Worldbuilding Journal 1 - Getting Started as a Game Master

These next couple of posts are going to be speaking to three different groups of game masters and worldbuilders. Those with no experience, those with some experience, and the seasoned veterans.

First up are the total rookies, the newbies, the uninitiated. One of the most common questions asked when getting into TTRPGs and worldbuilding is simply where to start.  Unfortunately, I know too many people who got so overwhelmed by the bevy of information on the internet that they froze, and to this day have never thawed out enough to run a game.  With that in mind, I'll keep this part simple.  We can deep dive into nuance later, for now, we just need to get over the first and largest hurdle.

Run. A. Game. 

Let's do it in 5 easy steps. And don't worry, doctors won't hate you for these simple and effective tricks.

Step one - Pick a system.

The system is going to determine the basic rules of the game and each can be tweaked to meet your needs, but depending on the experience you are looking to have certain systems will make your job a lot easier.  There are a ton of great options but I promised to keep this simple, so I’ll distill a few options here.

• Do you want a classic blend of combat and roleplaying? Hoping for heaps of resources and content to help you along the way?  Dungeons and Dragons.
• Want to play a TTRPG like Dungeons and Dragons, but just….not Dungeons and Dragons? Pathfinder has got you covered. 
• Do you enjoy True Blood? How about Buffy? Underworld?  Need I go on? Vampire: the Masquerade is calling. 
• Are you looking for a system that lets you tell a story and roleplay but with aliens, or guns, or aliens with guns?  Genysis by Fantasy Flight Games does it all. 
• Is Halloween your favorite holiday? Ever wanted to visit a haunted house?  Call of Cthulhu will adequately chill your spine. 

Most of my TTRPG experience is with Dungeons and Dragons, so a lot of the topics discussed here will be with that system in mind. I recommend starting with D&D using only free resources and then branching out from there to find a system and style that you like the best.  When you are just starting, D&D has the largest community and resource pool to guide you, so there is a ton of support for both playing and running the game.  As you get more experience you will rely less and less on these resources, so you may find that another system works better for you and your group of players.

Fortunately, Dungeons and Dragons have made their basic rules available for free, here, so you don’t need to go out and buy any published books to get started.  Once you have completed a few sessions and are sure you are going to be playing more consistently, you can buy the official Dungeon Master's Guide or other published content, but for now just read through the basic rules to familiarize yourself with the system, and have your players do the same if needed. 

Step Two - Find a Party.

This will either be the hardest or the easiest step for most GMs.  Many of you will already have a group of friends that you play board games or video games with, and odds are you have already talked about playing a TTRPG or have even tried one at some point.  Great!  There is your party. If you still need to find a group to play with, fear not, there is a party out there.  Your best option for finding players in the wild is going to be your local game store. Many game stores host open D&D nights, like the Adventurers League.  Go play, hang out, support a local business, and meet potential party members. 

If you don’t have a local store, there are a ton of gaming communities on Facebook, Reddit, etc. that can get you connected with local or online players. Just be aware that the internet is wild and strange, and so are those who use it.  Nerd culture can unfortunately attract some questionable or outright unsavory individuals, so I always recommend the local game store route when possible. 

Step Three - Pick a One-Shot.

A one-shot is a single adventure that usually takes 3-5 hours to complete.  It gives new players and GMs a taste of the game and the system and offers bite-size fun for experienced ones. Ideally, you will be looking for something designed for 1st level characters, that has a little combat, a short puzzle or intellect challenge, and some roleplaying opportunities. 

This is where D&D has a big advantage. There are innumerable options for one-shots through the Dungeon Masters Guild. A couple of great adventures to start with are A Most Potent Brew (Pay What You Want) and The Wild Sheep Chase (Free!), both have been a hit with the beginner groups I have run them for, but there are lots of great options to suit any party.

Step Four - Run the One-Shot.

Try and read through the adventure a few times, getting as familiar as possible with the content.  Think about how your players might react to the different situations and expect that they will do something unexpected.  Players can be unpredictable, so the simpler the better for the first session. 

Then, find a time and a place without distractions, and play! It might be awful, or it might go super well.  Either outcome is 100% okay.  This is just a chance to see how the game works, what your players like or don’t like, and whether or not you enjoy being in the driver's seat.  This is mostly an information-gathering session and should be treated as such.  You may not even finish the whole one-shot, and that is totally okay too! These adventures can take 3-5 hours for a typical group, but with new players and/or a new GM, they may run longer than that.

In my first session, I thought I was the worst game master to ever live, it felt awkward and boring, but my players enjoyed it and we are still playing as often as we can schedule a session.  Listen to all of their feedback, then proceed to step 5 knowing you just made it over one of the biggest hurdles to being a game master; Running a game.

Step Five - Reflect. 

This is huge.  So huge I want you to do it twice.  Right away after the session, I want you to ask three questions. 

• How do your players think it went? Just ask them what their initial impressions are about the adventure and the game system, don’t worry about how you did as a GM, we'll tackle that later.  All we are trying to determine is if they enjoyed the session and want to do it again.  Listen to their feedback and take a few mental notes, no need to write anything down yet unless you feel the insatiable need to do so.
• How do you think it went?  Are you breathing a sigh of relief that it is finally over?  Do you feel elated and can't wait for another session?  Still unsure one way or the other?  Great!  Any or all of those responses are great internal feedback and will help inform where you go from here.
• Where do you go from here? If the general feedback is positive, as in, your players enjoyed themselves and want to play again and you don't dread that idea, then schedule another session!  If on the other hand, the feedback was poor or you just really did not enjoy being in the driver's seat, that is okay too!  Running a TTRPG is a lot of work and is not for everyone. It doesn't mean your group can't continue to play, it just means someone else might need to step up and give this whole GMing thing a try, or you need to try a different system. I suggest you don't quit after your first session, as sometimes it can take a few tries to get the ball rolling.

Then, a few days after the session I want you to follow up.  Just go through the three questions again now that you have had a little time to digest the experience a bit.  If after all of this, you have another session on the books and are ready to prepare for it, congratulations!! You are officially a game master, THEIR game master. Forever. And ever. Until the end of time. Hurray!