Hey, welcome to the Life. anderson r. wrote: "I decided my goal is to eventually be the best dm ever. But i don't know where to start." An admirable goal. I try to shoot for "Good enough." I started out in 1977 with a science fiction game called Traveller. I bought it because the back of the box talked about a ship in trouble that had been attacked by space pirates. Since I had just seen Star Wars, I thought, well, this seems sort of like that kind of story. It was tough to find players. RPGS were relatively new. I ended up trying a game called Gamma World, and finally AD&D 1st edition. Because there were a lot of players, it was a lot easier to set up and run a group. anderson r. wrote: "I want to learn the meat and potatoes of tabletop roleplay so i can quickly pick up whatever game i want." The meat and potatoes of it are essentially, the Gamemaster either designs the world or setting, or uses a store bought module. The players each have a character that they will play, much as an actor has a role. The GM then presents a sort of story with challenges to be solved, that the characters try to work through to a satisfying conclusion. The method of challenge resolution is, or can be commonly dice, but some systems use cards or tokens or even diceless narrative. In the end, the players either complete all of the challenges or fail and some type of experience or advancement in skill is awarded for surviving the scenario, or for good roleplaying, etc, it all varies. The idea of quickly picking up whatever game you want, well to me, roleplaying games are sort of like learning a language. Some games are very similar in the way that Latin is the basis for the "Romance Languages." D&D falls more or less into this category between the editions, but some are very close 1 is similar to 2, 3 is similar to 3.5 and Pathfinder, but 4th is it's own sort of flavor. D&D Next is trying to revive the old school style. But no skill at playing D&D is going to prepare you for playing Twilight:2000, Morrow Project, Aftermath, or Conspiracy X, which all use their own systems. I'd suggest getting some books on how to be a DM, any of the following are pretty good: Master of the game - Gygax Role-playing mastery - Gygax Gamemastering Secrets - Grey Ghost Games anything by Robin Laws D&D for dummies Dungeon Mastering for dummies D&D 3.5 DMG, and D&D 3.5 DMG II, are really pretty good even if you don't play 3.5 They more or less give you the flavor of what is up. To be the best GM, you will need to know how to tell a story, adapt to players changing the plot, and basically run a scenario or follow a rules system at least loosely, to present and resolve the challenges. Some games are very easy to run, once you get the hang of it. Some are more difficult and some are very much probably too complicated for the average person to run. The biggest key is to decide more or less how you want to approach what genre you like best. Think about what kind of books and films or shows you like to watch and then ask yourself, If I had a show that I wanted to write for, what would it be? what genre? And then find a game on that, realizing if you write your own modules and scenarios it's sort of like writing an ongoing TV show starring your characters, week to week or how often you play. For me, my favorite genre is science fiction, even though most roleplaying games revolve in or around the genre of swords and sorcery fantasy. So I prefer to run a game with a licensed trademarked setting that a lot of players that like science fiction might also like, so then it is easier to find players. For those, I like Star Trek or Star Wars, Babylon 5, or Dune or Stargate. Or a system where you can design your own setting, Like Alterinty, or Traveller. But If I can't find players for those games, I'll run some Espionage game like Top Secret, Spycraft, James Bond, or Conspiracy X. Down the line, I default to D&D, although lately I really enjoy a game called One Ring RPG, which is Lord of the Rings as a mostly narrative style. You will eventually learn or should learn the basic techniques of writing fiction along the way. Getting books on writing and screenwriting will help if you are doing your own RPG plots. not so that you have a defined plot that you don't deviate from, but so that you understand how to present a plot to players and how to adapt a plot when they do things you didn't suspect, so that you can use what they are giving you, and they use what you are giving them. So, I'd say pick a genre, read some reviews and watch some videos online then pick a system. If you ask here what's the best RPG system you will get 12 different answers. They will say: Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Traveller, old School 2e AD&D, World of Darkness, D&D 3.5, Dark Heresy, Alternity, Spycraft, Deadlands, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk 2020. There is no BEST. There are Best for a specific job, or technique or style. Even then, players and DMs will argue about what is best, or why. As a DM you need to be fair, like the best judge in a court. you have to be able to be trusted by the players to make a fair ruling. Player characters will be created, develop, and get wounded or die or have their story arc or plot changed by your rulings. it's very tough to have all players agree to play a very hard core system, and a character according to the rules is lost. It's also as equally tough when a player wants something, and other players get jealous. it's also equally tough when you have to fire a player because they don't orr can't get along with the group. You will gain a lot of friendships, and you might lose a few. I had to lose a former friend because he could not stop insulting another player about "How he is such a fat slob." The group asked me to ask him to pipe down, and he refused, so they asked me to ask him to go, and he got real bitchy about it. but in the end, I was tired of him and so off he went, over a period of weeks. Other people didn't like a guy we had because he was from the phillipines and didn't speak english all that well. You will find a lot of flawed people, but you will also meet people that in different circumstances could well have been heroes. I've met a lot of people who were gamers when I was in the military. Really fun to play modern day military games with them, because I don';t have to teach anything, they know the weapons, and tactics, and we just set up, and go. So pick a genre, and know it is a journey that once they've done it, most DMs appreciate because DMs will learn all sorts of things they never knew before they were a gamer. You'll know what i'm talking about after you've done this a while. One you as a DM can define that style and genre, and have selected, read and start running a system, and attract a small base of players, then you are on the road to GM mastery. If you need help, post here on Roll20, there's dozens of DMs that I know of that I've either played with, DMd for, or been a player in their campaigns that I would say have Mastered Roleplaying. It's not that easy, but it's not that difficult, either. Good luck, and again welcome to the life.
