I’ll remember to bring the box with me to the game. But the real point is to carry less and have exactly what I need on hand.
I’ll also cherry-pick the books to pack. Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and setting book all come up in the game, so they make the cut. The rest of my collection is for game prep, and they stay home.
I also bring a dice tray that lays flat, wooden initiative tracker, GM screen, markers, dice, maps, and laser pointers. Don’t forget the adventure and notes.
I haul the entire pile in a crate. If it gets too full or heavy, I see about lightening the load. There’s two reasons. First, I’m getting older (and so are you, so take care of your knees and back). Second, all this stuff is helpful and nice, but the game used to be run with three books, dice, paper, and a pencil. It still can. Remembering that focuses you on what pieces of the plethora of toys and tools will help you run today’s game.
Reveal the Trap/Secret Door
Ever watch players approach every door, chest and wall as if it might explode? It’s not fun. You don’t have to tell them the nature of the trap or secret, but everything will change when the standard is it's safe until I tell you it isn’t. If we assume the rogue, or whoever has high Perception, has a keen sense and knows when something is off, we then sail through normal doorways and turn the trap into a true puzzle. The players know that something is off, but how to get a sense of its nature and scope? And then, how to deal with it becomes interesting.
You could certainly call for die rolls to get more information and use that as the basis for what happens next (perhaps failing the roll gives them faulty info about which floor tile to step on).
Give a Clue
Murder mysteries, or other types of information-dependent adventures choke when the players fail die rolls to find them. So as with secret doors and traps, eliminate the rolls. If the player looks in the general direction or even stands near a piece of evidence give it to them.
If for some reason you want them to roll, consider having the maid, butler, or bumbling constable enter the scene after they’ve bungled things with a tray of tea or paperwork and they stop and look down and say “Oy, wot’s this?” and pick up the clue and hand it to the players.
Skip the Boring Spaces
Movies do not show the heroes exploring room by room. They skip to where action or interaction happens. At most, there’s a room for a jump-scare, but otherwise it’s safe. The olden days of slogging through rooms on a grid map are over. This means as GM, you can focus on identifying key locales for things to happen, and that’s where the party is when a thing happens (particularly a fight). That’s a lot less work than designing a thirty room dungeon with details and points of interest in every room. You’ll also notice in those films, a location will be used a few times (like the galley in Alien). Get your bang for the buck.
When designing a location, consider verticality, that is the possibility of beings being above or below the main floor. That may not apply in all situations, but lends itself to swinging from ropes, attacking from above, or being knocked into a pit. Also look at the entryways into this space and the immediate hallway/chamber because fights can spill out. Include set dressing to hide behind, shoot over, destroy. Define zones that can have special effects which encourage the party to move around to take advantage or prevent the enemy disadvantaging them.
Moving Things Along
Games can get bogged down when players are indecisive or divided. They sit dithering over what might be, what path to take, and so on. The classic answer to what happens next comes from Raymond Chandler, have a guy with a gun come through the door. That’ll make something happen, but it will only help if it satisfies what caused the party to freeze up.
They need information. Whether it be an opportunity, or vulnerability, or even a certainty, the right piece of intel could compel them to action.
If they can’t choose between options, knowing which one is worse or better clears that up.
If they aren’t motivated to take action, reveal something they want is also where the plot is headed (or reveal that something they don’t want to happen will if they don’t shake a leg). This could be that the boss is heard to be sporting that Thing the PC wants. Or that their sister was scooped up during a protest and will be executed with the rest at dawn.
If they are afraid of their chances, an NPC could give a rousing speech, or go off on their own because the party won’t do it (and die), or somebody reveals a vulnerability to exploit
Slow Your Roll...For Initiative
It is very easy for a GM to force every encounter to be a combat. Simply draw swords and call for initiative. This preempts clever ideas like talking from happening. Put aside ambushes and enemies waiting to see the whites of your eyes as a special case. What if we allow that as long as nobody moves a lot, we can stand here staring at each other, yelling or talking at each other for free?
The charisma character will try some persuasion or intimidation. The spell caster will pick a clever spell. The ranged character will shift a few squares to get a good line of sight. And maybe someone will snap and attack, causing initiative to be called for. Or something non-violent will happen. You might even disclose some information about the villain because the enemies figure to kill this party after the yapping is done.
Hand Out Level Points, Not Experience Points
There’s already a trend to just announce when PCs level up and skip adding up XP for individual encounters. That works. But if that feels too loose for you, consider handing out decimal fractions of a level. If you want the party to level up every two games, give .5 level. Or to level up every three games, give .4 levels. Or assign fractions like ½ or 1/3 if you prefer.
