Guide yo GM

>>55181422
I give people tips sometimes, if they ask, but I don't offer advice in-game because that's just back-seat GMing, and is obnoxious as fuck.

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>>55181422
I have and I do, but what >>55181485 says is an important point. When I first started out gaming a friend and I did a lot of henpecking and back-seat GMing with one of our game masters, and although the guy was legitimately bad, it was still asshole behavior, it ruined multiple gaming experiences, and ultimately it never helped him improve at all. These days I am very reserved when playing with other people and make a point not to offer advice unless I am asked.

It can be a good thing to mentor new or less experienced game masters, but I would say to only offer advice at the very outset, like take an hour or two to go over basics and tips with a new GM in private, and then only when it is requested. For three reasons.

One, it's rude and annoying to keep interjecting and correcting others when they are running game.

Two, depending on the group dynamic, it can be very damaging to the overall health of the game to undermine the authority of the GM in front of other people. Running a game well requires a certain degree of confidence and force of will, and respect from the players. If a player is constantly undercutting a GM, it makes them feel weak, and makes the other players see them as weak, both of which are bad.

Third, because it almost never works. A good GM will be good the first time he tries it, and will improve over time on their own, learning from others and themselves. A bad GM will be weak the first time out and stay that way or get worse. No amount of coaching will reverse that. You can help a good GM get better faster, but you can't shape bad gamers into good ones. I've spent years trying with dozens of different people, GMs, players, young people, old people, novices and veterans, boys and girls, and it has never worked. So I don't try any more. If someone is good, I will play with them and give advice when asked. If they are bad, I just move on and look for other people to play with.

>>55181721
>back-seat GMing
This was an experience I had not felt until i co gmed something. 5ed so I knew the rules. I was going at it in slow building pace to rev up the action and letting the players see ask question and describe the environment as they saw it. Dark hallway into the light. And Literally EVERY SINGLE second this jackass was, Hey why not explain this. When they got to the NPC Started getting into the voices pathos, and dilemmas talking to PCs offering reward and advice.
'ANon do this.' stop
'staff on head' Try to ignore.
'hey explain the lockdoor.' Fucker I AM SHUT THE FUCK UP.

And that was when I realized my old GM was shit. nice guy but shit at gming. Guy had No direction or pacing, everything had to be a hyperbolic joke. can't read a room at all and needs everyone to be happy. I had successfully gmed for these guys before and ran them through a fairly simple go here, find the evil. be 'heroes' So I knew what the fuck I was doing. Some things I can point to and say I needed to be tighter on that, but I know what I'm doing.

Christ not everyone needs to be involved in everything as long as everyone gets a turn to be badasses
AND YOU DON"T HAVE TO STOP THE SESSION AND ASK FOR ROLEPLAY THEY"LL DO THAT THEMSELVES IF YOU HAVE INTERESTING BACKDROP OF A STORY
AND FOR GOD SACKS PUSH THE PLAYERS INTO DOING SOMETHING

This guy's got some grand story and epic about family bloodlines but really this shit is too slow and never gets done. At some point as a GM you got to look at yourself and ask am I the reason this is not working? It's like he's merely mimicking what people tell him they like without understand why or how it worked so well. After that moment I almost actively re-remembered every game session we ever played together and I say those problems

long story short I literally told him to SHUT UP so I could finish the session and handed it back to him to finish the story. Learned my lesson never again. He can run his own fucking game.

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>>55182200
Co-GMing was a nightmare for me as well. There are probably pairs of people who do it well, but I've never seen it and I've certainly never experienced it. The worst part for me was when the other guy would start exchanging text messages or passed notes with other players while I was busy doing something, and then start throwing shit into the game that, first off, I was absolutely not expecting or prepared for, and secondly would be hugely disruptive to the story and flow of what we were doing even if I had been.

Hated it, doubt I'd ever try it again.

>>55181422
In game? Sit down, shut the fuck up, and only voice displeasure if it's horrnedously grating.

After the game? If they ask for feedback, be honest. Even if it might hurt their feelings. Better to have them get over that than have the wrong lessons ingrained.

Also a universal piece of advice?
Get good at improvising stuff.
Skill in improv can turn a rough idea of how a session should go into highly enjoyable games.

>>55181459
Thats a cool idea. A table with a tablet in it. it can display maps, grids and NPC portraits.

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Always train your players.

>>55183106
unironically good advice

>>55181422
That's what I spend my time on here doing

>>55183106
>Don't punish the player in some way that takes him out of play or prevents doing fun things.

That's why it's better to send the player on a quest of repentence rather than outright banning them from a city, temple, or such.

>>55181459
IMO absolutely horrible idea for a medieval game, but excellent for any moder/sci-fi game.

>>55181422
What made me improve a lot as a GM were RPG conventions. They offer the opportunity to play with different GMs, so you can experience different styles of GMing. I also GMd a lot at conventions and in schools, which forced me to adapt to all kinds of players.

>>55183667
I'd tots be down for a Shadowrun game with a setup like that. Get a blueprint of the building we're heisting and gathering 'round and having fun planning out our entry and exit plans.