Our Gm Advice for TTRPGs

I've sort of broken down my advice into two categories, and I think I'll start with the first category, which is macro-level advice.

This is advice that's very surface-level, that can be applied to most games, things that aren't really under the hood, things that the DM shouldn't be actively thinking about when they run the game, less philosophy-focused.

But the number one rule, I think, and you would probably agree with me, is to have fun.

Absolutely.

it's that's no matter what piece of advice we give what makes the game fun for you and the players is the best best best piece of advice you can give like you gotta have fun yeah

agreed i mean that is that is the ultimate point of what you're doing you're getting together with a bunch of people to play pretend and have fun that's it that's the core of what rpgs are and if you're not having fun and your players aren't having fun it's not worth the time of being there It's not worth the five hours of commitment people are putting in every week.

So your goal as a DM always should be to make sure everybody's having fun, yourself included, so that way it continues and you are fulfilling the purpose of the game, ultimately.

And I think every single aspect of your game should be framed around that rule.

When you take feedback, when you're trying to design encounters and do things that help develop a story, you want to always keep in the back of your head, this is for fun.

I'm playing a game with my friends and I want them to enjoy it.

And they should always have that be the priority.

Yeah.

And I think a part of what I was going to build on with having fun is that as the DM, you have a very different role than the player characters in some respects, because you are there to help develop the player characters experience.

You're having fun yourself, but you want them to have fun and you need to understand what the player's want to get out of the game in order to best help them have fun.

You are not there as a DM to be the antagonist of the game.

And sometimes your role in creating the fun does push you into the antagonist because challenges make things interesting.

Challenges makes players think and have complex interactions and complex character development, but it is not the goal to be the enemy of the party.

That's not your purpose.

Your purpose is there to facilitate a good time and facilitate a fun challenge.

So sometimes it pushes you into that antagonist role, but that is not your purpose.

Your purpose is to, what do my player characters need? How can I help them have fun in this situation?

I wouldn't even use the word antagonist because it's just negative connotation behind it, right? Yeah,

of

course.

I think unbiased is the best way to put it.