Welcome to another edition of The Gamemaster. If you’re a fan of gamemastering RPGs, be sure to check out our previous installments of the column. For those who are just catching up: a few months ago I started GMing a Pathfinder campaign (two actually). It’s my first experience roleplaying in 15 years and I’m finding I quite like it. I’m taking readers through my processes and journey toward being a better GM (or Dungeon Master, if you prefer).
This week, I’d love to talk about reading.
There is a lot of reading that needs to be done for a roleplaying game. And to be honest, I’ve been going a little nuts with the books I’ve been buying to read, both as inspiration and as supplements so I can learn the rules better and better flesh out the world in which my players reside.
Since the world is one of my own creation, it’s important to know what to think about, which is why I’ve found Pathfinder’s GameMastery Guide. The book is incredibly well written and really forces you to think about the choices you’re making as a game referee. It talks about things in the abstract, and more often than not just reminds you to think about things rather than tell you how they absolutely have to be. Chapters about world-creation, city structures, and even GMing techniques have been incredibly helpful and easily adapted into my game. I found it much more useful than the Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guides for 3.5 that I’ve read, which tend to air much more on rules and tend to be a little more focused on the pedantics of that specific world. The Pathfinder book seemed more interested in helping me adapt what was best for my game.
At a convention recently, I picked up a copy of the Gary Gygax written Advanced Dungeons and Dragon’s DM Guide and found that it had some tasty food for thought that I’m definitely incorporating into my campaigns, but it’s fascinating how each writer of these guides has a different take on the art of GMing. The Pathfinder model seems the most interested in helping me tell a collaborative story for the most amount of fun. Gygax seemed more interested in forcing me to count every single day of the year, mark every moment of the seasons, and weigh every ounce of equipment my character might be carrying. It functions, and carries many fantastic ideas, but it wasn’t as compatible with what I’m learning to be is “my style.”
Another great book I’ve spent a lot of time with is the Pathfinder NPC Codex. It’s saved me a lot of time in creating stat blocks for important NPCs, but peppered throughout the stats of each character are helpful hints and ideas from the writers about how characters could be used. Though I haven’t used any specific idea from these, reading the book has sparked untold embers in my storytelling imagination to discover what path I’m leading my characters down. It’s a very excellent book and I highly recommend it.
Perhaps the book I’ve spent the most time with is one written by a friend of mine, who seemed at least slightly embarrassed that I asked him to sign it at the convention we were both guests at over the weekend. Aaron Allston’s Dungeon Master’s Design Kit contains a story generator that I’d never use the way it was intended, but have combed through meticulously for its brilliance. The kit contains three books and the third is by far the best. It is a booklet that randomly allows you to generate circumstances and plot twists for your games and assemble an entire campaign with the roll of dice. But reading through each possibility a story turn can take that Aaron has so cleverly concocted. Aaron is a master storyteller and there is probably no better place to find inspiration to take your game. And don’t limit yourself to his RPG supplements. He’s just come out with a digital eBook on plotting stories and reading through it is pure creative fodder for writers, doing double-duty for those of us percolating campaign scenarios as well. Look for it on his website.
Which brings me to my next point: you’re going to be able to find inspiration for your game everywhere. It might completely take over your brain, but that’s half the joy, right? Go back and constantly re-read the books you have. Go through the Bestiaries and Monster Manuals constantly, between every session, and think of ways to spice up your campaigns in a logical fashion that makes sense for the story. Go through fantasy books and movies and think to yourself about how you can make your game just as exciting. Think about how you can invest your player characters into the story. You might think that once you’ve been through those books you don’t need to again, but your characters are constantly changing and evolving as they gain experience and something on one reading pass that seems like it wouldn’t fit might be exactly the right thing you’re looking for the next time.
I suppose the whole point of this column, other than direct you to some of the books that have provided me with the most creative nourishment to remains excited about my campaign’s story, is to tell you to keep revisiting the material in between sessions. If you keep reading and reading and reading and reading, you’ll unlock new ideas. Just be sure to write them all down. Even if you can’t use an idea soon, building up to it will make it all the more satisfying when it comes about.
I’ve laid the seeds for so many future adventures, I can’t even tell you how excited I am to have some of them pay off. And the only reason I’ve gotten this far is familiarizing myself with the material and then refamiliarizing myself with it. And the books above have been the most helpful, to me at least.
So, until next week, be sure to check out other columns in the Gamemaster series!