Game Masters
It started out simply enough. One of our gaming crew had a roommate, Bob, who was thinking of getting involved in role-playing games. He had all the hallmarks of a potential RPG-er: he loved Lord of the Rings and was a fan of William Gibson, but most of all, he loved Star Wars. We were all interested in starting up a new game, so we sat down with Bob to find out just what kind of game he might be interested in.
The most underused sense in gaming is smell. This is not unnatural. The human axis of experience does not revolve around smell. Smell is the background music of our lives, never the action taking place on the screen. A particular smell may send us towards memory or thought, much the way different musical themes will do the same thing in a movie or opera. Consequently, this is what makes it so hard to implement in a game. In real life smell goes unnoticed so often that it only is noticed if there is a darn good reason for it to be. Bringing it up in a game can seem unnatural.
Talk to any Game Master and they will likely tell you the most important step for a successful campaign is introducing the Player Characters to each other. There are a variety of ways to do this, but over the years I have found certain elements are key to getting it right. Most beginning GMs underestimate the importance of the first session, and tend to overlook important warning signs. Many pitfalls and missteps can be avoided with a little preparation and a bit of forethought. So with this in mind, I have outlined a few things that have worked for me in the past.
It is time to add new words to your gamer lexicon. Both these terms (Gaymer or Dice Queen) refer to a LGBT, which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Trans-gendered, who is interested in RPGs, LARPs, CCGs, Miniatures and the many different games that make up the gaming community.
If you are not a Game Master, Storyteller, or Dungeon Master then read no further. If you do your dice will be horribly cursed, and you will critically fail at anything you ever attempt from this day forward... Of course, knowing players like I do I know all of you are still reading. That's fine. It won't save you.
I am a gamer. I spend my evenings and weekends holed up in cavernous basement rooms consulting sourcebooks and to-hit charts, or running around parks and community centers in full makeup and costume playing rock-paper-scissors at various intervals. I spend my paycheck or my allowance on the latest games and supplements and mounds of polyhedral dice which have a way of turning up in the oddest places around my house or apartment. I have hundreds of stories about games I have played and characters I have known, some of which are actually interesting and funny to other people. I am a gamer, and this is how I spend my free time.
As Halloween fast approaches, our minds delve into the unholy shadows of our imagination. Fed by mortal fear, we recklessly abandon the cultural mores and amuse our most tainted desires with thoughts of evil. As the lust for darkness sends bitter chills throughout our veins, we are seduced by the calling of the bone-pale moon. Gamers assemble. It is time to play with cannibals.
The great gamers who bear the title Gamemaster are responsible for the constant flow of the adventure. They must make sure the players get every opportunity to succeed and ensure the game is consistent. For some, this means tossing dice until someone dies. For others, it involves tossing the rulebook out the window. In the end, we strive to run a smooth and exciting adventure for all who sit before us.
Sometimes we GMs need a break. Perhaps you've been running your game week after week for a year now, or perhaps the well of ideas has gone temporarily dry. If so, then a one-shot game may be just the thing for you. But hey, if you are going to run another game for just one weekend why not make it interesting? Halloween is fast approaching, and will be the perfect opportunity for a one-shot adventure.
I've been a Dungeon Master (DM) for a long time. In this time, I've seen several kinds of people take to the dice in the search of adventure. During character creation the choice of character class usually ends up with a fighter, a cleric, a magic-user/wizard, or a thief/rogue. These are the more common selections, the premier group. The process of stratification continues from the most to the least favored with the latter group including the ranger, the druid, and the illusionist.
