Interest Check: Willing to be the Game Master?

Just curious how many people are out there willing to be the GM for a Roll20 game. Purely for discussion as it seems that there are many Player Characters out there (even ones that have GM experience) but a true shortage of Game Masters. Indulge my curiosity!

Wrong forum. You should have posted in the off topic forum. That said, I think there are more GMs then what appears at first glance but there will never be enough GMs for the demand.

I also think we already had the same topic a few weeks ago at the Off-Topic forums. I have done some digging and couldn't find it though, perhaps it is closed. If the topic gets moved by a mod, I'll just edit my reply accordingly.

I guess my target was directed at all the GMs turned Players who are desperate for a game... Looking back at the forum topic of choice would agree in the end its not in the correct area. I guess I was just frustrated with the supply/demand. MOD please move me...

I guess my issue is, I have only so many game "slots" I can have going at a time, and there are certain adventures I really want to try. Right now, I think the only game I would want to add to my plate GM wise would be a worlds largest dungeon or worlds largest city group, merely because I am intrested in those. I also really want to play a Dragon Lance campaign as a PC.

For myself, I hav every limited amount of time to use for gaming and it is shrinking due to school, work, and my family (wife and son). I run a playbypost game here, run another elsewhere, and play in a playbypost game. I'm working on another game but taking my time with it.

I got lots of knowledge of what it takes to be a GM, and can teach people to be GMs, but i do not have the skill nor the creativity to make games any good. Sure i can whip up a game in less then two minutes, and be ready to play by the 3rd minute, but that does not help much when the game is the worst garbage ever. 12 years of D&D experience, and i still can't host a game the right way. So ya, that is my excuse for not being a GM ^^

I should join the fray and say that I can't hold up as a GM as my Adult ADD doesn't help... Always wanted to GM but consecutive results of failures later has me avoiding disappointing players.

I'm running a game on Roll20. Witch Hunter 2nd ed. Every other Friday. The players are all friends, many of whom have been players in my home table top games at one time or another. We switched to Roll20/VTT because it was just easier to manage with young children. There has been a learning curve (double, because I'm new to the system) but the devs and mentors have been wonderful.

What happens Donovan? Why do you think your games are garbage?

A method I've seen work in some games is rotating games with different GM's, different games, but the same group of people in the same time slot. Each person GM's one ongoing game and plays in the others, with a steady rotation. No GM gets burned out never getting to play, players learn how to be GM's, plenty of time to prep between games to GM for, and multiple game systems and characters are enjoyed in the same time slot. Of course, this requires that everyone is willing to play different kinds of games, and take their turns as GM, and put effort and creativity into it.

I actually enjoy GMing. But I've only been playing table top games for a few months and don't feel like I have enough experience to actually GM for a bunch of strangers whom want a real engaging experience.

I am perfectly willing to GM, in fact I prefer being GM over playing. The problem I've encountered is finding reliable, dedicated players who will consistently show up for the agreed-upon game sessions. I currently GM two Roll20 campaigns, each plays once a week. I got lucky with my first group (4 players), they're all reliable and work well together. No problems there. My second group not so much. At one point I was managing 8 players in that game but probably only half were reliable. Some just simply didn't show up at game time, with no explanation either before or after the scheduled game time. After muddling along for several weeks with hit-and-miss participation and no real player character group cohesion, I finally decided over this past holiday break to "re-boot" the campaign. I asked all the original players to re-apply if they still want in and only 4 replied. That's probably a more realistic number anyway, based on my experience with my original group.

Brett, what system game are you starting up?

I GM a game once a week (sometimes more). I've periodically thought about GMing another but it always comes down to available time and energy. One thing about GMs is that I suspect many, like me, came to Roll20 with an established group of players looking for a platform. I'm not interested in looking for a new group of players and a second campaign to run, combined with the weirdness you can get with a pickup group regardless of platform. Tabletop RPGs take a certain kind of commitment from all participants, and it's easier to get that level of understanding from people you know rather than random people who happen to use the same VTT.

I'm willing to GM, it's just my players would all have to get abducted by aliens before I could commit to being able to run another game immediately. Although I am working on getting a fortnightly game up and running as I like having two contrasting games going on simultaneously (it keeps everything fresh), but really don't like having twice the prep.

John T. said: Brett, what system game are you starting up? Well, as my profile avatar implies, I run OSR-type games. My original game is 1st edition AD&D. My second game was too, but as part of the campaign re-boot I am simplifying things. Therefore, it will use the D&D B/X ruleset going forward.

Brett E. said: Well, as my profile avatar implies, I run OSR-type games. My original game is 1st edition AD&D. My second game was too, but as part of the campaign re-boot I am simplifying things. Therefore, it will use the D&D B/X ruleset going forward. HAve you taken a look at Basic Fantasy RPG ?

Metroknight said: Brett E. said: Well, as my profile avatar implies, I run OSR-type games. My original game is 1st edition AD&D. My second game was too, but as part of the campaign re-boot I am simplifying things. Therefore, it will use the D&D B/X ruleset going forward. HAve you taken a look at Basic Fantasy RPG ? Oh yes, I've downloaded and/or purchased several retro-clones. But in the end I decided to just stick with the original.

I am always willing to run games, but much like many of the above posters, it is about time and scheduling. I am already running 3 games here, and the main problem has been reliability of players. two of my games have had players go through the process of character gen and maybe even the first session, then just disappear with no explanation. I, in general, prefer to run games (at least here anyway).

Metroknight said: What happens Donovan? Why do you think your games are garbage? I can't keep the games consistent, enough. The NPCs are not "lively" enough, no matter how much i try. In short: i'm just not the type of person to be running a game

Unlike some other GMs I 'only' run one campaign but the sessions are twice a week (sometimes even three times) as I have pretty flexible and enthusiastic players. Took me 3 months to get there though, players leaving / having to be removed because they didn't like that 'nothing was happening' during group discussions or scenes where people found out more about the world/setting itself, because they didn't show up, because they behaved stupid evil (attacking children), didn't know how to play their chosen character ('okay, someone spotted me - I got nothing, I'll roll Int and you tell me what do do!') or were just not clear that I mostly expect actor stance and a slight amount of acting. No grand speeches or anything, but you need to give me -something- to work with and determine how the NPC reacts. I think within about 5 months we went though 9 people or something until I found the 5 I currently work with and they seem to be on the same page as I am, but, yeah... one never knows what one gets be it with players or GMs, but the ratio of the players is higher. Its kind of comparable to the Tank DPS ratio, except its usually worse than 1 vs 3... Just the way it is. tl;dr: GMing a campaign twice a week is enough so I don't even find the time or energy to play myself, so not going to host another campaign either.