Tips for Starting out GMing, AMA From Experienced

From reading some of the other threads in this forum, it seems there are a lot of people who have never run a Tabletop RPG before who are looking to try. It also seems there are a lot of experienced GMs out there who are diving into the new system. I thought a thread where people could ask questions and post Tips would be useful.

So. I'm an experienced GM, having run adventures and stories in systems ranging from ADnD, 3rd Ed, 4th Ed, to World of Darkness and Shadowrun. I've run GURPS and LARPS, and homebrew systems and freeform no dice games. I haven't done anything in the last four or five years, due to a lack of a group to do it with, so my knowledge of direct mechanics will be bad, but my general GM tips and tricks are still good.

First tip:

F' The Rules.

Be willing, be able, and be ready to throw out every rule in the book if it will make the story better and the experience better. 

This is a tough thing to judge, but in my opinion the most important lesson for a GM to learn. Some players really want hard cruchy rules with everything done in stone. You have to learn to judge that, but if you're gaming with your friends you probably already know who they are. Most average players however just want to have a good time. Put your screen up, roll some dice behind, and be willing to completely ignore that dice roll to do what seems like a more fun answer. 

If you learn 2 simple mechanics in any system, you can tell a story: 1) How to hit someone. 2) how to overcome an obstacle. Most of the time these are very similiar actions. If you can do that, you can tell any story, no matter what the situation is. Your players will learn how their powers work. They'll learn how to dodge and track damage. You can pick that up as you go. 

And then, if the situation calls for it, remember this tip: F' the Rules. If you roll some dice and its a complete route for the players but it be much cooler if they just barely make it.... well do that. Some games even have it as the '0 Rule' or the 'Rule of Cool' or the 'Golden Rule' - its usually only mentioned in the begining then ignored but it is the most important rule in the game - Make the adventure FUN! ignore rules (in secret) as needed. Change things so that the players are scraping by but SUCCEEDING, if challenged. They fail a little bit but find another way. These players are the heroes (no pun intended for SCRPG) and the action stars. They are the protaginists and the most amazing things ever. They want to feel like they did cool things during this nights session. And throwing out the rules when needed is the most important thing to learn.

As you gain more experience, you'll learn when to throw them out and when not to. Sometimes you'll make mistakes. You also have to be aware that some players really hate this. Thats why there are GM Screens. Thats why most GM rolls happen in secret, so that they can fudge the results as needed to make a better story, while still letting everyone share the illusion that its all up to chance.

More General, less world shattering tips:

1) Provide snacks. Everyone is more happy with food and drink. (Unless all your friends are clumsy and  will spill all over the board)

2) Don't be afraid to rip story ideas directly from your favorite movies/books/games. It worked there, and likely the players will get a hoot out of it. ALso, there is nothing new under the sun.  (The Tropes website used to be one of my favorite resources for coming up with new adventures)

3) If something doesn't go according to plan, don't try to force the players back onto the road. That just makes them upset. 

(I have a story about planning this grand campaign, a trip through this island and a mysterious enemy that seemed to be poisoning the land. The players took a ship to get there. Apparently they were in a mood, and decided to become Pirates. They never made it to the island...)

4) On that note, even if you make detailed plans and the players go off the rails, you can still use that stuff. You'll have to reporpose it, but thats your job.

I'm sure others have more tips. Hopefully they'll add them. If you have questions as a frist time GM (not necessary Mechanical questions) I'll do my best to answer them. If they are Mechanical, maybe someone else can :)

Lynkfox's comment about F' the rules got me thinking about the things I wish I knew when I started and one of the key ones was on the topic of mistakes whilst playing from the GM side of things.

Sometimes you make a call off the cuff in a game as a GM to keep the game flowing and it seems fine at the time but then as time/the session goes on you have a fridge horror moment and need to change it.

That is fine!

Just tell the players at the start of the next session or at the end of the session you made the call in or inbetween if its really bugging you but the important part is that you tell them. I can attest that your players being humans will understand that you to are human and not perfect so a little knee scraping along the way. 

