GM Mistakes I have made

[andrewducker]

There are many, many mistakes that a GM can make. I should know, I've made all of them. They can give players too little to do, or railroad them, or give them clues that the players will never get in a million years (even though their characters would get them in seconds), and a hundred other things that will kill the fun stone dead.

However the next session can be better, the GM can learn, and things can always improve. Individual sessions can always be recovered from - what you have to worry about are GM mistakes that will kill a whole campaign.

And the biggest of these, in my experience, is loss of faith in the game world and its stories. Over here theferrett says "There's a bond of trust in telling a story - namely, that the author knows what will happen." and while RPGs aren't a truly linear form of narrative, this still holds true.

I've seen several games go from being fun to slowly losing their sense of purpose and fun because it became obvious to the players that the GM was just making things up as they went along - in some cases because the GM quite proudly told them. It didn't kill them dead - but there was a slow loss of meaning to the game, it had gone from something where the players were investigating a world and trying to solve a plot/thwart a disaster/deal with a terrible villain to being an exercise in pointlessness. After all, if anything can happen then why do anything at all?

Of course, the GM generally _is_ making up a fair bit of things as they go along - but without a core of cohesiveness, a feeling that the world you're gaming in _matters_, the connection to something that while completely real is still very real on the inside, well, it just doesn't mean anything any more.

Quentin Tarantino, when talking about Kill Bill, said that he wasn't giving us lots of details about the supporting cast - but it was important that _he_ know their backgrounds, and that we know that he knew. The illusion has to be maintained - the disbelief has to be suspended. And this is something that gets harder over time as it is, drawing attention to it will stick a dagger through its back. It might crawl on for a while, leaking blood everywhere, but it won't make it far.

Comments

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

I'm never sure whether it's neat or pathetic when the backstory to a film (usually pimped out in endless "my film didn't do well, but I had a whole novel in the background and even that guy with one line is this guy with a really cool story, let me tell you about who he is) is seen as an integral part of the film. Partly it's nice that the film doesn't just exist on its own. Partly its sad because it often goes hand-in-hand with someone trying to justify a film as being good because of things that weren't in the film.

I can think of several games we've both played in where this situation arose. I think you know the ones I mean. It's kind of unlikely that one was the best game I've ever played, and to be honest, am likely to play.

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'd probably have to think more, but my first inclination is just to say that the GM making it up as he goes doesn't really affect my ability to believe in or enjoy the game. It's the issues that surround that approach that are the problem. A disjointed game that flows poorly, a GM who seems unprepared and uncertain... those are, in and of themselves, the real problem. And if a GM can run a game totally on the fly without those problems, then I don't see the problem with it. Really, "anything can happen" regardless of whether the GM plans it five months or five minutes in advance.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

In the third edition Runequest GM book they compare roleplaying to jazz, which I guess connects to the improvisation element you're talking about here. And I suppose is also something that demands a degree of ability, that you as a player have to have confidence that the GM does know what they're doing and where they're going at least.

I remember that in WFRP first edition, we used to get a feel for how important an NPC was by asking the GM to describe them - the more important ones would have longer / more detailed descriptions and possibly an illustration. Fortunately he soon got wise to that, better at making up descriptions and characterisations on the spot, and so we stopped metagaming quite so badly.

[andrewducker]

Oh, GMs have to do it. You can't preplan it all. But telling people "I'm making this up as I go along" is like shouting "Look at my cool special effects!!!" when your movie is playing - everyone knows they're there, but talking about ruins the mood.

[azalemeth.livejournal.com]

I think that's the first time I've ever heard that put concisely. Have a sticker.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

"Hang on, let's take a half-hour break while I go see what people on an internet forum think I should do next in the game"