Just got back from my fortnitely Harn campaign, which has been going in various guises for 14 years - I've been GMing it for about 6 years and not a single session has passed when i didn't have the GMing equivalent of actors jitters, when i think "God, there are 6 people tonite who are turning up expecting a fun/exciting/interesting time, and I don't feel qualified to provide it for them ......"

Then the session starts, the players slip into their characters, and its like stepping into another dimension.... Sounds wanky, but I consider myself the most fortunate of GMs, in that I have good players who at times have carried me thru some sloppy GMing on my part, and still turn up week after week to see what's going to happen next...... a GM can't ask for more than that .....

Do other GM's suffer the same "stage fright", even after many years?

No, though if I'm GMing for a new group I get a wee bit antsy, but nothing serious. Then again, I'm a performer in real life, so if 17 000 people can't make me nervous, neither can 3 or 4.

My biggest concern with a new group is the rules. I want to be able to make them transparent to the players, and make sure everything is explained properly and effectively. If I feel I'm not pulling that off, I can get thrown off my game, which interferes in the RP aspect. If I've got the rules down cold, then I feel free to improvise scenarios, and don't really get nervous or intimidated.

However, I bet I'd be pretty nervous running a game for some of the "old hand" Hârniacs here on the forum. Being involved with Hârn for only five years, I'm still almost a newbie in comparison!

-Mark

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Putting the "Ho" in Hodiri since 1998.
The Forge: Western Martial Arts

I know exactly where you're coming from, gambler. Exactly! So damn exactly that I stopped GMing altogether. I simply don't feel like I do a good job, so rather than continue to feel lousy, I quit.

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Cheers

Leitchy
List & Forum Admin
Admin FAQs
[Updated 25-FEB-2011]

For those of you who feel you may not be GMing well I say, "Keep going and see what happens." People will come and go in the group, life gets in the way, but if you find people showing up over and over again they aren't unhappy.

The experience of the game is a complex one. It involves the mix of people and the rest of the experience at the table as much as the GM. When people get tired of the game they find they can't get there to play. When all or almost all of the can't make it, ever, the game will end.

In my experience, no plan survives contact with the players. Don't worry if the game goes off in some odd direction from time to time, or in my case every time. Don't worry if you don't cover the actions you thought you would in a game session. Let the world unfold. The NPCs on stage and off take their actions. If the PCs are in the wrong place to witness or participate in something when it happens they will hear about it or find the evidence and will have to run to catch up with events. These things happen.

I try to create a time line of the NPC actions. If the PCs do something to effect the NPC's actions, well and good, I take that into account. Otherwise, I try to leave clues as to where the action is likely to be at a given moment and if they are ignored, well, the world goes on.

If the world is compelling, complex, and if they wonder what will happen next, they will probably show up to see.

My 2d.

Wm

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There is a chair and an NPC for visitors on Saturdays. We play most weeks. PM me. "You will always be my friend. You know too much."

Thats true, and thats what keeps me GMing... the fact that the same players turn up week after week to see whats going to happen... so i figure I must be doing something right...

Greg Stafford wrote in an article on gamemastering.. "Let the players live in a world of chance and opportunity where their actions have meaning... "

... and the buzz I have after a good session makes all the dread anticicpation worthwhile!

Actually, I'd feel that way if I was a player. When I started gaming back in 1978, a bunch of us novices played a couple sessions with a veteran DM. His shedule was unreliable, so we decided to get our own group. We had photocopes of the 'Blue Book' D&D, and one set of dice. We diced to see who would be DM the night before-it was me, and that was it. In thousands of game sessions since, I bet I haven't played as much as 10% of the time. I haven't been a player, as far as I can recall, since prior to 1989.

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43 sessions, 183 hours 'at the table' in a Harn containing the much-feared potâtoe!

12th Knight, 8th Constable, 2nd Baron of Harn(Forum)

Wow Darth....


That's been my experience as well. I played my first game of D&D in a friends basement with a 20th level Paladin who was on his way to kill asmodeu...er, sorry, enough of that...

Ever since then, I've been THE GM. I haven't been a player but once in 25 years.

Funny thing is, I'd love to be a player in Hârn where the world and game mechanics are so real. Problem is I have really good players, but not one would be a reliable GM. I would much rather suffer (noble sacrifice?) as a GM than have a hack campaign run by a friend who I'd have to kill later.

Just think of it this way, guy...

You've definitely been a player...and instead of just one PC, you've played THOUSANDS (of NPCs).

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Cheers

Leitchy
List & Forum Admin
Admin FAQs
[Updated 25-FEB-2011]