Looking for Group: GM needed. Frequent problem on the LFG function.

It has come to my attention that there are a lot of groups who create campaigns, post them on the Looking For Group function and then stay put until someone willing to run the game stumbles upon them. Unsurprisingly, I have seen only one of these game start off, since most people using "Looking For Group" are players in search for a game. The reason I'm posting this topic is to give a few more effective tips to groups in search for a GM. Use the Forum. This is pretty simple, post on the LFG forums about your game and ask for potential GMs. Make sure to post how many players there are in total in the group, the style of play the players would like and be patient. I did this once with a group and managed to find a neat guy willing to help. Forget the LFG function. Using "Looking For Group" has done wonders for me and I have found some really great games to play, this part is true. But I can never think myself going through the games saying "How about I join these chaps and run a campaign for them?" Maybe it's just me or perhaps the games I frequent (nWoD, Dark Heresy) don't have many people willing to run them, but I think it's safe saying that trying to find a GM this way is pointlessly hard. Talk with the potential GM. This one comes from personal experience. I once more was stranded with a group of players and nobody was willing/confident/able to run the game. We used the forum, found a guy and gave them the wheel of the campaign. Sure, he was a kind and polite guy, but his playstyle was really "safe." No danger, no thrills, unwinable situations, pointless rolls, big talky scenes that went nowhere and his train wouldn't stop for anything. I talked with him during our brakes and found out he had planned a plot heavy story without any detours, something I loath to no end. I bid them farewell and went my merry way. All these because nobody thought to ask him a few questions about how he runs a game and nobody informed his of what kind of game they'd like to play. Maybe I'm thinking this way too much or I'm not thinking it enough. These are my 2 cents and I'd like to know everyone else's opinion on this.

Disclaimer: I can't really fathom the idea of finding a GM at random for a group of players, at least not nearly as well as using it as a GM to find players. I do see a lot of LFGM posts that are quite specific about what they want to play, e.g. "LFGM to run Pathfinder with some house rules we like in a dark fantasy campaign that allows monster PCs where we're trying to beat up psionicists." I would think if you had that specific a requirement you're better off getting one of your own group to step up and GM. If the requirements are specific and rely enough on pre-prepared material in a system with no tweaking, e.g. "LFGM for OD&D to run Keep on the Borderlands for beer and pretzels group one-shot" it might work out, since everything is cut and dried. I think Pavlos S. said: Talk with the potential GM. This one comes from personal experience. I once more was stranded with a group of players and nobody was willing/confident/able to run the game. We used the forum, found a guy and gave them the wheel of the campaign. Sure, he was a kind and polite guy, but his playstyle was really "safe." No danger, no thrills, unwinable situations, pointless rolls, big talky scenes that went nowhere and his train wouldn't stop for anything. I talked with him during our brakes and found out he had planned a plot heavy story without any detours, something I loath to no end. I bid them farewell and went my merry way. All these because nobody thought to ask him a few questions about how he runs a game and nobody informed his of what kind of game they'd like to play. is the best way, but that's because it's the only way I've ever played. If you give a GM the helm, he's got the helm, depending on how far along that GM vs Player meta-control scale you're on. If you don't like how he runs things after the fact for whatever reason, not much you can do except talk about it in post game wrapups and hope everyone can agree on the flavor of the campaign going forward. You can bypass some of this before the game by specifying that you want X and Y sort of campaign, but then again you're getting very specific, which can turn off a lot of potential GMs. The more specific you get up front, the more constrained the GM is. The less constrained the GM is, the greater the chance the players might not like what he does. In all fairness I think in the above situation the players should stick with the GM for a certain number of sessions unless the game is totally unbearable. He agreed to run a game for some people, agreed to whatever conditions were spelled out (system, setting, whatever), and thought he had an opportunity to run a certain kind of game. He agreed to fill a role, did whatever prep he did, and unless you're paying him he's not obligated to be the group's "ideal GM," whatever that is. If the group breaks because of this, it's not a good situation for anyone. It seems fair to give him the same consideration one might give one of the regular players who stepped up to GM and didn't do a stellar job his first time out. If it is unbearable, just make a polite separation. Enough of these experiences (often, one) is usually enough to either convince one of the players to step up, or for the group to break.

I think it is much harder to find an Artists to paint a picture that you want than it is for you to find a piece of art that you like. In other words, a GM usually has an idea of the story (in what ever level of constraint) they want to tell. Like an itch they can't scratch on their own. They put their suggestion out there and see who comes by to invest in their idea. Sometimes it's a great fit, other times not. Out of all the stuff I've run (successful or not) I've never been able to pick up someone else's idea and run with it. Though I have tried. The only time it has worked for me in any way is when someone said, "Hey, check out this cool campaign setting I just bought." And then I fell in love with Dark Sun. just my thougts.

GM Mu said: If you give a GM the helm, he's got the helm, depending on how far along that GM vs Player meta-control scale you're on. If you don't like how he runs things after the fact for whatever reason, not much you can do except talk about it in post game wrapups and hope everyone can agree on the flavor of the campaign going forward. I want to quote this specifically because I have on a few occasions, taken on the challenge of pre-existing groups. Whether this be groups of friends who all decided they want to play together and need a GM who is outside of their friend group, or a group of players who lost a GM and want someone to continue with them. All attempts have failed for this exact reason. When I assemble a group, it's usually with a clear indication of what we're playing, my GM style, and what people can expect. I can weed out flakes and people who don't work well in the group, and people who's play style or personality don't mesh with what I run. And as a piecemeal system, it's fine. Replace the people need replacing, and work out the things that need to be worked out. But when a group comes to me pre-formed, it means basically one thing; When something does not work out, it cannot be the fault of someone in the group, because they already know eachother and they don't know me. I can't single out a crappy player in a group of friends and say "This guy is ruining the sessions because he's not roleplaying/he's being obnoxious/etc.", because the group of people have already agreed to play together, meaning they accept eachother's contributions or lack of. Also, as an outsider coming in, it's easier for them to just move on and do something else then spend time working out with the GM why things may be going badly. Not to mention that in my experience, pre-formed groups of newer players inherently have less motivation to stick with games because none of them decided to devote time to the game as an individual but did so as a group, so their individual enjoyment is contingent only on the group being present. Finding a GM as a player is hard. Trust me, I know. However, if you're a player and you're looking for a GM, you have to accept that you can't be picky. You just don't have that luxury. If you want to be, then your only option is to do it yourself. And that's sort of the end of it.