This lesson comes from having given the PC's a 3D printer in Shadowrun which I allowed them to mod to use trace metals and plastics from the earth... was a bad bad to be a company man.

Other things that I try and encoperate in to my games are best summed up by x-world mentality (I feel I will sound end up sounding like a broken record )  but some games these require a bit more prepwork to follow through so ymmv .

1) Play to find out what happens

2) Be the players biggest fan 

3) Fill there life with adventure and heroics.  

Yeah, the whole "a GM has to be willing to go off the cuff when needed and not be afraid to just make up whatever will move the story along" is honestly what I was trying to get at in MindWanderer's thread, and it's true in pretty much every system and even with premade adventures.

I feel the advice in the Sentinels RPG rulebook of how the GM is not there to defeat the players but to help them make a great story is also something that applies to any system, since the idea of the GM being an antagonist to the players tends to crop up a bit too often in RP culture.

And honestly so much advice I could give to a GM really goes back to those core idea of "just be willing to go with whatever lets all of you have the most collective fun". There's little things here and there that make the practical logistics easier, but the overall idea hearkens back to that.

My tip is you are going to make mistake. Both Gms and players. Roll with whatever the Gm rules for that moment and anyone can look it up after the game. Stopping the flow to look stuff up (If it is more than just turn to page x and read a sentence) can be a drag. Don't be afraid of trying, just learn from what you did and improve.

Make sure that people are paying attention to the game, if someone is going to be next, tell them beforehand. I once had a group where each player needed a complete recap of what happened since the beginning of the scene every turn.

The players are the stars. I have played too many games where the GM adds his army of NPC to always save us and fight all our battles. I stop playing with him after not too long.

I’m sure this is an absolutely stupid question, so apologies in advance. Where can I find the dice pool stats for the environment in Issue 1? I just can’t see it anywhere…

Environments aren’t introduced until Issue 2. Think of the Starter Kit as a tutorial that introduces the rules in bits at a time, so you can get used to it. I do think the rules also say that not every scene will have an active environment.

EDIT: And not a stupid question at all.

Based on some recent convos in other threads, I think I have to repeat and put an underline under speedyolrac's "The players are the stars" line.

The game is always primarily about ensuring the players are having fun with the playstyle and ideas they want to do. That doesn't mean that you as a GM and your desires are irrelevant, because I feel that the players should be equally willing to make sure you're having fun with your style and ideas too. But it does mean that making sure any potential clashes with players in playstyle and what you all want to achieve with the game have mutually agreeable compromises ironed out with the players beforehand.

The goal is for everyone to have fun. Everything you do as a GM should work towards that goal. (And everything the players do should also work towards that goal.)

That’s kind of what I was thinking, I just got caught up when I saw ‘roll the dice pool’ for twists, and couldn’t work out what exactly that was referring to. Thanks!

For any twist in book one use the player's dice or just roll a d6+d8+d10. Don't worry what they are unless you read to book 2 or are ready to teach player new ideas. Book 1 is all about getting the basics down.

(Was going to post it elsewhere but here is a better place.)

I personly like to Give player choices. Do you save AA or save the civilians? And see people thought process and decisions. Some Save the civilians at all cost. Other say if they save AA he can help in the process. Other say that since the hostages are fine (Besides Legacy will take care of it) They will find the transponder and cut the snake head off. This is my favorite part of the game, seeing how people take care of the problem. (Still my favorite has been a Unity player ask after the team hacked the MotherSpider if she can control the spider off the tree and blow up on the roots. The answer was yes.)

I personally Hide the turns left marker because my players don't care how many turns are left. If anyone asks I will tell them. I just give clues at the start of the turn. "They had an awfully long time to hack the system, it is only a matter of time before they steal the data" "The base has gone into code red, the alarms are loud and everything turns red." "You have one more turn before she gets away, what is your last action?" If I get a group that like the crunch more, or preferred seeing the tracker I would leave it out. 

