A Guide to GMing (Roleplay)

I obviously did not write this guide, Noel wrote it; I am simply posting it on her behalf. But feel free to give comments and criticism, as well as ask questions. I may or may not respond, perhaps choosing instead to relay your bitching concerns to Noel.

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A Guide to being an RP GameMaster

I. Introduction and Overview.


A.Introduction Now that that is out of the way. Welcome to another guide by Noel! Some of you may know me for the A Guide to Rping. Like that, this is merely a guide and these tips should be considered when you make an RP and such. It is not the end all be all. As you gain more experience, you will probably deviate from this guide and do your own stuff. Anyway, this is still a good guide for you to consider when you make your own RP!
This guide is being made from complaints about some RPs I myself and others have voiced due to bad GMs and whatnot. Learn and make better RPs!

B. Overview
The maker of an RP is generally almost always the GM of the Roleplay. They have control of everything that goes on. They control NPCs not created by others and makes sure things are fair. They control the plot and storyline, unless it's some sandbox RP they're running.
The Game Master, or GM for short, of a roleplay has some huge responsibilites for guiding and maintaining a roleplay. A bad GM can make a roleplay crap! This guide will help you understand your responsibilities as a GM and give you some advice on how to handle certain situations.


II. The Story
A GM is the one who creates the story, the mood, and gives the RPer something to play with.The story is what attracts the RPer to join. Make it good! It's okay to steal ideas from other sources and anime and video games and whatever! Your players will inevitably make it different anyway.
How much control the GM has is dependent on the GM. There needs to be leniency to allow for different subplots between the RPers. Don't be afraid if the majority of the players go in a different way than your RP intended. That's just the way it goes. Embrace it and move your RP along with it. However that isn't to say you have no control. You still need to give your RP direction. If everything is going nilly willy, you should steer them towards the direction the story should go.
When an RPer asks for a GM to clarify the story, the GM should definitely do so. Do not simply say, "Just wait, will do whatever in due time." That is definitely a no-no. This just turns people off. If someone asks for you to clarify why so and so is happening or such, tell them. They need some sort of reason and no doubt they'll have more fun and and just make your RP better. They can put more detail into their posts!
Does this mean you should reveal the plot? Well... DUH! DO IT! Your RPers deserve to know what's happening. Let them know where it starts, where it goes, and how it ends. Give them a clear plot and a clear goal. However, you do not want to tell them everything in too much detail. Keep the plot as vague as need be. This allows for things to happen while following the general plot. Surprise is a good thing. Spring a trap for your dungeon adventurers occasionally! They'll find the challenge enjoyable. They will do what they think their characters will do in such a situation. It's nice to see how people will react to new situations.

Do spend time to use good grammar. I can't count the times I was turned off from an RP and did not even bother reading the story because of such simple grammar mistakes. If you can't take the time to make sure you sound literate, why the hell do I want to join your RP when you don't care?

III. Your Players
A. What should you expect?
What should you do about your players? When someone applies for your RP, take a look at their posts. Assume they are a competant roleplayer. Look at their writing style, grammar, and length of posts. If there is something wrong with either, tell the player to fix it. They joined the RP with the intention of playing. If they did not want to play, why the hell would they join?

B. Problems?
1. Going against the plot?
If one of your players or a group of players are going against the plot, it's not always a bad thing. In fact, it could be interesting and a fun thing. Now, if they are totally butchering your game and doing whatever they want to do, then it is your duty as a GM to step in and own them. The story is there for a reason.

2. Crappy Roleplayer?
Tell them to get better. Tell them to work on their writing style, follow the story better, and add more detail helps a bit. Make it constructive criticism, not a total bashing and insult the person. It helps a person grow as a roleplayer. However, you may need to take into account the player as some may take things as an insult and a stab at their skills as a roleplayer.

3. Someone doesn't post?
This depends on the GM and how lenient you want to be. However, you must also take into account how active your Roleplay is. More detailed and advanced roleplays can take a week for just one post from a player. On the opposite end are fast paced roleplays with only a couple paragraphs where someone posts every 5 minutes. You want to set a decent timeline or a limit. If someone only posts once a day or two and finds that there are 50 pages to be read, it often turns them off because of their lack of story knowledge.
If you want someone to post. It is nice to send a friendly reminder to the person. If they do not respond, feel free to get rid of them in the plot somehow, or if they were a heavy part of it, give the role to another eager roleplayer.

4. Someone doesn't give a shit?
Nothing you can do except ask them to go away. If they don't, report them to the admin/moderator of your forum.

Know your Role!
A. What do I do in my own Roleplay!?
You should generally always make the first post for events. You will want to describe what is happening, who is doing what and where and why. This lets your roleplayers know the setting and whatnot. This helps players with their own introductory posts. Your don't want your players to be lost and doing stupid shit by themselves.

