From Player to Game Master (episode 60)

### Why is this an important issue? (3:10)
* Running a game is an experience worth experiencing.
* You get the chance to learn new skills that you might not get to as a player (learning new rules, understanding pacing and plot building, improvising)
* The more GM there are, the more new players there will be!
* This experience will, in all likelihood, improve your gaming skills as a player.

### The fear (5:33)
Being a good GM is hard, yes. But this is true for any worthwhile endeavour that you want to get good at.

There is nothing mystical about being a good GM, it is just a collection of skills that you’re not used to.

No one starts off as a great GM - and there is no reason your expectations from yourself will be unrealistic.

### Just do it (8:08)
Do you have a cool idea for an adventure? Write it down and run it. You don’t have a cool idea? Buy a published adventure and run it. There is no one right answer - the most important thing is to find what suits what you want to do so the game will actually happen.

Don’t expect it to be perfect. Your first game might feel a bit disjointed or weird. Not because your doing anything wrong; on the contrary, you’ll probably do very well. But anything you’re doing for the first time is not as good as what you'll be doing on your third try.

You might wanna start with a short adventure, maybe 2-3 sessions run for the same group - so that if the group might get ahead of what you’ve planned you’ll have the materials for the second session to rely on.

If you cared enough to listen to a podcast as preperation for your GMing experience - you are already in a better shape then most. You will run a good game.

### Preparation (9:27)

Invest time and effort in planning a plot, creating characters, writing encounters, setting stats etc. to make the session a success but don’t fall in love with your handiwork. Once the game starts be ready to let things progress in their own pace. Roleplaying is a collective creation effort, it’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination.

At the end, no one will remember that NPC’s name of that monster’s stats. You will remember the laughs and tears that you all shared.

### How much time you’re expected to invest (12:56)
Planning the coming session, creating NPCs, finding monsters, reading adventures or other supplements, interacting online. A lot of this can be controlled.

How much time investment does the system itself demand? D&D 5 is simple and has a gazillion instruction videos.

Use published modules.

How much do you know the players, and can guess what will be fun for them?

### What is probably expected of you (21:25)
* Know the rules. If you’re uneasy with this, choose a system with fewer rules, or use one of the players as an encyclopedia. “Bruce, what do the rules say about this?” The answer doesn’t necessarily have to become Truth; the rules are your tools, not your boss.
* Schedule the session.
* Know the adventure. In some games, the GM isn’t supposed to know “the story” — like in Powered by the Apocalypse games. You also don’t have to remember everything that happened so far, let the players track that. Ask “what do you remember?”, so you’re not committing to what did or did not happen. And use recap to see what they remember, and to refresh your own.
* Know the setting. Ask the people who know the setting well - or those whose characters are from around here - to add colour and details.
* Keeping everyone on the same page, regarding the game’s style, and what is true. Making sure the imagined landscape in all players (and yours) mind is as uniform as possible. You’re not necessarily the one who creates all the imaginary details, but you’re the one who chooses and decides what “is actually true”.
* Bridge conflicts in-game, and be the final arbiter of the rules.

### The apology trap (30:15)
The players are not judging you every second. And they can play with themselves.