There been many times my player give me a cool story in the middle of battle, followed by a "Do you want to use a collection?". This has caused many fun moments and wacky comic book scenes with a lot of drama. The "leader" said that they practice a maneuver so each of them had a device that the tech person can use to recall them to the tech's position, but can only be used once. After a flashback panel ( I made the player talk about it moment for a bit), she saved a person from getting ganged up on. It also had a quick banter between the tech person and said "leader".

My tip is two-fold

1 Be a Quiet DM

Players, particularly if you run a public session for people you don't know, like it when the GM seems to know more than they do. the easiest way to do that is to keep your thoughts to yourself, When they go galloping off the plot rails, cause they're gonna, just go with it. I like to have 10 or more random names tapped to the inside of my GM screen just so my players don't hear my inner monologue trying to figure out what to call random fishmonger #3 that they've been talking to for 20 minutes.

2 Let the players be creative for you,

If they're trying to do something and they think of challenges, use em. The players will feel smart cause they figured out what was going on ahead of time. A couple examples, in the first one my Edge of the Empire players were getting ready to pull a museum heist from one of the published adventures, They were brainstorming out loud about what kind of security they were going to deal with, and they came up with some cool ideas that weren't in the book. So i threw 'em in there, They all felt really cleaver for having a macguffin to get around that security element with ease, and i felt clever for not having to work as hard. example 2, my favorite fantasy setting trap. Your players come around a corner to see the rough cave they've been walking through has a thatch floor in this hallway & returns to stone floor just before the next corner. Everyone knows this is a trap, it's painfully obvious it's a trap, they just don't know HOW it's a trap. Which is the beauty part, that trap has never gone off, i don't even know what kind of trap it is yet, because every party comes up with some "logical" way to get around the trap without setting off whatever is under that thatch floor, from using spiderclimb to set a hanging rope for the rest of the party, to the one party where we had a half orc barbarian litterally throw the other party members (all halflings) accross it then try jump it with the halflings there to prevent him from falling backward onto it (I was surprised when that one worked too). Your players imagniation is always going to be at least as creative as you are, because there are more of them. Reward that creativity and they will talk about even just the little things for years, even if you can't tell them what kind of trap it was cause you still haven't decided.

Okay, but the party of halflings with one half-orc is great. :D

1) Plan to your degree of comfort.  Ad lib to the level of your group's comfort.

GMing takes at least some degree of planning.  While you can absolutely run game entirely "off the cuff", having a few bad guys, a neat setting, or some semblance of overarching plot will make your life a ton easier on a game-to-game basis.  If you feel best having a rough outline and a few stats for adversaries, do that.  If you want a full write-up, do that.  Just know that, in the end, your players will deviate from this master plan.

As such, you've got to be able to make things up on the fly.  Sometimes that means an entire fight scene.  Sometimes that means an NPC that you hadn't yet created.  For these, worry about their actual stats later--when they're truly needed and you have time to prepare them--and simply give the NPC advantages where they deserve them.  Is the guy an expert marksman?  d10 in Shooting and a d8 in Perception, with d6s in everything else.  

2) Steal everything not nailed down.  Then get a crowbar.

In a superheroes setting anything goes.  Horror games, pulp adventure games, deep space exploration and sci-fi, urban noir, you name it.  Steal plots, steal characters, steal ideas and locations.  File off the serial numbers, give them new names, and give them new life.  As much as I love the characters in SotM, and as much as I love the unique spins that Christopher and Adam have given them, they're based on archetypes that have existed in comics for a long, long time.  

Let's say one of your players really likes Venom as a villain.  Why not bring him into your game, even if it's not the "actual" Venom.  Maybe a Void Spectre escaped during the OblivAeon event, and formed a symbiotic relationship with a low-level thug from the Organization.  Give him a similar power-set and a cool name--"Tendril" or such, and you have your very own villain.