The math is easier, and you don’t need to remember when the last time they leveled up was. If you want (or need) to assign XP but like the idea, just look at the XP table and find the difference from their current level to the next and apply the fraction. Your players will be none the wiser.
Skip Shopping Trips
Nothing is more boring to the rest of the table than watching a PC seek out a shop of their class’s preference, ask what’s there, be disappointed they can’t find or afford the awesome item, try to haggle, and then move on to the next player.
Cut that out. Define what kinds of things are available in the town (ex. All mundane items and common magic items). Or if the player wants a specific item, set a percent chance it is in stock. It is probably easier to break this down categorically. A tiny village only has tools and basic supplies. A town has simple weapons and armor, and so on. You’ve got to be in the city to get access to the good stuff.
If the party is in town between game sessions, let them shop from the catalog so to speak. Sell items at 50% value, with a +/- 10% based on persuasion DC 15. Which means if they try, and fail, the price is higher. No retries.
If the shopping needs to happen in-game, break for five to ten minutes while they get it out of their system. Handle the die rolls as needed.
Only do a shopping scene if there’s more to the situation than an exchange of goods and services. While I have seen some memorable shopping moments, they were silly. Silliness can happen at other times, so don’t bog the game down on a chance (or people forcing it to be silly).
Remember Adventure Structure
Like writing a story, or a three act play, there’s a basic pattern you can apply to plan or wing an adventure that ends up being cohesive. And fun.
You could deviate from this pattern, but it is a workable outline and by knowing where the party is in the plot and help you decide what makes sense relative toward moving to the end.
If the party seems to be heading away from that, you’ll have more adapting to do, which may include the enemy’s plans advancing and things getting worse.
Inciting Incident
What gets the party involved in this adventure? Media res and starting with a fight usually work. Pick something that aligns with the PCs background and interests. The village being attacked by an advance orc war-band, someone asking the party to come rescue somebody and that gets violent right away, finding out a PC’s love one is in trouble. Anything reasonable that instigates the players to get involved will do the trick.
The Prep
The time allowed for this varies by the situation, but the party will want supplies and information. So expect a shopping trip if they know they need something (ex. Climbing gear for going into the mountains). Expect them to ask questions, do some sleuthing, or recon if applicable. Nobody is just going to drop everything and run off on a trip, leaving their half-eaten meal at the tavern.
The Approach
Expect the players to make a good-faith effort toward the objective. This might be travel through rugged terrain, exploring the dungeon and encountering trouble, or talking to suspects and examining locations for clues. There could be combat, or talking. This is the bulk of the adventure.
To keep the stakes increasing, consider that the enemy has two things going on. What’s happening with the party right here, and what the rest of their forces are up. The players are not literally stopping the army at this stage; they’re facing patrols and such.
This matters because to increase the stakes, the problem always gets worse until the climax. It’s not that what the players do doesn’t matter. Local successes are local. So anytime you can drop in a status update on the larger situation, that’ll keep them worried.
The Darkest Hour
What if the scope or nature of the problem were to be larger than we thought? Like the bad guy wasn’t just big, he’s huge. The castle is lava powered. The war machine ate a town. The problem changed from what we thought to something harder and different. Reveal a setback and let the players react. An important item/person is lost. Maybe the enemy got their first and claimed it before leaving. This might be a suitable spot for a rest (short or long depends).
The Final Climb
This is like the Approach earlier, but shorter and the stakes are higher, and the party is worried. The party might literally be climbing to the top of the volcano for the final confrontation. There might be an obstacle or guard before the boss, that could whittle down some hit points and spells.
The Climax
All roads lead to here, probably. Maybe. The heroes are within reach of the goal, the boss enemy is in their way. Whether its a fight or not, this is the dramatic moment where we don’t know if the party will win. In fact, the more doubtful their success, the sweeter that victory will be. Especially if the final win comes from being clever, or hard-won.
The Prize
Hand out the rewards, found loot, accolades and thanks from the townsfolk. The End.
Now What?
Check out the resources section below. Go play. Drop a comment if you have GMing advice of your own, or thoughts on what’s listed here.
References
Many of the ideas here came from or were echoed by these wise game masters.
Tip of the Hat by Pointy Hat
These videos are chockful of great ideas by game designer Antonio Demico
Sly Flourish books and site by Mike Shea
I finished reading Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master and liked it. There’s a lot of good stuff at his website. The article below is packed with good information, and I think the book is a good guide on writing an adventure with the minimal effort.
Line of Sight Laser Pointers
I’m not advocating a specific product, just sharing links I found for the product type. I have no experience with these vendors.
Comments