In my last post, I talked about what a gamemaster is, and what it takes to be a gamemaster. In my next few posts, I'll talk about how to be a better gamemaster.
1. Know the Rules
If you've never played a single game in a system you want to run as a gamemaster, then read the system's rule book. Read the entire thing, front to back. When you're done, read the section on creating characters again, then read the section on combat again (most game systems involve some sort of combat). Some game systems have some complicated rules for situations that don't happen in every game. You don't need to have these memorized for your first game. For example, if you're about to play D&D 3.5, or just about any game system based on that version of the d20 rules, you probably won't have to know the grapple, sunder, and disarm rules off the top of your head. You should, however, know how to begin a combat encounter, a general idea of what a character can do on their turn, when movement provokes attacks of opportunity, and the critical hit rules. The rest of the combat rules you can look up as needed.
Now, that's what you need to be a gamemaster. What about being a better gamemaster? Well, nothing kills the pace of the game like having to stop and look up an obscure rule. Whenever I want to use an opponent that specializes in something obscure, say I want him to try to destroy the players' weapons, for example, I read the rules on sundering before I decide if I want to include the opponent at all, to be sure this tactic isn't going to be so overly complicated that it slows down the game too much. Once I'm confident that I want to use that tactic, I create the opponent and write it into my notes. During the week leading up to game day, I review the rules that opponent will be using. On game day, about an hour before the players arrive, I read the rules again. Usually, by this point, I have the rule memorized and no longer have to look it up at the table, thus avoiding putting the game on pause while I look through a rule book. The biggest advantage of this is that you don't try to memorize an entire rule book in one sitting, and slowly memorize one new rule each time you want to throw something new at your players. This keeps your encounters from becoming stale with every opponent just trying to attack for damage.
2. Preparation
Depending on your preferences, and whether you are writing your own adventures or running published modules, your prep time could be as little as an hour or two per game or as much as ten or more per game. Because the amount of preparation needed changes depending on your play style and whether you're running custom adventures or not, I'll give you some notes for a couple of scenarios.
Running published modules requires the least amount of preparation, and is recommended if you work long hours, or are new to gamemastering, or if you're just not confident in your writing skills. The beauty of a module is that you have a written adventure, usually spanning multiple game days, and usually have some maps included. You pretty much have nothing do before the game. However, if you want to be a better gamemaster, you should read through the entire adventure at least once before you begin the first game. This way, you at least have an idea of how events in one part of the adventure lead to other parts. Before each game, you should read the portion of the adventure you plan to run that day, and if there are any obvious choices or detours the players might be able to make that would take the game in a different direction and read that as well. There are modules that offer players more than one goal that could be completed in any order they choose, so you should be ready for whichever choice your players want to take. If you want to make it easy on yourself, you could gather your players together ahead of time and introduce the adventure to them, present the choices, and have them decide on a course of action before your game session. This way, you can familiarize yourself with the player's choice and when the game begins, you won't have to take up time with a group discussion on which course of action to take, because they've already chosen. When running a module, one thing you should always do is review the stats for the enemies the players will face during the upcoming game session. If any enemies use an ability you aren't familiar with, you should spend a few minutes in the rule book getting to know this new ability. Total prep time per session when using a module should be around an hour. You could get by with less if you're pressed for time, but I highly advise against it. I would recommend up to two hours if you can spare it.
Writing your own adventures can be fun before you even get to the game table. Trying to anticipate how the players will react to your devious plans and diabolical villains, and visualizing them falling victim to your heinous traps are all fun moments you can get caught up in while writing. Well, don't. Unless you've been playing with this group for years, you can never be sure how your players will react. That's okay, though. You can't possibly take the time to try to come up with every eventuality while writing your adventures. So don't. I will likely write a post sometime in the near future focusing just on writing good adventures for your games, but for now, let's just focus on some general guidelines. I started gamemastering by writing my own adventurers. I've never run a module, and didn't even read one for my first few years of gamemastering. When I finally did, I saw that modules went into much more detail than my own adventures. When writing your own adventures, you know how much detail you need. If you need only a few pages, then write a few pages. If you need every meticulous detail written down, go for it. I ran a game for Halloween a few months ago, with only one night to prepare. I wrote only a page and a half of notes. The game lasted for ten hours, and my players claimed it was one of the best games they ever played and had them scared stiff. Sometimes all you need is some ideas floating around in your head and a few notes to help you keep track of them. It's hard for me to nail down just how much prep time you need with custom games. It's really up to you. Obviously, it's going to take some more work than just reading a module. I'd suggest around two to four hours per game. You could get by with less, and you could certainly use more, but try not to get bogged down in details. If it isn't important to the plot, you can always make it up at the table.
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