3) In the words of John Wick, "There are no rules for you.  Cheat anyway."

You're the GM. You're the keeper of the story.  While your players are the main characters and tell a story just as much as you do, your work keeps that story moving, exciting, tense, and worth telling.  If the dice say "no", ignore them.  Read them however you want.  Does the scene demand a villain hit with that Nanite Infector attack?  It does.  Just enough to do the job.

However, this has to be done in the interest of the story.  Simply backhanding your players with a "no, you can't do that" or "no, it's not effective" doesn't tell a good story.  Having your villain automatically crit each time they attack doesn't help your story; it merely makes your players frustrated.  The *appearance* of fairness matters here.  Even if you're adjusting everything behind the screen--yeah, I know the starter kit says not to use a screen; I use one anyway--the dramatic comeback should always be within reach.

4) Listen to what your players want.  Even if they're not actively saying it.

Every last detail that someone writes down on a character sheet is a message to you.  After your first or second session, literally take their character sheets for a few days--take notes on what they have on there:  their Principles, their major skills, the things they value.  Did they take a somewhat strange skill?  They're banking on you to make that skill worthwhile.  Do they have a high Red status die?  Then they're actively looking to hit Red status at some point; they want to be at their best when the chips are down and things look their worst.  

The notes you take directly from someone's character sheet can go a long way towards ensuring both player buy-in and continued engagement throughout the plot, both in terms of narrative and in terms of mechanics.

I've got another one, that is somewhat more situational. It doesn't always apply.

Apply the rule of 'Yes, And...' from Improv Comedy

this one is far more situational. As a GM you have to be able to say no at points. However, if there is no reason to say no (ie, plot, challenge, complete ridiculousness - which in itself is not always a reason to say no) then follow the rule of saying Yes, and.... (adding to the scene) instead of saying no. No turns off possiblities. No ends discussions. No changes things from progressing to stopping. Its not a very beginner rule, more an Intermediate one but very often it is better to continue the thread and let it move on to see what happens. More often than not this makes for great sessions.

@lynkfox: One of my favorite rules for any sort of collaborative creative process.

This one is a little more specific to Sentinels than other RPGs (but it applies to using any published universe). Don't let the canon intimidate you, especially if the players know it better than you. You don't need to listen to every episode of the Letters Page, memorize the wiki and be able to say what the quote on "Suture Self" says. If it's not important to the story and someone says that "Um, actually, Unity hates root beer, Adam said she drinks Dr Schmepper" when you mention Unity drinking a root beer, say "oh, thanks, she's drinking that then." If it is important to your story that there was Virtuoso of the Void in the 60s named the Blues Beatle, and someone objects to that, say "this is not the canon timeline" and move along. 

Especially don't be afraid of changing the canon if it's something the players want to do. If the players really want to do something that changes the canon, go for it. Let them find the wreckage of La Paradoja Magnifica and use it as their team headquarters. 

The Rule of Fun trumps canon every time. 

Canon!

Awesome

This is a good one.  Within the realm of gaming, I've heard it as Either Say Yes or Roll the Dice.

Is there a fire extinguisher in that burning building?  Why not?  What does it hurt the story for there not to be?  

Is there a high press fire hose?  Well, maybe. Roll some Perception to find out.  

So one of the most important things I’ve learnt is that as GM, sometimes it’s ok to fudge things, are they doing badly due to some simple bad dice luck, forget to mark a turn on the scene tracker or could the villain still pose a threat with a little less hp, are they getting a ton of good dice rolls and trivialising the action, have an additional threat show up or could the villain pose a threat with some more hp?

Also keep track of your minor twists, that time something caused Absolute Zero to lose control of his powers for a turn and gave him a binder to his next cold power use, maybe that could come back as a major twist later causing him to completely lose control of his powers and threaten to hurt everyone around him.

I thought Christopher would link a picture of a cannon. Miss opportunity Citizen Anvil.

Also totally agree with "Yes and"