B. What else should I do in my own Roleplay?
Keep track of shit! Make sure to answer questions when they are asked. Sometimes people just want to know what's happening. If you want someone to edit a post because it doesn't work, let them know. It's not a bad idea to keep a summary of what's happening.

C. Be the badguy.
Sometimes, you just have to tell people their stuff is stupid and makes no sense. Tell them to fix stuff. If you don't like what your RPer's character, or it doesn't match with your world, tell them why and what they need to fix.

C. What shouldn't a GM do?
You don't want to get in the way of a good thing. If while you're asleep, the GM went crazy and in a different way than you intended, but everyone is enjoying it, let them have their fun and change your story a little bit. It's not a bad thing.

MOST IMPORTANTLY!
Use proper grammar! There are lots of people who get turned off when a GM makes an RP and the post is riddled with typos and simple mistakes. It doesn't matter if the story is interesting or not. It just implies the GM is someone who doesn't care enough to even bother with his grammar. This generally means that the GM does not care enough to want their own game to succeed.

Should I GM?
No you probably shouldn't, but go ahead and try. Make it a learning experience. You can only get better.

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Nice of you to post this, I've been having thoughts on whether to make an RP or not. Maybe sometime in the near future next year, we've already had a new RP come out, should wait for a while.

I have no idea how I'm involved in this. The thoughts in the guide are irrelevant to mine.

Idk, Idc.

Anyways, hows things with Nova? I saw the big joint post, anything else?

LOL for editing

Noel has an account and I'm sure she can post on her own behalf. Regardless, it's a good summary, Noel.

I particularly like sections III.B.1. and IV(?).C2(D). A lot of people new to GM/DMing tend to forget that they're only forging the skeleton of a story. It's up to the participants to form the meat of the RP. If a DM wants to control and dictate what each character does, then they are better suited for writing a story and not managing a Role-Play.

I'm not sure how to respond to this.

Although true, there is a bit of irony. She asked me to post it for the apparent following reasons:

1.)"I forgot my password [and the] questions about my account."
2.)"I'm trying to keep a streak of not coming on."
3.)"I'm Waldo!"

Thus.

Shoot, well I think a simple PM to Waar or Gambler could solve that problem from either a temporary account that she creates or from you. She is an uploader/editor, she deserves to have her account. If she doesn't care, then that's her choice.

If she's not coming around because the winner of her contest still hasn't received their translated and edited doujin, well that's a different matter entirely.

The GM needs to be the catalyst, the instigator, the bad guy, the structure, the general direction, etc.

The grammatical mistakes on the OP's post flaunts irony.

Though the information on the guide isn't all that bad (considering that it maybe another copy pasting stuff). Though I must say, that one of the important advices of "Don't play out a character and just play an NPC with an important role [b]if possible[/i]", I think that's important, there are some RPers who says that its best not to have a character on your own RP and just have NPCs instead, though I mentioned if possible because I like to have my own characters on my RPs, usually.

If you're good at telling stories but, not good at handling it when people decide to do completely unexpected things (well...you're screwed haha, cuz they'll do that in every game no matter what...) then you should focus on that and let people know before joining that your game will be heavily on rails. This isn't a bad thing, lots of people enjoy playing a role in a story the GM already thought out. And you usually have a better overall story.

If you're good at improvising but, not that great at storytelling you probably want to make a more sandboxy RP. Then your players can do whatever they feel like and you can try to make interesting plots out of that. Again, you should make sure the players are aware of it before they join.

If you're good at both....wtf stop taunting me you damn god being! (Really, if you're at that point you probably don't need advice. If you think you still do just...combine both previous things.)

If you suck at both...then you're like most people. Only thing you can do is aim for a specific game type and try your best to learn. Well, that or try and find someone else to run a game.

I myself strongly suggest not playing a PC character or even NPCs that are both important and constantly around. You should drive the direction of the story with story elements or let the players choose on their own. Having a character inside the game choosing for them often ruins a lot of the fun they could be having.

In any game I would suggest, if you can, take ideas from the players and put them into the story. This will keep their interest up and make the story feel more about their characters and less like a story being read to them where they were just filling in a blank character.

Oh, and don't get too upset if a game dies shortly after starting, unexpectedly, or doesn't even make it off the ground. This is something all players and GMs just have to deal with. It's certainly worse for GMs as you probably put a lot more effort into things. However, as a player or a GM you can always later take previous ideas for something new. Or just pretty much save the entire idea for another time and/or place. "Success" for a game is having people get into the game and have a good time and do things you can tell later as memorable stories. Most games never reach their end (at least not games intended to last more than a month) so, your goal shouldn't be actually getting to finish the story but, to make the game fun. That said....you should certainly still plan for a game that does finish as that typically leads to even better stories to tell. And sequels! =)

The dream...I've never given up. Not even once. A godly RP, that everyone can have fun in!